Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Ever wondered why are we on this planet anyway? In the end, we're here to live for the glory of God. We do this by managing the gifts he's given us. Today, we begin a new series on running to win.
A series to show us the big picture of where we fit. And that means understanding that God is the creator and we are the managers. 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, it would seem the idea of being a steward is lost in our generation.
We think what's mine is mine. Yes, Dave, we often think what is mine is mine. Perhaps what is yours is negotiable. But the simple fact is that this world ultimately belongs to God, the Creator, and He alone is the one whom we should worship, and God forbid that we should ever worship His Creation. We here at Running to Win are deeply committed to getting the gospel of Jesus Christ around the world.
And I have to tell you we can only do that because of people just like you. who become partners of this ministry. I'm going to give you some contact info. As a matter of fact, I'll give it to you right now. Hope that you have a pen or pencil handy.
You can go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. I'm going to be giving you this contact info at the end of this message. But I want to let you know. That during this month any gift that you give will be doubled. Imagine that your investment in the gospel will be doubled.
I want to thank you in advance and for those of you who participate, We want to send you a special resource. Thanks in advance for helping us.
Now let us listen to God's Word.
Okay. All right, I'm going to begin with a question. Why are we on this planet anyway?
Well, if you've been coming to Moody Church for a while, you know that the real reason is because we're to live for the glory of God. You knew that, didn't you? But more specifically, how does that work out in experience? That's what we're going to talk about today. As a matter of fact, I'm going to make two promises at the beginning of this message, and then at the end of the message, you tell me whether or not I have over-promised.
First of all, I think we're going to find out exactly, first of all, what we should be doing on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. It will finally free us up to figure out what we're supposed to do tomorrow. and the days that follow. Secondly, as an added benefit, if we really understand what it is that I'm going to try to convey today from the word, we are going to leave today free of all worries. Because we no longer are going to be bearing our burdens.
That's the agenda, and you tell me whether or not we've achieved it. But in order to get from point A to point B, we have some territory that we have to cover, and today I'm going to give you the facts of life.
Now, I know that that expression sometimes refers to other things, but today you get the real facts of life, four of them, and we begin in the book of Genesis. Genesis chapter 1 opens with that majestic statement: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, we read in Genesis chapter 1. In those ten words, we have the basis for science. In the beginning, time, God, personality, created, force, the heavens, space, the earth, matter. What majestic ten words those are.
But what we'd like to do is to take a tour of what it says in the book of Genesis, because fact number one is that God is the creator, and we'll soon see the implications. Would you go with me as we take a tour, looking at what God did on every one of the days? The first day, God says in verse 3, let there be light, and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness He called night.
And there was evening, and there was morning the first day. First day, a tremendous victory. Because there may have been a previous creation, the earth was without form and void, and darkness was there. The moment God said, Let there be light, darkness was dispelled by the very word of God. Let's go on to day number two.
That's verse 6. Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from the water.
So God made the expanse and separated the water. From that which is above, from that which is below. In other words, the terrestrial water and the atmospheric water. At that time, it was as if a canopy of water covered the earth, and God said, I want to separate them.
So there was sky, and then there was the water that was on the face of the earth. The Lord did that. Mm-hmm. Let's go on now to day three: vegetation. We pick it up at verse 11.
God said, let the land produce vegetation, seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it according to their various kinds. And it was so. God spoke. And it happened.
Well, we're going through these days quickly, aren't we? But let's move on now to the next day, day 4, verse 14. God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth. And it was so. And God made two great lights, the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night.
And then I love these five words. Oh, by the way, the by the way is a footnote. Oh, by the way, he made the stars also. Five words. Stars, and the scientists tell us that there are more stars in the sky than there are grains of sand on the beaches of the world.
Oh, yeah, by the way. He made the stars. Also. What a mighty, mighty, great God we serve.
Now, you may be puzzled because it does say that light was created on the first day. That may have been a light that was created sovereignly by God, and as the earth rotated, it went into that light. It appears as if the sun and the moon were actually created later on in the fourth day, though there may be alternate explanations. But the simple fact is that by the time we get to day number four, we see the greatness and the majesty and the awesome power of God. He made the stars.
Also. I love it. Let's go on now to day number five. This is the day for the animals. We pick it up at verse 20.
Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.
So God created the great creatures of the sea, and every living and moving thing which were in them, God created that. And the winged birds, according to its kind, God created.
So we come to the end of day five. What conclusions do we draw from the first fact of life? God is the Creator. What are the conclusions we can draw? First of all, God created whatever He pleased.
Our God is in the heavens, the text says. He has done whatsoever He has pleased. In fact, I believe that God had a party. It says that the angels were created earlier because in the book of Job it says that when creation took place, the sons of God shouted for joy. Can't you just imagine God assembling all the angels and getting them all together and say, Look, I want all of you to just watch this?
Boom. And it all happens. Obviously, he restrained himself. You know, he could have created a thousand planets to rotate around the Sun. He could have created ten moons or seven or whatever, and he restrained himself.
He could have even created more stars, though he created hundreds of trillions of them, but he could have created more of them. And by the way, those stars run with such precision. And of course, I'm talking about the rotation of the planets with such precision and accuracy that we can set our clocks by these planets that God put in motion.
So, first of all, God created whatever He pleased. Secondly, it is God who also sustains the universe. Moment by moment, God keeps this universe together. Moment by moment, it is unified. Moment by moment, it continues.
The Puritans were right when they called the laws of nature the custom of God.
So when I drop something and it falls, like I'm dropping this bulletin onto this desk or pulpit, it falls because God causes it to fall by the law of nature. But that's his custom. If he wanted to change the custom and have this bulletin go up rather than go down, he could do that also. There's a third conclusion, and I want you to accept this conclusion, and I know you will. The third conclusion is that everything belongs to God.
I mean, God created it. Can you imagine somewhere in the universe, some being showing up and saying, Hey, you created it, but it's mine? It's unthinkable. The entire universe belongs to God. God the owner of all things.
All creatures of our God and King belong to him. That's the first fact of life. God is the Creator. May I give you the second? The second fact of life is that man is to be the manager.
He's to be the manager.
Now we get to the creation of man. That, of course, is on the sixth day, and we pick it up at verse 26. Then God said, Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him.
Male and female, he created them. When we use the word man, we're talking about mankind, we're talking about men and women, a very special creation. The only creation about which it says created in God's image. What does that mean? Does it mean only that we have personality, a mind, emotion, and will?
Well, it certainly means that, but there are animals that also have personality. They have minds of sorts, they have emotions, and they have a will. No, no, it's much more than that. A little lesson in theology. There are communicable attributes that we can have, that also God has.
There are some that He has that can never be ours. We can never be omniscient. We can never be omnipresent, but we can be loving. Because God created us in His image. We can value truth and justice, and we can have wisdom.
And because of that likeness and because we have a spiritual nature that is the jumping off point, as it were, between God and the world, man is created in the image of God, and yet he participates in the same creation as animals in the sense that he needs food to eat and air to breathe. And God said, you're going to be my mediator between my creation and who I am. That's man, the image of God.
Now animals can have a certain degree of intelligence, but they can never have all of these other attributes. Years ago I was interested in the breaking down of animal speech to try to point out that they can talk. It is generally said that monkeys can talk. No, monkeys can have certain sounds that they can identify and so forth, but they cannot think conceptually. You cannot.
discuss theology with a monkey. Put it this way: monkeys can't even discuss politics. I know that I know, I know that that could be debated. About every four years, that thesis that I always put forward comes under scrutiny and debate. But the simple fact is that you see, because of the fact that we are created in the image of God, we can pray, we can think conceptually, we can worship, we can admire truth and justice and righteousness and all those things.
But now notice, why was man created? The text says. that he is to rule, to be the king of the earth. Let them rule. And God is saying, in effect, that when man rules the world, I am ruling the world as creator, because he is my representative, he is my caretaker, he is my manager, he is my steward.
Yes, king of the earth, but a king under subjection to God. Notice that they were both to rule man and woman. It was God's intention that Adam rule and Eve was to rule alongside of him. This becomes clear in the New Testament when Jesus Christ now wants to rule on the throne of the universe, and we, as His bride, sits next to Him and rules along with Him.
So God says, Let them rule. The battle of the sexes had not yet begun. Later on, we'll comment on that. Notice he was to rule over the fish of the sea. Just like Jesus commanded those fish to swim into Peter's net in the same way I believe that Adam had the power to command a fish and they would obey him.
And just like the ravens fed Elijah in the very same way, Adam would have been able to use the animals that God brought to him and be able to command them and they would obey.
Now as a result of the fall That has been lost. That we can command animals and they obey. And if you doubt that, just own a cat. and see whether or not I'm right.
So, what God is saying is, I want you to rule over the animals. I want you to rule over the ground. Notice he put man into the garden. This is now chapter 2, verse 15. The Lord God took man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
Interesting, important parenthesis, folks. Remember that work did not come about as a result of the fall. Work happened already long before man fell. When he was put in the Garden of Eden, God recognized the value of work.
Now let me share my heart with you. Don't you ever make the mistake Of giving your children so much money when you die that they will never have to work. That is a curse. upon your children. Give them just enough to remind them of the fact that you do love them, and then give the rest to missions and give the rest to a church.
If you're thinking, you say, well, which one? Come to me later, and I could make some suggestion. But do not curse them, do not curse them by taking work out of life because productivity and the sense of work and the striving is all part of what God wants us to do. And even before the fall, man was put into the garden to till it. All right, how far have we come in the facts of life?
Fact number one: God is the creator. Fact number two: man is the manager. Fact number three, the fall made us thieves. the fall made us thieves. Let's look at the text of chapter three.
You remember the story. The woman is there in the garden, and the serpent is discussing things with her. And he says, after she says, if we eat of the fruit of this tree, we will die. He says in verse 4, you will not surely die, the serpent said to the woman, for God knows when you eat it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. Was Satan telling the truth?
Well, to a certain extent he was. If you eat, you will be like God. You will know good and evil. Unfortunately, you will know good and evil experientially. It will not just be theoretical knowledge.
You will have a kind of knowledge that not even God has. Because God knows what evil is like, but God has never done evil. Therefore, He has never felt the effects of evil, you understand. And as a result of that, a man has something that God hasn't, and that is a terrible, cursed, experiential. Understanding of evil that eventually condemns us to hell if we do not repent.
But notice what Satan says, you will be like God.
Well, you know the rest of the story they did eat. And notice what happened now. Ever since that time, man has always been wanting to swap places with God. He wants now to take what is his and say, this is mine and it's not God's.
Now, folks, I want us to look very briefly at some of the consequences of what happened as a result of the fall. And you know the story. In verse 11, we discover that human nature was tainted and irrevocably, unfortunately, defiled. Because God comes and he asks Adam, and Adam says, I'm naked. And he says, God says, who told you that you were naked?
Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from? And the man says, the woman. Aye aye.
Now, folks, some of you have heard me say this before, but how can I come to a text like this and not say it again? I want you to notice that the man blamed the woman, this weak-willed woman, Lord, whom you gave me, whom you gave me. He blamed the woman, even though there wasn't a chance in the world that he had married the wrong one. Did you notice that? And then, of course, God says, the woman.
What about you? What is this that you have done? And the woman said, the serpent.
So I'll say one more line some of you have heard. The man blamed the woman, the woman blamed the serpent, and the serpent didn't have a leg to stand on. Wasn't it Will Rogers who said that there were two eras in America? One was the passing of the buffalo and the other was the passing of the buck. From now on, man was going to have a protective shell around him in which he will say, you will never find out who I really am because of his shame and guilt.
He is going to take all accusations, all truth, and it's going to be filtered and deflected so that getting through to him is going to be so difficult that if he's to be converted, God is going to have to intervene and change his mind because of himself. He's going to run from God and he's going to twist all the truth that comes through his system.
So man is tainted. Suffering comes in verse 16. To the woman, he said, You will greatly increase your pains in childbearing. With pain, you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.
It's a controversial text, but there it is. That's the origin of the statement that women sometimes say about men. Hmm. It usually begins with, hmm. Can't live with him, can't live without him.
Then notice he says to Adam, because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, cursed is the ground because of you.
Now it is going to bear weeds and thorns and thistles, and you're going to have to sweat and you're going to have to work in order to live. And things are not going to be nice. From now on, all of the world is going to be filled with striving. And what happens in the next chapter? Of course, as you know, Cain kills Abel.
And you have all of this evil now spilling out in the human race and as a result of that, man now no longer wants to be a manager, a caretaker. Man says, I am the owner. And covetousness, a desire for what other people have and for what we really don't need and maybe what God does not want to give us, is going to be a beast within the human soul because people are going to say, I own it, I own it, I own it, I own it. And that's why you can find wealthy people in the world. Maybe in the church too, but in the world.
With hundreds of millions of dollars, watching other people in great poverty being able to help and scarcely lifting a hand to help anyone because they say, It's mine, I am the owner. What they're really saying is, I have taken the place of God. Yeah. My friend, this is Pastor Lutzer, and that is a temptation we always have, namely, to take the place of God. But I want to share some good news with you.
We have a listener, a Spanish-speaking listener, who wrote, Thank you so much for helping me grow in the faith and the Word of God. Thank you for translating your teaching into Spanish. The reason we've been able to do that, my friend, and into other languages as well, is because of people just like you supporting this ministry. If you've been blessed, it's because other people have enabled us And come along and pray for us and contribute to this ministry so that it can continue to expand. I'm going to give you some contact info, but first of all I want to let you know that every gift that you give during this month will be doubled.
Imagine that, doubling your investment to help us get the gospel of Jesus Christ around the world.
Well, I sure hope that you have a pen or pencil handy because this is what you do. Go to rtwoffer.com.
Now, perhaps I said that too quickly. It's rtwoffer. Of course, rtw offer is all one word. rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. And as a thank you for your investment, we're making available for you a book entitled, Christ Among Other Gods, A Defense of Christ in an Age of Tolerance.
You can write to us at RunningTowin, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 60614. You've heard Erwin Lutzer speaking on King of the Earth. The first message in a series on managing God's gifts.
Next time, key lessons to hold on to as we rightly see ourselves the way God sees us. Don't miss more of King of the Earth. Thanks for listening. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.
I'm going to use a bottle of the same method.
