The 4 Chapters #5
Happy Birthday, Now Run the Race Well

By Contributing Author, Robert Shashy

I can’t believe it’s been nearly a year since I last wrote for The Two Books. It’s been a busy year for me. The bulk of my time this year has been spent on completing my seminary degree. As the year draws to the end, I am one class and one Bible exam away from graduating in the spring, Lord willing. And, if all goes according to plan (thanks Nate for the quick turnaround time on editing this essay), this post will be published on my birthday. This year I am turning 35; and, going off of Moses’ estimation in Psalm 80, that means I’m half way through life. Sure, I’m not old, but I’m also not a “young man” any more—despite what some of the more seasoned saints at my church might think. Considering how I’m nearing the top of the hill of life and reaching the end of seminary, I thought this would be a good opportunity to reflect on how the Scriptures speak of living life well.

Growing up, my birthday was a big deal in my family. To provide some context, I am an only child and my parents divorced when I was two. So, as was often typical for the time, my parents went over and above to spoil me on my birthday. It did not help that Christmas was only a week later. However, this conditioned me to believe that my birthday was more important than it really is. So, as I grew up, I continued to put particular emphasis on being celebrated a certain way—a way that was not common among my friends. While it’s mildly embarrassing to admit, it took me until last year to realize that while its nice to be remembered on my birthday, life is about much more than presents, meals and personal agendas. In fact, my birthday falls in the latter half of one of the most important times in the Church calendar—Advent. Certainly, I’ve realized for some time that celebrating the birth of Christ is more important than celebrating my own birthday; but the Bible makes it clear that Jesus’ birthday changes how we should live our lives everyday as Christians. The effort I was putting into my birthday is the effort we all should put into living in healthy obedience and relationship to Christ throughout the year.

Run For Hope Sake

One thing I’ve learned in seminary over the last few years is that the American Church looks a lot like the church in Corinth as portrayed in the Bible. Writing to those same Corinthians, Paul says:

“Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. 25 Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; 27 but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.”

1 Corinthians 9:24-27, NASB1995

Our lives are like a race. For some the prize is perishable—money, notoriety, power, etc. But for the Christian the prize is imperishable and intangible. The prize is hope. There are a few Bible passages I jotted down last year on my birthday to reflect on this year. One of those passages, Romans 8:24-25, defines hope for us.

“24 For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.”

Romans 8:24-25, NASB1995

Hope is unseen. Hope helps us to persevere, and despite the adage in NASCAR the last few years, hope is a good plan.

When I took my second preaching lab, I was assigned Isaiah 11 to preach on. I honestly had no clue how to create an introductory illustration for my sermon. So I turned to something familiar to me—NASCAR. My professor was not moved for my plea that NASCAR needed more short tracks. Well, despite the flop of my illustration then, allow me the opportunity to use another NASCAR illustration. After about a year long legal battle, Denny Hamlin, one of the top drivers in the sport for nearly twenty years now, and his business partner Michael Jordan (yes, that Michael Jordan) took their lawsuit against NASCAR to court. They risked their team, the jobs of all their employees, and Denny’s legacy in the sport because they felt NASCAR’s business practices were unfair to all the team owners. Now admittedly this case was millions and billionaires suing each other, but it became something of a “David and Goliath” story. I’m not going to get into the details of the lawsuit or the court hearing, but many within NASCAR had been saying that “hope is not a good plan,” that Hamlin and Jordan couldn’t win against NASCAR and would lose their stake in the sport. Yet, over the course of 11 days in early December it became clear that Denny and Michael not only could win, but would win. Then, NASCAR settled. David did slay Goliath, and in such a way that did not upend the sport.

If you’re interested in more details, I’ll allow you to look those up on your own. But I want to drive my point home, pun intended. Denny Hamlin went to court against NASCAR in early December, but just weeks prior he concluded the most recent season of competition at the highest level of stock car racing in the world. He finished second in the points, and more many across the garage that was a heart-breaking result. For over a decade the NASCAR Cup season has ended with a winner-take-all race among the top 4 competitors. This year, Denny Hamlin was the winningest driver on the season, and with about 2 and a half laps left in the season it looked like he was going to add another win to his total, along with his first elusive championship. But that’s not what happened. Instead, William Byron, a championship competitor, blew out a tire in the closing laps and brought out a caution. After drivers went to the pits, Hamlin was no longer the leading driver among championship contenders. He wouldn’t reclaim that spot, as Byron’s teammate Kyle Larson would drive his way to a second championship. Following the race millions of fans watching from home could see a defeated Hamlin sit in his car exhausted. They heard him say he was considering never driving again during his post-race interview. Yet, when Byron came up to apologize during the required media session following the race, Hamlin gently, humbly shrugged his shoulders and said “it happens.” Denny literally ran the race well, and lost. Byron felt a great guilt and apologized. And now, whether Hamlin ever wins a championship or not, his legacy in NASCAR is solidified. He is the man that bested NASCAR. If these drivers—none of whom have made it clear they’ve put their faith in Christ—can endure well for the prize, how much more motivation should we have as Christians considering the grandeur of our prize?

Run Peacefully, Run Joyfully

As Christians we do run this race of life because we hope to achieve the greatest of prizes, but the task can still feel daunting. Our imperfect sin nature is a real detriment to our goal. In October, a book by the late Timothy Keller was released on the topic of sin titled What is Wrong With The World? In the early chapters of the book he discusses how sin desires to consume us like a predator and how we can be self-deceived to miss the effect of sin in our lives.

In Genesis 4:3-15, the text details how Cain and Abel bring their offerings to God, but God did not look favorably on Cain. This leads Cain to kill his brother whom God did look favorably on. As Keller explains, Cain’s sin was that he presented his gift to God in a half-hearted manner. Similarly, in 1 Samuel 15:12-23, the text details the prophet Samuel conversing with king Saul after Saul attacked the Amalekites. The issue in this text is that God commanded Saul to totally annihilated the Amalekites, their livestock and their treasures. Instead, Saul captured the king, and kept much of the livestock and riches for himself. Again, Keller explains that king Saul was lukewarm in his commitment to God’s command, inadvertently failing to fulfil God’s promise to Moses in Deuteronomy 25:17-19. God doesn’t want his people to be half-hearted and lukewarm. He wants all of us all the time.

It may seem too daunting to give all of yourself to God always. In fact, I can say with 100% accuracy that you will fail to do this. I will fail to do this too. Man is, my nature, incapable of being perfect. If this wasn’t true then there would be no need to celebrate Christmas. But we can find peace in God and we can find joy with God because of the aforementioned hope we have in Christ.

One of the highlights from my coursework this year was studying the correlation between the ministry of Jesus and the ministry of His disciples. In particular I want to discuss Peter and Paul. The Gospels clearly document that Peter was impulsive and doubtful during his time following along with Jesus. This can be seen in passages such as Matthew 14:28-32 where Peter attempts to walk on water with Jesus, Mark 14:66-72 where the Peter’s three denials of Christ are mentioned, Luke 9: 28-36 where Peter speaks out of turn during the transfiguration, and John 18: 10-11 where Peter zealously cuts off a servant’s ear during Jesus’ arrest in the garden. In many ways Peter failed to model Christ while following Him in ministry. Yet, in Matthew 16:18-19 it is Peter who is the one upon whom Jesus says He will build His Church, in John 21:15-17 Jesus redeems Peter from his denial and commands him to feed His sheep, and in Acts 2:14-36 it is Peter who proclaims the Gospel to the Jews on the day of Pentecost. The book of Acts continues to detail the key role Peter played in the early Church.

Acts also details the life of Paul. Acts 8 begins with Paul being in agreement that Stephen should have been martyred. But over the course of the following chapters Paul’s life changes drastically because of his interaction with Christ. Paul becomes the key successor to Jesus’ ministry following the Damascus Road. Michael Patrick Barber has a helpful article on seeing the parallels between these ministries that can be found here. In particular it includes a helpful chart illustrating the parallels between Jesus and Paul in Luke and Acts. I wrote a whole paper on those parallels for my Acts and Romans course earlier this year. In that paper I argued that Paul was so moved by being Jesus’ disciple that he intended to give his life to Christ in the same way the Jesus gave His life for Paul. And Paul eventually faced political pressure for preaching the Gospel. Yet even in prison Paul’s goal was to proclaim the Gospel with peace and joy to everyone he met—including the very government officials who threatened to take his life.

In Philippians 1:12-20 Paul proclaims that he is full of joy that Christ is being proclaimed among the Romans. Then, in verses 21 Paul proclaims “to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Paul finds is complete peace and joy in Christ alone. In Philippians 2:14-16 Paul uses similar language as he did in 1 Corinthians 9 when he says:

“Do all things without grumbling or disputing; 15 so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, 16 holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain. 17 But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all. 18 You too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.”

Philippians 2:14-16, NASB1995

Again, we read of Paul speaking of excellent behavior in connection with running well. Death is not defeat or failure for Paul, because death cannot keep Paul from Christ. Indeed, in Philippians 3 Paul makes a clear argument for how he has more earthly boasts than anyone else, but yet he boasts in Christ alone. And finally, in Philippians 4:4-7 he commands that too rejoice always in Christ instead of being anxious, and we are to make our requests known to God who is faithful to provide us peace. The letter to the Philippians is full of peace and joy, making it clear that we can run peacefully and joyfully because of Christ.

Run to the One Who Loves You

If you haven’t caught on yet, the subheadings of this post are modeled on the four themes of Advent: hope, peace, joy and love. The more times I celebrate Advent and my birthday side-by-side the more I chuckle that God ordained for me, in all my anxiety, to be born on the week celebrating joy. But it also saddens me a bit that the fourth week of Advent is often the shortest. It would be impossible to run well if not for the love of God. The author of Hebrews understands this well when he writes:

“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

Hebrews 12:1-3, NASB1995

These verses follow the well-known chapters of Hebrews on the faithful witnesses of the Old Testament. Yet, the author of Hebrews uses the faith of those OT saints to point us to the ultimate love of Christ. Chapter 12 continues on by speaking about how God disciplines His beloved children in similar ways to how Christ bore His love for His bride on the cross. Now this article is getting to more of a long-distance run than a quick sprint, but I did set out to be reflective so please bear with me a little longer.

As I turn 35, I continue to wrestle with why God has or has not done certain things over the past few years. Recently Nate posted an article on the Two Books detailing his experience with church trauma. I weathered much of that same storm with him. My experience differed in that I was a pastoral intern and not an elder emeritus, but so much of the hurt he described I also felt. That experience left me questioning if I was called to ministry. It left me in search of a church home for over a year. I am still feeling some of the effects financially, as I genuinely thought I had done well enough to be offered a staff position. And it played a serious role in ending the only meaningful dating relationship I’ve ever had. Honestly, at 35 one of the biggest questions I have in life is why God hasn’t answered my prayer for love and marriage. I love my parents, and the Lord has faithfully worked out so much of the hurt felt with the church trauma, but for over a decade I have longed to have wholeness in my home, and I’ve asked the Lord to provide it through a loving wife and a fruitful marriage. To this point, His answer has been no. I continue to pray hopefully in accordance with Philippians 4; but I also have to confess that ultimately, God is greater: The Father knows me more fully than any woman ever can, the Son has bore Himself to me more intimately than any woman ever can, and the Spirit is a greater Helper than any woman ever can. God is sufficient, and He’s made His sufficient known in Christ. I run to the one who loves me, because He gives me hope, peace and joy.

Now I don’t want to end this article focused on me, so let me briefly share one more story from the world of NASCAR. Each spring a group of retired drivers are elected into the NASCAR hall of fame. Earlier this year Carl Edwards, a former teammate of Denny Hamlin, Edwards retired young and is currently 46 years old. He retired after the 2016 season, a season in which, like his former teammate, he nearly won the championship. Instead, his year ended with a hard hit to the inside wall of Homestead-Miami Speedway. Due to concerns regarding brain health related to crashes, and a love for his wife, Edwards stepped away from racing. Nicknamed “Cousin Carl,” during his career due to how friendly he was, he was a fan favorite. Yet, he also made it clear that he wasn’t much of a man of faith. And thus, honestly, I questioned how someone with such a short career could be going into a hall of fame. During his induction speech, Edwards shared how for much of his life is primary goal was to be the greatest racecar driver he could be. He wanted to win the prize that he almost achieved in 2016. Yet, when he stepped away from racing his love for his wife and children grew deeper. He appreciated the role his fans and competitors played in his life. And, due in part to the faith of car owner, Joe Gibbs, he realized that God had been with him in the car for every race. I encourage you to look up Carl’s speech and watch it yourself. But more so, as you celebrate Christmas encourage you to remember the truth of Revelations 19:7-9; 22:12-13. Jesus will make His second advent soon. If you belong to Christ, He is returning for you, so run to Him as best you can with hope, peace, joy and love. Merry Christmas and may you see Christ running the race of life with you in the new year.

“Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

Revelation 22:12-13, NASB1995

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About the Author

Robert Shashy was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida. He attended Catholic school from kindergarten through the 12th grade, and was devoted to weekly church attendance. While at the University of Florida, he began attending Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) meetings, and deepened his relationship with Christ. He remains compassionate towards practicing Roman Catholics, and believes Reformed Catholicity is key to both the American and global Church. He currently is attending Reformed Theological Seminary (RTSO) as a hybrid student, and is an aspiring church leader. Robert feels called by Christ to contextualize American culture to help the Church in sharing the Gospel in the 21st Century, and to inform modern Christians of who the Bible says they are, what society says about them, and how to follow Christ’s lead in those crosswinds. In his free time, Robert is a hobby board game enthusiast, and he looks forward to the day when the Church again embraces her roles of being a safehouse and a hospital.