It’s a worthy race. Hebrews 12:1-3
Story of someone who was running for their or someone’s life…
Hebrews 12:1-3
Are you a runner? I ran track and cross country in high school. When I got out of college and moved to Houston to work for Shell, I began to run to maintain my health and weight. I can’t run anymore because of my ankle and Achilles damage. But I love to watch runners and wish I could still run. But there’s a race that I’ve been running since I was in college and I plan on running it until I hit the finish line and meet Jesus.
If you’re a Christ-follower, God has called you to be a runner. Are you running? If you’re a Christ-follower, God has called you to be a runner. Did you know that? And Are you running the race well?
Today we begin a new series aimed at helping us understand the race that God has called us run and how to run faster and better. It fits well with the Unleashed initiative we began a year ago when we took our generosity to a new level to push back the darkness faster and better.
We’re going to focus primarily on these 1st 3 verses in Hebrews 12. It is one of the most recognizable and loved passages in all the Bible. As a pastor/teacher, this excites me to be able to drill down into this passage to plumb the depths and let the richness of it settle in on us. I’d encourage you not to miss any of these next 4 Sundays because it’s so critical to Rush Creek and to your future as a Christ-follower.
So let’s stand and read this together. If you don’t have these verses memorized, I’d encourage you to spend the next 4 weeks committing them to memory. I promise, I promise they will be a blessing to you if you do. Hebrews 12:1-3 (on screen)
Each week I want us to focus on one aspect of this race we’re called to run as Christ-followers. And so this morning I want us to grasp this life-changing truth: It’s a worthy race.
Think about the races we’re involved in right now in life. Some of us are chasing financial accumulation. Some of us are chasing recreation and entertainment. Some of us are chasing comfort and security. Some of us are chasing dreams for ourselves or maybe chasing dreams for our children in athletics or academics.
But I contend that there is no more worthy race than this race. The term race is a metaphor for something bigger than just running down the road. race=God’s path for our individual lives. Remember in Forrest Gump after his momma dies, he decides to run. (video clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgnJ8GpsBG8 00:41-1:20 stop after ‘I ran clear to the ocean’)
There was no real purpose, plan, or direction to Forrest’s running! I promise you, the path that God has marked out for you is planned and purposeful. Like a long and winding road, it lays out before you.
It’s the most worthy race you can ever engage in. Why so?
It’s a race that many have run before us v.1 (on screen)
What’s the 1st word? Therefore. So when you see that you have to find out what it’s there for, right? So you look back to what is just before that word. The writer of Hebrews, and we don’t know exactly who wrote it, was recounting those who had displayed great faith throughout the ages. Some named, most unnamed. As you peruse those named, you see Noah, Abraham, Jacob and Moses. Their paths, their races were lighted by their faith and are examples that we follow to this day.
But there are many that have gone before us that we’ll never know this side of heaven. Look at what vv.35-40 say about them (Hebrews 11:35-40 on screen). These old testament saints, named and unnamed, looked to the fulfillment of the prophecies and promise God had made about the Messiah. They lived by faith and were martyred because of their faith. But they didn’t get to see the promise and prophecies fulfilled, did they? Those prophesies/promises were fulfilled with the incarnation, with God in the flesh, with Jesus, the Lamb of God.
As Christ-followers, we have the promise fulfilled in us, right? We don’t have to wait for the Messiah. We don’t have to hope for the Messiah. He has come and dwells in the hearts of believers. And these witnesses we just read about lean over the portals of heaven looking at us to see if we who have more potential and possibility than any generation before us will run this race in a manner worthy of our calling.
The sacrifices these witnesses made accentuate the fact that this is a worthy race. I might add that when I think about my dad and the race that he ran by faith and my mom and the race that she ran by faith, both of them at great cost and sacrifice—spurs me on to run this worthy race with all my being.
It’s a race that has the power to change lives v.1 (no verse)
When does this worthy race begin? It begins at salvation. It begins the moment you transfer your trust to the resurrected Christ. This gospel, this good news, this heroic act by Jesus to rescue us and redeem us, once accept, propels us to a new life, a new direction, a new path, a new race. For the true believer, this race is all-consuming.
That’s the nature of the gospel. If it’s not life-changing, then it’s nothing. If it doesn’t radically save and radically change, then it’s not good news.
The writer of Hebrews calls on the 1st century believers to recognize and accept the cost of discipleship and to live a life worthy of the calling God has placed on them. These words still call out to us centuries later--and echo what Jesus said, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” Matthew 16:24
If the race you’re on is not changing your life, not changing your perspective, not changing your pleasures, not changing your purchases then you’re in the wrong race.
Because this race is a worthy race, it is worthy of whatever it takes to run it well. You know this is true: The more worthy the race, the more willing we are to sacrifice.
I mentioned before that I used to be a runner. About 12 yrs ago I decided I wanted to be a triathlete. Triathletes swim, then bike, then run. The decision to be a triathlete changed how I lived my life. I got up earlier. I trained longer. I ate better. I rearranged my schedule, my pleasures, even how I spent my money—had to by a road bike…all because I wanted to run the race well.
I can’t run that race any more, but I sure can run THE race still. And the more clearly I see what’s involved, the more worthy the race becomes, and the more it changes my life.
It’s a race that that has been set before US v 1 (on screen)
Notice the verbiage used: “Let Us run with endurance the race that is before US”.
Earlier I talked about how the race that God has marked out for you is planned and purposeful. But it is also particular. What I mean is, God marks out for each of us a particular path; one that is unique for our lives.
Maybe you’ve seen those commercials about treadmills (pic) that have a digital screen that you can set it to run on different courses? One day you can be on the flatlands. One day you can be running in the sand beside the ocean. One day you can choose to be in the mountains. It’s your choice what your course is. I’d be choosing the down hill course….
This race we’re talking about this morning is not like that. You don’t get a choice on the course. God has set that course up for each one of us. I like how Proverbs 16:9 puts it, “A person’s heart plans his way, but the LORD determines his steps.” In in His sovereignty and love, every turn, every surprise, ever challenge, every struggle, He has set out for us. Your course is different than mine. Each course is particular and set in place by God.
You don’t get a choice in the course, you don’t get a choice in the particular race. Your only choice is how worthy you consider the race and how well you choose to run it.
That goes for each of us individually, and it goes for us collectively as a church. God has set out this course for us, with all kinds of potential and opportunities and challenges. We set out on this decades ago, and then last Fall during Unleashed, we began the next phase of that race. Watch this. VISION VIDEO
Pass buckets (one on each aisle) with vision cards…. Tell of Randy Jacson, American Idol judge (pic). When someone was all in, he’d often say, “She’s in it to win it; he’s in it to win it.” There were 10s of 1000s of people who were trying out, but very few who were in it to win it. Are you in it to win it? We entitled this series Run and we used aRe yoU iN (use graphic). We’re all in the race. But are you in it to win it? Are you all in?
Explain card
Rush Creek, This is a worthy race. Are you Are you in the race personally? Are you engaged in the race with us? Are you in? We’re going to be challenged these next few weeks to examine how worthy we consider the race with our time, our talents and our treasures. It’s a worthy race. Others that have gone before us have set the pace. It’s a race that is changing our lives. And it is a race that God Himself has set before us.
Pray.
