It’s a lengthy race. Hebrews 12:1-3
So how do you garner and foster endurance?
1. Endurance is built by repetition
2. Endurance is increased by pushing our limits
Man’s extremities are God’s opportunities.
3. Endurance is fueled by our commitment to finish strong
“For you need endurance, so that after you have done God’s will, you may receive what was promised.” Hebrews 10:36
Turn to Hebrews 12:1-3 We continue this series we’re calling RUN. It stands for aRe yoU iN (graphic). Are you in the race? Are you in it to win it? Back when American Idol was on Randy Jackson(pic) would say of a really good candidate, “She’s in it to win it!” If you’re a Christ-follower, God has called you to be a runner; to run the most important, life-changing, amazing race you could ever be a part of…are you in it to win it? Are you in?
As we’ve studied this beloved passage, we’ve seen that this race is a worthy race: Worthy because the saints before us have lighted the way by their faith and have made great sacrifices, even to the point of death, to deliver the baton to this generation. It’s worthy because the race for each of us began when we surrendered to Christ and the nature of the gospel is that it radically saves and radically changes us. And it’s a worthy race because God Himself has charted out a particular path for each one of us and He calls you, He calls me, He calls us to run the race harder, faster, better than we ever have before.
It’s also a challenging race. In order to run it well, we have to lay aside all distractions. V.1 says, “lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us.” That’s a challenge in this day and age. So many distractions. So many activities that we can invest time, talent and treasure that are good—but not best. And the good gets in the way of the best—particularly for the person who wants to run the race well. If you’re running in a 5k or training for a marathon, you can’t go to Babes very often. You sacrifice the good in order to achieve great.
And this morning we drill down on one more aspect of the race God has called us to: not only is this race a worthy race and a challenging race, but it is also a lengthy race. It’s not a sprint. It’s not something you do for awhile and then quit. This is a race that begins the moment you surrendered your life and continues until you meet Jesus as the finish line.
I wonder this morning, how long have you been running the race? If you’ve been running this race for less than 5 years, stand up. Sit. If you’ve been running it from 5- 20 years, stand up. Sit. If you’ve been running it from 20-30 yrs, stand. Sit. If you’ve been running it for 30-50 yrs, stand up. Sit. If you’ve been running longer than 50, stand up. Sit.
This is a long race. And to complete any lengthy race, you must, you must have endurance. So let’s talk about endurance this morning. One of the cultural maladies we fight in 21st century America is that we avoid discomfort, right? This is why I think that comfort has become the predominant idol or god in our culture today. We will do anything to avoid discomfort. So many of us then pursue the idol of comfort. We surround ourselves with comforts: climate controlled houses—if it gets 1 degree too hot, we are like, “Why is it so hot. Oh, it’s set on 74, I’m going to turn it down to 73!” We have climate controlled houses, climate controlled cars…we even have climate controlled storage units to store our stuff in because we’re so addicted to the accumulation stuff our 2000, 3000 sq ft houses can’t accommodate it all.
Why don’t we exercise every day? We don’t want to get out of bed, we don’t want to walk in the heat or the cold or the rain or whatever. We avoid discomfort and that short-circuits endurance.
We also are now an instant society; a push button, get it now, don’t want to wait, immediate satisfaction culture. When I was a kid, most larger purchases were done on what they called lay away, right? You’d go into sears, when there was a Sears, and put money down on a teather ball set or a bicycle and then you’d keep making payments on it till you paid it off and took possession of it. Now you just put down the credit card and get what you want when you want --if you can’t afford it. Amazon will get whatever we want where ever we are the next day.
Here’s what I’m getting at: when challenges come our way, when life gets difficult, when we are suffering, when we’re tempted to participate in something that is not honoring to God--very few of us have built up any kind of endurance to press on through and continue the race and run it well. And this race that God has called us to can get very, very difficult. So if we’re not playing the long game, if we haven’t groomed endurance, we won’t run very well and we won’t run very far. But we are admonished by the Scripture to run with endurance the race that is before us.
That word endurance (hupomone): patience; a high tolerance for fatigue, pain, or discomfort. If you’re suffering from a life-threatening illness, you need endurance. If you’re in a struggling marriage, you need endurance. If you are in a family crisis, you need endurance. If you’re being tempted to turn from Christ and follow a path of worldly passion and pleasure, you need endurance.
So how do you garner and foster endurance?(build)
1. Endurance is built by repetition
This is self-evident. We know this is true. The way you learn to do anything is by repetition. If we want our child to gain the skill of throwing and catching a ball, we repeat the process of throwing and catching over and over again. The way you get stronger is to repeat certain exercises that build muscle.
We talked about the great cloud of witnesses in ch.11 a couple of weeks ago, remember? These were men and women who had endured great hardship and challenges and suffering but were known for their faith. One of them was Abraham. Abraham repeatedly had to push through confusing and daunting circumstances. To follow God, he had to leave his family and set out for a place that he’d never been before. There was no map. No GPS. He didn’t know where it was or what it looked like and wouldn’t know he was there until God told him to stop. Then he lived in a foreign land and was all alone in his worship of Yahweh, so he repeatedly had to remind himself who it was who brought him there. Then he had a promise from God that he would have a son and from that son the Messiah would come and the nations would be glad. But it didn’t happen immediately so he repeatedly had to trust God.
When I 1st started trying to have a quiet time; a time of just me and God. I would read a couple of verses and try to pray and I’d fall asleep or my mind would wander and I’d think I’d been at it for 30 minutes and it was only 7 minutes. But as I repeated the process every morning, eventually I built up the spiritual discipline and I am able to spend over an hour each day with Jesus in quiet time.
The same goes for sharing the gospel…the more I did it the better I got. This principle applies to all things spiritual: witnessing, Bible reading, tithing, prayer, and pushing through in times of temptation or hardship. Once I began being generous with God on a regular basis, it built into a habit, and habits foster endurance. Endurance is built by repetition.
2. Endurance is increased by pushing our limits
When I decided to do triathlons, I’d get in the pool and swim one length and be exhausted! But I wouldn’t quit; I’d push through that limitation. I’d swim another length, and another length and before long I could swing 2 lengths without stopping and then 3 lengths, and then I got to the point where I could swim for 30-40 minutes without stopping. But if I didn’t push through that one lap or 2 lap limitation, I would never had built endurance and been able to complete the swimming phase without drowning. Pushing through limitations is how you build endurance in anything.
Our Scripture says we should run with endurance the race that is before us. It’s only by pushing your limits that you can run faster and better. If you read the Bible for 3 minutes a day, push the limitation to 5 minutes. If you pray for 5 minutes, push it to 10 minutes. If you’re fearful of sharing the gospel, begin by inviting them to church, the push through to sharing your testimony and story, then push through again by learning to share the gospel and then doing it. Scripture memory occurs this way: you repeat it to yourself once, then again, then again. Half of it fall out yo head, but you keep pushing back the limitation until you finally get the whole thing.
This is true with all spiritual disciplines including generosity with God. We talked about this during Unleashed last year: just take your generosity up to a new level. If you’re not giving on Sundays, begin. If you’re giving, but not giving regularly, put it on auto withdrawl from your bank. If you’re giving regularly but haven’ really tried a certain percentage of your income, begin with a percentage. If you are giving a percentage, take it to a tithe, a tenth of what He has given to you. If you’re tithing, step into the big leagues and give 15-20-25%.
During RUN, we’re asking everyone who calls Rush Creek home to take their giving to the next level; to push through the limits and reach for a higher level of commitment and generosity. Listen, Man’s extremities are God’s opportunities. Don’t limit God by avoiding to push through your limitations.
3. Endurance is fueled by our commitment to finish strong
Look at v.2 “keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
This race that Jesus ran in His time here on earth, do you think that He finished strong? You bet He did. He put up with ridicule, rejection, torture and eventually an excruciating death on a Roman cross. But then it says that he did what? He sat down at the right hand of God the Father.
When He was laboring in obscurity as a carpenter’s apprentice, He was committed to finishing strong. When He was rejected by His own family and thought to be insane, He was committed to finishing strong. When He was without food and water for 40 days and tempted by Satan himself to lose sight of the finish line, He was committed to finishing strong. When He was in the Garden the night He was betrayed and so overcome by the enormity of what was about to happen that He experienced hematohidrosis—a rare but real clinical, medical condition and was sweating great drops of blood—He was committed to finishing strong. He could have called 10,000 angels to rescue Him there, or rescue Him in the cold, damp cellar of Caiphas’ house, or rescue Him from the indignity of a mock trial before Pilate or rescue Him from the brutal almost deadly beating the Roman soldiers inflicted on Him, or rescue Him when He was hanging naked on that cross that Friday for six hours--He could have called 10,000 angels—but He died for you and me; He was committed to finishing strong.
Our commitment to finish strong could never match the commitment of our Lord. But our commitment certainly must be similar to His in that we want to finish strong.
Hebrews 10:36 is a verse I memorized decades ago: “For you need endurance, so that after you have done God’s will, you may receive what was promised.” Hebrews 10:36
Keep it up there. That 2nd phrase is what we stumble on: “so that AFTER you have done God’s will”. Whether we’re talking about taking your generosity to a whole new level, or sticking in your marriage when it’s tough, or not giving in to fear because of a threatening disease or circumstance, or witnessing to someone in your class or office—don’t expect it to feel good in the moment; even for a season. What will get you through and what will fuel your endurance is the commitment to finish strong.
