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Seek First

Matthew 6:33 “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; sand all these things shall be added unto you.[1]

I.   Priority

     A. First

     B. Foremost

II. Purity

     A. God

     B. Goodness

III. Provision

     A. Articles

     B. Additions

 


 

Introduction:  Yesterday we celebrated the day independence came to our nation from those whom once held us in subjection.  In other words, we used to pay others who only took from us and gave us nothing except their rules to live by.  We were forced to purchase things from others that we could produce better for ourselves.  There is a long list of things that we fought against and won independence from.

This morning we pledged our allegiance to the flag that represents those who fought to win our freedom from oppressive others who held us to their ideals and refused to allow us to worship in the way we know that God expects us to honor Him.  We also pledged allegiance to the flag that represents the earthly life of Jesus’ church that He died for.  We pledged allegiance to the Bible as the written communication that many have died to preserve through the years.

As we pledge allegiance to these things, they are here with us so that we can touch them, see them, and feel them.  We pledge to continue to honor those things that others have given so much of themselves for us that we might now live with a heritage of faith.

This morning I remember a certain professor who went home to be with Jesus recently.  His name was Kenny Corn.  He served many churches as pastor and taught at Fruitland Baptist Bible College in Hendersonville, NC.  Kenny’s recent service was Associate Pastor at Mud Creek Baptist Church in Hendersonville.  The course he taught at Fruitland was called “Church Growth.”  Since Mud Creek is a “Mega Church” I figured the course would teach how they got so large in number.  The course was how to grow us as Disciples of Christ.

During his course we went through two discipleship studies.  One was “Experiencing God” and the other was “The Mind of Christ.”  He had every student to memorize and exegete Matthew 6:25-34.  We recited the text and turned in our exegetes.  The class and the instructor changed my life of faith.

It is not sinful to pledge allegiance to a cause that represents those who have sought to follow God’s will.  But there is no cause that should come higher than our passion to seek God’s kingdom and gaining a closer relationship with Him.  God used Kenny Corn to teach me that.

Scripture:  The scripture is Matthew 6:33.  When you have found it please rise to your feet for the reading of God’s written word.

Prayer: Please be seated

Message:  Please follow along and listen as we read through Matthew 6:24-34…

We live in a time when people have no idea what is going on yet they insist that others must follow their ideas if they allow us to have stuff.  Everybody hears the media tell us, “We will get through this thing together.”  In other words follow me or stay out of the way.

Last week we discussed the word, dogmatism or the idea of being dogmatic.  This week we will talk about pragmatism which is the opposite of that word dogmatism which is what led us to fight for our independence.  To think that there is only one way to understand a thing seems easy.  God often allows you to go through a test where the thing that you thought you could stand on is ripped out from under you.  It is your choice to either accept and learn from that test or refuse to change and go through life not knowing a truth that God may be allowing you to fully understand.  Pragmatism is a very hard lesson for the single minded bigot which the world is full of now.  Pragmatism is easy for the Jesus minded.

To refuse to learn the lesson that God has to teach is dogmatic.  The Pharisees thought their purpose was to protect their rules and project them onto the religious or zealot Jews.  If someone didn’t follow their way, well that person was a Gentile and not a true Jew.  We find the same thing today.  Strange as it may sound, the only way to seek the kingdom of God is to let go of the prescribed notions that may be holding you back from loving others.

Pragmatism has several synonyms including; practicality, realism, logicality, uncomplicatedness, rationality, reasonableness, and the list goes on.  The dogmatic Christian sees another Christian and immediately sizes them up whether they will accept them or not.  There is no sense that they might learn something about themselves if they would only get to understand that other Christian.

Pragmatic Christians are not seeking their own kingdom but are truly seeking God’s kingdom.  Does this text say that we are to sit idly by and wait for God to feed and clothe us?  No!  It says that if we first seek His righteousness, His kingdom, then all that we need will be provided.  Seeking His kingdom must be first.  It is foremost that we have faith to go where He leads to go and to get but we must trust Him that He will provide the right way.  There are no shortcuts.

Macon Goodwin and others have a saying, “All that glitters is not gold.”  We are to seek God’s kingdom.  Worldly kingdoms are impure.  No matter how a human-governed group starts out, there is always the downfall.  We in the United States are seeing this with each passing day,

Jesus said in the opening sentences of this paragraph which begins with verse twenty-four, “24 hNo man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. iYe cannot serve God and kmammon.” [2]  As hard as it is to leave a place that feels comfortable, when a nation starts out in humility with reverence for what God has done, pure joy allows that nation to give all the glory to God.  For a while, the children of Israel worshipped God once they arrived in the Promised Land but little by little they looked around and covetousness for what other nations had replaced faith in God alone.  When God’s children allow what others count as power, self-dependence sets in and then trust in God fades.  Money, military, and man-power are no replacement for God’s provision.

In verse twenty-five there is that word therefore.  Therefore since you can’t serve God while you only think of your own importance, take no thought for your life.  You can’t make your own heart beat can you?  Can you make water or air to drink or to breathe?  What about the things that cover us?  We plant cotton and feed sheep for wool but we don’t make those things.  All we do is take care of the things God provides for us.  And by the way, we must do that.

The only thing that mankind has done to this earth is to alter what God made pure to begin with.  Remember the Rich Young Ruler when he addressed Jesus as Good Teacher?  Jesus reminded him that there is no good without God.  That goodness, that righteousness is what Jesus said we must seek.  Isn’t it a shame that many people only seem to see the wrong and seldom look for what is right in the world?  The sun still rises and sets.  The planets are still there.  Every morning that big old sun is there.  Maybe it’s hidden behind the clouds that God will use to water the ground to supply our needs but God is still at work.  Isn’t that Good?  Isn’t that God?

The birds of the air don’t do anything to grow what they need for food.  Neither do the deer that eat our garden.  The birds must fly to where the food is and the deer must sometimes put themselves in harm’s way to get to the food God provides.  We must be ready to receive that which God has delivered to us but we can count on Him to provide.  We can count on God to guide.  We must go where He leads.

The grass and the other vegetation count on us animals to exhale carbon dioxide.  God knew that when He set this system in motion and it still works.  We might plant the roses but He makes them beautiful.

All these things!  Can we begin to imagine that we could provide for ourselves?  Jesus said to consider the lilies.  I say consider the International Space Station.  Do you have any idea how much it takes to send supplies to that thing?  What happens if a group of astronauts doesn’t take the supplies to the ones in the space station?  Not to mention a ride home!  We are here on this space station that God is providing for us and there are no shuttles coming to provide for us.  He is purely and perfectly God and He alone is good.  Let us seek Him and leave the wrong alone.

All these things!  Many people in this world do not accept the gift of pure love from God.  They seek to replace what He purely gives with counterfeit stuff.  Trust Him and you won’t have to worry about a virus or the cure.  Love Him and each other and all that stuff will come.  The provisions that we need to serve Him and others will be there if we learn to trust Him even when we open our big mouths and tell others something that we have not thought out.

Peter was afraid of those in charge so he over spoke.  Jesus didn’t need to pay the temple tax.  It is His temple!  Since Peter opened his mouth when he should have kept it shut, Jesus opened a fish’s mouth and provided the perfect article not only for Peter but for the additional part that Peter paid for Jesus.  We are often so quick to tell others that tithing is something that is beyond our means.  God even gives us the tithe that He expects back.  How can we not trust Him?

Prayer:

Invitation:  Yesterday we celebrated Independence Day for this nation.  I pray that each and every one of us is celebrating our independence from dependence on anything or anybody other than God.  Yes He expects us to go when and where He says to go.  He provides the provisions for our lives; we must provide faith in Him alone as He leads us where we should go.

As we sing our song of invitation today, I invite you to pray for our nation’s independence from whatever divides us from His love.  If we return to that place that He brought us to when we accepted His Son, we will again find that purity, that goodness that only God can provide.  The only way for our nation to return to that place is if we individually decide to return to that place.

Jesus also said, “Let anot your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.” [3]

When troubles surround us
when evils come
The body grows weak
The spirit grows numb
When these things beset us,
He doesn't forget us
He sends down His love
On the wings of a dove

I thank God for my teacher Kenny Corn and thank God for Ferlin Husky and encouraging words that God gives to people like him.  As we sing thank God for God and each other.



s So 1 Kin. 3:11–14. Ps. 37:25. Mark 10:30. 1 Tim. 4:8.
[1] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Mt 6:33). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
h Luke 16:13. Comp. Josh. 24:19.
i So Gal. 1:10. James 4:4. 1 John 2:15.
k Luke 16:9, 11, 13.
[2] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Mt 6:24). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
a ver. 27. See ch. 11:33. So ch. 16:6, 22, 33.
[3] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Jn 14:1). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.