Pressing On

Introduction:

As we are waiting for the race results.... let me ask you guys a few trivia questions.

What is the most popular sport in the world?

Soccer. There are over 250 million players and 3.5 Billion people follow the sport.

Does anyone know what is the second most popular? Cricket. They have 2.5 Billion fans. They were followed by Basketball and then field hockey.

This surprised me. College football did not even make the list…and it just doesn’t get any better than college football. It was shocking that there are so many people who are missing out on the greatest sport ever.

Next question.

What is the oldest sport?

Wrestling. Wrestling seems to go back for thousands of years.

When I was looking into this, it got me thinking.... we will turn just about anything into a competition. Like, it does not matter what it is. Baseball. Hockey. Golf. Fishing. Fighting. Video Game playing. Like anything that is supposed to be fun and relaxing, we turn it into who can do it the best.

I think that there is a reason for this. There is something about sport that resonates with us. This is probably why the Bible uses so many different illustrations that deal with sports. And one of the pictures that we find over and over again in the Scriptures is one of racing.

You can think of Paul’s words when he talks about all of the running in a race running but only one receives the prize. Or you can think about the passage in Isaiah 40:31 that says “But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” Or you can think of the words in Galatians about them running well…but someone had come in and hindered them from obeying the truth.

But one of my favorite pictures of running comes from Hebrews 12:1-3.

If you have a Bible I want to invite you to turn there with me real quick as we look at this passage together.

Body:

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. Heb 12:1–3.

Main Idea: We are to Press On. Let me give real quick background for what is going on behind this text that would cause the writer to say what he says.

What has been going on is some Jewish Christians were facing a lot of persecution for their newfound faith in Jesus Christ. And because of their faith in Christ and the persecutions that they were facing….they began to reconsider this whole following Jesus thing. Like they found out that it was going to be costly to them. They were facing getting kick out of the synagogue, their place of worship, they were being beaten, probably threated to be stoned to death, they were having their property stolen. They were starting to really suffer for the name of Christ…..and they were thinking…..you know….maybe this is just too hard. Maybe it would be better to just go back to the way things were. Maybe it would be better to follow the Jewish practices.

The Writer is writing to tell them that they can’t go back and give up…no matter what.

Now I know that none of us in this room are facing the same circumstances, but the drift of our hearts is the same. We need some encouragement to finish strong. We need some hope that we can do this race. We need someone to tell us that we can keep going and that we are going to make it. We are prone to give up, but as Followers of Christ we Can’t give up; Instead, there is a better way provided for us.

Let’s look at this text together. Look down at verse 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 (Heb 12:1.)

The Word “Therefore” points back to what was written before this passage, and really helps explain who the “Large Cloud of Witnesses” contains. The Writer is drawing a conclusion for us here. He is saying….. Therefore, since we have these witnesses….we can now act Let’s talk about these witnesses first. Who are they? What did they do? Why are the important?

Back in Chapter 11, the writer gives us, what is typically known as, the Hall of Faith. He lists out Old Testament Saints who had walked with God through different trying circumstances, but who had always had Faith in God. He talks about Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, He talks about the taking of Jericho…. He even says that He doesn’t have enough time to tell all of the stories that had happened. He talks about those who were thrown into the fire, thrown to the Lion's den, those who received their dead sons back….etc. He is painting this picture for them to show them that God got them through their circumstances….It is a testimony to God’s faithfulness.

And Now in Chapter 12:1 He is saying, Since we have such a large Cloud of Witnesses….you see a lot of people think the picture here is of the saints watching us cheering us on…. I Don’t think that is what is going on here…. One Person put it this way. “The Word ‘Witnesses’ does not mean spectators….these people are not witnessing what we are doing; rather they are bearing witness to us that God can see us Through.”

That is the encouragement that we need! We need to know that God has seen His People through many different trying circumstances, and we are not alone. We need to look at how God walked with those who were before us, and when looking at how God was with them it gives us hope.

Now that we have a good understanding of who the witnesses are and what their role is, look back at the passage. 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 (Heb 12:1).

Look at the two ways that we are to respond to God’s faithfulness: 1. We are to cast off the things that slow us down. The text mentions hindrances, which are literally weights, and mentions sins that easily entangle us.  The phrase, “Lay Aside” comes from one word which literally means to strip down to the bear minimum. The picture here is that of a runner who is set to go out on the track. And like every good athlete, if that runner wants to compete, they have to trim every excess thing out of their life. No excess weight. No Excess clothing. No Excess hair. Anything and everything that can go must go in order that they do well. Think about this for your life. What are some of your hindrances? What are some of the things in your life that are slowing you down that you need to let go of?

But its not just hindrances, there are also sins that entangle us. That word literally means to easily or constantly distracted. Sin has a way of taking our eyes off of what is really and truly important. Sin can trip you up.

What Sin do you need to let go of?

2. We are to Run with Endurance.  The word endurance means “to remain or stay behind when other have departed, to bear up under, endure, suffer patiently, to continue firmly, hold out, remain constant, persevere.” It means not to give up. No matter what is going on we are to throw this stuff off of us and to keep going. RUN THE RACE. AND RUN IT IN SUCH A WAY THAT YOU ARE GOING TO FINISH IT! The Race is our own personal walk with CHRIST.

The question that should come in our minds is… “How do I Press on?” “How am I able to continue on!? I’m glad you asked because that is where the text leads us.

Look down at verse 2-3 with me. 2 looking to Jesus, Which literally means to fix our gaze upon, or to view with undivided attention by looking away from every other object….One person explained it this way….they said it denotes both the deliberate ignoring of present circumstances and a reference point beyond them. This is giving full and total attention to something or someone…the founder and perfecter of our faith, Jesus is the one we fix our eyes on because he is the pioneer, other translations might use author or originator, meaning that our Faith Starts with Jesus, but it just doesn’t start with Him, He is also the one who is going to bring it to completion for us. “He who began and good work in you will bring it to competition. And why do we look to Jesus.... keep reading.... 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 (Heb 12:2). Jesus, in his humanity, knows exactly what it is like to press on and to keep going even through hard circumstances. He is one who is able to sympathize with us in our weakness as the writer of Hebrews tells us earlier in the book. We look to Jesus because he was able to endure the cross, and its shame, and sat down at the right hand of God. How did he do it? How was he able to go through such a death as death on a cross? And remember death on a cross was no small matter. It was a horrific death. It was one that was painful and shameful. How did Jesus endure that? “For the JOY THAT LAY BEFORE HIM!” Jesus looked past all of the things he was going to have to go through and looked at the finish line, and said it’s worth it! Jesus looked to his resurrection and what he was going to accomplish for those who would believe in Him. Jesus looked forward to being able to present rebellious sinners, who were once separated from God, back to the Father in glory. That was the JOY that Kept Jesus going. That is why He went through with the cross. He went through with the CROSS SO THAT HE COULD SAVE REBELLIOUS SINNERS LIKE US! HE found JOY in what He was going to accomplish.

The Text continues…. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted (Heb 12:3). The writer tells us….. look to Jesus. Consider Him…think about Him…..dwell up Him…the One who endured…went through….remained constant…..hostility from sinners against himself…..so that….you won’t grow weary and give up. The word weary can mean exhausted, to tire with exertion, or to be discouraged.  He says to look to Jesus so that….so that….you won't be discouraged and give up.

Conclusion I want you to imagine this in your mind. Imagine that you’re getting ready to run a race. Your palms are sweaty, your heart is pounding, and everything around you seems to fade out as you wait for the race to start. BOOM! It starts. You start to run as fast as you can, but something goes wrong and you trip and fall. What do you do now? Do you lie down and quit the race? Or do you keep running? Of course you get back up; you’re in it to win. But what happens if you fall again and again and again?

Life is a lot like this race isn’t it? We start off strong and when we fall we are quick to get back up. But as we keep running we seem to keep falling. After a little while we start to become slower and slower on getting back up. The things that go wrong in our lives; the trials and tribulations start taking their toll on us. The end result of this is that we just want to lay there in the road and quit because life becomes too much for us to bear.

We so easily become consumed with the pain that we are facing, we take our eyes off of the goal and start looking at the cuts and bruises that we have gained from our falls.

When Jesus was on earth, he never lost sight of his goal. In the mist of his trails and tribulations, he always kept his head held high and was always looking to the Father. He wanted to finish the race that God had sent him on.

So what about you? How will you respond when things go wrong in your life and you fall? Will you stay down, look at your cuts, and quit the race? Or are you going to keep your eyes on Jesus, and finish the race that has been marked out for you?

Main Point: We are to Press On.

We Press on by doing three things: 1. Looking Back to those who were before us. 2. We look at our lives and deal with the things that we need to let go over. 3. We look ahead toward Christ. We keep our eyes on Him by reading His Word, By spending Time in Prayer, and by gathering together with the Church.

Don’t Give up. Press On!