We have all these great people around us as examples.
Their lives tell us what faith means. So we, too, should run the race that is
before us and never quit. We should remove from our lives anything that would
slow us down and the sin that so often makes us fall. 2 We must never stop looking to Jesus. He is the leader of our
faith, and he is the one who makes our faith complete. He suffered death on a
cross. But he accepted the shame of the cross as if it were nothing because of
the joy he could see waiting for him. And now he is sitting at the right side
of God’s throne. 3 Think about Jesus [who] patiently endured the angry insults that
sinful people were shouting at him. Think about him so that you won’t get
discouraged and stop trying. (Hebrews 12:1-3, ERV)
How to endure the end of the
race (series summary):
·
Listen to the crowd cheering you on.
·
Lose the weight holding you back.
·
Look to Jesus for help.
1.
Think about His honor in you being connected to Him.
16 So we have no reason to despair. Despite the fact that our outer humanity
is falling apart and decaying, our inner humanity is breathing in new life
every day. 17 You see, the short-lived pains of this life are
creating for us an eternal glory that does not compare to anything we know
here. 18 So we do not set our sights on the things we can see with our eyes. All of that is
fleeting; it will eventually fade
away. Instead, we focus on the things we cannot see, which live on and
on. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18, VOICE), see Hebrews 12:2 above
2. Think about His hostility in the way people treat
Him.
People
made fun of him, and even his friends left him. He was a man who suffered a lot
of pain and sickness. We treated him like someone of no importance, like
someone people will not even look at but turn away from in disgust. (Isaiah 53:3, ERV), see
Hebrews 12:3 above
“If you want to know who God is, look at Jesus. If you
want to know what it means to be human, look at Jesus. If you want to know what
love is, look at Jesus. If you want to know what grief is, look at Jesus. And
go on looking until you’re not just a spectator, but you’re actually part of
the drama which has him as the central character.” (N. T.
Wright)[i]
[i] Inspired by the sermon “Look at
Jesus: Marathon, “(installment three, final) Sunday
November 24, 2019, Pastor Dave Jansen, CenterPoint Gahanna Church Gahanna, OH.
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