A Plea to Endure

OSS: [Consecrative and Devotional] {I want the hearers to commit to remembering and investing in those in their lives as they run the race of life with endurance.}

PQ: What questions are answered in this text?

UW: Questions

Intro.:

Set up:

As we think about the great cloud of witnesses surrounding us as is written in Hebrews 12, we understand the reference is to those mentioned in Hebrews 11. Extended further, those who have been instrumental in our lives— who have shared the faith and invested it into our lives— those are also among the great cloud of witnesses. However, to examine this passage through a historical lens, let’s consider two passages quickly:

Judges 2:6-13 record the death of Joshua and the events that followed. The tragedy is that Joshua did not invest in others his own faith— though he was a man of faith himself— he did not invest in others which lent itself to a whole generation not remembering or knowing what God had done for them and consequently, that generation worshipping foreign, pagan gods.

Psalm 78:1-8 record the Psalmist imploring those in his presence to remember and to invest the things God had done for them throughout their history.

You and I have the same choices today: to not invest or to invest; to not remember or to remember.

Statistically, most Americans consider themselves Christian. Yet, unfortunately, statistics report that 8/10 Americans are biblically illiterate. Most Americans admit to not reading the Bible at all. Few confess reading the Bible consistently. While the numbers are devastating, what is more devastating is the reflection of these numbers and the impact thereof in our culture and society. What is reflected in our society, though, does not have to be reflected in your home. Actually, I would suggest to you that if our society is going to be changed, the reality of your home must not reflect what is the current reality in our society.

If you are Christian, you have been called to run the race of life. In fact, that is the thrust of this passage: to run the race with endurance. There are, perhaps, questions that arise in our minds as we embrace this reality.

TS: Let us now turn our attention to the text to read about and understand how the writer of Hebrews answers questions about this race we are to endure.

Why run the race? [v. 1a]

Perhaps what is important to focus on here is not so much the call to run as much as the manner of which the writer implores the reader to run: with endurance.

Often, when we think of running, we think of sprinting. However, the Christian life is not a sprint. It is a marathon. It involves endurance— endurance of suffering, pain, sorrow, growth, character, hope, etc.

We often sprint to salvation, but we often altogether neglect the endurance involved in discipleship.

Overnight growth is always dangerous because it does not sustain. The Christian life is not about overnight growth— though it is possible at different times, in different situations, and with certain seasons— it is more about the lifelong growth and discipleship process called sanctification— the process of becoming more and more like Jesus and less and less like the world.

As you think about this, the question that may arise is why?

The reason we run the race— with endurance— is because there is a great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us who have run the race surrounding us, even in the present moments.

Relatives: parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins

Friends

Mentors: SS teachers, prayer partners, etc.

How should we run the race? [vv. 1b-2]

Once we have embraced the why— perhaps we are left with asking the question “how?”

The text includes two explanatory descriptions to answer this question:

By laying aside every sin and weight that ensnares or hinders you. [v. 1b]

By fixing your eyes on Jesus. [v. 2]

The author and perfecter of faith

The one who endured the cross

For the joy set before him (us)

Consequently, despising shame and making it of no effect

The one seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Thought for us: It is important to connect the two— the exhortation for us to run with endurance and looking to the one who ran with endurance— Jesus. The great cloud of witnesses is great, but the reason we endure is because Jesus endured; the way we endure is by looking to Jesus and how He endured.

A paraphrase of this text is as follows:

“Do you see what this means— all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running— and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed— that exhilarating finish in and with God— he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!”

Conclusion:

The lyrics to a song came to my mind as I prepared this message:

“We will remember, we will remember We will remember the works of Your hands We will stop and give you praise For great is Thy faithfulness”

Response questions:

As we think about the blessing of our loved ones— it is important to reflect back and remember what God did for them and through them. After all, for those who have gone before us in the faith— they are the great cloud of witnesses surrounding us.

Yet, as we think about the blessing of our loved ones— it is just as important to look forward and to commit to investing in the next generation(s) our faith. What a tragedy is was that the whole generation following Joshua did not know what God had done for them, and they turned to false gods. I pray that isn’t the case for us.

Thus, a few questions for us today:

[1] Who is someone in your life that you reflect back on that is that person who invested their faith into you? Maybe its more than one.

[2] What is a step you can take this week that will instill the faith you have in the next generation?

[3] If you have not ran the race well so far, why not? What needs to change moving foreward to ensure you run the race well?

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