The Runner
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Welcome to Gospel and Life. This month on the podcast, Tim Keller is preaching through the book of Hebrews to answer this essential question. If God loves us so much, why is life so hard? The scripture is taken from the book of Hebrews chapter 12, verses 1 through 13. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders us,

and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who, for the joy set before him, endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood, and you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons. My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son. Endure hardship as discipline. God is treating you as sons.

For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined, and everyone undergoes discipline, then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live? Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good.

All right, Hebrews.

We've said the book of Hebrews is written to people who are so beaten down with difficulties, troubles, and suffering that they're ready to give up. And that the book of Hebrews, therefore, is intense public pastoral counseling. At every point, the writer of the Hebrews is writing people, once as readers, to understand how to become the kind of people that can cope with the brutal realities of life. And to a great degree, the climax of the argument is in this chapter.

And now becoming people who can handle trouble, handle the brutal realities of life is probably more necessary for us now than it even was for those readers in many ways. There's never been a culture with a lower pain threshold than ours. Never been a culture where people scream faster.

Did you see Thomas Lynch wrote, who's an undertaker and a writer, obviously they can go together, wrote an op-ed piece in the New York Times reflecting on the funeral of Pope John Paul II. And in it he says this. He says, humans are a species that down the millenniums have learned to deal with death by dealing with the dead. We process grief by burying the bodies of the dead from one place to another

We commit and commend them to the nothingness or the somethingness, to heaven or Valhalla or whatever we believe is next. But for many Americans, the loosened ties of faith and family, of religious and ethnic identity have left them ritually adrift, bereft of custom, symbol, metaphor, and meaningful liturgy or language. Time formerly spent in worship or communion is now spent shopping or web browsing.

Americans, therefore, are spiritual tourists without home places or core beliefs to return to in times of grief. So instead of dead Methodists or Muslims, we are now dead golfers or bikers or bowlers. The actual corpse is often dismissed and disappeared without rubric or witness, out of sight, out of mind, and the memorial event is neither sacred nor even secular, but increasingly absurd."

A triumph of accessories over essentials, of theme over theology, where all the talk is in a very determined way life-affirming, quote-unquote. The accoutrements are all cheerful and inclusive and where someone can be counted on to declare closure just before the Merlot runs out. But we leave these events with the increasing sense that something is missing. Something is. There's never been a culture that...

gave us fewer resources for dealing with the brutal realities of life and death than ours. So we better look at this. And we're taught here, life is a race, why to run the race, and how to run the race. Life is a race. What we have to have in our mind, our attitude, and the skills we need in order to run the race. Life is a race, why to run it, how to run it.

Let's look at this. Now, what does that mean? Life is a race. And we get that by the first metaphor that's used here in verses 1 to 4 and actually also down in verse 11. It says, let us run the race marked out for us. Now, what is this? The word race is the Greek word agon, from which we get our word agony.

Who has a race marked out for them? Us, not some poor slobs over here who happen to have, you know, their lot in life is to suffer. No, us. Life, according to this verse, is an agonizing struggle. Life is an agonizing struggle.

And, interestingly enough, this word agonizing struggle, agon, can mean a race, but it can also mean a wrestling match or a contest. And some commentators go down to verse 4 where it says, "...in your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood."

And it could mean, well, probably does mean, you haven't suffered persecution to the point where you're asked to die for your faith. But it's just as possible that there's a double meaning here, that the race that is being discussed or the metaphor that's being brought out here is not just a race in general, but the pentathlon.

A couple commentators I read were pretty interesting about this. The pentathlon was the ultimate race. It was the climax of the Olympics. The pentathlon had running, but also jumping, discus, javelin, and the climax of the pentathlon was a kind of wrestling-boxing match, not quite like what you and I know, but on the combatant's hands was a kind of hard leather that protected your hand but disfigured your opponent.

brought out blood. And therefore, let's look at this very cheerful metaphor for life. See, this isn't just a marathon, though it is. Life is an agonizing struggle. It is a regimen of difficulties.

In fact, we go so far as down into verse 11 where it says, no discipline seems pleasant at the time but painful later on and produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. And the word train is our word gymnasdo, is a word gymnasdo from which we get our word gymnasium. And this is simply saying that when the difficulties of life overwhelm you, when troubles overwhelm you, when sometimes tragedies overwhelm you, you feel like everything's out of control.

But just because it's not your plan doesn't mean there's no plan. Now, if you use this metaphor for the difficulties of life, it's a form of athletic training. It's a pentathlon. If you understand it like that, what do we learn? We learn two things. The first thing we learn is that sufferings are in some way necessary. Now, I want to do a little bit of caveat. I want to do a little backpedaling right here. John Newton says...

Everything is necessary that he sends. Nothing can be necessary that he withholds. Everything that comes into your life is necessary. Nothing can be necessary that doesn't come into your life. Now, that is a hard saying and perhaps even an inappropriate biblical perspective on suffering to consider when you're actually in the midst of a horrible tragedy. See, there is more than one perspective in the Bible on suffering. They're complementary, but they're different.

For example, there's another perspective that says evil and suffering in this world, God hates. He didn't create the evil and suffering in this world. Look at the Garden of Eden. That's the world he created. We, because of the way in which we have behaved, we have brought evil and suffering into the world. God is going to incredible lengths to end evil and suffering eventually. And when Jesus Christ stood before the tomb of Lazarus, his friend who was dead, he didn't say, well, all things work together for good to those who love God. He said, he bellowed.

he wept and we're told, and many of the translations sort of mute this, that he was angry. The Lord was angry at death and suffering. And that's a very, very important perspective. But you're also not going to be able to handle life if you don't have this one too. And that is exercise is necessary and suffering is necessary. So let's look at the physical realm for a second. Your doctor is going to tell you, especially as you get older,

that you're not going to live a good life, you're not going to live a long life, you're not going to live a healthy life unless you're willing to exert yourself, unless you're willing to groan and sweat. You will not be able to do the normal. Your body will not be able to perform the normal daily exertions unless sometimes there are extraordinary exertions. They're called exercises. You know what an exercise is? You know what a barbell is? You know what a treadmill is? It's taking a muscle and making it hard for it to do its job.

An exercise is opposition, doing something to oppose the way your body works, actually. Put stress on it. And unless that happens, you're going to be flabby and die young. And therefore, just as physical exertion, physical pain, actually, the pain of training, is absolutely necessary for health. So there is a sense in which everything is necessary that he sends.

Or put it another way, your faith will never grow if it's not tested. Your commitment will never grow unless it's threatened. Your patience will never grow unless it's taxed. Your compassion will never grow unless it's tapped, you see? Your courage will never grow unless it's challenged, and it will be. So the first thing we learn from this athletic metaphor is that the difficulties of life are in some ways absolutely necessary, that suffering is necessary.

Secondly, however, they'd be a shallow, immature person without it. But secondly, we also learned something very important, and that is, I don't know how to put this, that sufferings are paradoxical in this way. When you're in the gym, when you're in the gym, in the gym, when I'm weak, then I am strong. Do you know what I mean by that? When I'm doing bicep curls, you know, not that I do bicep, but when I'm doing...

If I do bicep curls, I've got to be careful. I'm going on tape here and truth in advertising. If I would do bicep curls, when I have done bicep curls, what happens is you feel like you're getting weaker and weaker. Your biceps don't feel like they're getting stronger and stronger. They feel like they're getting weaker and weaker. Every curl, they feel like they're becoming more and more like spaghetti, more and more like pasta as you go. But guess what? The weaker you feel you're getting, the stronger you're getting.

That's how exercise works. And if you learn how to run the race, according to Hebrews, if you learn endurance, if you learn humility, if you learn the things we're about to look at here, in other words, if you meet the troubles of life in the right way, as you're going through the suffering, you'll feel like your faith is getting weaker, your patience is getting weaker, your courage is getting weaker. You won't feel like you're getting stronger, but you are very important.

So it's a very illuminating metaphor. Life's a race. Life's a pentathlon. Life's, with its difficulties, it's an agonizing struggle, and yet there's a plan to it. And one last thing before we move on to the next point. Do you know why this is so incredibly important? So utterly important to know. Expectations are everything.

Half or more than half of the pain you experience when difficulties happen aren't due to the difficulties. They're due to your shock, your confusion, and your self-pity over the fact it's happening to you. Half the pain isn't from the event. It's from your inability to process.

And largely it's because of expectations. One of the things I've learned in the last couple of years, by the way, my father had heart surgery this year, this week, and a lot of you were praying for me. Thank you. I went down to Florida where he had heart surgery. Last year my wife had a number of surgery. And one of the things I've learned now, and they do this very well, is when you're waiting for your loved one to come out of surgery, they send out a surgical nurse now. And the surgical nurse says, let me get you ready for what you're going to see when you go to see your loved one in the hospital.

you know, intensive care unit. And so then the surgical nurse paints this horrible picture. Says, they'll be pale. They'll be green. They'll be white. They'll be cold. When you touch them, they'll be cold. They'll be blood. They'll be tubes. They'll be... Their eyes will be rolling. They won't know who you are. And on and on and on and on. They'll just look awful. They'll just look awful. So you're sitting there. Okay, okay, okay. So then after being prepared like that, you walk in. There's only two things that happen to you now that you've been prepared. You either say...

Yeah, yeah, pretty much what she said. Or else you say, oh, not so bad. It's not as bad as I thought. But the old way, when you didn't get the surgical nurse, where you didn't have adjustment to your expectations, you would walk in, take one look at them and faint. Oh my gosh, they're dead. They're over. It's gone. It's hopeless. Everything to do with the preparation. Can you look at the deal? Listen, can you look at the troubles of your life like this?

I'm not sure that by the time this sermon is over that you're going to have all you need in order to, but you need to. Otherwise, you will grow weary and lose heart. Or put it another way, put it another way, put a little more responsibility on you. George MacDonald has a great saying where he says, and it's in here. George MacDonald has a great saying where he says, everything difficult points to something more than our theory of life yet embraces.

Everything difficult points to something more than our theory of life yet embraces. Now, that's very intriguing. He says, if suffering comes into your life and you just melt down, if suffering comes into your life and you just freak out, it's because you had a theory of life that was inadequate, that didn't really embrace reality yet.

And though suffering will hurt it, it will always hurt. You're going to scream and you'll not get away from that. If you can enlarge your theory of life through the suffering, then you're going to be able to become a person of greatness, a person who's able to face things. Now, what does we mean by a theory of life? Well, it's very simple. What is the meaning of life for you? What are you living for? What is the energizing principle? What are you living for? Now, don't tell me what you think you're supposed to say. What are you really living for? And if...

As the average American, what you're really living for is to maximize your happiness and comfort now. And that's the meaning. That's the theory of life. Most Americans, I'm living to maximize. I don't know where I came from. I don't know where I'm going. I maximize my happiness and comfort now. You realize that suffering will destroy you because it will destroy your meaning for life. Your very reason for living is not to suffer. That's the American meaning of life. Not to suffer. And suffering is inevitable.

you've got to enlarge that theory of life. You've got to have one that can handle reality. And if suffering that cannot be borne reveals structural flaws in your theory of life, Hebrews says, get mine and you won't have a problem. Doesn't mean you won't suffer. Doesn't mean you won't scream. But it means you'll be able to stand. You'll be able to endure. Okay, so first of all, life is a race. Secondly, we said why to run it and how to run it. Now, why to run it

has to do with your mind, your attitude as you run, your way of thinking, your motivation. Now, this starts verse 5 to 10, where he tells us why to run it, the mindset. And unfortunately for me, as a crafter of this particular rhetoric, the author here changes metaphors. Now, we're going to mix the metaphor. It's not my fault.

He's doing it. He changes the metaphor, but I think I understand why. There's a practical reason. Starting in verse 5, it says, you must recognize when troubles come into your life that it is part of God's fatherly care.

It's part of his fatherly care. Now, I think the reason is this for that. Why does he change? Why doesn't he keep on going with a metaphor? And I think the answer is this, that when you're in the middle of your tragedies, when you're in the middle of your suffering, it's not very comforting to think of God as your coach who somehow sent this exercise into your life. Rather, you're not supposed to think of God as your coach. You're supposed to think of God as your father.

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We believe this new book will help you grow in your relationship with Christ. To request your copy of One With My Lord, visit gospelandlife.com slash give. That's gospelandlife.com slash give. Now, here's Tim Keller with the remainder of today's teaching. And this is a father who is sending us or who envelops us with what the word here is discipline, but it's actually the Greek word paideia from which we get our word pediatrics. And that's very important. What's a pediatrician?

See, a pediatrician is just concerned for the overall health and flourishing of the child. And that is really important because this word discipline does not get that across now, does it? When you and I think of discipline, I mean, the English word discipline has the connotation of punishment. And that's all right. If I'm doing paideia, if I'm trying to, if my concern is the flourishing and the good, verse 10, of a child, then sometimes there's going to be consequences.

Sometimes there's going to be consequences. So for example, if my child lies, the worst thing that I could possibly do is not bring any consequences into that child's life because if the child goes on to be a liar, that child is going to have the most miserable life. No one will trust that child and that child will trust no one. Liars don't trust other people. No one trusts liars. So what I have to do, I have to say, you can't go to Jimmy's birthday party. Close the door. What is that?

Well, you say it's punishment. Well, okay, yes, but let's, let's, fine. You can use words or words. Let's look at the details. Paideia means not retribution, not payback, not tit for tat. This is not retributive suffering. This is disciplinary suffering, and that means God as a perfect parent will bring non-destructive, designed pain into a child's life

but not one ounce more, not one second more, not one millimeter more than the child absolutely needs to escape the lying, only for the good. And that comes out smack in the middle here of verse 10, where it says, our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best, which is a really interesting little hint, a respectful hint. It's a way of saying, look, when you look at human parenting, it's a mixed bag.

You know, they tried their best. But let's face it, the motivations, and I'll speak as a parent here, my motivations were always mixed when my child disobeyed me. Yes, of course, I wanted to bring consequences in to help the child grow, but there was always, you know, I was mad so often, and I felt like how you showed disrespect to me, and you bring in, you know, a certain amount of payback. Human parenting is imperfect, but not God's.

See, our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best, but God disciplines us only for our good that we may share in his holiness. And this is saying, can you see, can you see the sufferings and difficulties that God allows to come into your life as his way of getting his greatness and glory deep into your soul? If you can't see it like that, verse seven says, it says, endure hardship as Paideia,

If you can't see the hardships that come into your life as that, you're not going to make it. You're not going to grow. You're not going to grow. Or let's put it this way. Let's talk about what I mean by fatherly discipline. There's brokenness outside of you and there's brokenness inside of you. The brokenness outside of you, there's disease and there's conflicts and there's racism and there's war and there's injustice and there's need and poverty. So there's brokenness outside of you and there's brokenness inside of you.

There's foolishness in me, pride in me, selfishness, cowardice, a lack of self-knowledge, all sorts of things in me that just, I'm not going to be able to make it if we don't somehow deal with it. God the Father, who didn't design a world filled with this evil and suffering, but God the Father brings external brokenness into connection with your internal brokenness at exactly the right time, in exactly the right place, in exactly the right proportion to move you from...

blindness to self-knowledge, from cowardice to courage, from selfishness to generosity. That's what he's there doing. And the Bible, frankly, is just one example of this after another. Almost my favorite one is one that we dealt with here a couple of years ago, Joseph. Joseph, he's one of a bunch of brothers, but Jacob, because he'd made an idol out of Joseph's mother, Rachel,

made an, after Rachel died in his grief, he made an idol out of Joseph. He was the ultimate favorite. Jacob poisoned that family system. And because he was absolutely doting on Joseph, was spoiling him, you know, in an incredible level, Joseph was on his way to being an evil, proud, incredibly self-absorbed, and therefore a miserable person. What did God do? He

He used the jealousy of his brothers to get Joseph sold into slavery. He used the lust of Potiphar's wife to get Joseph into prison. He used...

the external brokenness on the internal brokenness because in the end, Joseph becomes a great man, a man who knows himself, a man who's wise, a man who's humbled, a man who's strong, a man who knows his own heart, knows the hearts of other people. He becomes a great man, saves his family, and in the very end, he looks back on everything else in his life and he says in Genesis 50 verse 20 to his brothers, you meant it for evil, God meant it for good. Paideia.

Unless you can see the hardships of your life as that, you're not going to make it. You're not going to make it. And by the way, there's two alternative ways of handling suffering. See, this is a unique way. This Christian way of handling suffering is unique. It's neither the stoicism of traditional and ancient cultures, nor is it, in a sense, the self-centeredness, the humanism of modern culture. And you know where you see this? Take a look here in verse 5.

Have you forgotten the word of encouragement that addresses you as sons? My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline and do not lose heart when he rebukes you. Now, there they are. These are the two ways that in the world in general, depending on your culture, depending on your age, depending on your country, your nationality, depending on your temperament, your psychology, you're going to tend to go one way or the other. Neither of them are the way the book of Hebrews is putting things out. First of all, it says, do not make light of the Lord's discipline. That's stoicism.

Make light means despise. In other words, don't say, when troubles come into your life, I'm not going to let it get to me. This too will pass. Keep a stiff upper lip. That's not what the Bible's talking about. That's not endurance. Stoicism is not endurance. You know, you can see, let me give you an example in child rearing. You know, I can just imagine, your child, you say to your child, did you lie to me? And the child says, yes. Go to your room. You can't go to Jimmy's birthday party today.

Now, most children go, oh, no, wah, wah, wah, wah. And you close the door, ah, wah, wah, you know, behind the door. I won't lie. I won't lie anymore. No, you will not be lying anymore. I won't lie. That's good. That's good. Not making light of the discipline. Hurting, screaming, yelling, biting the rug. Good, good. That will, you know, probably won't lie next time. There's a kind of kid. He'll say, did you lie? Yes. Yes.

Go to your room. You can't go to Jimmy's birthday party. And there's a kind of kid that says, I didn't want to go to Jimmy's birthday party anyway. There's a kind of kid that says to the father, you're the enemy. I'm not going to let you get to me. Instead of saying the lying is the enemy. I'm not going to let you get to me. I'm not going to, I'm not going to scream. I'm not going to be unhappy. Stoicism is not the way you deal with hardships. You scream, you grieve. Yeah. But on the other hand, it says, and do not lose heart.

That's flipping out. That's freaking out. That's the modern way. That's the American way. That's saying no good could possibly come out of this. There can't be any good. There can't be a God, or I don't believe in a God who would allow evil and suffering in the world. I mean, it's just ridiculous. Because I can't see any reason for it, there can't be any. That makes sense, doesn't it? But that's American. Because I can't see any reason for it because I can't, there can't be any. So I'm out of here, or I'm melding down. Neither. What should you do? Final question.

How do we run the race? What should we do? When these things come, what should we do? Three practicals and one dynamic. Three specific practicals and one dynamic. First of all, practical humility. I believe when it says receive hardship as paideia, you know, pediatrics, that means you are a child. And the first most important thing you can possibly do when suffering hits you

is to say, all right, even if I'm a child, children never, ever, ever, ever can understand the discipline of a parent, even when it's good. And you may be, you had lousy parents, you know, but you happen, you do know this, do you not? That even when you do good parenting, when you're doing good parenting and you're laying down consequences, it's always for the child to

too much, too long, unfair. The child never can understand the reasons behind it. It'll be 20 years before the child understands the reasons behind it. Then the child will say, thank you, thank you, thank you. 20 years. You're a children. You're a children. Despair is always an act of arrogance. Do you know that? The only way you can be in despair is if you're absolutely sure that since you can't see any reason, any way anything good can come out of this, there can't be any.

Despair is for people who absolutely are, despair is for omniscient people. Are you? No, but you're acting that way. So first of all, practical humility. Receive this as children. When things come in, say, I don't understand it, but I don't understand it. You know, it would take omniscience for me to lose all hope. Secondly, practical humility. Then secondly, practical obedience.

The word endure that comes up over and over through this passage is a Greek word, hypomeno, which means hyper, to hyperstand. It means to hyperstand still. It means to not budge. And there is, this may be, I hope you don't think this is too simple. This isn't the whole, this isn't the whole answer to what you do with suffering, but it's more than this, but not less.

One of the things that almost everybody does instinctively is when you're in the midst of suffering is that you retreat. You retreat from normal things that you do that are right. You retreat from prayer. You retreat from helping other people. You retreat from Bible reading. Or you even retreat from your own conscience. See, so often when you suffer, at the very least, you don't eat right. You don't follow your own conscience. This is saying...

That would be the worst possible thing. John Owen has an illustration somewhere. He says in his understanding of sailing, and he did a lot of sailing, and this is a man who lived in the 17th century. He says if when the storm comes up and the wind comes up, if you get to the wheel and you hold the wheel steady and you hold the rudder steady, when the storm is over, you will have actually gotten to your destination faster.

If, on the other hand, you go beneath deck and just let the wheel go wherever it will be, you'll never get to your destination. When storms come up, it'll either make you far better than you would have been or far worse than you would have been. The key is to hold the rudder. The key is to do the right thing and do the next thing in spite of the suffering. That's part of the way in which it works. I mean, bicep curls means when it's hard to curl your biceps, do it.

When it's hard to run, do it. Practical obedience. Just do the right thing. Do the next thing. If you're in the midst of something right now that's really terrible, do the right thing. Do the next thing. It's not all you have to do, but it's critical. Thirdly, I said practical humility. Secondly, practical obedience. Thirdly, practical evaluation. Verse 2, remove...

Throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. Now, what's that talking about? I almost referred to it already. One of the great things about gym clothes, you know, if you're going to the gym to work out, you don't wear suits and you don't wear dresses. You know why you don't wear suits and dresses and high heels? You know why you wear suits and dresses and high heels? Because it hides what you really look like. You look okay. Now, you get into gym clothes, you walk in there and you look in the mirror, now you realize why you're in the gym.

It shows up what's wrong, right? The gym always shows up what's wrong in a way that, you know, you dress up to go out because you don't want people to see the things that you need to be working on. You don't want to see them yourself. Now, when suffering comes, instead of looking right away to God, why are you letting this happen? Instead of looking at your circumstances, you know, a lot of people say, well, Romans 8, 28, all things work together for good to those of God. Well, I remember somebody who broke his leg and he didn't get into med school, but he met a nurse in the hospital and now they're happily married.

So maybe some good is going to come out of this. No, no, no, no. Remember that little kid who said, I don't need to go to Jimmy's birthday party. I didn't even want to go. You've got to look at yourself. He wouldn't look at the lying. He wouldn't look at himself. He was looking at the parent. He was looking at Jimmy. He was looking everywhere. When troubles come, say,

I realize that basically this suffering is bringing out the worst in me. There's my fear. There's my cowardice. There's my pride. There's something that I never knew was that important to me. It's too important to me. It's almost an idol in my life. Suffering will always bring out the worst in you, just like gymnasiums always show up what's wrong. And so the most important thing you can possibly do in the midst of suffering is to say, Lord, what do you want to work on? What should I be working on?

Instead of looking at your circumstances, looking around, trying to guess maybe what God's doing or what's supposed to be happening, or just look at yourself and say, is it my cowardice? Is it my pride? Is it my selfishness? These are things that unless I deal with them, I'm not going to make it in life. And here's my opportunity. But lastly, and the most importantly, as you mostly know, is the dynamic. All of this is technique. All of this is technique. And none of this is going to work. This is, well, I've just gave you an engine. Now here's the gas.

Engine goes nowhere without the gas. What's the gas? Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorned its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne on high. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men that you will not grow weary and lose heart. You know, I always like, when I read this, I not only say fix your eyes on Jesus, but also fix your eyes with Jesus. Fix your eyes. Fix everything. Look at what did Jesus do? Well, here's what Jesus did.

Jesus suffered. This is the leg up that Christianity and those who embrace it have, I think, on almost any other philosophy of life. Because if you're a secularist, there's a lot of advantages of being secular, but suffering isn't one of them. Because secularists would have to say suffering's meaningless. It's just part of life. It just happens. Let's avoid it. If I can't avoid it, I don't know how to deal with it. And of course, other religions believe in God, but this is the only religion that says our God suffered.

Our God came to earth, became human, and began to suffer. And here's what's most interesting about that. You and I, why are we running the race? For the joy that's set before us. What is that joy? Well, we need to have a big enough theory of life. The joy set before us just can't be a general kind of happiness and comfort now. The joy set before us, as we've been looking at, is getting the glory and greatness of God into our souls.

becoming what we were designed to be. There's a great joy. That's something that'll get us there. But what was Jesus' joy? Why did Jesus run the race? The glory of God, he had the glory of God. Holiness, he had holiness. Why would Jesus come to earth and get in the race? And as far as I know, there's only one answer. In the book of Isaiah, where it talks about the suffering servant, it says, "'The results of his suffering he shall see and be satisfied.'" Well, what are the results of his suffering?

What is the only thing that in heaven, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, what is the only thing that they did not have? What is the only thing that Jesus didn't have before he came to earth? Us. Us. It's the only thing. And what that must mean is, in Jesus' suffering, he was seeking us. And now he says, in your suffering, seek me. Be like me. Be with me. Seek to be like me. Here's what Jesus is saying.

I was subject to the father of my spirit and was crushed so that you can be absolutely sure in suffering that you can be subject to the father of your spirits and you will live. I lost my glory in my suffering and I just want you to give up your idols. I lost God in my suffering, but in your suffering, you're going to get God. You're going to get love. I sought you. Now in your suffering, seek me. I

suffered for your sake. Now you suffer for my sake. And see, that is the gas. That's the gas. We sing about it, and we will sing about it. When through the deep waters I call thee to go, the rivers of woe shall not thee overflow, says Jesus, for I will be with you, your troubles to bless, and sanctify to thee thy deepest distress. Let's pray. Our Father, on the cross,

People looked and said, what good could God possibly bring out of this? And yet it was the greatest act of redemption in history, of course. We don't want to look at our crosses like that. We don't want to make the same mistake your followers have made before. We want to look to Jesus. We want to fix our eyes on Jesus. We want to fix our eyes with Jesus. We want to fix our whole being with Jesus. And we pray that you will enable us to do a better job of that than we did before we heard this text.

And we pray that you would let this text exhort us. It's a word of exhortation. It addresses us as your children. It comes at us and argues with us and says, you're loved. And Lord, if we feel loved in the midst of the suffering, it will make us great. It will not diminish us. And we know we're loved because of the way in which your son suffered for us. We're his joy that's set before us. Now he's ours. And we thank you for that.

And we ask that you would grant all these things for his sake. In his name we pray. Amen. Thank you for joining us today. If you were encouraged by today's teaching, please rate and review it so more people can discover this podcast. And to find more great gospel-centered content by Tim Keller, visit gospelandlife.com.

Today's sermon was recorded in 2005. The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel in Life podcast were preached from 1989 to 2017 while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.