KEEP RUNNING!

“Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us” (Hebrews 12:1 HCSB)

I remember my first—and maybe last—5K race.  There was a time I thought it would be my last race—my last everything—because I thought, at a point of two, I was going to die!  To say that I am out of shape is an understatement, but our church was sponsoring the race, there were others my age that were running in it, and so I was going to try it.  It has become the annual, “Carry Your Cross 5K” race.

It was a brisk, yet brilliantly sunlit morning, when a mob of us took off from the starting line.  I ran with joy and enthusiasm.  I knew better than to sprint, but I did try to keep pace with most in the group.  It didn’t take too long to realize this was not going to be easy, but I felt a certain satisfaction as I passed some who were younger.  But, by the time I reached the half-way point I thought, “You are a stupid man.”

Then came the hills—and I know someone had placed lead in my shoes and tied an anchor to my tail.  But, I couldn’t quit.  I had to keep running.  Others were—I didn’t see so many now—but then came the last hill, where we had a beam of wood to place on our shoulders, to symbolically carry the cross up a hill.   A hill!  No, it was like trying to run up Mt. Everest!  The steep climb took us beside a cemetery—how appropriate!  But, I kept going—lungs burning, heart pounding, muscles aching, mind numbing—but then others were waiting—and cheering.  They had finished their race and now were urging me on.  I picked up the pace—a final burst and across the finish line!

That is the imagery used in Hebrews 12.  Our Christian life is pictured as a race to run.  We are beckoned to take up our cross and follow the One who has finished victoriously.

Listen, there are THE CHEERS FOR OUR ENCOURAGEMENT (v.1a).  “Therefore” is how the text begins and it refers back to chapter 11. We are reminded of a great throng of witnesses, those believers who have run the race, and now having finished the course encircle us in the grandstands in glory.  Listen—do you hear their voices?  They are cheering us on in our race!

None of them had it easy.  Think about the hills they had to climb.

Abel was hated by his own brother and his race would end in a pool of blood, as that brother Cain, would brutally kill him.  For some the race ends early.

Enoch ran in the days leading up to the flood—a time when few were still on the track—and most were on the sideline, not cheering, but mocking.  By the time Noah came along, that attitude prevailed among every other human other than Noah and his family.  You talk about running against the wind!  Those two were running into an onrushing hurricane that would sweep all others away.

Then there were the Patriarchs—Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  Each of them had their special challenges, but on they sped.  At a point or two it seemed as though they might give out.  They even got off the course—especially Jacob—and made the race harder than it might have been otherwise.

Don’t miss that there were women of faith on the course as well.  Sarah ran victoriously and she was an old woman when she ran!  Another woman, Rahab, is listed.  She was a last minute entry.  There was nothing about her past that would indicate she would be a champion, but she became one by the grace of God.  Dear Christian lady, can’t you hear the cheers that come on a higher pitch?  Your peers exhort, “Keep running!”

Moses could have been in a comfortable place, lounging around and indulging his passions, but chose instead to rise early and run the steep hills in that long race of 120 years, some of which covered the same ground over and over.

There are more runners, but I think by now you get the point.  The writer is urging those in the church who were thinking about dropping out of the race, to keep moving.  The encouragement of his voice is amplified by the cheers of the other runners who have already finished.

The Christian life is a race to run—and specifically a relay race. A relay race is a team effort. Victory doesn’t depend on one runner only, but each runner doing his best and then successfully passing on the baton to his teammate. There have been relay teams who had the best runners and still lost. They failed in the exchange and dropped the baton. We run for a time and distance set by the Great Judge. We can run because someone ran before us and handed off the baton of faith to us, and now the race depends on how well we finish and how successfully we hand the baton to the next generation.     

Listen to me: you are where you are today because someone took the baton of faith and passed it on to you  Their example encourages me. It wasn’t easy for them, but they did it for love for Christ and love for generations yet to be born.  Now, it is our turn.  Keep running!

The cheers for our encouragement are really THE CALL FOR OUR ENDURANCE.

“Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us” (v.1). 

You don’t win, if you don’t finish.  No matter how fast you start, you must still be on your feet at the end.

But it is hard!  This is not a sprint—it is a marathon—a grueling race of endurance.  So get prepared.  Discipline yourself. 

If we want to win, consider WHAT WE MUST GIVE UP   “let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us.”

The Greek word “weight” is a medical term referring to body fat. Olympic runners have very little body fat.

Let me ask you—what is weighing you down?  It doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing—in fact, this is contrasted with the sin he will talk about next—and so I think it something different. 

Ice cream is not an evil—unless you eat a tub of it every day and become a glutton.  But, those who want to win the race know that even a good thing like ice cream and pizza might put on weight that would hinder them.  So, those training to win will discipline themselves with self-denial.  The good and permissible may need to be set aside for the great and profitable.   It might be the time spent on a hobby which could be better devoted to spiritual purposes.  This weight may be extra effort expended on your job that drains away energy from your family and church.  You might not be watching wicked stuff on TV, but the time you spend in front of the trivial is time you don’t have to spend with God on the eternal.  What is your weight?

Still beyond the weight we must be rid of, there is the wickedness we must repent of—“the sin that so easily ensnares us.” 

Don’t let temptation trip you up!   In those days, the common attire of folks was a long, flowing robe.  How in the world would you run dressed like that?  If you had on a robe, and needed to run, you would hike up the tail of that garment and tuck it in your belt, so as not to be impeded by it and stumble over it. 

Can you imagine a track star running in an overcoat?  That athlete would trip somewhere along the way.  I want to finish without tripping.  That’s important.

If you have stumbled and fallen on your face, you have a choice.  You can lie in the mud and quit, or you can get up and go on—but, it is foolish if we don’t deal with that ensnaring evil that caused us to fall the first time.  Lay it aside!  Whatever Satan has used in your past to bring you down, by the help of Almighty God, confess it and cease from it—or you will fall again—and the next time it will be even more painful; not to mention the fact that others will likely stumble over you—and those runners who do are going to be the ones closest to you on the track—maybe your spouse, your sons and daughters, family and friends.  Do you want responsibility for that chain reaction?

As we face what we must give up, we must also focus on WHY WE CAN’T GIVE OUT.  “Let us run with endurance.”

It is tempting at this point to pull back.  We’re tired.  We’ve come a long way.  We’ve built a lead.  A certain reluctance to hand off the baton can come.  We’ve enjoyed the cheers, and now we’ll be moving out of the spotlight and the next runner will get the applause.  And they won’t run like we do.  At every point of progress there has been a higher hill to climb, a heavier load to carry, a greater risk of failure, but in faith those who’ve gone before us ran and now it’s our turn.

God determined the duration of our leg of the relay race. For some it may be 20 years, for others 50, and for some 80, perhaps more. We’ve got to keep running and not quit. The church is a racetrack, not a rest stop. It is a gymnasium, not a retirement home.

Keep running!

Listen to the cheers for our encouragement, the call for our endurance and furthermore, look at THE CHALLENGE OF OUR EXAMPLE.

“keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame and has sat down at the right hand of God’s throne.  For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, so that you won’t grow weary and lose heart.” (v.2-3)

Keep your eyes on Jesus.  It’s an ongoing focus, “keeping” and thus not a glimpse, not a glance, but a gaze requiring consistency. 

To look to Jesus is to look forward on the path He has blazed, to step into the footprints where He has run, and to contemplate His example that He has set.  You’re going to lose if you take your eyes off Jesus. He helps us keep running.

It is a race run by faith and Jesus is the source and sustainer of that faith—“the source and perfecter.”  Consider what He endured, “a cross and despised the shame…consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners.”  He did it, “for the joy that lay before Him.”  The cross itself wasn’t joyful, but the crown of victory would be—all that came to Him as a result of His faithful finish! 

So, keep running!

Is that asking too much? He could have quit in glory, but He stepped out of the Ivory Palaces and came to a manger in a barnyard in Bethlehem. He could have quit in Gethsemane where He prayed in an agony and was betrayed with a kiss of treachery, but He submitted to the Father’s will. He could have quit in Gabbatha when they tried Him in a kangaroo court and beat His back to bloody ribbons, but He took the cross and our sins on that back and stumbled out the Via Dolorosa. He could have quit on Golgotha when they nailed Him to a tree by calling the legions of heaven to rescue Him, but He endured hell so we need not go there!  He ran on to glory where He waits to crown us if we don’t drop out!

Look to Jesus, “so that you won’t grow weary and lose heart.”  Keep running!