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. What if a believer really did what Jesus would do? That's what Charles Sheldon asked when writing the classic novel, In His Steps. The answers then were radical, but what about today? What would Jesus do?

In a moment, we ask that provocative question anew. 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. Today, we begin a series on following Christ. Erwin Lutzer's first message examines what might happen if every believer only did what Jesus would do. Pastor, what would they do?

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Well, of course, as these messages progress, we'll understand better the answer to your question. But I want to remind people that in 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 21, the Bible does say, Christ suffered for us that we should follow in his steps. So, this is very biblical.

What we need to do is to look at the life of Jesus Christ and then ask ourselves a very provocative question. How does our life match up? What should our priorities be? How should we conduct ourselves? It's a real challenge, and that's why I hope that as this series begins today, that you get on the phone, call your friends, invite them to listen, because together we have to learn what it would look like if we began to live more like Jesus. For now, let us listen.

Back in the year 1897, a man by the name of Charles Sheldon wrote this book entitled In His Steps. In this book, he talks about a mythical town by the name of Raymond in which there was a pastor whose name was Reverend Maxwell. Reverend Maxwell was upstairs studying one Saturday afternoon, which pastors often do, as this one also did, studying Saturday afternoon and preparing a message. The text that he was working on was 1 Peter chapter 2.

Would you turn in your Bibles to that passage of scripture? First Peter chapter 2, verse 21. It's on page 1,152 if you're having some difficulty and you have a Bible like mine. Но the text that he was wrestling with was verse 21. "For you have been called for this purpose since Christ also suffered for you, leaving an example for you to follow in his steps, who committed no sin, neither was any deceit in his mouth. While being reviled, he did not revile in return. While suffering, he uttered no threats, but kept entrusting himself to him who judges righteously."

While the pastor was writing out his sermon upstairs in his study, there was a knock at the door. He went to the door and did not like the interruption. But there was a young man there who seemed to be a tramp. And yet, he appeared to be so young. He was not an alcoholic. He did not seem to be bitter or angry. But the young man said, "You know, I've been out of a job for ten months. And I'm wondering if there's any way that you can help me. I know that you can't find a job for me. I'm a printer by trade. But here I am, and I just wonder if you could give me some leads because I'm willing to do anything."

The pastor expressed sympathy for the young man and said that he really didn't know of anyone to whom he could send him and hoped that he would indeed be able to find a job. So, after a moment of conversation, the young man went down the sidewalk. The pastor closed the door and saw him walk away. The young man had his hat in his hands. He held his hat with both of his hands. And as he walked along the sidewalk looking very dejected, the pastor's sympathy was touched by the young man and felt badly that there was nothing that he could do.

A few minutes later, the pastor's wife returned. She had been out at a daycare center and she said that there was a young man who came by looking for a job. They compared notes and found that it was the same young man looking for some place to find something to eat and to find work.

The next day was Sunday, and the pastor preached his sermon on this text. Jesus Christ left us an example that we should follow in his steps. He talked about the atonement, and then he outlined what it would be like to follow in Christ's steps. But at the end of the service, just as the benediction was being given, a young man who was sitting near the back of the church came forward and began to speak to the congregation.

The pastor recognized him to be the young man that he had seen the day before. The man said, "I'm not drunk, nor am I crazy. But I've been out of work for ten months. I'm a printer by trade. And I listened to the pastor's sermon on following Jesus Christ. I'm not angry with anyone. I know that you can't find a job for me and for five hundred others like us in this town. But I do want to ask, what does it mean when you sing 'All for Jesus, all for Jesus'?"

He said, "What do you mean when you sing 'Jesus, I my cross have taken, all to leave and follow me'? Are you actually willing to help people like me and to go out of your way for those who may be going through a specific trial? My wife died four months ago. I have a little girl that is now living with someone else because I can't take care of her. I know that you can't take care of everybody, but I wonder what does it mean when you say that you follow Jesus Christ and you're willing to walk with him all the way?"

The young man at that point began to become very weak on his feet and stumbled and fell. They carried him out and took him to the pastor's home. By the time all that ended, there was a lot of talking in the church. People began to say to one another, "Well, what did you think of what he had to say?" The congregation by and large simply said, "Well, he must have been somewhat demented, maybe mentally unstable to have spoken to the whole church."

Later on, as the story progresses, that young man wants to see his daughter one last time before he dies, and he does. But his last words before he dies in the pastor's home, the last words were, "Thank you so much for taking care of me. I think this is probably what Jesus would have done." The pastor was deeply touched by the whole experience. He was shaken in spirit, mind, and body.

During the week, he could scarcely study. All that he could think about was this young man and what he had said to the congregation the Sunday before. So, the next Sunday, the pastor stood up and preached without notes. He told the congregation once again what the young man had said, told them about his death, and then said this to the congregation.

"How many of you would be willing to pledge that for one year, you are willing to say, 'By God's grace, I'm going to face every decision that I'm going to make for this coming year asking one question: what would Jesus do?' And then by God's grace and power, doing whatever you think Jesus would actually do."

Now the pastor said, "That does not mean that we will always know instantly what Jesus will do in every situation. There may be a lot of disagreement among ourselves as to what Jesus would do. Furthermore, there is no way that you can follow this by looking at the immediate results of your decision. But are you willing to say that in those areas where it does become clear to you what Jesus would do, that you'll be obedient?"

There were hundreds of people who were there that morning, and only about fifty were willing to stay after the service to say, "Yes, we pledge ourselves that for one year we will live our lives by one basic principle: what would Jesus do?" In that group of fifty, there was the publisher of a newspaper, there was a superintendent of the railway, there was a school teacher, and there was a woman who had just inherited a million dollars. They were all wondering now, "What will Jesus have us do?"

The rest of this book is the story of what that basic principle did in their lives and some of the problems that it produced. The publisher of the newspaper asked himself, "Would Jesus publish a Sunday edition?" He said to himself, "I don't think that Jesus would have a sports event, a boxing match on the front page. I don't think it's that important." People began to no longer subscribe to his newspaper. But it didn't matter, because he didn't say, "Well, if you don't publish sports, your newspaper is going to go under." That wasn't the issue.

He had committed himself to a basic question, namely, "What would Jesus do regardless of the immediate consequences of my decision?" How would Jesus spend a million dollars that he had just inherited? What kind of a car would Jesus drive? We know that Jesus, if he lived today, undoubtedly would probably drive a car. He would become a part of this culture. But the question is, how would he spend his money? What kind of a car would he drive? Would he buy a cheaper one so that he could give money to help the people in the Soviet Union have hymnals? What would Jesus do?

I think that we make life so complicated, don't we? We think to ourselves, "If only we could do more things," and we do do more things. We get so busy and we're doing this and we're doing that and we commit ourselves to this obligation and that obligation. Wouldn't it be interesting to simplify our lives and simply say, "Look, for one year I'm going to base my life on the question: what would Jesus do, and then do it?"

I know that there are many instances that we may not know what Jesus would do. But for every one of those, there would be two or three in which we would know instantly what Jesus would do. What I'd like to do today is to give you five priorities that would be a part of our thinking if we were to respond to the question: what would Jesus do? Five priorities and they all begin with the letter P. You can write them in the flyleaf of your Bible, or you can use the bulletin that you're going to take home with you and read. You can write them at the back of the bulletin and then tack them onto your bulletin board at home.

Five priorities that would be a part of our thinking. What are they? Number one: the priority of prayer. The priority of prayer. As a matter of fact, this priority is so important that next week I'm going to speak on that topic, and the entire message will be devoted to it, so we're going to simply omit it today. But we find in the Gospels that wherever you can turn the pages of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Jesus is there praying to his heavenly Father. And he's not just praying. Jesus is communing with God.

Jesus is having his own soul refreshed in the presence of the King. And if that is not your understanding of prayer, I feel sorry for you. It is not merely asking God to take care of problems, though it involves that; it is the soul in communication with God. Come back next week for the details.

Secondly: the priority of people. The priority of people. You read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and if you were to take those four Gospels and cut out everything that had to do with Jesus interacting with people, you'd find that you have almost nothing left. The whole Gospels are nothing but the story of Jesus interacting with people. One day there was a man by the name of Jairus who said, "I have a child that is dying," and he wanted to pull on Jesus Christ's coat and hurry him along so that he would get there before the child died.

Jesus meets a woman who had had a hemorrhage for many, many years, and he stops to heal her and to interact with her. Jairus is saying, "Why are you standing there? I've got a child that's dying." Jesus then, after he interacts with the woman, goes and he raises the child to life. You say, "Well, Pastor Lutzer, we can't do that." That's true. But the principle is there.

Jesus constantly pouring himself and the mercy of God into the lives of people, some of them who were people who hurt, some people who didn't hurt but should have, and ministering to them all. You teenagers that are here today, Jesus meets a young, wealthy man and he interacts with him. It says specifically in the text, "Jesus beheld him and he loved him." I want you to know today that Jesus beholds you and he loves you.

Children. "Permit the children to come unto me and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven." The whole spectrum of the ages, Jesus becoming involved in their lives and giving priority to people.

Secondly, there's the priority of purity. Priority of purity. We read a text at the invocation that says, "He that has this hope in himself purifies himself even as Christ is pure." Purity. I want to tell you that Jesus Christ could not be seduced by the big three: the lust of the flesh. Satan came to him and said, "Turn these stones into bread."

Jesus was hungry for forty days, he had not eaten. But the Lord said that there is no way that I'm going to fulfill my bodily desires, no matter how strong they are, I will not fulfill them independently of the will of my Father. The answer is no. He would not allow the desires of the flesh to rule him.

Now, what implications would that have in our lives if we faced each decision asking, "What would Jesus do?" What kind of television programs would Jesus watch if he lived in this century? What would Jesus do? How pure would Jesus be if he were in this world? And then we think of the lust of the eyes. Satan said to him, "You fall down and you worship me and I will give you all of the kingdoms."

Jesus didn't say, "Now Satan, listen. You have no right to tell me that because you don't own the kingdoms of the world." Jesus didn't say that. Why? Because God has given Satan awesome authority, and he had evidently the right to say, "Jesus, bow down and worship me and the kingdoms are yours." But Jesus said, "I will not take a shortcut to the kingdom. No way am I going to be seduced by instant power and the glory and the prestige that would come to me. The answer is no, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."

And then Jesus, become a hero. Fall down from the pinnacle of the temple, and the angels will catch you and you'll be front page news on the Jerusalem Post, and everybody is going to be talking about you. Jesus said, "No, I'm not for sale. I can't be seduced. I can't be bought."

Oh, my friends today, how we need men and women who have character right from the top of their head to their tiptoes who say, "I am not for sale." Here in the city of Chicago, we passed a homosexual ordinance. And as you know, many of the aldermen voted for it, the majority voted for it. I have in my files letters from some of them who wrote to me many months ago and said, "Pastor Lutzer, we stand with you in opposition to this ordinance all the way and we will never vote for it."

But they did a few weeks ago. Why? Because somebody told them, "You don't vote for that and you are not going to be re-elected. We are going to make sure that we will put money into a candidate that agrees with us." And one alderman said, "How am I going to withstand that opposition when I'm up for re-election?" And that was the basis upon which he changed his mind.

Wasn't it Will Rogers who made the interesting statement? He said the members of the U.S. Congress are the best men that money can buy. Jesus said, "I refuse to be intimidated. I refuse the power of a shortcut to gain wealth and prestige and power. I delight to do thy will, oh God, regardless of the consequences." He was committed to purity, committed to purity.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Well, my friend, this is Pastor Lutzer. Of course, I want to clarify that it's perfectly fine for Christians to run in political elections. That, of course, is to be expected, but what I want to emphasize is this: they must maintain their integrity. And we're living at a time when there are so many cultural streams against us. Cultural streams that have to do with society, that have to do with conduct. And what we need to do, as I emphasized in this message, is we need to stand firm.

And that's why we're making available for you a booklet entitled Walking with Jesus: A Radical Return to His Priorities. It's based on a book by Charles Sheldon entitled In His Steps, where he answers the question: what would it look like if we were to follow Jesus with his integrity, with his witness, the way in which he treated people? It's a challenge all of us must face.

We're making this booklet available for you for a gift of any amount. Here's what you can do: go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com or pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337. I don't know about you, but I am greatly convicted in the sense that as I compare my life with that of the Lord Jesus Christ, I ask myself this question: what needs to change? I hope you ask yourself the very same question.

Remember the title of the book, Walking with Jesus: A Radical Return to His Priorities. After you've read it, share it with your friends. It can be transforming. Once again, here's what you do: go to rtwoffer.com and let me thank you in advance for your support of this ministry, or you can pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337.

Dave McAllister: Time now for another chance for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life. Mixed marriages and the Christian faith. Jeff has written, posing this situation and wanting some counsel. "Please help me. I'm very concerned about my friend. She was raised as a strong Christian, baptized, confirmed, and faithful. She met a man, dated and married, and he is Jewish. So, my friend promised to raise their children Jewish and to attend temple regularly, which she has done. My friend no longer speaks of Jesus in any circumstance and seems to embrace Buddhist study as well. Could she still be saved and bound for heaven?"

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Well, my friend, I do have to tell you that I don't know. Only God can see the human heart. But the telltale signs are not very encouraging. Seems to me that she made a mistake right from the beginning to marry outside the Christian faith. And then, secondly, she's continuing that mistake by now embracing even a wider doctrine, namely Buddhism.

A true child of God generally knows the truth because the Holy Spirit of God confirms their decision. So here's what I would like to say. First of all, just because this woman was reared in a Christian home and confirmed and all, that in itself is not proof that she is a true believer. Is it possible that she did genuinely believe? I think that that is possible. But I think that if it is true, within time she's going to recognize the error of her ways and she's going to come back to her faith, back to Jesus, and back to her spiritual home.

So meanwhile, the bottom line for you, Jeff, is continue to pray for her. If you have opportunity to interact with her, help her to understand that she's on a wrong path here. But at the end of the day, you can't change her direction. That's her decision, her husband's decision, but you can pray, you can wait, and you can expect.

Dave McAllister: Some thoughtful counsel from Dr. Erwin Lutzer, and thank you for writing to us, Jeff. 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. 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.

The Apostle Peter wrote, "Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow in his steps." As we're finding out, following in those steps requires us to make fundamental changes in our priorities and may take us places we never imagined we'd go. Next time on Running to Win, more on the changes we may need to make. We'll be reminded of Christ's determination to do God's will, even when tempted by the devil. Thanks for listening. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.