The Call To Endurance

Good morning!

Last week we covered all of chapter eleven and discussed not only what it means to have faith, but also started looking at what it means to live in faith.

What we see two major things from the testimonies offered up in chapter eleven.

First, that faith must be put into action.

If we say we have faith in God and want to be obedient to Him, we are committing ourselves to action.

It is through our actions that our faith is revealed and grown.

Second, we need to learn from the testimonies offered up that we won’t always see the results of our faith.

Just because we don’t immediately see the results of our action, doesn’t mean we weren’t successful or that we missed God.

Often, God is using us in a way that far outreaches our sight or even life.

As we move into chapter twelve, we are going to be called back to these testimonies as a reminder of what faith looks like in the lives of believers.

It is good for the church to look back at what God has done in the lives of his people as they have chosen to obey.

This is why we have always put such an emphasis on us sharing what God is doing in our lives.

There was a time in my ministry when I would open each Bible study with the question, “where have you seen God this week?”

My reason for doing that is twofold.

One, it helps new or non-believers to see that God is alive and active.

Two, it reminds us to be watching for God’s activity in our lives.

This whole study of Hebrews is to let us see that we aren’t the only ones that have times of difficulty in our faith and that one of the primary tools we have to battle the discouragement that can accompany those struggles is sharing our stories of God’s work.

All of us need to be looking for God’s activity and sharing it with those around us.

This is one of the many ways that we bring our faith into action.

As I said last week, there is more to it as well.

Look with me at the first two verses of chapter twelve and let’s see what the author has to say next.

Hebrews 12:1–2 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.

I went to a couple of different churches growing up, and have served on staff of several.

I don’t know what your experience was, but as a young man, it appeared to me that being a “christian” in our modern evangelic faith just meant going to church.

Don’t get me wrong, obviously we all need to go to church somewhere, but as I was growing up and beginning my own ministry, it made me do a lot of looking at what my own faith journey.

My family did a great job of getting us to church on a regular basis.

In fact, it was odd for us to not be there.

Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday nights, we were at church participating in the activities that were offered.

When I began my first internship and really began to see the inter-workings of the church that I had grown up in, I began to realize just how much was happening behind the scenes that I never new about.

But at the same time, as I was learning what it meant to be on staff, I was beginning to also grow spiritually.

As I read scripture, looked at ministry models in school, read about the early church, and participated in my normal church activities, I began to realize something was missing.

It wasn’t that the programs weren’t good.

The worship services were well planned and executed.

People were pretty friendly, as long as you didn’t sit in their seat. lol

It took a while for me to really pin down what it was, but finally I realized that, as far as I could tell, my faith and those that I were close too happened on Sundays and Wednesday nights.

The rest of the week I and they were different people.

I don’t say this to belittle anyone, I was right there too, and chances are that at some point you had a similar revelation in your own life.

When I read things like we read just a moment ago, it didn’t add up.

In this text, the author uses the metaphor of running.

I have a bit of experience in that area and I’ll tell you, my Sunday and Wednesday nights didn’t look or feel like a marathon.

Hebrews 12:1 NLT

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

As I read this and think back, I realize the question that was really rolling around in my head was.

What does a life of faith look like?

Was that it?

Were Sundays and Wednesdays what Jesus died for?

Obviously, the answer is no.

As we think back to that crowd of witnesses, what do we see?

We see the stories of people's lives who laid it all on the line in order to walk with God.

A life of faith places all that one has in the hands of God.

Consider Abraham’s life.

Genesis 12:1–3 CSB

1 The Lord said to Abram: Go from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

God wasn’t asking for just a few days of the week.

God asked Abraham to leave all that he knew and go to an unknown place.

Abraham trusted God and left his family to go find this promised place.

When I read things like that, my two days a week of church life seemed trivial.

As we are thinking about how we want to spend this next year, I believe the Lord is challenging us to consider how we spend our time.

There is some interesting language in this first verse of Hebrews 12 that carries this challenge.

I read this in the NLT earlier because it is easier to see it.

He says in the second half of that verse for us to “let us strip off every weight that slows us down.”

Ironically, this is why I started running.

This word that is translated here as weight that slows us down, means either bulk or impediment.

We are being challenged to look at our lives and remove anything that is preventing us from living out our faith.

Thinking of this in terms of our running metaphor, it can mean a couple of things.

One, literally lose the extra weight that is slowing you down.

I don’t know if you have ever seen someone working out by pulling a sled of weights behind them, but this is the feeling that is being shared.

Remove what is holding you back so that you can run faster and longer.

Two, it can refer to hiking up the robes that were worn by men and women that were below the knee and therefore would hinder your ability to run.

Either way, you look at it, the sentiment is the same.

Get rid of what is holding you back.

Can I just tell you how freeing this can actually be?

I’ll give you an example and many of you will remember this.

For many years, I went to a farmer’s market every Saturday.

I had to be there by 8:30 and I got home about 1:30.

I’ll be honest, I loved it.

I made money, ate some wonderful meat pies, tamales, bread, milk, and I built some really wonderful friendships in the process.

In fact, I miss seeing those people… and the really good food.

But God was doing something in my life that made me start asking a question that I still ask often.

God, what am I currently doing that I need to stop doing?

When I began asking that question, it was because God was calling me to pastor this church.

I knew that I didn’t have the time in my schedule to allow me to do what God was asking me to do.

As a side note, God had also told me years before to go the farmer’s market.

This is a good reminder that just because God spoke for us to do it in the past, doesn’t mean that we should keep doing it.

We need to regularly ask God if we are to continue, not to try to get out of it, but to ensure that we are still needed in that role.

So, I asked God if I should continue going on Saturday’s or stop.

He told me to stop.

While I did enjoy those Saturdays, you know what I love now, having a Saturday.

If you had asked me during that time of my life if I would ever stop doing the farmer’s market, I would have told you no.

Not only was it fun, but I got paid to be there.

But because I asked God and did what he told me, I get to sleep in some Saturdays.

I get to make what we call a “big breakfast” with my kids.

I get to spend time at home with my family.

The only reason I get those blessings now is because I asked God and then did what He said.

This is God’s desire for all of us, to ask him, and then obey him.

Right here, at the beginning of the year is a great time to ask God and let him evaluate how you are spending your time.

In that same part of the verse, the author also mentions ridding ourselves of sin that holds us back.

This is also a great time to let God speak to the sin that is in your life.

Take the time to have some legitimate conversations with God about sin that you struggle with.

Not only will you experience freedom, but you will get to see God work in a way that you haven’t seen Him work before.

As I said a few weeks ago, God’s desire is for us to know him as well as he knows us.

Jesus experienced all the same temptations that you and I do and he defeated sin.

He offers that same victory in our lives if we will allow him to work.

It may be time to trim a little fat or hike up your skirt so you can run the race that God has set before you.

Hebrews 12:1b (CSB)

Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us,

I happen to know there are several people in this room that are quite competitive.

I am guilty as charged.

So much in fact that while playing indoor soccer at my nieces birthday party last night, I slammed my own dad into a wall to get the ball.

I’m not proud of it.

Actually a little embarrassed, but it helps make the point.

I mention all this because there is a reference to 1 Corinthians 9:24 in Hebrews 12:1.

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.

We are being encouraged to not go about our lives of faith aimlessly, but to pursue it with the same vigor and discipline of a person that is trying to win.

In order to win, we must train, work hard, go the extra mile, we must strive to be the best.

But how do we do that?

Hebrews 12:2 CSB

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.

We keep our focus on the only thing in life that really matters, Jesus.

We let our desire and love for him be the motivator for everything we do.

I’ll tell you, there are a number of people in our congregation who work tirelessly in the call that God has for them.

Not for their own Glory, because they do not want recognition.

Not because they feel obligated to.

Not because they fear being chastised if they don’t.

They regularly give their all so that God can accomplish his goals in the life of this body.

Their pursuit of God and relentless love for his people motivate them to give their all for the sake of the gospel.

If each of us can keep our eyes on the prize, if we can stay focused on what God is asking us to do, there won’t be any needs in this body that aren’t met.

God has equipped and called each of us to a particular ministry.

That may be in the life of this church or in your personal life, or maybe even both.

But what the author of Hebrews is saying is that if we are to fulfill that calling, we must run the race with focus and dedication.

And why would we do this?

Why lay everything down?

For the same reason, Jesus did.

We place our lives at Jesus’ feet so that we can experience joy.

The joy that comes only from knowing the father now and living with him when we go to heaven.

Hebrews 12:2b (CSB)

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.

Think with me about this for a moment.

Jesus suffered the cross because he knew that joy was coming.

He was willing to lay it all down for the joy of obeying the father and joining the father in heaven.

Listen, I don’t know about you, but when I compare the sacrifices that I’ve made in my life or the struggles that I have endured with what Jesus did on the cross, I am humbled by Jesus’s willingness.

One of the commentators I was reading this week talked about the physical things that happehappenns to the body during the crucifixion.

It was purposefully designed to be as painful and long as possible.

There was time spent considering how to make it more painful and yet keep the person alive longer.

That punishment was designed to also be as shameful as possible.

Jesus willingly took the punishment and shame that we deserve upon himself.

Not only did he offer himself up, but he took an instrument of shame and turned it into glory.

Those that called for his crucifixion wanted to humiliate Jesus as much as possible.

Their goal was to change the minds of all those that believed in him.

Those witnesses had seen him heal, love, and forgive in a way that they had never experienced.

Rather than the cross bringing shame to Jesus’s name, the cross brought more glory to his name.

He endured, in obedience to God, and his life revealed the love of the father for his people.

God had done what he promised he would do.

He crushed the serpent's head.

He redeemed mankind and made it possible for us to not only know God but to have his Holy Spirit living inside of us.

As we place our lives in God’s hand, trusting him as he guides our lives, we have the joy and comfort that comes from having a Holy God living inside of us.

Through the power of the Holy Spirit and our willingness to walk in obedience, God will reveal his love for his people through our lives.

The strength, endurance, and wisdom that we need in order to run the race set before us is found in Jesus.

We cannot do it on our own.

When we try, it doesn’t take long and we get burned out.

I’ve seen it happen too many times.

We are not called to be busybodies.

God doesn’t desire for us to just be busy.

He wants our hearts and when we give them to him, he changes us.

He makes us like himself.

We begin to see the world the way that he does.

We begin to see that the things that have little value and the things that have great value.

Our lives are transformed from being people that chase temporary things, to being a people running with endurance after the eternal things.

In Hebrews 11:5-6 we see an example of faith in Enoch.

Hebrews 11:5–6 CSB

5 By faith Enoch was taken away, and so he did not experience death. He was not to be found because God took him away. For before he was taken away, he was approved as one who pleased God. 6 Now without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Now, very little about Enoch is known, but here is what is interesting, out of all the examples of faithful men and women, he is the only one listed that was “taken” straight to heaven.

It says in verse five it says that he was approved as one who pleased God.

Isn’t that our goal?

So how did Enoch please God?

Enoch pleased God because he was faithful and he let that faith draw him near to God.

I mention this here at the end because as we are running the race before us, this is a good litmus test.

If you believe that you are living out your calling, but you realize you aren’t being drawn closer to God, it is time to evaluate.

If we are really walking in faith, the result of that faith, whether life is easy or hard, we will be drawn to God.

That may seem counterintuitive to you, but I guarantee you that if you ask someone who has been following Jesus for a significant amount of time, they will tell you that the times they were the closest to God is when life was difficult.

Regardless of how easy or difficult your life is if you are being drawn closer to God you are on the right track.

If what you are doing is pulling you farther from Him, hit the pause button and ask God.

Place your life at his feet and let him call the shots.

The only way we can live with endurance is if our faith is in Jesus.

He is our motivation and strength.

Let’s pray.