Running To Win

Dave McAllister: Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Running the race of life involves understanding who's in charge. Once we realize that number one is not us, the race gets a lot easier. Today, let's take the first step in living life with God in firm control, as was the case in the early church. Open your Bible to the Book of Acts.

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, each of us has an ego. We're tempted to think we're in charge of our destinies. Today you begin a series on what happens when God is first. As we turn to Acts chapter one, tell us what ground we're going to cover.

Dr. Erwin Lutzer: Well, Dave, we've come to the beginning of a brand-new year. And what an opportunity it is for us to be able to live with God being first. In answer to your question, all of us must realize that in the Book of Acts, we actually have a template, if I can use that word, as to what the Christian life is all about.

When we read the early chapters, we discover that the Holy Spirit of God, of course, came, but what you have is a church that was on fire with the gospel, willing to be persecuted, willing to be misunderstood, but continuing forward spreading the good news of the gospel. And even as we begin this brand-new year, they indeed become our example as we ask ourselves this question: how should we live in the midst of a culture which has lost its way? That's what the early church did. Let's learn from them.

What would happen if God were first? What would happen if God were first in our lives and in our church? First of all, obviously, we'd think differently. Worship would not be something that we do only on Sunday. We wouldn't take a card out of the drawer on Sunday morning and say, "Oh, worship time." God would be the center of our thinking, and we would be intoxicated with a love for God.

So, we'd think differently, we'd certainly love differently. Imagine loving the Lord our God with all our hearts, with all our mind, with all our soul, and our neighbor as ourselves. In other words, could you even imagine what it would be like if we were more concerned about someone else's need than our own and esteemed others better than ourselves?

Well, we'd certainly act differently. Our bodies would belong to God. Our eyes, our ears, our tongues, our appetites would belong to God. Our relationships would belong to God. Everything would belong to God. The transfer of ownership would be complete. Sins that have been rationalized for a long time would finally be confessed and forsaken, and people would receive help and say, "I am done with low living, I'm done with failure. I'm going to go for broke." Our hearts would belong to God, and we as a church would become a church, to coin a phrase from someone else, of irresistible influence. The impact would be enormous in this city and around the world.

Now, if you think that this is something we can do, we can just all sing, "Okay, here we are, God, we're giving you everything," if you think that that's something we can do on our own, you're mistaken. Words are cheap. We can sing the songs and we can say the prayers, but to actually make that transfer of ownership is incredibly difficult and hard, and there's going to be battles.

For example, just imagine for a moment saying to God, "God, from now on, I give you all of my television viewing habits, and I will no longer look upon anything in a movie or a television set that is unholy." Could you imagine that? Demons who have been kind of sleepily wandering about in the atmosphere would suddenly be aroused, and they would be in your living room giving you the fight of your life if you were to say that. All the forces of hell would be aroused and say, "No way."

Think, for example, of what it would mean if you say, "I surrender all of my relationships to you, and those relationships that are leading me into sin, no matter the cost, I sever those relationships in the power of the Lord." Or, here's one: "God, from now on, I take all of my money, which I've always thought was mine to do as I wished, and what I want to do is to now recognize this is your money over which you have made me a steward. So, I have only one question: what will you have me to do with what you have given me and what is yours?"

Could you imagine that? This ferocious beast called covetousness would arise in our hearts and say, "Absolutely not. I am worthy of all of the perks. I can't think of anyone more worthy than I to own what I have." What about if we gave our reputations to God and said, "God, we're tired of image-building and always just playing to the camera. We're tired of building our reputations on what other people think." What other people think oftentimes is important, but that's not what we are going to be doing. We are going to just simply say, "God, here it is, I'm yours."

Could you imagine? I mean, we hang on to all these things until our knuckles turn white. So, if you think that we can do this on our own and just stand up and sing the right song and make the right commitment, you're mistaken. We can't do it. Our commitment will be like the dew that falls on the grass, and when the sun comes up, low and behold, there's no dew there. It's gone.

We're talking about a radical commitment, folks, so radical that we can't do it on our own. And that's why we are going to turn to the Book of Acts. Acts chapter one, and my text today is verse eight. I wish I had time to paint the context, but I think you know it. Jesus is on his way to heaven, and he's passing on the baton. And so he says, "If you're going to do my work, which we are called to do," you'll notice Acts 1:1 says, "In the former book, Theophilus, I wrote about things that Jesus began both to do and to teach." He started it, and now you have to finish it. So here's the baton.

But you can't do it without my power. A.J. Gordon was walking across a field one day, and he saw a man pumping water tirelessly, effortlessly, and continuously. And he thought, "Where's this guy getting his energy from?" As he got closer, he realized it wasn't a man at all. It was only the figure of a man cut out of plywood. The man was not doing any pumping. He was being pumped by an artesian well. Wouldn't that be wonderful if you had an artesian well within you springing up to enable us to make the commitments we should, but we're scared to death to make?

Acts 1:5, very quickly, God's promise first of all, secondly, our responsibility, and thirdly, how do we receive the power. That's the agenda. If you came here to church for some other reason, I'm sorry, but you're on the plane, and we're going to land this baby together today. Everybody with me?

First of all, God's power. "You shall receive power," said Jesus. When he was here on earth, he could only be in one place at one time. But now he says, "By the blessed Holy Spirit of God, I'm going to be in all of my followers all the time and everywhere." No matter where you live geographically, God says, "I'm going to be with you now." "He is with you," Jesus said to the disciples, "and he shall be in you." And this is the time in Acts chapter one where a new era of the Holy Spirit is predicted, and in Acts chapter two, it happens.

And so, Jesus Christ reminds us that this is now—we have the companionship of God. Wherever we go, God is with us. You say, "Well, God is with the unsaved too." Yes, he is with the unsaved and observes them, but it's entirely different. He is with his people as a companion and a participant with them. And so he watches what we see on television and has to endure it. He watches our attitudes. He has to somehow put up with the sin in our hearts that we refuse to get rid of because he's a companion now.

And not only the companionship of God and the desires of God that we could comment on, but also the courage of God. "You shall receive power." The Greek word, as we know, is *dunamis*, which is the one from which we get dynamite. You shall receive power, power to finally make a commitment that makes Satan gasp, to put God first. The power of canceled sin which he's able to break. There are tons of Christians whose sin is canceled, but the power over them is still there. A power to speak for Christ as we shall see. So that when all around my soul gives way, you then are still my hope and stay. So Jesus says, "I'm going to give you the resources that you need. I'm calling you to a high level of commitment, but you shall receive power."

Now, our side of the bargain. "And you shall be my witnesses." The Greek word is the word from which we get martyrs. "You shall be my martyrs." You say, "Oh, do we have to die for Christ?" Listen to what happened. In ancient Greek, the word martyr simply meant witness, that you witness to the faith. So many of these witnesses died in the early centuries because of persecution that pretty soon the word martyr, which meant witness, began to refer to people who laid down their lives for Jesus.

So you say, "You shall be my martyrs, you shall be my witnesses," Jesus said. And where did he say? He says first of all in Jerusalem. I can imagine the disciples saying, "Oh, not Jerusalem. This is the place that crucified you. This is the place where the hostility level is unbelievable, and if we're identified with you here, send us somewhere else, Lord, and we'll witness for you, but not in our hometown." You know, sometimes witnessing in our hometown is most difficult. Some of you, God bless you, we'd all rather, I think at times, be sent to some place where nobody knows us and then we could finally witness. But it does begin even in the home.

If you ask me one of the most humbling experiences that I have is not only to preach at Moody Church, but yesterday I spoke at Promise Keepers in Kansas City. Seventeen thousand men. I could not believe it. And one of the things that was told us there is this: that when a teenager accepts Christ as Savior, there's a 17 percent chance that the rest of the family will follow. When a mother does, there's a 34 percent chance. And when a father does, catch this, fathers, there is a 93 percent chance that his family will follow him. Fathers, you are to be witnesses in the home, your Jerusalem where it begins. You say, "Well, I don't have the power." That's why we're here is to learn how to get the power. Aren't you glad you came?

Judea, that's our community. Samaria, a racial barrier. You know the Samaritans were half-breeds. Just take the hostility that exists between the Israelis and the Palestinians and remember this is so recent in some respects. The same hostility existed then between the Jews and the Samaritans, except that they didn't have car bombs. If they would have, you'd have had the same story played back then that you have played today. And Jesus said that's where you're to be witnesses, outside of your comfort zone, outside of the place where you want people who are just like us. No, people who are not like you.

And then the uttermost part of the earth. Have you ever wondered what's happening in Acts chapter two? The gospel is going forth in different languages. Acts chapter two has been such a stumbling block to people because they say, "Well, you know, if I'm filled with the spirit, do I have to speak in tongues?" That's what next week's message is on. If you've ever wondered about Acts two and you say, "What in the world is God doing? Is he throwing some kind of a party?" I mean, suddenly Peter is speaking perfect Egyptian. Listen, when next week's message is over, you will be doing naturally what they did supernaturally. I promise that there will be such a commitment of your tongue and such an understanding of how to talk of the wonderful works of Christ that all of us are going to be able to do it. That's next week. To the uttermost part of the earth.

Now, the question is, how do we receive this power, though? Jesus said that you shall receive power. Now, he asked the disciples to be up in the upper room for ten days. And the reason for that was first of all for unity's sake, so that they might be of one mind. You know, God can bless us individually. He can even bless us as a church if you're out of fellowship with the Lord, but not nearly as much as he could if we were all of one mind. And that means laying down animosities, that means the indifference, those of you who are on the fringes who somehow feel that, you know, you're here kind of as an observer, you're brought into the middle of it and you are of one mind. So he says wait for ten days.

Secondly, there was a sense of purity and yieldedness that needed to take place. Now, we don't have tarrying meetings here at the church. We have prayer meetings, we have days of prayer and fasting, but we don't have tarrying meetings. And let me explain why. Because when the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, that was a very unique event. It was something like the incarnation at Bethlehem. Jesus had predicted a new era of the spirit, so the new era of the spirit has come, so the Spirit of God is already with us and among us. But some of the same kinds of attitudes and commitment that they had should be ours as well to experience the power of the spirit.

So in order to help us and to make this very simple, you know I always prayed that God would keep me simple and my staff thinks that he's overdone it. But to make this simple, I am going to be referring to other passages of scripture now just to help us to understand: how do we walk in the spirit? But first, I have to tell you a story, and then we're going to apply it.

You know, there are two different ways that you can tell whether music is on a CD. One way is to read the label. The label says there's a certain song on the CD and it's a reputable company, and so you say, "Yeah, I believe that that song is on that CD." That's one way. The other way is to take the CD and to put it into a CD player and listen to the music. In the next few moments, I'm going to tell you how you can take the CD and put it into the player to experience the power of the spirit.

But first the story. When archaeologists uncovered the pyramids and they went down into the pyramids and they found all those mummies, what they discovered was that in some instances grain was put into jars and buried with them. How old was that grain? 4,000 years old. And they took that grain and they put it into the ground, and believe it or not, it grew. Amazing.

For 4,000 years, there was life in the kernel. For 4,000 years, those kernels had the ability to reproduce themselves, and there they were in a jar doing nothing with no life and no reproduction for 4,000 years. And there are Christians like that. They have the Holy Spirit. You can read the Bible, and the Bible says that the Holy Spirit indwells all Christians. But they've never experienced the life, they've never put the CD into the player, they have never allowed the blessed Holy Spirit of God who's been given to us to break out of their lives and produce the fruit of the spirit so that they can become a fruit-bearing Christian and make a difference and live with God first.

So, I'm going to tell you how now, and it's all based on four words. The first is yielding. I want to share with you what I've been doing for the last three or four years, virtually every single morning. Before I get out of bed, before I try to prove the power of mind over mattress, I lie there and I say, "Father, today I give you my day. Today I give you my eyes. Today I give you my mind. Today I give you my body. Today I give you my affections. Today, as best as I know how, I give you today."

Dave McAllister: Well, my friend, you certainly are going to have to listen to Running to Win next time as I list other things that are so necessary for us to walk in the spirit. But isn't it wonderful that at the beginning of this brand-new year, we have the opportunity to reflect on the early church, which really is such a powerful example of what it's like when a church is spirit-filled, when it's willing to share the good news of the gospel no matter the opposition, no matter the misunderstanding, to just keep going ahead. I trust that that will be true of all of us even as we enter this brand-new era as we think about the past, learning from its lessons, but also thinking about the future which lies before us.

We've all heard the little saying: the future lies before us like a path of driven snow. Be careful how you tread it, for every step will show. Let's be reminded of that. And one of the things that you can do as a step is to receive a book written by Dr. Sweeting entitled *How to Begin the Christian Life*. Now, many of you might think to yourselves, well, you're already walking with God for many years, but you'd be pleasantly surprised to see all of the subjects that this book covers. It talks about what is a Christian, assurance of faith, how to pray, how to study the Bible, and all of the topics that you and I are interested in and we have to learn and relearn all of these lessons very quickly.

For a gift of any amount, we're making it available for you, simply go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Once again, have a blessed new year and remember even at the beginning of this year, let us run together, as you've heard me say many times, all the way to the finish line.

It's time again for another opportunity for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life. Today's question, Dr. Lutzer, comes to us from Paul, and Paul lives in Wisconsin. He writes: "The part of the Bible I hate the most is when Paul says it's better to marry than to burn with passion. I hope God gives us single people extra forgiveness when we fail in this area, especially when we have waited to get married for many years. I still have never heard a good sermon on conquering sexual sin."

Dr. Erwin Lutzer: Well, Paul, first of all to begin with the end of your question, I hope that you continue to listen to this station because I'm sure that at some point you will hear a good sermon on sexual sin. I'm a little troubled by your question, actually, when you say that the part of the Bible that you hate the most has to do with this. I hope that there's no part of the Bible that you hate because it is all inspired by God, even the difficult parts.

Also, you say you hope that God is especially lenient with single people regarding the business of sexual purity. Almost gives the impression that you think that maybe God should be as lenient and as sympathetic to your sin as you yourself might be. Well, the answer is, he is not. And he's the God with whom we have to deal.

May I suggest to you, Paul, that you spend some time in God's presence and deal with the issues that we're talking about? I think that what you should do is make friends of singles who are going through the same kinds of struggles and pray together and work together. But God does not lower his standards simply because our sexual drives are powerful and relentless. At the end of the day, either we slay lust or lust will slay us. That's the stark reality. And there is hope within the church with other believers, and there is hope as we practice the disciplines of the Christian life because God will forgive us, but he's not, quote, extra lenient. Keep that in mind, and I hope that you'll live a pure life for the honor and the glory of God.

Dave McAllister: Thank you, Dr. Lutzer, for tackling a really tough issue. If you'd like to hear your question answered, go to rtwoffer.com and click on Ask Pastor Lutzer, or you can call 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. Running to Win comes to you from the Moody Church in Chicago to help you understand God's roadmap for your race of life. Jesus promised his disciples power, and when he has first place in our lives, that power begins to flow. Next time on Running to Win, more on how we receive that power. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.