Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus. the founder and perfecter of our faith. Ever had to make a tough decision to show your commitment to Christ? The Holy Spirit draws many of us to go to dark places to be the light of the world. And there are undesirable people everywhere who need the compassion of God and the touch of His people.
Would you be such a Christian? 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. Pastor Lutzer, this topic reminds me of where we began, asking, what would Jesus do?
Dave, it's very important that we learn to look past people's poverty, people's anger, their resentment. Whatever else might be going on in their lives, and recognize that they have been created by God. special to God. and they are human beings just like the rest of us and we have to go to places that some people might shun.
Now, to be very frank, I've never had to do that exactly. I have not become a missionary. Oftentimes missionaries find themselves in cultures and situations that are antithetical. to everything that they experienced in the West. But those are the kinds of people that God wants us to go to.
That's why we're making available for you a very special resource. It's a book entitled Walking with Jesus, A Radical Return to His Priorities, and one of the chapters is Touching The untouchable We have to represent Jesus in the darkest places in the world. Here's what you do because this is the second to last day we're making this resource available. You go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com or pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-1888.
9337.
Now perhaps I hurried over that too quickly, so I'm going to be giving you that contact info again. For now, I want you to listen, but I also want you to hear what God is saying to us. We are called into a world of darkness. with the very bright light of the gospel. Yeah.
Um You remember some time ago I asked whether you were willing to commit yourself to a basic principle. To live for one year asking what would Jesus do before you made any decision. of any consequence. I wonder how you're doing. And then we agreed that we would read the book in his steps, and some of us are still reading that, and do the journal with its link game.
where we think about people. Whom God has brought into our path, people whom we can touch for the sake of the gospel. I hope that if you have failed along the way in your commitment that you don't stop there. but that you simply say, Lord Jesus, forgive me as I have had to do. Lord Jesus, forgive me for not following through like I desired to do, but cleanse me and now enable me to carry on from this point.
As we continually be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. I think one of the ways that we can test whether we are following Christ. Is to answer the question of whether we have had to make some tough decisions in his favor. In other words, are we willing to put out our schedule and to do things that we may not be comfortable doing? in behalf of others because we believe that this is what Jesus would have done.
You know, to throw some money on an offering plate is very easy. But to say, Lord, I'm willing to rearrange schedules that are important to me for the cause of the gospel and for the cause of men and women. That's really the real test of love. When Abraham said, God, I love you, God said, kill Isaac and that will be proof. that you love me.
I want you to take your Bibles today, if you would please, and turn with me to the first chapter of the Gospel of Mark. Mark chapter 1. Where Jesus here does something that all of us should be willing to do. For the cause of Christ. and for the cause of the gospel.
Mark The first chapter. Christ touches and heals a leper. Verse forty. And a leper came to him, beseeching him, and falling on his knees before him. And the same to him, if you are willing, you can make me clean.
We can't understand this passage of scripture unless we remind ourselves of what leprosy was really like. Leprosy was a disease. that literally wrecked a human body. It would begin with a person feeling very lethargic and having pains throughout his body. And then there would be spots that would begin, discoloration.
And when those spots began to appear, there would be nodules that would come. And then those nodules would become ulcerated. They would become pouring sores that gave out a very What shall we say, a stanch? And the leper would have to live this way. And as time progressed, and usually lepers had leprosy for about nine years until they died.
As time progressed, their face would become contorted. Their eyebrows The eyelashes would fall out. They would stare. with a glassy appearance in their eyes. And then, as time went on, oftentimes they would lose all sense of sensation.
as the trunks of their nerves would be affected. And then finally they would lose some fingers and some toes. They were a gruesome, ugly sight. And how did the people treat lepers?
Well, even in the Old Testament, in Leviticus chapter 13, God says that for health reasons, they should be without the camp. Listen to these verses in Leviticus 13, 45. It says, as for the leper who has the infection, His clothes shall be torn, and the hair of his head shall be uncovered, and he shall cover his mustache. That is, he would wear a cloth really over his mouth. And he shall cry, Unclean, unclean.
And he shall remain unclean all the days during which he has the infection. He is unclean. He shall live alone in his dwelling. and shall live alone outside the camp. And so the lepers would come along and they would shout, unclean, unclean, because even in those days it was dangerous to have a disease that might harm someone without telling someone that you have the disease.
And if you listen to the news this week, you know that there is a court case regarding someone who had AIDS and didn't tell a partner. But here was a leper who was despised by society. Do you know that in medieval times when a person had leprosy, he was brought into the church and the priest would read to him the rite of burial. And then he would wear a black cloak. In effect, society saying you are dead even though you are still alive.
And those lepers would live in their own little world of isolation and rejection. No one wanted to touch them, and they were not even allowed to speak. to other people except to cry unclean.
Now let's take a look at this passage of Scripture. This leper comes to Jesus, falls on his knees before him, and says, If you are willing, you can make me clean. I take this to be a cry of desperation. Because he knew that if Jesus were to reject him, why then indeed he could not count on the acceptance of anyone? If Christ who was beginning to get a reputation of concern and compassion.
Think of what it would have meant if this Christ had turned his back. on this leper. Final rejection. The door is closed. The key has been thrown away.
But Jesus fortunately does not do this. It was a cry of desperation, it was also a cry of submission and faith. The leper says, Oh Lord, if you will, You can clean me. You can say the word. And you can speak Nicolae.
Now, I want you to notice how Jesus reacted to this man's cry. Christ did two things that are absolutely essential. For emotional and spiritual stability. Essential for a sense of well-being, essential for acceptance. Christ, the Bible says, looked upon him with compassion, verse 41.
He stretched out his hand and. Touched him. Underline that in your Bibles. What a surprise to all those people who are watching. You did not touch a leper, and in Luke, the same passage of Scripture says that the leper was filled, covered with sores.
And Jesus touches him. Do you know that there is a tremendous amount of power? In a meaningful touch. You've heard the example which is absolutely true and has been confirmed. That a baby can be born in the hospital, and if that baby is rejected, even though he or she may be clothed and diapered and all of their needs taken care of, the baby may be fed.
If the baby is not cuddled and held, it may grow up with emotional insecurities and it may even die. Last night I was discussing this with my wife, and she pulled out a psychology textbook and she read it to me for 10 or 15 minutes. Studies indicate that the baby may even have brain damage as a result of a lack of touching and bonding.
Furthermore, some of the things that she read were very distressing. It said that a panel of judges able to watch. By video camera, able to watch the way in which a mother treats a baby. As sensitive judge. can predict.
Which children will grow up with emotional disorders?
Now I know I shouldn't say that because this was in a secular book. And the other half of the book should say, but doesn't, but all of that can be reversed because of the grace of God in Jesus Christ. But if you simply look at human beings without the intervention and the grace of God. The way in which you were treated or not treated while you were growing up and the loving touches which you either had or did not have has a tremendous amount to do with where you are emotionally today. Let me give you two reasons why touch is so very important.
First of all, there are physiological benefits to loving touch. Did you know that in the book entitled The Blessing, written by Gary Smalley and John Trent? They say that meaningful touch causes our hemoglobin to rise and gives us more oxygen in our tissues. A hug, for example, can be very beneficial in invigorating people. It causes your blood pressure to go down.
And at UCLA, they studied this very carefully and concluded that a married couple, for example, if that couple has between eight to ten meaningful touches every day, they estimate. that they could live two years longer. Physiological benefits. of a loving touch. But there are other benefits and those are spiritual and emotional.
Have you ever thought of how arid, how dry, and emotionally drained and empty a child is? that does not receive a loving touch. Most of us think of Marilyn Monroe as that great sex goddess. We ought to look at women like that with a tremendous amount of compassion in our hearts. Marilyn was born illegitimately.
One day, a news reporter asked her this question. because she was in a series of foster homes. He said, did you ever feel loved when you were growing up? And Marilyn thought a moment and she said, you know? When I was seven or eight, I was in this home and the woman was putting some makeup on and she was in a good mood and I came beside her and she playfully took that rouge puff and she began to put it on my cheeks.
And Marilyn said, for a few seconds, I felt loved. Do you understand what I'm saying here today? Here's a young woman who years later looks back upon a few seconds of a loving touch and tears came to her eyes as she thought of one time in her childhood when she mattered to somebody, when she cared and when she was loved. Marilyn Monroe. ended up becoming a promiscuous woman.
And there are women today who become promiscuous simply because they say, it's the price that I have to pay to be loved and to be touched. and to be held. Yesterday, here at the church, we had a fantastic men's prayer breakfast. I just don't understand. Why more men don't attend.
It was great. We had a time of sharing and prayer. It was just beautiful. God was there. But one of our men said, I was brought up in an alcoholic home, alcoholic mother, alcoholic father.
And he said, You know, I was never touched. And he didn't know, by the way, that I was going to preach this message, though I told him later, I said, Thanks for the illustration. I needed one tomorrow, I said. And he read a passage in Psalm 139 where the text says that God in his hands fashioned us. And it says that the hand of the Lord leads his people.
And he said that that was of such great comfort to him to know that even though his parents didn't touch him, God was touching him. the touch of God. Dory Vanstone. Author of the book Dory: The Girl Nobody Loved, sexually abused, physically abused, totally unwanted, rejected, foster home beatings, the whole works.
Now, because of the healing that God has brought in her life, a blessing to thousands of people throughout the country. But she gave me this note. This is it. It was shoved under the door of her hotel room one night, unsigned. written out very roughly on a piece of scrap paper.
But here it is. I assume it is a woman who is speaking, but these are the words. I wanted to isolate you all to myself, to grab you and not let anyone else near you. Because you knew me You spoke my words. Many of your lonely moments were mine.
They And the they refers to people like me and perhaps people like you who have never experienced abuse and rejection. They couldn't possibly understand. They've always been loved. They've always been accepted and understood. They've always had someone they belong to.
But you and I never did. But once we knew He Christ. Once we knew he loved us, no one could ever take him away from us. They could never, never touch our souls again. He had us for eternity.
Now we dance to another tune, to a different drum, his drum. But sometimes we know the meaning of the groanings and the moanings of our souls. The times when voices and words do not exist. But then he becomes our voice. our interpreter of our feelings.
our soothing balm. Isn't that beautiful? But I read it and I thought, you know, I am among the they because I came from an emotionally stable home where I was loved and accepted. But they always have someone that they belong to. But you and I did not.
I want to say today that Within the body of Jesus Christ, there exists the ability to give people the attention, the love, even the loving touch. that they didn't have in their families.
Now I know it's dangerous to speak about this, particularly in relationship to men and women. Because I know that there can be such a thing as a wrong touch, a sensual touch. You know there's such a thing as a holy touch. or a holy hug, and then there is also an unholy hug. And the way you tell the difference is this.
It depends on whether the hug increases your blood pressure or lowers it. Right?
Well, let me say this. Let us not allow Satan to take something. that is special. and so make us afraid of it because of its possible abuses. That we aren't willing to do, just as we sang a few moments ago, to reach out and touch someone.
for the glory of God.
So Jesus touched the leper, and then, secondly, notice that Christ spoke to the leper. He said, I am willing. He said, Be cleansed, be clean. Oh, can you imagine what those words meant to the leper?
Okay. The power of a spoken word. From the lips of Christ be clean. And if you grew up without loving words of encouragement, You will either become a workaholic still trying to get somebody's blessing, trying to make sure that somebody says something nice. And complimentary about you.
Or else you can go the other route and you can be withdrawn and you can become isolated and you can go on feeling rejected and deliberately doing things that force people to continue to reject you to prove that nobody could ever love and accept you. Most people will do one thing or another. who have never heard a loving word of encouragement. As a pastor, I've counseled many people, and I don't know why, but it seems as if sexual sin is the one thing that people can confess over and over again, and they still feel guilty about it. And I have frequently said to people whose sin was under the blood, Thy sins be forgiven.
Go and sin no more. Can you imagine the words of Jesus to the woman taken in adultery? Everyone condemning her, and Jesus saying, Thy sins are forgiven. Oh. Can you imagine that that dear woman never forgot those gracious words?
that proceeded out of his mouth. And we're living in a day when words are used to hurt, to abuse, to cut down, to destroy, to tear. and how wonderful it is to have a gracious and a loving word. No. Yes, my friend, the Bible says that gracious words proceeded out of Christ's mouth.
And that, of course, is something that we should emulate. Yes, there are times for discussion, perhaps even times for argument. But at the end of the day, We should have for a nation and for people around us who experience such hopelessness, we should have a word of encouragement, a word of hope, a word of about Jesus. I'm holding in my hands a book entitled Walking with Jesus, A Radical Return to His Priorities.
Now I want to emphasize that today is the second last day we're making it available for you. I sure hope that you have a pen or pencil ready so that you can write this info down. Here's what you do you go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com or pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-1. 9337.
Now, because I believe this booklet is going to help you. It'll help you on your spiritual journey. It will help you to understand how Christ lived and how we should emulate Him. The Bible does say that we should follow in His steps. I'm going to be giving you that contact info one more time.
Here is what you do. You go to rtwoffer.com. Of course, rtwoffer is all one word. rtwoffer.com or pick up the phone and call us at one eight eight eight 218 9337. The title of the book, Walking with Jesus: A Radical Return.
to his priorities, and from my heart to yours. Thank you so much for your prayers. Thank you for your gifts. Thank you for helping us get the ministry of running to win around the world. Time now for another chance for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life.
Among the highlights for many church families are the meals they share together: banquets, breakfasts. And the well-known chicken dinners. One of our well-fed listeners has this culinary question, Dr. Lutzer: will we eat in heaven?
Well, the short answer is: yes, I think we will. The Bible speaks of the marriage supper of the Lamb and it talks about different fruits that are available. Let's not let this shock us.
Sometimes we think that the resurrection of the body creates a body that is so holy, so spiritual, that. Of course we wouldn't be interested in food. But remember this, Jesus after the resurrection. He has his resurrection body. He eats fish with the disciples.
as found in John chapter twenty one.
So the answer is yes, we will enjoy food. I don't think that we will ever get sick in heaven, no food poisoning. But we will be there at the banquet and If you enjoy eating, you're going to enjoy heaven. Thank you, Dr. Lutzer.
I now feel much better already. 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. Uh You can write to us at Running2Win 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 60614. The need is so vast, people living lives without hope.
People needing to feel compassion. Victims of child abuse, victims in divorce, people with untreatable illnesses, people with no resources dying of hunger and thirst.
Next time, a challenge to ask God to bring someone into our lives that we can help. plan to join us. Thanks for listening. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.
