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August 19, 2007 Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost

Sermon Title: “Never Give Up”

Series: Practical Christianity (Perseverance)

Text: Hebrews 12:1-2

Dr. Steve Jackson

NewSong Community Church

Delivered on August 19, 2007

“Therefore…let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us.”
Hebrews 12:1

Never Give Up

On October 29, 1941, during some of the worst days of WWII British Prime Minister Winston Churchill visited the school he attended as a youth. He listened to the boys choir of that school sing as he himself had done many years before. Then, after enduring a lengthy introduction, he stood to address the student body. What he said that day has become one of his most quoted speeches. He spoke only five words. He said, "Never, never, never, give up.” He then turned, walked back to his chair and sat down.

Today I intend to be almost as brief as Churchill, and my message is exactly the same one he gave those British schoolboys 66 years ago: “Never give up.” I say that because that message comes across loud and clear in today’s passage from Hebrews.

We’re in a series of messages right now called “Practical Christianity” and one of the most important, and practical, aspects of our faith is the ability to persevere, the ability to endure.

This morning I want to make three statements about the two verses we read, and then I want to give you three words of advice to help us run the race of life faithfully.

The first statement I want to make is this: The Christian life is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. Here’s your Greek lesson for the morning. The Greek word for race, the one used here, is the word “agona.” We get our English word "agony" from it. This race isn’t going to be easy. We will meet with many hardships, trials, and heartaches along the way. The Greek verb translated “let us run” speaks of ongoing action. It probably should be rendered “let us keep running.” What the author wants us to know is that the race will never be completed without concentration of purpose and will. Some people seem to think that the Christian race adds up to little more than a sprint down some church aisle. They come down, profess their faith and seem to think that’s it. Listen, coming down here for baptism and church membership is only walking up to the starting line. Anyone can do that. When you do that the race has just begun. If you want to be successful, you’re going to have to go the distance. God never promised that living for His glory would be a piece of cake! In fact, Jesus said just the opposite. He said, “The gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction and many are those who enter by it. However, the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Enough said.

Statement number 2: We must each run the course set out for us. Race courses are usually marked off with flags or chalk or lanes on a track. Runners can't choose their own course. In a recent NCAA cross-country championship held in Riverside, California, 123 of the 128 runners missed a turn. One competitor managed to stay on the 10,000-meter course and began waving for fellow runners to follow him but he was only able to convince four other runners to go with him. When asked how he knew the right way to go and how he had the courage not to follow the crowd the runner said he had studied the course and was paying attention. He knew that when there is a race, you have to run the course as it’s laid out or else you’ll be disqualified.

You also can’t choose to cut corners to shorten the race either. Remember Rosie Ruiz? On April 21, 1980 the then 23-year-old New Yorker, was the first woman to cross the finish line in the Boston Marathon. She had achieved the third fastest time ever recorded for a female runner which was made all the more remarkable by the fact that she looked remarkably sweat-free and relaxed as she climbed the winner's podium to accept her wreath. But almost immediately race officials began to question her victory. The problem was that no one could remember having seen her during the race. Monitors at the various race checkpoints hadn't seen her, nor had any of the other runners. Numerous photographs taken during the race failed to contain any sign of her. Her absence was overwhelming. Finally, a few members of the crowd came forward to reveal that they had seen her jump into the race during its final half-mile and then sprint to the finish line. You can’t cut corners in the Christian race, you’ve got to run the race God has given you.

This becomes difficult sometimes when we look around and see others whose race course seems easier than our own. I look around and see folks who never have any doubts, who faith seems to come easily for, who are quick learners and have wonderful spirits and I get envious—I want to run their race and not the one God has given me, with all my foibles and faults. But God says, “I want you to run this race. Don't worry about others.”

Third statement: It doesn’t matter how you start, what matters is how you finish. Like I said a moment ago, anyone can start a race, the question is, can you finish it, and finish it well?

Here’s a couple of names for you. Remember Shannon Faulkner? Shannon Faulkner made headlines a few years ago as she crusaded to become the first female cadet at The Citadel, an all-male military academy. After a prolonged court battle, you’ll remember, she finally won the right to enroll. But once she got in she couldn’t endure the exercise program required of all cadets. She only lasted 4 hours and then spent the remainder of her stay in the infirmary before voluntarily resigning, citing emotional and psychological abuse and physical exhaustion. No one has heard anything about her since.

Here’s a second name. Ever heard of Vince Foster? Vince Foster was an advisor to President Bill Clinton and former law partner of Hilary Clinton. He got embroiled in a scandal and committed suicide in 1993. Speaking of his former aide Clinton said, “It would be wrong to define a life like Vincent Foster's in terms only of how it ended.” Nonetheless, that's how Foster will be remembered—by how he finished the race.

I don’t care how you cut it, the end of a life—or anything—defines all that went before it.

The Christian life as described in Hebrews is not only about running a marathon, running the one set out for you, but it’s also about finishing the race and finishing it well.

Those three statements having been made, let me now give you three words of advice from this passage to help you run the race faithfully and to finish well.

The first word is FANS – Remember the fans. Heb. 12:1 says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses…” The author wants his audience to think of themselves as athletes in a race in a stadium, where the witnesses are like spectators surrounding them and cheering them on. What a great modern analogy huh? Today it’s not unusual for as many as 100,000 fans to pack a stadium to watch a college football game. But even back in biblical days a good race or other sporting event could draw a crowd or boisterous fans. The famous Coliseum in Rome held 50000, and stadiums even in outlying Roman provinces were known to hold as many as 30,000. Fans can make a difference when you’re in the middle of a contest. Some football teams even consider their fans their “twelfth man” on the field.

Back in 1922, Texas A&M was playing the nation's top ranked team. As the hard fought game wore on, and the Aggies dug deeply into their limited reserves, their coach remembered a man who was on the roster but not in uniform. He had been up in the press box helping reporters identify players. The man was called from the stands, suited up, and stood ready throughout the rest of the game, which A&M finally won 22-14. When the game ended, this player was the only man left standing on the sidelines for the Aggies. He was quoted after the game saying, “I wish I could say that I went in and ran for the winning touchdown, but I didn’t. I simply stood by in case my team needed me.” And with that the famous 12^th man tradition was born, although the man didn’t play in the game, he had accepted the call to help his team by just being there. He was an example.

Of course the “twelfth man” in Hebrews is the long litany of heroes of the faith who endured and finished their race well and who now look on from heaven cheering each one of us on. There’s Noah, who patiently prepared the ark on dry land because he believed God had spoken to him. There’s Abraham who left hearth and kin in his journey toward the promised land, the City of God because he believed He who had called him was faithful. And of course Moses, who challenged Pharaoh, the most powerful man on earth because and who led his people to freedom at 80 years of age because that was the course God set out for him.

Of course, today we don’t have to stop at these ancient “heroes of the faith” who are our 12^th men, cheering us on in the stands. Look now and you see John Wesley, Martin Luther, William Carey, Hudson Taylor, Mother Teresa, Fanny Crosby, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Oscar Romero. They’re all pulling for us. I think of that great scene from the movie Chariots of Fire where Eric Liddell gets knocked down early in a race. He sits there dazed for a moment, and then a fan yells, “Get up and run!” And even though several runners had passed him he gets up, catches the rest of the pack and wins the race.

The second word from this passage to remember is FREEDOM. Our passage says, “Let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely…”

Imagine you’re at the Olympics watching all the athletes line up for the 10,000 meter run. Most are dressed in shorts, tank tops and light shoes. A few even have on the aerodynamic “sprint suits” some racers wear. And then as you pan down the starting blocks with your binoculars something you see doesn’t make sense. There, stretching out his legs is a guy in a heavy coat, gloves, hat, boots. For whatever reason, he has decided to run with this extra load. There is no way he is going to win.

When the text speaks of laying aside these encumbrances It’s talking about anything which slows us down in our Christian lives! These things might not be bad necessarily in themselves. But they sap our energy. They are dead weight upon our souls. They hinder us in our service to Christ. They are like a pair of army boots. Now, there's nothing wrong with army boots, in and of themselves. But when wearing them for a marathon race is just not smart.

I heard a terrible story about a man who went out to play golf early one Saturday morning. His wife became concerned when he hadn’t returned home by dinner time. It wasn’t until about midnight when he came through the front door, exhausted.

“Where have you been?” she demanded
“I’ve been playing golf” came the reply.
“But that was 18 hours ago. What happened?”
“I was having the best game of my life. I was two under par and on the seventh tee when Harry had a heart attack and died.” His wife still didn’t understand.
“After that it was hit the ball, drag Harry - hit the ball drag Harry . . .”

Let me ask you this morning…Is there something or someone slowing you down? Are you running your race with combat boots on? Are you dragging a heavy weight, or sin behind you as you run the race? What is slowing you down as you pursue your heavenly crown? What is more important to you than your relationship to Jesus Christ? That thing must be laid aside! Determine today that you will cast it aside! Get rid of it! Run freely with the freedom you have in Christ from sin and all that would hold you back. I guess I’m into movie scenes this morning because the scene I have in mind with this word freedom comes from Forest Gump. Remember in the movie when Forest is on the road being teased by the mean boys and he begins running down the road as they chase him? He has those terrible metal braces on his legs and as he runs, stiff-legged at first, they bind him and he can barely go. But then you see a determined look on his face and suddenly the metal braces begin to break and his crippled legs begin to move fluidly. And then Forest’s determined look turns to one of surprise as he leaves his tormentors behind in a cloud of dust. You and I must do the same in our Christian race—break free of whatever is holding you back—you can do it, God will help you.

The final word I want to give you from this passage is the word FOCUS. The author gives us the most important way to finish well: “looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith” (Heb. 12:2).

Our focus must be on Christ who persevered himself so that he might receive the joy of accomplishment of the Father’s will. Anything else is a distraction.

Almost exactly a year ago today a plane crashed in Lexington, Kentucky. You may remember the crew tried to take off from the wrong runway on a Lexington-Atlanta flight and the plane struggled to get airborne on the shorter runway before crashing in a nearby field, killing everyone onboard except the first officer. Now, a year later, FAA investigators have determined that forty seconds of chitchat between the pilots of Flight 5191caused them to miss several visual clues they were taking off from the wrong runway. Meanwhile, the lone air traffic controller on duty on the morning of the crash had cleared the jet for takeoff on the correct runway, but then turned his back to catch up on his paperwork as the plane veered down the wrong runway and crashed. Had he been watching the plane the controller could have warned the crew to abort the take-off.

Failing to keep our eyes on Jesus can be just as deadly to our Christian walk.

On the positive side, think of focus like this. Imagine you’re going to the Atlanta airport to catch a flight this afternoon. I don’t know if you’ve been lately, but it can be a pretty intimidating place. First you’ve got to choose the north or south terminal. Then you see about a dozen different types of parking, hourly, daily, weekly. Then there are about fifteen or twenty doors to go into the terminal you have to choose from. Then there are tons of lines and baggage and people and noise and policemen and ticket agents all directing you where to go. It’s amazing that anyone ever gets to their flight, isn’t it? But you know what? Most folks can do it. Every day hundreds of thousands of people navigate their way from their own homes, through the maze of an airport and into a relatively comfortable seat on an airplane taking off for their destination. Why? Focus – it takes focus. Imagine someone letting you off at the curb at the airport to catch your flight and you had no focus! You’d never make it. But you know what…you can make the Christian race…if you’ll keep your eyes on Jesus. Not on NewSong, or Pastor Steve, but on Jesus. Not on religion, but through a relationship with him. You can do it.

Well….that’s it. I guess I used a few more words than Winston Churchill did. But I hope you’ll take those words to heart. God has shown us the way and given us help with fans to cheer us on, and with the freedom we need from sin and the heavy weights that distract us, and with a laser focus for our lives—even Jesus himself. My prayer this morning is that you will persevere to the end. Until that day when you stand before Jesus himself and he says to you, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” Then you can join the crowd in heaven cheering on those down here below. Let’s pray.