Imagine witnessing the Marathon at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. Runners are lined up, stripped to the bare essentials. All is ready for the race when suddenly we see another fellow coming to the starting line. But strange as it seems he is fully dressed. He has on a full suit, heavy overcoat, hip boots and a heavy woolen cap. In his hands he carries his lunch bucket and an umbrella. His pockets are filled with medicines. Everyone is surprised that such a person would try to win the race.
Finally we approach him and ask him about it. "Of course," he says, "I'm running the race. What's wrong with what I wear? Is anything wrong with a coat or cap or medicines? After all, the race is long, the terrain is treacherous, and I may become ill. I'm going prepared for whatever may lie ahead." We can't tell him that what he carries is a burden. But we know he'll never win the race. Why? Because he is loaded with weights.
Our Scripture reading for today also pictures an "Olympics" – a Christian Olympics. It tells us to run the race. And, as with the Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia we are all being urged to run to win. That is true for Michael and Nikki, and it is true for you and me too.
I The Spectators
A In telling us to run the race, the author of Hebrews raises the image of a stadium, an amphitheater, an arena. This arena is filled with spectators. At the time the letter to the Hebrews was being written huge crowds flocked to the amphitheater to see blood: they watched gladiators battle to the death, they watched Christians and slaves being torn apart by wild and hungry beasts.
The stadium of our life has bleachers filled with spectators. "We are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses," says our text. But our spectators are not blood-thirsty, screaming crowds of pagans. Ours are the Old Testament heroes of faith that we read about in Hebrews 11: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, the parents of Moses, Moses, the people of Israel, the prostitute Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets.
B These Old Testament spectators aren't couch potatoes, arm-chair athletes, or Monday morning quarterbacks. At one time these witnesses were also combatants or participants. They are veteran athletes who have already run the race. Hebrews sees them as our coaches.
What do our coaches say to us? Their message to us is to run the Christian race and live the Christian life "by faith." They urge us to keep running, to clear all the hurdles, to jump all the puddles, "by faith." Whatever comes our way – problems, worries, sickness, tension, death, unemployment, brokenness, etc. – they urge us to live, to run, by faith.
These Old Testament spectators, these coaches of ours, should be a source of great encouragement to us all as we try, by faith, to run the race, to live the Christian life. As I earlier said, they have already run the race; we read all about them and how well they ran in Hebrews 11. By faith they did so much. They ran the race against seemingly impossible odds and yet they crossed the finish line. So now they are in heaven and have the eternal joy and happiness of life with Christ.
These Old Testament saints, our spectators and coaches, they urge us to imitate them: to run, to live, by faith. They are watching us closely, together with Jesus, to see how we run and how we live.
C Tell me, as they watch us, what do you think they see? Do they see people who run, who live by faith?
Topic: Godliness
Subtopic: Exhortations Concerning
Index: 3081
Date: 2/1999.101
Title: Run the Race
An Englishman was taking some fresh air in the cool of the evening. He was minding his own business--just standing on the sidewalk in front of his house. A policeman shouted at him: "Come, my fellow. Move on!" "I'll not budge," was the angry reply, "a man has the right to stand in front of his own home." As the policeman was as stubborn as the man, he was charged with loitering. The case of the man who stood still landed in the courts. The magistrate had to hand out a fine, because the law had been broken.
We see in today's Scripture reading that it is also a crime to stand still. We are to "run the race." The Christian life is a road, a way – not a parking-lot. It is an arena, a race track – not a bleacher seat. We are to be alive, active, growing, maturing in the Christian faith – not sitting or vegetating like a frog on a lily-pad. We are to "run the race" (cf Acts 20:24; 1 Cor 9:24-27; Gal 2:2; Gal 5:7; Phil 2:16; Phil 3:14; 2 Tim 2:5; 2 Tim 4:7-8). Yet, many Christians are at a stand still: as the years go by you see no change in their Christian life; you see no progress to the finish line; you see no growth in faith and godliness; you don't see them with a closer and closer walk with the Lord. Like little babies, they merely creep or crawl. We can hardly say that such believers run the race.
Our heavenly spectators, do you know what they are looking for? They are looking for believers who are running the race, people who are running straight and true and hard for the finish line, people who try to grow and mature in the Christian faith and godliness, people who by God's grace become more and more like Christ. And what disappoints them is believers whose Christian life is at a stand-still, or Christians who have given up, or Christians who chase after other things. Perhaps you have given your life to Jesus and have publicly professed your faith – like Michael and Nikki. Now you must run the race. Now you must leave what is elementary and go on to maturity (cf Heb 5:11-6:2).
II The Race
A How are we to run and live the Christian race? Think of the man at the Sydney Summer Olympics Marathon again. You don't see athletes trying to run in a tight dress or in a bulky winter coat. You don't see athletes trying to run with hundreds of pounds of weights on their shoulders. You don't see sluggish, over-weight, out-of-condition people running.
Hebrews uses the image of the conditioned, properly dressed athlete when it tells us to run the race. It says, "let us throw off everything that hinders." God's athletes must lay aside a preoccupation with worldly cares and goods. It is hard to run, awfully hard, when your arms are filled with treasures and your heart divided by desires. It is hard to run the Christian race, to grow and develop in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, when career, money, recreation, sex, sports, or family are more important than the Lord. Whatever hinders us, whatever prevents us, from running the race must be "thrown off." Jesus says, "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things (food, clothing, shelter, etc) will be given to you as well" (Mt 6:33).
In the Alleghenies a large eagle was shot by a hunter. When he examined the bird, he was amazed to find that one of its claws was held firmly in a strong steel trap from which dangled a 5-foot chain. Although not heavy enough to prevent the creature from flying, the additional weight had wearied the eagle and brought it down within reach of his rifle.
What happened to the eagle happens to Christians when they do not throw off everything that hinders them – they are brought low and become weary of the calling the Lord has given them.
B The biggest hindrance to God's athletes as they run the race is sin. Sin to the Christian is the same as alcohol, tobacco, and too much food to the athlete: it impedes, slows down, and makes one out-of-shape, out-of-condition, and over-weight. It is even more accurate to say that sin is like a high wall. It is hard, if not downright impossible, to run a race when there is a high wall in the way. Think of the church in Galatia. Paul says to that church,
(Gal 5:7) You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?
When the Galatian church fell into sin, it dropped out of the race, it was no longer running and living for Jesus.
We must get rid of sin in our life for sin keeps us from running the race. Says Hebrews, "throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles." This isn't easy, of course. But you know what the athlete is told: "no pain, no gain." In His Sermon on the Mount Jesus urges radical surgery in order to remove sin:
(Mt 5:29-30) If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. (30) And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
In other words, we are to fight and resist sin with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
C Like the athlete, to run the race, to live the Christian life, we must go into training. Further on in chapter 12 Hebrews says, "strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees." We are to get into condition. The athlete does this by regularly lifting weights, jumping rope, running sprints, and so on. The Christian does this through the reading and studying of God's Word, through prayer, through faithful church attendance, through participation in the life of the church.
D To run the Christian race we must also run with perseverance. "Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us," says Hebrews. This means we have to keep on running. We can't quit half way through. We have to keep on running until the goal is reached. We have to keep on plugging and struggling and may never quit until we are called from this life:
Topic: Perseverance
Subtopic:
Index: 3441
Date: 2/1999.101
Title: Encouraged by an Ant
An Asian warlord was defeated in battle. He was locked up in solitary confinement, discouraged, ready to give up until he saw a little ant in a corner of his cell. This ant tried to carry a kernel of corn over a wall. The kernel was larger than the ant itself. Sixty-nine times the ant tried to carry it up the wall. Sixty-nine times he fell back. On the seventieth try he pushed the grain of corn over the top.
The ant succeeded because of sheer perseverance. And, Christians succeed in running the race when they too persevere and never give up because of walls in their way.
III The Finish Line
A As I said, the Old Testament saints ran by faith. And, they encourage us to run by faith. Do you know what that faith is? It is a faith that constantly looks to the finish line, a faith that never loses sight of the future. For the Old Testament saints, do you know what the finish line is? It is Christ and the glory of life with Him. The Old Testament saints ran the race, they endured all sorts of pains and agonies, they conquered kingdoms, because they were keeping their eye on Jesus.
As we run, we too are to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. Hebrews says, "Let us run ... the race ... Let us fix our eyes on Jesus."
Of course, this should be easier for us than for the Old Testament saints. Hebrews 11:39 says "none of them received what had been promised." Jesus Christ had not yet come when they ran the race. Can you imagine running if you are not quite sure where the finish line is? The Old Testament saints had to run this way. They had to run by faith in Jesus before Jesus came. And yet they finished the race. So, then, we who have Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the whole Bible can certainly also run the race by faith.
B When we run the race, then, we are to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the goal, the prize, the finish line. And, if our eyes were to ever look away, then we drift from the path and never get anywhere.
Topic: Vision
Subtopic: Looking to God
Index: 510
Date: 2/1999.101
Title: He Took His Eye off the Finish Line
On March 6, 1987, Eamon Coughlan, the Irish world record holder at 1500 meters, was running in a qualifying heat at the World Indoor Track Championships in Indianapolis. With two and a half laps left, he was tripped. He fell, but he got up and with great effort managed to catch the leaders. With only 20 yards left in the race, he was in third place--good enough to qualify for the finals. He looked over his shoulder to the inside, and, seeing no one, he let up. But another runner, charging hard on the outside, passed Coughlan a yard before the finish, thus eliminating him from the finals. Coughlan's great comeback effort was rendered worthless by taking his eyes off the finish line.
It's tempting to let up when the sights around us look favorable. But we finish well in the Christian race only when we fix our eyes on the goal: Jesus Christ.
Conclusion
Listen again to the beautiful but challenging words of our text from Hebrews:
(Heb 12:1-2a) Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. (2) Let us fix our eyes on Jesus ...
I urge you, my brothers and sisters, to listen to the great cloud of witnesses. I urge you to run the race, to live the Christian life, to seek first the kingdom and its righteousness. I urge to run, to live, by faith. I urge you to throw off sin and everything that hinders. I urge you to keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. And then you will be able to say with the Apostle Paul,
(2 Tim 4:7-8) I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. (8) Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness ...