Well, we’re almost done with the book of Hebrews. Jeff Van Duzer will actually finish it next week. But this morning’s passage…well, I just don’t know. It might not be for you.

If you feel like life is pretty good, relatively easy, that things are clicking along, I’m not sure if you’ll really feel this passage. If being a Christian has become an easy thing, if you’ve succeeded in eliminating most of the discomfort from life, if the answers come easy for you…I’m not sure you’ll really understand this passage.

Remember with me what we have said all along…that the hearers of these words were part of the early church, clearly in danger. Persecuted for their faith, tempted to go back to the old ways before knowing Jesus and now facing the costs of being ostracized, even of having life threatened. And so for chapter upon chapter this writer has laid out reminders of the significance of Jesus to them: high priest, incomparable sacrifice, new covenant.

But today…today he pleads with them, and with us…to persevere, to stay the course. And he gives us four ideas for what I’ve called The Art of Running.

It’s incredible sermon planning that here, in the window of time between the Lance Armstrong Tour de France Races these last weeks, and the Olympic Games just around the corner…we come upon one of many scriptures, actually, that compare the Christian life to running a race.

Though I’m obviously not a natural runner, I’ve run a number of races in my life. Two marathons, one when I was 29 and one when I was 39…so if I stay on that schedule I don’t have to run another one for…hmmm, four more years. That’s probably how long it would take me to get in shape to run one!

The picture that this passage raises really is like that of the Olympic Marathon, where runners run their hearts out for 26 miles, and finish by entering the Olympic Stadium. As they enter, the crowd rises to its feet, roaring encouragement as they head for the finish line.

“Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses…”

When we run, we do not run alone. The obvious idea is that the cloud of people are the spectators in the stands. But in this case, those are not just people there to be entertained by the runners…no, the cloud of people are witnesses. People who have run this race, who bear testimony that Jesus is the right way.

Lynne talked about some of these witnesses last week, listed out in Hebrews chapter 11: Abel, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephtha, David, Samuel… conquerors, bringers-of-justice, faith warriors, fighters, believers, prophets…some who were tortured, mocked, even killed.

This great cloud of witnesses…the crowd in the stadium have all been to the place where the runners enter down the home stretch…they shout out encouragement. Their stories tell us we don’t run alone. They show us what living faithfully for Christ looks like.

Who is in your cloud of witnesses? Who models faithful Christian living for you? I thought about it this week for awhile. I thought about Greg, my Young Life leader with whom I had nothing in common, but watched him approach every question in life by asking, “Lord, what would you want me to do here?”

I thought about Joe, a high-level sales executive with a big-name company that we did business with back in my days as a young businessman. I remembered the first time Joe came into our office and met me and my boss, who was not a Christian. When my boss asked Joe about his family, his face lit up and he said, “Our kids are such a blessing to me,” and just by the way he said “blessing” I knew he was a Christian. And he was, one of those kind who talked about Jesus with every single person he could.

I thought about a woman we met in Uganda, raising her grandchildren because all of her children had died of AIDS, and how sad I was over all of the tragedy she had experienced…and how she wanted to worship God in the midst of it all…how she taught me something about what Job meant when he said,

“the Lord gives,
the Lord takes away,
Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

And I thought about Pastor Moses in China, beaten down in body, scarred, jailed, having literally had houses and possessions taken away and wife and family turned against him for preaching the gospel…and yet in his eighties still getting Bibles to people hungry to know about Jesus.

When we run…we don’t run alone. I’ve actually come to believe we can’t run alone. God provides these people to surround us. People who are faithfully or have faithfully run. Who are they for you?

Let us lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely.

When you run, every ounce of extra weight hurts you. For serious runners, of course, any extra weight is horrible, and over the course of the race can imperceptibly make all the difference in the race.

For a Christian, laying aside “sin” seems pretty self evident. When we are bogged down by the selfishness of sin, we are distracted, and a barrier exists between us and God. But we are also to lay aside every “weight” which clings so closely. I interpreted that to be things that seemed to be good things … but which nevertheless could keep us from making our pursuit of Jesus the most important thing to us. It could be anything:

• a job,
• a hobby,
• even a ministry taken on for the wrong reason…

looks good, but proves to be the extra ounces we can’t carry if we are to run our best.

“Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us.”

When you run a long distance race…you can’t quit. This is a hard one for us to understand sometimes. Because it means that when the going gets tough…you keep going. We are in a culture right now that is bound and determined to alleviate discomfort of every possible kind. There are many, many places that we can hear psychological and cultural advice to help a person get out of a difficult situation.

We are extremely reluctant to tell someone they need to slog through a hard time, and look for God in the midst of it. Perhaps it’s because as Christians in the United States it has been so easy, at least externally, to be a person of faith. Perhaps we have rarely had to just hang in there, or make difficult choices and accept the consequences.

A woman becomes a Christian, and must battle the ridicule of her atheist family for three more years until she’s out of college.

A man feels that he would be unethical to carry out his job as his boss directs. Refusing on grounds of moral integrity will get him fired, perhaps sending him to unemployment.

In these last couple of weeks, I’ve become much more aware of some friends in difficult situations. Impossibly difficult ones. A person who is told they may not have long to live. A person wrestling with a parent with dementia. A person who has known Jesus for many years suddenly experiencing extreme doubts. These are hard situations.

Sometimes there are specific things to be done. Sometimes, we just have to keep moving. Perseverance is not a word we welcome.

Often when I hear hard stories, I wish there were a button I could push to just “fix it.” Sometimes there are things to do. Sometimes it is time just to pray, and I say “hang in there.” “But I don’t see God right now.” Nope. It doesn’t change the fact that He is there. The word here in Hebrews is “run with perseverance.” Sometimes it’s hard. Sometimes it is really, really hard.

Some of us became Christians because we thought it was an agreement with God:

“if I become a Christian, my life will be good, and hard things will be made easy.”

It doesn’t happen that way. If it does, it’s not for long. Sort of like the parable of the Sower that Jesus told…some of the seed hit the ground and the plant sprang right up but the roots weren’t deep…and it shriveled in the harsh sun. Run with perseverance. Even at the time you just don’t want to or think you can’t possibly can run anymore…run.

Sometimes when we are engaged in a ministry God has called us to, we feel like quitting. Feel burned out. Sometimes we are. Sometimes it is important to take a break, get recharged, new energy, change.

But sometimes we need to just keep running. God never said that living life as a Christian, or being in ministry would be easy. In fact, when my life gets too easy it scares me that either I’m too much in control of it, or that I’m not hearing God. I hate to say it, but I grow the most when I’m stretched.

When I look at some of the ministries that our community here has embraced:

• Alpha (making a safe place for people to talk about faith)
• Wednesday Night Dinners (providing community for many who have none),
• Foodbank (under reconstruction right now)…

I know that this fall we will need people for all of these things. And each of these has times that are just incredible, where you experience God and learn and grow and it’s exhilarating. But I have to tell you also that all of those ministries have times you hit where you say: “I don’t want to do this.” Run with perseverance.

The writer of Hebrews says at every point that we have this model in Jesus. Jesus did not give up. Thanks be to God, for our sake, he did not give up. Persevered, though mocked, treated unjustly, beaten and crucified. At every step, Jesus could have quit, was tempted to: Rabbi, let’s stay up here on the mountain where we feel close to God. Teacher, don’t go to Jerusalem… “If he is the Son of God, let him get himself down from the cross.” At every turn Jesus could have quit…but did not.

Looking to Jesus, (or some translations “Fixing your eyes on Jesus”). When you run a race…you can’t run with your eyes closed. You need to know where you’re going, need to have your eyes on the finish line.

I was with my friend Bob a while back who is in his late sixties now. He’s known Jesus for his whole adult life. He’s getting more reflective, thinking about his life as a whole, and more cognizant that he doesn’t have unlimited time remaining. Recently some of his long-time Christian friends have made surprisingly bad decisions, infidelity, letting friendships go…things hurtful to themselves and people around them. Certainly things not pleasing to Christ. As my friend Bob told me about this he said:

“Here’s what I’m realizing, Dan. I’ve known Jesus my whole life, and tried to follow him for years and years. I don’t want to mess up now. I want to finish well.”

I want to finish well.

He’s going to have to know where that finish line is. In the words of Hebrews, he’ll need to fix his eyes on Jesus Christ. I want to be like that too. Not fixing my eyes on me, not on my reputation, or my own pleasure, or my retirement…but on Jesus.

Where’s he calling me?
Where is God dealing with me?
Am I called to risk?
Am I coasting, meandering towards the goal?
Are my eyes closed, am I going badly off course?

Derek Redmond was a champion runner for Great Britain back in the 1980s and ’90s. Despite a history of injuries, he held the British record for the 400 meters (one desperate sprint around the track), and won gold medals at the World, European and Commonwealth Games.

He was a medal favorite in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. In the semi-final race of the 400 meters, halfway through the lap he completely tore his hamstring muscle and crumpled to the ground. He lay on the track for a moment, writhing in agony and then staggered to his feet in severe pain.

Suddenly, a man leaped out of the stands alongside the track, pushed past the security personnel and ran to Derek. Not recognizing him, he tried to push him away until he heard this familiar voice say, “Derek, it’s me.” He said to his dad, “I’ve got to finish this race.” And his dad (it was his dad!) replied, “If you’re gonna finish the race, we’ll finish it together.” And so with his arm and weight draped around his father’s shoulders, Derek made it to the finish line.

They hobbled the last 200 meters, and the whole stadium stood to cheer. What a great picture! A picture of the church. A picture of life with Jesus Christ,

• who assures us: We don’t run alone.
• who urges us: lay aside things that hold us back.
• who calls us: to run with perseverance
• and who somehow both accompanies us…and waits at the finish line to welcome us.

May God give us His grace and strength as we run the race.