01 Do You Care Most About What God Cares Most About?
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Do you care most about what God cares most about?
I think the first thought many of you would have is ‘Yes, of course I care most about what God cares most about’...But then after that first thought, when you think a little deeper…you may find yourself asking a clarifying question like ‘What does God care most about?’
And then maybe you come to realize that you don’t really know what God cares most about. You know what He cares about in general, you know He cares about your heart, you know He cares about your health, your job, your family, your character…but what does He care about most?
Or maybe let's say that isn’t you, maybe you’re reading and you know, you just know what God cares about most. That’s great. But do YOU also share in that? Do YOU care most about what God cares most about?
As we’re about to unpack, I’m not so sure that we
That we know what God cares most about, and…
That we care most about what God cares most about.
So I want to take this week and next week to unpack it. A little two part series. Let’s go.
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The reasoning behind this little series I’m doing is very simple.
I think if you took a few minutes to write down what God cares about most you would most likely not be wrong in what you write down, but I also think if you took a few minutes to write down what you cared about most I’m not certain your personal cares list would line up with the care list you wrote for God.
In fact if you could and if you want to, I challenge you to pause wherever you are and take a few seconds to either think about or write down what YOU, what you care about most, and by doing so you can use that list as a comparative block to what God cares about most, which is what we’ll talk about this week and next.
So, pause, right now, and think of your cares list.
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Now, with that in mind, let’s talk about what God cares about most. I don’t want to be that guy that drags out what God cares about most to build suspense or whatever it is people do to try and retain attention…no here it is, alright you ready?
God cares most about two things…okay? He cares most about salvation, your coming to know and have a relationship with Him, and He cares most about your sanctification. God cares most about you becoming like Him, and growing in personal holiness.
That’s it. Super simple. God cares most about salvation and sanctification.
But do you? But do you? Do you care most about your salvation and your sanctification?
Next week we’re going to talk more on sanctification, but today I want to focus on the salvation piece of that.
You see what gets me in Scripture is the focus that so many biblical characters have on their salvation, and the amount of times they remind themselves that they are saved.
If you are a faithful listener to this podcast, which s/o to you, you might remember about a month ago I released a FRIDAY MOOD podcast entitled ‘Where do you find the most joy?’ and we talked about how we should find the most joy in knowing our names are written in heaven and we are saved.
I remember saying in that podcast that we don’t find the most joy in our salvation…it’s like we get saved and it's all we can talk or think about for some time but just like marriage we exit the honeymoon phase and we lose that initial excitement and joy we first had in our salvation.
And why is that? Well it's arguably because it's not what WE care about most. We exit that honeymoon phase and begin to look at other things, both good and bad. We may look to and fall back into sin. Or we may look to good things like pursuing a greater intelligence of the Word, we may look to building community, we may look to all the great things we’re doing in the name of Jesus, and don’t get me wrong those are all great things and things we should not ignore, but for some reason we leave rejoicing in our salvation out as part of that equation.
Now I want to take you to the Word to see just how often we read of characters in the Bible caring about and focusing on their salvation.
First, let's look at the words of Jesus that I just mentioned in Luke 10:20:
Jesus tells His disciples in that verse, after they have come back so happy that they were able to cast out demons, which means, in other words, they were happy of what they were DOING for Jesus, and Jesus, instead of rejoicing in that with them, He flips the script, saying,
‘Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.’
Boom. Stop right there. Jesus wants His disciples not to rejoice in the fact that demons are subject to them, He doesn’t want them to rejoice in their works, rather He wants them to rejoice in THE WORK of God in their hearts, that work being salvation. That’s something to ponder and meditate on all week. Right there Jesus gives us insight into what He cares most about. He cares far more about HIS work in your heart than your work for Him!
So why don’t you?
Now I don’t want you to think I’m accusing you or anything, but if I’m leading vulnerably here Jesus is speaking right to me! I mean how often do I get caught up in MY works for God and NOT HIS work in my heart.
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Let’s continue, and let’s do so in the Psalms. For you Bible scholars out there, you know that the book of Psalms is also known as what? It’s also known as the book of prayer.
So listen to these prayers that various Psalmist’s have to God.
Psalm 13:5: ‘But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation’.
Psalm 35:9: ‘Then my soul will rejoice in the Lord, exulting in his salvation.’
Psalm 95:1: ‘Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!’
Psalm 9:13-14: ‘Be gracious to me, O Lord! See my affliction from those who hate me, O you who lift me up from the gates of death, 14 that I may recount all your praises, that in the gates of the daughter of Zion I may rejoice in your salvation.’
Psalm 40:16: ‘But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation say continually, “Great is the Lord!”
Now I could keep going but you get the point. The Psalmist’s are constantly praying about, meditating on, and taking joy in their salvation. So are you?
I mean when was the last time your prayers to God consisted of just you taking joy in your salvation? When was the last time you just thanked God for saving you from you? That should be important and something we do often! Why? Well one, if it's included in biblical, Holy Spirit inspired prayer then it should definitely make it into ours, and two, it's what God cares about most!
He cared so much about you and His wanting to have a relationship with you that He sent His Son Jesus to die for your sins, to take your place and bear the death you deserve, so that you can know Him. God cares most about your salvation, and so should you.
I know there are a lot of things to care about and to meditate on as a believer, and as we’ll discuss more next week salvation should certainly not be the only thing a believer cares about or focuses on, so don’t hear me saying that, but it should be up there!
It’s important, and as you see with the Psalmists’, their salvation is a source of their joy. They find great joy in what God has done for them!
Your salvation matters. A LOT. It should be a source of great joy for you and something that compels you to action. It is something you should care A LOT about every single day. And that’s also not just for yourself but for others as well. In knowing that God cares most about salvation, and bringing people to Himself, that should be what you care most about as you interact with others!
In other words if God cares most about your co-worker Joe Schmo’s salvation, then so should you. If He cares most about your classmate Sho Jmo’s salvation, then so should you.
Though that is so obvious, and so simple, how often do you and I lose sight of that?
How often do we lose sight of the fact that what God wants most is for others to be saved and to come to know Him?
How often is that NOT what we want most for others?
How often is salvation truly what we want most for others?
How much of a burden do we have for people to be saved?
If that’s what God cares about most, then that's what I care about most.
If that’s what God cares about most, then that's what we should care about most.
Simple as that.
So what now?
Well I hope that this podcast is serving as a much needed reminder and challenge for you to care more about salvation, for yourself and also for others. And my encouragement to you is to seek and to pray for the LORD to make your heart more like His. To share in His cares and desires. To rejoice in what He rejoices in.
As we’ll talk about next week, that's the sanctifying part. Once saved, we want to be more like Him. So I'd encourage you to pray for a heart like His.
Lastly I want to leave you with what David writes and prays in Psalm 51:12, which I love.
He prays,
‘Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.’
What a great verse. I believe there’s a great chance some of you need what David needed as he wrote and prayed that…I believe some of you need to be restored to the joy of salvation.
Note David wouldn’t have prayed that if he didn’t need it. So if you’re reading and you are convicted and you feel lesser than or all alone because you don’t feel like you care enough about your salvation or the salvation of others and that you don’t find much joy in it, well know you aren’t because one of the holiest of men felt that way at a time too.
God can and will restore to you the joy of His transformational Work in your life, because, again, that's what He cares about most.
I’ll see you all next week. I love you all. God bless.
