First Things First

Bruce Grimmet

Sermon • Submitted 2 years ago • Presented 2 years ago

John 6:24–35

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“Peace be with you.”

“Let’s pray: Father may your will be done. Jesus may your word be proclaimed. Spirit, may your work be accomplished in us we pray. Amen”

Introduction: 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

When I was a supervisor at an all male juvenile treatment facility, I would take a group of teenage boys and hold group sessions to equip them with concepts that would help situate their lives differently. One of the books that I used to do this was a book titled 7 Habit of Highly Effective People by Steve Covey. This book talked about 7 habits that highly influential and effective people practiced.

As I continue to own personal studies in the scriptures I found that these same habits were also demonstrated in the scriptures as well.

The first of these seven habits was called “Putting First things first.” It is the concept of ordering your life according to what is most important. Seems pretty straight-forward. Of course it would be very effective to put the most important things first before everything else. But that begs the question, Why do we need to be told that?

In today’s gospel reading we come this this very idea of putting first things first.

Summary: The people search for Jesus to have their needs met aka to “have their full” by Jesus feeding them. Jesus exhorts them to not work for things that have temporary solutions, but work for a permeant solution which Jesus can give. The people ask how they can work towards this permeant solution. Jesus tells them to just believe in the one God has sent. Beginning to understanding that Jesus might be sent from God, they ask him to give a sign that proves he is sent from God. They reference another time when they were in need and God sent someone to provide for them (Moses and Manna in the wilderness). Jesus corrects their story and tells them that Moses didn’t do anything but that God provided for them. In that way, God is providing for their need now offering “the true bread out of heaven.” Intrigued, the crowd wants to receive this “true bread of heaven.” Jesus declares to them that He is The Bread of Life, all who believe in Him will never hunger or thirst again.

I. Put First Things First: Jesus Above All.

1. The Bread (Crowd seeking Jesus for food).

John 6:27 NASB95

27 “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.”

John 6:33–35 NASB95

33 “For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.” 34 Then they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.” 35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.

2.The Water (Woman at the well).

John 4:14–15 NASB95

14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw.”

3. The Healing (The Paraplegic)

Matthew 9:2 NASB95

2 And they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, “Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven.”

Matthew 9:6 NASB95

6 “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Get up, pick up your bed and go home.”

4.The Kingdom First

Matthew 6:25–33 NASB95

25 “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? 27 “And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? 28 “And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, 29 yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. 30 “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! 31 “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ 32 “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

II. How To Put First things First.

1. Realizing the exact need not assumed need.

We have to come to realize our true need is not bread, water, health, or financial stability. Our true need is Spiritual. We are in great need of being rescued from sin, death, and the devil.

2. Believe in Jesus not ourselves to provide.

Once we come to realize our exact need then we can see Jesus for who He is, the only one who can provide what we need.

Caution: This is hard to do. Nearly everyone I know lives more for the physical than the spiritual. The physical is easier to accept and manage on our own. We trust more in our ability to provide for our needs than we do the Lord. We lack the patience to wait on Jesus, we lack the faith to believe that He will provide for all we need.

The nature of sin.

Our sinful actions demonstrate our lack of faith in God.

Joy: Instead of believing that God can bring joy into our lives we find joy in world pleasures and spend our lives pursuing them.

Rest: Instead of believing in the ways that God invites us to rest we seek other ways we think give us rest. Vacations, Lazy days, etc.

Love: Instead of believing that God is the ultimate source of love, we seek to find love from others. We exchange those relationships which are meant to point to the Love of God, namely spouses, to be the exact love that only God can truly provide.

Work: instead of believing that God will accomplish our salvation and our sanctification, we strive to add our own efforts to the mix. We trust more in our works than we do in the work of Jesus in our lives. This is why people with poor theology say, “God only helps those who help themselves.” Jesus is always calling us to Faith in Him and nothing else. There is no Faith plus (insert a work you want to contribute). It is grace alone, through faith alone, In Christ alone. Not in anything you can go, lest you be able to boast and rob God of all the glory.

Seeking the Spiritual and getting the physical: walking by faith- Oil job and Church job.

Jesus entrusts himself to the Father for all his needs:

Luke 9:58 NASB95

58 And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

Matthew 4:4 NASB95

4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’ ”

John 4:32 NASB95

32 But He said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.”

3. Jesus First and In all things.

Listen carefully, I have not said that you cannot find joy in playing golf, or watching a movie with friends. I have not said that you cannot feel love or cherish your spouse. I have not said that you should just be lazy with your life. What I am telling you is that Jesus calls us to put Him first above all things, as the greatest of all the joy, rest, love, and work in our lives. That is what I believe the gospel lesson is for us today.

It is ordering our lives according to what is most important: Jesus above all things.

It is a lesson that moves us to reflect if we are ordering our lives upside down. If our lives are being built on that which perishes or are our lives built upon the foundation of Jesus first above all else.

Life example of Living by Faith in Jesus and trusting in Him to provide all other needs. Job in Oil Field. How God has led my ministry.

What dictates your next step in life?

What motivates you to accomplish things in your life?

What is the first source of love, rest, and nourishment in your life?

If your answer isn’t Jesus above all else then, my friend, you may be trusting in other things more than Jesus and you need help to put first things first.

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