Driving a high-performance car around a twisty, winding racetrack at speeds up to 300 km/hour with 19 other cars and drivers around you requires vision, commitment and special abilities that have been honed to excellence through training. But it also requires an exceptional level of focus. Drivers need to be acutely aware of many things: what lies before them on the track, the performance and handling of their car on that track, and the position and movement of the cars around them. At the very same time, they need to be able to shut ignore any unnecessary distractions, setting them aside for the time of the race or trusting that your team is taking care of them for you. So focus for an F1 driver has a two-fold aspect to it. On the one hand, they strive to enter a state of optimal performance—often called “being in the zone” or “flow”—where they are immersed in the driving experience while having a heightened awareness of all that is happening in and around their car. On the other hand, they practice selective awareness, shutting out all unnecessary data and focusing on essential cues like braking points, track conditions, and the position of other cars.[i]
Focus is also very important for those of us who do not drive F1 race cars. We live in a world filled with distractions, and our mind is wired to crave distractions. We get little hits of dopamine, the pleasure hormone, whenever we come across something new and “interesting.”[ii] If life were meaningless, it wouldn’t matter whether we were distracted or not. But life is not meaningless. Each of us has been given only one life, and the span of our life, however long that may be, is our only opportunity to make a lasting impact on the world around us. And we cannot fully grow into being the person God has in mind for us to be or have the kind of impact God wants us to have if we are constantly being derailed by distraction. We need to focus. But what should the object of our focus be, and how do we improve our focus on that object so that we can make the most of the one and only life that God has given us? That’s what we are thinking about today and to help us as we do that we are going to reflect on Hebrews 12:1-13. If you have a Bible or a Bible app nearby, I invite you to turn there now.
Jesus is the Fulfillment of the Jewish Faith
As you do that, here is some background information for you. The first thing that is important for you to know is that we don’t know who wrote the Book of Hebrews. (Letter to the Hebrews) They don’t identify themselves within the Book and there are no clues in the Bible or early Church history that help us determine who is the author.
Regardless of who wrote it, the number of Old Testament quotations and references to the Jewish sacrificial system indicate that the author was likely writing to Jewish Christians who were considering reverting back to the Jewish faith. He wants to help his readers see that Jesus did not start a new religion. Rather, he is the fulfillment of the Jewish faith. The author builds his case by pointing to various ways that Jesus fulfilled and superseded Judaism so that his readers can know that they are not being unfaithful to God and the faith in which they were raised. Instead, when they follow Jesus, they are being more faithful to God and are truly living the life he wants them to live.
The author lays out his main theme with these words:
The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship…. But when this priest [Jesus] had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. (Hebrews 10:1, 12-14)
Why Should We Live with Confidence in God & His Promises?
Next, the author of Hebrews writes about what connects us to Jesus and the salvation he gives, which is faith, which he defines in this way: Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1) Then we are given heroic examples of faith from the past, people like Noah, Abraham, Sarah, and Rahab. Those listed in what is sometimes called the Hall of Fame of Faith were not perfect people, but they lived with confidence in God and his promises, even though those promises were not fulfilled in their lifetimes.
So why did they, and why should we, live with confidence in God and in his promises? Because God has proven himself to be good, great, and faithful in fulfilling the promises he makes. The Old Testament believers knew that God was both good and great by way that he had faithfully created the world and preserved, protected and provided for his people down through the centuries. They knew that God was with them and so they trusted in his promise to provide a Messiah in the future who would undo all the damage caused by sin and save God’s people. They made their decisions in life, both big and small, with confidence in God as their guide.
And even though they did not see the fulfillment of the promises in which they trusted; God was working in their lives to bring about the fulfillment of those promises. God worked through the life of Noah to preserve humanity through the flood which washed over the world and gave creation a new start. God worked through the life of Sarah to bring forth a child when she was far beyond her child-bearing years, a son who fulfilled God’s promise to make Abraham into a great nation. And when that nation was rescued by God from slavery in Egypt and they were about to enter the land God had promised to give to them, God worked through the life of Rahab, a prostitute in Jericho, to help his people win the battle before them.
God was writing a grand story of hope, renewal and healing for the world, and his people, as they lived their lives in faith, were all part of that story. God worked through his people to bring Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of Sarah and Abraham, into the world in a very specific place located on the crossroads of the world, at a very specific time, when safe travel and a common language made it easier to share the Good News of Jesus.
Our Situation is Very Similar to That Faced by Old Testament Believers
As believers today, we also know God’s goodness and greatness, perhaps to a much greater degree, for we can look back and see how God fulfilled his promise to send a Messiah. We see how Messiah Jesus lived a perfect human life that fulfilled all righteousness for us. We see how he suffered and died on a cross to pay the full cost of forgiveness for all humanity. We see how he rose from the dead to defeat death and give us a new life with him that will last forever.
But in many ways, even though we know Messiah Jesus personally, we are just like the Old Testament saints for God is also holding before us promises that are not yet completely fulfilled. Jesus has done everything to pay for the full cost for us and the world to be renewed, and he has started that renewal process by bringing to life a new person within us, but that renewal is not yet complete. The old sinful nature that we were born with is still hanging around and leading us toward detours and derailments. Our bodies are still broken and headed for death, and the world still seems hell-bent on running from God and toward its own self-destruction.
We cannot do anything about the brokenness in and around us, but each of us has the power to make decisions. And the call to follow Jesus is a call to make our decisions in life with confidence in him as our guide. That’s why the author of Hebrews writes these profound and powerful words: 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, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy 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. (Hebrews 12:1-3)
The Death of a Dear Friend
With all the attention they receive and all the money they make, it might surprise you to know that some of the F1 drivers, such as Pierre Gasly, are Christians. On August 31, 2019, Pierre was at the Spa racetrack for the Belgium Grand Prix when his close friend, Anthoine Hubert, was killed in the F2 race held the day before the F1 race. Anthoine and Pierre grew up racing together and both of them wanted to be in F1. Pierre had made it and was driving for Toro Rosso. Anthoine was only one level behind in F2. Pierre was absolutely gutted over the death of his friend.
Pierre had started the 2019 season with Red Bull, but in a humiliating turn of events, he was demoted in the middle of the season to their junior team, Toro Rosso. When the news broke, just a few days before the Spa race, Pierre received this text from Anthoine, “’Prove them wrong. Be strong, bro. You’re going to show them you deserve your seat in a top team and prove them wrong.’”[iii] Now Anthoine was gone and Pierre felt like he was living in a damp, dark castle.
The next year, 2020, when F1 came back to Spa, Pierre went to the place on the racetrack where his friend was killed, left some flowers, said a prayer, and then left. Though he didn’t feel any peace, Pierre could feel the presence of his friend there. And also, for the first time since Anthoine’s accident, Pierre felt like he could really see again. In an article for the Players’ Tribune, Pierre wrote, “I found a piece of myself that day. And I took it with me to Monza, the following race.”[iv] At Monza, even though he started in tenth place, Pierre won the Italian Grand Prix.
Reflecting back on that day, Pierre wrote, “Anthoine taught me so many things. There isn’t a race day that passes that I don’t think of him. I wish more than anything that he were lining up on the grid this year. But his passing forced me to see life in a different way. On the podium in Italy, I didn’t take anything for granted. I celebrated that moment like it was the only one I’ll ever get — because that’s how we should all live our lives.
The grind is the grind and it is beautiful — no doubt. But, man, pop your visor up from time to time and look around. Enjoy what you have. Cherish the people and the love in your life.”[v]
Now you might be thinking to yourself, “That’s a wonderful story, pastor. But where is Jesus in the life of Pierre Gasly?” And I would answer you by saying, “Everywhere.” For evidence, I would point to the way that Pierre prays and makes the sign of the cross before every race. Is he perfect in how he lives out his faith in Jesus? Probably not. But our actions are not what saves us. Jesus does that for us. And as we live our lives focused on Jesus, he will work in our lives and weave them into the grand story he is writing and make it part of the beautiful tapestry of renewal and hope that he is creating. Amen.
[i] “Inside the Mind of a Formula 1 Driver: Mental Strategies for Success,” Viasport (Internet; available at: https://www.viasport.com/articles/inside-the-mind-of-a-formula-1-driver-mental-strategies-for-success; accessed on August 28, 2024).
[ii] “How to Get Your Brain to Focus|Chris Bailey|TedxManchester,” YouTube (Internet; available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu4Yvq-g7_Y&list=RDQMsY_lTqCNIV4&start_radio=1; accessed August 28, 2024).
[iii] Gasly, “You Want to Know the Real Pierre?”
[iv] Gasly, “You Want to Know the Real Pierre?”
[v] Gasly, “You Want to Know the Real Pierre?”
(This message was shared at Walnut Grove Lutheran Church in Langley BC and St. Luke Lutheran Church in Surrey BC on September 29, 2024. For more info, please go to wglc.org or sllc.ca.)
Farewell to Shadowlands 