Grace Church
257 Kendall Street
Burlington, WI 53105

(262) 763-3021

Following Jesus means knowing how to persevere Hebrews 12:1-4 Following Jesus without Freaking out Sermon 10 Over the years, more times than I want to admit it, I’ve wondered if my “Daddy Permit” was going to be pulled. Aren’t you glad our kids can’t fire us? Because I’d have gotten pink slipped several times through the years.   One incident related to our subject of perseverance this morning, particularly sticks out in my mind. One of my many dumb ideas when I was a young father was that I could do with my boys some of the things that I had enjoyed when I was a kid. As a kid, I loved building models. I built models cars, ships and airplanes and I got this idealistic picture of Ben, Aaron and me working together over some model. We’d look at the directions, pull the parts out of the box, get the glue that almost gets you high out…maybe even paint it.   Back when I was a kid, every kid loved soldiers and cowboys and Indians. My boys though were into Power Rangers and super heroes. So when we went to the store to pick out a model to build, we ended up with this Super Hero Dragon type space ship. We pulled it out and starting working on it BUT we didn’t finish it that night. I’m embarrassed to admit this but I think we maybe pulled it out one more time and worked on it. Then, it sat on a shelf for a while. Every now and then, one of the boys would ask if we were going to ever finish it. We never did. Finally, after it had taken up shelf space for a few years, we pitched it. Ben and Aaron will probably be in counseling someday to recover from Unfinished Red Dragon Space Ship Syndrome.   Why is starting things so much easier than finishing them? Most of us have unfinished projects sitting around the house. Some have sat there so long, they almost have mold on them. We’ve become a nation of quitters. We give up on projects, plans, friendships, diets, jobs, marriages, church…even God.   Pastor Steve Cole shares this story from his ministry. He writes:   Many years ago, a young woman who was a drug addict found my name in the phone book and began calling me frequently. She was married with two small children, but she was hooked on drugs. She had no concept that normal people sleep at night, and so she would call at 2 a.m. from some phone booth where she was stoned out of her mind. She professed to believe in Christ, and said that she wanted to follow Him, but she had no idea of what that meant. On one occasion when she was relatively sober, I described in detail what a daily walk with Christ looks like. I explained what a daily time in the Word and prayer was like, what obedience to the Bible means, how to think like a Christian, etc. When I was done, I asked, “Have you ever done anything close to what I’ve just described?” She said, “Yeah, I did that once for two weeks, but it didn’t work.” She thought that she had given it a fair try in two weeks! I explained to her that the Christian faith isn’t a two-week sprint. It’s a lifelong marathon.”   Because we’re in a spiritual battle, spiritual habits and disciplines are the easiest to jettison when the going gets tough. I’ll never forget a teen some years ago complaining about her overly busy parents saying, “I don’t know why it is that whenever my parents’ schedule gets busy, it’s always church responsibilities that they discard.” Ouch!   What’s the problem? What’s missing in our Christian experience? It’s an essential spiritual trait called perseverance. You must have perseverance if you are going to finish well. A lot of Christians start well. But what separates the kids from the adults in the Christian walk is perseverance.   The Christian life is a lifelong, grueling race that entails some long hills to climb, some swampy marshes to plod through. To make it to the end, you need self-discipline. To get into good shape, you will need to maintain your motivation and you will need sustained effort. No one enters a marathon with the thought of dropping out after a mile. Finishing well is everything. In this race you’re not competing with other believers because we’re all on the same team. No, we’re competing against the enemy of our souls, who opposes God’s kingdom and wants us to bail. He wants us to drop out.   My Bible is open to Hebrews 12:1-4 (p. 852). Did you catch that? “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Jesus finished well. He endured. He persevered. It’s not enough to start the Christian life. We must also end well. Following Jesus means knowing how to persevere, to stick to the stuff. It’s imperative that we complete the course.     An inmate scratched on the wall of his prison cell his philosophy of life, “Born to lose.” As Christians, though we’re born-again to win. God’s Word frequently compares the Christian life to an athletic event. An athlete must finish if he/she wants to win. To win in the Christian life, we must persevere. And Jesus is our example of persevering. Today we want to look at what it takes to follow His example and persevere in the Christian life. 1. Jesus is our example of persevering in the Christian life, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (v. 2). Some of you know that I love to cook. If you come to our home for a meal, you’re nearly as likely for me to have made what you eat as Jane. Remember Kenner’s Big Burger Grills? When I was a boy, my Mom bought me one. She taught me how to make grilled cheese sandwiches, French toast and pancakes. For an eight year old it was big stuff. I learned to write stories and essays at the feet of a 4th grade teacher, Martha Jarrell. I won the writer’s award in her class that year. I wrote her a few years ago and thanked her for impacting my life. I still approach public speaking the way my speech professor, Dr. Leigh Crockett, taught me to. Each week I approach sermon preparation the way my mentor, Dave Cummins, taught me to. I even highlight and color code my sermon notes the way that he did. It’s so much easier when you have an example, a model to follow. In the Christian life we have that example …Jesus Christ Himself. We’re to “look to Him.”   A cross was a humiliating thing. It was for criminals, those whom society regarded as the dregs of humanity—and yet He accepted it. If Jesus could endure like that, so must we. He’s the author of that kind of faith, and He brings it to perfection or completion. Jesus is the A to Z, the complete encyclopedia of faith.   The name “Jesus” deliberately focuses on His humanity. As a human being, He showed us exactly how to live by faith in God in this world. He trusted God at the beginning of His ministry when Satan tempted Him. He relied on God to such a degree that He could claim, “the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing” (Jn 5:19). He claimed to speak the very words that He heard from the Father. He trusted the Father in the Garden and went to the cross entrusting His soul to the Father. His final words included, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit” (Luke 23:46). So from start to finish, but especially on the cross, Jesus showed us how to persevere as we walk by faith.   When football legend, Mike Ditka, was the New Orleans Saints football coach he had a reputation for optimism. Before the first game of one season he came into the locker room to give his team a pre-game pep talk. “All right Boys!” he said, “here we are, unbeaten, untied and unscored upon…and ready for the first game of the season.”   The problem you and I have is not the before the first game or the second game, it’s halfway through the season. Most of us start well but something happens and we quit. So what gets you to bail? What causes you to head to throw off your helmet and head to the sidelines? Think about the last time that you bailed in your Christian walk, what caused it? What got you to go AWOL from the Lord’s army? Jesus models for us how to persevere. And in His life here, He faced everything that causes us to bail.   a) Jesus endured though terribly tempted. Periodically, we’ll say that Satan is tempting us. But we’re not sure. It could just be our old nature or one of his demons. But Jesus went toe to toe with Satan himself…and won. Throughout His life Satan was dogging His heels. If Jesus could endure temptation, so can we.   In the 1980’s it was first lady Nancy Reagan who popularized the slogan "Just say no." Though simple and straight forward, that little two letter word helps us make the difficult choices. Often the only thing standing between us and a life altering decision is whether or not we can say “no” to temptation. And it’s not just once. It’s a continual commitment to resist temptation. Margaret Thatcher was right, “You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.” Friend, you won’t make it as a Christian if you do not learn to resist temptation like Jesus did.   b) Jesus endured though often alone. When we feel alone, it’s easy to rationalize giving up. Chuck Swindoll mentioned an ad in a Kansas newspaper. It read, "I will listen to you talk for 30 minutes without comment for $5.00." Swindoll made this observation, "Sounds like a hoax, doesn't it? But the person was serious. Did anybody call? You bet. It wasn't long before this individual was receiving 10 to 20 calls a day. The pain of loneliness was so sharp that some were willing to try anything for a half hour of companionship." As we read the Gospels, we see Jesus was alone over and over again. His own parents and family didn’t get Him. The disciples abandoned in His time of greatest need but He still persevered.   That’s one of the blessings and God’s plan for a local church. We’re a family, a team. But sometimes we have to stand alone…just like Jesus.   c) Jesus endured though He had nothing. Why do a lot of Christians quit? Well, sometimes they look at this materialistic world and think that they deserve better. They think that they deserve a better house…a better job or even a better marriage, and they get ticked off with God and quit. But Jesus walked this earth and barely had the clothes on His back. In Matthew 8:20 He said of Himself, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.”   d) Jesus endured though evil was returned for His good. What’s that cynical quip, “No good deed goes unpunished.” In Jesus case it was true. His reputation was “He went around doing good” (Acts 10:38). But He’d heal someone and the Jewish leaders would be angry. He raised Lazarus from the dead and they plotted to kill Him. Jesus had all kinds of difficulties with people who tried their best to make His life miserable. Legalistic religious leaders plagued His every step, always looking over His shoulder to see if He did something wrong or said the wrong thing. They held His feet to the fire over every little religious law they could come up with. And all that was from good, religious folk. Do you want to quit when you’re mistreated when you do the right thing? Jesus didn’t.   e) Jesus endured though He was exhausted. How did you sleep this past week with all of the thunder storms, warnings about flooding, tornadoes? Feeling a little tired…cranky, grumpy. Can you imagine being so tired that you fall asleep in a little wooden boat in the middle of a terrible storm? That’s how tired Jesus was, “Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping” (Mt. 8:24). We’ll bite our spouse’s head off or lose it with our child, and then excuse it with, “I’m sorry…I’m just tired.” Jesus endured though He was exhausted.   f) Jesus endured though He was in great pain. He “endured the Cross.” Dr. J. A. Hadfield, noted British psychologist, said, "When people run up against life and find it too much for them, one swears, one gets a headache, one gets drunk and one prays.” When you’re going through great trials and great pain, what do you do?   Anglican Bishop, Gavin Reid, had a boy in his congregation, who’d shattered his back falling down a flight of stairs at the age of one. He was consequently in and out of hospital for many years. When Gavin Reid interviewed him in church he asked, "How old are you?" The boy replied, "Seventeen." "How many years have you spent in hospital?" The boy answered, "Thirteen years." He was then asked, "Do you think that is fair?" The boy thought and then replied, "God’s got all of eternity to make it up to me."   Jesus endured even horrible pain because He too was focused on eternity. Pain does not have to knock us out of the game.   g) Jesus endured though He knew He was going to suffer terribly. Ever had a dentist appointment and you keep re-scheduling it? Or, you have surgery scheduled but you find a way to put it off? Jesus not only endured pain, He went willingly know what horrible pain He was going to face.   There are times that we want to flee instead of facing a painful situation. Maybe it’s confronting someone we love about sin in their lives? Maybe it’s going to work and taking some real heat for being godly? Maybe it’s sticking in your marriage when it seems easier and less painful to get a divorce? It’d be easier to bail. Jesus didn’t and we don’t have to either. 2. Jesus endured because He had a purpose. Baseball great, Hank Aaron, is one of my heroes. Back in 1958 when the then Milwaukee Braves were playing the Yankees in the World Series, Yogi Berra was catching for the Yankees. As was his usual style, Yogi Berra, was full of ceaseless chatter, intended to pep up his teammates on the one hand and distract the Milwaukee batters on the other. When Hank Aaron came to the plate, Yogi tried to distract him by saying, "Henry, you're holding the bat wrong. You're supposed to hold it so you can read the trademark." Aaron didn't say anything but on the next pitch he hit it into the left-field bleachers. After rounding the bases and tagging up at home plate, Hammerin’ Hank looked at Yogi Berra and said, "I didn't come up here to read." Hank Aaron knew his purpose.   Jesus knew His purpose. In Luke 19:10 He said of Himself, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” A new insight into the sufferings of the Son of God is given in those words before us, “Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (12:2).   Charles Pfeiffer writes, “Why did Jesus endure the agonies of Calvary? Why was He willing to be forsaken of the Father? The answer is majestic in its simplicity. He had a loving purpose. The joy of redeeming His people made Him willing to endure the Cross. The agonies of Calvary cannot be minimized. There Jesus paid the ransom price for His people. But they were people He loved. He did not enter the valley of death in a grudging mood. No man took His life from Him. He gave it willingly, even joyfully, in order to redeem us! This is grace enough to leave all of us speechless.” 3. Jesus endured because He focused on the outcome. Jesus’ eye was on the prize. He knew all the suffering of this world was temporal. Joy and eternity in glory awaited Him. He focused on the “joy.” He focused on Heaven. He focused on sitting down “at the right hand of the throne of God.”   Finishing well doesn’t happen by accident. I read recently of a man named John “The Penguin” Bingham. Serious runners might recognize the name. He’s both a runner and someone who knows how to motivate others to successfully run marathons. What’s his secret? I ran across this quote by him and it stuck in my mind: “As I stand at the starting line, I know that somewhere out there is a finish line.”   That’s a great principle to keep in mind. Out there somewhere is a finish line for all of us. Most of us probably think the finish line is a few years down the road—maybe ten years or 20 years or 30 years away. For me personally, I don’t know what to expect. I’ve now lived longer than my mother who was killed when she was 47. If I live no longer than my father, I have another half a century. Maybe I only have ten years like Tim Russert who died tragically this past Friday. All I know is, the finish line of life is “out there” somewhere. And it may come sooner for me than I expect.   We must focus on the goal, the outcome. Paul’s words must echo in our hearts, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Cor. 4:16-18). Conclusion: Following Jesus means knowing how to persevere. You and I will never, ever say what Jesus said when He was enduring the pain of this world and the Cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” You and I are never alone as we seek by God’s power and grace to finish the race, to persevere, to endure to the end.   Since this is Father’s Day, let me end with a wonderful true Father’s Day story. It’s about Derek Redmond. Derek Redmond is not a name that conjures up memories of Olympic gold medals. Derek arrived at the 1992 Olympic Summer Games in Barcelona determined to win a medal in the 400. The color of the medal was meaningless; he just wanted to win one…just one.   He’d been forced to withdraw from the 400 at the 1988 Games in Seoul, only 10 minutes before the race, because of an Achilles tendon injury. He underwent five surgeries over the next year. This was the same runner who’d shattered the British 400-meter record at age 19. When the 1992 Games arrived, it was his time, his moment, his stage, to show the world how good he was and who he was.   Derek's father Jim had accompanied him to Barcelona, just as he did for all world competitions. They were as close as a father and son could be. Inseparable, really. The best of friends. When Derek ran, it was as if his father were running right next to him.   The day of the race arrived. Father and son reminisce about what it took for Derek to get to this point. They talk about ignoring past heartbreaks, past failures. They agree that if anything bad happens, no matter what it is, Derek has to finish the race, period.   The Olympic stadium is packed with 65,000 fans, bracing themselves for one of sport's greatest and most exciting spectacles. The race begins and Derek breaks from the pack, quickly seizing the lead. "Keep it up, keep it up," Jim says to himself. Down the backstretch, just 175 meters away from finishing, Redmond is a shoo-in to make the finals. Suddenly, he hears a pop. It’s his right hamstring. He pulls up lame, as if he had been shot.   "Oh, no," Jim says to himself. His face pales. His leg quivering, Redmond begins hopping on one leg, then slows down and falls to the track. As he lays on the track, clutching his right hamstring, a medical personnel unit runs toward him. At the same time, Jim Redmond, seeing his son in trouble, races down from the top row of the stands, sidestepping people, bumping into others. He has no credential to be on the track but all he can think about is getting to his son, to help him up. "I wasn't going to be stopped by anyone," he later said.   Out on the track, Derek Redmond realizes his dream of an Olympic medal is gone. Tears run down his face, "All I could think was, 'I'm out of the Olympics – again.'" As the medical crew arrives with a stretcher, Derek tells them, "No, there's no way I'm getting on that stretcher. I'm going to finish my race." Then, in a moment that will live forever in the minds of millions, Redmond lifts himself to his feet, ever so slowly, and starts hobbling down the track. The other runners have finished the race, with Steve Lewis of the United States winning the contest. But suddenly, everyone realizes that Redmond isn't dropping out of the race by hobbling off to the side of the track. No, he’s actually continuing on one leg. He's going to attempt to hobble his way to the finish line…all by himself. He’s going to persevere no matter what.   Slowly, the crowd, in total disbelief, rises and begins to roar. The roar gets louder and louder. Through the searing pain, Redmond hears the cheers, but "I wasn't doing it for the crowd," he would later say. "I was doing it for me. Whether people thought I was an idiot or a hero, I wanted to finish the race. I'm the one who has to live with it."   One painful step at a time, each one a little slower and more painful than the one before, his face twisted with pain and tears, Derek Redmond limps onward, and the crowd, many in tears, cheer him on. Suddenly, his father, Jim Redmond finally gets to the bottom of the stands, leaps over the railing, avoids a security guard, and runs out to his son, with two security people chasing after him. "That's my son out there," he yells back to security, "and I'm going to help him."   Finally, with Derek refusing to surrender and painfully limping along the track, Jim reaches his son at the final curve, about 120 meters from the finish, and wraps his arm around his waist. "I'm here, son," Jim says softly, hugging his boy. "We'll finish together."   Derek puts his arms around his father's shoulders and sobs. And together, arm in arm, father and son, with 65,000 fans cheering, clapping and crying, father and son finish the race, just as they vowed that they would. Just a couple steps from the finish line and with the crowd in an absolute frenzy, Jim releases the grip he has on his son, so Derek could cross the finish line by himself. Then, he throws his arms around Derek again, both crying, along with everyone in the stands and on TV.   Following Jesus means knowing how to persevere. But while He did it alone…we don’t. You and I are never alone. Even though we’re limping or hobbling, the Father walks with us through Heaven’s gate, right across the finish line.   Christian friend, Jesus didn’t quit…and you don’t have to either! His grace truly is sufficient for you!