--Hebrews 12:1-3
Last Sunday we began looking at one of my favorite passages of Scripture which has done so much to inspire me both as a Disciple of Jesus Christ and as an avid runner. As Effective disciples and a relevant Church in the twenty-first century we must always “keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.” From our text last week we discovered that effective disciples and relevant Churches: (I.) Throw off everything that hinders our witness and ministry for Jesus Christ and the sin that so easily dogs our feet. (II.) Run with Perseverance the Race Marked out for Us. What other valuable truths does the Holy Spirit show us in this passage that will enable us to be effective disciples and a relevant Church for our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ?
As we run our spiritual races both individually and as Trinity United Methodist Church, we must always “keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.” This is our key to victory. The world tells us that unless you “win the gold,” you are a failure. After all, the only names any of us ever remember are those of the gold medalists. How many names of silver or bronze medalists can you recall? 10,651 athletes competed in the 2000 Sydney Games. Only 900 medals of any color were awarded. By all worldly standards, the overwhelming majority of the athletes were losers.
It is not so in our spiritual race, as Paul testifies in II Timothy 4:7-8:
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for His appearing.”
Everyone who finishes the spiritual race is a winner. Each one will “receive the crown of righteousness.”
To win that crown, we must “keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.” One reason we can be confident of victory is because we are “surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses.” The setting of our text is the stadium of the Ancient Olympic Games where a race is about to begin. Imagine the seats all filled to capacity including those who have won Olympic glory in the past. Athletes always perform better when they compete before past champions. Throughout our spiritual race the grand stands of heaven are filled with all the saints from time immortal who already have won their victory of faith.
Our text comes on the heals of Hebrews 11, the great chapter that honors the faith of Old Testament Saints: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, and David to mention only a few. These heroes are sitting in Heaven’s grandstands cheering us onto victory. Add to these such New Testament Saints as: Peter, James, John, Paul, Silas, Timothy, Mary, Mary Magdalene, Mary of Bethany, Martha, and Lazarus. Include also John Wesley, Francis Asbury, William Otterbein, Martin Boehm, Jacob Albright, Susannah Wesley, Evangeline Booth, Mother Teressa, and our own Christian loved ones God has already called home.
We are in the current race. The Church victorious is all assembled in heaven’s grandstands watching our progress and cheering us on to victory. I can find in the life of at least one of these saints an individual much like me, one who has already won victory over similar obstacles I am battling today. United they stand as examples of encouragement to lead all of us to eternal victory.
But for us to win that victory and join them in heaven’s grandstands, we must “keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.” As the Author of our faith, He is the All-time Champion Who was victorious by the way of the cross and the empty tomb. He is our supreme cheerleader and encourager, because he has endured and overcome every single temptation, heartache, trouble, sorrow, care, and pain any of us will ever face! With our eyes fixed on Jesus we stand on Hebrews 4:15: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet without sin.”
As the Finisher of our faith, Jesus is the Judge of our race, the One who will present us each of us our own “crown of righteousness.” With the laurel crown, the prize that He would award the victor, in his hands, the judge of a race in the Ancient Olympics sat in his chair at the finish line. From start to finish, all the runners kept their eyes fixed on the judge and the prize in his hands. Never once would they look back; they kept their eyes glued on the judge and the prize they longed to win. Jesus waits for us at heaven’s finish line with our prize “the crown of righteousness” in His hands. He stands ready to award it to each of us who “longs for His appearing.”
It is disastrous for a runner to “look back” during a race. It can cause the athlete to stumble, fall, and loose the race. It can mean the loss of valuable time, distraction, and loosed concentration. All of these allow one’s competitors to catch and surpass any athlete. I don’t remember ever looking back in a race I have run.
The last time I ran the River to River Relay in Southern Illinois I was in tip top shape and anchored my team of eight. On the second of the three legs I ran I passed several other runners on the course, but one runner always remained ahead of me. As I kept my eyes “fixed” on him, I noticed that I kept gaining ground on him little by little. About half a mile before we were to exchange our batons with our team mates, I caught him. Never once had he “looked back to see me.” When I caught him, he said, “Good race; I’ve known you were there all the time.” Both this runner and I had “kept pressing toward our mark,” looking forward always to that moment we would come to the exchange and pass our baton to our team mate.
This is what we as disciples and the Church are called to do in our spiritual race. “Keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus” means we never look back. In each of our lives Jesus is either “Lord of all, or He is not Lord at all.” “Keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus” is nothing less than total commitment and surrender of all we are and have to Jesus Christ, both as individual disciples and collectively as the Church. He is the only one that can be our leader; “The Church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord.” Paul puts it this way in Colossians 1:17-18:
“He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body the Church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He must have the supremacy.”
“Keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus” means that in all our lives and in the life of the Church, He will always have supremacy in all things. With Him as our Lord and Master our victory is certain. If we take our eyes off Him, even for a single moment, if we look back, we will trip and fall. I can “do all things through Christ who gives me strength,” but apart from Him I can do nothing but fail; apart for Jesus Christ, there is no Church.
We keep our “eyes fixed on Jesus” through: (1.) Daily Bible study, “His Word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path” (Psalm 119:105); (2.) A vital Prayer life, obeying the One who reminds us that we “should always pray and not give up” (Luke 18:1). (3.) With our eyes fixed on Jesus we always remain faithful members of His Church. We regularly and actively participate in worship. We also become involved in a small group of Christians who will hold us accountable, love us, encourage us, and pray with us and for us in our walk with Jesus. I find this to be an absolute must. Hebrews 10:24-25 is right on target in saying we must “not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the day approaching.” We keep our eyes “fixed on Jesus” by daily obeying Him as the true Lord and Master of our lives. We can only have victory in Him as we follow Mary’s instructions to the servants at the wedding at Cana in Galilee, “Do whatever He tells you” (John 2:5).
As Disciples and as the Church of Jesus Christ in the twenty-first century, let us take up the challenge laid down by Harlan Moore and Joel W. Smith in their awesome worship song, “Dare to run”:
DARE TO RUN
--Harlan Moore and Joel W. Smith
The assembly of the faithful, surrounding, yet unseen,
Is gathered as a witness to the race.
And on the track awaiting are the runners of today;
The call has come for each to take his place.
The road ahead is narrow, the way is
Sometime steep,
And only the committed claim the prize.
But standing at the finish with arms outstretched to greet us,
Is the One who has endured the race, and paid the final price.
Dare to run with our eyes fixed on Jesus
Following the footsteps of the One who’s gone before us.
Dare to run in the power of His Spirit,
Called to be victors in a race already won: dare to run.
We must have our Savior’s vision, compassion for the lost;
Courage for the future, love at any cost.
Dare to run with our eyes fixed on Jesus,
Following the footsteps of the One who’s gone before us.
Dare to run in the power of His Spirit,
Called to be victors in a race already won: dare to run.
[--Harlan Moore and Joel W. Smith, “Dare to Run,” in Dare to Run Songbook: 51 Contemporary Songs, comp. Ken Bible (Kansas City, Mo: Lillenas Publishing Company, 1989), No. 51.]
