Sermon Central
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Leftovers
Contributed by Delray Lentz on Aug 21, 2023 (message contributor)
Summary: Since Thanksgiving, we’ve all probably had plenty of good food, and usually in our family, there are plenty of leftovers. So many leftovers that sometimes they spoil before we get a chance to eat them!
Our key verses today will be found in:
Today’s message is titled: Leftovers.
As we go into 2023, I thought we might remind ourselves of the importance of putting God First.
BODY
Putting God first. Sounds easy enough, right?
Today’s message is loaded with scripture.
I will cover quite a bit of territory, so I’ll give the scripture, and I’ll read it, but I’d rather focus on the scripture itself, not the addresses!
I feel it important to see where, and understand why we are to put God first in our lives.
Hearing some of these points today, may make you uncomfortable. I don’t mind telling you that speaking some of these points today, makes me uncomfortable.
So let’s get uncomfortable together!
Let’s begin in Matthew 6:24
Stand with me while we honor God while reading His word.
There’s plenty for us to worry about, huh?
If we can’t find enough to worry about on our own, the devil will throw plenty in there to help us out!
While Jesus’ main focus is telling us not to worry, He is also reminding us of the First Commandment found in:
Exodus 20:1-5 (read from my bible)
These two passages are instructing us to put God first in our lives in everything we do.
Although we won’t cover EVERTHING today, I do have a few to Zoom in on.
Let’s begin by looking at:
Why we must put God first:
This is God speaking to the Israelites about the renewed covenant with His people.
We get to v 14 and He says “for you shall worship no other god (little g), for the LORD Jehovah, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God”.
Matthew 22: 37-38
Set up the context- The Pharisees, ever trying to trap Jesus ask Him “Teacher which is the great commandment in the law”?
V37-38 Jesus says “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment.”
Matthew 10:37 illustrates for us, the importance of putting God first.
“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And He who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me”.
Fairly straight forward, huh?
How about:
And He (speaking of Jesus) is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the deat, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
All things! Preeminence
Here is the biblical meaning of preeminence:
• FIRST
• What is over and above excellence
• “In all things He might have the preeminence”, literally translates to “He, who loves to be first”
We see that God calls Himself “Jealous”.
This is a divine jealousy. He wants ALL of us, not just the leftovers!
He is jealous for the supremacy of His name in this world- as we see in Colossians 1:18.
It is a jealousy to protect a love relationship with us, the covenant with Him.
We must put God first because He calls us to do so.
We’ve looked at why we should put God first, let consider:
How we put God first?
We begin putting God first by having Him in our heart first.
Think about it like this:
• Desire leads to priorities,
• Priorities lead to choices,
• Choices lead to (have) consequences
Jesus puts it like this:
v.19“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal;
v.20 “but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
v.21 “for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”.
How do we put God first?
We put God first by carrying Him with us in our hearts!
We’ve examined why we should put God first, and how we put God first, let’s look at:
Where we should put God first in our lives:
Colossians 1:18 tells us all things, but let’s drill it down to a few things we can take away today, and build on for 2023.
Although I put these in an intentional order, when you consider the concept of “first” it is a horizontal arrangement, not a vertical one.
First is first, right?
Where should we put God first in our lives:
IN OUR WORSHIP:
We’ve looked at Exodus 34:14 where God tells us worship only Him. Not just first, but ONLY.
The Hebrew transliteration for worship is “shaw-Kaw”
Which means:
• To prostrate in homage to royalty
• To bow down
• To fall down flat
• To act in reverence
This week I really had to ask myself, what false idols am I worshipping in my life? It’s a question we all must ask of ourselves if we truly desire to put God first in everything.
