Running Our Race with Endurance
In 1983, an Aussie farmer changed the world of ultra-marathon running by doing everything wrong according to conventional wisdom. Up to that point, professional runners would run hard for 18 hours and sleep 6 hours. In this particular Sydney to Melbourne ultramarathon, Cliff Young just shuffled along as he had done for years chasing sheep on his farm. On the first night, he didn’t realize runners would take a break. He decided to just sleep for 5 hours and get an early start. The guy who was setting the alarm for Cliff couldn’t see that well and set the alarm for 2:30am. When the alarm went off, Cliff got up and started running. He realized a hour later the mistake but kept running anyway.
Then, on the next night, instead of stopping again, Cliff decided he would do what he had been doing on his farm chasing sheep—just keep going. He continued running using his “old man shuffle” only taking breaks to eat and nap. For that race, he not only finished first, but he finished 2 days sooner than the previous record. His shuffle has since become known as the “Young Shuffle.” Athletes and scientists analyzed the running style and realized it is more efficient for long distance runners to expend small amounts of energy over a long period rather than large amounts over a short time.
So, what does this have to do with Hebrews? Life is a marathon, not a sprint. Rather than going all out for the short-term payoff, if we want to win, it is better to go for consistency over a long time. Every day we have the opportunity to make small strides of faith. Each day gives us new opportunities to choose glorifying God over ourselves. In doing so, we will find ourselves far beyond what we thought was possible.
This running metaphor is picked up in the beginning of chapter 12. We see the main point Hebrews has been making regarding our faith and how we conduct our lives.
Our race in life is part of the long line of God’s people on their way to God’s presence.
We can join with the generations that have gone before us journeying towards heaven looking back to them as examples of faithfulness and looking forward to those we will encourage towards faithfulness.
Endure as Jesus did | Hebrews 12:1-6
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.”Hebrews 12:1-6
Hebrews 11 tells the stories of the Old Testament people of God who longed for a new home moving from a corrupted land to their new home. Now, we see this great cloud of witnesses surrounding us like spectators in the colosseum. The word order in the Greek puts emphasis on “so great” and “every weight.” This cloud is an enormous cloud. After all, chapter 11 finishes with stating there isn’t space to mention all the different people. With such a great cloud of witnesses, we can take the time necessary to lay aside every weight. Whatever is keeping us from serving God needs to go, so that we can run our race.
We cannot run with endurance holding on to sin and distractions.
“Run the race” could also be more specified as “run the heat.” It reinforces our link in the chain of the “cloud of witnesses.” We are part of the saga God is putting together in this world. The culmination of that story is Jesus, who is also the founder and perfecter of our faith. We have a race to run because Jesus has put us in the race. We can finish our race because Jesus will empower us to run it. He is also our example of enduring the race well. He joyfully went to the cross and is now seated at the right hand of God, so that we can be with Him when we finish our race.
As we look to Jesus, we also see His struggle far surpassed anything we will face. Even if we do have to shed our blood for Christ, then we still will be in good company. We will suffer in this world as Jesus suffered, and we can count our suffering as a blessing from being a part of God’s family. Additionally, our suffering is a type of discipline of the Lord. The Lord disciplines the one he loves, and so, if we find ourselves facing discipline, we can know that the Lord loves us.
Endurance builds Discipline | Hebrews 12:7-11
It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
Hebrews 12:7-11
Any struggles we face in our race fall into one of two categories. The first is simply the struggle that comes from following the Lord in this sin-filled world. I once heard someone say, “The reason people get mad at Christians is because the demons in them don’t like the Spirit in us.” It might be a little harsh, but there’s definitely some truth to it. The second is that some of our struggles are part of learning to live as God calls us to live. The Lord allows us to feel the weight of our sin through the consequences of our sin—whether it’s a sin of what we did or what we didn’t do. The unhappiest people you will ever meet are Christians living outside of God’s will. They are unable to be happy because their sin brings conviction, but their stubbornness refuses to acknowledge their sin.
The Lord allows us to go through hard times in order to grow our holiness.
This truth is not something people tend to want to hear while they are facing their struggle. Notice, Hebrews says, “For the moment all discipline seems painful.” It isn’t until later those times of hardship yield “the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” So, whether our pain stems from our own sin or the sin of others, we can know that it is ultimately for our good and for our holiness.
Holiness isn’t something that we talk about too much unless we are talking about God. The reality is, however, that God desires for us to share in His holiness. Discipline is a means towards that holiness. Feeling the weight and consequences of sin reinforces the need for us to remove that sin, and when we get rid of it, we become more holy. When we suffer for our faith, regardless of what that looks like, we are reminded that this world is not our home. It helps us to long for our home that we have not reached yet.
“If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.”
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
The longer we run our race, growing closer and closer to God, the less satisfying this world will be.
There is life and peace beyond the discipline, but that doesn’t mean life gets easier or this world treats us better. It just means that when I learn satisfaction in Christ alone, I don’t get worked up as much about the temporary problems of this life.
Endurance builds Holiness | Hebrews 12:12-17
Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.
Hebrews 12:12-17
In Scripture, we see a duality of our spiritual growth—the Holy Spirit works in us, and we work with the Spirit on ourselves. Here, Hebrews pulls these two aspects of sanctification into a single metaphor of healing. “Lift your hands, strengthen your knees, and make your paths straight,” but how can we heal ourselves? We can’t. The Lord does the healing, we do the striving.
Notice Hebrews immediately goes into striving for peace and holiness. Our healing is tied with our relationships—with God and people.
We know we have spiritual healing and a growing faith when we see the physical evidence in our lives.
Hebrews then gives us some practical evidence to look for. First is the actual striving for peace. We may not actually have peace with everyone, but that is the goal. How can we restore relationships? That may look like different things for different people, and with some folks, it may just amount to a civil relationship—but we at least go for peace. With that peace, we strive for holiness because without it, we cannot see the Lord.
We say sin separates us from God, and that is why we need forgiveness of sin. This is absolutely true. And, even more, after we surrender to Jesus in faith, we must still strive to remove sin from our lives, otherwise, we may continue to find ourselves having trouble hearing and seeing God.
Continued sin inhibits our ability to hear God speak to us and inhibits our ability to mature.
And so, Hebrews continues stating we should encourage everyone to obtain the grace of God (i.e. evangelism). We are to be watchful for a root of bitterness—those attitudes that cultivate jealousy, divisions, and fights.
Last, in keeping with the motif of Old Testament characters, Hebrews reminds us of Esau who foolishly sold his birthright because he was hungry. It seems like a logical leap to go from sexual immorality to selling a birthright for soup, but the point is simply to maintain self-control. Yes, we have natural urges based on how God made us, but we are to master those urges not allow them to master us.
Endure because the Kingdom is Coming | Hebrews 12:18-29
For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.
Hebrews 12:18-29
Once again Hebrews reminds us of the typologies in the Old Testament that have been, and are being, fulfilled through Christ. Moses approached the mountain, but no one else could endure the presence of God. Even the animals were kept away in order to keep their lives. But that is not how Christians meet with God. We can endure joining the assembly of heaven because Jesus has the made the way possible.
The end of our race is the heavenly Jerusalem, and we are able to reach the finish because of Jesus.
The last bit of chapter 11 reminds us this world is passing away. We cannot reject Christ and still hope to have a part of heaven. Hebrews quotes Haggai 2:7 to remind us God promised to shake the earth and the heavens. Only what cannot be shaken will remain. Only what has been made for eternity will withstand the day God shakes the heaven and earth. Sin, death, and those who cling to the things of this world corrupted by sin will be removed.
The warning is for us to surrender to Christ and seek holiness while we still can, because when the Lord is finished with this earth, it will be too late. While we still can, let us be grateful for our part of the kingdom and offer acceptable worship to God. He is a consuming fire that will leave no part of this world, and no person, untouched.