The teaching of the Bible concerning “First, Second and Last” is similar to the call before a track race, “On your marks, get set, go!”.  If you don’t understand what God wants you to do “first“, you will miss the mark of where you are supposed to line up for the race.  Thus, you will not even have entered the race.  If you don’t understand the rule of “second‘s” in the Bible, after you are lined up your mark for the race, you will not “get set” and know how to run the race.  Thus, your running will be poorly executed and largely in vain.  Finally, if you don’t understand the rule of “last” in the Bible, you will become tired and discouraged during the race and this will cause you not to “go” on.  Thus, you will come short of the finish line.

First – you must do the “first” thing first.  Since God is “first” in everything, you must first get Spiritually connected to God.  God is in charge of everything and everyone and He has a plan for everything and everyone.  Unless you are connected to God you will struggle against God’s will and live a wasted life.  I have spent a lot of time talking about the condition of man and how to get connected to God on this page, About you .  Here’s how Jesus explained it to Nicodemus, John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  Everybody is born, Spiritually disconnected from God.  When we accept Christ as paying our sin debt we are “born again” and Spiritually connected to God.  If you remain disconnected from God your works are like filthy rags to God, unworthy of His saving love and eternal life with Him.  Only Jesus satisfied the requirements to get into heaven by living a perfect life and then dying in our place for our sin.  Do first things first!  First get connected to God and then stay tuned in to His channel.

Second – you need to understand the rule of second’s in the Bible so you will know how to live the new Christian life.  The rule of seconds is that you need to rely on your second birth life, your Spiritual birth, to run your life, not your first physical birth.  The key to living the Christian life is to die to the old physical self and live by the new Spiritual self.  You can not live the new Christian life by following the old sin nature you must follow you new Spiritual nature in Christ.  The theme of how God honors “seconds” is repeated through out the Bible.

You have the first Adam who sinned and the second Adam, Jesus who knew no sin.  The promise of salvation is through the second Adam not the first.  Then you have the first son of Abraham, Ishmael, born by Sarah’s hand-maiden.  Ishmael, however, did not receive the promise of being the chosen people of God, that privilege went to Isaac, the second born son through Sarah, Abraham’s wife.  And when the twins struggled in the womb of Rebekah, Isaac wife, God told her (Genesis 25:23) that  two nations were in her womb and the older brother, Esau, would server the younger, Jacob.  The promise of God’s chosen people came through the second birthed son, Jacob, who was later renamed Israel.  Then you have the first King of Israel, Saul, who was strong and handsome in appearance but he didn’t wait for the Lord, so he lost the Kingdom which was given to the second chosen King, David, a ruddy young man, not of stately appearance like Saul but He had what was important to God, and that was a heart like God’s.  And there are two mountains, the first one is Mt Sinai, which represents the moral laws of God that man can not keep.  The second mountain is Mt Zion, the Spiritual mountain of God where where God’s grace gives eternal life to all those who come to Christ in repentance.  And similarly, there are the two trees in the garden, the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, represents the way of self and death.  Where the second tree of life, represents the way of grace and eternal life in Jesus Christ.  And finally, the Bible says that one day God will consume the first corrupted earth and make a second resurrected heaven and new earth, that will not be corrupted by sin (Revelation 21:1).

Last – you need to understand the rule of last so you will not be discouraged as you run the race of faith.  The rule of last means that those who are considered the last and lowest in eyes of men, may be first in favor with God.   The works of faith that seem lowly and menial, may be the highly regarded and rewarded by Jesus.  In  Luke there is a story about a woman who washed Jesus feet with her tears and dried them with her her.  When the Pharisees asks why Jesus allows a sinful woman to touch Him, Jesus tells a parable to explain her actions.  Luke 7:47  ^“Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”   The woman was forgiven much and poured out works of thankfulness and worship to God.  What looked in appearance to be a worthless woman of worthless works in the eyes of men were was seen as a greatly blessed woman doing mighty works in the eyes of Jesus.  The point is not to judge by appearance.  You are not to measure your success in serving God by worldly measures of success or by the praise of men.  On the contrary Luke 6:26 “Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.”  What may appear to be a last place finish in the eyes of men, may be a first place finish in the eyes of God.

Jesus explained another aspect of “last” this way in Mark 9:35 “Sitting down, He called the twelve and said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.”   The point is we are called to be servants.  And that is what servants do, they serve their Master.  They do their duty.  Servants are not looking for positions of power but for ways to serve and please their Master, to take care of His needs.  Of course God, our Master, has no needs but His children do.  Jesus demonstrated what is is like to be a servant of God.  He washed the feet of His disciples which was a job done by the lowest servant of the house.  Some people think you have to be preaching or teaching God’s word on a podium in a church to be doing God’s will but this is the far from the truth.  The church is not a building but a body, with different parts and functions.  It takes all parts of the body working together to do something productive.  And God does not differentiate work as that which is secular and that which is sacred.  All work we do is sacred to God, if it is done by faith, offered to Him.  The least thing, like taking out the trash, is a great thing when it is done for the Lord.  There is a word of warning amid all this wonderful Christian fellowship, don’t be surprise if you have disagreements and personality clashes with your Christian brother or sister.  Even though the body of Christ is a family made up of saints, we are saints that are a work in progress, saints that are continually battling our old sin nature.  So you can expect disagreements and conflicts as you work and serve in the body of Christ.  I like the way this poem says it; “to live above with the saints I love, that’s a thing of glory but to live below with the saints I know, well, that’s a different story”.

There is one other aspect of “last” and that is the thing that you consider your least ability may be what God uses for His greatest glory.  Paul understood this concept and explains it, 2 Corinthians 12:7- “Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me– to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.“ The thorn in the flesh was a weakness that made Paul rely upon God grace.  The weaknesses that inhibits our self righteous ability to do God’s work is always present, teaching us that God is the One we need to depend on in order to press on.  Therefore expect that the “last” thing you want to happen will be the normal environment in which you serve Christ, such as troubles, misunderstanding, grumbling, lack of resource, lack of expertise, lack of willing helpers, lack of motivation and lack of strength.  For it is in our greatest need that God does His greatest work. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.“

One final note, I have painted the picture of living the Christian life as one that demands discipline and sacrifice, which is true however it is very rewarding, and not just rewards that are delayed until we get to heaven.  But when two ore more Christians are gathered together in Jesus name, He is there in your midst.  There is an extra blessing that comes from worshiping and serving in the body of Christ that can never be achieved on your own.  The joys and sorrows, victories and losses you will share with your Christian brothers and sisters is just the start of a life long sharing and growing together.  But in heaven you won’t have the suffering and loss part, only the joy and victory part.

JOY –  Jesus, Others, Yourself

– Rogersings

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