The Race of Faith

Introduction

Good morning it is really wonderful to be with you this morning. Before I get really into the sermon I want to just say thank you. I am leaving for college in two weeks which is crazy, but because of this I will not be able to come preach here every month. I am going all the way down to the very southwest part of Missouri to Joplin to study the bible at Ozark Christian College. So I will not be able to make the trip back up here every month. But when I do I will make sure to text Winston and see if you guys need someone to come. You have been people that have helped me, that have supported me, that have given me an opportunity to study the bible and tell you about. This church will always hold a special place in my heart. Today we are going to be for the first time in a long time not looking at the book John. We are going to be in the book of Hebrew’s actually, because for the past week I have been studying the book of Hebrews.

For the past week I have been tent camping out in the mountains of Colorado at NYR. NYR is a church camp out in the mountains of Colorado. How many of you guys have gone to church camp? This one is a little different though in the sense that there is no running water. All the water we have is in a big barrel from a well. And when there is 1700 people on this mountain that means we are really living in the wild. We tent camp, we eat outside, we worship outside, we do class outside. Everything is outside. This is where I have been for the last week and it has been very very fun for me. The theme this year at NYR was Eyes on the Throne and the passage we were looking at was Hebrew’s 12:1-2. So today we are going to be looking at these verses and see what the author of Hebrew’s is trying to tell us through the Holy Spirit. Let us look at Hebrew’s 12:1-2,

English Standard Version Chapter 12

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.

Look Back

As we look at this passage we see it starts out with a very important word, that word is therefore. Whenever a therefore is in the Bible we need to see what it is there for. Therefore is here to say that since everything the author has stated in chapters 1-11, we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses we need to run the race of faith with endurance. So what happens in the chapters 1-11, well we know that this book was written to Jewish Christians that are wanting to go back to there Jewish ways. They wonder if Jesus is really the way, they wonder if he really is the Greatest. And so for the first couple chapters the author is explaining to this Jewish audience that Jesus is greater than Moses, he is Greater than the high priest, Jesus is greater. The author is looking to the past to show that Jesus is greater than the figures of old. Jesus is greater. The author is telling the people that Jesus is the greatest, and so it begs the question is Jesus the greatest to you? I said the theme was Eyes on the Throne and the question was asked, who’s on your throne? Who is the one in charge for you? If that isn’t Jesus then the rest of this passage isn’t for you, but if it is then the rest of this passage is exactly what you need.

But if Jesus is the Greatest then therefore, we have a great cloud of witnesses. And I want to camp out on this phrase for a second because it is a really cool picture and the author is making us look back. If you flip back a page to the start of chapter 11 you see the title Hall of Faith, or Heroes of the Faith. And in this chapter we see story after story of people from the Old Testament and the Faith they showed. We see the things they did, how there journey started, how they finished there journey. There stories help us on our journeys, but in some mysterious way they are now surrounding us, cheering us on as we run this race. This cloud of witnesses show us how to run the race and also at the same time cheer us on. The author is shifting our focus to the past, to the people that helped get us to this point, not just heroes of the faith from the Bible but also heroes of the faith from our life.

As I have said before I am a huge southern gospel fan and the Down East Boys have an amazing song titles A Story that Began at the Cross, the chorus goes like this, I wish that I could look back in time, and trace every step of this unbroken line its a love made of crimson from an old rugged tree cause someone told someone and someone told me and I stand here all because of the story that began at the cross. This song goes on to talk about different chapters of believers lives. Different eras of the church and this song I think really helps me see the cloud of witnesses. My cloud of witnesses is different than yours, my cloud includes people like Dan Butcher, Mitchell Seaton, Ian Johnson, Titus Kolars, and many more. My cloud right now includes Abraham because that’s who I relate too. The cloud of witnesses, this weird phrase here is something that is really cool and something that gives us hope and helps us to run the race. This phrase makes us look to the past and see what got us here, the people that made it possible for us to be sitting here today.

English Standard Version Chapter 12

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,

Look to the Present

We are first taken back in this passage to remember the people that got us here but then we are taken to the Present. To where we are currently, and the author of Hebrews uses this analogy of a race. The ESV version says lay aside but I like the way the NIV translates it, it says this in the second half of verse 1, let us throw everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entagles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. It says throw off, not just lay aside but throw off. Almost a violent action and think that is intended. As we run this race anything that hinders or entagles us needs to be thrown off. Something I learned last week was the context of this statement about the race. As many of us know racing was a big thing in the time of the Greeks and Romans but I learned this week that they made sure nothing hindered them. And that means that when they ran nothing hindered them even clothing, everything was thrown off. I thought the shorts and shirt I wore for cross country in high school were small until this week. They only had a small little girdle I believe when they ran. Nothing hindered them, and I wonder if we can do the same as we run this race of faith. That now, in the present we ask the question is anything hindering us. This may not be a sin but it may be something that is slowing you down as you run the race. As I said I ran cross country and it would be weird if as I ran I picked up things as I went, if I saw a rock that I liked I picked it up and ran with it. If I saw a stick I picked it up. It would slow me down a ton in cross country and people standing by would be watching and telling me to put those things down. But I wonder if we do this in our spiritual life, we have things that as we have been on this race that we have picked up and as we run its slowing us down but Jesus and the cloud of witnesses around us are telling us to thrown them down but we don’t and they keep slowing us down. For me I realized my phone was really slowing me down, now my phone is not a bad thing but it had been slowing me down in the race. And so I only have messages on to send me notifications. Social media doesn’t send me notifications and that has helped me stay focused, that used to hinder me and I decided to throw it off. And so I ask you what is slowing you down, what is hindering you? What ever it is throw it off, don’t just lay it aside throw it off.

And as we throw of things that hinder us we see that there are things that are entangling us, things that are clinging to us. These things are sins. And as we grow in the faith sometimes its harder to see these things. When we first come to faith we knock of the big sins, the big things holding us back, the big bushes that have us entangles but as we get further along this race it gets harder and harder to notice these sins that are entangling us. This can be a very scary thing as these small bushes can become huge. This image reminds me of a Veggie Tales episode. In this episode we see Larry the Cucumber as a hero named Larry Boy and he is fighting against this little flower, at first. This flower representing sin at first is small and so it isn’t really noticed. It slowly though starts to grow, and starts to grow, and starts to grow, till Larry Boy is having a hard time getting rid of it. He eventually does but I wonder as Christians that have been with the faith for a while if this isn’t us. As we run this race we get this little thorns on us that slowly grow and grow and grow until it gets harder and harder to take steps forward. And so as we run this race we need to be diligent. We can not let these things grow we have to stay focused and watch out for these sins that will entangle us and keep us from running the race. I went to a morning class while at NYR and while at this class the person leading the class Peter Bucklin gave some little prayers to ask God to help us notice even the smallest things, here are a few. God, help me to see the things that I am blind to. God, whatever is hindering me from getting to you, will you show me it and help me remove it. God, help me to see the sin that I can’t right now. God, whatever is entangling me will you help me see it and remove it.

Here’s what Colossians and Ephesians says,

Colossians 3:9 “Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices”

Ephesians 4:22 “to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,”

Throw off, the things that hinder us, that entangle us so that we can run the race set before us.

Look to Jesus

English Standard Version Chapter 12

2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith,

So the author takes us to the past talking about the heroes of the faith, talking about the cloud of witnesses around us. The author then takes us to the present with the things that hinder and entangle us and now the focus shifts to Jesus the founder and perfecter of our faith. The person seated on the throne right now. This phrase here founder and perfecter of our faith is really cool. The way it was explained to me is that Jesus is the first to start faith and he is also the first to finish the faith. He is the first to start the race and the first to finish the race. So while in chapter 11 we see countless stories of people and there stories of faith it says that while they were commended for there faith they did not yet receive what was promised, Hebrew’s 11: 39. These people of old did not finish the race yet, Jesus was the one to first finish the race. He was the first one to start the race of Faith and so we need to look to him as the example of our faith. That doesn’t mean that we do not look at others lives to show faith too but that our eyes need to stay focused on the throne and Jesus needs to be the one on it. Faith is a weird thing, its hard to define, its hard to describe. But faith is cool in the sense that we all start the journey of faith the same way with seeing and realizing Christ is Lord, and we all finish the faith the same way in returning to home which is heaven. But the middle part is different for everyone, it is not the same. And so I think the author puts in all these different stories to say you see these different people and what they did and what the accomplished, what they went through. You can relate sometimes, not all the time but sometimes. Right now I relate with Abraham a lot because just like him I am leaving home. Going somewhere new, foreign to me. But I believe God is calling me there just like Abraham was called. But in a earlier stage of life I related well with David. As we grow and as we are on this journey of faith it changes, because every journey starts and ends the same but the middle is different.

In cross country every course is a little different, they all have the same starting box, and they all end with us running a 5k, but the actual course is different. My home course at Shelbina Lake is very very very hilly and not a good course if you are going for your fastest 5k because its hard. But to contrast that with Marion County’s course which is flat and very easy is like comparing and contrasting an orange to a potato. They are both 5k but are very different. And that is faith, it starts and ends the same but the middle is very different and that is why our eyes need to be on Jesus. Because while everyone’s race is different Jesus shows us the path to him. Jesus shows us where to go, and if we keep our eyes on him we can keep running the race well. He was the first to start the faith and the first to finish and so he is the one that we need to watch.

English Standard Version Chapter 12

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 on the Throne

Jesus endured the cross, despised the shame and is now seated on the throne. A statement that really stuck out to me is that faith is rooted in the Gospel. And this second half of verse two is the gospel. Jesus went to the cross, died for us, and is now seated at the right hand of God. He is right now on the throne. He did this for you and me as many of you know. This is the reason why we can run the race in the first place. And something that I want to add here really fast is that Jesus right now on the throne is advocating for us.

English Standard Version Chapter 4

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Jesus is sitting at the throne right now and is advocating for us. He is letting God know and understand what is happening with us as we are running the race of faith. These two verses end with us knowing and having hope for the future, because Jesus for the joy set before him, despised the shame, endured the cross and is sitting at the right hand of God.

Application

I would assume most of you are not at the beginning of this race. I would assume many of you are on the last leg. And so I want this sermon to be more of a encouragement to you. It may be a sermon of conviction for you if you have a sin or something that hinders you in your life. But I believe many of you just need some encouragement. That is what happened to me on the mountain, was I convicted about some sins and things that hinder me, yes, but it was mainly there to show me that I am on the right path, I am running the race and I need to keep going. And so I want to let you guys know keep going, keep running, keep enduring, keep throwing off things, keep your eyes on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Keep going. I want to end with another gospel song and this one is from Tribute Quartet and it is a song called Halfway Up the Mountain the point of the song is to not stop, if you are halfway up the mountain do not turn around, do not go back, do not stop. And so that is my encouragement to you guys. As you guys are continue on this journey, on this race, as you climb this mountain keep going.

We have come too far to turn back now There's an end in sight we see And the Lord has brought us safe thus far With His grace and perfect peace But too many battles have been lost With the finish line in sight So let us keep the faith and win this race Before the day turns into night When you're halfway up the mountain There's no time to rest awhile When you're halfway to your victory You must go that extra mile Just keep pressing on though the road is long When your feet get tired still you must go on When you'rе halfway up the mountain Just keep climbing to the top With out back to evеry valley low In the land of shadows dark Let our eyes be lifted to the skies For the triumph shall be ours We have been many times before And we've never been alone In every circumstance He's not failed us yet So let us just keep traveling on There's no time to rest awhile When you're halfway to your victory You must go that extra mile Just keep pressing on though the road is long When your feet get tired still you must go on When you're halfway up the mountain Just keep climbing to the top When you're halfway up the mountain There's no time to rest awhile When you're halfway to your victory You must go that extra mile Just keep pressing on though the road is long When your feet get tired still you must go on When you're halfway up the mountain Just keep climbing to the top Just keep pressing on though the road is long When your feet get tired still you must go on When you're halfway up the mountain Just keep climbing to the top Keep on climbing (just climbing to the top) Climbing to the top

So let us keep the faith and win this race

Let us look to the past and see those that have gone before, let us look to the present and see the things that are hindering and entangling us, and let us keep our eyes on the throne, where are king and savior sits, his name is Jesus. So let us keep the faith and win this race