Pastor Sunday Adelaja: OUR MOST IMPORTANT VALUE IS GOD
My dear brothers and sisters, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
The Year 2010 is the year of God’s triumph. We believe that each of us
will experience victory this year. However, in order for this victory
to show in our lives, our lives need to correspond to the standards of
Heaven. Therefore, today my sermon is about how God must become our
most important life value. As Christians, we ought to realize that
there is nothing as important and precious for us as God. Remember
Jesus said: He who loves
father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son
or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take
up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Matthew 10:37-38. If we claim to be true believers, then we must give our all to God, Who gave His life for us and awaits us in heaven.
When we say that God is the most important value in our lives, it is
all about our choices. For our true values lie in our everyday choices.
Remember, your values decide your choice. If God is your main value,
then He will wholly influence your choice. It means that we are not
going to make any choice until we have checked if it corresponds to
God’s will, or violates His rules, and if our deeds wound or offend God
in any way. For instance, if you are offered to submit a fake document
in order to attain a certain good, then whatever the good is you must
refuse. Otherwise you commit a crime before God and before the Law. If
God is really our most important value, we will not compromise it. When
our most important value is God, then all of our actions are guided by
His will, because we are dedicated to Him.
The highest value of our life is God and therefore we value Him above all in this world. So we cannot do whatever pleases us,
just because we would want to. For in such a way we demonstrate that
it’s not God, but "I myself” is my most important life value. However,
when we agree to act according to God’s will and follow His ways even
if it is not quite easy, comfortable, or convenient, then those are the
times that prove that God has indeed become our most important life
value. The most important for every Christian should be that we live by
our only passion, and it is to please God, fulfill His will, and
glorify His name.
I would like to name some points, which define understanding God as our most important life value:
1. When God is our most important value, then above all else we think about heaven and all our thoughts are focused on it.
Colossians 3:1-3says:
If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above,
where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Be mindful of things
above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life has been
hidden with Christ in God.
My question to you today: "Do you think about heaven as a part of your
life?” Actually heaven is the most important motive your heart should
ever be focused on. It is because earth is not our eternal place of
habitation. We live here temporally and sooner or later we will all go
to heaven. Therefore we must be motivated by heaven right now. If
heaven is our value, it means that we do not go for temporary things
for we prefer eternal values before earthly ones in the choices we make
and the actions we take. For instance, many of us have to deal with
certain issues with banks, and some attorneys advise us to bribe judges
and bankers. However, we must be people of values, and it means
refusing to follow such advice even if it would cause you to suffer
some losses. We are representatives of God and that is why we are not
afraid of the things that can kill the body, but cannot kill the soul.
We are conscious of the fact that we are going to carry responsibility
before the Creator for every single thing we do. We are moved by the
desire to go to heaven, and we do not want to go to hell. That is why
we dedicate our whole life to serving God and fulfilling His will. As Hebrews 12:14 reads: Follow peace with all, and holiness, without which no one shall see the Lord.
2. The next constituent of understanding God is love.
If we say that God is the highest value, it means that we are going to
love the way He does; and He loves unconditionally. We will try to love
not only Him alone, but also love other people the way He loved us. The
Bible says that God is love. And if He is my highest value, then
unconditional love must become my essence, and I must love people and
do good. In 1 John 4:7-8 it is written: Beloved,
let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loves has
been born of God, and knows God. The one who does not love has not
known God. For God is love. if there is true love you will always have to sacrifice some things. Let us love selflessly and sacrificially.
3. If we call God our most important value, then all of our
deeds must be directed by the desire to please the Creator, and be
responsible before Him.
Everything we do, we do with a desire to please Him. In the Gosple from John 14:15 it reads: If you love Me, keep My commandments.
That is why if we do not listen to God, if we do not obey His
commandments, then we do not know Him. Pleasing God must become our
distinctive feature. We should aspire to do everything the way He wants
it in order to praise Him; we should not go for compromises, but make
our lives correspond fully to His demands. If we are disobedient to
Him, then why should we deceive ourselves? Our disobedience to God
testifies one and only thing and it is that we do not know and do not
love Him. When we love God, we do everything it takes not to displease
Him, but to fulfill God’s will.
4. If God is the highest value of your life, then you will try to have personal relationship with Him. The Gospel from John 5:19 says: Then
Jesus answered and said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, The Son
can do nothing of Himself but what He sees the Father do. For whatever
things He does, these also the Son does likewise. Jesus’
personal relationship with the Father was His highest priority. He even
says that He can do nothing unless He sees His Father doing it. Jesus
constantly would go for prayer and personal retreats, fasted for 40
days, and do other things to strengthen His relationship with God, to
keep it on the highest and closest level. God must become closer than
your work and family. You must strive for a close, deep relationship
with God, even more than with your dearest friend or family member here
on earth.
5. If God is our most important value, then His dreams should become
our dreams, His ideals should become out ideals, and His values should
become our values.
We are trying to be like Him in everything. We are trying to reflect
God through our character, behavior, and attitude. And we are trying to
take God everywhere. Whatever we do, wherever we go God should shine
through us. We want to praise Him, to be proud of Him, and talk about
Him to everyone and everywhere. If He is our most important value, then
we must tell everyone about Him. We seek only for things that would
glorify Him and would spread and establish His Kingdom on this earth.
In the Gospel from Matthew 6:33 it reads: But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.
6. If God is the highest value of our life, then we realize that God is the God of justice.
God is a righteous God, but He is also a just God, the God of truth.
And as God is the God of truth, we should see ourselves as His
continuation, as His weapon – the weapon of God’s righteousness. In Proverbs 21:3
it is written: To do justice and judgment is more pleasing to Jehovah
than sacrifice. It means that when we see the violation of human rights
or destructive diseases of society, we do not allow ourselves to
indifferently keep silent. Rather, we step out to bring God’s justice.
We will value righteousness more than religion.
7. When God is out most important value, then we understand that God is the God of righteousness.
Our God is a right God and we will aspire to become the same as He is,
i.e. to know His truth, know His will, please Him and walk in the
truth. In 1 John 3:7-10 it reads: Little
children, let no one deceive you. He who does righteousness is
righteous, even as that One is righteous. He who practices sin is of
the Devil, for the Devil sins from the beginning. For this purpose the
Son of God was revealed, that He might undo the works of the Devil.
Everyone who has been born of God does not commit sin, because His seed
remains in him, and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. In
this the children of God are revealed, and the children of the Devil:
anyone not practicing righteousness is not of God, also he who does not
love his brother. I pray for each of you that God becomes your highest life value.
And not only in words, but in works. God help us to start life by God
day by day, breathe Him, think of heaven and show Christ. I ask all of
our pastors to read sermons by the abovementioned points in the coming
month. Let everyone come to know God as their most precious thing of
life.
The following books are recommended for deeper study of this topic:
"Driven by eternity” (by John Bevere); "Jesus Freaks” (by dc "Talk”).
Publisher
s,
just because we would want to. For in such a way we demonstrate that
it’s not God, but "I myself” is my most important life value. However,
when we agree to act according to God’s will and follow His ways even
if it is not quite easy, comfortable, or convenient, then those are the
times that prove that God has indeed become our most important life
value. The most important for every Christian should be that we live by
our only passion, and it is to please God, fulfill His will, and
glorify His name. 
2. The next constituent of understanding God is love. 
6. If God is the highest value of our life, then we realize that God is the God of justice. 
