It's great to be with you this morning.
It's great to be opening scripture this morning.
I've met most of you, but my name is Josh.
I have the joy of serving as pastor here at the Garden Church
and glad you're here. Thanks for thanks for being here
this morning. I hope that it's a gift to you,
a joy to you if you're in that process of exploring spiritual
community. We're some pretty average,
ordinary, normal humans just on this journey together of trying
to become a little bit more like Jesus, trying to learn how to
love like Jesus in the places that we live, work and play each
day. And there's a spot for you here.
Come, come grab me, grab anybody with a lanyard after the
gathering love to talk to you, to pray with you, to support you
however we can on this journey. So this morning as I as as
Rachel named we are we are in Hebrews chapter 12.
We're actually wrapping up our series through the book of
Hebrews that we've been in over these last several weeks, and it
is this morning. Such a beautiful text of
Scripture and an encouragement, a challenge to not lose heart,
to not grow weary, but to persevere.
Burnout is something that has become like almost ubiquitous in
our culture, right? I think if you think back to
these, the olden days before 2019, right, it seems like
burnout was there was a time, maybe some of you will still
remember this, when burnout was something that we talked about
mostly in terms of like ER docs and social workers, like, you
know, some high, high functioning executives, some
people who had very intensive demanding jobs.
It seems the conversation seems to be more narrow, but now I
feel like it's, you know, everywhere.
How many of you would say I'm one of the people raising my
hands here? This is not a shame thing, but
how many of you would say that I've experienced some level of
burnout at some point in my life, something that I'm aware
of. I relate to a factor, man.
There's a lot of hands up in the room.
And this morning as as we come to the end of this series, we
find a community that is wrestling with some of the same
symptoms, some of the symptoms that we see in burnout, losing
heart, growing weary and fearing we're coming to that place of,
of withdrawal or even quitting. I had a probably my most
significant brush with burnout happened just a few years ago.
A bunch of you knew me at that time, so may or may or may not
have named it in in that way. But because I'm up here talking
a lot, a lot of you know my story our our story.
Some of you have been a big part of that story.
Back in 2019, my wife and I made what felt for us like a pretty
bold, pretty courageous decision to step into church planting to
starting a new congregation. And that felt risky for a lot of
reasons. But we were also filled with a
lot of vision, a lot of excitement, a lot of possibility
and imagination for what could be.
And as we kind of gathered this small group of, of people and,
and prayed together and, and dreamt together, began sharing
practices to try and emulate the life of Jesus, began serving in
our neighborhood and, and trying to extend the love of Jesus to
people that we were connected to.
Like it was, it was a super beautiful season.
It felt like something really precious was going.
People were growing in community and new people were showing up.
There was some energy and vitality to this beautiful thing
that was happening. And then almost exactly a month
later, the news broke that there was this crazy novel coronavirus
spreading that would change the world for the next few years,
really up until now, but particularly in 2020-2021.
I mean, many of you were in that journey.
You were either part of this spiritual community at that time
or or perhaps another community. And, and you remember it like
the world, at least in Boston, like just shut down.
Everything froze, right? These intimate moments of
community that we were sharing around dinner tables all of a
sudden were on Zoom, which at first felt like kind of OK, and
then like a year later did not feel OK at all anymore.
There were all these these new people coming and attaching.
And then all of a sudden we were in this moment where it's like,
how does a new person get connected on Zoom?
It just doesn't like I don't, I don't.
No more barbecues were happening.
And, and you know, I could sense that like this, this thing that
we've been working on that we, we had all of this momentum was
really like it was fading. And my first, my first impulse
in that moment was to double down, to like go faster, to go
harder, to push more. And so I kept summoning more
internal energy to try and try to overcome the hurdle, to
overcome the challenges to, to show up in ways that were
needed. And it, it felt like we're just
running on ice, you know, that feeling like it's like the, the
energetic input is not commensurate with the output
that is happening. And internally, you know,
different people, I'm sure experience that differently.
But for me in that space, there was this, this, this feeling of,
of growing discouragement internally, like, you know, this
thing that we've been working so hard at, this thing that we've
been dreaming of. Like, I'm not like, are we going
to get to where we need to go? Like, is this going to happen?
We were running on the kind of a shoestring budget of funded by
people that Josh grew up with and grandma and, you know, small
donations. And then my wife lost her job.
We had a kid. The financial burden started to
mount. And there was just this, this
internal angst and wrestling this, this hope that had like
been dashed in some ways. Not that not that everything was
bad or things had fallen apart, but it was just like, this isn't
going the way that I hoped, the way that I expected.
This is so hard. Maybe it would be easier to just
dial back the intensity to not try so hard to not pray so hard
to not work so hard to, to, to maybe put some effort and energy
over here and some things that are maybe less meaningful that
I'm less called to, but also feel less risky and a little bit
more safe. I share all of this this
morning. Not so that you know, you'll
feel bad for me or, or take care of me.
I'm I'm really OK. God has beautifully redeemed
parts of the story and by God's grace, you know, we have a
beautiful community here this morning.
But, but I, I name it to kind of put a face on a dynamic that I
think, even though I assume that most of you have not attempted
to start the church during a middle of a pandemic that I bet
most, if not all of us can relate to in one aspect or
another. Because in one way or another,
we've all been there, right? We've, we've been in this
moment, this, this kind of Arc where we struck out in faith, we
tried to do something in our spiritual lives, in community.
We, we, we took a bold step of faith and then we hit
resistance. Maybe it was external
resistance, maybe it was internal resistance, but things
just didn't, they didn't go how we hoped, they didn't go how we
planned. There was an experience of, of
discouragement, of growing, of growing weary and, and perhaps,
perhaps even if like reduced expectations, like lowering the
bar of, of faith, lowering the bar of effort, a bit of
withdrawal. And maybe in that moment, you
found yourself going through this arc of, of striking out,
hitting resistance, growing weary, being discouraged of, of
slowing or stopping altogether. Maybe you found yourself on the
sidelines. Perhaps for you, this looked
like a new spiritual practice, like you felt convicted by God
to spend more time in Scripture or maybe to pray it at certain
hours of the day. And, and you, you struck out
with great enthusiasm. But over time, it was hard.
There were interruptions, things faded.
Maybe for you, you, it was some area of contribution.
You, you began to, to lead a group or to, to serve on the
worship team. So you began to, to, to gather
some guys for Bible study. And it just didn't go quite how
you hoped. You got some difficult feedback.
Somebody stopped showing up. You hit a bump and you've
noticed that you've pulled back. Maybe it had to do with like
forgiveness or boundary setting something in a relationship you
were, you were trying to build with somebody trying to to
really model what it looked like to live in community.
Well, man, it hasn't been easy. Maybe you tried to support
somebody who reached out for need.
You wanted to come alongside them or, or you wanted to launch
a missional initiative to care for neighbors in some way.
You really, you meant well. You, you struck out.
You, you, you put yourself out there and woof was heavier than
you thought. People didn't join you in the
way that you thought they would. It was lonely.
It was difficult. You hit resistance and so you
pulled back, you slowed or perhaps even stopped all
together. I think this is an experience
that many of us can relate to. Certainly this was an experience
that the first audience of this letter to the Hebrews knew very
well. This had been their experience.
They had had believed in Jesus. They had begun this journey with
boldness, with confidence. And then there had been some
resistance. There had been some pushback.
There had been some persecution. Things didn't go in the way that
they hoped. And now they were burned out.
They were they were counting the cost and they were they were
flirting with quiet quitting, not some like bold walk away,
put in your resignation, but just kind of a quiet like I'm
going to play at a different level.
I'm not sure that it's really worth it.
So chapter 12, we find the writer addressing this situation
directly. He's concerned that they are
becoming, as we see here in the text, entangled in sin.
He writes to them, warning them. He says don't lose heart, don't
grow weary. And you may be familiar as I was
preparing the verse occurred to me in Hebrews 10 verse 25, where
the writer tells them just a couple of chapters earlier.
He says to to let us not give up meeting together as the habit of
some as some are in the habit of doing.
I don't know about you, but I grew up in church hearing this
verse taught as you better be there on Sunday.
Don't you dare miss right? Show up every week.
You're not allowed to take a vacation, right?
You better be in the in the pews, in the in the seats on
Sunday morning. I'm glad you're here.
Thanks for being here. I think it's good for us to be
together. I don't think that's what that
verse is talking about. See, the problem the Hebrew
Christians faced was not that they were not routinely
attending enough. It, it was the, the danger of
attrition, the danger of pulling back, which of course could be
manifest by not attending, but could also be manifest in a lot
of other ways. Because don't you know it isn't
it true that you can show up to church every Sunday and still
not have really deep spiritual community?
You didn't even grow up, go go to group every week and still
not have really deep spiritual community.
It's so easy actually to like to withdraw, to pull back, to guard
yourself, to be a little bit distant, a little bit cautious,
right? It's it's the the person who has
like a relational issue roiling in the background, but chooses
only to name the prayer request of Grandma's hip because it's
safe, right? It's we come into church and we,
we put a brave face forward, We smile, we look good, we dress
up. But but do we let other people
into what's actually true for us?
Do we share what's real? The places where we're
struggling, the prices where we're exhausted, the prices
where we're hurt? Just the other week, somebody
came to me and, and their, their life was a mess and they, they
were naming, they were saying, hey, like, I don't, I don't know
if this is like, I don't know if other people like it's, I'm not
sure it's good for me to be around other people in this way.
This happens to me all the time. I'm like, I think you are a gift
right now because you're allowing yourself to be seen.
And so many other people here are in the same spot or a
similar spot right beneath the surface.
There are things going on. There are tensions, there are
losses, there are griefs, there are challenges, there is
suffering. Are we allowing ourself to be
seen? There's a lot of ways to quiet
quit even if you show up on Sunday.
The problem that the the Hebrews faced was not the danger of just
not attending often enough. It was the danger of withdrawal
and attrition. Mark Twain once said that most
men die at 27. We just bury them at 72.
He was naming A dynamic that's real, right?
Because very often we in our lives, we hit obstacles, we hit
pain points, we hit losses. And at some point there's an
internal conversation we may not even be fully aware of that we
say, like, I just maybe it's just safer over here.
Like if I don't just really, if, if I don't try to forgive that
person, if I don't try to reconcile that relationship, if
I don't like, if I make my life small enough, if I make my life
safe enough, if I like make my life guarded enough, I can just
avoid all of that. We get in these conversations so
easily and so often that aren't about running the race.
They're about self protection. And it is into that context that
that the writer of Hebrews speaks.
And he offers here for us this morning three powerful, three
beautiful resources for runners who are at risk of stopping
short of the finish line. Three race day resources, if you
will, so that we can, as he says here in in verse 1 of chapter
12, run with perseverance, the race marked out for us so that
we can run with perseverance, the race marked out for us.
And the first resource we see here in verse one, we're going
to call, we're going to fall call the cheer squad.
All right, so many of you are familiar.
I know some of you have been in a conversation in the South end
group for months now about Hebrews Chapter 11.
Hebrews 11 is probably the most famous section of this letter.
You probably know it or are familiar with it.
It's it's often known as like the Hall of Faith because it's a
it's this description of all of these, all of these people who
are heroes of faith. They're people who have struck
out in confidence and boldness, who lived well, who persevered
in faith. It tells their stories how they
face down difficulty and and push back and persecution and
yet continued. And at the very outset of
Hebrews chapter 12, it's this group the writer refers back to
here in verse one when he describes them as a great cloud
of witnesses. A great cloud of witnesses.
And under a month, the best runners in the world will
converge awfully close to here for the signature event and
distance running the Boston Marathon.
Many of you will go out and cheer and celebrate the racers.
I think some of us are going to be running not me, other people
And marathons are of course long, right?
Famously the the the the guy who was kind of the the name came
from who first did it died immediately upon completing the
race. 26 two .2 miles is a it's a feet of endurance.
It's a it's a long ways. Thank you, Aaron.
Let me try to fix this. Beards are not compatible with
sound systems. And while it's definitely
survivable to run 26.2 miles, it's not easy right?
It, it, it takes some things, especially at mile 20 when you
hit heartbreak hill and you're trying to power up this steep
incline after already taking such a grueling race.
I am not a serious runner. I run very casually and very
part time about one day a week, very slow.
But one thing even I have learned is like, I like, it is
so hard for me to run by myself. Like I, I just, I don't do it.
But, but if, if you're out there in the, in the couple of times
that I've actually run in a race, right with other people,
it's a whole different experience than solo running.
If, if you run in a race, you know this, like there, there are
people along the way they're cheering you on there there.
I've been much more in the cheer zone than in the actual race in
my life. But there's all of these these
fans who are, who are celebrating, who are high
fiving, who are encouraging you, who are blowing whistles and
making noise and holding up silly signs to help you keep
going. Social scientists have actually
like quantified this. They, they have have studied
race day performance and and documented that that these cheer
zones actually increase that the hormones that help you to feel
encouraged. They, they pick you up and push
you forward faster and more enthusiastically.
You're not imagining that it feels easier.
It's actually easier when there's somebody rooting for
you. And the writer of Hebrews wants
us to know at the very outset of this letter that we are not
running this race by ourselves, that we are witnessed.
Have you ever thought about this?
Like, I think like we think of the spiritual life as a as a
solo journey a lot of times. But in this image that we have
here in the book of Hebrews, he says, hey, there is a whole
cloud of witnesses surrounding you.
This is not an individual trek or expedition.
You are part of a glorious community that crosses time and
space. Right now, Moses is in the
grandstands along with Archbishop Tutu, right?
Paul and CS Lewis, Martin Luther King and King David.
They're up there. They're observing, they're
watching. They're cheering you on.
They're celebrating in Luke chapter 15.
Jesus claims that there is rejoicing in heaven over 1
Sinner who repents. I'm not sure exactly how this
works. I'm not sure who can see what
and when and how it all happens. But there is a very real
encouragement that the writer of Hebrews intends to communicate
by virtue of the fact that we are not alone, but rather a
cloud full, surrounded by, enveloped by a community of
people who have faithfully run the race and are cheering us on.
Every time we reach for our Bibles instead of our phones and
apps in the morning, every time we make that hard decision to to
to press into a relationship where something is off to to
confess or to repent, to ask for forgiveness instead of just go
sing or avoiding, a cheer goes up.
There's a celebration every time we choose to be generous rather
than self protective and greedy. Every time we step into a space
of faith. There's a whole community
watching, witnessing, celebrating, pushing us forward.
What a beautiful image. We are not alone.
The first resource that the writer of Hebrews gives us for
race day is that we're part of a community.
We can keep going because we've got the most epic cheer zone in
history, which is right there encouraging us, calling us
forward. And it's not just the analogy
doesn't work perfectly, but you know, it's not just people who
are on the sidelines either, right?
It's our fellow racers too. I won't belabor this point
because we talked about it recently, but community is so
important in the spiritual life, right?
That's why back in Hebrews chapter 10, the verse that we
already referenced, the the writer of the book talks about
how we need to encourage each other and spur each other on to
good deeds. He says don't pull back from
that community of faith. Don't quit because you need each
other. You need to be in each other's
corners, supporting each other, encouraging each other,
providing accountability and and support so that you can keep
going. The race of faith is not
intended to be a solo 1. We're in it together because of
our baptism. But there's a second resource
that the writer of Hebrews points us towards and we might
call it our, our kit, if you will, our kit.
He says here in Hebrews chapter 12 and verse one, let us throw
off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles
us. The group word here that hinders
is, is cost. It just means like a weight, a
burden and impediment, something that is in the way, something
that is impeding forward movement.
We have a, a bunch of runners in our community, at least our
Strava group tells me so. We also have a bunch of hikers
in our community. And both of these are beautiful,
worthwhile endeavors, but they are not the same.
Some of you do both and you are very aware of this, right?
You would not bring the same kit to a month long hike of the
Appalachian Trail as you would to race day at the Boston
Marathon. Like, can you, can you actually
picture this silly image for just a minute, right?
Can you imagine showing up with the full hiking gear at the
starting line of the Boston Marathon?
Everybody's there and they're like short shorts and tiny, tiny
shoes and they've got just their their watches on and that's
pretty much it. They're they're bibs.
They're ready to go. And here you are and you've got
like a tent and a filtration system, 3 changes of clothes.
You've got your rain gear, you've got your snacks, right?
You've got your trekking poles are ready to go.
There's some bear repellent and some bug spray.
You've got a little gas stove and, and, and a titanium
skillet. Like, I mean, you are ready for
every eventuality. By mile 8 you are going to be
dead maybe before then, right? This is not, you are not
appropriately kitted up for the event at hand.
You'd be carrying some obstacles.
And I, I share this analogy because I think it's so helpful
for us to consider to imagine like what is the right kit for
the journey we are on? What is the right kit for the
journey we are on? This is such a helpful vision
for us because I think many of us, honestly, people who have
grown up in the church or, or come to faith, we've been
trained in an imagination that that focuses on what is allowed
and what is not allowed, right? We've got an imagination for sin
in our minds and we know that like these categories are, are
out of bounds. I'm not supposed to do these
things. If I do these things, God will
be mad at me and maybe I will be punished.
And so, so long as I'm not doing those things, then I'm cool,
right? As long as I don't cross the
line over here, then I'm fine. And look, there are things that
are harmful, things that are dangerous, things that you
should not do. For sure.
Sin is a real thing. I don't mean to minimize that in
any way. But also I wonder if we if we
sometimes end up relating to to sin, relating to, to boundaries
in the Christian life. Almost like my dog growing up
did. Like my dog was named Ribbon.
She was a goofy dog. And one day she experienced a
new boundary because she went into the kitchen and ate my
brother's birthday cake off of the kitchen table and my dad had
it out. You know, there was lots of
screaming and swinging and, and after that, the dog was very
clear that she was not allowed to enter the kitchen, right?
There was a clear boundary. Anytime she, you know, crossed
into the kitchen, it was a big thing.
So she, she had learned that she's a smart dog.
She knew she wasn't supposed to go in the kitchen, so she would
not go into the kitchen. I mean technically she would not
go into the kitchen, right? Because her entire body would
absolutely be in the kitchen. But she would, she would have
like 1 paw all the way back, right?
As distant as possible. There was like there was 1
toenail that barely touched the threshold of the kitchen door
right in her imagination. Like following the rules was
just like getting as close as possible without breaking the
rule. And friends, I think sometimes
this is how we I know sometimes this is how I relate to relate
to sin, right, relate to boundaries.
It's like how close can I get without getting in trouble,
right? Like can I, you know, am I
allowed to go right to here? Like we didn't technically have
sex because there, you know, there were some clothes that
stayed on. You know, we there was we I
didn't technically I didn't there, there's this like we're
right here at the boundary, right, attempting to cross some
like invisible line where we think in some way that will
incur punishment. And I just got to say like, I
get it. And also, like, what an
unhelpful way to relate to this. What what a better image the
writer of Hebrews gives us here in terms of entanglements.
Because again, there are things that you just should not do as a
Christian, as part of the Christian life.
But honestly, the vast majority of stuff that needs to be purged
from our lives isn't immoral. It's not like wrong technically,
it's just bad kit, right? It's it's just not actually
helpful for the race ahead. Like you can have a drink, cool,
but like, is it serving you? You can, you can afford that,
yes, like, but does that actually get you that the
happiness that you want? Right.
You you can make that choice. You're like you're allowed to
set up your relationships in that way.
You're allowed to set up your finances in that way.
You're allowed to, to set up your priorities in that way.
But what race are we running friends?
Like what is our goal? What is our, our tell us, what
is the finish line that we are chasing?
I, I fear that that sometimes we're setting things up in a
certain way where we're like, how much like I, I want to get
to heaven when I die. And so like, I'm determined to
get over there, but while getting there, how much like
pleasure and comfort and security, right, and everything
else that I, I like, how much of how much of all of these things
can I possibly get and just just creep over the finish line by a
hair? Friends, the writer of Hebrews
points us towards a future, points us towards a vision where
where we are, we are shedding everything that doesn't work for
the purpose of love. Like he says that that that tell
us here is love, God, love your neighbor with all your heart,
soul, mind and strength. If we are going for that as hard
and as fast as we can, like, what would we put down?
Like, what are those things in our life that maybe are OK?
Maybe it's our phone, maybe it's those gummies.
Maybe it's that relationship that you know, just really isn't
serving you. What is it in your life that
you're holding on to right now? And like, OK, like you're,
you're free, you're allowed. But the question is, is it
serving you? The writer of Hebrew says, hey,
guys, I want you to persevere on this race.
I want you to run as fast and as far as you can.
I want you to cross the finish line in record time.
I want you to set APR. He says, what's what's the kit
going to be? What needs to get stripped away,
What needs to get laid down so that you can run the race with
endurance? The first thing is the crowd.
The second is the kit. But then lastly, finally, he
also points us to the most important pacer of all time,
Jesus. We read here in verse 2 of
chapter 12, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfector
of our faith. For the joy set before him, He
endured the cross, scorning it's shame, and sat down at the right
hand of the throne of God. Consider him, He says, who
endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not
grow weary and lose heart. This is the vision that we are
to, to fix our attention on, to fix our eyes on to, to
continually put before us so that we can run with
perseverance. It's training our attention on
Jesus. This is what this argument has
been all about through this whole book.
This is why the author has gone to these paints to say, hey,
you're paying attention to the angels, you're paying attention
to Moses, you're paying attention to the law, to the
sacrifices. Jesus is greater than all of
that. Keep your attention trained on
him because Jesus, he says, is the pioneer and the perfector of
the race. He did it first, He did it best.
He's the guy. You've got to follow what we see
here when we when we train our attention, when we look at
Jesus, we see first of all, that that love, that joy is, is is
better than just avoiding the pain and suffering of the race.
And I, I honestly love this because I think some of us want
to believe we, we get in a story where we imagine that like the
Christian journey is supposed to be pain free.
It's supposed to be suffering free.
If you're doing it right, it shouldn't hurt.
It shouldn't be uncomfortable. Maybe that's not your story, but
I know it is some people's and, and there's nothing in this text
about this, right? There's the assumption is the
the opposite. It's that there is going to be
difficulty, there is going to be challenge, there is going to be
pain and push back. Jesus experienced that.
He experienced scorn, he experienced shame, he
experienced rejection. It doesn't say that those things
were like not a big deal for Jesus.
And so he did a great job. It says it was there, it was
present. And yet for the joy that was set
before him, he endured the cross.
See, Jesus himself too had his eyes fixed attentionally on what
was important, the will of the Father, the reconciliation of
all humanity and creation that was possible through his
sacrifice. Jesus had the joy, the
imagination, the image of that that reconciled world and
humanity of things set right and put back together in front of
him. And he said that joy is great
enough that like, I can literally be crucified and I can
keep going. Friends, for us, Jesus is the
pioneer. He's the perfector.
He is the one that shows us that that like suffering is going to
happen. But it doesn't have to be the
defining thing. If you're running, I can tell
you sure you know this. If you've run at all, it kind of
stinks. It's not actually very pleasant
to run. Like it's, it's, it's fairly
uncomfortable. Like as you're running, you're
my body. I'll just speak for myself.
This your experience may vary, although probably not like as
I'm running every step, especially you get up a mile, a
couple miles, a few miles and my body is just screaming at me.
It's like, stop, please stop, please stop.
Please. This is uncomfortable.
This is painful. We don't need to do this
anymore, right? Internally it wants to to
negotiate out of the discomfort and and if I begin to focus on
like my experience of running, I will absolutely stop running.
I'm don't even need to make it back to the car.
We're just going to call an Uber from here, right because because
my body is uncomfortable, my lips are burning.
I got a cramp in my side. My knees hurt because I'm old.
Like it's just not very fun to run again, my experience.
But the the goal is not to focus on the running itself.
Like if you were focusing on the pain and the discomfort that
that's going to shape your experience.
But in a race, one of the things that will often happen, in fact,
the fastest times to ever be achieved, right?
People are running with Pacers. And this is what happens if you
get a little run crew together, right?
You get some other people. You, you stop, you stop focusing
on yourself. You stop even, it's not even
about like visualizing the finish line.
You're just like focusing on the shoulder of that person who's
right in front of you or right beside you, right?
You're just trying to keep up with that, Like you're just
trying to steady, keep going at that rate.
And when the the locus of attention and focus moves
outside of yourself and you begin to focus on somebody else
who is running the race, well, what happens?
There's more endurance, there's more energy, there's more
capacity to keep running faithfully.
And and the writer of Hebrews here says Jesus is a great pacer
man. Like I get you are running right
now. This is an unfamiliar course.
You've never completed it Right now it seems like this thing
just never ends. It is it just all hills?
What is going on? But he says, hey, this guy like
it's actually doable. This guy crossed the finish
line. He got there.
Just don't worry about when you're going to get to.
Don't worry about what your GPS says.
Don't worry about how long or when you're going to get there.
Like fix your eyes on this guy and keep going.
Keep running. Keep that attentional focus
locked in in front of you and keep running.
Jesus is the pioneer and perfector of our faith.
When we look at Him, we are sustained.
We, we, we see that the, the, the vision, the joy, the the
love, the intimacy, the reconciliation is better than
the pain that we're suffering. It's worth it.
And we see that the the race is winnable and we see that the the
finish line is glorious. Says here he sat down at the
right hand of the Father. There really is an end, a place
of rest that we can enter into. As we talked about this a few
weeks ago, friends, I don't know where you're at this morning.
Everybody here in this room is probably in a different place,
but I've conversations with a lot of you.
I know there are people in the room carrying really heavy
things, losses, addictions, disappointments, diagnosis,
pain, and and I don't know what your particular circumstance is
this morning. But I do know that if you will
fix your eyes on Jesus, if you will move the the attentional
locus of your life from what's not working for you to Jesus,
and if you will keep going, that you will be inspired and able to
persevere. You're in suffering this
morning. Look to Jesus, friend, you're
you're navigating depression this morning.
Look to Jesus, you were doing really great and then that that
addiction put its hooks back in you and pulled you back in.
Look to Jesus, friends. If we look to Jesus, if we fix
our gaze on him, that's why we each week that we come together,
why we worship and sing, it's why we celebrate communion.
It's an invitation because we need week after week.
And honestly, you need it day after day, maybe hour by hour to
return your gaze, to fix it on Jesus so that we can keep
running. What does all of this look like
for you this morning? Where's the rub for you in these
three resources for race day? Are you tired this morning?
Worn out, burnt out, exhausted, depleted, hurt?
What would it look like for this morning?
For you to to to, to root into that community of witnesses,
both to to recognize that you are being witnessed and to allow
yourself to be seen to move beyond Grandma's hip.
We can pray for that too, but also to bring what is real for
you into community in a space where it can be tended to,
supported, and even healed. What's that that community of
runners, that cloud of witnesses look like for you?
You're going to need those relationships if you're going to
run with endurance. What is the cloud look like for
you? What's the kit look like for you
as you inventory your life? If somebody were to do a a, a, a
budget analysis, a time analysis, a practice analysis,
what would they conclude? The tell us was the thing that
you are running for, chasing, pursuing?
Are you going for a maximal pleasure, maximal security,
maximal accomplishment? Or are you running the right
race, the race of love, in a way where anything that gets in the
way is stripped aside? Not because.
Not because you're not allowed to carry it.
Because it's not serving you and you are committed to
relentlessly running as fast and as far on this journey of faith
as you can. Lent is a classic time where we
inventory our lives and set things down, friends.
Not because you should. Not because you have to.
Not because you're going to get punished.
Is there something that's in your way this morning that's
holding you back, that you can release, that you can put down,
that you can repent of to help you be a little lighter, a
little faster, a little more persevering on the race?
Or maybe you just need to look to Jesus.
Actually, I don't know about the first two.
You definitely need to look to Jesus always, over and over
again to build practices, to build habits, to build a life.
That constantly puts Him, His glory, His beauty, His
faithfulness in front of your face.
It's the only way to keep going. Friends, as we move into a time
of reflection and response to this Word, today, I want to
invite you to do business with God, whatever that looks like
for you. It could be right in your seat.
It could be up here at the front on these carpets.
If you want to come and pray with somebody, I'll be at the
front. I'm happy to just hold space and
pray for you. Friends, I invite you this
morning to not leave here without getting clear for
yourself what the race you are on is all about and how you can
run a little bit more faithfully, a little more
perseveringly this week. Jesus, we ask that you would
meet us here, that you would help us to fix our eyes on You,
and that no one would come up short of the finish line, that
we would run well. And here at the end of the day,
well done, my good and faithful servant.
You've run your race well.