1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,000 Thank you, Kim and Mark. 2 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:12,000 Well, a few years ago, our family had just enjoyed a meal at one of the local buffets. 3 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:17,000 I pushed the tray back as far as I could reach at that point. 4 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:20,000 And my young son, who was sitting next to me, said, 5 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:24,000 Daddy, I feel like my belly button's going to pop out. 6 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:28,000 Have you ever felt that way after a buffet? 7 00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:31,000 Sometimes life feels that way, doesn't it? 8 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:35,000 Because life is a lot like a smorgasbord, 9 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:42,000 where the food selection is much more than one's stomach can hold. 10 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:50,000 Life in a world like ours, with its affluence, mobility, and technology, offers a lot of options. 11 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:57,000 There are more options than we have years to live to make them. 12 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:01,000 Like those who visit a buffet, we have choices to make in life. 13 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:05,000 We can't have it all. 14 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:12,000 And the choices that we make are determined by our appetite and our tastes, 15 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:18,000 as well as by our discipline, a word I don't like to use in relation to eating. 16 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:26,000 But when eating at a smorgasbord, what's important may well include whether we like beef or fish, 17 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:36,000 whether we want to feel good for the next couple of hours, what we know is good for us. 18 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:41,000 Those are the kinds of things that help us to make up our mind what to put on the tray. 19 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:50,000 And so it is with life we have to make choices that are determined by our appetites and discipline. 20 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:53,000 By the priorities, in other words, that we set in life. 21 00:01:53,000 --> 00:02:01,000 We choose to invest in life with its resources according to what we truly believe is important. 22 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:08,000 In other words, we invest our money, our time, our influence, our relationships 23 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:14,000 according to those things that we think truly are important to us. 24 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:21,000 Our choices, in fact, may not always correspond to our doctrinal statement. 25 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:27,000 Because we sometimes profess things that are important that really, in truth, in fact, 26 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:31,000 when they come right down to it, aren't that important. 27 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:34,000 Our choices show that. 28 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:37,000 And that's my point this morning. 29 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:45,000 It is that the choices that we make in life ought to be according to what's truly important. 30 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:51,000 The text that we have before us in closing out 1 Timothy helps direct our thinking 31 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:56,000 in determining the priorities that we should have in life. 32 00:02:56,000 --> 00:03:02,000 So that we will make good choices, so that we will know what to live for. 33 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:05,000 If we don't listen to what the Scripture of God tells us, 34 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:11,000 then we're likely to make our choices based on the appeals of the world. 35 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:15,000 And those will be bad choices. 36 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:18,000 In 1 Timothy 6, I begin reading in verse 17, 37 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:25,000 Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited 38 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:29,000 or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, 39 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:35,000 but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. 40 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:39,000 Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, 41 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:42,000 to be generous and ready to share, 42 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:48,000 storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, 43 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:52,000 so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed. 44 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:58,000 Oh, Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, 45 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:03,000 avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments 46 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:06,000 of what is falsely called knowledge, 47 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:10,000 which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith. 48 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:14,000 Grace be with you. 49 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:16,000 For the Bible-believing Christian, 50 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:21,000 the single most important event that influences our values 51 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:27,000 and our decisions about life is the coming of Jesus Christ. 52 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:35,000 A future age will soon appear with the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. 53 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:39,000 What God tells us to do is to order our priorities of life 54 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:44,000 with the next age in mind. 55 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:50,000 In the text that we've read, it seems to me there are at least three priorities 56 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:56,000 that God wants us to establish in life so that we make good choices, 57 00:04:56,000 --> 00:05:01,000 healthy choices with all of life's options. 58 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:08,000 With each of these priorities, there is a summary exhortation that deals with life. 59 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:15,000 The first priority as is appropriate is God. 60 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:19,000 And the exhortation that I see coming out of this text for us 61 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:25,000 is that we are to rest on the certainty of God's presence 62 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:29,000 and God's provision in this life. 63 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:35,000 All these verses that we've read were written to the rich. 64 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:40,000 The earlier text, verses 9 and 10 that talked about wealth 65 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:43,000 were written to those who wanted to be rich. 66 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:47,000 But here, he is writing to those who are rich. 67 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:51,000 You say, well, then I'll tune out until it's time to listen. 68 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:58,000 No, the fact is that most of us here are rich in terms of the world. 69 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:03,000 Even a person who is on welfare in this country earns far more 70 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:07,000 than the average person in our world. 71 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:12,000 The fact is that all of us, even if we're up to here in debt, 72 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:19,000 are incredibly wealthy in terms of this world. 73 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:23,000 Most of us fall into that category of the rich. 74 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:30,000 And there are two dangers that the rich people encounter. 75 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:35,000 The one danger is that of conceit or arrogance. 76 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:42,000 Notice he says, instruct those who are rich, that's you and me, 77 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:47,000 those who are rich in the now age, this present time, this world, 78 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:51,000 not to be conceited. That's one danger. 79 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:56,000 We can become incredibly self-focused. 80 00:06:56,000 --> 00:07:05,000 We can imagine ourselves to be self-sufficient and without real need of God. 81 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:09,000 One of the great dangers of living in an affluent society like ours 82 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:15,000 is that very attitude that I don't really need God. 83 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:20,000 I'm glad he's there for when I get into trouble. 84 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:24,000 But I don't need him every day 85 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:30,000 because we have so many things that fill our life instead of God. 86 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:35,000 That's conceit. That's arrogance. 87 00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:41,000 And so we are instructed to beware of the danger of arrogance 88 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:45,000 that says I am sufficient without God most of the time. 89 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:48,000 Oh, I need him occasionally. 90 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:52,000 I need him when I get into a severe battle. I need him when I get sick. 91 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:56,000 I need him when I'm poor and I'm looking for a job. 92 00:07:56,000 --> 00:08:02,000 I need him then, but most of the time I don't need God. Arrogance. 93 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:09,000 God is to be the priority of our lives all the time. All the time. 94 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:16,000 The second danger he points out is that we trust in riches. 95 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:23,000 Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope. 96 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:32,000 The word fix there means to place your hope on something and to allow it to rest there. 97 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:39,000 Those who fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches. 98 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:47,000 It is easy for us to do that, to forget that the riches that we have are uncertain. 99 00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:53,000 There are really two realities that we are to embrace in light of these dangers. 100 00:08:53,000 --> 00:09:00,000 One is that God is the only certainty in life. 101 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:04,000 Everything else changes. Everything. 102 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:10,000 God is the only one who does not change. He is immutable. 103 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:18,000 The second reality goes along with that and it is that God is the ultimate supplier in life. 104 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:26,000 God can be counted on and he can be counted on as the ultimate supplier of our needs. 105 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:33,000 Notice that he says that we are to fix our hope on God, make him number one priority. 106 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:42,000 He reminds us that it is God who extravagantly supplies us with all things to enjoy. 107 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:44,000 A couple of things there. 108 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:50,000 It says that God is extravagant with us. 109 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:56,000 Just because I may be in debt doesn't mean that God hasn't been extravagant. 110 00:09:56,000 --> 00:10:06,000 Perhaps he has and I have been more extravagant and that is why I am in debt. 111 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:12,000 Just because we may not have everything we want doesn't mean that God hasn't been extravagant. 112 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:18,000 Did you see that sunset this week that God put there for you to enjoy? 113 00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:25,000 You see God's extravagance is in many realms, but the focus here is in material things. 114 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:33,000 The point isn't that God is going to make all of us wealthy as we think of wealth in our culture. 115 00:10:33,000 --> 00:10:39,000 But it is that God is extravagant with us in relation to our needs. 116 00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:43,000 He has promised to take care of us. 117 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:47,000 What God gives us, he gives us to enjoy. 118 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:54,000 That really goes against the theology of some people who think that somehow when God gives something 119 00:10:54,000 --> 00:11:02,000 He is just waiting for us to abuse that and when we do He is going to slap our hands hard. 120 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:06,000 What a pitiful picture of God and yet how common that is. 121 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:10,000 God wants us to enjoy life. 122 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:16,000 God wants us to enjoy the things that He gives to us. 123 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:22,000 God is generous and like an earthly parent He gives to us. 124 00:11:22,000 --> 00:11:33,000 With the desire, the hope in His heart that we will appreciate and enjoy the things that He gives us. 125 00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:36,000 Is God your first priority? 126 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:45,000 If God is your first priority then everything else is measured from that point. Everything. 127 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:50,000 Our theology statement says that God is number one. 128 00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:58,000 But I fear that our life statement often says something else, doesn't it? 129 00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:09,000 And instead of being truly grateful to God we complain and grumble because God hasn't given us more. 130 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:14,000 God says, look I am giving you lavishly. 131 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:18,000 But I want you to enjoy it. 132 00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:22,000 How grateful we ought to be. 133 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:26,000 J.P. Morgan died in 1913. 134 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:31,000 He was an incredibly wealthy man. 135 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:36,000 I was reading a little about him recently. 136 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:41,000 He was a contemporary of James J. Hill. 137 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:46,000 The Hill Mansion here in St. Paul that many people visit. 138 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:52,000 North Oaks is built on the Hill Estate. 139 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:59,000 Some of the land that's undeveloped up there still belongs to the James J. Hill Estate. 140 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:06,000 A contemporary of his who overshadowed him in wealth was J.P. Morgan. 141 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:10,000 Equitable Life Insurance Company, he controlled that. 142 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:15,000 U.S. Steel, he started that. 143 00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:21,000 But he was also a man who loved God. 144 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:25,000 The wealth did not cause Morgan to become conceited. 145 00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:34,000 He did not trust in the multiplied hundreds of millions of dollars that were at his disposal. 146 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:40,000 When he died his will contained about 10,000 words. 147 00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:46,000 And it incorporated 37 different articles. 148 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:52,000 But what Morgan valued most was indicated by the opening statement of his will. 149 00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:54,000 And here's what it said. 150 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:59,000 I commit my soul to the hands of my Savior, 151 00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:06,000 full of confidence that having redeemed it and washed it with his most precious blood, 152 00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:11,000 he will present it faultless before the throne of my Heavenly Father. 153 00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:19,000 I entreat my children to defend at all hazard the blessed doctrine of complete atonement for sin 154 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:28,000 through the blood of Jesus Christ once offered and through that alone. 155 00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:36,000 There's a man who knew what it was to put God first. 156 00:14:36,000 --> 00:14:45,000 Now there's a second priority that we see in the text and that is the priority of others. 157 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:53,000 And the summary statement that I'm pulling out of the text is that we are to use this life to lay a foundation for the next. 158 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:59,000 Unfortunately in this materialistic world we are controlled by secularism. 159 00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:03,000 Secularism says that this life is all there is. 160 00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:07,000 It is ungodly. 161 00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:12,000 We profess to be theists. 162 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:18,000 We believe that there is a God who oversees this creation, who is above and beyond all of it. 163 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:23,000 We are theists, not secularists. 164 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:33,000 As theists we believe that others ought to be part of our priority. 165 00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:38,000 There is an instruction given to us here. 166 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:45,000 It is that what God places into our hands we are to use for the welfare of others. 167 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:52,000 And the greater our means for doing so, the greater our obligation. 168 00:15:52,000 --> 00:16:01,000 He says that not only are we to enjoy what God gives to us, but we are also to do good. 169 00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:08,000 This word is only, this idea, this phrase is only used twice in the New Testament. 170 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:16,000 The other time it's used in Acts 14 verse 17 where it speaks of God himself doing good to the world. 171 00:16:16,000 --> 00:16:19,000 It is God's providence to the world. 172 00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:30,000 In other words, our giving to others ought to reflect how graciously God gives to his whole world. 173 00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:37,000 We are to work or to act for someone else's advantage, he says. 174 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:43,000 Not only so, we are to be rich in good works. 175 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:48,000 And, he says, to be generous and ready to share. 176 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:54,000 Again, these are unusual words used only here in the New Testament. 177 00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:59,000 We are to be noble sharers of what God gives to us. 178 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:07,000 We are to use what God places into our hands to create community and fellowship with other people. 179 00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:12,000 Others must be in our list of priorities. 180 00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:16,000 First God, then others. 181 00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:22,000 There is an advantage, by the way, of living this way, and he tells us what it is. 182 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:29,000 When we live this way, it returns a fortune to us. 183 00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:36,000 When we keep others in our priorities and we faithfully minister to them and help them and give to them, 184 00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:48,000 it says we amass a treasure for ourselves, which he identifies as a good foundation for the future. 185 00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:52,000 A good foundation for the future. 186 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:55,000 Kind of reminds you of Social Security, doesn't it? 187 00:17:55,000 --> 00:18:00,000 Not. 188 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:07,000 We tend to hoard things, to lay them up in store. 189 00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:14,000 And the fact is that when we do that and we keep our arms around what we possess, 190 00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:22,000 and we use it for ourselves only, we're fools. 191 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:29,000 We're like the farmer that Jesus told about in Luke chapter 12 who did that very thing. 192 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:36,000 Who kept everything for himself and just kept reinvesting it, multiplying his wealth. 193 00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:41,000 And then God said to him one night, you fool. 194 00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:46,000 This night your soul is required of you. 195 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:53,000 Now whose will all of those things be that you have gathered together? 196 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:57,000 You know, that's not a bad question to ask. 197 00:18:57,000 --> 00:19:10,000 Of all of that stuff that you're hoarding, when your soul is required of you, who's all that going to belong to? 198 00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:16,000 And what good is it going to do you then? 199 00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:26,000 And so the point of the Word of God is that we need to keep others second in our priorities and be givers. 200 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:29,000 Be beneficiaries to others. 201 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:33,000 To share, to create community with others. 202 00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:39,000 To be rich, not only in money, but in good deeds, good works. 203 00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:44,000 And he says when we do that, we're laying up a treasure for ourselves in heaven. 204 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:50,000 Isn't that something like what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 6? 205 00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:53,000 Of course it is. 206 00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:58,000 He says doing this will result in our getting a good grip on life. 207 00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:01,000 Not just life, but the real life. 208 00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:04,000 The true life. Reality. 209 00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:10,000 And so he says that we must use this life to lay a foundation for the next. 210 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:15,000 And beware of secularism. 211 00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:23,000 Which has so influenced our thinking that we believe that this world is all there is. 212 00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:27,000 The real life is the next world. 213 00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:33,000 And now in this world we're simply laying a foundation for them. 214 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:38,000 So in your priorities, it's God number one, it's others number two. 215 00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:42,000 And then he says, third, it's mission. 216 00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:47,000 We're to see this life as a stewardship of a trust. 217 00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:54,000 Oh Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you. 218 00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:59,000 This is a legal term. What has been entrusted to you. Parotheke. 219 00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:09,000 It's a legal term that connotes something placed in trust with another's keeping. 220 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:13,000 Something has been entrusted to you, pure child of God. 221 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:16,000 That something is the gospel. 222 00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:21,000 Paul talks to Timothy more about this in chapter one of the next book. 223 00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:26,000 Just turn over a page to 2 Timothy. 224 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:36,000 Notice that in verse 12 of chapter one he says, I'm convinced that he is able to guard what I've entrusted to him. 225 00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:38,000 Same word. 226 00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:46,000 And here Timothy is being reminded by Paul that as believers we entrust our souls to God. 227 00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:50,000 We put them on deposit as it were with God for safe keeping. 228 00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:55,000 But then in verse 14 he says, now Timothy, guard through the Holy Spirit who dwells in you 229 00:21:55,000 --> 00:22:01,000 the treasure which has been entrusted to you. 230 00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:06,000 That treasure is the same treasure he's talking about back in verse 20 of 1 Timothy 6. 231 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:10,000 It's what's been entrusted to Timothy and to you and to me. 232 00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:14,000 It is the gospel of Jesus Christ. 233 00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:22,000 What are we to do with this trust? We are to guard it, he says, which means to keep it, to watch over it, to protect it. 234 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:28,000 And we know from this book he's talking about protecting it from false teaching. 235 00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:33,000 Which Satan is constantly trying to sow into the gospel. 236 00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:38,000 We're to guard it, to keep it pure, we're to protect it. 237 00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:46,000 There's also the sense in which it means to give it, to use it, to invest it, to sow it. 238 00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:49,000 We have a mission. 239 00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:58,000 In our list of priorities, the mission that God gives us, the cause that we have in this world, must take a place. 240 00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:05,000 We're to see life as a stewardship of a trust with a mission to be accomplished. 241 00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:08,000 How do we test our priorities? 242 00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:13,000 First we have to honestly examine our checkbooks. 243 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:16,000 That's one way to do it. 244 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:25,000 We need to go down our checkbook and find out how much of our material resources we've made available for God to use. 245 00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:31,000 How much of it have we given away for good works, for generous sharing? 246 00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:36,000 How much of it have we invested in the mission of the gospel? 247 00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:48,000 We can tell what our priorities are very simply by going to our checkbook and examining what it says about our lives. 248 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:53,000 Secondly, we can honestly ask ourselves some pointed questions. 249 00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:59,000 These will help us determine what our priorities are, what's important to us. 250 00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:03,000 What makes you laugh? 251 00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:06,000 What makes you cry? 252 00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:11,000 What makes you angry? 253 00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:19,000 Reflect on those three questions, find the answer to it, and you will find something about your priorities in life. 254 00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:28,000 And finally, to test your priorities, honestly ask yourself how eager you are for Christ's appearance. 255 00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:30,000 That's the whole context of what he's writing about here. 256 00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:36,000 He talks about it back in verse 14, the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. 257 00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:39,000 How eager are you for Christ's appearance? 258 00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:42,000 Folks, life is complicated. 259 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:46,000 There is so much out there in a world like ours that we can choose from. 260 00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:52,000 What we have to decide is what to live for. 261 00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:57,000 And the Word of God tells us, we're to live for God. 262 00:24:57,000 --> 00:24:59,000 We're to live for others. 263 00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:03,000 We're to live for the mission that God has given us. 264 00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:08,000 I'm afraid that too many of us are like the man who slept as long as he could in the morning. 265 00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:12,000 And one day, he woke even later than usual. 266 00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:20,000 He jumped out of bed, he dashed some cold water on his face, quickly ran his razor over his face. 267 00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:26,000 He made a hasty pass with his comb through his hair, he gulped down a glass of milk, 268 00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:32,000 grabbed his briefcase, gave his wife a kiss as he ran out the door and raced to catch the bus. 269 00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:36,000 He barely got on the bus before it began to pull away. 270 00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:38,000 He dropped the coin in the meter. 271 00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:44,000 And then as he was walking down the aisle to his seat, he stopped, he looked around and he blurted out, 272 00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:48,000 by the way, where's this bus going? 273 00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:51,000 And some of us are just like that, aren't we? 274 00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:54,000 We're in such a big hurry in this world. 275 00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:57,000 But where are we going? 276 00:25:57,000 --> 00:26:00,000 Where are we going? 277 00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:03,000 And what are our priorities? 278 00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:05,000 What's really important to us? 279 00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:08,000 What are we living for? 280 00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:11,000 Let's pray. 281 00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:16,000 Father, may we be able to answer that question in a way that honors you. 282 00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:20,000 As we come to this table of the Lord, 283 00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:26,000 and we remember these elements and the sacrifice that they represent, 284 00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:31,000 may our hearts be caught up in evaluating the answer 285 00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:38,000 from our hearts to this question, what are we truly living for? 286 00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:40,000 May it be Jesus. 287 00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:45,000 May it be the priorities established in the Word of God. 288 00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:50,000 May it be the mission. May it be others. 289 00:26:50,000 --> 00:27:19,000 Yes, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.