Therefore, Run The Race Series

Part of my misspent youth was spent hanging around Racehorses and those who bet on horse races. I’ve mentioned before that my sister and I both had horses when we were teenagers, and when we lived in Hammond River, just outside of Saint John, New Brunswick, we boarded them at a farm that provided stabling for Racehorses. In exchange for boarding our horses, Dianne and I worked in the stables, cleaning out stalls and helping to feed and groom the horses.

Because we were around the horses, we were also around their owners and trainers, and young, impressionable minds would pick up what they heard. Again, more is caught than taught. And one of the things we heard was the phrase “Win, place or show.” Maybe you’ve heard that as well, at some point or another, and you’ve wondered what it meant.

The phrase relates to betting on horses. You can place money on a horse to win. That is self-explanatory. Or to place, and that simply means they will place in 1st or 2nd place.

The third option is to bet that they will show, and that simply means that they will place 1st, 2nd, or 3rd.

Now, the best payout is obviously when you place a bet to win, and the horse actually wins.

This is week two of our Therefore series, and during the next couple of months, we will be looking at scriptures that use the word “Therefore” because, as we all know, whenever you see a therefore in the Bible, you need to go back and see what it’s, therefore.

And so two weeks ago I preached from Galatians 6:10 Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith. Last Sunday Pastor Deborah preached from Ephesians 6:13 Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.

Today, I would like to focus on Hebrews 12:1 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 trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

Now if we take the “therefore” out, it still kind of makes sense: Hebrews 12:1 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 trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

But even though it might kind of make sense, it doesn’t convey the message the author is trying to get across. And by itself, it doesn’t tell us who this huge crowd of witnesses was, what they had done and where they had come from.

And maybe, you’re wondering, “well, that’s all well and good, Denn, but what does that have to do with horse racing.”

Nothing.

But if we go back to chapter 11 to see what the “therefore” is there for, we find a description of some people who won, some who placed, some who showed, and others who just barely made it across the finish line. And they are the folks who make up the huge crowd of witnesses to our life of faith.

Hebrews 12:1 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 trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

This passage is a hinge that opens the gate from the past to the present.

We need to remember that when the Book of Hebrews was written, it was not divided into chapters and verses. It was just a letter. None of the bible was divided up into chapters and verses at that point. That is a fairly recent innovation, and there is nothing sacred about it. It was simply done for convenience.

As more and more people began reading the Bible, it became necessary to make navigating the text easier.

You can imagine asking someone, “Where is that one part of the bible when King David talks about God knowing us even before we were born?”

And maybe they could narrow it down by saying, “I think it’s somewhere in the Psalms.” Which isn’t super helpful, considering there are over 30,000 words in the Psalms.

Even if you tried narrowing it down by saying, “You know, he wrote about how God knit together in the womb.” It would be a lot easier for them to just be able to say, it’s found in Psalm 139:13–16. And then you could go to the bible and look up, Psalm 139:13–16 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvellous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.