Bill Johnson - The Power Is In Priorities, Success Without Sorrow
Choose wisdom, not money; choose this, not wealth. Then he says, «Look what wisdom brought to the game.» Wisdom comes with riches, along with all the other distractions you could have encountered. It’s the same concept in Matthew 6: seek first the kingdom; these things will be added to you. It’s not that Jesus doesn’t care about clothing or personal self-care; he said he’d rather you enjoy that as the reward of priorities than as the reward of your own determination. Thank you! I didn’t even score a touchdown or anything, and I got all kinds of happy people. I haven’t read these for a long time, and I enjoy them so much that I’m reading them for me, and you can join me if you like. They’re bulletin bloopers! The fasting and prayer conference includes meals.
I love hearing about how other people should fast; that’s where I’m at right there! The sermon this morning: «Jesus Walks on Water.» The sermon tonight: «Searching for Jesus.» That’s just wrong. Oh ladies, don’t forget the rummage sale; it’s a chance to get rid of all those things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands; this is a real typo here. Remember in prayer the many who are sick in our community. Smile at someone who is hard to love. Say hello to someone who doesn’t care much about you. Supposed to be «hello,» yeah, they dropped the «o.» Don’t let worry kill you off; let the church help. Next Thursday, there will be tryouts for the choir; they need all the help they can get. At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be «What Is Hell?» Come early and listen to our choir practice. Potluck supper Sunday at 5 p.m.; prayer and meditation to follow. I’ll end with this one: «Low Self-esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 p.m.; please use the back door.»
I didn’t do it! Take your Bibles and open to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 6. What I want to do today is talk to you about how the Lord uses the fulfillment of dreams and desires to build and strengthen us. It’s a hard lesson to learn; it’s an easy one to either say «amen» to or reject. Many would reject it because it seems to be an effort to say, «What we want are self-centered, egotistical Christians using the name of Jesus to get what they want.» Obviously, that is Antichrist in nature, and it’s not what we’re looking for. What we are looking for is actually a dangerous journey. The Lord is inviting us into this relational journey where we can be trusted with the fulfillment of dreams.
Here’s the deal: the scripture says the blessing of the Lord brings wealth, and he adds no sorrow to it. What the Lord is doing is inviting us into a journey where we taste fulfillment in life that doesn’t come with sorrow. Many people, as we look around the world, have obtained what they dreamt for, but it cost them; they lost their family, their marriage, their best friends—whatever it might be. Many things were sacrificed in the pursuit of the fulfillment of dreams, and they almost wear it as a badge at times, that they were willing to lay this down to accomplish such and such. The kingdom functions completely differently; it functions in a win-win scenario where we pursue what God has called us to pursue, and there’s fulfillment of the dream or the desire to illustrate the connection between you and the Father.
In fact, I wrote something down; I was meditating on this concept here a few weeks ago, so I started writing some of my thoughts just for my own benefit. It helps me to write things out. It says, «Personal fulfillment was always intended to reveal the partnership between God and man, Heaven and Earth. It’s the result of prayer, obedience, and discovering purpose.» Satan had a dream that took him away from God to be his own god; he wanted his throne to be exalted above God. So, Satan had a dream that took him from God to be his own god. Whenever we allow desires to rule us instead of expressing our identity and connection to God, we do the same. Let me read that again: whenever we allow desires to rule us instead of having those desires express our identity and connection to God, we do the same thing the enemy does. It’s not that we’re exalting our wanting, wanting our throne to be exalted above God; it’s that we want our will to be exalted above his will. It’s the same thing.
The Lord has invited us into what we often call a relational journey, and that’s what it is, where he wants to take us into expressions of the kingdom that reveal who he is as a Father. Jesus' primary function, we know he came to die—he came to atone for our sins, absolutely true, and in doing so, he came to reveal the Father; that was his primary mission. It’s all through the Gospel of John. One of the ways we reveal the Father as a Father is through fulfilled dreams, through answers to prayer. The scripture says a verse that I have spoken about a number of times, but the last time I was able to talk with you, I emphasized this passage out of John 16, where he said, «Whatever you desire will be fulfilled, will be answered, that your joy may be full.»
So there’s something that brings personal strength to us in answers to prayer; there’s something strengthening for us. If you can look at it this way, praying in tongues edifies you; answers to prayer edify you. The main passage I used last week was out of Psalms 103, where it says, «Don’t forget his benefits.» It’s a command; don’t forget his benefits. You’re commanded: don’t forget his benefits. He forgives all of our iniquities; he heals all our diseases; he restores our life. And then it says, «He fills our life with good things so that our youth is renewed like the eagle.» That’s fascinating! I don’t know what you do, but that one hit me about a month or so ago.
I was reading and went, «Wait a minute, this is right!» I actually looked it up in 54 different translations because I wanted to make sure I was getting it. It says, «He fills your life with good things so that your strength is renewed like the eagles.» He fills your life with good things. What is it? Well, the good things could be, you know, you have a friend that came to town and wants to have coffee; you haven’t talked to them in 20 years and you’re able to catch up and make a real heartfelt connection. That’s a good thing! It may be you finally were able to save up and buy your own home; it may be a promotion at work; it may be you finally were able to have a child, or whatever it might be. There are things that God fills our life with, and if I don’t recognize them as coming from the hand of a perfect Father, I will not emotionally, mentally, or spiritually benefit from that gift that was put into my life to renew strength. In fact, it was put into my life to actually bring me back to a strength of youthfulness. So, he fills my life with good things so that I get reintroduced to a strength that is usually relegated to those younger than me.
What I want to do today is I want to run on the same theme, but I’m going to change that focus a little bit. I want to talk to you about the power of priorities. God has a protocol; his protocols are not prisons; they’re not punishments. They are to emphasize that this is the way my world works, and if you want the benefits of my world, you approach life through kingdom priorities, and that’s what releases the blessing that comes without sorrow. Marriage, sex outside of marriage is a perversion; in marriage, it’s a blessing. When you break protocol, you end up with perversion, and no matter how often you quote it or declare it or claim it, operating in a perversion will not bring you into the blessing of the Lord that has no sorrow.
Alright, Matthew 6—did I tell you where to go? Yes! Some of you got it! Matthew chapter 6, we’ll start with verse 26: «Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? Why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin. And yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat? What shall we drink? What shall we wear? ' For after all these things the Gentiles seek.» When he uses «Gentiles» here in this context, «Gentile» means «unbeliever.»
«For all these things the unbeliever seeks, for your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things.» Okay, stop right there for just a moment. The spirit of offense, which I know has never affected anybody in this room, but you all know people who have issues with this, the spirit of offense will gift you with the ability to hear things that were not said. The husband says to his wife, «You look beautiful today.» If she’s carrying offense, what did she hear? «I didn’t look beautiful yesterday?» Now again, you know families that have struggled with this, so honestly the point is that the more offense we live with, the more we can hear in what Jesus said. We tend to sanitize stories of scripture and lose some of the impact we would have had we been there; sanitized is the word I was looking for.
Jesus, the person under offense could say, «Jesus doesn’t care about self-care; he doesn’t think I should watch out for myself. I shouldn’t make sure that I’m nourished properly, clothed properly—Jesus just doesn’t care about that stuff.» When in reality, he cares more than we do; he just wants us to enlist in a kingdom priority that enables us to have the food, the clothing, and whatever is needed without sorrow. Counselor, I want to bring you back to this one point; he’s trying to introduce us to the breakthrough of kingdom promises and kingdom fulfillment that has no sorrow. He’s teaching us that what we can’t see, the unseen world, is actually a greater, more profound reality than what we can see. The Bible teaches us in Corinthians that what you can’t see is eternal; what you can see is temporal. That’s why faith is anchored in what you can’t see. Jesus is constantly bringing us back—not out of punishment, not out of just some cruel taskmaster trying to get us to learn some impossible lesson. He’s introducing us to a world that’s superior to ours so we can live in it unscathed by what goes on around us.
The next verse, verse 33: «But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.» What has he done there? He’s just introduced them to a priority. The power is in the priority: seek first the kingdom. What does that mean? Jesus illustrated everything he taught; he modeled for us what it looked like to seek first the kingdom. I grew up thinking, «Seek first the kingdom» means to basically pray about going to heaven. Nobody ever taught that, but somehow, that’s how it meant to me. Jesus illustrates it like this in Matthew 12:28. He says, «Okay, there’s a guy here, he’s demonized; he’s tormented by demons.» Jesus said, «If I cast a demon out of him by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God came upon him.»
So what do we have here? We have the kingdom of demonic darkness affecting this man’s thoughts, his emotions, probably his health—so many areas of his life are under the torment of the enemy. He’s got that divided mind going on. So, Jesus said, «If I come along, and I cast the demons out of him, it will be because the kingdom that we’re to seek first came upon him, and the dominion of God drove out the dominion of demons.» What is it to seek first the kingdom of God? It is to seek the dominion of God in every situation. You have friends whose marriage is on the rocks; you pray, you intercede, you serve them, you love them, and you try to help them in such a way that healing comes into that relationship. If there’s a business that’s going under, you serve them; you pray for them to have wisdom and opportunity and favor, and all the stuff that’s needed for the business to succeed. The kingdom has a practical expression! It is not some abstract, ethereal philosophy; it is the unseen world that has an effect on the visible until it illustrates the nature of a good Father. That’s the expression of the kingdom: it illustrates that we have a Father. Seek first the kingdom and his righteousness. His righteousness is not in addition to seeking first the kingdom; he’s emphasizing righteousness. We are to be righteous in behavior in the same measure we are righteous by our position in Christ.
In other words, my position in Christ is to be seen in how I live, is to be measurable. Romans 14:17 says the kingdom of God is not meat or drink; but it’s righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. The kingdom of God is righteousness. So when he says, «Seek first the kingdom and his righteousness,» he’s drawing extra attention to our standing in Christ and our behavioral expression of a relationship in Christ, because that person can be trusted with more, and all these things shall be added. It’s the context in which blessing doesn’t kill me; it’s the context in which blessing doesn’t draw away my loyalties from him. The goal is for him to carry immeasurable blessing in and throughout our lives, but he won’t kill us with it.
Go with me to Proverbs chapter 8. Some people only pray when they’re in trouble, which guarantees they will always be in trouble. Alright, Proverbs chapter 8. Again, what I’m trying to do—I sat down after I talked with you a few weeks ago, and I was just perfectly meditating on this theme because it keeps reoccurring to me. I’m trying to learn how to get it right, to be honest with you; I’m trying to learn how to do it right. I don’t want to encourage any kind of self-centeredness or any of that kind of stuff, but I also know that there’s a world watching, whether they know it or not, and they’re looking to see if someone actually has a Father. There’s a certain obligation—responsibility—that we have to make sure we can model and illustrate that.
What I’ve found is that seeking first the kingdom over all these things—in this case, we’re going to look at wisdom over all these things. We’re going to look at another one; I’ll take wisdom now, and then one more, we’ll go to John 17 for the last one. Verse 10 of Proverbs 8. Are you there? Ben, is that good? You and me, Ben! Verse 10: «Receive my instruction, and not silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold. For wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things one may desire cannot be compared with her.» Look at it again: «Receive my instruction and not silver, knowledge rather than choice gold. Wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things one may desire cannot be compared with her.» I read Proverbs daily, and it’s easy to read that and say «Amen,» because we know it enough that it’s true. But am I living it?
I’m only living it in the measure I can show you that wisdom cost me. The pursuit of wisdom actually cost me; I actually chose wisdom in a given situation instead of personal gain. In some cases, personal gain is at the expense of wisdom. So this priority of valuing things from Heaven’s perspective has to be measurable. He says, «Better than silver, better than gold, better than rubies.» Verse 17: «Wisdom is still talking. I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently will find me. Riches and honor are with me, enduring riches and righteousness.» That theme I just read to you is all through the Book of Proverbs: «Choose wisdom, not money. Choose this, not wealth. Choose this, not that.» Then he says, «Look what wisdom brought to the game. Wisdom comes with riches, with all the other stuff that you could have been distracted by.» It’s the same concept we see in Matthew 6: seek first the kingdom; these things will be added to you.
It’s not that Jesus doesn’t care about clothing or personal self-care; it’s not that he doesn’t care; it’s that he’d rather you enjoy that as the reward of priorities instead of the reward of your own determination. He is the rewarder of those who seek him—that’s his nature in scripture. When I insist on having my way, I may get to experience the experience, but I experience it outside of that system of reward that endears me to a perfect Father.
One more passage; go to John chapter 17, and I’ll hit the last one. John 17 is the Priestly prayer of Jesus; this is just right before he’s betrayed, taken before Pilate, and ultimately crucified. This is his final recorded prayer; in fact, it’s the longest prayer of his in the Bible to my knowledge. In this prayer, he does several things. He stands before the Father, and remember, he was sent by the Father to represent the Father. So he stands before him and he brings an account of his own life to the Father. He says, «I manifested your name;» he said, «I displayed your works;» he said, «I performed your word;» or «I displayed your words, performed your works.» He goes through the four things he actually did; so he’s giving an account to his Father on what he did with his life.
Then he concludes this Priestly prayer with this cry—it would be hard for us, I don’t know if we were to have actors and actresses on stage or cinema film; it would be difficult to portray the gut-level cry of Jesus in this moment because he’s actually asking for God to do something in you and in me together that has only been done between the Father and the Son: a supernatural dimension of love and affection that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit enjoy, would actually be the model or the standard for how we would do life. He’s going through all this suffering; all this stuff is going to end up on the cross, be resurrected, and it was to make this possible—it’s that big of a deal.
So here, verse 20 of John 17: «I do not pray for these alone,» that’s the Twelve, «but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, even as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they may be one in us, that the world may believe that you sent me.» Stop right there! There are two basic credible witnesses in the earth to the resurrection of Christ: one is unity, two is the miraculous. We live in debt; if you will, we live in a sense of indebtedness to the world around us to model unity. Now, unity is expensive; Danny would say, «I love the part of you that reminds me of me.» It’s so funny; it’s easy to be united with people who think just like us! This is the point: unity isn’t seen there; camaraderie is common in the church and outside the church. This unity is different; it goes beyond the obvious things that we have in common; it actually moves into this sacrificial love and care for people.
That causes Luke chapter 9 to have this storyline that to me is very funny; it’s a series of experiences that the disciples had. They had been commissioned; they came back with great reports of miracles, and so Jesus hears them talking, and they’re actually arguing as to who was the greatest. You remember the story. So Jesus corrects that part of their storyline: «It’s not who of you is the greatest, the least is the greatest;» so he corrects that. The next moment, John comes to Jesus with a report. Now understand, if John is coming to Jesus to tell him some news, it’s because he thinks it’s good news, right? He’s not coming to confess his sins; he’s coming to confess his success. So he comes to Jesus and says, «We saw some guys over here trying to cast out demons in your name; we told them to knock it off because they’re not with us!» This is just funny! It’s like John is saying, «Alright, we got it down; we’re not better than each other, but we are better than them!»
We are on the inside of this demon-casting-out group; we are being trained by Jesus himself; they obviously don’t know what they’re doing, and so we told them to knock it off! Jesus made this amazing statement: «If they’re not against us, they’re for us.» Perhaps we’re accustomed to thinking, «If they’re not for us, they’re against us.» But in this situation, he said, «If you count people out that are not holding stones to destroy you, then you’re going to miss your opportunity for a partnership at a level you would never experience without having that sense of devotion and commitment to people.»
Help me! Paul pushed this even farther in First Corinthians chapter 6. He talks to the church at Corinth, which had all kinds of issues, and one of the issues they had was that one group of believers was taking other believers to court because they felt they were not treated fairly in a given situation. So what are they after? Justice! Your pursuit of justice, my pursuit of justice, is only blessed by the Lord in the measure we have died to our own desires! Because my pursuit of justice outside of personal yielding to Christ will almost always end up with me trying to vindicate myself.
So Paul, again, this is for other people you know that need this; I’m sure it has no application for your life, but I’m just trying to help you preach to your neighbor or your Christian relative or whatever. Paul pushes this point, and he says, «Alright, you’re being taken to court; what you’re losing is greater than what you could ever gain. What’s being destroyed? The concept of a body being members of one another.» And he pushes the point and comes to this conclusion: «Why not rather be wronged?» Well, it’s just not right! I don’t want to condone their sin. Jesus' value for unity doesn’t mean that we compromise on beliefs; it doesn’t mean we compromise on a person’s values. It does mean that love is greater than offense. It means love covers a multitude of sins. It means that I have to overcome my personal stuff so that I can demonstrate the love of Christ to another person.
We are about to experience something in the earth that you may or may not know anything about. In Portugal, on August 4th, there is a gathering of tens of thousands of people filling the newest, most modern, best stadium, I think, in all of Europe, in Lisbon, Portugal, and it’s a combination of Catholics and Protestants coming together to see people born again. It has never been done in 2000 years of church history!
I was in dialogue with a dear friend, really a father who helped us, Jack Taylor, who just as a dear, dear friend. He’s home with the Lord now. I remember we were in this dialogue; it was actually over emails and text regarding a particular situation, and there was healing in a very, very challenging relationship. In fact, he told me it was the greatest miracle he’d ever seen. It was that significant! Then he wrote me this note: «Charles Wesley,» if you remember John Wesley—John Wesley and George Whitfield were two of the great, great revivalists in the awakening. Charles Wesley would take John’s theology and write it into songs because it’s easier to learn theology that’s written to music.
In fact, I’ve told our worship teams, «What do you want the church to look like in five years or ten years? Write songs about it now, and we’ll sing our way into it.» We actually learn on a different level! So anyway, Charles Wesley wrote George Whitfield a letter, and they grew up together in their early years, and then they had theological differences and grew apart.
One cool quote that came out of George Whitfield’s camp is that one of his assistants asked him, «Do you think we’ll see John Wesley in heaven?» And George said, «No.» And he said, «That’s what I thought.» He said, «No, it’ll be so much closer to the throne than we are that we won’t be able to see!» And where we’re standing from is a very positive, obvious comment!
So Charles Wesley writes George Whitfield a note, and in this note, he said this: «We loved more when we knew less.» I have watched it my entire life where people who are in love, in life, in ministry, doing stuff together, and the more they grow into their own gifts, the more they grow apart. Because we tend to love more when we know less. It doesn’t mean we embrace ignorance; it just means we come face to face with the cost of unity. What does it look like to live? It means it’s going to cost me. It means I have to lay down some of my own rights, my own ideas. It doesn’t mean I compromise truth, but it does mean I will die to my vision on this to protect the city values he values. Unity so much that he was willing to endure everything he went through to make it possible for us to experience a supernatural presence and gift that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit enjoy, and that we would taste of that reality in how we do life together.
That’s the ambition of the Lord. It gives a credible witness to Jesus Christ. It says, «That they may be one in us, that the world may believe.» No wonder the enemy would work so hard to move us from one offense to another because it robs the voice that this gospel is real; it robs the volume; it robs the evidence; it takes away from us all the things that illustrate the power of this wonderful gospel.
True! I think I’m done. I love graceful endings. It’s obviously easy to find yourself united or connected with people who think and value what you do. I’ve told you before, often when I take communion in my own home, I pray specifically for those who have me on their list to speak against, and write about, do the stuff that they do in their service to the Lord. You know what? I take communion, and I thank the Lord for them. I ask the Lord to bless them, thank the Lord for their «yes,» and pray for the Lord to bless their family line that they would carry this gospel and that their «yes» would be carried on to generation after generation. To be honest, I do it for me, and I do it for me again! The scripture says, «So far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.»
I just have to know that I don’t have a finger pointing to accuse but instead a hand to bless. So, Father, give us that kind of grace to embrace the privilege of standing together in true biblical unity across the body of Christ as a people with one heart, one mind. I thank you for this incredible, incredible privilege. Help us to illustrate who we are as a body that has coordinated functioning together, each member keeping the other alive. I pray for that wisdom to rest upon us, that grace to rest upon us, to know what priorities really are.
I want you to say with me, «There’s power in the priorities.» Say it again: «There’s power in the priorities.» So, Father, give us the wisdom and the grace to see the protocol of heaven for how to value or how to live life the way you desire. Thank you!
I want to give an opportunity for anybody here that would just say to me, «Bill, I don’t know what it is to have a personal relationship with Jesus. I’ve never been born again; I’ve never had that experience with God where I discovered that eternal life actually belonged to me, and yet it’s offered to everybody here. I believe we’ve all been set up to be here today for this and so many other reasons. If there’s anyone here that would just say, „Bill, I don’t want to leave the building until I know I have surrendered my life to Jesus. I’ve actually become a disciple of Jesus,“ then I want you just to put a hand up where you are and just say, „That’s me. I don’t want to leave the building until I know I have found peace with God.“ Real quickly, put your hand up if that’s you; if you’re online, put it in the text, and we have pastors that will help you.
Yeah, anyone at all? Will I bless you? I pray for you in Jesus' name. I want to have the ministry team come; if we could have everybody hold your places, ministry team come and help us pray for folks. Tom, come on up and tell them what they’ve learned.