The One Thing
In the movie City Slickers (1991), Jack Palance’s character, Curly, asks Billy Crystal’s character, Mitch, “Do you know what the secret to life is?” To which Mitch replies, “No, what?” And Curly holds up one finger and says, “This.” To which a confused Mitch asks, “Your finger?” And Curly says, “One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and everything else don’t mean diddly!”
“That’s great, but what’s the one thing? Mitch asks. To which Curly responds, “That’s what you’ve got to figure out!”
Curly was telling Mitch he needed to find a job or a purpose that would give meaning to his whole life. And when he discovered that, he would know what that one thing was for his life. It sounds like good advice but that’s only until you come to the realization that there is nothing on earth that can truly bring you to that place of contentment and satisfaction.
On January 11th, I’m kicking off a new sermon series entitled “The One Thing.” I want that title to remind us of two things. First, I want us to understand that Jesus is the one thing—the only thing that can truly bring meaning and purpose to life. Christ and Christ alone is the only one who can satisfy the longings of our hearts.
The second thing I want us to remember is that shortly before He was crucified, Jesus prayed that His Church would be one. Listen to what He said in John 17:20-21: “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”
The purpose of this series is to deepen our personal relationship with Christ while at the same time strengthening our relationships with believers here at Trinity and in other churches in our area. Jesus tells us when His Church becomes unified the world will understand and believe that the Father sent Him. That means our work for Christ shouldn’t be exclusively at Trinity but should be labor shared with the whole Body of Christ in the Platte-Geddes area.
What’s at the center of this sermon series? Two words, love and obedience. The idea is that we are so growing in our relationship with Christ that we love Him more with each passing day. That ever-increasing love compels us to do what Christ commands us, to tell others about Him and to disciple them into a closer walk with Him. My prayer is that we will begin to work together with other churches to do exactly that.
God bless and Happy New Year!
Pastor Dave