8/26/07 - Pentecost 13 - Hebrews 12:1-3

RUN THE RACE WITH PERSEVERANCE
- By throwing off sin
- With eyes fixed on Jesus

Pace yourself. It’s going to be a long one. This isn’t a stroll in the park. This isn’t a casual jog. This isn’t something you’ll finish without breaking a sweat. This is a race, and it calls for stamina, perseverance, determination. So pace yourself, this is the most important race you’ll ever run. And it is a race unlike any race you’ve ever experienced before.
In most races you compete against other runners. But not in this one. In most races you run against time. But not in this one. In most races you have the opportunity to win a prize. But not in this one. Because this race has already been won. You can’t win a thing. But although the race has already been won, the prize is yours - while you are still running! And so the other competitors don’t matter. How soon or how much later you get there isn’t a concern. How many people finish ahead of you or behind you makes no difference. The prize is already yours. It’s there at the finish line waiting for you. And, in fact, the prize has been waiting for you long before you ever started. You started this race at conception. You will finish at death. And the prize? It’s not some leafy crown of ancient times. It’s not a medal placed around your neck. It’s not honor or fame or money. The prize for this race is the crown of life. It’s the robe of Christ’s righteousness placed on your shoulders. It’s the glory and the perfection and the riches of heaven. That is what has already been won for you. That is what is waiting for you at the finish line. And so with that in mind: run this race with perseverance - by throwing off sin and with your eyes fixed on Jesus.
In any race you don’t want to be weighed down. Running clothes are breathable, running shoes are light, and you normally don’t find runners carrying things along with them during the race. It’s important for an athlete to make sure nothing is weighing him down. It’s no different for us as Christians. The writer to the Hebrews says in our sermon text for today, “Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked our for us.” It is essential during this race that we continually throw off sin because it will weigh us down, it will distract us, and it could possibly drag us off the track all together.
There are many biblical examples of this. Think of Lot - the nephew of Abraham who lived near the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. The book of 2 Peter says that he was a “righteous man [who] living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard” (2 Peter 2:8). Lot was a Christian. But he did not move away from that wickedness. He was weighed down during the race because he did not throw off sin - and he barely escaped with his life because of it! Think of King Solomon. He disobeyed the Lord’s words and was distracted during the race by his many wives and concubines who led him into idolatry. Think of the unfortunate story of King Joash. He was a king over the land of Judah who was a strong believer and even restored the temple of the Lord while his mentor, the high priest, was alive. But after the priest died, Joash began to listen to the officials of the land. He did not throw of the sin that was surrounding him and he fell completely off the track. He abandoned the temple of the Lord, he began to worship Asherah poles and idols, and he even killed the high priest’s son! Joash finished the race, just like every person on this earth will, but he certainly did not receive the crown of life. He received the chains of eternal death. Just like these Old Testament examples, sin will weigh us down and distract us and drag us off during this race. And if we are to run it with perseverance we must continue to throw it off.
It’s hard to do that, isn’t it? We don’t want to do it! We don’t want to throw off sin because it takes a lot of work! That means we have to continually and consciously get rid of that which infects everything we do and everything we say and everything we think. Throwing off sin means that some of the shows and movies we watch we probably shouldn’t watch ever again. Throwing off sin means that those things we like to complain about or those things we like to say about other people should be forever banished from our vocabulary. Throwing off sin means that those greedy thoughts we allow to float through our minds, that laziness we allow to hang around, and that selfishness that we allow to control our behavior should be pushed back and ignored every time they show up. Throwing off sin is hard work. It is a battle that will never end in this life. And you don’t want to do that, do you? You like to watch those shows you shouldn’t watch. You like to think those thoughts you shouldn’t think. You like to say those things you shouldn’t say. You like to be greedy. You like to be lazy. You like to be selfish. So do I. We like to be weighed down by the sins that entangle us. It’s easier that way.
Just look at us! Look at the way we have run this race so far, we are terrible athletes! It’s a wonder that we haven’t been dragged off by all those sins that weigh us down! It’s a wonder that the Lord allows us to continue on when we should know better than to run in that way. We don’t deserve the crown of life. We don’t deserve to receive the reward that is waiting for us. When we cross that finish line at our deaths we deserve what King Joash received: defeat, loss, and punishment. We cannot rely on how we run this race. We are forced to rely on the one who has already finished the race for us. “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
There will be points in this race when it all seems to be up hill. Sins and temptations and Satan himself will pull and tug at you from every direction. Rest stops can be few and far between at times… That’s why God’s Word in front of us today encourages us so strongly to block everything out but Jesus, to have tunnel vision to our Lord, to keep our eyes focused and fixated on our Savior no matter what lies ahead. And this not only includes looking forward to that finish line, it also means looking back at where Christ has been before.
Now, normally a runner is told never to look back. You never want to look behind you when you are running a race because it slows you down and you could stumble and fall. But looking back at Christ in this race has just the opposite affect. Fixing your eyes on what Jesus has done will give you the strength and motivation to carry on “so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Fix your eyes on what Jesus did. “Who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame.”
It’s amazing what he did with something so sinister as a cross. He chose to take the most shameful form of punishment known to man at that time and turn it into the means of mankind’s salvation. To be crucified on a cross really was a shameful way to die. Imagine if you, by some unfortunate mistake in the justice system, were falsely accused and eventually convicted of some atrocious crime. A crime that you would never commit. A crime that is so grotesque to you that it makes you sick to your stomach. A crime you can’t even think of committing let alone carry through with the act. But by some terrible mishap you are sentenced to the punishment this crime deserves. Those you thought would stick up for you do not. None of your friends are anywhere to be found. And as you sit on death row you are labeled with this disgusting crime and everyone looks at you and treats you as such.
This is similar to what happened to Jesus as he hung on the cross. He was purposely and innocently placed on a cross. The ultimate punishment of shame at that time. Nailed to a piece of wood, high on a hill, completely naked for all to see. Exposed to those going in and going out of a major city so that they could shake their heads as they passed by in disgust: “Look at that guy. Can you imagine what he did? He has got to be one of the nastiest and sickest human beings on the face of this earth to die like that. That cross is probably too good for a man like that. I hope he dies a long and miserable death.”
It was long. It was miserable. Jesus suffered more pain on that cross than even his enemies had planned for because he went through the very tortures of hell when his Father forsook him. The agony Jesus experienced was unparalleled to any other suffering because he was punished for every sin of every human being of all time. But even though he experienced an indescribable amount of suffering, he scorned the shame of that cross. That means he took what should have ended in an awful and disgraceful death and from it produced a glorious and magnificent life for all. Instead of embarrassment Jesus is now honored for dying on a cross. Instead of humiliation, exaltation. Instead of being remembered as the vilest of human beings, he is known as the King of kings, the Ruler of the universe, the Redeemer of our souls. That is how he finished the race. He scorned the shame of the cross and is now the Victor.
It is important for us during this race to look back - and look back often - at the race Jesus ran and won. Because he not only threw off every sin, he not only ran that race perfectly, he suffered the loss we deserve for our efforts in this race. He took care of everything so that as we stumble through this race we don’t have to worry about anything. We don’t have to wonder what is beyond the finish line. Because we know what waits for us there, we can see what waits for us there, and we run ahead with that goal and reward in sight.
If I have time I try to run three days a week. I don’t run all that far, but far enough to have to pace myself and long enough to make myself wonder some days if I’m going to make it all the way back. But as I come around the last corner and see our house - I know at that point that I can make it. Our house is a welcome sight because then I know that I will be able to reach the end where there is my family, where there will be water, where there will be rest. Fortunately, we don’t have to wait until we turn that last corner in this life to fix our eyes on the end. We should fix our eyes on that finish line right now because we can see it now. We know we will be able to make it to the end right now no matter how short or how far we have yet to go. And there, at the finish line, is our real family. There is the water of life. There is our eternal rest. There is Jesus: the victor, the one holding the crown, the one holding out his arms. This is what we look forward to during this long and strenuous race. This is what keeps us moving on over the hills and around the curves and through the storms. You can run this race with perseverance, my friends, because this race has already been won. And since Jesus is already the Victor, so are you.
Amen.

“Where, O grave, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?... Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” - 1 Cor. 15:55-56