Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Many churches allocate one or two Sundays a year for the cause of missions. But Jesus made reaching the unreached the main reason we exist. Go and make disciples of all nations, was his final command. Today, seeing our commitments to Christ on a wider stage than ever before.
Stay with us for Commitment, Seeing the World. 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, do you believe Christians will ever complete the task of reaching the entire world with the gospel?
Well, Dave, first of all, let me say I love your intro. Because indeed we are committed to reaching the whole world. Whether or not that will be accomplished in the way in which we see it, I'm not sure. But this much I know, we should all be committed to world evangelism. Yeah.
And even as I think about this, I am so grateful for the many people who support the Ministry of Running to Win. Perhaps you have heard me say it before, but we are in 50 different countries in seven different languages, and the good news is we continue to expand because indeed we are doing all that we can in order to reach the world and let them know that their great hope is in Jesus. And I want to thank the many of you who support this ministry. And at the end of this message, I'm going to be giving you some contact info because some of you perhaps want to become a part of what I call the running-to-win family. Tell you more about it in a moment, but for now, let us listen.
Okay. A democracy must always be glued together by high moral values. That's why the third president, John Adams, said, Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other. You know, the reason he said that was: have you ever thought of what would happen if suddenly all of us decided to break the law at the same time?
There wouldn't be enough policemen, there wouldn't be enough jails. Democracy is based on the assumption that most people are going to be law-abiding citizens, that crime is going to be the exception rather than the rule. In the Humanist magazine, Will Durant, who is himself a humanist, said that regarding America, that there is no other example in history, he says, whereby a democracy has been able to survive without religious cohesion. He says that this is going to be a great challenge for America to survive without religious cohesion. I think it is going to be impossible without some kind of religious.
cohesion. Yes, our country is falling apart morally. I preached about that a few weeks ago, so I only mention it here in our schools and in the crime that you read about in the papers every single day. We're falling apart racially. If you know anything about what the political correct multicultural movement is saying, it is that people need to be hardened in their own special groups.
And therefore, there is a fear on the part of many that we are entering an age of tribalism. It used to be that America was united around the Constitution, the one nation under God, and people forgot about their differences largely. There was unity in the midst of diversity. And now the great emphasis is on diversity. The question is, can we have that much diversity and still have the cohesion to function as a nation?
We are falling apart also socially, the families that are being torn. Our children who attend school tell us about the parents of That are breaking up, and the divorces that some of the kids with whom they go to school have to endure. It's a difficult, painful, painful world out there. We're falling apart politically. We have a president who has espoused high ethics for his staff, but unfortunately in some areas seems to have views that would indicate a low kind of morality in terms of what he hopes to implement.
And so we are wondering where our rudder is and where the compass is when it comes to what is happening politically. We are falling apart religiously. When you go out through the checkout counters, you see all of those tabloids. I saw a headline that said, contact your own spirit guide, become your own faith healer. What a world in which we live, a world of occultism.
A world of unclarity. And yet that's the kind of age. in which we live.
Now, I'm going to ask you to take your Bibles today and to turn to the fifth chapter. of Matthew. Matthew chapter 5, where Jesus is speaking and he gives his disciples some very familiar words. Very familiar words, Matthew chapter 5. And we will look at this from the context of what God expects us to be doing.
in today's world. Jesus said in verse 13, you are the salt of the earth. But if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made as salty again? It is good for nothing anymore except to be thrown down and trampled under the foot of men. You are the light of the world.
A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a peck measure, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father, who is. in heaven. This is the last in a series of messages on commitment that counts, and today I'm going to be speaking about commitment to the world.
Commitment to the world. First of all, for openers, you look at this passage of Scripture and you want to ask the question, who took common clay, which is really what we are, and who took that clay and created from it salt? And who took the darkness that is in our hearts and took that darkness and made it into light? God God. Clay can't decide to become salt on its own.
It can't decide that it is going to make this tremendous creative change. And all the darkness in the world can never create so much as a single ray of light. Not a single ray. Light has to come from outside the darkness. Light has to penetrate the darkness.
And just as God, who spoke the worlds into existence and said, Let there be light, the Bible says He has shone in our hearts to bring us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. You see, if God did not do a miracle, we would not be saved. We would still be clay and we would still be darkness. But because He spoke, We have today salt and light within our hearts. If you're a believer, you are both salt.
and light. What I'd like to do is to use this text now as kind of a window. In fact, we're going to open up three windows because it gives us a lot of understanding regarding our relationship to the world, what the world is like, and that's the way in which we're going to handle these two metaphors that Jesus used on the Sermon on the Mount. First of all, What does this teach us about our relationship to the world? We open this window and this metaphor can teach us something about what the world is like.
Obviously, the world is decaying. The world is decaying. That was the primary use of salt. Salt was used to slow down the process of decay.
Now you and I know that the world is rotting. What happens is that decay actually sets in when there is death because death means that the body can no longer sustain the cells, you see. And when the body can no longer sustain those cells, they begin to disintegrate, they begin to decompose, they begin to fall apart. And they begin to be putrid.
Now that's what's happening to society, isn't it? And Jesus is saying that we are the salt, as we shall notice in just a moment, but the world is basically in a state of decay. And the further the world gets from God, the greater the decay that begins to set in in society. But I want you to notice that Jesus also said that we were light. That means not merely now that the world is in decay, but the world is also in darkness.
It's in darkness. It says in the book of Romans, that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Get this. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like unto corruptible man. Notice, professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, their hearts were darkened.
Now, I want you to understand today that that is a picture of the human heart. And when you're in darkness, it says in the book of Proverbs 4, verse 19: the wicked stumble and they do not know what it is that they are stumbling over. Because when you're walking in darkness, you don't even know what your problem is. And you think of all the people whom you and I know. You think about all the people that we read about in the newspapers who fundamentally don't even know where to turn for answers because they are in a state spiritually of decay and spiritually in darkness.
that has engulfed them.
Now, if the world were in a state of death and decay and darkness and knew it, why there would be more hope. But as Martin Luther pointed out, not only are people blind, but the problem is compounded because they think they can see. Not only are they dead, but the problem is compounded because they think they are alive. All of us as parents like to talk about the cute things that our children said when they were growing up.
Well, I want you to know that ours said a whole lot of cute things when they were growing up. But I remember little Lisa when she was about four years old, she said to Rebecca one night. She said, mommy, my teddy bear knows that he isn't real.
Now you think about that for just a moment. I would think that a teddy bear would have to be real to know that he's not real. I would think that. And I would think that a dead person would have to be alive to know that he is dead. And the problem is, how do you get dead people to know that they are dead?
That's a difficulty. If they were alive, they might know that they are dead. Are you still with me? You know, there's something about dead people. I don't know if you saw that in the newspaper this week, but I'm not making it up.
There was one woman who cynically had chiseled into the tombstone of her husband these words. And I'll read them directly. I now know where he sleeps at night. Uh finally. She's got this guy nailed down.
And the world is dead. And unless Christ speaks a word of life, the world remains dead and dark. You know why I emphasize this?
Sometimes I think we expect too much from the world. We are surprised at the amount of evil, and certainly that is something that we never really get over. But what else can you expect with people who think that they can see and yet they are blind, who think that they are alive and yet they are dead?
So, first of all, these metaphors help us to get a window on our world. Secondly, these metaphors help us to also get a window on our ministry. What is it that we are supposed to be doing as believers? First of all, salt preserves, as I mentioned, it slows down the putrefaction process. If not entirely reversing it, at least it keeps it from going all the way.
Now do you know that we as believers are the salt of the earth and the light of the world and we preserve this world from the judgment of God and from decay? It is better to even have carnal believers than none at all. You remember in the Old Testament the story of Lot. Lot was not walking closely with God at all. And yet, even though he was not walking with the Lord, the fact is that before God sent judgment to Sodom and Gomorrah, God took Lot and his family and got them out of Sodom and Gomorrah, because God says, I will not judge the righteous with the wicked when it comes to the outpouring of my wrath.
Now when you have earthquakes today, the judgment comes to both the righteous and the wicked indiscriminately. All natural disasters are like that. But when it comes to the outpouring of God's wrath, as is going to take place during the days of the Great Tribulation, that is why some of us believe that the church is going to be removed first, because God does not pour out his wrath upon his own people, you see. And the Lord says that we are here to restrain evil. The Holy Spirit restrains evil.
And were it not for those restraints, the wrath of God would be poured out from heaven, and the whole world would be engulfed in his anger and in his judgment. We preserve the world. in its rush. TDK. But also, we should be seasoning the world, which is what salt does.
Salt gives food flavor. You've heard me say before that one of our responsibilities is to make sure that Jesus Christ is attractive to the world.
Now, you and I know that Jesus Christ is attractive, but they don't believe that he is because they have so many misconceptions about him. They have so many misconceptions about Christians. They are skeptical about the believability of anyone, much less the believability of Jesus Christ. And we need to convince them otherwise by the way in which we live. There's a man by the name of Dr.
Weigel, who was a hymn writer who was speaking in Pasadena, California, to a Bible conference. And one afternoon he decided to visit all of the rose gardens in Pasadena. And he came back and someone asked him, Did you enjoy going to the rose gardens? And he was surprised that the person knew where he had spent the afternoon. And the man said, You have brought the fragrance of the flowers with you.
And that's what we should be doing as Christians. Yes, we preserve the world in its rush to judgment, but also we should be in a position where people are attracted to Christ because of the way in which we live. Salt preserves And salt seasons. What does light do?
Well light gives perspective. You know, in the darkness you can see shapes, but you have no idea as to what it is that is really there. As children, we used to do a lot of running in the darkness out in the fields, and we always liked to have a flashlight because we imagined all kinds of things that weren't there. And in the very same way, when you are in darkness, you may see the shapes, but you don't know what the shapes are. You can't distinguish a stone from a piece of gold.
It all seems to be alike in the night. And isn't that exactly where the world is today? It is a world without values, a world without understanding, a world where everything has gone amok. And we as Christians have the responsibility of proclaiming to the world that this is reality, there are values out there, and we are to be light. And another thing that light does is not only give that perspective, but give direction, because people are confused.
And of course, no matter what we do, always back of every single social program that we as a church might have, back of every attempt that we might have to restrain wickedness, we must always be pointing men and women to Christ, which is the ultimate answer to the dilemma that this country finds itself in. We must point people to Jesus, not to ourselves. Remember the story of the man who said to someone, I have pointed to the moon and all that you saw was my finger. In other words, there are people who may look at us and they may not be able to get beyond us and we must constantly be encouraging men and women to look to Christ who is the answer, the way, the truth, and the light, and the light of the world, because that's the message that men and women so desperately need.
So this metaphor that Jesus Christ uses gives us some perspective, first of all, on our world, a perspective on our responsibility within our world, but also some interesting perspectives on the pitfalls that we face.
Now, I want you to hear this very clearly. If you're here today as a born-again Christian, you are salt and you are light, period. You may not be a very good witness for Jesus Christ, but you are salt and you are light because that is what Christ made you.
Now, the problem is that sometimes the salt loses its ability, and sometimes the light is hidden. and what a tragedy that becomes. Yeah. My friend, this is Pastor Lutzer. I want to speak to you personally for just a moment.
First of all, I want to thank the many of you who support this ministry. I want you to know that I woke up this morning praying for all of our supporters. asking God to bless them for their faithfulness. Also, I want to challenge those who have been blessed by the ministry of running to win. would you consider becoming an endurance partner?
I'm holding in my hand some letters that are very encouraging. This comes to us from West Africa. Thank you. I have learned that I can stand strong, making the right decisions even in the midst of darkness. Here's one from East Africa.
This person talks about his phone addiction that was stealing his time from God. and how running to win helped him to see that if he focussed on God, he could stand against the wiles of the devil and be delivered. I mention this for a very important reason. The Ministry of Running to Win goes around the world because of people just like you. Would you consider becoming what we like to call an endurance partner?
After all, the Bible does say that we should run the race of life with endurance. I hope that you have a pen or pencil handy because I'd like you to investigate. What this would mean. Here's what you do: you go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffers.com and when you're there you click on the Endurance Partner button.
or what you can do is to pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218. ninety three thirty seven. Consider partnering with us on a regular basis. We deeply appreciate you. Because this work is a work of God and God's people.
Once again, Go to rtwoffer.com, click on the Endurance Partner button. or if you prefer pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-1. 218. ninety three thirty seven. Time now for another chance for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life.
Today, a listener named Daniel has a question about dying a meaningful death. Here is his story. A friend recently asked me this question. I'm not sure how to answer it. We often see firefighters as heroes.
Even the Bible says, Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. firefighters often risk their lives to save others. If a firefighter loses his life in the attempt, people respect that, and their praise seems to give his life meaning. If a firefighter knew that he would die painfully in a fire, but he also knew that after being dead for say a few moments or a day he would come back to life healed would not then his sacrifice have less meaning? After all, he knew his resurrection was just around the corner.
Jesus knew that his death was not permanent he knew he would be raised. Does that not make his sacrifice less valuable? I told my friend that in the case of Jesus he bore our sins he took them on himself as if they had been his. But I was not sure if that's a strong argument against this kind of thinking. Any insight you have would be most helpful and appreciated.
Well, you know, one thing I appreciate, Dave, about answering questions is that you never seem to get the same one. And this one certainly is very unique. I've never thought of it before. I've certainly never been asked it before. But here's my answer.
First of all, let us keep in mind that in the end everybody is going to be raised, and even the firefighter who gives his life eventually is going to come back to life.
Now he may be raised in a resurrection that brings judgment, but nothing that we do here on this earth should give us the impression that this is the end of the bargain. But secondly, I see in this question the whole issue of how do we define meaning. Your question seems to define meaning, a meaningful life, as one where people praise a firefighter because he gave his life. And as you point out, certainly if he knew that he was going to come back to life in three days, he probably would receive less praise. But that's not the definition of real meaning that God gives to a life.
Likening it unto Jesus Christ, when He died on the cross, His death was a sacrifice for sinners. And even though he knew that he was going to be raised again, it had tremendous meaning because of what God invested in the death of Jesus. Namely, Jesus taking our sin upon Himself and granting us redemption. From that standpoint, His death had tremendous meaning. even though he happened to know that of course he would rise again.
So let's keep in mind that God looks at these things in an entirely different way from a different perspective. and let us never diminish the meaning of Christ's death, just because he happened to know that he was going to be raised again in three days. There's no way ultimately that we can even compare a firefighter what Jesus did. because of what Jesus endured for us, spiritually speaking. In God's presence so that we might be redeemed for ever.
Your story, though, interesting. does not diminish The Meaning of Christ's Death by one Witt.
Some thoughtful counsel from doctor Erwin Lutzer. Thank you, Daniel, 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 Running2Win 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 60614. Running to win is all about helping you find God's roadmap for your race of life. In our series on commitment, we've learned what commitment means, what God seeks, and what it means to care.
Next time, we close out these days together with final thoughts about seeing the world the way God sees it. Plan to join us. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.
