How To Understand the Priorities of God

What are God’s Priorities? How do Mine Compare?

Introduction:

To Unbelievers:

Before we begin the main message I have prepared, I would like to caution anyone and everyone, that IF you have not been born again, literally—if there has never been a time that you recognized yourself as a lost, hell-bound sinner, and placed your trust in Jesus’ shed blood as your only hope—then this message is not for you.

Your only priority should be to find your way to the foot of the Cross, and throw yourself on the mercy of God: He will not reject you, and He will receive every repentant sinner who comes to him. Jesus said, ‘…he that cometh unto Me, I will in no wise cast out.” Jesus said that is His first priorityfor you…He says, ”Come unto Me, all ye…” Matthew 11:28

If you don’t know for sure you are saved, I would like to talk with you. Essentially it comes down to one question: “Has there ever been a time in my life when I placed my full trust in Jesus’ shed blood as full payment for my sins?” If the answer is “Yes,” then you are saved; But you still may need to learn to walk. If you are not sure, then you can make that decision at this moment, if you are willing. There is no time better than the present.

For Believers

For those of you who have been born into the family of God, there is a constant pulling at your heart to grow into the likeness of Christ, and choose His priorities. Whether or not you always recognize the cause, there is always going to be an emptiness, frustration, and unfulfillment, until you are in agreement with your Savior, and walking with Him.

In Amos 3:3 God asked, “Can two walk together except they be agreed?” The answer is “NO!” If we disagree with God, we cannot have fellowship with Him: We will always be at cross-purposes with Him. Our timing will always be off, and our lives in disarray, at one level or another. The most serious result, besides the lack of fellowship itself, is the lack of fruit. Let’s read in the book of Haggai—three books before Matthew.

Haggai 1:2-4

God said, “This people say the time is not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built. Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house lie waste?

The historical context: the 70-year captivity was over. The people were trickling back into Jerusalem. Under Ezra and Nehemiah, the work had progressed: the wall was rebuilt; the city was becoming livable—all these were good things. The Persian king Cyrus had sent them to rebuild the Temple! King Ahasuerus had said to rebuild the city: rebuild the walls, hang new city gates; Make it a real city again. (Read the books of Ezra and Nehemiah!)

But the people have leftthe group effort of rebuilding the city, including the temple. Everyone has turned to building his own house. That’s OK, right? The walls were up, the gate was hung, the municipal buildings were usable—they had fulfilled the king’s orders.

What is the Problem?

But something was going wrong—while they had been building, they had been farming, too, and things were not going well. Look at verses 5-11 (read them aloud)—God told them to look around, and ask themselves whether God was blessing their work. The answer was a clear “NO!”—He said they had been denied the harvest because of their wrong priorities.

They partially fulfilled an earthly king’s command, and had seen the Lord’s hand protecting and guiding them day by day. But now they were not seeing His blessing. They had failed to honor Him above themselves. He had no objection to them having pleasant homes. But they had neglected His house. They had ignored the temple.

Remember that in that time, The Lord had specifically said He would dwell in the temple. That is incredible in itself, that the God who created every atom, and all the inhabitants of the world…that He should “camp out” in a building made by a tribe of refugees here on Earth. But He did say it, and He kept His promise too, just as He had done at the tabernacle.

The people were rebuilding the city, and their own homes, but His house was still a ruin—and He was quietly asking, “What about Me? Doesn’t my house count for anything?”

That Was Then:

But today, God says he does not desire to live in a box, be it a tabernacle, a temple, an Ark of the Covenant, or any other man-made thing. He is building a temple of human lives, each chosen by Himself, redeemed from the destruction of sin, and gloriously reborn. He has gifted every individual person who is part of that building, so as to function and propagate the life that is now within them, and see the whole temple grow together, through the effectual working of every part. How do we know this?

Look at Ephesians 4:16 —

“From whom the WHOLE body, fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body, unto the edifying of itself in love.”

While we are there, look back at Ephesians 2:19-22:

“Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone; In whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth into an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.”

One Temple

The Church—the Body of Christ—is the Temple.

This assembly is a local expression of the temple of God. Don’t jump to a wrong conclusion, and think that this building is a parallel with the temple in the Old Testament: it definitely is not. This is not God’s house—the CHURCH is. This building is only a church building: You are the church—we are the church.

So… If I want to apply the teaching of Haggai 1 to my life, where do I begin? It doesn’t simply to give more money, although there may be some who should—I am not here to squeeze anyone. That is between you and God—if you have been short-changing the Lord, I am confident that He has been speaking to you about it, and you are probably feeling a little uncomfortable right now. That’s good… but that is not what I want to address.

One Priority

Throughout the scripture, the single central theme is God’s redemptive work toward the fallen race of Man. What was the priority of God in the book of Haggai? He specifically says it was the need to build His temple, right? He said if they would adopt His priority, He would meet their other needs.

Today, the temple is constructed of souls, and He still says that is His priority: They are all people for whom He died. He says that is first on His list. Nothing has changed: when the disciples tried to get Jesus to take a break, and eat, He said, “My FOOD is to do the will of Him who sent me, and to finish HIS WORK” John 4:34

Jesus’s Priorities

Jesus also said, “I will build my church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.” In Ephesians we see that the reason he gave the office gifts (Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastor/teachers) is to equip the church for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ.

In Mark 6:36-44,The disciples wanted to send the people away to buy food. Jesus said, “YOU give them something to eat.” The disciples thought they had nothing to offer, but Jesus asked them what they did have, and He multiplied the little they had, to feed a crowd. We can expect no less, provided we respond the same: submit our little to His greatness, and allow Him to multiply it to His own glory. But Jesus says, “Feed my sheep.”

How Can We Do His Will?

We are not helpless—the Lord indwells us personally. He empowers us to do the work of the ministry. (I don’t mean just the leaders—I mean you.) God has called us to feed the flock—He has made us ambassadors, reconciling the world unto Himself. And He says, “YOU give them something to eat.” None of us is helpless to serve, if we allow Jesus to serve through us. Jesus said “…apart from Me ye can you nothing.” That is the literal truth.

But, in Him, there isn’t one of us who can’t arm himself or herself with God’s Word, practice with another believer, and learn to share his or her faith. There isn’t one of us who is “too busy” to pray for the souls of the people we know. We each have 168 hours per week: it’s only a matter of how we choose to use that time, and on whom we choose to spend it. Yes, God cares where you spend your money, your time, and your efforts. He owns you, body and soul, and He has the right to claim and oversee it all.

One Hope to Offer

God says, “YOU give them something to eat!” What do you feed a dying world? What do we have to offer? Jesus said to offer them the “Living Bread:” His flesh, via the crucifixion. He said the Preaching of the Cross would seem foolishness to some, and an offense to others, but by that means, and none other, He has chosen to save those who believe.

We preach Christ crucified: That is the only message of real Hope. If his death on the Cross is not full and final payment for my sins, then I have no hope. So, the true message of Hope is the message of the Cross! It is the good news that Jesus died for my sins and yours, fulfilling the scriptures, that he was buried, that He rose again the third day: He is alive forever, and coming again. It is the good news that Jesus Saves! We have no other hope.

One Job; Many Tasks

We have only one assignment—God only gave one job to the church: He outlined it in Matthew 28:18-20. He reiterated it several times in other passages. We must not allow ourselves to be sidetracked by the affairs of life, to be snared by sin, or to be intimidated by the enemy. Increasingly, we must make God’s priority our own, and ask Him how to implement it in our daily lives. We all may have different tasks within that one job, but we only have one job.

One Calling; Many Gifts

Just like a diet, this requires re-committing oneself daily. You can’t just “get pumped up” today, and make a decision to live for God, and expect that to last the rest of your life. Chances are, it won’t last the rest of the week, let alone your whole life. So, daily, in prayer, we seek His face, and ask that He make us useable, and place us into His service.

Can we do that much? Can we daily Seek the Face of God, in prayer, and in His Word? Can’t we daily confess our sins, and ask Him to make us useable in His hand? Can we ask Him to prepare souls before us, and give us wisdom and discernment to meet the challenge?

If we can’t, then we can’t ask for God’s blessing. If we are willing to try, and keep trying, and praying for His direction, and keep studying to know His will and His wisdom, then, as God offered His blessing in Haggai’s day, He offers it to us as well. We will see the joy of a harvest of souls—not grain. A building made of people praising and serving the living God.

In Jeremiah 5:24, 25, God says that our sins are what keeps us from the harvest. That passage was specifically to Israel, and it was regarding a harvest of food. But the Harvest of Souls is all around us, and far more important. If we are not seeking to win souls, perhaps our priorities are wrong. God says, “…he that winneth souls is wise.” (Proverbs 11:30)

So, What Can I Do?

I can:

Pray for specific people whom God lays on my heart.
Pray for opportunities to be used by God, in non-specific ways. And in either case, I then can watch for those opportunities.
Prepare myself for those opportunities, by Bible study and prayer.
Prepare by seeking the teaching I need, to share the Gospel with people such that if they are interested, they can actually choose to receive the Lord Jesus.
Practice giving my testimony. I can work on it, until I can clearly tell how I became a Christian…and why.
Set aside money for Bibles to give away, as I find hungry people to feed.
Support missionaries.
Pray for the ministries in the Church. And support them, by giving of my time and money, and in any way I can, to be a servant to God, and to his people.
Learn my gifts, through practice, and how to use them to edify the church.

Conclusion:

I’d like to encourage all of you to embark on a deliberate journey of faith, with the goal being to become useable in God’s hand. It’s a goal you have to personally choose, and keep on choosing. If there is any way I can be a help to you, I want to do so. But ultimately, each of you has to make a personal choice what kind of disciple you will be. Jesus said “You shall be my witnesses—“ He didn’t say whether we’d be good ones or bad. It’s your call.

Lord Jesus, quicken our hearts to love You and to desire to serve You with what time we have left in this world. Change our priorities and teach us to walk as Your disciples.

How To Understand the True Priorities of God