No Longer Weighted

We’ve been in Hebrews, and we’re rounding the bend. I was going to Google this before I sat here, but I think we’re at the crescendo — I think that’s the right term. I was like, why am I going to use a term that I don’t know? But I’m going to go with it. We’re kind of getting at that best part of Hebrews, and Hebrews has just been so great.

Hebrews chapter 11 — and Jay kind of flew through it; we’re not going to get too in depth on it — but basically Hebrews chapter 11 is quite literally just highlighting people and their faith in Scripture. If we started at verse 30, it just says, “By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days. By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace. And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson.” And it just goes on and on, and it’s talking about these people who lived by faith.

Faith without obedience

But the thing about faith is you can have faith and actually not have obedience. These people had faith and obedience. They didn’t just have the Word. They didn’t just know God was faithful. They had the faith, and then they had the obedience to step out in what God was asking them to do.

As I was studying this week — we sold something on Facebook Marketplace, so Jay said, “Here’s the money. Put the money in the bank.” Okay. So I put most of the money in the bank, and I tell him, “Hey, I put most of the money in the bank. I’m going to just keep the rest, because this week I’ll just use cash.” I’m going to try not to spend on unnecessary things — QuikTrip, Taco Bell, whatever the unnecessary things are. When I have cash, I’ll carry that with me. Well, I go to the grocery store, and guess what? I forgot the cash. And so it just stayed where I had it. And then I went somewhere else, and guess what I did? I forgot the cash. And finally, I think we went for ice cream, and I remembered the cash.

But right, it does no good. It was in my work folder. It does no good that it’s in there. It’s still money. It’s still valid. None of the value is lost, but it’s pointless if I can’t use it. And I’m sure Jay would say, “Yes, it is pointless if you’re not using it and doing what you said.” But I still have cash this week. Anyways, faith without obedience is pointless. And what we see in Hebrews is that people continually chose obedience.

And it wasn’t just a simple obedience. I literally just read it. It said in verse 31, “By faith the harlot Rahab.” Just think about that. She was a harlot, she was a prostitute, and she’s mentioned as a great person of faith. These people’s lives were not just simple. It wasn’t like they had faith and then they chose to be obedient and they had no obstacles. No, these were people who were living complicated lives, still having to choose and walk in free will. They didn’t live perfect lives, but they allowed themselves to be perfected through faith.

I would recommend reading the stories. This is a good starting point, if you take notes. If I had never gone to church, and I went to church and someone said there was a harlot named Rahab and God used her, I would be intrigued to know why. That’s not my first go-to person — someone whose life does not align with my values. So why is she in the book of faith? I would encourage you to just go through some of these names, and it’s really easy. Some Bibles have a column in the middle — this is how I study the Bible — and by the verse, and I’m not trying to talk down to you guys or anything, I’m just trying to simplify it in case you didn’t know. You can just go there, and it’ll help cross-reference what that’s referring to.

I have a study Bible. Actually, I have a new Bible — it’s time — but this one is my favorite, and I keep trying to salvage it even though the font is too small. My study Bible also has a little bit at the bottom about that verse or where I can find it. I would encourage you to use those references, or the back part, where you can look up people’s names or a word, and it’ll show you where it’s found in Scripture. And I guess we also have Google. I guess we don’t need to be using these anymore. But I would encourage you to sit down and just read about these people’s lives. Read about how Rahab the harlot ended up in Hebrews as a hero of faith. How did she get there?

Because some of these people defied their culture. They defied cycles that they found themselves in, situations they didn’t choose. These are amazing people, but each person chose to hold on to hope through faith, even when it looked like their situation wasn’t going to change. Have you ever been faced with a situation you felt like wasn’t going to change? Like it progressively was getting worse? Thank you for the yes.

Sometimes I think we hold on to faith and hope, but we don’t act in obedience because we’re actually not confident in the One who’s given us the promise. Or maybe we’ve acted in obedience before, and it didn’t quite turn out the way we thought it was going to look. So then that causes us to pull back and say, “Oh, maybe I didn’t hear God,” or, “God hasn’t spoken to me,” and it creates this doubt. Sometimes we get so caught up in life that we forget what He has asked us to do, and continue on.

As we’re in Hebrews, like I said, it’s kind of the crux of it, and the author’s rounding the bend and saying, “Make sure you get these points.” This morning — I don’t know if you heard it — as Pastor David was talking, and even as worship was being led at the beginning, I kept hearing pieces of my message in there. And I thought, Lord, aren’t You so good, that neither one of them would know the way I was going, other than that we were in Hebrews, and that there would continue to be that wording. The Lord is so good.

So we can have faith, but without obedience, what’s the point? And I’m going to talk a little bit about obedience, because obedience isn’t always action. Sometimes obedience is sitting still. Sometimes obedience for me is keeping my mouth closed, not saying anything. Sometimes obedience for me is sitting a little bit longer in prayer instead of giving in to being fidgety and getting up. Other times obedience can be movement and action, walking, and it can feel scary while you’re doing it. Obedience looks different all the time, and the only thing that obedience is contingent on is what the Lord has asked us to do. So either way, we have to walk in obedience with faith, and that’s what we see in Hebrews chapter 11.

Lay aside every weight

So we’re going to move on to Hebrews chapter 12, and we’re not going to get very far. So if Jay’s watching, we’re not getting far. Hebrews chapter 12, verses 1 and 2, says,

“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.”

The ESV says, “Let us also lay aside every weight.” The Greek word that’s used there talks about bulk, mass, a burden. Now, I’m an infomercial kiddo. Anyone? I love infomercials. Well, they don’t have infomercials anymore, but I loved watching infomercials. I’ve probably told this before. When infomercials would come on, I always loved the “But wait, there’s more!” And I always wished that I could buy myself a food dehydrator. I still haven’t bought myself a food dehydrator. Because you know what I really wanted to make? Beef jerky. I love beef jerky. So I figured if I got a food dehydrator, that’s the one thing I’d be making, in my ten-year-old mind.

So I’m always looking for the thing. And now with the internet, it’s like a daily infomercial; everyone’s telling you to buy something. Well, right now the big fad — apparently you’re not supposed to do cardio anymore as a woman in your forties. You’re supposed to eat about 3,000 grams of protein by nine in the morning. And also with that, you need to drink your body weight times two in water. And then you’re supposed to do weight training. That’s where we’re at, women. I don’t know. My muscle mass is apparently all gone at this point, and things are just going downhill.

Anyways, the thing that I saw, that I have had my eye on for a while, and I thought this is a great time to buy one, was a weighted vest. I was in a conversation with some friends — I have a small group that I go to — and I said, “Oh, I want a weighted vest.” And she said, “I thought you didn’t like to walk.” And I was like, “You’re right. I don’t like going for walks.” I think this is on backwards. I find walks boring. I don’t find them exciting or refreshing. They stress me out. Maybe it’s my dog that stresses me out.

But I bought this weighted vest because I thought, you know what, a great time to do a little illustration and also buy myself a weighted vest. So this was not purchased with the cash that I pulled aside from Jay. My kids were like, “You only got a twelve-pound vest? You should have got like forty pounds.” And I’m like, “You guys want me to fall over?” I don’t know. So weighted vests are the thing to do now. I’m just going to wear this weighted vest for the rest of the time, because it’s to prove a point, and to see how long I can go. I should have worn a short-sleeve shirt, but I forgot that I was wearing the weighted vest this morning.

So we’re supposed to lay aside every weight. And over our lifetime, we begin to pick up weights, just like I picked up this weight, right? Put it on. It’s supposed to serve a purpose. I don’t know how this is going to help my muscle mass. I don’t quite get that yet. But sometimes weight is necessary, and in the right context, this weighted vest would make sense. If I enjoyed a walk, I would put this weighted vest on. It’s intended to do something. I didn’t really read the instructions. I’m just waiting for, “But wait, there’s more” — I think there are leg weights and hand weights. But in the right context, this vest is to serve a purpose. It serves me no purpose up here. In fact, it’s not going to do any harm, because the internet tells me it’s not. But that’s how we pick up weighted things.

Weights, and the sin that ensnares

And what has always stood out to me about this scripture is that the author distinguishes between two things: that there are weights, and that there are sins. The weight we put on sometimes isn’t even that obvious. Depending on when you came to know the Lord, or your experiences, or your lifetime, or whatever it might be, you don’t even recognize that it’s a weight that’s holding you down, because it’s so familiar to you. Like this — I don’t really feel a difference right now. I can kind of feel it, but I can still do stuff. Heck, I can probably run in this. People do run in vests. Right? It’s not going to hinder anything. The thing is, the things of this world, the weights we pull on, actually do hinder us.

If you’ll go with me — we’ll come back to Hebrews — Romans chapter 12. This might be a familiar scripture for you. Romans 12:1–2 says this: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

The thing with weights is that our mind is where we actually carry most of the weight. Most of the weight that bogs us down, that gets in the way of our relationship with Jesus, is in our mind. It’s not visible on a vest. No one may ever know. You can smile. You can act like everything’s good. You can have all of the answers to the questions. You can just be good. But you could be carrying such a heavy burden. And most of the time, if not all of the time, it starts in our mind. And what we need to recognize is that as believers — as anyone who believes in Jesus, seasoned, brand new, whatever the case may be — we are all called to renew our mind in Christ. We are all called to be transformed by that renewing. We’re all called to not just let our minds become futile and useless because of the world that’s around us.

See, again, not every weight may have started as a burden. But in each season of our life, in each assignment, in each place you find yourself, you aren’t to carry the weight into the next season. Like I was saying, if I was actually going for a walk, it would be appropriate for me, apparently, to put this vest on. It would be helpful. But it’s pointless up here right now, other than for the message of this point. Could you imagine if every Sunday I’m up here wearing this weighted vest, trying to get all these things done? No. It’s not appropriate for the season. It’s not appropriate for the situation. And oftentimes we carry weights into seasons and we’re like, “God, what is going on?” And we carry these burdens in that aren’t intended to come in with us. He’s saying, “I’m calling you to a new place. I’m calling you into a new season,” and we keep bringing all of our old baggage with us.

And so the author specifically starts off by saying, let’s lay aside every weight. I think a question that we should ask, that I don’t ask often enough, is: “Lord, what am I carrying that I need to put down? What am I doing that isn’t for me in this season? What do I need to lay at Your feet?” As Pastor David was talking about forgiveness — if someone was struggling with forgiveness — it’s like, yeah, so many times we hold on so tightly to the people who’ve hurt us, or the situations that hurt us, or the institution or the workplace or whatever has hurt us. Instead of just saying, “Lord, I’m going to lay it down. I’m just going to put this at Your feet.” Quite literally, I’m just going to visualize myself putting that person at Your feet. And when I’m feeling frustrated or overwhelmed by circumstances around me, I’m just going to lay it back down again. Because these weights are getting in the way of what the Lord has for you and what He wants to do through you, and you’re trying to carry it.

Now, I am the queen of “I only want to make one trip into my house.” Okay? One trip. I don’t want to make two. Even this morning, I had my purse, my Red Bull, two trays of donuts, and my jacket, and I was like, “I can do this. I got this.” I don’t know why I don’t like making multiple trips. But that’s how we are in the spirit sometimes. We’re carrying all of this stuff: “But God, You said. But God, You said.” And it’s not that He didn’t say it. It’s, “Lord, is that for me in this season? Does this weight need to just be laid down for right now? Does this dream need to just pause?” You’re not saying it’s a no, but right now it’s a little chaotic. “Lord, do I need to lay this down, or are You asking me to keep carrying it?”

But too many times we just carry it over and over, and we keep doing the same thing, and we’re expecting a different result. Sometimes the only thing that stays the same is you. Have you ever had that situation where you’re like, “This person is this way, and this person’s this way”? And I’m like, there’s one common denominator: it’s you. We carry weights and perspectives and things into places. And I just think that the Lord is saying, just ask Him: “Lord, what do You want me to lay down? What’s not needed for this season?” This is not a punishment. This is intended to help me. Asking Him what to lay down isn’t a punishment. But we must be willing to walk in obedience to it, because we can have all the faith in the world, we can say all of the right things, and in the end be carrying things that we were not even intended to carry.

“Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.” Now, when Scripture was written, it didn’t have chapters and verses like we read it, so this is coming right off of this beautiful picture in chapter 11. And he’s saying, okay, so now that you know, and you’ve gotten a little bird’s-eye view of what’s happening, the next step is — and like I said, I love it in the ESV — “let us also,” which implies that they too had to lay something down. So weights aren’t always a bad thing, but they are sometimes things that hold us back.

The other piece that is in here is “and the sin which so easily ensnares us.” As I was taking my dog on a walk this morning, I was thinking about that. My daughter and I both have pretty curly hair, and I just have to explain this: sometimes there are knots in your hair and you don’t know where they’re from, and it hurts, and you’re trying to brush it and it’s pulling, and you’re just like, “How is that even there?” And I’ve seen knots where I just have to cut them out. I’m not even going to try. I’m just cutting that piece of my hair; no one’s going to tell the difference, because it’s so tangled in.

And as I was walking my dog, I got that visual of sin. Sometimes it so tangles us in, we don’t even know where the root comes from. It’s so ensnared in a part of us. We just know it’s tangled in, and it hurts, and it’s frustrating, and you try to ignore it. And He’s saying, no, no. Sin will always easily ensnare you. It will always cause you to fall into it. It’s intended to tangle us up.

Confession keeps us free

And the reason we come before the Lord — the reason for the call to confess our sins one to another, to confess our sin to Him — is because it allows us to stay free from entanglement. It’s not so people can judge us. It’s so that we can come and say, “Hey, I am really struggling.” I’m telling you, being vulnerable with one another is so hard. Telling the truth at times can feel so defeating, because the lie of the enemy is, “If they know this, if they see this, then…” And he begins to threaten us with the very thing that’s already killing us or suffocating us. And the Lord is saying, no, no, no, we’ve got to lay aside every weight and sin in order to effectively run this race. But the only way we can put the sin away is if we begin to confess the sin.

Here’s the thing about sin, because it’s tricky: sometimes we don’t realize that it’s even entangling us. Sometimes it just doesn’t feel like a big deal, because there’s no apparent consequence, right? We think, “Oh, it’s fine. I got away with it. No one knows.” And back to that persona — then we can just smile and act like everything’s great. Meanwhile, we’re suffocating inside, because sin does this: sin distorts our perception of reality when it entangles us so deeply.

Now, we all sin. I sin. I have to ask for forgiveness for how I’m driving and my thoughts toward how other people are driving, or the person that just keeps kind of getting right there. There are moments that I lose my cool. So this isn’t about perfection. Hear me: this is never about perfection, because we read who’s the one who’s actually perfecting us. It’s about positioning ourselves to be perfected. I’m going to say that again: it’s about positioning ourselves to be perfected. Because sin distorts our perception of what the Lord actually wants to do. Sin affects any decision we make. And I’m talking about the stuff that’s ensnaring us, the stuff that tangles up our heart. You guys know what I’m talking about. You’ve seen it; you’ve experienced it, whatever the case may be. There’s no condemnation in this at all.

But we need to understand that sin creates a wall and acts like a barrier — between us and God, but it also creates a barrier between you and me. Because what is the greatest commandment we’re given? To love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and then to love our neighbor as ourselves. And sin causes us to push back. Sin causes us to want to hide. Sin causes us to want to crumble. And guess what begins to happen? That barrier. And we’re going to talk about why we need each other, because that’s been a common theme. But sin actively works against the greatest commandment we’ve ever been given. Because when we are feeling so condemned under sin, there is no way that we can love the Lord with all our heart, soul, and mind.

Because we’re coming and we’re saying, “I’m worthless. This is never going to change. No one ever has to know. I can do this and that, and I can live two separate lives.” I’ve seen it enough. “I can just act like everything’s fine here, and then be drowning by myself.” In order for us to run this race effectively, we need to lay our weights and sin aside, and we can’t do it alone.

And I get that maybe there are some people in here who have shared the depths of their heart, and someone said something really crass or insensitive or whatever. But that doesn’t free us from the responsibility of confessing our sins to one another. We still need each other. This is so important, because sin prevents us from drawing close to God, and the purpose of our life is to know God and to be known by Him. That’s it.

In Hebrews chapter 11, like I said, there were so many complications, and so many of the people’s lives were marked with sin and weight. That’s what makes it so amazing to me. I just kind of go to Rahab, but think about Gideon. He was filled with so much doubt about what God was asking him to do. There are all of these people whose lives could have easily gone a different direction, but they decided to have a fear of and reverence toward the Lord, and to walk in obedience.

A marathon, not a sprint

So you and I are in this race, because he uses the term “race.” And it’s not a sprint. Okay, have we figured out by this point that I don’t really work out? But it’s not a sprint. I don’t know how fast I could sprint. I was thinking, it’s not a jaunt — that’s kind of how I run, just a jaunt. I don’t even know why that was the word that came to mind. But it’s like a marathon. And in this marathon, the things that will slow us down are the weights and sin. It talks about us needing endurance, and it talks about us needing each other.

I’m going to read you a quick piece of a story. My personal hero, my kind of hero of faith, his name is Matthew Barnett. He is the pastor of the Dream Center in Los Angeles, and the work and ministry they’re doing there — maybe because I’m from there — is just my thing. Okay, I should back up. One year, my mom worked at a homeless shelter. I was nine, ten, or eleven, twelve — I don’t remember how old I was. And that summer, for whatever reason, I would go with my mom to work, and I would sit on the patio of this homeless shelter. I learned how to crochet. I learned how to play spades with homeless women. That was it. I didn’t think much about it. My mom always had ministry to other people; our home always had people in it. So it was not really a second thought.

Fast-forward: we were youth pastors, and we had a youth group, and we thought, let’s take some youth and some adults on a trip. So we went to the Dream Center. And I remember very distinctly getting out to go on Skid Row, and the smell of urine just hit me. And as the smell of urine hit me, I remember distinctly I heard the Holy Spirit say, “This was your training ground.” I was like, what? Even now, my heart — ever since before that happened — always has been for people who have had less. I used to make my mom pull over and buy them McDonald’s meals. I’m not trying to brag; I just have always been about that.

So, all that context to say that Matthew Barnett has this Dream Center, and they have quite literally hundreds of ministries for various people who live in Los Angeles, whether it’s through rehabilitation, or ministry on Skid Row, all of this stuff. So Matthew is my hero. If I could ever meet him, I would love to hear, “How do you sustain all of this?” Because it takes a lot of money and fundraising and stuff. So we know Matthew’s my hero; you have the context.

I followed his journey. There is this marathon — has anyone ever heard of it? — the World Marathon Challenge. It’s seven, and I double-checked: seven marathons in seven days on seven continents. Again: seven marathons, seven days, seven continents. It is the most insane thing. Obviously the highest of the highest athletes do this. There are maybe fifty participants. And he did it. Someone had said, “Matthew, I will pay” — because it’s like $35,000, because they’re literally jumping on a plane going to the next place — “I will pay for your entrance fee, and I will donate $100,000 to the Dream Center.” And Matthew, this is why he’s my hero, he’s just like, “Let’s do it.” So he trained for ten months to do this.

I remember being so enamored by all of this and watching his journey, and man, did he have some obstacles. He’s not an athlete. It’d be like someone saying that to me, and I’m like, “Let’s do it,” and we’d all be like, “Buckle up.” Matthew was not an athlete. He trained for ten months; people train their lifetime for this. And he had the endurance and passion and faith that he’s saying, “All right, God’s called me here, so I’m going to do this.” It is absolutely nuts and insane, and he completed all of them. All of them.

There’s this place in the article where he decided he was going to quit. He talks about it in this interview: “At the half mark of this, I’m done.” He actually went to the hospital after one of them, because it was in Morocco and Miami and Antarctica — these were treacherous, different climates. I think he had something wrong with his foot or his hip. He was just not in great shape. If you Google it, he looked rough. And so he had decided that he was going to quit halfway through. He said he only got about fourteen hours of sleep in those seven days.

At one point in this article, it says that’s where all of a sudden the wheels began to fall off for him. In Madrid, midway into the race, his knee went out: “Something right above my kneecap, it felt like it snapped or something,” Barnett said. “I couldn’t even move. The pain was so intense.” Faced with the thought of going home as a failure, Barnett summoned the courage to lock in his leg and finish the race. “I thought it was over,” he admits, “but then I basically ran like Frankenstein, and it was more of a shuffle.” And he got through it. He finished that particular race in four hours and fifty minutes.

Praying for a Forrest Gump–type miracle in Morocco, where his pain would disappear like the braces on Forrest Gump’s legs that fell off so he could run like the wind, Barnett was greatly disappointed; the searing pain remained. But he was determined to at least finish the fifth marathon. “I started looking at the lampposts, playing a game with myself,” Barnett said. “I would run from one lamppost to the next, then shuffle two, then maybe walk two, then shuffle two.” The distance varied on how much of the pain he could endure. But he would complete that marathon in six hours and five minutes.

If Barnett thought Morocco was tough, Dubai was excruciating. Already having difficulty sleeping, his knee made his sleep even more difficult. He would enter the sixth marathon with no more than ten hours of sleep. While his body and mind struggled to cope with the physical exhaustion, extreme frustration, and constant pain, Barnett would start the Dubai marathon, finding he was only able to trot a few steps before having to drop back because of a painful limp. The heat was blistering. There was no shade. He told himself if he could make it halfway, that would be far enough, and he would quit and drop out of the challenge. It was the lowest point of the entire experience for him.

But then a strange thing happened. A stranger showed up four miles from the midway point of the race. He told Barnett that God had told him to come out and run the rest of the marathon with him. Barnett let the man know he was quitting at the halfway point, but the stranger started talking to him about his life and so many different things. Barnett said, “Basically, he distracted my mind long enough to allow me to think about going forward. He went the whole way with me.” And this time he finished in seven hours and thirty-four minutes, just before the cutoff time.

He got to Sydney, and his body, he says, was in full-blown rebellion. “I woke up, my heart was fluttering, I could hardly breathe. I didn’t know what was going on. I was really disoriented, and with my medical history, I thought this could be a blood clot, and I was going to die.” When he finally landed, Barnett was immediately taken to the hospital. Doctors determined it was a combination of physical, emotional, and psychological stressors that had set him up for an anxiety attack, and he was okay. They gave him a couple bags of IV fluids and told him he could do the race if he desired. And although the 26.2 was just as painful, it was the final leg, and the pressure to be done by a certain time was off. “I started later than the rest of the runners, but they were so encouraging as we passed by each other.” A pastor joined him and did the entire marathon with him — the first one of that man’s life. And he finally finishes his last. He completes all of them.

Running the race together

I say all this because he talks about how he wanted the pain just to go away. He was doing this for Jesus, right? He was doing a good thing, and thing after thing started going wrong, and he just had to determine, “Why am I here?” He is my hero for many reasons, but what I love about this story is the people who came alongside him to run the race with him. The person on his last race had never run a marathon before, and said, “I’m doing this with you.”

See, that’s what the kingdom of God is actually supposed to look like. It’s actually supposed to say, “Hey, I don’t actually know what you’re going through, but I’m going to be with you in this. I don’t know how much this is going to cost me — my time, my effort, whatever — but I’m going to be in this with you. I’m sorry that your situation, your own choices, your own sins have got you in this space, but let me pick you up and do this with you.” See, we’re not called to be the judge. We’re called to be the runners. We’re called to be the ones who are encouraging people.

And sometimes we’re getting a good stride in our race. Sometimes maybe we’re just on the side, and we’re handing someone water because that’s all we’ve got. Like, “I can’t even get up to run, but all I’ve got is to give you this.” And we begin to pray, and we encourage. Think about what that begins to look like as we move as the body of Christ.

And so in this scripture — why I could just stay on these two verses is because it is so profound. After this whole idea that we lay aside every weight that we unnecessarily pick up, or that unnecessarily burdens us by things people have said or done to us — once we begin to get a grip of, “Hey, I can no longer bear this alone. I don’t even need to bear this alone. And you don’t even need to have the answers. I just can’t do this alone, and the sin is entangling me. I need someone with me.” When we can begin to move like that as the body of Christ, and not be in judgment — just be a vessel. Maybe the Lord might tell you to correct them; maybe not. Maybe He just needs you to stand there and pray with them. That you can be someone that, when someone says, “I’m in a low moment right now. Can you pray for me?” — “Yep. Where can I meet you? Do you need me to bring food?” See, that’s what the body of Christ is. When I was reading that story, that was what was most beautiful. Even though the whole idea of Matthew Barnett doing this is astounding, what was even more beautiful were the people who came alongside of him.

Jesus in our midst

But our eyes must remain on Jesus. Verse 2 says, “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross.” Looking unto Jesus. In Luke chapter 24 — we’re going to turn there really quick, and I’m rounding the bend, people — this is after Jesus has died. They’re on the road to Emmaus, and they’re walking. I’m just going to quickly read verse 13. It says,

“Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. And they talked together of all these things which had happened.”

Now listen to this. They’re having a conversation about all that’s going on around them. “So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him. And He said to them, ‘What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?’ Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, ‘Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?’ And He said to them, ‘What things?’ So they said to Him, ‘The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people.’”

Basically what’s happening is they’re talking about what’s going on around them, and they’re missing that Jesus is in the midst of them. They’re overwhelmed by everything that’s going on, the chaos, the Messiah, all of that stuff, and they miss that Jesus is there in the midst. Man, could we not just translate that for today? How much of your conversation is consumed by everything that’s happening around us, and we’re missing what Jesus wants to do in the midst? We’re missing that He’s saying, “Hey, you’re on a race still. The race hasn’t finished. You’re still running.” If you’re here, you’re still in the middle of the marathon.

But they missed it. They were overwhelmed by the circumstances around them. They were focused on that, and they missed Jesus entirely. They were weighed down by everything, and both their hearts and their eyes missed Jesus in their midst. It says in verse 31, after He stays with them for a while, “Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. And they said to one another, ‘Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?’”

I’m telling you guys, there are a lot of things that are wanting to weigh us down right now. I’m not saying you can’t be concerned. I’m not saying you can’t have an opinion. I’m not here to do that; you guys know that. What I am saying is, don’t miss what Jesus is trying to do in your midst. Because when we read Hebrews chapter 12, after he talks about laying every weight and sin aside, he immediately says, “looking unto Jesus.” Lay it down and look unto Jesus. He is the originator and perfecter of our faith. Our eyes must remain on Him. The invitation is to look to Him.

Despising the shame

And Jesus, who endured the cross — it says He was despising the shame. He rejected the shame that was trying to be put on Him in the moment of Him giving His own life. This is a word for us. We must reject the shame that the world is trying to put on us for following Jesus. We must reject the world. We must despise the things that are trying to be put on us and say, “I’m not going to do that. I’m looking to the originator and finisher of my faith. He has promises. He’s not done. I’m still here. I’m going to continue to run my race.”

This is what Hebrews is about. This is the call and invitation to us: that He, in the most humiliating, vulnerable — just think about that — when He was crucified, the most vulnerable position He was in, He despised the shame. He pushed back and said, “You will not shame Me.” I want to encourage you that you can take that word, and when the enemy comes to try to have you crouch back because of the weights or the sins or whatever you’re navigating through, you can say, “I don’t need to be ashamed. I’m going to go ahead and call this person, because Jesus has set me free, because Jesus has freedom for me, because Jesus has paid the price.”

We have to be active participants here. We have to be people who say, “I’m going to despise shame. I’m going to push it back. I’m going to reject it, because I am not rejected. I am made whole. He’s calling me. He’s inviting me to look to Him, to keep my eyes on Him.” And we need to remind ourselves every day. For some of us, it might be every hour. Some of us, it might be halfway through the day. Whatever it is.

But I’m telling you, the hope that is in Hebrews 12:1 is that we will not be weighed down. We don’t need to be weighed down. We can be weighed down if we want — I’m clearly being weighed down right now; I’m a little hot. We can hide in our sin. We can be entangled by all of that. Or we can take off the weights. There’s no one that’s holding us back. The only thing that’s holding us back is me. We can take off the weight. We can lay it down. We can confess our sin. We can say, “This isn’t going to hold me and keep me bound anymore. I’m going to run this race that’s set before me. I’m going to be a part of this church that God set me in, and we’re going to do this together.” We’re going to see more people saved. We’re going to see more people healed. We’re going to see more people come to know Him, more people experience joy. That’s what it’s all about. So it’s up to us, for our eyes to see and know Him.

Let’s stand so I can pray over us.

Heavenly Father, oh Jesus, we thank You. Thank You, Jesus, for rejecting the shame that the world tried to put on You. Thank You, Jesus, for giving Your life — that was a choice. You chose obedience. You chose to have hope in Your Father even when He felt distant. When You felt forsaken, You still called out to Him, knowing He wouldn’t leave You there. Jesus, I thank You for the gift of salvation. Heavenly Father, we thank You for sending Your Son. We thank You for the promises that You have for us.

Lord, we just come before You, and I pray that You would bring to mind the weights and the sins that are holding us back. Lord, I also pray that those things wouldn’t just come to mind, but You would give us the steps of what needs to be done — whether it’s to lay it down, whether it’s to have a conversation with someone, whether it’s to come into accountability and prayer with someone. God, I pray that we would be a church that would be able to know You intimately and know each other deeply. That we would be a safe place for people to receive Your healing, to receive Your salvation, to receive Your joy.

God, I thank You for the work that You’re doing in us. Lord, we thank You that until You come back, You are perfecting our faith. Lord, I thank You that the invitation is to look to You, the author and finisher of our faith. It says there’s a crowd of witnesses around us, but we don’t keep our eyes on them. We keep our eyes on the One who conquered it all. God, I pray that we would be encouraged. Lord, I pray that we would have a boost of extra faith right now, in Jesus’ name. In the places where we have felt worn down, God, I pray that we would have vision from You.

God, I pray that we would stand on Your Word. We thank You that Your Word says that You are the same yesterday, today, and forever. That You will never leave us, that You will never forsake us, and that Your Word will not return void. God, we thank You for the promises that we hold on to in the highest moments and in our lowest moments — that You have us, that You are faithful, that You will set our feet on solid ground. Lord, I thank You that You are calling us as a church to have a foundation that’s set on You, so that when the storm comes, Lord Jesus, we will not be moved.

Lord, I thank You that we have people like Pastor Matthew who would say, “I’m going to run this race,” quite literally, for the kingdom. And Lord, that we also have people in this congregation who are like the people who stand and say, “I’m here to run this race with you.” God, I thank You that each person in here has been set apart for You. Lord, I pray that there would just be an awakening to what You’re doing. And I bind the plan of the enemy, who comes to steal, kill, and destroy. We say you have no power or authority.

Lord, I thank You that this word would bear much fruit in people’s lives, that people would be set free. Lord, I thank You that the places where we all hide would be exposed, and that there would be freedom. God, we thank You for what You’re doing. We thank You for who You are. We look to You this week, God. I pray that we would be people who would see You and who would not miss You. Lord, we thank You for Your grace and Your joy and Your love. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Transcribed from the message recording and lightly edited for reading.