A Daily Walk

Narrator: Today on A Daily Walk, see how to finish your race in a God-honoring fashion.

John Randall: There are some who have signed up for a race. Doing the 12K this year. Doing the half-marathon, half-half of a half-marathon. I'm doing it. Really? That's so great. Been training? Really? How long? A couple of days. I'm really looking forward to it. When is it? Tomorrow. You're what?

So they start out. They have great intentions. I'm going to get in the race. And they get the T-shirt that says I ran in the race. And they start running, then they cramp up and they get out, but they have the shirt. I ran in the. Yeah, but you should have got one that said I finished, or I ran but I didn't finish. This is a race that we're in.

Paul wrote to the church in Galatia and he said this in chapter 5, verse 7. He said, "You were running your race so well. Who held you back from following the truth?"

Narrator: If you're going to run a marathon and do well, there are a number of things you'll want to do and lay aside or avoid. It's important to keep hydrated, have a good pair of shoes, you'll want to pace yourself, and eat right, just to name a few.

Today on A Daily Walk, we turn to Hebrews chapter 12 and notice what's required to run this race called the Christian life. We should want to finish this race in such a way as to receive a well-done from our Lord. Pastor John Randall shows us how to get there in part one of "Run Your Race."

John Randall: Hebrews chapter 12 this evening as we continue our study chapter by chapter, verse by verse through this epistle written to the Hebrews. Now we find ourselves in chapter 12, beginning in verse 1. Follow along with me.

"Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your own souls."

Found within the Bible are several illustrations of the Christian life. When the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth in 1 Corinthians chapter 9, he likened the Christian life to a fight. He said, "Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air." So often the Christian life is a fight.

In writing to Timothy, who was a pastor in the ministry confronted by many difficulties, Paul said to him in chapter 6, verse 12, "Fight the good fight of faith, and lay hold on eternal life." In writing to the church in Ephesus in chapter 6, verse 12, the Apostle Paul compared the Christian life to a wrestling match. He said, "We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against rulers of darkness in this age, and spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places."

Again writing to Timothy, this time in his second letter, he likened the Christian life to a war when he said to Timothy, "You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, because no one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may be able to please the one who enlisted him." It's a war. It's a spiritual battle. It's a fight. It's intense.

Here in the 12th chapter of Hebrews, the writer compares the Christian life to a race. Our race begins when we come to saving faith in Jesus Christ. Every Christian is called to run in this race. It's not a short distance. It's not a sprint. It's not a 50-yard dash. It's a marathon-like race.

Some of the Hebrew believers who received this letter started out well in their spiritual race. They had turned to Christ for salvation, and many no doubt were baptized with the power of the Holy Spirit. They took off running with excitement and joy and endurance.

In time, it got difficult. They began to suffer persecution for their faith. They were being pressured to return to their former life under a powerless religious system. It weighed on them. At one time they were running strong, but now they were being hindered in their race.

Some had even quit the race altogether and were no longer running because they wanted to escape the trials that came with following Jesus. Therefore, the writer here in this section is calling believers in the midst of hardship to run their race with endurance.

Similar to any physical race, there are moments in the spiritual race in the Christian life when you will become mentally, physically, spiritually depleted and you will become weary in running. In order for us to run a solid race and to finish it strong, there are several things that the writer points out for us that will encourage us.

For one thing, I think it is important to realize and come to the understanding that we are in a race. Some people, that's a revelation. This is a race? It is. In a spiritual sense. 1 Corinthians chapter 9, verse 24, Paul wrote to the church in Corinth. He must have been fond of races and the Olympic and Isthmian Games because Paul often would have sport-kind of illustrations to make his point.

He said in 1 Corinthians chapter 9, verse 24, "Don't you know that all who run in a race run, but one receives the prize? Therefore run in such a way that you may obtain it." You're in a race, so run like you're going to win it. Don't just get in. There's a goal to this thing.

In other words, he's asking the Corinthians, "Are you even aware of the fact that this is a race? Do you realize that there's a finish line? There's a reward for running." Therefore run. The word "run" used in these verses here in Hebrews as well as in 1 Corinthians is in the present tense, meaning that it is an activity that is continually pursuing something. You put everything into it. You give it 100 percent.

Paul wrote to the church in Galatia, "You were running your race so well. Who held you back from following the truth?" In other words, the church in Galatia started out, the gun went off, bang! They were running. They were running hard. Paul said, "You had a good pace going. You were doing great." Then something happened. Something hindered you. Something stopped you.

It's important to recognize within this race also that we're not competing with other people. I'm not running against you. You're not running against me. Every single one of us has our own course to run. I'm competing against myself. I'm not running your race. You're not running mine. I'm running the race that God has set before me. We all have an individual race to run that God has set before us.

We enter into this race and we should do so with the intention of winning the race that is set, not simply to run, but to run to win. When you get into the spiritual race, it doesn't take long to realize that it's not easy. In fact, it's exactly what these believers discovered.

There are moments when they were wondering, "Could we even complete it successfully? Does anybody ever finish this race well?" There are days when thoughts cross your mind, "Is it really worth it to run in this way? Maybe I can do something else with my life. Maybe I don't want to run anymore."

There were other servants of the Lord that felt that way. Elijah was one of them. The Prophet Elijah. After this major victory, this amazing moment where fire from heaven came down and consumed the sacrifice and the prophets of Baal were annihilated and the people were crying out, "The Lord, He is God," the next day he was done running. He ran, but he ran away from the call of God and he said, "I'm finished with this." He hid in a cave. God said, "What are you doing in the cave?" He said, "I've been working hard. I've been running." The Lord said, "Elijah, come on, man." He wanted to quit.

Jeremiah wanted to quit. God told Jeremiah from day one, "Listen, just so you know, when you do this prophet thing, people aren't going to listen to you. In fact, they're going to hate you and it's going to be real tough. But I'm calling you into it. You got this, man. I'm with you. I'm going to make your face like flint. They're going to fight against you, they're going to resist you, they're going to hate you, but don't worry, I'm here with you and you're a prophet."

There came a point in Jeremiah's life when he said, "All right, I'm hanging up the prophet gear. I want to do something else. I'm tired of saying this. Every time I say something, somebody gets angry, somebody gets upset. I don't want to do this anymore." Then he said he couldn't stop doing it because the word of God was like a fire in his bones. He couldn't hold it back, but he wanted to. Maybe that's you.

The writer of Hebrews seeks to reassure his readers in their race that they're going to make it. We're going to make it. He starts out here in chapter 12 by giving them inspiration to run. The inspiration has come through the example of others who have run before them. He mentions them here: the great cloud of witnesses.

"Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses." Notice the word "therefore." When it's "therefore," you ask, "What is it there for?" It's pointing back to the previous chapter. In the previous chapter, he has been listing a catalog of heroes of the Bible who ran a race of faith.

It wasn't easy. Moses, Abraham, Joshua, Noah, Abel, all of them. Enoch, Sarah, Rahab. They all had a race to run and it wasn't easy. This is a great cloud of witnesses that completed their race. When it says that this great cloud of witnesses surrounds us, I don't believe that it's implying that Abraham, Moses, and Joshua are just up there looking at us.

It's not like that. They're not up there watching us run our race. They're in heaven. The word for "witnesses" doesn't imply spectators looking on. Instead, the point the writer is making is that in view of their faith observed in the record of scripture who've run before us, their testimony is a witness to us. They ran. They finished. That's a witness. Now we run and we also will finish this race of faith.

We're not only to be encouraged by the witnesses that are found here in Hebrews 11 who bear testimony that you can run the race successfully and complete it. They didn't all... some of them stumbled. You read the Old Testament record, they weren't always running strong. Sometimes they tripped. They had to get back up and keep running, but they made it. As believers, the same thing happens for us. We emulate them. We run our race by faith and in light of their examples, it's an inspiration to us.

I love to read not only the scriptures, but I love to read biographies of those who have run their race spiritually. I find myself being inspired. Humbled, but also inspired by others who have run their race. You see what they endured, you see what they went through and you just think, "Wow, that's something. Lord, help me to do that too. Help me to follow that example, to run my race in that kind of way that honors You."

Not only did the writer encourage these believers with inspiration to run, but he also warned them of impediments to their race. Things that could potentially sideline them. Hey, watch out for this on your race. Notice what he says in verse 1. "Let us lay aside, lay it aside, every weight and the sin which so easily, easily ensnares us."

In ancient times, even in the present time, I love to watch from my couch people racing. It's great. Man, they're fast. Then you find those people, "You know, I was in track." Come on, don't tell the story. I used to be a runner like that. No, not at all. But you love to watch these guys and you see these athletes just so fine-tuned and they do the backstory and all the training and all the struggle and everything and I just think, "This is so great what they're going through."

You watch them run and when it comes time to actually run, you know they have these training regimens, you watch what they go through for years just to get to this spot. A lot of them, they train with weights. They got ankle weights and weighted vests. Then when it comes time to race, what do they do? They strip it all down. They take the weights off. You're not going to run with this weighted 50-pound vest to try a world record. No, you're going to set it aside. You're going to lay it aside because it will hinder, it will impede your progress. Laying aside means to rid oneself of it, to set it aside, to be done with it.

The first thing that we're encouraged to lay aside is the weights. It's a word that means an encumbrance. It literally refers to bulk or mass. It describes anything that would hinder or prevent someone from doing something. In general terms, anything and everything that hinders our spiritual progress, set it down. Lay it aside. You can't run a straight race or a successful race with these weights attached to you.

Now, what is considered to be a weight for a Christian? It depends on who you talk to. I believe that every Christian has to answer that question for themselves. What may be a weight for you may not be a weight for me. What is a weight for me may not be something that would weigh you down. A weight doesn't even have necessarily to be something bad. It could be something good that keeps you from what is best. Something that slows you down, hinders your stride.

A distraction. Something that diverts our attention, saps our strength, diminishes our enthusiasm for the goal of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. It could be a liberty that I have as a Christian that scripture doesn't necessarily condemn, but it does get in the way of God's call upon my life and it hinders me in running. I find that it kind of slows me down. I mean, I can run with it, but it's not as well as I could.

1 Corinthians, Paul said this in chapter 6, verse 12. He said, "All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I'm not going to be brought under the power of any." In other words, Paul's saying, "I've got liberty to do all kind of stuff as a Christian, but you know there's certain things that although I have the liberty, it's not helpful to me. It's not helping me run and therefore I don't want to be brought under the power of it."

Again he says this time in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 23, "All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but not all things edify." They don't all build me up. They don't all help me run. I don't take this and think, "Man, that was so good. This is really going to help me run my spiritual race." Actually, I realize I've got to set that aside. That did not help me one bit. He didn't want to be brought under the power of anything.

Notice when Paul's writing to the Corinthians, he wasn't saying, "Is this a sin or not a sin?" That needs to be set aside. He's talking about weights, not sin yet. He's talking about weights to be set aside. It doesn't edify me, doesn't build me up. I can't run hard because I'm finding that I'm encumbered in my race.

It's interesting, isn't it, that sometimes weights, they can be the small things. The small things. Seem insignificant, justifiable. Everybody I know has that. But you remember the Bible says it's a little leaven that leavens the whole lump. It's the little foxes that spoil the vine. It doesn't take a lot.

Jesus, you remember said in Mark chapter 4, verse 19, "The cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desire for other things enter in and choke out so that we become unfruitful." We live in an age of unlimited distractions. A generation so completely inundated with technology. We find it difficult to truly connect in conversation of any depth because we're so socially awkward. We just like to watch what people do and then when we see them, don't look them in the eye. Like we've been spying on them but we don't want them to know we know what they had for dinner. But they posted it, so hey, you know, it's just awkward. "I see you like chili." "What? None of your business." "Well, you posted it, it is your business, I guess. It's a public IG." But people get like that.

Our attention span is so limited. Someone said this, I thought it was interesting. Quote: "You have to go to the internet to escape real life, but now you have to go to real life to escape the internet." I've got to go to do something real. Man, when I was a kid, if we had a long road trip, there were no anything. You played the alphabet game for states like a long time. "Are we there yet?" "Don't worry about it." There's just nothing like that. Now it's just kids are just locked in for hours. We didn't have any of that back in the day.

It's estimated that people check their smartphones 81,500 times in a year. That's once every 4.3 minutes. For some it's more. We have this amazing technology at our fingertips. Even the GPS on our phone that guides and directs us on the road. Did you know it has 30,000 times the processing speed of a 70-pound onboard navigational system that guided Apollo 11 to the surface of the moon? That's what you got in your back pocket. Don't look at it now. Wait. But if you don't look at it for a while, your finger starts cramping automatically. You ever get that phantom buzz? Like, "My phone is over there and I just felt something here." The phantom buzz. Like, "Did you feel that? Where's my phone? Where's my phone? Where's my phone? Oh, it's over there. Whoa." It's a little weight.

Each one of us runners in this Christian race need to go before the Lord and just ask Him to reveal, "Lord, what is hindering me? What is a weight?" and ask the Lord, "What do I need to lay aside? What is slowing me down?" I think of the disciples when Jesus called them to follow Him, and the Bible says they dropped their nets and their boat and they followed. They could not bring that with them. There was no dually to pull the boat through the Galilean mountainside. They left it. They left it because it would have hindered them.

Matthew left the tax office. Every time I read this I think, "Lord, are there encumbrances or weights in my life that are slowing me down or holding me back? Lay them aside and run. Watch out for those potential impediments to your race."

John Randall: Not only are the weights mentioned here, but folks, also the writer adds, "Lay aside the sin that so easily besets us." Easily besets us. Sin always hinders the race of the believer. It even cripples the runner from enabling him to run at all. Trying to run the Christian race effectively while living in continual unrepentant sin is impossible. You're not running. If you are running, it's the devil's got you on a hamster wheel and you're just like running inside a cage of the bondage that you're in. "Oh, I'm running." You are, but you're just in bondage. You may be running, but you're going nowhere. You're caged.

Jesus said you can't serve two masters. Why is it impossible to run a race effectively when you live in unrepentant sin? Because it says here sin "easily besets us." It's a very interesting word that is used here. It's the words "readily" or "cleverly." And the verbal form of the rest of the word means to place itself around or to encircle. It's the sin standing all around us. How do you run if you are encircled? There is nowhere to run. You cannot run. You are in a circle. You're blocked is what it says. It easily besets you. It encircles you and you can't go anywhere. Every direction you try to turn because you're trapped. You're trapped.

The only thing that frees you is Christ. You can't get out without Him. He's the only one that can liberate you and allow you to run free through Christ. The race we run in this sinful world, this world that is increasingly opposed to God, the sin that we're in bondage to before Jesus saved us can, has the potential to easily ensnare us and take us out of the race.

Narrator: We'll continue this discussion on running our race tomorrow on A Daily Walk when Pastor John Randall returns to Hebrews chapter 12. This program is listener-supported and presented by Calvary South OC. To catch a replay of today's message in Hebrews from Pastor John Randall, simply go online to adailywalk.org. Also look for A Daily Walk wherever you get your podcasts or download our free mobile app. Do a search for Calvary South OC in the App Store or Google Play.

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Very soon we'll be welcoming in a new year, and it's a great time to begin a daily devotion. We've got a good one to recommend for you today. It's "Until He Comes: 365 Daily Devotions as We Await His Return" by Amir Tsarfati and Barry Stagner. Each day, Amir and Barry offer helpful teachings from God's word and guidance on practical ways to apply them to your life. They address topics on spiritual growth, everyday faith, and Bible prophecy. It's yours for the cost of just $12 at adailywalk.org or call toll-free 877-242-0828. That's 877-242-0828. And please remember, it is your faithful contributions to the Lord's work at A Daily Walk that allows us to bring Pastor John's studies to the radio every day. Please help us finish the year strong by donating today at adailywalk.org. Join us again tomorrow for A Daily Walk.