The Big Rocks

Text: 2 Peter 1:5-14

Introduction:

Illus. Rocks, stones, pebbles, sand, water in the fishbowl illustration from Stephen Covey.

Big Idea: We must have our spiritual priorities in order if we are to be effective in our service for God.

  1. Putting God First

    2. Three Passages that Exhort us to put God first

    1. Mark 12:28-29
      1. Background
        1. Pharisees had divided the Law into 613 prescriptions
        2. These laws were then interpreted to be either "heavy" (great") or "light" (little)
        3. Various rabbis and rabbinical schools debated which was the greatest law or most important
        4. One lawyer asks Jesus which one He thinks is the greatest. Jesus gives him more than he asks for because he gives him the top two laws.
        5. Jesus quotes from Deut. 6:4
      2. In essence, Jesus says that the greatest commandment is to love God with all our being.
        1. soul: spiritual allegiance (the soul is the immaterial essence of man)
        2. mind: intellectual allegiance (mind is the activity of the soul)
        3. body: physical allegiance (body is the material essence of man)
        4. strength: active allegiance (strength is the activity of the body)
    2. Matthew 6:33
    3. Colossians 1:18
      1. Preeminent, not prominent
        1. explain the difference
        2. illus. Superbowl versus church attendance, etc.
      2. Reasons He should be preeminent
        1. redemption through Him (v. 14)
        2. creator (v. 16)
        3. head of the church (v. 18)
        4. He is God (v. 19)
  2. Keeping God first 2 Peter 1:5-15
    1. The need to be reminded
      1. illus. my own absent-mindedness with car keys
      2. Pastor feeds sheep.

      The shepherd leads sheep to food. The food doesn't change (grass), but the location of the pasture land does. Pastor's message remains the same (the fundamental truths of Scripture), but he just helps you find new pasture land. We'll graze in John for awhile, then in the Psalms, then in I Timothy. I'm not so interested in teaching you new truths as I am in reminding you of old truths, but giving them to you in such a way that it comes from different angles (pasture lands.)

    2. Ingredients for Keeping God First

Note: These are not so much cars on a train which you hook on one after another. You don't get goodness and then add knowledge. Rather, you work on them all at once. These are like ingredients to a recipe that are added all at once and then you begin adding more and more of each ingredient to the recipe until you have the finished product.

1. Faith: Faith is used two ways in the Bible. One is "the faith." This is the objective use and refers the fundamental doctrines as taught in the Bible. Jude says he wrote to exhort us "to contend for the faith." The second usage is "your faith" and is subjective. This refers to someone exercising their faith to trust Christ.

Everything about putting God first begins here. Christ cannot be first until there is first saving faith. In fact, He has NO place until there is saving faith.

2. Goodness: cp. Eph. 2:8-10. Faith produces good works, not vice-versa.

3. Knowledge: (gk. gnwsis) possibly general knowledge, but since Peter wrote this without an amanuensis, and since the style is very rough, it is possible that he means the same thing as Paul when Paul uses epignwsis, meaning a full-knowledge, especially concerning salvation. Two aspects to a well-balanced Christian life: works and knowledge. Works are grounded in what you know. Knowledge, facts are the anchors that keep you from drifting doctrinally.

4. Self-control: again, remember verse 3. You can do what you ought to do. Control temper, tongue, habits. Self-discipline prevents God's chastisement. Internal self-control prevents external controls being placed on you.

a. Democracy requires self-control. Authoritarian governments are born out of the seeds of lawlessness and lack of self-control.

b. Teenagers, if you demonstrate self-control then you will be given more autonomy. If you demonstrate a lack of self-control, then you will be restricted more severely.

5. Perseverance: not enough to control yourself once, you must continue in it. Continue in your good works no matter the situation. It not how fast you start, but how long you last that counts. (cp. Heb. 12:1-2)

6. Godliness: this is an inner quality. Self-control and perseverance, if we aren't careful, can lead to asceticism, legalism, and rigidness. Godliness is a inner motive for doing right.

7. Kindness: (gk. filadelfia) "brotherly love" fellowship

8. Love: The crowning jewel. cp. 1 Cor. 13

Reasons Priorities Get Messed Up

1. Living too fast, out of control. (Psalm 46:10 "Be still {Stop! Enough!}and know that I am God")

You become a slave to your circumstances. You're living so fast you can't read the roadsigns, the danger signs.

2. Wrong Goals: (Phil. 3:14: "I strive for the mark of the prize of the high ")

Many have sacrificed to climb the ladder of success only to find that when they reach the top the ladder is leaning against the wrong wall.

3. Prosperity: (Deut. 8:11-14)

a. shift our security from God to self or riches

b. become proud of ourselves

c. place greater importance on wealth than on God

4. Not recognizing the enemy (1 John 2:15-17)

3 enemies

a. world: cp. to the seed that is choked

b. flesh: cp. to the seed on the hard ground

c. Devil: cp. to the seed that is taken away

5. Neglect: (Hebrews 2:1-4)

If the neglect of the OT message brought punishment, then how much greater will ours be who have so much more light to go by?

Practical Suggestions For Maintaining Priorities

1. Schedule your priorities, don't prioritize your schedule.

*Two different mentalities or philosophies. One lets events dictate what is important. Thus, the urgent events swallow your time. In the other, you determine what is important and put it in the forefront of your schedule.

*One schedules based on events, the other based on what's important

*One puts schedule ahead of priorities, other puts priorities ahead of schedule

illus. devotions, husband/wife, kids, church

2. Remember the Law of the Farm, "You Reap What You Sow"

a. No quick fixes to life's problems. A more efficient schedule will not cure most of life's "big" problems

b. If you neglect the important things NOW, for whatever reason, you will reap the consequences.

c. Garden requires a gardener: children don't raise themselves "a child let to himself bringeth his mother shame" (Prov. 29:15)

*Husband/wife relationship won't blossom just because a ring is planted on the woman's finger

3. Start Young (Ecc. 12:1)

The younger you start the better. More difficult to tear down bad walls and replace them than it is to build them right the first time. Illus. quality control

4. Integrate Good things

illus. exercise with family time

Conclusion:

1 Peter 2:4-12

"the stone the builders rejected . . ." Often we neglect (reject) the things that are most important.

3 Views

1. cornerstone

2. capstone

3. keystone of an arch