Jan 3, 2022
S
I'd like to talk about priorities. At the beginning of a
calendar year we often think about goals and a big part of goals is
priorities.
I like visual aids. We all learn differently and some of us,
many of us, are primarily visual learners, I guess that’s why the
phrase a picture is worth a thousand words is so well known and why
YouTube is the worlds largest search engine
I know this is an audio podcast and I'm going to talk about
visualizing our life priorities, but stick with me.
3 ways to visualize priorities, specifically desired
priorities for the listeners of this podcast as we strive to live
out our faith through our work
#1-numbered List from top to
bottom
Just like when we were kids in Sunday school the right
Christian answer was “Jesus” to almost every question
We’ll here’s the Sunday school Jesus answer to this question
of how we should prioritize our life
God, wife, kids, job, church, ministry,
friendships, evangelism
Problem is it doesn’t deal with reality
By that I mean 2 things
First, it doesn’t reflect where we are at now
Here are 2 charts that reflect most people today
Work, Netflix, misc
Netflix, work,
misc
Because that
well Intentioned goal is so far from our reality we can feel
condemned and don’t bother to even think any further about and just
accept that we’re in a fallen world and we’ll get it right in
heaven
But Jesus prayed
that Gods will be done on earth as it is in heaven and I think we
all want to live out God's will now including at our
work
God told Adam
and us to take dominion over the earth and our lives and that
command from God didn’t change just because of the
fall
Other thing I
mean by that list not reflecting reality is that it doesn’t
define what priority means or provide a way to measure
this.
For example, is
priority from this list measured by time?
If it’s time
we’ve got a problem because We spend more time at work than
anything else but most of us would not consider putting work at the
top of our priority list to be the correct Christian
answer
We do have some control over how much of our time is spent on
work, e.g. work locally not traveling sales, don’t bring your work
laptop home, but you still have roughly a minimum 8 hour work day
which means you’re spending half of your waking hours or arguably
half of your life at work
If this prioritized list is not a reflection of time, what
does it reflect or measure? intensity of feelings? you see
the problem
#2-Word clouds or tag clouds are graphical
representations of word frequency that give greater prominence to
words that appear more frequently in a source
text -better, but still only represents either
desired state or current state not both
#3-TWC-God at center with spokes going out
Shows how God is not a part of our lives but ruling every
aspect of our lives
In Deut 6:9-10, after reviewing the 10 commandments Moses said
"
4 “Hear, O Israel: [b]The Lord our God,
the Lord is one! 5 You shall love
the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your
soul, and with all your strength.
6 “And these words which I command you today shall be
in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your
children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when
you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise
up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and
they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall
write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."
This is recited by Jewish believers regularly and in our
Messianic congregation every week and is referred to as the
Shema. Among other things, the Shema reminds me that God
wants us to live our whole lives dedicated to Him, not just from
birth to death but from sunrise to sunset, every activity, every
relationship, every thought. He's a jealous God. He
doesn't want robots but He also doesn't want us living our lives on
our own. He wants to be a part of every part of our lives and
that absolutely includes our work. And just a part of our
lives, but ruling ov
Here are few other verses that touch on the type of life we're
talking about:
John 17:20-23, Jesus prayed “I do not pray for these alone, but
also for those who [j]will
believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be
one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in
You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe
that You sent Me. 22 And the glory which You gave Me
I have given them, that they may be one just as We are
one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be
made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent
Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me."
I can't completely get my head around what Jesus is saying
there but I know it's awesome. I also see in that a reminder that
we are made in God's image and when we’re born again we are a new
creation as Paul says in 2 Cor. 5:17.
A few verses later, in 2 Cor:20, Paul says "Now then, we
are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading
through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf,
be reconciled to God". Do you think of yourself as an
ambassador at your work in the same way an ambassador represent the
United States when in another country?
Galations 2:20 says "I have
been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who
live, but Christ lives in me; and
the life which I now live in the flesh I live by
faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for
me."
Do these verses sound like we're just a bunch of sinners saved
by grace waiting to go to heaven, living mundane and
purposeless lives, thinking of our work as a necessary evil to pay
the bills but otherwise are working for the weekend or waiting for
retirement?
No we are children of the living God, blessed with
every spiritual blessing in the
heavenly places in Christ.
So, to finish my thoughts, a picture of wheel with God at the
center and the spokes jutting out representing all the different
aspects of our lives including our work may not be the perfect
picture of how we are to prioritize our lives in general and this
year in 2022, but I think it's a useful one and I hope it's helpful
to you.
E
-
To remain in silence is sin - James 4:7-10
-
- Also notes from our
Men's Breakfast this past Saturday, where Damon Hinkle spoke about
evangelizing based on the 2nd commandment. I'll have a link
to the video of that teaching in the
shownotes. https://youtu.be/C86hcVx2cyU
-
Something they would carry around
They give the image the power in their mind
idolatry found throughout scripture
God doesn’t share his glory except with the Son
If someone says god of Islam is same god, bring up your own
experiences making stuff
If you make something you want to take credit for
it
If someone says “to me” focus on what they’re about to say,
some type of truth claim
My goal is not to defeat what they’re saying but to get them
to defend it, ask them what does the Word say about that?
We want to intrigue them to dig into it the truth, not upset
them
Trying to love God and love your neighbor at the same time,
also called friendship evangelism
If they’re very hostile then shut it down
They may try to trip you up and ask some detail about the
Bible
Challenge on them and ask them why they’re asking that
If I ask all your questions will you repent?
At work, listen to what people say so you’re ready when you’re
talking to them. Springboard questions include “what kind of
upbringing did you have?”
Your goal is for them to examine themselves not beat them up,
get them to true repentance
Ask a question to prove you’re listening
By asking they’re connecting with you and you’re growing in
love toward them
Prayer is key, have a prayer list
L
Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who
follows worthless pursuits lacks sense.
A
H
Jokes
I didn’t used to be a fan of facial hair, but it’s starting to
grow on me (good one to throw in their stealth like you’re just
making a comment then zing)
Want to finish up this episode with some encouragement. I
suspect many of you listen on your way to work. Whether you work in
a large city or in an office with a lot of people, or stop At
Walmart on your way home it’s easy to feel like we’re just a number
going through this life in a sea of faces. Please click the link in
the show notes for what I consider a classic song by Kutless that
speaks to this issue to help you start your day. If you’re not
familiar with Kutless and want to hear more check out Live
From Portland which is one of my all time favorite CD’s where
I first heard this song
