TEXT: Hebrews 11:4, 5, 8, 20, 23, 30, 32; 12:1
TITLE: DON’T DROP THE BATON
{Carry a baton with you into the pulpit as an illustration}
This is a chapter of faith. Most of the time when we preach this we stop around verse 30 or 35. The reason we stop around verses 30-35 is because the end of the chapter preaches something totally different from the first part of the chapter. You don’t here people preach faith at the bottom of the chapter because it is too hard to contextually deal with. It seems to be contrary to the other verses. We dismiss those last verses and go on to talk about the great cloud of witnesses in chapter 12. I don’t know if you know it or not but in the Greek it didn’t have the punctuation or chapter and verse divisions like we have it today. When you see the words therefore or wherefore it is connected to the previous verse and cannot be separated from it. Let’s look at verse 39 and 40. All those that we read about in the previous verses did not receive the promise. We read about all these great things these people did but none of them received the promise. Then we read verse 40. {read}
Hebrews 11:39-40 – “(39) And these men of faith, though they trusted God and won his approval, none of them received all that God had promised them; (40) for God wanted them to wait and share the even better rewards that were prepared for us” (TLB).
There are two words for the word “perfect.” One is “artios” and the other is “teleios.” The word here is “teleios.” Let me illustrate the difference between the two words. Artios is, if I took this microphone apart and unscrewed everything that could be unscrewed and then put this whole microphone back together I would have a complete object. It would be a perfect completed object. The object is finished and I could hold it up and say it is complete. Teleios does not mean an object, it means a task. If I said I am going to walk to that altar rail, when I take the steps necessary to reach that altar rail then my task is complete. Artios is a completed object, teleios is a completed task.
What this is saying is that God has provided something better for us and all of those people of faith in chapter 11, Abraham, Noah, Samuel, and David etc. have a task that has not been completed and it will not be completed without us. There is an uncompleted task. What that tells us is that somebody somewhere started something and it is not finished yet and it is not going to be finished without you and me. They did not obtain their promise, they have got a good testimony, a good record of what they did and we can look at that record and testify about what they did but they have not finished what they started and they have not obtained the promise and apart from us the task is imperfect.
Grandmother, and Grandfather, Dad and Mother all have a good testimony or record of what they did but they probably left with some unfinished task. They probably didn’t accomplish in this life all they wanted to accomplish and what they started will not be finished without you and me.
So I go down to chapter 12, remember there is no punctuation or chapter and verses the way it was written so, the writer intended this to be a straight flow. Therefore means it is connected to the previous verse. Therefore since the task has not been completed and therefore since these people started something but never obtained it we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, somebody who has not yet finished, has done their part but waiting on us to finish something. Therefore since the task is not finished we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and every sin that so easily ensnares us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.
Somebody started something; it has not yet been finished and without me and without you it will not be made perfect so that means somebody is waiting on what you and I do to obtain their promise. to finish what God put in their heart to do but they died before it was finished. So that tells me what kind of race this is. It cannot be a sprint because if it was a sprint it would be run and it would be finished by one person. Most of the time I have heard it preached that it is not a sprint but a marathon, a long race of endurance. But it is not a marathon. There is a task. Moses did not finish the race, Paul did not finish the race, David did not finish the race, Abraham did not finish the race, they ran their laps. So this must not be a sprint and this must not be a marathon, it must be a relay.
Relays are run by teams of four runners. The first runner carries a baton about 1 foot (30 centimeters) long. After running a certain distance, called a leg, the athlete hands the baton to the next team member. In these relays, all four members of a team run an equal distance. Most U.S. relay meets include medley relays, in which the athletes run different distances. In the sprint medley, two members of the team run 200 meters each, another runs 400 meters, and the final runner covers 800 meters. In the distance medley, the members of the team run distances of 400 meters, 800 meters, 1,200 meters, and 1,600 meters.
Those before us may have run shorter or longer than we have run. That is not the issue. The issue is, they have finished their leg and now passed the baton onto us to run our leg which may be longer or even shorter.
The thing about a relay race, they always take the fastest runner and put him last. The race is run or lost with the last man. Although all the other 3 did their job if the last person drops the baton everyone loses. I heard about a story in the 1996 Olympics. In one relay race the 1st three dominated that race, there was a large spread. The 1st person ran and led and handed off to the 2nd person and he ran that 2nd lap and put more distance ahead of them and the others and made a perfect handoff to the other man and he run and kept an advantage. The 4th person jumped to fast and got a lead and when the handoff went from the 3rd to the 4th person the baton was dropped (drop the baton). Immediately the camera shot to the 1st two people their heads were buried in their hands. They ran their lap but somebody else dropped the baton and they lost.
Dad, Mother, etc. needs me.” There are a lot of people that might need you but “Moses, Abraham, Elijah, Paul, Grandmother, Grandfather, Dad, Mother, etc. they all need you and me.” We look at these people, they were boiled in oil, they were sawed into, thrown in furnaces but oh we are feeling a little tired today, don’t think I can make it to church. Paul sat in a dungeon in solitary confinement and Paul is looking around for somebody to pass the baton and it is getting dropped (drop the baton). But I have a little sniffle and don’t think I can make it to visitation (Drop the baton). Now instead of this Scripture having the context of some people just looking at what we are doing, now I understand that there is a Moses an Elijah, Elisha, a David a Paul a Timothy and a Barnabas, a Grandmother and a Grandfather, a Dad and a Mother who are no longer just casual onlookers but are intently watching to see what the final runner will do with their baton because they ran their lap. They paid the price and suffered the consequences. They are cheering you on and hoping that you and I want drop the baton and loose the race. They want you to finish what they didn’t get the opportunity to finish.
I wonder how many times Moses’ head has fallen in his hands because we or somebody else dropped the baton. He ran his lap and he wanted to get the trophy but I dropped it. I wonder if Grandmother or Grandfather have their heads in their hands because we dropped the baton. I wonder if Dad or Mother have their heads in their heads because we have dropped the baton.
Who are these people? These men and women gave up everything they had to follow God. What makes a Peter to be crucified upside down because he is not worthy to die like the Lord? (Look through Foxes Book of Martyrs.) We have never been where many of these have been, if we get a little arthritis we can’t even stand up during worship. If they sing more than one song we have to sit down. Who are these people that would love Him so much that everything they would do and everything they would go through meant nothing because of their passion for Him? What makes a person do that?
But we say things like, “I don’t feel called” yes you have, the need is the call. If you saw a need you have been called you have been enlisted into the ministry.
They understood something we didn’t, if there is a need I am 1st string. I don’t feel led to drive a bus on Saturday, I don’t feel led to visit the sick, I don’t feel led to help in the nursery, I don’t have time to help with Royal Rangers, I can’t get up early enough to come on Sunday morning to greet people, I don’t have enough time to study to be a teacher, etc. (drop the baton).
Paul ran his lap and passed it to Timothy. Moses ran his lap and passed it to Joshua. Elijah ran his lap and passed it to Elisha. What about those who have run the lap before us, who are they going to pass it to – that grandmother or grandfather, that father or mother or uncle or preacher or missionary etc. who are they going to pass the baton to? They finished their course or lap but what are we going to do with our lap. I want to get Moses’ head and those who have gone on before out of their face today. I want Paul to regain hope that I want drop the baton. I want them to know that I am the fastest runner and I want loose it. I believe God has saved the best for last. We are coming to the end, Jesus is coming soon. Are we ready to receive the baton and run our lap?
This is serious – do you really want the baton. It’s ok in a service like this to take the baton but when you face the devil or that sniffle or ache or that individual who doesn’t like you what will you do with it then?
