Who’s First in Your Life?
The prophet Isaiah declared, as recorded in Isaiah 6: “In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims; each one had six wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he did fly. And one cried to another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.”
Prayer: help us to respond properly to your holiness and your glory.
Jesus’ first great commandment has to do with our response to God. Today, we will think about that commandment and our response to it. Please turn to Matthew 22. 36, 37, & 38: “Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said… You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment.”
Jesus said that this is the first commandment. It is the earliest in time or order, before anything else, the beginning, foremost in position, rank, or importance, sufficient by itself, unsupported by others, basic or self-evident. This is what ‘first’ means. Is this what this commandment is in your life? Is God in such a position in your life, and is God your first love?
Jesus said that this was the great commandment. It is the biggest, most admirable, preceding others, distinctive, beyond the ordinary, important, elevated, distinguished, farther removed upwards, chief. This is what ‘great’ means. Is this what this commandment is in your life? Is God in such a position in your life, and is God your great love?
The commandment is not the end, but points us to the end, which is a profound relationship with God. Does the holiness and glory of God hold you in such awe that your life’s direction toward God reflects His place as first and greatest? I think this is difficult in today’s world, and that many tensions and pulls work to keep this from being true today. However, this is not distinctive to today, but has been the struggle of God’s people always. This reality does not diminish our need for this commandment and relationship to have the top billing in our life, but shows us the struggle of all, and that we enter into that struggle, too, when we respond to God and become ‘his’.
The first prophet to the remnant of Judah, after their return from captivity in Babylon, was Haggai. He was contemporary with Zechariah and Malachi. Back in the years after 534 BC, so back over 2500 years, God’s people struggled, as we need to, to put God first. In fact, the reality is that they did not struggle enough; in fact, they justified what they were doing and didn’t see their need to shift their perspective and to re-order their lives.
Hag. 1. 2-10- read. There’s a constant question, here. Who is first? We see this clearly in v. 2, 4, 8, 9, 10. They were working so very hard and were pursuing all the interests they could conjure up at that time. They were excited about being back from Babylon and in their own land again, and that excitement translated into an incredible flurry of activity to ‘get ahead’ and to make sure their children didn’t have to suffer like they suffered. It led to the very normal effort to build houses, and have yards and gardens, and to begin to develop new herds of cattle, and to get the economy going again. There had been no economy for 70 years or more, so this was their hour, blessed by God, Who had brought them back to their Promised Land.
But, God shouted to them, “Who is first? Are you first? Am I first?” The answer, sadly, was that they were first and God was not first. Oh, it seemed justifiable. They needed just a bit of time to get things going- just a bit of release from piety in order to establish things so they could really devote themselves to God, eventually. But that was not how God saw it.
What is keeping you from God today? Think about it. What is in your mind that leads to the same conclusion where God could declare to you, “This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built?” What is in your mind that would cause God to ask you, “IS it time for you, O you, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?” What gets in the way in your life? What is first…really? Is it God? Really?
Jeremiah, the great prophet to Judah before the exile to Babylon, counseled the people about their relationship with God, and what was first and what was second. In a passage that speaks about their making idols out of wood gathered from the forest, notice how incisively clear God is. He speaks to people as with a razor that cuts to the very core of people’s lives. When God speaks, people squirm, and some squirming is good in our lives. Remembering who we are and who God is, is very good in our lives. We must not invest so much energy into building up ourselves that we forget to build up God, and that’s a common difficulty in our western world. We think that God is here to build us up, so we go running off in all sorts of directions without clearly seeing what it is that God really IS doing.
Jer. 10. 1-6- notice in v. 6- “…there is none like you, O Lord; you are great, and your name is great in might.” This is incredible. Let us not forget.
Let’s read on in verses 7-10- and notice v. 10- “But the Lord is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.” Our jobs are not the true God. Our locations where we live are not. There’s nothing in prestige and money. There’s nothing in degrees and personal accomplishments. They must not become our gods. They must not supplant God’s position in our lives. There’s nothing in the entertainment that’s available to us.
I’m thinking, how DOES God know that He’s first in your life? What do you do to show Him that He’s first? Think about it for a bit.
v. 11- “Thus shall you say to them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.” All those things that we set up as gods will perish. Joe Millionaire will perish. The Bachelorette will perish. Survivor will perish. The soap operas will perish. Friends, the TV show, will perish. The stock market will perish. The value of oil and gold will perish. These must not be gods to us. They must be kept in their places.
v. 12-16- Notice v. 16- “The portion of Jacob is not like them: for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: The Lord of hosts is his name.” God is supreme. He is my portion. He is your portion. He is our portion. Praise God that He is, but praise God that we can be challenged about how He knows that He is. Does He know? Does your former know that He is your God and is first in your life? Does He? Or does He have to take the scraps that fall from the table of your life- that table that He spreads before you, but that you take for granted too often?
Jer. 11.17- “For the Lord of hosts that planted you….” God has planted you in life. Many of us, too, can know that God has planted us where we’re living and planted us in our families. I firmly believe that God planted me in the family that I was raised in, and that He has planted me in the family I have now. God cares that intimately about our lives; He is intimately involved in our lives.
So, how does He know that He’s first in your life? How do you show Him that you love Him with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind? How does He know?
What do you do when you start your day? Does God know He is first? It’s not the only way, but for 35 years, most mornings, and I admit to carelessness sometimes, God has me before Him in prayer for a short, or long, period of time telling Him that He is first and that I want Him to be first. That’s one way to do it- maybe not the only way- but even a few minutes to begin the day tells Him something about your heart and your intention for the day. Ro. 12 offers us the picture of presenting ourselves as living sacrifices each day. This is not to our glory, but to His, and we want Him to be glorified through our lives, don’t we? Tell Him that this is your desire- don’t assume He knows. Too often, we’re like the man, asked on his 30th anniversary by his wife whether he still loved her; he responded that he had told her so when they got married and if he ever changed his mind, he’d be sure to tell her. That’s not enough for a wife; it’s not enough for God.
What do you do to end your day? Does God know He’s first when you end the day? How about making sure to, even while lying on your bed, thanking Him for the day and letting Him know you have Him in your thoughts at that time of the day?
During the day, does God know that He is first? Before you go to a meeting, does God know you want Him to go with you? Before you go into each class, does God know you want Him to go with you? Before you go shopping, does God know you want Him first, not yourself? At work, at home, at school, at play, does God know? You don’t have to make a scene, of course. But between you and God, there’s a bond and a connection, called Jesus Christ, and the privilege of prayer anywhere and anytime that permits declarations like that.
Is it enough to believe, “He just knows”? Is that enough in any relationship? No, it’s not.
The third post-exilic prophet, Malachi, declares, for God in 1. 6-8, that people were giving second-rate offerings, and they weren’t enough. They simply were not. Are they today any more acceptable? Why would they be? Yet, we assume that since we’re under grace and not under law that scraps and second-rate is enough. Why? Why? Why? He goes on to say more in v. 12-14, which clearly tells me that second-rate is not good enough. God- my God- our God- deserves, expects, and demands the best.
Conclusion
God’s glory is what is back of the great commandment of Jesus. Because of who God is, we are fully able to love Him with all that we are. He enables that. Allow who God is to so dominate your life that there is no question to God- He’s the One we answer to- that He has the first place in your life. Second or third are not good enough. He must be first. If He isn’t, you are on slippery ground and are in danger of falling. If He is, you have put first things first; that’s the right thing to do.
