Running on Faith
Hebrews 11:29-12:2; Luke 12:49-56
In 1923, one of the great Baptist preachers of the day, Harry Emerson Fosdick, published a book entitled Twelve Tests of Character. I’ve named my dog after Dr. Fosdick. His book addresses twelve character traits that the wise Fosdick feared the next generation might forget or neglect. The last one, trait number twelve, is “the power to see it through.” We might call it perseverance today, or persistence or stick-to-itiveness. One of our late members used to call it “a long obedience in the same direction.” Fosdick wrote, “Good starters and good stayers are not necessarily the same people.” Many people start well, filled with energy, excitement, and good intentions. But few people finish as well as they start. So Fosdick held before the next generation this important character trait: the power to see it through.
He recounted the story of a humble woman named Mrs. Walker. At age seventy, she was widowed and the keeper of a lighthouse. Some townspeople wondered why she kept the light for so many years. So she told her story to a reporter. As a young woman, she married a man named Jacob Walker, the keeper of the Sandy Hook lighthouse. She enjoyed the life at Sandy Hook. The lighthouse was surrounded by land, and she had plenty of room for a garden of vegetables and flowers.
After a few years, though, her husband was transferred to the lighthouse at Robbins Reef, where they were surrounded on every side by water. She refused to unpack her bags at first, knowing that life on a reef would be absolutely miserable. But she believed in her husband and she believed in their work. Little by little she unpacked her bags, and in time the reef became her home.
Her husband became ill. What started as a cold turned into pneumonia. He was taken to an infirmary on Staten Island. She could not leave the lighthouse to be with him. Somebody had to keep the light. Of course, he understood. He too knew the importance of their work. People depended upon the lighthouse; lives were at stake. One night when she was minding the light she saw a boat approaching the lighthouse, and she knew what it meant.
Jacob Walker, her young husband, was buried on a hill that she could see from the lighthouse. Every morning when the sun rose over his grave, she said she received a message from her late husband. Just three words, words she heard him say more often than anything else in his life: mind the light, which she did even to age 70. (p. 206-207)
The power to see it through. Has that character trait been forgotten or neglected? Perhaps it has always been a fragile trait, but today it seems to be more fragile than ever. As far back as the book of Hebrews, the early Christians were challenged to see it through: “Run with perseverance the race that is set before you.” See it through, the writer was saying. It was a word of encouragement for the followers of Jesus at a time of acute persecution. Be good stayers, not just good starters. To make his point, the writer of Hebrews used the imagery of an athletic event, a foot race. Run the race that is set before you. Run to the best of your ability. Give it your all. The Greek word he uses here is agon, from which we get the English word agonize. It means to struggle. It involves rigorous training, self-discipline, and intense effort. Give your very best to the race you are running, this call into Christian faith, and as you run know that a great cloud of witnesses is gathered along the sideline cheering for you. The heroes of the faith identified in Hebrews 11—Noah, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Gideon, David, the prophets, and others—they are all there cheering and encouraging you to do your best, so run with perseverance the race that it set before you.
This text in Hebrews 12 was a call to be faithful in their time at their place. And I would say that that’s a pretty good word for us too in this third year of the pandemic. At a CBF meeting in June, we were told churches are seeing about 75% of their pre-pandemic attendance. So 25% of folks have drifted away. If you are part of that 25%, we want you back. Not because we are into numbers. No, because we believe what we do here is important. This is a unique, progressive Baptist church. Our voice is important in the city of Huntsville and across north Alabama. This text invites us to lift our eyes from the details for a moment and see the big picture again. The big picture reminds us that Weatherly Heights Baptist Church is an extension of the shadow of Jesus Christ. We must not forget that. The work we do here with children and youth, the welcome and training we provide our
international neighbors, the houses we’ve built in Kentucky and renovate in Lincoln Village, the support we give to the Baptist Children’s Home and local and international missions, the support we’ve recently given to Ukrainian refugees, and the many, many other things that issue out of this congregation—these labors, your labors, are the work of the Kingdom of God. These are not mere “programs.” These are avenues into people’s lives that shape them to be more like God. That’s the big picture of who we are and why we do what we do. Let us never lose sight of that.
So the next time you sit down to prepare a Sunday School lesson, meet a group of women who speak little English, or go to choir practice pause for a moment and listen. See if you can hear the cheers of Abraham and Sarah, Moses, the prophets, James and John, and Paul. Listen and see if you can hear the cheers of Bert Carpenter, Earl and Frances Davis, Jerry and Shelba Siniard, Ray Elliott, Bill Gerstlauer, Ray Gargus, R. C. Darden, and the many saints who have made up this congregation. They are the great cloud of witnesses that cheers for us now. They are encouraging us to do our best at this place at this time, to run with perseverance the race that is set before us, believing that what we do here really does matter.
It was a word of encouragement during a difficult time, when some Christians seemed to not have the power to see it through. So the writer of Hebrews offered his readers two suggestions, which I think can be helpful to us today.
The first suggestion was that they free themselves from all the things that could inhibit their ability to be an effective team. These are his words, “Let us…lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely.” Runners then and today trained with weights around their ankles or legs. The weights did two things. They strengthened the runner’s muscles, but they also slowed the runners. The weights were just for training purposes. When it came time to race, they took off all the weights. They laid aside everything that would inhibit their ability to run. Then, unencumbered they ran at their best.
The writer of Hebrews was saying that men and women of faith must do the same thing. We must free ourselves from everything that would inhibit our ability to function effectively as disciples of Jesus Christ. Think of our church as a team. Each one of you is part of the team and plays a position for the team. The team’s victories are ours. Its struggles are ours. And we must own both the victories and the struggles. That’s easy with the victories, but it’s not always as easy with the struggles.
We could go around this sanctuary and identify twenty or thirty things that inhibit our ability to run at our best. Anger. Resentment. Apathy. Lack of faith. Of all those things, a great cloud of witnesses is saying, “Turn them loose. Lay aside those weights. Lay aside the sins that cling so closely. Remember the big picture. Remember why you’re doing what you’re doing and run with perseverance the race that is set before you at this place at this time.”
The second suggestion from the writer of Hebrews is even more important than the first. The writer said that they must keep their attention focused on Jesus. “Looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith…. Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart.” Focus on Jesus, he told them, not on each other or even the great cloud of witnesses. Focus on Jesus who was our pioneer and the perfecter of our faith. That was what would enable them to run their race with perseverance.
And that is true for us too. We are a Jesus people. We must be able to say that without apology. Maintaining healthy relationships with people from other religious traditions is important here at Weatherly. Interfaith dialogue is a part of our vision statement. Cultivating personal relationships with individuals from other religious traditions is important to me personally. But we do this as a community of people who have found truth as we understand it and hope for our lives in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. If we run our race with perseverance, we will do so by looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. He will be the one who gives us the power to see it through.
Today I offer you these words of encouragement from the writer of Hebrews. Sunday School teachers, don’t grow weary. You who work with our children and youth, don’t lose heart. Choir members, nursery workers, committee members, you who make up this team of believers called Weatherly Heights Baptist Church, the saints have passed the baton to us. The race is ours now. The great cloud of witnesses cheers for us. They are encouraging us to do our best at this place in this time, to run with perseverance the race that is set before us, believing that what we do here really does matter. They remind us today that we run on faith. May that give us the power to see it through.
Closing Prayer
Lord, we are honored to be entrusted with such a great treasure as your work. Help us to do our best at this place at this time. Amen.
