Walking Together Part 2

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Jesus prayed for the unity of his disciples in John chapter 17. Unity, it's easy in theory, tough in practice.

Human nature makes mutual submission hard, and so most of us go our own ways. Today we begin to explore how we can in fact walk together. 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, the book of Ephesians is rich in powerful teaching on the practicalities of the Christian life. Dave, I think that the gospel of Jesus Christ not only is a miracle, that is to say, when we accept Christ, we of course receive a miracle in our lives, but more than that, it joins us with other believers in a way that no other message can.

There are plenty of groups in the world that are held together because of common interests. We as believers are held together because we share a common life, and that's the message of the book of Ephesians. This is a very special month here at Running to Win because every gift that you give during this month will be doubled up to $90,000. But more than that, I want you to keep in mind and in your prayers the fact that the end of this month is the end of our fiscal year, and I want to thank the many of you who support this ministry. Now, at the end of this broadcast, I'm going to be giving you some contact info, and I think it will help you as we consider going forward here with this ministry. But for now, I want you to listen to God's word. Verse 1, Paul says, walk worthy of the calling that you have. Notice in verses 2 and 3, he says, walk worthy of one another, walk worthy of one another.

And then he gives us five characteristics that should really be a characteristic of our walk. And if you've ever lived closely with other people who irritate you, you know how desperately you need these characteristics. He says humility, gentleness, patience. Patience is the ability to endure discomfort without fighting back. Forbearance. Do you know anyone who stretches your forbearance quotient? You say, yeah, and I want to make sure that I not see them anymore. No, God placed them in your life for the very reason that you might be able to develop that quality in your life of forbearance that all of us seem to have in such a short supply.

And love. As I say, it's easy for us, you know, because we're a regional church. You can put up with anybody on a Sunday morning. But if you have to live with them, if you're in close contact with them, if you have to do business with them, if you see them seven days a week, it can really, really bring all of the uncrucified part of the flesh to the surface. You know, my wife and I have noticed that, you know, we can get along very well here, but you know, when we're overseas and when we're traveling, suddenly you live 24 hours a day with this person, never more than just a few feet away. And therefore, every irritation, every imperfection comes to the surface in a case like that. This past week, I read about a man who, on his honeymoon, said to his wife, now, dearie, you know that I really do love you, sweetie, sweetie pie, but now that we're married, can I share with you some of the faults that I have noticed in your life? And she said, sure, please do so.

She said, because, you see, it's because of these faults that I was not able to get a better husband. Nowhere do the differences between Rebecca and me become more clear than when it comes to shopping. My idea is, look, what is it that we need to buy? Let's find it. Let's buy it. Let's get out of there. Let's get it done with.

But for Rebecca, the process, the process is just as important as the end result. I'm interested in the catch. She's interested in the hunt. And so we put up with this for a few hours and, you know, I'm being very loving, very spirit-filled.

I'm the pastor of Moody Church, really. I'm going to be gentle. I'm going to be loving. I'm going to be.

And then finally, I have the brains to say, look, honey, why don't we take what we've already bought and I'll take it back to the hotel and then you can continue to do some more shopping. Notice what the text says here. Maintain at all costs the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. That's what Paul says. Guard it.

Look after it. Make sure that there is no falling out unless there is reconciliation and understanding because God has unified you and you should live in a unified way to honor his name. That's what the text says. You see, that's why God hates the tongue so much when he finds our tongues out of control. In the book of Proverbs, it says, yea, six things doth the Lord hate, yea, seven are an abomination unto him. And one is a tongue and a life that sows discord among brethren.

Why? Because God says you're unified. And you cannot maintain the unity like the Apostle Paul says we should make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit. It is impossible to do it unless you know the meaning of the word forgiveness and you exercise that word in your life. I challenge those of you who have irreconcilable differences to be reconciled in the name of Jesus.

I know that sometimes it can't be done because there are some people who say I don't want reconciliation and you've attempted it and you've done your responsibility therefore because the simple fact is that sometimes there are falling outs that are never repaired and seemingly cannot be. But Paul is saying make every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit. That's why if we are going to be credible to the world, we have to have examples of couples who are not able to get along and who are on the brink of divorce and whose marriages were wracked by every sin imaginable, who have been brought together in the power of Christ, who now love each other and are committed to each other.

That's the gospel folks. It's the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. We need examples of people who have been upset with the church, who have been so upset with other Christians that they say I don't want to have anything to do with them and yet now in whose heart God has done such a tremendous work that they come back and they say I want to be unified and I want to forgive and I want to understand that I want to work toward the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. Walk worthy of your calling, Paul says. Secondly, he says I want you to walk worthy of one another. And thirdly, walk worthy of God.

Think of what God has done. We pick it up in verses four and up to verse six. Notice what Paul says. There is one body and one Spirit just as you were called to one hope when you were called. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. Now of course our unity has to be based on truth. We understand that. We're not just talking about a wooly minded kind of unity that puts everybody in the same bucket because they claim to be Christians. We're talking about people who are regenerated by God. We understand that. But notice he says there is one body.

There is only one Christ and you fit into the body in one place and I fit into the body in another place and let us not try to tear that body apart because we are unwilling to give up our right to be proven right. Some of you by the way need to give up that right. Because even sometimes when we are right we must be willing to say I forego the right to be right for the sake of the unity of the body.

I'm not talking about becoming a doormat. There does come a time when we have to assert our quote rights and follow certain procedures. I understand that. But watch a person who is never able to have his rights violated without complaining and he is a person who is not Spirit filled and Spirit led. There's one body. There's one Spirit. So why is it that we can't get along with a larger body of Jesus Christ? One hope of your calling. I think it refers to Jesus Christ's return and we may all differ as to exactly when he's going to come and how he's going to come and how the beast is going to part his hair. We can have all of those differences.

Well you laugh but there are some people who think they know how he's going to do that. And we can have all those differences and we can still love each other because we have the one hope. We are different in temperament.

We are different in color. We are different in the way in which we conduct ourselves. But we're one. We're one. And remember that this unity is not something where God takes away our differences. It is not a sameness.

It is unity despite our diversity. I will never change my view of shopping. It hasn't happened in 29 years.

It probably is never going to happen in the next 29. My wife, bless her heart, well I'll just let's just cut this off here. She's the way in which God made her and that's why she always gets better bargains than I do.

Better bargains because she's a better shopper, wiser shopper. So it's not a matter of us changing. It's a matter of saying there is a unity that is more important than our differences. And we can accept one another despite those differences because we are one in Christ. We're one in Christ. One Lord, one faith.

That is the body of truth that unites us as believers. One baptism. I think it's a reference to the baptism of the Spirit. The baptism of the Spirit unites us. The reason I don't think it's water baptism is because water baptism has been a big subject of division. We were at the Lamont River there in Zurich two days ago and saw the place where Felix Montz was drowned, deliberately drowned because he believed that one should be baptized as a believer rather than as an infant. And thousands of people died because of that in Europe. More died because of that doctrine that one should be baptized as a believer than died in all of those terrible persecutions in Rome. And many Christians don't know that.

Wow. The Anabaptists, the rebaptizers. Back in 1536, that's when it all began. So I think it's a reference to spirit baptism. But Swingly, who was there on the river bank, who said regarding his friends Felix Montz, if he wishes to go under the water, why indeed let him go under? And Montz was forcibly drowned. Swingly and Montz are together today in heaven, finally reconciled, finally resolved. And even in that disagreement, which was serious, they were one in Christ.

Too bad. Too bad they didn't live it out, but they were one. One baptism. One Father of us all. I'm so glad that the Lord's Prayer does not say my Father who is in heaven, but our Father who is in heaven. Paul says, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. Same Father.

Same Father. Why is this unity so important? First of all, it's because it's the basis of a church's power. It's the basis of a church's power.

I believe that one of the reasons God so mightily used the Moravians is because they were unified despite their differences. You know, when we are in a battle, if we begin to turn in on ourselves and begin to fight ourselves, all of our energy is dissipated in our petty quarrels and in our arguments and the whole bit. But if we understand that our real battle is against the world and against the devil and we understand that, then we all begin to fight with a sense of unity. And we might not always like the drill sergeant. We might not always like the food. We might not always like what we are served when we come to church. But we say, what difference does that make?

Because there's a larger purpose and there's a larger battle to which we are committed. That's the power of the church. And that's why we need members at Moody Church who say to themselves, I want to be united with that body. I want to stand with that body. I want to commit with that body.

I want to sacrifice with that body. Because we want to stand together as God has given us the great task of living and working and witnessing here in the city of Chicago. And that's why we need one another. And that's why we appeal to you to join the church if God so leads you.

It's the basis of power. It's amazing how things can turn around. I know some folks who are related to me.

I'll be just that vague. And God gave them a grandchild that has a very serious skin disease, so serious in fact that no child has ever been cured from this disease. And this child is going to have certain limitations for as long as she lives.

It's a heartbreaking story. But I heard a testimony given by the grandparents who said, you know, we argue less in our home now because all of these petty differences don't make any difference now. All of our heart and our prayers and our hopes and our dreams and our focus is on this precious child that God has given to us and the challenge of her birth. See, it's a redirection.

It's not that the differences go away, but there's bigger things to do than that. It's the basis of power. It's the basis of the witness to the world. We read earlier in John 17, I ask that you may be, they may be one father as thou in me and I in thee.

Why? That the world may believe that thou did send me. See, that's the power of a united witness. That's why your resentment, if you have some, that's why your alienation from the rest of the body, if that's maybe where you're coming from, that's why it weakens the body.

And that's why it weakens our witness because a mark, a distinguishing mark of the work of the blessed spirit of God is to bring people together, to heal relationships, to experience forgiveness, and to bring about a unity despite the fact that tremendous differences sometimes remain, but the ability to accept people with those differences because there is a larger power and a larger purpose. Some time ago I read in Africa, a child was lost and they were looking for this child and could not find him and the little toddler could not be found. And a day and a night went by and then the villagers finally said, look, why can't we find this child in the tall grass? Let's join hands.

So they joined hands and they walked through the tall grass and the child was found dead. And someone said, oh, if only we had joined hands earlier. My friend today, you know what the Apostle Paul is saying in Ephesians chapter four. If we join hands, really nothing can stand in our way.

Nothing can stand in our way. If we join hands, the city of Chicago will know that God is among us. If we are willing to put down our differences and to simply say we shall be one in Christ to love each other, to hang in with each other, to minister to each other, to meet one another's needs and to think of others more highly than ourselves, the world will know that we belong to Christ. The world will know that we belong to Christ.

And so I bring to you the story of the New Testament but also the story of the Moravians. Close quarters, differences, God unites them and uses them mightily throughout the world. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. So I say to you, as I say to myself, let's get on with it.

Let's get on with it. And let us pray. Father, we want to thank you today for all those who have been willing to set aside many of the differences that they had for the sake of the gospel and for the sake of the unity of Jesus. Now, Father, help us to understand that unity means more than just getting along. Unity means concern for the other person. Unity means love.

Unity means putting others ahead of ourselves. Grant us that, we pray. And oh, in this congregation, we do not know as a pastoral staff or elders all of the hurts and the alienations and some of the internal walls that might exist.

Lord, would you reveal them to us and then would you lovingly demolish them? We pray for marriages that are in deep difficulty today. We ask in the name of Jesus that you'll bring about a unity that is Spirit-driven. We pray today for families, for relatives, for the larger body, for relationships with other churches in this area, other evangelical churches. Help us to see it today, Father, the unity of the Spirit. And for those who do not know Christ as Savior, we pray that even today they may say, I want to become a part of that unity and receive him, that they might also receive the blessed Spirit who will make them one with us. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. My heart rejoices about the fact that the gospel of Jesus Christ goes forth in so many different languages, but as the Word of God has just taught us, we are actually unified.

We are one in Christ. I'm holding in my hands a letter from someone who listens to us in Spanish. Now, you must remember that we are in Central and South America on about 100 radio stations, so you can imagine the reach of the ministry of Running to Win. But this person writes, Pastor Lutzer, thanks to the clear teaching of God's Word and your exposition, I am being ministered to by the Holy Spirit of God. I am being changed and delivered from my past. God bless this great ministry. And they, of course, as I mentioned here, Running to Win in Spanish.

And why can they do that? It's because of people just like you who support this ministry. If you've been blessed, I trust that you will make an investment that will be a blessing to others. Now, during this very special month, any gift that you give will be doubled.

And furthermore, I like to emphasize that at the end of this month, it's actually the end of our fiscal year. Here's what you can do to connect with us. Go to RTWOffer.com, RTWOffer.com, or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Now, because this is so critical, I'm going to be giving you that contact info again. I hope that you can grab a pencil or a pen, write this down, and respond as soon as possible.

Go to RTWOffer.com, or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Thank you for helping us be in four different languages in 21 different countries of the world. It's time now for another chance for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life. Some people feel trapped in their marriages.

An anonymous listener wants to know what to do. She writes, Would it be right for me to leave my alcoholic, verbally abusive husband? Even though he's been disabled for the last three years, I'm 62 and have been living for God since 2004. I've been praying for him all these years, but nothing much has changed. We have no life together.

He sleeps on the couch all the time. Sometimes I think I hate him because of the way he talks to me. I guess I wish either he or I would just go ahead and die so it would be over. What should I do? Well, my dear sister, you have asked a very difficult question, and ultimately I do not have an easy answer for you. Wish I could just say you do this or you do that, but I can't.

But a couple of thoughts come to mind. First of all, if he is disabled and you still call him an alcoholic, is he still buying his alcohol? Seems to me that that's something that has to end, especially if he's disabled, because I know that you have lived with abuse, you've lived with an addict, and it must be very, very difficult. Now you ask about the possibility of separation. Well, it seems to me that to some extent you have already separated, even though you live in the same home. You say that we have no life together. He sleeps on the couch.

The two of you exist under the same roof. On the one hand, I would like to encourage you to stay, especially because you've been married to him so long, and pray that the support system in your church enables you to be able to give godly responses to an abusive, self-centered, narcissistic man. I believe that that would be honoring to God.

If you do decide to leave, then what you should do is to separate, not divorce, understanding that there are times when people need to separate simply to try to get their own life together. I suggest that you talk to your pastor, get some wisdom from a counselor. They can ask the kind of questions that you have answers for, and I trust that God will lead you. But I do want to end by saying, time is short.

Eternity is long. Be faithful, even when it's hard. Some compassionate counsel from Dr. Erwin Lutzer. Thank you, Dr. Lutzer. 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. You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 N. LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60614. Running to Win is all about helping you find God's roadmap for your race of life. Today, Pastor Erwin Lutzer concluded Walking Together, the eleventh message in a series on Between Heaven and Earth, taken from the book of Ephesians. Next time, we'll learn about a gift you've been given, a gift you can use to give to others. This is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.