Jesus: Our Wonderful Counselor

Preached at Community Christian Church
David P. Kautt

Sunday Morning, December 15, 2013

Isaiah 9:6-7, “For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
⁷ Of the increase of His government and peace
There will be no end,
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,
To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”

One of the most meaningful things to me about the Christmas season is the Christmas cards we always receive from various friends and loved ones, who write to express their tender greetings and to share their joy with us.  One of the things I consider most precious about all those beautiful, and often quite creative cards, is their focus on Jesus, and in particular, the NAMES of Jesus. 

Just off the top of your head, rehearse with me some of the names of Jesus we see mentioned in the accounts of Jesus’ birth found in Matthew and Luke and John.  In John chapter one, He is the Eternal Word – “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God…”  (John 1:1)  Jesus is the Eternal Word and the Incarnate Word, the Word made flesh, who came to dwell among us (John 1:14), and whose glory people like the apostle John had the privilege to behold – “glory as of the only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth…”  Yes, in John’s prologue, the first 18 verses of the first chapter of his gospel, the apostle John describes Jesus as the Eternal Word, the Incarnate Word, and also as the Light, the True Light of the World, who illuminates all who follow Him, so that they might no longer walk in darkness, but have the light of life (John 1:4-9; 8:12).

Now, what about in Matthew?  Matthew chapter one and two is where we read that He was to be given the name ‘Jesus, because He would save His people from their sins (1:21).  It’s also where we come across that amazing name, rooted in the Old Testament prophecy of Isaiah 7:14 - the one where it says, “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which means, “’God is with us.’”  (Matthew 1:22-23)

Then, there’s Luke’s record, Luke chapters one and two.  What are the awesome names given for the Baby to be born in Bethlehem?  Pick up the reading with me, if you would, in Luke chapter one, verse 30.

Luke 1:30-37, “Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. ³² He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. ³³ And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” ³⁴ Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” ³⁵ And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. ³⁶ Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. ³⁷ For with God nothing will be impossible.”

Jesus is the Son of the Most High.  Jesus is the Son of God.  Jesus is the Holy One…  Then, in Luke chapter two, who can forget the joyous announcement of the angel of the Lord who spoke to the shepherds out in the fields, watching over their flocks at night?  Luke 2:10-11, “Fear not!  For behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all the people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord…” 

Yes, I love the Christmas cards, and even more, I am overwhelmed by the powerful, the incredible names ascribed to this One we simply call Jesus, as His conception and birth are prophesied and announced in these three portions of Scripture. 

The name, and the names of Jesus.  What is in a name? 

Though we live in a day and time, in a place and culture where names may not always have that much significance; but from the point of view of Scripture and Biblical times and culture, names and their meanings are very significant. 

Isaiah 9:6-7, one of the most important prophecies in all the Old Testament, foretells the birth of a Child, and the gift of a Son – did you notice that interesting turn of phrase?  “For unto us a Child is born…”   Looking ahead to the birth of Jesus, what is the point, the emphasis, of that phrase, “Unto us a CHILD is born?”  I believe that one of the things God’s Spirit is communicating to us about the promised Messiah, Jesus, is that He would be FULLY human!  He would be a child, born.  Like us, He would be a child, born.  However, take a look at the next phrase.  What does Isaiah’s prophecy declare about Him?  The Messiah, the Promised One, Jesus, would be a Son given.  A Son given.  Anybody ever run across these words before:  “For God so loved the world that He GAVE His only begotten Son…”?  (John 3:16)  According to this amazing Old Testament prophecy found in Isaiah chapter 9, the promised Messiah, would be fully human – a child, born - and at the same time, fully God, fully divine: a Son given!  We could close our Books right there, couldn’t we, and go home, blown away by the magnitude of the mighty God/Man, Jesus Christ and the incomprehensible nature of His fully divine and fully human nature! 

But, don’t close your Bibles just yet…  Read on a little further with me, will you?  Isaiah 9:6 says, “For unto us a Child is born; unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace…”  What do you know about this One whom Isaiah’s prophecy describes as a “Wonderful Counselor”?

I met a young man yesterday about the age of my daughter Abby, he came to the Angel Tree party.  The young man’s name was Nashoba.  He told me he was going to school to prepare himself to be an adolescent counselor.  I asked him, “What would make you want to choose something as challenging and rewarding as counseling and mentoring young teenagers?”  As his 14-year-old nephew listened in, he said, “I almost died four years ago; crashed my motorcycle going 65 miles per hour.  I was flat on my back for four or five months with a lot of time to think about where I had been going with my life.  I decided I didn’t want young kids like my nephew to go down the paths I had been taking before my wreck…”  Sounds like Nashoba is well on his way to becoming the kind of counselor who’ll make a big difference in a lot of young teens’ lives, wouldn’t you say?

You know why I say that?  Because it sounds like Nashoba knows what it means to be a wayward, or, at least, a guide-hungry adolescent.  You know something?  Nashoba - just met him yesterday, don’t really known him intimately – but, if what I heard and observed is true and accurate, then I’d have to say that Nashoba is a little like Jesus.  He’s a little like Jesus.  What is it that makes JESUS, the Child born, the Son given – what is it that makes Him the Wonderful Counselor that He is?

Are you listening?  He knows you.  He knows you personally, intimately.  Some counselors sit across the desk from their clients, with their arms folded, nodding their heads like they are all there, that they are with you, and really understand, really know what you’re talking about and how you feel.  But, as soon as they open their mouths and start talking, you - the client – know that they haven’t heard a word you said!  They haven’t understood anything you said!

But not Jesus!  He is a Wonderful Counselor – why?  Because He knows, really knows, you – personally.  One day a fellow named Nathanael was standing under a fig tree.  And Jesus saw him standing there, just saw him standing there, didn’t ask him to fill out a 5 page client disclosure sheet first; didn’t run him though a 2 hour long personality inventory first, Jesus just SAW him there, under the fig tree, and Jesus, the Wonderful Counselor that He is - knew all there was to know about him!  How could that be?  Jesus was a walking, talking, living, breathing: Beth-el…  John 1:48-51.  Jesus was a walking Bethel.  Do you remember the ladder from heaven dream that Jacob had, recorded back in Genesis 28 (28:10-22)? 

Jesus knew what He knew about Nathanael, and He knows what He knows about you, because He is a walking, talking, living, breathing Bethel: house of God.  For Him, the door of heaven’s throne room was always open.  For Him, angels were always ascending and descending upon Him.  Jesus is a wonderful counselor, a living, breathing Bethel, in your life, who knows you better than you know yourself! 

I don’t know about you, but this thick-headed, short-sighted preacher-friend of yours NEEDS a Counselor like that!  Jesus (“The Lord Saves”), He is my/our Wonderful Counselor.  He is the One who knows us personally.

Secondly, thank God with me today, will you?  Jesus, the Great Physician, the Wonderful Counselor, He is not just in ‘counseling practice,’ and I’m His ‘test-case,’ I’m His ‘guinea-pig’ – trying to figure out what the deal is with me.  No!  Jesus is the one and only Wonderful Counselor because He is able to diagnose me properly!  Our Wonderful Counselor who knows you better than even Mom and Dad know you, He is able to do what no other counselor can ever really do:  He is able to diagnose you properly. 

A long time ago, my parents and my brother and sister and I lived next door to a young man who was mentally ill.  Donnie was his name.  From what I remember about Donnie, he was in his own little world.  And his parents, especially his mother, simply didn’t know what to do with him.  And, so they took him to the counselors and the psychiatrists.  I’m not sure that those folks knew exactly what to do with him either.  For they tried electric shock treatments, and any of a number of high-powered medications, varying from month-to-month, depending on what the counselors and advisers thought might be wrong with him.  Unfortunately, for Donnie, none of it worked.  No one ever got the diagnosis right. 

One day Jesus sat down beside a well in a Samaritan village called Sychar.  There, at that important place in the daily life of that village, Jesus met a woman, who, in her own way, was a little like Donnie.  She had been married 5 times, and had failed at marriage 5 times.  And, at the time she met Jesus, she had given up on marriage, and was simply “living with” yet another man.  You gotta wonder if all the counselors in the vicinity of that village had each given their ‘best shot’ at helping her learn to get along with each of the men in her life.  But, none of it worked.  No one could help her - no one - until the day the Wonderful Counselor sat down beside her at that well. 

This One, the living, breathing Beth-el, who walked into her village, and sat down beside the well she visited each day, He knew all there was to know about her, and in knowing her, even her current marital status, He knew what her problem was, and what she needed in the way of ‘soul-medicine’.  Do you remember how Jesus stated His diagnosis and prescription?  He said, “Whoever drinks of this well’s water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst.  Instead, the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”  (John 4:13-14)

This woman’s problem wasn’t the men in her life – it was her!  She was the problem!  Her idea - that the water of that Samaritan well was all she needed to live - was wrong!  She needed the Wonderful Counselor’s proper diagnosis and prescription.  She needed to hear Him say, “You need Me.  You need what only I can give you!” 

Do any of you have a counselor like that?  A Wonderful Counselor who always gets the diagnosis right?  Jesus wants to be that Counselor for you! 

Isaiah 9:6-7 – The awesome names of Jesus.  The tiny Baby Mary laid in Bethlehem’s manger - the only begotten Son given by God the Father, He came to be our Wonderful Counselor - He came to be the One whose penetrating insight would startle Nathanael and whose laser-beam precise understanding of her past and her problems would prompt that unnamed Samaritan woman to make one simple, but life-changing request: “Sir, give me this water.  Give me this living water.” 

Jesus, the Wonderful Counselor who knows us - each one of us personally - and Who alone is able to diagnose us properly, you know what the best thing is about our Wonderful Counselor, Jesus?

The best thing about Him is that He is able to deliver us powerfully!  Our Wonderful Counselor is able to deliver us powerfully! 

1 Peter 2:24 – While you are looking up that verse, allow me to ask you one quick question: what is it, really, that all the Donnies, and Davids and Nathanaels and Divorcees need, more than anything else? 

1 Peter 2:24 – Take a look at that verse, and you’ll have your answer:  “Jesus Himself carried our sins” – our sins, that’s the root of every one of our problems, isn’t it?  But what does this verse say about Jesus, our Wonderful Counselor, that cannot be said about any other counselor?   “Jesus Himself carried our sins in His own body on the tree (on the cross).”  Why? 

Two reasons:  Number one - “So that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness.”  And then, the verse says, “By Jesus’ stripes we are healed…”

Why did Baby Jesus, our Wonderful Counselor, live and carry our sins in His own body on the cross?  Second reason - so that Donnies, and Divorcees, and yes, even Davids, might be healed!  Yes, healed!  Forgiven!  Cleansed of their deepest, darkest sickness: the sickness and awful effects of sin, guilt, shame, condemnation and eternal punishment!  By His stripes – by His stripes - our wounded, Wonderful Counselor becomes our glorious Healer!  Praise God!

Hebrews 12:1 - Finishing the Race (Part 3)

Preached at Community Christian Church

David P. Kautt

Sunday Morning, August 18, 2013

Hebrews 12:1-3, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run 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 the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.”

If you hadn’t already figured it out about me, as is evident from the first two sermons I’ve preached as your new minister, I like sports.  Both as an athlete, and as a fan, I have enjoyed watching and playing the games for many, many years.  Lately, however, it seems to me that competitive sports, especially on the professional level, is marked more by show-offs, huge salaries, and even scandals, than it is by genuine skill.  Maybe it’s just me, but, used to professional athletes got to that level of competition because they worked hard, sacrificed greatly, and perhaps had a few good breaks in their favor.  Now, however, it seems that way too many of them get there because of some drug they took to enhance their performance, which, to me, makes it all a big farce. 

The Scriptures, on the other hand, point us in a much different direction, as we who wear the name of Christ engage in a much more strenuous, and certainly in a much more eternally important contest, the race to win the crown of life everlasting.  While temporal, fleeting moments of fame and stardom come to those athletes who are the biggest, the fastest, the meanest and the strongest, in Christ and in this race we call the Christian life, these who finish the race, those who keep the faith, those who endure all the way to the end, are not the ones with the biggest muscles, but those with the BEST EYES.  You remember our outline of this text, don’t you? 

Speaking of the Faith Hall of Famers of Hebrews chapter 11, God’s Spirit, speaking through the writer here in chapter 12 says, first of all, if you want to run, all the way to the end of the race, you must look at the winners! Races as strenuous and demanding as this one is, it’s easy to think you want to quit, easy, as verse 3 puts it, to become weary and discouraged in your souls.  But, don’t do it!  Remember that you and I are surrounded by a whole host of athletes of former times and generations who, though stressed and stretched to the max, didn’t give up or give in.  Use your eyes, they are the most important resource you have.  Use them to take note of the example folks like Abraham and Moses, Joshua and Gideon, Samuel and David set for you.  Yes, use your eyes to see HOW those men and women persevered and finished the race.  Remember how they did so?  It’s the theme of Hebrews chapter 11.  They did so BY FAITH.  Not by means of performance enhancing drugs, but BY FAITH. 

Look at the winners, that great cloud of witnesses surrounding you.  Yes, use your eyes, your open-the-book-read-and-study-what-it-says EYES, to learn from their examples.  Then, what?  Do what they did!  That’s right, all those Sunday School stories about men building big boats to save mankind from a world-wide flood, or about women giving birth to babies when they are decades past their prime, or about children slaying giants with a sling and a stone.  They’re not just cute little stories.  No, because they are a part of this SWORD, they have a point to them!  Read them, study them, ask God to make clear to you what the point is!  Then, do it!  Look at the winners! 

Step two, requirement number two, if you and I want to run this race to win the prize of eternal life: we must use our eyes to look at us, to look at ourselves.  Twenty-first century athletes, it seems to me, use their eyes to look at themselves, alright.  But, the goal of their looking at themselves seems to be more like the fellow who saw his reflection in a pool of water, and was transfixed on his own beauty and body. 

But, the Word of God, once again, comes at all of this from a completely different angle, remember?  Once again, Hebrews 12:1.  Why do we, why are we to look at ourselves.  Is it to become Narcissistic, enamored with us?  No!  We look at ourselves, we do what the Bible calls SELF-examination, why?  So that if there is anything, I mean, ANYTHING, that is like a weight hindering us, or any sin – lying, gossiping, stealing, bitterness, envy, greed, immorality, or whatever that is is entangling us – we must lay it aside, we must PUT IT OFF, so that we can run, and run, and win! 

My fellow runners, use your eyes, to look at the winners, and use your eyes to look at yourselves.  But, all of that, as important as it is, won’t get you to the finish line.  That’s why God’s Spirit led the writer of this passage to cap off this text with this fitting climax.  Look at the winners!  Look at yourselves!  Look at Jesus!  Look at Jesus!  Let’s read it one more time:

Hebrews 12:1-3, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run 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 the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.”

As I was studying for this last portion of this sermon, God reminded me of several other passages that, to me, bring light on this part of our study. 

“Looking unto Jesus,” is how the writer state it.  He is the Author of our faith.  But, what does the writer mean?  What is he driving at?  Let me see if we can clarify it for us.  Look at Jesus, look at what He’s done for you, if you are His child.  And what has He done for you?  Well, once again, the text says that Jesus is the AUTHOR of our faith.  In coach’s terms, Jesus is the PLAYMAKER, He is the Point Guard, the Quarterback, if you will.  You see, if it wasn’t for Jesus, the religion of which we are a part, wouldn’t exist!  He is the FOUNDER of our religion, the One the apostles call the Chief Cornerstone, the Rock upon whom the Church is built.  But, listen, it gets even better than that!  Not only is Jesus the Founder of the Christian religion, listen, He is the reason you and I have come to saving faith!  Like the old gospel song puts it, “we were sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore, very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more.”  And, how did we come to be saved?  Did we pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps?  No!  Jesus, the Master of the deep, heard our despairing cries, and from the waters lifted us, now safe are we! 

Looking unto Jesus, He is the AUTHOR of my faith!  Looking unto Jesus, looking at what He has down for me! 

My loved ones, do you?  Do you realize and recognize what Jesus has done for you?  Romans chapter 4, culminating in the final verses of that chapter, verses 24 and 25, says it so powerfully.  Open your Bibles to that chapter with me for just a moment.  Early in the chapter, Paul alludes to the life and experience of King David, the writer of Psalm 32, the passage Paul quotes in about verses 6-8.  And, Paul does so to drive home what Jesus has done for us.  In our former state, before Jesus saved us, what were we?  Lost, sinful, dead!  Our lawless deeds rendered us guilty!  Our sins left us naked and uncovered and ashamed before God’s all-seeing eyes.  Our iniquities put us in a position of being accountable to God for repeated violations of His law, but with no adequate and acceptable means to give an answer to God. 

But, then Jesus came, the Author of our faith, and what did He do for us?  Do you know?  You really should know, Romans 4:25.  Here’s why we look to Jesus, why HE’s the PLAYMAKER of our salvation!  Romans 4:25, He allowed Himself to be handed over to death, delivered up to OUR MAKER, our Judge, and, think of this, to His Father, why?  For our sins!  For the benefit of hopeless, helpless sinners that we would otherwise be! 

Jesus was delivered to death for our sins!  But, that’s only half of it, right?  Look at what else Paul says Jesus did for you and me!  Romans 4:25 – As meaningful, and important as Jesus’ death for sinners certainly is, what significance would it have IF Jesus hadn’t been raised to life again?  Hebrews 12:2 talks about how Jesus, because of the joy that was set before Him endured the cross.  What do you think that joy set before Him really was?  I’m virtually certain that it has something to do with His resurrection.  But, listen, not just with the joy of being alive again ONLY!  No!  Rather, I think that the joy set before Jesus, as He went up Mount Calvary and bled and died on that cruel cross, was the joyful expectation of what both His death AND His resurrection would accomplish for you and me!  Romans 4:25, “He was delivered over to death for our sins, AND, on top of that, Jesus was raised to life for our justification, so that now, God not only does NOT count our sins against us, better than that, God now counts Jesus’ righteousness for us!  Praise God! 

Looking unto Jesus, to the AUTHOR of our faith, the PLAYMAKER of our salvation, looking back to what He has done for you and me!  Isn’t it great to be able to do that?  To be able to do that each Lord’s Day as we gather around the Lord’s Table?

But, listen, as critical as what Jesus HAS done for us, as the AUTHOR of our faith, really is, what good is that for the race we’re trying to run today?  Without sounding like I’m blaspheming, let me ask you to consider this statement since most of us here likely have quite a ways yet to go on this race.  What’s our greatest need, now and in the future, a Jesus who helped back then, in getting us STARTED in the race, or a Jesus who can and will help us now and all the rest of the way? 

I’m sure you see where I’m going with this: Hebrews 12:1-2, notice that the text DOESN’T say: “Having looked [in the past] to Jesus…”  But rather it says, “Looking unto Jesus…”  Why do you think the Scripture puts it that way?  Because, as I said it a moment ago, when it comes to THIS race, this long and often grueling marathon, we don’t simply need someone to get us started, no!  We need Someone to help us finish!  Looking unto Jesus, and who IS Jesus?  He is the AUTHOR of our faith!  For sure!  But, listen, and praise God with me, He also is the FINISHER of our faith, the one God gave to see to it that all His promises come to fruition! 

Jesus is the finisher of our faith!  I had a very meaningful conversation last week with Mrs. Coach, Mary P., in the home of her daughter Missy and son-in-law Hayden.  And what made it extra special for me was what Mary told me about her husband, Coach Kent, and their son Timothy.  Mary said that when she was expecting Timothy, Kent’s dad passed away.  At Mr. P.s’ funeral, the preacher preached from Mr. P.s’ favorite passage of Scripture, 2 Timothy 4:6-8, where Paul describes how he had fought the good fight, finished the race, and kept the faith.  Mary told me that a few days later Kent told her that if the baby she was about to deliver happened to be a boy, he wanted to name him Timothy because of those Bible verses that were so significant to Kent’s dad.  And that are now greatly cherished by Kent.  I appreciate that, I really do.  But, let me ask you, all of you, to consider one thing with me, about those verses in 2 Timothy 4.  And that is this: what is their context?  What is the backdrop behind them?  Or, to put it another way, what is it, WHO is it, that gives those verses meaning and power?  Let me take you one more verse in 2 Timothy for an answer: the context, the backdrop for Paul’s triumphant declaration and Mr. P.’s assurance as recorded in 2 Timothy 4:6-8, is what Paul writes in 2 Timothy 1:12.  Pick up the reading with me in verse 8:

2 Timothy 1:8-12, “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.”

Two weeks ago, I asked you whether or not you’ve ever been tempted to quit, to drop out of the race.  Some of you have been there, some of you are there, now.  May I urge you and exhort you with these final words?  Don’t do it!  Don’t quit!  Why?  Because of Jesus!  Because of the One who is able to keep what you have committed unto Him against that Day!  Because of the One who, not only is the Author of your faith, but who also is the Finisher, the Fulfiller, the Completer of it as well!  Look to Him, consider Him, so that you will not become weary and discouraged in your souls. 

Hebrews 12:1 - Finishing the Race (Part 2)

Source

Preached at Community Christian Church

David P. Kautt

Sunday Morning, August 11, 2013

Hebrews 12:1-3, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run 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 the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.”

If you were to evaluate where you are spiritually, today, compared to where you were a year ago, how would you rate yourself?  “I’m miles ahead…”  “I’m a few feet farther along…”  “I’m at a standstill…”  Or, “I’m s tuck in reverse gear, and have been so for several months…”  Spiritual progress, spiritual growth, like running a race - not a sprint, by the way, but a marathon – is meant to be just that: growth.  Progress.  Forward movement in the direction of becoming more like Jesus Christ.  Yet, at times, and for a number of different reasons, our progress, our forward movement in spiritual growth may be hampered, if not, out and out, stopped.  But, is that what God desires for us?  Is it?

Spiritual progress,  moving forward along the ‘track’ in the direction of the finish line, that is what was first and foremost on the mind of the writer of this letter when he wrote the words we read just a moment ago.  ‘Don’t quit!  Finish the race!  Don’t quit!  Run to win!’ could very well summarize his message to his first readers and to us.  Remember? 

In our study last Lord’s Day, we heard him say these Holy Spirit-inspired words, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses… let us run with endurance the race that is set before us…”  ‘Look at the winners,’ he exclaims, ‘Don’t quit!  Finish the race just like they did!  It’s not impossible and it’s certainly MORE than worth it.  So run it, all the way to the end, BY FAITH, trusting in Jesus all the way, even though it gets harder the closer you get to the finish line. 

Look at the winners, at those who persevered, all the way to the end, and follow their example!  That’s the first step in the direction of spiritual progress which the Hebrew writer sets out for us.  And, what an important, and really, very encouraging step that step is.  Look at the winners. 

But, then there is step number two.  Look at us!  Look at us.  You know, kind of like Coach Red and Coach Kent, teams walking up and down the hallways past the trophy cases, examining and admiring each and every memento of previous teams’ power and prowess, there is some kind of positive impact that such a stroll down memory lane supplies.  It encourages us, or should encourage us to see that others finished the race – thank God for that great cloud of witnesses cheering us on.  But, then what?  Then we have to come down from the clouds, back down to earth where we are in our own process of spiritual growth, and we’re forced to ask ourselves: “Where am I in reference to the finish line?”  And, “How long have I been in this place?”

Spiritual growth, spiritual progress, this is by far the more difficult, the more painful part of this study, isn’t it?  And why is that?  It’s because it requires self-examination.  None of us really like that, do we?  Yet, if we are to steer clear of quitting, and to aim diligently in the direction of winning, we must examine ourselves regularly! 

“Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us…” 

Weights, lifting weights, or, as my coaches used to call it ‘weight training’.  Such a rigorous regiment was beneficial when it came to Mondays and Wednesdays or Tuesdays and Thursdays.  However, when Friday night came around, when it was game time, what did we do?  We left the weights in the weight room!  Why?  You know why!  Because they would hamper us, because they would impede us.  To put it bluntly, because those weights would get in the way!  Look at us, step two in this God-given formula for spiritual growth.  Look at us, examine yourself and ask, ‘What is getting in my way, hampering me, hindering me, from progressing spiritually?  What is it that keeps me from being a more fully committed follower of Jesus Christ? 

Time for a gut-check, right?  What is it that IS getting in our way as we want to grow spiritually?  For Saul of Tarsus, it was his spiritual pedigree, his thought that somehow he had attained to his own righteous standing before God - he didn’t need a Savior - that prevented him from spiritual transformation.  (Philippians 3:1ff)

For the thorny soil person, the individual whose heart Jesus says is plenty fertile, but unfortunately, that fertility is mainly in the direction of weeds not wheat, the list of what is getting in the way includes such things as worldly worries, deceitful riches, self-centered desires and passing pleasures (Matthew 13; Mark 4; Luke 8). 

For the Christians at Corinth, the problem was unholy friendships, the binding together of someone whose desire is to walk toward Jesus, with someone whose heart moves him AWAY from Jesus.  Like light mingled with darkness, like Christ married to Belial, like the temple of the true and living God being decorated with images to false gods.  Such unwise, unequal yoking slows the spiritual progress of a believer to a virtual standstill! 

Are any of these things what is hindering you?  What are you going to do about it?  What does the Word of God instruct you to do about it?  Lay it aside!!  Does the word ‘encumbrance’ mean anything to you?  I suppose if you’re a real estate agent, you’ve heard the word and know what it means.  In real estate transactions, if you’re about to purchase a piece of property, you want it to be without encumbrances, you want it to be without any added and unnecessary financial burdens beyond the actual cost of the property. 

Added, unnecessary burdens.  Spiritual encumbrances.  Listen, my loved ones, the spiritual growth grade is STEEP enough without any extra weight.  Lay them aside!  We must lighten the load by laying those things aside! 

Then, what?  There is another aspect to this second step toward greater spiritual growth.  It also is difficult and even painful.  What is it?  We might not like to think about it this way, but the fact of the matter is that we HAVE to think about it this way, if we have any hope at all of growing spiritually.  What am I talking about?  Hebrews 12, verse one.  The writer whom God’s Holy Spirit uses to instruct us about spiritual growth says, first of all, ‘Lighten the load.’  “Let us lay aside every weight…”  Then, he adds these powerful words, “Let us lay aside every weight AND the sin that so easily ensnares us…”  Sin??  A danger to us?  Sin?  A trap, a snare, a set of chains for us?  Does that sound like something you’ll hear on the nightly news?  Does that sound like something our favorite country and western musicians will sing about?  Does that sound like something the latest Hollywood hit will warn you about?  Of course not, right?!  That’s because those sources of information and insight are not coming at this subject from a basis of absolute truth.  But this Book, because of WHOSE Book it is and because of WHO this Book’s Ultimate Author is, this Book comes at the subject of sin from the standpoint of the truth.  The pure, unadulterated, unchanging, absolute truth. 

And what does this Book say about sin and its relationship to a Christian’s challenge and responsibility to grow spiritually?  Number one, it says that sin is DANGEROUS!  No, it didn’t say that it is something that should be soft-pedaled.  And, it didn’t say that sin is something that should be redefined.  And, it didn’t say – God’s word didn’t say - that sin is something that should be covered up, swept under the rug or explained away!   Rather, God’s Word makes it clear, even right here in Hebrews 12, that sin is dangerous.  Like a runner whose Nike® shoelaces are tied together, so that the first stride he tries to make out of the blocks, puts him flat on his face, so sin is dangerous because it can trip us up and cause us to come crashing down! 

Yes, sin is dangerous.  So, what must we do about it?  We must ask God to help us loosen its grip on us, so we can lay it aside also!  By the way, did you know that the Word of God teaches us that if we are in Christ, if we have died with Him, been in essence, crucified with Him, and buried in that watery grave of Christian baptism with Him, and raised to walk in newness of life, then we have, in fact, been freed from the PENALTY of sin, eternal death, eternal punishment in hell. 

Furthermore, did you know that, if you are in Christ, if you truly are His child by grace through faith, then you are in the process, God’s Holy Spirit is at work in you to move you more and more in the direction of being free from the POWER of sin at work in your life.  That’s what this verse in Hebrews 12 is talking about!  Then, one more, did you know that, if you are in Christ, ultimately, on that day when you see Jesus fact to face, He will free you once and for all from the PRESENCE of sin your life!  Hallelujah! 

What is it that is getting in my way, getting in your way, in our attempts to grow spiritually?  What is it that makes us want to quit?  Is it the encumbrances, the added, unnecessary weight of unholy friendships, worldly cares, deceitful riches and so forth?  Lay those things aside!  Lighten the load so you can run!  And, what about sin?  Have you listened so much to the news, the music and the movies of this age that you actually think that sin can’t really be that bad?  Listen up, my friends, sin is dangerous.  Don’t let anyone fool you!  It’s way is wide, and its gate is broad; but its end is destruction and its payoff is death!  So, ask God to help you break free from its hold on you!  Ask Him to help you live in light of the freedom and victory He’s given you in Christ!  Ask Him to help you grow in Christ, in spiritual strength and fruitfulness like you never have before! 

Lighten the load, loosen the chains.  Then, one more, deepen the love.  Deepen the love.  Spiritual growth, spiritual progress, this race we’re talking about here, this race that others have run and won before us – why do we do it?  To make it to heaven?  Sure!  To attain to that crown of life?  Sure!  But is that the only reason we run, the only reason we lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us? 

No!  The ultimate reason, the most important reason we do all of this striving and struggling in the direction of spiritual growth is because of Him whose face we will see when we get there!  2 Timothy 4:6-8, listen to the words of the apostle Paul about the deep, deep love for Jesus Christ that spurred him on, all the way to the finish line: 

2 Timothy 4:6-8, “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. ⁷ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. ⁸ Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.”

Why do you and I look to the winners, so as to follow their example, and why must we look at ourselves, so as to lighten the load and loosen the chains?  Here’s why: because we love, we long for the day when we will see the One who loved us first and best! 

We run, we grow, we persevere all the way to the end because He loved us, and we, through the help of His Spirit, love Him!