Going the Distance
Notes
Transcript
Bookmarks & Needs:
Bookmarks & Needs:
B: Hebrews 12:1-3
N: None
Opening
Opening
Good evening, thank you for joining us for this time of ordination, setting aside Dan and Liana Hill for his calling as a deacon, a calling which extends to his wife as well in some ways, according to 1 Timothy 3:11. I’ve known Dan and Liana for years, and I know they both have a heart for serving the Lord and for this church family, so I’m so excited about this special service in the life of Eastern Hills. Tonight, we will look at Hebrews 12:1-3 as a challenge to both Dan and the rest of the church body. Let’s stand in honor of God’s Word as we read this passage together:
1 Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, 2 keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, so that you won’t grow weary and give up.
Pray
Illustration: Many “runners” out there? Running the half-marathon. I hated running, but had to do it. Finishing the half marathon. Surrounded by a cloud of witnesses. Ran with perseverance. Went the distance.
It’s no mistake that the author of Hebrews wrote 12:1 immediately after chapter 11. We forget that the verse and chapter numbers were all added much later. We can’t really understand who this “cloud of witnesses” is without at least acknowledging chapter 11.
It’s the “Hall of Faith.” In it, we see sketch after sketch of people who were commended for their faith: from Abel to David, Abraham to Samuel. We see in these people the power of God in the lives of the faithful, and how that faith enabled them to go the distance, even in incredibly difficult times:
32 And what more can I say? Time is too short for me to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets, 33 who by faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the raging of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, gained strength in weakness, became mighty in battle, and put foreign armies to flight. 35 Women received their dead, raised to life again. Other people were tortured, not accepting release, so that they might gain a better resurrection. 36 Others experienced mockings and scourgings, as well as bonds and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they died by the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins, destitute, afflicted, and mistreated. 38 The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and on mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.
These people faced difficulty and death and torture and trials and battles, but trusted in the Lord through all of it. They went the distance in their time. But when we read the last two verses in chapter 11, the verses right before our focal passage tonight, we see something that we need to hang on to as we begin chapter 12:
39 All these were approved through their faith, but they did not receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided something better for us, so that they would not be made perfect without us.
They did not receive what was promised at that point, because God had promised something better—Jesus. But because of the work of Christ, what we see here in Hebrews 12 is that God’s not done. He wasn’t done with the people in the OT, and He’s not done yet, because now the call goes out to the disciple of Jesus:
“THEREFORE, since WE also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us...”
We have the cloud of witnesses of the faithful who have gone before us in Scripture, and the witnesses all around us who are watching—both those who belong to Christ and those who don’t.
As a deacon, Dan, you have a responsibility to live as an example to the rest of the body… to go the distance in faith, because we are tonight setting you apart as a servant of and to this body of faith, affirming that you exemplify the character of the deacon in 1 Timothy 3:8-13.
So, according to this passage in Hebrews, how do we go the distance?
1) Lay aside hindrances: both the “good” AND the “bad.”
1) Lay aside hindrances: both the “good” AND the “bad.”
When I ran that half-marathon back in high school, I traveled light. Just the clothes I was wearing. I didn’t take any supplies: no water, no Gatorade, nothing. I also didn’t allow myself to get distracted: I stayed on the racecourse and didn’t turn aside from it.
This is kind of the picture that we see in the first part of verse 1:
Just read through “ensnares us.”
1 Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us,
Note that there are differences here: lay aside every hindrance. We would tend to think of something that hinders us as something “bad,” like sin. But then why does the author then add “and the sin that so easily ensnares us?”
The sin part is easy. Paul called us to put to death the things that belong to our “earthly nature:”
5 Therefore, put to death what belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry.
We get that these things are sin. We’re not surprised when they are called sin. And we also are not surprised that we are to get rid of these things in our lives, or that they might “ensnare” us if we allow them back in.
So the first part of this challenge is to examine your life to see if some of these things have been given a little space in there to survive. And if they have, repent and ask God to clean house. John Owens said:
“Do you mortify? Do you make it your daily work? Be always at it while you live; cease not a day from this work. Be killing sin or it will be killing you.”
John Owens, The Mortification of Sin
You won’t go the distance if you are constantly ensnared by sin.
But there is also this other thing: the things called “every hindrance.” These things don’t fit in the Christian life anymore, things that lead us away from God, into sin, and into broken relationships with others, as Paul went on in Colossians 3:
8 But now, put away all the following: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old self with its practices
We get that these things are also going to hinder us, and so they are to be “put away,” because we have “put off” the old self. So again, if we see these things in our lives, we must repent and submit to the Lord’s cleansing us by His Spirit through His Word.
But then there are things in our lives that aren’t necessarily “bad,” or even necessarily sinful, and in fact, they might even be “good.” But many times, the issue of the Christian life isn’t the “bad” vs. the “good.” It’s that we have to choose between the “good” and the “best.” Believe it or not, the worst enemy of the best isn’t the bad… it’s the good. What is “good” that keeps us from walking in God’s “best” for us?
This is why it’s so vital for us to stay in the Scriptures: so that we can tell the difference. It’s like how the author of Hebrews spoke of milk and solid food in Hebrews 5. It’s not that milk is bad, and in fact it’s good at first, but it’s not best for a growing believer long-term.
13 Now everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced with the message about righteousness, because he is an infant. 14 But solid food is for the mature—for those whose senses have been trained to distinguish between good and evil.
So we have to lay aside everything that keeps us from living out our faith: whether it’s something sinful, something that just doesn’t fit in the Christian life anymore, or something that causes us to settle for “good” when we could have “best.” These things keep us from going the distance the way we are called to and meant to.
2) Keep on running like Jesus.
2) Keep on running like Jesus.
Did I mention that I’ve always hated distance running? I’ve always been more a sprinter. The longest I had ever run at one time when I ran the half-marathon, our longest training session, had been 1 hour. It took me 2 hours and I think 17 minutes to finish that run that day. There were a couple of times that I had to walk, but basically, I kept on going.
The author of Hebrews reminds us of how to run the race that lies before us at the end of verse 1:
Start with “Let us run...”
1 Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us,
The Christian life is a marathon, not a sprint. We’re called to go the distance. One foot of faith in front of the other until we arrive at the place that God has prepared for us. This is the picture of endurance.
The wonderful thing about this passage is how the writer recommends that we find that endurance. It’s by keeping our eyes on Jesus, who went the distance Himself.
2 keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Jesus really lived out the idea of endurance as defined in Webster’s 1828 dictionary:
“A bearing or suffering; a continuing under pain or distress without resistance, or without sinking or yielding to the pressure; sufferance; patience.
He endured the cross, stood up under the shame, and has been glorified. And now, as we keep our eyes on Him, we can follow His example of endurance and perseverance, knowing that at the end of this race, there is something greater in store for us:
7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 There is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me, but to all those who have loved his appearing.
So we must get rid of what might hinder us, and we must keep our eyes on our example of endurance, Jesus. But there’s one last piece to this challenge that we find here at the beginning of Hebrews 12:
3) Don’t grow weary and don’t give up.
3) Don’t grow weary and don’t give up.
The thing that was most likely to keep me from finishing the half-marathon when I ran it wasn’t an injury, though that was possible. It wasn’t weather, because we live in Albuquerque, and I’m not sure they would have called the marathon because of rain. It was me. I could have just decided that I just didn’t want to run anymore. I mean, sometimes I don’t want to even drive 13 miles. Why would I willingly run that far? There were several times during the race that I grew weary and wanted desperately to give up. And had I given in to that, I never would have finished. But I had an encouragers who ran with me, and people all along the raceway cheered for us and egged us on to finish, often with commands: “Keep going!” “Push through!” “Give it all you’ve got!”
Likewise, we see in our passage in verse 3:
3 For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, so that you won’t grow weary and give up.
There’s a two-pronged encouragement here to not give up, and it’s even in the form of a command, an imperative: “Consider”. The first prong is what we’ve already seen: that we have an example in Jesus, and we are commanded to give careful thought to how He dealt with the persecution He faced so that we might imitate Him. But the second prong is for us to realize that the writer is one of the “great cloud of witnesses” that is surrounding us, because it is the author of Hebrews who is cheering us on with this word of encouragement…It’s in the second person: You.
It’s like the author of Hebrews is on the side of the road at a stand with spiritual water and Gatorade, calling for us to keep thinking about Jesus, because he knows that if we can do that, we will go the distance well. This is why the Gospel is so important. We constantly need to remember the Gospel message: that Jesus died in our place even though He didn’t deserve it because God loves us and wants to be in relationship with us. We are saved through that work, and only through that work. If Jesus went to the cross, endured that separation from the Father for us, and has set us free from our sin and the punishment that goes with it, how can we give up?!? Only if we forget.
We are to run as if we have every intention of going the distance, because if we keep our eyes on Jesus, we will.
24 Don’t you know that the runners in a stadium all race, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way to win the prize.
Closing
Closing
This is a challenge for not just Dan, but for all of us.
God doesn’t grow weary. God doesn’t get tired. And in closing, this beautiful passage from Isaiah reminds all of the promise of God to strengthen and empower those who trust in Him to go the distance.
28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the whole earth. He never becomes faint or weary; there is no limit to his understanding. 29 He gives strength to the faint and strengthens the powerless. 30 Youths may become faint and weary, and young men stumble and fall, 31 but those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not become weary, they will walk and not faint.