WELCOME & INTRODUCTION
SURVIVAL STORIES – HAVE A NICE FALL
In November 2019, Ryan Cairnes did a few things right and a few things wrong when he went rock climbing in Washington’s Cannon Mountains. His first mistake—even though he’s an experienced climber with sturdy gear—was going to the remote and rugged area by himself. So there was no one there to grab Ryan’s line when “something just let loose” and he started sliding down the steep, rocky mountainside. “There was no part of me inside that said I was going to live,” the 36-yeara-old Microsoft manager from Seattle later told reporters. “I just said, I’m falling off a cliff. And people die when they fall off cliffs.” Ryan didn’t die, but after the minute-long fall of 300-400 feet that ended with him landing on a boulder, he’d fractured his neck, sternum, kneecap, and left ankle, as well as injuring some ribs. Fortunately, his head was okay (though his helmet took quite a beating).
Ryan’s second big mistake: He didn’t have an emergency beacon. Unable to walk and in excruciating pain, he spread out his orange tent on the ground, hoping a helicopter would fly over and see it. No one came. One of the things he did right was to bring a zero-degree-rated sleeping bag, which kept him from freezing to death at night. The next day, a helicopter did fly near Ryan, but it kept going. That’s when he realized he’d have to get out of there on his own. Using a walking stick to pull himself along the ground, he traveled about 200 feet per hour, at around a 6,000-foot elevation, until he finally made it to a trail.
The other thing he did right: He’d texted his mom in Pennsylvania before he left, telling her the general area he was going to be in, and when he’d return. When he didn’t text her on that return date, she called the authorities, who sent out a search-and-rescue team. They found Ryan weak but alert on the trail. Remarkably, he only had to spend a few days in the hospital, but he’s still perplexed by his survival: “I hit the boulder with so much force,” he said, “I don’t know why I’m here.”
How much would you endure when times are bleak? When the world around us is falling in, what does it take to keep going? What or who gives you endurance to keep going?
Today’s message on the Cross of Christ is more specifically that The Cross of Christ Gives Us Endurance. Let’s read our text this morning.
HEBREWS 12:1-2 [ESV]
12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
I’m not a runner. I have never enjoyed running just to run. Now, if given a ball to bounce or run with in purpose to score points with said ball—that is something I have enjoyed. When it comes to this passage, this is a familiar metaphor. We find running and racing metaphors in several places in Scripture.
The Hebrew writer wants us to see that this race we run isn’t meant to be something we despise, but a joy. I want to take us through this passage exegetically and not necessarily with a particular number of points. The point this morning is this passage and that the Cross is meant to give us endurance to run this race. And I want us to see how the Cross gives us endurance through this passage and example of Jesus.
WE ARE SURROUNDED
First, the writer begins with the phrase, “We are surrounded…” As I mentioned these people knew these names. The writer of Hebrews has spent an entire chapter (Chapter 11) giving the reader a background in the faithfulness of the Jewish patriarchs and matriarchs of their lineage. The Jews knew these names. They knew these people. These were the people they quoted daily, the ones they taught their children about, the people they talk about sitting in their houses, walking along the way, lying down and when they rose. These people were the ones they remembered daily as the historical ancestors who brought them closer to the presence of the Lord God Almighty.
And it is in this context, that the Hebrew writer brings our passage today. This passage is for us too. It is a reminder of who Jesus is. How he has transcended all of those ancestors of the Hebrew people. This passage gives us insight into how we can find endurance to continue running this life-race we have been given to run. Maybe a reader finds hope in something Noah, Enoch, Rahab, Abraham, or Moses did. He also reminds them to be encouraged.
Think about those who have surrounded you in such a similar way in your life. Those whom have had a hand in your heritage and history. The people who may have helped raise you up in the faith and helped you to grow closer to Jesus.
Think about the people who surround you now. Today there are people who encourage you to continue to run this race with endurance. Who is that for you? For me, I think about David Young. He preaches for the North Boulevard Church of Christ in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
He is a wonderful man of faith. His messages encourage me when I hear them. I hear his sincerity and his passion for the Gospel and his love of making disciples. I also hear the love in his voice for people. I want to be like David Young. Right now, he is going through treatment for cancer. Selfishly, I pray for complete healing for him. I feel like the church needs David for many more years. His voice is one we need to continue to hear. I pray for him and the church he ministers for. Who is that person you think of? Pray and thank God for them.
If you don’t have that person, let me encourage you to become that person for someone else. I have heard too often from our young adults (millennials and GenZ) that they don’t like the church because someone hurt them and they don’t want to be a part of something where that happens. I always say, welcome to the world. It is fallen and imperfect and that includes the church. You didn’t become a follower of the work of a friend; you didn’t become a follower of your parents; you didn’t become a follower of the church members. You became a follower of Jesus Christ.
Don’t let anyone be the cause of why you leave the church. They are not the reason why you go to church in the first place.
LAY ASIDE EVERY WEIGHT AND SIN
Secondly, the Hebrew author says, in light of those witnesses who surround you, lay aside every weight and sin. If our patriarchs and matriarchs of the faith mean a lot to us and our growth as Christians, we should be able to lay aside the things that hinder our growth. It is such a shame that we have examples in the faith and we know how we are called to holiness and yet still willfully sin. It hurts. It hurts not just for God, but for the sinner. When I know I shouldn’t do something but still sin, the guilt runs deep. I feel a lot like Paul in Romans 7:15, “For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” For the sake of our witness for the next generation of “surrounding witnesses” we should lay aside all of these things.
RUN THE RACE
Then Paul simply says, Run the Race. This is the same race that every single one of these patriarchs and matriarchs ran before us. They faced the same obstacles. They faced the same uneven ground. They faced the same exhaustion. Now it is our turn.
Even more so, this is the same race Jesus ran. Jesus faced the same trials. He faced the same temptations. And he ran. Jesus is the founder. He ran to found the faith we hold today. He is the perfecter. Jesus ran this race with perfection. Not so we can run with perfection. Like I mentioned, we still sin and struggle. But we are urged to run this race and now with Jesus, He has perfected it and He perfects us. Even when we stumble. Even when we are tired from running. Even when we stop and want to turn back. Jesus perfects us. So we keep going.
Christian character is not created in the moment of adversity. Christian character is revealed in the moment of adversity.
WITH JOY
Finally, Jesus runs this race how? With joy. This joy was set before him. Jesus was so filled with joy for the race that he endured death on the cross. Jesus, knowing we would reject him, still ran. When he knew we wouldn’t believe in him, he ran. When he was beaten, he ran. When he was mocked, he ran. When he had nails driven into his hands and feet, he ran. In his death, he ran. At any time, he could have ended all of it, but he endured. Why? He knew what the finish line looked like.
And we are not talking about happiness. There were things and still are things that bring sadness to Jesus. There are things that are going to be sad for us today. Happiness is a byproduct of holiness. Joy is something we get even knowing that things might not be great tomorrow because we have the goal in mind.
The false idea that our lives here are about maximizing happiness and that a lack of that happiness must correspond to a lack of God’s love, goodness, or existence. Jesus did not just go without food for forty days in the wilderness. Jesus also put to death the devil’s temptations of a painless, exalted life. Our treasures are not here; they are with our Father, with Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.
Do you find joy in your trials? Are we enduring to be part of the next generation surrounding those coming next? Are we running this race with endurance so that our children can know with confidence the hope we have in Christ? We should run in a way that they do. Charles Spurgeon once said, “Do not expect to be honored in a world where your Master was crucified.” We may get to the end of this race without any honor, fanfare, or award here on earth. Remember, Jesus had a wilderness, a Gethsemane, and a Judas.
When my race is run and I have come to the end, I want my name on someone’s list. In retrospect, I would love to see people remember what I lived for.
“By faith, Mike Lewis…” Put your name there.
I may not ever get that. I used to tell people, I will probably never receive any kind of award for the work I do or the things I say. I just tend to get overlooked in that way. But I am still going to serve and live my life for Jesus and the ultimate reward.
There is nothing wrong with not being liked. Some people don’t like dogs—obviously those people are wrong—but dogs have this unique thing about them, they don’t let it bother them. Live for Jesus Christ and don’t worry about other people.
Martin Luther famously preached, “Live like Jesus died yesterday. Rose this morning. And is coming back tomorrow.” Do this every day. Run this race with endurance. The cross of Christ gives us the endurance to run. When we see the shadow of the cross, see the finish line to the race.
The beloved hymn “It Is Well with My Soul” declares: “Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, ‘It is well, it is well with my soul.’
Believer in Christ, are you allowing God to use the circumstances of your life to teach you to say that?
Take encouragement from the Apostle Paul again when he says, 12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12-14)
INVITATION
