Hebrews 12:1-13
"Let us run with perseverance"
Do you feel like your faith goes in fits and starts? Do you want to develop a faith
that will last? The author of Hebrews has some advice: The Christian life is like
a race, but we should treat it as a long-distance event, not a short sprint. A
marathon is very different from a 100 metre dash, and if you want to run well and finish
the race you will need:
1. purity Let us throw off everything that hinders, and the sin that so easily entangles.
2. perseverance and let us run with perseverance
3. purpose the race marked out for us (see also 1 Cor. 9:24-26)
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I am not particularly athletic. I know that's hard for some of you to believe --
. It's a deficit I try to hide, especially from my children. And I am trying to
make a good show as assistant coach of Stephen's soccer team, but I think most of
the kids see right through me. Kids are good at spotting imposters.
But it has not always been so! Back in elementary school things were different.
You wouldn't know it looking at me, but I was on track to be a world-class runner.
I was the fastest kid in second grade, in third grade -- right through sixth grade.
Unfortunately, I seem to have peaked early.
The races I really loved were the sprints. I ruled the 100 meter -- there's something
flashy and glamourous about sprinting. I never had to work very hard to win -- it
just seemed to happen. I was just fast. And then it was all over in a flash and
I could bask in the glory of victory for another year until the next field day came
around.
Long distance running was another story. I never went in much for long-distance
races. But I had one P.E. teacher -- Ian Murray -- who was really into cross-country
races. He would send us on the most gruelling runs. That was the same Mr. Murray,
by the way, who used to throw blackboard erasers at students to get them to pay attention.
Most of the time I got along well with Mr. Murray -- but not when it came to long-distance
runs. I was always trying to find shortcuts, or easier routes, or ways out of running altogether. I liked to think of it as creative laziness. Consequently
I regularly had to face his wrath -- Any good track coach knows there are no short-cuts
to getting in shape physically, and Mr. Murray had no sympathy for slackers like
me.
The author of Hebrews is a bit like Mr. Murray -- he's a bit more polite than Mr.
Murray was -- but he thinks like a track coach -- Turn with me to Hebrews 12, we'll
read verses 1-13.
Central point
The author hits on his main point right up front in this passage -- and the main point
is one that would make Mr. Murray very happy: We should approach the Christian
life as a long-distance race rather than a short sprint. The life of faith is like
a marathon, not a 100 metre.
So, what's the difference?
Okay, let's say we have an all church race. Right now. We'll just wind up the service,
and let's all head outside. How many of you would be interested -- should have
asked when the kids were in here. Some of you could get excited at that idea --
beats sitting still inside on a beautiful day like this. Going for a little run sounds
like fun. Maybe we'll just go down on the soccer field and organize some quick races.
Don't be too quick -- I haven't said anything yet about the length of the race.
How about we race to Amherst Center and back? Now that changes things. Do I have
any takers? Maybe one or two?
To run to Amherst and back is not a Sunday jaunt. Most of us, if we decided to run
to Amherst and back on a whim would be just about dead by the time we got to the
notch. We would have no chance of finishing. To run long distance -- to run a
marathon -- requires at least three things: it requires disciplined training, it requires
endurance, and it requires a sense of purpose. You have to be disciplined to get
in shape; you have to have endurance to overcome obstacles, and you have to have
purpose so that you'll really want to run.
The Christian life isn't a Sunday jaunt any more than running to Amherst is. The
life of faith is a spiritual marathon. To finish the race you'll need all of the
same things you need in a physical marathon -- you'll need discipline, you'll need
endurance, and you'll need a sense of purpose.
Let's take those one at a time
Discipline
First, discipline. I'm talking self-discipline here, so let's talk about dieting.
A touchy subject, I know. But dieting is one form of discipline that we in 20th
century Americans seem to think alot about.
Now athletes will often go on special diets. They'll eat things that will strengthen
their bodies and help them compete. And that means doing without things that they
may crave.
Let's say you're a runner training for the Boston Marathon. You wake up the morning
of the big race with this terrible craving. You really want nothing else for breakfast
but hostess twinkies. Now don't get me wrong -- I'm not suggesting that there is
anything particularly bad about twinkies. Why I have eaten them myself from time to
time. But a wise athlete will probably resist that craving and choose some awful
granola cereal instead.
You are spiritual athletes. What are the spiritual twinkies that are ruining your
diet and keeping you from competing as you should. What is hindering you from competing
spiritually?
Our passage today tells us to "throw off everything
that hinders." Not just major sins -- everything. We need to be ruthless in examining
our lives for anything that is holding us back spiritually.. Do you have hobbies
that hinder you spiritually -- not bad in themselves, but a distraction. Put them aside! Are there habits in your life --small self-indulgences perhaps, little
addictions -- that hinder you in your obedience to Christ? Need some practical
examples: Let's start with the easy target: Television -- that great black hole
in your living room. Is it taking you away from people you should be serving? Here's a more
sensitive one: Coffee. (ooh, now I'm really meddling) That most fashionable of
addictions. Not bad in itself. May not be a problem for you -- but sometimes it
is for me. Do you ever put your need for coffee before your need for God? How about the
Internet. Great resource. Also highly addictive and time consuming.
There's nothing wrong with any of these things -- unless they take you farther away
from God -- unless they prevent you from obedience to him. If they do, they become
sin for you. May not be sin for someone else, but it is for you. You see the
goal of spiritual discipline is purity -- purity of heart and purity of life. Our aim should
be to put God at the center of everything, and to put aside anything lesser.
"Anyone who wishes to compete in the games goes into strict training." says Paul in
1 Corinthians 9:25. You are spiritual athletes in training, and the Christian life
is a marathon -- if you want to compete you will need discipline. Put off everything
that hinders, and the sin that so easily entangles! Get rid of your spiritual junk
food.
Endurance
Training and discipline alone will not be enough to carry you through a marathon
-- or through the Christian life. You will also need pure determination -- perseverance.
Think of a runner coming to the base of a long, steep hill. How will they react?
Their response will tell you alot about what kind of runner they are.
The casual, Sunday morning runner, may very well slow to a walk. He or she may drop
out of the race altogether -- the race wasn't supposed to be this hard!
But for the mature runner the obstacles are just part of the course -- in fact the
experienced runner relishes the obstacles and difficulties, because they are a challenge.
You don't see veteran marathoners stopping at the bottom of a steep hill and whine, "come on, who designed this course anyway! That's it! I'm not going any further."
Don't be defeated by obstacles in you're life of faith -- they are part of the race.
If you aren't facing obstacles you know what's happening? You're standing still!
You've become a spiritual couch potatoe! Have you ever watched someone lying on
the beach and said, "wow, what perseverance! What endurance!" Of course not! We
need perseverance precisely for those things that are worth struggling for. Doing
almost anything that will have lasting results requires perseverance. No great goal
is achieved without it.
So don't be a spiritual couch potato -- thank God for the struggles you are facing
-- they are all part of the race -- and an opportunity to grow in your faith. Are
you struggling because people at work or school are hostile to your faith? Throw
yourself into the struggle -- you'll come out stronger. Are you struggling with temptation
-- thank God that it is a struggle! You have a chance to grow stronger by persevering.
the hardships that we face are a gift from God -- God is treating you as his children,
and children who are not disciplined -- who never face hardship -- are not truly
loved.
In our struggle to persevere, it will be an enormous help to us if we keep in mind
the purpose of the race.
Purpose
One of my problems with running long distance was simply that I could never quite
figure out the purpose of it all. I didn't seem to be going anywhere! This is
especially the case in running around a track -- it always seems to me a bit like
a hamster on a treadmill. They run and run and when they stop they're always at the same place,
poor things.
Ever feel like a spiritual hamster? You run and run, but you're don't seem to be
going anywhere?
This is not the way it is meant to be! God has not saved you to put you on a treadmill.
God has marked out a race for us -- he has set the course himself.
Look at 1 Corinthians 9:24-25.
Our spiritual race is not aimless and it is not purposeless. We have a task to accomplish
and a purpose to fulfill. You want to know what that is -- I can give it to you
in one word: Missions.
God has entrusted us with the good news of the Gospel not to hoard it, not to enjoy
it for ourselves, but to share it. We have been blessed in order to be a blessing.
If you feel like your Christian life has been aimless and without purpose -- get out
of the treadmill and get into the race. God has given you the great privilege of
being a part of his plan to redeem people from every people on earth.
That is the race marked out for us! That is the purpose God has for us.
Conclusions:
Need some applications to conclude? If you want a lasting faith -- a faith that will
grow and thrive.
1. Go on a spiritual diet -- get rid of those spiritual twinkies that are distracting
you from following God with your whole heart
2. Don't be a spiritual couch potatoe -- relish obstacles to your faith and persevere
through them. It's the only way you will grow.
3. Don't act like a spiritual hamster -- get off the treadmill and get involved in
God's great mission to the world.