Of First Importance
1 Corinthians 15:1-5 (NASB)
1 Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to
you, which also you received, in which also you stand,
2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I
preached to you, unless you believed in vain.
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance
what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day
according to the Scriptures,
5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
What is the most important, the most essential and the most fundamental
matter of
the Christian gospel?
Paul had made it very clear by stating the matter of first importance.
- Christ died for our sins.
- Christ was buried.
- Christ was raised on the third day.
- Christ appeared to many.
Paul wrote this after expounding on love in 1 Corinthians 13, and
spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 14.
The first two facts about the death and burial of Jesus had been
documented and verified historically. But the third and fourth facts
might defy some human logic and understanding. The
miraculous events about the resurrection of Christ and His
appearance to many people including over 500 people at the same
time, will require faith in God!
Only God can accomplish such tasks! Yes, only God. And this is the matter
of first importance. Jesus is God. This is what makes Christianity
unique from other world religions! Our foundation of faith is that
Jesus is Lord.
There are many other noble pursuits in life, but only one is of
first importance–Jesus is God.
This is the gospel of Christ!
Philippians 3:7-11
7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss
for Christ.
8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have
suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish,
that I may gain Christ
9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is
from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the
righteousness which is from God by faith;
10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection,
and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,
11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from
the dead.
The best indicator of what is important to us is how we live; what
we invest in; what we spend time doing; what we pursue; and what we
talk about. For where our treasures are, there our hearts will be
also.
The priorities in our lives are generally good markers of what are
really important to us! Sometimes good things can become the central
and most important obsessions in our lives! These good things often
distract us from the matter of first importance!
The same is true inside the Church. Very often we omit and miss the
matter of first importance by placing our focus and emphasis on
other things.
In our praise and worship, we are more interested in the music,
sounds, rhythms, songs, singers, worship leaders, lights, special
effects, ambience and atmosphere than offering our lives as living
sacrifices to God. Our focus is often not upon Jesus but on
ourselves. How we feel and what we like. Most of the songs are directed towards us instead of
Him! We must turn our eyes upon Jesus!
We are more interested in building bigger churches and
congregations than having a better and closer relationship with Him!
Exciting church programs, entertainment and activities thrill our hearts more
than Jesus our Lord and Saviour!
We study and read our Bibles to gain wisdom and understanding,
and yet many of us still do not know the Author and Finisher of our
faith and have a personal relationship with Him. Do we love Jesus as
He has loved us? Have we become more like Him every new day?
In our preaching, we are more interested in knowing and obtaining
the keys to happiness, wealth, health, power, anointing and
spiritual gifts. We are obsessed with endtime eschatology, prophetic
insights, timetables and revelations. All of these are important but they are not of
first importance!
After Paul shared with the Corinthian church that they should have
unity; they should overcome sin; they should pursue godly
relationships with one another; they should have life that truly reflected the love of
Christ; they should worship God appropriately; and they should not
neglect or abuse the spiritual gifts that God had given them; he
moved on to share the matter of first importance! Remembering Jesus and
what He had done!
Luke 22:19
And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them,
saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in
remembrance of Me.”
How often have we forgotten about Jesus in our daily life? How often have
we talked about Him and what He had done? How often have we shared
His gospel with others? How is our relationship with Christ? Is it
sweeter and sweeter as the days go by?
Often I have heard Christians sharing more about their pastors
than Jesus. I have even encountered one who placed his pastor above
Jesus. His pastor wrote a lot of books about healing, almost a booklet
for each sickness and disease. I asked him, "What if I don't have these books,
and I pray for healing in the name of Jesus. Will God answer my
prayer?" He said no. Unless I followed the principles and steps laid down by
the books and prayed according to the prayers inside those pages, my
prayers would be in vain. Their focus is often not on Jesus but on
the topics and teachings about healing! Jesus is the Healer! But they are more
interested in the methods and ways of getting healed!
I have also encountered some Christians who desire to finish
reading the Bible in the fastest or more supernatural ways. They
use a mp3 player to speed up their audio Bible files to 4 times, 8 times or even
16 times. Their aim is not to understand the Word of God. Their focus
is to finish reading the Bible 100 times to get the hundredfold
blessings as promised by their teachers! Some even use their Bibles as pillows so that they can
download the
Scriptures supernaturally at high speeds into their minds while
they sleep!
Many Christians become gullible as false teachers and preachers
begin to reveal and unearth new supernatural keys that unlock,
unleash and release God’s blessings into their lives, often claiming
that these new keys and secrets are unknown from the beginning of time till
now. Very often, these teachings and methods originate from pagan or New Age sources!
2 Timothy 4:1-5
Preach the Word
1 I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who
will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom:
2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince,
rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine,
but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears,
they will heap up for themselves teachers;
4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned
aside to fables.
5 But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work
of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
Even in our prayers, we often forget Whom we are praying to. It
is okay for us to come boldly before His presence, and ask
courageously in prayer. But it is not okay to be arrogant or rude as
we approach God in prayers. Some Christians think that they
are more spiritual and superior, and in full authority, demanding this and that from
God. Some of them even have the licenses and rights to call down fires,
angels, etc. Many of these people have neither the fear of God nor any reverence and
respect for Him.
Jesus is God, and we pray to Him. And the answers are in His hands!
We have no rights to dictate the time, place and events to happen.
About praying and prophesying for Israel, very often we forget that Jesus is the God
of Peace and the Prince of Peace. He is the Only One Who is able to
bring perfect peace into Jerusalem!
We become engrossed in the
daily news and happenings in the Middle East, the bombings, the wars, the unrests
and the tragic injuries and deaths. Often before we offer up our prayers,
we exchange notes, share updates, prophetic insights and revelations. We
do many prophetic acts and prophesy upon every news but very often we
forget that there is a Saviour Who died for His own people more than
2000 years ago. He cares for them, and knows exactly what they are
going through. Sometimes we romance Israel and are
more
obsessed with
what is happening there than loving Jesus! We must keep our eyes
focused on the God of Israel. The King is coming!
Matthew 23:38-39
38 See! Your house is left to you desolate;
39 for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed
is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’
The Great Commission of Christ has become the Great Omission in many
churches today. We have shifted away from preaching
the gospel of Christ -
the matter of
first importance! We have allowed other good
things to occupy our lives!
Matthew 24:14
And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as
a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
While praying for Israel and preparing the way of the Lord, let us remember God's calling and
commission to preach the
gospel of Christ wherever we go, from our neighbourhoods to the
nations. As the end will eventually come, the
Jews will acknowledge that
Jesus is their Christ and Messiah! Only then, true peace will reign in
Jerusalem.
In
"The Pilgrim’s Progress" by
John Bunyan, as Christian and Faithful
went through Vanity Fair, they were offered all sorts of temptations
and vanities.
The response of both Christian and Faithful was:
“These pilgrims set very light by all their wares—
they cared not so
much as to look upon them;
and if they called upon them to buy,
they
would put their fingers in their ears, and cry,
‘Turn away mine eyes
from beholding vanity,’
and look upwards,
signifying that their
trade and traffic was in heaven.”
May we always remember Christ and share
His gospel, looking upwards and keeping our
eyes focused on Christ and Christ alone! Knowing Him and making Him
known! This is the matter of first importance!
Written on: 27 April 2018