8-14-22 Grace-Tucson Sermon

Hebrews 12:1-13 Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke

Tenth Sunday After Pentecost Sunday, August 14, 2022 “Let Us Run Our Race”

I am the proud father, and the occasional training partner, of a high school cross country runner. A lot of the time, I even have the sore knees to prove it. Running is hard, especially if you want to be competitive, even if it just means being competitive with your previous results. Running is hard when you train in hot Phoenix afternoons, and you try to drink a lot of water and eat enough healthy food and get enough sleep, too. And even if you think you are ready for it, it is hard to push yourself to run well through the whole 5 kilometer course on race day.

I have no doubt that the challenge of running and running well was a big part of why the writer of the book of Hebrews talks about running a race. God led that writer to offer encouragement to Christians who were facing challenges. He encouraged them to keep running the race. And that advice and that encouragement still helps us today. Let us take to heart the words of Hebrews chapter 12 and let us run our race.

What is that race? The Hebrews to whom the book was written were being persecuted. They were being tempted to turn back to Judaism instead of holding onto their faith in Jesus. The whole book is encouragement for them to hold on to the faith. It is to encourage them that even their sufferings are worth it. Jesus and what he offers are better than any other possibility or any other outcome. So here in chapter 12, that is the encouragement: living your life with Jesus is like running a race. It requires patient endurance.

Yes, it is hard, but it is worth it.

And it is worth it in a very different way than it is worth it to participate in a cross country meet or an Olympic sprint or a marathon or any other running event. We might find value in those by winning a race or by overcoming a challenge or by having a team around us. The goal there is the finish line. The goal here is heaven. And the race that is our Christian life is different in another way, too. That race has already been won.

It is not up to you to work hard enough or put in enough effort to reach the finish line first and claim your prize. It’s not up to you because if it were, you would have already failed. If it were up to any of us to successfully navigate the race of life and to reach a heavenly finish line, we would all be doomed. What would that perfect run look like? It would look like someone loving everyone else perfectly. It would look like someone constantly honoring God. It would look like without exception being kind and compassionate and upright and perfect. It’s a throwaway line for most of us to admit, “nobody’s perfect,” but it is also the truth. No one has and no one can perfectly navigate the racecourse and reach that finish line.

No one has except Jesus. Here in our verses he is called, “the author of our faith and the one who brings it to its goal.” And we are called on to keep our eyes focused on him just as if he were standing at our finish line, the goal we are looking to reach. And in a way he is. He did navigate the human life perfectly. He set aside his heavenly home to take his mark and run the race not just with us but also and especially for us. Not a moment of his earthly life went by where he was selfish instead of loving, or cruel instead of kind, or defiant instead of willing. And he did it all so that his race could count as our race, so that his life could be our life, so that his righteousness could be credited to us. He offered up his life on the cross, as our verses proclaim, “he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of God’s throne.” And that means that our risen and ascended Lord now reigns to keep us in his care and to bring us to be with him in the eternal joys of heaven.

But we’re not there yet. We haven’t reached the goal yet, the finish line. And that’s why we can both know the outcome, the victory, and still need patient endurance. From our perspective, it is a long race, years, decades, perhaps even a century. And it is a race through a world corrupted by sin and rife with temptation.

For the Hebrews at the time this letter was written to them, the temptation came in the form of persecution and a desire to go back to the old religion that didn’t face such opposition. But that’s not the answer. That is quitting. That is taking the race that is already won and stepping off the racecourse. Off the racecourse

doesn’t mean a shady spot to rest, it means ending up in destruction and pain, in hell itself. It means giving up on the Savior who went through every trial for you.

In terms of the race, here is more encouragement: you are not alone. You are surrounded by a crowd, a cloud of witnesses. And this is more than the people around you at church today or any given week. This is a cloud of witnesses like many described in the previous chapter of Hebrews. There, as we heard last week from Pastor Patoka, God gave several examples of people who lived their lives by faith. Abraham was prominent, and we focused on him specifically, but there were many more. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses. All of them and more lived in faith, focused on eternal life more than on this present and passing world. And all of them who died in faith are enjoying now the glory of heaven. For your race, it is like they are gathered together in the stadium to cheer you on. I saw a sporting event recently that included a race.

But at the end of this race the competitors needed to carry a heavy object up flights of stairs to cross a finish line. There was one competitor left in the entire competition and she was struggling. The weight was heavy, the sun was hot, the race had already been long. And then the crowd that had previously lined the course started walking closer behind her. She was surrounded on all sides by people cheering and shouting their encouragements. The roar of the crowd when she crossed the line may have been louder than the cheers for the winner.

That’s the blessing that God has given to us. A huge crowd cheering and encouraging and supporting.

People we have not even met except through the pages of Scripture are saying to us: “Look what I got through. Look what God did for me. Look at his amazing love. Don’t stop. Don’t step aside. Keep running the race.”

And here is how you do that: “[L]et us get rid of every burden and the sin that so easily ensnares us, and let us run with patient endurance the race that is laid out for us.” The competitor I mentioned earlier, would no doubt have had an easier finish if she could have dropped the heavy weight and walked across the finish. That would not have been according to the rules of that race. But in our race of life, we far too often want to pick up the stuff that slows us down and sends us off course. I forget the finish line because I see the money that I could earn and horde over there. I forget the finish line because I would rather grab some extra fame or power. I get worn down because I don’t listen to the cheering crowd by studying what God’s Word says about them. I don’t drink in his Word as the water of life and food for my soul. What I need is to lay down all that hinders and entangles. I need to focus on Jesus and run with patient endurance.

And we have one more major blessing promised to us. We have God himself looking out for us. In keeping with our race metaphor, we might say that we have a coach who takes us through the difficulties. He says, “Sure, I know that the practice is hard, but it makes you better. It makes you ready.” He pushes us through the challenges that on our path include suffering and trouble and sorrow. It includes hostility from people who don’t think we’re on the right track. The race is hard when my loved one is in the hospital. I’m tempted to give up when my bank account is empty. I am tempted to say, “This is terrible. No one who loves me the way that God claims to would ever put me through something like this.” And I am tempted to drop out of the race. I stop worrying whether I am facing toward and progressing toward that heavenly finish line.

But in those challenges and difficulties, Hebrews 12 tells us that God is much more than a coach. He is a loving and caring Father. He uses the pain and the challenge for our benefit. He uses them to discipline and teach us. He uses them to accomplish his good purposes on his good timeline. Perhaps there were times in your life that you felt some discipline was too harsh or was wrongly given out. But overall, you probably have realized that discipline comes from a place of love. It comes from a parent who cares how you turn out and whether you are equipped for the future. How much more true is that of your loving and perfect Heavenly Father!

I realize we may not have a church full of race fans gathered here today. Perhaps you’ve watched fewer cross country meets than I have over the past few years. And maybe you don’t get excited about running, but all of us gathered today have a race to run. And once again here’s the encouragement: with patient endurance, let’s run our race. The victory’s already won, you are not alone, and your heavenly Father is preparing you for future. By God’s grace we will see Jesus and each other at that glorious finish line.

The Text: Hebrews 12:1–13 (EHV) 12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us get rid of every burden and the sin that so easily ensnares us, and let us run with patient endurance the race that is laid out for us. 2Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, who is the author of our faith and the one who brings it to its goal. In view of the joy set before him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of God’s throne. 3Carefully consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinful people, so that you do not grow weary and lose heart.

4You

have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood in your fight against sin. 5Have you also forgotten the encouragement that addresses you as sons?

My son, do not regard the Lord’s discipline lightly, and do not become weary of his correction.

6For the Lord disciplines the one whom he loves, and he corrects every son he accepts.

7Endure

suffering as discipline. God is dealing with you as sons. Is there a son whose father does not discipline him? 8If you are not disciplined (and all of us have received it), then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9In addition, we have earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Should we not submit even more to the Father of the spirits and live? 10They disciplined us for a little while, according to what seemed best to them, but God disciplines us for our good, so that we may have a share in his holiness. 11No discipline seems pleasant when it is happening, but painful, yet later it yields a peaceful harvest of righteousness for those who have been trained by it.

12Therefore

strengthen your weak hands and feeble knees, 13and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated but rather healed.