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, 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. (Hebrews 12:1-3 NIV)

To Whom Do You Look?

I saw a young man this week who seemed to be crying out for personal attention. I found out that his mother was dead and his father did not want him. My heart hurt for him because of the pain he must have not knowing to whom he could look.

In times past, people have had at least one person to look to in times of trouble. It would be father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, or an uncle or an aunt. Today’s families are becoming more and more fragmented. Many times children have no one to whom they can look.

Even now the leadership of the world seems to be in such a moral vacuum that we as a people do not trust our leaders. We do not look to them to be there and lead us through the modern maze.

I ask you: To whom to do you look?

Looking Off All Other Things

Too often our trouble becomes the very things we are looking to for help. The writer of Hebrews first speaks in the negative about the race we run as Christians. He says that we should lay aside the weigh and sin which besets us.

Isaac Ambrose [Looking Unto Jesus, p. 19f] speaks about the things that we must "look off" in our race of faith. Evil things: "we must look off all self, whether it be sinful self, or natural self, or religious self; in this case we must draw our eyes off all these things. The world: 1) Its pleasures; 2) Its profits. Good things: We even turn from the cloud of witnesses to solely focus on Jesus Christ 

Looking At Ourselves

So Often as Christian we look at ourselves rather than at Jesus. A man called into Don Matzat’s program Issues, Etc. and asked for prayer. He wanted prayer because he believed that the good feeling that comes from a lot of prayer would assure him. Don correctly saw his need and said, "Sir, you need to focus on Jesus Christ and not on yourself. As long as you look within you will not be happy. You have to look outside of yourself to Christ and his work." [paraphrase]

In his book, Truly Transformed, Don Matzat speaks about a pastor who called him expressing a deep sense of discouragement and disappointment. He said to Don, "what you said in your book about the certainty of salvation being based on facts and not upon experience was very interesting." Don said to him,

My friend, your problem is that you are looking for the certainty of your salvation in the wrong place. You are looking at your experience. You didn’t get saved when you went forward in response to an alter call. You were saved as a result of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, not as a result of your feelings. Keep focused upon what God has done for you in Jesus Christ, not upon how you responded. Keep your eyes on the promises of God, not on your personal experience, be it positive or negative. Confess to yourself the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus died for you. He shed his blood for you. No experience in your life can change that reality.[Don Matzat, Truly Transformed, (Eugene, Oregon: harvest house publishers, 1992, p. 165]

If we ever doubt any of the promises of God and experience fear, guilt, or worry, we should turn back to the Bible and again read and meditate upon the promises of God. [Don Matzat, Truly Transformed, (Eugene, Oregon: harvest house publishers, 1992, p. 165]

For this reason we preach the same message of Christ crucified, risen, ascended, and coming again Sunday after Sunday after Sunday. We always need to be reminded to turn our eyes upon Jesus – the Jesus of the new Testament who died for us and rose again."[Don Matzat, Truly Transformed, (Eugene, Oregon: harvest house publishers, 1992, p. 165]

Looking to Jesus Alone

True faith focuses on the facts of Jesus Christ. It looks to Jesus and not to itself. As Dr. Norman Nagel said on an Issues, Etc. program (I paraphrase):

Faith can never talk about itself. When you can say 'Jesus' in the place of the word 'faith' then you have faith right. Tell me your Jesus and I’ll tell you your faith. Doubt would be the direct result of taking our attention off Jesus to the ourselves. As long as we keep looking at ourselves we will end up with doubts. We must look away from ourselves and unto Jesus in order to have true faith.

Remember when Jesus came walking on the water how Peter asked to come to him. As long as Peter looked at Christ he remained above the waves. But, when he looked down at his feet, he sank.  When we look at ourselves, even our own faith, instead on Christ, we are lost.

Philip Hughes [A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews, p. 522] says the reason we are to gaze on Christ is that he alone gives faith. He is the pioneer of our faith. He is the model of perfect faith. He is the one who creates faith in our hearts. He is the completer of our faith. He not only CREATES our faith, he SUSTAINS it. It is He alone who keeps our hearts trusting in the promises of God, even to the end of the world.

What about the Holy Spirit? Isn’t that inside of me? Yes, it is at work in you. Christ did promise that He would be in us. Paul did say, "Christ in you the hope of glory." But, the Spirit only comes to us through Jesus Christ. Jesus said that he would give the Spirit to them that asked him (Lk 11:13). Peter said that Jesus poured out the Holy Spirit (Acts 2). Paul says that we receive the promise of the Spirit by faith in Jesus Christ (Gal. 3:14) Rather than believe for the Spirit, we believe in Christ and the promise of the Spirit is ours.

The Spirit only works ‘in us’ by faith in Someone who is ‘outside of us’. Through faith in the work and intercession of Jesus, we receive the ‘in working’ of the Spirit. 

Keep Looking At Jesus

Our salvation occurs when we, by the grace of God, through faith, trust in Jesus as Savior. We do not take one glance. We keep looking at Him. We must look to him constantly for the reality and assurance of our salvation. We keep looking to Jesus for the work of His grace in our completion as Christians.

How do we keep looking at Jesus? Through the Gospel. We need to continually hear the preaching of the Gospel. It is crucial that we faithfully attend a Gospel preaching church. Faith comes by hearing and that the hearing of the word of truth.

We keep looking at Jesus through reading and hearing the promises of the Bible. One of the central elements of Christian spirituality is the reading of the Bible. The Word gives us knowledge of God. The Scriptures create and build faith in our hearts.

We keep looking at Jesus by remembering our baptism. We are to reckon ourselves to be dead in Christ. Our baptism reminds of our faith identity. We are not our own. We are bought with a price. We are to glorify God in our hearts and bodies which belong to our Lord Jesus Christ.

We keep looking at Jesus through the worship of the local church. Scripture reading should be a staple of our worship services. Through Scripture we hear the words of both the Law and Gospel. The Law reminds us of our great sinfulness. We come short of the glory of God. The Law brings us -- drives us -- to Christ. On the other hand, the Gospel tells of us what God did for us in Christ out of sheer grace. Jesus is given to us and we come boldly before the throne of God’s glory. Why? Because our worship is Jesus. We do not offer our praise and prayer as though it merits something in itself. Jesus is the offering of our worship.

A very important part of that worship is the receiving of the Lord’s Supper. It is the preaching of the Gospel through symbols. Words are symbols or signs. So are bread and wine. They point us away from ourselves to Jesus. The Lord’s Supper tells us what Christ says in His Gospel: This is my body and blood of the new covenant. You are forgiven.

Jesus is our worship. We praise God 'through' Christ. We pray in Jesus’ name because his is the only acceptable offering before God. Through dependent prayer we come together before God in total, utter helplessness. We cannot save ourselves. We look to Jesus as a particular people, in a particular place, at a particular time and say, "Thine is the Kingdom, the power and the Glory. Amen."

Keep on looking at Jesus.