How Prioritizing God Changes Us

Good evening, everyone. Turned out to be a very sunny afternoon. I hope you enjoyed some of that sunshine. We’re glad to have our graduates with us this evening and to be celebrating their achievements also. And in that vein, I thought we would think about how prioritizing God changes us.

And let’s look at Matthew chapter 6 and verse 33 to start our lesson tonight. Hope you have your Bibles with you so that you can follow along with some of these scriptures that we’ll be considering as we think about this topic.

Matthew 6 and verse 33, of course, is a very familiar passage to many of us. It is in the context where Jesus is assuring people that they can put their faith and trust in him to provide for all of their needs, whether it be food or clothing or raiment. And what Jesus then says in verse 33 is this, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all of these things will be added unto you or be given to you. In other words, if we are doing what God wants us to do, seeking first his kingdom and his righteousness, then God is going to provide everything that we need for this life.

Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re going to have everything we want, because, of course, God gives us what we need, not necessarily what we want. And there’s a distinction between those two things. But when we prioritize God within our life, he blesses us. And there are many blessings to prioritizing God within our life.

And when we do prioritize God, it changes us so that we become different people than we would be otherwise. Well, tonight I’d like to think about three ways that prioritizing God changes our lives. First of all, when we prioritize God in our life, we’ll understand that self is not central.

Secondly, when we prioritize God, we’re going to see that life is larger. And finally, prioritizing God will teach us that people are precious. Let’s think about those three points this evening as we think about prioritizing God within our life.

First of all, prioritizing God changes us so that we understand that self is not central. When we don’t have God within our lives, it’s very easy to focus upon only what we desire, only what we want as individuals. And we can become very selfish people. God helps us to understand that we are not the only ones in this world, that there are others, and that he is there as well.

In Matthew chapter 16, Jesus talked about the mentality of centralizing self, and he warned us about that. Matthew chapter 16, starting in verse 24, he says, Then Jesus said to his disciples, If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? And so that’s a question that each one of us need to ask. What is our soul worth? And is it worth seeking everything in this world and piling up all of those riches And then in the end, having nothing because we were so selfish and we were so self-centered, we sought to save our life instead of giving it away to others, instead of losing our life for Christ.

That kind of mentality is a very popular mentality in the world today. And many people crash upon the rocks of destruction because they simply sought self. Well, the Bible teaches us that self is not central, that we’ve got to deny ourselves and follow something greater than just self.

Think about what Paul said in Philippians chapter 2 and verses 1 through 8. Philippians chapter 2 and verses 1 through 8. He said, therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy fulfill my joy by being like-minded having the same love being of one accord of one mind let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit and there’s the selfish aspect that we’re contrasting with prioritizing God within our life let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself let each of you look out not only for his own interest but also for the interest of others when we prioritize God we’re not going to be selfish we’re not going to be conceited we’re not going to have that selfish ambition that only considers how I am going to take care of me and protect what is mine you see when we think like that we’re moving away from God and we’re just centralizing on our own selfish projects.

Jesus didn’t do that. Look at what it says in verse 5. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God or some translations say he did not count being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped but made himself of no reputation. He emptied himself. He took the form of a servant or slave and he came in the likeness of men being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death even the death of the cross and so Jesus did not centralize self he understood that there were other people that needed to be thought about and that God was there and that he needed to be thought about as well and Jesus humbled himself with obedience to the father and so he prioritized God and he showed us how we should live our lives in that regard and then one more example Philippians 3 verses 7 through 14 we have the example of the apostle Paul who was very self-centered before he became a Christian, he was very into being a Pharisee and doing all of the things that Pharisees did, and he considered his self-righteousness to be greater than all the others because he had built himself up, you see, in this system of religion that the Pharisees had invented for themselves and proclaimed himself within that system to be something great, You know, which is what a lot of people do today also.

But notice what he says in verse 7. But what things were gained to me, these I have counted lost for Christ. Yet indeed, I also count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him. Not having my own righteousness which is from the law but that which is through faith in Christ the righteousness which is from God by faith that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and fellowship of his suffering and being conformed to his death if by any means I may attain into the resurrection of the dead and so Paul had built up this great life for himself this super righteous life and he was part of the elite within that life and he threw it all away he said I count it all as rubbish for the sake of Christ because he knew that the course that he was pursuing ultimately wasn’t really about God it was about his own pursuits it was about his own self-interest it was about his own accomplishments you see that’s what self-righteousness does to us it makes us think that we’re pursuing God but we’re really just pursuing self and you see Jesus cuts through all of that and he says no that’s not the way to do things we’ve got to prioritize God to really think about putting God first not self and so self has a way of coming in and taking control and making us think that we’re doing things that we think are right when they’re really not and that’s why we’ve got to give ourselves to Jesus Christ holy and really think about what he’s teaching and what he’s saying all right prioritizing God changes us to understand that self is not central but then secondly when we prioritize God life is larger life is larger you say well what do you mean what do you mean by that well think about this for a moment if we simply look at things from our own perspective and that’s it then we really don’t have a lot of input into our life as to how to conduct our life, how to live our life.

And we don’t really see the great things that God has made for us to see out there in the world. Let me give you an example. Psalm 19 and verses 1 through 6. The psalmist understood that life was so much larger when he included God in his thinking.

Psalm 19 and verses 1 through 6. This particular psalm is a beautiful psalm regarding the creation of the Lord. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows his handiwork. Day into day utters speech, and night into night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.

In them he has set a tabernacle for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, rejoices like a strongman to run its race. Its rising is from one end of the heaven, and its circuit to the other end, and there is nothing hidden from its heat. Think about what the psalmist is saying here about the creation and all the beautiful things that we can see around us. With God, we consider those things. Why? Because God has put time and attention into the detail that surrounds us in this world.

With some other system of thought, those things may simply be fruitless. They may simply be useless. They may simply be considered to be worth nothing But everything that God has made within this world The Bible teaches us has a purpose, some purpose And it all serves to glorify God And so when we, with God within our life, prioritizing God When we look at the world, we’re going to see so much more Life is going to be larger that way when we consider it from God’s perspective. Paul wrote in Romans chapter 11 and verses 33 through 36 some tremendous words regarding God’s greatness.

Think about what he says here. Romans chapter 11 verse 33. Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out for who has known the mind of the Lord or who has become his counselor or who has the has first given to him and it shall be repaid to him for of him and through him and to him are all things to him be glory forever amen We could contemplate God all of our life and still not understand even a fraction of what there is to know about God.

The depths of the riches, both the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out. But it’s worth pursuing. It’s worth pursuing because we get to know the creator we get to know the one who made us we get to understand what his great purposes are and then participate in them to a degree life is so much larger when we prioritize God he is past understanding and yet he invites us to know him more and more every day. And then when we prioritize God within our life, we also understand more about ourselves. And life is larger in relationship to understanding ourselves as well. Think about what the psalmist says in Psalm 139 and verses 1 through 16.

Psalm 139 verses 1 through 16. He’s thinking about his relationship with God and the wonderful things that he can know about himself because of who God is. He says this. Oh, Lord, you have searched me and know me. You know my sitting down and my rising up. You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down and acquainted with all of my ways. Where there’s not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, you know it all together. You have hedged me behind and before. You laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain it. Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in hell or Sheol, behold, you are there.

If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, surely the darkness shall follow me, even the night shall be light about me.

Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from you, but the night shines as the day. The darkness and the light are both alike to you. For you formed my inward part you covered me in my mother’s womb I will praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made marvelous are your works and that my soul knows very well my frame was not hidden from you when I was made in secret and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth your eyes saw my substance being yet unformed and in your book they all were written the days fashioned for me when as yet there were none of them so God knows us so well and he invites us to know him so that we can indeed know more about ourselves with God we can know more about this world that we live in with God we can plumb the depths of the knowledge of God. With God, we can even understand ourselves better. When we prioritize God, life is larger.

But then finally, when we prioritize God, people are precious. Think about the beginning of the book of Genesis and what it says about man’s place in the creation and what God is setting up here in the beginning in his creation. In Genesis chapter 1 and verse 26, we read about the creation of man. Then God said, Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him, male and female, he created them. Then God blessed them and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and subdue it.

Have dominion over the fish and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves on the earth. God said see I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of the earth and every tree whose fruit yields seed to you it shall be for food verse 31 says and God saw everything that he made and indeed it was very good so the evening and the morning were the sixth day. What a high, exalted, noble position that God created man to live in, to be in dominion over all of the earth. He wanted man to be exalted over all of his creation and to take dominion over it and to manage it for him, for his purposes and for mankind’s benefit.

You see, people are precious to God. He created them so that they could be in a place where they are managing the things of the world. But as we think about God’s or people’s place in the creation of God and how God considers them to be precious, it takes our thoughts to Psalm 8 and verses 3 through 8. Because in this passage, the psalmist reflects upon man and his greatness in the creation.

And it’s a very, very good commentary on God’s creation. Psalm 8 and verses 3 through 8. Notice what the psalmist says here in these this wonderful reflection on humanity. He says when I consider your heavens the work of your fingers the moon and the stars which you have ordained what is man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you visit him now a lot of translations have a question mark after this but I think there should be an exclamation point there that this is an exclamation of how great man is in relationship to the creation We just read that God made man to have dominion over all of the earth. We saw that in Genesis 1. Well, this is an affirmation of that. Notice what he says in verse 5. For you have made him a little lower than the angels.

You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea. That pass through the paths of the sea. And because the psalmist sees God’s creation of man as being something spectacular, something great, something precious, he recognizes man’s true place in relationship to the creation, and that is one of superiority. He’s only a little lower than the angels, in fact. So great did god create man and when he reflects upon that as one who is prioritizing god in his life then he has these words to say oh lord our lord how excellent is your name in all the earth you see man is precious to god and the psalmist recognized that romans chapter 5 and verses 6 through 11 also teaches us how precious God or man is to God look at what Paul writes about what God gave on behalf of man Romans chapter 5 and verses 6 through 11 for when we were still without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly we’re scarcely for a righteous man will one die yet perhaps for a good man some would even dare to die but God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us much more than having now been justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him for if we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his son much more having been reconciled we shall be saved by his life And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

And so God considers man to be very precious, so much so that he demonstrated his own love toward us by giving and sacrificing his only begotten son. He created us precious and he considers us precious and he was willing to show how precious we are through the death of his son Jesus Christ prioritizing God helps us then to understand that people are precious we need to prioritize God within our life it will change us it will make us better people. It will help us to understand that self is not central. It will help us to recognize that with God life is larger and it will help us to see that people are precious. Let’s resolve to prioritize God within our lives and I hope that each one of us will think carefully about these wonderful passages that teach God’s truths so that we can live in a way that will really be beneficial to ourselves, to others, and faithful to the Lord. Tonight, perhaps you want to start prioritizing God within your life, and you haven’t been doing that. You don’t know how to start doing that to become a child of God you must hear the words of Jesus Christ and believe them repent of your sins confess him as Lord and be baptized for the remission of sins identifying with Jesus Christ recognizing the great sacrifice that he made for you understanding that God wants to elevate you and lift you up and then you will be seen as precious you can see life as being larger and no longer we will self be central but there will be others that you will be giving your attention to and you will be blessed by so doing or maybe this evening you need help getting back on the right track as a child of God and you’ve gone back to being selfish or things seem kind of small right now and you want them to be bigger well this evening if you need the prayers of the church we’re happy to pray with you and for you and you can make it your request known tonight if you would like to respond to the invitation while we stand and sing this song of encouragement

End of transcript. Thank you for reading along!