Run the Race Well - Hebrews 12:1-3

                      

Over this past week, we hosted our Athletes in Action soccer camp. We learned new soccer skills, played lots of games, and cheered each other on. I enjoyed watching the different age groups; the older teams were focused on growing their skills, while a number of younger players were distracted by dandelions, butterflies, and pets walking by, especially by the end of the day. I noticed how cheering each other on made a difference in our energy levels.

Competition was a big deal in Greece and Rome. It’s from Greece that we get the Olympic games. The games then were about celebrating and worshipping the physical body. Today, no matter where you grew up, games and competition are a natural and normal part of being human with soccer being one of the most popular sports in the world.

The author of the book of Hebrews describes life as a race. This isn’t a 100-yard dash though; life is a marathon, a gruelling long-distance race that takes, training, focus, and determination to run. I can’t expect to sign up to run a marathon for next weekend and expect to do well, or even to finish. I need to do some serious training with someone who knows how to run long distances if I want to finish the race and run the race well. Knowing what to expect is important and having someone who has run before is a huge blessing. There are predictable times in a race when all you want to do is stop because your body’s telling you that it’s done. Knowing this is coming helps you prepare for it, giving you the determination, strength, and ability to push through it, knowing that on the other side of that wall you’ll find the strength and will to carry on.

In Bethel we focus on mentoring, especially our youth because following Jesus is a marathon. We’re on a life-long journey following Jesus and it takes training, encouragement, and the wisdom and experience of others to help us run our race well. Hebrews talks about a great cloud of witnesses. The writer talks about some amazing faith stories in chapter 11; reminders of people who leaned on their faith in hard times, some even dying because of their faith in God; people like Abel, Noah, Abraham, Rahab, and many others.  

Life isn’t always easy. Hebrews 11, “There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.” I won’t promise you easy, but I will promise you it’s worth it to run your race to Jesus instead of away from him.

A Taizé website shares that “The “great cloud of witnesses” that surrounds us are people from every age whose lives were determined by their faith in God. The author of the Letter to the Hebrews compares them to sports fans in the stands of a stadium. They have already finished their race. But they do not lose interest in those who are still struggling and running. They urge them on and applaud them. That is how witnesses support our faith.” It’s like when we were playing soccer this past week, it’s much more fun when your team and coaches cheer you on. The encouragement of the witnesses comes because they understand how hard the race can be. Yet they kept their eyes on God; they ran their race even when it included suffering because they know God’s at the finish line. Our children and youth need coaches and encouragers, teachers who are investing them. Grandparents and older members are especially important in these roles; you bring a wisdom that’s so needed for our children and youth. Ministries like Sunday School, Children in Worship, Treasure and Truth Seekers are beautiful ways for older members to share their wisdom and life experiences with our children and youth, and they’re eager to learn from you how to run the race of life, keeping their eyes on Jesus.

We’re called to “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.” This gives us 2 different images of what it looks like to get distracted or side-tracked from running our race well. There are those things that can hamper us from running or keeping our eyes on Jesus. They’re not even bad things or sins, and can even be blessings that God gives us. These good things can be family and children and allowing their desire and wants to draw you away from Jesus and his desires for you. We’re constantly being told to put ourselves and our wants first, and these messages sink in so when it comes to making choices to please ourselves over kingdom activities, the kingdom is often our second choice. It can be our toys and pleasure activities, which are blessings, but can take precedence over spending time with God or engaging in engaging in activities that are focused on blessing others and creating a community of blessing. Often, our first priority is to bless ourselves, our eyes are on our mirrors instead of Jesus and our race suffers. As Tim Keller reminds us, “We take God’s good things, and make them gods.” Faith looks to God and neighbours before ourselves, we live into a sacrificial faith.

We’re given an image of a fishing net entangling us. A fisherman would go out in his boat and cast his net into the water and hope for fish to swim into it, making it possible for the fisherman to pull them into the boat. If a fisherman’s not careful, a fishing net can get all tangled up, and if it’s bad enough, it can become useless and need extreme measures to salvage it. Think of Jesus’ need to leave heaven and become human and die on the cross for our sin. We get so entangled in sin, distracted by God’s blessings instead of keeping our eyes on Jesus, that Jesus needed to become one of us and take our punishment on himself to untangle us from sin and free us to run our race again.

We don’t run our race on our own. Just like runners have people along the road handing out water or oranges to help us keep up our strength, and coaches who run alongside us for a bit to tell us how we’re doing and how to run the next stretch, we need others to help us run our life race. From parents, to teachers, counsellors, coaches, mentors, faithful friends, we need others to help us run the best race we can. Just like we need others to help us, we need to use our gifts to help others run their races well. Seeing a number of our youth step up as assistant coaches this week was wonderful. There are no spectators in the Christian race of life; we do it together as a team, as a family. You’re never too young or too old to run your race well. In the history of the church there are children and youth who did great things for Jesus, as well as senior members of the church.

The best way to run our race is by keeping our eyes on Jesus. The call is not to keep our eyes on the heroes of faith; they’re there to encourage us, our goal is Jesus. Jesus is called the pioneer and perfecter of faith. Pioneer means “originator” or “founder.” A pioneer is at the beginning of, and center of, something new. Jesus is the one through whom everything is created, he’s the founder of creation and the universe and as the origin of everything, he’s the center of our faith; he’s God. Jesus is the perfector of our faith. The word used is “telos” meaning finishing, end goals, and completeness. For our soccer camp, the goal was for the kids to learn about Jesus, to gain soccer skills, and to play the game. We keep our eyes on Jesus because he’s our finish line and knows what it takes to get there and how to help us complete our race through life. It’s not just about finishing, it’s about running the best race we can. A great race is about representing Jesus well, about creating peace, living with grace, and equipping others to run their race for Jesus.

Jesus gives us the Holy Spirit who keeps pointing us to Jesus, reminding us that he is our best coach and guide in life, that he lived life with us and knows how hard it can be, but he also knows exactly what we need to make it to the finish line and gladly gives it to us. My encouragement to you is keep your eyes on Jesus, allow him to be your coach and guide, and he will give you everything you need to run your life race well and finish strong.