God’s Super Bowl
Hebrews 12:1 - 3 (NKJV) Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.
Tonight thousands will pack the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona and millions will tune in on television to watch Super Bowl 57. They be watching and cheering in hopes that their favorite team will win the Vince Lombardi Trophy. Whether it be the Philadelphia Eagles or the Kansas City Chiefs only one the win the trophy,
Throughout his writings the Apostle Paul compared the Christian life as race as were run in the Olympics in Olympia, Greece.
Today the Christian life is a race it is God’s Super Bowl. The writer of Hebrews said if we are going to run the Christian life with no distractions and not get off track, we must keep our eyes carefully focused on Jesus.
1. Start Well
Since the Christian life is a race, let us examine the racecourse. We know how it starts and how it finishes. For all of us, it starts when we receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and commit ourselves to the person of Jesus Christ. That's the starting line. Before you can run the race of life, you must start well.
Of course in between, the Bible says God has a racecourse for every one of that is planned out. Your course is different from mine, and mine is different from yours - different experiences, different places to go and things to do. But they had the same starting point - submission to Christ
2. Run Well
Your encouragement is to run well. You can run well because that is God's intention for all of us. How do you run well?
A. Run Well With Endurance
Hebrews 12:1c (NKJV) … Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.
Great racers develop endurance. Christianity is not a hundred-yard dash. It is a marathon of endurance.
B. Run Well With A Team
Hebrews 12:1a (NKJV) Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses…
The ideas in Hebrews 11 do not culminate at the chapter division. The Bible was written in unmarked paragraphs instead of chapters and verses. Hebrews 11 begins in chapter 10 and culminates in chapter 12.
In chapter 10, the writer is addressing a group of Christians under unbelievable persecution. They had given up houses; many had had their property confiscated. Many had actually suffered physical persecution, some death. So as he draws near the end of chapter 10, he is encouraging the believers to "hang on." He encourages them by telling them about marvelous women and men of faith.
In their lives, we see the lifestyles that please God, lifestyles that revolve around faith. He says these are our examples. If these folks can do it, then we can do it too. They are on our team.
The great hall of faith in Hebrews 11 demonstrates that the life of faith really works. We have before us a great cloud of witnesses who are willing to testify that they had lived the life of faith, committed to Christ, and it worked for them.
C. Run With Your Eyes On Jesus
Hebrews 12 gives one of the most glorious looks at Jesus Christ in all of Scripture. As we run the race of our lives, we must run with our heads up and our eyes focused on Christ. If we are to run the life of faith, we resist the distractions and look deeply into His eyes.
Hebrews 12:2 - 3 (NKJV) Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.
Jesus made Himself nothing and became a servant. He became human. Then He experienced death - not any death but death on a cross. The writer of the Hebrews said in effect, If Jesus Christ can do it, you can too because He didn't do this as God; He was doing this in His humanity. For the joy of saving us, He endured the cross, despising the shame.
Paul tells us the same in Philippians 2:5-8
Philippians 2:5 - 8 (NKJV) Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
Jesus shows us the course, He demonstrates the proper attitude, He sets the pace, He leads us to victory!
3. End Well
One of the basic teachings of Christianity is so simple: It is not how you start that matters; it is how you finish. Jesus made clear that those who endure to the end will be saved.
Matthew 24:13 (NKJV) But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
The finish line of the race is Christ likeness. He is growing us and maturing us on this racecourse to look like Jesus Christ. And of course, ultimately the finish line is out there in eternity, in heaven.
How can we end well?
A. End Well With A Great Legacy
Not everyone in the Bible made it into the Hall of Faith. We could say that the Bible also has a Hall of Shame - men and women who ought to be in Hebrews 11 but are conspicuous by their absence. At the final judgment, some Christians will be weeping tears of shame because of what they didn't do for Christ on the racecourse.
· The first King of Israel, Saul, should be there, but he is not. He focused more on pleasing the people than on pleasing God.
· The wisest man who ever lived, Solomon, should be there, but he is not. He focused more on foreign women and their gods.
· Balaam was a good prophet, but he had his eyes on the money. His eyes were so out of focus and distracted that he could not see an angel in front of his face. His donkey was more focused on God than he was.
B. End Well With Prize In Mind
God has a great reward laid in store of greater value than the Vince Lombardi Trophy for all who finish the race. It can only be received by faithfully completing the race.
Philippians 3:12 - 14 (NKJV) 12Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
1 Corinthians 9:24 - 27 (NKJV) 24Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. 25And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. 26Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. 27But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.
Conclusion
Putting our faith in Christ as our Lord and Savior places us in God’s Super Bowl.
As you run the race of life, God is cheering for you. He loves and cares about you. His love for you is revealed in His giving His Son to come earth to die for your sin.
John 3:16 - 17 (NKJV) For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
