“Let Us Run with Perseverance the Race Marked Out for Us”
Hebrews 12:1-3

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost—August 14, 2016

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

You are invited to read along the last paragraph of today’s Epistle Reading from the 12th chapter of Hebrews, as we consider it verse-by-verse.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses.”  The word “therefore” connects the beginning of Hebrews chapter 12 to the previous chapter 11.  During the Pentecost season, the Epistle Readings are often a series of readings from one book, and we are now in the middle of a four-week series from Hebrews.  We began last week with the first part of chapter 11, and continued with the rest of chapter 11 this morning. 

President John F. Kennedy wrote a book called “Profiles in Courage,” and that describes Hebrews chapter 11.  It recalls for us great persons and events of the Old Testament, and the examples of faithfulness we find in these men and women of old: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets.

The Christian faith did not begin in 1 A.D. with the birth of Christ, or in 30 A.D. when he started preaching, or even in 33 A.D. with death and resurrection.  Speaking of the people in the OLD Testament, Hebrews says a few chapters earlier, “We also have had the Gospel preached to us, just as they did.”  The Christian Gospel and the Christian faith go back to the first promise of the Messiah, given to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.  The Old Testament is really the story of that promise being passed down through the generations and finally coming to fulfillment in Jesus of Nazareth.

The believers in the Old Testament were saved just as we are in the New Testament era: through faith in Christ, the Messiah.  They were saved by faith in the PROMISE that he WOULD come; we are saved by faith in the PROCLAMATION that he HAS come.  Jesus put it this way: “Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.”

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses.”  To the long list of faithful believers in Christ from the Old Testament, the New Testament adds for us many more examples. Stephen, the first Christian martyr to die for the faith.  The Apostle Paul, who reports in 2nd Corinthians how for the sake of the Gospel he endured, “troubles, hardships, distresses, beatings, imprisonments, riots hard work, sleepless nights, and hunger.”

And, over the 2,000 years of the Christian era, this great cloud of witnesses has continued to grow.  John describes it Revelation as “a great multitude that no one could count.”  Of course, that great multitude, that great cloud of witnesses, includes historic heroes of the faith.  Like Martin Luther, who we’ll be remembering next year as we celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation he led which changed the world.  And 97-year-old Billy Graham, a famous hero of the faith from our day, who reports said last week it looks like will be joining the great could of witnesses very soon.

But, that great cloud of witnesses includes not only the prophets, and apostles, and historic and famous heroes of the faith. That great cloud of witnesses also includes 150 years of the faithful from our own congregation, whose souls are now even with the Lord, and whose earthly remains sleep in our cemetery, awaiting the resurrection at the last day.  That great cloud of witnesses includes my great-great-grandmother, buried in our cemetery’s front row.  And that great cloud of witnesses includes your loved ones who have gone to be with the Lord.  It is comforting to think that just as the dew rises from the earth to form clouds in the sky, when our loved ones die in Christ their souls are like drops ascending from earth to heaven to join the great cloud of witnesses.

“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.”  The Olympics actually began in ancient Greece, and the imagery here is taken from a race or other ancient athletic competition.  Watching the Olympics taking place right now, we see athletes such as runners, swimmers and cyclists in special streamlined uniforms of high-tech materials to reduce the drag which would slow them down during competition.  In ancient times they solved that problem another way.  Footraces and other athletic competitions were done without any clothing at all.

That is also how Baptisms were conducted in the ancient church.  To symbolize putting off sin and the things of this world, both children and adults who were baptized in the early church would put off their clothing, and after Baptism they would be clothed in a white robe to symbolize their new birth and being clothed with the righteousness of Christ. 

So, in our text it may be an allusion to Baptism, and the custom of both athletes and those being Baptized taking off their clothes, when it says, “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.”

The “race marked out of us” symbolizes life in this world.  You came out of the starting blocks the day you were born.  The race will be longer for some, shorter for others; but for each of us somewhere ahead is the finish line of death.

The world “race” in Greek is “agon,” from which we get the word “agony.”  The Greeks literally called a race an “agony,” because that is what a grueling race is for the athlete.  Jesus told his disciples at the Last Supper, “In this world you will have trouble,” and Paul says, “We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.”  So, Hebrews uses the word “agony” to describe our lives in this world, because that’s what life so often is, a grueling agony.

And the fact that this race is “marked out for us” means that our lives often take a course that we do not expect, and would not have chosen.  Rather than being a level and predictable course, the race of life is more like a cross country or hiking trail.  Some parts are easier and enjoyable, but other parts of our lives are difficult and exhausting. 

“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.  Let us fix our eyes on Jesus.”  I remember when I was learning to drive, at first your natural inclination is to focus on the road immediately in front of you.  But, you have to train yourself to instead look beyond the immediate, and fix your eyes ahead.  It’s the same for us in our lives.  We can become so focused on and engrossed in the here and now, so preoccupied with what’s immediately in front of us, either the joys and pleasures, or the struggles and pains of life, that we lose sight of our heavenly goal.  That is why Hebrews tells us, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.”

On the television show Mythbusters, they did a test to see if car driving close behind a semi-truck really does save gas, by being pulled along in the wake of the truck.  Using professional drivers they found that if you get really close, actually too close to be safe, it does indeed work, the truck helps pull the car.  But, Jesus does much more than just help pull you through life, for he is “the author and perfecter of our faith.”  By yourself, you are like a car that is broken down, with four flat tires, and out of gas.  But, stay close to Jesus, “the author and perfecter of our faith,” and he will pull you with him, right into heaven.

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross.”  That is how you “throw off . . . the sin that so easily entangles.”  That is how you “run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”  Trusting in Christ’s sacrifice for you on the cross. 

Paul puts it this way in Colossians: “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.  Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.  But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.” Through the cross of Christ, you are at peace, reconciled to God, holy in his sight, without blemish, and free from accusation.

“Who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame.”  A few years ago a medieval crucifix was discovered in a dumpster in Austria.  It had disappeared in Poland during World War II, and apparently after the man who had taken it back then, and had it all these years died, his family had thrown it away, thinking it was a worthless piece of junk.  A neighbor going through the trash discovered it, and experts estimated its value at over $500,000.

Paul says in 1st Corinthians, “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”  The cross was originally not a sacred, revered religious symbol, but a brutal means of horrible execution.  At the time Hebrews was written, there were false teachers who just couldn’t accept that the Messiah, the Son of God, should die on a cross.  They considered that foolishness and shameful.  Paul calls this in Galatians, “The offense of the cross.”

Today there are many who likewise say Jesus was a great teacher, a fine example, a famous historic figure, but they scorn the idea that he was the Messiah, the Son of God, who died on the cross for the sins of the world.  To the world, the cross is just an empty symbol, like the family who thought that crucifix was an old piece of junk.  But, really, like that crucifix, the cross is precious, for by the cross you are saved.

“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.”  The beginning of Hebrews puts it this way, “After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” 

They say it pays to have friends in high places, and you have the best friend in the highest place.  In ancient kingdoms, it was the job of the “right hand man,” who sat at the right of the king, to receive petitions and requests and pass them on to the king.  In the throne room one would not address the king directly, but speak to the king through the “right hand man.” 

That is why Jesus says, “The Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.”  God the Father’s “right hand man” accepts your prayers and petitions, and intercedes with the Father for you.  And because of his Son’s righteousness, God the Father hears and acts on your prayers, for his Son’s sake.

Jesus especially pleads with the Father for your forgiveness, on account of his sacrifice for you, as John says: “If anybody does sin, we have an advocate who pleads with the Father for us—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.  He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”

“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.  Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

The word “consider” actually means “meditate.”  Hebrews is urging you, when you face struggles in this world, to gain strength and peace by meditating on the suffering, death, and resurrection of your Savior.  As Paul says in Romans, “If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”

“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.  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.  Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”