We’re going through a really unusual time right
now. I guess you did not need me to tell you that. But maybe you’ve noticed something.
Whenever something unusual happens, whenever things are bad, especially when
it’s something that happens kind of suddenly like this, there’s something we
always say. It’s something like, well, this really puts things into
perspective. This really helps us get
our priorities in order.
One of the things that frustrated Jesus about the
disciples--and I suspect it frustrates him about you and me, too--is that they
had such a hard time getting their priorities in order. I mean, they had,
right there with them, Jesus. The Christ. The Divine Son of God. The Messiah. And yet, so much of the time, they were
concerned with mundane, trivial, every day things. They were concerned
about having enough to eat. They were
concerned about where they were going to go.
They were concerned with which among them was the greatest. I mean, they were there with God--God the
Son. And yet instead of appreciating that, instead of realizing how
fortunate they were, instead of bowing down and worshiping him, they were
concerned about all these small, insignificant things. It had to be really frustrating for Jesus.
They’re in a boat. They don’t have anything to eat,
other than one loaf of bread. And Jesus says, “Be careful. Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and
that of Herod.”
Now, granted, that statement was not as clear as you and I
might want it to be. Jesus did not always just come right out and say
what he was talking about. But how do
the disciples respond? Do they ask Jesus what he meant? Do they say, “Hey, Jesus we did not quite get
that one. Could you explain it to
us?” No. Instead, they decide
Jesus must be mad at them because they forgot to bring bread!
Now, is that not about the silliest thing you can think
of? I mean, they’ve been with Jesus for years now. They’ve seen Jesus work all kinds of miracles.
In fact, as Jesus reminds them, they’ve seen Jesus work miracles with
bread! And yet, when Jesus makes this
statement, all the disciples can think about is that they don’t have enough
bread.
The disciples should have known they did not have to worry
about bread. But again, they did not have their priorities straight. They did not have a proper perspective.
Instead of rejoicing that the divine Son of God was there with them, instead of
feeling honored and privileged that they were allowed to be in the presence of
the divine Son of God, instead of feeling really lucky to be allowed to serve
the divine Son of God, what are they doing? They’re thinking about their
stomachs! They’re thinking about whether
they have enough bread!
But you know, do you and I do any better? Maybe,
sometimes. But I suspect a lot of times
we don’t. We are allowed to be in the presence of God, too. We are allowed to serve God, too. Do we
rejoice about that? Do we feel honored
and privileged to be allowed to be in God’s presence? Do we feel lucky to
be allowed to serve God? Or do we spend
a lot of our time thinking about other things?
I’m not here to judge you. But I want you think about
it. What is the number one thing in your life? Is it serving
God? I mean, I assume serving God is one
of the things in your life. After all, here you are, watching a
livestreamed church service on a Wednesday night. Even in this time where
there are no sports on, you could still find lots of other things to do tonight.
You would not be watching this service if you did not have some feelings for
God. You would not be watching if you
did not have some desire to serve God.
But is serving God the number one thing in your life?
Or is it just one of many things? And
don’t get me wrong, I need to ask those questions of myself, too. Just
because I’m a pastor, it does not automatically follow that the number one
thing in my life is serving God. It should follow, but it does not follow
automatically. After all, it should be
the number one thing for all of us, but it does not happen automatically for
any of us.
There are a lot of things that compete for our
attention. There’s work. There’s
family--a spouse, kids, whatever.
There’s hobbies. There’s the things we enjoy doing, the things
that make life more fun. And none of
those things are wrong or bad or sinful--that’s not the point. The point
is that whether they’re good, bad, or indifferent, any and all of them become
bad if they get in the way of serving God.
Now, can we serve God through your work? Of course we
can. Can we serve God by taking care of
our family? Sure, absolutely. We
can serve God through our hobbies. We
can serve God in all sorts of ways.
But is that truly what we’re doing? When we focus our
attention on these other things--and again, they can be neutral or even good
things--are we doing them to serve God? Are we doing them to serve
ourselves? Or, are we just--doing
them? Doing them without any really
thought about whether we’re serving God? Doing them because that’s what
we do, without even thinking about why we’re doing them?
It’s easy for us to have that
happen to us. We just do the things we’ve always done because, well,
we’ve always done them. They’re part of our routine, and most of us like our
routines. And even if we’re not always
thrilled with them, well, we’re used to them. We know how to live in our
routines. They’re comfortable. They help make life go smoothly.
But the goal of a Christian
should not be to have life go smoothly. Jesus never said, “Follow me and
life will go smoothly.” In fact, Jesus
said the exact opposite. Jesus said, “Take up your cross and follow me.”
We’re living in an unusual time
right now. I don’t think any of us likes it. I know I sure don’t. But one thing
about the time we’re living in now is that we cannot just follow our familiar
routines. Whether we want to or not, we simply cannot do it. School is taught online. Worship is online. A lot of businesses are closed, and some are
drive-thru only. People are being advised to avoid getting together in
groups. A lot of people are being told
to work from home. Our routines are
being disrupted right and left, whether we want them to be or not.
A week or so ago, I advised
people to try to keep the routines of life as much as possible. I’m not
changing that advice. We all need things
to help us feel normal in very abnormal times. But I would also advise us
all to do something else. While we’re
keeping our routines, let’s think about them. Think about why we have
those routines. And then, think about
whether those routines are really worth keeping. Is this a routine that helps me serve
God? Or is it a routine that distracts me from serving God. And if so, then, maybe, is this a routine I
would be better off without?
Again, I don’t mean this to
sound judgmental. I’m sure most of us have many routines that do help us
serve God. Maybe they even help us keep serving God the number one thing
in our lives. But I suspect most of us also have some routines that do
not help us serve God. Again, they may not be bad or evil or sinful. But they’re things that distract us.
They’re things that get in our way.
They’re things that keep us from serving God as well as we should.
They’re things that keep serving God from being the number one thing in our
lives.
At some point, we’ll have the
corona virus under control. Maybe not this week or this month, but
eventually. The restrictions will start
to come off. Business will open again.
Schools will open again. Churches
will open again. Life will get back to
normal.
But think about this.
Maybe, just maybe, it would be a good thing if life did not completely get back
to normal. Maybe this is a chance for us to re-orient our lives. Maybe this is a chance for you and me and all
of us to improve our focus. Maybe we can make the clichés come true. Maybe we really can use this time to gain
perspective and get our priorities in order.
And maybe, just maybe, we can
use this time to make serving God our number one priority. Maybe we can
truly feel what an honor and a privilege it is to be allowed to serve God. Maybe we can rejoice at the fact that we are
allowed to feel God’s presence with us.
And maybe we don’t have to wait
until the virus is under control to do that. Maybe we could do it
now. Because there are certainly plenty
of chances to serve God right now. There are certainly plenty of chances
to feel God’s presence right now.
Let’s get our priorities in
order. When we do, we’ll know that serving God is our number one
priority. If we focus on that, God will show us how to do it. Then, the world won’t get back to
normal. It’ll move forward to better.
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