Upward, Inward, Outward by Daniel Fusco & D. R. Jacobsen

Author:Daniel Fusco & D. R. Jacobsen [Fusco, Daniel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: RELIGION / Christian Life / Spiritual Growth, RELIGION / Christian Life / Personal Growth
Publisher: The Navigators
Published: 2017-09-14T04:00:00+00:00

The people’s priorities

The people’s unity

The people’s provision

And what we’ll see is that while human rulers more or less fail at all three, God shows us the perfect way to live intentionally. Biblical simplicity is about accomplishing the most important things, and these three realities teach us what God sees as important. If we want to live in godly simplicity, we have to start here.

Priorities

For some reason we seem predisposed to want everyone else to do things our way, even when it doesn’t make sense. No matter how important or how insignificant the issue, we manage to convince ourselves that we’re right. What we want is to take the priorities of our own small kingdoms and apply them to all of life.

Here’s an easy example that pops up in the church: music preferences.

At church you throw together people, sometimes by the hundreds or thousands, who all love Jesus and who all love totally different music.

So as a pastor, I’ll have someone pull me aside and tell me, with passion in their voice, that the music is simply too loud. What I don’t say back is that earlier in the day, someone told me with passion in their voice that the music was too quiet!

I’ve heard complaints about the worship leader wearing a hat. Or not wearing one. Or that there were too many guitars. Or no guitars. Or that it was so loud or slow or soft or fast or long or spontaneous or brief or planned. Probably eight or nine out of every ten comments we get about our service have to do with the music.

Look, church was God’s idea. We’re commanded to keep gathering together. So God’s reason for church must not be about making everybody happy, because that’s clearly impossible!

There will always be people more focused on their own kingdoms than on God’s Kingdom. Sometimes that’s as simple as making something like musical preference a Big Deal. But when we prioritize God’s Kingdom, we realize something: The music style doesn’t flippin’ matter! Why? Because God is our king, and God is glorious and worthy of praise, and there isn’t just one style of music or worship that conveys that.

We cannot let our preferences and priorities become ultimate.

Unlike our priorities, the priorities of God’s Kingdom never change—plus they’re always perfect.

In God’s Kingdom, the priorities are the same. To restore us to a right relationship with him. To bring glory to God’s name. To cast out fear with perfect love. To put an ultimate end to evil. To bring a new and everlasting Kingdom. And the ultimate priority? Look to the Cross. God is not willing that any should be lost. Rather, he wants to bring us back from our rebellion, even at the cost of his Son’s life.

The King’s priorities need to be the priorities of the people. Prioritizing God’s Kingdom means asking God what he wants to do, learning what he wants to do, and making it our primary goal to partner with that. Not with what we think is best, but with God’s priorities.

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