Something About the Order

By Cal Cook

Last week I preached a message proclaiming that there is one thing above all other things that we as Christ followers ought to be concerned about…Jesus Christ and Him crucified for my (your) sins…first, foremost above all else. Other things may be nice, other things may be important, other things may demand our attention, but this one thing must be held closest to our hearts above all else!

We saw it in the everyday lives of Mary and Martha. Martha was busy preparing food, Martha was fully engaged with what needed to be done, what demanded to be done, yet Mary had found ‘The One Thing’ and Jesus said it would not be taken from her. We then come to today’s passage and find Jesus praying as scripture tells us He often did. The disciples then ask Jesus to teach them to pray, “As John taught his disciples.” What comes next has been the most repeated and regurgitated prayer in history!

Jesus in this prayer not only gives us a model of a prayer but an order of things that we can’t seem to carry out very well!

Father, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon.

God first and foremost, before anything else, His righteousness and His will! If our hearts only worked that way…instead our prayers usually begin with a list of petitions, or a list of grievances. God give me what I need, give me what I want…stop those other people from getting what they want…Oh and Amen!

Now maybe I over exaggerate here…maybe, but I think the point is not lost. Just before this Jesus is asked about the Greatest Commandment. Here in Luke Jesus turns the question back to the one asking, in Matthew and Mark He answers it himself. In all occasions the answer is the same, Love the Lord your God first, and love your neighbor second…there is something about the order.

Is it that God is an egomaniac and demands to be first? No! Is it that God needs your love and without it would somehow be less than God? No! Does it even have anything to do with God and His needs or desire? No!

It’s all about us and what we need! Now I’m not preaching a Narcissistic gospel here where it’s all about me, me, me. On the contrary I’m saying it’s all about God and our need for Him! It’s all about God knowing how our hearts work; how our minds work…He is our Creator. He doesn’t say, “Love God and equally love your neighbor”…nor does He say, “Love God as you love yourself” or “Love your neighbor with all your heart, soul mind and strength.” There is not equality in the command. But love God with all that you’ve got, everything you can muster, all of your being, first and foremost, pre-eminent above all!

It’s almost as if God were saying, “I know it doesn’t come natural for you, but you’ve got to put me first above even yourself. Then that thing that does come easy to you, ‘love for yourself’ apply that kind of love to your neighbor.” The order is important because our creator knows how we work! It’s the manufacturer’s instructions for living and loving! God says, “If you give me the best that you’ve got I’ll help you with the rest!”

As we saw two weeks ago in the parable of the Good Samaritan loving your neighbor applies to everyone, even those unworthy, unclean, those ‘deserving what they get’ in our minds! Not just our neighbors Jesus says but our enemies and those who persecute us! Now if loving our neighbor that we do know is hard how are we ever to love our enemy who we don’t know…?

By loving the Father! Trying harder won’t make it happen; getting the government to do it for you is just a copout, only love for God the Father can make it happen! Even when we do try and go to ‘the least of these’ often times it becomes about us and what good people we are. Every effort that originates in us only leads to our elevation, our grandeur, our benevolence.

When we recognize that “we love because He first loved us” and love others out of the abundance poured into us…overflowing from us, then there is a place for real transformation to happen…real love to be poured out again and again! There is something about the order that makes things work, there is something about following the manufacturer’s instructions that allows our true potential to be seen…even if only now and again.