Hebrews 12:1-3 Run for Your Life

Intro:

Thank Peter for teaching last week

He did a great job

Just to clarify, I let him know back in October he was speaking for me, not a couple of weeks ago

A couple of weeks ago he realized I was serious

I also want to thank you

2023 was the first year that we have surpassed the $500k in giving

December was our best month ever by almost double

It has situated us to to do some really cool things

We will be sharing about those at our equipping dinner on the 24th

Today’s message is a great one to start the new year

It’s titled “Run for Your Life”

If you’re like me, you social media is filled with people telling you how to lose weight and get into shape

One of the ads was for an app called from couch to 5k in six weeks

I’m not a runner, never have been

I walk two miles as day, I ride my mountain bike, my wife even has me doing pilates, but the only thing I run is my mouth

Fortunately today isn’t about exercise

Read Hebrews 12:1-3

Transition

In the New Testament the Christian life is repeatedly compared to everyday things, events, or practices.

Several times, for example, Christian living is compared to warfare.

Paul counsels us to endure hardship “as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Tim. 2:3) and to “put on the full armor of God”

Paul also uses boxing as a comparison. “I box in such a way, as not beating the air” (1 Cor. 9:26; cf. 2 Tim. 4:7).

The Christian is often spoken of as a slave of Jesus Christ.

Paul frequently refers to himself as a slave, or bond-servant, of Christ, and in several of his letters he introduces himself first of all as a bond-servant (Rom. 1:1; Phil. 1:1; Titus 1:1).

Jesus spoke of His followers as lights and salt in the world.

Peter refers to Christians as babes and as living stones.

Paul was particularly fond of the figure of the race. He uses such phrases as “run in a race”

1 Corinthians 9:24 ESV

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.

The prize we are running towards is eternity in heaven

This race, which we call life, is more of an obstacle course with your opponent attacking you than running around a track

Remember American Gladiators?

As a Christian You need to run for your life

To do that you are going to need to run w/ endurance, look to Jesus, and heed the warning of becoming weary

Run w/ Endurance vs. 1

As you run for your life make sure you run with endurance

This race is not a sprint, its a marathon

It gonna take endurance to make it to the end

Unfortunately, many people are not even in the race, and many Christians could hardly be described as running the race at all.

Some are merely jogging, some are walking slowly, and some are sitting or even lying down.

Yet the biblical standard for holy living is a race

Race is the Greek agōn, from which we get agony.

A race is not a thing of passive luxury, but is demanding, sometimes grueling and agonizing, and requires our utmost in self-discipline, determination, and perseverance

Cloud of Witnesses

Fortunately you have a Cloud of witnesses who have gone before you

You can make it to the end, not only because the faithful saints in chapter 11 did, but you have something they didn’t, Jesus

They were waiting for the promise of the Messiah

You live with His Spirit in you every day

The writer of Hebrews says you are surrounded by these witnesses

The author thought of many more than just the 18 specifically mentioned in Hebrews 11.

The ancient Greek word translated cloud was a figure of speech indicating a large group, and this is so great a cloud of witnesses.

That cloud probably includes great men and women of God who have come since those Hebrews 11 saints, known and unknown to history.

We are surrounded by them, as spectators in a stadium surround and observe the players.

Lay Aside the Weight

Running with endurance means shedding anything unnecessary

If you watch track and field at the Olympics, those athletes wear the bare minimum.

Any unnecessary weight can be the difference between silver and gold

When we see this in scripture it is telling us to shed anything that is weighing us down from following Jesus

Romans 13:12 ESV

The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.

It starts with sin, but also goes to things that can be mini-idols

It could also be something that is good, but holding you back

The hardest things to quit are those that you enjoy but aren’t good for you

Ephesians 4:22 ESV

to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,

In the race of running for your life you need to forget what is in the past and press forward to lay hold of what God has for you

Easily Entangled by Sin

We also need to be careful of getting entangled in sin

It is so easy for sin to get a foothold and then trip us up

The ESV uses sin which clings so closely

The NASB uses “so easily entangles us”

Sin is something that attaches itself to us and hinders our movement

The sin which so easily ensnares us:

The words easily ensnares translate a difficult ancient Greek word, which can be translated four ways: “easily avoided,” “admired,” “ensnaring,” or “dangerous.”

Let us lay them all aside:

Some sins can be easily avoided, but are not.

Some sins are admired, yet must be laid aside.

Some sins are ensnaring and thus especially harmful.

Some sins are more dangerous than others are.

Run w/ Endurance

What is needed is endurance, to finish what we have begun in Jesus Christ – a race that is set before us.

Endurance is steady determination to keep going.

It means continuing even when everything in you wants to slow down or give up

That is the way many people live the Christian life.

They start out fast, but as the race goes on they slow down, give up, or just collapse.

The Christian race is a marathon, a long-distance race, not a sprint.

The church has always had many short-spurt Christians, but the Lord wants those who will “make the distance.”

There will be obstacles and there will be weariness and exhaustion, but we must endure if we are to win.

God is concerned for steadfastness

Look to Jesus vs. 2

As you run for your life make sure that you look to Jesus

The New American Standard Version translates this beautifully as, fixing our eyes on Jesus.

We can only run the race as we look to Jesus and have our eyes locked on to Him. He is our focus, our inspiration, and our example.

looking unto Jesus uses a verb that implies a definite looking away from other things and a present looking unto Jesus.

Founder of Your Faith

We can look to Jesus because he is the founder of our faith

A couple of years ago Nike made this marathon shoe that had a unique sole.

It literally gave energy back to the runner as they ran

Think of a spring in the sole

The shoes were so superior that the times of the Nike runners were far surpassing the runners from brands like Asics and New Balance

Some runners from others shoes actually bought Nikes and blacked out the Swoosh

Eventually Track & Field had to ban the nikes until the other brands caught up

You can run this race and look unto Jesus because He is the creator of the universe and the founder of your faith

Hebrews 2:10 ESV

For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.

One may say that Jesus is with us at the starting line and the finish line and all along the way of the race that He sets before us.

Endured Shame & Cross

We can look to Jesus because He endured the cross

It’s a lot easier to run a race when you know your leader has done it before you

Jesus was able to endure the ordeal of the cross because He understood the good that would come of it – the good of a redeemed, rescued people honoring God for all eternity.

Philippians 2:8 ESV

And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

One of the most prominent elements of the torture of the cross was its extreme shame.

Jesus did not welcome this shame – He despised it – yet He endured through it to victory.

Jesus bore this hellish shame to accomplish our redemption.

Jesus bore a shameful accusation: blasphemy.

Jesus bore shameful mocking.

Jesus bore a shameful beating.

Jesus wore a shameful crown.

Jesus wore a shameful robe.

Jesus bore a shameful mocking even as He prayed on the cross.

This is a stumbling block to many. They will do just about anything for Jesus except endure shame or embarrassment.

Seated at Right Hand of God

The final reason you can look to Jesus as you run for your life is that Jesus is seated at the right hand of God Almighty

I’ve told you hundreds of times before but the right hand of a ruler is that place of authority

Jesus has the authority because he endured the cross and had victory over death

Philippians 2:9 ESV

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,

John Gagliardi

A Warning of Weariness vs. 3

As you run for your life make sure you heed a warning of weariness

In every race you are going to get weary

Heartbreak Hill

In the Boston Marathon there is a place where races have been won and lost

It comes about 20 miles into the trek from Hopkinton to Boston when runners are faced with driving their already tired legs and bodies up the half-mile incline known as Heartbreak Hill.

The hill falls at the point on a marathoner’s journey to the finish line when he or she will “inevitably ‘hit the wall,’” he said.

And while Heartbreak is the one with an official name, it is really the last in a series of four hills in Newton, referred to collectively as the Newton hills

There are going to be points in your faith that you grow weary

Maybe it’s from a season of being busy or the attack from the enemy is so great

Whatever the case, you are exhausted

Consider the Hostility

Even in their difficulty if they would consider Jesus they could be encouraged, not discouraged, knowing that they were following in the footsteps of Jesus.

Knowing that Jesus doesn’t ask more of us than what He has Himself experienced, and that He knows exactly what we are going through keeps us from becoming weary and discouraged in your souls.

Don’t Lose heart