First Things First!

"NO ONE CAN SERVE TWO MASTERS,” said Jesus in Luke 16:13. “Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money”. Serving the Lord and being a good Christian depends on getting your priorities right in life.

 King Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah were invaded by a large army of Moabites, Ammonites, and Meunites. Deeply worried, the King led the people in fasting and prayer before the Lord. At the meeting, Jahaziel, a prophet prophesied that the Lord himself would fight the battle for them. When the Judeans went out to meet the invading army, Jehoshaphat put the Temple singers in front of his forces! They sang, "Give thanks to the Lord! His faithful love will last forever." At the very moment they began to sing and praise the Lord, the prophecy came to pass.

One of the many interesting details of this story is that Jehoshaphat put the Temple singers at the head of the Judeans and the invading armies started to destroy themselves when they began their songs of praise. The  PRIORITY the Judeans placed on praise moved God to fight on their behalf. You will find Jehoshaphat’s story in 2Chronicles chapter 20.

This detail reminds us of another story on the priority of praise. Acts 16 tells the story of Paul and Silas in prison. Although they had been beaten severely, thrown into a dungeon and their feet and arms were locked into stocks, they prayed and sang songs to God. At that very moment an earthquake shook the prison. The doors of the prison opened up and the chains on all the prisoners fell off! Praise moved God to act once again.  

 Jesus often spoke about getting our priorities right, occasions where you must be FIRST. In the Gospel of Matthew alone, there are quite a few of these details. To name a few:

Matthew 6.33 But seek FIRST his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

 Take no thought for your life. Not about the length of it; God will lengthen or shorten it as he pleases; our times are in his hand, and they are in a good hand. Not about the comforts of this life; but leave it to God to make it bitter or sweet as he pleases. Food and clothes, God has promised, therefore we may expect them. Don’t worry about tomorrow. Do not be anxious for the future, how you shall live next year, or when you are old, or what you shall leave behind you. God has given us life and has given us the body. If we take care of our souls and for eternity, which is more important than the body and its life, we may leave it to God to provide for our daily needs. We cannot alter the will of God for us, therefore we must submit and resign ourselves to it. The best way to forget the world is to care intently for our souls. Seek first the kingdom of God, and its righteousness. It is the will and command of the Lord Jesus, that by daily prayers and meditations we may get the strength to bear us up under our daily troubles and to arm us against the temptations that attend them, Happy are those who take the Lord for their God, and prove it by trusting themselves wholly to his wise counsel. 

 Matthew 7.5 You hypocrite, FIRST take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

 We must judge ourselves, and judge of our own acts, but not make our word a law to everybody. We must not judge rashly, nor pass judgment upon our friends without any ground. We must not make the worst of people. Here is a just reproof to those who quarrel with their associates for small faults, while they ignore their own, greater faults. Some sins are as a small particle or a speck, while others are as beams; some as a gnat, others as elephants. Not that there is any sin that is negligible; if it is a splinter, it is in the eye; if a gnat, it is in the throat; both are painful and dangerous, and we cannot be comfortable until they are extricated. It is as strange that a man can be in a sinful, miserable condition, and not be aware of it, like a man should have a beam in his eye, and not consider it; but the god of this world blinds their minds. Here is a good rule for faultfinders; first correct your ways.

 Matthew 23:26 Blind Pharisee! FIRST clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

 The scribes and Pharisees were enemies to the gospel of Christ. It is not unusual for men of their ilk to put up a show of godliness in order to hide their evil intentions. They were very busy making converts, not for the glory of God or the good of souls, but in order to gain a score. In a thousand ways, they made religion give way to their worldly interests. They were very strict and precise in smaller matters of the law, but careless and loose with greater issues. Smaller or greater, sin is sin. Even a gnat must be strained out before drinking.  But doing that, and then swallowing a camel, is what Jesus reproved. While they would seem to be godly, they were neither sober nor righteous. What we truly are is what we are inside. Outward motives may keep the outside clean, while the inside is filthy; but if the heart and spirit be made new, there will be total newness of life. The righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees was like the ornaments of a grave or dressing up a dead body, only for show. We sometimes fancy, if we had lived when Christ was upon earth, we would not have despised and rejected Him, as men then did. But if we refuse to abnegate our sinful ways and give in to the lust of our hearts, stubbornly persisting in gratifying them, we crucify Him again and again.

 Matthew 5:24 …leave your gift there in front of the altar. FIRST, go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.

 The Jewish teachers had taught that nothing except actual murder was forbidden by the sixth commandment. But Christ showed the correct meaning of this commandment. All rash anger is heart murder. “Brother” here can mean any fellow human, particularly those who are below us in status. We are all of the same blood.  ‘Raca’, is a scornful word, and comes from pride: ‘you fool’, is a spiteful word, and comes from hatred. Malicious slanders and reprimands are poison that kills secretly and slowly. Christ warned the religious leaders that however light they make of these sins, anyone who commits them would certainly have to face judgment for them. We must show Christian love and peace to everyone. Where there is a dispute, it must be sorted out in compassion and humility. Otherwise, we are unfit for communion with God in holy ordinances. When we are preparing for any religious exercise, we should do serious reflection and self-examination. If we fail to do this, we would not be truly reconciled to God through Christ. When we consider the importance of the matter and the uncertainty of life, we should urgently seek peace with God.

Matthew 22:37, 38 Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with your entire mind. This is the FIRST and greatest commandment”.

An interpreter of the law asked our Lord a question, not so much to test His knowledge, as His judgment. The love of God is the first and greatest commandment and the sum total of all the commandments. Our love of God must be sincere, not just in word and tongue alone. All our love is too little to bestow upon him, therefore all the powers of the soul must be engaged for him, and carried out toward him. To love our neighbor as ourselves is the second greatest commandment. There is a self-love that is revealed in greed and selfishness and thus the root of the greatest of sins and this must be gotten rid of. But there is a self-love which is holy and pure. We must have a due concern for the welfare of our own souls and bodies that are temples of God.  And we must love our neighbor as truly and sincerely as we love ourselves. Christians must learn to put others before themselves. Let these two commandments be the guiding principles of our lives, led by the help of the Holy Spirit.

 Praise and worship should have a place of PRIORITY in the midst of our troubles. Before we do anything else, we should give praise and worship to the Lord. God is pleased with those who turn to Him FIRST.

 

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