Run with Endurance
Pastor Jordan Sauser – Harvest Baptist Church Williamsburg, IA
Many people upon learning that I was a track athlete have naturally concluded that I must love running and would then let me know how much they in fact hate running. This would often make me smile because the truth is, so do I most of the time! Running is hard work, it is often painful, I didn’t run the 400 hurdles because I enjoyed punishing myself, I ran because I enjoyed competing and racing. Paul says in I Corinthians 9: 24, Do you not know that in a race all runners run, but only one receives the prize?
So run that you may obtain it. What is Paul saying? He’s saying run like the person who’s out to win it! Run like the champion does! Train with purpose and race with heart! The following verses along with several other places in the New Testament that use this same metaphor, tell us exactly what running like a victor looks like.
We first notice from verses 25-27 that a victor exercises discipline and self-control in all things. If you want to run and win, these things are a must! There are certain things you will not do, certain foods you will not eat, certain activities you will not engage in. Alexander MacLaren adds this, “You will never make a growing Christian if abstinence from palpable sins only is your standard.” In other words, it’s not just self-control in terms of avoiding sin, but also self-control to choose that which is most excellent (Phil. 1: 9-10; Romans 12: 1-2). Paul then makes this convicting statement (I Cor. 9:25b) They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable. When I think about the discipline, passion, and self-control that I put into competing for earthly, temporal achievements it can bring great conviction to whether I exercise at least the same for God’s grand eternal purposes.
A second thing that is needed is endurance! Hebrews 12: 1 says Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. As a 400 hurdler, I learned well the importance of endurance. I trained to run the race with the same number of steps and speed between each hurdle, thereby hitting each hurdle with my dominant lead leg. This allowed me to maximize my effort and never waste energy. So, while it can appear during the finish of a race that one runner has a kick in comparison to the other runners, the truth is often that they are just the one that is not slowing down; they are running the race with endurance! The spiritual race of faith requires endurance, we have all experienced the toll that the hurdles of life can have upon us. This verse tells us the key to running with endurance – we must lay aside the weights, the weights that we can so easily and often accumulate while running this race of faith. They are the weights of sin and they easily ensnare us, trip us up, and wear us down. This is a continual and ongoing discipline and devotion we must keep! Jesus invites us to come to Him in our weariness, to cast our cares upon Him, and to remove our weights of sin by drawing near to Him through the confessing and forsaking of our sin. As we do that, we are given the promise that we will find rest, our strength will be renewed.
Finally, if we are going to run to win, we must finish! I think we can all lament that we live in the days of tragic disqualification; people are not finishing the race of faith well. In track and field, it is always devastating to witness someone who has been training and disciplining their body for weeks, months, even years for this one brief moment, only to have it all come to nothing because of a false start or disqualification. In I Corinthians 9 and verse 27, Paul says that is the point of all such discipline and self-control, But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. As a preacher going into my fifth year of ministry, perhaps nothing is quite as scary or sobering as that – preaching for years only to end up disqualifying myself. If we want to finish this race we must be disciplined, we must exercise self-control, and we must run with endurance by casting aside every weight of sin regularly! Some final instruction is given in the Word to help us finish. Hebrews 12 verse 2 says, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith; and verse three adds that we should consider Him when we are tempted with discouragement and weariness. In Philippians 3 and verse 14 Paul testifies, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Often in running a coach will tell you to keep your eyes on the prize! In other words, keep your head up, and your eyes fixed on the finish line. Scripture instructs us to keep our eyes on Jesus as we press toward the goal. In those verses in Hebrews chapter 12 the Greek word that is used for race is where we get our English word ‘agony’. The race is agony at times, it’s why so many can hate the running of it. But how do we endure the agony and see the race to its finish? By following this instruction from His Word and keeping our eyes on Jesus, the author, sustainer, and finisher of our race of faith! Praise God we can run this race as victors because of Him!
