In this article, we are going to be looking at The Race and The Prize. And we will be using Jesus Christ as our case study. So, several Scriptures that we will be looking at, we will be seeing Jesus in the pages of the Scriptures so that we can understand how Jesus was able to run His race and lay hold of the prize. We are going to start our observation from Hebrews 10 verse 36. First, we want to define the race and the prize. So, Hebrews 10:36; there is a beautiful Scripture there that gives us a definition for the race and the prize. It says: “For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.”
Actually, this verse captures or summarizes all that will be discussing in this piece by the help of the Holy Spirit. For you have need for endurance; meaning that there is something you must carry on in this journey for you to be able to actually do the will of God, you have need; not once, it is a necessity, endurance is a necessity for the race. So, you have need for endurance so that after; meaning that there must be a completion after you have done the will of God. So, what is the will of God in this context? The race. The race is doing the will of God. “After you have done the will of God you will receive the promise. After you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.” What is the promise? The prize. You have need for endurance, so that after you have done the will of God. So, the will of God and doing the will of God is the race you need to run. After you have done the will of God; not before, not in the middle, but after. Meaning there must be a completion of the will of God. It said it is after you have done it, after you have fulfilled it; that you will obtain the promise.
Hebrews 12 verse 2, but let us start from verse one; “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses; let us pause here. Prior to Hebrews chapter 12 is Hebrews 11. In Hebrews chapter 11, I want to call this chapter the hall of faith. Those that have ran the race, those that have done the will of God, so, the hall of faith is what I call Hebrews 11. Where you see that it started by mentioning Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, then it started to mention Rahab, Samuel, David, Jephthah. These are men that ran. These are men that did the will of God. So, it now went further to say to us in Hebrews 12 verse 1, “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, 2 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.”
Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by these great personalities, since we are surrounded by these great evidences of people that ran successfully, people that did the will of God successfully. What did it say? Let us lay aside. If you want to run a race, weight is a hindrance. So, it said let us lay aside every weight. Why? Because we want to run. We cannot run with weights; we need to be light. It said let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, let us run. The reason why the weight is a necessary thing to lay aside is because we are about to run. It said let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.
Brothers and sisters there is a race set before us. Whether we come to terms with it or not, whether we accept it or not, each person has a race set before Him. When Abraham was in His Father’s house doing His business, He was not aware that there was a race that was set before Him until he encountered God and God said come out of your Father’s house, from your Fathers country, to a land I will show you. He now started walking, and running his own race. There are many people that are running this race in ignorance. We are running because a race has been set before us. It will be self-denial or ignorance to say other people can be running but I am not running. It’s a lie! There is a race.
Apostle Paul said there is a race that is set before us. Let us run with endurance. Remember Hebrews 10 verse 36 that we read; you have need for endurance. Because this is not a hundred-meter dash. This is not a 200-meter race. It’s a long race. So, it said from the beginning, you have need for endurance. This race requires endurance. And he repeated it again in Hebrews chapter 12 verse 1 that let us run with endurance. You can never run without endurance. You won’t finish. He said when we are running that race, how do we run it? Who should be our case study? Verse 2 says “looking unto Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith.” How did He run His own race? “Who for the joy that was set before Him, He endured…” did you see endurance prize again? “He endured the cross despising the shame and has sat down.” Did you see the prize? And has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. The right hand is a place of honor, it’s a prize.
Jesus did not get the position on a platter of gold. It was the prize for the race He ran. And He showed us an example. Just like a race was set before Jesus, a race is set before us. How many years did it take Jesus to run His race? Because this is to show us that it’s not about the length of time, it about the commitment to process. When Jesus became 30 years old, He surfaced, He had been growing, preparing, and when He showed up, when the Lord revealed Him and made Him manifest; for three and half years Jesus committed to the process, ran and finished His race. Time is not a constraint, what will constrain you from running is what Apostle Paul said “let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us.”
So, we look at our lives, that is why it did not say “sins.” It said the “sin.” That is why for every human being there is a sin that easily ensnares. That’s why the Bible says men are usually not tempted except in the areas where they themselves have weaknesses. Those are the sins that easily beset. You know yourself, what can stop me from running this race? What is the weight? Some of us know that we love the things of the world that it has become a weight. Some of us know that pride is locking around our members and it has become a weight. Some of us know that impatience is the reason why we will not run successfully. These are the things that God said lay aside. See how Jesus was able to lay aside. Who for the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross! The cross is not the place where you want to be, the cross is not the place where you want to abide, He endured the process.
Now, let us look how Jesus did it. The cross was the place where His flesh died. The cross is the place where the flesh of Jesus was crucified. He endured the cross. What does that mean to us? It means that there is a process that we must be committed to like Jesus was committed to the cross. The process of mortifying the deeds of the flesh, the process of when the Holy Spirit is dealing and crucifying your flesh on the cross and you are cringing and saying “God is it only me? God why is it so hard?” Those times when He is stretching you and He is asking you to fast and He is asking you to study for long hours, pray for long hours, it is a process of the cross. What do you do in that process? Endure!
There are many of us, we desire the race, this race that is set before us, doing the will of God is a delight, it’s a desire, but what Apostle Paul said has been the limitation. Apostle Paul said “I find a different law at work in my members. My Spirit is willing but my flesh is weak.” I find that when I want to do the things of God, the will of God, the race that is set before me, I find myself struggling to do it. But when it comes to the pleasures of the world, I am active. He said who will deliver me from this sinful flesh. But did he stop there? He said thanks be to God. That is the place we must always come to, that the solution is in enduring the cross.
What did He do again? Despising the shame. What was the shame? You will ask how many people did Jesus heal? How many people did Jesus raise from the dead? How many families did Jesus go and eat with? Then who are the people that were screaming crucify Him? Where are the people that Jesus ate in their house? Where was Zacchaeus, where was the blind Bartimaeus? Where was the widow of Nein? Where were they when they were crying crucify Him? In the legislature if they want to pass a bill, they say “those for this bill say I, some say I, those against it say nay, and others say nay!” Where were the people that say don’t crucify Him? did we get any figure of people that say don’t crucify Him?
Everybody was shouting crucify Him. do you know the shame? Jesus that when He passes through Israel, multitude were thronging. Where was the woman with the issue of blood for 12 years? When that woman was going to touch Jesus, multitudes were around Him, even His disciples testified; Jesus how can you say somebody touched you, see multitude thronging, where were the multitude? So, you see the shame He had to bear. The same people that He had worked miracles, wonders in their midst shouting crucify Him. And the Bible says; He despised the shame, He did not look at the faces of the people, He didn’t say “you too you are saying crucify Him, do you know I was the one that raised your daughter from the dead?” He despised the shame, His focus was on the race.
Brothers and sisters, if you are going to look at people and things, you won’t run the race. If your concern is about who is clapping for you or not, you won’t run the race. Jesus despised the shame. God can use me for you, you can choose to do whatever you want to do with me but my focus is God. So, He despised the shame, and what happened after? He has sat down; He has received His prize. You and I can run this race because Jesus has given us an example. Jesus ran successfully. Do you know there are certain things that could have stopped Jesus from running? For example, John was His forerunner, he was His cousin.
John had been doing ministry before Jesus came on the scene, Jesus could have said; is it not easy, John already had an established ministry, let it be “John and Jesus ministry worldwide.” I will just use the platform of John to run my race. What that what He did? No! John already has disciples, if He needed disciples, He could have used the disciples of John. But He understood a race was set before Him. John had his race; Jesus had His race. Another thing that will stop us from running this race successfully is when we are running another man’s lane for convenience. How will I do it? Where will I start from? What if they laugh at me? What if it doesn’t succeed? What happened after Jesus started? The disciples of John came to tell John; didn’t you start this ministry before Him? He is healing people, He is preaching, and what did John reply? He said for this reason I came that He may increase and I decrease.
At some point John became offended. Imagine Jesus saying God why should John be locked up in the prison? I will stop my ministry and start a deliverance ministry to get John out. Is that what Jesus was doing? John became offended and said are you the one we are expecting or we should wait for another? And Jesus sent them back; He said tell John the blind sees, the lame walk, blessed is he that that is not offended because of me. Because that was the state of the heart of John, He was offended. That if Jesus was truly Jesus, why didn’t come and save him from the prison, why didn’t start a deliverance ministry? But that was not the race that was set before Him.
You will offend people; your obedience will cause offense to some people you must stick to it. Stick to the race that is set before you. When the brothers and sisters of Jesus came and His mother and they sent a message to Him, Jesus your mother and your brothers and your sisters are here. He said who are my brothers, who is my mother, who are my sisters? They are those who hears the sayings of mine and does them. Anybody that is not on the track of my race I don’t embrace. Why His focus was on the race, He counted other things as weights. Jesus laid aside every weight and has sat down. He got the prize. Galatians 5 verse 7; “You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you.”
Apostle Paul was saying you ran well, who hindered you from obeying the truth? This question is such a vital question. You ran well; but who hindered you from obeying the truth? It’s such a question that ponders the heart. Hitherto you have been running and you ran well, but who has stopped you, who has hindered you from obeying the truth. At the point this point no matter the race you are running, the point you refuse to obey the truth, you have been hindered. When Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane He prayed and cried to God, He said I wish this cup can pass over me, that was the state.
But what is the truth? That He drinks the cup. Jesus had run well, but imagine if He had obeyed Peter, and say you will not die He would have been hindered from obeying the truth. Imagine if He did not drink the cup, and say what is my death to them? Let me be alive and be healing as much people, would that be obeying the truth. The Bible says; even though a son, He learnt obedience through the things He suffered. To run this race and attain the prize, we must not be hindered from obeying the truth. You have run well, who has hindered you from obeying the truth?
Habakkuk 2 verse 2. “Then the Lord answered me and said: “Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it.” It says that he may run; not stand, not look, that he may run; because the vision that is written upon the tablets is for the race. The truth of the word of God is God’s will concerning us. When we read it, we must run! It says that he may run who reads it. Write the vision, make it plain upon tablets that he that reads it may run. The vision is for the race. What is that God has shown you? What is it that God has said to you? It is not for to stand or sit idle, it’s for you to run. Run with the word you have received. Run with the instruction you have received because there is a prize. If you choose not to run you cannot lay-hold of the prize.
Psalm 119:32. I love this particular Scripture so much. It says; “I will run the course of Your commandments, For You shall enlarge my heart.” To run the course is to run the race. So, the commandments of the Lord are not supposed to just be read, it’s supposed to be run with. You are supposed to run with the word. You are supposed to run with the vision, you are supposed to run with the commandments. The path for the race is the word. I want us to see an interesting Scripture in 1 Corinthians 9 that will help us understand what I am saying. We will start from 24 and stop at 27.
“Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way (there is a way to run.) Run in such a way that you may obtain it.” That means there is a way not to obtain it. But run in such a way that you may obtain it. 25 And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. 26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. How do you run with uncertainty? When you are running by yourself without a word, without a basis, without a foundation. He said I run thus not with uncertainty. When you run with uncertainty, you cannot obtain. Thus I fight not as one that beats the air, but I discipline my body. I endure the cross, I despise the shame and bring it into subjection. [he now told us how his running is certain] he said; lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.” What qualifies us for the price? The word! What makes our running certain? The word of God!
That’s why David said in Psalm 119 I run the course of your commandment. I don’t run the course of my words, I don’t run the course of what men gave me, I run the course of my commandments. That’s what we have been called to race on. The word! So, what do we run for? We run for the word. Philippians 3 verse 12. “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.” Not that I have already achieved it, not that I have already attained the prize or I am already perfected, but I press on. I don’t give up, I don’t quit, I don’t stop running the course, I don’t stop running the race, I keep on my path that I may lay hold.
We run to lay hold and what are we supposed to lay hold of? That which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of us. That’s what we run for. We run to lay hold of that which Christ has laid hold of us. James 1 verse 12; “Blessed is the man who endures temptation; are we seeing the reoccurrence of the word endure? Because the race without endurance is futility, it’s uncertain. “Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.” Why do we run? We run so that we can be approved. What do we run for? Is it the approval of men or the approval of God?
The Apostles understood this and when they were threatened, they said to them; “judge it among yourselves, should we obey men or God?” What are we running for, the approval of men or the approval of God? When you get to a cross road in your race, and there is shame and there is the cross, what you are running for will be the reason why you will stop or continue. Why are you running? Is that men can clap for you well-done wow so deep or the approval of God saying well-done good and faithful servant. So, we are running for the approval of God. 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 6 to verse 8. “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7 I have fought the good fight. Remember he said I don’t fight as one that beats the air, He said I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. So, it is possible to finish the race.
We are actually called to finish the race. He said I have kept the faith. How did he keep the faith? By running the course of Gods commandment! By making sure that he was not hindered from obeying the truth. He ran well. “I have kept the faith. 8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, [the prize] which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.” He said this prize is not just for me, it is in the world that they do competition and have only one prize. The prize of God is for as many as have finished the race. It is not for the one that starts it, but the one that finishes. And he said something here very strong, he said also to all who have loved His appearing.
The way I ran my race is loving His appearing. Once He is glorified, once he is honored, I am satisfied. I allow Him to take the stage, I allow Him to have His way, and when He is done, He takes all the glory, I don’t keep any for myself. He takes the glory so I love His appearing, I allow Him to show up, I allow Him to be glorified, I allow Him to be honored, I allow Him to take center stage. And it said those that love His appearing such a prize is also awaiting you as you finish the race. So, we are running for the prize. And Apostle Paul said not a perishable prize; imperishable! It does not fade away, it does not rust, it does not get damaged.
2 Timothy 2 verse 3 to 5. “You therefore must endure hardship; How do you finish the race? You must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. So, you are not supposed to run like a civilian, you are to run like a good soldier. You are to endure hardship. Verse 4 says; No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. So, we run to please the one that has enlisted us for the race. Verse 5, And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.” So, there are rules to the race. In the world, international athletes do test if they find that you have taken hard drugs or any kind of dope, even if they have given you the prize before they will withdraw it. There are rules.
So, you cannot run the race of God in the flesh. You cannot be powered by the flesh and want to receive a prize in the Spirit. There are rules. You cannot leave your lane and cross to another person’s lane and finish the race and expect to receive the prize. You will be shocked when you get there. For everybody there are rules to this race. And we want to look at some of the rules. You can’t run unlawfully, how do then do we run? What are the rules. Philippines 2 verse 16; “Holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.” Did you see that?
Holding fast, not holding anyhow but holding seriously to the word of life so that I may rejoice, so that when I get to the finish line I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain or labored in vain. How alarming it will be haven run to get to the finish line and you hear “sorry you did not run on your lane”. That’s why the Bible says if the foundation be destroyed, what can the righteous do? Apostle Paul said holding fast to the word of life. As I am running, I am armed with the word of life, so that I am running in truth, I am not hindered from obeying the truth, I am walking circumspectly as wise not as fool. Hold fast to the word of life so that your race will not be in vain.
Galatians 2 verse 2, “And I went up by revelation, and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those who were of reputation, lest by any means I might run, or had run, in vain.” Did you see how meticulous Apostle Paul was about his race? He said I went up by revelation and communicated to them that gospel that I preach among you. So, He had been preaching and still he is taking care. See how he ended it. That I might run or had run in vain. See how meticulous he is. The race is not a joke. We need to take this race seriously; we need to keep asking ourselves. Am I in the center of God’s will concerning my life? Am I doing the will of God? Hebrews 10 verse 36, you have need of endurance so that you will do the will of God and obtain the promise.
Because without doing the will of God you can’t obtain the promise. So, we must be careful, we must ask ourselves, what I am doing is it what God wants me to be doing? Where I am is it where God wants me to be? This is a deep matter that we have to interrogate ourselves. We need to submit ourselves to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to guide us. 2 John 1 verse 8. What are the rules? “Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward.” I don’t want to receive half reward. He said look to yourself, be careful, another word is watch, be vigilant that you do not loose. Because it’s not those that start that gets the prize, it is those that finish. So, no matter how much energy you put into the race at the beginning, if you are not seen at the finish line you have lost what you have worked for.
Colossians 2:18; “Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind.” These are part of the rules, let no one cheat you of the reward, causing you to delight in false humility, worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen; vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind. We must not get to that point where we are approving ourselves. Some people get to some point and say “when a lizard gets down, he even nods his head and say well-done to himself.” Let me too say well-done to myself. The Bible says don’t be vainly puffed up by your fleshly mind, we run to seek the approval of God. Until He says well-done good and faithful servant, don’t be puffed up. In this race, let no one cheat you of your reward. This race is delicate, except the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that build it, except the Lord watch over a city, those that stay awake stay awake in vain.
You can be giving yourself psychological relief; I am staying awake so that the thief will not come, you are just busy giving yourself false hope. Except the Lord watch over a city, except the Lord helps you in the race, you cannot lay hold of the prize. Except the Lord be with you in the race, except the word of the Lord is the path upon which you are running, you cannot lay hold of the prize. This race is delicate, Apostle Paul said for those that love His appearing. There is something about looking unto Jesus, you can’t look at Him 120 times and see the same image. He is dynamic. The more you look at Him, the more you are able to run. The minute you lift your eyes away from Him, you start sinking. It said “looking unto Jesus the author”, looking unto Jesus our example, looking unto Jesus our best model, our set up model by the Father. Can we look unto Him right now?
The Scriptures says and they looked unto Him, their faces were radiant and were not ashamed. Let Him cause your face to be radiant so that you will not be ashamed. Amen!
