Let Us Run
I’d like to start this morning by announcing that I’ve retired my dream of ever playing Major League Baseball. Now I’m not saying that I ever really had a chance, but I did have a dream, and the older I got, the dream morphed into what you’d call a fantasy. I’ve kept thinking that it was still possible for me to break my arm, and through some type of medical mystery, after it healed I’d be able to throw 120 MPH. You might think that’s crazy, but I’ve seen it happen before… I thought it could happen to me … But not anymore.
From now on, anytime my mind starts wandering in that direction, I’m going to stop and be content that I’m a spectator. I’m a sports onlooker. I’m a witness — along with some 40–60,000 other witnesses who might pack into Target Field or US Bank Stadium.
Those of you who are sports fans, you know what that’s like. You’ve been there. If you’ve never been to a game, that’s fine too — I think anybody can get the image of a crowded stadium. Imagine lots of people, together, watching something.
That image is where the writer of Hebrews takes us in Hebrews 12. And it’s all meant to set up one main action that we are called to do in two different ways.
And for today’s sermon, I simply want to show you this. I just want to give you three points of exhortation from the three verbs we find here in verses 1 and 2:
Let us run with endurance.
Lay aside what gets in the way.
Look to Jesus.
Let us run, lay aside, look to Jesus.
That’s where we’re going, but first we need to understand more about this context.
Context: The Stadium Full
Look with me at Hebrews 12, verse 1:
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses … [then this is what we do]”
Something you’ve probably been able to notice about the Book of Hebrews is that it’s back and forth between doctrinal explanation and exhortation. The writer will explain the realities of the gospel, of what Jesus has accomplished, and then based upon that, he exhorts us.
Think back to the middle of Chapter 10. You may remember we talked about how the writer focuses on what we have as Christians. (He states what we have, and then says, based upon what we have, we do X, Y, and Z.) He actually does this twice, in Chapter 4 and Chapter 10:
We have a great high priest. (4:14; 10:21)
We have authorization to enter the Most Holy Place. (10:19)
Well here, in Chapter 12, he tells us one more thing we have. Just add it to the list:
“We have a great cloud of witnesses.”
This is straightforward in verse 1 and we can see that this great cloud of witnesses is what the exhortation is built upon: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by…” — or literally, “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us” … then this is what we do.
We can see that this is supposed to encourage us, but what does it mean?
Imagine: Champion Spectators
In ancient Greek, that word for “cloud” was a common word to describe a big crowd of people. We know that the writer uses a sports metaphor in verse 1 when he tells us to “run with endurance,” but I want you to see that the writer starts this whole thing with a sports metaphor because he starts here with the image of a packed out sports stadium.
And, side-note here: I think one of the reasons God invented sports — or put it in humans to invent sports — was for the sake of our ability to understand these verses.
Imagine a packed-out stadium. Everybody is together watching something. I was at the last couple of Twins games in the playoffs a few weeks ago. Sold-out crowd. Everyone standing. Incredible hype. So if you’ve been in a stadium before or a big arena, think back to that. Everybody is standing shoulder to shoulder, and together they’re all watching what’s happening down on the field.
The writer wants us to think of a full stadium like that, and he wants us to know that this stadium is full of the saints he just told us about in Chapter 11. He calls them “witnesses” — which could mean a couple different things:
On one hand, these people are witnesses because they testified to the faithfulness of God with their lives. They endured in faith. They didn’t have all the things promised, but they believed in God and in what he said and they have become examples to us. They’re witnesses of, they testify to, the fact that God is pleased with those who trust him.
But then on the other hand, they are witnesses because they are witnessing something take place. They’re onlookers, spectators. They are watching something in action.
Which is it? Which kind of witness are they?
Well, remember the purpose here is to encourage us. This is something we have, and it’s presented to us as a reason to obey the exhortation. So … I think they’re both kinds of witnesses.
The great cloud of witnesses, the stadium full, is a crowd of on onlookers. They are spectators. But they’re not just any spectators — they’re watching a game they’ve played before, as it were, and won.
This kind of bends the image a little, but imagine that the sold-out stadium watching the World Series this week is a stadium full of past World Series Champions. The 40,000 watching have all played in a World Series before and won it, and now they’re in the stands watching the World Series with a ring on their finger.
That’s what this is in verse 1. The stadium full, the cloud of witnesses that surround us, are the past saints we read about in Chapter 11 — Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and the 18+ others mentioned at the end of the chapter.
The Church Victorious
And two things we know about this list is first, it’s not exhaustive (there are others saints he could have mentioned but didn’t). And two, the writer cites examples outside the Old Testament canon — which I think means we have license to add saints to the list.
In our imaginations, we can include in this cloud of witnesses all the saints throughout church history who have died in faith. So think everyone from Peter and Paul and John to Polycarp, Justin Martyr, Athanasius, Chrysostom, Augustine, Aquinas, Wycliffe and Luther and Calvin, Owen and Edwards and Jim Elliot … and J.I. Packer and R. C. Sproul … and now Tim Keller.
Think of your Christian family members who have passed away — Wednesday is All Saints Day, so this is a great time to think about all the saints — Think about every Christian who has ever come before us … millions of faithful Christians whose names you do not know but who all died in faith — this is the church victorious. All of them now make up this cloud of witnesses, this great stadium full of witnesses.
And they have been where we are. They’ve finished their race, as champions. And now they’re watching us. This is meant to encourage us.
Therefore, since that is the case — since this is the context, here’s what we do:
1) We run with endurance.
Last line of verse 1:
“Let us run with endurance the race set before us.”
Can everyone see that last part there in verse 1? “Let us run” is the main verb of the passage. It’s the main action we’re called to. And it’s really just another way to say the same exhortation repeated throughout this book. Don’t stop believing. Keep going in the life of faith. Endure in faith!
The writer has been saying that all along, but now he drops it in a sports metaphor: marathon running, or endurance running.
Not only are we surrounded by a packed-out stadium of witnesses, but because of that, since that’s the case, the writer exhorts us to lead the life of faith like an endurance runner.
This is the main point and I’m going to end on it, but in order to understand his running, we need to see the two other verbs in passage. These two verbs give us more details on the running. We run, laying aside and looking to.
Here is the second point of the sermon.
2) We lay aside what gets in the way.
Check out the second part of verse 1. Verse 1 again:
“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us be laying aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely…”
The writer is still working this endurance running metaphor. I know we have some runners in our church. We’ve even got some extreme runners, like 100-mile runners, and so they understand this better than the rest of us, but it’s pretty intuitive, I think. If you’re running a long distance, you only bring with you what’s necessary to complete the run. The mission is to finish the run, finish the race. That’s the singular focus.
And so before you run — or even as you run — you do an audit of your entire person, head to feet, and everything is scrutinized by the question: Will this help me finish this race in front of me?
Whatever does not help me run is a deterrent, a distraction — it’s considered weight — and so, without question, I lay it aside. Now it may not be a bad thing. It could be my briefcase … with my computer and my notebooks and my Pilot G2 0.38 black ink pens … along with my GTL Zebrite yellow highlighter with the fluorescent pigment ink that won’t bleed through — all great things — but if the main action is running, and these things don’t help me run, then I get them out of the way. Of course we do. We lay weights aside. … We also lay sin aside.
Those Closely-Clinging Sins
Now there’s a question on this verse. Notice that the “every weight” and “sin that clings closely” come side by side. The question is whether sin is defining “every weight” or if it’s something separate. I’m inclined to think that there’s an overlap between the two, but sin here is a separate thing.
Now, objectively, when it comes to all of us, sin does damage, it ensnares; but there’s a fascinating adjective here describing sin. The writer calls it: “closely-clinging sin.” Or “easily-ensnaring sin.”
The image is that you’re encircled by something. Imagine that you’re outside and it’s muddy — imagine that there’s mud all around you, encircling you, and whichever direction you move, you have to watch out not to step in the mud. That’s the way sin is described here. All sin is objective in that it’s all moral rebellion against God, but implied here is that we each might have our own mud circle. Some sins might ensnare me more easily than they do you, or vice-versa.
Years ago the word I learned for this concept was “besetting sin.”
I remember the first time I ever heard the phrase “besetting sin.” It was my first year of college, and I did not know what the phrase meant. I had transferred from one school to this other school, and it was a strong Christian school with some solid guys, and they were serious about discipleship, and we were talking in a group and one guy mentioned “besetting sin.”
I didn’t know what he meant, so of course, what do you do if you’re talking with a group of people and you don’t know what a word means? … You say nothing and Google it later.
So that’s what I did, and I read that the definition of besetting was something like “persistently threatening.” And I thought persistently threatening sin — oh, I got some of those.
I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that this discovery changed my life.
This concept led me to dig down to the root-sins of my life, not just the outward behaviors and appearances, but to the deep, mostly unseen parts. I’m wired with particular weaknesses and vulnerabilities, and I began to understand that my besetting sins, at root, come from pride and unbelief. My pride is thinking that I can do something apart from God. My unbelief is thinking that I must do something apart from God.
And together, they’re vicious. And they can look different ways at different times, but because they’re besetting — clingy, entangling — they’ve followed me around for 20 years.
You ever seen a cartoon where there’s a character and a single rain cloud follows him everywhere. Besetting sins are like that, but instead of a cloud over you, it’s mud that encircles you. I’ve got my own mud, and you’ve got yours. And we have to be careful not to step in the mud, because everywhere we go it’s never too far away.
A couple weeks ago I went to my girls’ volleyball game, and I walked in, and our team’s fans were on the far side of the gym. So I walked all the way around, past a stand full of other fans, and I found a seat, and as I was watching the game, I noticed mud and dirt all the way around the gym, and I thought (true story), “Some idiot tracked mud in here.”
Well I kept watching the game and then a little bit later I looked down … mud all over my boots. You are the idiot!
I don’t even remember seeing mud. I don’t know where I could have stepped in it. But I also wasn’t watching out for mud. And in a spiritual sense, that’s true for some of us in here right now. …
Check Your Shoes
Some of us, right now, if we were to metaphorically look down at our shoes, we’ve got mud all over them.
Now this is the reason we have our time of confession earlier in the service, but there’s never a wrong time to confess, and so can we all just take a look at our ‘shoes’ again? Let’s take moment to reflect. Check your shoes. Check your hearts.
That mud that you’ve stepped in, or that you’re persistently threatened to step in, that will keep you from running the race. It’s hard to run with mud caked on your shoes, and in fact, you just can’t. It doesn’t work. You won’t make it. You must lay aside that sin. So I’m asking you to do that, right now. In your hearts, throw off your sin.
And now go back to that idea of weight. We’re going next-level here. Stop the sin, yes, and now ask: What in my life is getting in the way of my running with endurance?
Take inventory of your life — and I especially mean this for you young people and older people, and all you people in between. Think: Are each of these various things in my life encouraging my faith or distracting my faith?
And if it’s distracting your faith, if it’s deterring you, if it’s weighing you down while you’re trying to run, why are you still holding onto it? Lay it aside.
Because you want to run, right?! We’re trying to run. We want to endure in faith. It means we lay aside what gets in the way.
But there’s more. Running with endurance means … third point …
3) We look to Jesus.
This is verse 2.
“We run with endurance the race set before us … looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith …”
And right away, that verb for “looking” means an intense kind of looking. It’s the same word used to talk about Moses in 11:26 when the writer tells us that Moses
“considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth that the treasure of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.”
This is not a casual looking, but it means to “fix your eyes” on something. That’s the way some English translations put this. We run “fixing our eyes on Jesus.” This is resolute, singular focus on Jesus.
And the writer says “Jesus” on purpose. There’s all kinds of titles for Jesus he could have used, but like he’s done 11 other times in this book, he just says “Jesus” … because he wants us to imagine the real person, Jesus — the man who lived here in our shoes, who was and is God in the flesh … true God in actual flesh … “the founder and perfecter of our faith.” Everybody look at the phrase in verse 2.
And this is a super important description that ties in all of Chapter 11. Other ways to translate that phrase is “founder and finisher,” or “pioneer and perfecter” — and the idea is that Jesus is the one who starts it and ends it. Starts and ends what? … “Our faith.”
And when he says “our faith” the writer is talking about the faith that we share with the Old Testament saints of Chapter 11, and the whole cloud of witnesses who are packing out this stadium in verse 1. And if Jesus is the one who founded and finishes our faith, then it means that Jesus is the ultimate example we follow. All the examples of Chapter 11 now culminate in his example. We recall the examples of those who have come before us in order to fix our eyes on the example of Jesus. Like Paul says, we imitate others as they imitate Christ (see 1 Corinthians 11:1).
And we can read all about the life and example of Jesus in the Gospels, but here the writer of Hebrews spells out what he means in particular. Look to Jesus, the founder and finisher of our faith, who, because of one great reality, he did three actions.
Joy Set Before Him
Here it is, verse 2:
“For the joy set before him … he endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
The humiliation and exaltation of Jesus are explained as being actions compelled by one thing … joy.
We talk a lot about joy around here, and I’m not sure what you all think about that, but if there were ever a verse in the Bible that should raise the stakes on the meaning of joy, it’s this one right here.
Jesus had joy set before him.
And again, we’ve already seen something like this in the examples of faith in Chapter 11. Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Moses — they all endured suffering in faith because they embraced something better in their future. Moses fixed his eyes on the reward. And when we talked about Moses a couple of weeks ago, I explained that the reward, ultimately, is being with Jesus himself. But if that’s our reward — if the joy set before us is being with Jesus — what was the joy set before Jesus?
Now, I encourage each of you to talk to Pastor David Mathis about this. He wrote about this for the email this week. He says that the joy of Jesus is multifaceted. It’s not just one thing, but the Bible tells us at least a few things about the joy of Jesus: Jesus’s joy is the glory of his Father; it’s his victory over the devil; it’s the saving of his people. And, Jesus has joy in his being “seated at the Father’s right hand.” That’s what the last description in verse 2 is about, and I think it brings it all together.
We look to Jesus, who, for joy … is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
And David explained that this being seated is both about Jesus’s personal honor and his nearness to the Father. Jesus is glorified, radiant, and he’s with his Father — and there is joy in that. And at the same time, I want to add that this joy of being seated, of honor and nearness, is the joy of consummation. It’s the joy of his work finished.
Remember this is how this book begins. Chapter 1, verse 3:
“after making purification for sins, [Jesus] sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…”
Jesus is doing that now. He is seated there now, and his being seated there, on this side of his cross, is together with the joy set before him. It’s like this:
And Jesus, from where he is seated, looks over all that he has done, and he’s happy with it. And in fact, everything that is happening now by the work of his Spirit, which he superintends, it is the application of his joy. It’s all from joy, for joy. This is so important. It means that when we look to Jesus, we don’t look to a nervous Jesus. Jesus is not wringing his hands in worry, crossing his fingers for the best outcome. No. Jesus is seated with joy.
That’s what we’re running toward. We’re running to him in his joy, even when we have to do this:
Run — Today
And that running is what we’re doing now.
Jesus is seated there now.
The cloud of witnesses watch now.
And we — we’re running now.
When it comes to the life of faith, we’re not spectators yet. We’re not onlookers in the stands. We’re in the game. We are on the field. So run.
We have great examples in the past; we have the joy of Jesus as our future — and what does God want us to do here? What is God calling us to today?
Run. Laying aside every sin and weight, looking to Jesus, let us run with endurance the race of faith set before us.
That’s what brings us to the Table.
The Table
As we run with endurance, every week, together, we remember the sacrifice of Jesus for us. Jesus died for us to save us. To make us new, to bring us home. And here at this Table, we give him thanks. If you trust in Jesus, if you have put your faith in him, we invite you to eat and drink with us. Let us serve you.
