Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus. The founder and perfecter of our faith. Believers get to life's goal line by faithfully following Christ, who lived to minister to people. Taking His gospel to needy people is our primary reason for running the race every day.
So are you making an impact in your area of influence? Please stay with us. 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. We're learning what following Christ is all about.
Pastor Lutzer, we now know what it means to follow Christ into the desert.
Now you'll tell us what it means to follow him into the community. Dave, I've been studying the impact of technology on all of us, and one of the things that has happened is it has led us into isolation. But we need one another, and even Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. wanted Peter, James, and John close to him. He wanted them to pray for him.
Now they failed. But it's a reminder of the fact that the Christian life is to be lived in community. I've written a booklet entitled Walking with Jesus: A Radical Return to His Priorities. It's a book that can be easily read. It has illustrations of how Jesus handled conflict.
how he handled the desert, how he handled his relationships. I think it'll be a tremendous blessing to you. Here's what you do. You go to rtwoffer.com. But for now, let us listen.
Two weeks ago I spoke on the topic, what would Jesus do? Last week I mentioned that if you follow Christ, you will follow him into the desert. And there you will come into worship with the living God, but Satan will also show up. as took place in the desert ministry of Christ. And I hope that you've been in the desert this week.
I've spent some time there and noticed within my own heart some conflict, which I'm thankful to say that God brought me through successfully. And now today we would like to speak about Christ coming into a community. We know what it is like for Jesus to enter into the human heart. But there are times of special refreshing that God brings to a city or to a nation that are so special that people have coined the word revival to talk about them. Revival means when a group of God's people simultaneously and oftentimes spontaneously are revived by the power of the Spirit of God.
When most of us think of America, we think of those great revivals in the past during the time of Jonathan Edwards and Whitfield, the three great awakenings. What many of us do not even perhaps realize is that in this century, America experienced a revival. In 1904, there was a great moving of the Holy Spirit in Wales, so much so that churches were filled 18 months. Almost night after night, for a year and a half, churches were filled. As the news of what God was doing in Wales came to the United States and was picked up by the secular and the religious press.
Many people were encouraged to pray for revival in the United States, and God did some wonderful things. Let me tell you about them. In 1904, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, it was estimated that almost all of the 60,000 people. had become believers. In Newark, the secular press ran a column a day to tell about what God was doing in the churches.
In Atlanta, 1,000 businessmen met for intercession and on November the 2nd, 1904, stores, offices, etc. were closed at midday for prayer. In Louisville, Kentucky, 58 leading businessmen closed for prayer at noon, and someone said, quote, The whole city is breathing a spiritual atmosphere. Everywhere in shops and stores, in the mill or on the street, salvation. is the one topic of conversation.
In Chicago, here many churches experienced revival, but perhaps the most dramatic took place in Denver, Colorado, and in Portland, Oregon. In 1905, which is just the transition from November, December. to January 1905. On the 20th day, It was a day of prayer, and at 10 o'clock, the churches were already filled. At 11.30, almost all the stores had closed.
By 12 noon, four theaters, which had been designated by the mayor for prayer, were filled. And the Colorado state legislature voted to postpone its business so that people could be released to pray. Portland, Oregon. 1905s. 200 stores closed from 11 o'clock to 2 in the afternoon for prayer.
And someone said, quote, For three hours a day, business was practically suspended. and from the crowds in the great department stores to the humblest clerk, From the bank presidents to boot blacks, all abandoned money making for soul saving. Isn't that great? We're talking about this century. It's not too long ago.
Some of you may be able to remember those days if you have a very, very good memory. 1904, 1905. And then I think, for example, of what happened in Canada in the early 70s. And this is of particular interest to me because I wrote a book about it entitled Flames of Freedom. And the book is no longer in print, but the Canadian Revival Fellowship keeps printing it.
That's the story of the Canadian Revival and the dramatic things that happened in western Canada over a period of a year as God came to town.
Now let me ask you the question, what happens when Jesus comes to a town or to a city? I want you to take your Bibles and turn with me to the 19th chapter of Luke. Luke chapter 19, Jesus Christ. coming to Jericho. It says, and he entered and was passing through Jericho.
And behold, there was a man called by the name of Zacchaeus. And he was a chief tax gatherer, and he was rich. And he was trying to see who Jesus was, and he was unable because of the crowd, for he was small in stature. And he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree in order to see him, for he was about to pass through that way. What I'd like to do is to give you five characteristics.
Five events that take place when Jesus. comes into a town. And you can write them in the margin of your Bibles because each of them is just one word, and each of them. begins with a letter C. Normally, I don't alliterate my points, but today, and I think last week as well, I've done that.
Here they are. First of all, there's curiosity. Curiosity. Jesus is coming to town, and the multitudes want to see him. Why?
Because they're skeptical, they no longer believe. It's been so long since they have seen the hand of God in circumstances that they can scarcely believe that maybe God might do something unusual. But Jesus is coming. And the crowds want to see him. You know that in Canada there was a businessman who was in a meeting where people were standing up and.
Telling about answers to prayer and saying, you know, God did this and God did that. One person said, I've seen so many answers to prayer, if you get another answer to prayer, don't even tell me about it. I can't take it, he said. That insurance salesman was in the congregation listening to what all the people were saying, and he said these words. He said, I don't know what it is that you people have, but he said, I want it.
You're standing here telling me that Jesus did this and Jesus did that. He said, I didn't know that Jesus had done anything in 100 years. Do you know that that's the way the people In our community, thank. They say to themselves, I'm not sure that Jesus has done anything in the last 100 years. They are skeptical.
Some of them are turned off. They are tired of a dead religion that produces no results, where there are no answers to prayer, and where God. is not among his people. Curiosity, the crowds came, but there was also an individual there by the name of Zacchaeus. This is the only place in all the New Testament where you have the phrase a chief.
tax collector.
Now, let me tell you what tax collectors would do. They would make an agreement with the government of Rome that they would get X number of dollars and pay the government. But what the tax collector would do is, he would become an extortioner. He would get all kinds of taxes from people, and there were three huge taxes. Tax.
regions, and Jericho was one of the three. And everybody that came by, all of the trade that passed through Jericho, it was always taxed by whatever the market could bear.
So people despise tax collectors, particularly a chief. tax collector.
But here he is. And he wants to see Jesus. And he is small in stature, so he runs and he climbs a balsam tree. Translated here as sycamore tree. Because he wants to see Christ.
Curiosity. Is Jesus actually able to do anything? Is He as good as His word? Can He be believed? Secondly, You have confrontation.
Confrontation. Notice what it says. Verse 5, and when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, Zacchaeus, hurry down. and come down today, for I must stay at your house. Wow.
Here's a tax collector who very probably thought that at best, maybe his eyes would meet. just for a split second with Christ. That's all he hoped for. Zacchaeus probably hoped that his eyes would meet with Christ's, but he certainly didn't expect Jesus saying, hey Zacchaeus, get out of your tree. and let's go over to your house.
I've got to meet with you today. What a shock. confrontation. Why did Jesus choose Zacchaeus? There are all kinds of people who are clamoring to get a better look at Christ.
And Jesus chooses one man and says, you're the one. and I'm coming over. What a surprise for him that day. And you know that when Jesus Christ comes to town. There is always confrontation, loving confrontation.
But it is eyeball to eyeball confrontation. In December of 1971, as my wife and I went up to Canada after that revival started in that part of the country. We went to a home of a man who used to teach me chemistry and physics in high school, a mathematician who was very bright. We were always a little bit afraid of him. Even as an adult, whenever I saw him, I always wondered if he remembered that I got a C in chemistry.
It just, you know, you feel. You feel as if you're in the presence of somebody who knows all about you. There he was telling us. That though he had been a Christian for many years, Jesus had not been Lord of his life, and how they were selling their home, and how people were being saved at the university now that he got turned onto Christ. I couldn't believe this was the same guy.
Everybody who came ended up praying, kneeling at the coffee table in their home. It was cleared and had become an altar. But I'll never forget, now he's a lay person. He has never been to seminary or Bible school. He looked me square in the eye and he said, Have you ever taken credit for anything that God has done through you?
And I said, well, I'm sure I have. He said, listen, he said, we have to pray. You have to get on your knees. He said, don't you realize that unless you take care of pride in your life, God is never going to be able to use you? Like he would like to?
Nobody ever spoke to me like that before. eyeball to eyeball. There were people who said they had been in the ministry or serving Christ for years and years, who confessed that in the presence of the heat of revival, their hearts appeared to them as being made of ice. As God began to take carnality, And begin to show people what they were really like. It was as if God was taking people apart, He was dissecting them.
One Christian worker said that when God began to zero His guns on me, it was as if He uncovered one clump of dirt after another. And all of the secret sins that had been hidden all had to be dealt with. in the presence of Christ. There's always confrontation when Jesus comes to town. Thirdly, there is confession.
I wish that we had in this passage of Scripture the conversation that Jesus had with Zacchaeus. Wouldn't that be great? But we don't have it. But I know what Jesus talked to Zacchaeus about. After they sat down, and they had something to eat.
Jesus looked him in the eye and said, Zacchaeus, you are lost. You're lost.
Now, why did I know that Jesus said that? Because it says in verse 10: when Christ was defending himself, because everybody said, look at that, he's going with this great sinner to eat with him. When Jesus was defending himself, he said, the Son of Man, Has come to seek and to save that which is lost. And Zacchaeus. was a lost man.
And Jesus told him about God's love, and Jesus undoubtedly told him that he had to believe on Christ, the Savior of the world, because Christ would soon die on the cross as a sacrifice for sin. And Zacchaeus, with his open, hungry heart, Believed. You see, that's why Jesus chose Achaeus. There were all kinds of people into whose homes Christ could have gone, and they would have fought him tooth and nail. They would have said, My heart is my own turf, and I will not let you get through to me.
But Jesus chose Zacchaeus because he already had what the ancients called an awakened conscience, a conscience that was sensitive to sin and to God. Zacchaeus got his relationship with the Lord straightened out and then immediately he begins to think about others, which is always true whenever Jesus comes to town. He says in verse 8, Behold, Lord. Half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times. as much.
Now that's amazing. Let me tell you why it's amazing because in Leviticus 6 it says that if you defraud anyone, if you are an extortioner, you have to pay back what you have defrauded, plus. One fifth. 20% more. That was the requirement.
Zacchaeus voluntarily says, anyone that I have defrauded, I will repay him four times. We don't know where he would get the money from. Maybe he saved an awful lot that he had earned legitimately, but what he was saying is: I want to make things right with others. Did you know that that is the most... Obvious characteristic.
of Jesus coming to town. Yeah. I like the fact that Zacchaeus, even though he was a very short man, was willing to climb up on a tree to get a better look at Jesus. And Jesus noticed that. I believe it's very important for us to understand that Jesus notices individuals.
If you are a believer in Christ, it is because he has taken note of you. and he has developed a relationship with you. But what you and I need to do is try to understand as best we can what does it look like for us to follow Jesus. In his steps, as the Bible urges us to do. That's why, for a gift of any amount, we're making available for you.
A booklet I've written entitled Walking with Jesus: A Radical Return to His Priorities. It's an easy book to read. But it's also very convicting. even as we think through what it means to follow Jesus.
Well, very quickly, I hope that you have a pen or pencil in your hand because I want to give you some contact info. And this will help you to know how this resource can be yours. Here's what you do: go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com or pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337. Even as we think about Jesus Christ and community, as I think of the ministry of running to win, it's all about community.
It's about those who pray for us, those who support this ministry. Right now go to rtwoffer.com. It's time now for another chance for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life. These days, people sue each other whenever they think they can collect some cash from someone who has hurt them. Jan Blissensta running to win in Red Lion, Pennsylvania.
This is her query for you, Pastor Lutzer. I heard your sermon titled Christians in the Courtroom, and I have two questions. First, is there a difference between a Christian taking another believer to court for a civil matter versus a criminal matter? For example, a believer does a siding job for another believer, damages something, and refuses to pay for it. On the other hand, what if a believer commits a sexual offense against another believer's wife or daughter?
Excellent question, and I think that in a sense you have answered your own question. In the first example that you gave, Jan, that is a civil matter.
Somebody puts sighting on a house and they do something wrong, they damage it, or perhaps they don't do a good job. and yet they want to be paid. The reason that we know in 1 Corinthians that the Apostle Paul is talking about those kinds of matters is he said it would be much better if you would be wronged. That's really a reference to civil kind of issues. When it gets to criminal issues, If a man, for example, assaults a child, or does some evil against a family, And then, of course, oftentimes you won't even acknowledge it.
Two things should happen. Number one, if he's a member of a church, he should be disciplined and be declared as one who is basically an unbeliever. You know, we can't look into people's hearts, but one of the things that church discipline does is it removes the person so that he no longer is considered to be a believer, but an unbeliever.
Now we're not judging ultimately as to whether or not he is a believer or an unbeliever, but he's put outside of the fellowship. And in a situation like that of course he can be sued in criminal matters. But even if the church doesn't do anything, The fact is you have an obligation for the person whom he has harmed. Also when it comes to criminal matters, It's also an issue now between him and the State. Between the laws of the land.
So in one sense you've transferred the responsibility that you have as a Christian. to Caesar, so to speak.
So I would say yes if a Christian commits a crime. especially if he is unwilling to acknowledge all the evil that he has done, Sometimes a person like that needs to be taken to court. And that, of course, satisfies justice. and I do believe that the Apostle Paul would approve of that kind of action. Jan has a second question for you, Pastor Lutzer.
It's this When one believer offends another, how does the offended one proceed biblically when, a, the believers attend the same assembly, and, b, if they attend different assemblies, perhaps even in different states? I ask this because a friend of mine is accused of sexually assaulting another believer's 12-year-old daughter. He was arrested and is having a hearing in the near future. The two parties live about thirty miles apart and attend different assemblies.
Well, the answer to that, I think, is simply respectful avoidance. I mean if a man assaults a twelve year old girl Is the family supposed to have uh family picnics with the person who committed the crime? I don't think so.
Now what I would say to this family that has been so grievously sinned against is that at some point you are going to have to come to grips with the bitterness and the anger in your life and you're going to have to lay it down. but the whole issue of restoration is a separate question.
Now that kind of restoration might take place if this man Is properly judged for his sin, and if he eventually repents and gives evidence of repentance. But you can't expect these two people To go to the same church. and have fellowship together until this huge issue that is between them is resolved.
So I think that if they meet one another They just respectfully avoid one another. and go their separate ways. and then we hope that the judicial process And the ministry of the Holy Spirit will bring about the kind of resolution that would bring about at least a partial kind of reconciliation. Perhaps trust has been for ever broken. but at least we can acknowledge the existence of those who claim to be believers, who have grievously sinned against us.
Bottom line. There is some reconciliation even between believers. that will never really take place. Until we get to heaven. Thank you, Dr.
Lutzer, and thank you, Jan. 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. Yeah. You can write to us at Running2Win 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 60614.
Running to win is all about helping you understand God's roadmap for your race of life. When Jesus comes to town, revival often follows. People are convicted of sin, restitution is made, and spiritual life flows where it never had before. Has Jesus come to your town? If not, would you like him to?
Next time on Running to Win, we take a look at revival and how God brought it to Canada in the 1970s. Plan to join us. Thanks for listening. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.
