Running To Win

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.

In our culture, reaching the top often means clawing your way past other people, doing whatever it takes to succeed. Things are very different in God's kingdom. As Jesus said, the first shall be last, and the last shall be first. Today, lessons from the book of Acts on how to get ahead God's way. Stay with us.

Dave McAllister: 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, many of us are overly conscious about being seen as successful. As you take us into Acts chapter 6, tell us what happens when God owns our status.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Dave, I think in a single sentence it means this: that what we do is not nearly as important as who we do it for. I often think of Jesus who washed the disciples' feet. It didn't matter to Him whether He was washing the disciples' feet or whether He was preaching the Sermon on the Mount. What really mattered is pleasing the Father.

You and I oftentimes want to please others. We've all had that in our hearts, but at the same time, when we learn to please Christ alone, it delivers us from a lot of the pressure that we sometimes feel in the world. That's why I think that the book of Acts is so critical even as we begin to understand what it means to put God first.

As a part of that, we are making available for you a book written by Dr. Sweeting entitled *How to Begin the Christian Life*. Of course, it does more than help you to begin the Christian life; it gives you the basics on spiritual growth. More about that at the end of this message. For now, let us listen.

When I was involved in another church, I had a family in the church known as the Taters. The Tater family was a very interesting family. The father's name was Dick. Dick Tater had to have everything go his way. If you disagreed with him, it didn't matter because at the end, he had to win every argument, and everything had to be done the way in which he thought it should be done.

Opposites tend to attract. So we should not at all be surprised that Dick was attracted to Hesy. Hesy Tater could never make up her mind about anything. Hesitate-tater always waited for others to go first, and then she would go, but she spent a lot of her time waiting for the motions of someone else. Very interesting that they had a daughter, Emma. Emma was good-looking enough, but she lacked originality. Imitate-tater was always doing exactly what her peers were doing. She dressed the way they did, and she spoke the way she did.

The real piece of work in the family was the son. You should have met him. His name was Aggy. Agitate-tater not only was in trouble himself, but he spent a lot of time getting a lot of other people in trouble too. I looked at that family and because I'm interested in human behavior, I did some work on them to try to figure them out, but I couldn't. It was as if there was a mystery there until I met the grandfather and it put it all together. That really helped me. His name was Spec.

Spectator would come to church, sit near the back, arms folded all the time. He never brought a Bible with him. He was always wondering whether or not the service would be interesting, trying to see whether there was something in it that he liked. He was critical, particularly of the way in which the church spent its money, though old Spec, God bless him, never gave a dime.

He liked it that way because he went to this church because he liked the worship service, and he could sit near the back and be uninvolved. Spectator liked what he was doing and was determined that he would never make a single sacrifice for anyone else, and particularly not his church.

One of the things we discover in the New Testament is that the early church was energized by the Holy Spirit. From what I can determine in the book of Acts, they really had no specs, no spectators. Everybody was involved because God was doing something. God was moving. God was advancing the kingdom, and they were on the cutting edge.

A very interesting thing happened. Satan tried to destroy them. First of all, through persecution. When that didn't work, he then had a couple within the church, Ananias and Sapphira, about whom we spoke last time. He was going to use this couple's hypocrisy to bring the church down. God didn't let that happen if you remember how the story ended.

Now what we have in Acts chapter 6 is murmuring. The text opens before us, and I invite you to take your Bibles and turn to it and find out that in those days, when the number of disciples was increasing, they had a problem. Increase is always a good problem. Maybe you have to build a building when you have increase.

In those days, the number of disciples was increasing. The Grecian Jews, the Hellenists, complained against the Hebraic Jews, the Hebrew Jews, because of their widows, saying that their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. To understand this, you have to realize this was not a controversy between Jews and Gentiles. This was a controversy between groups of Jews.

There were some Jews who stayed in the land; they were the Hebrew Jews. Then there were other Jews who migrated to different countries, in this case, Greece. They forgot the Hebrew language. They couldn't remember it very well. The first generation died off, then you have the second generation, and they don't know Hebrew very well, maybe a form of Aramaic, but they've also picked up some symptoms of Greek culture.

They're different. They're Jews, but they're different. They were the ones who were saying, "Our widows are being neglected. God is blessing, food is being distributed, and we're not getting a fair shake." It's very interesting to see how the apostles resolved this. They could have said to themselves, "We have a plan and this is it, A-B-C-D." No, they took charge, but they allowed the congregation to make some decisions too.

It was a beautiful blend of strong leadership and congregational involvement. Look at what the text says in verse 2. The twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and of wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them, and we will give our attention to prayer and to the ministry of the word."

The proposal pleased the whole group, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and also Philip and five others. Then they laid their hands on them. Scholars for years have seen that the seven that they chose actually have Hellenist names. What they said is, if it's you folks who come to us from Greece and you're having the problem, we'll put some of your number who are sympathetic to your cause in charge of the ministry to solve this problem.

When God is first in your life, you regard others better than you do yourself. I'm not sure if I'm there yet, but I'd like to be there, regarding others better than myself. When God is first, you don't have to sit on your rights and say to yourself, "I deserve this, this isn't fair." You're willing to give up your rights for the honor and glory of God and the good of the church and the good of the body, as these Hebrew believers did.

When the apostles said, "It is not good for us to leave the word of God and wait on tables," please don't misunderstand that. They were not saying that waiting on tables is beneath them because after all, they were preachers of God's holy word. It's very clear as we'll see in a moment that that's not what they meant.

They were saying that there is a division of labor within the body. Some of us who are called to the ministry of the word of God and prayer had better do that. We can't do everything. There are other people in the church who can do things that we can't do, and they can do them better than we can, so let's divide up the labor for the good of the body and for the strength of the body.

How do you know that they didn't think that waiting on tables was beneath them? It's because of the requirements that they have to be a servant to wait on tables. That's the striking thing. My sermon today is based on verse 3. In verse 3, you have four requirements that are given to wait on tables, and I think we're going to be surprised at what those requirements really are.

First of all, it says in verse 3 that the twelve said, "Brothers, choose seven men from among you." Men who are committed to the body, whom God has raised up among us. Why that? In the early church, when people were saved, it says they were added to the Lord, not added to a denomination. They were added to the Lord, and the Lord's body was growing. Everyone who was saved was as much subject to the head as my hand is subject to my head.

Everyone had a part in the body; everyone had a place that they would fit. What God was saying is that as My body grows and as it increases, it is subject to the head, and I keep increasing it in such a way that it can continue to increase. Therefore, look out for yourselves because what you need to do is to realize that I have already placed My hand on people in your congregation, among you, who are going to be able to take over these responsibilities.

Listen up, everyone who works in the kitchen at Moody Church, and ushers and car parkers and greeters and people who clean this building. God says from within you, I'm raising up leadership. God has given us many fine ministries, but we as a staff spend an awful lot of time talking about the fact that we do not have enough people to fill in the gaps and to minister.

We've heard about Cabrini Green and how we thank God for that ministry, and we do need other churches to help us there, but we also have children's ministries right here. Some of our children's ministries are languishing because there are not enough people to fill in the gaps. Could it be that God, who raises up ministries, also raises up leadership for those ministries, but there's somebody sitting in the balcony today somewhere that is supposed to be involved but isn't?

You'll notice in your bulletin today we have a lavender insert. Read through this list of opportunities for ministry involvement at Moody Church. Don't do it now, but I want you to make sure that you have it and put it in your Bible. It'll tell you what kind of needs we have here at the Moody Church and how you can help us. I simply say, we need your help. Read my lips. We need your help.

If you're not sure whether or not you can do the job, check with somebody. Maybe they can help you, but there are ministries that people need to be doing. I cannot believe that God would raise up these ministries, and children's ministry is only one among many, and not provide leadership among us. Somebody is shirking his or her duty. I really deeply believe that.

The first requirement is, look among you and see whom God has called and gifted. They're there. We have a large congregation; we need your help to be identified and to be helped in the ministry. There's a second qualification, and that is proven character. Now, this isn't as clear in the NIV as it should be. You'll notice it says, "those among you who are known."

The Greek text actually says this: who are witnessed to or attested to. That's a better way to translate it. What they're saying there is people of proven character. Choose someone whom you know who has been faithful in some task, somebody whose character is beyond reproach and put them into positions of responsibility. God is going to bless your work because integrity is what we as a church sell.

Integrity, especially today, is so incredibly important. Look among you and find people of character and find someone who can attest to this individual and put them in charge. I was thinking about this yesterday morning as I was working on this message and thinking that before we have someone who is a deacon or an elder, we should not only ask their colleagues, which we often do, to see whether or not they are of attested character, but we should really check with their wives.

Ask the wife and say, "Now, you live with this guy, and could you tell me, please, whether or not you think, would you attest to his character?" Because she knows what's going on in the home. God knows what's going on in the home, but He's not telling. Maybe she will. This is important. I was listening to the news this morning and saw a newsflash that the Episcopal Church is in the process of ordaining an openly gay minister.

I thought to myself, what's the keyword here? Openly? If it were secret, would it be okay? But it's openly that's the problem? My dear friend, D.L. Moody said that character is what we are in the dark. Attested character, dependable, faithful. That's a second requirement to wait on tables.

Let's go on to a third. I love this third. You'll notice it says full of the Spirit. Doesn't this blow a hole right through that notion that the filling of the Spirit is for spiritual people like pastors and missionaries and other people who go to heaven every evening and return again in the morning? It's for people like that, but it's not for the ordinary person who works at a Ford Motor Company or who works in a sawmill or who works in a bank or an office or a hospital.

It's not for those kinds of people. It's not for those who are ushers or those who park cars or greet people. I want you to know that the filling of the blessed Holy Spirit is for every believer, and it is a requirement for those who serve in the church, no matter what their responsibility is within the church. You say, why is it necessary? I don't have to be filled with the Holy Spirit to do some of these things.

I have often been deeply convicted by the words of George MacDonald who said this: "Whatever a man does without God, in that, he must either fail miserably or succeed even more miserably." See, one of our problems is we can do these things in the energy of the flesh. But there's no substitute for the work that Jesus Christ wants to do in our hearts.

Remember that one of the purposes of the church is to make the invisible God visible to everyone who comes. When people come to Moody Church, what should they say based on 1 Corinthians? "Surely God is in that place." That's why we need Spirit-filled ushers and Spirit-filled parkers and Spirit-filled people who work at camp and Spirit-filled people who work in our kitchens because apart from Jesus, He said we can do nothing. Do I have a witness, or am I all alone up here?

I don't think I can put it any more clearly than that, that without Jesus we can do nothing. What that means in practical terms is even as we think about our career, it is so important for us to submit it to God and say, "God, if You want me to do this, then I will do it. If not, as it seems good in Your sight, that I will do."

How liberating that is because at last you don't have to be in front, you don't have to get all the attention. It's okay for you to be where you are and to be satisfied with what God has given to you. I'm holding in my hands a book entitled *How to Begin the Christian Life* by Dr. Sweeting. You may perhaps remember Dr. Sweeting; he was actually president of Moody Bible Institute as well as the pastor of Moody Church.

He wrote this book to help us as we navigate this world. Some of the chapters have to do with how to grow in the Christian life, you and the Holy Spirit, you and the Bible, how to pray, and daily Bible study. He goes on to talk about assurance of salvation, your relationship to the world, to money, and so forth. We're making this resource available for you for a gift of any amount.

I have to say that there are so many of you who pray for us, and just know that we don't take you for granted. For those who contribute to this ministry, we are also deeply appreciative. I hope that you have a pen or pencil handy because I'd like to give you some contact info. Go to rtwoffer.com. Or you can pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337. Once again, go to rtwoffer.com, of course rtwoffer is all one word, or pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337. Thank you so much for your prayers and for your help.

Dave McAllister: Time now for another chance for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life. Dr. Lutzer, today's question comes from Ralph, who lives in Connecticut. "I am in deep sorrow. My heart is breaking because I hoped to spend the rest of my life with my girlfriend, and I do love her. Two evenings ago, when I didn't hear from her, I was concerned she might be in an accident. I called the hospital. To my relief, she was not there. I left work early and went to her apartment, began knocking on the door. There was no response, but then she text messaged me and said, 'Stop, please.' I was confused as to why she would say this, then I discovered she was with her ex-boyfriend. I can't describe how I feel. I had just introduced her to my parents. I had showered her with my love. I can't speak about this. The pain is too deep. I need healing. Please send me a sermon for broken hearts."

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Well, Ralph, I'm not so sure that I have a sermon directly related to broken hearts, but I do have wonderful hope for you. First of all, let me say this: I think it was good that the true character of this young woman was revealed before you married her. Clearly, she's not one whom you can depend upon. She is not trustworthy. I would suggest that your relationship with her is going to have to be broken because if you can't trust, you really can't love.

Now, what about your broken heart? I have a verse for you. It says in Psalm 147 that He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. Ralph, the good news for you also is the very next verse says that He determines the number of the stars and calls them by name. I conclude from my heart to yours today saying this: that the God who created all things, the God who made the stars, also heals broken hearts. Give Him your heart and give Him time, and He will do it.

Dave McAllister: Good words for Ralph, and thank you, Dr. Lutzer. If you'd like to hear your question answered, go to rtwoffer.com and click on Ask Pastor Lutzer. Or 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. Running to Win is all about helping you find God's roadmap for your race of life. Running to Win comes to you from the Moody Church in Chicago.

Despite what the media tells us, grabbing for the gusto is not the way to get to the top. It's clear that one's status in God's book is measured by one's degree of servanthood. Next time on Running to Win, Pastor Lutzer will tell us more about the qualifications of a servant and why there's a job waiting for you in your local church. Thanks for listening. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.