SERMON NEW YEAR'S DAY "FIRST THINGS FIRST"

Sermon Summary (1/1/17), “First Things First”  John 1:9-14

I received a Stephen Covey book, First Things First, for Christmas 1995.  It would have been great New Years present too, when we determine those things that are important and resolve to do them, to keep the main thing the main thing.  Covey believes we ought to live a balanced life: Life (physical), Love (social), Learning (mental), and Legacy (Spiritual).  I heard him on Oprah summarize by saying we need to live like we’ve just had a heart attack (in moderation), talk of others as if they could over hear us, treat the half life of all know-ledge as two years, and live as though we had a face-to-face meeting with God every 90 days to account for our thoughts and deeds.

To keep in balance, Covey also recommends that we plan with a weekly horizon (God’s horizon for us) according to our roles, eg. Spouse/Parent/Child, Worker/Co-worker/Boss, Friend, Christian, Volunteer, etc.  We may get out of balance occasionally, eg harvest time, but out goal is to get back in balance as soon as we can.

John Wesley, founder of Methodism, believed in goals, too, especially spiritual goals and knew we can’t do it alone.  We need to meet with others to hold ourselves accountable.  He devised 21 questions to ask of one another to keep us on track.  We will consider only the first.  Are you ready?  Here it is: “Is Jesus Real to You?”  Repeat it, roll it over in your mind.  Is Jesus real to you?

Our Scripture is  St. John’s Christmas story, the Word becoming flesh, the Incarnation.  Of course Jesus was rejected by his own (Is that where we are today, ignoring Him, ambivalent about him?  Non-real to us?)  But, but he says, “to all who received him, who believed in his name he gave the power to become children of God.”  Wow!

But let’s look at those two words that allow us to make Jesus real: receive and believe.  “Receive” is not just a hand shake, it’s deep hospitality, it’ inviting him past our front step, through the parlor, into the kitchen to sit at our table in conversation so that he becomes real.  And “believe in his name”; name was far more than a label, it is the essence of a person.  Remember what the angel told Matthew? “And you shall call his name Jesus because he shall save his people for their sins.”  Savior.  And John calls him “Word,” the creative power of God according to the Jews, and the wisdom and reason of the gods according to the Greeks.  That is the indescribable essence of God that we are to believe to make the Incarnation real.

Resolve to find a time at your table to make Jesus real in 2017.