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. To trust in riches is to trust in a vapor that passes away. James talks a great deal about economic justice for the poor, telling us that one day our gold and silver will not buy anything. Today some stark lessons for a future that may be just around the corner. 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, one thing's sure.

As hard as life may get for us, for someone else it may be a lot harder. Maybe we need to invest time and resources in alleviating the suffering of others.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Dave, absolutely. We have that responsibility, and I would say even a greater responsibility to invest in ministries that lead other people to Jesus Christ because that is their greatest need. And Jesus mentioned that if we are faithful in giving and contributing to such ministries, eventually there will be people who will meet us in everlasting habitations and thank us for our investment. And it's so important in a world in which people are hanging on to their money to understand that money is given to us by God. It is not owned by us. It is loaned to us.

I've written a book entitled Famines, Deserts, and Other Hard Places, and at the end of this message I'm going to be giving you some contact info, and it's important because this is the last week we are making this resource available for you. For now, listen carefully. John MacArthur says, Blind to heaven, death to warnings of hell, insensitive to the impending day of slaughter and judgment, the unrepentant, selfish, indulgent hoarders stumble blindly to their doom. That's why I entitled this message, The Day of Calamity. That day of calamity. Not a day of calamity for those of us who know Christ.

I'll mention that in a moment. But there is a final warning. And by the way, notice what James says, verse 6. You have condemned, you have murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you. The Greek word condemned actually is a word that was used for the law courts. James is saying that you know, you use the courts against the poor. That's not a new idea, is it? Especially in this very litigious society where constantly we're in lawsuits. Everybody wants their own thing. I'll sue you because of this and this and this. And so what you're doing is you're using the courts to continue to oppress the poor.

And he says they do not resist you, and the reason is how can they? Now we read this through 21st century eyes, and we ask ourselves why wasn't James telling them what to do? They should organize. They should go to court. They should have unions. And if they unionized, and unions have done a lot of good in terms of helping people to get what is their due. We may argue whether or not they've overstepped their boundaries, but but basically a good concept. In those days there wasn't anything like that. All that you had was crops.

All that you had was day workers during the harvest time, during the planting, and oftentimes after those things were over there wasn't much to do. They had no recourse at all. And James says they're not resisting you, and you're taking advantage of them. And James appears to be very angry at what is happening because he knows how desperately wrong that is. There is a final danger, and that danger is of course the danger of eternal judgment. James warns about it, but I can't help but think of a picture in the Book of Revelation. When you read this, it ought to take your breath away.

This is the day when there are no more dollars, there are no more dimes, no more money, no more gold, no more silver, nothing else matters. It's the day when all the pieces get put back into the box. Listen carefully. This is the destruction of Babylon. Now there are two Babylons. There's the religious Babylon, and then there is the political slash economic Babylon. This is what it says. Come out of her, my people, lest you partake in her sins, lest you share in her plagues. For her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.

Pay her back as she herself has paid back others. As she glorified herself and lived in luxury, so give her a like measure of torment. She says, I sit like a queen. I am no widow, and mourning I shall never see. For this reason God says her plagues will come in a single day. And the kings of the earth who committed immorality with her and lived in luxury with her will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning. They will stand far off. Alas, alas, you great city, you mighty city Babylon, for in a single hour your judgment has come.

And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her since no one buys their cargo anymore, cargoes of gold and silver and jewels and pearls and fine linen, purple cloth, scarlet, all kinds of scented wood, all kinds of articles of ivory, costly wood, bronze, and it goes on. Wine, oil, flower, wheat, cattle, sheep, horses, chariots, slaves, that is human souls. And then the Bible says the merchants of these wares who gained wealth from her will stand afar off in fear, fear of her torment, weeping and mourning aloud. Alas for the great city that was clothed in fine linen and purple, scarlet, and adorned with gold, with jewels and pearls.

For in a single hour all this wealth has been laid waste. Wow. You say, well, how can it happen in a single hour? We don't know how it will happen in a single hour, but we could take it literally. And today with technology we can understand that very clearly. Cyber attack. Imagine all of the satellites being destroyed. Imagine an attack against our electronic world. Every computer, every cell phone, every means of communication suddenly destroyed totally. Everything would stop in its tracks. Why? God says the day of judgment has come. The day of calamity is here.

You say, well, Pastor Lutzer, I I was hoping for something a little bit more optimistic and hopeful when I came to church today. Well, I know you were, and that's why James has you in mind, and so do I. James now is talking to believers in the midst of this situation. He's talking to those who have been wronged by others, and the wrong continues and will continue until they die. And James goes on to say these words, Be patient, verse 7. Therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord, see how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it until it receives the early and the latter rains.

You also be patient. Establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged. Behold, the judge is standing at the door. James says, be faithful and patient until the coming of the Lord. You say, well, yeah, that was sure a good message to give to those poor people. The Lord didn't even come. No, he didn't, and he still hasn't. But the advice of James is embedded in biblical texts, and it is a very important piece of advice for us. The early church was wrong in thinking that Jesus would come in that era, but they were not wrong in expecting the possibility of his coming.

Furthermore, at this point it really doesn't matter to the early church because someday Jesus Christ will come, and when he does all of these wrongs are going to be made right, and vindication shall at last take place on planet Earth. Wow. I believe that God's judgment is going to be so meticulously tuned that throughout all of eternity we will say just and true are thy works, thou king of saints. We'll look back and we'll say every injustice on this planet has been adequately and completely addressed. Now those folks who died in the first century, they haven't yet received that justice.

But be patient. The Lord is going to come. And how sure are we that the Lord is going to come? As sure as we are that he came once in Bethlehem and died on the cross and was raised because remember those events were at one time prophecy, and now they're history. And someday the coming of the Lord will be history. Imagine what James is saying. Imagine a courtroom. Everybody's there, and they begin to talk, and this person has this complaint, and this person says this. They're murmuring against each other, and they're upset with their employers and their employees, and all of the murmuring and the complaining that goes on.

This is what James is saying. He's saying, don't do that because a man has stepped forward. Imagine a man stepping forward suddenly in the midst of this and saying, ladies and gentlemen, your attention, please. The judge. And just like that, in mid conversation people stop talking because the judge is at the door. And James says, don't murmur with one another. The word of God has promised the judge is coming, and he is at the door. And for those who do not know Christ as Savior, who've not come under the protection of his grace, who have not received the gift of eternal life that Jesus purchased for those who believe on him.

For those people it will be a day of calamity, the likes of which we could not imagine. But for all those who have had their bill of justice paid by Jesus through faith in him, it will be a day of vindication. It will be a day of blessing. It is a day to which all of us should be patient and look forward to the coming of the Lord. Notice what James didn't say. He didn't say, now be patient, my brothers, until you get a raise. Well, you can be patient until you do, but you might have to be patient forever.

The raise might not come. He didn't say, now you be patient until the value of your house exceeds the value of your mortgage. Well, that would be a real nice thing to happen to many people. And we don't know whether or not it will. All those are uncertainties. But there is one certainty, and that is this. The judge is coming. And James says he's standing at the door. James also goes on then and uses Job as this wonderful illustration. He says you've heard of the steadfastness of Job. Of course Job had his doubts, and there's nothing wrong with doubts in the Christian life.

If you tell me that you have never doubted, I know then that you might also lie to me about other things because we all have our doubts, and Job did too at one point. But notice it says you've heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. That's verse 11. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job. The reason that that's so appropriate is because you know, we always say, oh, I know God owns everything. God owns all my bank accounts, all of my retirement funds, all of my investments.

I know it all belongs to God. And then after we've said that, what do we do? We leave the church and act as if it is our own. That's generally the way in which we approach that. Did you know that the Bible says that Job had a great deal of wealth? 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 donkeys, and was the richest man on the Earth. And then if you remember the story in Job chapter 1 because of fire, because of the coming of the Sabeans, and the fire by the way is lightning.

Because of that a servant comes and says, Job, all of your animals are dead. The 7,000 sheep, the camels, the oxen, the donkeys, they're all gone. And by the way your servants were killed also by the Sabeans. Job learned something that day. If you say that it all belongs to God, if you really really mean that, you have to accept the implication. God has a right to take it whenever he wants. And you can't tell me that your wealth and your money or my money belongs to God until we give him permission to take it if he wants it.

So this is a real test for Job. It 's an economic test. And then as if that wasn't enough, oh, wow. The very same day in fact it says that one servant was running and then the other came and says, oh, by the way, Job, a wind blew down the house. It fell on all of your 10 children, and they are all dead. Calamity. But not an ultimate calamity. Job, your member whose theology was more impeccable in some ways than ours, understood that the children were God's, his wealth was God's, and at the end of the day he says this.

The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. He came through that calamity very well because it wasn't the ultimate one. The ultimate calamity is of course standing before God with all of your achievements which go up in smoke and finding no reason at all for God to accept you because you've never transferred your trust to Christ. That is the ultimate calamity. And you know, when the Bible says be patient until the coming of the Lord, there's no better way for us to be reminded of the coming of the Lord than to go back to the words of Jesus when he was saying goodbye to his disciples.

And the night before in which he was betrayed and he gave them the cup and he gave them bread, and he said to them, this bread represents my body which was broken for you. This cup represents my blood. And then he said, this do in remembrance of me. And Paul says, when we participate, we remember the Lord's death until he comes. Be patient, my dear sister. Be patient, my dear brother, until the coming of the Lord. And like a farmer who plants seed and that seed germinates later, your faith is going to germinate, and you will be rewarded by Christ.

And at the end of the day we will all say everything, including the loss of my job, the injustice that I endured, the exploitation that I was a victim of, it was all worth it because when Jesus comes, I promise you he's going to set it all right. Be patient therefore till the coming of the Lord. Let us pray. Father, we want to thank you today for your faithfulness in our lives, but we know that life is hard. This message fell on two different sets of ears. Those who do not know you as Savior, who perhaps love their money more than they love you, and then those who know Christ, and yet life is hard for them.

Would you birth in us today, Father, a deep appreciation for the fact that Jesus is coming. We can stop our murmuring because the judge is at the door. We love you more than our silver and our gold. Thank you, Jesus. Amen.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Of course, my friend, we should do all that we possibly can to work toward justice, to see justice toward the poor, the marginalized. But at the same time you and I have lived long enough to know that there are all kinds of instances in which justice in this world will never be administered. And that's why it's so important for us to recognize that there are issues, millions of issues, I suppose, millions upon millions that will be dealt with in the final analysis by the judge of the universe. And if you've been wrong today, may I encourage you to wait until that time to give it over to God, especially if there's nothing that you can do about it and trust him to do what is right.

Now this is the last week we're making available a book I've written for you entitled Famines, Deserts, and Other Hard Places. And this book was written as a book for encouragement. Now what you'll discover is no matter what situation you are in, God has not left you, and God even has a purpose in it even though we work toward alleviating all of the issues that oftentimes beset us. But at the same time we need confidence in God. I think it'll be a great blessing. Here's what you do. Go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337.

Now because this is the last week we're making this resource available for you, let me give you that contact info once again. Go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Thanks in advance for helping us.

Dave McCallister: It's time now for another chance for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life. What kind of Christian life pleases God? Sergey lives in Willowbrook, Illinois, and listens to us on WMBI. He writes, Pastor Lutzer, could you please give a clear definition of what being a legalistic Christian in our day is? And what doesn't God like about it? Doesn't he teach in effect that the stricter we are toward ourselves, the better we are as Christians? Sergey, you have asked a very interesting question. So let me try to be concise and clear.

Legalism is a wrong use of laws or rules. It's not wrong to have laws and rules. I hope that you have some, I have some. But if we keep them for the wrong reasons, we are legalistic. You take for example the Jews during the time of Jesus. It was not wrong that they keep the Old Testament law. The problem was keeping the Old Testament law was a substitute for really godliness and for hearts that were pure walking before God. That was the problem. There's another kind of legalism, and that is where we add to the scriptures, and so we tell people how they should dress and how they should look.

And we think that that is a part of Christianity when in point of fact it might not be. Now you say, well, the stricter we are with ourselves, the better Christians we are. Maybe and maybe not. If you're strict with yourself and you have the right motive, namely you recognize that godliness does not come through your strictness, but you have those strict rules that keep you from sin, that's good. But all the rules in the world will not produce a holy life. That's the problem with legalism. We have a section here not too far from the church, actually just north of here, that may be as much as a half mile square where nobody smokes, nobody drinks, nobody goes to dances.

It's a huge section here in the city of Chicago, several of them. I'm speaking of course of the cemeteries of Chicago. In other words, it's possible you see to keep the rules and not have spiritual life. So that's where the balance comes. Yes, we can be strict for ourselves. That's good. But you'd better have the right motivation because if you think that godliness comes that way, you're wrong. It only comes by walking in the spirit, walking in fellowship, and without the fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, longsuffering, etc. We are not really walking with God no matter how many rules we keep.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Thank you, Dr. Lutzer, and thank you, Sergey. If you'd like to hear one of your questions answered, go to our website at 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 road map for your race of life. What would it take for you to deny Jesus like Peter did? What kind of crisis would take your faith to the edge? Next time we begin a compelling three-day analysis of faith at the breaking point.

Thanks for listening. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McCallister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.