We are now in the midst of the 2024 Olympics with performances, matches, games and races. One of the dominant metaphors for the Christian life is running the race, sometimes presented as more like a sprint, but most often like a long-distance race. Hebrews 12:1-3 introduced us to that metaphor:
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.
We are in a race and we can learn a lot not only by running ourselves but by watching the Olympics.
At 7 p.m. on October 20, 1968, a few thousand spectators remained in the Mexico City Olympic Stadium. The last of the exhausted marathon runners were being carried off to the first-aid stations. More than an hour earlier, Mamo Wolde of Ethiopia had crossed the finish line, the winner of the 26.2-mile run.
As the remaining spectators prepared to leave, those sitting near the marathon gates heard the sound of sirens and police whistles. All eyes turned toward the gate. A lone figure wearing the colors of Tanzania entered the stadium. His name was John Stephen Akhwari. He was the last man to finish. His leg bloodied and bandaged, severely injured in a fall, he grimaced with each step as he hobbled around the 400-meter track.
The spectators rose and applauded him as if he were the winner. After crossing the finish line, Akhwari slowly walked off the field. In view of his injury and having no chance of winning a medal, someone asked him why he had not quit. He replied, “My country did not send me 7,000 miles to start the race. They sent me 7,000 miles to finish it” (from Leadership [Spring, 1992], p. 49).
I hope that you want to finish well. You and I don’t have to finish first; we don’t have to “be the best.” But we do need to finish.
As Paul faced execution, he wrote to Timothy, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4:7). Regarding this verse Don Kistler observed (Soli Deo Gloira newsletter, 6/03),
As Paul writes to Timothy and contemplates his impending death, he evaluates his life and ministry. While we live in a culture that exalts the winner and scorns the loser, Paul assesses his life based on three things: he fought the good fight, he finished the course, and he kept the faith. How interesting that there is no mention of winning—only that of fighting, finishing, and keeping!
We are so prone to think of ourselves as failures if we don’t set records or win so demonstrably as to have monuments built to our endeavors. But for Paul, most likely the greatest Christian who ever lived, it was a matter of endurance. For Paul, he won by lasting.
Verses 4-13 then illustrated God’s part in bringing about the “perfection” of our faith and helping us to finish the race through discipline. How we respond to God’s discipline is key to the development of the spiritual life. We can discipline ourselves, as Hebrews 12:1-3 speaks of, but all of us also need the discipline from the Father.
The author of Hebrews was concerned that some of his readers were about to drop out of the race because they were fainting under God’s discipline. It would be a lot easier to go back to what was familiar to them and what was easier. They could escape persecution by returning to Judaism. But to do that they would be abandoning Jesus Christ.
The word “therefore” at the beginning of verse 12 controls this whole section, illustrating the practical consequences of the Father’s discipline. Because the fatherly love of God designs your pain for your good and your holiness . . .”pursue peace…and holiness.”
Verse 14 picks up the race metaphor once again with the word “pursue.” The NIV translates it “make every effort” to emphasize how much exertion and determination we should put into it.
14Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.
As I look at this passage of Scripture I see two very real dangers which we all face and must seek to avoid. Those dangers may not appear to be so serious at first, but they are. One danger is “failing to obtain the grace of God,” that we find in verse 15.
The other danger is the inability to change some consequences of our choices, even though we might later earnestly seek to avoid those consequences with tears. It says of Esau in verse 17, “when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.”
These are two very serious dangers, ones that are all too easy to fall into. So how do we avoid them?
There is one command in our passage: “Pursue” (or “make every effort” or “strive”) in verse 14. That verb is supplemented by a participle of means in verse 15, which is usually translated like a separate command, “See to it,” but I believe it functions as a way to express how we can pursue peace and holiness, “by seeing to it…”
First, we are to avoid spiritual danger by doggedly pursuing peace and holiness (12:14)
14Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
The command is to pursue with determination and persistence, like a hunting dog chasing down its prey. As a present imperative, it communicates a continuous action, one that we are to engage in constantly, not just daily or weekly, but every moment.
If we are going to compete successfully in the Christian race, we must give attention to two matters: peace with others and holiness before God.
Peace here is peace with man. Our experience tells us that although we may have peace with God (Romans 5:1), we do not always have peace with one another. In fact, I’ve found that peace with one another is a fragile, rare gift, always in danger of being broken. It can take months to build but only moments to destroy.
Of course, commitment to being a disciple of Jesus invites the enmity of the world, Jesus tells us. “If the world hates you,” said Jesus, “know that it has hated me before it hated you” (John 15:18). If we follow Christ, we must expect conflict. This is why Jesus said to His followers: “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you” (Luke 6:27-28). Conflict, even opposition will come. The key factor is what we do about it. Do we fight or pursue peace?
So, we can expect adversity from the world. But how unexpected and disheartening it is when conflict is encountered in the church! Someone has said, “To live above with saints we love, now that will be glory. But to live below with saints we know, well, that’s another story!”
In a perfect world, all people could live peacefully together. Of course, this is impossible in our imperfect world. However, believers should do their best to at least “pursue” peace and reconciliation. Believers certainly should not cause dissension. Christian fellowship should be characterized by peace and building up one another (see 1 Thess 5:11). (Bruce Barton, Life Application Bible Commentary: Hebrews, 217)
There is a passage in Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring in which God-fearing elves join with God-fearing dwarves to oppose the Dark Lord. But immediately they begin to quarrel, calling down plagues on each other’s necks. Then one of the wiser of the company, Haldir, remarks, “Indeed in nothing is the power of the Dark Lord more clearly shown than in the estrangement that divides all those who still oppose him” (J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring (New York: Ballantine, 1969), pp. 450, 451).
Conflict in the church brings glee to Satan and disgraces our God. Few things will grieve the Spirit more and keep us from making progress in our Christian life than to harbor bitterness and anger towards our Christian brothers or sisters.
Jesus prayed for the unity of His followers in His high priestly prayer:
22The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
When we “bite and devour one another” (Galatians 5:15), when there is “quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder” (2 Corinthians 12:20), when there is “bitter jealousy and selfish ambition” (James 3:14-15) we are working against Christ’s prayer and Christ’s passion.
Christian Counselor Jay Adams writes:
Few things are sapping the strength of the church of Jesus Christ more than the unreconciled state of so many believers. So many have matters deeply imbedded in their craws, like iron wedges forced between themselves and other Christians. They can’t walk together because they do not agree. When they should be marching side by side through this world taking men captive for Jesus Christ, they are acting instead like an army that has been routed and scattered and whose troops in their confusion have begun fighting among themselves. Nothing is sapping the church of Christ of her strength so much as these unresolved problems, these loose ends among believing Christians that have never been tied up. There is no excuse for this sad condition, for the Bible does not allow for loose ends. God wants no loose ends (Christian Living in the Home, P&R Publishing, 1972, p. 35-36).
Satan infiltrates Christian homes and churches, elder meetings and friendships, sowing seeds of discord that blossom into anger and alienation.
So as we run the race we must pursue peace with “everyone”—both Christians and non-believers alike. This word “strive” or “pursue” is a word used to describe the chasing after prey or one’s enemies. We must chase after peace. We must aggressively take the initiative to make things right. It takes more effort because “a brother offended is more unyielding than a strong city, and quarreling is like the bars of a castle” (Prov. 18:19).
Other Scriptures further enjoin the aggressive pursuit of peace, urging us to “[be] eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3), and to “pursue what makes for peace” (Romans 14:19). Also, 1 Peter 3:11, citing Psalm 34:14, says, “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit (v. 10); let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. And in 2 Timothy 2:22 Paul tells Timothy, “So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.”
Pursuing peace is a high priority to the biblical writers. Similarly, Romans 12:18 says, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” Sometimes, says Paul, peace isn’t possible. But be sure it isn’t your fault! As far as it depends on you, put aside the cause of division and hatred. If others refuse to do so, that’s their problem. Just make sure it isn’t yours! And then, of course, there is the grand dominical beatitude, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9). People will know that you belong to God because you are a peacemaker. If Jesus commands it and prays for it (John 17:22-23), then clearly He places a high priority on it as well.
Those who pursue peace will be quick to confront privately and gently, will offer forgiveness and seek reconciliation as soon as possible, will be kind and be thoughtful, and will pray for their enemies. Those who pursue peace will do so quickly, thoroughly and considerately. Don’t be lazy about pursuing peace. Don’t put it off just because it is uncomfortable. Remembering that God has forgiven us, we should be quick to forgive others. Remembering that Jesus taught Peter that forgiveness is unlimited (seventy times seven) we should not be miserly with our forgiveness.
Again, Jay Adams says, “If you have been putting off going to another person to try to achieve reconciliation with him, you have wronged him.” He goes on to say, “Jesus won’t allow the unreconciled condition to continue among believers. In Matthew 5, if another considers you to have wronged him, Jesus says that you must go. In Matthew 18, He says that if the other person has done something wrong to you, you must go. There is never a time when you can sit and wait for your brother to come to you. Jesus doesn’t allow for that. He gives no opportunity for that. It is always your obligation to go.
Do you what is the most natural thing to do when you are at odds with someone? You know it; it happens all the time. We go and share it with someone else. We feel so much tension in ourselves that we blurt it out to someone else, thus relieving some of that tension, but actually transferring it to that other person. If you, person A, have a problem with person B and now you share it with person C, you have transferred that tension to person C, causing them to feel like they have to side with either you or them. This is called “triangling” or the Bible calls it “gossip.”
Do you know what is another thing we naturally do? We break fellowship with that person. We avoid them. Oh, we might be nice and civil to them in public, but we insulate ourselves from them because we’ve been hurt. We distance ourselves.
We need to realize that to put a wall between ourselves and others is to build a wall between us and God. Our spiritual growth will be stunted precisely because we are refusing to forgive and be reconciled.
So pursue peace. Peace (Eirene in Greek), means “to join or bind together something which has been separated.” Relationally, it means a lack of division; it means that nothing divides you or comes between you.
I want to encourage you, if there is someone with whom you are currently at war or at odds or simply don’t like anymore because they hurt you, then make every effort to pursue peace with that person. Maybe it’s within your immediate family. Maybe you need to forgive and pursue peace with your father or mother, with a sister or brother, with your spouse or your child or children. Maybe you need to reconcile with your boss or a coworker.
Extend it to those in this church: Do you go to those who have wronged you and seek to clear up the wrongs? Don’t go with the assumption, “I’m right and you were a complete jerk!” Go with humility, asking, “Did I cause offense? I don’t want there to be anything between us. Can we get this cleared up?” It’s not usually a pleasant part of the race, but it is the course God has set before us: “Pursue peace with all men.”
Now, what if you are in the wrong? What if you’ve done something to hurt someone else? Then you need to respond with repentance and ask for forgiveness. We repent in four ways: 1. “I was wrong.” Plain, honest, no evasions. 2. “I am sorry.” Brokenhearted, realizing the damage done. 3. “It won’t happen again.” Rebuilding trust for the future. 4. “Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?” Performing deeds in keeping with repentance (Acts 26:20; Matthew 3:8).
Grace Still Amazes 