Living life is a bit like – well, running a race. And that’s great – running a race I mean. Provided that we actually get to the starting line. Can’t run a race until you start. That’s obvious. So why is it that so many people avoid the starting line?

Once every 4 years they hold the Olympic games. And whilst most of us aren’t that interested in swimming races or diving competitions or track and field events for the other 3 years and 50 weeks, over those two weeks we seem to become fixated on those very events. And it doesn’t matter which event we watch – swimming, running, pole vaulting… whatever it is – we see the athlete’s line up at the starting line or step up onto the starting block or walk into the throwing circle, and then… then they do their thing. Then they compete. They run or they swim or they throw. And why?

They do it to win.

But there’s one really obvious thing about these competitions. Unless the athlete steps up to the starting line, they can’t win. I mean if nine athletes crouch down in their blocks waiting to start for a sprint, and they’re waiting for the starting gun and the tenth athlete, he’s wandering around behind the blocks, well… there’s one thing for sure. When the starter fires the gun that tenth athlete has no chance, absolutely no chance of winning the race. Pretty obvious really.

So how come we miss that obvious reality over and over again when it comes to running the race of life?

Last week on the program we started a series that I called Running the Race – Winning the Prize. It’s all about asking ourselves, what race am I running in? Am I just wandering around aimlessly on the track expecting to win a prize? Am I running in the wrong race? Am I in the 400-metre track and field when, given who I am, I really should be in the 200-metre butterfly in the pool?

They’re good questions to ask because each one of us is made by God to run a particular race.

Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 to 10 say this:

For by grace you have been saved through faith. It’s not your own doing; it’s a gift from God not the result of works so that no-one may boast. For we are what He has made us. Created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.

We’re made the way He made us. Each one different. You’re so different to me. We’re made to run our own race. God’s race. The grace race. But you know, one of the most daunting things about what we’ve been looking at the last week on the program. It’s this sense that God does have a plan. That there is, in fact, a mighty race for each one of us to run but in our hearts we’re afraid.

We’re afraid to step up to the starting line. We’re afraid to, I don’t know, just to take that first step. It’s called inertia. It’s a basic law of physics. It’s a tendency to do nothing or remain unchanged. In physics it’s a property of matter by which the matter continues in it’s existing state of rest unless that state is changed by an external force.

You know that feeling. You can see what lies ahead. You know, you know it’s the right thing to do but you just can’t get started. You just can’t go.

What’s holding us back? Maybe it’s a sense that we haven’t been running this race. We kind of know God had a plan all along but we’ve left it so long. What would God think? Maybe if I ignore it. Maybe if I hide it will go away and He won’t notice. Maybe it’s a sense that if we start running this race for God we’ll look stupid or feel stupid or something. What’ll other people think? What if I fall flat on my face? I’ll look stupid.

It’s a problem for many people who believe in Jesus. Is that it can be hard to connect our faith with our lives. But the journey won’t begin. The journey in the race of faith and grace that God has laid out for us. It simply won’t begin without the first step. It just won’t. And you can buy the CD’s of this program. You can listen to them over and over and over again. But nothing is going to change unless we resolve in our hearts to take that very first step.

To step up to the starting line and say to ourselves, “You know something, God is calling me, ME, to run a race that He planned for me since before time began. That Paul guy got it right. I know that today God is calling me.”

This is what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians chapter 9:

Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete but only one receives the prize? Run is such a way that you may win it. Athletes exercise self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath but we, an imperishable one. So I don’t run aimlessly nor do I box as though I’m beating the air but I punish my body and enslave it so that after proclaiming to others, I myself shall not be disqualified.

Starting the race is saying, “That’s for me today. God is speaking to me through His word and you know something. Doesn’t matter how much my body craves for comfort and safety and security. I have a race to run. A race with a purpose.”

Your race is going to look a whole bunch different to mine and that’s okay. That’s good. That’s how is should be. And yes, running the race, it’s hard work sometimes. It’s tiring. It’s exhausting. It’s painful. All of those things. But have a listen to how the writer of Hebrews puts it in Hebrews chapter 12:

Therefore since we’re surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin that clings so closely and lets run with perseverance the race that’s set before us. Looking to Jesus, the pioneer and the perfector of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, disregarding it’s shame and has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him, who endured such hostility against Himself from sinners so that you may not grow weary or lose heart.

In the bigger picture, heaven’s cheering us on. That’s the big picture. That’s the heavenly picture. It’s time to lay a hold of the life that God’s got planned for us. Actually shed the flab, the weight, the sin. Lose it because it’s lead in the saddle bags. And I know, shedding that lead, that sin, it’s kind of like losing weight. It takes time.

But what’s been talked about here by Paul and by the writer of Hebrews is shifting our focus from the temptation. You know, like that, I heard someone say the other day, like the chocolate cake that you just want to eat today. That soft, sweet, creamy, luscious, delicious chocolate cake. You can just smell the smell going up your nostrils. It’s the thing that’s going to clog up your arteries and put the weight on. I know it’s crying out – eat me, eat me. It’s a seductive cry at the very core of our being.

What the writer of Hebrews is saying here is, ‘let that go. Say no to it and say yes to Jesus’

Who for the sake of the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross.

He gave up a great career He could have had as a preacher and a religious leader. He gave it up to die on the cross for the joy that lay ahead. And that’s the whole point. That’s it. That’s where it is. It’s so incredibly hard running a race but when you get to the end of it and you’re exhausted and you’re tired and you ache, it’s a fabulous race to have run.

I’m going to ask you a question. A question for yourself to ask. Am I ready to run this race? Only you can answer it. But I want to encourage you. Go to God today. Answer the call that you’ve heard His voice and tell Him, “I am. Lord, I am ready to run Your race.”

Living life is a bit like running a race. But what if an athlete is running the race of his or her life, and they just wander off the track. You know, they get distracted, so off they go. Surely, they can’t still expect to win, can they?

Living life is a bit like running a race. We start off with all the best intentions, but all of a sudden, the cares of this world take over. It’s like – well, like we run into an impenetrable wall of thorns. And all of a sudden, we can’t move.

I remember when I was in the Australian army, we used to go on some horrendous navigation exercises. One, in particular, stands out in my mind. We were navigating through the jungle in a tropical region with mosquitoes and leeches and heat and humidity. And the undergrowth was so thick it could take a couple of hours to travel just 100 metres. Hacking our way through it with our machetes. And there were 2 plants in particular that, to this day, I hate. Truly I do.

One of them was Lantana. It’s a noxious weed introduced into Australia through European settlement. This plant has thick stems with thorns on it. It grows so dense and so high in tropical regions. It’s like hacking through a spiky, impenetrable wall. It leaves your arms and hands covered in stinging, bleeding scratches.

And then, then there’s a vine that hangs down from the rainforest trees. It’s called Wait a While. There’s a reason for that. It has hooks on it and when it catches your skin, those hooks, hundreds of them, they grip into your flesh. And you can’t go forward without ripping the flesh off your skin. That’s why it’s called Wait a While.

Thorns, it turns out, have an amazing ability to stop your progress. Now imagine, just imagine you were trying to run a race and all of a sudden Lantana and Wait a While was growing over your track. Now that would be fun, wouldn’t it?

Each one of us has a life to live. A special, unique, one of a kind race to run. And we know there are going to be some upside days and some downside days. There are going to be sunny days and there are going to be cold, wet and miserable days. That is life.

Now I don’t want to trivialise that. If you’ve just lost a loved one. If you’re traumatised by war. If you’ve just lost your job or your marriage. If you’re struggling to put food on the table for your kids or your child is sick. There’s nothing trivial about any of that.

I’ve had times in my life where it’s been desperate. We all do. And I guess today’s about shedding some light into that place. See, sometimes we’re in a bad place and sometimes it’s our own fault. We lose our house because we’ve mismanaged our finances. We lose our marriages because we didn’t love our wives or our husbands. And you end up in this deep, dark, impenetrable place.

Other times though, the thorns are just starting to grow over our race track. It’s early days and we can do something about it before it gets out of hand. Before we’re hacking through mountains of impenetrable Lantana with bloodied hands.

I want to read something to you today that Jesus said. It applies very much to you and me. The race that we’re running in our lives. See people set out with good intentions. With a faith in their hearts. Some belief in a good God. And then, so often, these thorns grow up and we completely lose sight of what’s going on. Have a listen to what He said. If you want to read it, it comes from Luke’s gospel, chapter 8, beginning at verse 4:

A great crowd gathered and people from town after town came to Jesus and He told this parable. ‘A sower went out to sow his seed and as he sowed, some fell on a path and was trampled on and the birds of the air ate it up. Some fell on the rock and as it grew up it withered for lack of moisture. Some fell among the thorns and the thorns grew with it and choked it. Some fell into good soil and when it grew it produced a hundredth fold.’

As He said this He called out, ‘Let anyone with ears to hear, listen.’

See, there are those thorns. But if you and I think this story’s a bit obscure, well we weren’t the only ones because following on straight from that in verse 9 of Luke chapter 8, this is what happened. His disciples asked Him what this parable meant and Jesus said:

‘This parable means this. The seed is God’s word. The ones on the path are those who have heard, then the devil comes and takes away the Word from their hearts so they may not believe it and be saved. The ones on the rock are those who when they hear the Word they receive it with joy but these have no root, they believe only for a while and in a time of testing, they fall away. As for the ones that fell among the thorns, these are the ones who hear but as they go on their way they’re choked by the cares and the riches and the pleasures of life and their fruit does not mature. But as for that in the good soil, these are the ones who, when they hear the Word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart and bear fruit with patient endurance.’

Isn’t that so apt? The notion of the thorns. This wall of Lantana that grows so brutally and so powerfully around us, that it’s like a painful prison choking out the light. Choking out the good intentions we had when we heard God’s Word, when we started the race. Choking God’s Word out of our hearts.

So many people believe in God at a distance but their ears have grown dull. They’ve heard God’s word but it doesn’t seem to have occurred to them that it applies to their lives. And then the cares of this world, the riches, the comfort, all the things the world dangles in front of our noses. We focus on those. We think that that’s what success is about. As we chase after those things, the thorns inexorably wrap themselves around our lives:

As for what fell among the thorns, these are the ones who hear but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and the riches and the pleasures of life and their fruit does not mature.

We never mature in those thorns. We’re caught in a painful place and there’s no way out. Or so it seems. And I know there’s someone listening today who’s in that place. You thought the answers was in the riches of this world. And you’ve been so sadly disappointed. How easy is it for the runner to get caught up in these thorns? To lose his or her way.

Have a listen to this. We’re going to talk about it more tomorrow. In 1 Timothy chapter 6, verse 10 the apostle Paul writes this. He says:

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil and in their eagerness to be rich, some have wandered away from their faith and pierced themselves with many pains.

I really relate to that bit about being pierced with many pains. The attention we pay to the things that entice us in this world shifts our focus from the prize. A rich eternal life in a dynamic relationship with Jesus Christ. I’m not saying we should be airy-fairy, off with the pixies, spiritualists ignoring the realities of life. Not that at all. But simply that if what we’re chasing after are the baubles that this world holds out as constituting success and happiness, we’re going to find ourselves amongst the thorns. That’s it!

What’s the answer? What’s the answer? It’s to change our minds. The answer is to shift our focus. The answer is to get ourselves planted in rich soil where we can grow and bear fruit.

We’re going to be looking at that later on in the week. For the moment I just want to call each one of us to this realistic assessment of our lives. Where has the seed of God’s Word fallen in us? On the path? On the rocky ground? Amongst the thorns? Or in the rich soil? Come on. Get real. Be honest with yourself.

Repent is such an old-fashioned word it seems. But has a powerful meaning that’s as relevant today as it was when Jesus used it. It means turning away from the things that we know are wrong. That have pierced us with many pains. The things that just don’t work. Back to something that does.

God wants us to run the race that He always planned for us to run. For the joy that He set before us.

We’ve all heard someone say, “I feel like a dog with two masters.” And we know exactly what they mean. Turns out that we’re made to have just one master. Not two. Not three. One. The question is – which one?

One day, we’ll all be at the end of our days here on this earth. I will. You will. And when that time comes, when there’s just a handful of tomorrows left for you on planet Earth, when you look back on the race that you’ve run over a lifetime, what will you see? What will you feel?

I was just sitting, the other day, with a man who was in the last few weeks of his life here on earth. An older man, living on his own. He’d been through cancer just a few years earlier and he’d had a major operation. And now, now it was back and it was pretty clear to him that he didn’t have long to live on this earth. He’d put his faith in Jesus Christ so he knew he had an eternal future ahead of him.

As I was sitting talking with him. He was in his favourite arm-chair in the corner of his lounge room and I was sitting across the room on a dining chair. My eyes wandered down to his feet which were clad in soft, brown slippers. The slippers though, both had holes in the toes. And immediately I thought, ‘He needs new slippers, maybe I could …’ But the last thing on this earth that he needed was a new pair of slippers. The ones he had would do just fine for the next few days or weeks.

It was a sobering thought. And as I left and I was driving away in the car I thought, “Wow, when I’m at that point in my life, where I don’t need new slippers anymore and I look back on the life that I’ve lived, what will I think? How will I feel as I consider the race that I’ve run?” Now that’s something worth thinking about.

Can I ask you something? When you don’t need a new pair of slippers anymore and you look back on the life that you’ve lived, at least what you know of it today, how will you feel? Will it be a sense of real satisfaction at a race well run? Or will there be regrets, missed opportunities? If only, if only I’d done this or that. If only I’d followed God’s prompting that day to help that person. If only I’d done more and lived life fuller. If only … Wouldn’t that be a tragedy? I mean a complete and utter tragedy.

I’m going to come back today, as we finish off this two-week, ten part series of Running the Race and Winning the Prize, to where we started. What Paul writes in 1 Corinthians chapter 9:

Don’t you know that in a race the runners all compete but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it. Athletes exercise self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath but we an imperishable one. So I don’t run aimlessly. I don’t box as though I’m beating the air but I punish my body, I enslave it so that after proclaiming to others, I myself should not be disqualified.

The question for each one of us is – am I running the race that, in my heart of hearts, I really want to be running? The one I know I should be running. The one I was made to run. They’re the questions we should be asking ourselves right now because when we get to the end we won’t be able to change the race we’ve run.

My passion in my life is to run my race. The one that God’s made me for. The one He planned for me, before time began, to the absolute full. Not missing out on any of it.

My race is going to be totally different from yours and that’s a good thing too. I’m made for mine and you’re made for yours. I’m focused on living out my life and enjoying it along the way with all its ups and downs.

It’s an interesting thing. The apostle Paul, when he was getting to the end of his days. He actually wrote another letter to his young protégé, Timothy. Giving him this very advice. Have a listen. It’s in 2 Timothy chapter 4, beginning at verse 6. Paul writes:

As for me, I’m already being poured out like a libation and the time of my departure has come. I fought the good fight, I finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on, there is reserved for me, the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

What a deep sense of satisfaction. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. And that libation thing, what’s that all about? Well, it’s a figure of speech. It’s used of someone who’s blood is about to be poured out in a violent death for the cause of God. See this guy Paul is about to be executed and not even that can take away his deep sense of satisfaction looking back on his race. And what a race it was.

People tried to kill him. They had rioted against him. They criticised him. They locked him up. They beat him. He was shipwrecked. He was bitten by poisonous snakes. He spent years on death row. Why? Because he followed the call of God on his life. He left his secure, cushy job as a religious leader in Jerusalem for an uncertain life of following Jesus. Listen again to the deep sense of satisfaction in his voice:

I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I’ve kept the faith.

I want that! He’s looking forward to a wonderful future. He’s looking back on a wonderful life. A life with warts and all. And the context in which he’s doing this is he’s sharing this with his young protégé, Timothy, and giving him some advice. Advice that Timothy needs now to have that sort of feeling at the end. Have a listen to the advice that Paul actually gives Timothy in the preceding few verses:

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is the judge of the living and the dead and in view of His appearing in His kingdom, I solemnly urge you proclaim the message. Be persistent whether to time is favourable or unfavourable. Convince, rebuke, encourage with the utmost patience in teaching.

For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine but have itching ears. They will accumulate for themselves, teachers to suit their own desires and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry in full.

See Timothy was a young minister following in the apostle Paul’s footsteps. Paul is giving him the benefit of a wisdom that comes from having run the race and kept the faith. Followed God’s call on his life. And what’s he saying to Timothy? He’s urging him on. I solemnly urge you. Run the race that’s set before you. Do what God’s called you to do. Be persistent whether the times are favourable or not. Whether you feel like it or not. Do it and live it and go for it no matter what the cost.

I don’t know about you but when I’m sitting in that lounge chair wearing slippers that need replacing but knowing that I have no such need anymore. I don’t want to be thinking, ‘oh man, if only I’d followed Paul’s advice. If only I’d listened.’ No, I want to be able to be thinking exactly what Paul was thinking. I fought the good fight. I finished the race. I’ve kept the faith and now, now I’m looking forward to The crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge will give me on that day. And not only to me but also to all that have longed for His appearing. 

How about you? It’s so easy to live for the here and now. This short-termism driven by our voracious consumerism and consumptionism. Trying to fill our bellies. Trying to be full but never really having the satisfaction and the contentment that come from pouring our lives out for others for God’s glory.

Me? I sit here in this dull, grey, little radio studio and the passion of my heart is to shine light into your life. It’s what makes me tick. That’s the race that God’s called me to. It’s hard some days. There are sacrifices. But it’s a delight and a joy that I simply can’t put into words.

You? You have skills and gifts and abilities that I can only dream of. Things I could never do. You’re a person I simply could never be and He has a race for you to run. It’ll be hard some days. There’ll be sacrifices. But it will involve a delight and a joy that I know you simply will not be able to put into words.

I solemnly urge you – run your race. Run toward the prize.