Live By Priorities
I want to thank everyone who hosted and led a Ten Commandments home group and all of you who participated or came to worship. I hope you feel you’ve learned a little that has helped you in your walk of faith. Today we come to the first commandment: Exodus 20:1-3, “Then God spoke all these words: 2 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; 3 you shall have no other gods before me.”
April 10, 2011
Exodus 20:1-3, Matthew 5:17-20, Live By Priorities
Douglas Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church
[print_link]
[powerpress]
This commandment is first because it is the most important. The principle of this commandment is simply that God gets first place in our lives. The first commandment begins with our relationship with God. Our relationship with God affects our relationships with other people and everything else in life.
What does it mean to put God FIRST? One way to remember that is we are to put God FIRST in our Finances, our Interests, our Relationships, our Schedules, and our Troubles. If God is first in our lives, that will be reflected in our Finances. God is concerned enough about money and possessions becoming first in our lives that just three chapters after giving the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy 5, Deuteronomy 8:11-14 says, “Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God . . . failing to observe His commands, His laws and His decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God.” Self-indulgence can suffocate our love for God. Perhaps the reason why so many people have a love affair with money and possessions is because they don’t have one with God. How we spend our money reveals what is important to us. If God has first place in our finances, it’s a good sign that God has first place in our life.
One of our church’s goals that emerged from our long range planning time last fall was to focus on providing opportunities for people to remember the Lord’s work at BBC in our will or estate planning. This is a way of putting God first in our finances in life and in death and it is an opportunity to help ensure the Lord’s work through our church continues even after we are gone. We have all benefited significantly from the thoughtfulness and generosity of people who have done so. There are letters about this effort on the table in the lobby and I am happy to speak personally with anyone wishing to know more about it.
We put God first in our Finances and in our Interests. That includes our career, hobbies, and recreation. You can tell a lot about people’s priorities by what they get excited over. It’s interesting if we go to a ballgame and cheer, shout, clap – we’re called a fan. But if you go to church and get a bit excited we’re called a fanatic. What do you think about, read about and talk about the most? Paul says (1 Corinthians 10:31), “whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God.”
If we put God first in our Relationships that will help us to be better family members and friends. Remember the first four commandments are about our relationship with the Lord and the last six are about our relationships with other people. Putting God first in our Schedule means we keep God in mind throughout the week and not just for an hour or two on Sunday. David said in Psalm 55:17 (NKJV), “Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, and He shall hear my voice.” Right in the middle of our schedule we can stop and tune in to God. Otherwise days can turn into weeks, which can turn into months, and then you discover it’s been a long time since you prayed and read the Bible. Imagine if we said we were going to fast from food from Monday to Saturday and then pig-out on Sunday. We’d get indigestion. Spiritual food on Sunday is not a sufficient diet for the rest of the week. Establishing the habit of regular prayer, Bible reading, mutual support, and service in our schedule is smart.
We are wise to put God first in our Troubles. Yesterday morning I met with a very nice couple. Brian is facing a gravely serious health issue involving leukemia. They are seeking to put God first in the midst of it all and tenaciously trying to hold onto faith and hope. I hope you will remember Brian and Gail in your prayers.
Certainly if we want to see the best example of putting God first, then we can look at Jesus. Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount quoted repeatedly from the Ten Commandments and took them deeper to our heart and not just our outward behavior. The purpose of the Ten Commandments was to create a holy people who lived in relationship with a holy God and in healthy, appropriate relationship with one another.
Jesus practiced a transforming relationship with God as a way of life. Jesus also faced criticism from some who thought he was ignoring the teaching of Moses and the law and the prophets. This leads us to today’s gospel passage from Matthew 5:17-20, where Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.
Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven;
But whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Jesus came not only as the answer to many prophecies but to show how it looked when someone lived the intent and spirit of the Ten Commandments, the law and the prophets. Clearly there were religious people who thought Jesus was trying to tear down, diminish, or abolish the law and the prophets because of his willingness to disregard some regulations in order to renew, restore, and heal broken lives who came to him for help. This is because Jesus gave more weight to what was most important in the law and the prophets and not as much weight to what was of lesser importance. Jesus’ practice regarding washing hands, eating certain foods or with people who were sinners, or what he did on the Sabbath, regularly got him in trouble with the Pharisees for whom these were deemed very important issues. When it comes to fulfilling or neglecting the law and prophets, Jesus describes the failure of the scribes and Pharisees saying they (Matthew 23:23-28), “have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel! You clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may be clean. You also on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”
Jesus lived by the right priorities. Jesus draws a line between those who fail to live out righteousness, justice, mercy, and faith from inside their hearts and who teach others to do the same, with those who are being transformed and renewed from the inside out and as a result are doing righteousness, justice, mercy, and faith and from their experience are able to lead others to live in a similar way. Sometimes people will say, “Do as I say, not as I do.” Jesus’ approach to spiritual training is, “Do as I do. Only those who do, should be teaching or will be considered great in the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus not only studied the law and taught the law – the scribes and Pharisees did that, and it wasn’t enough. Jesus lived them. D. L. Moody understood this process of inside out transformation when he said,
“The Bible was not given to increase our knowledge but to change our lives.”
We are not to worship the Bible, but to use it; not to treasure it; but to live it.
Jesus was very concerned about righteousness (Greek word “dikaiosune”), an inner quality that makes a person really good and right. Righteousness is one of the primary concerns of the Bible. When the Queen of Sheba came to visit King Solomon, she blessed the Lord and she described why a leader is given leadership when she said the Lord (1 Kings 10:9), “has made you king to execute justice and righteousness.” The prophets have a great deal to say about righteousness. God spoke through the prophet Jeremiah to the King of Judah (Jeremiah 22:3), “Thus says the Lord, ‘Act with justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor anyone who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the alien, the orphan, and the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place.” The king Jeremiah was speaking to was the son of King Josiah who was one of the best at fulfilling the Lord’s desires, the son unfortunately was not. The Lord said of Josiah (Jeremiah 22:15-16), “Did not your father eat and drink and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him. He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Is not this to know me? says the Lord.” It would be nice if all the politicians of every party in Washington would keep these things in mind. Amos 5:24 says, “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream.” Jesus is not “watering” down the Ten Commandments or the law and prophets as some of the Pharisees were suggesting, he is advocating true righteousness that comes from a changed heart.
Let me give you a little background on the Pharisees. The word itself is generally interpreted to mean, “the separated ones.” In describing the beliefs and practices of the Pharisees the historian Josephus wrote: “The Pharisees are a group of Jews who have the reputation of excelling the rest of their nation in the observance of religion, and as exact exponents of the laws (Jewish War, I.v.2). It was this accurate interpretation of the Mosaic Law, and scrupulous adherence to it, that characterized the religiosity of the average Pharisee.”[1] So the scribes and Pharisees were dedicated, committed people, and their devotion is held up by Jesus as a goal to be surpassed which probably would have elicited a groan from those listening to him.
However, Jesus is making a distinction between the legalistic righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, which was largely about not doing things, not breaking the laws of Moses, and avoiding certain things and certain people. Kingdom goodness, in contrast, is generated from a changed heart that is all about living by priorities, putting God first, fulfilling God’s will, doing acts of compassion and mercy and engaging people with the love of God. The righteousness of the Pharisees was externally focused, the righteousness Jesus spoke of, true goodness, flows from the heart and results in action. The kingdom of heaven is not about sitting on a cloud with a harp for the rest of whatever. The kingdom of heaven is not something far away in the sky for after we die, but a present possibility and reality that can be entered here and now.
To know how to enter your house, car, or office is an important piece of information. The more important the place, the more security, codes, passwords, and keys one needs in order to get in. When it comes to entering God’s kingdom, Jesus gave us several keys. Jesus said, “You will never enter the kingdom unless…” Unless what? Unless you are “born from above” meaning that you repent or turn from your old way of being and enable God to make you a new creation (John 3:3); unless “you become like children,” meaning you exercise the trust, dependence, and confidence of a child (Matt. 18:3); and “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees,” meaning that you realize holiness is not different action, but different being (Matt. 5:20).
The kingdom is not something to be “accepted” now and enjoyed later, but something to be entered now when we recognize both our need and our opportunity to do so. Jesus is the key to open the door to the kingdom of God.
Rick Ezell in his book, Seven Sins of Highly Defective People writes, “Recently I received in the mail a recall notice. It looked like a recall notice regarding my automobile. This one was different, much more personal. Stamped in big red letters were the words IMPORTANT RECALL, under which was written the following: The maker of all human beings is recalling all units manufactured, regardless of make or year, due to the serious defect in the primary and central component, the heart. This is due to a malfunction in the original prototype units, resulting in the reproduction of the same defect in all subsequent units. This defect has been technically termed Subsequential internal non-morality, or more commonly known as SIN, and its primary symptom is a lapse of moral judgment. If one is susceptible to loss of direction, foul vocal emissions, lack of peace and joy, or selfish behavior, then one is inflicted with the defect. The manufacturer, who is neither liable nor at fault for this defect, is providing factory authorized repair and service, free of charge, to correct this SIN defect, at numerous locations throughout the world.”[2]
I am pleased to tell you BBC is one of those locations. The beauty of the kingdom life is that we can truly become different from the inside out. Jesus describes and offers a different kind of heart that can be birthed only by entering the kingdom of heaven.
Living by God’s priorities means putting the Lord first in our Finances, Interests, Relationships, Schedule, and Troubles; it is putting God first, in thought, word and deed, in business and leisure, in friendships and career,
in the use of our money, time and talents, at work and at home. It is about seeking the kingdom and its righteousness and believing everything else will fall into proper place. In the first commandment, we are brought back to the basic of basics.
Jesus came to help us put God first and to live a transformed life as our heart and life are changed from the inside out.
Prayer
Lord, Jesus, I bow before you. Forgive me for being pre-occupied with other gods. I choose today to put you first in my finances in my interests in my relationships, in my schedule and in my troubles
Fill me with the power of your Holy Spirit to anchor myself in you and follow you faithfully. Amen
Blessing:
Remember as you go: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”