Christian Life – Winners are Finishers
-Set a Spiritual Goal-
Hebrews 12:1-2
Have you noticed that you sometimes do better when you have people cheering for you as you compete in sporting events?
I remember one of the first basketball games I played in when I was Junior High age. My dad was in the crowd watching – the crowd there may have been 100 people watching in the small gym in Gypsum, Kansas. I would glance at my dad every now and then. I gave the game my best and managed to score a few points. His very presence encouraged me to play better.
On another occasion my nervousness before a crowd was an advantage. As a junior higher I was scheduled for a three round boxing exhibition match before a crowd in the same community gym. In my nervousness and fear I bounced around on my toes during the three rounds. I made it through the three rounds without getting knocked down. Following the bout several people asked me where I learned to box like that. I told them that it came naturally.
A crowd of witnesses spur is on when in competition.
The Christian life is much like a person in training to participate in the Olympic Games in Athens August 13-29th this year. The writer of Hebrews was aware of Olympic type games in Athens, Greece. The first Olympic Games were held in Athens in 776 BC (more than 2,700 years ago)
Pindar – a Greek Lyric Poet – in the 5th Century B.C. wrote: “As in the daytime there is no star in the sky warm or brighter than the sun, likewise there is no competition greater than the Olympic Games.”
The Hebrew writer declares in Hebrews 12:1-2 – “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish.” NLT
Note the first word of Hebrews 12: 1 – “Therefore”. Since all that has happened in the previous chapter – the many witnesses that have gone before you and are cheering you on. The Message translates Hebrews 12:1 this way: “Do you see what this means --- all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running --- and never quit.”
Some of the people mentioned in Hebrews 11 – “Hall of Faith” included:
Noah – by faith he built a ship in the middle of the
dessert.
Abraham – by faith traveled to a land he had never
visited.
Moses – by faith led the children of Israel out of Egypt and walked across the Red Sea on dry ground.
Joshua – by faith marched around Jericho and the walls fell down.
What witnesses have you had and do you currently have to encourage you and keep you living a life of Faith. As we go for the gold we need to set a spiritual goal for our life – to run with endurance the race that God has set before us and keep our eyes focused on Jesus.
Who are your Heroes of the faith? Do you have godly parents, grandparents, friends or relatives cheering you on?
Heroes of the Christian faith are those who have been persecuted for their Faith and have remained faithful.
#In 1956 five American young adult missionaries gave their lives in trying to reach the Acua Indians in Ecuador. They had rifles with them but not one shot was fired at the Acua Indians, yet all five died from spear wounds.
Much later, one of the Auca Indians who had helped kill the five martyrs explained that the tribe, who had had almost no contact with outsiders wondered why the whites wanted to make contact with them; and while they wanted to believe that their visitors were friendly, they feared a trap. After the killings, they realized their mistake. When they were attacked, one of the missionaries fired two shots as warnings. It was therefore clear that the visitors had weapons, were capable of killing, and had chosen not to do so. Thus, the Aucas realized that the visitors were indeed their friends, willing to die for them if necessary. When in subsequent months they heard the message that the Son of God had come down from heaven to reconcile men with God, and to die in order to bring about that reconciliation, they recognized that the message of the missionaries was the basis of what they had seen enacted in the lives of the missionaries. They believed the Gospel preached because they had seen the Gospel lived.
The five missionaries, Jim Elliott, Peter Fleming, Roger Youderian, Nate Saint and Ed McCully are contemporary heroes of the Faith.
When at Wheaton College preparing for the mission field, Jim Elliot wrote: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
One of the books I ready every morning as part of my devotional study is “Extreme Discipleship.” Story after story is given of Christians located around the world who have suffered for their Christian faith.
# Richard Wurmbrand and his wife, converted Jews, living in Romania, spent many years in and out of prison for their Christian faith. Pastor Wurmbrand was in a prison in Romania and wondered how he could be a witness in prison. He had an idea and began to tap on the wall. He heard return taps form other prisoners. He then proceeded to teach the prisoners on each side the Morse code. He was able to communicate the Gospel by using the Morse code. The message went from one cell to another. Prisoners came to faith in Christ through the faithful tapping on the wall.
# Mizhong Miao was sent to a prison camp for preaching the Gospel in China. His five-year sentence was tripled when he refused to stop preaching to fellow prisoners.
During a harsh winter, guards thought Mizhong Miao was dead and put his frozen body in the morgue. Mizhong’s body was lifeless but not totally dead. He was conscious and praying. Left alone in the morgue, he saw a visitor – an angel dressed in white and with a shining face. The angel came close and blew upon Miao. As the angel blew, he felt the sickness leave his body and warmth enter him. He immediately knelt and said a prayer of thanksgiving.
He walked out of the morgue to the prison doctor. The doctor stared with a look of horror on his face; he thought he was seeing a ghost. “Don’t be afraid. I am Mizhong Miao.” “God restored me to health. He sent me to show you the way of God.” Bowing reverently, the doctor said, “Your God is real.” That night he accepted Jesus as Savior.
# Vera Yakovlena was sent to a Siberian labor camp for witnessing about Jesus. Her punishment was to stand barefoot for hours on ice. One evening depressed and crying Vera walked out into the prison yard to be alone. She didn’t notice that she crossed into the forbidden zone where prisoners were shot on sight. Suddenly a guard called out: “Hey, is your mother a Christian?”
Vera replied, “Why do you ask?” The guard said, “Because I’ve been watching you for the past ten minutes, but I haven’t been able to shoot you. I can’t move my arm. It’s very healthy---I have been moving it all day. So I figured you must have a mother who is praying for you. Run back – I’ll look the other way.”
The next day Vera saw the guard and he smiled at her and raised his arms saying, “Now, I can move it again.”
These modern day Heroes of the faith are witnesses to help us stay in the race and not give up. We are called to run with endurance the race God has set before us. The Apostle Peter said in I Peter 1:6b-7 - “There is wonderful joy ahead, even through it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while. These trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold. So if your faith remains strong after being tried by fiery trials; it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.”
How do you run with endurance? -- by keeping your eyes on Jesus.
The Hebrew writer sees you in the center of a great arena. A great cloud of witnesses are in the stands cheering you on. They are shouting and whistling and clapping to urge you on -- They are telling you to keep looking to Jesus, don’t look to the right or to the left. Keep on running don’t stop. The prize is not for good starters it is for good finishers.
# In the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, John Stephen Akhwari of Tanzania ran in the marathon. In an earlier qualifying race he had sustained an injury, though—a hairline fracture to the right fibula. Nevertheless, he was determined to compete. So he entered the competition in spite of his injury. The runners all took off together on their 26-mile race, and the day became night as the race neared its end, over 2 hours later. Another hour passed as nearly every competitor completed the race, except John Akhwari. Fans in the large stadium remained patient as they waited for every runner to complete it. Finally he entered the stadium. His injured leg was wrapped with a bandage, and he struggled as he limped his way around the track. The crowd began to cheer, though, and with each step the noise grew louder and louder. With each step he gained strength from the cheers. His limp became a walk, his walk became a jog, his jog became a run. As he neared the finish line, even though he came in dead last, the cheering in the stadium made one believe that he was finishing first. In a later interview a reporter asked him, “It must have been very difficult for you. Why didn’t you stop?” He replied, “My country did not send me 7,000 miles to start the race. They sent me 7,000 miles to finish it.”
God has marked out a race for you and me of becoming like Christ. It’s a tough race, to be sure, with a lot of obstacles along the way. Many times along the way we’re going to be tempted to give up and quit. But God didn’t put us in the race just to start it. He put us there us to finish.
How do you stay in the race?
You stay in the race though Proper Conditioning. Individuals who go to the Olympics train for hours every day and for what – for some a ten second race for others a several hour race or several attempts at shot put, pole vaulting, or high jump or many other competitive sports. Proper conditioning makes the difference.
Last week Lance Armstrong won for the sixth time the 2,000 mile tour de France bike race. At 33 years if age he had to practice rigorous conditioning
Hebrews 12:2 tells us how do you finish the race? By keeping you eyes on Jesus, on whom your faith depends from start to finish. The ability to stay focused – to stay centered, to bring to bear intense concentration is a key factor in Olympic competition.
Champions are marked by a burning desire to win. They focus on their training and conditioning. They are careful what they eat and what they do. Gold metal winners do not casually plan their daily routine. They practice disciplined training. Gold medal winners are not like the Iranian boxer Ali Kazemi who was disqualified at the 1992 Barcelona games because he forgot to bring his boxing gloves! That same year a Canadian yachtsman Hank Lammens was disqualified for not remembering to bring his life jacket.
The Apostle Paul reminds us to keep our focus when he says in Philippians 3:13-14, “No, dear friends, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven.”
To keep focused make the Lord Jesus your first and last thoughts of the day. Through scripture or a song train your mind to fix your thoughts on Jesus. A hymn from the 1800s calls us to keep focused: -
“When Morning Gilds (makes golden) the skies, my heart awakening cries:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Alike at work or prayer to Jesus I repair (find restoration):
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Be this while life is mine, my canticle (song) divine:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Be this the eternal song, through all the ages long,
May Jesus Christ be praised!
In the late 1800’s a minister named Charles Sheldon wrote a book that has sold millions of copies. The book, In His Steps is a fictional story about a pastor, Rev. Henry Maxwell and the people in a church in the city of Raymond. Rev. Maxwell is preparing his sermon on the topic of “Following Christ.” He was in his study at home when the door bell rang. After ringing several times the pastor went to the door and saw a homeless looking man shabbily dressed about 33 years of age. He told the pastor he lost his job and was looking for work. The pastor told him jobs were scarce and he didn’t know of any and he was very busy but hoped the young man would find something. Rev. Henry Maxwell closed the door and watched the young man walk down the street.
That evening his wife came home from visiting the school’s Kindergarten class. She told her husband that a homeless man came into the school and watched the children for a little while and then left. Pastor Maxwell said that it was probably the same man that had stopped by the church house looking for a job.
That Sunday at First Church Pastor Maxwell preached his sermon on “Following Christ” when a man stepped from the back of the church and walked down the middle aisle. He turned and faced the congregation. It was the same homeless man that had stopped by the church parsonage and school. He said he was not drunk or crazy but that he was sick and would probably die in a few days. He said he had lost his job ten months ago and since then was wondering across the country trying to find work. I listened to the Pastor’s sermon this morning and was wondering what it means to really follow Jesus. What do you Christians mean by following the steps of Jesus?”
After speaking from his heart the man fainted and fell on the church carpet. A doctor in the church checked the man and found him breathing. Pastor Maxwell volunteered a room in the church house for the man to stay. He lived until that following Sunday morning when he died.
That Sunday morning Pastor Maxwell told the congregation that their new fiend had died earlier that morning. At end of his sermon Pastor Maxwell called for volunteers from the First Church who would pledge themselves, earnestly and honestly for an entire year, not to do anything without first asking the question: “What would Jesus do?” “What would Jesus do if Jesus were in my place?” The Pastor said that if he and the church had really done what Jesus would have done they may have had more compassion and love for the homeless man.
Would it make a difference in your life and in your family if you not only wore a slogan on your wrist or around your neck –WWJD, but you took action that you believed Jesus would take; or you would endeavor to say what Jesus would say.
Go for the Gold by setting a goal to run the race of life to be like Jesus. Before you criticize someone ask, “What would Jesus say?” Before you make an important decision ask, “What would Jesus have me to do?” You can endure and finish the race by walking in the steps of Jesus.
I Peter 2:21
“This suffering is all part of what God has called you to. Christ who suffered for you is your example. Follow in his steps.”
