Lost In A House Of Mirrors Part 2

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Many people are deluded, seeing themselves as they want to, not as they are. One cause of this can be refusing to listen to the honest critiques of others. Today, more lessons from James on self-perception and on what it means to hear correctly.

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, you are finding that many people are lost in a house of mirrors.

What does that mean? Well Dave, the illustration that I use goes back to the time when I was a boy and we were at this circus and we went into a house of mirrors. When you looked at one mirror, you were very tall. You looked at another mirror.

When you looked into the mirror, you discovered that you were very short and what shall we say, rotund. And so you had all these different images of who you really were. Now there are many people who live their lives trying to figure out who they really are. Are they the people that their parents thought that they were?

Are they getting their sense of self-perception from the world? What's happening? That's why this series of messages is so important. And you know, I've also written a book entitled Managing Your Emotions, God's Good Gifts Gone Wrong. Now this book discusses such things as fear, loneliness, anger, disappointment, regret. It ends with talking about sorrow. What I try to do is to help people to see scripturally how emotion should not be ignored, but they should be analyzed. And then what we want to do is to look at a biblical picture and a biblical prescription on where to go with what we see. The book is entitled Managing Your Emotions, God's Good Gifts Gone Wrong.

For a gift of any amount, it can be yours. Here's what you do. Go to RTWOffer.com. That's RTWOffer.com.

Or if you prefer, call us at 1-888-218-9337. And now let us go to the pulpit of Moody Church where we talk about the topic of self-perception, critical to understanding ourselves. I want you to know that when a man says he's working through his pain, he may only be finding another way to really hide it, because we as men are not very good at vulnerability and openness. And so James says we are like the person if we simply hear the word that goes in and then we turn away from it. Another comment. When James says that the person who hears the word of God, and he says in verse 22, do not merely listen to the word, you'll notice how often he uses the word listen.

Verse 23, anyone who listens. And if it's all that he does, the word that is used was frequently used for an auditor. Do you know who an auditor is? I know that we have tax auditors, but there are also auditors in our classrooms. And I have to tell you that one day I took a class from someone and I was an auditor and he did not like auditors. And I wondered why. Later on when I began to teach, I have to tell you, I disliked auditors. Oh, they really bothered me.

Because auditors would say, we want to come and listen to your lectures. Do you want to do the reading? No. Do you want to write the paper? No. Do you want to take the exam?

No. We're just here in case it's interesting. And if you're not interesting, Starbucks is just around the corner. That's an auditor. A person who wants to get in on the goodies, but he doesn't want to do the assignments. He wants to hear the word of God, but he does not want to obey it. Two characteristics of this kind of a passive listener. Number one, he forgets what he hears. He goes to church, he sings songs, he hears marvelous testimonies, and what does he do? He'll turn on the television set and begin to change everything that has been coming into him, and pretty soon he's forgotten it all. He can't remember it.

Or he might be like some teenagers. When I was the pastor of another church here in the city, this is the second church that I have pastored, some teenagers came to me one time. I remember they used to sit in the balcony every Sunday. Fortunately, they'd sit as near as they could to the front there in the balcony, but I used to see them. And one day they said, you know what we do after you're finished preaching?

And I said, I have no idea, but I'd sure like to know. They said, we get into the car and we turn on the music as loud as we can to deaden everything that you've told us. Now notice this, James says that there are people like that. They will not accept the word of God, they forget it, but also they are deceived. You'll notice he says that do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourself there in verse 22. That word deceive is from two Greek words, para and logizomai. Para means alongside of, logizomai means to reason. So they reason alongside of themselves.

We might translate it, they're beside themselves. Because here's where they have all of those rationalizations, all of those protective coverings, all of these reasons why listening is sufficient. After all, they say, wasn't I in church this morning? Don't I support the ministry? And that gives them, you see, an excuse to not deal with the deeper issues of life. I have a question for you today. James is talking about those who listen to the word of God and don't profit, but I need to say that there are also those who study the word of God and do not profit from it.

Why? Because they don't come to the word of God with the intention of self-exposure. They do not come by saying, I wonder what God is going to say to me today so that I can respond to it.

That's not the mindset. They are there to listen maybe to pick up a few interesting points and even to study it and to dissect it, but not that it might change them. Here's a warning to you scholars.

There are students who take the word of God and dissect it like a frog, but leave it on the table with no intention of having their dissection really affect their lives. So that's passive listeners. Let's go on to the active listener, the obedient one, the doer, as the text says. You'll notice, but the man who looks intently into the perfect law, this is verse 25, that gives freedom and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it, he will be blessed in what he does.

This is the active listener. He gazes into the perfect law. He looks at this mirror and says to himself, whatever it says and whatever it tells me, that I shall do. And by the way, it is the law that brings freedom. Isn't that a contradiction? The law that brings freedom? I thought freedom was to be free from the law.

I thought that was the whole point. People today say I don't want to be under the law. I just want to be free. I just want to do whatever I want. No, my friend, today it is the law that brings the freedom.

And so please keep that in mind. It is freedom by looking into God's mirror. How do we characterize a man like this? Well, there are three different ways that we can. First of all, he is clean. I'm picking this up actually in verse 21 where he's telling us how to listen to the word of God. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you which can save you. Get rid of all of that moral filth.

He could say, sell your television set. Now, it's interesting that the Greek word for filth was often used for wax in the ear. And I think James here has got this play on words going because he's talking about being a listener and just hearing the words and then really listening. You remember Jesus said, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. Everybody was hearing the words but there were many people who were not responding. It was like water on a marble slab.

It did not penetrate them. So what he's saying is get rid of the wax in your ear. Listen.

Listen up as the saying goes. I read a story about a man who was at a musical, Christian musical that was so, so powerful that at the end everyone was weeping. Everyone was thinking about the emotion and the drama of what was happening and he stood up after it was over and he turned back and there was a friend of his and the friend said, hi, how are you doing? What do you think about them their cubs? The guy thinking, them their cubs.

Was this guy in the same meeting as I was? I mean, how could he be sitting there of all things thinking about the cubs when you've got all this going on? He's not there to hear. Now, there might be a place where you can ask about them their cubs about every week and Darryl will confirm this. I say, Darryl, how are the cubs doing?

And I have to keep asking him because I always forget. I say, Darryl, are they 25 games behind first place? And then he'll say, no, no, that was last week.

This week it's 30 games. So the point is that there's a certain context in which you can ask that but at a meeting in which the Holy Spirit is present where hearts are being tugged and where they're being turned, I hope that this is kosher to be able to say this, but get the wax out of your ear. Have you ever gone to church and then gone home with someone and you say to yourself, were they in the same meeting as I was? Did they hear anything? Did they, didn't they hear the singing? Didn't they hear that testimony?

Where were they? James says, get rid of the filth in your life and you will improve your hearing. So first of all, he is a clean person.

Secondly, he's teachable. You'll notice it says, I humbly accept, I'm in the last part of verse 21, humbly accept the word planted in you which can save you. So we're talking about humility. I come to the word of God, not to judge it, not merely to hear the words, but I come to the word of God to submit to it because I know there are all kinds of things in my life that God wants to talk to me about and therefore I must look at that mirror and see what's there for me and so I come humbly. What is your attitude when you come to church? Do you listen to a sermon saying, I wonder if it's going to be interesting?

Sometimes those of us who preach may be interesting, some of the times we might not be interesting. Does it really matter? We should come to church just like you might be in a courtroom when a will is being read and you know that your name is included in the will but you don't know exactly what's been given to you or for that matter what's been taken away and so you're all ears. You're listening for your name and it doesn't matter whether the guy who's reading it is exciting and pronounces all of the words right and whether or not he's a monotone.

It really doesn't matter. You're there to hear his name, your name. Do you come to church like that?

Do you come to church saying, God, I'm here to glorify your name but also to hear my name. I want to be teachable and so you'll notice that he is clean, he is teachable, he is obedient. James says, in fact, what you should do if you really are obedient, you should be able to control your tongue and take care of the widows. He has a very practical application of what obedience means. But of course the word does more than that for us, doesn't it?

That's only a part of it. In Pilgrim's Progress, there is a discussion of the mirror called God's Word and this is what it says, the man who continues looking into the mirror of God's Word sees in it things far more wonderful than his own face. He sees not only his filthy garments, not only the spots and stains on his life, he sees in it Christ, the Christ of the thorn-crowned brow, the Christ of the cross, the Savior whose blood cleanses him from sin. And so it is there that we get a whole new identity that we are washed and we are redeemed and we belong to God.

And so we think of ourselves differently. This past week I was on a flight from Fort Lauderdale to Chicago on United Airlines and it was on time, let's give them that credit, okay, and they showed a movie. And so I was reading a book and I thought to myself, well, I can watch this movie too. Most movies you can read a book very easily through and this I felt was one of those.

But I was doing this very well. But then I began to realize, you know, this movie is really defiling even though it was, quote, edited for airline use. And so I watched it a little longer and then I thought to myself, you know, the pastor of Moody Church, no pastor of Moody Church should be watching this movie.

So I took the headset off and I put it beside me there on the seat that was vacant next to me. But then I began to think of what I had said. No pastor of Moody Church should watch this movie. That was the wrong thing to say, believe it or not. Of course no pastor should watch it.

That's not the point of argument. But what if I weren't a pastor? What if I were a businessman who loves Christ and is a member or a tender of Moody Church or some other evangelical church who's wanting to live for Jesus in this polluted world?

He shouldn't be watching it either. So the real answer is not just because I'm defined in terms of my function because that can change, but the real answer that I should have given is nobody who's been redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ and been cleansed by him should be watching this. That's the real answer because we have a new identity, you see. An identity determines behavior and it determines what we do.

Let me give you three words as we boil this down in practicality. The first word is light. The first word is light. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. This series of messages, God willing, if you pray for me and I strongly encourage you to fast and pray for me, this series of messages hopefully is going to take that light of God's word and shine it into our hearts. And we're going to see deceptions. In fact, the next message of the series is titled, Deceived and Loving It.

And we'll point out how we really love to be deceived when we want to do something. So it's going to be painful because we're going to have to deal with things such as anger and shame and guilt and all those things if we're really thorough. So the word light comes to mind. The second word that comes to mind is love, a recognition of the fact that we love one another and therefore we're all on our journey, we're all on our way, so to speak. We don't come to this situation thinking to ourselves that somehow we've arrived. That gap between who we are and who we project that we are, that needs to be closed. We need to be willing to deal with those inner things because remember, the series of messages is why good people do bad things and sometimes good people do disastrous things. And dare I say that you or I could do some very bad things. So we do it in an atmosphere of love where it's okay to be in progress, where it's okay to talk about struggles, where it's okay to say that we're not there yet and recognizing that that's what the body of Jesus Christ should be.

Like someone has written a book which I have not read, but I do like the title. It is called The Safest Place on Earth. Church should be a safe place. We don't tolerate sin, but we are very, very patient when we're all struggling to be pure in the midst of a polluted world. So the second word is the word love. Let me give you a third word and that is the word life. Life. If I could summarize it all, maybe it's the words of Jesus who said, unless that corn of wheat falls into the ground and dies, what is that death?

It is a death to self. It is finally ending the blame game. It is ending such things as projecting. It is demolishing of defenses that we have so carefully built. It is becoming really, really honest because honesty kills us. It slays us.

But what did Jesus say? When the corn of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone. But if it dies, it bears fruit. It brings about life. It gives hope. It changes us. And as a result of that, we suddenly discover that the fulfillment about which Jesus spoke is possible because at last we've quit running.

No more games. Just us and honesty in the presence of God and others. Now, vulnerability is terrifying. We recognize that. But I urge you today, honesty, at least in the presence of God. Let's not try to fool him, as sometimes we do. To not minimize sin, but to simply say, Lord, here I am.

This is what your mirror says, but this is the answer. There is cleansing. There's forgiveness. And there's a whole new identity in Jesus. And that is the bottom line. One day some people who really were into God's word, into the law, the Old Testament law, they brought a woman to Jesus and they said, Jesus, here's a woman who's been caught in adultery in the very act.

What do you suggest? Moses said to stone her. What do you think? And Jesus said, of course, if Moses said it, do it.

Go ahead, do it. The only requirement that I have is he who is without sin. And the idea is he who hasn't committed a similar sin, you cast the first stone, you see. And so Jesus wrote on the ground as though he heard them not.

And one by one, they all left. And Jesus said, is there nobody who's condemned you? Nobody, Lord. Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more. Change your vocation. Live differently now that you've been transformed by my awesome power. He who looks into the word and immediately goes his way is not helped by the word.

And you can be here year after year. You can study at Moody Bible Institute and not be helped by the word. The person who gazes into the law continually and says, God, what's in it for me in the sense I desire the transformation of my life. I desire to be as holy as you can make me.

That's obedience to the mirror. And such a man will be blessed in his deeds. So join me on a journey as we look into the human heart and try to figure out why, quote, good people sometimes do very bad things. Let's pray. And our Father, we thank you today that you know us. We thank you that you know all the hidden crevices of our lives.

We thank you that you are aware of our deepest needs. And we ask today in the name of Jesus that you'll bring us to that sense of honesty, that willingness to look into your word, to be encouraged by its promises, but also rebuked by its warnings. And we pray, oh, Father, make us all that we should be for your glory and for your honor. Now before I close this prayer, if God has talked to you, what is it that you want him to do during the next eight or nine Sundays? What is it that God has talked to you about? Would you talk to him about that and say, God, as much as lieth within me, I'll follow you no matter the cost you tell him. Father, for those who want to still be shielded from your penetrating word, grant us, oh God, that sense of openness, that willingness to say, Lord, here I am.

Do in me as seems good in your sight. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. You know, my friend, I know a professor who was teaching the Bible for virtually all of his life. When he got into his 90s, he said these words, the older I get, I'm overwhelmed by two things. First of all, the depth of my sin and the wonder of God's grace. And you know, you and I don't really experience God's grace the way we should until we understand the depth of our sin. And that's why this series of messages is so important. But I've also written a book entitled Managing Your Emotions. The subtitle is God's Good Gifts Gone Wrong.

Let me ask you a question. Is depression always sinful? Well, in the book, I quote Martin Luther and none other than Charles Haddon Spurgeon, who wrestled with depression all the time. I want to affirm that it's not necessary for you to feel just right to be spiritual. What we need to do is to recognize that our emotions are a gift of God. They can go wrong, but also there's a biblical answer. Now, I deal with a number of different emotions.

A few of them are love, depression, rejection, fear, loneliness, anger, and so forth. But the point that I'm simply making is this. I'm pointing people toward the scriptures.

What does God have to say about this? For a gift of any amount, this book can be yours. It's titled Managing Your Emotions. Here's what you do. Go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com. Or if you prefer, call us at 1-888-218-9337. Should I give you that phone number once again? 1-888-218-9337.

Or you can go to rtwoffer.com. You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60614. Running to Win's objective is for you to understand God's roadmap for your race of life with some fruit on a forbidden tree. It all began long ago, the first deception bought into by the newly created human race. Next time on Running to Win, Deceived and Loving It, part two in Erwin Lutzer's revealing series on human nature. Thanks for listening. For Dr. Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.