The Main Thing!

Former Greater Huntington Association Director of Missions, Doug Virgin, was fond of quoting Steven Covey, saying, “We’ve got to keep the main thing, the main thing!”  How true!  In church life we are constantly bombarded by The Adversary to be distracted by any number of peripheral issues, and he sees to it that there are plenty to consider. 

Paul the Apostle wrote to the Corinthian Christians these important words. “And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” (1 Cor 1:1-2)

Everything we do as a church (and as individual members of that Body) should be centered around the message of the Gospel. 

In Acts, chapter 28 we see the Apostle Paul is on his way to Rome for his appeal trial before Caesar.  His crime?  Standing for the message of the Gospel. God had told Paul earlier that he would take the Gospel to government officials and kings.  He probably didn’t think it would be as a prisoner – but you and I can never pretend to know the mind or plans of a Sovereign God for our lives.

There were numerous efforts of Satan to stymie Paul in his mission.  As a prisoner back in Jerusalem, there had been a plot to kill Paul. He was hustled out of town by a company of Roman soldiers. Then he was kept in custody by the Roman governor for two years. Now, as a prisoner on his way to Rome, we find him shipwrecked and swimming ashore to the nearby island of Melita.  Surviving the shipwreck, Paul is bitten by a poisonous snake as he gathers a bundle of sticks in trying to help warm the other survivors of the wreck.  The natives who saw him struck by the deadly viper thought he would drop dead right away but Paul shook the snake off into the fire and went on about his ministry.

This is exactly what we must do when snakebites from Satan keep us from focusing on “the main thing”.

Financial woes, criticism, cynicism, gossip, maintenance issues, worship styles, debates over scripture translations and Sunday School literature, programs, kitchen use, and preaching styles -  our enemy will see to it that we all are snake bitten with some distractions as we go about our work in the church.  May we follow Pau’s example and shake those snakes off into the fire and go on with our ministry and mission.

The main command of the Great Commission is to "go" but to “Make Disciples”. This starts with winning the lost to Christ through presentation of the Gospel message. Scriptural Baptism follows, and the discipleship making plan then moves on to teach them “all that he has commanded us” so that in turn, they may be able to disciple others. This builds His church.  The snakebites are designed to stop the work.

It’s up to each of us individually to accomplish that mission.  

Whatever you do in the church,  like Paul, let us have the same focus he had in 1 Corinthians 9:23-24  (ESV) I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.

I implore each member of our church, or members of any church who may be reading this.  Shake off the snakes and move on with the message of the Gospel - each one of us as members of the Body, working to accomplish the mission.

THIS is the main thing!