First Things First
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
What God puts first, we may not put second. There are some things that have our first thought, our first consideration. There are some other things that should be done first, before other things are done. The very word "first" carries with it the thought of precedence. Not but what the second and perhaps a third thing should be done, but that the first thing should have the place of prominence, or be given priority over other things.
In deciding what should be first we have some instructions from God which will be worthy of obedience.
The first verse of the Bible opens, "In the beginning God." This is the order in which God should always be placed first, ahead of all other persons or things. The creator should have pre-eminence over the creature; the potter should have "first place" over the clay.
A boastful student sought to humanize God, when, in his graduating thesis, he wrote:
"Not throned above the stars of night,
Here in America we must see,
The love of man to man,
A new world, republican,
A Christ not super-human,
But reborn in man and woman."
To make sure the meaning of his words, we quote this striking phrase from his poem:
"Mankind, is Christ, retired, re-crucified;
No God for a gift God gave us,
Mankind and man alone must save us."
He who breathes the spirit of this verse, sets himself up above the Creator. He cries out with Pharaoh, "Who is the God of the Jews, I know Him not, neither will I serve Him." He listens to the age-worn voice of Satan as he said to the first parents, "Ye shall be as gods."
The second man, Cain, breathed this spirit of self-pride and of boastful arrogance, when he refused to bend the knee to God as a suppliant, in need of atoning Blood, but professed himself an equal, if not a peer to the Almighty, willing merely to pass respects with God.
Nebuchadnezzar gave himself the first place when, as he viewed the walls of Babylon and her hanging gardens, festooned with ferns and flowers and filled with birds, he said, "Is not this the great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?"
The Book of Romans sums up this spirit of debasing God and of deifying man, when it says, "And changed the glory of God into an image made like to corruptible man." * * "And worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever."
I. CHRIST PRE-EMINENT (Colossians 1:18)
In our Scripture text, we are told to give Christ preeminence that is to make Him first. He should have first place because He is the image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of every creature. In the beginning before anything was made that is made, Christ was with God, and Christ was God. By Him all things were made that are in heaven and on the earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions, or principalities or powers, all things were made by Him and for Him, and He is before all things and in Him all things are held together.
If in order Christ is God and God is first, then the things which God created, and which are the work of His own hands, acknowledged Him Head to all things. Mark the significance of these words:
"Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."
Shall we leave Christ there on the Cross, in our thinking and words and deeds? Shall we add other thorns to His brow, and other nails for His hands and feet? Shall we mingle our spit with the spit of the maddened rulers?
Or, shall we do what God the Father did "Wherefore God also hath exalted Him, and given a Name that is above every name."
God has said, "That at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow," and "every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
When Victoria was crowned queen of England, it is said that at a signal in the ceremonies the old coronation hymn was to be sung. When they came to the words, "And crown Him Lord of all," all the high-born ladies and lords of the realm were to bend the knee, while the queen wearing her new crown was to rise with bowed head. When the ceremonies reached the singing of
"All hail the power of Jesus' Name,
Let angels prostrate fall,
Bring forth the royal diadem,
And crown Him Lord of all,"
then all fell to their knees, and the Queen of England like-wise fell down as a suppliant, and crowned Christ as her Lord, and as Lord of all.
Are we willing now to crown Him? Are we ready to make the glad acclaim?
II. GOD FIRST IN OUR GIFTS (1 Kings 17:13-15)
Elijah arose and went unto Zarephath where God had commanded a widow to sustain him. Upon arrival Elijah found the woman gathering sticks: and he called unto her and said, "Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink, * * and * * a morsel of bread in thine hand."
The widow replied, "As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and behold I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die."
Elijah answered. "Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth."
Even so it came to pass. The barrel of meal wasted not, nor did the oil fail.
There is a tremendous lesson in all of this for us. If God is first in honor and glory and in the worship of our hearts, He should be first in our gifts. How can we forget that the firstfruits of all our substance belong unto God? Before we meet our own needs, we should give to God His tithe, or even more than a tithe.
Is not God back of all that we possess? Does He not give us the power to make money? Are the cattle on a thousand hills not His? Are not the silver and the gold His? Have we not received of His bounties? Has not our God given us the increase of our fields? Shall we think first of ourselves when He has thought first of us?
III. GOD SHOULD BE FIRST IN OUR AFFECTIONS (Luke 9:58-62)
In this passage there are three would-be followers. The first wanted to follow Christ, but Christ plainly told him that "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head." That seemed to put a quietus on that young man.
The second would have liked to have followed Christ, but he said, "Suffer me first to go and bury my father."
The third would also follow, but he said, "Let me first go bid them farewell which are at home at my house."
What right have we to place anything ahead of Christ and of God? The two tables of stone carried first our duties toward God, and secondly our duties toward our fellow man. We have no right to say that the first and great commandment is "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," for that is the second great commandment. The first commandment is, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind."
Jesus Christ must have an unrivaled supremacy in the affections of the heart. If any man love father or mother more than Christ, he is not worthy of Christ; if any man love brother or sister more than Christ, he is not worthy of Christ. If any man loves wife, or any wife loves husband more than Christ, each is unworthy of Christ.
Peter said to Christ, "Lo, we have left all, and have followed Thee."
The Lord Jesus must have the first place in the affections. There is a story of the Roman Senate sending to Paul and offering him a nook in the Parthenon where he might place the relics of his God along by the side of the gods of other religions. Paul is reputed to have written to the Roman Senate and to have said, "My Lord will not share honor with any other. He must have all of the Parthenon, or He will have none.
IV. GOD MUST BE FIRST IN OUR OBEDIENCE (Acts 4:18-20)
Peter felt this most keenly and expressed it most clearly when they said, "We ought to obey God rather than men." Children should obey their parents, but they are told to obey them in the Lord. The authority of Christ must take precedence over parents.
Citizens should pay tribute to their governments, and obey the voice of their governments as expressed in its laws, but citizens should place God as supreme. We should render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's but we should render to God the things that are God's.
If the government should dictate to us concerning our obedience to Christ, we should reply, "Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak (or do) the things which we have seen and heard."
When the soldiers of the Third Georgia Regiment, marched down the Central City Park (Macon, Ga.) under review of President McKinley it was a beautiful sight. How marvelously they obeyed the calls of their commanders! They stood still, or went forward, or turned right about face, and marched, as one man. Whenever the clarion voice of the officer gave the order, they obeyed.
We need obedience such as this in the Church of Christ. We should give ourselves first unto God.
We well remember speaking to an intimate friend of our college days. He had gone far beyond us in a collegiate way. He was ready to stand in the front of any educational standard. We met him as we walked across the campus in Northfield, Mass. A little later as we strolled together, we said, "Arthur, is your life wholly yielded to God?" He said, "No, Ed, it is not." We said, "What, and you a minister of the Gospel and not yielded to God?" He told us the reason for his statement was that he had great plans to lead his denomination, and to surpass other preachers, and that he was working for a big church no matter what God said. Alas, alas! However, thank God, he soon did yield himself to God, without reservations, and today he is preaching the Gospel in the distant mission fields, being greatly used of the Lord.
V. GOD SHOULD BE FIRST IN THE SINNER'S QUEST (Matthew 6:33)
There is a verse of Scripture that comes into our mind. All of you are familiar with it. "But seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness."
Before Christ spoke these words He said, "Take no thought saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek."
That Christ did not mean that such things had no place we know, because He Himself gave them a place. However, He did teach that they should not have the first place, for He said, "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness."
The question is that of preferment. There are some who give God no place at all. They live for the things which are seen. They lay up their treasures on earth. They love the present world. God is entirely forgotten and neglected. Christ has no place in their lives.
There are some who give God a place, but a small place. They relegate Christ and religion to some small recess of their heart. They carry a form of religion. They give the Lord a passing consideration. However, their chief thought is the world and the things of the world. They may appear to love God, but they are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.
Let us look at this thing from another angle. There are some who want to be saved, but they do not want to be saved now. They first want to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; they first want to fulfill the desires of their flesh and of their mind. Then they argue with themselves that sometime, in the distant years they will turn to God.
This is all wrong. If one is coming to Christ he should come now. He should make Christ first, salvation first, Heaven first.
REMEMBER OUR TEXT THAT IN ALL THINGS HE MIGHT BE FIRST.
AN ILLUSTRATION
How shabbily many of us treat the Lord! His work demands money. How can men go forth to the far-flung mission fields unless they are sent and sustained by the ones at home? How can the churches at home become effective unless the saints at home stand by them with their gifts?
Years ago we visited a church with one hundred thrifty members. They had given, during the past year the miserly sum of $5.00 to Home and Foreign missions in a whole year. We spoke to one of their members, a stalwart farmer. We asked him how many bales of cotton he had made the past season. He responded, "One hundred." We asked him if he had been a Jew how many bales the law would have required at his hand, for God's treasury. He told us "ten." Ten bales of cotton represented $500 in those days. He had raised also an abundance of peanuts, corn, oats, and everything else raised on a Southern plantation. We asked him how much of the $5.00 he had given, and he said, "Twenty-five cents."
Alas, alas. That is too often the story. The reason some give nothing and others give so little, is because God does not hold the first place in their lives. The Macedonian Christians first gave themselves unto God. Because of this, they also gave of their money, as they were able, yea, and more than they were able. In their deep poverty and affliction they abounded unto the riches of their liberality. They gave as they were able, yea and more than they were able, interesting the Apostle Paul to accept their gifts and to minister unto the needy saints.