Transcript

in light of what has happened i'd like to share just two thoughts with you. Two key thoughts first of
all we are Jesus’s disciples. We're disciples of Jesus. That's who we are that's our identity. There are
two words that describe and define our identity beyond any others and those two words are in
Christ.

We are in Christ. Wroe are his disciples in fact if you would forgive me for saying it this way we are
owned by Jesus by no one else we are not owned by a political party we are not owned by an
ideology we are not owned by any president whether that president's name is Clinton or bush or
obama or trump or biden.

We are Jesus’s disciples. Our identity is defined by in Christ. In fact I would very much contend that
that identity supersedes all others it doesn't negate all others but it supersedes them. My first
identity is not that I’m an Adventist, it's not that i'm a husband, it's not that i'm a father, it's not that
i'm a sibling, or a neighbor. Each of those has deep importance but each is made more important
and more clear and more committed by the fact that i am in Christ.

That's my key identity we are disciples of Jesus

Secondly who we are defines what we do. Jesus was clear on the fact that his kingdom is a spiritual
kingdom in fact as the sands ran out in the hourglass of his earthly life his disciples were ready to
grasp the sword and fight even those who were trying him asked him about these matters and jesus
was very clear he said my kingdom is not of this world if it were then would my servants fight.

We belong to a spiritual kingdom, God’s familyhaving said that our citizenship in that spiritual
kingdom defines every aspect of how we live in this world everything we do in this world is defined
by who we are as members of the kingdom of god we live by the high ethical standard of Jesus if we
are to claim to be his disciples then we must live by the ethic to which he calls us that reaches every
part of our lives.

Well friends i understand that was a bit of a long introduction but now we turn our thoughts to our
study for the day we are just about reaching the middle of 2023. We’ve just taken a half bites off of
2023 but we have done enough to realize 2023 in many ways is not that different from 2022. But
somehow we think that that when the clock strikes midnight and the year turns and it becomes the
first of January that all that stuff back there will be left behind and we soon discover actually not a
whole lot has changed and because of that even though we're only a few days into the year you
have probably come to the conclusion still have all this stuff with me in fact you may feel like this
driver.

This driver was pulled over by the police ticketed towed his vehicle. Wouldn't allow him to continue
on his journey. Now i want you to know why, because that driver, i think, had a bit of a difficult time
setting priorities couldn't decide what was essential what was the most important and what could be
left behind. and so he just took it all loaded it all up and took it all with him you know what that
looks like to me that looks like somebody who cannot prioritize what's essential and what is not.

And here's the simple truth when we cannot prioritize, everything becomes essential and when
everything is essential our life is overloaded. We get ticketed and towed.

So today we begin with first god so when we're setting priorities when we're sorting through what
comes first second third fourth what biblical help might we find?
I want to take us to Matthew’s gospel, Matthew chapter 6 to find the words of Jesus that will help us
with this first priority.

To set a bit of the context for where we are in Matthew you'll immediately recognize that we're
about two-thirds of the way through the sermon on the mount at the end of Matthew chapter six.

Here what we read from Jesus will help us set priorities.

Now before we read the passage i want to ask you to pay attention to two things first of all pay
attention to the occurrence of the word, worry.

You’ll notice that it appears in the niv six times pay attention to the occurrence of the phrase do not
worry that will appear here three times so pay attention,

To that second thing i want you to pay attention to is pay attention to the appearance of a word that
only comes one time in this passage it's the Greek word protoss in English it's translated first, first.

Anytime we're considering priorities and anytime Jesus uses the word first we ought to pay attention
Jesus lays before us in these words two different ways that we can go about to the setting of
priorities.

The first one i would call the way of worry the second one i would call the way of worship.

So we begin with the way of worry.

So read with me Matthew chapter 6 beginning in verse 25 Jesus's words

Jesus is talking about the bottom line needs of life he's talking to people who live in a society and in
a culture where the things that he mentions. Drink water food clothing those have to be high on the
priority list in fact i suspect some of them would have argued those have to be the top items on our
priority list if we are to survive.

There’s no refrigeration there's no running water there's no certainty that those needs will be
provided for in fact for many people who were listening to Jesus when they got up in the morning
the legitimate and penetrating first question was what are we going to eat, where's the water we're
going to drink. In a world like this water was more precious than gold. You could not assume that it
was available.

In fact when we move to a new vicinity moved to a new house new neighborhood new city I suspect
we spend very little time thinking about food and water.I mean we'll take notice that the grocery
stores down there is just three blocks down there or it's a kilometer over this direction. Beyond that
we give it very little thought.

Not so to the listener to Jesus. It was the difference between life and death.

I want you to listen to the words of new testament scholar Robert Mounts as he writes about these
things in this passage here's what mount says.

Since serving God rules out serving money, which is what Jesus has just said in the previous
section of the Sermon on the Mount, the logical conclusion is that followers of Christ should not
be anxiously concerned about food and clothing. God takes care of the birds who neither plant nor
gather a harvest into barns. He also addresses the flowers of the field and garments more
beautiful than Solomon with all his wealth could secure. Children of the kingdom are certainly of
greater value than birds and wild grass is here today and gone tomorrow. When you worry about
such things, you're not only like the pagans but you dishonor God as well. He is fully aware of your
needs. Worry is practical atheism and an affront to God.

That certainly would have been the case in the world of Jesus’s listeners they had to to survive and
so as they stand there as they sit there and listen to the words of Jesus and He has the boldness the
audacity to say do not worry!

I really wonder what they were thinking i think. I would have been tempted to think what are you
talking about Jesus? With all due respect, if i don't make these items number one on my priority list I
may not survive. And yet Jesus says and then he says again and then he says again do not worry.

In other words, don't set your priorities by the way of worry. Don't let the anxiety and the stress of
all that you have to take care of in life be the driving force for how you list your priorities.

Because if you do your life will be filled with anxiety and worry and concern. Why? Because you can
never fully or adequately complete them.

In the world of Jesus no matter how much they worried and set their priority list by water and food
and clothing they could never have a supply sufficient to care for their needs. Not for tomorrow, not
for next week, not for next month. Always just a bit of famine a lack of rain or a flood away from
losing their lives.

So Jesus takes the way of worry as a mechanism for setting our priorities and he sweeps it aside. All
right Jesus, then if that's not how we set our priorities exactly how do we set them?

Enter the second way the way of worship. The way of worship that Jesus says is the way to set your
priorities.

You remember before we read the passage I said watch for the appearance of the word first it only
appears one time in the passage and it actually appeared you caught it when we read it no doubt in
Matthew 6:33. I want to reread that verse right now it comes right toward the very end of the
passage. We read verse 33 says but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these
things will be given to you as well.

I want you to get a picture in your mind's eye of Jesus on the hillside overlooking the Sea of Galilee.
His listeners are seated there listening to him. and no doubt they are even there making a tally of
what they need to do. So picture in your mind's eye a person who has at that to-do list and is saying
okay first of all drink. Where do we get water for today? We've got to have water. If we don't have
water nothing else really matters that much.

Secondly where do we get food for today we can only go two or three days without.

Clearly answering that question thirdly for people who typically had one garment that they wore and
when that garment was getting frayed at the elbows frayed at the knees. Where do I get my next
garment?

They’re making their priority list and Jesus says stop seek first the kingdom of God and his
righteousness.
What does that mean Jesus? Does that mean we sit in our home hoping that somebody will bring
water? We sit out in the front part our village hoping somebody will bring food. What do you mean
seek first?

There's a little volume entitled Making all Things New. It’s written by Henry Nowin.

I want to read to you from now in volume i want to read three paragraphs thoughtfully considering
what Nowin has to say about this very concept listen to what Nowin writes. Jesus does not respond
to our worry-filled way of living by saying that we should not be so busy with worldly affairs. He
does not try to pull us away from the many events activities and people that make up our lives. He
does not tell us that what we do is unimportant valueless or useless nor does he suggest that we
should withdraw from our involvements and live quiet restful lives removed from the struggles of
the world.

So first of all in that first paragraph Nowin is suggesting that by Jesus saying seek first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness, He is not saying don't make a plan of where you're going to find it, don't
cook a meal, don't even go looking for a clothes. He is not doing any of that.

That's not his way of dealing with it. Second paragraph what is then? Jesus response to our worry-
filled lives is quite different. He asks us to shift the point of gravity to relocate the center of our
attention, to change our priorities. Jesus wants us to move from the many things to the one
necessary thing. It is important for us to realize that Jesus in no way wants us to leave our many-
faceted world. Rather he wants us to live in it but firmly rooted in the center of all things. Jesus
does not speak about a change of activities a change in contacts or even a change of pace. He
speaks about a change of heart.

This change of heart makes everything different even while everything appears to remain the
same this is the meaning of set your hearts on his kingdom first and all these other things will be
given you as well.

What counts here is where our hearts are when we worry we have our hearts in the wrong place.
Jesus asks us to move our hearts to the center where all other things fall into place.

I want you to understand that Jesus is driving us in the direction of a change of heart, of a change of
where our heart is centered and located so where should that be third paragraph what is this
center? Jesus calls it the kingdom the kingdom of his father. For us in the 20th century, that's
when Nowin wrote this, this may not have much meaning. Kings and kingdoms do not play an
important role in our daily life. But only when we understand Jesus’s words as an urgent call to
make the life of god's spirit our priority can we see better what is at stake.

A heart set on the father's kingdom is also a heart set on the spiritual life. To set our hearts on the
kingdom therefore means to make the life of the spirit within and among us the center of all we
think say or do.

Not a change of activity, not a change of connection, not a change of demands, but a change of
heart. I puzzled a bit about how to illustrate that.

And then i realized i actually live it every day of my life. December 16, 2018. December 16, 2018 was
the day when Donna and I said i do to each other. That changed the location of my heart, of our
hearts.That changed the center of our hearts. You see before then, quite naturally, the primary
words that we use were words like I and me and mine.
Primary among the ones that we had to consult and decision was ourselves. But once we had said i
do that shifted now the key words became words like us and we and our. Now she for me and me
for her became key in every key decision in life.

So like nowin said Jesus is not saying change everything that you do what he is saying is give me your
heart. Give me the first last and best of who you are and when you are in that kind of relationship
with me then everything you do will be seen through the lens through the prism of the divine
companion who walks with you. Every day, every decision, every action every thought, is seen
through that lens.

In that way we seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness.

It struck me as i was reading this passage this week that the bible has a word for that. When we love
God with all of our hearts souls minds and strength. When we honor God for his worth in our lives
his place in our lives. When we give him the best of what we are, when we give him our service.

The bible has a word for that and the word is worship.

Worship so when jesus tells us seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness he is asking us to
set our priorities based on the way of worship. Because He knows that when we love him supremely,
when we honor him with all that we are when we've changed the center of our hearts every other
priority will fall into place in deeply meaningful ways.

So i invite you i encourage you to reject the way of worry to embrace the way of worship to honor
God with your love and your life and all else will become more simple.