One Thing

One Thing…

Intro:

Movie=> City Slickers staring Billy Crystal

City Slickers is a movie about three men who are in search for “the meaning of life”.

Each year, these three friends get together and go on a manly adventure

This year they had decided to take a trip to an actual working ranch and help move several hundred head of cattle in a cattle drive

While on their adventure, they meet their trail boss, Curly: the grimy, gristled rough and tough cowboy who would lead them cross country.

As the story unfolds, a conversation between Billy Crystal’s character and Curly takes place.

In it Crystal asks Curly the meaning of it all

Curly slowly raises his index finger in a gnarly old leather glove and proceeds to expound on the meaning of life. “The Secret,” he says, “is ONE THING, but you have to find that one thing for yourself.”

Crystal is confused but Curly remains silent, not even hinting at what that ONE THING is.

Transition:

What a great question to ask yourself

What is the ONE THING that makes living worth while?

Now we can give the Sunday School answer and say, “God’s love or Jesus’ sacrifice, But I honestly think that there is more.

More to the question and more to what God wants us to realize about the life we live.

Have you found that “ONE THING”?

If not, don’t feel bad. Your not alone.

This morning we are going to look at five situations where people wrestled with the same question: What is the ONE THING?

Situation #1 deals with ONE THING SOUGHT

Turn to Psalm 27:4

I. One Thing SOUGHT (Psalm 27:4)

One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. (NIV)

David, a man after God’s heart understood what was important in his life.

Being Near God

Here he starts out by requesting ONE THING

The ONE THING that sums up his entire life

To live in the presence of God his “natural” life

To see the beauty of God’s Face

To know God in his intimate place

I love the way the Message translates this

Psa 27:4 I’m asking GOD for one thing, only one thing: To live with him in his house my whole life long. I’ll contemplate his beauty; I’ll study at his feet. (MSG)

Are you like David? IS the one thing that means more to you, that makes life worth living your desire to SEEK GOD?

If so, get into his WORD

SPEND TIME IN PRAYER

AND make every effort to be NEAR TO GOD

Illustration:

Situation #2 deals with ONE THING LACKING

II. One Thing LACKING (Matt 19:17-21 Mark 10:21)

In Matthew 19:17-21 we see the story of the rich young ruler and Jesus

He comes to Jesus and asks what he needs to do to have eternal life

Jesus tells him that he needs to obey the commandments

In the parallel story in Mark 10, Jesus lists the commands

Do not murder

Do not commit adultery

Do not steal

Do not tell lies

Do not Cheat

Respect your mother and father

Love your neighbor as your self

The young man responds that he had obeyed these teachings since a young age

Then he asks, “What do I still lack?”

Jesus had compassion on this man

“ONE THING you lack”

Your Almost Complete

You’ve almost achieved your goal

You are doing so good, there is just a little bit more

Go Sell your possessions

Give to the Poor

Treasure will be in heaven

Come and Follow me

The rich young ruler went away sad and failed to follow Jesus

Not just because he had great Wealth

Not just because

But because he LACKED Compassion for his fellow human beings

Selling the possessions was the easy part

Giving it over to the poor was the difficult part

It meant that he was required to love others more than himself

And I don’t know if this man could manage the task

So he goes away, sad and unfulfilled

God desires us to have full lives

And from time to time he will ask us to examine our lives

Telling us that “ONE THING you lack”

How will you respond?

Will you be like the young ruler who missed out on an amazing adventure simply because he didn’t love others as much as himself? Or will you answer the call of Jesus and Follow him?

Illustration:

Situation #3 deals with ONE THING DISCOVERED

III. One Thing DISCOVERED (Luke 10:42)

Jesus and his entourage is invited to dinner

A woman by the name of Martha has welcomed him into her home