Pastor Tab Cosgrove June 5, 2016

Text: Hebrews 12:1-7: John 17 Finish the Race: Endurance/Steadfast

  1. Paul’s second letter to Timothy, chapter 4, verses 7-8, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award me on that Day and not only to me but to all who have loved His appearing.”Not only here but all throughout his letters,Paul equates our faith lives to a race—a long enduring race. One that can be trying in many different ways because when we finish with our worship here, we then have to reenter our worlds; and often when we do, we face the complexity of living our faith in faithless surroundings, which can tempt us, invite us, lure us to think, say and do things that are contrary to what we learn as truth in here. So far we have discovered in this series that when our faith is tested and tried we can be strengthened to keep our faith alive through our connection times with Christ. We called them “Grace Stops.” We all need replenishing moments in our lives when it comes to running our race. We can’t do it alone. We need Jesus’ reassuring love and forgiveness to keep us focused on running the race. Persistently engaging in worship, reading His Word, fellowship with like-minded believers are ways those “grace stops” can replenish us and help us stay steadfast to the role and mission God desires us to live in our lives. And His desire is for us to be followers and sharersof this faith we have in and through His son Jesus Christ.
  1. But as we learned last week there are costs to living this way. It means putting Him first. Which can be challenging particularly when it forces us to do a gut-checking analysis of what we do value the most in our heart, soul and mind. Because if we realize that there are things we value more than Him, well then those are the things that are going to drive the level of commitment we set for the races of faith we run. And even if we are so bold to do this self-evaluation of values, the next challenge, that can be just as costly, is releasing those things from their number one spot.Letting them either be devalued in our hearts or better yet, as Jesus implies in Luke 14, letting them die and be removed on the cross of His forgiveness.So that our races of following and sharing can accomplish God’s will, which is for all to be saved.
  1. What I have gleaned the most from the texts that we have examined the last two weeks, is that the race of faith is an incredibly hard one to live in a growingly unfaithful world. And as the culture around us keeps changing and becoming more and more tolerant of godless thinking and lifestyles, it is becoming more and more challenging to carry what we learn in here into the conversations, actions and life choices, we make out there. Because according to statistics, the percentage of peoplethat frequent our circles,who don’t have faith in Christ, is growing.And being that they are not in agreement with our theology, it is becoming increasingly more problematic to communicate our faith in such a way that they see life different. And what will happen is that there is this clash of principles that occurs when we try to faithfully engage;which seems to separate us even further from those around us, if we are serious about living the way God wants us to live.Because the truth about this cultural collision between faith and non-faith isif we, who are called by Christ to be His followers and sharers—His disciples, are committed to living for Him,then we have to engage with the culture of non-belief. We cannot crawl into a hole and only be with those who are like-minded. That is not the race of faith Jesus calls us to run.
  1. Look at His prayer in John 17 (read vss. 14-18). Jesus knows the challenge of living faith in a faithless world. He knows all the temptations, test, trials and hardships associated with living our beliefs. But even still He needs us to function and conduct ourlives in the midst of the non-believing world. We are not to give into it by being so apart of it that no one can look at us and tell we are Christians.Nor are we to be secluded from it, avoiding all connections or associations with it.But we are to finda good, healthy, faith-filled balance where we function in but not of the world. Because maintaining that proper balance will help us endure the race that is set before us to run.
  1. This is apparently a true story. The owner of this car, who lived in Annapolis, MD went into a Home Depot in Waldorf, MD which is about 40 miles away and decided to load up all at once the materials he needed for a home remolding project. He loaded,on the roof of his VW Jetta, numerous 2x4’s, 4x4’s and lots of sheets ofparticle board. In the back seat and trunk were10 80lb bags ofconcrete as well as other building supplies. The total weight of the load was approximated at around 3000lbs. The manager at Home Depot had the man sign a release form stating that Home Depot was not responsible for any damage that might happen to the car as a result of such a heavy load. Once loaded the man drove away and after going a very short distance in the parking lot, had both of the back tires blow out and the back shocks were driven up through the floorboard.I mean what was the thought process that looked at that situation and said yep that will work!Obviously this guy did not understand the physics ofproper balance or he would have sought a different way to carry the materials.
  1. The reason I bring this up is that sometimes it feels just like that when trying to live faithfully in an unfaithful world. There are days when the prospect of living the way Christ desires for us to live feels heavy and out of balance so much so that it would be better to give inor give up rather than try to persevere through it. Because the last thing we want to be seen as in the circles wefrequent, is that we are hypocritical, weird, intolerant, uncool or one of them Bible thumpinfolks who have no fun. And so to avoid the weight of that tension what do we do? We bend the rules of social etiquette. We stretch the bounds of our actions. We tolerate inappropriateness all to stay in the good graces of those who don’t look at this faith thing as we do. But at the same time we fight the guilt and the feelings of failure because we know all those things are not how our Lord desires us to live. And so there is this weight that blows out the tires of our souls and sends the shocks careening up through the floorboard of our hearts, causing us to not be so enthusiastic about our race or to stop running the race altogether because we are uncomfortable or keep failing and we think we can’t do it.
  1. (Read Hebrews 12:1,2a,3) The call on our lives is to be followers and sharers of His steadfast love and grace for the sake of His Kingdom. Jesus knows there are obstacles to that mission. He knows there are temptations that will distract us and attempt to keep our faith from showing itself. But He also knows that when our focus is on Him, He who is the founder and perfecter of our faith will strengthen us. He will forgive us for those mistakes we make. And He who endured all the way to across will certainly help us endure through the trials of running our race of faith in the arenas of the world He has assigned us to. We are not to give up or grow weary of trying to be faithful because our strength is in Him. There is no doubt that there is this tension we all experience while living faith that can be heavy and wearisome, but it is a tension that can be overcome when we find our refuge in Him.We can endure because He has endured. Consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.May it be so as we walk out those doors today and run our races of faith in wherever God has placed us. In Jesus Name. Amen.