Run The Race of Faith With Grace

Introduction

What is your purpose in this life? That’s a loaded and important question, isn’t it? There are lots of different answers that people have given to that question. Many have historically said that their purpose is to make the world a better place. That’s a noble effort. Others have said that their purpose in life is to have fun and enjoy life. That’s a little more self-serving. What would you say to this question? If someone were to come up to you and say, “What is your purpose on this planet?” How would you answer them? As a Christian, I hope that our answer would go something like this, “My purpose is to glorify God.” How do we do that? How can you and I glorify God in this life? We all have different skills, abilities, callings, and backgrounds - this will look differently for each of us. Students, here in a few weeks whenever school starts back up (I’m sorry!), that might look like you standing on God’s Word instead of going with the flow of what is popular and choosing to honor God with the words you speak and the things you do. Adults who work, this might mean that you demonstrate integrity instead of looking out chiefly for your bottom line. Parents, we glorify God by training our children up in the fear and admonition of the Lord and prioritizing God’s Word and God’s Way. We all have different contexts, but we have the same calling - to glorify our God.

I’ve prayed about this Sunday for quite some time and through prayer and study and more prayer and study, the text that kept coming up over and over was Hebrews 12. If you have a copy of God’s Word, I invite you to make your way to Hebrews, towards the end of your Bible. This morning we’re going to look specifically at how we are to glorify God and run this race that lies before us with grace as we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. As we go forward individually and as a congregation, this is such an important calling for us all, to look not first inside our hearts or to those around us or to what is popular or to what our society says… but to look first to Jesus. Let’s read from God’s Word together this morning

Hebrews 12:1–3 CSB

1 Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, 2 keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, so that you won’t grow weary and give up.

Is anyone else thankful for the finished work of Jesus Christ this morning and what He has done for us? Let’s give Him thanks.

Realize The Challenges (1)

Who here has heard of the olympic runner from Scotland named Eric Liddell? He was a sprinter who in the early 1900s was one of the best sprinters in the world - in fact in 1924 he was the favorite to win the gold medal in the 100m dash… until it was announced that the 100m dash would be held on Sunday. For this reason, Liddell shared that he would not participate because his conviction was that it would be sinful to race on the Lord’s Day - notice, he didn’t say it was sinful for the race to be on that day, but it would be sinful for HIM to race on Sunday. His conscience wouldn’t allow him to participate and many people were confused and some likely even upset as he was the favorite to bring the gold medal back home to Scotland. This was a challenge, but he stood on his convictions and continued in the 200m and 400m, races that he was not considered the favorite, but lo and behold he ended up winning bronze in the 200m and gold in the 400m. Liddell did what his conscience as a believer told him to do and his goal in participating was to glorify God instead of doing what would have been seen as convenient and compromising those convictions. Over and over in God’s Word we see people who face challenges regarding convictions and convenience - it would be easier to give into convenience instead of holding to our Biblical convictions, but holding to Biblical convictions is always worth it - regardless of if you get a gold medal, finish in last place, or don’t even get to participate! The Bible uses this picture of our Christian life being a race and we are to run in such a way that glorifies God, and this requires us to follow God’s Word.

So, how do we run? Some of us are more familiar with running than others, but think of the average olympic sprinter. Are they dressed in a business suit when they get ready at the starting block? What about an astronaut costume? That would be humorous because they wouldn’t even think of wearing those things because they restrict your movement - if you tried to run like an astronaut, you’d probably fall down and get laughed at! How do we run? We wear certain things when we run - we lay aside things that would hinder us, like business suits and helmets, because your goal is to win the race. This motivation requires you to do certain things a certain way. Paul talks about this in the Christian life

1 Corinthians 9:24 CSB

24 Don’t you know that the runners in a stadium all race, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way to win the prize.

This is our call, church! We lay aside these hindrances and we run. But there are challenges in this process - let’s see these 4 challenges in the beginning of our text

What are the challenges in this race called life?

The Ensnarement of Sin

The first challenge are the things that hinder us and the sin that easily ensnares us. Just as baggy clothes can hinder a sprinter, there are things in our Christian life that can hinder our walk with the Lord. Think of some of these things, possibly a friendship. Friendships are good things and we see this in the Bible! But we know that some friendships move us further away from Jesus Christ. Friends, we don’t drift closer to Jesus, only further away from Him. Young people, you need to be aware of this as you get ready to go back to school, there are some people who might be popular and seem to have it all together, but if they are not saved and if they tempt you to live in a way that doesn’t glorify Jesus, that can be a hindrance. Any Kansas City Chiefs fans? You know what can also be a hindrance to your spiritual life? A noon kickoff on Sunday! You’re at church, ready to worship, you look at the bulletin and see several special things planned and we don’t get started on time and before you know it, it’s pushing 11:45 and we just get out and now you have to battle traffic to make the kickoff. You will not find a pastor who loves and can talk sports like this guy - but yes, Sunday afternoon football can be a hindrance too! Sometimes these hindrances can ensnare us. Think of a Venus fly trap - a fly lands on the plant and starts to eat a little bit and all is fine, but then the fly touches a hair on the trap and once 2 of these hairs are triggered, a countdown starts and eventually the trap springs and the fly is doomed. This is how sin often is… we’re doing something harmless, we have a passion or a hobby or a good intention, but we have a temptation or a desire that is unique to ourselves and before we know it, we give into that temptation and we’re trapped and the fault is our own. This is a challenge in this life.

The Endurance of the Race

We are to run this race with endurance and this is a challenge because you have to build up endurance over time. This is a challenge as many times we are tempted to give up and, sadly, there are times where we do. Instead of enduring and persevering, we give into sinful temptation. This is a challenge we all face.

The Exhaustion of the Path

God has a path for each of us. It’s also not a straight path, more often than not. There are hills and valleys. But we’re all running this race and literally, we read in the text that the path of the race is marked out for each of us. This means that we have to run the race God’s way. Do you know what the literal word in the Greek is for “race”? Agon… any idea what English word we get from AGON? Agony. Running on this path isn’t easy, it’s hard! It’s like running a marathon. 26.2 miles. Did you know that 17% of the people that sign up to run a marathon don’t even finish? The average person that doesn’t finish quits on mile marker 20. Our life is like a marathon - some miles are easier than others because they’re downhill, others are harder because they’re uphill. A challenge we face is pure exhaustion.

Keeping our Eyes on Jesus

The final challenge at the end of verse 1 and the beginning of verse 2 is to keep our eyes on Jesus. There are so many distractions in this life that are vying for our attention. It is a challenge to focus on Jesus… but it is necessary. We don’t look backward, we don’t look inward, we look forward to the finish line and upward to our Savior! If we don’t keep our eyes on Jesus, we will drift to the left or we will jump into the lane to our right. The way to avoid drifting is to keep our eyes fixed ahead to the finish line, to keep looking to Jesus.

2 Timothy 4:7 CSB

7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

This is what Christians have done for 2000 years - we persevere and we trust in Jesus… and as we do this, He strengthens us and we trust in Him more. As John 3:30 tells us, He must increase and we must decrease.

CS Lewis portrayed this truth in the Chronicles of Narnia as Lucy saw Aslan from a distance and rushed to Him and was greeted with a warm welcome. She said, “Aslan, you’re bigger!”

Aslan replied, “That is because you are older, little one.”

Lucy was confused, “But not because you are?”

Aslan said with love, “I am not… but every year you grow, you will find me bigger.”

Friend in this race called life, we are running in one of two directions. Those with Biblical faith are running towards their Savior and as you do this, you will find Him bigger year by year. John Newton put it like this, “Though my memory is fading, I’m reminded of two things. I am a great sinner. Christ is a great Savior.” We could say it like this as we know from the song, our sins are many but His mercy is more! We remember those who have ran their race well, we restrain ourselves from caving into sin, and finally

Remember Your Champion (2)

One of the biggest problems we have as humans is our tendency to forget things. Is anyone else guilty of this from time to time? Maybe it’s forgetting something at the grocery store. Maybe it’s forgetting where you put your car keys. Maybe it’s forgetting something on your calendar or, possibly even forgetting to pick a child up when you were supposed to! As humans, we forget things and there are consequences whenever we forget. If we forget something at the store, we have to make a separate trip. If we forget our keys, we might show up late to something. If we forget something on our calendar, we might have to reschedule something important. There are serious consequences to forgetting things - but no more serious consequence than forgetting Jesus Christ. Consider examples of this in the Bible. Jesus was walking on the water and Peter asked if he too could come out towards Jesus and Jesus said yes! Peter steps out of the boat and looks to Jesus and he walks just fine… but the moment he took his eyes off of Jesus, he realized the waves were high and the wind was strong and he began to sink. Why? Because he took his eyes off of Jesus. Think of the disciples after Jesus died on the cross - what were they doing? They were afraid for their lives and in hiding. In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus told them not once, not twice, but three times that He would die, be buried, and come back to life. What was the problem? They didn’t remember what Jesus Himself had told them. We get into problems whenever we forget WHO Jesus is and WHAT Jesus has done. Church, in the days to come, we must daily remind ourselves of Jesus individually and as a congregation. We must remember that Jesus is our Savior, our Sustainer, our Creator, and our Champion.

Jesus is called the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. The literal word for pioneer here is the word ἀρχηγός (arkegos) which is also where we get the word champion. In Hebrews 11 we see a wonderful chapter that sometimes is called the Hall of Faith and we see men and women throughout chapter 11 who had faith in their faithful God. They kept their eyes on their God and lived for Him and trusted in Him. Now in chapter 12 we come to a final example of someone with great faith in God… Jesus Christ! He’s not just a faithful person, He’s a faithful champion. He’s not just a victor or a winner, now, He is the gold medal recipient who ran His race perfectly and who strengthens and equips His followers to run after Him.

Luke 9:23 CSB

23 Then he said to them all, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.

This is our Savior’s call to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow our Christ! Do you see how this is a call to suffer? Deny self - we live in a world that wants to glorify and celebrate self - Jesus says to deny self… not only this, but to take up our cross not just when it’s convenient. Not just on Sunday morning. Not just physically at church, but to do this daily and to follow Him. Why would we do this? Some wonder why follow Jesus - after all, what does He know about the suffering that we face? That’s a really good question!

Hebrews 4:15 CSB

15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin.

Jesus knows what it is like to suffer. He too was tempted. He too was opposed. He too suffered greatly. In fact, we see in our passage in chapter 12 that Jesus endured the cross and suffered in our place. As we remember what Jesus went through, we realize this crucial point to Christianity: We can endure well in this life because our Savior endured the cross to bring about our salvation! The cost of our salvation was immense - it cost Jesus His life! Therefore, the cost to follow Jesus is everything. We can’t be 50/50, it’s all or nothing. This is why Christ calls His people to endure, because He endured. He doesn’t leave us with an impossible command, either, consider Philippians 1:6

Philippians 1:6 CSB

6 I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

This is good news, friends! Yes, we are called to endure and persevere, but left to ourselves this would be an impossible task. For this reason we are promised that God finishes the work that God starts. He sustains us. A few years ago Matt Merker composed the song, “He Will Hold Me Fast” - is anyone else thankful that we have a Savior who doesn’t just save us and leave us, but a Savior who saves us and sustains us!? This is good news! This is what we must remind ourselves of often, because we are prone to wander and tempted to forget. Throughout Hebrews we see these reminders to pay attention, consider Jesus, to respond to Him in faith. To look to the cross of Christ.

Why did Jesus have to go to the cross? That seems really harsh. Why this punishment? Why this suffering? After all, what did Jesus ever do to deserve it? The answer is nothing. Jesus never once sinned. He was perfect. So why did He go to the cross? The answer is because of us. The song in Christ Alone tells us this - It was MY sin that held Him there. If we were perfect, there would be no need for Jesus to come and endure the cross… but He did because we are not perfect, we are sinners. We all have fallen short of the glory of God. There is no one righteous. This is the common human condition, we are broken people living in a broken world and people try to solve this problem in all sorts of different ways! Some people try to solve the problem of their sin by trying really hard to be a good person. For some people it’s like there’s a balance beam or a teeter totter of sorts and every bad action is on this side and every good action is on this side, and lots of people think that if they can just do more good actions then bad ones then they’ll be fine when it’s all said and done. That’s not how it works, though! You and I are guilty before God and our sin is the problem. What do we need? We need someone to save us from our sinful condition. If we were sick, God would have sent a doctor. If we needed encouragement, God would have sent a counselor. If we needed instruction, God would have sent a teacher. We needed saving, so God sent a Savior. Jesus goes to the cross, despises the shame, He wins by dying and Jesus doesn’t just leave us where we are at… no, He saves us and He changes us. Once you look to Jesus, repent and turn from sin, and place your faith in Christ, you are a new creation - one of my greatest joys as a pastor is to baptize believers who have turned from sin and placed their faith in Christ as Lord and Savior (by God’s grace, I’ve had the privilege to do this over 50 times the last 3 years in Salem) and one of the lines I love to share whenever I baptize is that we are raised to walk in newness of life as Paul shares in Romans 6:4. This is your story if you’re a Christian and it’s only possible because of the cross of Jesus Christ as He not only died, but He took upon Himself YOUR sins. He makes you perfect before God. So, we remember our Champion and what He did for us.

Reaffirm Your Commitment (3)

As we realize the challenges we face in life due to temptation and sin and as we look to Jesus and His sacrifice for our sins on the cross, we’re left with a serious decision today. What will we do whenever suffering strikes? Yes, we see this call to flee from sin that is looking to ensnare us. Yes, we are to focus on Jesus who saves us. But what do we do whenever we just get tired and burnt out and whenever it seems like suffering won’t end. What then? Hebrews 12:3 tells us that as we consider Jesus and remember what He has done as He suffered in our place, we won’t grow weary or give up. This is a call to stay committed, regardless of the pains we face. In fact, we see in verse 2 that Jesus endured pain with joy. That seems impossible, doesn’t it? Sometimes we’re tempted to think that if we just had this one thing then our lives would be easier. If I had this job or if I had what this other person has on social media, then my life would be better and I would be happier. If I didn’t have this one thing going on then I would be more joyful. There are situations where that might be true - our life might truly be easier if we had this thing or if that opportunity. But God has a plan for each of us and He calls on us to be committed to Him.

We have to understand that there is joy, even in the pain. Whenever I was 14 years old, I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. This means that every single day since that day of diagnosis, I have to give myself insulin shots or else my blood sugar will go too high and I will die. If you’ve ever been diagnosed with a chronic health problem or if you’ve ever known someone who has been, you know that in the immediate aftermath of the diagnosis as humans we often play the “woe is me” game. That doesn’t seem fair. Why me? Why them? There were sometimes as a teenager when that was me. I was weary. I thought that if I could just have my problem taken away, then my life would be just fine. I would have joy. I would have happiness. I could drink a normal soda and eat as many cookies as my friends did! But after being around people who have suffered far worse than I have, I’ve learned something - in the Christian life pain and joy often go hand in hand. See, if my Type 1 Diabetes went away, I’d still have another problem that would then dominate my thoughts and I’d complain about that instead. In this life we face problems of various shapes and sizes. These circumstances can hinder our happiness because that’s based on what’s going on around us… but problems can’t steal your joy because joy is found in Christ and He doesn’t leave and He doesn’t change! We could say this: Jesus is the crown at the finished line! He is our reward. Whenever you are saved by grace through faith in Christ, you get something so much better than a temporary healing from a physical problem… you get salvation from your sins for all eternity! You are sealed with the Holy Spirit and as you run after Christ in this life, you are assured that one day you will hear these incredible words from Matthew 25:21 - Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant!

We will face hardships in this life, but there is strength for today and hope for tomorrow because of the finished work of Jesus Christ. He sustains us. He saves us. He seals us. Once we cross that finished line, we get Jesus. So we reaffirm our commitment as individuals and as a congregation, even in difficult times when we’re weary and tired, and we look to Jesus. Kent Hughes once phrased it like this, “We must be totally absorbed with Jesus.” South Gate Baptist Church, are we totally absorbed with Jesus? If our answer is that we’re partly absorbed with Jesus, then we’ll throw in the towel before the finished line. If we’re kind of absorbed with Jesus then we might not even make it past the first mile or two before there’s a better option… But if we’re totally absorbed with Jesus then we’ll endure through times of hardship. We’ll stand boldly upon God’s Word in difficult times and endure as we look to Jesus. This is what we need! This is what Jesus deserves!

As one former Christian leader prayed, “I ask Christ for this one thing only, that He will enable me to endure all things courageously, and that He break me as a potter’s vessel or make me strong, as it pleases Him.” This must be our prayer as we seek to glorify our God. That He help us to endure courageously and when an area of pride needs to be broken or an area of weaknesses needs to be strengthened, He would do exactly that. We must look to Jesus - we must trust in Jesus.

How are you running your race today?

If you are here and you do not yet know Jesus, you must consider Him (v. 3)

This short passage of Scripture is all about Jesus. The book of Hebrews is all about Jesus. The Bible is all about Jesus… this means that our lives, young and old, men and women, tall and short, must be about Jesus! If you are here and you are not yet a follower of Jesus Christ, praise the Lord that you are here today! You are an answer to my prayers as I have prayed for weeks that people would hear the Gospel for the first time and for the 1000th time. We look around our world and we see hopelessness and brokenness. We see people trying to find answers and make solutions everywhere we turn. But there is already an answer to the problems we face in this world. There is hope. There is joy. There is peace. There is salvation. It’s all about Jesus. I’m convinced from my radiator to my tailpipe that we all need Jesus. Friend, consider what the Bible says today about your condition without Christ and what Jesus alone can do in your life.

If you are here and you do know Jesus, you must endure with joy (not necessarily happiness) as you run the race God has laid out before you

If you’re a born-again believer, we see in our passage today that we will face hardships in life… but we will not face them alone. There is joy to be had in times of waiting. There is joy to be had in your suffering. There is joy even when the answer to our prayer is “no” - because we know that God has a better “yes” than we can presently imagine. Regardless of if we have to endure our present problems or if God will help us to escape them, we get Jesus. Even in our exhaustion, Jesus sustains us. He fills us. He changes us. There is joy to be had at all seasons and at all times, as Paul shares in 2 Corinthians 12, when we are weak - He is strong! We endure with our eyes fixed on Jesus and we run through that finish line just as those saints who went before us have done.

God has a plan for South Gate Baptist Church and each person that is here today. In fact, in the days to come God has a plan to use South Gate Baptist Church to impact lives of people who either are not yet born or who do not yet come to this church. How can we say that? Because for 35 years, this church has been used in mighty ways for the glory of God and the good of this community… and God isn’t done with HIS church, so He still has plans for this church. What must we do, church? Realize that there are problems in this life - we are sinners living in a sinful, broken, fallen world. We live in a world that celebrates things that are not right and a world where there are different things that can hinder us as individuals. Realize these things. Realize our weaknesses and temptations and, as the preacher says, lay them aside and run with endurance, as hard as that will be. Second, we must remember Jesus. Remember what Jesus Christ has done for each one of us - He who knew no sin became sin so that we might become the righteousness of God! Remember Jesus. Remember His sacrifice. Remember that He is now seated down in heaven. We remember that our Champion has a plan for each one of us, and finally, we refuse to give up. In the days to come there will be good days and there will be hard days. Jesus promised His disciples that in this world there will be trouble and suffering - John 16:33 - but to remember that Christ has overcome the world. Can I encourage you today? Jesus Christ wins! And if you’re in Christ, you win too. Between today and that day of ultimate victory with Jesus when He returns, we have a mission and that mission is to run our race with grace with our eyes fixed on Jesus. What a joy it is to get to run this race together for the glory of God, our ultimate good in becoming more like Christ, and for the eternal good of many who do not yet know Jesus Christ as Lord. South Gate - let’s run this race well and let’s look to the finish line with confidence because in the end, we get Jesus!