Running To Win

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. When Jesus called Simon and Andrew, he said they'd become fishers of men. A higher calling meant leaving their boats behind. Do we hear the higher calling of Christ? Are we willing to pay the price to follow it?

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. Pastor Lutzer is showing us portraits of Christ in a series he's called Come and See Jesus. Pastor, it can be tough to leave known comforts behind and follow Christ into what seems unknown.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: You know, Dave, even as you were speaking, I couldn't help but think of the book Bonhoeffer wrote entitled *The Cost of Discipleship*. And if I remember correctly, in that book, he says when Jesus calls a man, he bids him come and die. And elsewhere, I think Bonhoeffer said that to be a disciple of Jesus Christ seems like a great idea until you realize it ended at the cross.

I believe that God is calling all of us to a higher standard of living, a higher standard of commitment. And that can't happen unless we learn to pray. I mean, really pray. I'm holding in my hands a book entitled *Praying the Bible* by Donald Whitney. I believe very deeply that this book will change your prayer life because, actually, it is his ministry that has also changed mine. It means that you can wake up every morning excited about what you're going to pray because you'll have learned to pray scripture.

Well, as I've already emphasized previously, this is the last day we're making this resource available for you. Here's what you do: go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com. Of course, rtwoffer is all one word. rtwoffer.com or pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337. For now, let us listen, but at the end of this message, I'm going to be giving you that contact info for the last time.

First of all, he called them. Secondly, he challenged them. Thirdly, he partnered with them. And this story is found in the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Luke. Luke chapter five. Because you see, Jesus said if you're going to be fishers of men, if you're going to be fishers of people, why then indeed what I'm going to do is to show you that I know something about your secular vocation and I'm going to prove to you that you can do my work. I'm going to partner with you in the fishing business.

This is a remarkable story because the crowd is pushing in on Jesus, remember. They're getting so near the shore that he feels that if he takes another step back, he'll be in the water. So what he does is there are two boats there and he says, "I'm going to get into one of the boats and I'm going to let it go out maybe a hundred feet from the shore." And he sat in the boat and the crowd was right up to the shore, right their toes were touching the water, and he taught them.

And we can imagine that he began teaching maybe at mid-morning and now it's noon. And Peter is washing and mending the nets because Peter and his companion were out all night fishing. And Jesus said to him in verse four, "Put out into the deep and let your nets down for a catch." Now, you have to understand that this was a real strange command for two reasons. First of all, this clearly was the wrong time.

The fishermen in Galilee knew right well that the time that you do the fishing is during the night. You don't fish at noon. It's the wrong time. Secondly, it's the wrong place. If anything, if anything during the day, the fish come along the shore and that's where you fish. You do not fish in the deep at noon. There are no fish there and if they are there, they will not come into your net.

I think we could use our sanctified imagination here and we could almost see a discussion going on between Peter and Andrew and some of the others and saying, "You know, he's a great rabbi, but he ain't much about fishing. He really doesn't know what he's talking about. You know, that's the problem when you're a carpenter and think that you know something about fishing."

But Peter said, "At your word," verse five. I like the translation that says "nevertheless, at your word." We're committed to you, we've decided to throw in our lot with you, we want to learn from you. You said it, I'll do it. Wrong time, wrong place, but Jesus said it. Notice the text said, "And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish and their nets were breaking."

What they had done in their own strength the night before, which proved to be unsuccessful, turns out now under the obedience of Jesus to be eminently successful. Wrong place, wrong time, it matters not. Jesus said it, we do it, and we're successful. Even though we're fishing in the very same place where we fished all night when the fish were supposed to be swimming into nets, and now we're there and lo and behold, the nets are full.

Could I suggest to you that there are times when what we need to do is to fish again in waters that have been unfruitful? There are some of you who have witnessed to others and you've shared your faith and you've caught nothing. And there are times when under the obedience of Christ and depending upon his power, we fish again. We fish again in the very places where we have not had success, and we go trusting him because we do not know but that in that same water of failure there shall be success.

You know, of course, what Jesus was saying to them, don't you? What he was saying to them is, "If I can prove to you that I can help you catch fish in Galilee, you have to understand that we're going to become partners together catching fish, human beings for the kingdom. And because I can do one, I can always do the other." Why is it that we can fish with confidence? First of all, because of Jesus Christ's power.

I love this. All night the fish swim past the nets and now suddenly when they're not supposed to be there, by a divine impulse these fish come from God knows where and they're all headed to a net and by some spiritual compulsion, all of these fish say there's a net there, that's where I'm going. You know, God gave to Adam authority over the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air, and over everything that creeps upon the earth. And because of the fall of man, he lost that authority.

But Jesus here is the second Adam. So Jesus can speak and when he speaks, he commands the fish and the fish come at his command. Why can we witness with confidence? Because we're partners with Jesus. The Bible says no man can come to me except the Spirit draw him. And in the very same way, when we fish, when we share the gospel, we may think to ourselves we're failures. Well, at the end of the day, the responsibility is for Christ because only Christ can command your heart to come.

Listen up, those of you who are not believers. You've never received Christ as Savior. Even while I'm speaking, I'm trusting the blessed Holy Spirit of God to be drawing you into the net of the kingdom. I'm trusting the Holy Spirit. That voice within you that says that you should believe on Jesus, that voice within you that tells you that you need him and that without him you will be lost, that voice within you, that urgency. Listen to that voice. Listen to that voice because without it, you would never believe on Christ.

We can do it first because of the command of Jesus, the power of Jesus. And secondly, because he does command it. He does command it. Lord, it's the wrong time, it's the wrong place, but at your word, I'll do it. I'm not suggesting that we run around handing out tracts to everyone and buttonholing people for Jesus as we meet them. No, we do listen to the voice of the Spirit, most assuredly, because there are situations that God sets up for us.

But we're not so naive as to realize that indeed we are commanded to witness and sometimes we do it because he says do it. And unexpectedly, he may cause fish to come into our net. Today, I'm thinking of you who have been believers, some of you for many years, and never once have you witnessed to anyone about Jesus and the gospel. You say, "Well, Pastor Lutzer, you know, I would do it if I just had a sign from heaven."

I heard a story about a man who was like that, a Christian man who sat in a bus and said, "Lord, if you want me to witness to somebody today, just send me a sign, Lord, send me a sign." At the next stop, a man got on wearing a three-piece suit. The man sat right next to this Christian, bowed his head, tears came to his eyes and he began to pray, "Oh God, I don't know if you're there. I have no clue, Lord, as to how I can be forgiven or I don't know whether or not you care for me. Oh God, please send somebody who'll tell me about how I can connect with you. Would you do that please?"

And the Christian's listening to this and he's saying, "Lord, Lord, is this the sign? Is this the sign, Lord?" He said, "Lord, Lord, I need another sign. I need some confirmation. Lord, Lord, if this is the sign, then turn the bus driver into a pumpkin. Then I'll know for sure." What sign are you looking for if you're working with a colleague and you have never once shared with that colleague what is most important to you?

Thank God for Evangelism Explosion that we have here at the Moody Church because that is equipping people who are called. But even if you haven't taken Evangelism Explosion, and I hope that at some point you do, the fact is that you can witness too. If you've, like someone says, witnessing is really one beggar telling another beggar where he can find bread. Would you, by God's grace, make a promise this week? And I'll make the same promise.

That you will go to someone and say this to them, "Would you mind if I were to tell you something that someone once told me that is very important and that changed my life?" Would you say that to somebody? And then if they say, "Oh, well, I've used that frequently," never had anyone say, "No, I'm not interested in what somebody told you some time ago that changed your life." I mean, I've never had it. They've always said, "Oh yeah, sure, tell me."

And then just simply say, "You know, I was wandering along in life," and some of you have adult conversion experiences as to how you came to know Christ. And for those of us who were converted a little younger, we can change it a little bit and we can say, "Well, you know, I was growing up in this environment, but I want you to know that as a result of my relationship with Jesus Christ, this is what Christ has done for me."

And we saw that this morning, didn't we? As we had these marvelous testimonies of God's grace. Converting an atheist, converting someone of a different religion, converting somebody who is in the pit of sin. And God came and said swim into the net. Swim into the net. And you see, you'd think that after this experience, Peter would say, "You know, this is really great. With that kind of an ability," and by the way, you know they did in verse seven signal for partners in another boat to come and help them because the nets were breaking.

And that's what our missionaries do, by the way. They're saying, "You know, we need help in Mexico, we need help in the different countries of the world. Come over and help us." And we try to do that. But you think that Peter would say this, "My goodness, with a miracle like this, I would like to sign Jesus up for the fishing industry. This would really be great. We could make a bundle on fishing and of course give the proceeds to God."

No, when Peter saw it, I'm in verse eight, he fell down at Jesus' knees saying, "Depart from me for I am a sinful man, O Lord." He knew that he was in the presence of deity and holiness. He wasn't thinking about making money on fishing. At that moment, he could only worship because he was in the presence of someone who can cause fish to swim into a net.

And as we lead people to Jesus Christ, we also, we also fall down in worship. And it's not an ego thing. It is the most humbling experience to know that God used you in the fishing business. Back in the 1800s, I'm told that in Cleveland, I guess it is, the Cleveland Harbor where there's Lake Erie, ships would come in and off in the distance real high they would have some upper lights and those lights were for ships that were coming in from a long distance and they could see those lights and they could know where they were supposed to aim the vessel.

But as the ships got closer, what happened is there were some lower lights and those lights were there because the boats needed to know where the rocks were and to be carefully guarded into the actual harbor. So you have the upper lights that give the overall picture and the lower lights that had more specificity. Well, there is a story that a ship was coming along and because of a storm the lower lights were burnt out and the ship hit rocks and many were drowned.

It was that event that caused Philip Bliss to write a song that is not in our hymnals, but some of us who are a little older, we remember singing it in church, don't we? And the hymn is "Let the Lower Lights Be Burning." Send a gleam across the waves. Some poor fainting, drowning seaman you may rescue, you may save. We're not a club. We're not here to make ourselves feel better. We are a rescue station in partnership with Jesus, whom we pray will cause fish to come into our net. Let's pray.

Our Father, we thank you today that we are partners. Your word actually says we are co-laborers together with God. In other words, we cannot ourselves cause men and women to believe, but we can put the message out there, we can hold the lights. And we ask, O Lord Jesus, that you will burn within us the confidence we need to fish, to witness again where we've been unsuccessful. O, cause us to be a witnessing church we pray, to the brokenhearted, to the defeated, to those in despair.

And now I can't conclude this message unless I speak to all of you and those who have never trusted Christ as Savior. Perhaps today God is causing you to swim into the net of the kingdom, as Peter put down his net after the day of Pentecost and 3,000 souls were saved. Would you at this moment say, "Jesus, I see you to be the Savior. I come now to receive you as my own." You tell him that. Father, thank you for what you taught the disciples. Thank you for what you teach us. Thank you for the awesome privilege of working with you in your kingdom. In Jesus' name, amen.

You know, my friend, even as I hear those words about shining a light in a dark world for people who are spiritually speaking drowning, I can't help but give thanks to God for many of you who support this ministry. Many of you pray for us, many of you support this ministry so that we can be in different countries. Because at the end of the day, the greatest human need is that people might come to saving faith in Jesus Christ, who said he was the light of the world. Thank you so much for helping us.

And now once again, because this is the last time we're making this resource available for you entitled *Praying the Bible*, I'd like to give you some contact info. Here's what you do: go to rtwoffer.com. rtwoffer, of course, is all one word. rtwoffer.com or you can pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337. I trust that you'll take advantage of this offer because all of us need to remember that when we pray scripture, we are praying God's word back to him. So when you connect with us, ask for the book *Praying the Bible* by Donald Whitney. I promise it will give you a new way to pray, a way to connect with God every single day.

Dave McAllister: It's time now for another chance for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question you may have about the Bible or the Christian life. Chad listens to Running to Win and like many of us, wonders about the various versions of the gospel we hear these days. Here is his story: "I've been hearing a lot about the gospel of prosperity. I've also had people tell me that I have to live a life of poverty to be a good Christian. I believe it would make me a better man in the eyes of God if I buy the bare minimum and give the rest to people in need. I'm wondering if it's okay to spend money on myself and those around me without having a covetous attitude."

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Chad, thank you so much for your question. And again, it certainly is a reflection of our culture because you're absolutely right that we hear today about the doctrine of prosperity. And as it is generally taught, it is just wrong and unbiblical. This idea that God expects all of us to be rich and if we had enough faith, we'd all be wealthy, that is not found in God's holy book. Instead, we find references not only to poverty but we find references to those who suffer for the cause of the gospel, those who are deprived, those who have their houses stolen, as it says in Hebrews chapter 10.

So let's set that on the side. But now you've raised the other issue of to what extent are we allowed any kind of luxury in a world that is so very, very needy. Well, what I would like to say here, Chad, is we have to have balance. You know, you say, "I'm wondering if it's okay to spend money on myself and those around me without having a covetous attitude." Well, covetousness certainly is sin. In fact, the Bible says it is idolatry. And the Bible also says those who desire to be rich fall into different temptations and sin.

But Chad, the desire to take care of yourself, to buy clothes, to take care of your family, to better their condition, if you're in a small house, to get a bigger one so that your growing family can have room to grow up, that isn't the same as desiring to be rich, nor is that the same as being covetous. So what you need to do is to strike a balance here. I love your question because, you know, you're talking about generosity and giving to others and absolutely we should do that. But on the other hand, we can take care of the necessities of life, we can better our conditions, and that isn't the same as committing the sins that I've just listed. So keep working on this balance, Chad, and I believe that God will give you wisdom and he will instruct you and grant you what you need. God bless you and you have a good day.

Dave McAllister: A very balanced answer from Dr. Erwin Lutzer. Thank you, Chad, and thank you, Dr. Lutzer. 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. Next time on Running To Win, take with us a look at the miracles of Jesus and how they validated his claim to be the Son of God. Thanks for listening. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running To Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.