Seek first his kingdom and His righteousness (Matt 6b) *

SEEK FIRST HIS KINGDOM AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS

Matthew 6:19-34

Key verse – Matthew 6:33

Introduction:

Today’s word is part of the Sermon on the Mount. This sermon’s main theme is the kingdom of God and its unique characteristics. Jesus was inviting everyone into this kingdom.

He also talked about what should be the mindset of kingdom people; it is not the rich in spirit but the poor in spirit, not those who are happy but those who mourn, the meek, and those who hunger for righteousness that are well-suited for the kingdom of God. Against these teachings, we all must check our minds, to see if they are fitting to enter God’s kingdom.

Next, Jesus taught about human relationships, according to the Law of Moses, specifically man to man, man to woman, and man unto himself. This also dealt with one’s attitude toward other people. The driving force behind these relationships is not one’s justice according to the Law’s prescription, but love; however, this is not just a common love that we could find among many people, but rather a particular kind of love, the love that even gives away one’s own life for others.

Last week, we dealt with three actions that man can perform towards God: prayer, fasting, and alms giving. When one decides to do something in God’s name, he must do it for God only! No one else is to be the focus of his actions, so that he may receive God’s reward. In addition to this, Jesus taught about prayer, specifically what and how to pray.

In his example of prayer, there are two things that we can sum up: first, we are to uphold God’s glory and name. This will be mediated by his kingdom and by God’s will upon this world. Second, we are to ask Him to preserve our wellbeing on earth, through His provision of daily bread,  forgiveness, and protection from all evils and temptations.

In today’s passage, the topic of discussion is money. Money represents all the materials on which we live on here on the earth. It is used in three ways: to sustain our own living on earth, in our dealings with other men, and in our interactions with God as well. So, how we think about money is also an important subject in our consideration of the kingdom of God.

1.    Store up treasures in heaven [Matthew 6:19-21].

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.” (Matthew 6:19-21).

Here, Jesus admonishes us that we should not store our treasures on earth, but instead, we should store treasure in heaven.

We treasure many things—time, money, knowledge, and functional skills. As this word says, we can use these things in one of two ways, either to enrich our life on the earth or in heaven.

We recruit all our resources to make life on earth more enjoyable and pleasurable. We like to have good houses, better cars, and store away a lot of money in the bank or in retirement accounts. If all these are aimed at the comfort of my life on earth, then this is very problematic. Jesus says that we should not store our treasures on earth. Here, on earth, moth and rust will destroy goods and thieves will break in and steal. This means that all the riches that I have stored away for a good life will be wasted, and will never deliver true comfort and peace to me. Rather, they will become a constant source of anxiety and fear.

What about the other choice?

We can also choose to store up our treasures in heaven. Practically speaking, this means that whatever resources we have in this life, we use them for God and His kingdom. The reason? There are no moths and no thieves in heaven. Whatever is stored, it will be there for me. Not only that, but there is another benefit.

What does Jesus say about this?

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21).

When we use money for God and His kingdom, our hearts will follow and be filled with God’s cause and will.

Once in a while, we offer some funds for good and godly causes. One I remember was a fund for the Bethesda Hospital in Uganda. Actually, I didn’t care much about this project since I had so many other things to worry about with my own ministry, and I felt that I had to meet those needs here. However, Minister Sam prayed for this so much that I was moved and donated some money. Since then, I began to learn how the hospital makes progress through construction, if this was open for patient care, and, if it was open, how many were coming to be looked after. Truly, where my money went, my heart followed. So, if you are eager to know the kingdom of God, use your money to expand the kingdom and see how your heart changes for the causes of the Lord.

2.    The eye is the lamp of the body [Matthew 6:22-23].

"The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-23).

Here,  ‘eye’ is a figurative way of describing the whole cognitive process of accepting all outside information. Our eyes filter all the information and process and finalize it as the substance of our life. So, if our eyes are good, truth comes in and we are filled with great hope and light. If all you do every day is look at pornography, then your mind, spirit, and body is soaked with lust, you cannot control it, and you become a victim of that lust. However, when you read and meditate on God’s word and try to understand and obey it, the truth fills your heart and mind. It brightens your spirit and opens a new world of truth and power.

Likewise, what you see is important. What you accept and entertain is important. Then what do we need to see?

One key piece of information that we need to see about the kingdom of God is seen here in Matthew 5, 6, and 7. In these three chapters, Jesus provided abundant information on the kingdom of God. Actually, the book of Matthew begins and ends with the theme of the kingdom of God.

This was such important concept that Jesus included it in the beginning of the Lord’s Prayer: ‘your kingdom come’ (Matthew 6:10a).

But when the kingdom of God is not in our view, what we see instead is the world in which we now live and we will focus on building and storing up everything for our earthly lives.

What should we do?

We must accept that, as Jesus said, whatever we store up on earth will eventually be eaten away by moths or stolen away by thieves. The world can never guarantee us our lives! Once, stocks were believed to be the best place to invest one’s money. It is believed and well-known that stocks consistently deliver the best return on money. But then came the bull market, followed by the entire market collapsing. Millions of people lost their investments and declared bankruptcy.

There was a French fund manager, who invested 1.5 billion in Bernie Madoff. When Bernie’s Ponzi scheme was exposed, all of his money was gone. He did not see anything else but the world, but the world collapsed in front of his face and he killed himself.

There was once a bright young female student at the University of Maryland. One day, she jumped out of a window in a high-storied dorm building. She died on the spot. She only saw the world and could not find a place to secure her life! No hope! No meaning! These living examples show how fatal it is if one fails to see the kingdom of God. The French man did not see the kingdom of God. The girl did not see the kingdom of God. These two saw only one world; the world we are living in. Most of us have hope in the kingdom of God and have stored up much in His kingdom’s cause, but, if even one fails to do so, it will be a great loss. We must know and accept that the world will surely fail us. This is not just a possibility; it is certain that the life stored on earth will surely fail.

Contrary to this, what does Jesus say about the kingdom of God?

There are no thieves and no moths there. God Almighty keeps all things in His power, goodness, and righteousness. This is the second thing that we must know - that, in heaven, everything is secured. The treasure that we store in heaven shall never perish.

[“I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward.”(Mark 9:41)].

Then, how can we store our treasures in heaven?

We have to accept the truth of the kingdom of heaven. It comes to us when we believe in Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection; through him, we come to know the Father and the kingdom. Then the kingdom of God will be in our full view; if not, we will remain in darkness. What we can see will be all that we see in this world; we may see pleasure in lust, or in the power of this world. We may see the world’s richness, but we would be blinded to the eternal truth of the kingdom of God, where He is the supreme ruler and king forever. The whole world and all her pride will soon dissipate and disappear, but God’s kingdom is an everlasting reality. If I can only see 100 years of my life here, that’s sad; it is a tragedy with no way out. It’s better to die now, then to subject ourselves to such futility and vanity in life. This is the darkness that rules the world. When one cannot see beyond Jesus’ death, they cannot see His kingdom, and are living without any light!

But my life, our lives as believers, will be everlasting! How do you want to plan your life? We must dare to live with the Lord in eternity!

3.    No one can serve two masters [Matthew 6:24-25].

"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” (Matthew 6:24).

 Though we agree that we will be in God’s kingdom, we need money every day here on earth. Often, the amount of money we have seems to dictate the kind of life we maintain. So we work hard for money and like to store some away  for future security. This seems to be a wonderful idea, and so many have tried. I can please God and, at the same time, secure my life here. Jesus says that this is wrong. One big mistake with this thinking is that I can have both money and God; when we accept God as our Father, He wants us 100%. Money should never be our master, because God is our master and He wants every bit of my being. God hates divided attention from us, so He wants our full commitment. It means that I and my life are His, and my life is for His cause only, no matter what I do. I must please and honor Him. This is what will happen in the kingdom of God; it must happen even now, among His people.
There is only one choice for us: to serve Him alone, for we are His servants! Money matters should never control our lives in contradiction to the kingdom and its principles.  

But still we hesitate to cut off our worries and we still have lingering anxiety for money. Jesus knew this and gave us the next six verses [Matthew 6:25-30].

4.    Do not worry [Matthew 6:25-31].

Here, Jesus gives us four testimonies; in each, God proved Himself as the wonderful and reliable caretaker of His people and creation. Since His call for us, we are His children and He will surely take care of our needs. We must belief in His care and be able to entrust our lives to His hands.

a.    It is a fact that life is more important than food or clothing (Matthew 6:25). Do you have any disagreement on this?

b.    Birds have no arm to cultivate or sow, and no brain to reap and store. The only thing they do is to fly to wherever they want to go, but God still provides food for them. They multiply and prosper. Are we not much more valuable than the birds? Here, we have to accept one fact: God runs the world even now and He sustains all things, according to His will and purpose.  

c.     By worrying can you add a single hour to your life (Matthew 6:27)? We try to satisfy ourselves with good food and clothes, but do these things add even a single hour to our life? In our hearts, we know that they cannot. Actually, we do not know when our life on earth will end. This is God’s sovereign domain. He alone has that control and authority. No one else! Not even my enemies, thieves, or robbers!

d.    Lilies are so beautiful. So are orchids. Do you ever see any makeup on them? No, but they are still so beautiful. How do I look? I shaved, took a shower, and put on some lotion, but there is no way I can compare myself with the beauty of an orchid. God gave the flowers their beauty and life, but I will ask you one question: if you had to choose which one to take home, would you like to take me or the orchid? God’s choice is as clear as our choice. He chose us to be His children and loved us so much that he gave His own son to redeem us. Even from the beginning of creation, God entrusted everything to man’s hands, for him to care of them. We are jewels in His eyes. We are His chosen people and priesthood. God will surely take care of our needs.

In this four-fold argument, Jesus proved that God is our caretaker; therefore, we should not worry about our lives.

But to help our minds better understand this, I would like to add one more story to prove God’s power and will to care for His people. Israel roamed in the desert for 40 years. Many died because of their sins, but no one died because of hunger or lousy clothing. Their clothes and shoes did not wear out. God’s care for them was perfect and complete.

But life is not defined or determined by food or clothing; it is defined by the work God gave us to do!

“So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.” (Matthew 6:31-32).

Despite these four proofs of God’ care, if one is still not convinced and worries about what to eat or wear, what does that mean?

If we still worry about these things, we are cutting off our relationship with God, our Creator and Father. We are not willing to give Him full credit as our loving Lord and Master. Furthermore, we may be joining in the rank of the pagan dignitaries and assigning ourselves a place with those who will surely perish. Who are the pagans? They are the ones who still live under the curse of sin and death, as described in Genesis 3-

“By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return." (Genesis 3:19).

Do we want to live under this curse, like the pagans, who rejected God? No, not at all!

We are His children, chosen by God as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation! So do not worry, but trust in the Lord and give Him honor and glory!

5.    Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness [Matthew 6:31-34].

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33).

What do you think it means to seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness?

There are many different ideas about the kingdom, but I would like to emphasize three things about it:

a.    God’s authority is exalted and upheld in this kingdom, so His authority and glory are the most important things. In this regard, seeking His kingdom means seeking His utmost authority and ensuring that His glory is being upheld in and through our lives in any and all situations.

b.    God’s kingdom is set to come in the future as a concrete event on earth. It is not here yet in its full scope, but is coming soon. So, here, we eagerly wait on its arrival; this should be our ultimate hope in faith and this hope should be the driving force of our lives. Money should never be drive us, but rather the kingdom of God!

c.     The kingdom of God is further defined by the word ‘righteousness’. This is not some righteous act that we make, or the efforts that I would have to make so as to make myself right in God’s eyes. It is God’s holiness and righteousness. We are to uphold and reveal that, in our lives, God is right and just in His punishment for sin in His patience for sinners, and in whatever he is doing in this world, though we may never understand why. This is a difficult concept, but we can find evidence of this in Jesus’ life. The most powerful witness about God’s righteousness was through Christ’s suffering on the cross, by which he affirmed that he was the Son of God. However, he did nothing against those who had condemned him to death for no reason. It was their wickedness, but Jesus remained silent and even prayed for them. Why did he do that? When Jesus asked the Father three times to take away the cup of suffering, the Father responded with silence. This was a resounding ‘no’! So though Jesus had the power to destroy those evil doers and the ungodly, he gave his life on the cross. He submitted to God, even to the point of his death, because he believed that the Father was good, right, and just in everything He did. So the centurion’s remark was a testimony to the essence of God’s justice in Jesus’ life; his confession was that Jesus was truly the Son of God. God was initially invisible and unknowable to this centurion, but, through Jesus, He was revealed and His righteousness was captured in the centurion’s mind of this centurion.

My righteousness, goodness, and justice are always an obstacle for God’s. His righteousness may be revealed through my good teaching and service to godly truth, but it is most powerfully revealed through our submission to the Father. He is invisible, but He is made visible in and by our lives when we submit to Him in obedience and faith.

Read Matthew 6:24 again. We’ve discussed the meaning of the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Now, I would like to think about this verse as a whole.

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.” (Matthew 6:33a).  

Seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness. What does it mean to seek God’s kingdom? Here, ‘seek’ does not mean simply to try to find something.

Some may think it means that we should pray first and then go on about our business. This makes some sense, but it does not mean giving the kingdom first priority eventually; it means that the kingdom is our first priority because we recognize its importance. Seeking God’s kingdom is more important than going to school to get a degree. It is more important than getting a job. It is more important than getting married. It is the first priority for everything in life. It must be incorporated into our weekly schedules as our first priority. In this regard, I am happy to see that our missionaries are meeting three, or even seven times every week to attend Sunday worship, study with other believers, pray in the morning, and go to a weekly bible study. Seeking is not just holding a magnifying glass and searching to find something; it involves planning as well as action. It is very active and positive in how we make assertive decisions and take action. It is of our faith and freedom as children of God. Jesus commanded such positive seeking in Matthew 28:

“Then Jesus came to them and said, "…Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:18-20).

This is one aspect of seeking the kingdom of God. Submission is another important characteristic.

Previously, I had mentioned that submission to the Father’s will is the most powerful way to honor His righteousness. How can submission be so positive? This submission is not a passive behavior, because we do not have any choice. It is positive, because we believe and trust the Lord, His kingdom, goodness, righteousness, and love. Jesus willingly gave his life out of submission to the Father. This is positive. Our faith is not a passive, grudging reaction, but a positive way of life, giving our submission to the Lord because He has secured our life in heaven.

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matthew 6:34).

When we worry about what is yet to come, then our minds will be caught up in tomorrow’s problems, but we know that we may not live tomorrow. We always live today. Now is what’s important. Now, I have to show my honor to the Lord. Now, I have to act by faith, decide by faith, and plan by faith. Today, I chose to serve and honor God! About the matters of tomorrow, do not worry! We must entrust all things into God’s hands and we will be at peace in this faith.

Let’s read the key verse again!