Sermon for 7/7/2002
The Extreme
Hebrews 12:1-2
Introduction:
The movie Twister is a tale about tornado chasers. A tornado chaser is one who observes tornados at close range. In this movie we see a group of tornado chasers who are extreme. They put themselves on the line to observe these tornadoes. They sacrifice their very beings and their very lives chasing after tornadoes. In the movie we see people who are excited about the thrill of getting as close as they can. One character named Bill is called the Extreme by his fellow tornado chasers. He has an inborn sense of where the tornado is going to turn and how to better observe the tornadoes. In the Christian faith we have one whom could be called the Extreme.
WBTU:
A. VBS this year is Faith Mountain: An extreme adventure with Jesus.
B. The word extreme is Being the greatest or highest degree; very intense; extending far beyond the norm; of the greatest severity; drastic.
C. The sense that I am meaning is when my mother would say, Quit being such an extremist. Usually she would say this after I would take her advice to a ridiculous degree.
D. Some people in our society are addicted to the extremes. Liberal or conservative.
E. In my preaching and teaching I have emphasized to avoid extremes. Ecclesiastes 7:18- The man who fears God will avoid all extremes.
F. Our lives can get out of whack. Put God first, family second, church third, everything else gets less priority.
1. Take for instance our hobbies. I love basketball. Let’s say that I sacrificed everything for basketball.
2. A club. Sacrificed everything for that club, like Boy Scouts.
3. Job, career- Sacrificed everything for that job.
4. Church- Sacrifice family for church.
5. Family or spouse- sacrifice my relationship with God.
G. However, can we too extreme in our relationship with God. Pray too much, go to church too much, serve too much, spend time with Christians too much, study the Bible too much, and witness too much.
H. The Bible seems to indicate that we cannot be too extreme in our faith. If we take our faith seriously it will be different from the norm, but it will never be too extreme.
1. (Mat 10:34 NIV) "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.(Mat 10:35 NIV) For I have come to turn "’a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law--(Mat 10:36 NIV) a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’(Mat 10:37 NIV) "Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;(Mat 10:38 NIV) and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.(Mat 10:39 NIV) Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
2. (Luke 9:57 NIV) As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go."(Luke 9:58 NIV) Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."(Luke 9:59 NIV) He said to another man, "Follow me." But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father."(Luke 9:60 NIV) Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God."(Luke 9:61 NIV) Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family."(Luke 9:62 NIV) Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."
3. (Mat 22:36 NIV) "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"(Mat 22:37 NIV) Jesus replied: "’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’(Mat 22:38 NIV) This is the first and greatest commandment.
4. Be radical; be extreme in your faith to God. It is encouraged. It is expected of a Christian person. Have a faith of reckless abandon.
I. There are some people in our society who are extreme when it comes to sports. Fans who go crazy. Players who live and breathe their respective sport. Groups of people who are addicted and extreme many times are runners.
J. I have found that I am not a good runner. My joints cannot take it. I like to run in a sporting contest like basketball but to run for enjoyment is not my thing. Do you know that there are many people who run even though they know it will damage their body? People who go see the podiatrist and the orthopedic doctors. The doctor says not to run anymore and the patient goes right back out and runs again. The endorphins. They are extreme for running.
K. Sometimes the Bible compares the Christian life to a race. We should be extreme for this kind of a race.
L. In the New Testament running was very popular. The marathon was invented in ancient Greece. 26 miles of running.
M. The word for race is from the Greek agon, from which we get the word agony. The Christian race is not a jog but rather a demanding and grueling, sometimes agonizing race.
N. However, how should we run the Christian race? Well enough just to get by. Not from the saying of Jesus. Run with excellence. Be extreme in the race.
Thesis: Let’s see how we can run the Christian race extremely- to the highest degree; far beyond the norm. We need to throw off two things, and we need to be encouraged by two things.
Scripture text: Hebrews 12:1-3; page 229
For instances:
I. Throw off two things:
A. Everything that hinders. Lay aside every weight.
1. We need to get rid of those extra pounds.
2. In running, a couple of extra pounds can weigh anyone down. A good runner is very thin. A runner in good condition weighs not more than two pound per inch of height. I’m 76 inches tall. 152 pounds. A person who is 5’ 5" should weigh 130 pounds to be a good runner.
3. Many of us weigh over this amount. Not saying that we need to weigh this, not healthy many times. However, this illustrates how much baggage of this world we hold onto that weighs us down from running for Christ extremely.
4. We need to get rid of everything that keeps us from God’s house. A job.
5. Anything that keeps us from fellowshipping with God and his people. Hatred, grudges, conflicts.
6. Sometimes other people keep us from God.
7. Christians should travel light- Some things are not wrong in themselves but hinder us in putting forth our best effort.
8. The love of money, being ashamed of the gospel, status, pride, sports, hobbies, materialistic, self-centered. Not concerned about running the Christian race well but we are more concerned with our own pursuits.
9. Anything that hinders the progress of the gospel and the Holy Spirit and growth in our Christian lives, we need to get rid of.
10. What hinders you from giving Christ you all? Throw it off. Reduce the things that weigh you down.
11. My mother and her mound of stuff at the Highland House. If you had as many treasures in heaven, this is great. She told me that this stuff weighed her down. After a time, we no longer own our possessions but our possessions own us.
12. Are we weighed down with the cares of this world or our own cares that we have grown tired of all the weight and are starting to slow down or stop?
13. Need to run to the greatest degree.
B. Throw off or lay aside the sin which so easily ensures (entangles) us.
1. If we are sinning, it is like we are going into the race with an injury. This will greatly slow us down.
2. On November 4, 1978, Dennis Rainear entered the Grand Valley Marathon. Hopping to finish the run in 3 hours, Rainear had just reached the ten-mile checkpoint when an object struck his head. At first, he assumed he’d been hit be a brick. Although seriously affected by the blow, Rainer said, "I was wobbling, and my eyes were going in different directions." However, Rainer continued to run. He crossed the finish line at 3 hours and 9 minutes. It wasn’t until a few hours later than a physician discovered Rainear had been shot in the head with a bullet from a 22 rifle. Could you imagine what this runner could have done if a bullet hadn’t struck him?
3. Some Christians are running with… leg, head, arm, heart, lungs, etc.
4. Sin forms a crippling hindrance to extreme running.
5. Some of us out here are seriously slowing down because of addictions to sin. We are being beat down and are losing our edge because sin is injuring our souls.
6. Sin entangles us. It ropes us in. It causes us to get jammed up. It is like a sticky substance on our shoes, like weights on our shoes. Getting tangled up in a bunch of ropes, etc.
7. We were freed from sin and then we began the Christian race. Any sin after this causes the Holy Spirit and our growth in Christ to be stunted.
II. Be encouraged by two things.
A. We are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.
1. Are we in this race alone? No.
2. In chapter 11, the writer of Hebrews tells us about the Hall of Fame of faith, and these are the cloud of witnesses.
3. It is much like a relay race where those who have finished their course and handed in their baton are watching and encouraging their successors.
4. This should give us encouragement that we are not alone and that others have had to run the long race of the extreme faith and have won.
5. This week we are going to learn about those who have run the extreme race and who are now cheering us on. People like Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Joshua, Samson, Samuel, David, and Elijah.
6. Home town advantage.
B. Look unto Jesus (Fix our eyes on Jesus)
1. Why? Because he was the ultimate extreme runner.
a. Jesus Christ saw our wayward hearts, then looked at the cross and said, "If that’s what it takes, then I’ll go there." For the joy set before him.
b. Michael W. Smith captures this action in the words of a new song- Crucified, laid behind a stone. He lived to die, rejected and alone. Like a rose, trampled on the ground, he took the fall, and thought of me, above all.
c. In Christ’s walk of faith, he was extreme. Greatest degree, beyond the norm.
d. He is The Extreme.
e. The amazing thing is that he cheers more than from the crowd; he encourages and cheers us on from inside.
f. He runs with us. He even made the race possible.
2. Why? Because he is the finish line. Our goal is to go to be with Jesus in heaven. That is the finish line.
3. One day we too will be with Jesus Christ in heaven. Right hand of God. See him face to face.
4. Vs. 3- consider him.
a. This book was written to Hebrews who were undergoing opposition and persecution and suffering. We are undergoing much less, but all of us have not suffered to the point of Christ.
b. Our Master endured more than we did.
c. Hitting the wall- Painful moment when the fuel tank is suddenly empty and the legs are capable only of slow, anguished shuffle.
d. When we hit the wall in the Christian race, we need to look to Jesus and realize that he endured much more for our sakes. We need to keep going on no matter how painful it may be.
e. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things…
Conclusion:
A. 2 Timothy 4:7-8
B. Invitation.
