The MOST Important Thing

What’s the Most Important Thing?

preached on April 29, 2018

When I began preparing for today, I started with the typical question I have when preparing a message: “What’s the important take-away?” If I had one shot to tell you what is most important, what would that be?

Our situation today is a little out of the ordinary, I am your guest—which I’m sure you’ve had many while looking for a pastor—but now we also have the added bonus of sizing each other up. So, by way of introduction of myself and by introducing our passage, I’d like to share some important things in my life.

So, in no particular order:

My family is important to me. My wife, Brandy, and I have been married since 2004. We had a whirlwind romance working together at Walmart. I was in shoes, she was in jewelry. After several failed attempts to get her attention, we finally started accessorizing together. A few months later we were engaged, and then we started the long, grueling road to marriage.

Young people...do not have long engagements. It’s no bueno

Since then, we’ve had Elijah, who is 9, Ethan (soon to be 4) and now Ensley who just turned 1. They are simultaneously my greatest joy and the reason I have headaches at night. Each is unique, and each is unquestionably a product of Powell DNA.

Second, great storytelling through literature and film is important to me. Great stories make great Art and great Art is what makes life worth living. The great storyteller, Robin Williams, put it this way in Dead Poets Society.

“We don’t read and write poetry, because it’s cute. We read and write poetry, because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.”

Now, I’m not a poet, but I do dabble in the Arts through Photography, Graphic Design, and most recently I’ve been writing. Mostly, the writing has been dull academic work, but the end-goal is to be a better writer all around. Maybe one day, one of these book ideas floating in my head will turn into something, who knows. But the point is simply, we are humans—created beings who have been made to create. I think it’s important to be creative.

Third, education, in its pure and wholesome form, is important to me. I don’t mean the brainwashing that happens all too often in some settings, I mean true, virtuous education that compels people to become better than they are. I have been a teacher for about 10 years, and I always tell my students to become better people than they believe possible. Pursue goodness, excellence, and integrity. Head knowledge is great, but wisdom is better. And wisdom is simply “the truth rightly applied”. 

I also like cookies. The day is always better with a good cookie. 

Anyway, those are things that are important to me. But the most important thing is what we will discuss today. It is most important in all things. I named family, storytelling and education as important things, but the truth is there is one fact, one story, and one family that is central to everything else: That is Christ. As a Christian, as someone who confesses that Jesus is Lord, what He has done saturates everything I do. He is the reason I am pursuing ministry today.

Paul puts it this way in 1 Corinthians 15:3-10

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain.

Paul’s most important message was that Christ died for our sins, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day, and that he appeared after his resurrection. The story changed everything for Paul. It changed everything for the world, it changed everything for me, and I’ll spoil the ending for you now, it can change everything for you.

Who is Paul? Who was he before Christ?

Before Jesus appeared to Paul, “as to one untimely born”, Paul went by Saul. He was a Pharisee from Tarsus who had the added benefit of being a Roman citizen. In the first century, Saul had it as best as a Jewish man could have it. He was well-educated in both the Hebrew traditions and in Roman society. He held a position of leadership, we know, because he oversaw the persecutions happening in Jerusalem. When Steven is stoned to death in Acts 7, Saul stands over the crowd in approval. We know he is a Roman citizen, because later in his life, he is able to appeal his case directly to Caesar. Keep in mind, citizenship did not come cheap in the Roman world. If someone was not born into a Roman family, they had to purchase or earn their citizenship. Paul says in Acts that his citizenship came from his father, so taking that with his testimony that he trained under Gamaliel—a very prominent Jewish Rabbi of the time—it is safe to say that Paul was loaded. We typically think of Paul as the poor, tent maker, but keep in mind, he made tents to earn his keep where he ministered. Before being a missionary, he was a Pharisee leader with people who worked for him. That’s not poverty, that’s wealth.

So this wealthy, Christian-persecuting Pharisee changes overnight into a Jesus-following missionary, willing to endure hardships, beatings, and a number of other trials. What changed? He saw Jesus.

On the road to Damascus, Paul saw Jesus Christ. Now, some skeptics may argue he only thought he saw Jesus, or maybe Paul wanted to just join the Christian bandwagon, but the problem with both those ideas is that Paul had NO reason to hallucinate or lie about seeing Jesus Christ. He had EVERY reason to continue life as he had been living. He had money. He had a measure of power. He was successful in academics, in his career, and in society in general. Psychologists will tell you hallucinations serve some purpose for the person’s psyche. It’s your brain’s way of lying to yourself, so you feel better. Even schizophrenics who have delusions have them to serve their needs in some way. But Paul doesn’t need a hallucination, and he doesn’t need to join a “heretical” group who are actively being pursued and killed. 

But Paul DID need the real Jesus, and Jesus came to Paul.

A while back, I needed to see Jesus. I grew up in the church, and at an early age, I surrendered to Christ. But growing up in the church, I got to see some pretty nasty stuff. My father served as an Education and Music minister in a few churches growing up, and one in particular showed me the dark side of ministry. The short version is the church was as unhealthy as a church can get, and after watching them treat my father as disrespectfully as they did, I wanted nothing to do with God, much less ministry. As I trotted out on my own after high school, God worked on my heart and pointed out a few things: 

First, people are human and even the best ones will let you down. That’s the problem with sin, it infects everything. Second, in rebelling against what I perceived as the problem, I had become what had made me rebel in the first place. Last, He reminded me that no matter what happens on this earth, it doesn’t change the fact that God is good. And, He designed us to be like Him. If I really wanted to make the world a better place, I needed to repent of my own sins and reflect His goodness and glory rather than getting bitter over other people who weren’t really Christians in the first place. 

And that is why education/discipleship is so important to me. I have seen what happens when supposed Christians fail to reflect God’s goodness. It is a disastrous and ugly situation. So whenever young Christians come into my sphere of influence, I want to point them to God’s ways and what He calls us to be. Not necessarily what some people think, but what is actually in the Bible. That’s why I went to seminary, so I could learn more myself, that’s why I’m continuing my education, so I can help train others better, and that’s what has led me back to my calling as a pastor. Being a teacher is fine, and it’s had its moments, but ultimately God has called me to pastor, so here I am. But none of that would’ve happened without Jesus showing up in the guise of one of my favorite people. I may not have been rich like Paul, and I wasn’t blinded by a light, but I definitely saw Jesus and it has changed everything. 

But let’s return to our passage: Why and How does Jesus change everything?

Paul says his message was that Jesus died, was buried, and raised on the third all in accordance to the Scriptures. Which Scriptures? Well, in Paul’s day the Bible consisted of the Hebrew Bible, which was the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings. Throughout each of these Jesus is foretold. The Old Testament points toward the coming of God’s Anointed One, the Messiah. The Law prescribed how Israel should run as a nation under the Lordship of Yahweh. It required a moral code and, more importantly, a sacrificial system that would atone for the sins of the people. The Prophets lived outside the priestly caste who upheld the Law, always pointing the people back to their obligations as God’s people to reflect His goodness. They were especially important during the Jewish Exile, after Israel was conquered and sent to live among the nations of the earth because of their disobedience. And the Writings provide the history and wisdom the Israelites collected in their time before and after the Exile. 

Each of these, again, point to the coming Messiah who would be the Eternal King of God’s people, the greatest Prophet, who not only could point people to God, but also would be “God with us”. And, he would be the Great High Priest who would not lead the people to offer sacrifices for their atonement, but would actually be the atoning sacrifice as the Suffering Servant. 

The promise God gave to Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation, that Abraham would be a blessing to all nations, came to fulfillment when Jesus, a Jewish Royal, born in the line of Abraham, and in the royal line of King David, lived a sinless life, fulfilling the obligations of the Law, went willingly to the cross as the final sacrifice for the sins of all humanity. Past, present, and future sins are all wiped away clean by the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, the Prophet, Priest, and King for all nations and people. His life, death and resurrection, occurred in accordance to the Scriptures written over the many centuries before Jesus was born in that little manger in Bethlehem.

So what changes?

Well, first, the world. The world is no longer a creation separated from its Creator. God, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, has visited our little planet. God has walked, talked, and lived among us. He is not far from us, He is here. Jesus rose on the third day, and later He sent us His Spirit to live in us and recreate our hearts and minds. God was with us, and God is still with us. Nothing on this earth happens without His knowledge and His plan.

Romans 8:28 reminds us that “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

Whatever happens in our lives, the good, the bad, and the ugly is all according to God’s purposes to build us into His people. Augustine said when trials happen to the lost, it is to warn them of impending eternal disaster, but when trials happen to the faithful, it is a refining test to sharpen our faith and remind us that this earth will pass away.

Second, we as individuals change. When you put your faith in the saving work of Christ, you become a new creature. The early Fathers called it the “third race”—not Jew or Gentile, but something greater. In the 90s, Audio Adrenaline, sang it as “A new way to be human”. This new creature is in the process of removing sin. The corruption that brings death and destruction wherever it spreads is cleansed away as the Holy Spirit breathes new life into the Christian. Ezekiel prophesied that it would be a time when God would remove our hearts of stone and put in a heart of flesh. Jeremiah foretold that people would no longer go to priests to learn about God, God’s Spirit would teach people about Himself. The true Christian is not the dead body warming a pew each Sunday hoping to earn enough attendance credit to get into heaven. The true Christian is a new human, reborn by the Holy Spirit, called to action and energized by God.

And because the individual is changed, all his relationships are changed as well. When the Christian learns to live as God has designed humans to live, the family stays together. Work is invigorated by a call to glorify God in all we do. Friendships are sweeter. And, yes, society in general works better.

Now, you may say, “hey you’re describing a Utopia, and that hasn’t happened in the 2000 years since Christ”. Well, I’d say, “you’re right”. The Christian life is not a lightbulb you flick with a switch. It is a daily dying to your sinful self, and a daily walk with God. Not everyone is up for it. We like our sin too much. And that’s the problem. Whenever we cling to our sinful desires for pride, power, pleasure, or some other ‘p’ word, we cannot follow God’s design. 

That is why discipleship is so important. 

Look again at our passage. Paul says Jesus appeared to a list of people, including 500 unnamed witnesses. Why did he appear? What did they talk about? Well, in the Gospels and Acts, we read how Jesus continued to teach the disciples. He had taught them for 3 years, but now that they witnessed Him dead and then back alive, they were all ears!

You see, even the disciples, still needed to hear from Jesus. And after the Holy Spirit came, they continued to devote themselves to teaching each other. 

In my studies of the Early Church, I get to read all about some of the more bizarre teachings about Christ that were floating around in the first couple of centuries. But these false teachings were used by God to create the New Testament. If you read through the epistles, it becomes obvious how much people misunderstood Jesus and the Apostles. But that is where the Holy Spirit comes in. He uses people to sharpen one another, and eventually the Apostles’ teachings were organized into what we have today as the New Testament. So we have a standard of what is Truth and what is false. 

People today are still getting confused over what Jesus taught. It happens when lost people try to teach what they don’t understand. But, as Christians, we can hold fast to the Truth of the Gospel. God came to us that night long ago in Bethlehem, and He was Jesus. Jesus lived a perfect life. He offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice. And He rose on the third day, as the perfect Victor over sin, death, and hell. And now we have the opportunity to be saved from sin, and live as God designed us to live. 1 Peter 2:9 says it this way, “you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

And all this Paul says, is by the grace of God.

By the grace of God, Paul became the great missionary. “By the grace of God, I am who I am.” By the grace of God, I am who I am.

By the grace of God, who will you be? Who do you want to be?

Do you want to be a better father or mother?

How about a better business? Or a better friend?

You can try to do these things on your own, but you’ll end up with nothing.

But if you will seek first the Kingdom of God, then all these things will be added to you. 

This morning as we head to the invitation, it is a simple invitation: Seek what is most important. Stop focusing on lesser things. They may be good things, but without Jesus, the most important thing, none of it will matter, and to be honest, it’s not going to work out for you anyway.

C.S. Lewis put it this way, “Aim at Heaven and you’ll get the Earth thrown in. Aim at the Earth and you’ll get neither.”

It doesn’t matter who you are, or what you’ve done. There is enough grace. We have an infinite God with an infinite supply of grace. The first step toward true, eternal life, is to simply repent—turn from the sin that has been killing you, and turn toward Jesus who offers life. 

Repent now, and come to Jesus.