In 1968, the country of Tanzania selected John Stephen Akhwari to represent it
in the Mexico City Olympics. Along the racecourse for the marathon, Akhwari
stumbled and fell, severely injuring both his knee and ankle. By 7 p.m., a runner
from Ethiopia had won the race, and all the other competitors had finished and
been cared for. Just a few thousand spectators were left in the huge stadium when
a police siren at the gate caught their attention. Limping through the gate came
number 36, Akhwari, leg wrapped in a bloody bandage. Those present began to
cheer as the courageous man completed the final lap of the race. Later, a reporter
asked Akhwari the question on everyone's mind: "Why did you continue the race
after you were so badly injured?" He replied: "My country did not send me 7,000
miles to begin a race; they sent me to finish the race."
Such was the spirit of Jesus. He came into this world, not just to start a race to
reach the goal of providing salvation from sin, but to finish that race and make it
to the cross where he would pay the price for man’s redemption. Anyone can start
a race, but the key to being a winner is to finish what you start. Adam and Eve had
the best start ever, but they fell along the way and did not finish the race. Judas
had a marvelous start, but he let himself get ensnared by Satan and dropped out a
loser. This story is repeated over and over again, and many who start good end
poorly, for they do not continue. They lack the one thing crucial for being a
winner, and that is perseverance. Nobody can be a finisher without perseverance.
The word means “to hang in there.” It is a refusing to give up even when you want
to call it quits because of fatigue. This is a major theme of the book of Hebrews,
and all of the Bible, because it is the only way to be a winner.
We are to look to Jesus, for he was the greatest finisher ever. He never gave up
running for the sake of winning the race for our sake. He is not only the author,
that is the beginner, of our faith, but he is the finisher of our faith. He was a
finisher because he never gave up. Michael Lampkin puts it so eloquently:
"They Pierce him in the side, But he Kept on running.
They Whip him with 39 stripes, But he Kept On running.
They Smote him with the palm on their hand, But he kept on running.
They said that he wasn’t the Son of God, But he kept on running.
He Could have given up, But he kept Running.
He Could have Come Down From The Cross, But He Kept On Running."
"Yes My Brothers and My Sisters Don’t Give Up, Just Stay In The Race.
Don’t Give In, Just Stay In the Race.
Don’t Throw In The Towel, Just Stay In The Race.
You May Fall By The Wayside But Just Stay In The Race.
So what if they Talk About You, Just Stay In The Race.
So what if Folk Misunderstand You, Just Stay In the Race.
You Might Be About To Lose Your Mind, But Just Stay In The Race.
You Might Feel Like You are By Your Self, But Just Stay In The Race."
This is one of the key messages of the book of Hebrews. The Hebrew Christians
were being strongly tempted to give up on following Jesus. The persecution was too
much, and they could retreat back to Judaism and escape much of the suffering it was
costing to follow Jesus. The constant plea of this book is don't do it. Don't give up on
Jesus, for there is no better one to follow. There is only loss when you give up on
Jesus. He is the best and the greatest in every possible way, and it is folly to give up on
the best. Jesus is not only the Savior, but he is also the greatest example of running the
race of life without giving up when the going got hard. "When the going gets tough the
tough get going," fits Jesus perfectly. He was tough, and so all the power of Rome, and
all the power of Judaism, and all the power of Satan combined could not get him to
give up. He ran all the way to the goal line, and He said before he died, "It is finished."
It was no easy race Jesus had to run. He had obstacles all along the way. Satan
offered him an easy out by just bowing to him, but he refused to take that option.
Many forsook Him when the leaders of Israel began to oppose Him. Judas betrayed
Him and Peter denied Him. His closest friends abandoned him just when he was most
in need of encouragement. And finally, even His heavenly Father forsook Him as He
hung upon the cross. It was hell to be so forsaken, but Jesus did not give up. He went
the distance and became the greatest runner and greatest winner in history, and His
prize is an eternity of redeemed humanity to share in everlasting celebration.
It is good for us to remember this reality when we get angry and frustrated with
God for not making life run smoother for us. We have all kinds of burdens and
pressures that God will not take away. We do not escape sickness and death, and
accidents happen to us as well. Prayers go unanswered and God seems distant and
uncaring. It is easy to feel that God is our persecutor, and we are tempted at times to
stop running the race. Why not just sit out for awhile and see if it makes any
difference? We are putting God to the test, and we are not living by faith, but by sight.
The point is, we need to keep our eyes on Jesus and not on circumstances, for He is the
one who never stopped running.
Jesus had many escape routes along the way. He could have bowed to Satan, He
could have conformed to the scribes and Pharisees, He could have let his disciples
fight and called ten thousand angels to rescue Him, He could have ascended back to
heaven and forsaken the goal of the cross. Jesus had a way out, but He never took it,
because He did not come into this world to start a race-He came to finish one. Thank
God for this greatest runner in all of history, for His determination and persistence to
reach the goal is why we have reason to rejoice always.
What was the goal that kept Jesus going, even through the hell of being forsaken by
His Father, and when He had the choice of escape? It was says verse two, “…the joy
set before Him…” It was the joy of what would be accomplished for all eternity by his
perseverance and never giving up. He endured all the shame and pain of the cross
because it was so temporal and passing in comparison with the eternal joy of having a
redeemed humanity to fellowship with in the Father’s house in heaven. In 2:10 we are
told that the goal of the suffering Jesus endured was to bring many sons to glory. He
was building an eternal family. Jesus was never an earthly father, but He will be the
father of the largest family ever for all eternity. Joy kept Him going, and we need this
eternal hope to keep going when the cost is high. Those who do not give up on Jesus,
even when the cost is death, have to have a clear and abiding confidence in the
promise of eternal joy at His right hand.
As the example of the perfect runner, Jesus is to be the focus for all our lives as we
run the race. We are to keep our eyes on Him and not get distracted by the many
things that Satan will bring to our attention to make us stumble and even fall. One of
the key reasons for failure in the race is getting our eyes off Jesus and on to other
runners. We get envious of those who are ahead of us, and those who seem to be blest
with sleeker bodies that can run with less effort. Paul urged Christians not to play the
comparison game, for it leads to putting on a lot of weight, and slows you down in the
race. There is always someone who is a greater runner than you are, and if that
becomes your focus, you will be an unhappy runner. Your envy will be like a weight
you carry, and you will lose energy and falter in your progress. Throw off all the
weights that come from focusing on others with envy and jealousy. You would pity the
runner who tried to carry his garbage can with him as he ran, and that is what you are
doing when you carry the weight of envy as you run the Christian race. Get your eyes
off others, and get them focused on Jesus.
The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, and the only way to run
straight in the Christian race is to keep your eyes on the coach at the goal line. A
pastor illustrated the importance of this by telling this story: “Back in the days of
plowing behind a mule, the farmer was trying to teach his son how to plow a straight
furrow, “Just set your eyes on a goal on the far side of the field, and keep the mule
going straight toward that goal, and when you get across the field you’ll have a
straight furrow.” Well, the young son tried that. He picked out a big brown cow
grazing on the other side of the field, but when he got across and looked back, he had a
very crooked furrow. For the cow had wandered about in her grazing, and he had
been following a moving goal.” The point is, we need a goal that does not shift. We
need a solid rock and one who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. There is only
one who fits this description, and that is why we must keep our eyes on Jesus. Mark
Copeland points out that we can glance at those faithful in Heb 11 as examples, but we
are to gaze at Jesus, and keep our eyes on Him. He wrote this little outline of ways of
looking:
1) If you want to be distressed -- look within
2) If you want to be defeated -- look back
3) If you want to be distracted -- look around
4) If you want to be dismayed -- look ahead
5) If you want to be delivered -- look up! - cf. Co 3:1-2
The weight that is most likely to slow you down and even take you off the track is
getting your eyes on things rather than Jesus. Judas took his eyes off Jesus and got
them so focused on the thirty pieces of silver that he stopped running with Jesus
completely. This is the sinister plot of Satan from the beginning. He got Adam and Eve
to take their eyes off of God and His Word of guidance, and focus them on the
forbidden fruit. It worked, and he succeeded in taking them out of the race by this
clever distraction. That is the method he has used all through history. Forbidden fruit
is anything that makes us take our eyes off Jesus and get them focused on it. Once we
are no longer focused on Jesus He is no longer Lord of our life. Whatever, or
whoever, has our focus and attention becomes our idol. We do not like to think that
idolatry is a problem in our modern world, but the fact is, we have as many idols as
people have ever had. They are not called gods, and we do not actually go to temples to
bow to them, but they become our God when they take our attention off from Jesus,
and become the focus of our attention.
Jesus faced all of this as He ran the race. Satan offered Him power over all the
nations if He would get His eyes off the plan of His Father and focus on what His life
could become as a great ruler. He offered Him an opportunity to leap off the temple
and become a popular hero with the crowd forever clamoring to exalt Him. He could
have become and stayed as a national hero among His people. Jesus was tempted in all
points like as we are. He had the temptation to settle down and marry a godly wife, and
enjoy the best of this earth. He had the temptation to get rich and focus all of His
energy on building an earthy empire. Power, position and possessions, that trinity of
earthly success, had an appeal to Him, as it does to all people, but Jesus had to lay
these weights aside and surrender His life to the Father’s will. “Not my will, but Thine
be done.” These were His words in Gethsemane, but you can count on it that this was a
constant prayer of His life. Every day of His race He had to keep His focus on the goal
and the Father’s will, or there was danger that He would lose His momentum and
stumble. His example of perseverance is to be our motivation to follow in His path.
Jesus ran the perfect race;
Kept His eyes upon the goal;
And He never slowed the pace;
Gave His all, body and soul.
Let us fix our eyes on Him;
Let us never look away;
Never let His image dim;
Always let Him hear us say:
You are my great example,
Help me keep my eyes on you.
Help me all idols trample,
And to your goal be true.
Jesus is the only perfect example. He was the perfecter of our faith. We have many
heroes and heroines of the Bible, but they all had one thing in common, they were not
perfect. The Bible does not hide their defects for good reason. They are valid examples
of faith and perseverance, but they are not examples of perfect faith and perfect
perseverance. That honor belongs to Jesus only. This means that there is even a
danger in getting our eyes off of Jesus by focusing on other great examples. He was
not a great example, but the greatest example, and when believers forget that they risk
taking on the weight of personality loyalty. The history of Christianity has been
weighed down in the race to do the will of God by a focus on other people. The
Corinthians had divisions in the church because some favored Paul, and others
Apollos, and still others though Peter was the greatest leader.
This tendency to focus on men or women as the greatest leader to follow has hurt
the church over and over again. The divisions of Christianity are primarily due to the
focus on great leaders and teachers. The Calvin versus Arminius controversy has
divided Christians for centuries, and probably will to the end of time. They see
theology differently, but they see Jesus the same. They equally acknowledge Jesus as
Lord and Savior, but they do not have unity because that highest theology of His
Lordship is not their focus. They put their stress on their different perspectives as to
the sovereignty of God and the free will of man on a higher level than the Lordship of
Jesus, and the result is they have a weight that slows down the whole church in the
race to fulfill the Great Commission of the Lord. The eyes are not on Jesus, but on
men and systems of theology, and the result is hindrances and entanglements that slow
the pace. We do not have to stop debating issues, and stop seeking to reconcile the
mysteries of godliness, but we do have to stop letting these things cloud our vision and
take our focus off of Jesus. If you refuse to fellowship with and love another believer
in Jesus because of some difference in theology, your theology is an idol, and you need
to repent and submit anew to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. I know it is a cliché, but it
is true, that if Jesus is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at all.
I know that the followers of men and systems feel very strongly about their
convictions, but there is no way to escape the conclusion we must come to by reading
the words of Paul in I Cor. 13:2, “If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all
mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have
not love, I am nothing.” You may be right that your theology is more valid and better
supported by the Scriptures, but if that means more to you than loving your fellow
believer, you have taken your eyes off Jesus, and you are running the Christian race
with the weight of a large bag of theology books on your back. You might be more
right, but you are making slow progress in being Christ-like. I trust my poem will be
your experience as you seek to get back in the race fully focused on Jesus.
I took my eyes off Jesus,
And began to follow men.
I knew He came to free us,
And deliver from this den.
The devil got my focus
On so many other things,
And with his hocus-pocus
He caused his plan to take wings.
Lord Jesus please forgive me
For taking my eyes off you.
Now it is so plain to see
That I must to you be true.
So get me back on the track
So I’m running beside you.
So then I will nothing lack,
As I too, your goal pursue.
Jesus had to throw off entanglements of the world in order to become the greatest
runner of the race of complete obedience to God. It was not easy to do so, and it is not
easy for us to do it, and that is why we need to have His example ever before us. It is
recorded that after the 1996 Olympic games in Australia there was a great upswing in
business at the gyms and health clubs. The example of so many great athletes in such
good shape motivated people to try and get in better shape themselves. This is the
point of the eleventh chapter of Hebrews. We are to look at all of these men and
women of faith who persevered through all of their trials and kept running the race of
faith. They now surround us and give us encouragement as we now carry the flame.
But the example of Jesus stands out, for He is the gold medal winner of all time, and
the greatest runner ever.
Jesus showed us by His example that a winner needs to deny himself many
pleasures in order to be focused on the race. As we have seen, Jesus gave up all that a
normal human life would have given Him. This is a price people pay even for the
earthly race. Paul said it in I Cor. 9:25: “..everyone who competes for the prize is
temperate in all things.” Athletes have to give up a lot to discipline them selves and
gain full self-control. Their victory depends on self-denial. They do it for mere earthly
glory, and how much more should we do so for the eternal crown of God’s favor?
Jesus said in Matt. 16:24, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself
and take up his cross and follow me.” If you are in the race with Jesus, you will need
to deny and discipline yourself if you expect to keep up the pace of a winner. Jesus
reached the ultimate goal and sat down at the right hand of God on His throne, and
that is to be our goal as well. Jesus said to the church in Rev. 3:21, “To him who
overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat
down with my Father on his throne.” What a promise, and what a goal! Steve Shepherd
has put together an excellent outline of these first two verses of Heb. 12.
He writes, “From our text in Hebrews 12 I would like for us to consider what
will help or hinder our spiritual journey.
1- The witnesses who encompass us
2- The weights that encumber us
3- The weariness that encounters us
4- The winner who encourages us
This outline, that is a focus on the race, is by another pastor, whose name I have
misplaced. It is an excellent summery of the message of Hebrews.
Title: Why We Should Run the Race of Life With Confidence? Hebrews 12:1-3
I. We Should Run the Race With Confidence Because Others Who Have Proven It
Can Be Done Are Cheering Us On! 12:1
II. We Should Run the Race With Confidence Because Jesus Has Already Run It On
Our Behalf! 12:2
III. We Should Run the Race With Confidence Because Christ Provides Us With Both
the Example and the Strength to Run On! 12:3
Our focus is to be on getting rid of everything that weighs us down, and giving our
full attention to the example of the greatest runner and greatest winner in history. We
read in verse 3, “Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that
you will not grow weary and lose heart.” The point is, when you see what he endure for
you without giving up, it will strengthen you to persevere even though there is great
pain to endure to do so. There is no hint in the Bible that the race is easy. There is no
promise that if you run the race with faith that there will be no pain. Just the opposite
is the case, for, like Jesus, we will have to suffer much pain in discipline, and
perseverance will mean pressing on even when the cost is persecution and even
martyrdom. It may come as a shock when you see the Greek word for race, for it is the
word agona, from which we get the word agony. The Christian race can be an
agonizing and grueling experience that calls for great endurance and determination to
keep going forward. This word agona was one of Paul’s favorite words for the
Christian struggle in the world. See (Philippians 1:30, Colossians 2:1, 1 Thessalonians
2:2, 1 Timothy 6:12, 2 Timothy 4:7).
Arthur Pink has an excellent comment on the agony involved in the race. He writes,
“The principal thoughts suggested by the figure of the "race" are rigorous self-denial and
discipline, vigorous exertion, persevering endurance. The Christian life is not a thing of
passive luxuriation, but of active "fighting the good fight of faith!" The Christian is not
called to lie down on flowery beds of ease, but to run a race, and athletics are strenuous,
demanding self-sacrifice, hard training, the putting forth of every ounce of energy
possessed. I am afraid that in this work-hating and pleasure-loving age, we do not keep
this aspect of the truth sufficiently before us: we take things too placidly and lazily. The
charge which God brought against Israel of old applies very largely to Christendom
today: "Woe to them that are at ease in Zion" (Amos 6:1): to be "at ease" is the very
opposite of "running the race."
If we expect to win the prize without pain we will be greatly disappointed when it
comes. We do escape much of the pain that Christians have had to endure through the
ages, and even yet today in parts of the world, but there is always the pain of self-
denial and endurance that is essential to be a winner. It is one of the rules of the race
that you have to be self-controlled. Paul wrote in II Tim. 2:5, “…if anyone competes
as an athlete, he does not receive the victory crown unless he competes according to
the rules.” The main rule for the Christian race is to keep your eyes on Jesus.
Someone told this story of those who tried to win by breaking the rules “I heard about
a marathon runner that won the race far ahead of all others. Later it was discovered
that a twin brother took over at the halfway point and ran the second half of the race
with fresh legs and energy. They really didn’t win because they didn’t compete
according to the rules.” Neither do we win when we have a different coach and a
different goal than Jesus. You might run a race that impresses others as you become
popular and successful, but if your eyes are not on Jesus, and if you are not running to
please Him, and reach the goal of being seated with Him on His throne, you are a loser
no matter how many people are impressed.
In a world with so many distractions it is easy for any of us to get our eyes off Jesus
and on to many other goals. It is hard to keep our focus on Jesus, and so much easier
to aim for some goal that is attainable with less difficulty. We all want to go the way of
least resistance. We are like Jack Handey who told of how a bully would demand his
lunch money every day and he had to give it to him because he was so much bigger
than he was. He started to take karate lessons, but the instructor wanted five dollars a
less. It was cheaper to just go ahead and give his lunch money to the bully, and so he
gave up karate.” And so it is when we find it is easier to give in to the temptation of
Satan to aim for earthly goals. They are so much easier than aiming for Christ-
likeness that we give up this God-pleasing goal and go the way of the tempter. There is
always more than one way to go in life, and that is why we need to keep our eyes on
Jesus at all times, for as soon as we take them off of Him we risk taking a path that
leads us out of the will of God. Robert Frost in The Road Not Taken gives us a picture
of the importance of making sure we are taking the right road. We never are unless it
is the way the Savior went.
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could.
To where it bent in the undergrowth,
Then I took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
The road less traveled is the road where self, others and things all become primary
goals, and Jesus is just a footnote in the biography of your life. This happens to
believers because they take their eyes off the coach and the goal.
There is a false idea conveyed to many that the Christian life is only a fifty yard dash.
You make a decision and pray for forgiveness, be baptized and join the church, and it
is all over. You can then do your own thing, and just check in once in a while to let
Jesus know you are on His side. Such are called “Mushroom Christians.” They pop up
quickly and then cease to grow. They never become a tree planted by the living water
that brings forth fruit for the glory of God. They have never understood that the race
is for life, and that it calls for endurance and perseverance. You can become a
Christians in a minute, but it takes a life time to run until you are mature, and worthy
to set down on the throne with Jesus.
We have no responsibility in being saved, for Jesus did it all, and we need only to
accept what He did for us on the cross to be forgiven and saved. But notice how these
verses are packed with personal obligation and responsibility. We must do things to be
winners in the race of faith. We need to throw off those things that hinder us in the
race. We need to run with perseverance. We need to fix our eyes on Jesus. These are
not things that are done for us. These are things we must choose to do for ourselves or
we will not be successful runners. Jesus is the greatest runner, but He does not run
for us. We need to run the race ourselves. We look to Him for our example and our
encouragement, but He will not do the race for us as we sit and watch from the
bleachers. This is our race. He has already done His race, and He has done it for us to
give us a reason to persevere no matter what the cost. He did not stop at any cost for
our sake, and we are to do the same for His sake. There are no shortcuts and no
substitutes. We must run according to the rules and be judged on our own
performance. We cannot match the perfect run of Jesus, but we can be faithful to His
path, and never wander away from the goal He, and all the faithful of the past, are
cheering us on to reach. Salvation is not a prize, it is a gift, but the honor of being
seated with Jesus on His throne is a prize that is won by running the race with
perseverance, and never giving up.
A major point of the whole book of Hebrews is to look at the long run. The race is
long and hard, and if you do not keep going just because it is not easy, you will miss
out on God’s best in both time and eternity. He wrote back in 6:11-12, “We want each
of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure.
We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and
patience inherit what has been promised.” The bottom line is, we must be like Jesus in
this race of faith. We cannot run it perfectly, but we can persevere and never give up.
We must be ever, “pressing on toward the mark.” This does not mean that we will
never fall, but it does mean we will never stay fallen. "A righteous man falls seven
times and rises again,” says Prov24:16. The only way we can do this is to keep our eyes
on Jesus the greatest runner. An unknown poet says it all:
“Run the race therefore with patience.
Fill desperate hearts with a song.
Hope when the way seems quite hopeless
Endure when our strength is all gone.
Constantly onward our footsteps.
Eyes fixed on Heaven's delight.
Unending strength bears us upward,
Up to the City of Light.”
