Be Intentional #2 - Making Christ The Center Of Your Life Series

Be Intentional

#2 – Making Christ the Center of Your Life

Colossians 1:15-23, John 8:31-32,

Galatians 2:20

January 5, 2003

Introduction

Well, I hope everyone had a good new year’s. Mine was nice and quiet. Not like the one’s I had in high school, that’s for sure, but that’s a story for another day.

Today we continue our series on being intentional about life.

The intent of the series is to encourage you to live lives that are not characterized by default, but rather by decision.

That was our topic last week, but it’s the underpinning of this entire series.

And after the series is officially “over,” you can count on hearing other messages that deal with being intentional in particular areas of life.

Today we are looking at making Christ the center of our lives.

This is easy to talk about, but not so easy to do. It takes decisive effort. More than that, it takes decisive yielding of our lives and wills to the program of God, and not our own program.

We will spend our time this morning looking at three reasons we should make Christ the center of our lives, and then I will give you some very practical ways to implement that, okay?

Let’s dive in.

1. Jesus should be our focus.

Colossians 1:15-23, p. 833

COL 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation-- 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.

Jesus is the supreme focus of the Bible. From the 3rd chapter in Genesis to the last chapter in Revelation, God reveals His plan to bring a Redeemer who would not only bring forgiveness of sins and salvation, but would rule over all creation when everything came to fruition.

This passage says that He created all things. He holds all things together. He is supreme.

He is the ultimate focus of eternity.

If the main focus of the Word of God is Jesus, than maybe it’s a good idea for us to make the same focus.

If you call yourself a Christian, than you should be focusing on Christ. He should be the focus in all areas.

He should be the focus of your work life. Doing our work in a way that honors God and reflects Biblical principles of integrity and non-favoritism helps us develop that focus, and many times opens the door to sharing the good news of Christ to the people we work or do business with.

He should be the focus of your family life. I’m not saying that you need to have hour-long family devotions every night, but I am saying that how you run your family should show a focus on Christ.

Husbands, this especially applies to you. The Bible says that your marriage is a model of the love Christ has for His church.

If you are not honoring your wife, loving her as Christ loves the church, you are not allowing a focus on Christ in your marriage.

Are you raising your children to love God and His Word, or are you raising them to see God and the Bible as just a nice distraction from the daily hustle and bustle of life? Or worse, just a way to keep the spiritual face on things so you don’t appear non-spiritual.

Jesus should be the focus on your recreation and entertainment. I’m not going to discuss whether or not you should watch sports on Sunday, so don’t worry. Although if you are feeling guilty about it, maybe that’s something you should talk over with God.

But what I want to address is the kind of music, movies, books, magazines, or whatever you read. The kind of vacations you take. Where you go and what you do to unwind after a long day’s work.