Loving God First

You can be spiritually busy and Jesus not be happy because you've left your first love. Dr. Tony Evans says we've forgotten Christianity is about a relationship, not an activity.

And that explains everything. So many of God's people are living in spiritual rebellion, not because they're necessarily doing some overt, popular sin. God's just no longer first. Celebrating 40 years of faithfulness, this is The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, author, speaker, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, and president of The Urban Alternative. Jesus boiled down God's law into two simple commandments—love God with everything we've got and love others as ourselves. In today's teaching, part of Tony Evans' Top 40, he unpacks the first of those two mandates.

Let's join him for a message called Loving God First. A college professor one day wanted to teach his students about priorities. And so what he did was he got a jar and he poured in it a lot of pebbles and stones. The stones began to fill up the jar and then he had one rock, one big rock, to go into the jar. The problem occurred, however, that the rock could not get into the jar because too many stones had already filled it up. Although the stones were smaller than the rock, there was so many of them that there was no room left for the big rock because too many stones had occupied the space.

He then emptied the jar and put the rock in first, then poured in the stones to discover now that if you put the big rock in first, you still have room for the stones to fill in around the rock, but you don't lose the big because you got so many little things occupying the space. What he was teaching them is you always take care of the big thing first, and then you have room for the little things. But if you fill your life up with too many little things so that the big thing can't get in it, then you wind up losing the major thing that you need. God is the big thing. Everything else in your life is a stone compared to the rock. The problem is our lives are filled with so many stones that when it comes time for God, there's just no room left.

We filled it up with work and play and activity and relationships and television and athletics and all of these stones, legitimate stones, but then we wind up too tired for a rock, too busy for a rock, too distracted for a rock, and then we get upset when the rock's not working, when there was no place for the rock to be. If you get this concept of the repositioning of God in your life, I can assure you there will be a fresh experience with God in your life. Conversely, if God is kept from the position of primacy of being first, then you and I will have to bear with the repercussions of a rock not fitting into our lives because too many stones are occupying the space. Over and over again in Scripture, God requires and demands to be first. One such place for which many of you are familiar is in Revelation chapter 2, where John the Revelator writes about a message to the church at Ephesus. In the middle of this metropolitan city, a church was established, Ephesus Bible Fellowship, and the Lord sends a letter to the pastor at Ephesus Bible Fellowship called the angel or the messenger, and he was to deliver that message to the congregation. I'm going to deliver the message that he gave to them, to us, since it was written for the church. He starts out with a commendation or a compliment. He wants to compliment the church first. He says in verse 2, I know your deeds, your toil, your perseverance.

You cannot endure evil men. You put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false. He says, I want to commend you on some great things happening at your church. He says the first thing is I see your deeds. Deeds are activities. I see the work you're doing. In other words, you are a serving church.

You folks are busy. You got folks serving over here, folks serving over there, and folks doing this and folks doing that. You've got the people engaged in ministry, and I see your deeds. He says you're not only a serving church, you are a sacrificing church, because he says, I see your toil. Toil means to labor to the point of exhaustion or to break a sweat. So you're working hard and you're sweating. You're putting in extra time and extra effort, because I see not only your deeds, I see your toil.

I see the extra stuff you're putting in over there at the church house, and I just want you to know I see that. I not only see your serving, I not only see your sacrificing, he goes on to say, I see your steadfastness, because I see your perseverance. When the going gets tough, you don't quit. When the going gets tough, you don't throw in the towel.

When the going gets tough, you keep on plowing through and you don't easily throw in the towel, quit, or give up. I see that. I like that about you. Not only do I see your serving, that you are sacrificing, and that you are steadfast, I see you are also separated, because you don't tolerate evil. You will call sin a sin.

You will identify folks who are renegades, who are living an unacceptable lifestyle and justifying it rather than repenting of it. I see that there is a standard that this church operates by, and that's great. I commend you for that. And then finally, he says, I also see you are a suffering church, because, verse 3, you have perseverance and have endured for my name's sake. You've gone through some tough times, some hard times. You've been rejected by the culture of Ephesus, and you are suffering being a Christian. I see that, and that's good.

I want to commend you for all the good things happening at this church. Verse 4, but I have this against you. You have left your first love. He says, I just named five compliments, five things I like, but I have one problem, and it's a biggie.

You've left your first love. Now wait a minute. You just gave me Jesus five compliments, and you're only finding one thing wrong. But think about it for a moment. You can serve God and not love Him first. You can sacrifice for God and not love Him first. You can be steadfast for God and not love Him first. You can be separated in God's name and not love Him first. You can be suffering in God's name and not love Him first.

Watch it. He didn't say, You don't love me at all. He said, You no longer love me first. In the busyness of life and ministry, Jesus Christ no longer held the front position in their lives and in the life of this church.

So you can be spiritually busy and Jesus not be happy, because you've left your first love. Notice who left. He didn't say, I left you. He said, You left me. It's like the husband and wife who were in the car, and she was sitting at one door, and he was driving behind the wheel, and she said, Don't you remember when we were first married how we sat close to each other?

He said, Yes, I remember, and I haven't moved. God is saying, If we're no longer close, it's not because I have gone anywhere. You have left me.

You no longer love me first. Right now, as I look at our audience, everybody looks close to God. You look close to God because you're dressed like you're close to God. You got a God book in your hand, so you're reading like you're close to God.

You sang, you waved your hand in the air like you just don't care, saying you were close to God. We can look like we're close to God when there is no life, because what religion has the power to do is pacify. See, when you put a pacifier in a baby's mouth, it thinks it's getting something it's not getting. You are tricking the baby to shut it up. So you pacify it to keep it quiet until it realizes, With all this sucking, I'm no better off. You've given me action, but you haven't given me nutrition.

And what we often do with religion is give action with no nutrition. And so he says, You have left your first love. I've told you before, when I first started traveling, and I would come home from a trip, my kid— Daddy's home, Daddy's home. When the kids was small, they'd come jump on my lap, hug me, and kiss me, and all of that, and all of that. They were excited to see me. I would always stop at the airport if I was flying someone by plane and get them little toys, bring it home to them. They were excited to see me, and they got a toy. But what happened over time is they fell in love with the toy, so they wanted to know when I was leaving again. See, it was first about me, and they got a toy. It became about the toy and no longer mattered about me. See, folks are showing up at churches all over wanting God to give them a toy called a blessing. Bless me with this, bless me with that, give me this, give me that. They want God's toy without Him.

That's why He's often left in the sanctuary when they go to the parking lot, because they came for the toy but not for the person. He says you have left your first love. You don't love me first. You love what I can do for you.

You love the blessings I can give you. You love the money you want from me, the jobs you want from me, the better lifestyle you want from me. You love what I can give you, but you don't want me, and you don't want me first because you'll fit me in when you can, after all your shows have gone off. You'll fit me in after you've done what you've done with your friends, after you've done what you've done with your plans and programs.

If you're not too tired before you go to sleep, you'll give me 30 seconds before you nod off. You'll include me somewhere, because one thing is for certain, and that is you always have time for what's first. See, you may run out of time for something, but you never run out of time for something that's first, because if it's first, it happens up front.

It's priority. Dr. Evans will talk about three specific things we can do to put God back in first place when he continues this message in just a moment. Stay with us. Add some adventure to your family time and impart spiritual truths to your kids with a library of books from Dr. Tony Evans specifically geared toward children. Written for children of all ages, these books will help you teach your kids the Bible, lead them to depend on the Lord, and spark joy in their hearts for him, all the while enjoying time together as a family. You'll find scripture to memorize, journal prompts, and practical applications for the whole family to put into practice.

But most importantly, you'll have a way to spend intentional time with your kids, having fun and enjoying each other while learning biblical truth together. Explore Dr. Evans' line of kids' books today and start them on the path to discovering what it really means to live faithfully for Jesus. You can find out more about the complete line of kids' books at tonyevans.org, and that's also where you can go to receive a full-length copy of today's message. This sermon is part of the historic four-volume collection of messages spanning 40 years of ministry here at the Urban Alternative. It's the Tony Evans Top 40, and for a few more days we'll send you volumes three and four of this powerful set as our way of saying thanks for your investment in us, which enables us to continue investing in you.

That's 20 full-length messages, including several we won't be able to present on the air this time around. To get your copy, just visit tonyevans.org to make all the arrangements for either the CD set or the digital downloads. That's tonyevans.org, or call us at 1-800-800-3222. Our resource center is open 24-7.

Once again, that's 1-800-800-3222. I'll repeat that information for you after part two of today's message and this. What would it be like to see the very places where Jesus walked to follow in his footsteps along the dusty roads of Israel? With Dr. Evans' brand-new film Journey with Jesus, you can find out. This feature-length film takes you to the heart of the Holy Land, from Bethlehem to Capernaum, from the Sea of Galilee to the busy streets of Jerusalem. You'll see the life of Jesus in a fresh way as you hear Dr. Evans and family teach from the very places where Jesus lived, ministered, died and rose again. Journey with Jesus is set to release this November at select theaters.

Visit tonyevans.org to learn more and find where it will be showing near you. This little word first is a transforming word, yet it is simple. It's a simple word, and it's a powerful word when you understand the repercussions of it. He says, remember. Remember from where you have fallen. Remember when you were excited just to know your sins were forgiven. Remember when you were excited that eternal life was imparted to you, and you didn't have all this stuff, but you had me and you had fire with me and for me and about me, because I was the main thing. He says, remember from where you have fallen.

Remember. And then he says, repent. Repent. He says, remember from where you have fallen and repent.

Repent means to reverse your course, to turn around. You're going down the highway and you discover, I'm going the wrong way. And you say, I'm wrong.

I'm going south when I ought to be going north. I'm wrong. I'm wrong is not repentance. I'm wrong is confession. Repentance is getting off, crossing over, and going back. You've not repented until you reversed. Now, there's only one thing you repent of in the Bible, and that's sin.

So guess what? Losing your first love is sin. It's not a bad habit.

It's not even a mistake. God looks at you and me in spiritual rebellion when He's not first. And that explains everything. So many of God's people are living in spiritual rebellion not because they're necessarily doing some overt popular sin. God's just no longer first. And why does God tell us to repent? The only purpose God tells us to repent is to restore relationship and limit consequences.

He wants to restore relationship. That's not just, I'm sorry. That's adjusting the schedule. That's deciding, yeah, I'm gonna get up 15 minutes earlier so that I spend time with God or block out some time during the day when I'm alert and awake to give some time with God. I am going to prioritize this. I'm going to restructure this. Now you have repented.

Thirdly, He says, and repeat. He says, I want you to go back to what you did when it was just me and you. When you didn't have all these distractions and all these people and all these issues and all this agenda and all this schedule and all this business, it was just me and you. It was just me and you, and we did fine. In fact, because it was me and you, that's why a lot of this other stuff happened. A lot of this other stuff happened because it was just us. But now that it's no longer just us and you just fit me in where you can, no wonder you're losing your mind.

No wonder prayers aren't being answered. No wonder there's no experience of my presence or no experience of my power, because it's not just me and you now. I'm not first. Yes, you've got more work. Yes, you've got more responsibility.

Yes, you've got kids. Yes, you've got more responsibility at work. I've got that. So what that means is you've got to position me as first, because if you ever position me as first, you will discover I can help you handle all that other stuff.

I can help you with the stones if you'll keep me the rock. There's some people here who are gonna say, God, look, I'm gonna give you what I give you. That's the best I'm gonna give you, and you're gonna have to accept that. So you don't have an ear to hear. The others who don't have an ear to hear, look, I got too much on my plate. I'm too busy. I'm too tired.

I'm too stressed. So this sermon is not for me. They don't have an ear to hear. But He, that's the individual that hath an ear to hear. He's not talking about your physical ear to hear what I'm saying. Everybody hears that. He's talking about your spiritual ear, the heart. That is, He that hath an ear what the Spirit is saying to the church.

I'm talking to the church, but I'm looking for some listening ears in the heart who says, you know what, God? I'm going to reorder my priorities so that you no longer fit it in or force in your first. That means getting up a few minutes earlier, fine. That means carving out, taking a portion of my lunchtime, fine.

But time when it's meaningful, I'm alert, and I'm focused on you. You don't have to start with an hour. You don't have to start with two hours. You start with five hours. Start with five minutes. Just make it real, because it's hard to walk ten miles until you take the first step.

So start somewhere, because I guarantee you, when you start to feel this thing, it's gonna grow. When you start to feel His presence, when you start to feel His reality, when you know that you're not only relating to Him, but He's relating back to you, and you're seeing prayers answered, power given, restoration taking place. When you get to see Him do His thing, oh, you're going to extend your time. Dr. Evans will come back in a moment to tell us about another promise we can count on when we put God first. But if you'd like to have a copy of today's message to review on your own or pass along to a friend, it comes as a part of our current featured resource, Tony Evans Top 40. As I mentioned earlier, all 20 messages in Volumes 3 and 4 of this collection are our gift to you when you make a contribution to help us keep Tony's teaching on this station. Just drop by tonyevans.org, where you can get all the details and make your donation online. Again, that's tonyevans.org.

Or you can call our 24-hour Resource Center at 1-800-800-3222, and let one of our team members help with your request. I'll come back with a word about what's coming up next time, right after this important question from Dr. Evans. If you died right now, why would you tell God He should let you into heaven? There's only one answer that He'll accept, and that is because your sin that will keep you out of heaven has already been paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ, and you are trusting Jesus Christ for your entrance. Only faith in Christ guarantees you entrance into God's heaven. Put your trust in Him alone today for salvation. There's more to the story, and Dr. Evans would love to share it with you. Just visit tonyevans.org and follow the link that says, Jesus. He has a short, powerful video that explains what real Christianity is about, along with some free follow-up resources.

It could be the most important few minutes of your life. There's an old saying that goes, you are what you eat. Well, tomorrow Dr. Evans will point out that that's also true when it comes to our spiritual diet, as he talks about the importance of scriptural nourishment.

Right now, though, he's back with his final word of encouragement for today. Let me give you a great verse, because John 14 21 says, The one who loves me, I will disclose myself to him. The one who loves me, I will let him see me, feel me, and experience me if he loves me. You want to experience more of him, love him first. He says, I will unveil myself. That's the paradise of God. That's where God unveils himself. Unless you see stuff you've never seen before, feel stuff you've never felt before, experience things you've never experienced before, because he's unveiled himself.

But how do I know if I really love him? Oh, it's simple. He says, because you will choose first to please me. He says, you'll keep my commandments. You will seek first to please me, because when you have to choose between him and something or someone else, he wins. He says, now you love me, and I will unveil myself to that man, that woman, that boy or girl who loves me. And so you have a decision to make. To carve out some time and say, you know what, God? If this thing is real, or better yet, sense this thing is real, I'm gonna reposition you and look at the difference it makes in my life. I want you to disclose yourself to me, unveil yourself to me like I've never seen you before.

Give me my own private mount of transfiguration where you are exposed. The alternative with Dr. Tony Evans is brought to you by The Urban Alternative and is celebrating 40 years of faithfulness thanks to the generous contributions of listeners like you.