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Turn with me this morning to Hebrews chapter 12.
We are going to looking into the first 3 verses of this chapter and see why the discipline of perseverance is so important.
The author of Hebrews draws this awesome picture of heavenly observers in an attempt to motivate and instruct a faltering church to persevere.
What this scene is all about is a great coliseum.
The occasion is a footrace, but not a short 100 meter dash.
It is a long race.
The contestants here include the author and the members of his flock, as well as us who know the Lord.
This cloud of witnesses in (12:1) that fills up the stadium is made up of all the great spiritual athletes of the past.
They are not live witnesses but witnesses because they have been faithful and gave testimony down through the ages.
They have had persevering faith like Joseph, Abraham, Moses, and many more.
Hebrews 12 gives us 4 things to help us persevere in this thing we call the race of life.
1. Get rid of the things that hinder you from following God.
As a runner there can often be several nagging things that hinder me from running and one is injuries.
Over the past year I have been dealing with an Achilles injury that has hinder me from running.
I have had to go to do physical therapy in order to get back to running.
Here in verse 1 we see a call to throw off several things.
The first thing is every weight or any hindrances that can get us down.
The second thing is every sin which clings so closely to us.
This would be anything that would impede or hinder the runners progress.
It can be translated as weight or hindrance.
The author of Hebrews wants us to see that we as believers must throw off anything that would encumber or hinder us from running this race of life well.
The author here has in mind in ancient times that when a runner would compete he would strip off his clothing before the race, as was the Greek custom of the day.
The sin that we are told to throw off is the sin which clings so closely to us.
So, let’s get specific.
These would look like besetting sins or the sin that are more appealing to us and may not appeal to others.
What are the specific sins in or sin in your life that you need to get rid of???
-Jealousy is where we have this feeling inside us when others do better than we do.
-Lust.
This could be for others, or things, or even a position.
-Anger.
This is a heart that is always raging and very hateful.
-Lying.
This is a sin that can show up in our relationship with others when we are full of deceit.
All of these besetting sins are sins that attract and hold us with the promise of pleasure, that sadly bring no happiness or enjoyment but only despair.
If we are going to finish this race well then there must be things that we get rid of.
We can never run the race that is set before us, if we do not put off the weights and clinging sins.
Confess those to God today and ask Him for His help.
What is the one thing today in your life that is hindering you from following the Lord???
Is it a habit, a pleasure, a hobby, an event, a person?
I know that this may sound radical but we must lay these things aside because it is a matter of life and death.
It has everything to do with finishing and finishing well.
2. Run the race of life with endurance.
After we have taken the time to get rid of the hindrances, we now begin to run the race of life.
We begin to run with endurance the race that is set before us.
(Verse 1) Persevering during a tough race is an amazing thing.
In 2007 I had the opportunity to run the Boston Marathon.
This particular year it was very cold and rained the entire race.
It was also very windy which made the race very tough to run.
At mile 20 came the famous Heartbreak Hill and I my legs were killing me.
The last 6 miles of the race were very tough and I was ready to be done.
I knew that I couldn’t stop running but I was ready to be at the finish line.
I remember my last mile and running down Boylston Street and finally seeing the finish line.
It was a glorious sight.
Perseverance can be very tough but it also can be a beautiful thing.
We all have a very specific race that the Lord maps out for us.
The Lord directs our paths and numbers our days.
Our race is like no one else’s.
It is marked out for you where you are as a student, parent, single person, and even grandparent.
Some races are straight, some have a lot of turns and ups and downs, some seem very long, but the glory is, each of us getting to finish the race and finishing the race well.
Here is how the Apostle Paul describes it.
With God’s help we can finish this race well.
No matter what you have done or what your past looks like with God we can keep running until the Lord calls us home or returns.
(Story of my sister in Roswell, New Mexico at the Turtle Marathon finishing in last place.)
Biblical perseverance is putting one foot in front of the other.
It’s taking our time to finish well.
The race is not for sprinters who start off to fast never to finish.
It is for faithful joggers and even slow walkers who just move little bit by little bit.
Fast or slow, strong or weak, we must all persevere.
3. Focus your attention on Christ so that you may be able to finish well.
The other day I was out by Goldsmith riding my bike and a car was quickly approaching me from behind.
I turned around to see how closely it was too me and when I focused back on the road ahead of me I had drifted off the road onto the gravel and almost crashed.
The bad news for me was that both of my bike tires went flat and I had to wait for Jennifer to come pick me up.
I lost focus of the road!!!
The focus of course is Jesus, we are to be looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.
The reason why Jesus is to be our focus is because every obstacle was thrown his way, but never once did Christ stumble and fall.
He lived a perfect and sinless life and then went to the cross and died for us so that we could have eternal life.
Jesus became the founder and perfecter of our faith by the way he lived.
And the good news today is that He continues to be the founder and perfecter of our faith.
Why am I telling you this today?
Why is this important for us?
Because we all need faith to run this race and to look to Jesus.
We must deliberately lift our eyes from other distracting things and focus with concentration on Jesus and His words.
We must not look away for a quick glance.
This kind of faith is so important to finishing the race well.
In this life I think that there come many times where it is easy for us to fix our eyes on a lot of other things than Christ.
We can fix our eyes on our hardships and that can weigh us down.
We can fix our eyes on other things or even people for all the answers, and that is why the author of Hebrews is calling us to regain our focus and look to Jesus.
So, as we focus on Christ here is the amazing thing.
Check out the last part of verse 2. “Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross.”
Jesus’ joy is our joy.
Christ is in us and we are in him.
We are heirs of Christ and the Lord calls us His children.
Yes, there will be times where we struggle here on earth.
Yes, there will be difficult moments and times of suffering, but we can have joy because we know that as we continue to persevere here on earth there will come a day when we will be with Christ for all eternity.
Yes, there may come times where we want to doubt God and His words for our lives, even His plan for our lives.
However if we can focus on the joy that Christ has set before us, we can endure the difficult things we will face here on earth.
And we can run the race of life to God’s glory.
4. Consider what Christ endured for you.
As we go about our lives persevering to the end would should do this in such a way that we consider Jesus as our supreme example.
He was willing to suffer in obedience to God the Father.
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