How to Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing

Introduction: A teacher once asked her students this question. “What if you had a mason jar and I handed you some large ROCKS, small ROCKS, some gravel, and some sand and asked you to put all of this in your jar, how would you do it?” After thinking on it a while, one student raised her hand and shouted, “The only way that they will all fit into my jar is if I put the large ROCKS in 1st!” She was right. What lesson does this illustrate? It shows that like the large ROCKS had to be 1st, JESUS CHRIST desires….demands to be #1 in our lives. 
 
Writing to the Church of Ephesus, situated in a pagan area – worship of temple goddess Dianna – Paul reveals how to keep our priorities in the proper place.
 

1. Our CHRISTian Relationship with Jesus must be #1! (Eph 1:3-7)

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. 7In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.”

This message includes: Before the NEW BIRTH and After the NEW BIRTH!

These verses help us as followers of Jesus to differentiate between our BEING (who we are in Christ) and our DOING (serving thru the power of Jesus Christ).
 

2. Our CHURCH Relationships with other believers! (Eph 4:11:16)

“1And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: 14That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: 16From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.”

“That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: 13But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. 14For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; 15Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace.” (Eph 2:12-15)

Our relationship with our brothers and sisters in Christ will be tested and tried while serving thru the local Church.
 

3. Our FAMILY Relationships in the Home! (Eph 5:21-33)

Husbands and wives will be tested in their relationship in the home.

“22Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. 24Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. 25Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. 28So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. 29For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: 30For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 31For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. 32This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.”

Parents and children’s relationships will be tested in the home.
 
“Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. 2Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) 3That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. 4And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” (Eph 6:1-4)
 

Parenting is a calling and a gifting that takes the “GRACE of JESUS” to be in “PLACE”! Is it in place in your life?

By the way, Grace is not a LICENSE to Sin (See Rom 6:1-14), but neither is it LEGALISM (Gal 5:13-24).
Rather, GRACE is LIBERATING to live the CHRISTian life by the Power of the Holy Spirit!
 
Conclusion: Have you got the BIG ROCKS in first? The BIG ROCKS are your Relationship with Jesus. Please let me CLARIFY. This does not mean Jesus is a second thought, used as a spare, or vending machine, or a Johnny on the spot to every beckoning call to meet our needs when we call, how we call, and how much we call. Instead this means, understanding WHO He is, and WHAT He has done, and HOW we RECEIVE His Unconditional Love, Forgiveness, and IDENTIFY with His Life in us.
 
Next. How is it with other believers? What about your Relationships in your home? Do you need some “HOME IMPROVEMENTS”?
 
Remember: “The Main Thing is to Keep the Main Thing, the Main Thing”!
 
Love y’all,
Dr. Randy Reese