Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the
race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. 3
Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.
4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
The author in chapter 12, imagines the ancient heroes of faith as a great company who have finished the race and are examples for us as we run the race. But the real
hero of it all is not the saints but Jesus. The Christian is called to consider Jesus, to look unto Jesus as we run the race. The Christian must divest herself of anything that will hamper her in this spiritual race, any weight of sin.
This is just another way of saying that a chief principle in the Christian life and of Christian spirituality, is self-denial or self-discipline, and that is what
we are being called to here and is what Jesus said to us in Mark 8 and then Paul also speaks to it in I Corinthians 9:24-27.
“When he had called the people to himself, with his disciples also, he said to them, Whoever desires to come after me must deny himself and take up his cross and
follows me. For whoever desires to save his live will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?”
And then Paul, “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes
for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore, I run thus, not with uncertainty. Thus, I fight as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection,
lest when I have preached to others I myself should become disqualified.”
Sometimes this kind of talk makes people nervous, they think that what is being promoted is a type of pietistic morality, that is, a retreat from the world and a morbid
introspective lifestyle that sees the denial of self as its own goal. And it is true that some have taken it this way. Sometimes the truths of God are ignored because they are obvious, sometimes the perversions of the past have led Christians to throw out
orthodoxy with the abuses.
There have been varied forms of fanatic asceticism in the history of the church, including preachers who offered self-denial as a step to a second work of grace. But
it is not wise to throw away biblical teaching because man has misunderstood it, one who emphasizes holy living and self-denial is simply emphasizing what Jesus emphasized. We do not throw away love because man has abused, misused and confused love with sinful
lust.
One of the most blessed aspects of Reformed theology is the slaying of self-admiration, self-indulgence, self-confidence, self-determination, not is some sadistic
manner as some want to characterize it but so that the cry of our hearts is one with the psalmist who wrote: “Not unto us O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and for they truth’s sake.”
As love for self diminishes and as self-esteem is repudiated it gives way to esteem for the Lord and it gives true foundations for viewing ourselves accurately in
Christ. The text before us helps us so that we do not become so introspective in our self-discipline and self-denial that we become self-absorbed, and it does so in two ways.
First is the example of Christ’s living. WE are called to keep our eyes upon the Lord Jesus. We are not, in our self-denial, to be self-absorbed but to be Christ-absorbed
so that we can deny self and discipline ourselves for the race before us. Jesus, for the joy set before him, endured the cross. He endured all the agony. The word ‘race’ in Greek is the same word we get our term agony from, all the agony of the cross the Lord
Jesus endured.
He endured hostility and that from sinners against himself. He was no sinner, he came to save sinners and those who he came to, not only paid no attention, but hated
him and were hostile against Him. If you were trying to help someone, to save them from peril and they hated you and told you to leave them alone and then sought to torture you and humiliate you, if you are like me, you would say, “Fine, have your destruction
you stubborn fool!”
But not Jesus. He endured the hostilities of his enemies of which you and I were. He was attacked by men, but also by the evil one in temptations to the extent that
none of us knows. He resisted the Devil and temptation to be self-centered, to do what the flesh desired to the point of actually shedding his blood, first in the garden as drops fell as he prayed and then on the cross as his life blood was poured out.
Jesus was striving against sin. Jesus was emptying himself that he might do the will of the Father and He empowers us to do the same thing. He lived the perfect life
of self-denial, his actions were never for Himself but for those He loved and ultimately for His Father in heaven.
Mark this down; The best and safest religion for you is that which is hardest on your pride, on your self-importance, on your self-esteem as well as your wallet and
your stomach. You are not likely to error by practicing too much of the cross, but it must be for Christ’s sake.
The problem in our day is not that Christians are too deep in the practice of selflessness and self-denial. And often the arguments that I have mentioned this morning
are smokescreens to continue a life of ease that cost us nothing while contenting yourself that we are following the Lord.
May it not be so with us! Let us take the words of our Savior seriously and find our joy in losing ourselves that we might fix our eyes upon Jesus!
Prayer: Gracious Father, I confess that I seldom think about what my sin does to You. Even my repentance needs to be repented of! My self-absorption knows no boundaries.
Please forgive me, help me to see just how the rebellion of Your people, how my rebellion grieves Your Divine heart. In seeing the truth of my malevolence, may I be filled with a holy hatred for anything and everything that separates me from You; through Jesus
Christ my Lord, Amen.
Hymn: Pie Jesu (Click show more for translation and words)