Running To Win

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. Jesus said He came to seek and to save that which was lost. We're learning how to follow Christ these days on Running to Win. Pastor Lutzer, "Seeking the Lost," the great mission of Christ on Earth?

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Yes, Dave. Actually, that verse of scripture helps us to understand the whole purpose of the incarnation. We are lost, lost in our trespasses and in our sins, and Jesus came to seek us and to save us. If you today, my friend, are a believer in Jesus, it's because Jesus came looking for you. But also, what we must do is ask ourselves this question: what are we doing to introduce other people to Jesus?

I'm holding in my hands a booklet titled *Walking with Jesus: A Radical Return to His Priorities*. What this book does is it helps us to understand how Jesus came to seek and to save the lost and how we can follow Him. For a gift of any amount, we're making it available for you, and at the end of this message, I'll be giving you that contact info. For now, let us listen.

Let me begin by asking you a question: what is it that you seek? What is it that you seek? The reason that that question is so important is what we seek is really a reflection of what is in our heart because every one of us seeks that which is very valuable to us. We seek that which is most valuable.

If your overriding priority is to seek money, it tells me what is in your heart. Or is it companionship? Or is it that you seek success? Is it that you seek control of individuals? We've all met people who want to so dominate that it is not possible for them to lose in any discussion, in any arrangement. They must always be the winners because they are seeking strength and power.

Jesus said that there are two things that we ought to seek. He said, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind," and then love your neighbor as yourself. We have His permission to seek passionately God and others. Jesus, of course, when He was here on Earth, sought God, the will of the Father, but then He also sought men. Luke 19:10: "The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." Jesus had a rather well-defined job description. He knew what He was supposed to be doing: seeking the lost.

I want you to take your Bibles and turn to Luke chapter 15 for just a moment because in this passage we have Jesus Christ defending Himself against those who criticized His seeking techniques. Luke 15: Christ is in the company of tax gatherers and sinners who were coming near Him to listen to Him, it says in verse 1. And the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them."

Here were two categories of people that were particularly unloved by the Pharisees who were filled with self-righteousness: tax gatherers and sinners. In the Middle East, when you sat down and you ate with people, that was certainly a sign of friendship. It meant that you were trying to become acquainted. It was a sign that you were being friendly and a sign of affection. Jesus is doing that with these people whom the Pharisees despised, and so they criticized Him.

In order to defend Himself, Jesus told a series of three parables. The first point of the parable is this: Christ is teaching that people are valuable and you should not be upset if I am seeking them. That's what Christ is emphasizing. The first parable is familiar to us. He said if there is a person who loses one sheep, does he not leave the 99 in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? Verse 5: "And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.'"

Christ says, "I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous who need no repentance." Christ is saying if you can value a lost sheep, if that's reason for rejoicing, why are you criticizing me if I value lost men?

Then Christ tells another parable. He says if there is a woman who has ten silver coins and she loses one, doesn't she light a lamp and sweep the whole house and find it? And when she finds it, Christ says, she rejoices and she calls her friends and says, "I found the coin that was lost." We've all had that experience, haven't we?

A number of years ago, we were staying with some friends for a couple of days and I lost my wallet. We looked through the house, we looked outside, we looked in places that it could never possibly have been. One day, just before we left, I found it on a chair, of all things. I was beginning to think of having to get new license, new credit cards, new all those things, and I just don't like those inconveniences. They clutter the mind. So I rejoiced! The wallet has been found.

Jesus says if a woman finds a coin that's been lost, she rejoices. The point is if you can get excited about a lost wallet that's been found or a lost coin that's been found, why is it that you are so callous that you can't rejoice when there is a lost sinner that's found?

Then Christ tells the story that is most familiar to us about a lost boy. Once again, Christ is saying here is a person who is valuable. Of course, the boy does not stand so much in comparison to the lost coin and the lost sheep as he does in contrast. I mean, who would ever say that a boy somehow can even be evaluated on the basis of lost coins or lost sheep? It just doesn't fit the category.

Christ is saying, "Don't you see that a lost sinner is so much more important than other things that we lose?" Of course, people are more valuable because, first of all, by virtue of creation, they are created in the image of God. They are more valuable than the things of this world because of duration. They will last forever. The eternal soul that God creates goes on and on. Remember Matthew chapter 25? "These," said Christ, "go into everlasting life, but these into everlasting punishment." There is a sense in which the human soul, because it is eternal, is almost unfathomable in its worth.

Also, humans are more important because of their duration, their donation. They can ascribe worth to God. They can fulfill the purpose for which they were created. They are more valuable because of salvation. Jesus Christ would have never died on the cross for lost coins and lost sheep, but He did die for lost men and women. That certainly elevates our value because if the value of an object is dependent upon the price that is paid for it, Christ forever signified the value of human beings by redeeming us not with silver and gold, but with His precious blood.

In fact, in another context, Christ said, "Of what value is it if a man should gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" What if he had all the sheep and found them? What if he had all the silver coins? Of what value would that be if he lost his soul? Christ is saying to bigoted Pharisees, "Don't you understand that people have value?"

I would like to say to you and to me today that what we must do is to expand our understanding of the value of a person. All of us who are parents have seen our children sick, and we know what it's like to look over a bed and see that child writhing with a fever and we wish that we could change places with him or her because we value that child.

But do we value that child and forget that there are tens of thousands and millions of other children of the world who are starving and who are dying without a knowledge of Jesus Christ? We say to ourselves, "That child is so precious to me." Yes, but that child is not more precious than other children who do not have the same privileges. Jesus is saying to Pharisees, "Why is it that you criticize me if I'm eating with sinners? Don't you understand the value of a person?"

You know that if Christ were to say to some angel, "I want you to go down to this Earth and live for 50 years as a human being, go through all the trials of humanity, and the reason that I am asking you to do that is because on Earth there is a little boy who will be growing up without a father and that little boy needs to know about Jesus Christ and be saved so that he can live forever in heaven," I have no doubt at all but that any angel in heaven would say, "I'll go instantly" because they understand the worth of a human soul. The text says that in heaven there is rejoicing over one sinner that repents.

I was looking this week for a quote from C.S. Lewis that I have seen many times but I wasn't able to find, but in effect Lewis says if only we could look beyond what we see when we see human beings. He said we may be in a nursing home and see someone who is shriveled, someone who is emaciated, and we think to ourselves, "What a pathetic human being." But he said five minutes after death, if we could just see into eternity and recognize that every person is either going to be living in uninterrupted bliss or else in unspeakable horror forever, the value of a person. Remember K.P. Yohannan when he was here? Remember his words to us? "O God, may we have eternity stamped on our eyes." Every person we meet is of eternal value. That's Christ's point.

First of all, He says people are valuable. Secondly, Christ wants to teach very clearly that people are lost. They are lost, they need to be found. He uses the illustration of the sheep. Why? Because sheep scatter. They get lost easily, and they cannot find themselves. What is it to be lost, by the way? In all three of the parables, lostness means to be separated from your owner. So the sheep is separated from the shepherd and the coin is separated from the woman, and also the son is separated from the father.

What Christ says is sheep go astray and they are unable to find themselves. Let me tell you that somebody gave Little Bo-Peep bad advice. It is not true that if you leave them alone, they'll come home, wagging their tails behind them. A coin cannot find itself. You can't say, "Here coin, coin, coin. Come on, come on, up with it. Where are you?" A coin can't do that. You say, "Well, the son found himself." The son found himself in this sense: that he was originally with the father and he knew where home was. Also, the teaching of the Bible is that no son ever goes home without the prompting of the father in his heart, if you take the analogy to refer to God.

No person is able to find himself. Here what Jesus is saying is that God is like a shepherd. By the way, He used three illustrations which irritated these Pharisees because they despised shepherds, they despised women, and they despised a forgiving father. In the minds of a Pharisee, a father should never forgive a son who had dishonored the father and dishonored the father's name.

So Christ says God is like a shepherd who's looking for a sheep. God is like a woman who is looking for a lost coin. God is a forgiving father. The reason that they are seeking is because the objects who are lost cannot find themselves. Two years ago at Founder's Week, Joe Stowell preached on this passage of scripture and told the story about his own son, Matthew, lost in Woodfield Mall, and what trauma they went through. There were four of them—he and his wife and grandparents—and they split up to find the boy. They discovered that he was standing beside a candy counter with his hands behind his back looking at candy, not knowing that he was lost.

Listen carefully. The reason that we have to find men and women is because most of them do not know that they are lost. That's the problem. They think to themselves, "Why do I need Jesus Christ? I'm not lost. I am the captain of my fate, I am the master of my soul," and therefore they see no need of the warmth of the Father's house because they are enjoying the far country. For every person who comes to Moody Church and says, "I want to know more about Jesus Christ," there are a hundred in the apartments next to us who will never be found unless someone goes seeking for them.

By the way, notice the text. Those who are seekers are leavers. It says that you leave the 99 and then you seek the one sheep. You leave the coins and then you find the one that is lost. You don't find the people who are lost among those who are already found. You have to leave.

A number of days ago, I read a story in which a man was looking for a ring that evidently he lost. He was on his knees under a streetlamp looking for the ring that was lost. Someone came and said, "What did you lose?" He said, "I lost a ring." The guy said, "Where did you lose it exactly?" He said, "Oh, about a half a block up the street." The guy said, "What are you looking for it here for? Why?" He said, "Well, there's no streetlamp there."

Think about it for a moment. We like to go looking for things where we are comfortable. We like to find those who are already in the light.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: This is Pastor Lutzer. I want to ask you a very pertinent question: do you know anyone who is lost? Have you asked yourself the question how God might use you to point him or her to the Savior? We are to be followers of Jesus Christ, and that's why we're making available for you a booklet I've written entitled *Walking with Jesus: A Radical Return to His Priorities*. In this book, we discuss issues regarding Jesus and how He confronted those who needed salvation, how He loved them, how He answered their questions, how He was willing to obey God no matter the cost.

The Bible says we should follow in His steps. This is a very readable booklet, but I believe it can be transforming. For a gift of any amount, we're making it available for you. Here's what you can do: go to rtwoffer.com. I hope that you have time to write that down. Of course, RTW offer is all one word: rtwoffer.com. Or pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337.

Yes, indeed, God wants to conform us to the image of His Son. What might that look like? I think that this resource might be of help in answering that question. Very quickly, go to rtwoffer.com or pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337.

Dave McAllister: It's time now for you to Ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life. The damage done by divorce is heart-wrenching, but when it happens in full view of a local church, the pain is intensified. Nancy has written from Pennsylvania with this story:

"My husband was saved at age 20 and was a deacon, a Sunday school teacher, and a youth leader for over 30 years. Now he's left me for the church organist. He says that after he divorces me and marries her, he'll ask me and my adult children to forgive him. He says we have to forgive him and invite him back to our birthday gatherings and holiday celebrations with his new wife.

As devastated as I am, I believe I can still think clearly enough to believe this is not a good plan. Does God really expect me to accept a clearly unrepentant adulterer as though nothing is wrong? For his mistress, this is her fifth affair with a married man. She also claims the grace and mercy of the Lord. Sixteen years ago, her husband cheated on her, so she feels completely justified. She divorced that husband, and despite my efforts to fight it, my husband will soon be rid of me by divorce. What should I do?"

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Nancy, first of all, let me thank you so much for asking this question. Even as I have read it, I've been praying that God will give me wisdom to answer it. The answer is this, however: your husband is taking forgiveness for granted. He is confusing, first of all, forgiveness with consequences. Does he really think that he can leave you, that he can commit this great sin, leave you, become involved with this other woman and marry her, and then think to himself, "I've done nothing that a little bit of forgiveness can't cure"?

There are built-in consequences. One day a pastor friend phoned me, and he left his wife for another woman, and he said, "Well, even David got his Bathsheba." I said, "Yes, David got his Bathsheba, but look at what he also got: the devastation of his own family," etc. It is very important for your children and other people who are watching this scenario to recognize the fact that a man cannot walk away from his wife, marry someone else, and then consider it to be just a small bump in the road. What does that say to your family, your children, the wider family of the church?

What the church really ought to do is to discipline him, is to have him recognize that he is committing a sin and he has to be put outside the congregation in a legal sense. So what he is doing is he's confusing forgiveness with consequences. The consequences will still be there. He's also confusing forgiveness with genuine repentance. Obviously, neither he nor the woman he is marrying have any idea of what true repentance is because they're repenting, so to speak, and asking for forgiveness before they commit a sin. That is presumption. It only intensifies, really, their sin.

Specifically to give an answer to your question: no, I don't think that he should be invited back for your celebrations with your children and the like as if nothing has happened because, after all, he has asked your forgiveness. I think that after he is married, what you need to do is to write him a long letter and you need to point out that you cannot pretend that what he has done is such a small thing that it can just be shoved under the rug.

Yes, it is true that God is available to forgive him if he genuinely repents, but restoring him to the family is another matter. I think that there should then be repentance in the presence of the church and in the presence of your family with real brokenness so that he acknowledges among all of those who are watching that he has sinned. Now, he's probably not going to be willing to do that because he's going to say, "Well, you know, I'm in love with this other lady." Fact is, I believe the time will come when God will turn her heart to someone else. They will begin to have problems, and probably not until then will he finally face his sin and see the extent of the iniquity that he has done.

Until that time happens, I think that you must respectfully avoid him. If he does show up to these celebrations, let him know that he is viewed as one who is under discipline because I see no genuine repentance, no acknowledgment of his sin, and all that I see is a terrible example for everyone else who is watching what is happening. I pray that you will receive some counseling that will enable you to make wise decisions in the midst of this very, very difficult situation. But sin can never be minimized. Forgiveness is wonderful, but that does not take a big sin and make it negligible. Thank you, and I pray that God shall indeed give you the wisdom about which I spoke.

Dave McAllister: Thank you, Dr. Lutzer, on behalf of all our listeners in similar situations as Nancy's. 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 understand God's roadmap for your race of life. All of us are prodigal sons or prodigal daughters, and our Father rejoices when we come back to Him. But some of us are like the elder brother who cried "unfair" when his sinning brother sought forgiveness. Next time on Running to Win, more from Luke chapter 15 and what Jesus thinks about the lost people in your life. Plan to join us. Thanks for listening. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.