Telling the Truth

Jill Briscoe: Today on Telling the Truth, Stuart Briscoe shares how you can find strength to live for Christ when you see your faith from a heavenly perspective. But first, everyone experiences disappointments in life. And when things don't go the way we expect or desire, either tragically or in similar ways, discouragement can become entrenched as we begin to believe destructive thoughts like, "It's always going to be this way," or "I'll never overcome this."

And when those thoughts are left unattended, they can lead you to despair and cause you to miss out on the abundant life Jesus promises. That's why we want to help you win the battle against feelings of discouragement by sending you Stuart and Jill Briscoe's five-message series Hope for the Disheartened.

In it, Stuart and Jill help you discover why your hope must be tied to trusting God and reliant on His strength and timing. You'll learn that even in trouble times, you have a God who loves you and gives you every reason to look forward with unspeakable peace, hope and joy. The Hope for the Disheartened series is our thanks for your gift to help more people experience life through the teaching and resources of Telling the Truth. So request your copy when you give today. 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388. Or you can give online at tellingthetruth.org.

Now, here's Stuart Briscoe with his message, Growing Weary and Losing Heart.

Stuart Briscoe: 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 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, that you will not grow weary and lose heart. The culture that they were addressing was a culture that was sports crazy. And so they very, very often would use analogies from the sports of the day. You can imagine a lot of men who weren't particularly interested in hearing the gospel, their ears would perk up when they hear the analogy between what the preachers were talking about and the sports that they were so interested in.

I have been writing a lot of books for men and I say there are two requirements for writing for men: short chapters and lots of sports illustrations. It's called contextualization. That is why you'll find that the writers of the New Testament used many metaphors.

Now, in some instances, they would use as a metaphor for the Christian life, wrestling, that the Christian life is like a wrestling match in which you're dealing with all kinds of things that require an awful lot of endurance. Sometimes they used the analogy of having to be like a boxer, boxing against the things that come up against you.

Now then, there are lessons that we can draw from this, as they did in the letter to the Hebrews. For instance, one of the things that is absolutely fascinating to me about this is that if anybody wanted to participate in the games, they had to go through the required preparation. This required preparation was of 10 months duration.

During the 10 months duration, the athletes were secluded and they had to live under strict supervision. Their weight was watched carefully and assiduously. Their diet was monitored. And their moral behavior was also scrutinized. And if they were going to be allowed to participate in the games, their moral behavior had to come up to the required standard. They had to have fulfilled all the diet, all the exercise, their weight had to be appropriate.

And then they were certified as eligible to participate. Now, this idea is taken and applied to the Christian life as a race. Listen to what he says. Therefore, since we're surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders. And the word literally is, get rid of excess weight. Get rid of excess baggage.

Now, notice carefully what our writer is saying. He is saying, get rid of excess baggage and the sin that so easily entangles. So apparently, the excess baggage that we are required to get rid of if we're going to run the race is not sin. It's not sin. Now, think about this for a minute. What it suggests is, what it implies very powerfully, is that it is possible to have things in your life that are not evil, that are not sinful, but are not conducive to running the race.

And there needs to be a willingness if we are taking our Christianity seriously, to examine our lives and checking on the excess weight. In addition to that, the people who engaged in the games were required at the end of their carefully monitored preparation to take an oath of allegiance. And they promised before the gods, because they were pagan, remember, a promise, an oath before the gods to compete according to the rules.

To compete according to the rules, on the understanding that the umpire would supervise them as they participated in the games and if they broke the rules, they were disqualified. That was the understanding. Notice how this is applied in the scripture. 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.

When you come to Christ, you take an oath of allegiance. You come to Him in all your need, and you submit yourself to His saving Lordship. And you express a desire, you may articulate it, you may begin to grow into it, but you express a desire to manifest, to demonstrate your gratitude to Him for His gracious love towards you. And you're going to demonstrate that by loving, trusting, obedience.

Obedience. Now then, as time goes on, you begin to discover that that to which He has called you is somewhat onerous. You begin to discover that what He has told you to do and what He's told you not to do, actually impinges on what you want to do. Now, a conflict begins to develop and you may begin to discover that you begin to live in disobedience to what He has said.

You say, well, does this matter? Yes. This is what Jesus said in the well-known Great Commission. He told those disciples to go into all the world and make disciples and among other things, teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. Here's the second thing. Participation in the race requires acceptance of the course laid out before you. This is what it says.

Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with patience or perseverance the race marked out for us. In other words, now I begin to understand something. That my life is not a walk in the park and it is not something that I necessarily can manipulate. My life now is something that the great umpire has outlined for me.

And this is the race that I embrace and I run it with endurance. And I begin to accept the fact this is my race and it's nobody else's. And it's pointless comparing my life to somebody else. This is who I am and this is what I am called to do. And I have a sense of calling, and I have a sense of direction, and I have a sense of purpose. This is the race set before me.

It's not a walk in the park. It's a race to be run. The third thing is that participation in the race requires a recognition of its historic setting. You say, what in the world is this about? When the athlete in those games had finished his training, duly certified, and now takes the oath, and then stands at the beginning of the race.

He realizes because he's taken the oath that he is part of something grand. He is part of something spectacular. He is part of something highly significant. Listen, therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, and the word witness here is "marturon." And "marturon" initially meant witness, but eventually became the English equivalent of "marturon", which is martyr.

Martyr. And what they're actually saying to these Christian, these Hebrew Christians who are feeling tired and discouraged and want to quit, hey, folks, folks, folks, listen, listen, listen. You are part of something grand. You are part of something glorious. You are part of something infinitely greater than you. It's not about you primarily. It's about that to which you have been called.

And you are part of a great and glorious tradition. It goes back 2000 years. Think of all the great names of the Christian faith. Think of the names of the people who make it possible for you even to be a believer. There were people who actually did it. Great, godly people who ran the race well, and you are in their train.

But that's nothing. That's nothing. You see, the first word in Hebrews chapter 12, verse 1 is "therefore." And you know what "therefore" signifies? You always ask the question, what's "therefore" and it will tell you, in light of what has just been said, make this application. Well, what has just been said? What has just been said is in Hebrews chapter 11, these "marturon," these witnesses, these martyrs, these are the people in whose name we go forth.

They are the ones from whom we receive the torch, and we are the ones who will pass on that same torch. We're the link between them and generations to come. Always remember, Christianity is no more than one generation away from extinction. And remember, the health of the next generation is in many, many ways directly related to the health or otherwise of this generation.

We go on reproducing ourselves. What the coming generations need is a healthy church, made up of people who are not taking a stroll in the park but who are running a race. You know what I'm interested in? I'm interested in a historic church. I'm interested in the kind of church that says, 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.

But what is this great cloud of witnesses? Let me just remind you of who this great cloud of witnesses is. Listen. They were people who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of flames, escaped the edge of the sword. They were the people who were tortured and refused to be released.

They faced jeers and floggings. They were chained and put in prison. They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated. The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains and in caves and holes in the ground.

That's the church I'm interested in. A historic church. A church made up of people who understand it's not a stroll in the park. It's a race to be run. But between you and me, it gets tiring and it gets wearing, and you can grow weary. If you're not careful, you can get discouraged. And you might sometimes in your blue moments, feel like quitting.

So the big question is, how do you keep the faith? And I'll tell you in a quick word. You keep the faith by keeping your focus. You keep the faith by keeping your focus. Now you say, where'd you get that from? I say, you know where I get it from? From the text. Verse two. Let us fix our eyes on what? Jesus. There's your focus.

Fix your eyes on Jesus. This is a novel idea. We have so many ways of avoiding burnout. We have so many ways of making sure people don't get discouraged. We have so many ways of factoring in things that will make it possible for people to keep on keeping on. And probably many of them are very helpful. But what is the biblical principle here? Keep your focus on Jesus.

Why? Because He is the author and perfecter of faith. The NIV says of our faith. That's an that's an interpolation that we don't need there. It is it is not that He is the perfecter of our faith. He is the author and perfecter of faith. He invented faith. And as you look at the superb life of Jesus, it is a life of faith.

And the the pinnacle of this life of faith par excellence is seen on the cross. That is why you fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame. If you want a picture of the faith that allows you to keep on keeping on, here it is.

It's Jesus on the cross. And what's He doing? He's refusing to come down. And why does He refuse to come down? For the joy that is set before Him. But how in the world does He have joy set before Him? Because the Father has promised Him. And the promises of the Father are inviolate. And so, because the promises of the Father are inviolate, and Jesus is a man of faith, He believes the Father and He endures the cross.

And listen, the enduring of the cross was not just enduring the five physical wounds. The enduring of the cross was enduring the unspeakable shame. Because He who was without sin was made sin for us. And He took it, and He did it. If you want to see faith in action, look at the cross. And see Him winning through. We know He won through because He is now seated at the right hand of the throne on high.

Keep your focus. It's all about the life of faith in the promises of God. That allows you to keep on keeping on. If you're going to keep the faith, you're going to keep your focus. And the focus is Jesus, risen and triumphant. Do it His way, and you won't grow weary and you won't lose heart. So keep the faith by keeping the focus.

Jill Briscoe: Stuart, how can we not confuse legalism with discipleship?

Stuart Briscoe: People do sometimes misunderstand legalism. And it is true that some people will will reject any idea of a disciplined lifestyle and simply characterize it as legalism. Well, this simply betrays the fact that they don't understand what legalism is. For a start, let me explain to you.

Legalism is a system whereby I believe that if I do a certain set of things and do not do a certain set of things, the net result of that will be that God will be pleased with me and He will accept me and I will be in a right relationship with Him. In other words, I have earned my salvation by my effort. All right, that that's basically what legalism is.

Now, what is discipline? Well, notice that discipline and disciple are very closely related. And there's no question about it that the life of a disciple is a disciplined life. I know the things that I need to do and I make them a priority. I know the things that I should not do and I recognize that I need in the power of the Spirit to be obedient to the commands of God.

That has absolutely nothing to do with earning my salvation. It has everything to do with living a life of gratitude because of grace received.

Jill Briscoe: Stuart, what do we need to do to make sure the church stays healthy with the next generation?

Stuart Briscoe: How how do we make sure that a person stays healthy in a physical sense? Well, we make sure that they get good food. We make sure that they are breathing fresh air. We make sure that they get proper rest. We make sure that they are engaging in appropriate exercise. We we'll know the things that lead to a healthy life. Well, simply apply that to a church.

We make sure that the church is getting plenty of healthy food. We make sure that the church is experiencing plenty of the fresh air of the Spirit at work. We make absolutely certain that the church body is recognizing what it is to rest.