Second to One in Our Life Goals

Becoming a Christian can really mess you up!  I mean life is progressing quite well, you know where you’re going in life, and then all of a sudden life takes on a whole new perceptive.

It may be that you had no idea what to do with your life or where it was going but you become a Christian you suddenly found meaning and a new directions.

It may also be that you have reached the stage in life where waking up the next morning may be a life goal or at least an achievement!

In the next few sermons we are gong to look at being Second to One in our Finances, Work, and Sexuality.  But today we’re looking at general life goals.  What am I to do with the rest of my life?

We are going to consider several principles for living that will helps all of us:

1. Seek First

I said in the first message on this series some of the following.  

Matthew 6: 33: But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Here Jesus is again being clear and concise.  Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.  Now this might be the simplest thought in the world but it might be quite profound too:  if something is to be sought first, then that means that something else has to be second.

It means that the concerns that take up the life of the non-Christian, the non-Disciple, should not be the top priority of Disciples of Jesus (see verses 25-34).

Everyone knows that you need money, shelter, clothing and food to live life.  But note this verse:

32: For the pagans run after all these things…, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

Unbelievers run after these things.  They seek them and pursue them.  Does that mean that they are wrong or sinful things to have?  No.  For the verse continues, …and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

What Jesus is telling us here is that if we seek first His kingdom all these things will be given to you as well (33b).

Now if we think that there is some formula here so that we can seek God’s kingdom and then get rich as a result we will find we won’t get rich because we;re not seeking God;s kingdom wholly and we’re certainly not denying our greed.

Jesus is saying that if we seek His kingdom first, all the other essentials, will be added to us - money, shelter, clothing and food to live life - for God supplies all our needs according to His riches in glory (Philippians 4:19).  Note: that’s needs not greeds!

Denying ourselves to follow Christ is a calling and a command in which we are challenged daily to follow Him again.

As Luke puts it: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. (Luke 9:23).

So if we are to seek Him first and rely on him for all the material things then does that mean we can be passive about life, careers and the accumulation of wealth?  Yes and no!

Yes: because our perspective and priorities change.  We begin to lay greater stock in the things of God than in security that is gained here on earth through natural resources.

No: because most of us are not preoccupied with wealth but putting food on the table - so holding down a job or being wise with our pension might be important.  They’re just not as important as they once were.

So how then do we Seek First His kingdom and shift our life goals?  By doing the next three things:

2. Grow Fruit

Galatians tells us what the fruit of the Spirit are in Galatians 5: 22.  Let’s read though from verse 19:

Galatians 5:19-25: The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

(Illustration: Have someone with a Jesus T-shirt on silently begin building the giant jenga tower ready to play).

Here we have two lists , one of the old priorities in life and one with the new priorities:

The first way we begin to grow a Christians is to seek new fruit in our life, to seek to develop a godly character.

Character is built over a period of time, brick by brick.  When we become Christians we discover that God begins to put us back together again.  Our priorities change and we begin to become stable, solid in our faith.

Over time though we can begin to find that temptations come along.  We being to live in the old way of doing things again (5:20-21).  It’s like we start to move our character bricks around (have a jenga player, wearing a t-shirt with “Temptation” written on start to move bricks in the giant jenga).

At first we don’t realise it matters.  The first brick of character to to be moved are not really noticed; only those closest to us see a difference.  The character tower of our lives still looks solid.

Over time, because we have allowed a series of concessions are lives begin to wobble.  Eventually, everything could come tumbling down.  We end up saying, “How did this happen?” or “I never thought I would do that thing.”

(Have “Jesus” begin rebuilding the character tower - silently).

The Bible tells us to flee every hint of evil:

1 Thessalonians 5:22: Abstain from all appearance of evil. (KJV Authorised)

It also says to avoid the little things that so easily ensnare us:

Hebrews 12:1: Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us..

Character disasters don’t begin with one big thing, but a series of smaller decisions based on the old priorities of sin and selfishness.  great character is not built upon the big decisions, but one the little, daily decisions.

It’s never too late though (hopefully “Jesus” is nearly finished).  Jesus is able to help us rebuild our character again:

1 John 1:9: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

3. Seek Gifts

1 Corinthians 14:1: Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.

Some times it can be hard to know what we need to ask the Holy Spirit for.  As much as we need the fruit of the Holy Spirit we also need the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer too.

There is much about seeking the presence of the Lord in the the Bible.

Duet: 4:29: But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.

(other examples: 1 Chron. 16:10-11; 22:19; Ps. 9:10;10:4: 14:2; 27:4;34:10; 40:16).

The mistake we make is seeking the gifts over the giver.  What we have forgotten is that we seek Father God, who bestows us with gifts.  When Paul says to seek the gifts of the Spirit we have to understand that this is not a shopping list for Christians but a call to seek the gift-giver who loves to be sought by hungry souls.

We discover that when we do find Him He bestows us with gifts.

Paul's says we are to seek “especially that you may prophesy.”  Does this mean that we are only to seek one gift?  No.  Paul was speaking into a situation in Corinth where the speaking in tongues (often the first gift people receive) had become a competition.  People would even shun speaking there mother tongue when talking with each other - it was chaos.  They’re told to seek the gift that best makes sense for them.

When we are told to seek the best gifts we need to know that the best gift is the gift we need in a situation.  If someone needs healing there is not pint in asking for the gift of administration - they need healing.  

The gift is the gift that is needed at the time.  Yet all gifts are given as the Spirit sees fit:

1 Cor 12:7 -11: Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.

These verses only mention 11 of the NT gifts (there are over thirty) but the principles are the same:

• The Spirit gives them as He determines - whilst we seek the best gift, it is still the Holy Spirit who determines what the body for the church and their city needs.

• The gifts are given for the common good.  they are not given for our ego or for our benefit.

• They are given irrespective of spiritual maturity.  That is why you can have newly converted Christians moving in the gifts that the long-since-saved don’t have.

• The gifts are only limited by our development of Spiritual fruit.  

I don’t believe you get an immature gift.  You might be presented with opportunities that are small; for instance you might pray for a bad back, see that healed and the next thing is a bigger illness.  You might prophecy a few times in a life group and as you gain confidence in the use of the gift more opportunity is given to use that in wider circles.  

The issue though is never the gift, for that would imply an insufficiency in God.  The issue is our character.  God allows more opportunity as more fruit grows in our lives.  He allows us to be stretched but it is not he gift being stretched, for the gift is of the Holy Spirit and He cannot be stretched.  

Don’t despise the day of small things (Zech 4:10)

4. Deliver Impact

Mark 9:33-35: They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the road?’ 34 But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.  35 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, ‘Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.’

Matthew 25: 42-45: For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ 44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

Our lives find meaning and impact when we realise that we have to live, not for ourselves, but for the betterment of others.

“Life becomes harder for us when we live for others, but it also becomes richer and happier.” (Albert Schweitzer)

People are the most wonderfully and beautifully frustrating of all Gods creation.  People can be loving, kind, helpful, and funny, yet they can also be hateful, hurtful, spiteful and frustrating.  Wouldn't the world be a better place without people?

It is these that Jesus came for!  Created in God’s image, He desires them to become God’s children.  He loved when they were unlovable (Romans 5:8).

When we become Christians our priorities in life change because we begin to realise that we are not here to push others down, but to help them up.  We begin to 

Seek to live for others sake not your own.  Living life at Christ’s expense means we serve as He did.

Wrapping It Up:

Living Second to One means that our lives begin a process of change that the Bible calls sanctification (John 17:19; Acts 20:31; Rom 15:16).

This is the price of becoming more like Christ as we grow closer to HIm.  It takes time, but is worth it.  Sanctification is reliant on two things: 

1. the continued surrender of ourselves to God's will, 
2. our free will choice to continually surrender yourself to God’s will.  

Don’t give up giving up yourself to Him!