This passage starts with the word “therefore”. “Therefore” means, based on the the facts I have presented you, you need to come to the conclusion I present to you.
So what are the facts? The writer of Hebrews says we are surrounded by a “great cloud of witnesses”. Those witnesses are listed for us in chapter 11, which precedes the word “therefore”.
In chapter 11, the writer sets out examples of Old Testament saints who endured through faith and received their commendation. (11:2) He hammers away at this theme, saying by faith Abel (11:4), by faith Enoch (11:5), by faith Noah (11:7), by faith Abraham (11:8), by faith Sarah (11:11), by faith Jacob (11:21, by faith Moses (11:23) and many more.
All of these experienced hardship, persecution, and suffering, yet they endured in faith to the end because they believed in God’s promised salvation.
So, the writer of Hebrews drew on the image of a sporting event, a great race taking place in a stadium full of witnesses. But they are not witnesses of our struggles, like spectators, they are witnesses to us of their faith and endurance. They surround us and we look up in the stands to see them and are encouraged to endure.
In small towns in Texas, the identity of the town is often deeply connected to the high school football team. There may even be a bulletin board or sign on the lawn of the courthouse that calls the town the home of the tigers, or whatever the team mascot is. The sign will also mention past victories, such as “State Champs 1997”. And in the stands are men who played on those championship teams. If they can fit into them, they still wear their letter jackets. So, as the boys take the field, they look up into the stands and see witnesses to the struggle, men who played and won and show them they can do it if they play hard enough.
So, encouraged by these witnesses, we are urged to run the race. The writer calls it the race that is set before us. This race is the living of a life devoted to faithful service to Christ up to the very end, to death.
We cast aside every weight that would make it harder to run. Marathon runners take off every ounce of unnecessary weight they can, because, over 26 miles, even a few ounces can make a difference.
Let me give you an example. Back in the 80s, I went to watch the Cowtown Marathon because a local man, Ricky Cox, was a contender to win it. I went to a place a couple of miles from the finish line, hoping to see Ricky run by in the lead.
Instead, another runner came first. I waited and waited until finally Ricky came into sight. He was in second place, but a good ways behind.
And then an interesting thing happened, Ricky took off his hat and threw it down. He took off his gloves. He took off his sweatshirt. He took off everything that might weigh him down. And he began to bear down on the leader, finally overtaking him to win the race.
What are those weights for the believer? They are all of the failures, mistakes, heartbreaks, and betrayals we have experienced. I cannot begin to tell you of all the people I have talked to that tell me they quit the race because years ago someone hurt their feelings. They let that one hurtful thing take them completely out of the race.
A weight can also be our pride that makes us feel entitled to special treatment. Remember Samson who was so proud of his strength he believed the law of God did not apply to him and was destroyed.
A weight can be or our inability to separate from the things of the world to devote ourselves to the things of God. Remember the Rich Young Ruler who walked away from Jesus because he could not cast off the weight of his riches.
Not only can we be hindered by the weight of past experiences, we can be hindered by sin. The writer calls it the “sin that clings so closely”. Sin can take you completely out of the race. How many Christians have we seen fall because of sexual sin? How many have damaged their testimony because of their pursuit of money?
Sin neutralizes you so that you do not grow spiritually, you do not pray or read the Bible, and you do not anything that moves you along in faith.
Our struggle with sin is constant even as believers. Every person has at least one major weakness they must struggle against. It may be pride, lust, greed, inability to forgive, or any number of things. But when we give in to our weakness and let sin overtake us, we are taken out of the race.
If we want to run with endurance, as Hebrews charges us to do, we must lay aside our sin in repentance and commitment to Godliness and move forward in faith.
Even more than looking to the witnesses, we must look to Jesus to run the race. “Look” here means to ignore all distractions to concentrate on one thing. We look to Jesus. We look to him because he endured. He endured the cross and the shame of his humiliation.
He did this for the joy that was set before him. Joy is not the thing I think of when I read the accounts of Jesus suffering beatings, spitting, mocking, whipping and crucifixion.
What was this joy that was set before him? It was his exaltation to the right hand of the throne of God and his bringing atonement for the sins of the millions who would believe in him and join him in heaven.
When we look to Jesus and run, we also have joy set before us. It is the joy of eternal life. It is the joy of communion with God through Jesus Christ. It is the joy of knowing Jesus will return and take those who remain to be with him in glory.
We are observing Advent now. The word Advent comes from the Latin word “Adventus”, which means “coming”. We celebrate his coming 2,000 years ago as a baby in Bethlehem. But we also look to his second coming when he will take his own to be with him.
At Christmas, we sing “Joy to the World”, the most published hymn in America. It was written by Isaac Watts back in the 1700s. But I think the hymn is not about the first coming of Christ, but the second. We sing “Joy to the world, the Lord is come. Let earth receive her king!”
Knowing we will be with Jesus in the future should create great joy within us. That is why the New Testament refers to it so often.
The angels told the shepherds they had good news of great joy. (Luke 2:10)
Galatians 2:22 tells us joy is a fruit of the Spirit.
1 Peter 1:8 says that we believe in Jesus and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.
So, as you celebrate Christmas this year, as you look at the baby in the manger, look also to the Jesus coming in glory and living with us in eternity and with great joy.
As a last thought, know you can only have this great joy if you have Jesus as your savior and Lord. You can only look to Jesus if you have Jesus.
And what better time than now? Don’t just sing “let earth receive her king”, receive him yourself and commit to running the race of faith to the end.
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