His One Thing

Introduction

It’s wonderful having kids that are growing up. This is the first summer in quite awhile that I have not anxiously been looking forward to them starting school back up. They really did not disrupt my rhythms that much this summer as they could be left alone and I didn’t have to worry about who was with them, if they would be able to find things to eat, etc.

We have left them alone more and more of the recent years, and there are usually tasks we leave them to accomplish. Makes ure you get to bed at a certain time. Make sure things chores are dealt with, so on and so forth. There are even times we have come home and things have been taken care of above and beyond what was asked. They know their parents, and their love languages and know that when we walk in and find the house in order, dishes done, counter tops cleaned off, shoes put away, the living room clear of messes from the evening, it does our hearts good. The know us, and that makes it feel like they love us and care for us right?

But there have been other moments…

I am sure some of you would struggle to believe this because you know my kids to be perfect angels. This would be a false assumption and you should get to know them better. They are great kids and we love them alot. But like all of us, there are times and moments where they forget. They get busy. They have been doing other things. Sometimes they have been doing wonderful things like getting along and playing with each other. But the one thing we asked them to do…its not done. There are other times they have just lost track of time on a screen, completely neglected what we have asked, and possibly made things more of a mess than they were before.

When this happens, despite how patient of a person I can be at times, this is like turning the launch keys for me. I will admit that as someone who didn’t believe they had much of a temper for most of their life…this is one of those things that takes me straight to it. There is something so frustrating about asking someone to do one simple thing, and it not getting done. We know there was plenty of time to get the task accomplished, but we know that for them, in that moment it was not a priority.

SEAM

So…a question I want us to wrestle with a bit for a few weeks is, what does God want from us? He has left us, not alone, but here to care over this world. There are a lot of people saying what he would want, or that as “good christian people” we should want …..A, B, C, or D and that it must be a priority.

But what is it that God really wants from us. If he has a priority for us, what would it be? And IF he has a priority for us…do we actually care about making sure that it is addressed int the time we have on this earth? If he has a priority FOR us, is it a priority TO us?

Passages of Scripture

1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 CSB

Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in everything; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Luke 15 CSB

All the tax collectors and sinners were approaching to listen to him. And the Pharisees and scribes were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable: “What man among you, who has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open field and go after the lost one until he finds it? When he has found it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders, and coming home, he calls his friends and neighbors together, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost sheep!’ I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who don’t need repentance. “Or what woman who has ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found the silver coin I lost!’ I tell you, in the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.” He also said, “A man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate I have coming to me.’ So he distributed the assets to them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered together all he had and traveled to a distant country, where he squandered his estate in foolish living. After he had spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he had nothing. Then he went to work for one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. He longed to eat his fill from the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one would give him anything. When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food, and here I am dying of hunger! I’ll get up, go to my father, and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired workers.” ’ So he got up and went to his father. But while the son was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him. The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son.’ “But the father told his servants, ‘Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then bring the fattened calf and slaughter it, and let’s celebrate with a feast, because this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ So they began to celebrate. “Now his older son was in the field; as he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he summoned one of the servants, questioning what these things meant. ‘Your brother is here,’ he told him, ‘and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ “Then he became angry and didn’t want to go in. So his father came out and pleaded with him. But he replied to his father, ‘Look, I have been slaving many years for you, and I have never disobeyed your orders, yet you never gave me a goat so that I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him.’ “ ‘Son,’ he said to him, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ ”

John 6:40 CSB

For this is the will of my Father: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him will have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

1 Timothy 2:3–4 CSB

This is good, and it pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Matthew 28:16–20 CSB

The eleven disciples traveled to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped, but some doubted. Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

7 Radiant EvangelismOur Christian witness falls short when we abandon love as the center of our Great Commission.2 Furthermore, in many forms of evangelism, the evangelist is in a posture of dominance through their speeches, arguments, propositions, and rhetoric…Radiant Church: Restoring the Credibility of Our Witness, p 136