Run Well!

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the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord will award to me on that day, but not only to me but also to all who have loved His appearing.” Look past the suffering and frustration of this world and fix your eyes on Jesus who, in Hebrews 12:2, had an amazing attitude of joy. “Who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, ignored the shame.” In verse 3 it says, “Consider Him who has endured...so that you may not grow weary and lose heart.” James 1 says, “Count it all joy when you encounter various trials and hardships during your run with Jesus.” Why? “Because the testing of your faith produces endurance and proven character and fulfilled completion. Jesus’ joy, that He looked forward to at the cross, was knowing that His work there would bring salvation to millions. Hebrews 2:10 says, “. . . will bring many sons to glory.” Jesus’ joy was looking forward to the reunion with His father. In His father’s presence is pure joy in a perfect relationship. (Ps. 16:11). Jesus had joy in completing His fathers will. At the right hand we have joy knowing our advocate is pulling for us 24/7 we have great joy knowing that God is on the throne and in control even when life is hard. So we are motivated to run the race set before us when we fix our eyes on Jesus and take the longer look up to heaven where Jesus is right now seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Joy in fulfilling God’s plan for us; becoming what we are designed to be. As Jesus calls to us, “Be with me. Be like me. So in suffering Jesus sought us out, and in our suffering we seek Him. We will not receive all our reward here. The great men and women of faith all knew that. In Hebrews 11:39-40, it says, “They did not receive what was promised because God had provided something better for us.” Look for the joy and see the prize at the end of the finish line. Look forward to that time in heaven where we long to hear the words, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Master.” Run after Jesus well, inspired by the faithful men and women who have gone on before and empowered by Jesus whom we fixed our eyes upon. So practically, how do we get back on the track? I want us to do some “fall cleaning” with Jesus. Let Him help you with some house cleaning. Take a pad of paper and get away by yourself and think through the activities of your life . . . work, school, home, church, family, entertainment and rest. What things in those areas have become encumbrances to your running well? What sin have you allowed to creep into your life and have made excuses for it far too long? Start with one sin and one encumbrance. Toss it aside and ask God to give you the strength to do it. God spoke this command “to run” for a reason. If you don’t feel any desire to run with God, ask God to give you the desire, He would not give us the command without giving us the resource to do it. Just think what freedom, lightness and encouragement your life would be like if you were spiritually running well. Can you picture and visualize those saints who are pulling for us, cheering us on? Stand up, close your eyes and just listen to their applause. Just think what our church would be like if we had a whole group of us who decided to get rid of our encumbrances and sin and run well with Jesus. I think God would be pleased and real life change would begin to happen. We would pass the torch of faith well to those who follow us; our friends, kids, grandkids. This message from the Scriptures was presented at NORTHVIEW BIBLE CHURCH, Spokane, Washington. Scripture quotations are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE (“NASB”), © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995, 1996 by the Lockman foundation. Used by permission.

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Catalog No. 340

“Run Well!”

Hebrews 12:1-3

Sermon Series: “Greater Than: A Study Through the Book of Hebrews” In my fourth and final year in seminary, I was invited to speak in chapel as one of the senior preachers. It was a great honor and also quite an intimidating experience. The pulpit in Dallas Seminaries Chafer Chapel was like an enormous ship’s prow and loomed large on the stage. All 40+ professors were seated behind me on stage, dignified with various looks of anticipation. John Walvoord and Roy Zuck, who wrote the Bible commentaries, were on my right. The president, Don Campbell, and Howard Hendricks were on my left. About 900 seminarians, all well taught to evaluate and exegete, sat facing me, ready to hear God’s Word. It was quite an intimidating cloud of witnesses. I was extremely careful as to the accuracy and truth of what I was saying. I wanted to do my best without it just being a performance. Now it certainly provides plenty of motivation knowing there are those great people of faith who are listening and observing. But it was encouraging to remember they were not there to tear me down and critique. They were pulling for me. You can do it! Karugma ton Logon. Preach the Word! What if Roger Federer showed up and stood watching you play a tennis match up at the high school? What if Arnold Palmer joined your foursome golf game? What if Lebron James stopped to watch your 3 on 3 basketball game in downtown Spokane next June? You would want to do your very best. You wouldn’t be “dogging” it. You wouldn’t be cheating on defense. You would probably be a bit nervous, but you would want to bring your very best game and hustle. If a hall-of-famer shows up, it elevates our performance. What if the Bible’s “hall -of-famers” were cheering us? I think too many of us don’t even realize that we are in the game. We picture ourselves passively sitting in the stands watching someone else. The problem is that Christianity is not a spectator sport. It is a participation sport. It is a lifeengaging, life-changing, commitment-demanding, gutwrenching long-distance run. Any commitment less then total will leave us very bored in our spiritual life. It will leave us devoid of any joy, any excitement or fulfillment. Too many of us are coasting, passive observers who are meandering, and lack any sort of perseverance. When the going gets tough, we give up too soon and miss the joy of going through to the other side. When it’s inconvenient, tension-filled, gets frustrating with the other team members, or not working out the way we expected, we simply give up and coast. We stop running. We walk over the sidelines, sit down on the bench and take off our spikes and say to ourselves, “I give up! I can’t do it! I am simply tired of running. I’m done!” Have you ever felt like that? I sure have at times. What is it that will keep us motivated to keep running the race? What will it take for us to run well all the way to the finish line? Perhaps you started running well, but somewhere you’ve begun to coast. Some have even climbed up into the stadium seats to watch. I want to challenge all of us to get back into the race to run. Turn in your Bibles to Hebrews 12:1-3. The book of Hebrews was written to believers in Rome who were under intense persecution. Life was hard and some were doubting if following Jesus was worth it. Others in the church were begin-

Pastor Norm Schwab September 24, 2017

ning to settle for the world. They were starting to meander, drift, lose focus and lose energy. Hebrews chapter 11 describes the “hall of faith” of great men and women who were by no means perfect but had a heart to follow and to run after God. In order to run well, it is going to take faith. Faith is not sight but faith believes, acts and runs after the One in whom we know and believe is able keep us and sustain us. It takes faith to run with God even when we can’t see the end. It takes faith to run hard after God even when it doesn’t all make much sense to us. It takes faith to run after God when our feelings are telling us to go one way, our hormones are telling us to go one way and some of our peer friends are pulling on us to go one way. God says, “No. Trust Me on this one. Run hard this way. It will be hard …even painful, but you will discover a deep, satisfied joy filled with purpose. I have some exceedingly delightful things in store for you . . . just around the bend. Will you, in faith, run with Me?” Run the race well: Look at the end of verse one. If the apostle Paul were alive today, he would probably read the sports page in the newspaper. He loved sports metaphors. The command imperative, that controls the entire section, is the verb to “run.” Run with endurance - the steady determination to keep going even when everything in you wants to slow down or give up. The picture is that of a stadium and there are runners down on the track. It is not a 100 yard sprint, but a long distance race. The race is a picture of the Christian life. It is not a Christian meander or stroll. We are called to “run.” When I’m running, that is all I can do. It takes all my energy, focus and will to run strong. I can’t talk on the phone. If you run forward while looking sideways, you’re going to trip. I can’t eat. I might down a sip of an energy drink, but I am thinking about my goal and getting there without collapsing. Someone, right now, is thinking to themselves, “That’s just not me. That is not my personality. I’m not that athletic. I’m not aggressive. I’m pretty laid back.” Certainly there are personality differences, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, but the command, in Hebrews 12, calls for us to “to run,” and that would be all of us, regardless of your personality or age. All of us are heading toward the same goal . . . the same finish line. Notice the corporate group language of “let us” and “our.” We are heading toward Jesus, as a group, together. But each race is going to be different for different people. The race set out for an 85 year old woman will be different than a 17 year old high school student or 28 year old mom or 40 something businessman. Some race courses will be straight or some with lots of curves. Some of you will race mostly all downhill and some others will seem like you always are having to run uphill, against the wind in a snowstorm. Hebrews 12 is not saying that you can run and finish someone else’s race well, but it does say that you can run and finish the race meant for you. Run the race “set before us,” not set before someone else. God sets the length of our race. God sets the purpose and direction we are heading toward the finish line. We are to run toward a finish line as though everything depends on it. We are to give 100 percent.

Toss aside “every” encumbrance: So what is going to help us run well and what will motivate us to run well? Look again at verse 1. If we are going to have any chance of running well, we are going to need to get rid of some things that are holding us back. “Let us lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin that so easily entangles us.” We have become passive, dead, lifeless, meandering, bored and ineffective in our spiritual lives because there are some things that are holding us back, tripping us up, and entangling us. If we want to run well again, we need to get rid of the loads that are making it hard to run well. (Illustration of a backpacking trip. You wouldn’t carry can goods, firewood or lawn chairs. No snorkel and fins. There’s nothing evil about these things but they will not help you get where you want to go. By mile 2 you will be tossing them aside.) Do you know where you’re going? If we don’t know where were going we won’t be able to decide what to put on or take off. Run smart! The first Olympic athletes took this radically serious. They stripped off all their clothes to run well. That would certainly motivate me to run rapidly, but I recommend something equally radical but different. Verse 1 says we need to toss aside any “encumbrance”, something that is not necessarily a sin stated in the Bible, but for you…it’s holding you back, weighing you down and keeping you from the running the race well for Jesus. It could be your past that you think is too bad. It could be a prior commitment you need to just lay aside. It could be busyness. It could be something as simple as a newspaper that is keeping you from reading God’s Word in the morning. Nothing wrong with a newspaper, but if it is keeping me from running hard after God then it is an encumbrance that needs to be tossed aside. It could be that books are an encumbrance or watching sports or shows on TV. I love sports, and it’s a great way to connect with people who need Jesus, but some have become so consumed by sports that it always gets the “bulk” of our time, weekend and money. Maybe last year it was fine, but now it’s become an encumbrance for you. It’s holding you back from following Jesus. What is an encumbrance to you may not be for someone else, so this is where you need to ask. What is in my life that is keeping me from running hard after Jesus? Why do I have so much time to do this activity, but not time for Jesus? Are certain types of music weighing you down? Maybe it’s a relationship or fantasy of a relationship. When you are around this particular person, it is hard for you to run with Jesus. Maybe it’s an event, place, business or street that you need to stay away from. There may be nothing inherently sinful about the place, but for you it has become an encumbrance. You need to toss it aside so that you can, once again, run well. I think too often we ask ourselves the wrong question. Don’t ask, “Is it wrong? Is this relationship wrong? Is this music wrong? Is this book, video game, sport or hobby wrong?” But ask, “Is it right? Is this activity encouraging my life with Christ? Is this helping me run well for God? Are the hours I am spending doing this helping me love God and other people more deeply? Is it developing a greater rest, a more profound humility, more self-control, greater purity in my mind? Thankfulness?” Does this help me run well or is it standing in my way?” This is going to be different for each person. If you look back in the faith chapter, Hebrews 11, they all struggled with various encumbrances. For Moses, at that time in his life, it was an encumbrance for him to take on the

ruling leadership of Egypt, so in Hebrews 11:24, he “refused the princely crown with all its wealth and privilege.” But for Joseph, he embraced the palace as 2nd in command of Egypt. Encumbrances will be different for different people. For some the political diatribe that pounds your email get you so hot under the collar that they distract you from Jesus and consume your emotional energy. For some people politics is an encumbrance, but for someone else that political engagement is a calling to engage with this culture. Ask yourself, “God, is this holding me back from fully running with you?” If it is, then toss it aside. You will be amazed at the freedom you find by the things you leave behind. Am I running the race that God has set before me? Toss aside “the” sin that entangles: If we want to run well, we not only have to toss aside the encumbrances, but also the sin that so easily tangles our feet and trips us up. Note that it says “the” sin. The sin that trips you up may not even tempt someone else. You may have no trouble at all being honest in your dealings, but at home, when someone disagrees with you or disrespects you, the temper flares up. You may not have any struggle with gossip or a critical spirit, but when it comes to sensuality and lust that so easily trips you up. “The” sin that trips us up may be different for different people. Don’t excuse that sin by saying, “That’s just the way I am. I’m from New York . . . I have a short fuse. That was the kind of home I grew up in . . . that’s just the way I am.” Don’t excuse it because that’s the people you work with or that is acceptable in the culture you live in. “But everybody does it.” Galatians 6:7 is clear about our sin. “Don’t be (self) deceived. God will not be mocked (by our laziness and excuses toward our pet sin.) Whatever a man sows this will he also reap.” Is there a sin weighing you down from running well? Is it self-pity, a critical spirit, pride, fear, laziness, envy, jealousy, sensuality, bitterness, greed, gossip or sinful anger? Kill it off. If something threatens the relationship between Erin and I we kill it. Cut it off. Separate it. Stop feeding it. We must kill or be killed by it, for whatever we feed will grow. Whatever we starve will shrink. What are you feeding? What are you starving? It’s only when we stay close to the Word of God that the Holy Spirit can take the things of Christ and make them real to us, otherwise we will “grow weary” of the Christian life and lose heart (V.3). Did you notice this is set in the context of community? “Let us” is mentioned twice. Christianity was never meant to be lived out alone. Lone ranger Christians who have extracted themselves from the body of believers are simply not Biblical. We need each other. We need to challenge each other and help each other with our encumbrances and sin. In Hebrews 10:24, it says that we are to “spur one another with love and good deeds.” We are to be accountable and challenge each other to toss aside the encumbrances and sin that are holding us back from running strong after God. It’s a loving brother or sister that comes along aside and says, “Man, you may not see this, but I see this as something that is really holding you back from running after Jesus well. Pray about it, will you? I’m on your team. I want you to run well and finish well. How can I help?” Some of you, right now, are thinking, “Resist that sin? It won’t happen! I’ve tried so hard before and nothing! I quit for a couple of days and then I’m right back at it again.

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That sin or encumbrance just can’t be removed. I’m stuck with them!” Let me say…God has spoken this command for a reason. He has not given this command if He didn’t think you couldn’t run it well. I’m encouraged that God’s Word tells me to lay these things aside which must mean that it must be possible to toss out these sins. It may be easy to conclude that its all up to us. We are responsible to obey but we look to Jesus for that strength, 40 times a day if necessary. God has also provided some motivation to lay aside sin and run well. Hear the cheers: In these verses, I see two motivations that encourage us to run the race well. The first is in verse one, “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us.” I am motivated to run the race strong when I hear the cheers. When I was running cross country in High School, nearing the finish line where all the people were cheering, I tended to give my bony little chicken legs a little more effort even though my lungs were screaming for mercy. It was because of the people cheering on the sidelines. Verse 1 tells us that there is a whole crowd . . . a cloud of people cheering for us. Hear the cheers of those saints who have gone before us that are saying, “You can do it!” — “Go for it!” — “It’s worth all the pain!” — “The reward is great!” The first word in verse 1 is “therefore”…a reason. The scene is a stadium. All those men and women from the previous chapter, in Hebrews 11 “hall of faith,” are cheering for us. Their lives are a witness to us that we can do it. It’s not like they are up there looking down from heaven at us, wondering whether we do well or mess up. The word “witness” has two meanings: 1. The act of seeing. Or 2. The act of telling something. In Hebrews 11, that word for witness is used five times and all five carry the meaning number two. Those believers who have gone before us, 11:4, “have died and yet still speak” are calling out, “I finished by faith, you can too! God for it!” It’s not what the crowd sees in us, but what we see in them. Their life inspires us. The same God they placed their faith in can do the same things through us, empowering a faith of triumph or faith to endure tragedy. The cheering crowd has been through what we have been through. Thousands before us have run a similar race with very similar circumstances and are bearing testimony that we can run well too. They are giving us a historical “high five” saying, “Yes!” Moses, with his long white beard, is there standing with his staff punching the air saying, “Yes!”. Joshua, head and shoulders above the crowd is clapping loudly with his strong solid hands. Rahab is smiling and giving an encouraging wink that says, “Come on girl, you can do it. I’ve been there where you are. I had to toss off some sin. You can run for Jesus. It’s hard but its so worth it. Go for it!” Do you hear the cheers? Do you hear the cheers of the martyrs of the faith who have died at the stake? Do you hear the cheers of the missionaries, William Carey, Jim Elliot, Mary Slessor and Isobel Kunn, all whose lives stand cheering us on? “Come on . . . you can do it! Run hard for Jesus! It is worth it!” Focus on Jesus: A second motivation is most powerful and found in verse 2 — “Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith.” If we want to run well, we are going to need to fix our eyes on Jesus. Notice it doesn’t say, “Fixing our eyes on heaven, or fixing our eyes on Christ.” And it would be fine to focus on the Christ, who is our Savior, but here it says for us to focus on Jesus…the human name Jesus…the one fully God but also fully man who has experienced and knows exactly what we are going through. Certainly, we can gain en-

couragement from the great men and women of faith who have gone before us. Their example of a faith-filled life can inspire us, but it’s only Jesus who can empower us. He is the centerpiece of this hall of faith gallery. To run well, we need to focus on Jesus, for only He can give us each day and every minute what we need to finish our race strong. It is Jesus who brings us the perspective we really need. On August 21, many of us looked at the eclipse. The news warned us if we stared at the sun, it would burn our eyes out. Here in Hebrews 12, it tells us to stare at the Son of God in order to recover from weariness and gain courage. Don’t look at your own meager resources and say, “It won’t work. I’ve tried it before.” Instead, fix your eyes on Jesus. Others may inspire, but only Jesus can empower. He does this through His Holy Spirit, who lives inside of each believer. Ephesians 3:16 says that God will strengthen you “with power through His Spirit in the inner man.” Philippians 3:16 says that “we can do all things through God who gives us the strength.” This is all a battle of faith. Will we believe that the things God has promised us and called us to will turn out far better than the habits of sin we have used to dull and anesthetize our hearts? Corrie Ten Boom said, “Look within and be depressed. Look without and be distressed. Look to Jesus and be at rest.” Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith. He started it and will also perfect and complete it. Philippians 1:6 also promises, “He who began a good work in you will perfect it.” He is our personal trainer. He is our life-coach. He knows what experiences, challenges, and exercises we need in order to grow. He knows at times it will be painful. He knows at times that we won’t always fully understand why He is allowing certain things in our life. We must trust our personal Trainer that He knows what will ultimately bring us the strength to help us run the race well. We must fix our eyes on Jesus. That doesn’t mean we are called to do Bible study 247 instead of playing sports or reading a novel or “putzing” around in the garden. A call to “fix our eyes on Jesus” means that we will keep Him in focus during the day and in the events of our life. We are so easily drawn away to other things. For example, it’s so easy to have our family be the focus instead of Jesus. There are those who would do anything and everything for their family, without asking if Jesus would be pleased with this radical commitment to family. Fixing our eyes on Jesus means I am going to love my family well, but my kids will know clearly that I love Jesus even more, and there will be things I will choose to do and there will be things I choose not to do that proves I am fixing my eyes on Jesus. It’s so easy to get our focus off of Jesus when we are at work, our business and careers. Nothing is wrong with business and a career. In fact, we ought to be the very best businessmen and businesswomen and excel in the workplace. But again, at times there will be things I choose to do or not do, in my career, that will demonstrate I am fixing my eyes on Jesus, not my career. The one who runs well will fix his eyes on Jesus. We will make our mark in this world to the degree that we have our eyes fixed on Jesus. If my own passion is preaching and ministry then I may not finish well, because sometimes in ministry I will get pummeled. But if I fix my eyes on Jesus and if my passion is Jesus, it will profoundly affect my ministry. In II Timothy 4:7-8, Paul at the end of his life, exclaims, “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept

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