Big God - Running Our Leg of the Race
June 16, 2024
What’s this?
It’s a section of this Stack that reflects the content of a weekly small group Bible study that I lead. These posts primarily consist of a sermon outline used as notes during the meeting. A longer description can be found on the About page. If you subscribe to this Substack but don’t wish to receive notifications for this section, select Manage Subscription from the upper-right menu and turn the notification off there.
Audience
These summaries are prepared for and presented within an on-campus small group audience, adding explanations and additional questions during the meeting itself. Members of the group vary in their understanding, but are familiar with the Bible, can find references fairly quickly, and tend to believe what they read there. The beliefs we hold vary individually.
There are no particular expectations with regard to the online audience. Curiosity is enough, and perhaps patience if you understand things differently. The same goes for visitors to the church itself. Questions and comments are encouraged.
Small Group Setting
Meetings are informal and conversational, although there is structure. We begin by taking time to arrive and connect, open in prayer, and then review a portion the message from the previous Sunday. There isn’t time to go through everything, but we go where we are drawn, following the outline or not.
There can be considerably more to each message than what appears in the summary. It is not a transcript, but a condensed outline written for use in group discussion. I suggest watching the video if you have the time and interest. Sermon videos typically run about 30-35 minutes. Take a few notes. Comment below.
Toward the end of our time we look at the “fill-in” sermon points, published with blanks in the bulletin but presented in full within the message and here. We also may glance at the questions for reflection (also from the bulletin) if there is time, and we close with extended prayer.
Note About This Series
This “Big God” sermon series is based on the book Big God — What Happens When We Trust Him, by Britt Merrick.
Note About This Sermon Outline
This is the final sermon in the But God series. For this outline I worked from a machine-generated transcript of the audio, rather than manually transcribing and editing as I had been doing. It is still a condensation of the sermon, but it is quicker to prepare and more detailed. Don’t assume, however, that what you see below is word-for-word. It often will not be, although sometimes it will. It is meant to serve as an outline, memory aid, and quick reference when leading a small group, and especially when jumping from topic to topic as these groups will do.
I have also, however, included the unedited machine-generated transcript itself, which for the most part will be word-for-word, as best as the software can do.
Parenthetical “story” comments, with timestamps ([minutes:seconds], in brackets) mark stories told during the sermon but not repeated in this outline. You can locate them in either the transcript or the video.
Ellipses (…) represent smaller but significant skips, usually because of restatement or of reference to local church matters. These portions are, however, included in the video and the transcript.
Sermon Video
Optional but recommended. Transcript available for download below.
Sermon YouTube Livestream Link
Full Service YouTube Livestream Link
Sermon Outline
(“Slide: …” indicates that the text following is projected on the sanctuary screens and displayed at the bottom of the livestream.)
Scripture Reading
Hebrews 11:39-12:3 - 39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
12 1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Introduction
([00:00] Father’s Day comments about fathers)
…But the goal is to pass along these things and to help [our children to] be equipped to run their leg of the race on their own. And with faith, that is true as well, that we do not want faith to die with us. … The goal is that as we get older, we pass on faith in such a way that when we come to the end of our lives, we look and we say they're going to do even greater things than I ever could… We want to hand the baton off to others. We need to make sure that we are receiving it and running our leg of the race.
[03:01] Often people come to church and feel like spectators, coming to watch the “spiritual” people play the music and preach, welcome and greet, and other things. We feel like our job is to sit, receive, and go home and live like we've always lived. But that is not the role or life of faith. The life of faith says that all of us together are equipped by the Spirit of God to take the baton and run our leg of the race and live with faith in a way that glorifies God as we enjoy Him through our lives.
Series Review
[03:37] The goal of every believer in Christ is that we are called to live a life of faith. … [Previously in this series] we looked at people who ran their leg of the race well. … Hebrews 11 says that faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. There is confidence in faith, based in logic, being able to look around the world and see that yes, God created the universe and the evidence is there to show us that Jesus is who He claimed to be. When we put our trust in Christ, incredible things can happen.
We saw different ways of living out a life of faith and trusting a big God. [04:59] Abel demonstrated faith worshiping, made a sacrifice, and we asked ourselves, are we giving our time, our treasure, and our talent to God? Are we trusting Him completely and putting Him first in every area of our life and dedicating all these things to God?
Enoch was faith walking, agreeing to the place, path, and pace that God is on, that He is leading us so that we can walk faithfully with God and have a relationship with Him.
Noah was faith working. We do things for God and put our faith into action.
Abraham was faith willing, willing to go where God called him to, leaving some things behind, and being willing to worship and to witness in a culture that is hostile towards God.
Abraham and Sarah together were faith that is waiting, waiting 25 years for the promise of God to be fulfilled in their life. They also got into trouble while waiting, which we should avoid, but we wait without being passive. Wait actively and serve God while waiting.
Abraham, again, was faith well tried, offering his son Isaac on the altar. This came after several smaller faith steps that he was willing to take, and each step helped increase his faith, each one after the other. But ultimately he trusted in God and God used his faith to do great things.
Moses was faith winning, having victory through faith over fear, the flesh, and the foe. We can have victory in all these different areas because we are united to Christ and Christ already has victory over these things. And so we are united in his victory and in his success and we get to celebrate that.
Rahab demonstrated faith welcoming, welcoming God's purposes into her life. Even when it seemed like someone else should have been chosen, she did this.
We can welcome God's purposes into our lives as well, the purposes we have been talking about, and really the life of faith, because it will come in many different ways, small and big, and we must discern the work of the Spirit and how we live that out in our life. But every Christian is called to three things, to love God, to love others, and to make disciples. This is the great commandment and the great commission. Are we welcoming those purposes into our lives, or is something stopping us from being faithful in some areas?
David, Samson, Gideon, Barack, Jephthah and others were faith warring. The Christian life is not going to be easy. It is a life of battle against the enemy who wants to pull us away from the heart of God. We need to stand firm, recognizing that, yes, there is ultimate victory in Christ, and there are victories here in this world, when we pray, when we worship, when we live faithfully, we will experience victories, but we also need to recognize that there are moments of suffering, pain, and perceived losses. Are we standing firm in the faith, keeping our eyes on Jesus, and doing what he has called us to do in every circumstance and situation? That's what we have been called to do.
[08:17] And so we are living a life of faith as we look at all these different people. The goal is not to look at the text and to look at the scripture and to say, wow, they were so amazing.
(Ryan’s vision for us)If we can trust Jesus, he can do a work in our life. He can do a work through us. Looking at the list in Hebrews 11, there are multiple murderers, a drunkard, a man who sold his wife to protect his own skin, a woman who sold her husband to gain a child, an adulterer, and a prostitute. I think you're okay. There are so many things that should disqualify them and put them in the hall of shame, but here they are in the hall of faith because at least at one moment, they live faithfully. And really, a life of faith is about being faithful in all these small things so that when the big things come, we are ready to do what God has called us to do. You are not going to face a giant every day, stand before a sea that needs to be split in half, or build an ark every single day. But every day we can be faithful to love God, to love others, to make disciples.
Are we running our leg of the race well? I [Ryan] have run a few races in my life and the language in Hebrews 11 and 12 stirs something up, remembering what it's like to train for and run a race. We're not talking about a sprint, but a marathon. And so for those of you who are not sick like I am and don't like to run for fun, I'll help kind of guide us into what we're talking about as we talk about running this race here as well.
[11:47] There are five things that I want to mention that we need to understand as we run our leg of the race. And number one is this, is that we are qualified through faith alone.
Slide: (1) We are qualified through faith alone.
Hebrews 11:39-40 - 39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
It is faith alone in Christ alone that saves us and that qualifies us to be a part of His purposes, to be a part of building His kingdom. In Hebrews 11, verses 39 through 40, getting to the end of this list of faith, it says these people were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
Immediately, the author is trying to draw us into the story, saying that we are living in this great time where the Spirit of God is dwelling within us. All of the people mentioned in Hebrews 11 were looking forward to the promise of Christ, but they never got to see Him with their own eyes. We live with the ability to look back on what Jesus has already done, and we live in a time that Jesus said would be even better. Jesus told His disciples, it is better for you when I leave, because then I'm going to send the helper, the Holy Spirit to dwell within you. We live at this time where when we put our trust in Jesus and the Spirit of God dwells within us and leads us and guides us. We have this intimate, close, personal relationship with Him because He lives in our hearts. What an amazing time to be a follower of Christ! There is something better that we get to be a part of. They were looking ahead to this time that we live in as the church, filled with the Holy Spirit, knowing who Christ is and what he has accomplished, waiting for the final promise of him coming and returning in glory so that we can be with him for eternity.
As we wait, we live in this amazing time. And it is saying that yes, with all these heroes of faith, you might look and elevate their stories, but they would look ahead at our time and say “Wow, you get to live with the Holy Spirit in you!” But remember that these were all commended for their faith. They weren't qualified because of their age, wisdom, intellect, looks, or how many friends they had. They were qualified through faith.
(Ryan’s “Swim Team” story [14:17]) “…I got the same participation, and was able to race in the same race, not because of what I had done, but because of what others had done, and I just got brought into the fold.” You are capable of it in the same way, being a follower of Christ, the call to love God, to love others, to make disciples. Not because of how smart you are, or all the great things you've done, but because the Spirit of God dwells within you. And if you will trust Him, He can do a great work.
To clarify, that doesn't mean that we shouldn't study Scripture, or try to learn more things about how to reach people, or take classes and try to grow deeper in our relationship and knowledge of God. We absolutely should be doing those things, but it does mean that we need to stop living in fear, take the baton and run the race.
So many times we are handed the baton and we freeze and think, no, I'm not as fast as everyone, so I'm not going to run. Hand it over to somebody else. But God is saying no, take it and run the race. Live a life of faith. These people in Hebrews 11 were commended for their faith, and you can be commended for yours. It's faith that qualifies you in faith alone. We simply need to trust Jesus.
The second thing is that we do not run alone.
Slide: (2) We do not run alone.
Hebrews 12:1a - 1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses,
Hebrews 12:1, the first part says, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses. All these names mentioned in Hebrews 11 are there to remind us that we are not in this by ourselves. We are not the first or only people trying to do this, but we have this cloud of witnesses that is there to support us and encourage us and point us towards Christ and faithful living.
(Ryan’s 2020 marathon story [17:09]) “… And someone has been walking behind me and I hear him start to run and he sort of pats me on the shoulder, sort of grabs me and kind of pushes me forward and he's like, ‘Come on man, we only got like a mile and a half left. We got this. We'll get to the finish. Let's finish strong.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, all right, like let's go. I don't know who you are, but we're in this together.’”
But it was that cloud of witnesses. As you think about living a life of faith, going to Hebrews 11 and seeing this cloud of witnesses, how encouraging can this be? Maybe you are going through a tough time, or there is this faith moment or journey that God is calling you on that just feels too big. And David says, “Listen, I get it. When I stood before Goliath, I was afraid. I was scared. I was small and significant. No one thought I could do this. Everyone thought I was a dead man walking. But God guided that rock straight into that man's temple and he fell down. You can slay this giant. It's got nothing on God. He's got you.”
Or maybe [when you are] in a time of waiting on a promise from God, Abraham and Sarah come along and they say, “We know what you're going through. We've been there. We had to wait 25 years. And yeah, we messed up along the way, but God was still faithful. Don't try and do things your way. Trust him. He's a good God. He's got you.”
Or maybe you reach a point where you think, I'm not worthy, I'm not capable and Rahab comes along and says, “Listen, I had no business being in Scripture. I had no business serving in God's purposes. I was a part of the people who were the enemies of God. I was doing the wrong thing, living an immoral life, and I had the small amount of faith to just trust that God was going to have the victory and ask for his help. And he used me in incredible ways. You're not disqualified. God's got you.”That cloud of witnesses is a reminder that we are not in this alone. We have the encouragement of faith stories all throughout scripture. And in Hebrews 10, leading up to this chapter, we have the words that say, "Don't give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing." We need one another to encourage each other, and to push one another forward.
We have this spiritual cloud of witnesses from the past, looking at the past, spiritual mothers and fathers, and the heroes of the faith, but also we surround ourselves with this cloud of witness. We are not in this alone. We need one another, and we need these stories to remind us that God's got us, because there are going to be challenges. The third thing that I want us to know is that we can overcome the obstacles.
Slide: (3) We can overcome the obstacles.
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,
Yes, there will be hurdles and challenges—it will not be easy—but we can overcome the obstacles. Hebrews 12:1 says, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders in the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." It tells us to throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and run with perseverance. There will be things that hinder you along your way. There will be sin that entangles you and wants to tie you down. It's will take perseverance to overcome.
But it is also saying we are capable. It is not saying “hey, sorry, the sin is going to entangle you and you're doomed.” No, throw off the things that hinder and the sin that entangles and run with perseverance because you're capable, because God has made you capable. Even if you don't feel it, God has made you capable. Run with perseverance.
There is a progression that goes from the things that hinder to the sin that entangles. If you are running a race, there are things that might hinder you, little obstacles that may get in the way that are going to make it a little bit harder, a little more difficult to do. It is as if you are running with weights on, and you are throwing off these weights that have been slowing you down and keeping you from doing what you have been called to do.
If we are called to love God, love others, and make disciples, there will be things that hinder us. There will be days where we're just too tired, days where we're not feeling it, and days where everyone seems to need our attention, stopping us from doing the thing that we really know we're supposed to do. We need to throw off the things that hinder, because if we don't throw them off, they become sin that entangles.
When you are entangled, you are stopped in your tracks. When we have sin in our lives, we need to repent of our sin, throw off the sin that entangles, get out of that entanglement, and keep running the race that God has for us.
If there's ever been a time in your life where you've struggled to love God, to love others, or to make disciples, again, you are not alone.
The Bible recognizes that there are going to be things that hinder and sin that wants to entangle us. But it says, when those things come up, throw them off and keep running your race. Don't be like, well, I failed. I got entangled, and now I'm stuck, and I'm done. Throw off the things that hinder, throw off the sin that entangles, and keep running the race with perseverance.
Slide: (4) Jesus will get us to the finish.
2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
The fourth thing is this, is that Jesus will get us to the finish. It tells us to throw off the things that hinder the sin that entangles and run with perseverance the race marked out for us. How do we do that? By fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
The author of Hebrews gives us a mini gospel message reminding us of what Jesus has done for us. His call is to take our eyes off of everything else and put them on Jesus. That phrase, fixing your eyes has the connotation in the original language of turning away from other things, taking your eyes off of something else to put them on the one, the person of Jesus.
There is a reality that as we are running the race of faith, as we have taken the baton and we are running our leg, that there are going to be things that distract and pull us away. We need to take our eyes off of the distractions, the temptations, and ourselves, and thinking it's all up to us. Instead we need to place our eyes on Jesus and trust in Him. He's the one who endured the cross so that we could have life.
He endured the cross so that we could be welcomed into His purpose and His plan. He is the one who endured the cross so that we can be a part of building His kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven. And so let's take our eyes off of everything else and fix them on Jesus and trust that He will get us to that finish line.
Really that cloud of witnesses, that's what they're doing. They're encouraging us not to say “Hey, look at me, David, look at me Moses, look at me Noah, look at me Rahab, look at me Sarah, look how great I am.” They're saying “Look at Jesus. Look at Jesus. Look at Jesus”. He's got you. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Take your eyes off everything else. Don't look at yourself because you will stumble and fall. Don't look at the distractions or you're going to veer off course. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Jesus will get us to the finish. And the fifth thing I want to say is that it won't be easy. It won't be easy, but Jesus will make a way.
Slide: (5) It won’t be easy . . . but Jesus will make a way.
3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Verse 3 reminds us or tells us, "Consider Him, Jesus, who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." The author's giving us a warning because he knows that if we try and do this on our own, we're going to grow weary. We're going to lose heart. We're going to fall off the path, go off course. Keep your eyes on Jesus.
Remember who he is, what he has accomplished, and what he has endured for you. And remember that it is his spirit that dwells within you. If our eyes are on him and we remember how strong and powerful and mighty and glorious he is, and we receive the promise that His Spirit is who dwells within us, then we're trusting Him to lead the way. Then our act of faith is about saying, I don't think I can do this, but I think you can do this. I don't know if I am capable or qualified, but I know that you are, and I'm going to trust in you, Jesus. We fix our eyes on Jesus. He's the one who started that faith journey in us. He is the one who will bring it to completion.
([28:56] 1992 Summer Olympics story) “… he begins to walk him down to the finish line. And they crossed that finish line in the Olympic Games. Yes, not the way he wanted to, but probably the way he needed to. And it is this reminder that when we struggle, and stumble and fall, and think ‘I can't go on any further’ that God comes and He wraps us his embrace.”
Conclusion
Jesus holds us for a moment and he says, "Come and do mission with me." And he puts our arm over him and he'll carry us to that finish line. If we want to live a life of faith, we need to keep our eyes on Jesus. And I want to end with this, that the life of faith is not always about these big, miraculous moments. It's about being faithful in the mundane.
As a dad, I [Ryan] know that my number one priority, my number one ministry is to my kids. I love all of you, but my kids come first. Because these are the ones that God has put into my life in this way. And while I love the big moments of, you know, baptized two of my kids, and they've all confessed faith in Jesus, and getting ready to send my daughter to summer camp, and knowing the great time that she'll have, and we'll send them to mission trips eventually, and send them out in faith. It's also the little moments that I get to demonstrate faith that mean so much.
It's playing catch with my son, to show him that I have enough time for him, to show him that he's loved, spending time with my boy and letting him read to me, going on a date with my daughter, showing my kids the love of Jesus each and every moment of each and every day. And yeah, there's a whole bunch of moments where I come up short. But a life of faith is 99% in the small, mundane things for those 1% big, massive scripture defining moments. Be faithful in the mundane. Be faithful today. Love God, love others, make disciples.
[Closing Prayer]
Sermon Points
We are qualified through faith alone. (Heb. 11:39-40)
We do not run alone. (Heb. 12:1a)
We can overcome the obstacles. (Heb. 12:1)
Jesus will get us to the finish. (Heb. 12:2)
It won’t be easy . . . but Jesus will make a way. (Heb. 12:3)
Questions for Reflection
How is your faith walk?
How does it feel to know that you are not alone in the race and to be tied to the heroes of the faith?
How can you demonstrate faith this week?
Who will you invite to church next week?
