Running To Win

Guest (Male): Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. The death of Jesus, some see it as a sad end to a good life, but the Bible tells us that the central mission of Jesus was to die and then be raised by God the Father to open the way for all who believe to find eternal life.

Stay with us. 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, why is the cross the central factor in our understanding of the Son we follow?

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: You know, Dave, I’ve said this many times, and if people have heard it before, I have to emphasize that I’ll continue to say it. The cross of Christ represents the greatest intervention of God into our predicament. And on that cross, let me ask this question: where is the greatest example of love? On the cross. Where is the greatest example of justice? On the cross.

The cross, well, it’s something like a kaleidoscope that brings together the many attributes of God. And it is there where Jesus Christ bore our sin. Now, there was no sin in him, but our sin was laid on him. That's a very important distinction. And so it is there that Jesus Christ purchased for us the redemption that we desperately need, that changes us from the inside and not only that, credits us with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. No wonder the apostle Paul says, "God forbid that I should glory except in the cross of Christ."

We here at Running to Win are so deeply appreciative of the many of you who support this ministry. I’m holding in my hands a book entitled Be Joyful. It's by Dr. Warren Wiersbe, and it's really a commentary on the book of Philippians. But what it does is it shows us that joy is possible in some of the worst circumstances because joy comes to us from above. It is in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

We think that this resource is going to be of great benefit to you in your Christian walk. Once again, to contact us, go to rtwoffer.com. That’s rtwoffer.com, or pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337. Now, let us once again remind ourselves of the beauty, the justice, and the love of God, thanks to the cross.

I read a liberal book some time ago, religiously liberal, that says, "Oh, Jesus didn't die a substitute death. His death just shows how much he loves us." Pardon me. I heard a pastor give this illustration. Let’s suppose I were to take my family to the Grand Canyon and find a huge cliff and then say to them, "I’m going to hop over and I’m going to die just to prove how much I love you."

They'd arrest me and they'd take me to a psychiatrist and ask whether or not I was off my medication. I smile, by the way. I'm not on any medication. If you are, that's okay, but I’m not. This is the real deal. What a silly idea. He died just to show that he loves us? Of course he loves us. Now, if I died for my family, in the place of my family, now we’re finally talking sense.

That’s what Jesus did on the cross. It was a substitutionary death. It was a death that we cannot comprehend because in those three hours—three hours he suffers under the hand of men, for the next three hours he suffers under the hand of God—and in those three hours were compressed an eternity of hells. And the separation, not ontologically—I hope you can understand that word—not ontologically from the Father, but that break in fellowship was that Jesus was now being made sin for us.

Personally innocent, but legally guilty of the sins that you committed this past week. Legally guilty of the most horrendous things that you can possibly imagine. Things that perhaps you haven't done, but others have done. Though God only knows who's with us here today. Jesus becomes legally guilty for all those things. And he dies. He's obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

And the reason that you and I can be in heaven today is because he died for us. He suffered for us, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. And after you've received Jesus as Savior, if you die, you are welcomed into heaven as if you are Jesus because you’re going on the basis of his merit, his work, and he stands in your stead all the way into eternity. That is the good news of the gospel. And that’s why Jesus died.

Now, is this the end of the story? You see, the big story of the resurrection and the ascension is that it shows you how much God approved of what Jesus did. "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, whether on earth or in heaven and that every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Is there any doubt about Jesus Christ’s exaltation? Is there any doubt about the fact that Jesus goes back into heaven and resumes his responsibilities that he had before Bethlehem? What did he say in John 17? "Father, glorify thou me with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." Jesus gets it all back. But along with that, he gets a company of redeemed people for whom he died, those who trust him.

And there is Jesus now sitting in heaven. You say, "Well, does the incarnation end?" No. Once he assumed humanity at Bethlehem, that will continue forever. It says in the book of Hebrews, "This man, because he continueth forever, has an unchangeable priesthood." You and I will see the body of Jesus, the nail prints, the glorified body to be sure, but Jesus will have that forever. But all of his responsibilities are back.

How much does God think of Jesus? I just noticed it this week again that when we give praise to Jesus, according to verse 11, God is glorified. "Every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father." God says, "You want to glorify me? You give lots of praise to Jesus, and I’m glorified in the praise."

And there’s not a single tongue that has ever been created from the time of Adam to today and beyond that in the end will not acknowledge Jesus is Lord because God will get glory from his Son and the praise that is given to his Son. Krishna will say Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Buddha will say Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Muhammad will say Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Baha'u'llah will say Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

You can do it in this life, like many of us do. We gladly confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father. We’ve pledged our eternity on Jesus. We’ve bet eternity on him, and it’s a good bet. But if you don't do it in this life, you will do it in the next. You say, "Well, will it be compulsory?" That’s a difficult term. By compulsory, we do not mean that there will be a gun to your head.

But you will do it. You’ll do it overcoming all the resistance that you had to Jesus in this life. Even if you are lost forever, you will say, "Jesus is Lord," and you’ll confess that to the glory of God the Father. Either A, we receive him now as Savior and gladly confess it, or B, you confess it later though separated from him for all of eternity. God says not a single tongue that I’ve ever created won’t give my Son praise.

Now, you know that this is a series of messages entitled "What We Believe and the Difference It Should Make." I’ve spoken about such issues as the Bible we trust, the book we trust, the Father we worship. Today it’s the Son we follow. And remember the goal is always number one, that you understand these doctrines, number two, that you know them and you’re able to defend them to others.

But what difference should all this make? Why should you and I be changed forever because of this passage of scripture? Let me say first of all that Paul gives this, you remember, in a context of—he didn't give this just to throw out some theology so that somebody over at the seminary would have a topic to write a dissertation about. You know how it is over in the seminary. They’re always looking for some new thing to write a dissertation on. And this is a great passage to do it, but that's not why he wrote it.

You’ll notice he says, "Do nothing," verse three, "from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves." Paul is now saying if you want to have people believe the Redeemer, look redeemed. And Jesus is your example of humility. So first of all, the first lesson is that God's way up is down. His way up is down. Humility.

The Bible says, "Younger men, be subject to your elders. Clothe yourselves with humility, for God is opposed to the proud." That means God is at war with the proud. You’re sitting there today saying, "I don't need a Redeemer. I’m going to do well on my own," like a guy told me on the plane. "Don't worry about me. I’m going to stand on my record and do well." Oh, my. God's way up is down. Humility.

What Paul is trying to say is the illustration of Jesus in the incarnation is the way in which you and I should live, always considering others better than ourselves. I don't know about you, but it’s hard for me to get there because we’re wired to take care of number one. Especially if you’ve been cheated or wronged, your decision to cut yourself off and to look after number one is going to be strong and overwhelming until God overcomes all that in your life and overcomes your blindness and you see the beauty of Jesus. Then we should be willing to consider others better than ourselves.

An illustration comes to mind that I gave here many, many years ago about Promise Keepers where we were all standing for the same van. There were about 50 of us and we all needed to be bussed to the same place in a van that maybe held 12 people. And it was kind of cold out, and whenever the van came, all of us went running to the van. We wanted to be first.

Now, all that is maybe understandable, but we had just been in Promise Keepers in Atlanta where 40,000 people had this marvelous sermon given by Blackaby on what it means to be filled with the Spirit. And when I finally got into the van, I said, "I don't know what the filling of the Spirit means, but it must not mean that we consider others better than ourselves." If we were really filled with the Spirit, the van would pull up and nobody’d go. They’d all say, "You go." "No, no, you go." "You go." The van would go to the hotel empty. The text says consider others better than yourself. Could you do that today?

It's the first lesson: God's way up is down. Secondly, the world is changed by suffering. Jesus didn't change his world through miracles. As I’ve told you many times, those who were dead had to die again. In fact, someday I’m going to preach a series, or at least a message, on people who died twice. People like Lazarus and a few others who had to say, "Ho hum, been there, done that."

Jesus didn't change the world through miracles. People today on TV do this miracle—that's not how Jesus changed the world. He changed the world through suffering. And if we are going to attract people to the Redeemer and look redeemed, we’re going to have to suffer better than we’re suffering. We’re going to have to suffer without complaining.

We’re going to have to suffer like Jesus suffered and we’re going to be able to take the heat. And we should take the heat. And as our nation sinks into anti-Christian secularism and other isms, suffering may well lie ahead and we have to do it well. There are three kinds of suffering: the suffering of circumstances, the suffering of persecution, and then the third is when you actually choose to suffer with others that you wouldn't have to suffer with, but you choose to suffer.

And it is in that way we represent Jesus to the world. And we’re sick and tired of the shallow triumphalism of evangelicalism that thinks that we can win this battle and if we get enough people, we can win that battle, though that is important within its own context. But we never lose sight of the fact that it is, after all, the gospel that we proclaim. And at the end of the day, when all the speeches are given, what people really need is to see Jesus. That's what people really need.

There’s a story about a man who had a dream, and in the dream, he was carrying a very heavy cross. And the cross was so heavy. And he was trudging through the woods, and he came to a woodsman who had a saw. And he said to him, "Would you saw off part of my cross? It's too heavy for me to bear."

So the woodsman sawed off a good chunk of the cross. The man put the cross back on his back, began to walk, and could walk much faster and much lighter because the cross was not as heavy as it once was. And then on his way to the promised land, he came across a chasm. He had to get from one side of the chasm to the other side of the chasm because that was now part of the trail in his obedience to Jesus carrying his cross.

The only thing he could do, because he couldn't hop across the chasm, was to lay down the cross and to put the cross down and use it as a plank to walk over to the other side. But he discovered that his cross was too short. It was short just the amount that he had had the woodsman cut off. And he said, "Oh, Jesus, Oh, Jesus, what I wouldn't give for a heavier cross. What I wouldn't give to carry my entire cross so that I can get on with my Christian walk."

And then he awoke and discovered that it was a dream, and he was so glad that he could carry his full cross. Could I leave you with this today? The lighter our cross, the weaker our witness. The lighter our cross, the weaker our witness. We want to look redeemed and attract people to our Redeemer. We’re going to have to carry our crosses. And some of those crosses are imposed upon us because of our stand for Jesus.

We’re going to have to carry that cross. And when we do, we’ll discover that others will be attracted to the Redeemer because at last, like Jesus, we’ll look redeemed. Remember this, that it is not through carrying your cross that you become a Christian, by the way. That part of the message is for those of you who are Christians.

What you do is you come to the cross for salvation freely given. And after you’ve received Christ, you become his follower and you take up his cross into a skeptical, disbelieving, angry world. But that's the kind of world that Jesus carried his cross in. And so we follow him all the way to our death. Would you join me as we pray?

Father, grant us the grace to follow you. Forgive us for so often not looking redeemed. Help us, Lord, in humility. Your word says let the younger ones be subject to the older in humility. Help us with brokenness to follow you. Help us to see the cross that you’ve laid upon us as a cross of joy despite its pain. And help us to carry that cross to point others to the Redeemer.

Now, before I close this prayer, if you’ve never received Jesus as Savior, you remember I told you you could have that assurance even where you are. You could pray a prayer that says, "Jesus, I know that I’m a sinner. Thank you that you died for sinners. I receive your death and resurrection as for me." Would you make that transfer of trust right now?

Father, we thank you that we have the privilege today to confess Jesus as Lord and that he shall reign. And every knee will bow, every tongue confess that he is Lord to the glory of the Father. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

Guest (Male): Well, my friend, today I want to remind you of a quote given by Bonhoeffer. I know that I’ve quoted it before, and I’m paraphrasing it. He said this: "The idea of following Jesus seems to be very wonderful until you remember that it took him to the cross." And to quote another word from Bonhoeffer, he simply said this: "It is not before us but before the cross that the world trembles."

We here at Running to Win are so deeply committed to sharing the good news of the gospel, the good news of the cross, with people around the world. And we can do it because of people just like you who support this ministry. Now, in return, we want to also bless you. I’m holding in my hands a book written by Dr. Warren Wiersbe entitled Be Joyful. It's a wonderful, very readable commentary on the book of Philippians where the apostle Paul, writing from prison, continues to talk about joy.

And of course, that can only be true when we’ve come to saving faith in Christ. Now, this is the last week we’re making this available for you. We encourage you right now, go to rtwoffer.com. That’s rtwoffer.com, or pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337. Ask for the book Be Joyful. In fact, the subtitle is "Even When Things Go Wrong, You Can Have Joy." And we’re here today to enable all of us to remember to be joyful as we run toward the finish line. Once again, go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337.

It's time again for another opportunity for you, the listener, to ask Pastor Lutzer a question you may have about the Bible or the Christian life. Today's question comes from Jack, and Jack lives in North Carolina. "A number of churches and radio stations in our area have switched from hymns with piano, organ, and orchestra to contemporary Christian music accompanied by guitars, drums, bass, and so on. My question is, what would our Lord have us do according to the Bible with regard to Christian music?"

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Well, you know, Jack, I am smart enough not to give a very specific answer to your question because, as you know, the matter of music has been a point of sharp contention among Christians and I’m not really qualified to adjudicate all of these matters. But I do have two extremes I think we should avoid.

First of all, we should avoid the notion that the only hymns and the only music that should ever be played on Christian radio is the kind that we like. I think that we have to recognize that taking a stand like that is wrong. There are other people who may enjoy a different kind of music and a different kind of singing, and we have to recognize that. We are not the standard by which all music should be judged.

And then secondly, I think it’s important to realize that Christians should not always be pushing the envelope. And I think that that is a very important point as well because there is no doubt that sometimes they sound as if they are simply imitating the world. Now, it is somewhere between those two extremes that we need to be very cautious.

And I pray that God will give us wisdom to know exactly how to respond to modern music. And fortunately, fortunately there are radio stations that have such variety that you can then choose what you like to listen to. Maybe at the end of the day, that will help us in resolving this dilemma.

Guest (Male): Thank you, Dr. Lutzer, for your discernment in this very controversial area. 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. Some philosophers acknowledge there must be a God to create all we see, but they say he’s distant, not involved with us. But the Bible teaches that God works by the Holy Spirit in the lives of those who believe, providing day-by-day guidance, comfort, wisdom, and insight, even for the smallest detail of life. Who or what is the Holy Spirit? It’s vital to know. So on our next Running to Win, we’ll find out. We’ll learn about the Spirit we embrace, message number four on "What We Believe." Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.