Sermon - Hebrews 12:1-3 - Give It Your All! - Littleby Baptist Church - November 26, 2017

Hebrews 12:1-3

“12 Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, ² keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, so that you won’t grow weary and give up.”

When our oldest, Chris, was in middle school he ran cross country. Before each of his meets, I would tell him to leave it all on the field. In other words, I was encouraging him to give every ounce of effort he had so that he could be proud of his effort regardless of the results. I believe that is exactly what the author of Hebrews wants us to do. To give it all we got!

Let’s dig into these verses a little deeper.

Hebrews 12:1

“12 Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us,”

When we hear the word ‘race’ we tend to think of a competition between people, horses, cars, you name it. The goal of these races is to see who has the fastest time, to see who is number one. That is what society expects and what many of us push ourselves to do. When we compete, we give it our all, after all we do tend to like winning.

In this verse the author of Hebrews is reminding us that we are not sprinting for a race that will be over quickly. Instead we are running a race that requires endurance. Most of the people who run marathons are not interested in competing for first, second, third, or heck even the top 100. They are running the grueling 26.2-mile race focused simply on having the endurance to complete it and if they have run one before to improve on their personal time.

Each one of us has a race that lies before us. A unique race that God has laid out specifically for us. Your race is going to be different than mine, it is going to have different peaks and valleys, it is going to challenge you in different ways than I am going to be challenged. You and I will complete our races at different times and in different ways. God has created a race for you that is just as unique as you are. A race that only you can complete, a race that requires you to endure to the very end, especially when it gets tough.

Matthew 10:22

“²² You will be hated by everyone because of My name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”

Jesus is telling us that following Him will require us to endure to the very end.

Do you think Jesus knew anything about enduring difficult times?

He performed miracles, cast out demons, healed the sick, and still He was hated. He knew what His future held, yet He endured. He stayed the course, He ran the race laid before Him. He knew beatings were coming, He knew the cross was going to be painful, He knew that His body was going to be beaten, bruised, and broken. Yet He Endured.

He ran the race set before Him. A race that was full of peaks and valleys unique for Him. A race that only He could run. Jesus Gave it His all!

2 Timothy 4:7

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

Paul is stating that as his life drew to an end, he could safely say that he ran the race that God had put before him. He kept the faith. He endured beatings, prison on more than one occasion, shipwrecked three times, and was even bit by a poisonous snake. He endured to the very end. He ran his marathon with all he had, it took its toll, but he endured. It is safe to say Paul gave it his all!

How did he do it?

Hebrews 12:2

“² keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Sounds simple, Keep your eyes on Jesus and you will endure the challenges in front of you.

Now I would be willing to bet most of us can do that on a good day, and we probably have a good shot at it on those so-so days.

How about on those days that you really just want to scream? Or when life seems to overwhelm you? Bad news from the doctor, the loss of a loved one, chronic pain, depression, loss of a job, a spouse who seems to be drifting away, to name just a few. It can be really hard to keep your eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of your faith on those days.

Those are the days that you don’t know where the endurance to stand up right will come from, let alone to keep running. Those are the days, where you could easily collapse, quit, and choose to walk leisurely to the finish line instead of running and enduring. Those are the days you wonder if you have anything left to give.

Let’s look at Hebrews 12:2 again.

“² keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Jesus knew the cross was going to be painful. He knew it was going to be the worst day of His life, but He remembered the joy that was coming. Pain today, joy tomorrow. Not just tomorrow but joy for all eternity. After the cross, after His death, and after His resurrection He knew joy was coming and He knew He would be waiting to greet us when we finished our race.

I want you to think about that for a moment. Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, endured what could be argued as the worst day ever so that He could spend time with you. When He was going through the worst of it, He was looking forward to spending time with you. He looked forward to the joy he would get from seeing you in Glory.

Jesus endured it all, and during the worst of it He still saw the joy.

Now the race laid before you is going to be tough. You are going to have good days, bad days, and then those days that the only thing you can do is fall to your knees and pray. When it feels like you can’t endure any longer, I want you to remember something.

I want you to remember that Jesus has already paid the price for you to spend eternity with Him. It’s a done deal. It does not matter what you have done in this life. You cannot be too broken, too messed up, or too sinful for Jesus to want to spend eternity with you. The price has been paid. If He is your Lord, you will be with Him. If He is your Savior, there is joy in your future, no matter how dark it looks today there is hope.

How do you keep your eyes on Jesus when life seems to be kicking you in the gut? By remembering that Jesus has already paid the price and that He is looking forward to spending eternity with you. Yes, I really do mean it when I say that Jesus is looking forward to spending eternity with you.

John 15:11

“¹¹ I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.”

When Jesus said these words, He had just finished telling His disciples that He is the vine and they are the branches and that they are dependent on Him. If they depend on Him, abide in Him, they will be filled with His joy. In other words, as His followers, if we spend time talking to our Lord, if we spend time reading our Bibles, if we go about doing the Lord’s business, we will be filled with His Joy. Now, remember His joy is greater than the darkness we face. It is greater than any challenge we are confronted with. The joy of our Lord will breakthrough anything, if we are keeping our eyes on Him.

No matter what is going on in our lives, we need to remember that Jesus paid the price. If we keep Him in His rightful place as the Lord of our lives, His joy will triumph over anything else.

Hebrews 12:3

“³ For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, so that you won’t grow weary and give up.”

Jesus gave His all for you. Not only to pay for your sins, but also to be an example for you. He knew life was not going to be easy, He knew you were going to face some pretty tough challenges. He endured all that He endured, to show you it could be done. If He went through everything He did and though He was tired, He did not lose sight of the finish line. He endured to the very end to show us that if our eyes are on Him, we to can endure.  

In Genesis we see that us humans were created to rule over the world. God gave us everything our eyes can see. He has not held anything back from us. He gave us all of creation, He gave us His heart, and He even gave us His Son.

John 3:16

“¹⁶ For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

God the Father held absolutely nothing back. He gave it His all. We know Jesus was tired in the garden before He was arrested, but He remembered the plan, looked to the joy, and did not grow weary and did not lose heart. He gave up everything for you.

The question we need to ask is, if God gave up so much for us, how much are we giving Him?

Have you given God every part of your life or are you only giving Him the pieces you are comfortable with?

Do you give Jesus every hour of every day or only when you go to church or pray at meals?

Are you honoring Him when you are with your ‘church’ friends and your ‘other’ friends?

How about when you are alone, is that a piece of your life that you are giving to God?

Do you come to Him when you are sick but not when you are healthy?

How about when all your needs are met, is that time you spend with Jesus or do you keep that part to yourself?

You need to give God every piece of your life and not hold any of it back. Are we going to get beaten down, Yes. Are we going to get tired, Yes. But no matter how long and how hard the race you are running is, if you keep your eyes focused on Jesus, He will see you through to the end.

We have two options when it comes to running our individual races. We can head down the road walking day by day, never risking much, never letting anything take a toll, or we can give it our all!

My desire is to run the race that has been laid before me. No matter how tired I am, no matter how sore I feel, no matter what hill I need to climb, I am here on this earth to do the Lord’s will. This body is going to be worn out when I cross the finish line, not due to a wild life, but because I plan on serving my Lord until the day He calls me home. I will give it all I have!

How about you? Are you going to take a leisurely stroll or run the race that God has laid before you? Are you going to give God your all?

It won’t be easy, the Bible promises us that, but if you keep your eyes on Jesus you can endure until the very end.

God Bless,

Robert