Faith: The Most Important Thing

The Sunday morning message in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish.  September 24, 2023.  The Bible verses are Philippians 3:4b-14.

            What would you say is the most important thing in your life?

            Think about it, because there could be lots of different answers.  A lot of people would probably say their family is the most important thing in their life.  We might say good health is the most important thing–the old advertising slogan was that if you have your health, you have just about everything.  We might say freedom is the most important thing, because we certainly do value freedom in this country.  We might say having a place to live is the most important thing.  We might say having rewarding work to do is the most important thing.  There could be all kinds of answers to the question of what’s the most important thing in our lives.

            Now, I’m guessing that some of you have already figured out what I’m going to say.  You think I’m going to say faith in Jesus Christ should be the most important thing in our lives.  And you’re right, I am going to say that.  But it’s not just me who says that.  It’s the Apostle Paul saying it in our reading for today.

            Paul starts by talking about how, according to Jewish law, he’s pretty darn good.  He was circumcised, as a good Jew should be.  He was a member of one of the twelve tribes of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin.  He was a Pharisee, the top religious group among the Jews.  He was zealous in keep the law.  He was faultless in his righteousness according to the law.

            And then he says, none of that means anything.  He used to consider them so important, and now they’re nothing to him.  In fact, they’re less than nothing.  He says they’re garbage.  Rubbish.  Trash.  Worth absolutely nothing.  Throw them away.

            The only thing that means anything to him is knowing Jesus Christ.  Everything else is worthless.  His own accomplishments mean nothing.  His own achievements mean nothing.  The only thing that means anything to Paul is his faith in Jesus.  Becoming as much like Jesus as it’s possible for him to become is the only thing that matters to Paul.

            Now, we hear that, and maybe we agree with it.  And of course, it’s easy to agree with it when we’re sitting here in church.  But in a little while, we’ll be going back out those doors and back out into the world.  Will we still agree that following Jesus is the most important thing in our lives when we leave here?  Will we still agree with that when we’re at home?  Will we still agree with it when we’re watching the football game, or whatever it is you do on a Sunday afternoon?  Will we still agree with it tomorrow when we go to work, or do whatever it is you do on a Monday morning?

            And if we will agree with it at those times, here’s the more important question.  Does the way we live our lives show that we believe it?  If someone wanted evidence that we considered faith in Jesus Christ the most important thing in our lives, would we have any evidence we could show them?

            Now, those are questions you have to answer for yourself.  And I have to answer it for myself, too.  I don’t presume to know what your answer is.  Maybe you’d have all kinds of evidence to show that faith in Jesus Christ is the most important thing in your life.

            But I’m not sure how much evidence I’d have.  I mean, sure, I could point to all the work I do for the church.  But you know what?  I get paid for that.  That’s my job, to work for the church.  What about the rest of my life, when I’m not specifically working for the church?  How much evidence would I have then to show that faith in Jesus Christ is the most important thing in my life?

            Think about your life, just as I need to think about my life.  When you break down how you spend your time, would the way you spend your time show that faith in Jesus Christ is the most important thing in your life?  Think about how you spend your money.  Does the way you spend your money show that faith in Jesus Christ is the most important thing in your life?  Think about the things you say.  Do the words you speak show that faith in Jesus Christ is the most important thing in your life?

            These are important questions, and we could come up with more.  We really need to think about these things.  If we say that faith in Jesus Christ is the most important thing in our life, then the way we live our life needs to show that.

            Now, I’m not suggesting that some of the other things we mentioned are not important.  I’m not suggesting, for example, that we should neglect our families.  Our families are very important.  You know, in thinking about this, I thought about the fact that Apostle Paul did not have a family.  I mean, he must have had a mother and father, but we don’t hear anything about them.  We don’t know if he had any siblings.  He did not have a wife or children.  In fact, Paul suggested that it would be better for people not to marry and have children, because those things could distract people from following Jesus.  He recognized, though, that that was not a practical thing for society.

            None of those things I mentioned at the beginning of this message–family, health, freedom, a place to live, rewarding work–none of those things is unimportant.  But I would suggest that their importance should be kept in the context of our faith in Jesus Christ.

            We need to take care of our families, but the most important thing we can do for our family is to do whatever we can to help them have faith in Jesus Christ.  We need to do what we can to maintain our health, but one of the best things we can do with our good health is to use it to share our faith in Jesus Christ.  We need to do what we can to guard our freedom, but the most important freedom is freedom of religion, so that we can continue to be free to worship God and share our faith in Jesus Christ.  Having a place to live is important, but one of the best things we can do with our homes is to use them as a base from which to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Having rewarding work is important, but the best reward we could ever get is to know that we had helped bring someone to faith in Jesus Christ.

            These are not easy things.  They take time.  They take effort.  Paul himself said he had not achieved them.  He needed to keep trying.  He needed, as he said, to “press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

            Now, I want to make one thing clear.  I am not suggesting that we can earn our way into heaven by our good works.  In fact, that’s the opposite of what Paul said.  Remember, we said earlier, Paul regarded all the things he had done as trash.  But if faith in Jesus Christ truly is the most important thing in our lives, the way we live our lives should show that.  Our faith in Jesus Christ should be involved in everything we do.

            You see, as Christians, we do not live our lives for ourselves.  We do not even live our lives for our families, as important as our families are.  We live our lives for God.  God has called us heavenward in Christ Jesus, just as God called Paul heavenward.  Our lives on earth, as important to us as they often are, are not nearly as important as our eternal life in heaven.  The longest life on earth is short compared to eternity.  In fact, we cannot even compare the length of our life on earth to eternity, because time as we know it does not exist in eternity.  Eternity, by definition, has no end.

            So let’s take a look at our lives.  Let’s see if the way we live our lives shows that faith in Jesus Christ is the most important thing to us.  If it is, great!  Awesome!  Keep it up!  But again, the Apostle Paul said he had not achieved that yet.  So I suspect all of us have not achieved it, either.  I know I certainly have not.

            If we have not, let’s decide to do something about that.  Let’s “press on”, as Paul says.  Let’s “strain toward what is ahead”.

            And let’s ask God to help us.  Because if you’re like me, you cannot do this on your own.  Any time I have tried to do something like this on my own, I’ve failed.  I might be able to make small improvements.  I might be able to fiddle at the margins a little bit.  But any time I’ve made a real, substantial change in my life, it’s because I asked God to help me.  And I keep asking God to help me, because if I don’t, I’ll slide right back to where I was.

            So let’s think about our life.  Think about whether faith in Jesus Christ is truly the most important thing in our life.  Think about whether the way we live shows that faith in Jesus Christ is the most important thing in our life.  And if we fall short anywhere, let’s ask God to help us with that.  That’s the best way we can, as Paul says, “press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called [us] heavenward in Christ Jesus.”