Running To Win

Dave McCallister: Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Looking to Jesus, the founder and proctor of our faith. There is one area in which God tolerates no competition. He wants to be supreme in our lives and he made that clear by writing on a tablet of stone the first of the Ten Commandments. It's commandment number one for a reason. Stay with us. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is running to win with Dr. Irwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, in modern times, culture expects us to respect whatever gods people worship.

Can a Christian do this in view of God's absolute prohibition of idolatry?

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: You know, Dave, in answer to your question, I want to say this. One of the greatest burdens I have on my heart is many Americans are very happy to say that they believe in God just as long as they get to define the god in whom they believe. And oftentimes, what they do is they choose a god that is very tolerant, a god who is very inclusive because we have created god after our image. And if there's anything that is very clear in the scriptures, and we certainly see that in this first commandment, it is this.

God is saying, I am who I am and not who you want me to be. That's why I believe that this series of messages is so critical. I've written a book entitled Why Holiness Matters, and I wrote it so that we might get back to the biblical god who revealed himself in the Ten Commandments and all throughout scripture and that we might understand him better. And we're making this book available for a gift of any amount. What you can do is go to rtwoffer.com or you can call us at 1-888-218-9337. And if you miss that opportunity to write down this info, I'm going to be giving it to you again at the end of this message.

But let us bow before the one who is holy and have no other gods before him. Back in 1968, I had the privilege of studying in Israel that summer and we went to Lebanon. In those days, it was possible to be in Lebanon without any danger. I'm not sure that that's possible today, but it was back then. And when we were in Lebanon, we were at a place called Baalbek. It's about 20 miles inland, perhaps 20 25 miles from Beirut, and there are literally acres and acres of ruins there of ancient temples and shrines honoring Baal, the god Baal.

So when we got to the end of the tour, the tour guide said, now you have to come around this corner because when you do, you'll get to see the god. And of course, we were delighted that we could do that because it would be disappointing to have gone that far without seeing Baal. And so he was there and he was somewhat smaller than I expected him to be. He was there staring at us. He was about only 3 ft tall, chiseled out of solid rock and perhaps 3 or 4,000 years old, but that was the god Baal.

Now when we talk about idolatry in today's society, of course, we think to ourselves that nothing seems to be farther removed from us in this enlightened culture than idolatry. Who in the world today in Western civilization would bow down to this piece of stone, Baal? But I want to remind you first of all that there is a lot of idolatry in the world. In fact, in India, there are 330 million gods. And in other cultures, they are rife with idolatry. And perhaps before this message is over, we shall see that there's some idolatry in this country too, though perhaps of a different nature.

But the first commandment that the Lord gave is in verse 3 of Exodus chapter 20 and you can turn to that passage if you wish that the spirit of God might brand upon your memories this great and profound statement by God when he says to the people of his day, thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Exodus chapter 20 and verse 3. Why did God make this statement? Is it because God feels insecure? Is it because God doesn't like rivalry? Is it because he thinks that some of the other gods will make him look bad?

Is he afraid of the competition? Why does he say thou shalt have no other gods before me? Well, I think there are several reasons why God said that and I want to give you some. The first reason that he said thou shalt have no other gods before me is because of the nature of God. The nature of God, the true god. God has exclusivity. He is an exclusive god. Because you see, God has what philosophers call self-existence. He has within his own being the cause of his own existence. You know, all other things are dependent upon the cause effect sequence.

For example, it is unthinkable to us that anything could ever arrive out of nothing. Everything in our way of thinking needs a cause. Fact, one of the arguments that Christians give against evolution is that it is absolutely preposterous to suggest that the universe could somehow come from nothing. Out of nothing, nothing comes. But in the case of God, we are not saying, of course, that God came from nothing, but we are saying that God has always existed and never had a beginning and therefore he exists without a cause or at least he is self-caused. I don't think about that too long because if you do, you might need more help than we're equipped to give you here at the church.

I mean, if there's anything that just boggles my mind and I say, Lord, I'll think about it from time to time, but not too long, is the fact that God has always existed and is not dependent upon any prior cause for his existence. He always was. The Lord says to Moses, I am that I am, he said. He is the self-existent one. I exist because I exist. Now friend, the moment you say that, you have to say something else in the very same breath. And that is you have to say that God therefore has intrinsic worth.

Intrinsic existence dependent upon no one for his being. Therefore he has within his own person intrinsic value and worth. You say, well, pastor, all of us are worth something, aren't we? We have also value. We hear today much about the value of personhood. Yes. But my friend, our value is derived. We are valuable because we were created in the image of God. Our value is conferred upon us by God. It is not inherent to us. It is God granted and that 's where our value comes from. Now it is because of this distinction that there are two sins, two things that are sin for us that are not at all sin to God.

One, for example, is jealousy. Why is envy or jealousy wrong for us? It's because we then are desiring something that we are holding to ourselves and saying that we have the right to as if to say it is somehow our inherent right. We deserve this and other people deserve that, so we envy them because we somehow think that we should have what they have. But that's sin. Everything that we have is a gift of God. Therefore we cannot be critical if God gives some people greater gifts than he gives us. And so jealousy for us is sin, but it is not sin for God.

Did you notice the text? It says in verse 5, you shall not worship them or serve them for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous god. Dozens of times in the Bible, God is spoken of as being jealous. You see, God wants to have all of the attention that we should give him, but he has the right to it because he is God. He does not pass off onto some other being the cause of his own existence or worthiness. That's why we find in the book of Revelation when we sing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb, we will say, thou art worthy, oh Lord, to receive glory and riches and wisdom and strength and glory and honor and blessing.

He is worthy. There's another sin that we often talk about and that is pride. Pride says, I want attention. I want people to notice me. I want power. I want control. Sin, the primary sin is pride. The fundamental basic sin of man is pride. Is God prideful? Well, it depends how you define the word. We sometimes use the word in such a negative way that it would be wrong to ascribe it to God lest we ascribe sin to him. But does God want all the glory? Does he want all the honor? Does he want all the attention?

The answer is yes. And he says, I will not share my glory with another. I am an exclusive god. I am a god that desires your worship, your praise, your adoration and you shall love me with your heart, your mind, your strength, your soul and all that you are. Why can God say that? It's because he deserves it. He has within his own person all of the resources for his own existence. He is the cause of all things. He is the great and infinite and perfect spirit in whom all things have their source, support and end.

And therefore he deserves it. And that's why he says, thou shalt have no other gods beside me. You know what Paul said regarding pride? He said, who maketh thee to differ from another? Or what hast thou that thou hast not received? And if thou hast received it, why dost thou glory as if thou hast received it not? That's the sin of pride among us as human beings. We receive what God has given to us and we glory as if it's ours. So God says, first of all, thou shalt have no other gods before me because of the nature of God.

God is an exclusive being. To him alone is honor and praise worthy. Second, because of the nature of man. The nature of man. Man is in rebellion against God. You remember Lucifer? The Bible says in the 14th chapter of the book of Isaiah and also in Ezekiel 28 that there was a being called Lucifer. And one day as one of God's created creatures, he said to himself, I will be like the most high. That's what he said. He said, I want to be God. He is a creature. All of his strength is derived. It's conferred, but he wants to use the strength and the ability that God gave him to stand in opposition against God.

And then of course, in the Garden of Eden, you remember what happened when Lucifer shows up unannounced to Adam and Eve. He says, in the day that you eat this fruit, he said, you shall be as God, not gods as it is in the King James version. It's the Greek word or the Hebrew word Elohim, which is a plural word for God, but it is Elohim. It is God. So he says to Adam and Eve, you shall be as God knowing good from evil. That's what the Bible says. There is none that seeks after God.

There is none that does righteous. No, not one. A drop of Lucifer's poison has fallen upon every human heart and every human being wants to slither away from God, every single one. Now this is why man is so prone to idolatry because you see, on the one hand, he needs a god. He has been created by God. He has a vacuum in his heart that can only be filled by God. On the other hand, he does not want the Lord God Jehovah to rule over him. So he establishes within his mind some of his own gods that seem to be more controllable, more predictable and more in keeping with what he desires to do.

Julian Huxley, for example, made this astounding statement. He said the reason that we accepted Darwinism without a lot of proof is because we did not want God to interfere with our sexual mores. Well, that's interesting. So that's why Darwinism was accepted without a whole lot of proof. In other words, at root, man was saying, I will not have the Lord God to rule over me. Now in the history of the Jewish nation, you know they were so prone to idolatry, always turning to whatever god they happened to to be with and whatever pagan god was there because there's something within man that says, I want a god who I can control and at least he is in harmony with some of my aspirations and desires.

As for the true god, we are not sure about him. It's an amazing passage in the first chapter of Habakkuk. It says that the wicked Chaldeans, they go out and they take a net and they catch fish. Actually, it 's referring to the armies of other nations. But then it says that they burn incense to their nets. You see, that's the way man is. Instead of giving the glory to God who gave you the ability to create the net or thanking God for the fish that you are able to catch, it is just like man to stop short of giving glory to God and even burn incense to his own nets.

And so you have people today who are willing to thank the sweat of their own right hand. They are willing to thank the government. They are willing to thank their parents. They are willing to thank their employer. They are willing to thank anybody except God from whom all blessings flow. It's the nature of man to be in rebellion against God. There's a third reason why God gave this command and that is the nature of idolatry. The nature of God. He is exclusive. There is none other like him. The nature of man, he is in rebellion seeking idols.

But what is the nature of idolatry? The nature of idolatry is always to debase. First of all, idolatry is a tremendous insult to God. Turn in your Bibles to the 115th Psalm for just a moment. Psalm 115. Here's a discussion of idols and what they are like. And can you think of how insulting it is to God for people to pray to idols? It begins in Psalm 115 by talking about the true god in verse 3. Our god is in the heavens. He does whatever he pleases. But now notice what it says about the idols.

Speaking of the heathen, their idols are silver and gold, the work of man's hands. They have mouths, but they cannot speak. They have eyes, but they cannot see. Baal didn't see us that day by the way. He didn't say hi. He didn't say we'll greet all the folks in Chicago. It says they have ears, but they cannot hear. They have noses. Obviously, they need a nose, but they can't smell. They have hands, but they can't feel. They have feet, but they can't walk. They cannot make a sound with their throat and those who make them will become like them.

Can you imagine the insult it was to God to have Israel running around and worshiping these kinds of idols, turning away from the true god? Notice what God says in chapter 20 of the book of Exodus. He says, I am the Lord God that brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. And the Lord says, I'm the one that did all that. And then the people turn around and give credit to a god that can't see, speak, smell, walk or act.

Dave McCallister: Well, this is Pastor Lutzer. Of course, this is a larger subject, but what we need to understand is this. The attraction of pagan gods among the Israelites as those gods are among us has to do with sexuality. The gods of the pagans were very tolerant of every kind of sexual expression. And let us not be deceived by thinking we are not idolaters because the Bible says in the book of Ezekiel, people have set up idols in their hearts. So I'm going to ask you a question today. Where do your thoughts naturally gravitate? Where is your heart?

It may well be that we are all worshiping idols and even unaware of it. We have to ask God to examine our hearts. I believe very deeply that the Ten Commandments help us to understand God much better, help us to bow before him with great reverence and great honor and in deep confession. I've written a book entitled Why Holiness Matters. For a gift of any amount, we're making this book available for you and I hope that you have a pen or pencil handy so that you can jot this down. Thank you in advance for helping us because as you have frequently heard me say, together we are making a difference.

Running to win is heard around the world, 50 different countries, seven different languages. Here's the info. Go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com or pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337. The title of the book Why Holiness Matters. And in an age when we have redefined God, we have made him into what we want him to be. In an age of rampant idolatry of various kinds, we need to get back to the biblical god. Right now, go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Remember the title of the book Why Holiness Matters. The subtitle is the Ten Commandments Jesus and You.

Dave McCallister: It's time once again for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life. A listener named Julie and her husband need some wisdom about tithing in view of their problematic pastor. She writes, we're in a predicament about what to do with our tithe because our church is going through major problems. Mainly, the new pastor has been acting very unbiblically. He has denounced church members and obtained a court order to prevent them from entering our church because they've questioned his actions and voiced their opposition. These denounced members have not physically threatened him in any way.

I think he is paranoid and has psychological problems. My husband and I have tithed all our lives, but we don't want the pastor to use church funds for such legal fees. So we recently opened a separate bank account where we are now depositing our tithe. I know the tithe belongs to God and we are giving to God and not to the pastor, but we cannot in our conscience support a pastor who is doing evil with God's money. At the same time, we feel we cannot just leave the church and leave behind other hurting fellow Christians.

We need to stay and help resolve this with our church. So we are thinking of holding the tithe until the church's problems get resolved or giving that tithe to other Christian organizations. I would really appreciate your insight. My husband and I want to do what is right in God's eyes. Well, thank you so much for asking this question. And first of all, my heart goes out to you. It's very difficult when a church goes through the kind of experiences that you've outlined. It's hurtful to the body. And I do pray for reconciliation, for healing and for a resolution of this dispute.

But I think in answer to your question, you've answered it yourself when you say we cannot in our conscience support a pastor who is doing evil with God 's money. The Bible says that whatever is not of faith is sin. So if you cannot in good conscience give your money because you think it's going to be misused, I think that that's wise. I think that Christians ought to investigate how their funds are being used. Now that doesn't mean that you have to agree with everything that your church does before you give. Obviously, if it is a church that is committed to integrity, you can give even if some of those funds are used in a way with which you would disagree.

But if there is a blatant misuse of funds for things with which you disagree and that are even unbiblical, I think it's fine for you to withhold your tithe. Withhold it, keep it, ask God to give you wisdom as to what to do with it. Possibly the church will resolve these issues. Then you'll be able to take your tithe and give all of that tithe to the ministry of your church. If the issues are never resolved and if you eventually leave the church because of the fact that they aren't resolved, then of course, pray to God and ask him where he would have you give it.

I think you're being wise to withhold it at this time.

Dave McCallister: Thank you, Julie, and thank you, Dr. Lutzer, for that wise counsel. If you'd like to hear your question answered, go to our website at rtwoffer.com and click on ask Pastor Lutzer or call us at 1-888-218-9337. You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60614. It's in the nature of man to worship something, even deities made of wood and stone. Nowadays, many worship the media, Mother Earth or even their electronic toys. But God makes it clear that he will not tolerate any idols. Next time on Running to Win, why the First Commandment requires that nothing replace God in our allegiance.

We'll turn again to Exodus 20 and gain further understanding on why for many immorality is the idol in their lives. Running to Win is all about helping you understand God's road map for your race of life. Thanks for listening. For Pastor Irwin Lutzer, this is Dave McCallister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.