How to Hold On When You Are Exhausted

Hebrews • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago

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Scripture Introduction:

In the Old Testament God had made this big promise to a guy named Abraham. It’s a promise of redemption. Of making things right again. He tells Abraham essentially that it would be through his offspring that he would once again give rest, rule, and relationship. All the things overturned in the Garden of Eden would be restored through the line of Abraham.

Abraham doesn’t have a kid and he’s an old dude…well past the having kids age. But a miracle happens and he and his equally old wife have a baby and name him Isaac. Fast forward a few years and you’ve got Isaac who is married to a woman named Rebekah and she has a set of twins. Esau who is born a few seconds before Jacob.

So here is what that means. It means that Esau is the firstborn. It means that he has what is called a birthright. That’s a huge thing in that culture but it’s a really big deal when we’re talking about the line of Abraham. It meant that Esau stood to be the one who the blessings of God would flow through. The rest, rule, and relationship would have gone through Esau. So the birthright for Esau meant more than for anybody else. He stood in a position to be one who God used to overturn the works of darkness and to restore His kingdom. He was to be the heir of the promise.

Now Esau was a hunter. He was a manly man. A big hairy red dude. And he’s out in the field and exhausted. You can read about this in . So Jacob—he’s not a hunter guy. He’s a homebody. He’s the cook in the family and he’s been home making a bowl of delicious red.

Esau’s a hungry dude. He’s been out in the heat, likely hasn’t eaten all day long, he’s a prime candidate for a Snickers commercial. “You’re not you when your hungry”. And so he tells Jacob, “bro, hook me up with some of that red.” To which Jacob says, okay I’ll give you the stew if you sell me your birthright now, this very moment. Act fast. Say yes or the stew doesn’t go in your belly. And Esau says, “I’m about to die, what value is a birthright to me”.

Now pause. Let’s pretend for a moment that Esau really is at the point of death. That’s just basic logic. What in the world does a fat inheritance do for me if I die in this moment. I don’t get to enjoy any of it if I die before dad does. But that’s not what this birthright is. It’s far more valuable than that. This is eternal stuff. This is eternal enjoyment. It doesn’t expire when you do. So Esau’s logic here only works if this is just an ordinary birthright.

But let’s be honest. Dude is hungry. He’s not almost dead. And so Jacob says, “Swear to me now”. So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. Jacob holds up his end of the deal and even throws in some bread..you know being the good dude he is. (And I’m saying that tongue in cheek. Jacob is a schemer. He’s a deceiver. But he understood the value of this birthright—or at least he would. It’s likely that he just in this moment saw his brother at a weak spot and took advantage of him.” But this story isn’t about Jacob’s deception it’s about Esau’s foolishness. Because listen to how the inspired author sums this up.

“Then Jacob gave, and he ate...” That sounds a bit like language when Eve gave food to her husband and he took it and ate. But this also has within it the idea that he just gulped this stuff down, didn’t even savor it, and then he gets up and goes his way. And now listen to this....”Thus Esau despised his birthright.” Despised. Held to be of no value. Hold in contempt. Undervalue.

So here is our question this morning…and our text in calls us to consider this story. Because the author uses it and says, “don’t be that guy. Don’t be Esau”. Our question is what do you do when you’re exhausted? What are the dangers of being just flat out exhausted and how does the devil use these moment to try to trip us up. Here is what we want to see…how can the gospel go so far down deep that what comes out in these moments is faithfulness? That’s what we’re after. You can fake it at church. You can even fake it when things are going well for you or even just the normal humdrum. The real question is what happens when the heat gets turned up? What happens when we’re like Esau and we’re exhausted and there’s a big beautiful pot of red…who we are is revealed in that moment. So let’s turn now to and find our answer.

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In 1845, John Franklin sailed from England to the Arctic. On their two sailing ships they had a 1200 volume library, fine china, crystal, and sterling silverware for each officer with their initials engraved in the handles. To make room for all this stuff they figured a 12 days supply of coal was likely enough to power their auxiliary steam engines.

When the ship became trapped in the frozen plains of ice—and John Franklin himself had died—the crew decided to trek across the frozen tundra in smaller groups. None survived. One of the saddest tales was of two officers who were found pulling a large sled. The sled was filled with table silver.

The crew loaded their two sailing ships with a lot of things they didn't need: a 1,200-volume library, fine china, crystal goblets, and sterling silverware for each officer with his initials engraved on the handles. Amazingly, each ship took only a 12-day supply of coal for their auxiliary steam engines.

Can you hear them now being so incredibly exhausted, blaming God for their trouble, and eventually just giving up hope?

I share that story because I think it’s a picture of what is going on in Hebrews, and it’s likely still going on in our day. We find ourselves absolutely exhausted, beat up, wore down, about to give up and we’re even a little upset at God because he isn’t giving us the strength to get through this. But the problem isn’t that God isn’t giving us strength to obey, the problem is that God doesn’t give strength to disobey him. He doesn’t give you the strength to lug around a sled filled with table silver.

That’s what the author of Hebrews is saying here in . The picture is of a runner getting ready to run in a race. Now you need to know that in the first Olympic games they’d often strip down…and they’d strip down quite a bit further than we’d be comfortable with. Let’s just say you wouldn’t be watching the Olympics on NBC. But the picture the author of Hebrews wants to give us is of a runner who shows up at the starting line with a heavy garment, a few weights, and just all kinds of unnecessary stuff.

In light of what you’ve seen in —that hall of faith, all those cloud of witnesses—let us lay aside every weight. What’s that is saying is now that we’ve watched them run their race, and they are now in the audience cheering us on—we’ve watched how a person of faith runs—the author is saying, “now it’s your turn.” Get on your running clothes…or well…lack thereof. And start running the race of endurance.

He says specifically to cast aside every sin that might be weighing you down. And then he says to fix your eyes on Christ. The founder and perfecter. He’s the A to Z of the Christian life. The starting line and the finish line.

So here you are, already out of breath. Exhausted. Esau coming in from out in the field. And now the Lord is saying, “you’re up. It’s your time to run.” They are likely being persecuted. They are out of energy. It doesn’t feel worth it anymore. Why keep holding on? Why keep going? Why keep fighting? I don’t have anything left and he wants me to run more?

And this is where we get our first tip to endure in the race when you feel like you’ve hit a wall. Fix your eyes firmly on Jesus and the hope set before you.

The author of Hebrews sets Jesus as an example for us. Picture him. He’s been abandoned by all of his friends. Judas has betrayed him. He hears the rooster crow. He feels betrayed by God. He cries out from the Cross, “I thirst”. He is utterly spent in this moment.

Esau was exaggerating when he said, “I’m about to die, what good is my birthright”. But Jesus wouldn’t be exaggerating. He has nails through his hands and his feet. He’s suffocating on that Cross. Every time he pulls up for breath excruciating pain. It’s agonizing to just let your body droop but to strengthen your knees and pull yourself up would be equally torturous.

So how does he endure in that moment. Why does he not say, “this isn’t worth it”? Remember in when Jesus is tempted by the devil. And it says that he left him “until a more opportune time”…you had better believe this was it. Certainly all of hell is working in this moment to encourage Christ to call down that legion of angels to pull him off the Cross. Give me your birthright and I’ll make it all go away.

How’d he keep going? gives us our answer. “Who for the joy set before him”. He had his eyes on the finished line. He had his heart set on hope. He knew, even better than Moses, that at God’s right hand are pleasures evermore. And so rather than holding onto his relationship with the disciples he endured their abandonment. Rather than keeping his mother’s heart from rending, He kept going to make all things new. Rather than being tripped up by the shame or making the shame be His story, he despised the shame. He counted it as little compared to the joy that awaited him.

This is what the author of Hebrews is telling his audience to do. To focus their eyes on Christ and follow him in this way. To see the future pleasure as weighing far more than the fleeting pleasures.

This isn’t rocket science. You know this. If you’ve ever ran track you know this. The worse thing you can do is look around you. Keep your eyes focused on that finished line. Picture crossing that line and just keep going. And this is connected to the “casting aside of sin and stuff that weighs us down”. Because when our eyes are fixed on Christ we realize what really matters. With our eyes set on eternity it has a way of prioritizing. It causes sin to lose its luster.

Do you think they blamed God for freezing to death? Did

One story is especially heartbreaking. Two officers pulled a large sled more than 65 miles across the treacherous ice. When rescuers found their bodies, they discovered that the sled was filled with table silver.

I’m just picture their complaints

Paint a picture of eternity...

But there’s something else in this passage that will help us endure. Verse 3-11. A biblical view of suffering and the Lord’s discipline.

I remember watching this dog Picture with me a guy who is at the starting line

Now before we dive into what this text is saying it’d be helpful to note what it is not saying. This is not saying that if you are suffering then God is punishing you. It’s not saying that the trouble in your life is because God is getting back at you or something. Now, is it possible that it’s consequences yes. Is it possible that it is the Lord’s hand of discipline. Yes. But this is absolutely not teaching that if you have trouble in your life it’s probably because you’ve got sin there and God is punishing you.

Now what this is saying is that God is radically dedicated to our redemption. He is radically dedicated to getting us there, to having us enjoy the promised land. And he’ll stop at nothing to get us there.

The bad stuff that happens is actually a sign of the Lord’s love and favor. When he disciplines us…when he pulls things away from us…lesser loves it’s for our good.

If you can sin without conviction? If you don’t get disciplined from the Lord, that’s a bad thing. If he lets you get away with sin—you aren’t a child of his.

Acting upon both our hope and our theology of suffering.

Eyes firmly fixed on Jesus and the hope set before us.

A biblical view of suffering and the Lord’s discipline.

Acting upon both our hope and our theology of suffering.

Hope.

Holiness.

Root of bitterness. Impacting the community.

What is this bit about Esau not being able to repent?

End on Christ finishing the race..him being exhausted..tempted in the wilderness.