Winning Life’s Race
Chuck Sligh
November 2, 2014
TEXT: Please turn in your Bibles to Hebrews 12
INTRODUCTION
Illus. – When I was in high school, I participated in track and field.
When we’d arrive at a track meet, we’d begin by warming up with various stretching and warm-up exercises. When I participated in a race, the first thing I did was take off all the extras I was wearing—my warm up suit; my jacket; and my ski hat if it is real cold.
An official would say… “On your mark!” – and we’d get into our crouching position.
“Get set!” – we would raise up our haunches—feet and hands to the ground—poised to get the quickest speed for take off.
Then the official would shoot his gun, and we would all take off.
In a long race, it was always a very intense struggle. A 200-meter race is a mad dash to the finish line, but the 400-meter or the 800-meter was just sheer pain and agony because in a longer race, endurance is more important than sheer speed.
I was trained to NEVER give up. No matter how tired or sick we were or how much pain we experienced, we were trained to keep on running.
In the race, I always kept my eye out for the coach (who was my dad). When I’d go around the first lap, he’d be there cheering me on and shouting instructions to me. Then on the last lap, sometimes he’d run to the opposite side of the track and give more encouragement and instructions. When I came to the final stretch, and I could see the finish line—coach was always there, waving his arms, shouting to me, cheering me on.
One other thing we were taught: never turn your head and look at your opponents! That is a fatal mistake in a race because it does two things:
• First of all, it slows you down, even if only for a second, or even a half-second.
• Secondly, it causes you to lose your concentration. A race is sometimes as much MENTAL as it is PHYSICAL. It requires all the mental concentration you can muster to keep on going at full speed, or to pace yourself at the right stride on the longer races.
Now, all these things must have been on the writer of Hebrews’ mind when he penned our text, because they’re all things he points out in our passage that we should do in running the race of our Christian lives.
READ TEXT – Hebrews 12:1-2 – “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
My sermon today is titled, “Winning Life’s Race.” For the Christian the key to winning the race of life is found in three verbs we see in our text:
I. LAY ASIDE – Notice in verse 1 – “...let us lay aside every weight and the sin that doth so easily beset us...”
Why does the writer of Hebrews here say we should lay these things aside?—Because they “beset” us.
What does Paul mean by “beset”? In this context, the Greek word here means they “hinder” us.
Remember I told you that the first thing I did when I began a race was to take off all extra clothing—my jacket, my warm-up suit; my ski hat and even my watch and a chain I wore around my neck. Why?—because these would slow me down and cause me to not be able to run my fastest in the race, or unnecessarily distract me.
Suppose I ran the race with my warm-up suit and jacket on.
• The extra weight might be just enough to give my competitor the advantage.
• The extra weight was not the only issue: also the clothes would chafe and hinder the free movement of my arms and legs.
• A chain I used to wear around my neck would bounce up and down, distracting me, and after a short time, my ski hat would make my ears and head so hot, I wouldn’t be able to concentrate.
My competitor would be running totally unfettered, with less weight to carry, would have less wind resistance, and be without distractions, which would give him enough of an advantage to defeat me.
Paul mentions two things that we should lay aside because they hinder us:
• One is “SIN.”
Sin hinders us from full participation in the Christian life.
If I can use another metaphor, it’s like getting dirt and smudge in your car’s carburetor. Dirt and debris can get into a carburetor and pollute the fuel, causing the pistons to misfire and making the car run at lower efficiency. And if enough dirt and gunk gets into it, eventually it’ll cause your car to completely shut down because a car can’t run on dirty fuel. There’s only one way to get it back into good operating order again, and that’s to get some carburetor cleaner and clean the gunk out.
Willful, unconfessed sin hinders your progress in your walk with Christ; it will slow you down; it will pollute you; and it will eventually cause you to experience a complete spiritual breakdown if you don’t clean it out by confessing it to God and forsaking it.
• But notice that Paul also says we should lay aside “WEIGHTS.”
Weights are things that are not necessarily sin in and of themselves, but can pull you down and slow you down in the Christian life.
The Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:12 – “All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient [literally, “beneficial”]: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.”
There are some things that are not inherently wrong, but can be wrong for YOU because they pull you down in your Christian life.
Illus. – Early in my marriage, I had a struggle with Ms. Pac Man. – I was a master player with extraordinarily high scores…but it took over my life! (EXPAND) You see, there’s nothing wrong in itself with video games, but in MY life they became a “weight” that had to be laid aside for me to keep in the race of my Christian life.
I wonder if there’s something in YOUR life that is not a sin in itself…but it’s become a weight in your life; or to use Paul’s terminology, it’s not beneficial or it has too much control of your life or your affections or your time so that you neglect more important things. With me, it required making a vow to God not to play it ever again and living out that vow to break the chain of bondage it had in my life.
II. THE SECOND KEY VERB IN THIS PASSAGE IS “RUN” – Notice again in verse 1 – “...and let us run with patience the race that is set before us...”
There are three important parts of this passage that I want us to examine:
• First is “Run.”
This word implies EFFORT.
Illus. – You know, to this day I hate running or jogging. I can’t do either anymore, but in my running and jogging days, I HATED getting started, but really loved the feeling I had when I finally reach that runner’s high and when I finished my workout. The reason I dreaded it before and during the workout is that like any kind of athletic activity, they require a tremendous expenditure of effort!
And can I just be honest with you this morning?… Living the Christian life is not a bed of roses. It’s not all fun and games, despite what the preachers of the “health and wealth” gospel say. Doing RIGHT instead of what is expedient or comfortable thing is HARD! Once Christ becomes your Savior and you follow Him, you have the capacity spiritually to run the race effectively, but you also have that old sin nature still working against you. And it takes effort to serve God and to do right and to stay focused on Christ and to live for Him!
May God help you to work at living for Christ; to put in the effort; to make whatever sacrifice you must make to do right and please God!
• The second important phrase in this passage is “the race”
This little phrase implies STRUGGLE.
Folks, we’re in a BATTLE—a fight to the death with the forces of evil.
Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:12 – “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
Because we’re in such a struggle, we must be prepared for it.
How do you prepare for a track and field competition? You exercise and practice; you work out; you discipline and regiment your daily life, making sure you eat a proper diet, get enough fluids and get enough rest. You do all this so that you’re physically and mentally at your best when you enter the race.
You, dear believer, should be no less disciplined to run the Christian race: You need a proper diet of the Word of God to feed your soul and strengthen you spiritually to run the race God has set for you. You need a disciplined regimen of Bible study, prayer, church attendance. You need to be daily filled with the Holy Spirit—the water of life.
Living for Christ is not a cakewalk: It’s a race; it’s a battle; it involves our every effort.
• The last phrase I want you to see in verse 1 is “with patience.”
The word patience here is the Greek word hupomoné which literally means “endurance.” It relates to endurance as to THINGS or CIRCUMSTANCES. This is a different Greek word than makrothumía, which is often translated as “longsuffering,” which is endurance toward PEOPLE. But the idea the writer of Hebrews is conveying in our text is that of ENDURING the race. Thus he is reminding us to not GIVE UP; to not QUIT; to “keep on keeping on!”
III. THE THIRD VERB I WANT US TO FOCUS ON IN THIS PASSAGE IS “LOOKING” IN VERSE 2– “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith...”
Remember how I said that my coach taught us not to look back at our opponents? He always said, “Keep your eyes on ME at the finish line.” And our coach, Jesus Christ says, “Look to ME.”
Brethren, as you run the race of life, let me warn you of three things not to focus on:
• First, look unto Jesus – NOT TO CIRCUMSTANCES. – Circumstances change from good to bad in a heartbeat, but Jesus never changes and He’s always good.
• Second, look unto Jesus – NOT TO OTHER CHRISTIANS
Sometimes we expect of others what we do not expect of ourselves—perfection, or at least near perfection. Everyone in this sanctuary is human and will let you down if you get to know them long enough.
Don’t get your eyes on one another and one another’s faults and failures and shortcomings and weaknesses. Keep your eyes on Jesus!
If you’re new in this church, you might be really impressed with it. By the way, I think we have a great church! I love pastoring these people. I’ve seen very few churches that have the love and desire to serve God and grow like this church has.
But I’ve got bad news for you: We aren’t perfect. As a matter of fact, we aren’t even close! And even if we were…it stopped being perfect when you showed up!
Get your eyes off people and keep them on Jesus!
• And last, look unto Jesus – NOT TO RELIGIOUS LEADERS!
Preachers are just as prone to fail and let you down as all other mortals. If your eyes are on me, prepare yourself for some big disappointments.
CONCLUSION
A.
B. Brethren, can I ask you a few closing questions to bring this sermon down to where we live?
• First, have you been holding on to some sin or some weight that’s holding you back in following Christ all the way, wholeheartedly, completely and without reservation?
Why not lay that sin or weight down this morning at the altar of confession and dedication? Confess it to God; resolve to forsake it; cast it aside; refuse it any longer in your life and run the race free and unencumbered by those sins and weights.
• Second, are you putting in the effort; fighting the good fight; not giving up; keeping on keeping on; refusing to quit?
If you thought the Christian life was going to be a cakewalk, somebody fooled you. You have the incredible resources of the Spirit of God and the powerful promises and instructions of the Word of God to run the race with success, but it requires personal dedication, commitment, devotion, focus, effort, work, sacrifice, discipline. Are you willing to pay the price to win the prize?
• Lastly, do you have your eyes on the coach, Jesus Christ, as He leads and cheers you to the finish line?
Maybe your eyes were on your circumstances, and you lost focus and lost momentum in the race. Maybe your eyes were on a pastor or a Christian friend or a Christian mentor, and he or she failed you or sinned, and it tripped you up and you got out of the race.
You never should have focused on sorry, fallible, sinful people to begin with. Only Jesus will never fail you and is always good. God says to keep your eyes on Jesus!
“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses... let us lay aside every weight...and the sin which doth so easily beset us... and let us run with patience the race that is set before us... 2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith...who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame...and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
