Sermon Title: Spiritual Recovery: When Following Jesus Is Too Difficult
Scripture: Hebrews 12:1-3 ESV
Introduction
We’ve been going through our series on spiritual recovery as we looked at spiritual dryness, burnout, weariness, and burdens. All of which can lead us into today’s spiritual condition called Spiritual Resignation, meaning you resign from something, you quit. As you experience spiritual dryness and burdens, as your heart over time takes a beating and breaks, you may feel that following Christ is too difficult, too costly, too painful. You get to a point where you feel like putting down your cross and stop following Jesus.
The Christian life is likened to a race. While this race is a marathon, many Christians run it like a 100m dash. They start out really fast, with passion, intensity, and strength, but soon they’re gasping for air, their legs feel like jelly, and the only thing they want to do is stop and fall to the ground. The author of Hebrews is writing to such people who have been following Jesus, but now their hearts feel so battered, so defeated that they want to stop.
When Following Christ is Too Difficult
Our passage today says in verse 1, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses…” (Heb. 12:1).
Verse 1 begins with the word “Therefore,” which is making a conclusion about what was said in chapter 11. Chapter 11 gives many examples of people in the Bible who lived by faith, but at the same time, people who found themselves facing all kinds of circumstances that reflect our lives today: broken relationships, broken lives, broken bodies, being isolated and alone, feeling like the whole world is against them, feeling like no one understands. Lives that are forever changed and never the same again.
People who found themselves with overwhelming tasks, in uncomfortable and difficult situations, with changes and transitions full of uncertainty. People who felt lost, who lost hope that God would answer their prayers, who experienced disappointment when things failed. Those moments when you find yourself having to give up things precious to you, when you feel forced to make sacrifices, and everything seems to come at a great cost. People who lived by faith, and yet experienced great grief and sadness, unrealized expectations, unanswered prayers. They thought relief would come if they held out just a little longer, but instead of things getting better, they seemed to be getting worse.
It would have been easy for these people to feel like living in faith no longer feels like a blessing, being a child of God stops meaning something, following Jesus feels like it has no purpose. You’ve given your best, you’ve got nothing left. God, just leave me alone. I want to stop feeling like I’ve failed, stop feeling like my faith isn’t good enough, stop feeling guilty, stop feeling like a phoney. I want to stop running this race.
What we actually see from the people in chapter 11 are men and women who lived by faith in the midst of their struggles. Their stories never end with their struggles, but with faith. And God has provided them as a cloud of witnesses for us.
However, the one who wanted to stop running the race was me for a very long time. Even after becoming a pastor, for most of those years I kept a letter of resignation because there were so many times I wanted to throw in the towel. So many times when I was hurt and bleeding and dying inside, when my heart was being crushed by my own brokenness, my fears, disappointment and discouragement, feeling inadequate, feeling like a failure, feeling invisible and alone, feeling like nobody cared, feeling unloved, like I’ve let God down.
It’s not that I stopped believing in Jesus, but I was hurting and suffering so much that I didn’t even have room in my heart to feel gratitude for His grace. I just wanted to stop following Him, stop living like Him, stop being like Him, stop loving like Him. While stopping ministry is not the same thing as stopping following Jesus, for me personally those are two closely related things because ministry was a calling, it was my cross to bear and follow Him.
What does God offer us as the remedy? It is to run with endurance and perseverance the race that is set before us.
In today’s passage, the Greek word used for “endurance” is also used for perseverance because here, the two are seen as one and the same. However, the way we use these words in modern English shows us a slight distinction. Endurance generally emphasizes a person’s ability to withstand pain and suffering. Perseverance, on the other hand, emphasizes the determination to continue pursuing a particular goal despite pain and suffering. It’s a person’s heart that is determined to keep going.
As you can see, in the race called faith, you can’t have one without the other. And we are commanded to keep running the race with endurance and perseverance that has been set before those who call Jesus their Saviour and their God.
In verse 2, the Lord gives us a qualification to running with endurance and perseverance: “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith” (Heb. 12:2).
We are not only to run with endurance and perseverance, but we do so in faith by focusing and looking to Jesus Christ, who is the very source and perfecter of our faith. What this means is that there is a difference between human endurance and perseverance, and godly endurance and perseverance that comes from Christ. Human endurance can be sustained through physical conditioning, mental strength, determination, and confidence in one’s own ability, but there will always come a time when it simply will not be enough.
Biblical endurance and perseverance involve faith, being faithful to Jesus because of your confidence and trust in His character and His Word. Jesus Himself endured the cross, despising its shame, meaning He regarded the shame and suffering as incomparable to the joy and victory that would be achieved through the cross. Therefore, Jesus is the center, the purpose of how and why we endure and persevere. And whenever we are weary, whenever we are in doubt, we are to look to Him and what He accomplished on the cross for us as our ultimate encouragement.
But before we can move forward or run forward, the Lord identifies two central issues that hinder us from running the race with endurance and perseverance. In fact, these things eat away at the very endurance and perseverance necessary for us to continue running.
1. There are weights, burdens, and things in your life that hinder you from running the race.
There are burdens and things in our lives which may not all be bad things, and may be quite innocent and harmless. It’s not really about the thing itself, but the issue is in what it does to you. It weighs you down by diverting your attention, your energy, your time, and after having sapped you of your energy, it leaves very little enthusiasm for the things of God.
There are many wonderful things that God has given us in life as His gift of grace to enjoy, but nothing should take priority over Him. And of course, we shouldn’t look at all our burdens as bad things, because some are given to us by God for our nourishment. But we are to carefully identify those things that hinder us from following Christ.
Rather than thinking about whether something is technically sinful or not, we should consider whether the choices we make, the things we indulge ourselves in, and the priorities we have in life help or hinder us from pursuing Jesus. Does it interfere with your ability to be faithful to Him?
2. There are sins that cling to you and entangle you, hindering you from running the race.
When it comes to sin, we tend to recognize sin when it has to do with something God has forbidden. We recognize lying, stealing, adultery, hatred, murder, and idolatry. But there are sins that fly under the radar that we may not even be aware of in our lives. The awareness of these sins grows as you mature spiritually, as you become more Christlike in your character, as you come to discern between what is good and what is holy in the sight of God.
These sins that often slip under the radar are things like depending on yourself instead of God (Prov. 3:5–6), living a prayerless life (1 Thess. 5:17), neglecting God (Heb. 2:1), being spiritually complacent and not desiring to pursue spiritual maturity (Heb. 5:12–14), ungratefulness (Rom. 1:21), taking things that God has given you for granted (Deut. 8:11–14), not doing the things that you know God is calling you to do (James 4:17), a hard and resistant and closed-off heart (Heb. 3:12–13), worldliness—a desire for the things of the world instead of God (1 John 2:15–17), failing to care for others (James 2:15–16), failing to love (1 John 4:20–21), being indifferent to those around you (Phil. 2:4), placing God anywhere but first in your life and in the life of your children (Matt. 6:33).
You don’t reject God, but you’ve learned to live life, live church without depending on Him, without trusting Him.
Regarding these two issues, God gives us a commandment: to lay aside every weight, every burden, every sin in our lives that hinders us from running the race (Heb. 12:1).
Therefore, running the race with endurance and perseverance requires deliberate and intentional spiritual choices in our lives. Pray, discern, and identify the weights, burdens, and sins in your life that hinder your running. Put them aside and pursue Christ. Endure and persevere through the strength that Christ provides.
It may require you to change your priorities, your lifestyle, letting go of ambitions, greed, and opportunities, reducing commitments, surrendering your expectations, and genuine repentance. The truth is, you won’t be able to make these changes by your own strength and will, even if you wanted to. However, these things are possible through Christ, who is the perfecter of our faith.
In verse 3, the Lord provides us with another encouragement: “Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted” (Heb. 12:3).
Whenever we are at our lowest point, whenever we are tempted to give up, we are commanded to consider and reflect on Christ. Consider who He is and what He endured for us. Remember what He endured so that each and every single one of us may be called a child of God. That He did all this for you, for your salvation, for your life. Consider Christ’s scars, His love, how He looked to the joy and victory of the cross. You are part of that joy!
Considering Christ isn’t what we’re to do only when we feel spiritually good. We consider Christ when we’re spiritually not alright. Considering Christ isn’t something we do when our feelings or circumstances change for the better; we consider Christ because they haven’t changed.
Therefore, true biblical endurance and perseverance is to continue to respond to God in faith when we don’t want to continue, when we’re weary, struggling, and tempted to give up. It is to continue to seek God, obey Him, trust Him, continue to repent and return to Him when our circumstances make us want to go the other way. It is to continue to love God, His church, and others when it is hard to love them, and hard to love yourself.
It is to keep going when all you want to do is stop. This does not mean that you are a liar or a phoney or a hypocrite. It means that you are a child of God who understands what Christ did on the cross for you. It means that you love God and would rather walk a path of suffering and pain than deny Christ in your life. It means you trust in God, trust in His timing, and trust that He will come and save. It means that your hope is in that which is unseen, in Christ alone.
Conclusion
Brothers and sisters, continuing to run with endurance and perseverance may not bring you immediate spiritual recovery. You may still be spiritually dry, still exhausted, still waiting, still burdened, and it may still feel difficult to follow Jesus. What it does mean is that you are actively, deliberately, and intentionally, through the strength that Jesus gives you, continuing to follow Christ as you struggle.
What this means is that Christ is always actively at the forefront of your life, and more importantly, it means that you, your burdens, your sins, and your circumstances will never have the final say on when your race is over. The final word belongs to Jesus Christ. The founder and perfecter of your faith will protect you and lead you to the finish line.
Brothers and sisters, through today’s passage, the Lord is not expecting you to overcome every struggle, be rid of every burden or sin that hinders you in order for you to run. The Holy Spirit will work within those things while you run. The Lord commands us to run now, and the founder and perfecter of our faith will help you to run and not be fainthearted.
Reflection
Brothers and sisters, the Lord speaks to those in this room who may be at a point where you have thoughts and temptations of giving up on Christ. Or perhaps the Lord is speaking prophetically into your lives for what may come ahead.
As you reflect on yourself and your life before the Lord, what hinders you from running the race and pursuing Christ? What consumes your attention, saps your energy, and draws your heart away from the Lord? Or what attitudes or patterns of unbelief have taken root in your heart as you’ve been battered by the harshness of your circumstances?
The Lord invites us to relinquish those things, those burdens, those priorities, those sins in repentance and return to Him. If you do not have the strength to confront the patterns of disobedience in your life, if you do not have the resolve to confront the sins in your life, and if you do not have the power to change and rearrange your priorities, then lay those things before the Lord and ask for His power and strength. Open your heart to the Lord, and allow Him to transform your life, to heal you and spiritually recover you.
True perseverance and endurance are not dependent on your own ability, but come from fixing your attention on Jesus. Look to Jesus, the perfecter of your faith. In your lowest moment, remember Jesus who endured the cross for you.
