THE HEAVENLY RACE

THE HEAVENLY RACE

HEBREW 12V1-2 ‘ So then, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also put off every weight and the sin that easily entangles us and let us with endurance the race that is set before us. Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising shame, and has sat down at the throne of God’ Halleluiah!

Christianity is a race, from the moment one gave his life to the Lord Jesus at redemption alter, a race has been set before him! ‘Do you not know that in a race all runners run…’ All runners; that is all who have been called into salvation run. So every believer has been made a runner and Jesus who is the pioneer is he who has called and only he knows those who are running within the track. ‘The Lord knows those who are his…’ 2Tim 2v19. All others are only audience; even your pastor is among the audience and cannot determine the price at the end of the race!

We are going to base our discussion from Hebrew 12v1-2 and some other verses of the scripture. We pray that the Lord will grant us the wisdom to excel.

Lessons to draw from the scripture on heavenly race.

1.      The race is one of faith. ‘… we have so great cloud of witnesses surrounding us’ to get a clearer picture of these cloud of witnesses, we see Hebrew 11 which shows the patrons of faith of which Abraham the father of faith was among. ‘  by faith Abraham when he was called, obeyed in going out into a place he was destined to receive as an inheritance; he went out, although not knowing where he was going. Faith is the cardinal point of our heavenly race. This is the race we have been called into by the author and finisher of our faith. Without faith, it is impossible to pleased God, if we come to God we must believe that He is. Our faith must be immovable even admits of movable phases of life, for we must put on the shield of faith so as to live victoriously before this wicked and degenerating world. We must know also that faith cometh by the word of God that is able to keep us standing admist the entreaties and challenges of life.

2.      …put off every weight. ‘let us put off every weight’ here it say ‘let us…’ not let God. Look at other scripture: Ephesians 4v22-25. There is a command for the Lord’s pilgrims to ‘ put off ‘ and ‘ put on ‘. Here the scripture charge us to ‘put off every weight’ what then are these weight? As we see in Ephesians 4v22. It says ‘ put off concerning the former conversation…’ the blind Bartimaeus lay aside his garment to enable him come to Jesus( mark 10v50). ‘… Casting away his garment rose and came to Jesus’. These weights are our pride, doctrine, achievement as well as our imagination, though they may not be sins but they actually hinders. Here the Lord is commanding us to put them off and depend on him and his word for us to run this race to a glorious end!

3.      The sins that entangles: …’ lay aside… the sin that so easily entangles us’ we are in the world and we are not immune from temptations and other forms of distraction. Gal 5v19-21, made mention of the works of the flesh. ‘now the works of the flesh are evident which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness…envy and the like of which I told you now and in time past that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God’. brethren these are sins that can easily entangles, especially the sins of the heart like lust, envy, anger and unforgiveness. Let us guide against these as we run the race that is set before us.

4.      …Run with patient: ‘… let us run with patient the race that is set before us’ Patient is one of the cardinal point in our Christian faith. We have testimonies as we grow in years in our Christian faith. The extend of your blessings and your understanding of God is determine with the level of your patient with Him. Patient is known as longsuffering, perseverance, endurance is one of the fruit of the Spirit. Gal 5v22. James 5v7-11 stated the need to be patient until the Lord’s coming. Stating an example of patient is our patriarch: Job who was patient even in the face of suffering. Other patriarchs of old were able to walk faithfully with God through their patient with Him. Let us not be deceived with quick syndrome gospel ravaging the body of Christ today! ‘…you too be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near’.

5.      Looking unto Jesus: ‘…looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith’. He is the centre piece of our Christian faith. He is our example, our Lord and therefore we should walk and depend on Him, if we must have a glorious end. John 15:1-5. The Lord admonishes His faithful to abide in Him. ‘…abide in Me and I in you … he who abides in Me and I in him, the same bears much fruit, for without Me you can do nothing’. Believers should know and appreciate the fact that the race we run is the race where we hold unto Jesus as the ultimate price of our faith! He is our ultimate reason and focus, so therefore we should do away with every form of deviation and distraction, in other to avoid sinking into the quagmire of storms and boisterous wind of life. Peter was an example of Christ followers who out of fear and distraction began to sink when he ceased from looking unto ‘the author and finisher of his faith’ ‘… when Peter had come… he walked on the water to go to Jesus, but when he saw…’ what do you see? as you journey in life, instead of seeing Jesus, many believers are seeing circumstances and impossibilities. Moses send 12 spies each from the 12 tribe of Israel. Only two came back with good report while the other ten came back with evil report. The different was what they saw. Numbers 13v27 ‘ they gave Moses this account; we went into the Land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey.28 but the people we saw are of great size and we seem in our own eyes as grasshoppers but Joshua and Caleb saw the God of possibilities and said in v30 ‘… let us go at once and take possession of the Land for with God we are well able’ the result was that those who saw impossibility all died in the wilderness and never entered the promised Land while those who saw God succeeded in fulfilling God’s mandate for their live and possessed the promise Land. The scripture says ‘all things are possible to them that believe’ ‘Looking unto Jesus’ we see the possibility and not the otherwise. The cardinal mission of the wicked is distracting the believers from the God of all possibility, so we should guide ourselves from those things that distracts. But could there be any who have been distracted, as we cried to the Lord, He will surely deliver.

So let’s look unto Him who is the author and finisher of our faith.

6.      Running with hope, enduring the cross and despising the shame: to every race there is price, to every battle there is a crown.’ … for the joy that was set before him, he endure the cross and despising its shame’. Every cross has its emblem of shame, but for the joy set before it, the grace to endure is available! What could constitute shame in this heavenly race? In Romans 1v16, Paul says ‘ I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, because it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believed’. Paul was a lawyer, one of the scribe of the Jew, he has every reason to be ashamed of the gospel having been in opposition before now. Jesus says in mark 9v23,26 ‘… whosever want to be my disciple must … take up the cross...whosever is shamed of me and my word…’ to be ashamed of a course is to feel humiliated and not be proud to defend that course. In this case from the eye of the world it is shame to associate with the gospel. But believers need not be ashamed since the gospel is the hope of salvation for humanity. So we should run with hope.

7.      The reward; the crown: to every cross there is a crown. ‘… sat down at right-hand of the throne of God. To confirm this, Stephen while he was surrounded by his accusers, he look up steadfastly to heaven and the Lord standing at the right of His Father’s throne. Acts 7v55,56 ‘ Stephen full of Holy Ghost look up to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right of God. He said look I saw the heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right of God’ Halleluiah! The Lord Himself confirm this in revelation 22v12.’ Behold I AM coming soon and my reward is with me to give to everyone according as his reward shall be’ this is a consolation to pilgrims that our labor in the Lord is never in vain for our rewarder is faithful.

8.      Never be weary: ‘though cast down for we are not destroy’ the race is for those who endures to the end. The Lord says in Mathew 24v13 ‘he that endures to the end shall be saved’. To Jesus, it was not easy for Him. At Gethsemane He pray that the cup should pass over. He falls three times on His way to the Calvary, falsely accused by sinners, betrayed and denied by His closed. Yet the LORD ENDURES TILL THE END. Many things are there to weary us down. Rom 8v35-39 ‘who shall separate us from the Love of Christ, shall tribulation, hardship…we are more than conquerors through Christ that love us. Pilgrims should not be weary, for His grace ever sufficient for us. Hebrew 10v23 ‘let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess for he promised is faithful. We need to persevere amidst varsities of life believing that after we have done the will of God, we shall be rewarded. ‘Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinners, SO THAT YOU WILL NOT GROW WEARY AND LOSE HEART.