Running To Win

Guest (Male): Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Jesus Christ appeared on earth over 2,000 years ago. The Bible reveals that Jesus is the Son of God and that all the fullness of God dwells in him. Now, to see what God is all about, all we need do is look at Jesus. Stay with us. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line.

Dave McAllister: Pastor Lutzer, the Bible calls Jesus the great mediator between God and man. Understanding who he is would seem to be crucial.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: And you know, Dave, this is so critical. Everyone who is listening needs to understand that the reason that Jesus Christ is able to bring us to God is because he has a human nature and a divine nature. So he’s the only one who can present us to the Father. If he were not God, it would be like a bridge broken at the farthest end. We here at Running to Win are deeply committed to helping people to understand that when they believe in the Son of God, Jesus Christ, yes, they are believing in God.

Even as you listen to this message, I want you to contemplate your relationship to our ministry Running to Win. God may be calling you to help us in a very special way and at the end of this message, I’ll be giving you more info. For now, listen carefully.

Nietzsche, Friedrich Nietzsche, that atheist philosopher who paved the way for Hitler by predicting the coming of a superman, hated Christianity. But he did say on one occasion that if Christians looked more like their redeemer, he might be tempted to believe in that redeemer. He said that if Christians looked more redeemed, he might believe in their redeemer.

He had no right to say that actually because he hated Christians and as far as that’s concerned, he hated their redeemer too. But all that aside, he did have a point, didn't he? If we want people to believe in our redeemer, I think we had better look redeemed. So the question is what does that look like? What does our redeemer look like and therefore what should we look like?

The text today is the second chapter of the book of Philippians. Philippians chapter two, one of the most amazing passages regarding the incarnation of Jesus. Philippians chapter two and we’ll be picking it up in a moment at verses five and six. The story of the incarnation, the story of Christmas if you please, is remarkable indeed. Why did Jesus become a man?

The answer is that we as human beings sinned and because we were mankind, man should pay for man's sin. It only makes sense. The problem is we can't pay for our own sin because we are persistent sinners. Any sacrifice that we make is tainted and furthermore, it is only a temporal sacrifice. It is not an infinite sacrifice. Therefore, even though we should pay, we can't.

God because he is love would like to be able to pay, but the problem is God is not a man. And without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins and you can't take a spirit and nail a spirit to the cross. So the only way for this to be resolved is for God to become man and do what we as mankind cannot do, make a payment that he will accept so that God is the redeemer.

The story of the incarnation is one that is remarkable. It is also a story of mystery. But here we have it in this very famous text that has often vexed the minds of our best theologians. Paul gives this teaching in a context saying that those who are redeemed should look like their redeemer.

He says in verse four of chapter two, let each of you look not only on his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant.

There are three descriptions of Jesus in this passage I want us to notice. The first is the reversal of roles and there is no descent that one could ever imagine from the glories of heaven to earth. There is none that can match this. Jesus exists in the form of God and he changes roles. He doesn't change his nature, but he does change his role.

The text says he is in the form of God. You say what did Jesus look like before Bethlehem? That's a good question. Let me give you a description of Jesus before Bethlehem. In the day that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up and his train filled the temple. And above it stood the seraphim and each one had six wings. And then the seraphim began to say, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory.

You say wait a minute, that's not a reference to Jesus, that's a reference to Jehovah the Father. Well, because of the Trinity, the Bible says in John chapter 12, verse 41, that when Isaiah spoke those words, he spoke about Jesus. Jesus is Jehovah. That's Jesus before Bethlehem.

Remember that Jesus actually is God. He's not just applying for the job, all right? He actually is God. And Jesus in all of his beauty had the right to enjoy heaven and enjoyed his position as ruler of the world and the worlds, plural. Now, that's Jesus in the form of God, but he did not think that this equality with God was a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, made himself of no reputation, some translations say, or emptied himself.

This is known in theology as the kenosis because the word to empty or to make himself nothing is related to the Greek word kenosis. It’s a form of the word. And so this is the great humbling of Jesus. And what is it that he left behind so to speak? What is it that he did not think that he needed to grasp or to hang on to?

There are two views, one of which is false. I’ll give you the false one first. Some say that this must mean that Jesus left his divinity behind. He left his attributes or at least some of his attributes. That's unthinkable because if he were to give up at least one attribute, he would no longer be God of very God and Jesus is called God after the incarnation.

But furthermore, think philosophically and theologically for just a moment. God is a being comprised of various attributes. It is unthinkable that God's essence could ever change and that God would someday decide that he would no longer be God. God's attributes form this marvelous combination that we can only begin to grasp and that God is unchangeable and that's why Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. That's not what happened at the incarnation.

He did not think that it was necessary that he grasp the manifestation of being God, the position in the Godhead that existed before time. So it wasn't his nature that he gave up or his essence. He gave up his role and was found in the form of a servant. That's the great reversal that is here.

And we need to understand that Jesus had all of his attributes even though he chose to live completely as a man. He did not depend on those attributes. That's really what he gave up when he stepped out of eternity into time at Bethlehem. Think of an illustration. Think of yourself as being a millionaire. Today, we maybe should think of ourselves as being billionaires. I don't know, but to me a million dollars is still an awful lot of money.

So let's think of yourself as being a millionaire, but you choose to live in the ghetto of Chicago, the poorest neighborhood in the city. You choose to live there. You go to work with the people, you take your lunch with them, you ride wherever they go, and you live like one of them. You're still a millionaire at any time you could write out a check, but you don't. That's Jesus living completely as a man, though he retained all attributes of the Godhead.

Think of it this way, here is Jesus. He is omnipotent, but see him there seated at the well, weary with his journey. He's omniscient, he knows everything, and yet he says of that day and that hour no man knows, not the angels, nor the Son of man, but only my Father. He even voluntarily limited what he knew. Here is Jesus who is also omnipresent, he exists everywhere, and there he is. He stays away from Lazarus who is sick and by the time he gets to Bethany, Lazarus has been dead already for four days.

This is Jesus leaving the role that he played as God to take the role of a servant, still maintaining all attributes and full deity. So that's what Jesus did, living like we live. And that's why he said the works that I do, I'm not doing them, the Father who dwells in me, he does the works. I don't do anything unless I consult with my Father. He gives us an example of the way in which we should live in dependence upon him just as he lived in dependence upon the Father. That's the lesson that Jesus teaches us here.

So the first way that we can describe this is that there was a change of roles, not a change of essence or a lessening of attributes. Now, notice also he changed his appearance. And that's already evident, but I'm in verse eight. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death.

Now, when it says human form, don't get the impression that Jesus only appeared to be human but really wasn't. Oh no, he actually was human. You see, he had the divine nature and he had the human nature and those were brought together in one person so that he was not schizophrenic. He was both God and man, but one person. And Jesus was fully human.

And because of that, he put up with all kinds of things even though he was God. When he was in heaven, nobody asked who is it that's on the throne. But while he’s on earth, he gets shouted at. Move it over there, Jew boy. Get with it. Hey, by the way, we know who your father is and could I ask you who your father really is? He put up with all that.

He wouldn't have had to put up with the people in Nazareth wanting to push him over the brow of a hill. He didn't have to put up with the treachery of Judas. He didn't have to put up with the curses and the insults and the abuse that he got from Herod and the soldiers. He didn't have to put up with that. Remember when Jesus humbled himself, this was voluntary. It’s not that he was eased out of the Godhead because there was some restructuring going on in heaven. This was a voluntary decision that he made to honor the Father and to redeem us.

We can't get our minds around this, can we? I mean, we hang on to positions until our knuckles turn white. We hang on to our rights and say whatever my rights are, nobody's going to move me from my pinnacle because I'm here and you just don't tamper with who I am. Here's Jesus being willing to do all that in a descent that boggles our imaginations.

He whose going forth has been from of old and from everlasting, those feet that went from eternity to eternity, up and down the universe's. Those feet would now have to learn how to walk. The hands that created all things, those hands would now have to rest securely in the hands of a young woman, his mother, Mary.

The eyes that were piercing, that saw everything that was going on in the universe, those eyes would now have to adjust to the dim light of a stable. And think for a moment of the ears that have heard everything, those ears would now have to adjust to the Aramaic language. And he would increase in wisdom and stature with God and with men.

Throughout history, there are many people who attained or desired to be God, I should say. History is full of people who desired to be God. This is the only instance that I know of, back then or now, where you have a God who desires to become a man. That's why the Bible says he humbled himself. All right, we notice that he changed his roles, he also changed his appearance. He's now a man. In heaven, nobody asks who's on the throne. On earth, he has to show his ID. He has to be spat upon, misunderstood, marginalized, and confronted. That's Jesus in becoming a man.

Also, you'll notice that he changed his mission. He changed his mission. His mission was running the world. When I gave a lecture on the Trinity last Sunday, I pointed out that my daughter asked the question, who was running the world when Jesus was a baby? It’s an excellent question. Who was running the world when Jesus was a baby? Well, the answer is that the Father was running the world when Jesus was a baby.

He gave up his rights to be a part of that running of the world and he humbled himself and he became obedient unto death. And he now, instead of being victor, becomes victim after a manner of speaking, and he substitutes the cross for a crown. I should say it the other way around, shouldn't I? He substitutes the crown for the cross.

And there he is. He's obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Why that little word even? Because the cross was really for the bad fellows. The cross was really the kind of death that nobody wanted to die. It was painful, it was humiliating, it was excruciating, and Jesus now is willing to go even to the cross. That's the depths of his humiliation and the depths of his obedience. It can't be said in any other way. Wow.

And that death wasn't just a random death. Was a death that was brought about by God the Father. It pleased the Lord to bruise him. Yes, evil people were involved and they become responsible for what they have done. But in that death now, redemption is going to occur. I read a liberal book some time ago, religiously liberal, that says oh, Jesus didn't die a substitute death. His death just shows how much he loves us. Pardon me.

I heard a pastor give this illustration. Suppose I were to take my family to the Grand Canyon and find a huge cliff and then say to them, I'm going to hop over and I'm going to die just to prove how much I love you. They'd arrest me and they'd take me to a psychiatrist and ask whether or not I was off my medication. I smile by the way, I'm not on any medication. If you are, that's okay, but I'm not. This is the real deal. What a silly idea. He died just to show that he loves us. Of course he loves us.

Now, if I died for my family, in the place of my family, now we're finally talking sense. That's what Jesus did on the cross. It was a substitutionary death. It was a death that we cannot comprehend because in those three hours, three hours he suffers under the hand of men, for the next three hours he suffers under the hand of God, and in those three hours were compressed an eternity of hells.

And the separation not ontologically, I hope you can understand that word, not ontologically from the Father, but that break in fellowship was that Jesus was now being made sin for us. Personally innocent, but legally guilty of the sins that you committed this past week. Legally guilty of the most horrendous things that you can possibly imagine. Things that perhaps you haven't done but others have done. Though God only knows who's with us here today.

Jesus becomes legally guilty for all those things, even the death of the cross. And the reason that you and I can be in heaven today is because he died for us. He suffered for us, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. And after you've received Jesus as savior, if you die, you are welcomed into heaven as if you are Jesus because you're going on the basis of his merit, his work, and he stands in your stead all the way into eternity. That is the good news of the gospel. And that's why Jesus died.

Guest (Male): (Applause)

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: My friend, this is Pastor Lutzer. We need to clarify this, that there was no sin in Jesus but our sin was laid on Jesus. And there's no other teacher, there's no other guru who can say that because of who he is, he can take us to the Father. Jesus is entirely unique.

We here at Running to Win are deeply committed to getting the gospel of Jesus Christ to all the corners of the world. And I want to encourage you to think about becoming what we like to call an endurance partner. And we call you an endurance partner because you run the race of life along with us with endurance.

I'm holding in my hands a letter that we received from someone who listens to this ministry in Spanish. Very briefly, they go on to say how encouraging it is. It’s great teaching for the audience and then they pray that God may continue to fill me with wisdom to help them on their spiritual journey. Very quickly, here's what I want you to do. I want you to investigate becoming an endurance partner. You can go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337.

When you become an endurance partner, I like to think of it as you joining the Running to Win family to help us get the gospel of Jesus Christ to every part of the world. Once again, go to rtwoffer.com. Click on the endurance partner button or call us at 1-888-218-9337.

Dave McAllister: It’s time once again for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question you may have about the Bible or the Christian life. Dr. Lutzer, today's question comes to us from Robert, who lives in Pennsylvania. He says, I'm bothered by applause after music in worship services. Not because the music isn't superb, but because we're applauding ourselves at a moment when all attention, devotion and thought should be given only to God.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Robert, I really do think that you have a point and yet at the same time I personally cannot tell a congregation don't applaud. Because I believe that if they are properly instructed, they are not applauding simply because the music was great, though there is always that temptation. I would like to think that they are applauding for God.

Their hearts have been so blessed, the words of the song have come so mightily and consistently into their hearts, that they are simply saying by their applause, we love you, Lord. Thank you very, very much. I hope that that's what's happening when people applaud and when they do it that way, the enthusiasm that is in a service, I think, is very appropriate. We ought to be excited for God, we ought to be excited for his glory. So the bottom line is I think proper instruction is what congregations need if they are going to applaud.

Dave McAllister: Thank you, Dr. Lutzer. If you'd like to hear your question answered, go to our website at rtwoffer.com and click on ask Pastor Lutzer. Or you can call us at 1-888-218-9337. That's 1-888-218-9337. You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60614.

The death of Jesus Christ on a Roman cross has been interpreted in many ways. Some see it as a sad end to a good life. But the Bible tells us that his death was a sacrifice that took the penalty for the sins of the whole world. The central mission of Jesus was to die and then be raised by God the Father to open the way for all who believe to find eternal life. Next time on Running to Win, a further look at the Son we follow. Thanks for listening. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.