1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:11,800 Brothers and sisters, let us fix our eyes on Jesus. Our epistle reading from 2 00:00:11,800 --> 00:00:17,966 Hebrews encourages us, let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 3 00:00:18,400 --> 00:00:27,433 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of faith. The race marked out 4 00:00:27,433 --> 00:00:34,333 for us. In the Psalms when the psalmist is praising God for wondrously knitting 5 00:00:34,333 --> 00:00:42,833 him together in his mother's womb he exclaims, you saw me, your eyes saw me, saw 6 00:00:42,833 --> 00:00:49,133 my unformed substance. In your book were written every one of them the days that 7 00:00:49,133 --> 00:00:55,933 were formed for me when as yet there was none of them. The Lord knows the number 8 00:00:55,933 --> 00:01:04,466 of our days. He has set a race before us. Its course is to eternal life, to 9 00:01:04,466 --> 00:01:13,166 unending joy, to a lasting city and this great God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit 10 00:01:13,166 --> 00:01:20,733 who created all things and who created you, summons you in our text to run this 11 00:01:20,733 --> 00:01:28,933 race, to press on, endure, don't grow weary and lose heart so that you stop so 12 00:01:28,933 --> 00:01:34,966 that you turn aside or turn back, run the race, the race marked out for you by the 13 00:01:34,966 --> 00:01:44,266 gracious Lord who created you and run that race looking to Jesus. Let us fix 14 00:01:44,266 --> 00:01:56,166 our eyes on Jesus. Jesus is worthy of rapt attention. We gather here to begin 15 00:01:56,166 --> 00:02:01,466 today a new school year. We gather here as we did last year and we will by God's 16 00:02:01,466 --> 00:02:07,500 grace be here again next year doing the same thing at this time. We are filled 17 00:02:07,500 --> 00:02:12,666 with excitement. We are filled with fear. We have lofty goals and plans. We have 18 00:02:12,666 --> 00:02:18,666 regrets and questions. There are unknowns. There is for some the feeling of the 19 00:02:18,666 --> 00:02:22,900 same old thing again. Maybe you are even here out of obligation and would rather 20 00:02:22,900 --> 00:02:32,766 be elsewhere. In the midst of it all, let us fix our eyes on Jesus. The book of 21 00:02:32,766 --> 00:02:39,366 Hebrews describes Jesus in unique ways. The book of Hebrews alone calls Jesus a 22 00:02:39,366 --> 00:02:44,666 priest. The book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is superior to and greater than 23 00:02:44,666 --> 00:02:52,133 many things. Jesus is greater than angels. He is greater than Moses. He is greater 24 00:02:52,133 --> 00:02:58,166 than the priesthood of Aaron. He is greater than the temple and the tabernacle. He is 25 00:02:58,166 --> 00:03:05,533 the mediator of a better covenant than the old. Hebrews 12 says that we should 26 00:03:05,533 --> 00:03:10,033 fix our eyes on Jesus who is the founder and perfecter of the faith. 27 00:03:11,566 --> 00:03:18,333 Founder and perfecter of the faith. The Greek words carry in them here the idea 28 00:03:18,333 --> 00:03:24,733 of a beginning and a goal or completion. Jesus is the beginning and the goal of 29 00:03:24,733 --> 00:03:30,066 faith. Jesus is the beginning and the end of faith. You could say he is the alpha 30 00:03:30,066 --> 00:03:35,566 and the omega of faith. Jesus is all there is when it comes to our faith. We 31 00:03:35,566 --> 00:03:41,433 are saved from sin, death, and hell by faith alone which is to say we look to 32 00:03:41,433 --> 00:03:47,966 Jesus Christ alone to save us from our sin, our death, and from the hell we 33 00:03:47,966 --> 00:04:00,066 justly deserve. And He has, and He does, and He will. Jesus is the founder and the 34 00:04:00,066 --> 00:04:09,566 who endured the cross, scorning its shame. And here is a profound truth. For us the 35 00:04:09,566 --> 00:04:16,166 most important and central truth. Jesus is the beginning and the end of faith. 36 00:04:16,366 --> 00:04:30,033 The beginning and end of our salvation through His suffering on the cross. And 37 00:04:30,033 --> 00:04:36,366 there all that was begun is now finished. There the Lamb of God appointed from 38 00:04:36,366 --> 00:04:42,066 eternity has borne the sins of the world. There the Son's faithfulness and 39 00:04:42,066 --> 00:04:47,533 obedience. There God's love for us is demonstrated before all the world. Let us 40 00:04:47,533 --> 00:04:53,966 fix our eyes on Jesus the founder and perfecter of faith who for the joy set 41 00:04:53,966 --> 00:05:01,066 before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand 42 00:05:01,066 --> 00:05:09,966 of the throne of God. Our text continues, consider Him who endured from sinners 43 00:05:09,966 --> 00:05:16,400 such hostility against Himself so that you may not grow weary or faint-hearted. 44 00:05:19,333 --> 00:05:25,966 People are so tired. There's a lot of talk about that these days. So many of us 45 00:05:25,966 --> 00:05:35,966 are overwhelmed, worn out, worn down. These are weary and wearying times. People a 46 00:05:36,666 --> 00:05:40,866 while back were blaming it on different responses and ways of coping with the 47 00:05:41,066 --> 00:05:46,700 COVID situation. Some people blame it on our social polarization. Some people 48 00:05:46,700 --> 00:05:51,333 think it's the impact of new technologies in our lives. Email, phones, 49 00:05:52,133 --> 00:05:57,400 endless streaming entertainment. People do seem weary, don't you think? More so 50 00:05:57,400 --> 00:06:06,633 than maybe 15 years ago. But it's only a difference of degree. Life for sinners in 51 00:06:06,733 --> 00:06:11,466 this broken world has always been exhausting, always been wearying. The 52 00:06:11,466 --> 00:06:19,100 grief of death is wearying. Antagonism and conflict from others is certainly 53 00:06:19,100 --> 00:06:25,600 wearying. Our own stupid sinfulness is wearying. When Paul says the good I want 54 00:06:25,600 --> 00:06:30,033 to do I don't and the evil that I don't want to do this I keep on doing 55 00:06:30,033 --> 00:06:36,700 exhausting. And so much of even the good things that we do, the worthwhile things 56 00:06:36,700 --> 00:06:41,600 the important things, sometimes you look at it all and like the writer of 57 00:06:41,600 --> 00:06:49,333 Ecclesiastes you look at it and say it just seems pointless, vain, a chasing 58 00:06:49,333 --> 00:06:53,100 after the wind, a great weariness. 59 00:06:55,700 --> 00:07:05,900 Friends, you have a race to run. You have a race to run. Do you have the strength 60 00:07:05,900 --> 00:07:14,566 in yourself to endure? Not to grow weary, not to lose heart. To weak and weary 61 00:07:14,566 --> 00:07:21,633 people, people like us, our text says run with endurance the race marked out for 62 00:07:21,633 --> 00:07:29,166 you, fixing your eyes on Jesus. Just look, just look there and everything will be 63 00:07:29,166 --> 00:07:38,766 alright. That is a tough assignment for a blind man and blind we are apart from 64 00:07:38,766 --> 00:07:44,266 God's grace and spirit. Left to ourselves our spiritual blindness is worse than 65 00:07:44,266 --> 00:07:49,366 just blindness. It's not that we can't see the mercy and the saving work and 66 00:07:49,366 --> 00:07:57,466 the lordship of Jesus Christ, it's that we won't see. We refuse to see. We prefer 67 00:07:57,466 --> 00:08:03,600 to look elsewhere, to gaze elsewhere, to seek elsewhere for our good. We are 68 00:08:03,600 --> 00:08:10,500 willfully blind and refuse to look, to look toward the one person who can give 69 00:08:10,500 --> 00:08:17,500 us all that is good. The one person who can revive our hearts, rescue us from our 70 00:08:17,500 --> 00:08:24,866 weariness, and bring us all the way to the joyous goal of the race. By nature we 71 00:08:24,866 --> 00:08:32,233 are willfully blind to Jesus. Like we joke about husbands and wives being 72 00:08:32,233 --> 00:08:39,366 willfully deaf to the sound of their spouses voice, choosing not to hear. Oh 73 00:08:39,366 --> 00:08:47,766 how foolish we are so often before our God, how stubbornly rebellious. In your 74 00:08:47,766 --> 00:08:56,866 life when you are weary and worn down, when you are losing heart, how many other 75 00:08:56,866 --> 00:09:06,400 things, how many other gods do you look to even as Christians for your good? Let 76 00:09:06,400 --> 00:09:17,766 us fix our eyes on Jesus. Only God can grant this. Only God can work this. As you 77 00:09:17,766 --> 00:09:26,533 begin this new year, repent. Repent of yourself. Despair of yourself. 78 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:31,833 Acknowledge in your hearts before Almighty God that you are weak, weary, and 79 00:09:31,833 --> 00:09:38,066 incapable of running this race. Repent that your eyes are often willfully blind, 80 00:09:38,333 --> 00:09:44,666 looking for love in all the wrong places instead of looking to Jesus. Repent and 81 00:09:44,766 --> 00:09:53,700 rejoice in the mercy of your God. He has not left us helpless. In the water of our 82 00:09:53,700 --> 00:09:58,833 baptism He has seized us for Himself away from the wicked foe. He has 83 00:09:58,833 --> 00:10:03,700 delivered us from the power of the God of this world who has blinded the minds 84 00:10:03,700 --> 00:10:08,733 of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of 85 00:10:08,733 --> 00:10:15,800 Christ who is the image of God. By His Spirit, God gives us grace. By his word 86 00:10:15,800 --> 00:10:22,633 and spirit He opens our eyes, He lifts our eyes, He redirects our eyes again and 87 00:10:22,633 --> 00:10:30,900 again and again and again and again. By His holy means of grace, by His word and 88 00:10:31,066 --> 00:10:42,900 sacraments, God draws our eyes to His son Jesus and we behold Him again in His 89 00:10:42,900 --> 00:10:50,466 dying love, in His saving power, in His authority and reign at the right hand of 90 00:10:50,466 --> 00:10:55,766 God. Flesh and blood does not reveal this to us but the Father who is in heaven. 91 00:10:55,766 --> 00:11:04,000 And seeing Jesus, our limp hands and our feeble knees are strong again. We press 92 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:09,766 on toward our heavenly dwelling, we run with endurance, we run and do not grow 93 00:11:09,766 --> 00:11:18,700 tired, we walk and do not grow weary. Seeing Jesus, we do not lose heart. Let us 94 00:11:18,700 --> 00:11:31,500 fix our eyes on Jesus. And when we do, what will we see? As God the Father holds 95 00:11:31,500 --> 00:11:37,800 you fast as His baptized child revealing His son to you by His Spirit, what is it 96 00:11:37,800 --> 00:11:42,700 that you see? As you feed upon the scriptures which are the Father's 97 00:11:42,700 --> 00:11:48,700 testimony to the Son by His Spirit as Jesus is set before your eyes there, what 98 00:11:48,700 --> 00:11:55,233 do you see? As the gospel word is proclaimed and before your eyes Jesus 99 00:11:55,233 --> 00:12:01,500 Christ is publicly portrayed as crucified, what will you see? As you kneel 100 00:12:01,500 --> 00:12:06,566 at the altar of God eating and drinking Christ's true body and blood and hearing 101 00:12:06,566 --> 00:12:12,600 his word of promise, as you rest all your weariness there and marvel in your heart, 102 00:12:12,600 --> 00:12:22,700 here oh my Lord I see you face to face, what will you see? You will see Jesus, the 103 00:12:22,700 --> 00:12:29,366 faithful one. The only one who has kept His eyes fully and trustingly upon God 104 00:12:29,366 --> 00:12:34,966 His Father. The one who anointed with the Holy Spirit came to do the will of His 105 00:12:34,966 --> 00:12:40,366 Father. Jesus who faced temptation yet kept His eyes on His Father fought 106 00:12:40,366 --> 00:12:45,333 temptation with the Word of God you will see Jesus who set his eyes on the 107 00:12:45,333 --> 00:12:51,800 cross who ran His course to the cross. He was weary, weary to the point of death 108 00:12:51,800 --> 00:12:57,466 but He prayed and He pressed on beaten and bloodied and stumbling in weariness 109 00:12:57,466 --> 00:13:06,633 He pressed on He endured he made it to Calvary for us and for all surrounded by 110 00:13:06,633 --> 00:13:14,733 songs and cheers but also surrounded by cruelty and mockery and hostility from 111 00:13:14,733 --> 00:13:24,733 sinful men. He ran the race marked for Him and He finished it is finished as we 112 00:13:24,733 --> 00:13:33,200 run we look to Him as our example and as so much more. We look to Him on the cross 113 00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:38,533 and what do we see we see? The faithful one the obedient one who has redeemed 114 00:13:38,533 --> 00:13:44,200 us. He has redeemed us by His faithfulness and His sacrifice in Jesus 115 00:13:44,200 --> 00:13:50,666 on the cross we see the forgiveness of our sins even our idolatry of fixing our 116 00:13:50,666 --> 00:13:59,766 eyes on other gods. What do we see? We see the Lord who ran the course marked out 117 00:13:59,766 --> 00:14:07,000 for Him to the cross for us and then who ran His course through the cross to 118 00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:13,533 the joy that was set before Him. For in our crucified Lord we also see the one 119 00:14:13,533 --> 00:14:20,966 who has now risen from the dead and is seated at the right hand of God. When God 120 00:14:20,966 --> 00:14:28,400 the Father shows us His Son by His Spirit and His word what do we see as we 121 00:14:28,400 --> 00:14:39,166 fix our eyes on Jesus? What do we see? We see Him looking at us the Lord. Looking 122 00:14:39,166 --> 00:14:46,766 at you toward you caring for you caring about you regarding you loving and 123 00:14:46,766 --> 00:14:57,500 delighting in you. You see that Jesus eyes are fixed on you always from your 124 00:14:57,500 --> 00:15:03,866 made by whom all of us were made from your mother's womb His eyes saw you. Saw 125 00:15:03,866 --> 00:15:08,500 your unformed substance in the most joyous moments of your life in the 126 00:15:08,500 --> 00:15:14,066 darkest seasons of your life He has surely seen you when your eyes behold 127 00:15:14,066 --> 00:15:20,166 him. When you fix your eyes on Jesus you behold a Lord who has never stopped 128 00:15:20,166 --> 00:15:27,333 looking upon you in love and. He never will he who watches over you will not 129 00:15:27,333 --> 00:15:32,500 slumber. Indeed He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 130 00:15:32,500 --> 00:15:39,066 The Lord watches over you the Lord will keep you from all harm. He will watch 131 00:15:39,066 --> 00:15:45,000 over your life the Lord will watch over your coming and you're going both now 132 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:51,900 and forevermore. When we lift our eyes to see Jesus when we gaze upon the cross 133 00:15:51,900 --> 00:15:59,200 what do we see? We see a Lord looking upon sinners with compassion and saving 134 00:15:59,200 --> 00:16:06,466 them. Even from the cross His eyes were on His people Jesus looked at those 135 00:16:06,466 --> 00:16:10,933 crucifying Him and prayed for their forgiveness. He looked even in His 136 00:16:10,933 --> 00:16:16,433 torment to the thief on the cross beside him and promised him paradise. He looked 137 00:16:16,433 --> 00:16:21,666 at His mother as a sword was piercing her heart in grief and He entrusted her 138 00:16:21,666 --> 00:16:27,300 to the care of John. Even from the torment of His cross He looked forth 139 00:16:27,300 --> 00:16:35,933 with mercy love and help just as He had throughout his earthly ministry. Looking 140 00:16:35,933 --> 00:16:41,100 with compassion on the people harassed and helpless like sheep without a 141 00:16:41,100 --> 00:16:47,566 shepherd feeding them with bread feeding them with words of eternal life. Jesus 142 00:16:47,566 --> 00:16:55,466 saw those in need His eyes were on them giving them healing rescue and the 143 00:16:55,466 --> 00:17:04,566 forgiveness of their sins. We fix our eyes on Jesus and we behold a Lord whose 144 00:17:04,566 --> 00:17:16,966 unbroken gaze is upon us looking on us in love and delight and joy. Now from His 145 00:17:16,966 --> 00:17:23,066 throne of power and might our ascended Lord watches over us. Our gaze falters. 146 00:17:23,066 --> 00:17:34,000 Our love is fickle our hearts wander but Jesus who fixed His eyes on Calvary for 147 00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:40,200 the joy set before Him now fixes His eyes on you and on the race that you are 148 00:17:40,200 --> 00:17:46,600 running and on the eternal joy that he has prepared for you. He will never grow 149 00:17:46,600 --> 00:17:53,566 weary and so you can run with endurance the race marked out for you and not grow 150 00:17:53,566 --> 00:18:05,266 weary or lose heart. Let us pray. Lord God open our eyes and lift our eyes 151 00:18:05,266 --> 00:18:11,466 continually to behold your Son as we begin this new school year together. 152 00:18:11,466 --> 00:18:18,866 Grant dear Lord that we may be a people with eyes fixed on Jesus and send Jesus 153 00:18:18,866 --> 00:18:26,900 forth soon we pray that we may look upon his face and behold his scars and serve 154 00:18:26,900 --> 00:18:36,200 and praise him in unending joy. Amen. Brothers and sisters let us fix our eyes 155 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:38,766 on Jesus. Amen.