Running To Win

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: We humans are prone to see ourselves more highly than we ought. Like Satan, whose heart was lifted up in pride, people can lose sight of God as creator and we as managers of this earth. Since the fall, man has sought to swap places with God. 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. Managing God’s Gifts is our series, and Pastor Lutzer, there really are risks in thinking we're the owners of this earth rather than its caretakers.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Yes, Dave, the problem comes when we begin to worship nature as some people do. Certainly, we should be good stewards of nature. Just because we have dominion does not mean that nature should be misused. But I want to emphasize that in the midst of this world, the most important message we can get to human beings is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

From my heart, I want to thank the many of you who support this ministry, who enable us to do just that. Running to Win is in 50 different countries in seven different languages. Why? Because of your investment. And here’s what's exciting: during this month, any gift that you give will be doubled. Imagine that: doubling your investment in helping us get the gospel of Jesus Christ to even more people.

Here’s what you do: you go to rtwoffer.com. Rtwoffer.com or you can call us at 1-888-218-9337. Now, if you contribute, we have a very special gift we want to send to you. It's a book entitled Christ Among Other Gods. For now, let us listen, and at the end of this message, I'm going to be giving you that contact info again because this is a very important month here at Running to Win.

All right, how far have we come in the facts of life? Fact number one: God is the creator. Fact number two: man is the manager. Fact number three: the fall made us thieves. The fall made us thieves. Let's look at the text of chapter 3. You remember the story. The woman is there in the garden, and the serpent is discussing things with her, and he says, after she says if we eat of the fruit of this tree, we will die, he says in verse 4, "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows when you eat it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

Was Satan telling the truth? Well, to a certain extent, he was. If you eat, you will be like God, you will know good and evil. Unfortunately, you will know good and evil experientially. It will not just be theoretical knowledge. You will have a kind of knowledge that not even God has because God knows what evil is like, but God has never done evil. Therefore, he has never felt the effects of evil, you understand.

And as a result of that, man has something that God hasn't, and that is a terrible, cursed experiential understanding of evil that eventually condemns us to hell if we do not repent. But notice what Satan says: "You will be like God." Well, you know the rest of the story. They did eat, and notice what happened. Ever since that time, man has always been wanting to swap places with God. He wants now to take what is his and say, "This is mine and it's not God's."

Now, folks, I want us to look very briefly at some of the consequences of what happened as a result of the fall, and you know the story. In verse 11, we discover that human nature was tainted and irrevocably, unfortunately defiled. Because God comes and he asks Adam, and Adam says, "I'm naked," and he says God says, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?" And the man says, "The woman." Ay-ay-ay.

Now, folks, some of you have heard me say this before, but how can I come to a text like this and not say it again? I want you to notice that the man blamed the woman. "This weak-willed woman, Lord, whom you gave me, whom you gave me." He blamed the woman even though there wasn't a chance in the world that he had married the wrong one. Did you notice that?

And then, of course, God says, "The woman, what about you? What is this that you have done?" And the woman said, "The serpent." So, I'll say one more line some of you have heard: the man blamed the woman, the woman blamed the serpent, and the serpent didn't have a leg to stand on. Wasn't it Will Rogers who said that there were two eras in a marriage? One was the passing of the buffalo, and the other was the passing of the buck.

From now on, man was going to have a protective shell around him in which he will say, "You will never find out who I really am." Because of his shame and guilt, he is going to take all accusations, all truth, and it's going to be filtered and deflected so that getting through to him is going to be so difficult that if he's to be converted, God is going to have to intervene and change his mind because of himself, he's going to run from God and he's going to twist all the truth that comes through his system.

So man is tainted. Suffering comes in verse 16. To the woman, he said, "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing. With pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you." It's a controversial text, but there it is. That's the origin of the statement that women sometimes say about men. They usually begin with, "Can't live with them, can't live without them."

Then notice he says to Adam, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, cursed is the ground because of you. Now it is going to bear weeds and thorns and thistles, and you're going to have to sweat and you're going to have to work in order to live, and things are not going to be nice. From now on, all of the world is going to be filled with striving."

And what happens in the next chapter? Of course, as you know, Cain kills Abel, and you have all of this evil now spilling out in the human race. And as a result of that, man now no longer wants to be a manager, a caretaker. Man says, "I am the owner," and covetousness, a desire for what other people have and for what we really don't need and maybe what God does not want to give us, is going to be a beast within the human soul.

Because people are going to say, "I own it, I own it, I own it, I own it." And that's why you can find wealthy people in the world, maybe in the church too, but in the world, with hundreds of millions of dollars, watching other people in great poverty, being able to help, and scarcely lifting a hand to help anyone because they say it's mine, I am the owner. What they're really saying is, "I have taken the place of God."

Well, we're explaining the facts of life. God is the creator, therefore he's the owner. Man is to be the caretaker. The fall made us thieves to want to steal what belongs to God and call it ours. And now number four: God is the redeemer. The purpose of redemption, my friend, is for God to work in people's hearts in such a way that we now voluntarily give him back the ownership that is his right.

Now, I'm going to be speaking to those of you who have accepted Christ as your savior, but I do not by any stretch of the imagination think that there are not many people who are listening to this message who have not. In other words, there may be many of you who do not know the forgiveness of God through Jesus Christ. You've never personally received him, though you may be religious and though you may have a lot of knowledge.

Because there is a personal relationship that comes, and this is what I want to explain. For those who know Christ as Savior, what God does is he wants us to voluntarily return to the position of where God has his rightful ownership, where we are stewards again, where we are managers again, where we are caretakers, and God and God alone is the owner. Let's fast forward to the New Testament for just a moment. What do we find there in the New Testament?

First of all, Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, "For you are not your own. You've been bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which is God's." What belongs to God? Listen, we all belong to God. All the creation of the earth, all the people of the earth belong to God by virtue of creation. But there's another category of people that belong to him by virtue of redemption.

They are his special people that he purchased at high cost. Born in sin, a propensity to sin, but nevertheless saved out of that life, being given a new heart with new desires, names written in heaven, and that now is God's people. And the text says you have been bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. You are not your own.

All that you are is a manager. You're not an owner. You can't say, "This is my body, this is my money, these are my abilities." You know, God gives people different abilities, puts them in different circumstances of life, and then they begin to take the credit if they seem to be above someone in some area. Sin, grievous sin. The Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 4:7, "Who makes you to differ from another? Or what is it that you have not received? And if you have received it, why do you act as if you received it not?"

Actually the word is, "Why do you glory as if you received it not?" Why is it that you are taking credit for what God has given you the ability to do? There are some of us here who have had all kinds of blessings that God has placed on our lap and we act as if those blessings are ours. There are some people who have the ability to earn money, there are some people who have the ability to give time and effort to the work of God, and they may even do so, but they may think to themselves, "What a nice boy am I," like Little Jack Horner who sat in the corner. And they think to themselves that that is theirs. God says I want you to be rid of that notion. It is not yours, it is mine. Restoring God's ownership.

Let me give you a couple of conclusions that will help us tie this down. First of all, what are you supposed to be doing Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday? I told you a moment ago that I would answer that question. I'll tell you. What we should be doing is managing all the gifts that God has given to us, managing our time and saying, "My time is God's. I can't just run off and do whatever I want to do without consulting God because I am a manager of his gifts."

Our time is God's. Our money is God's. Our talents are God's. Our home belongs to God, our cars belong to God, the house that we live in belongs to God. And therefore it is with a sense of praise and gratitude that we serve him, always asking this question: "Lord, what will you have me to do with what you have given to me?" We represent God. That's what Adam was supposed to do.

God said, "Adam, when I rule the world, I'm going to be doing it through you. You are king of the earth, you are the custodian, but of course I'm the owner of all things. Manage it well for me." And that's what we're supposed to be doing tomorrow. You say, "Well, you also made the promise that this was going to take care of our worries." Yes, it will. Because every time you and we worry, it really has to do with something that we own.

For example, have you ever gone to bed at night really worried, unable to sleep, as to whether or not your neighbor's car is going to be broken into during the night? "I'm so concerned about his car, I can't sleep." Well, then why are you worried about yours? "Well, that's mine." What do you mean it's yours? It's God's. I mean this sincerely. You give it over to God and you simply say, "That is yours. My house is yours. If you want someone to break into it, if this is really your plan and purpose, remember that they can only steal your stuff, and I'm not going to worry about what belongs to God."

If he wants it broken into because he wants to teach me something through the experience, worry no longer plays a part because now it is God's. I remember a woman who was told by her doctor that she had cancer, and she said she was worried about it for a little while until she realized something: that her body was not hers, it was God's. "So, well God, this is your body if this is what you want. I don't own this. This is your property."

Do you understand how now with the transfer of ownership comes the transfer of anxiety because now it is up to God to take care of his property, to do with what he wants with his resources, and genuinely it does belong to him. That's what you're supposed to do Monday morning. That's what I'm supposed to do tomorrow.

Let me give you a second conclusion. The first is that we represent God in the world, just like Adam was to represent God in the world. But of course ours is a little more complicated because of sin, but the same idea prevails. And this great desire for covetousness and ownership and possession—"This is mine"—it has to go. It has to go. It has to be confessed as sin.

Second, God has the right to give and therefore he also has the right to take, doesn't he? For example, God gives and he gives differently. He gives different gifts, different abilities, different amounts. We notice this in the parables that Jesus told. I know they're different parables, but many of them show that they were not all given the same number of talents. So it's a different world out there.

But then God comes along and he takes. He gives health and then he gives sickness. He gives money and then the money may be lost. He gives time and then the time may be taken away. He gives talents and then suddenly we find that we can't serve anymore. And at the end of the day, we die and that is the final retrieval when God says it's time now to turn in the chips because your gifts on this earth—not in heaven—but your gifts on earth are finished. Because he has the right to give and he has the right to take, and all that we are is stewards of what he has given to us.

And therefore there's a third and concluding conclusion. And that is that obviously every single manager has to give an account. Isn't that true? You work in a bank, you work in a hospital, you have a management position, and those who are under you, what do they have to do? You give them various assignments and then they have to account for them. They can either do them or they can not do them. They can either do them well or they can do them poorly. But one thing is sure: they are going to be supervised and at the end of the day they must say, "This I have done."

Well, you know that's exactly what the scripture says. We shall give an account for the deeds done in the body, whether good or bad. When God comes and God says, "What I want you to do is to show me what you did with what I gave you." Now follow this carefully. If you and I owned our time and our abilities and our money, if that was really ours, really ours, God would have no right to ask us about it.

He'd just simply say, "Hey look, that's yours and therefore you can use it as you wish because I have no right to tell an owner as to how to use his talents and his treasures." But the reason that God is going to ask us about it is because it never was ours. We acted as if it was ours. Because of the fall, we want to be as thieves. We want to say, "This is mine." What God wants to do is to rid us of that and realize it's not mine.

So every morning, what do we do before we get out of bed? We look into the eyes of God and we say, "Father, thank you for the bed that I slept on today. Thank you for the opportunities of today. Thank you that I woke up alive. Thank you that I have the privilege of serving you. And today I have only really one question in light of eternity: what do you want me to do with the gifts you gave me? Because you're the owner and I'm the manager and all that I have to do is to find out: what does my Father in heaven want me to do with what he gave me?"

Of course, you know for those of you who are listening who've never trusted Christ as Savior, you know that this all begins, of course, by receiving a free gift from God's hands. We receive many gifts from his hands, but the most important is the gift of eternal life that is given freely to those who stop trusting in themselves, their own goodness, rituals, and the whole bit, and transfer their trust to Christ alone.

Dr. Sweeting was here a number of weeks ago, and he quoted some words from a hymn that I looked up and would like to quote the same words that he did, as he was thinking about the fact that sometimes those of us who have had the opportunity to serve are given thanks for our service and so forth. And yet we recognize that it is not of us. Now, I didn't plan to quote these words, so I'm going to see how I do and if I trip up, I'll ask Jerry, "Jerry, would you finish the song for me?"

"Naught have I gotten but that I received. Grace has bestowed it from when I believed. Boasting excluded, pride I abase. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. It is all of God." Are you willing to transfer that ownership to God today? Are you willing to say, "God, all that I am, all that I ever hope to be is yours. I genuinely take my hands off of what I have called my own." Are you willing to do that?

Oh, the struggle! All the beast that rises within us and says, "No, this is mine!" That's because of the fall, that sin. No, it's God's, and God's alone. "Father, what wilt thou have me to do?" It's the only question that's legitimate in light of his gifts. Would you join me as we pray?

And Father, we ask today that you will free us from that possessiveness, that ownership that came as a result of the fall, that desire to say, "Lord, I'm taking your place, I will own." Free us from that, Father. Oh, grant that, Father, as a congregation, that we might flourish in seeing people come to know you as Savior and saints being built up, and the Sunday school being strong, and in all areas to say, "Lord, this is for you." In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Of course, I don't want to be misunderstood. God enables us to use his gifts so that we might be able to live. But at the same time, when we recognize all of the gifts that we have, including our money, ultimately has come from God, it frees us up to be generous. And you know, it's because of people just like you who have been generous that enables Running to Win to go around the world. Let me ask you a question: have you been blessed because of this ministry? If so, it's because others have contributed.

Now, this is a very special time in the history of the ministry of Running to Win. Why? At the end of this month, it's the end of our fiscal year, and during this month, every gift that you give will be doubled. Imagine that! And if you participate, we have a very special gift. I wish I had time to explain it all to you, but it's a book entitled Christ Among Other Gods.

What it will enable you to do is to be able to witness in such a way to show that Jesus alone has the qualifications to be a savior. You can use it to witness, give it to a friend, give it to a colleague, and they'll understand the uniqueness of Christ. Well, here's the contact info. You go to rtwoffer.com. Rtwoffer.com. Remember, any gift that you give will be doubled. Or you can pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337.

Thank you in advance for helping us, and at the same time, continue to pray for this ministry. Help us to expand. Running to Win is in 50 different countries, seven different languages, because of people just like you. Right now, go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com.

Dave McAllister: 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. You've heard Erwin Lutzer wrapping up King Of The Earth, the first message in a six-part series on Managing God's Gifts.

When we rent a house, we don't own it; someone else is the landlord. Next time, we focus on God as creation's landlord, and we'll see all the things he owns in this world. Thanks for listening. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.