Focus on Jesus... waiting for You at the Finish!

Okay... you’re in the race for your life, your eternal life. The race is a marathon, run along a narrow, cramped and winding road where you’re going to encounter all manner of challenges that try to knock you off course and even out of the race. What do you do to ensure you have a fighting chance to finish well?

Long distance runners know one thing about the challenges before them, mental focus is critically important.  Can’t win... can’t even finish a marathon without a sharp–focused–positive mental attitude.

If you focus on how far you have to go, or on what you feel in certain muscles, or become fixated on the people who are passing you, you’ll begin to feel weaker and your mind begins to manufacture more and more compelling reasons why you should just quit the race.
 
In the same way, if you want to run the race God has set before you, you need the right mental focus—as Hebrews 12:1b,2a says...  “Fixing our eyes” is figurative—we can’t physically see Jesus, and this limitation doesn’t mean forming a mental picture of Jesus’ face in our minds.  It means focusing our mental attention away from distractions and onto Jesus in two practical ways.

FIRST, focus your attention on Jesus as your Example.  In his role as the “Author” of our faith he is also the “pioneer.” The word “author”, in Greek archegos, can also be translated as “pioneer.”  Jesus is the Pioneer of your faith in the sense that he has already run with endurance the race God set before him.  He is the ultimate “veteran runner.”  He is not asking you to do something that he has not already done.  His command to run your race has genuine moral authority, not just because he is the Lord, but because he has already done what he is asking you to do.  In fact, his race was more difficult than ours will ever be as noted in Hebrews 12:2b-4.  We can draw real strength from thinking about what Jesus went through in the final laps of his race.

Are you tempted to give up because you’re weary?  Think about what Jesus had to endure. You no doubt have a pretty good idea of the physical agony Jesus experienced... of being beaten by Roman guards while blindfolded, of being scourged, and finally being crucified and suffocating to death.  He could have escaped this at any time ( Matthew 26:53,54) but he willingly endured all of these things to fulfill God’s plan of Redemption so we could have the opportunity to be forgiven and restored to a right relationship with God.

Are you tempted to give up because of self-pity?  Think about the shame and humiliation Jesus endured in being stripped naked and mocked on the cross.   Have you shed even one drop of literal blood in your race for the cause of Christ? Probably not.   Jesus could have ended his agony at any time, but he willingly endured it because he believed that the joy of eternity in God’s Kingdom with those he rescued would more than compensate for his brief humiliation.

You might be thinking, “Yes, but Jesus was God—I am just a human.”  That’s true, however the Bible tells us that Jesus was also human, and he ran His race as a human being (Hebrews 2:14,17).  Even though he was God and could have used his divine prerogatives at any time to escape or mitigate the ordeal of the Cross, he refused to do this, in part, so that he could be our example... our pioneer.

SECOND, focus your attention on Jesus as your Provider.  “Perfecter” (teleiotes) means “the one who brings it to completion.”  Jesus is not only the Author who ran the race before you did, he is also the Perfecter in the sense that he is personally with you to provide you with everything you need to finish your race.

When the resurrected Jesus (after completing his race) gave his disciples (and us) the command to run our race (read Matthew 28:19), he also gave us this wonderful promise (read Matthew 28:19,20 – “I am with you always”.  Through the Holy Spirit, Jesus is personally accessible every step of the race to guide you so you stay on his course for mapped out for you. He’s with us to encourage us through the obstacles, and to empower us to keep going... to cross the finish line. 

You don’t need to be some big strong macho dude in order to run this race.  In fact, those who try to run the race by their own strength either burn out quickly or scale the race down to one that is humanly runnable.   Your weakness and frailty is not a problem, in fact, it can be your very best ally if you let it remind you to depend on Jesus to empower you to the finish (read 2 Corinthians 12:9 and Isaiah 40:28-31).
 
How do you depend on Jesus to provide for you?  The main way is through ongoing prayer. Regular times of prayer alone and with other runners, and spontaneously in situational prayers alone and with other runners. You need both “alone” time and you need “to be with others” who are facing the same challenges in their personal race for eternity.   During these prayer times... pour your heart out to God about your weaknesses and fears, thank him by faith for his great power and love and faithfulness and then ask him for the help you need for the next part of your race. 

NEXT TIME: Listening to THE COACH and TRAINER!

Run with Endurance

Remember the “Bird’s Nest?” It’s the Beijing China National Stadium, home to the 2008 Summer Olympics. It was dubbed the “Bird’s Nest” because the stadium’s external structure resembled a metallic weaving of twig-like steel in the shape of a bird’s nest.

An Olympic host city’s stadium plays a big part in the motivation of the competing athletes, especially in the track and field events. The crowd is very important, especially for the more grueling events. Nearing the end of every Olympic games, usually on the last day, the marathon is run. The always grueling 26 mile race course winds through the city streets and countryside of the host city, and always finishes in the stadium.

As the runners near the end of the race, they enter the stadium moving onto the oval track for the final laps of the race. When the marathoners in the ’08 Olympics entered the Bird’s Nest, the 100,000 plus crowd were loudly cheering on the runners as they appeared in the stadium. Runners at this point are spent, in need of all the encouragement they can get to finish strong. The enthusiastic crowd cheered the athletes on, motivating the exhausted runners to find their last bit of energy to persevere and cross the finish line.

This “cheering on” of runners, tired and exhausted from a long and arduous race, reminds me of a passage in Hebrews where a “great crowd” is watching runners finish a very important race... a race wherein finishing has eternal consequences.

Hebrews 12:1-2...  (1) Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,  (2)  fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

There’s nothing unclear about this passage... it says that Christians have a race to run. It sounds like it will be a long and arduous race fraught with many hindrances to the runner. Verse one suggests that a runner in this important race  “...lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us.” 

Like the runners in an Olympic marathon who fix their dreams on winning a gold medal, and maybe setting a world record, winning becomes their prime motivation. All marathoners know there will be only one winner... one gold medal awarded. But everyone can be victorious in a marathon, because there is great honor in finishing well... crossing the finish line. Spectators admire the courage it takes to run a marathon and become the runners greatest encouragement as they near the finish.

A marathon is a great example of the race we are running in our Christian lives. We’re are not commanded to compete with one another to see who crosses the finish line first... no gold medals are awarded, no records will be recorded. We’re simply commanded to run the race with endurance, consistency, focused on finishing well.

Unfortunately, there is a barrier to our running and finishing well. It is... “the sin which so easily entangles us.”  What Christians face today is not new. The same entanglements, distractions, and age old problem of sin, distracted the first century Christians in the same way we’re distracted today.

The book of Hebrews was written to a Church that was getting old, settling into the world and losing its wartime mentality. It was starting to drift through life without focus, without vigilance and without energy. Their hands were growing weak, their knees were feeble. It was just easier to meander among the crowds of life than to courageously run a marathon.

For example, in Hebrews 2:1-3, it says that "we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. . . . How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?" The church of the first century was becoming infected with the disease of drifting and neglecting. People were growing careless, negligent and spiritually lazy. That same sort of infection is affecting the Church today.

Hebrews 3:12-13 further warns... "Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, in falling away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called 'Today,' lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." The writer of Hebrews had heard that some believers were no longer "taking care." They had acquired a lazy sense of security about their spirituality. They developed a false notion that nothing really huge was at stake in their walk with Christ. They had adopted the attitude that their walk with God was nothing more or less significant than everyday life, and required no special attention or extra energy. They were no longer concerned with meditating on the Bible, taking time to pray or being vigilant in fighting the battle against sin. They assumed all would be well for them. God inspired the letter to the Hebrews to be written to teach them and us... the foolishness of our thinking.

A rather startling jolt to our senses is recorded in Hebrews 5:12... "Though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food." They made a profession of faith but then descended into a passive, coasting mode. This is the wrong course and wrong attitude for a Christian’s life journey. God means for every believer to be constantly moving forward, making gains in maturity, wisdom and holiness. God expects all believers to move quickly and decisively from being getters to being givers, from being taught to being teachers.

One more jolt... Hebrews 12:12-13 says, "Strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed." The imagery painted here of their spiritual condition is not very attractive... weak hands, feeble knees, crooked paths.

As the Church matured and grew, it also became sluggish, weighed down with all manner of baggage. That's the condition of many believers and many congregations today. So the impetuous of Hebrews 12:1b becomes very personal... "Let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us." This command does not come out of the blue. This is the point of the Hebrews message to Christians then and now. Endure, persevere, run, fight, be alert, be strengthened, don't drift, don't neglect, don't be sluggish, don't take your salvation and your saved status for granted. Fight the fight of faith on the basis of Christ's spectacular death and resurrection. And show your faith the way the saints of Hebrews 11 did - not by coasting through life, but by counting reproach for Christ and Kingdom service to be greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt (Hebrews 11:26).

So what’s the main point? It’s just one imperative... RUN! (Hebrews 12:1). Everything God has prepared, supports you in the race of your life. Run the race set before you! Don't stroll, don't meander, don't wander about aimlessly getting into distracting situations and very often... trouble with sin. Run as if you’re in a race with a finish line and with everything depending on you crossing that finish line.

To this end, verse Hebrews 12:1 says, "lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us." What does that mean to you? Simple... we must lay aside not only entangling sins, but "every encumbrance." That is... every weight, every obstacle, every distraction in our lives must be removed from our path.

This was revolutionary counsel for the early church. Frankly, it’s still pretty revolutionary with believers today. The race of the Christian life is not fought or run well by constantly asking, "what's wrong with this or that?" It’s run well by asking, "is it in the way of my developing greater faith, greater love, greater purity, greater courage, greater humility, greater patience, greater self-control and growing holiness?

Much of the stuff that entangles us may be sin, but not everything... not all things are sinful. So the real question to ask yourself as you sort through your life for an inventory of the things you need to clear out of the way is this... Does it help me run the race? Is it in my way? Could it become a distraction? You get the idea... many questions will come to your mind as you seriously contemplate the baggage you carry around as you attempt to run the “race of your life” without entanglements and encumbrances.

Hebrews 12:1 is a command to look at your life, think hard about what you are doing, and get ruthless about what stays and what goes. We should be encouraged by those who have gone faithfully before us... crossing the finish line and winning God’s everlasting approval. You have the training, you have the support system, you have God and that “great crowd of witnesses” cheering you on.

Run with endurance and finish well... the race set before you.

The Huddle or the Game...?

If you’re a football fan or maybe even a fanatic... then you know all about the no-huddle offense. You can see it every Sunday afternoon and evening, Monday evening and all day Saturday, as NFL and top College teams deploy this strategy against their opponents.

The no-huddle offense is part of a strategy known as the hurry-up offense, which also includes the "two-minute drill." Here’s what happens... a team using a hurry-up offense seeks to save time on the game clock by reducing the elapsed time per play. When operating in the no-huddle, the offense typically lines up in a predetermined formation at the line of scrimmage, with a predetermined play in mind. The quarterback will usually call an audible, altering the play based on a perceived weakness in the defense's response to the formation shifts at the line of scrimmage. Teams use this methodology to confuse the defense and will often remain in a pre-snap state for several seconds as the clock runs down, providing a stream of actual and counterfeit play changes, all intended to thwart the defense. Real cool strategies.

I think this “no huddle” hurry-up offense as an analogy, can be a framework for analyzing the work of the Church. Let me explain what I mean. If you’ve played the game of football in high school or college then you know what happens in the huddle. Running and passing plays are called. Defensive weaknesses are pointed out and exploited in the play calling. It’s also a chance to catch your breath and chill for a few seconds.

Some teams are actually “better in the huddle” than they are lined up to execute their plays... that’s why there’s always a winner and a loser at the end of the game. Great uniforms... great huddle... great band at halftime... but poor play on the field.

Churches and believers spend way too much time in “huddle mentality.” The huddle... can be likened to our church building and facilities, our worship assembly processes, our programming, our fellowship activities... everything that comprises “the works of the church” as we perceive them.

We've spent so much time rehearsing the huddle, that we've forgotten, or at the very least marginalized the important mission Jesus commanded us to undertake. God has called us for Kingdom proclamation, to “go into all the world” spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:18-20). It’s a field of play with a scrimmage line much bigger than the relative safety of our huddles.

We brag about the size of our sanctuaries and whether we’re growing towards mega-church status. We talk about the attendance in Sunday School and Worship on Sunday morning... but no one seems to be asking the important questions... “Is what we’ve doing here, changing our community?” ‘Is it impacting the kingdom of God?' Are we outreach focused or inward focused on ourselves, on the comfort and safety of the huddle?’”

Look around the playing field God has laid before us... don’t you think too many of us go to church on Sunday and say at the end of services... “I did my Kingdom work for another week, see ya next Sunday.”

We need to understand that, although Worship is part of our Kingdom work, it doesn't end there. In fact like the game of football, the “huddle” is the smallest part of what happens on the field of play. Football is all about the game, the plays called, the points scored and who wins and who loses. The huddle never gets mentioned in the final analysis of a game.

A very small part of our Kingdom service happens in the huddle. The real game is played throughout the week – in the carpool, at the kids' football game, at your place of work... everywhere and in everything you do, you are a player on God’s team sent forth to harvest souls for His Kingdom.

The field of play is everywhere. The huddle, our churches, are where we prepare, encourage, support and edify one another to execute God’s game plan on His field of play... the world. What will we do when we encounter people who do not know the Lord? The question must be... “Will we be available to God for Him to position us in places to reach our neighbors for Him?” We need to get the salt out of our salt shakers.

Maybe it’s time to reevaluate the reasons why so many churches are concerned about declining programming, waning attendance and the growing disinterest and apathy among members. Maybe, just maybe, God is trying to tell us that we need fewer church programs and more players in the game on the line of scrimmage.

Maybe its time to stop making "huddling up" our prime focus of Kingdom work, and break for the line of scrimmage, where we can call the plays that win souls to our Great Coach, Jesus. 

The Pareto Principle and the Church

The 80/20 Rule (Pareto Principle) states that 20% of the people in an organization will produce 80% of the work and production. If you’ve experienced the frustration of this reality, you undoubtedly dislike this rule. Unfortunately, most of us have found it to be painfully true in almost all of the organizations we’re associated with, whether professional, social, or religious. It is particularly frustrating when you see it played out in churches –– true to the rule’s percentages.

Jesus obviously anticipated that throughout the growth of His Church, this sort of problem would exist. As evidenced by His words recorded at Luke 10:2... Jesus said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” ESV (Also Matthew 9:37-38; John 4:35) Notice He doesn’t say “believers” are “few”, just that those who really get engaged in the work and mission of the church, the harvesting of souls, would be few in number. Notice too... the urgency implied in his message. By using the metaphor of “a harvest” Jesus implies an urgent work that requires immediate attention. When a harvest is ready, you can’t wait, you have to move quickly and decisively to bring in the crops.

Maybe therein lies the problem in our churches. Perhaps we have failed to communicate the sense of urgency in what we are attempting to accomplish. “Urgency” tends to require visualization of a pending disaster to motivate some people. For example, if a building is on fire we know that rescue efforts have to move quickly or people could possibly die. Firefighters are motivated and aggressive in rescuing people and using their equipment and skills to put out fires before loss of life and property. Perhaps in our churches, people are not fully realizing the consequences of inaction, and even if they have some sense of the consequence, they are convinced that someone else will deal with it.

Christians... we have a raging fire that demands our total unencumbered attention. It’s the work of harvesting souls, bringing people to Christ... it’s God’s command to urgent action... the Great Commission. People are dying minute by minute without friends, without hope, without help, without belief, without care. Just as surely as that fireman sees a child in a second story window of a burning structure, we are witnessing people who are in imminent danger of an eternal destiny apart from hope and apart from God. Can you imagine a firefighter who would stand outside that burning house and say, "I am safe and comfortable right here. I’ll just watch. One of the other firemen will get in there and help those people." Most of our churched members are thinking to themselves, "That's the preacher’s job, the elder’s job, a missionaries job, not mine."

Here’s a question to ponder: What if the 80/20 rule were reversed? What if 80% of the people produced, not 20% of the work that needs to be done, but 100%? Okay, maybe given the lesson of history,that's a naive assumption. So, let's reduce those expectations just a bit. If the 20% are producing 80%, then what if we could get 40% to accomplish 100%? What if 50% got involved? If the 20% can do so many good things, then what if we could just get half of the people in our churches passionately motivated to participate in the work and mission of God? No doubt the results would astound us!

Maybe your church is a small one. If you’re one of the leaders, you may be frustrated that only five, six or seven folks show any desire or ability to help move things forward. No matter what you try, what you do, how your encourage and motivate, you just can’t get more people to participate. You don’t have to be a small church to experience the 80/20 Rule... larger and even mega churches experience the same problem.

I know this next statement is going to sound very odd, and it should not be viewed as an excuse for the majority to shirk their responsibility for the Great Commission. If you’re a frustrated small church leader... you should consider yourself fortunate that you have that many willing servants, five, six or seven souls ready, willing and able to work for the interests of God’s mission.

Fortunately for us, God rarely needs more than a few to get the ball rolling and keep it moving. Remember... Jesus changed the whole world with twelve disciples, plus Paul.
Christianity in terms of active participation, has always been a minority movement. Jesus occasionally attracted multitudes, but his transformative work was achieved through a small group of disciples who influenced many.

So, if you’re one of those leaders who is frustrated by a lack of participation... maybe this “idea” is a new way of seeing your situation. Don’t be frustrated, build around those who have stepped up to do the work of the church. Remember, through your preaching truth, shepherding and counseling efforts you’re planting seeds that may very well grow over time to inspire wider and deeper levels of participation and engagement.

We should be exceedingly thankful to God that we don’t have to wait until 60%, or 80% or 90% of regular members decide to get involved. God can work through something as seemingly small and insignificant as a mustard seed to grow His Kingdom. Jesus saw the "crowds" who assembled to hear His messages and recognized the extreme urgency of the situation.

He didn’t wait until a large “army of believers” could be assembled, over months and years, to carry out the work of spreading the gospel. He “launched the mission” with something akin to a “mustard seed,” a small group of men filled with the Spirit. They in-turn, inspired and passionate for Christ and His Kingdom, responded to a continuously evolving vision of not only what needed to be done, but what it would take to get it done. They went out and did it... one, two or three to the entire known world of their day!

There’s a “mustard seed” in every congregation of God’s Church. It’s small but it can do great things. Of course, more “workers in the harvest” are always welcome.