What kind of company do you keep? I know Kurt had dealt with that question from his pastor and from his parents because I was his pastor and knew his parents. I happened to be on the sidewalk near the entrance to the bank as Kurt walked out after having visited with the bank president about a car loan. In applying for a loan the friendly banker questioned him about the company he had been keeping. I believe this banker genuinely cared about this young man and also wanted to make loans to persons who would repay them. I know him since he was my banker, too.

Certainly, it is of great value to us when we have friends who challenge and inspire us with the example of their lives. While this is indeed true for very impressionable children and youth, it has quite an impact on adults, too. The last few weeks you have heard about the company that our Campaign leadership team has been keeping with weekly meetings and tasks to complete in between.

With the logo of a church race car we have been challenged to think about the legacy of faith left to us and the awesome responsibility we have to pass on our Christian faith to the next generation through our ministries and through the provision of a well maintained building. Since the Scriptures do not speak of auto racing we have looked at some passages that refer to foot racing. Having Mindy share some of her experience as a marathon runner has helped us understand the Bible references. In this passage the writer uses language drawn from the athletics of the Greeks and Romans and the writer is referring to the arena of life. He draws a picture of the contest, the race. The Greek word used here is agona, from which we get our word agony. To excel at a particular Olympic competition or a marathon usually takes hard work, perseverance, and perhaps some pain. It did for Mindy and made some of us hurt just to think of what running 26.2 miles would be like. Similarly, to live for Christ is not always easy. To picture this for ourselves lets begin by looking at the company of the winners.

Look at the

I. Company of Winners

The verse begins, "Therefore since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us..

Who is this great cloud of witnesses?

Certainly it includes the heroes of faith we have been studying from the previous chapter: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Caleb, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jepthah, David, Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Elijah, Elisha, etc. The list could go on with New Testament heroes and with historical figures like Augustine, Luther, Wesley, Asbury, Whitefield and more recent people like Bonhoffer, Corrie TenBoom, etc. The list could include people who have shaped the history of our communities and churches, Christians we have known, some who may still be alive who have had an impact on you and me. They are a great cloud of witness, the company of winners. Some may be well known persons and other may be lesser- known persons working behind the scenes.

In the arena of life as in the sports arena, we need encouragement when we face the reality of pain, heartache, sickness, sorrow, and pressures.

Pastor Wiersbe told this story on himself. In Jr. High he had a coach who felt it was his duty to make an athlete of him. Everyone in his class could have told him that he was wasting his time because he was the worst athlete in the class, perhaps in the school. He entered the citywide school competition running the low hurdles. Wiersbe knocked down six hurdles, fractured his left ankle and immediately abandoned his sports career. He wrote, "Shortly after this the coach enlisted in the army. I may have driven him to it." One of the encouraging statements of coach was, "Other students have done it and so can you."

When we are struggling to be faithful to Christ consider this, "Other Christians have made it and so can you."

The word, witness means one who bears witness and came to mean one who is faithful to death in bearing witness. Their lives bear witness to us that God will see us through, no matter what difficulty we may face. The word witness can also mean spectator, but the context here suggests that the runners are to look at them, rather than they at the runners.

In this arena of life we not only look at the company of the winners, but continue by looking at the companion of the winners.

II. Companion of the Winners

What I have in mind here is us, those of us who are Christians seeking to live for God. As we look at the winners, the saints recorded in the Bible and in more recent history, including Christians we know today, we may need to be reminded from time to time that if we have placed our trust in Jesus Christ and Savior and Lord, we are companions of the winners. The Scriptures tell of women and men of faith so that we maybe encouraged as we run the races that is set before us. They ran the race and won and so can we. However, we must prepare ourselves.

Years ago athletes wore training weights to help prepare for event. We might compare this with a baseball player swinging an extra heavy bat or a few bats at once before stepping up to the plate. The athlete would not actually wear these weights in competition because they would slow hi down and wear him out too soon. This is the point of "laying aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us." An encumbrance is excess weight, mass, bulk, superfluous flesh.

What weights do we need to remove to win for Christ? What hinders our progress? It may even be something innocent, good things in the eyes of others. The winner does not necessarily choose between good and bad. Instead winners may need to choose between the better and the best. This may also involve the company that we keep.

Our verse says, "let us lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangled us. " The writer may have a specific sin in mind as he used the language of easily entangles as a long loose robe of the first century would cling to the legs and get in the way. We may need to look at ourselves and see how we can run with endurance the race that is set before us as a companion of the winners.

This picture would be incomplete without looking at the Champion of the Winner that is Jesus Christ.

III. Champion of the Winners

As we look at the company of the winners and ourselves, the companions of the winners we should realize our great need to look to Jesus Christ - the champion of all real winners. Only as we look to Jesus are we saved. Only as we look to Jesus each day do we grow in our faith.

"Fixing our eyes on Jesus." literally this means to turn the eyes away from other things to fix them only on Jesus, to turn ones mind to a certain thing. Vision turned away from all else and concentrated on Jesus cannot yield to distractions. If the runner in the Olympic arena takes attention off his race, his goal, he slows down and will likely lose. This may also be the case for the Christian whose attention is diverted from the goal of serving Jesus Christ.

Dr. Swindoll wrote, "We must stare into his face in order to gain His perspective and His hope. Jesus Christ understands the race in its entirety. As the author, He is the origin of this faith-life and as perfector He completed it as well." Jesus is the chief leader who furnishes our example. He is the champion of the winners and far surpasses the others in the company of the winners. He is the perfect complete example, "who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Jesus endured and won to do His Father's will.

As we struggle in the arena of Christian life, look at the company of Winners. They made it and so can we. Look at the companion of the winners. That is us. And remove any hindrance. Finally look to Jesus, the Champion of the winners. Trust Him to enable you to be a winner too.

Return