Priorities

Introduction

Last week, I mentioned one of my favorite preachers from the first Great Awakening: Jonathan Edwards. Tonight I want to introduce you to another great preacher of the First Great Awakening: John Wesley. John died in 1791 after 53 years of faithful ministry to God. When he died, they went through his belongings. What he left was a handful of books, an old Geneva gown that he used to preach in, six silver spoons someone had given him and six one pound bills which he gave instructions for:

“Give one to each of the poor men that carry me to my grave”

He died without much to his name. He didn’t leave millions to his children, but he did leave one thing behind: the Methodist Church.

He made money and he built orphanages, printed bibles, supported missionaries. He and his brother produced a hymn book and he died with a value of no more than $30. Life is full of choices on what things matter. Tonights message is on setting priorities and when we talk about priorities we are really asking

How much should I value different things in my life?

What takes precedence when there is a conflict?

What should take up the majority of my time?

Priorities are really just a matter of value. What value do you place on certain things? How important are they to you? Luke 12:34 “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

I looked up some statistics about how people use their time:

The average teen spends a little over 1 hour every day playing console video games and another 30 minutes playing mobile games. About 10-12 hours total per week according to another study. Some parents stated that their teens were playing over 3 hours a day for a total of 21 ours a week.

The average adult plays around 3-6 hours a week.

The average adult spends 3:15 hours on their cell phones browsing or playing games

What we spend the most of our time often reveals our priorities although not always. You spend a lot of hours working because you have to not necessarily because it is the most important thing in your life. But what you do with your free time does indicate what you value. These are all just symptoms of a bigger problem: a lack of priorities. Time playing video games and on your phone is alright but there has to limits.

The bible doesn’t come out and give us a list of our priorities in the order they should be given but we can deduce from the bible what order our priorities should be in. The following list is what I have deduced from the scriptures and I will try to show you where I am coming from as we work our way through them: God, Family, Work, Ministry, Exercise. The list could include other things, but they would all be underneath the things given. I stuck with these items because they are directly addressed by the Scriptures.

The first priority is God

Exodus 20:3 “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” We know that an idol can be anything that we place ahead of God. When we don’t prioritize God before everything else, we are making a god out of those other things. It can be any of these other things on our list of priorities, but it can include anything. Food can become an idol. Money can become an idol. Relationships and people can become idols. Even Church can become an idol. Anything that we value and prioritize more than God can become an idol.

Last week, we mentioned briefly the issue of priorities. The clearest verse on prioritizing God can be found in:

Matt 6:33 “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Notice the key word in this verse is the word first. First can refer to priority or time (Illustrate), but what you give time to is often what you are prioritizing. We should be seeking God’s rule to be spread, God’s glory to be made known through our lives. The context of the passage speaks about being concerned with what you are going to eat, wear or drink. Now these things are necessities right? Necessities should be high up on the list and yet

Matt 6:31 “Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?” tells us to take no thought about them. Jesus is teaching that we should not be anxious or worried about these things because God will take care of you. He uses two illustrations to show this truth:

birds of the sky

how tall you are

the lilies of the field

So when we come to Seek ye first the kingdom of God, Jesus is saying even before the necessities of life, you should seek the kingdom of God first because God will take care of those needs. In fact he promises, all these things shall be added unto you. God doesn’t promise to make us rich, but He does promise that if we will seek Him first, He will take care of us.

The second priority is Family

A. Less than God

Our love for our family must always come second to our love for God. God is our creator, redeemer and helper. We owe Him our utmost allegiance.

Matt 10:35-37 “For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” Jesus says that if we do not love Him more than father, mother, son or daughter; we are not worthy of Him. Elsewhere he says that you must hate you mother or father, son or daughter in comparison to the way that we love Him.

He isn’t literally saying hate them, but our love for God should outstrip our loyalty to family. If family tells us not to worship God, we ignore them and obey God. If God calls us to be missionaries in a far distant land, we should be willing to leave family behind to serve God.

B. More than Ministry

We need to make clear a distinction though between God and ministry. My relationship with God, my worship of God and my obedience to God must always come first; but sometimes we can turn my service for God into God. Ministry for God is not the same thing as God and it has its own separate place. As a husband and father, my responsibility comes to my family before my ministry. Many, many preachers have in my opinion have disqualified themselves from ministry because they have no control over their children. This usually occurs because ministry has been made of greater importance than the family. Significant chunks of time have not been carved out for their family to grow and stay connected.

A qualification for a pastor who has children is that he rules his own house well and his children are in subjection.

1 Tim 3:2-5 “A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)”

The reasoning behind this is that if he can’t run his family well, he will not have the skills he needs to manage the church. His family is a training ground for ministry for God. They are his first and foremost ministry.

Mark 7:7-13 “Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death: But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free. And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother; Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.”

Without going into all the details of this passage, we have a scene where a young man seeks to get out from under his obligations to his family by giving to the temple. Jesus confronts this teaching of the Pharisees because they are creating by their own tradition an excuse not to obey God’s commands. But notice it is a gift to the temple, ministry or service that they are trying to use as an excuse not to fulfill their family obligations.

C. More than Others

A. More than your parents or in-laws Gen 2:24 “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” When a man and a woman get married, a new family unit is created. They are to separate from their parents and their primary loyalty belongs to their husband. One of the first and most stressful struggles that young couples often have is learning to separate from their mothers and fathers emotionally and cling to their new spouse. This means your emotional needs should be met by your spouse. Decisions should be made as a couple without the interference of the parents. If there is a problem in the marriage, the wife should not be running back to her mother to rescue her but she should work through it with her husband. You have to prioritize the needs of your immediate family over your parents wants and desires.

B. Your first responsibility is to your family over others. 1 Timothy 5:8 “But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” A man who will not provide for those of his own family which according to this text extends to his widowed mother has brought shame to Christianity. Paul says he is worse than an infidel or an unbeliever.

D. More than Yourself

Eph 5:25 “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;” Men we love to make ourselves a priority. How many times do we leave our wives at home all the time with the kids while we go play with our friends? How many times do you see wives whose hands are full while their husband just walks into the building without helping? We can tend to be very selfish. This verse teaches that I should be prioritizing my wife over myself.

The third priority is Ministry/ Church

Church is important. Serving others is important. We need each other in the body of Christ, but often times Church and fellowship with other believers ends up somewhere at the bottom of the totem pole. Sports come before church. Money comes before church. Vacations and pleasure come before Church. We need to reevaluate our priorities on this matter.

A. Value church Heb 10:25 “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” In the light of the context of Hebrews, the author was saying that if we are going to remain strong as believers we need to assemble together so that we can exhort one another. This means being involved in each others lives and trying to encourage one another spiritually. According to this verse, we should be doing it more and more as we see the end approaching. Some people like to talk about the Rapture, end times and the tribulation but then they never avail themselves of something God has said is necessary in their lives.

B. Value others Phil 2:3 “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.” Within the context of the body of Christ, we should value others better than ourselves. My desire, my goal should be to serve, help, encourage you even more than I do myself.

C. Value Christians over lost friends Gal 6:10 “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.” I don’t know that I would say it is wrong to have “friends” that are lost, but verses like this make me think that we should value and prioritize Christians even over the lost. If I have a chance to help someone one out between a lost person and a Christian, I should prioritize the Christian because we are family. We are of the household of faith. There ought to be stronger bonds between us and other Christians than there are between us and lost people.

The fourth priority is Work

A. Know when to stop: Proverbs 23:4 “Labour not to be rich: Cease from thine own wisdom.” This verse teaches that our motive for working should not be to get rich because if it is we will be consumed with working. Workaholics usually get their drive from one of two motivations: more money and things or self identity. They derive their value from work. The last phrase of this proverb seems to be confusing: Cease from thine own wisdom can take on two different meanings. On the surface it seems to be saying stop following your own understanding of things. Another possible meaning is Because of your wisdom, stop. If this second meaning is taken, the text is saying that you need to have the wisdom to know when to stop. Workaholics spend all their time working at the expence of their God, their families and their faith. (Dwell on this)

B. You cannot make money your consuming pursuit and claim to also be pursuing God. Matt 6:24 “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” The verse teaches that you cannot serve God and mammon. You can only have one ultimate master; someone is going to have to budge from that position in your heart. God will not share His glory with another and nothing else can be your driving principle and God still be in charge in your life. If you are consumed with pursuing money, you cannot claim to also be pursuing God.

C. Sometimes, emergency work has to be done that supersedes other priorities. I have never really liked the phrase duties never conflict because I can have duties to multiple things that do conflict such as work and church. However, priorities shouldn’t conflict. One has to be more important than the other. I believe that for the Christian you ought to be in church as often as you can; not so much out of duty as out of necessity. We need the believers in our lives. So for me, I never took a job that demanded that I work every Sunday. However, there were times usually once a quarter when CFA made me come in on a Sunday Morning. I was told if you do not come in then you do not have a job here. In such emergency cases I felt I should go in to preserve my lively hood and provide for my family. This principle is taught in Matt 12:11 “And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out?”

The fifth priority is Exercise

1 Tim 4:8 “For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.” I couldn’t leave this one ought because it clearly sets up a priority decision. According to this verse, we should prioritize our spiritual condition over physical exercise. It doesn’t say to totally ignore our bodies and stop exercising, but it does say that some things are more important. Notice this is toward the end of the list:

Your daily relationship with God should be a higher priority than exercise. If you miss out on devotions because you have to go out and do a five mile run, your priorities are out of wack.

Your family is more important than exercise. If you are never home because you go to the gym right after work and have no time for family, your priorities are misplaced.

If you are skipping out on church because of a basketball game, your priorities might just be in the wrong order.

Conclusion

It is so easy to get our priorities out of order because we just go with the moment or what we feel like doing. This message is meant to be more of a reality check. How are we doing with making the most important things the most important things? I think the model of Col 3 is a good place for us to start on fixing our misplaced priorities:

Seek those things which are above- make pursuing God and His priorities your priority.

Set your affections on things above- the battle against wrong motives is always going to be a battle if you do not change what you value. What do you love? What are your passions? Place your affections on God and His priorities. If you want to have right priorities you have to change what you want most.

Mortify your members- mortify means to put to death. You are going to have to say “no” to some things in order to prioritize what matters most.

The world is full of voices clamoring for your attention especially in our digital information age. You are going to have to shut out some of those voices, change what you think is most important and pursue the best over the merely good if we are going to align our values and priorities with God’s priorities.