We had our first Impact service last week on Jan. 11. Bryce talked a little about Genesis and mentioned the story of the Tower of Babel. He said their focus was on themselves and multiplying and glorifying their own image, when God had tasked man with multiplying and glorifying His image. We can (and probably should) ask ourselves often: Where is our focus?
"Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, 'It would be better for me to die than to live.' But God said to Jonah, 'Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?' 'It is,' he said. 'And I'm so angry I wish I were dead'" (Jonah 4:5-9). "'Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. "Your brother has come," he replied, "and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound." The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, "Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him"'" (Luke 15:25-30)! Both Jonah and the brother felt they had been wronged in some way. Jonah felt he had been wronged by being sent to the Ninevites in an attempt by God to redeem them. The brother felt he had been wronged because the father had redeemed the prodigal son after leaving the family and squandering his money. But where was their focus? Jonah threw a fit like a child when the plant died. Jonah made it obvious his focus was on himself. The brother also threw a fit like a child and refused to go to the party. The brother made it obvious his focus was on himself. Jonah and the brother failed to see the reason for celebration and needed to be corrected because their focus was on themselves. Jonah said a basically five word sermon and the entirety of Nineveh repented of their sins and turned to God! That is a reason for celebration! But instead, Jonah sulked because the Ninevites had been spared. The brother saw that his brother had run away and when he returned and was redeemed, he should have seen the cause for celebration as his father did. The son had returned! But instead, the brother felt sorry for himself because he never got to have parties with his friends. "Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back. The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets...When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. And he took the calf the people had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it" (Exodus 32:15-6, 19-20). "At this, Job got up and tore his robes and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised'" (Job 1:20-21). Moses saw the Israelites dancing and singing to an idol and broke the stone tablets he was carrying, which was a symbol showing the Israelites their covenant with God had been broken because of this idol. He responded with anger, the same as Jonah and the brother, but Moses' focus was not on himself -- it was on God. He never said anything like "I spent all that time up there listening to these laws and this is what I come back to?!" Instead, he destroyed the idol, proving his focus was on God rather than on himself. He acted in righteous anger. Job had just been informed that everything he had was taken from him -- all but a few of his servants, all his livestock, even his kids were gone. But instead, Job praised God. And the book of Job states: "In all this, Job did not sin by charing God with wrongdoing" (Job 1:22). Job's focus was on God. In any and every situation you have two options: Focus on yourself or focus on God. Focusing on yourself and reacting based on yourself will lead to correction, as it did with Jonah and the brother. Focusing on God and reacting based on Him does not require correction, as that is the correct path. Where is your focus? Where should it be? Should it remain where it is, or should your shift your focus? Will you?
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