Tangled Feet

Last night, a bunch of us went roller skating and blading. More than once, there was a heap of bodies on the floor. Nimble feet were not so fleet as they tangled. If we can shift from the roller rink to the race track, with the help of Pastor Joseph Stowell, we're looking at Hebrews 12 these Sundays, to find out how to run the race well for Christ, without tangling our feet in impediments.

Last week, we discovered that the first ingredient of a successful race is to dump the baggage that slows us down. Remember, Hebrews 12:1 "let us . . . lay aside every weight"?

Number two ingredient for running the race of life well is this: "lay aside the sin which clings so closely." Aren't there are a lot of entrees on the menu of the sins that we wrestle with? Well, my list of sins to choose from is long, anyway. But aren't there usually a few really big ones that get us most of the time? I think it's a safe bet that there is one big-time entangling sin that all of us face, that we all have in common. You say, "Oh, boy, here it comes, the sex thing again!" But I'm not talking about "the sex thing." The feature on the menu is the sin of self- centeredness. It's the sin of seeing myself as first, as most important. It's controlling and manipulating and working my whole world to satisfy me. That's like trying to run with our shoe laces tied together.

It's not just about us old-timers. But it's about us kids, too, because our world offers you a seductive menu like it never offered to us in our youth. You think, "Oh, I'm just going to try this once! I just want to experience this!" Do you know that the Evil One wants to hook you with habits now that will haunt you for the rest of your life? Satan wants to war against your soul by giving you baggage that will impede you when you try to run your race. If we're going to run this race and do the distance for Jesus, we have to shake off the sin of "me-first."

Or the sin of bitterness. You can't run the race when there is tied around your ankles the ball and chain of somebody you hate and haven't forgiven. The wonderfully liberating truth of God is that my enemy may never deserve to be forgiven. Maybe your dad wasn't a good dad to you. Maybe he didn't pass the baton of faith on to you. Maybe somebody has ripped you off at work. I don't know what it is. You say, "Well, they don't deserve to be forgiven. I'm not going to give them a break. I'm not letting them off the hook." Followers of Christ don't forgive people for their sake. We forgive people because God asks us to do this. We do it for Him. Now there's Somebody worth doing something big for. So you shed that sticky, clinging sin of bitterness, and you go up to your enemy and say, "By the way, I've forgiven you. But get this. You don't deserve it, and it's not about you. It's all about Jesus, so there." Don't do that. Don't say that. That's getting your feet all tangled up in even more in the duct tape of pride. That's where I want to get the credit, where I want to get the glory. That's where I'm not able to say that I'm wrong and to admit that I'm wrong. That's where I get all bent out of shape because my parents or my kids don't affirm me the way I think they should. I just have to remember, if I want Jesus to be the wind under my wings in the race - and He will be; He does that - if I want Jesus to be the wind under my wings, I have to remember that He says that He resists the proud. If I have a self-centred spirit, He'll be the wind in my face when I try to run. But He gives grace to help me run the race. If I'll just back myself down, have a humble spirit, my feet get untangled, and light, and free. I don't know what the sin is that is tangling your feet in the race, but it needs to be left at the side of the road. So (1) dump the baggage, and (2) ditch the sin.

And the number three ingredient that Hebrews 12 gives us for successful running, - you stay at it. Did you hear that in the text? - "and let us run with perseverance." Stay at it. Don't quit. Hang in there against the pressures to quit and do something else.

Did you ever come to our fall beef BBQ and see the kids do their watermelon seed contest? Did you ever put your thumb on that slimy black seed and put a little pressure on it? Phbbt! out it goes, and you try to aim it and hit somebody right in the face with it? Phbbt! you hit the tree with it. That's really the picture here in Hebrews 12. Because there are going to be a lot of reasons why you might want to squirt out of this race. There are going to be some pressures, and running this race called the Christian life is not going to be easy. As you stay under pressure, as you persevere, there's going to be some deal that you could cut which looks very good. Make a lot more money on the job, get a better grade, look better than your friend. But you have to cheat integrity to do it. The pressure is, "Come on, get out of the race. Come on over here. You could just do it once. Let's cut this deal. Then we could get enough money to buy that boat, or have that place at the lake." Then the other kids might say, "whoa! that's one cool dude!"

Some friend at school might say, "Come on. Come here. It's all right. You need me, and I need you. Come here. Come here." Phbbt! You squirt on out of the race. Or you stay in the race. You say, "No. I'm not going to give up. Nothing will take me out of this race. Nothing will distract me from going the distance with Jesus Christ."

When the pressure comes, stay in the race. So what might mean to stay at it? Because I think we're all willing to start the race. But what about tomorrow? How do I keep the baggage off? How do I untangle the sin around my feet? How do I stay at this race? Let me give five suggestions. Actually, I need to give them to my own heart and life as well.

Number one, stay in the Word. I find when I'm in the Word of God on a regular basis, I'm far better equipped to keep the baggage off, to keep the sin out of my life, and to stay the course. It keeps me focussed. Susan Ritchie is going to tell us about a bible study group that you could sign up for. While Susan is coming to the front, maybe you could use a help like Our Daily Bread, which will give you a Scripture reading for each day. Or Today, which does the same thing. And you might also want to sign up for a Bible study. Some of you watch Joyce Myers on TV. Others listen to Precept Ministries with Kay Arthur. Some of you hear John McArthur on the Radio. There are Bible study groups right here in our church, too. Number one way to untangle the sin that keeps our feet from running well: Stay in God's Word.

Number two, stay in church. You know, sometimes we're off-course, stumbling along. Our feet are tangled up in the involvements that distract us from the race. The tape that is the bad choices we keep making, sticks both ankles together. At those times, you can walk into church, sing a few hymns, hear God's Word and you're jarred a little bit. Because in church, Jesus puts me back into the race so many times. Stay in church.

Number three, stay accountable. We need people to whom we are accountable, with whom we are honest, and who are honest with us. We need people who ask us how we're doing with that baggage, how we're doing with leaving that sin behind. Stay accountable.
Number four, stay near people who are running the race well. I find when I'm around someone who runs the race well, I want to run like them. So stay near people who are running the race well.

And last, keep the long view in mind. At the end of life, do we want to look back with shame and regret? Or do we want to look back knowing that we have run this race well? When we are running the race that is called the Christian life, keep the long view in mind.

We don't get into this race because our grandmother started out in it. We don't start the race because our parents were members of the church. They are excellent parts of our heritage. But we begin the race when we find ourselves personally fully trusting in the work of Jesus Christ on the Cross for us. That's when we start the race called the Christian life. From then on, we keep the long view in mind. That's the view that lives every day in such a way that God will be pleased with what we choose, what we say, what we do with and in our careers or at our schools. We get rid of the baggage, and the sin that hinders our race. And we stay at it, moment by moment, day by day, in the strength of the Holy Spirit of God.