Sermon Tone Analysis

How To Run A Better Race

Discipline your son, for there is hope;

do not set your heart on putting him to death.

Remember that last week we were talking about faith (the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen).

We talked about those who went before us and lived their lives full of faith and even though they may not have received in their lifetime what was promised, they could see beyond their own lives, they could see beyond their own circumstances to something better.

Something in the future that they put their hope in.

Something that pointed to a life with Christ.

And I hope you were challenged by that this week.

We must always keep in mind that God always answers our prayers, He is always faithful.

And when I say that HE is always faithful that means that He is always faithful to Himself, He is always faithful to His nature.

He answers prayers according to His will.

He answers prayer for His glory and sometimes our desires line up with His will, sometimes they don’t line up but please understand that God is faithful.

This week we are looking at and the chapter starts with a therefore, so remember that the therefore connects the thoughts of the chapter before into the chapter ahead.

And the writer says:

12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

I love the imagery that is being used here.

The writer is talking about how we can look at this life as a race.

Did you know that you are in the middle of a race?

I know that there are some of you have are into running.

Good for you.

I know a couple of you have actually ran marathons.

Again, good for you.

It is interesting though, because the word that is used in the Greek here for race is agona which is where we get the word agony for.

That’s great!

The lives that we live are agony!

But there is truth to that in that life is a constant struggle, it is a strain.

And it is like a race, it is like a difficult, long, messy painful race.

That is what life is like.

It is a race but it is a specific type of race.

It is a marathon, it lasts a lifetime and it is all about endurance.

Not a sprint.

This race is day to day and year to year.

It doesn’t end until you do.

Sounds harsh but that is the reality of it.

So if you have ever done anything long term or have had to run a long distance you know that there is a significant amount of training that goes along with it in order to be successful at it.

For the marathon, the 26.2 mile race, your goal is what, 4 -5 hours if you are awesome, but you probably put in 20 or so weeks, weeks! of training to get you to that point.

The race is serious!

And you can’t really run a race like that unless you have some sort of goal in mind can you?

For some, they want to qualify for a particularly famous marathon like the Boston or the New York marathon.

For others, they want to beat a particular time.

For some, they just want to say that they survived running 26.2 miles.

I have said that I have a hard time driving 26.2 miles.

But unless you have a goal you will have a hard time finding what you need to motivate you to finish that race.

You need a goal for race like that.

As Christians, again, we are running a race, and we need a goal too. 1.

We Need A Goal

And I don’t think that the goal is supposed to just be Heaven, which is going to be incredible beyond words, but a goal for us is sanctification.

Sanctified, meaning that we are continually being made holy, purified, and it is a process we go through throughout our lives.

But we have a goal, as Christ followers.

A commentator named William Barclay puts it so beautifully about these verses when he writes:

In the Christian life, we have a goal.

Christians are not people who stroll along the byways of life in a completely unconcerned manner; they travel on the high road.

They are not tourists, who return each night to the place from which they started; they are pilgrims who are always travelling on the way.

The goal is nothing less than the likeness of Christ.

The Christian life is going somewhere, and at each day’s ending we would do well to ask ourselves: ‘Am I any further on?’

Barclay, W. (2002).

The Letter to the Hebrews (p.

202).

Louisville, KY; London: Westminster John Knox Press.

Barclay, W. (2002).

The Letter to the Hebrews (p.

202).

Louisville, KY; London: Westminster John Knox Press.

Do you ever ask yourself that question?

Am I any further along?

Is my life moving in a direction that is getting closer to God, or am I not moving and ultimately moving away from Him?

And what would motivate me if I were to be moving along in this race?

You know if we were able to look at this race, this marathon

Because, 2. What will Motivate Me?

Everyone needs motivation.

They do.

If you aren’t motivated you won’t get anywhere.

There has to be a prize!

Motivation can be good or it can be not so good.

Everyone needs motivation.

They do.

If you aren’t motivated you won’t get anywhere.

There has to be a prize!

Motivation can be good or it can be not so good.

But there has to be a prize, there has to be a motivation, which can be the goal.

What is your motivation?

What gets you going?

My boys decided to pool their money and purchase a video game that they were really excited about.

They even pre ordered it and they were so distraught when it took about 4 hours to actually load the game on their xbox.

It was clear that they wouldn’t be able to play it that Friday night.

So they asked me, get this, they asked me to wake them up on Saturday morning at 6:30 am so that they could play their game.

Understand that these are guys who enjoy the only day during the week that they get to sleep in.

They are church kids so Saturday is the only day they get to take their time waking up and they wanted me to wake them at 6:30.

Now THAT my friends was motivation.

When we are motivated we can accomplish great things.

Our goal is sanctification, to be made holy and our motivation comes from two things here in .

The first motivation is a great cloud of witnesses and the second is Jesus himself.

The great cloud of witnesses would be those who have gone before.

The writer just spent all this time talking about the heroes of the faith in chapter 11.

He talks about Abraham and Moses and David and all the all stars of the Jewish faith.

The patriarchs the legends of God’s people.

They are watching says the writer, and, “since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.. and he goes on.

This was a motivation for them AND for us.

We want to please those who have gone on before us.

We are motivated when those we love are in our corner.

You see this everywhere, and it isn’t just about being accountable, which is important.

It is about us being motivated to be our best because others motivate us.