A Secret No Longer Sermon Vii: First Things First Series

FIRST THINGS FIRST

During a time of crisis in my ministry, a veteran minister - who had served as pastor of First Baptist Church of Atlanta - took me by the hand and said, “Cheer up, Charles, things are going to get worse before they get better!”

How reassuring! As it turned out, he was right.

No doubt there have been times during your life’s journey when, just as you thought things could get no worse, they did.

Our lives have been filled with ups and downs; and, for some of us, what a roller coaster ride it has been! Yet, despite it all, and with God’s help, together we managed to make the most of whatever our situation might have been - although doing so was not always easy.

Perhaps you’ve heard it said, “No pain, no gain”. No matter how accurate that axiom might be, it has been difficult for me to accept it as gospel truth.

It seems to me that it would be better for me as a Christian to believe that gain depends not on my pain, or else Christ’s suffering was in vain; but, when into my life falls some rain, my gain depends on my reassurance that my Savior is always there to “take me by the hand”, to see me through, and to turn the grief caused by pain into the joy associated with His reign in my heart.

God is now, as He ever has been, in the business of turning negatives into positives. Throughout the Old and New Testaments, His Story of doing so, in and through the lives of His people, is told repeatedly.

In every such case, things got worse before they got better; but nothing got better until His people, called by His Name, in humility, put God first – individually and nationally. Here’s how, for example, this principle played out in the days of the prophet Haggai – Haggai 1:2-13 . . .

As was true throughout biblical history and the history of God’s people ever since then, people “called by His Name” have found themselves scattered in every way imaginable . . .

Our text tells of the time when Haggai came onto the scene to deliver brief sermons to returnees from captivity – their return having occurred after Cyrus the King permitted certain Jews - those who volunteered – to go back to Jerusalem from whence they had been taken into exile by the Assyrian army that had conquered Judah and destroyed the Temple.

Haggai’s message to these privileged returnees - “the remnant” - was plain and simple: “You’ve been back in the homeland now for sixteen years . . . enjoyed the blessings of freedom . . . gotten a little too comfortable – thinking that you can make it on your own without help from God. It’s time to finish the task - on a high note - by giving top priority to the LORD.

Haggai addressed the issue of rebuilding God’s House as being the primary reason they were privileged to return to the Holy City.

In like manner, we would do well to focus on our goal as stated by the Psalmist to “dwell in the House of the Lord forever” - and finish on a high note by spending the rest of our days putting God first in preparation for going home.

No excuse, like, “maybe tomorrow, but right now is just not the time”! If not now, when? Time is fleeting. As I said to my wife at the end of my 83rd birthday, “Well, now I’m starting my 84th year”. Suddenly the reality - of just how old her husband is - dawned on her as she exclaimed, “84! That’s old!”

No more time for procrastinating! It’s time for making God top priority! As my doctor advised me when I objected to taking all those medications, “Either take them, or prepare to meet thy God!” Then he said, “On second thought, prepare to meet thy God anyway!”

Folks, it was not that God’s people were unable to give attention to things that matter most; they were unwilling; they had to be prodded a little bit because none of us is exempt from getting so caught up in the routines of daily living, and the comforts thereof, that we get the feeling we no longer need God in our lives.

A minister friend of mine, headed to Florida to preach a series of sermons, sat beside me the other morning at breakfast; he talked about the senior adults who would make up his congregation, and he wondered if he should make it a “renewal” rather than “revival” event.

My suggestion to Bob was: “Both. If they all get renewed, watch out, revival might break out and you could wind up staying there awhile longer.”