“Running with Perseverance”: a sermon for the ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST (24 AUGUST 2025)

 

Texts: Is. 40.1-5, 28-31; Ps. 27.1-4, 7-14; Hebrews 12.1-4, 7-13

     The life of faith is not easy.  Do you ever get tired?  Do you ever get fed up with it all?  Some people speak of the Christian life as if faith were a solution to our problems.  However, living as a Christian for a few years (or perhaps even a few minutes) reveals to us that the life of faith presents us with new challenges – just ask the women and men included in the “hall of faith” of Hebrews chapter 11: 

“…Others suffered mocking and flogging and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned to death; they were sawn in two; they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented—of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains and in caves and holes in the ground” (Heb. 11.36-38).

     One of the greatest literary depictions of the reality of the life of faith is J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings (1954).  Any reader of this classic novel who is familiar with the Bible will instantly recognize the thoroughly “biblical” nature of this fantasy story.  Two unlikely heroes – Hobbits, “halflings” (i.e. half as high as a human) – embark, against impossible odds, on a quest that will push them to their breaking point and beyond in order to destroy the Ring of Power and thus save Middle-Earth (i.e. their world).  At one point on their journey, one of the hobbits, named Frodo, makes the following remark to Gandalf the wizard about the adventure he finds himself swept up in:

“I wish it need not have happened in my time,"

"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

     Like Frodo and Samwise, his faithful accomplice, we find ourselves caught up in the strange and perilous adventure that is the story of the people of God in this world.  Like Tolkien’s hobbits, we may often feel compelled to bear burdens and undertake tasks in the midst of situations that we did not help to bring about.  We may feel caught in a web of circumstance that is not of our making and seems to originate in forces beyond our control.  We may well wonder whether any of this is fair or whether we are indeed responsible to act selflessly in situations where the stakes are so high…

     All of “the heroes of faith” listed in Hebrews chapter 11, and indeed, every woman and man down through the ages who has trusted and strived to obey the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob can testify that following this God is a struggle against enormous odds.  Traditionally, the 3 perennial enemies of the Christian have been identified as the world, the flesh and the devil.  These three “sources of resistance” unite against us with the result that the life of faith is anything but a cakewalk.  As members of the people of God, we are called, first of all, to struggle against the tendencies of a society that is sometimes hostile, but more often than not is simply indifferent to our concerns.  Secondly, we must resist the sinful proclivities of our own fallen nature (including perhaps, our instincts of self-preservation); thirdly, we must contend with a cunning and malicious adversary who desires to thwart our efforts to serve God in the (pathetic) hope of sabotaging the purposes of the Creator.  This morning, we are going to take a look at three aspects of our identity as members of God’s people – the Who? The What? And the How? of what the author to the Hebrews calls “the race of faith”.

WHO?

     First of all, Who?  Who are we?  Are we simply individuals who happen to be believers and who happen to gather to worship God together?  Are we merely people who choose to engage in certain “religious” activities or are we part of something bigger, something that goes far beyond our decisions, preferences and control?  What precisely have we been caught up in?

     Do you remember where you were on August 3, 1996?  I was glued to an old TV set, excitedly watching the CBC’s coverage of the Olympic Summer games in Atlanta.  On that day, the Canadian men's 4x100 metre relay team won the gold medal. The team consisted of Donovan Bailey, Bruny Surin, Glenroy Gilbert, and Robert Esmie. They won the race with a time of 37.69 seconds, defeating the Americans.  What a moment!  This Canadian record would stand until the 2024 Paris Olympics.

     The author to the Hebrews describes the life of faith as a race, a grueling ordeal to be undertaken in the presence of “a great cloud of witnesses”, i.e. all those who have gone before us in the service of God.  We are called to run, not nonchalantly, but with perseverance (cf. 1 Cor. 9.24-27).  Indeed, Hebrews chapter 12 is situated within a larger argument about perseverance, accompanied by a unique definition of “faith”.  Consider this passage from the end of chapter 10:

“…we are not among those who shrink back and so are lost, but among those who have faith and are saved.  Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for…” (Heb. 10.39—11.1).

In this context, “faith” seems to mean enduring hardships and persevering in one’s Christian Walk, striving to live according to God’s will, always keeping in mind the hope of ultimate salvation and life with God – a hope that is invisible but is in fact more real than any visible thing.

     How did we come to be enrolled in this contest of faith?  In his grace, God chose us to belong to his people, a people whose history reaches back millennia into the past.  The origins of the people of God are found – as you may have guessed – in the book of Genesis (around 4,000 years ago) when God called a certain Abram to leave his home, situated in the region of Babylon, and to go to the land that God would show him (Gn. 12.1-3).  This was the starting line of the race of faith – God called Abram to undertake a westward journey towards the Promised Land, a journey of approximately 1,000 kilometers.  This was to be no sprint – it would be more like a marathon.  In his letters, the apostle Paul tells us that our faith in Jesus shows us to be descendants of Abraham, who had set out on that journey in faith and obedience to the God who had promised him innumerable descendants (cf. Rom. 4.11-13; Gal. 3.6-9).  And so, the people of God is not a merely genetic, biological family – rather, it is a family of faith.  All those who have faith in the God of Abraham – now revealed in Jesus – are shown to be members of the one people of God across the ages.  The author to the Hebrews makes no mistake – by describing those prominent people from the past who had “run their lap” in their own day, he demonstrates that this race of faith which we are called to run is far from an individual event.  On the contrary, the race of faith is a relay-race.  Those women and men who have gone before have now passed the baton to us, and now it is our turn to run.  As members of the people of God, we find ourselves running in a race that began long before our time and will most probably continue well after we have run our lap.  As members of God’s people, we find ourselves caught up in the purposes of God, purposes that we did not initiate, but in which we are called to participate.

WHAT?

     You see, this was God’s answer to the problem of sin and evil.  Let us once again call to mind the book of Genesis.  After the description of the good creation in the first two chapters, in chapters 3—11 we are told of a long series of disasters, beginning with the eating of the forbidden fruit and culminating in the arrogant construction of the Tower of Babel.  And let’s not forget Noah’s Flood.  What is the creator to do about his creation which seems “hell-bent” on rebelling against his will?  Answer: God calls an unlikely hero – an insignificant Mesopotamian polytheist by the name of Abram (Abraham) – to become the “father of a great nation” (cf. Gn. 12.1-3).  This is a recurring theme in the Bible.  The Creator-God does not give up on his creation.  He always provides the conditions for a new start – after the Great Flood, Noah and his family emerged from the Ark as a new humanity, and they received a mandate to populate the earth, much like the mandate that God had given to the original man and woman (cp. Gn. 9.1ff with 1.26-31).  The 4 human pairs who emerged from the Ark constituted the beginnings of a new humanity.  When God calls Abraham, he gives him a similar mandate to the one given to both Adam and Eve and to Noah – Abraham is promised a land, a great name, and many descendants.  Indeed, later on, Jewish Rabbis would comment on Genesis chapter 12 by saying “If Adam goes wrong, God will call Abraham and he will sort things out”.  Since humanity had, on the whole, chosen to rebel against its Creator, God calls Abraham to be the Father of a new humanity-within-humanity, a human family that is called to be faithful to its Creator.  With the call of Abraham, God’s plan is back on track – the Creator now has a people to call his own among the nations of the earth.

“…faith is…the conviction of things not seen…By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going” (Heb. 11.1, 8).

God’s answer to the problem of evil is to form a people.  The people of God are called to collaborate with the purposes of the Creator to save and rescue his world.  This is what the people of God are all about.  We are to run the race of faithful obedience to God, participating in God’s plan to redeem and renew his world.

HOW?

     But how do we do this?  How do we run this race of faith with perseverance?  How do we keep on exerting ourselves when all seems hopeless, when it seems like we are just wasting our time and energy?  How do we keep pushing forward through grief, pain, conflict, disappointment and frustration?  How do we not simply give up and collapse in a heap of bitter self-pity and regret?  The author to the Hebrews tells us in 12.2,

“…look to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who…endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of…God”. 

Jesus has shown us the way.  The cross was the home stretch of Jesus’ race, and he ran it all the way to the end.  Jesus is the pioneer of our faith, of our determination to endure and to faithfully respond to the call of God to participate in his purposes.  Jesus has shown us the template of all faithful Christian living – there is always a cross to be endured.  First the cross, then the crown.  First suffering and adversity, then the reward. 

     The apostle Paul understood this – and lived it!  What were some of the key characteristics of Paul that enabled him to persevere in his work as a proclaimer of the gospel of Jesus in the Roman empire of the first century?

1.     He loved Jesus.  Paul had been embraced by the love of God in Christ and his effusive gratitude can be found on almost every page of his letters.  Jesus gave his life for Saul of Tarsus, and S/Paul firmly resolved to return the favour (cf. Gal. 2.19-20).

2.     He leaned into adversity.  Paul accepted hardships as part of the deal.  Jesus had suffered; why should he expect to walk an easier road than his master?

3.     He tasted true joy.  Paul’s most “joyful” letter was written to the Philippians…from prison!  C.S. Lewis defined joy simply as “reality”.  “Joy is the serious business of heaven”, Lewis famously said.  G.K. Chesterton apparently said: “Jesus promised his disciples three things–that they would be completely fearless, absurdly happy, and in constant trouble.”  There is a joy that can only be experienced in the middle of a good fight.  Let those who can receive this saying receive it.

4.     He depended totally on the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is the very presence of Jesus with his followers.  Seen this way, there is something extremely obvious about the Spirit; of course, Jesus wants his followers to experience his presence – and he has provided us with his Spirit (cf. Jn. 14—16).  Paul identifies the Holy Spirit as “the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, and that will bring life to our mortal bodies” (cf. Rom. 8.11); yes, beyond death but also even now!

5.     He kept his eyes on invisible realities.  “…faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb. 11.1).  We, the people of God, are those who can “see” invisible realities through the eyes of faith.  Friedrich Nietzsche famously said, “those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.”  We could paraphrase Nietzsche by saying, we who orient our lives towards the as-yet invisible “city of God” (cf. Heb. 11.10) may well be considered insane by those who do not have the eyes of faith, who cannot yet hope in the sure and certain fulfillment of the promises of the Creator.

     Paul’s vision had been turned inside-out and upside-down by his encounter with the risen Jesus (it also involved 3 days of blindness…).  He saw the crucifixion as the moment of glorious triumph over all the forces of evil; he saw the shame of the Son of God being nailed naked to the cross as the manifestation of the wisdom and power of God.  Paul had tasted the kingdom of God – he had received the honour of being made a slave of Christ!  Remember the Philippians Creed (cf. Phil. 2.5-11).  Paul was absolutely convinced that the very created order was going to be reborn and that he had a role to play in bringing this about:

“…the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility…in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Rom. 8.18-21; cf. Heb. 11.10, 13-16; 12.28).

Paul was someone crazy enough to believe that the world could be changed – that it had been fundamentally changed by the death and resurrection of Jesus and would one day be completely transfigured and transformed, with joy flooding the earth as the waters cover the sea (cf. Hab. 2.14).  The “insanity” of Paul was the insanity of a man in love, of a man enamoured of a dream of the purposes of the Creator being fulfilled and of redeemed humanity basking in the glory of their God and his Messiah, “who loved them and gave himself for them” (cf. Gal. 2.20).

We have been called to be the people of God here and now.  It is our turn to run.  Let’s encourage each other to keep…on…going!  May we be able to say at the end of our lives, along with the apostle Paul:

“I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.  From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness…” (2 Tim. 4.7-8).  Amen.