INTRODUCTION
The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews wrote: ‘Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.’ The writer imagined the Christian life as a race – a race that requires endurance.
We’re presently in a series in which we’re looking at items in the news. In some of the previous talks I’ve looked at ‘hard news’, for example, news about the environment or Israel. But I decided that today I’d look at an item of soft news.
This item of soft news concerns a 40-year-old British man, Paul Holborn. On 6th February, Paul Holborn ran across a finish line in Miami. He had just completed the seventh and last marathon in an event called the ‘World Marathon Challenge’. The challenge is to complete seven marathons on seven continents in seven days! The first marathon was in Antarctica. Then the runners went on to Cape Town, Perth, Dubai, Madrid, Fortaleza in Brazil and they finished in Miami. Paul Holborn was the first British person to win this event.
[There’s an account of Paul Holborn’s run on youtube.com/watch?v=IEsLm203x7o.]
We may think that soft news items like this aren’t very important. But Paul Holborn’s running lines up with a theme that comes up surprisingly often in the New Testament. Running! Did you know that God is a runner?! In the parable of the prodigal son, the son returns and the father – who represents God – runs to greet him! You may not be convinced by that! We never read of Jesus running, and he never mentioned sport. But Paul did. In the areas where Paul worked there was a Greek culture and sport was an important part of it. The Greeks had the Olympic Games, the Pythian Games, the Nemean Games and the Isthmian Games.
Sport, and I think, running especially, is a great metaphor for the Christian life. People generally understand sport even if they aren’t sporty themselves. So, it isn’t surprising that Paul talks about sport, and running especially.
What I want to do in today’s talk is to look at how running is a helpful metaphor for what the Christian life is like. Most of us know what running is about, so we should be able to relate to it.
I’m going to hang this talk on three hooks: strive, improve and stay the course.
STRIVE
If there is one idea that I think Paul wants us to get when he talks about running, it is that in the Christian race we need to STRIVE.
A serious runner aims to win. That’s the attitude Paul wants us to bring to the Christian life. We should give it one hundred percent. Paul wrote to the Corinthians: ‘Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So RUN that you may obtain it’ [1 Corinthians 9:24].
There are people who go for Parkrun and their goal is just to jog round. There are other people who go to Parkrun and their aim is to win. Parkrun isn’t actually all that important. But the Christian life is. Paul is telling us to approach the Christian life as though it’s a race – and our goal is to win.
Paul wrote a letter to Timothy. He told him, ‘Train yourself for godliness’ [1 Timothy 4:7]. He then continued, ‘for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way.’ A few verses further on, Paul told Timothy, ‘to this end we toil and strive’ [1 Timothy 4:10]. The word for strive is the Greek word ‘agónizomai’. It’s the word from which we get the word agony. It suggests to me putting in so much effort that it hurts. I have one book about marathon running. In it, the author says that if you don’t feel like giving up about three times in a marathon, you’re not trying hard enough.
We’re supposed to give the Christian race maximum effort. If runners can push themselves so hard that it hurts just to get a medal, then we should do much more for the rewards we have coming to us.
Is the Christian race really like a marathon? Yes, it is. Some people give up. Paul asked the Galatians: ‘You were RUNNING well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?’ [Galatians 2:2]. The Galatians had lost their momentum. I suspect they were close to giving up.
Almost at the end of his life, Paul wrote to Timothy: ‘I have fought the good fight, I HAVE FINISHED THE RACE, I have kept the faith’ [2 Timothy 4:7]. What’s Paul’s tone? Has he found the Christian race easy? It doesn’t seem like it. He’s had battles to fight. He says, ‘I have finished the race’ as though that was an achievement. But he has kept going to the end. The Christian race is much longer than a marathon. Keeping going to the end ISN’T easy.
Let’s move on to how we get better at running the Christian race. It’s very similar to how we get better at running.
IMPROVE
Before Priscilla and I got married, I used to keep a journal. I’d jot down things I was learning from the Bible or thinking about. At one point I did a little sketch of a runner. Next to it, I noted various things which help a runner to improve. This is my picture and the things I noted down. I made these notes about 40 years ago, but I think they’re on the right lines.
At the top I had the heading, ‘Improvement.’ Runners don’t become champions overnight. Paul Holborn’s story is encouraging. He started to train 19 months before the World Marathon Challenge. Before that, he’d never run a marathon! His story shows that when we set our minds to something, we can really improve. The same is true in the Christian life. Take it seriously and there will be huge progress.
Then I listed the things I believed were important for a runner to improve. Exercise, determination, discipline and consistency, good food, rest, encouragement, targets and goals, and instruction. Then I added, ‘The runner clearly strips of all heavy clothes, carries no luggage.’
To improve at running, a whole package of things needs to be in place. The same is true in the Christian race. Christians need all the things that runners need, but in different ways.
Runners need discipline and consistency in their training. Christians need discipline and consistency in their quiet times.
Runner needs good food. Christians need the good food of God’s word through personal study or Bible studies or teaching in church.
Runners need people around them to encourage them. Christians do too.
Runners need to get rid of anything that will slow them down. Christians do too.
As Christians, we should always be seeking to improve, to become better runners of the Christian race. How are we going to do that? We need to put a package of things in place – the kinds of things I put in my list.
STAY THE COURSE
The writer of Hebrews wrote this:
‘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, 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’ [Hebrews 12:1-2].
These two verses are one long sentence. The writer’s central message is: ‘Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.’
Note this word ‘endurance.’ Priscilla and I lived overseas for many years. After we came back, I ran some half marathons. They went OK. I then decided to try a full marathon. I hadn’t expected it to be so tough. After 20 miles, I dropped out. If you don’t know how tough a marathon is, you won’t prepare properly and when it comes to the day you may give up. The Christian life is the same. It’s an endurance race. We need to know that.
That begs the question, how do we keep going? How do we stay the course?
The writer of Hebrews has two things to encourage us.
At the start of this long sentence, the writer of Hebrews looks back in history. He writes, ‘Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses...’ We’re in Hebrews 12. Hebrews 11 is a long list of heroes of faith in the Bible. This is the ‘cloud of witnesses’ the writer of Hebrews is talking about. But we shouldn’t think of these witnesses as though they were spectators looking down on us from heaven. A famous Bible scholar called F. F. Bruce wrote, ‘It is not so much THEY who look at US as WE who look to THEM – for encouragement.’ These heroes of faith show us that the life of faith is possible. They stayed the course. That means that we can.
But how did heroes of faith do it? The writer of Hebrews continues, ‘Let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely.’ Note those words: ‘Let us ALSO’. That means, ‘Let us do what these heroes of faith did’. We need to lay aside every weight, and the sin which clings so closely – as they did. Abraham had to give up his home country. He had to offer Isaac. Moses had to give up wealth and privilege. The heroes of faith witness to us that the life of faith is possible. But To follow Jesus, we may also have to leave something behind.
Now we come on to the most important bit. The writer of Hebrews then tells us to fix our eyes on Jesus, ‘the founder and perfecter of our faith.’ Jesus is alive today. He stands ahead of us on the road. He’s the founder of our faith. If you have ever founded a business, you know how committed you are to it. You want to make sure it thrives. That’s how Jesus feels about us. Jesus is also the perfecter of our faith. The word can also mean completer or finisher. He is totally committed to supporting us to the end of the race. If we keep our eyes on him, he’ll see us safely to the end.
Finally, the writer of Hebrews reminds us that Jesus endured the cross for the joy that was set before him. Do we have some difficulties? Get them in perspective! WE are not going to be nailed to a cross. What right do we have to complain about the slight pain we have to endure? Think of the rewards in store for us!
CONCLUSION
I started by talking about Paul Holborn winning the ‘World Marathon Challenge’. I used that as a springboard to talk about some of the ways the New Testament uses running as a metaphor for the Christian race.
I focused on three big ideas. The first was to strive. We need to take the Christian race seriously. We need to approach it as a race we intend to win. The second idea was to improve. There are quite a few things we need to get in place if we want to become a stronger runner in the Christian race. The third idea was to stay the course. Above all, we need to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. He is the author and perfecter of our faith. There may be tough days. In fact, I’m pretty sure there will be. But we can be confident that as we keep our eyes on Jesus, we will reach the finish line.
TALK GIVEN AT ROSEBERY PARK BAPTIST CHURCH, BOSCOMBE, BOURNEMOUTH, UK, 3RD MARCH 2025, 10.30 A.M. SERVICE
