Priorities as a Christian #1

There are a range of views on what are our priorities as Christians.  I know many who agree that obviously God is the number one priority followed by family... er... then church etc.  When such people actually outworked their lives it appeared that church was the first priority even though they paid lip service to what looked right.    I was part of a church who said God / Family / Church can be flipped around according to what the Lord wants.  Seems like a radical sermon until we find out what God has shown us in the Bible.

Firstly we will have a look at the 10 Commandments to find if there is a priority in loving and walking with God.  When Israel were under Law we find:

1. You shall have no other gods before Me.
2. You shall not make idols.
3. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
5. Honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet.

Structure wise I see 1-4 directly implicating a personal responsibility to God from me.  Because the third commandment is about walking well with God and not about bad language, it is included in the personal responsibility to make God first.  Number 5 sits with the family responsibilities but 6-10 all have ramifications in the community.  So from the 10 commandments we can see that our devotion to God impacts our family then impacts the community.  Now let's look at another list... The 'Beatitudes' starting Matthew 5.  

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,  for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,  for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,    for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,    for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,    for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,    for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,    for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Here it appears that Jesus is relaying a similar list to the 10 Commandments.  However instead of these relating to Law, they begin with the core of the individual.  Because the New Covenant gives Jesus access to the heart of Man, it begins with spiritual measurement.  Properly measured against The Lord God, we are very lowly and wretched.  This realization is the beginning of walking with God.  We are dealing with structure here, not exegesis.  The first four are internal processes that begin, as with the 10 Commandments with God.  Then as a result of hunger and thirst for righteousness the person has 4 consequences that are externally outworked.  

Because the Law was aimed at a nation it impacted the individual in behavior, then the family, then the community.  The New Covenant would be to all people and involve actual internal transformation, not just behavioral adjustments.  Nevertheless, they both display a distinct pattern:  Both prioritize God as the first priority.  Then, the individual having been calibrated to the Lord's will (be it external like the Law or internal like the Holy Spirit), the individual impacts the community.  

To further example this observation about priorities we can examine the Lord's prayer.  

 Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

The first portion are all about the Father and his priorities.  As with the Beatitudes the theme of hunger / daily bread arises again.  The last portion has three consequences that can only occur as we walk it out in community.  Forgiving people, because we have been forgiven, keeping our eyes on Jesus and Sanctification all have consequences in our communities / workplaces etc.  

The pattern then is that God is always first followed by our impacted selves walking it out in the community.  That community includes Church and other contexts where our lives are observed by the fallen world.   So if we place God at the top we can easily prioritize our communities as family first then church.  How?  

In Ephesians 5:21-24 The author says each (Christian) should submit to one another (but) wives submit to your Husbands.  Widely used as a control mechanism for domineering husbands, this has nothing to do with control.  It is saying that everyone has a responsibility to submit to each other but as a subdivision of this, wives submit to what the head of the family unit says over the church people.  So the church can decide 'abc' but it is the husband and wife who has to discern that 'abc' is what is good for that family unit.   

This is a prioritizing in the church at Ephesus who met in homes (Acts 20:20).  They met the issue of priorities head on.  They met in someones house in which that household had a head and a family possibly.  To not cause misunderstanding the prioritizing of Ephesians 5:21f was a point well made.  

So there we have it  1.  God   2. Family   3. Church  4.  Community

Gary Ward

What is Jesus doing right now?

With every good reason under the Sun, preachers and Bible Teachers lead us back to Calvary to help us get better at discipleship.  I fully understand why.  In that act the Lord offered himself to become sin.  Born not after Adam by the virgin birth, Jesus could rightfully offer himself in our place. If you are familiar with Romans 5 you will find that all the human race was incorporated into Christ as he died on the cross.  He was Judged and God's wrath was poured out on Him... yet this also happened to us by this act.   Because He took this on our behalf we are Justified before God.  That means we are free from the penalty of sin.  However we only access this when we believe on Jesus finished work and then we are incorporated into the Resurrection.  Such Joy!  

That is not all the story.  When we find difficult times of struggle and fall down time and time again we can think of the cross and remember we are saved and sin cannot have us dragged before the great white throne... it is finished.  However not many are looking ahead to the focus of our lives as followers of Jesus.  If we only audit the Cross we can miss what is really going on.  

However you break bread, the intention is we remember Jesus' death at Calvary (and its Glorious consequences), but also the coming Kingdom.  The Crucifixion ends the Old Testament era which had its purpose.  The coming kingdom begins a New era of Jesus coming to reign for a thousand years on Earth.  So this places us in the age of the Gentiles or as many say, 'the age of the church.'  To be accurate about this age it is actually when the New Covenant God made with Israel has been handed over to the Gentiles because of Israels unbelief.  Whichever way up it lands, we relate to Jesus in a particular way in this age.  

To save us we have the cross.  But the ongoing saga in this story is not to just free us from the penalty of sin.  It is also to free us from the power of sin.  This is why we have access to the Risen, Glorified Lord!  More accurately, He also has access to us and wants to do something very specific as we walk this out. He wants to bring about scenarios in our life where we are confronted by our own willfulness, the areas where we simply love sin over God.  This is the Sanctification process and is all about freeing us to live up to the Holiness and Righteousness Jesus has credited us with and imputed to us when we bowed our hearts to him.  So this process springboards from the work at the cross but is dependent on the actual life of Jesus as he now is... Risen, Glorified and Lord of all.  This is whom we can access!

How we engage and access this process is our 'faithfulness.'  Many Christians are under the impression for various reasons that they are to look to the cross when they are in times of struggle. While that will center us on the reason for our new birth, it does not directly help us get to grips with overcoming.    When we understand that Jesus is Glorified and wanting to excavate our hearts, we can focus on Him, Risen, now, alive and predisposed towards our being set apart from this world. We can then experience the work of the Holy Spirit bringing turbulence to our lives to shake up the party! These times are supposed to be difficult as Peter reminds us in chapter 4 of his first letter, 

12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. 

One day this age will end and Jesus will return and snatch the true church away.  This will be the Glorification, completing the process of Redemption for the Church.  So the cross means Justification, Jesus' Transforming power is Sanctification and future Glorification completes the three elements of Salvation.  

Let's access the Lord  as He is... sat on His Fathers Throne with all power, Authority and Dominion given to Him so you and I can cast our hearts before Him and offer our lives to be dealt with as He desires.  If we can remain in this place we will receive a reward that is eternal.  

Come Lord Jesus (but first make me a vessel through which you can be glorified)

Amen

  

The issue of balance in writing...

Earlier today I posted a blog about authentic calling etc.  I've now take the blog down as some issues with it were pointed out.  I stand by the heart of the message but not the way it was written. It's tricky when you feel the burden to stand against the end times tide.

People who embark upon the call to reformation are not detached from the emotional and psychological impact of the task.  I love Jesus' Church (people not buildings) but am also conflicted when I see and am subject to the things that seem to leave Christ dethroned or men wrongly glorified. So to post nearly 100 blogs that hopefully demonstrate a firm challenge to the church in love takes some effort.

So if you read the last one ( The joy of minimal audience) and thought it was a bit snarky or over accusative, I ask for your forgiveness and I'll try to convey the heart of reformation better next time. There are many forces against this work and If you in some way support the idea that someone needs to address the issues we see occurring in all things 'church' please pray for us.  It isn't a critical or bitter spirit that drives this, it is a leading from the Lord to be willing to shun comfort and social acceptance to speak into the issues we have in these end times.

A while ago I read a blog who readily admitted that the church makes him angry.  I can relate. However in my relaying of the reforming of church practice I (we) must carefully assess whether the Sword of the Spirit is for healing or amputation.  When the Lord is directing it, it will be healing but when it is me I can only amputate. I obviously don't want to do that.

Until next time... Blessings in the Risen, Glorified Lord Jesus

Gary Ward

Geocentric or Heliocentric?

A big debate has been gong on about the operation of our solar system and indeed, our Universe.  The problem is whether the accepted model that the planets orbit the Sun or whether the Earth is the centre of the Universe remaining still while everything revolves around it.  What an outlandish claim! That's what I thought when I came across it all but apparently there has never been conclusive experiments to prove any model either way.  Seriously!  But even suggesting you can cope with the idea of a stationary Earth places you well and truly in dum-dum category.

What I am intrigued about is not that I believe the Earth is centre of the Universe... to me it doesn't have to be... it is a lovely picture to see all things revolving around and depending on the great light. I am concerned that there has been a general push towards the earth revolving around the sun... less suggestion that we are unique and special in the Universe as the Bible suggests.

I'm also concerned that Christians 'make' things true to suit their position.  It would be nice to conclude that the Earth is stationary in the Universe and everything revolves around it but to be insistent about it is doing what science has been doing for years -  marketing something that they don't really know the answer to in order to fit their agenda.

So this post is about the fact that we are fed an agenda by...

I don't know who or what is behind this but maybe its the same people who want us to see the western countries bigger than third world countries and so alter the map.  Maybe it is those who want to bolster a no-God agenda and tell us we are a coincidental chance rather than a design by a designer.  School didn't teach me the consistent patterns throughout Creation.  In recent years Quantum Mechanics, the erosion of the Evolution Theory and evidence that we may be the centre of the universe sat stationary as the point of it all, is killing atheists.

I recently posted this on an atheist thread:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/wall-street-journal/is-science-showing-there-really-is-a-god/story-fnay3ubk-1227167151847

One atheist responded:  " even though this is true, that there are incredible odds against it... IT (evolution) STILL HAPPENS... can't you see it?

er... no.

Gary Ward