God's Priorities

Man, I loved what Mark Buckley had to say last Sunday in his sermon at Living Streams. He said we have to make sure we are keeping God’s priorities above our personal preferences. He mostly applied this to marriage and family, but it also applies so well in the realm of governing society—or as some refer to it, politics. So, if we, as followers of Christ, are to keep God’s priorities first and foremost, what are God’s priorities? 

To me it’s pretty clear what God’s priorities are, because of consistent biblical teachings, consistent sociological findings, and reasonable historical and scientific proofs. God‘s priorities include:

• loving the whole world, not just a certain country or state, 

• caring for the poor (fatherless, orphan, widow), 

• protecting the sanctity of sex (gender, marriage, family, unborn), 

• love (for the household of faith, neighbor, foreigner, enemy), 

• providing healing and counsel to the afflicted (medicine, insurance, and aid), 

• equality (race, gender, socio-economics, education, physical abilities), 

• caring for the environment, 

• authority and submission, 

• fighting against greed, pride and deceit. 

There is no doubt God will judge us on how we go about these things. Though we can find ourselves disagreeing on the source of our problems as well as the solutions, and we can be overwhelmed by the size and nature of the problems, it is important to remember that God is with us.

A Brit who had spent his life as a missionary in India returned home to England in the late 1970’s to find all kinds of societal problems. His name is Leslie Newbigin. As Leslie looked at the size and nature of the problems, he remembered the plan of God for the Church. He wrote these wise words:

“If the gospel is to challenge the public life of our society… it will not be by forming a Christian political party, or by aggressive propaganda campaigns. …It will only be by movements that begin with the local congregation in which the reality of the new creation is present, known and experienced.”

This reminds me of the line from Joshua in the Bible book named after him. As he was commissioning the Israelites to live into the fullness of what God had given them as a nation, he set before them two ways they could go—one of blessing and one of cursing. Then, Joshua basically said, “It doesn’t matter to me what you all will do. It doesn’t matter to me what is popular or will get the most votes. It doesn’t matter how hard or easy it is for me.” He said, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” 

I pray we will humble our hearts before God, be grateful for all He has given us, and we will choose to serve His priorities with our own lives, our families’ lives, and whatever other institutions we are a part of. 

Peace to you,

David

p.s. A Covid-19 update. After listening to Governor Ducey’s COVID-19 press conference on Wednesday, and debriefing with our direction team, we want to continue to ask our Living Streams church family to take this pandemic seriously, wear masks and social distance, stay home if you feel sick in any way, and self isolate if you have any of the vulnerable health conditions that COVID-19 attacks. I am thankful for the grace of God and the responsible, common sense actions of our church, which have allowed us to have in-person options for almost everything we do. Please keep praying for God’s covering over us and for humility and kindness to be the fragrance of everything we do. Read more about our policy here.

A Beautiful Heart

I’m a bit of a kleptomaniac in one area of my life. No, I’m not into stealing cars, stealing from the government, or picking pockets. And I’m not talking about stealing candy (like when my eighth-grade friends and I went on a two-week stealing spree at 7-Eleven and Woolworths). 

I’m talking about the fine art of stealing words. And my problem with “word thieving” is so profound it may even be affecting the way I speak.

People ask me about my accent all the time. When I tell those people I was born and raised in Arizona they are usually a bit surprised—and thoroughly disappointed. But I think my accent is connected to my word stealing. When I hear people say words that inspire or awaken, I don’t just want to steal the words, I also want to steal the way the person said the words. I think it’s a subconscious attempt to incorporate into my own speech the way the words sounded to me. Some call it an accent—but it is probably more like schizophrenic speech. 

For our next sermon series at Living Streams Church I am once again stealing some words. The source is a nonprofit organization called “Family Matters.”  I first heard these words grouped together when I heard a talk given by the founders of Family Matters at Phoenix Seminary. 

What the founders were teaching is this: True greatness comes from having a Humble Heart, a Servant Heart, a Grateful Heart, and a Generous Heart. I have been “chewing on that” ever since I heard it. I even bought my daughters heart boxes; and for a while, I would give them a heart sticker whenever I saw them demonstrate one of these types of hearts. 

People often search to know who they are and how they can be better. The enneagram is really helpful at teaching us about personality and the pitfalls connected with our own. The Myers-Briggs personality test will teach us about what drains us and what fills our tanks. The Strengths Finder test can help us know the good we have to offer humanity. But these “four hearts” make the deeper magic that lives underneath our personality and can cause us to shine.

Sunday, November 10, we’ll begin a sermon series that will peel back the confusion in our culture, silence the incessant banter of our society, and study the beautiful heart of Jesus—so humble, helpful, grateful, and generous.

David