Sunday Service - 1 Jan 1939

Hebrews X11:1 & 2: “Let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.” The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews compares our life in this world to a race. We are all running a race. (We have just passed through one year, and we are on the threshold of another year. We may say that we have reached another milestone in our race. On this solemn occasion) we will do well to ask ourselves from time to time how we are running this race set before us. The writer of the race sets before us the secret of success in this race. If we are to run this race successfully, he says, we must run looking unto Jesus. Looking away from all others, and everything that may detract us. We are to look only to Jesus. There should be a deliberate concentration of our whole power and aspirations on him. What does looking unto Jesus mean in our daily life? It is having our eyes fixed on him every moment of our life, and having our life transformed by our vision of Him. It is having our standard of character patterned after his own. It is looking at the world and our duties as Christ looks at them. It is loving the things that he loves and doing the things that he does. Looking unto Jesus is turning to him for guidance and strength in every detail of our life. It is seeking to know and to do his will in the affairs of his daily life. The other day I met a man who brought arguments in favour of a certain type of gambling in which men indulged not for the sake of amassing wealth, but purely for the fun of it, to get a little excitement out of it. He said there was no sin in these things. My answer was that to the Christian, Christ was the standard. Would Christ have indulged in gambling? Would he have encouraged gambling for any cause whatsoever? A Christian must face every question from that point of view. He must be prepared to act in the way Christ would have acted in all circumstances. To the Christian, Jesus is the standard. We are to run the race fixing our eyes on Jesus. We are to do our appointed tasks bringing all our thoughts and feelings and wills under the control of Jesus Christ. Our ideals and standards of life have to be built up by our vision of Jesus Christ. Let us this morning examine ourselves and see how we are running the race of life. Perhaps, some of us are running aimlessly. We run, now in one direction, now in another, quite aimlessly without any purpose. We are not running with any hope of victory at the end of our race. There is no joy in our life. We receive no encouragement or inspiration for greater effort in our life, no comfort or consolation in times of failure because we are living aimlessly without a goal before us. But if we run looking unto Jesus, with Christ as our goal, we will feel that there is a purpose in our life. He will inspire us and encourage us in our efforts to reach the goal, and comfort and strengthen us in our failures. But the trouble with most of us is, not that we have no aim in our race. But instead of looking at Jesus we are constantly looking away from Him, and looking at others who are running the race with us. We are all the time comparing ourselves with our rivals and measuring ourselves against them. We are content if we do not fall behind them. We are judging our success or failure by the position we occupy in relation to others.

That is not how the runner who means to win should carry himself. He should fix his eyes on, and bend all his energies toward, his goal. When we look at ourselves as a church or as a Christian society, one very noticeable defect that can be observed in us is our lack of a sense of sin. We do not think of the serious consequences of our sins, on ourselves and others. It is true, perhaps, that we are not guilty of sins like murder, or theft or adultery. But we are guilty of many other sins like dishonesty, jealousy, hatred and malice, pride and selfishness and various other sins. We look on these as minor sins, and think of them lightly as if they are of no consequence at all. What demands our serious attention and careful considerations, not so much that we are guilty of these sins, but that we have ceased to think of them as sins of any consequence. We tend to look on these sins as part of our human nature. This lack of the sense of sin is due to comparing ourselves to our fellow men, rather than with Christ. We compare ourselves with others and see what good fellows we are. We are satisfied with ourselves. It is only when we compare ourselves with Jesus that we know the seriousness of our sins. We are, therefore, to have our eyes fixed on him constantly. I would like to remind you of the means the church has made available to us, to help us to live in the presence of Jesus. They are means that will help us to focus our thoughts on Jesus as we go on our life’s journey: Regular and systematic study of the Bible helps us to live in the presence of Christ and to turn our thoughts to him constantly. When we meditate on God’s word, we come into touch with the mind of Christ and we live in his presence. I think a devotional study of the Bible is binding on every Christian. How much use are we making of this God-given means? Some people may live in places far away from any church, and may not have the opportunity of attending any church services regularly. But I believe all have the time to spend a few minutes every day in Bible study. If we have not formed the habit of regular Bible study, let us make an effort to form this habit. There is nothing that we can do better for our children than to help them to form this habit while they are young. Shall we resolve this day to study the scriptures regularly so that we may grow in the knowledge and love of God. Secondly the Holy Communion service brings us into contact with the personality of Christ in a unique manner. The whole service turns our thoughts to Jesus. We focus our thoughts on him. Looking away from all else, we look steadfastly on Jesus. For the time being at least, the world with all its attractions is hidden from our view. We come to a realisation of his presence and we enjoy his fellowship. In that intimate fellowship, Christ touches us and imparts to us the [essence] of his personality and the beauty of his character. We have our lives transformed by our vision of him. Even when we leave the church and go about our business and attend to our daily tasks this vision of him at the Holy Sacrament enables us to turn our thoughts on Jesus. The wholly Eucharist and the Holy Bible are means provided for us by the church to enable us to live in his presence in our daily life. Shall we resolve at this time to make a fuller use of these God appointed means from now? Let us run the race that is set before us looking unto Jesus. That is God’s message to us. Let it be our joy and privilege to look unto Jesus in every detail of our life. In the discharge of our daily duties let us look for guidance to him. When we have to face temptations and trials let us

look to Jesus for help and strength. Looking away to Him would [assist] us to resist all evil and to do the things that are right and good. Perhaps, some of us will be called upon to make great decisions in our life – decisions which perhaps will affect the whole of our future. Let us look to Jesus for His guidance. Some of us may perhaps be called upon to face disappointments, failure or sorrow. Let us turn to Jesus who alone can give us the comfort and consolation and the strength to bear all things, whatever may be our experience. Let us remember that the secret of success in the race of life is looking unto Jesus.