Stay Focused
The Playbook of Faith • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Brantley Baptism
Hymns:
Have Faith in God
Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us
‘Til the Storm Passes By
When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
Reading: Hebrews 12:1-3
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.
Prayer
We don’t know when the song “Gospel Plow” was first written. We know it dates back to the 1800s - it’s a spiritual song that was likely composed for slaves. Mahalia Jackson wrote a version of the song she called “Keep Your Hand on the Plow.” One stanza says:
When my way gets dark as night,
I know the Lord will be my light,
Keep your hand on the plow, hold on.
Hebrews 11 gives us what many call the “Hall of Faith.” The men and women in that chapter demonstrated faith in tangible ways - ways that still speak long after they have all passed from this life into eternity. As the chapter ends, however, the author of Hebrews points us to look in the mirror - we too have a role to play.
I think of athletes preparing to enter the stadium to perform their sport. They’ve spent hours preparing for this game. They have watched film, worked on plays, and done more suicides than they care to remember. Now, it’s game time.
We are engaged in a game of our own. This spiritual life that we seek to live is like a race. We must run our race with endurance. To do that requires that we stay focused on what matters most.
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
I played one year of soccer in middle school. The only people in our stands were parents. I don’t have experience playing in front of a large crowd, but I am told by some athletes that the crowd can often give players a boost of adrenaline. Some athletes might even say that there’s nothing like knowing that a bunch of folks are all cheering for you.
Take a moment to picture in your mind’s eye this “cloud of witnesses.” Over there you can see Abraham with his wife Sarah and son Isaac. A few rows down from them and a few seats left sits King David in all his splendor - and there’s Mephibosheth too. Across the stadium you see Ruth and Boaz with giant foam fingers cheering. Mary Magdalene and some others have seats almost exactly on the 50 yard line. And over here is a whole section of reformers with their funny hats and long beards. Maybe, if you look in the right direction, you’ll see some of your family too.
There are countless faithful followers of Jesus in times past in the stands. And they’re all cheering for you. Think about that. Not only does God promise us he will never leave or forsake us, but we also have this massive throng of patriarchs and prophets, saints and disciples rooting us on. Rooting you on.
I know sometimes things are just tough. Sickness lingers and makes you weak. Aches and pains take their toll. Children make bad mistakes and it seems your prayers will never be enough. But listen to the crowd of fellow believers. They’re encouraging you not to quit. They’re affirming you to persevere - to run your race with endurance. Take heart from the crowd, child of God! Be strengthened by their chants: “Keep the faith! Keep the faith!”
And what’s with all the extra baggage that you’re bringing onto the field? Athletes don’t wear expensive watches or carry heavy books when they compete, do they? They leave all that stuff at home or in the locker. Athletes take all the extra weight and baggage off before they compete. You cannot perform your best if your weighed down by extra stuff that doesn’t help you compete.
That’s true in the Christian life too. The more weight you carry and the more sin you continue to drag around with you, the less effective you will be for God’s kingdom. If you really want to run your race with endurance, you gotta get rid of the sins and hindrances.
It may be an attitude of entitlement. It may be a false conception that you’re too good for this…or that you don’t deserve to be here. It might be that you need to deal with your anger. Maybe you are being held back by your tendency to gossip and you need to stop talking about people behind their back. Maybe you don’t set good boundaries and let people take advantage of you - every single one of us has something (and often more than one thing) that makes us falter and stumble. Get rid of it! Whatever it is, it ain’t worth keeping! Look at what Paul says in Philippians 3:
3 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—
4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more:
5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;
6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
But these things don’t hinder Paul: look at the next two verses:
7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
Good things and bad things alike can hinder us from running our race with endurance. We must throw them away. But what do we do when we get rid of them? How do we divert our attention from those things? By finding something better to focus on. Look at Hebrews 12:2:
2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
This is where faith really happens. When we take our eyes off of everything else and put them squarely on Jesus, we find that he captivates our attention. Every fear, doubt, anxiety, rage, jealousy, and every boasting, selfishness, pride, and lust (and anything else you can think of) suddenly becomes putrid compared to Jesus. We must focus on Jesus Christ in order to run our race with endurance. Look with me at who this Jesus is:
Jesus Christ is the pioneer of our faith. That word founder is sometimes translated “author,” but the idea is one of a trailblazer. Jesus goes where no man has gone before, and he brings us into the greater Temple in heaven. He is the means whereby faith is in possible. We have no faith without Jesus Christ. We must fix our eyes upon the one from whom our faith comes, that we may receive the faith we need to face whatever we encounter.
Jesus Christ is the culmination of our faith. Just as Christ begins faith in us, he also brings it to full maturity. Faith becomes perfect in us by the work of the Father through his Son and his Holy Spirit. He is the goal of our faith, he is the finisher of our faith, he is the summit of our faith. Faith finds its fullness in Christ, and through Christ is fulfilled in us. When it comes to faith, Jesus is the A-to-Z, the alpha and the omega, the first, the last, our everything.
Jesus Christ is the model of our faith. We endure not just because he empowers us to endure. We endure because he modeled endurance for us. Look at the middle part of verse 2:
2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
and look also at verse 3:
3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.
Look how he endured, not only in his death but throughout his life. That same Jesus who endured the hostility of the very people that sent him to the cross gives us a model for how we are to endure. When we face hostility, we cannot become weary or give up. We must patiently endure. When we are mocked or scorned for our faith in Jesus, we must patiently endure. When we give of ourselves and seek their good, but they abuse us and take us for granted, we must patiently endure. When we try and try to teach them the right way but they are slow to learn God’s ways, we must patiently endure. If we don’t endure, we won’t be like Christ and we won’t finish our race. But the highway of Christlikeness runs directly through the town of Endurance. To be like Jesus, we must endure.
One more thing I want to point out before we close. Look back in verse 2. Because Jesus endured, he won the victory:
2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Jesus won because he never quit. The saints in the stands cheering you on had faith and never quit. There are lots of people who quit. Don’t you go quitting on Jesus. You keep your hand on the plow…hold on!
Take Courage from the Crowd
Put Away the Hindrances
Run Your Race with Endurance
Focus on Jesus
Fix Your Eyes
Because he is the founder of our faith
Because he is the perfecter of our faith
Because he endured and is victorious
Carefully Consider
Because he endured hostility from those whom he came to save
Do Not Become Weary in Your Soul