Running To Win

Guest (Male): Let us run with endurance, the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfector of our faith. Servants have to serve even when those they serve don't appreciate it. They know that God watches their service and is pleased. A church that serves is a church where God's presence is felt very strongly.

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. Pastor Lutzer, I was visiting a megachurch near where I live, and when I came to the door, the senior pastor opened it. Despite his fame, this man had a servant's heart, and we need more like him.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Well, Dave, we certainly do, and maybe someday I'll be able to visit that church. There aren't too many megachurches who have pastors who are willing to open the door. Of course, it's very important for us to recognize that everyone in a church has a responsibility. The pastor can't be everywhere. Thank God for all those volunteers and helpful people within our churches who welcome others, who encourage others, and pray with them.

I like to think of the body of Christ as indeed an organism that works together in harmony. As a matter of fact, if you were to fall, your hands would probably go out to protect your head, and that's the way we should be in the body of Jesus Christ, always protecting one another.

Guest (Male): I've written a book entitled Managing Your Emotions, and at the end of this message, I'm going to be giving you some contact info as to how this resource can be yours.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: But let's remember, we are all called to serve. Some serve publicly, some serve privately, but the good news is, God is watching, and when God comes to church, people begin to serve spontaneously, voluntarily, and happily. Let's listen. If our ministry does not in any way affect our checkbook, if it does not affect the way in which we give, if it does not affect our motivation, we are not Christlike in our service.

God has not yet come to church, as long as we're hung up on all these things. So Paul says, "I made that, the sacrifice of that, the sacrifice of devotion." He says, "We were holy and righteous and blameless before you." And I say this to the pastoral staff and all the leadership at Moody Church, that we who are in leadership should be more holy, more righteous, and more blameless than we even expect our congregation to be. That's a note of conviction for all of us.

So Paul says here, he says, "There's a sacrifice to servanthood." And then he says, "What is the goal?" The goal here is in verses 11 and 12, "For you know how like a father with his children, we exhorted each of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God." What's it all about? What are we trying to do with our teenagers? What are we trying to do with our leadership? What are we doing in our adult Bible fellowships? What are we, what are we trying to accomplish? At the end of the day, what we want is character, people who walk worthy of God, in keeping with the dignity of belonging to God.

When I was growing up, we, as kids, used to say to our mother and father, like most kids do, "Well, we can't do this. Why can't we do this? Because look at the neighbors, they're doing that." And our parents used to always say, "Now, their name is," and then they'd give the name, and then they'd say, "But you know, you're a Lutzer, and this is a different family." I don't know whether or not that helped, but it should have. And so I say to those of you today who are Christians, the world can do this, this, this, but you can't because guess what? You belong to a different family. Thank you very, very much. We are to walk worthy of God.

Husbands should treat their wives in a manner that is worthy of God. Teenagers should watch television programs that are worthy of God. And you can go down the list. That's the goal of it all. Alexander the Great, it is said, one of his generals became a coward and turned away in battle, and Alexander the Great found him and shook him and asked him this question, "He says, What is your name?" And the general says, "My name is Alexander." And Alexander became enraged and shook him even harder and said, "Either change your character or change your name."

And God says to us today, "You know, you are mine. You're to walk worthy of God. Either change your character or change your name." So that's the goal of discipleship, the goal of servanthood. And then the challenge. Paul says in verses 13 to 16, and I'll simply refer to them, please read them on your own. He says, "You went through a lot of affliction in receiving the word of God." He says, "That affliction came to you and it was a very difficult experience because you were persecuted."

Verse 14, "For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, who killed the Lord Jesus Christ and the prophets and who drove us out." You see, America has spoiled us. We always think to ourselves that the state and the laws should be favorable to preaching the Gospel. And in America, it's been that way, though it is rapidly changing. And you and I are just going to have to face the fact that it's going to become harder to be a Christian, and sometimes it is Christians who make it hard to be represented as Christians, by the way, and not the people who are non-Christians.

But it's going to be harder. And even now in your work tomorrow, your integrity should get you into some trouble. If it doesn't, if it doesn't, I wonder if you are really honoring Jesus. Because a person of integrity means that he should keep his promises. It means that if he promises something, if he promises money, the money will be there. Integrity means that we keep our word. Integrity means that we do not engage in all the things that the people of the world engage in, because we are different.

Blessed are you when men persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my name's sake, said Jesus. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad. If you have ever been fired from a job because you're a Christian, don't bemoan your fate, but rejoice and be exceedingly glad, Jesus said, because you are entitled to a great reward.

And all that is a part of what is called being a servant. Now, the question, of course, is what is the reward of all this? What do you get out of it? Typical American question. What's in it for me, right? Isn't that what we're all interested in? What is the benefit? What are the perks of being a servant? Today I'm speaking to people who say, "You know, I work in the nursery, I volunteer in the nursery. I don't get paid for it." What are the perks? What's in it for me?

I'm speaking to some people who are parkers, that is to say, they help with the parking, and some of them aren't here because they're missing this service because of parking duty. And they say, "You know, I volunteer, and I even skip church, and I, I go, and I work, and I volunteer as someone who's involved in ministry." And what's in it for me? What, what's the payoff? Some of you work in Awana, you work as a tutor in Kids Club. And you say, "You know, this business of being a servant, what's, what's in it? What's in it?" You're obviously not doing it for the money, I can tell you that, because zero times 10 is still zero, but what's the payoff?

Why would Paul leave a well-paying job that he probably could have had, be a tentmaker, work long hours, serve people, where's the beef? Well, he mentions what the reward is. Now notice the text. He says in the last part of the chapter, verse 19, "For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before the Lord Jesus Christ that is coming? What is it that's going to make me happy when Jesus returns? What is it that's going to give me a great deal of satisfaction and joy?" He says, "Is it not you? For you are our glory and joy."

Paul speaks about faithfulness in terms of crowns. Now, these crowns aren't necessarily literal medallions that we wear. And even if we do wear them, we'll cast them at the feet of Jesus anyway. Crowns have to do with positions of responsibility within the coming kingdom. That's why service here is so important. And then Paul says these words, "You know, there are two different words for crowns. There is the word diadem, which is worn by kings, and then there's stephanos." That's the word that he uses here.

It's the word from which we get the name Stephen or Stephanie. If you're a Stephanie or a Stephen, your name means crown. You are indeed very special, as all of us with different names are. But Paul says and he uses that second word here. In other words, he says, "This is the Victor's Crown. This is, this is the crown that is given to those who run the race well." And what is our crown? This thing that we're going to throw at the feet of Jesus, this thing that's going to sit on our head with a halo? No, no, no. He says, "You are our crown. You are our rejoicing in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the reward."

It's the people whom we influenced. It's the lives that we touched. It's the kindness that we showed out in the parking lot. It is the ushers who are faithful, who are dependable, who we know can be here and will be here. It's, it's the people who are involved in children's ministry. That is the crown. That is our joy. Samuel Rutherford was in prison, and while in prison, he longed for the believers in the town, in the church in Anwoth.

And he wrote these words, "If one soul from Anwoth shall meet me at God's right hand, my heaven shall be two heavens in Emmanuel land." What's the payoff? The judgment seat of Jesus Christ where there's a child from Cabrini Green who says, "You led me to faith in Christ, and you encouraged me in my walk." And we say to ourselves, "That makes a double heaven for me." To be with Jesus and then to be with people that are influenced. If I stand at the judgment seat of Christ, as I will, and there would be one person who would say, "I came to faith through your ministry, and you encouraged me along in the way."

I would say, "This is my joy. This is my crown. This is the payoff. Is it not you, members, attenders of Moody Church in the day of the judgment throne of Jesus Christ, the judgment seat?" That's the payoff. You say, "Well, I'm still not convinced. I, I'm into my own schedule. I'm busy. I don't like inconvenience. I like my freedom. I don't want to be tied down. I don't want to volunteer for anything because it means that my own private schedule has to be rearranged. And I just want to do what I want to do." So that's what you're saying, huh? Not many of you, but maybe some of you are saying that. Well, I have a verse for you.

And if this passage of Scripture does not change your heart today, it may be that you have never been converted. Because no converted person can read this and then leave the same. And I want you to know that the verse I'm going to read is in your Bible, too. The Bible that I have here is not different from the one that you have. What I'm trying to say very clearly is, I'm not making this up. All right? I'm not even going to give you the reference yet because I don't want you to be turning lest you miss what this is saying.

Jesus says, "Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes." Now here's the verse. And I don't know if I'm going to be able to get through this, folks, because it's very difficult for me to read this verse.

"Truly I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table. And he, that is Jesus, the master, will come and serve them." Imagine in the kingdom, Jesus is going to say to you and to me, "I want you to sit at the table, and I'm going to gird myself so that I can serve you." He is willing to do that. And yet some people will not lift a finger to be involved in God's work and with God's people. They will not lift a finger to serve.

But someday he'll say, "Sit down and let me serve you." That's found, by the way, and you can read it later in the 12th chapter of the Gospel of Luke. But I do need to end today by saying that if you want to be served in the kingdom by Jesus, you have to first of all be served by him now. He said, "The Son of Man came," he says, "not to be served but to serve." And how does he serve? By giving his life a ransom for many.

He says, "First of all, if we receive the service that I performed on the cross, and the way I served you. You believe in me and you trust me for forgiveness of your sins, and you are born of the Spirit." Someday, I'll say to you, "You sit down and enjoy the meal, and I'll be your servant once again." So to my heart I ask, and to yours, why are we not willing to serve a master who serves us?

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Let's pray. Father, when you come to a church, there are people who are willing to serve. When you came to Thessalonica, Paul served, and he modeled service. And he was only modeling what Jesus had done earlier to come to serve. And we ask today, Father, for our indifferent, selfish hearts that are so intent on our schedule, on our needs, that we've neglected serving others in your congregation. Help us, Father, we pray, and have mercy upon us. And for those who have never trusted Christ and received the benefits of his first service, we ask, Lord, that they will reach out and say, "Jesus, save me." I pray in his blessed name. Amen. Amen.

Guest (Male): Well, my friend, this is Pastor Lutzer. Perhaps you've already heard me say that when I read that passage of Scripture for the first time in the book of Luke, I was brought to tears. I mean, just visualize Jesus being the one to gird himself and to serve us in the kingdom. And you and I oftentimes are so stingy with our time, we are so selfish, we would never even think of that. And here our master, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, honors us in this way.

Could I ask you a question? What is it that you think hinders people from serving in the kingdom? I often think it is because of some negative emotions. Emotions such as bitterness, anger, regret, jealousy. That's why I've written a book entitled Managing Your Emotions, because emotions can be very good. Obviously, they are God's gift, but they can also be stumbling blocks in our Christian walk.

For a gift of any amount, we're making this resource available for you, and I want to emphasize that we're doing that because we want to help you. We here at Running to Win, thank God for the many people who listen to us, but we're also thankful that we can make literature available that we think will be of great benefit in your Christian walk, and you'll be able to share books like this with others. Here's what you do. Go to rtw offer.com. That's rtw offer.com, or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Remember the title of the book, Managing Your Emotions, God's Good Gifts Gone Wrong. And oftentimes they do go very wrong.

Once again, that contact info, rtw offer.com, or call us at 1-888-218-9337. May God enable us to serve each other, and may all the roadblocks that stand in the way be taken away by his grace.

It's time now for another chance for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life. Today's question comes from a math whiz, or at least someone with a keen sense of genealogy. Josias asks, "Based on Genesis chapters 5 to 25, I computed that Abram was born 1,946 years after Adam was created. Assuming the 930 years Adam lived began at creation, Shem was still alive when Abram was born. However, in many Bibles, such as the Zondervan NIV Study Bible, unknown dates are indicated for events such as the creation, the flood, and so on. What do you think is the reason for the uncertainty? Is there a reason for not relying squarely on the years lived for individuals from Adam to Abram as indicated in Genesis chapters 5 through 20?"