Opening illustration: In 1952 Florence Chadwick attempted to swim 26 miles from the coast of California to Catalina Island. After 15 hours, a heavy fog began to block her view, she became disoriented, and she gave up. To her chagrin, Chadwick learned that she had quit just 1 mile short of her destination.
Two months later Chadwick tried a second time to swim to Catalina Island from the coast. Again a thick fog settled in, but this time she reached her destination, becoming the first woman to swim the Catalina Channel. Chadwick said she kept an image of the shoreline in her mind even when she couldn’t see it. Let us fix our eyes upon Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.
When the problems of life cloud our vision, we have an opportunity to learn to see our goal with the eyes of faith. The New Testament letter to the Hebrews urges us to “run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith” (12:1-2). When we feel like quitting, this is our signal to remember not only what Jesus suffered for us but what He now helps us to endure—until the day we see Him face to face. [Dennis Fisher, ODB 03/11/16]
Introduction: The author of Hebrews uses the imagery of an athletic stadium. Among spectators are the heroes of the Christian faith: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and the prophets (Hebrews 11). Here is the picture of a stadium; spectators are in the galleries; contestants are ready to run. “Wherefore” seeing that the galleries are filled with Gold Medal persons — those persons of faith in the Hebrews 11 — the new runners are enjoined to lay aside every “weight” (handicap), and “sin” (sin in general) and run with patience. This is not a hundred-yard dash but a long and sometimes grueling marathon.
How NOT to Quit the Race of Faith?
1. Be encouraged by the example set by our forefathers (v. 1a)
Is your handicap a lack of faith and courage to respond to God’s call to take the high road less traveled? Coach, call Abraham from the balcony for an encouraging word! For “He went not knowing where he was going” and became our model of faith and a father of nations.
Is your handicap the common cold of mental disorders, namely depression? Call Elijah, who after destroying the prophets of Baal was threatened by their chief sponsor, Jezebel. Elijah was so frightened that he ran to Beersheba and on into the desert so fast, according to J. McKee Adams, that you could “shoot marbles on his coattail.” There in the desert Elijah laid down under a “broom tree” and manifested all the signs of a major depression: lack of a sense of self-worth, paranoia, and meaninglessness. On to Mt. Horeb he entered into a cave. The “word of the Lord” came to him and said: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
The champions of Hebrews 11 have run the race victoriously and now encourage us to become spiritual champions, too. The men and women of faith listed in Hebrews 11 were not perfect people. Look at the list. Noah was a drunk. Abraham, a liar. Samson, a person of passion. Rahab, a prostitute. Moses had a temper problem. Gideon was distraught with fear. David, an adulterer and murderer. Not only were these people not perfect, they weren't even close to perfect. But they progressed toward the finish line of Christ-likeness.
These champions of yesterday testify to us today. Noah is telling every drunk you can stop. Abraham reminds every liar that you can tell the truth. Samson acknowledges that God's power can enable you to win over your passion. Rahab informs you that you can break the chains of promiscuity. Moses jogs your memory that with God's help you can control anger. Gideon testifies that you can face your fears. And, David beckons that you can overcome the worst things a human being can do.
Paul reminded them of the great men and women of faith who had preceded them. He reminded them of their sacrifices and courage. He reminded them that these men and women had kept the faith in the face of overwhelming foes and imminent death.
God’s therapy for the depressed is:
• Get back into creative activity. God called Elijah to face the wilderness and on his way anoint a king over Syria and a king over Israel, and Elisha to be a prophet (2 Kings 19:1-18);
• The assurance that God has many other people who have not bowed to the evil one (v. 18). Awareness that there are others who share your suffering can be reassuring and encouraging. Responding to God’s call to action can be healing.
2. Drop every weight/hindrance (v. 1b)
Like the champions who have gone before us, we aren't perfect either, we all carry a lot of weight with us throughout life that tends to impede our spiritual progress. What are those weights that are handicapping us? Are we about to drop out of the race?
• The weight of outright sin - things that we know are wrong but we have simply been unwilling to let go of them. Outright sin entangles the feet so that the runner trips and falls, often repeatedly. How many people have you seen get tripped up in their Christian walk over bitterness, lying, envy, idolatry, and sexual sins?
• The weight of besetting sin - things that we have tried to get rid of, but they keep coming back time and again, like a cancer. Memories of past mistakes, bouts with addictions, wrongful habits that we can't break are among the many besetting sins that encumber our advancement.
• The weight of distractions - But sin is not the only thing that keeps us from being spiritual champions. Sometimes those weights are things that are not necessarily sinful, but they are distractions that keep us from progressing spiritually. The author of Hebrews also speaks of "laying aside every weight … that so easily ensnares us." These are the many things in life that are not particularly sinful in and of themselves, but they have the potential to become weights that slow us down, hold us back, and impede our progress. They are pursuits like ambition, watching or reading useless things …
What would God say is presently keeping you from being the champion he would like you to be?
• Is your weight addiction?
• Is your weight lying?
• Is your weight passion?
• Is your weight promiscuity?
• Is your weight anger?
• Is your weight fear?
• Is your weight your past?
How to lose this weight?
• Identify the sins and weights
• Confess and repent of your sins
• Be filled with God's Spirit
Our part is to identify the sin, confess it, repent of it, and then seek the controlling influence of God's Spirit. Once we do this then God can do a miraculous work. This process may take but a moment or many years.
Illustration: Remember the movie Forrest Gump? Forrest was a mentally slow and physically challenged child. While wearing braces on his legs he moved painfully slow until one day a miracle occurred. As he was walking home from school with his friend Jennie a group of bullies’ road up on their bicycles and began throwing rocks at Forrest. Jeannie instructs Forrest to run. As he runs away his braces come off and he runs so fast that the boys on bikes can't catch him.
3. Run with endurance (v. 1c)
It is significant that the verse says “run with endurance” the race which is set before us. The Christian “race” is a race which must be run with endurance. Someone has well said, “The Christian life is not a sprint; it is a marathon.” How many people have set out to follow Christ, but have turned aside after some period of time? Or who have decided to really commit themselves to God, but didn’t keep up the commitment?
Just like Moses had a race to run and Joseph had his race we too have ours. Ours isn’t a race that is like anyone else’s. Our race as with everyone else’s is a unique race. Everyone’s life is different. Our sovereign Lord has place each of us on a different course. My race will not be like yours. Some of the things I struggle with along the way may not be your struggles. However, the finish line and the strategy are the same.
Jesus mentions this very thing in ‘The Parable of the Soils’ in Matthew 13. He said that when the Gospel is “sown” into the world like seed, that some of it hits the road, and the birds devour it. But some of it finds thin soil, and it seems to sprout up quickly, but it withers quickly away. Jesus said that “plant” is like the person who hears the word and seems to receive it with joy, but just as quickly falls away when persecution or difficulty comes. That’s just another way of saying that the Christian life is not a “sprint”; it is a marathon. It is not how fast you go, but that you keep on going.
Jesus often taught His disciples concerning the need for endurance (i.e., patience)
• Jesus didn’t even start His earthly ministry until He was 30 years old.
• In the parable of The Sower - Luke 8:12
• In preparing the disciples for the Limited Commission – Matthew 10:22
• In His discourse on the Mount of Olives - Matthew 24:13
• The disciples didn’t just listen to Jesus 1 or 2 times and then go out on their own; they discipled (basically interned) with Jesus for 3 years before they began their ministries.
Rarely do we have that kind of patience. We live in a “microwave” generation. We want things done yesterday. But good things take time: it takes time to make a good meal; it takes time to craft a fine work of art; it takes time to grow a garden — there are no shortcuts for these things. But we think we can “microwave” our church, or our spiritual growth, and we can’t.
In other words, there is no “short cut”; no “sprint” to the Christian life. You have to spend time, and keep at it for a length of time. This is a good word. For many of us as individuals, we need to just keep at the Christian life. “Run with endurance.” That means:
• getting up and having your quiet time in the morning when you don’t feel like it.
• it means keeping at the ministry God has given you, even when you don’t see it bearing fruit.
• it means continuing to follow The Lord, even when people have hurt you, or oppose you. You don’t let them discourage you and make you stop. You just keep on — sometimes with “baby steps” if necessary, to keep on going.
When I am running, sometimes I don’t see how I can finish the course ahead of me; the only thing I can do it just take “one more step” — just keep putting one foot in front of the other. And that’s what we have to do in the Christian life a lot of times too. You can’t think about next month, or next year, just keep on putting one foot in front of the other, and “run with endurance”!
Illustration: “Run with endurance,” Paul says. We start with enthusiasm, but are tempted to quit when the going gets tough. In the New York City marathon, there is a long hill near the end of the race that they call “Heartbreak Hill.” Even though the finish line is near, runners are tempted to quit when they hit “Heartbreak Hill.” That’s how it is when we are faced with the “Heartbreak Hills” of life. But the great heroes didn’t quit, and we don’t need to quit either. “Run with patience!” And then he says, “Looking to Jesus!” We have more than a cloud of witnesses to encourage us. We have Jesus, the great runner who gave “Heartbreak Hill” its final defeat!
“Surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses!” This church is a cloud of witnesses. Here we strengthen each other as we love and serve Christ!
4. Focus on Christ’s example (v. 2)
Runners are always challenged to not look back or behind them if they begin to hear footsteps. This looking back often costs them a stride. In a footrace one stride can be the difference in winning and losing.
The apostle tells us to keep our eyes and concentration on Jesus. If we are to look to Christ, we must look away from other things. We can’t have our vision fixed on our sin or possessions and on Jesus at the same time. Taking our eyes off of Jesus is the same as looking back.
We must lay aside weights and sins that hinder us in this race with all heaven looking on. But how? The biblical answer is by “looking to Jesus.” This may sound simplistic but remember that Jesus is “the pioneer and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:1). In the ancient Greek stadium, the runner kept his eyes on a stone statue of the Greek god Zeus. In the Christian race, the Christian Bowl, the runner keeps his eye on the living Christ.
Look to Jesus for redemptive power. Today we are looking to the politicians, the scientists, the government, the cults, formal religion, and the psychologists for salvation. Yet our sinful selves cannot be psycho-therapized away, for we are saved “by grace through faith” (Ephesians 2:8). Jesus’ disciples saw no alternative to salvation when they asked: “Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
The distinguished English preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, described his conversion in language of the look. He looked at himself and to God and they became one forever. Look to Jesus as our model of spirituality and morality. The Greek word for look was used to describe an artist and model. The Christian seeks to imitate Jesus. This imitation takes numerous forms. This imitation Christi motive is replete in the writings of Paul, the Apostle. We are to imitate Christ, that is, we are to “have the mind of Christ” in all humility (Philippians 2:1-11).
Look to Jesus for ultimate victory in this life and that to come. The ancient Greek runners kept their eyes on Zeus. The prize was a perishable wreath of leaves. Christian runners keep their eyes focused on Christ. The prize is permanent. Paul observes that the Greek runners received “a perishable wreath,” but the Christian “an imperishable” one (1 Corinthians 9:25).
• We must consider how He endured, not only on the cross, but even before! - Hebrews 11:3
• How He "endured such hostility from sinners against himself."
• This hostility is something He experienced frequently – [cf. Luke 4:28-29; 11:15-16,53-54; 16:14]
• Meditating upon our Lord will prevent us from becoming "weary and discouraged in your souls."
• We cannot run with endurance if we become weary and discouraged.
• But as we consider the Lord and His example (in itself a form of "waiting upon the Lord"), we shall not grow weary nor faint - cf. Isaiah 40:31
Application: Our victory is assured because Christ was victorious. We are “more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37). Quitting is a shortcut leading to failure. We can finish strong when we focus on Christ.
