Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus. the founder and perfecter of our faith. The world is in many ways a very dark place. That darkness shows up in the hearts of people with no hope. people most other people turn away from.
The Holy Spirit draws many of us to go to dark places to be the light of the world. There are people everywhere who need the touch of God's people. Would you be one such follower of Christ? 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, it's so convicting to hear you preach on this topic. We can't help everybody, but I have to ask myself: is there someone out there that I can help? Dave, I really love the way in which you frame that. We can be overwhelmed by the needs of the world. And of course we must recognize that not a one of us is called to meet the needs of the world.
But we are called to meet the needs of the person next door. the needs of our children, some of whom may have wandered from the faith, needs of our neighbour, I believe that God has brought someone into our lives that needs the light of the gospel and the love of the gospel, and we are called to represent Christ in that situation. Today's the last day, we're making available for you a booklet entitled Walking with Jesus: A Radical Return. to his priorities. You know, the Bible does say in the book of 1 Peter, That Jesus suffered, and then it goes on to say we should walk in His steps.
What does that look like? What does it look like as we look at the life of Jesus and put that spotlight on his life and ask ourselves how do we measure up? This is the last day we're making this resource available for you. I sure hope that you have a pen or pencil handy, because here's what you can do. Go to rtwoffer.com.
That's rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218 ninety three thirty seven.
Now if I said that too quickly, I'm going to be giving you that contact info again at the end of this message, but be sure to take advantage of a booklet that I believe is going to help you put things together even as we witness to this needy world. Yeah. Um You know that there is a tremendous amount of power. in a meaningful touch. The 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. 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 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? 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. What I'd like to do now is to talk to you about some people who are the untouchables in our society. people that Christ is calling us to touch. tenderly and to speak with tender words too. And when I call these people untouchable, I do not mean that they are unattractive.
They may be very attractive. But down deep within they feel rejected. They feel untouchable. Let me list them for you. First, Those who are victims of abuse, child abuse.
I think of this because this past week I have spoken to two women, not in counseling, just in casual conversation. And both of these women were abused. One became very angry as she talked about the childhood she never had. And she said to me, Why aren't there pastors who stand behind their pulpits and say, Some of you fathers are abusing your daughters, and some of you brothers are abusing your sisters? Stop it!
And I looked at her and I said, My dear lady, Thank you for telling me that because I'm going to say that on Sunday. And I want to say to you: if you're listening to this message by radio or in this auditorium today, I plead with you in the name of Christ. If you are abusing a child, either physically or sexually, as a father, as a parent, or you know that it is going on. In the name of God, stop it! Stop it.
I've counseled people who have been abused. I know that they don't like to be touched. One of the greatest breakthroughs that they can have is when they can receive a loving. Holy hug. But oh, our society, do you know that you can take any crowd of women, divide the number present by six, and you'll have the number of women?
who were abused. as children. Many of these don't know how to reach out to us. We don't know their past. They don't feel comfortable.
in telling us all about it and they don't have to tell us all about it. They're only have to say what they're ready to say at a moment. But they look at us who have never had that, and we are the they, they, they had a childhood. But we didn't have a childhood, they're saying. Can we today reach out and love them and touch them and let them know that they aren't dirty, that they have nothing to be ashamed about, that we love them and God loves them?
Let me give you a second category of people. And that is those who feel rejected and neglected. They may not have been abused, but they feel that way. There's so much that I could say about that, but I must hurry on. Let me give you another category, and that is people.
who have been divorced.
Now I know when it comes to divorce, sometimes we don't know exactly how to relate because oftentimes there is guilt by one party or another and we may not feel right about the experience that they have had. But I do know this. That there are many people who have been the unfortunate victims of bad marriages. And they themselves today cry out for some kind of acceptance, some kind of a feeling of being worthwhile. I remember a woman saying to me the day after our divorce was final.
I came into church and she said, I felt as if everyone was staring at me. She said, I thought I had a big D painted right on my forehead. Everyone's saying, She is divorced, she is untouchable, she is the leper. Of our society.
Now, maybe people didn't regard her that way, okay? But that's the way she felt. And I think of some of our young mothers' single parents. Trying to earn a living, trying to rear children, trying to work through the hurt of rejection and failure. And all my heart goes out to them.
Oh, we as a church, if we want to do something that's going to last forever. Have to become involved either as surrogate parents or in other ways. In situations where there has been brokenness and hurt. And people are crying out. for a tender word.
and a tender touch. Then what about the AIDS people in our society? What about those who are dying of this fatal disease? Recently, I interviewed a man who is dying of AIDS. Wants to be prayed for, and we will pray for him, saved out of a life of homosexuality.
Can you imagine the sense of being ostracized, the feelings of alienation? The feelings of rejection and hurt. When you have so many people say, in effect, well, you're getting what you deserve, not realizing that because of God's grace, not a one of us is getting what we really deserve. People hurting. in our society.
Dory Vanstone was telling me last weekend. She said that after a seminar that she was giving in a city, there was a young man, a good-looking young man, sitting near the front, and he just stood there and stared. And he waited until everyone else had left, and he said, Dory, Here's my story. He said, I was rejected by my mother. She didn't want me.
She threw me out onto the streets. at the age of nine. He said, I became involved in homosexuality. He said, A few years ago, I came to know Christ as my Savior. But he said Dorry, I'm dying of AIDS.
And he said, Dory, would you tell me? Can you tell me, Dory, for sure? That I'm forgiven. Please tell me that I'm forgiven. And she took passages of scripture to show him that he was forgiven.
And then she took the young man into her arms. And as he sobbed, his tears fell upon her sweater. And he said, Dory, nobody touches me because they're even afraid of getting AIDS from my tears. How can you hold me? and Dory held him as she might hold her own son.
And she said to me, Pastor, I held him because that's what I think Jesus. would have done. And I said, Dory, I think you're right. That's what Jesus would have done. Do you know what my burden is in this message?
I would like every one of us to pray earnestly that God would bring someone into our lives. Whom we can be sacrificially involved in without any thought of repayment, without any belief that somehow they are going to eventually. come through for us. And someone who perhaps naturally we might not be attracted to. But we know that that's what Jesus would have done.
and to say that we are prepared to commit ourselves to one person. You say, well, Pastor, what's one person in a city of five million, six million if you include the suburbs. Mother Teresa was asked that question.
Somebody said, Why do you hold all these dying people in your arms? And for everyone that you hold in your arms, There are a thousand out there who have no arms in which to die. Mother Teresa said, I am not responsible for all those that I cannot hold in my arms. I'm only responsible for the ones that I can hold in my arms. And that's the way it is.
Can you imagine this crowd here today, 12, 13, 14, 100, whatever it is? Every single person praying that God will bring to them a single parent. A person who is going through emotional trauma.
Someone who feels rejected and says, God, I can't love everybody. The world's too big. Chicago's too big. But one person that I can be sacrificially involved in their lives. and touch them.
For Christ's sake. and for his glory. There may be someone here today who needs to hear the words of Jesus through your lips. Your sins are forgiven. Go in peace.
You say, well, we don't have the authority to say that. No, we don't, except for this fact. That if they have believed the promises of Scripture and they have trusted Christ. We can assure them, as Dory did. That young man O young man, thy sins which are many.
have been washed. Away. You're forgiven. That's what the world needs. Christ touched the untouchable.
And it says that he left us a pattern. that we should follow. in his steps. Who is untouchable to you? Will you touch them?
tenderly Speak tenderly. In Christ's Yeah. Let's pray. Our Father, we do want to thank you today. That in mercy and grace you give us the privilege of extending to a world that is so fragmented and torn and broken.
The love and the compassion of Jesus. We praise you for that. We think of those who have heard this message. People lord. who have felt dirty for years.
oftentimes because of something that wasn't their fault. even if it is their fault. Thank you for the grace. Thank you that your word says that where sin abounds, grace. abounds much more.
Thank you, Father, that today we can do as Christ. to touch those who need to be touched. and speak to them in tenderness. and give them hope. Transform us as a church, we pray.
In Jesus' name. Amen. Yeah. Well, my friend, this is Pastor Lutzer, and in this message, I made a reference to a woman by the name of Dory.
Now, she was abused, she was brought up in an orphanage. But through the forgiveness and the mercies of God, her life was transformed, and she gave her testimony in many different places and influenced literally thousands of people by the gracious words that came from her mouth. We have to ask ourselves this question, how am I going to represent Jesus Christ wherever He has planted me?
Well, this is the last time we're making available for you a booklet entitled, Walking with Jesus: A Radical Return. to his priorities. For a gift of any amount, it can be yours.
Now here's what I want you to do. I hope that you have a pen or pencil handy, because I'm going to be giving you some contact info. But the Bible does say that we should follow in His steps. How do we do that? This booklet looks at the life of Jesus and then challenges us with this question, how are we doing with that command?
to walk in his steps. Very quickly, here's what you do. You go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com. Of course, RTW offers all one word.
Or you can pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-288. 218-9337. Remember, this is the last day we're making this resource available. Right now, go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. You can write to us at Running2Win 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 60614.
Uh Following Christ is not a solo proposition. We are not left to do this alone without resources.
Next time, we'll find out what those resources are. Join us to learn about the power of a united witness. Thanks for listening. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.
