Audio Transcript

The Christian life is not intended to operate on a minimalist ethic — on prohibitions: don’t touch that, don’t do this, avoid that. Success in the Christian life is not merely a matter of avoiding sin, yet we often make it into a life of exclusions. This is a point John Piper made in a 1997 sermon on Hebrews 12:1 titled “Running with the Witnesses,” on laying aside every weight. Here’s what he said.

Everything else in this text explains running or motivates running. So the point is: Don’t stroll. Don’t meander. And don’t wander about aimlessly. Run as in a race with a finish line where everything hangs on the race.

Sins and Weights

Now what supports it? In verse 1, there are a couple of things said here as a means to running. It says, “Let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely.” Now I remember, as a boy, the effect a sermon on this verse had on me. And the only thing I remember was the distinction that the preacher made between weights and sins. And he looked out on us and he said, “Not just sins. Don’t just lay aside sins to run this race. Lay aside every other weight that gets in your way.”

As a boy, it had a revolutionary effect on me. Because what it said to me was — and I speak it now especially for young people. Kids, if you can get this, but especially young teenagers and teenagers, though it applies to everybody — what this says is: Don’t just ask, What’s wrong with it in life? Don’t just say about your music, about your movies, about your parties, about your habits, about your computer games, don’t just say, Well, what’s wrong with it? Don’t just ask, Is it a sin? That is about the lowest question you can ask in life. “I am going to do it if it is not a sin. So tell me, is it a sin to do this?” “Well, not exactly.” “Okay, that is all I wanted to know. Now I am off to do it.”

Does It Help You Run?

And the preacher said — and I am the preacher now saying it — this text says, “Look to Jesus and lay aside sins for sure, and lots of other stuff too.” Now that is a different way to live. “Well preacher, as a thirteen-year-old or fourteen-year-old, what question should I ask if it is not, Is it a sin? And the answer is: Does it help me run? That is the answer. Does it get in my way when I am trying to become more patient, more kind, more gentle, more loving, more holy, more pure, more self-controlled? Does it get in my way, or does it help me run? That is the question to ask.

Ask the maximal righteousness question, not the minimal righteousness question. That was the difference it made in my life. And I have been asking it this way ever since then, though I didn’t always live up to it. I am not making any claim that from age twelve on I did some great spiritual thing. But oh, I had a trajectory that was so much better than the minimalist ethic that merely asks, Well, what is wrong with it? What is wrong with it? I don’t even want to talk about what is wrong with it. Let’s ask, Does it help me run?

Race for Righteousness

Do you know why that question isn’t very often asked? Because we are not passionate runners. We don’t want to run. We don’t get up in the morning saying, What is the course today? What is the course of purity? What is the course of holiness? What is the course of humility? What is the course of justice? What is the course of righteousness? What is the course of love? What is the course of self-control? What is the course of courage in witness? O God, I want to maximize my running today.

If you have that mentality about your life, then you will ask not, How many sins can I avoid? but, How many weights can I lay down so that I am fleet-footed in the race of righteousness?