TOP PRIORITY
TEXT: Matthew 6:33
INTRODUCTION:
Illustration:
A) Year 1991, in New York City, A HOMELESS man, a train maintenance worker, and a dog were killed on the subway tracks. Ninety people telephoned the Transit Authority to express their concern about the dog, but only three called about the worker and no one about the homeless man.
B)A husband and wife were attending a county fair where, for twenty dollars a
person, a man was giving rides in an old airplane. The couple wanted to go up but they
thought twenty dollars a person was too expensive so they tried to negotiate a lower
price.
"We’ll pay you twenty dollars for both of us," they said to the pilot. "After all,
we’ll both have to squeeze into that tiny cockpit that was built for only one person."
The pilot refused to lower his fare, but he made a counter offer.
He suggested, "Pay me the full price of twenty dollars each, and I’ll take you up. If you don’t say one word during the flight, I’ll give you all your money back." The couple agreed and got into the plane.
Up they went and the pilot proceeded to perform every trick he knew, looping and
whirling and flying upside down and lots more. Finally, when the plane had landed,
the pilot said to the husband, "Congratulations! Here’s your money back; you didn’t
say a single word." To which the man replied, "Nope, but you almost got me when my
wife fell out."
Yes, there are some people who would say, "Well, a person does have to have his priorities!" And so do we. You know what...."Why don’t we ask ourselves this morning." What are our priorities? What is our top priority in our life? What is our number one goal?
Yes, we all have different goals, different priorities, things that are important to us, things that we would like to achieve in our lives. What is your number one priority? Some of your priorities might include losing weight, staying healthy, advancing in your job, saving for retirement, or raising decent children.
Yes, those are all good priorities. But they are also earthly. In other words, all of those priorities have to do with the here and now, this life, and not the life to come.
According to the Bible, God wants our top priority, our number one goal, to be something that is not of this world. That number one priority is to be something higher than staying healthy.
It is supposed to be deeper than saving for retirement. It is supposed to be more spiritual than just being stable in life. Those are all good things, but as we think about our top priority in life, God wants us to look up – to look away from this world, and to look heavenward, and to focus on something else.
So we must take time to evaluate what are our real priorities are. What is first, second, third, fourth, and so on? As you examine your priorities, you may be surprised to find, that some things you think are high on your list are not as high as you think.
This morning, we are going to see what Jesus teaches about "Priorities".
Do you believe that all of us need a GUIDE to live by? What do you think will happen if there is no guide . . . no laws . . . or no rules? Yes, it would be an awful, chaotic world, if there was no GUIDE... no LAWS... no RULES.
Yes, we have LAWS in this country to regulate our standard of conduct. We have RULES and REGULATIONS to guide us … IRS … school policies … safety regulations … speed limits. We have DIRECTIONS to help us put things together. And we have the BIBLE to guide us morally, ethically and spiritually.
My fellow believers in the Lord, the BIBLE is our STANDARD. If we lived by it, there is no need for the 1000’s of volumes of laws that we now have. There would be no back-logs in the courts. There would be no crowded jails. If CHRISTIANS lived by the Bible, our Christian life would be so much easier.
But the Bible is so HUGE … 30,442 verses … 845,000 words. Have we MEMORIZED some verses already? Yes, we have memorized our Social Security number … maybe our driver license number or our bank account numbers. What about some verses in BIBLE?
You know what, if we had just memorized one or more verses that we could use to GUIDE us through every situation, it might help us to set our PRIORITIES in life to determine right from wrong and to solve our tendency to stray away from God.
Let me share to you some verses that helps me to set my priorities.
READ: 1 Cor. 10:31 – "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."
READ: Proverbs 3:5-6 - "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. [6] In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."
READ: Philippians 1:21 – "For to me to live is Christ,"
Today’s text, that I have chosen, is a verse that we must live by. We don’t have to know the WHOLE Bible. But if we just concentrate on this 1 VERSE, we would find the help we need to GUIDE us through life to set our priorities.
This verse is found in Matthew 6:33 – "PLEASE, let us all turn our Bible." And let us all read in unison:
I believed that most of our problems in life comes from not setting our PRIORITIES. Yes, we need a GUIDE … a GOAL … and PURPOSE. And we can find it in this VERSE.
My brothers and sisters in the Lord, the gospel of Matthew said that ABOVE ALL ELSE, we must to seek FIRST the Kingdom of God. Yes, ABOVE ALL ELSE in our life, Jesus says that this is to be NUMBER ONE … TOP PRIORITY … OUR MAIN GOAL … for every day.
Yes, EVERYTHING we do is to relate to this goal. Every DECISION we make: WHERE I go … WHAT I do … HOW I do it … WHEN I do it … WHY I do it... WHAT I do. Yes, all of these things are to be FILTERED through this verse.
I. THE PRIORITY – "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God"
From our text, we can see that our top priority must be seeking the Kingdom of God. Now, what is it that we are "seeking" for? My fellow believers, the Kingdom of God is not tangible … not physical … it has no borders. It’s not something you can see on a map … or physically travel through. There are no speed limits or gas stations or Cracker Barrel’s there.
In Romans 14:17 says, "For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit." Yes, it isn’t visible or verbals but it is SPIRITUAL in nature. 1 Cor. 4:20 says, "For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power."
So, what does the "Kingdom of God" mean? Just plain and simple... it is GOD’S RULE over our life. If we choose to live in God’s Kingdom, we must live under the authority of the KING. And that King is Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord.
Let me say this again, "If you and I are Born-Again, the KING has a rightful authority over our life." He purchased us with His blood. Acts 20:28 - "the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood." The moment that we trusted Jesus as our Savior and Lord, we became a citizen of the "Kingdom of God". That gave Him the right to rule and reign over our life.
The gospel of Matthew 6:33 also indicates that they are some who are not seeking first the "Kingdom of God and His righteousness." That’s why the verse says, "BUT."
Yes, there are some whose priorities are money ... to be rich in this world.
Fellow believers in the Lord, we cannot serve God … and money at the same time. God is not saying that it is wrong to make money … or to have money. It is not also a sin to be rich. BUT … it is a sin to SERVE and WORSHIP our money.
Let us ask ourselves... what is your top priority in life?
II. THE PROMISE – "all these things shall be added unto you".
Now, let’s talk about the promise of God. What happens when we seek FIRST the "Kingdom of God"? Our passage says, "all THESE THINGS shall be added unto you."
WHAT THINGS? The things that the world are seeking after? MONEY, ...FAME...BEAUTY...RICHES, etc?
Don’t get me wrong, and I would like to say it again...There is nothing wrong to have material things and be rich. BUT … it is a sin to LOVE, SERVE and WORSHIP our money. It is sin if our riches is the most important instead of God.
My fellow Christians, God desire for his people is to be blessed and prosperous. 3 John 1:2 says, "Beloved, I hope you are prospering in every respect and are in good health, just as your soul is prospering." (NAB)
God wants his people to be rich. His desire for his people is to have the abundance of live. Yes, God is the King and we are His children.
You know what... .there are so many people have achieved great prosperity and popularity. They have nice cars, live in fine homes, travel to all exotic places. But these same people, are the one’s you hear about on the news, that they taken their own lives or divorced their spouse. The question arises, why would they do something like that, they had everything?
You know why..."because they did not let God be first in their lives." Yes, the reason why so many people are dying spiritually is because they fail to let God be first and they leave themselves open to the attacks of the devil.
Brothers and sisters in the Lord, I believed that God will give us all things, if we will just live under His authority and rule.
Yes, our God may not give us everything we ask for. But . . . He will give us everything we need. If we don’t have it … it’s probably because we don’t really need it.
CONCLUSION:
Let me conclude my message with this "Parable of the Great Banquet." Please turn your Bible to Luke 14:15-24.
Luke 14:15 – all turn.
"Seek ye FIRST the Kingdom of God … and all these things will be added to you." Let us remember this...there is nothing wrong to have land/ house, getting a new car or getting married. They are all good. But don’t be mixed up with our priorities. Don’t make these things be our top priority in life.
My brothers and sisters in the Lord..."Do you know why.... we miss God’s blessings?" BECAUSE He is not NUMBER ONE... TOP PRIORITY in our lives.
My prayer this morning is that instead of worrying, we seek his kingdom and his righteousness. And we can start each day by putting God first..
This means, we start our day with prayer, reading His word. And our attendance when the BODY OF CHURCH meets together will be faithful, sincere, worshipful and meaningful.
Remember God loves you and me. And He will meet our needs and can make us beautiful from the inside out.
