“It’s A Challenging Race.” v.1b
1. We are called to action
2. Our action must be decisive.
3. We must decide to release ALL distractions.
Opening Illustration (video of runner tripping in tape from 00:02-00:51 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMlxxNRQRro )
Turn to Hebrews 12:1-3. We continue our series entitled RUN. We saw last week that if you’re a Christ-follower, God has called you to run in THE race. You may be racing after financial accumulation. You may be racing after recreation and entertainment. You may be racing after comfort and security. You may be racing after yours our your children’s dreams. But if you’re a Christ-follower, the only REAL race is the race God has set before you. It’s a race of excitement and sacrifice. We saw last week that it’s a worthy race: worthy because saints through the centuries have gone before us and are cheering us on, worthy because it changes our lives and those around us; worthy because God Himself has set it before us and called us to run it. God has called you to a race: to follow the path He has individually set out for each of us.
Now this morning we’re going to unpack another aspect of this race: not only is it a worthy race, but it is a challenging race. To pursue Christ and His path for our lives with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength is not easy, is it? To be a fully devoted follower of Jesus is, I think, the greatest, most difficult, most challenging pursuit anyone could possibly have.
How so? To be all in financially is a challenge, right? Some of us struggle to take care of basic necessities. Some of us struggle with addictions to accumulation and comfort. It’s a challenge to be generous with God. To be all in relationally is a challenge. We have so many demands on our time and energy that to give God the best time of the day and to seek intimacy with Him early and often is quite a challenge. To be all in with our passions is a challenge. We get passionate about a hobby or travel or a career, but to become white hot passionate for Jesus is quite a challenge. To be all in with our faith is a challenge. Life is tough. It knocks us down; it smothers us; it brings heartache and pain. And to trust God that He is in control and He is sufficient and He will work this out for our good and His glory is quite a challenge.
So this text we’re going to study today will help us respond to the challenge. I’m assuming of course that as a Christ-follower, you desire to run this race faster and better and harder than you ever have--and to do it in a manner worthy of your calling.
So let’s stand and read Hebrews 12:1-3 (on screen) together. Go back to v.1, the 1st part. Let’s read that again: “Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us.” Be seated. I hope you’re memorizing this passage. I promise it will be such a blessing to you, encouraging you in your faith and giving you hope in the midst of the challenges of life.
Let’s focus on that one phrase this morning: “Let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us.”
(Video of me putting on overalls, boots, big coat and trying to run down the track…)
No way I could run a race well with all that stuff; all those encumbrances.
To face the challenges of this race, we must remember that:
1. We are called to action
Some people think that the Christ-life is a very private, internal thing. That’s a misconception. The gospel does begin deep in the heart and soul. Your heart and soul are private and internal. But the gospel regenerates us an renovates us from the inside out so that it becomes a very public, very external thing.
Notice the phrase, “let us lay aside”. Lay is a verb, right. If I lay something down, it is an action. When my 2 year old granddaughter picks up a pencil that her older sister has been drawing with, and I’m concerned she’ll start running with it and hurt herself, I’ll say, “Put the pencil down—or you’ll poke your eye out, kid!” Movie? Lacy will just stare at me. She doesn’t move. She doesn’t respond to my command. I’ve called her to take an action, but she doesn’t always respond.
Just because you made a decision last month to follow Christ, or last year, or last decade, or last century—doesn’t mean that you’re finished with the whole thing.
This phrase, “Let us lay aside” is not a suggestion; it’s a command; it’s a call to action. Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.” Luke 9:23
To meet the challenge of this race that God has set out for each of us, we must listen to the Holy Spirit, deny our desires in order to fulfill His desires, and take action in the areas He points out.
Now, what in your life is God calling you to action about? Forgive someone? Reach out to someone? Find a place of service within the body here and serve faithfully? To take your generosity to a whole new level?
Are you acting or just sitting? (pic of horse sitting)
In this race God has set before us, we are called to action.
2. Our action must be decisive.
There is another aspect to this idea of laying aside: “Let us lay aside”. To lay aside means literally, ‘to rid oneself of.’ It takes action, yes, but the action needs to be decisive. I talked about my granddaughter and the pencil awhile ago. When I give her a command, I can see those little wheels turning in her brain: do I or don’t I? What will be the consequences if I don’t? What will be the benefits if I do? Many times she has started to obey the command but she hesitates; or she starts to do it but doesn’t.
In all likelihood, each of us has stuff in our lives that keeps us from running the race that God has for us faster and better. And God has spoken to you about it. It may be how you eat or how you treat alcohol or tobacco or what you watch or read or how you spend your time and how you spend the money God has entrusted to you. It may be how you use people or treat people or talk to people. It may be your lack of responsibility to the Body of Christ here at Rush Creek in being generous with your time, talent and treasure. But you’re just not sure enough that you can, want to or should rid yourself of those things.
God calls us to action—and that action needs to be decisive. You might have thought, “You know, I’ll get serious about my relationship with God when I get out of high school, or get serious when I get out of college or when I get married, or when I have children or…
Can I just be a friend to you this morning and say that Indecision is no friend of yours!
Remember when a wealthy young man came to Jesus and said, “What do I need to do to experience this life you’re talking about?” And Jesus said, Well, sell all that you have and give it away.” And what does the Bible say about the young man? That he couldn’t do it. That he thought about it, he weighed the pros and cons, and decided not to follow Jesus’ command. The young man decided to choose money over Jesus. And then it says that the young man went away saddened and discouraged. Indecision is no friend of yours. The longer you try to rationalize the will and way of God, the greater the odds that you will reject the will and way of God.
Listen, If God has pointed out something in your life that needs to change, then you need to act and you need to act today. Jesus called out to Peter and Andrew: “Hey boys, come follow Me” and they acted decisively. When Jesus called Matthew to leave his business and follow Him, Matthew acted decisively. When Jesus spit in the clay and made mud and put it on the blind man’s eyes and told him to go wash his eyes in the pool of Siloam, he acted decisively and went. Did he go like “I don’t know Jesus, you just put spit in my eyes and I’ve a canteen right there I think maybe I should wash it out with this water quick. I could get pink eye you know.” NO! He acted decisively and went and washed his eyes just as Jesus said and he was healed.
If you’re a Christ-follower, you are called to be a runner; to run in the best and highest most amazing race in all of history. And Jesus is calling you to take actions to run the race well, and to act decisively.
We are called to action as believers. Our actions must be decisive, not double minded, but choosing to follow Jesus and follow His path for us and do it decisively.
3. We must decide to release ALL distractions.
Notice the middle part of v.1 “Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside EVERY HINDRANCE and the SIN THAT SO EASLILY ENSNARES US”
What are hindrances? Hindrances are good stuff that keeps us from the best stuff; unnecessary weight or encumbrance. They may or may not be bad in and of themselves, but they keep us from experiencing the very best of what God offers us and hinders us from running the race faster and better. “Your greatest danger is letting the urgent things crowd out the important.” ? Charles E. Hummel, Tyranny of the Urgent
What might some hindrances be? (Build)
Staying up late so that we can’t get up early and spend quality time with Jesus
Being hyper-committed in other areas of life that keep us from being committed to serving Jesus and His bride, the church--or keep us being in biblical community.
Living above our means so that we can’t be generous with God and give Him our first fruits off the top.
And then notice that the scripture says not only hindrances, but what? “The sin that so easily ensnares us.”
I believe this verse and my experience leads me to believe that each of us has one particular sin that we struggle with more than any other. I don’t know what yours is. It might be fear or selfishness or pride or impatience or an addiction or stinginess or greed. There’s a good chance for many of us our particular sin has to do with money: you worship money and what it can do for you. Listen, I don’t know yours—but I do know mine. I mean, I have a long array of sins that ensnare me, but there is one particular area in my life that it is so easy for me to stumble.
Do you know yours? And are you keen to cooperate with the Spirit of God in you to let Him have control in that area and let Him transform you? Are you keen to do all you can, read all you can, memorize key verses and set up boundaries so that that besetting sin doesn’t ensnare you?
(Video: me taking stuff off down to my running shorts,etc, then Brad fills in)
If you’re a Christ-follower, God’s called you to be a runner. Are you laying down anything that could hinder you and ensnare you and keep you from running the race well?
Pray
