God’s priorities for us may surprise us a bit, depending on our church backgrounds. Some of us grew up thinking that God was primarily interested in our behavior; that if we did the right things, the Lord would be pleased (or at least would be less angry). Some of us were taught that God was primarily interested in having us share the Gospel, and that His first goal was to save the world. Still others of us grew up thinking that God’s first priority was to give us an abundant life; that He who loves us so much wants to bless us. All of these are important to the Lord. But perhaps His highest, greatest, and first priority for our lives is worship.

Exhibit A: The Ten Commandments. How can I say that worship is the highest calling for the church today? In the Old Covenant, the Lord gave Moses Ten Commandments. Remember the first four?

o You shall have no other gods before Me.

o You shall not make a graven image.

o You must not misuse the Lord’s name (do not take it in vain).

o Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy.

These four are all on the list before the one-another commands (thou shalt not bear false witness, steal, commit adultery, murder, covet). Before God introduces the horizontal commands, He starts with the vertical; God’s priority is worship. When we get our life in order with God first, then our life with people falls into order.

Exhibit B: The Two Greatest Commandments. Worship is not only the priority of the Old Testament commands, however. In the New Testament, do you remember what Jesus said was the first and greatest commandment? "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." (Matthew 22:37) The second is to love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus summarized the Ten into Two commandments; in fact, He summarized "all the Law and the Prophets" by these two. The vertical relationship with God is first, horizontal relationships with people are next. So worship is Job One for every believer.

If we did not know the Matthew 22 passage mentioned above, we might think that Jesus would say the greatest commandment would be, "Go and make disciples." That is indeed the Great Commission, but it is not the Greatest Commandment. Or we might think He would say (misunderstanding the King James Version), "Study to show thyself approved." That is also an imperative, but it is not called the First and Greatest. Jesus said, in effect, that if we love God, the rest will fall into place.

Exhibit C: The Father’s Heart. In John 4:23, Jesus reveals what the Father has been seeking all through human history. Jesus says the Father seeks those who will worship him in spirit and in truth. Did you catch that? In our day of being "seeker sensitive," let’s keep in mind who the true seeker is: It is the Father Himself! I wonder, has He yet found what He was seeking? Are we—you and me—fulfilling His searching heart?

Other things tend to get in the way of the 21st century church. To paraphrase Jack Taylor, we make studies of population growth and future trends. We’ve tried to satisfy the changing tastes and habits of people. We’ve built our church plants to be appealing and comfortable. We’ve organized fellowships and programs to meet social needs. We are experts on efficiency. We’ve used the latest educational gadgets. We have studied psychology and spent hours in counseling and calling. We sharpen our motivation and recruitment skills. We administrate, delegate, tabulate and moderate. We’ve considered every factor needed to reach our world for Christ but we have forgotten our most important factor. We’ve forgotten how to worship! Christ died to save us that God would be glorified by our salvation. Let us stop and see to Job One before we move on to the others.

So, how do you think we are doing, Community? As individuals, is our relationship with God our highest, best and greatest priority? As a body, are we worshiping in spirit and in truth? Week by week, are we coming to give our best, our most, and our truest honor to the One who has called us? I pray that each of us is finding our highest calling in Him.