How to Win the Race
August 19th, 2010
Hebrews 12:1-4 (NIV)
1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
4In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
This is one of the great, moving passages of the New Testament; and in it the writer to the Hebrews has given us a wonderful summary of the Christian life in which he compares us to an athlete running a race.
In this race of the Christian Life we have:
1. W : ..a handicap of the WEIGHT of SIN .
“everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles”
One form of handicap is the weight that must be carried by a horse in a race. Horses carry lead weights during the course of a race as a form of handicap. Such a race is also sometimes termed a “handicap.” These weights supplement a jockey’s weight to give a horse his assigned handicap. The jockeys use saddle pads with pockets called lead pads to hold the lead weights.
2. I : ..an INSPIRATION. We have the thought of “such a great cloud of witnesses” surrounding us. They are the ones who have both testified to their own faith and are now witnesses to our race of faith.
A “witness” (Greek martys) is “one who testifies” (martyreo) by act or word his “testimony” (martyrion) to the truth. This act of testifying is called his “testimony” (martyria). In ancient days, as at the present, this was a legal term designating the testimony given for or against one on trial before a court of law. In Christian usage the term came to mean the testimony given by Christian witnesses to Christ and his saving power. Because such testimony often means arrest and scourging (cf. Matt. 10:18; Mark 13:9), exile (Rev. 1:9), or death (cf. Acts 22:20; Rev. 2:13; 17:6) the Greek was transliterated to form the English word “martyr,” meaning one who suffers or dies rather than give up his faith. However, in the NT suffering was an incidental factor in the word.
3. T : ..a TARGET or a goal. We are like athletes in a race “the race marked out for us”. . So we do not wander aimlessly through life but we strive to win the prize, that is: “the joy set before him”, being “at the right hand of the throne of God”. In Narnia the Pevensie children led by the beaver to meet Aslan, had to go “farther up and farther in”. It was sometimes hard going. Ask yourself at the end of each day running the race of faith “Am I any farther on toward the goal today?”
The goal is Christ himself, the presence of Christ and the likeness of Christ: Ephesians 4:15 says “speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.”
4. N : ..that which is NEEDED or “the NECESSARY” to get the job done: “let us run with perseverance” (hupomone) ie steadfast endurance. It means the patience that endures difficulties in order to master things. It is unhurried yet undelayed.
5. E : ..an EXAMPLE to follow. And that is Jesus himself: “2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame”
To win the goal means to abandon heaven’s glory and earth’s triumph. It is the way of the cross. He “endured the cross, scorning its shame”.
St Philip of Neri had some counsel to offer “spernere mundum, spernere te ipsum, spernere te sperni”. Which means to despise (scorn) the world, despise ourselves (our pride and gain and glory), and despise that we are despised.
6. S : ..a SUPPORTIVE Presence. He is both our mentor and our running companion. “Consider him … so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
7. S : ..a STANDARD of Comparison which is Jesus: “3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, ..
4In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” – ie as he has D _ _ _ for us.
The Christian Life is a race in which we are WITNESSES and we give testimony in the running of our own race. Run in such a way as to win the Prize!