Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Why Are You A Christian? | New Testament | Hebrews 12

Episode Date: March 16, 2023

Who in your life can you thank for helping you know Jesus? Although Jesus calls you to himself, he often uses ordinary people to bring people to him. In today's episode, Patrick uses Hebrews 12 to discuss why you need community. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Join the TMBT community in reading the entire New Testament in one year. Get your FREE reading plan here. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Hebrews 12

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Patrick Miller. I have a question for you. Why are you a Christian? I'm not talking about the intellectual reasons you're a Christian. I'm not talking about what God did in your life to draw you to himself. Because, of course, at the deepest, truest level, the reason you follow Jesus is because Jesus loved you first. It's because Jesus called you to himself. But Jesus does that through, well, everyday ordinary relationships. Let me talk about myself for a second. Here's why I'm a Christian. My mom became a Christian when I was in the fourth grade. And that played a major role in my life,

watching her follow Jesus and seeing the sincerity with which she not only believed what Jesus said, but tried to live it out in her life. But it wasn't just that, because after she became a Christian, it wasn't like I was automatically converted in the fourth grade. Instead, it was a long process for me. I had a youth pastor at the church my mom attended. His name was Dave Shermer. And Dave, Dave was a unique guy because first of all, he was in youth ministry, I think for over 20 years. Not many people can do youth ministry for that long. But even as a guy who was middle-aged, working mostly with middle schoolers and high schoolers, he had amazing energy. But what was even better than that? He loved people. And he loved me. I'm sure that I was obnoxious. I'm sure that

I was annoying. I'm sure that I did things that he probably hated and despised, but he never showed it to me. Dave was just the kind of person who showed up and was present with me. in his presence, his friendship, him asking me questions over years and years and years. It gave me a living picture of Jesus. And so maybe it's no surprise that when I got into college and I was really wrestling with, do I believe in Jesus? What do I think about ultimate things in life? And I was walking away from God.

There were things in my heart that were calling me back to him. And part of it was Dave Shermer and my mom and the people who I saw walk with Jesus and follow him. But in particular, as I was wrestling with things in college, I had a group of friends. who when they saw me struggling, they called. They reached out. They said, hey, are you doing okay? It doesn't seem like everything's going all right. And I would say, you know what? You're right. Things aren't going well right now. But the fact that you're paying attention, man, that's different than all the other people in my life who aren't following Jesus. Why was it time and time again in my own life that when I was hurting, that when I was in need, that when I needed a friend to come and put his arm around me and say,

hey, I'm here with you, man. It was the Christians, the followers of Jesus who did it again and again and again. And so if you ask me why I'm a Christian, well, it's because of the Christians that Jesus put in my life. That's why I'm still following Jesus. That's why I started following Jesus to begin with. Why are you a Christian? Maybe your story is similar. Maybe you had a faithful mom or a faithful dad or a faithful mom and dad who taught you to follow Jesus. And that's why you're a Christian. Or maybe it was a pastor or a ministry leader or a friend or maybe it was all the above. But part of why you're following Jesus right now is because of the relationships that God ordained to be in your life. The truth is, we're all surrounded by a cloud of witnesses, both in this life and in the life

to come. And they're people who both witness what happens in our life, but witness within our life that call us to follow Jesus, that call us to see his truth, his beauty, and his goodness. Hebrews 12 has one of my all-time favorite passages. And the author of Hebrews is telling us, as followers of Jesus to consider the fact there have been many who came before us, who are in some sense witnesses to our life and the reality of what's unfolding here on earth, who are a crowd of witnesses. It's the stories from the Old Testament, the people in the New Testament, and afterwards we have this crowd of witnesses around us who are seeing what God's bringing to fruition. Check this out. Hebrews chapter 12 verse 1. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses,

let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. He's saying, when you consider all the people who have come before you, all the people who are watching God's story unfold, when you consider their lives, let it do this, let it cause you to throw off the sin that's hindering you. I think part of the way we do this is by having not just mentors in our life today, but by paying attention to the past. I have people all the time say, hey, I need a mentor. Can you help me find someone? Someone's going to teach me how to grow my faith and walk with Jesus. And I always wish I could answer that question yes. But I've actually learned I can answer yes every single time, though not in the way that people expect. I might not be

able to connect you directly with an older person who can walk you through every detail of your life. But you know what I can do? I can connect you to Christians throughout history who wrote about their lives, wrote about their theology, wrote about how they lived, and their stories from the past can help shape your present. For example, in my own life, I've been blessed by a crowd. of witnesses who came before me. I think about people like St. Augustine, his book, The Confessions, had a profound effect on my life. He helped me to see that God is gracious and good. Or I think about people like John Calvin or later like Tim Keller. There's so many different people who I have read their books. I've read their work and they have been like mentors to me, shaping who I am.

There's a recent biography of Tim Keller. And what's interesting is that it's not really a biography. It's more of a bibliography. And it shows how Tim Keller read widely and deeply from many different denominations and traditions and historical eras. And what he did is he took the ideas of men and women from the past and he synthesized them into a holistic view of ministry and of life. And by synthesizing them, it was as though he had this crowd of witnesses not just watching him, but in his heart. And as they were speaking to him and showing him the goodness and the glory of God, and they helped him to throw off the sin that hindered. You see, that's one reason I love to read old books. They have a way of pointing out the things that we can't see. See, they're from a different

They're from a different place often. And as a result, they see the idols that live most deeply in our hearts. Exactly the idols that people in our own cultural moment tend to ignore or just can't see it all. And so by having this crowd of witnesses around you who can confront your sin, who can help you see the goodness of God, they help you to follow God more faithfully and throw off the sin that is hindering us in our lives. If you want a mentor, yes, go find someone. But if you can't find someone or even if you do, find a mentor from a different generation by reading great Christian books, by reading great saints from the past. The passage continues,

and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfector of faith. For the joy that was set before him, he 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 sinners so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Did you come That's what the author said there. He said, not only do you have this crowd of witnesses who've come before you, who are watching over your life and who can influence and shape you, he said that you have a race, and it's been set before you, which begs a question, who set out the race? Well, if you read Hebrews, you'll know that God is the one who sets out our race. God is the one who plans

our path. It's easy to forget that in life because we all suffer, we all hurt, we all go through hard days. And we think this is totally by accident. No one knows where I'm going. No one knows what's going to be next. But the truth is, God knows. And he has set your path before you. He wants you to run that race with endurance. He wants you to run that race by what? The author says, fixing your eyes on Jesus. And so it's not just enough to say, hey, I need these Christian mentors from the past and present to watch over me and to shape me. That's not enough. We need to run this race by keeping our eye on the horizon and seeing Jesus there and knowing that's where I'm going. That's who I'm running to.

That's why I'm living. Only when you keep Jesus in the horizon of your life, especially when things are getting challenging, will you be able to run your race with endurance? How are you suffering right now? Maybe you're experiencing persecution, or maybe you're going through a hard time in a relationship. I don't know what it is that you're going through, but run that race with perseverance. run that race by keeping your eyes fixed on the one who can hold you up. When you start to trip, when you start to fall down, look up and see him and know that he is

with you in his grace to hold you up and to carry you through to the end. You are surrounded by a host of great witnesses, people from your present and past, and the past that you don't even remember because you weren't around there. They are surrounding you and they are shaping you and they are there to help you run this race faithfully, but not just that. Jesus is before you, calling you to himself. and telling you whatever happens, whatever path you're on, no, it's not an accident. I am there with you.

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