SEEK YE FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD

I want to focus on the words, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness.”

What is Jesus saying here? He told us not to worry about material things, to give them a low priority. Certainly, don’t put the focus of your life on getting them – a better house, a better car, better clothes. Focus on living for God. An extreme interpretation is to go around with just the clothes on your back, taking whatever food people will give you. Before you say that’s crazy, remember that Jesus and His Disciples lived like that. But not everyone has to go that far, since there does have to be people to give the food and make the clothes!

Certainly, Jesus meant that we should have a spiritual focus, an attitude, much different from focusing on this ordinary life.

Many preachers and writers have called this “Kingdom Living.” You live for the Kingdom of God, and in a sense, you live like you are already in it. If you are a Christian, if you are following Jesus, you already are living (or you should be) with the Kingdom of God within you – Jesus said that.

You may never get rich. You probably won’t have as much money as you would have if you didn’t follow Jesus. But you will manage to live your way through life. Everyone does. So will you. You may not be rich, but you will live.

Matthew, chapters 5, 6 and 7 are called the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus gave this, and it is the greatest sermon ever given.

Here Jesus calls for an incredible standard, a heavenly level of righteousness, far above what people think is “being a good person.” If you read it, you will be amazed. You may think, “I can’t live this way. I can’t have the attitudes Jesus talked about.” But Jesus did live that way and had those attitudes. His sermon, His standard, should be a goal for you. Fix your mind on it. Try to be like that. Aim at the spiritual above the material. Let me give you some things Jesus said. Turn back to chapter 5.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God” (Matthew 5:3-9).

These are called the Beatitudes. You have probably heard them before. They show a highly spiritual way of thinking and living. Be poor and sad in your heart? Be meek? Be pure in heart? Hunger and thirst after righteousness? Do you do that? Some have gone far in following this – and they are the great “saints,” the great spiritual people of history. Again, we see that Christ taught a “higher life,” a “high spiritual life.”

But Jesus did not teach to neglect the basic righteousness, the basic duties of the Christian life. He said, “Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20). Oh, oh! You have to have the seriousness and effort that the Pharisees had. Jesus didn’t want you to be a slob and a lazy bum in your religion.

“I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca [worthless], shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire” (Matthew 5:22).

If you’re angry without a reason, you’re in deep trouble. Don’t be angry because of personal dislike or personal offense. But it IS all right to be angry for a good reason. I am angry at the Pride events that are going on this month. I am angry about abortion. I am angry about sexual perversion. I am angry about false religion. But I am not angry at any of you.

Jesus said, “Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). How can anyone avoid that? I have had the wrong thoughts, and I’m sure many of you have too. That’s why we need the Blood of Christ. That’s why we can’t be good enough ourselves. I’m not and you’re not. But here Jesus puts forth a standard of “heavenly purity” far above what people live like today. And yet He is right, you have to admit it. This is the higher spiritual life that Jesus lived, and that He presents to us. I pray for “chastity,” a clean attitude and mind, not a dirty one. Then Jesus said,

“Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44).

How can you do this? Love people who hate you and treat you bad? But God does! He sent Jesus to die for you so you would be forgiven. Jesus loves you! He gave His Blood for you.

If you follow this even a little bit, it will change your life. Here’s something simple: try to put the other person first. Think of what they want and need. Even if you don’t really like them. Jesus took on the job of a servant. Why can’t you, at least a little? His truth transforms lives and makes people into a new creation. Amen.

In chapter 6, Christ told us to be private about our praying, and about our giving. Don’t show off. Don’t put your name on something like rich people do, as Trump does. They will get no heavenly reward. As Dr. Timothy Lin said, “Just do it.” Don’t talk about how much you pray or how much you give. Just do it.

And Jesus said, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:19-21). You can have a bank account or an IRA here – but your real one is in Heaven.

Don’t make money your priority. Don’t make achievements and honors your priority. Elon Musk is now a trillionaire. A trillion is a million million. And he wants to take the human race to Mars. But none of that will get him to Heaven or help him after he dies! Then he will stand before God naked and ashamed and be cast into Hell for his sins.

Abel brought a blood offering to God. God accepted it. Cain brought a fancy vegetable offering. God refused it, and him. Don’t be like Cain. Don’t be like Elon Musk. Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness.

And Christ said, “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14-15).

This is a command. If someone hurts you, forgive him! I used to be angry and bitter towards some people. But God showed me this very serious command. He won’t forgive you if you don’t forgive others. I looked through my 72 years of life, and in all those years I could only think of a very few people who actually hurt me or did wrong to me. And I came to forgive them.

How to do that? Put yourself in that person’s shoes. Think about what they were thinking and feeling, and their reasons why they did what they did. Maybe the person was not a Christian, and they followed the priorities they did have. If you think about why they did what they did, you can forgive them. I did, and it has healed me tremendously. I hope you will do that.

But I must say there are some things that I do not forgive. Is this a contradiction? Jesus was talking about forgiving a personal offense, something that someone did to me. But an offense against God, or against the church itself, the damage and destruction of the church, the work of the Devil, that I do not forgive. People who tear the church apart for their personal gain and goals, that I do not forgive. I can forgive for the hurt they caused me, but I do not forgive for what they did to the church of God. That was more than against me. It was against God Himself and the church, which Christ died for.

I cannot give that person a hug. I must stand against him. Most of you know who I’m talking about. But all of you should know the idea.

“Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness.” I have tried to show you something of the heavenly path, the heavenly attitude that Christ taught. If you do it even a little bit, it will bless you beyond measure.

And why not apply this path and this attitude in your own life decisions? If you lose money for following Christ, you are obeying what Jesus said. If someone offers you a job that pays more – but you have to work on Sunday – don’t do it. Seek ye first the kingdom of God. God will still be there for you.

Seek first the kingdom of God in who you love, in who you marry. This is hard for some of you right now. The Bible says that a Christian must only marry another Christian – as strong and as serious as you can find. For some of you, there isn’t anyone here to marry. [Side hint: there are people who are being ignored.] If you go for a lost person, I promise you for sure that it will hurt you. I don’t care if he or she is physically attractive, or makes money, or seems like a nice person. It WILL hurt you. DON’T do it.

Seek first the kingdom of God in your life focus, in your life attitude, in your personality. Stop and think about how you act and how you treat people. Even a little will help a great deal.

Seek the kingdom of God with your time. Do as much as you can, not as little. Come to church every time the door is open. Put God first.

Finally, seek first the kingdom of God with your soul. If you don’t, you will lose your soul forever and ever. Don’t let that happen to you. It would be such a tragedy if you came to church and heard the sermons, but you never trusted Jesus. That will happen if you don’t seek the forgiveness of your sins through Christ. You don’t have to be “real real bad” to be lost. You just have to let the time go by. You just have to let your conversion go. The Bible says,

“How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation” (Hebrews 2:3).

If you neglect your salvation, if you postpone, if you put it off, if you let it go, you will not escape. Come to Jesus before it’s too late! Amen.