1996 SINGLE SERMONS
THE RACE
DR. JIM DIXON
APRIL 21, 1996
HEBREWS 12:1-4
The hundredth running of the Boston Marathon took place last Monday, April 15. More than 38,000 people ran that course from the main street of Hopkinton to Copley Square in Boston, 26.2 miles. The men’s elite race was won by a Kenyan and the women’s elite race was won by a German, but most of the people didn’t care. They didn’t care about nationalities. They didn’t even care about winning. You see, most of the 38,000 people who ran in that race just wanted to finish.
Now, the Bible tells us that Christian life is like a race. It begins when you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. That’s when the race begins, when you take Christ as Lord and Savior, and the race continues until you arrive at the gates of Heaven. The race is described in our passage of scripture for today, these four verses, Hebrews 12:1-4. In this passage we are told three things about the Christian life. We are told three things about this race.
First of all, we are told that this race is a struggle for sanctification. Now, most people don’t want to hear this. I mean, this is a real bummer for many people that the Christian life is a struggle for sanctification. But the Bible tells us it is so, and God wants us to know it. It is a struggle. The words used in these four verses describe a struggle. Antagonizomai is one of the Greek words, and it means “to struggle against.” Hupomone is another one of the Greek words and it means “to persevere in the midst of pain.” It means “to endure in the midst of test and trials,” and even the word for race, the word that is chosen in this passage to describe a race, is the word agon, and this word is the word from which we get the word “agony.” You see, there were other Greek words that could have been used—the word stadion or the word trecho. All of those Greek words mean “race,” but, you see, the word agon was chosen because it indicates struggle. It’s the word from which we get the word agony.
And why is it a struggle? Why is the Christian life a struggle? Why is this race a struggle? It’s a struggle because we’re sinners. We’re sinners and the goal of the race is sanctification. The goal is holiness. The goal is godliness. The goal is Christlikeness, and so we struggle with sin. If you’re a Christian, you’ve entered into this race.
Now, there are two different types of sanctification, biblically. This is extremely important. The Bible describes two different types of sanctification. One you don’t have to struggle with, the other you do. There’s judicial sanctification and there’s behavioral sanctification. Both types of sanctification are described by the Greek word hagiasmos, and only the tense of the Greek tells us which type of sanctification is being referred to. Judicial sanctification occurs in the moment you become a Christian. Judicial sanctification occurs the moment you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior from sin and the Lord of your life. In that moment, in the courtroom of Heaven, the Judge Himself, Almighty God, declares you righteous by the shed blood of His Son. He declares you judicially righteous, judicially sanctified. Your sin is forgiven you and the righteousness, the holiness, the sanctification of Christ is imputed to you. It’s vested upon you, and in the courtroom of Heaven you are pronounced not guilty and God chooses to view you through the righteousness of His Son. That’s judicial sanctification. You’re not in the Christian life unless you’ve received judicial sanctification and you’ve accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior.
But you see, biblically there’s another kind of sanctification. It’s behavioral sanctification. It has to do with sinlessness and your struggle with sin. The word hagiasmos is referring to behavioral sanctification when it’s in the present tense, implying continuous action, and it refers to a process. It refers to a race. It refers to the struggle for holiness.
Now, God wants you to understand what it means to be holy. God wants you to understand what it means to be sanctified behaviorally. You might be sitting there this morning and you might be thinking, “I’m not struggling with sin. I don’t really have problems with sin. My behavior is not sinful.” Or you might be sitting there just thinking, “Struggling for sanctification isn’t really part of my life.” But you see, if you would call yourself Christian, if you would take the name of Christ, it must become part of your life. Christ wants you to understand that sanctification in the sense of this race, in the sense of this process, has not only to do with our deeds but it has to do with our thoughts. That’s why in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said, “You’ve heard it said of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ but I say to you, whoever looks upon a man or woman with lust has already committed adultery in his or her heart. You’ve heard it said of old, ‘You shall not kill.’ I say to you, whoever looks upon a brother or sister with anger in his heart will be liable for judgement.”
You see, sin has to do with our thoughts and attitudes as well as our deeds and behaviors. Also, Christ wants us to understand that sin has to do with Christlikeness, and it’s not simply avoiding bad things. Holiness does not simply require that we avoid bad things, but holiness also requires that we embrace good things. Sin is not simply the doing of bad things, but sin is the avoiding of good things. You see, Jesus said, “The first commandment is this, that you love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind. And the second is like unto it, that you love your neighbor as yourself.”
These are the first and second commandments. These are the greatest commandments. Sin is disobedience to His commandments, so if we don’t love God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind, and if we don’t love our neighbors as ourselves, that’s sin. That’s the absence of Christlikeness. We might be avoiding all kinds of bad things, but if we’re not learning compassion, if we’re not learning love, it’s the absence of sanctification.
Do you understand? This is so important. That’s why Jesus described what it meant to love your neighbor when he told the story of the Good Samaritan. Jesus described what holiness really requires in the Sermon on the Plain when He said, “I say to all who hear, love your enemy. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer him the other as well. From him who takes away your coat, do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs of you, and from him who takes away your goods do not ask for them again. But as you would have people treat you, even so treat them. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much again. But I say to you, do good. Lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great. You will be called children of the Most High, for He is kind even to the ungrateful and the selfish. So be merciful as your Father in Heaven is merciful. Judge not, and you will be not judged. Condemn not, and you will be not condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you.”
You see, those are standards of holiness. Do you understand? We all fall short. I fall tragically short, and I’m sure you fall tragically short too. So we have this race, this struggle for sanctification. And, you know, last night, right up here on this stage, we had the Night of Champions for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Laphonso Ellis and Dan Issel were up here, committed Christians. Many outstanding athletes were up here, but one of the most moving things was that hundreds of high school kids came down front. They made a commitment, publicly, that throughout their time in high school they would live alcohol- and drug-free. But, you see, that’s a small part of sanctification.
Earlier this year in Atlanta, Georgia, Barb and I were in the Georgia Dome and thousands of young people came forward. Thousands came forward. They made a commitment to abstain from sexual relations until marriage. That’s important, too, but it’s a small part of sanctification because sanctification isn’t just the things we don’t do. Sanctification also has to do with learning to love as Christ loves and to obey the commandment to love. This is a struggle because it isn’t natural. It’s a struggle to learn to love. Because of our sin nature, it’s a struggle to avoid sin. It’s a struggle to love and to show compassion to people because of our sin nature, but if you’re a Christian, you’re committed to this struggle for sanctification.
You know, the Roman Catholic Church…they have declared hundreds of people, hundreds of men and women…they have declared them saints. Each of these saints has been beatified by the church. Because of their life and work, they have been declared blessed. Each of these saints has experienced canonization. It has been attested of them that they performed a minimum of two miracles by the testimony of two witnesses. So, these people who are called saints have been beatified and they have been canonized and their beatification and their canonization were endorsed by papal decree. Fifty-eight of them have feast days so that they are honored the world over by mandate of Rome. But, you see, they were declared saints because Rome felt that they had performed unusually well in this struggle for sanctification. They were called saints because it was believed that they were exemplary in the running of the race. They were exemplary in the struggle for sanctification. But you see, that’s not really for Rome to decide. That’s not really for the Vatican to decide. That’s only for God to decide. Only God knows how we’re doing in this struggle for sanctification, this struggle for Christlikeness. Only God knows how we’re doing in the running of this race.
You know, I hold in my hand the most recent edition of The Wittenburg Door, just published. The magazine is published every two months and it’s a Christian magazine. It’s a magazine that focuses on satire and humor and it seeks to expose hypocrisy. The Wittenburg Door seeks to expose hypocrisy in the church, Catholic or Protestant. Incredibly, the picture on the cover is the picture of Mother Teresa and they call her “the loser of the decade.” Now, they call her “the loser of the decade” because they claim that even though she is often photographed with the suffering poor, she really cruises around on jets and sits on a pile of cash. They claim that her organization has millions of dollars stacked away in bank accounts all over the world, including $50 million in a single bank in the city of New York. And all the while, they say, she is begging for cash and saying that her organization is in desperate need of money. They claim that the money is coming from dubious sources, even criminal sources in some cases, and they claim that she is baptizing Hindus and Buddhists even though they haven’t confessed Christ and they have not repented, and in many cases she’s baptized them without them even knowing it while they were asleep.
Now, I’m certain that facts are being misrepresented or perhaps misunderstood. I’m relatively confident that Mother Teresa has done quite well in this race, in this struggle for sanctification. But you see, it’s not for me to judge. It’s not for The Wittenburg Door to judge. It’s not for the Roman Catholic Church to judge (although I am sure that in time she will be beatified and canonized and declared a saint). It’s really only for God to decide, and it’s only for God to decide how you’re doing. But God wants you to know you need to struggle. He wants you to know that. You need to struggle. If you’re not struggling with sin, if you’re not struggling for Christlikeness, if there’s no quest for behavioral sanctification, then perhaps you’re not in the race. I mean, if we’re not struggling for behavioral sanctification, we might rightly ask whether we’ve ever received judicial sanctification, because if we receive judicial sanctification, then we’ve embraced Christ as Lord and Savior. And if you’ve embraced Him as Lord and Savior, His Spirit has come within you, at least in some measure. You must hunger and thirst for righteousness. So, this is the first thing we’re told about this race. It’s a struggle for sanctification.
I’d like to just briefly mention Billy Sunday. I think many of you have heard of Billy Sunday. Billy Sunday was a great revivalist. He was born in the 19th century in the state of Iowa. His father was a Union soldier. His father died in the Civil War. In fact, Billy was still in his mother’s womb when his father died. Billy wound up being reared in an orphanage. At the age of 14, Billy Sunday was on his own. It looked like his life had no future. His life looked bleak, but Billy Sunday did have great athletic ability. In 1883, he joined what was then called the Chicago White Stockings. He became a professional baseball player, and he was very good. It was there in Chicago that Billy Sunday met Christ, gave his heart and his life to Christ and accepted Christ as Lord and Savior. He entered this great race. It was there that he met his wife, and she was a tremendous influence in his life for good. It was there in Chicago that Billy Sunday received a massive anointing of the Holy Spirit of God and a calling to the ministry. Billy Sunday, along with Billy Graham and D.L. Moody, became one of the greatest revivalists and evangelists in America’s history. Through his ministry, more than a million people gave their hearts to Christ. Now, he is often quoted as having said this: “I hate sin. I hate sin. As long as I live, I’m going to kick it as long as I have a foot; I’m going to hit it as long as I have a fist; I’m going to butt it as long as I have a head; I’m going to bite it as long as I have a tooth; and when I’m old and footless, fistless, and toothless, I’m going to gum it until I go home to Heaven and it goes home to perdition.”
People don’t talk like that anymore. People don’t talk like that anymore, but that’s the attitude God wants you to have. That’s the attitude God wants me to have with regard to sin. Every day the exhortation in this passage is to set aside every sin which clings so closely. Set it aside. Discard it. God would remind you in your struggle against sin that you’ve not yet resisted as Christ did. You’ve not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
Well, the second teaching from this passage is that we are being inspired by those who have run the race before us. This passage tells us the race is a struggle for sanctification. This passage also tells us that in this race we are inspired by the lives of those who have run the race before us. I’ll be more brief on this point.
I think this is a difficult point. The Bible begins there in Hebrews 12:1 with this statement: “Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses…” Now, what does that mean? I mean, as you run this race, as you struggle for sanctification and as you struggle against sin, you are surrounded, the Bible says here, “by a great cloud of witnesses.” Does this mean you’re being watched? You’re being observed?
I’m reminded of the story of Lou Little. Lou Little was a football coach at Columbia University years ago. Lou Little was a great coach. He told how one day a student came to try out for the team. This kid wasn’t a very good athlete. He couldn’t block well, couldn’t tackle well, and couldn’t run well, but Lou Little thought, “There’s a place for this kid on my team because his attitude is great. This kid just has an enthusiasm that’s contagious. He’ll be an inspiration. He’ll be an inspiration for the whole team. Even though he’ll rarely play and he’ll mostly sit on the bench, he’ll help the team from the bench or in the locker room because his attitude is so great.” So Lou Little lets this kid join the football team. The season progresses and the kid rarely plays, but everybody respects this young man because this young man has tremendous enthusiasm. His attitude is just excellent and he’s a Christian. One of the things that they really respected about this kid was his relationship with his father. This young man’s dad would come to visit him many weekends and they would be seen walking across the campus together, this young man and his dad. Sometimes they’d be walking arm-in-arm. Their relationship was close. People were very impressed.
Well, the season was drawing to an end, and they were approaching the last two games. Word came to the faculty at the school that this young man’s dad had died in a tragic accident. They called Lou Little in and they said, “Coach, you need to tell this guy who’s on your team that his dad has just died.” Lou Little just didn’t know what to do. That was so hard for him. He called the young man in and he said, “Son, I hate to tell you this. This is really just so hard, but your dad has just passed away.” This guy, this young man, began to cry, and Coach Little began to cry. The young man went back to his home to be with his family and to be at his dad’s funeral.
A few days later he came back and there was only one game left in the season. Coach Little went up to him when he came back and said, “Gee, it’s great to have you back. We’re so sad about your dad, but it’s great to have you back. I’ll do anything for you, anything at all.” This kid says, “Well, if you’ll do anything at all, let me start in the football game on Saturday. Let me start.” Coach Little really didn’t want to do that, but he said, “Okay.” He thought he would just let this guy play for a few plays and then bench him, but he couldn’t believe it. This kid started and he played unbelievably, and he was making tackles all over the field. Coach Little left him in for the whole game, and at the end of the game he was declared the ”player of the game.”
After the game, the coach went up to him and he said, “What happened? What got into you?” This young man said, “You know how my dad and I were very close, and you know how you would often see us walking across campus together, sometimes arm-in-arm? Nobody really asked me about that, but people didn’t know… my dad didn’t want people to know that he was blind. I believe that for the very first time today my dad saw me play football. For the very first time he saw me play.
Now, that story is historically true, but is it theologically true? I mean, is it theologically true that our loved ones in Christ are now watching us? Is my dad watching me today as I preach? Are your loved ones who have died in Christ, are they watching you? Are they watching your struggle for sanctification? Is that what this passage is saying? I think not. I mean, how hard it would be for them to have fullness of joy if they were watching us. I mean, the Bible says that “in God’s presence is fullness of joy,” and how could they have fullness of joy if they’re watching some of the dumb things we do?
But you see, I’ve done a word study of this verse, really focusing on the Greek word martus, which is the Greek word that means “witness,” and this word can mean “observer.” It can mean “spectator,” and we’re tempted to give it that meaning in this passage since it’s in the context of a race and we think of people as observing a race or witnessing a race in the sense of being a spectator. But that was a very rare meaning for martus. I mean, rarely in parabiblical literature (and only in one other occasion in the Bible) is martus given the meaning of “observer.” The most common meaning for this word is not observer or spectator. The most common meaning for martus is the meaning of “one who bears testimony.” This is how we use the word witness in the context of trials, in the context of judgement in our judicatory system. A witness is somebody who bears testimony.
You see, in Hebrews 12:1-4, this little passage of scripture just follows on the heels of Hebrews 11, where all the great heroes of the faith are listed—from Abraham and Moses to Sarah and Rahab. It’s in that context that the author of Hebrews speaks of this great cloud of witness, these people who have gone before us, these people who have lived and died, faithful to God and who have borne testimony of the lives they lived. We’re surrounded by that testimony. Surely this is the primary meaning of this little passage: that we have the inspiration of the lives of those who have lived and died before us and were faithful to Christ, the inspiration, the testimony of those who ran the race well. This is meant to inspire us. This is meant to encourage us as we now run the race in turn.
So, we have these two teachings concerning the race. It’s a struggle for sanctification, but we’re being inspired by the lives of those who have run before us. You see, in Hebrews 11, when we read, “By faith, Abraham obeyed, when he was called by God to go out to a place which he was to receive as an inheritance and he went out, not knowing where he was to go. By faith he sojourned in a land of promise as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise, for they looked forward to the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. By faith, Sarah herself received power to conceive even when she was well past the age, since she considered Him faithful who had promised. And thus, from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants, as many as the stars of the heavens and the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore”—when we read passages of scripture like that, it’s meant to inspire us in our running of the race. This is the great cloud of witnesses, those men and women who have served Christ well as they ran the race before us.
There’s a third teaching in this little passage relating to this race called the Christian life and that is this: the race is scripted for success. I know our time is short and I’ll be brief, but the race is scripted for success. It says, “Run with perseverance the race that is set before us.” Now, these words, “set before,” come from the Greek word prokeimenon, and this is a very special Greek word, prokeimenon. This word prokeimenon means “to appoint.” It referred to something that was “laid out,” something “prescribed,” or something “scripted.” God wants you to understand, as you run this race called the Christian life, that the course has been laid out for you. It’s been appointed for you. This Greek word mandates that. It’s been prescribed for you. It’s been scripted for you.
I don’t believe it’s scripted in the same way for each of us. I mean, the course I run isn’t exactly the same as the course you run. I mean, we’re all struggling for sanctification. We’re all inspired by those who ran before us, but our lives are different. Some of us have more uphill climbs. Some of us have a harder life to live. We all struggle, but some struggle more than others. Is it not so? You may have tests and trials I have not had. I might have tests and trials you don’t have. But, you see, God wants you to have confidence as you run this race because it is set before you. It has been appointed. It has been scripted. You can’t change the script.
I understand that in the movie Waterworld Kevin Costner not only directed and produced but was involved in the scripting. That might be true in Waterworld. It’s not true in real life. It’s not true in the Christian world. You can’t script the course. You can decide how you’re going to run it. I mean, I know for some of you this is difficult. You think that this has to do with Calvinism and Arminianism. I don’t want to get in a debate regarding Calvinism and Arminianism or predestination and free will. Certainly, biblically, God is sovereign and yet at the same time we have moral autonomy, and we have volition and we have some measure of freedom even though the course is scripted for us as Christians. When you accept Christ as Lord and Savior there is a course that He sets before you. How you respond to that course, what you do with that course, is an expression of your freedom. There’s no denying that. But God wants you to know the course has been set well for you, with you in mind.
You wouldn’t script it that way. I know that. I mean, you would win the lottery. Maybe you would be a CEO of some big company or maybe you wouldn’t even need to work. Of course, your spouse would just be perfect. You and your spouse would meet each other’s needs without even trying. There’d be no struggle. And your kids would never give you a problem. You’d never have a loved one die and you’d live a long life, maybe a hundred years or more. But, you see, you can’t write the script. You need to understand that, as you run this race, there’s someone who cares very much. It says, “Run this race, looking to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of Faith.” These words, archegos and teleiotes, refer to the fact not only that Christ has run the race before us from beginning to end but that He’s concerned with your race from beginning to end. He’s the one who called you to faith and He’s the one who’s going to see your faith through. “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion,” the Bible says.
He is trying to use all things to sanctify you. That’s what He’s about. That’s what this race is about. That’s what your life is about: your sanctification, that you might become more and more like Christ.
I know you’ve all read the Declaration of Independence. After the Preamble, there’s the Declaration of Rights, and it says there that we’ve been endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights and amongst these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Isn’t it true we live in a culture where everyone is engaged in the pursuit of happiness? Isn’t that true? Isn’t that what everyone’s life is all about, the pursuit of happiness? But, you see, if you’re a Christian, that’s not what it’s about. If you’re a Christian, that’s not what the race is about. It’s not about the pursuit of happiness. It’s about the pursuit of sanctification. It’s about the pursuit of sanctification, and we have the testimony of those who have run the race before us and pursued sanctification well. God wants us to be confident that He has set the course before us in order to sanctify us, and Christ is with us every step of the way, the Author and Finisher of Faith, seeking our sanctification. God also wants you to know—this is the strange thing—it’s only to the degree that you’re experiencing sanctification that you have what the Bible calls joy. It’s only when our sanctification is full that our joy will be full. This is the mystery. The world seeks happiness but can’t find it. But if you would enter this race and if you would run the race well and you’d struggle against sin and you’d seek holiness, there’s going to come a joy the world doesn’t understand, a joy that comes from Christ. Let’s close with a word of prayer.