FBCRB 10/7/12
"Real Characters" - Jesus, Hebrews 12:2
If you
are going to run a race correctly, then you have to follow the rules. We all know that but sometimes we need a
reminder. I found that out when I ran
high school track back in the olden days.
I have said before that one of these days I am going to tell a story
where i am the hero, where I do something good or cool or at least not
stupid. This still isn't it.
For some
reason I was on one of the relay teams.
I guess everybody else had died because while I may have been short, I
was also slow. I was a shot put and
discus kinda guy but on this day at this track meet they needed me to run a
relay. So, I went up to the starting
line and got ready to run and the track official was just about to shoot the
starting pistol when he looked at me and told me I had to have the same color
shorts as everybody else on my team. I
had on red shorts and they all had on blue.
He told me I couldn't run in red shorts so I looked around and one of my
teammates was walking by and he had on blue shorts so we just exchanged right
there. We got a couple guys from other
teams to stand around us and we just exchanged.
Kinda embarrassing but no problem.
I ran the race. Pretty sure we
came in last but I don't remember.
I was
still out of breath from the race when my teammate ran up to me and said he had
to have his shorts back right now because he had to race in the next race. We were in the middle of the field in a big
stadium with everybody and my mother watching and so we thought we would be
smart. We got a bunch of our guys to
gather around to block the view. We had
no more gotten the shorts to the ground when all of the feet around me
disappeared. Hundreds of people watched
Jeff Carter and me stand there for a split second and then trade shorts in
record time to great applause.
But you have to run the race correctly
if you are going to run. And it is the same for us today as we run the
race of life. There are rules and we
have to run correctly if we want to win the prize. Most of you know the 11th chapter of Hebrews is known as the Faith
Chapter. It names person after person
who could be described as having faith in God.
From Abel to Abraham to Moses to Samson and David; all were men of faith
who have gone on before us.
Chapter
12 of Hebrews starts with a reference to all of those people and to all of
those believers who have gone on before us.
I want to read just Hebrews
12 :1-3 this morning as I conclude our series, "Real
Characters". The final "Real
Character" I want to look at this morning is Jesus. As were all of the others, from Moses all the
way to John the Baptist, Jesus was a real character. The biggest difference, of course, is that
Jesus is still a real character in our lives.
"Therefore,
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. 2 Let 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.
3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will
not grow weary and lose heart."
The picture described
here is of the Olympic games in a huge stadium filled with those saints that
have gone on before us and cheering us on.
All of those in the 11th chapter are calling your name, encouraging you
as one who has already run the race and knows how hard the race can be,
especially if you run well. Can you just
hear Moses calling out your name and clapping with encouragement? Samson has his foam #1 finger waving. Rahab is jumping up and down causing Noah to
spill his popcorn all over David.
They are cheering you
on, calling your name, urging you to be obedient and run well. Let go of the sin that slows you down and run
hard from beginning to end. But there is
more than just moral support in this passage.
The author of Hebrews tells us what the secret is to running a good race.
It's a long race and difficult and Satan is always running alongside to trip
you up and trying to distract you by trying to make you concentrate on how bad
it hurts.
Your lungs are
burning. Your legs are tired. All of your joints are screaming to stop but
it says here that we are to keep our eyes on the finish line. It says to fix our eyes on Jesus. He knows you are tired and hurting...because
He has been there. We are to imitate his
example. We have studied some wonderful
and powerful women and men of God in the past few weeks but we are not told to
look up into the stands to the cloud of witnesses. We are told to keep our eyes on Jesus.
When it says he is the
author and perfecter of our faith that means He is the judge. He is at the finish line waiting to give you
your reward based on how well you run the race.
Keep your eyes on Him because He is not only the judge but He is the
finish line. We are to keep our eyes on
Him because it says He endured the cross because He knew on the other side was
joy.
Jesus knew if He could
just endure the torture of the cross then He would provide the way to bring
eternal joy to all of mankind who believed on Him. In Luke 9 it says that Jesus set his face like flint to go to Jerusalem
But He went “for the joy
set before Him”; the joy of having a relationship with you; the joy of paying
the price for sin that you couldn’t pay; the joy of knowing that He would rise
again on the 3rd day and conquer death once for all times; the joy
of sitting down at the right hand of the throne of God the Father.
We are going to take the
Lord’s Supper this morning to remember that event. The night before Jesus was crucified, He was
celebrating the feast of Passover with His disciples. He passed out the bread and the cup to the
men and they shared in that simple meal and Jesus knew that after that that
everything would be changed.
Jesus knew that His
coming sacrifice on the cross would change the way people worshiped. It would change the way they saw God. It would change the way they got to God. It would even change the way God saw them. He knew that from now on if people would
admit they were sinners and believe that Jesus had died to pay for those sins
that God would see them like He sees His own Son.
It didn’t make the cross
any less painful physically. It didn’t
lessen the humiliation of being mocked and tortured for reasons that were lies. It didn’t mean that a part of Him wouldn’t
have done anything else to avoid the pain and suffering if the Father would
have allowed. But even through all of
that it says Jesus endured it for the joy set before Him.
That ought to bring us
joy as well. That ought to make us feel
that if He can do that for us then we can run this race for Him and do it for
the joy set before us!
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