Today, I want to talk about how to make God the center of our lives, so we can live well as followers of Jesus in the world. For weeks, we have taught that wilderness can be an escape from the world to seek God through self-denial, etc. Today, we will explore the scriptures that teach us how to live well in the world. If there was ever a subject needed by believers in Lent, it is this one. In Professor Allan Bloom’s 1987 bestseller, The Closing of the American Mind, he noted a significant cultural shift he had observed amongst students arriving at university: “As it now stands, students have powerful images of what the perfect body is and pursue it incessantly. But… they no longer have any image of a perfect soul, and hence do not long to have one.” We live in a time that has lots of pathways to be informed so you can make wise choices and live a good life. The problem is, a majority of these pathways often contradict each other. Should I be religious, or has religion caused too much harm in the world? Should I vote democrat or republican? Should I eat a keto diet, or live the life that I want by eating whatever I want? Should I watch CNN or Fox News? Should I trust what I hear from family and loved ones? Or assume right out of the gate that anything they say is wrong. There is nothing wrong with either side of these questions in themselves, the problem is, shifting narratives almost by the hour around what it means to live well make it almost impossible for a follower of Jesus to live well in today’s soceity. This makes practical wisdom for everyday life very hard to attain. The world today is a confusing and complicated moral landscape to try to navigate. Social media makes it clear that life should look a certain way (heavily edited, beautiful, high levels of fitness, and healthy eating), yet nobody seems clear on how they should act. Practical, godly wisdom is desperately needed.
Proverbs 9:10 says, ‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom…’ In other words, if we want to be wise people, we must begin our search with the Lord, at the source of all wisdom himself. We must begin by looking at God, worshipping God, and honoring him above everything around us. Fear of the Lord is very different from the kind of fear that produces anxiety or is concerned with punishment. Fear of the Lord is a kind of awe-struck reverence or worship. To “fear the Lord” is to organize our lives with God at the center, instead of anything else. Too often we build our lives around fear of something else: fear of being lonely, fear of not having enough, or fear of not being liked. While again, those are legit fears to have and are very real, the truth is, we have two choices in life: we can choose God as the central focus of our lives, or something else will take that place. It is easy and understandable to centre our lives around earthly fears and desires, but if we want to follow Jesus, there is only one pathway which leads to a full and wise life: it is the path which makes the presence of God a priority and places Him as the center of our lives. Not to be saved, but because God is saving us already through Christ. Let’s talk today about how to make God the center of our lives, so we can live well in the world today.
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To keep God as the center of your life, live by the words of Jesus:“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.”-Matthew 7:24-25. Remember, anytime you see a “therefore” in scripture, always ask the question “What is the “there” for?” This requires you to go back and see what was discussed to lead up to this point. Jesus, is wrapping up His sermon on the Mount in one of the most beautiful places in the world, the plain on the Sea of Galilee. In Matthew chapter 6, he gives key teachings to live by, including prayer “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”- (6::6) fasting “wash your face” (6:16), and choosing to seek the Kingdom instead of worrying “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”- Matthew 6:25-27 (read the rest in Matthew 6:25-34). These teachings from Jesus bring up thought provoking questions. Are you and I making daily decisions to pray, fast, and seek the Kingdom, all components of a firm foundation in Christ? Or, if we are honest, have we been caught up in worldly thinking and living? How many of us turn on the news first thing in the morning or turn on our social media feeds, or check work e-mails? How many of us gain a moral compass and framework for success from Tv personalities, TikTok and the world around them rather than Scripture? Jesus’ wisdom for a firm foundation and a flourishing life is clear: “hear these words of mine” and “put them into practice”. Author and pastor Daniel Grothe says this: “The more we give ourselves over to Jesus, the more we will find ourselves growing in wisdom.”
In the last few weeks, I have enjoyed giving myself to Jesus more through the rosary beads that were made for us from our olive wood in Jerusalem. Many rosaries sold in Jerusalem today are made from olive wood, which has strong biblical symbolism. Olive trees are associated with places like the Mount of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane. Pilgrims often buy olive-wood rosaries because they are believed to come from trees descended from ancient biblical groves. Mine hang in my car, but I enjoy them to help me practice what Jesus does for a couple of reasons. Number 1, they help me remember my scripture for the day. As of this writing, before I got to the office, the beads helped me “count” my scripture for the day. What do I mean by counting? Each bead helped me remember each word of the scripture: “Do not be afraid, as you pass through the waters I will be with you, the river will not overwhelm you as you pass through it.”-Isaiah 43:2. On a personal level, what has prompted me to give myself to Jesus more has been being a Father. As we mentioned above, the world offers a lot of tempting things to covet for your kids. What parent doesn’t want what’s best for their kiddos? I know I want the best for mine. Yet, especially lately, I have been focusing on the word coveting. I have to tell you church, in a world that covets stuff for their kids, I have found myself coveting more of Christ in Evan’s life and Brooklyn’s life, and Rhiannon’s. I covet more of Jesus in their hearts, in their day, all of who they are. There is nothing wrong with wanting more money and opportunity for families, but the last few years, all I have wanted is more of Jesus in their life. True wisdom, starts with this: In a world that covets a double portion of power and money, be the type of Christian that covets a double portion of Christ and His Spirit. Christ is the key to keeping God in the center of our lives, and living life well in a world of competing voices and wisdom that does not last.
To keep God as the center of your life, do the word: “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.”-James 3:17. To do the word as follower of Jesus, biblically, that means rooting how you think and act by the teachings and example of Jesus. The book of James identifies two types of wisdom: one comes from heaven, and the other comes from the world. Heavenly wisdom is counterintuitive, sacrificial, and rooted in humility. “ Demonic” wisdom harbors bitter envy, hates peace, is inconsiderate, rejects mercy, does not submit to anyone, is disordered, and rooted in selfish ambition. This brings up a good set of questions for your Lent reflections. How do you make decisions each day? Are your decisions rooted in self-interest? Do you not make any decisions so you experience as little change as possible? Does ambition dictate your decision-making more often than humility? Do you look out for yourself alone and not others? Remember the words of the Desert Fathers: “If thou sees a man who is quick to speak, know that there is more hope of a fool than of him;’ and do not presume to teach anyone in words what you have not already done yourself. For our Lord taught us by his example, as of him it is said: ‘what Jesus began to do and to teach’-Acts 1:1. Take care then that you do not rush into teaching before doing, and so be reckoned among the number of those of whom the Lord speaks in the gospel to the disciples: ‘What they say unto you, that observe and do, but not after their words: for they say and do not.’ I invite you to use this Lent to learn deeper into biblical wisdom as something you do, not just what you say. Listen to how James describes Christ-like wisdom. Wisdom in Christ is “pure, peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere”. It produces “peacemakers who sow in peace [and] reap a harvest of righteousness”(v 17–18). Do we talk like that today? What might this wisdom look like today? What if it were applied in our church? In our congregation –our workplaces, our families, and our local community? Think about the issues that we face right now. Can we be merciful in committee meetings? What would it look like to submit to authority, and leave our feelings out of how we feel about authority? What if sowing peace is not just what we say or don’t say, but setting up coffee time and breaking bread together? That is the kind of wisdom the Bible shares, and it is what our world desperately needs!
What voices are you listening to? In a world full of competing voices, news, advice, and even well-meaning people in our lives telling us how to live, the Scriptures remind us that true wisdom begins when we listen to God alone, and place Him at the center of our lives. When we not only hear the words of Jesus but put them into practice, we build our lives on His foundation that can withstand every storm the world brings, not to be saved, but because God is saving us already through Christ. So this Lent, may we choose the wisdom that comes from heaven—seeking more of the Spirit of Christ in our hearts, our families, and our daily decisions—so that our lives bear the fruit of peace, mercy, and righteousness in a confused world. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
