Bible Passage: Hebrews 12:1-3
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: March 24, 2024

Bulletin March 24, 2024

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

Our text for this morning puts before us the starting line of a race.  Let’s think marathon.  The runners are gathered at the starting line.  They are limbering and loosening up.  The road is lined with spectators, people who have gathered to cheer the runners on.

Can you picture it?  Good!  Because you are the one in the race!  That is what the author of our text puts before us today.  The image of Christians being in a race.  He even mentions that we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses (v. 1).  In chapter 11, just before our text, the writer had reviewed a long list of faithful people who have run the race before us.  Here is the list of witnesses from chapter 11:  Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, The Israelites when the walls of Jericho fell down, Rahab the prostitute from Jericho, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets of old.  All these have run the race before us!  They ran the race by faith.  They finished the race by faith.

And now it’s our turn to run.  What shall we focus on while we run?  All elite runners know you have to concentrate.  Maybe it’s keeping your arms moving.  Maybe it’s proper breathing.  Concentration is essential.  What shall we focus on in our race?  The writer of our text tells us.  All Eyes on Jesus!

Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus (v. 2).  The word that is used in the original for “keep our eyes fixed” is a word that literally means “to look away from.”  The idea is looking away from everything else to focus on one thing.  We might say “to have eyes only for Jesus.”  Like a person in love, it’s like they can only see their beloved.  No one else exists.  Faith is locked in on Jesus!

Here’s why.  He is the author of our faith and the one who brings it to its goal. (v. 2)   The word “author” here really has nothing to do with writing anything.  It is the idea of a file-leader.  A file-leader is the soldier who is at the front of a single-file line of soldiers.  He leads the way.  He shows the way.  He is the first one.  He blazes the trail.  He chooses the path.  He is the first one to kick in a door.  The others fall in behind.  Who can ever forget Jesus’ call to his disciples, Follow me?  Never do we, nor would we want to, say, “Jesus, I’ll take the lead on this one!  Fall in behind me…”  That would mean disaster.  We fix our eyes on our file-leader!

He is the one who brings our faith-race to the goal.  He is the one who brings us across the finish line, and he is the one who waits for us at the finish line.  The apostle Paul knew that.  That is why as he drew near the end of his race, he only had eyes for Jesus, and wrote to Timothy, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on the day.  (2 Timothy 4:7-8)  I have always liked the one verse of the hymn that is based on Paul’s words:  “Run the straight race, through God’s good grace;  Lift up your eyes and seek his face.  Life with its way before us lies;  Christ is the path and Christ the prize.” (CW 457:2)  And so we fix our eyes on the one who brings us to our goal!

But here some will want to interject, “But this race is hard!  It is hard to keep running some days.  And there are headwinds and potholes and hills!”  If you ever feel that way, my dear friends, all eyes on Jesus!  Let us keep our eyes on Jesus…In view of the joy set before him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat the right hand of God’s throne.  Carefully consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinful people. (v. 2-3)

So let us do that today.  It is Palm Sunday.  We fix our eyes on Jesus.  There he is atop a little donkey.  There he is with the crowds cheering his arrival.  The children are excited to see Jesus and they sing,  Hosanna to the Son of David!  The palm branches and coats of the people pave the road in front of him.  There he is, riding right into betrayal, and abandonment by his friends, and a kangaroo court, and mockery and abuse, and a cross.  Why did he do it?  Why did he, as our text says, endure the cross, disregarding its shame (v. 2)  Why would the sinless Son of God look at the degrading, dehumanizing cross and say, “Yea, I’ll do that”?  The answer?  Joy!

Jesus kept his eyes on the goal, the purpose, the point, the result of the cross.  Jesus anticipated the joy of Easter morning.  He anticipated the joy of his work complete, validated and vindicated by heaven!  The joy of souls redeemed!  Humanity set free from sin, death, and the power of the devil!  A world reconciled to God!  Forgiveness full and free!  For you!  For me!  For everybody who believes!  An open heaven!  Oh, what joy!  This joy kept Jesus going.  And so he bumped along on a little donkey into a city that would howl for his blood by week’s end.

The writer of our text tells us to keep our eyes on Jesus and remember this about him so that you do not grow weary and lose heart (v. 3).  We grow weary and lose heart when things seem endless and pointless.  Life would be endless and pointless without Jesus.  Life would truly be a race without a finish line.  Life would be running in circles or running on a hamster wheel.  But because of Jesus’ cross and empty tomb, there is a finish line!  Death and resurrection!  Eternity with Jesus!  There is joy set before us!  And so, can we keep running with patient endurance the race that is laid out for us (v. 1)?  Can we get rid of every burden and the sin that so easily entangles (v. 1)?  What runner runs with 45 pound weight plates strapped to his legs?  What redeemed child of God wants to run with sinful attitudes and habits strapped to us?  Get rid of it!  Can we push through a little discomfort?  Can we keep running with a little muscle cramping?  Can we keep running up a few steep hills?  Can we keep running if a few onlookers shout insulting things as we run by?  We can.  In view of the joy set before us!  With all eyes on Jesus!

Amen.