Take a Look

Hebrews 12:1-2

Dr. Albert Schweitzer, who famously left his renowned practice in Switzerland to become a medical missionary in Africa, was hosting a group of European visitors at his hospital in Lambarene, French Equatorial Africa, when one of them groaned, “This heat is unbearable! What’s the temperature?”

“I don’t know,” Schweitzer replied. “We don’t have a thermometer here.”

“No thermometer?” the visitor asked in disbelief.

Shaking his head, the doctor explained, “If I knew how hot it was, I don’t think I’d be able to endure it either.”

-We endure in the faith by looking around and looking up

I. Look to the Witnesses v. 1

In our passage tonight, we finally get to the big conclusion of the thing: we are running a race in the faith

All of this build up was to encourage us to run the race, but why does the story of faithful brothers and sisters matter to us?

We are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses; they have faithfully endured the kinds of things that we are going to endure

Their “witness” is a testimony to the faithfulness of God

We can look to them and find:

Wisdom for how to endure

Inspiration for faithfulness to endure

Fellowship for encouragement to endure

Their example is a call to repentance:

We must lay aside the weights that prevent us from running well

Many of these are “good” things

However, they do weigh us down

We must especially lay aside the sin that “clings so closely”

This is difficult

It tries hard to hang on and prevent you from running the race of faith

There are two important notes about the race of faith:

It is an endurance race, not a sprint

It has a defined course and the Lord intends for us to run it to completion

Who or what drives you forward to faithulness?

It is not found by looking within

We need to be wary of the lie of uniqueness!

Life can be lonely and painful at times. It’s even worse when you’re ‘unique’. Paul David Tripp explains the way feeling like that special snowflake can go bad and keep our relationships perennially casual; impotent as sources of comfort and change:

Another reason we keep things casual is that we buy the lie that we are unique and struggle in ways that no one else does. We get tricked by people’s public personas and forget that behind closed doors they live real lives just like us. We forget that life for everyone is fraught with disappointment and difficulty, suffering and struggle, trials and temptation. No one is from a perfect family, no one has a perfect job, no one has perfect relationships, and no one does the right thing all the time. Yet we are reluctant to admit our weaknesses to ourselves, let alone to others. We don’t want to face what our struggles reveal about the true condition of our hearts. —Instruments in The Redeemer’s Hands, pg. 164

1 Corinthians 10:13

[13] No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. (ESV)

II. Look to Jesus v. 2

As we run, we don’t just look around, but we look ahead

What does it mean to look to Jesus?

We look at His example:

He is the perfect picture of faithfulness in suffering

We seek His encouraging face

We trust that He sees and understands what we are experiencing

We know that we will find the strength that we need to endure from Him

We consider His work:

He is the founder of our faith

By His death, burial, and Resurrection, He made the entire race that we run possible

Everything that we believe begins with Him

He is the perfecter of our faith

He brings it to completion and insures that we will finish

Please don’t miss this: He is the one who insures that we cross the finish line!

We remember His focus:

Jesus endured the cross out of joy:

This was not primarily about an obligation or a duty

It was joy found in fulfilling obedience and the reward of faithfulness

It was our salvation that brought Him the joy to endure

Jesus despised the shame:

This is a bit of an odd phrase: to be shamed, as Jesus was on the cross, is to be despised

Jesus, however, turns that on its head; he does not fear the shame or give creedence to it

He despises the shame by enduring it with confidence, as a faithful servant of the Lord

Jesus enjoys the reward:

There was an exalted place at the right hand of the Father for Jesus

In the same way, there is a crown of righteousness for those who endure to the end

How are you enduring?

Do you need to look around?

Do you need to look ahead?

Golf immortal Arnold Palmer recalls a lesson about overconfidence: It was the final hole of the 1961 Masters tournament, and I had a one-stroke lead and had just hit a very satisfying tee shot. I felt I was in pretty good shape. As I approached my ball, I saw an old friend standing at the edge of the gallery. He motioned me over, stuck out his hand and said, “Congratulations.” I took his hand and shook it, but as soon as I did, I knew I had lost my focus.

On my next two shots, I hit the ball into a sand trop, then put it over the edge of the green. I missed a putt and lost the Masters. You don’t forget a mistake like that; you just learn from it and become determined that you will never do that again. I haven’t in the 30 years since.