Seek First
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Handout
Seeking the Kingdom of God
Seeking the Kingdom of God
“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
What does Seek mean?
“seek,” (ζητέω) here does not necessarily mean to look for something not yet present and, given the context of the Gospel, certainly cannot mean one should seek to bring in the kingdom. This imperative means rather that one should make the kingdom the center of one’s existence and thus experience the rule of God fully in one’s heart, hence the present tense, “keep seeking.” To pursue the kingdom in this way is also to seek τὴν δικαιοσύνην αὐτοῦ, dikaiosynē“his [viz., God’s] righteousness,” i.e., true righteousness or that which is truly the will of God as it is defined by the teaching of Jesus
Donald A. Hagner, Matthew 1–13, vol. 33A, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1993), 165–166.Brethren, we ought to learn—and learn it very soon—that it is much better to have God first and have God Himself even if we have only a thin dime than to have all the riches and all the influence in the world and not have God with it!
Brethren, we ought to learn—and learn it very soon—that it is much better to have God first and have God Himself even if we have only a thin dime than to have all the riches and all the influence in the world and not have God with it!
Matthew 6:33; Matthew 16:24–26
I Talk Back to the Devil, 26.
A. W. Tozer
James 4:4 (KJV 1900)
Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
word; beloved, dear, friendly:
Robert L. Thomas, New American Standard Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek Dictionaries : Updated Edition (Anaheim: Foundation Publications, Inc., 1998).ἔχθρα echthra; from 2190; enmity:—enemies(1), enmities(1), enmity(2), hostile(1), hostility(1).
Robert L. Thomas, New American Standard Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek Dictionaries : Updated Edition (Anaheim: Foundation Publications, Inc., 1998).
And He said to them, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more at this time and in the age to come, eternal life.”
For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
(3.) To mortify. Εἰ θανατοῦτε,—“If ye put to death;” a metaphorical expression, taken from the putting of any living thing to death. To kill a man, or any other living thing, is to take away the principle of all his strength, vigour, and power, so that he cannot act or exert, or put forth any proper actings of his own; so it is in this case. Indwelling sin is compared to a person, a living person, called “the old man,” with his faculties, and properties, his wisdom, craft, subtlety, strength; this, says the apostle, must be killed, put to death, mortified, that is, have its power, life, vigour, and strength, to produce its effects, taken away by the Spirit. It is, indeed, meritoriously, and by way of example, utterly mortified and slain by the cross of Christ; and the “old man” is thence said to be “crucified with Christ,” Rom. 6:6, and ourselves to be “dead” with him, verse 8, and really initially in regeneration, Rom. 6:3–5
John Owen, The Works of John Owen, ed. William H. Goold, vol. 6 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, n.d.), 8.
