Values and Priorities
“If you get the First Commandment right, everything else just falls into place after it.” I remember being struck by that statement as a first-year seminary student. God is the Giver of all good gifts. When we look to Him for the highest good and the source of all that we need to support our bodies and souls, then we are not misled into the devil’s schemes. However, there are so many things that vie for not just our attention, but the primary focus in our lives. It is so easy for people today to see God and the Church as choices on the buffet line of life. Some days you can sprinkle in a little bit of Christ and His Word with all of the other things. Other days, there is just no place for God in people’s hectic lives.
The Church serves families well when parents are taught the primacy of the First Commandment. God is indeed a jealous God who will not share His glory with another and seeks the worship of His creatures as the fear, love and trust in Him above all things. While this is not intended to be another diatribe against the importance of athletics in our culture today, pastors and church leaders should not be afraid to address the First Commandment to families and how it is lived out on the calendar and with the bank account. How we spend our time and money demonstrates what we value. Families need help reconsidering their priorities and where God fits into their daily lives (more than just an hour one Sunday a month).
However, the Church serves families well by helping them to see that in weekly worship, Christ provides them forgiveness, life, salvation and strength for daily life. Worship is not what we do for God, but how He serves us. Like so many electronic devices that have been away from their charging station for too long, we need the power that is provided to us through the Word as it is preached, prayed and sung. What a blessing it is for parents and children who struggle with temptation each day to be able to hear that their sins are forgiven for Jesus’ sake. Finally, Christ feeds and strengthens us with His very own body and blood so that we can live in this complicated world.
Worship is not optional. God commands it, but we also desperately need what He gives to us in the Divine Service. As the summer begins, families will be busy with a host of activities on a daily basis and may even be absent from worship. It is good for pastors and church leaders to remind them of the great blessings that we receive in worship and how God strengthens and sustains us there with His gifts.
Rev. Dr. R. Lee Hagan was born in Birmingham, Ala., and graduated from Concordia, Seward, Neb., in 1992. He holds both a Master of Divinity Degree (1996) and Doctorate of Ministry (2011) from Concordia Seminary. Hagan served as Senior Pastor of St. Paul’s Lutheran in Concordia, Mo. (2002-2015) and was previously an Associate Pastor at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Evansville, Ind. (1996-2002). He has been President of The Missouri District of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod since June 2015. Hagan also served as Interim Director, LCMS Rural and Small Town Mission (2011-12), on numerous District Boards both in Missouri and Indiana, and during multiple Synodical Conventions as a delegate and on Floor Committees. He is married to Jill and they have two children.
