Sermon Tone Analysis

PRAY...

Finish Well

PRAY...

Many years ago we used our income tax refund to buy a treadmill.

And, I have to be honest here, we used it for a while.

But it eventually became a hanging rack for winter coats.

So, when I got the 3rd floor of my house renovated and the kids moved up there, we moved the treadmill to the 2nd floor with the idea that if it didn't get buried we would use it more.

Nope, that has happened either.

Because it is in a room we rarely enter, it just sits and collects dust.

What's wrong with a treadmill you might ask?

It is boring.

You can walk or run on the thing and you do get a workout but at the end of the day you haven't gone anywhere.

And I think it is that frustration that ended with my giving up on trying to get on the treadmill.

And now, the dread of the pain I know I will feel if I get back on keeps me from getting back on.

I guess you could say the treadmill has become the dread-mill.

We all have gone through a time in our Christian lives where we felt like we weren't accomplishing anything for the kingdom of God.

We were just working with no visible results.

Perhaps it is because of our own impatience.

We expect results and right now.

We may pray something like this, “Lord grant me patience right now!” It is just silly.

But is life only a series of unrelated events?

Or is it a marathon that concludes at death?

The passage before us this morning calls life a marathon.

Indeed it is not a series of unrelated events, but a journey that ends only when we are in the presence of our Lord.

From we will see three phases in the race of your life.

The book of Hebrews is a letter or a sermon addressed to a Jewish audience.

It was written to show that Jesus is better and because Jesus is better this is how we should live.

This section of the book is pointing out examples of faith.

Chapter 11 is famously called the roll call of faith.

In it, the author gives many examples through what we call the Old Testament of people who showed great faith in God.

And it is directly on the heals of that roll call that we get this metaphor of a race.

Now let's look at what is probably the best-known passage in the book of Hebrews and we will see three phases in the race of your life.

1.

The first phase in the race of your life is the training.

1.

The first phase in the race of your life is the training.

The Training

1.1.

V 1

1.2.

The word here for witnesses is the Greek marturo from which we get our word martyr.

These witnesses that are surrounding us should not be viewed as a great audience in heaven cheering us on, but as our co-laborers for Christ.

We are surrounded by those who have gone before.

They are the faithful that were spoken of in Chapter 11.

The surrounding is not like a spectator, but like compatriots.

Perhaps Paul said it best when he said in (ESV)13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.

God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

We have much in common with these great predecessors of faith.

1.3.

So, since they have done it before us, let us lay aside every weight.

This is not sin because the author addresses sin in the next phrase.

This is anything that weighs you down.

Have you ever watched a marathon runner?

They wear the lightest shorts, shoes, and shirt they can.

They are laying aside every weight.

Weights are anything in your life that trips you up.

That steals time that would be better spent serving your Lord.

That prevents you from stepping out in faith.

Weights come in many shapes and sizes.

For some of us it is fear that we do not know enough to share.

For others the TV robs us of time.

For still others it may be the radio, even Christian radio.

Christian radio is a great thing, don't get me wrong.

But if you are so busy listening to preachers talk about faith that you do not run the race of faith, then that radio is a weight.

It is slowing you down from accomplishing what God wants you to do.

These are just a few, what are your weights this morning?

Thinking about the great brethren that have gone before, how can you lay aside those things and run the race set before you?

1.4.

Then then author says and sin which clings so closely.

There is a definite difference between the weights and sin.

It is sin that creates a great gulf between us and our Father in heaven.

It is sin that prevents us from hearing God's voice.

This is different than the weights in that this is willful rebellion against God.

There are the 10 Commandments that may be a good place to start, but Jesus even summed up those, didn't He? Do you remember what the Greatest Commandment is (ESV) 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

38 This is the great and first commandment.

39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

It is my opinion that if we did those two things perfectly, we could be free from the sin which clings so closely to us.

1.5.

Now let us run with endurance the race which is set before us.

The assumption here is that you have already removed the weights and sin and now you have to keep at it.

For all those great saints that are surrounding us, who ran the race before us, they ran to the end of their lives never seeing the fulfillment of the coming of the Messiah, Jesus.

We are on the other side of the coming of the Messiah.

Now, we must run the race with the same endurance they showed.

We have to worship like Abel and walk like Enoch.

We need to obey like Noah and live like Abraham.

We need to pass on our faith like Isaac and Jacob and Joseph.

We need to be decisive in our walk with God like Noah.

We need to show faith like Joshua and Rahab that is courageous.

Folks, we need to be ready to do ANYTHING God asks us to do at ANYTIME!

That is the race that is set before us.

It is not a sprint that involves short spurts of faithfulness, but a marathon that requires constant pacing and metered striving towards victory.

No hot-and-cold, mediocre, lukewarm, on-again-off-again people need apply.

1.6.

Have you ever noticed in a marathon that there are very few that are actually running against anyone else?

The top 10 may actually be racing, but the rest of the pack is fighting against one thing, the race itself.

They want to be able to say they finished the race.

That is the pride of a marathon.

To finish well.

That is the kind of race our author is talking about here.

How are you running?

The training involves laying aside weights and sin and just running.

The way to learn how to run a marathon is to run every day.

The way to run the race set before us is to run every day.

Contend for the faith, Paul said.

Be ready to give an answer for the hope that rises in you, Peter said.

Run with endurance the race set before you, the author of Hebrews says.

When all is said and done, we will find out that the training was actually the race.