Running To Win

Guest (Male): Thus far in our series on following Christ, Erwin Lutzer has given us some priorities that would change if we did what Jesus would do. Pastor, Jesus was determined to do God’s will, no matter what. I think of his 40 days in the wilderness, tempted by the devil.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: And Dave, as all of us know, he was faithful to the Father by quoting scripture. He stood on the word of God when Satan came to him, and of course, Jesus never did a miracle for his own benefit. That’s why he would not turn stones into bread. He did the will of God, no matter the cost.

And even as we think of the United States of America, we’re reminded of the fact that what we really need is believers who are willing to follow Christ, willing to witness for him, willing to stand for truth, and do so with a sense of integrity and joy.

I want to ask you a question. I want to thank the many of you who are helping us get this ministry around the world. At the end of this message, I’m going to be reading a testimony from someone in West Africa. We believe that the United States of America desperately needs the gospel, but so does the whole world. Thank you so much in advance for helping us.

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 he said, "Jesus, become a hero. 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. They did a few weeks ago. Why? Because somebody told them, "You don’t vote for that and you are not going to be reelected. 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 reelection?" 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. Isn't that interesting? Yes.

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, O God, regardless of the consequences." He was committed to purity, committed to purity. As a matter of fact, if I may throw this in as a parenthesis, as you know, I was opposed to that ordinance and I received a lot of mail from folks who didn’t agree with me and I was called anti-Christian and a lot of less charitable epithets.

But I want to tell you something. It is not because we hate homosexuals. It is not because we are angry with homosexuals. Jesus said that the prostitutes went into the kingdom of heaven ahead of the publicans and the Pharisees, and he could have added repentant homosexuals as well, I suppose.

But that ordinance is going to cause incredible havoc in this city. How do I know that? It’s because a province in Canada has a similar ordinance, and you have homosexual marriages. You have marriages between a man and a wife that broke up, and then the man decided to have a homosexual marriage, and now he wants custody of the kids.

Under equality, he has the same right to have custody as the mother does, and on and on the problems go. So that’s why we stood against it. It was because we did not want to in any way give legal and public credence and support to homosexuality, which is what this ordinance does.

Let me give you a fourth point that would be important if we followed Jesus Christ, and that is patience. I hope you still have your hand in that passage in First Peter because it talks there about Jesus Christ’s commitment to the cross. And it says in verse 22, "who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth. While being reviled, he did not revile in return. While suffering, he uttered no threats, but kept entrusting himself to him that judges righteously."

What Jesus said is that I can live my life in such a way that I can be patient to commit my concerns to the judge of the universe. I do not have to make every injustice correct in this life. I do not have to give insult for insult, railing for railing, hit for hit, slap for slap. Rather, I can receive all this and then I commit myself to God, who judges righteously.

I can wait for the supreme lawgiver of the universe to go ahead and to bring justice to my situation and to my cause. For that kind of patience, he hung on the cross as men nailed him there as a sacrifice for sin. Fifth, we have the priority of purpose, the priority of purpose. Notice what the text says.

Verse 21: "For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving an example that you should follow in his steps." What Jesus said is, "I have come to do the will of God, and that will of God will be done and I will not be sidelined, I will not be deterred. I will do the will of God regardless of the consequences, no matter how much it costs, regardless of the implications."

He said, "I have come to die, and die I will." And his face was set directly toward Jerusalem as he began to go the last steps on earth before the crucifixion. Jesus said that I am willing to do that, committed to do the will of God. John 8, he says these words, "The Father hath not left me alone, for I do always those things that please him."

Crowds didn’t matter. In fact, he said to the Pharisees, he said, "How can you even believe if you seek honor from men and seek not the honor that comes from God alone?" Sometimes people say, "Well, I just don’t have that much faith." Well, there are many reasons for a lack of faith. One is a defiled conscience, it says in First John.

But another reason is, Jesus said you can’t believe if you are only seeking the honor that comes from men and not the honor that comes from God alone. Now, as I was thinking over these five priorities of prayer, of people, of purity, of patience, and of purpose, it dawned on me that one way that we could really prove to Christ that we loved him.

Wouldn't you like to do that? He said to Peter, "lovest thou me?" Let’s suppose Jesus is asking you that question today. Would you really like to prove that you love him? Tell you how. Make some really tough choices in his favor. Make some tough choices in his favor. And these five priorities would really enable us to make those tough choices.

Think, for example, of the priority of time. If we began to take seriously prayer and people and all the other things that we have mentioned, it would mean the rearranging of our schedules. It would mean that our time would be God’s and no longer ours. We could not say, "I have a free day and I can do whatever I like."

We would say, "What would Jesus do? What would Jesus do?" The priority would force us to make some tough decisions regarding our schedules. Regarding our comfort zone, our comfort zone. You know, we feel comfortable with those who are of our kind. I feel comfortable with Christians. Sometimes I don’t feel that comfortable with non-Christians.

Yesterday evening, I went to a basketball game because my daughter was playing, and they won, by the way. But I was at the basketball game and I was sitting there thinking of this message, in addition to watching them play, of course. But I said, "Now, would Jesus be here?" And the answer is yes, of course, he’d be here.

He’d be here making friends of sinners and asking them questions that would lead them into truth. Yes, Jesus would be there. But what it means is that if we are serious about following Christ, we must break out of that comfort zone and learn to befriend sinners whom God has come to seek and to save.

It means that we would make some tough decisions regarding our emotions. We would have to give up some of our bitternesses, some of our petty difficulties that we may have, some of our prejudices. It would have tremendous implications in terms of our money. What kind of a car would Christ drive?

How much money would Jesus Christ give? If he were married and had a family, how much would he put into a retirement account? What would Jesus do if he were me? That’s a question. I think that Jesus would influence our pleasures, wouldn’t he? Just think of saying, "Now, what would Jesus do with what is sometimes called discretionary time? How would Jesus spend that hour?"

As I was thinking about this this past week, what he was asking me is, "Are you willing to live this year making every decision, facing every situation, just simply saying 'What would Jesus do?' and then trying to find the answer to that question, which sometimes may not be hard to find and sometimes difficult to find?

But in those cases where it is clear and you know intuitively, 'Of course Jesus would do this,' would you be willing to say by God’s grace, 'That’s the way I’d like to live this year'?" What would Jesus do? And I was agonizing and I was saying, "Lord, this could be a very revolutionary concept. It could impact the way I preach, it could impact the ministry at the church, my family, it could impact my schedule. Lord, Lord, hold it."

But then I thought of something that was of great comfort to me. Do you know that no matter what Jesus may require of me, no matter what he may require, it’ll always be less than what his love for me required? It’ll always be less. There is no way that my love for Jesus Christ will ever cost me as much as his love for me.

Because I can’t think of any sacrifice that I have to make in the next 365 days that would be equivalent to being nailed to a cross. I can’t think of anything that Jesus would ask me to do that would cost that much. And that’s what he did for me in obedience to the will of the Father.

Listen, there’s some of you here who are in businesses that if you began to ask the question, "What would Jesus do?" you might find out that your business would go under. Because what you are doing may not be totally, totally honest. It may also mean that some of the things that you are doing are really honest perhaps, but outside of the will and the purpose and the desires of God, though they are honest.

You say, "Well, I’d lose my business." I say this to you lovingly, but with a smile on my face. So what? Jesus went to the cross because he loved us so much. We’ll never have to do that. I mean, we may have to die as martyrs sometime, I don’t have any plans to do that in the immediate future, but maybe someday.

But Jesus Christ did so much for us. Is it unreasonable for us to say, "Lord Jesus, whatever, wherever, whatever the result, whatever the consequences, I will follow you and ask, 'What would Jesus do?' And when I have my answer, when I know what he will do, by your grace and your power and the strength of the spirit and the word which needs to be poured into my heart to give me that grace, I will do it. I will do it."

Perhaps you heard that story of a man who took his son to work one day and he was responsible for a big, huge drawbridge. And over that drawbridge, a train would run a couple of times a day. But now the drawbridge was up because a huge steamliner was coming through the river.

After the steamliner had gone through, the man began to let that drawbridge go down until suddenly he heard screams ring out. And he looked down and he saw that his son was in among the gear system of this huge contraption. But he had only a second to make a decision. He could reverse the gears and save his son, but there was a train coming and the train would plunge into the river.

So in his agony, he decided to do the only reasonable thing that it seemed to do and that was to just let that drawbridge continue to go down and to let his son be torn up and killed. And he did that. And as the train went over that drawbridge, the people that were in it waved out the window at the man, not knowing, not knowing the tremendous price that he had just paid for their safety.

Isn't that the way in which the world is? They go on their merry way, they go doing their thing, totally unaware that there was a Jesus Christ who went to the cross and while being reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he threatened not, but he committed himself to God.

He gave himself over to God the Father and he hung there and he died there. And now the text says to you and to me, having freely received the gift of salvation without strings attached, the Bible says now you follow in his steps. Is it unreasonable that Jesus would ask us to do that? Is it unreasonable?

Many years ago, Henry Lyte wrote a song. It says, "Jesus, I my cross have taken, all to leave and follow thee; destitute, despised, forsaken, thou from hence my all shalt be. Perish every fond ambition, all I have sought and hoped and known; yet how rich is my condition, God and heaven are still my own."

The text reads: "For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in his steps." And we might add, whatever the cost, whatever the cost. Let us pray.

Our Father, in this moment you see our hearts. You know our frailties, our insecurities, our fears. You know, Lord, how often we have sung songs, "All to Jesus, I surrender," and then we have gone home and done what we have wanted to do.

We pray that in these moments, you will not make our commitment as the dew which is there in the morning on the grass but by noon is gone. But that your Holy Spirit may so sear us with this text that we may do nothing unless we know that you would approve and it’s something that you might do.

Father, you’ve seen our hearts. You know the tremendous transformation that we need. Be gracious unto us and grant it, Father. And may we this year be able to say that we do nothing until we ask, "What would Jesus do?" What would Jesus do for employees? How would he treat them?

What would Jesus do when it comes to our income tax? What would Jesus do when it comes to our wives? Brand this upon our mind. Paint every wall with this question in our homes. May it hang above our television sets. And may we never be free until we answer it and are obedient to it. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: This is Pastor Lutzer. Have you been blessed as a result of the ministry of Running To Win? Even a message like the one that you have just heard speaks to many people, to all of us. And what we desire here to do is to get the gospel of Jesus Christ around the world.

You have perhaps heard me say that Running To Win is in 50 different countries in seven different languages, and by God’s grace, we are working to go into an eighth language. And we do that because of people just like you. I’m going to give you a challenge in a moment, but first of all, I’m holding in my hand a report from someone who listens in East Africa.

This person says, "I’ve been encouraged to be humble and to trust God more in my struggles. May God bless you and may he continue giving you wisdom as you continue to preach his word." That testimony is your testimony because of the many people who pray for us and support this ministry.

Very quickly, I want to give you some contact info. Would you consider becoming what we call an endurance partner? Investigate it. Here’s what you do: you go to rtwoffer.com. That’s rtwoffer.com and when you’re there, you click on the endurance partner button. Or you can call us at 1-888-218-9337. Become a part of the Running To Win family. Right now, go to rtwoffer.com, click on the endurance partner button.

Guest (Male): It's time for another chance for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life. Today, Elizabeth has written, revealing more about the collateral damage divorce does. She is one of our many African American listeners, and she writes: "My husband is having an affair. He filed for divorce. How should I approach this biblically? The woman is white. How should I keep from feeling animosity toward white people?"

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Elizabeth, there are two questions that are really going on here in your question to me, and we need to keep them distinct. The greatest sin that your husband is committing is having this affair, and that would not be lessened whether the woman was white or black. It really doesn’t make any difference. And so what you need to do is to see that as the sin. The racial issue is secondary.

Now in terms of your own heart, what you need to be able to do is to simply recognize that it is always wrong to profile. It is wrong for those who are white to be able to profile those who are African American and to come to certain conclusions about their character. It is also wrong to profile the other direction and to therefore brand the entire white race because of the failings of one person.

So I’m going to pray that God will enable you to set aside the racial issue, which is very secondary in your story, and deal with the other issue, namely your husband’s great sin. And I hope that your church is there to help you. I hope that he is being disciplined by your church.

There isn’t much that you can do if your husband decides to divorce you, but the church should be there recognizing that he has overstepped boundaries. He must be disciplined, he must be held in account, and he cannot be given the impression that this is a small bump along the road of life. All sin is serious. Adultery, affairs are very serious. And I hope you and the church take that position.

Guest (Male): Thank you, Elizabeth, for sharing your story. And thank you, Dr. Lutzer, for that counsel. 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. Believers follow Jesus at his command. His road was never easy, and if we walk in his steps, some of those steps will be tough ones. Next time on Running To Win, we’ll be going into the desert wilderness, the place where Jesus prayed. Plan to join us. Thanks for listening. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running To Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.