Seek First

Introduction

In the last two sessions, we have looked at two different ways that the world attacks Christians. The first is through laying up earthly treasures. We learned that this is not a temptation only for the rich; we all have treasures that can be laid up here on earth. Thought these treasures may be material treasures such as money, houses, cars, collections, etc. They may also be things like goals, aspirations, relationships, status and positions, and a great number of other things.

This is the frontal assault that the world launches on each Christian. We all have a tendency to hold any of these things as precious treasures, and many Christians have become worldly Christians because their mind is now set, not on Christ, but on treasures here on earth.

Last wee, we expanded on this and found that the world not only launches an overt frontal assault on Christians, it also launches a covert assault in the form of anxiety. See, the world’s mission is the same as Satan’s - to ruin Christian lives. If Christians are consumed with gaining treasures here on earth, they will be of little effect to the kingdom of heaven. But the world can accomplish this mission via worry just as effectively. Many Christians find themselves utterly content with the fact that they are not attached to any earthly treasure and are actively defending against those temptations, yet they become worried and anxious over the thought of not having certain provisions for or conditions in their lives.

No, these Christians have not become materialistic, nor have they become envious of power or positions that others have attained. Since the world has not been successful in that area, it proceeds to tempt these Christians to worry about their circumstances.

Let’s read these verses that we covered last week. Matthew 6:25-32

Matthew 6:25–32 KJV 1900

25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? 26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? 28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? 31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

Jesus points out a subtle trap that the enemy sets, for the world takes something that is good one step too far and turns it into something destructive.

During our Home Groups last week, our group had a question that may have come up in other groups as well. The question was, “Is there a difference between worry and worry?” The answer to that is yes, and the way I would differentiate the two is by calling them two different things.

On the one hand, we have concern. I am concerned that my children have enough food to eat, so therefore, I keep my pantry as stocked as I can so that there is food. When food starts to run low, I buy more. This is simply taking care of things that are in my power to take care of.

I even have concern over things that I cannot take care of. I have friends who are not saved or are saved, but not following Jesus as they should. It is that concern that drives me to pray for them, witness to them, and share God’s word with them. I wish for their lives to change, and I am concerned about it when they do not, but I also know that I cannot change their lives. It is up to me to share what I can with them, and let God do the rest. That concern leads me to continue in prayer for them.

That concern is good. This concern should about things should move us to compassion that will then move us to acts of love.

But the world seeks to corrupt that sense of concern, and when it does, the road that it takes is not to compassion, the road it leads us to is to anxiety and worry. Anxiety is not compassionate. Anxiety is destructive. It is destructive to our physical health; it is destructive to our trust in God (as it reflects a very small trust in God). Anxiety is destructive to our relationships as it causes prolonged stress that affects the way we treat others.

Anxiety is paralyzing, and the Christian that is led down this path cannot function well as a disciple of Christ.

We saw last week, and we read just a while ago, that Jesus takes the issue of worry and anxiety and gives us the root cause of these - little faith. This little faith is one that does not extend beyond salvation and into daily trusting God for everything as we should.

This passage along with the whole of chapter 6 reminds us to recognize our identity as children of a loving Father who promises to meet all our needs.

Don’t Seek

This sermon, which I have titled Seek First,is probably best introduced by the negative statement “Don’t Seek.” And this week, as we finish up Matthew chapter 6, we want to focus on the last four verses. Let’s break these down section by section starting with Matthew 6:31-32 which was part of our closing text last week.

Matthew 6:31–32 KJV 1900

31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

One of the things that we saw Jesus point out last week was that it was those of little faith who are dominated by worry. Jesus has sought to increase our faith through different means. First, from verse 1, Jesus has repeatedly pointed out the true identity of each Christian - those that have a personal relationship with Jesus are Children of God. This whole chapter is about our relationship with God as our Father.

I’ll take this time to remind you that this relationship to God can only happen through accepting the gift of salvation and forgiveness of sins through faith in Jesus Christ, something that Jesus calls being born again. And those that have placed their faith fully in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins and have asked Him to save them, are now children of God. This whole Sermon on the Mount is for us!

But there are Christians who forget that God is more than just a saving God, He is a God who provides and cares for every detail of our lives because He is a good Father.

We talked at length about having little faith last week so I will not go any deeper this week with that. However, we will see a few things about increasing our faith this morning.

These two verses we just read fall on the heels of Jesus saying, that those that worry about the different aspects of life have little faith.

And now He says, “Take no thought,” or simply, “Don’t worry about what you will eat, drink, or be clothed with.” But why? and he points us to the reason we have on the screens in verse 32. - “For after all these things do the Gentiles seek.”

So our Lord tells us first, “Don’t seek these things.”

We need to understand first off what the word seek means. After all, Jesus makes it a point to say that it is after food, drink, clothing, and even the care of life itself that the Gentiles “seek.” So what does “seek” mean?

The word in the Greek is epizēteō: to search or inquire for; to intensively demand or crave: — desire, seek (after, for). to seek diligently; to wish for, crave; to demand, clamour for

This is not just a word that means to look for, no, it goes beyond that. When you intensely crave something, your body and mind clamour for it. They demand it, and your goal becomes the successful pursuit of that thing. That is the weight of this word seek.

The Characteristics of the Heathen

It is the Gentile that seeks to preserve their life. It is the Gentile that seeks to provide for himself, and in essence, what Jesus is telling us here as He says, “Don’t seek after these things because the Gentiles are the ones that seek these things,” is the same thing He has been telling us since He opened up the Sermon on the Mount with the Beatitudes - Christians are different!

“But,” you might say, “doesn’t the word Gentile mean someone who is not a Jew?” And if that is what you are thinking, you are not wrong. In its simplest form, the word Gentile means not a Jew. In which case, most, if not all of us in this congregation would fit the bill perfectly.

But the word Gentile carries with it a deeper understanding, something we often do not think about, especially in this church age.

To understand that, we need to understand who the Jews were. The Jews, the Israelite nation, were God’s chosen people. Chosen for what? Well, for a great many things, none the least was that they were chosen by God as the nation through which the Messiah, Jesus Christ, would come, bringing forgiveness of sins to the whole world.

But the Jews were also the repository for God’s words. The Bible tells us that unto the Jews were committed the oracles, the utterances, the words, of God. It was the Jews as a nation that had the law of God. They had special knowledge and revelation of God, His person, and His character. Does that mean that God only ever spoke to Jews and never to Gentiles? Absolutely not, but it was uniquely the Jewish nation that had the law of God and had been chosen by God.

So what does this mean? It means that all the other nations did not have what the Jews had- God’s law or His words. The word Gentile in this context means more than not a Jew. In this case, the word Gentile means heathen.

The heathen people, the Godless people, those without knowledge of God, without a relationship to Him as Father, without salvation; those people that are steeped in sin, slaves to their own desires, mastered by sin, by Satan, and by the world - those people are the ones that are anxious about their life, about their food, about their clothes, and about everything else.

“DON’T SEEK after these things!” Jesus says. But why? Because it is the heathens that seek after these things, and Christians are fundamentally different to heathens. They know nothing of God. Ephesians 2:12 is Paul’s description about what people are without Christ.

Ephesians 2:12 KJV 1900

12 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel [not part of God’s chosen people], and strangers from the covenants of promise [not knowing God’s words], having no hope, [why? because we were...] without God in the world:

Those without Christ, those without God, do not have God’s word nor can they understand it even when they do have access to it. They have no relationship to God, and because of that, they have no hope. No hope in this life. No hope that a laving, heavenly Father will give them their necessities; no hope that they will be guarded and sheltered and clothed by Him; and no hope for the preservation of their own life.

Christians are not like the heathen. So don’t seek after what the heathen seek.

The Philosophy of the Heathen

To understand what the heathen seek and why, we first need to be familiar with two popular worldviews or philosophies that those without God hold.

The theory of contingency. This philosophy states that everything that happens is accidental. There is no rhyme or reason for anything, and you can never know what may happen next. This means, of course, that there is no design or designer of life. This is a very old and very prominent worldview. Those that hold to this view, when pressed, must come to the conclusion that there is no purpose whatsoever in life, as everything is coincidental.

Fatalism - Fatalism is the philosophy that states that there is nothing that you can do about life. It is the complete opposite of the contingency view. Fatalism states that there is a power or factor that is controlling life completely called fate. This means that everything is predetermined, and people move along predetermined lines. Fatalism supposedly invites people to be free of worry, yet it leads to anxiety. Though fatalism states that everything is predetermined, there is no assurance for what will happen in the future, nor is there a satisfactory answer as to why “fate” makes things happen.

Though not the only two philosophies present in this world, they do make up the extremes, in between which most other philosophy of this world will find its place. Beware of the philosophies of this world. The world is in attack mode, and its philosophies will try to creep into every Christian heart and mind to corrupt the true Christian worldview.

The Philosophy of Christianity

Christians are not like the heathen. So what is our philosophy?

The Christian view, the one taught in the Bible, especially through this Sermon on the Mount, is the doctrine of certainty. That worldview, that philosophy, that doctrine or teaching tells us that certain things are certain because we are in the hands of a living God.

There is a great difference between this view and the views of contingency and fatalism. One of the certainties that we hold to is the certainty that every born-again Christian is a child of God, and this means that there are other certainties.

We are certain of God’s existence and His goodness, especially toward those that seek Him Hebrews 11:6

Hebrews 11:6 KJV 1900

6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

If you are not certain that God exists and that he is a rewarder of those that seek Him, you cannot have a relationship with Him.

We are certain of God loving the world so much that He sent Jesus to save not just the Jews, but the Gentiles too. 1 Timothy 3:16

1 Timothy 3:16 KJV 1900

16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

We are certain that those that believe in Jesus and cry out to him for salvation and the forgiveness of sins, will receive salvation. Romans 10:13

Romans 10:13 KJV 1900

13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

We are certain that Jesus is coming back again, just as He said he would. Acts 1:11

Acts 1:11 KJV 1900

11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

And you know what else we are certain of? We are certain of God’s provision for those that follow Jesus. Psalm 84:11

Psalm 84:11 KJV 1900

11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield: The Lord will give grace and glory: No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.

Philippians 4:19 KJV 1900

19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Who was the letter of Philippians written to? To a group of believers that were following Jesus. To a church that was being a blessing to other believers and to Paul because they loved God and they loved God’s work.

King David wrote in the twilight of his life these words found in Psalm 37:25

Psalm 37:25 KJV 1900

25 I have been young, and now am old; Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his seed begging bread.

Who is David talking about? The righteous. David is talking about those whose hearts and lives have been fully surrendered to the will of the Father. Those people he has never seen suffer the necessities of life. David saw that all those people are provided in one way or another for their basic necessities by God, and their children as well.

Don’t Seek Like the Heathen

So don’t seek like the heathen. Don’t be like the pagans. Don’t think like the godless.

If you are worried and anxious about this life, if you are not certain that God will provide for you, the one of two things has happened.

You are not actively following Jesus and not living righteously and therefore cannot lay claim to the certainty of God’s provision.

You are holding onto a worldly philosophy and are thinking like a heathen, having forgotten your true identity.

As a Christian, these words should never come out of your mouth again, “I just worry, it’s what I do.” If you say those words and mean them, what you are admitting to is, “I am a worldly Christian. I have the mindset of an unbeliever.”

Instead, what God calls us to do, the answer and solution for worry, for anxiety, for life, the universe, and everything is not 42, but it is found in the next verse of Matthew 6. It is simply to

Seek First

Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Matthew 6:33

Matthew 6:33 KJV 1900

33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Look at the end of that verse. “All these things.” What does that mean? It is all the things that the heathen seek after. It is food, drink, clothing, and everything needed for life. All these things will be added unto you, will be supplied for you, worry free, without anxiety, sans fear, on one condition: Seek God’s kingdom first and His righteousness.

We know what seek means. Crave it, demand it, search incessantly for it. Seek God’s kingdom first. This does not mean, “get saved first.” People say of salvation that they have “found God” or “found Jesus.” But in reality, it is we who have been found by Jesus. No, this is not what “seek God’s kingdom” means. It means seek the needs of the kingdom, seek the characteristics of the kingdom, seek to be an active citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven that thinks like a citizen of God’s Kingdom and therefore lives and talks and behaves and reacts and acts like a citizen of the Kingdom of God.

First. This word is super important! It doesn’t mean first as in a list of things to do, it means first in order of priority. Seek God’s kingdom first. Prioritize God’s kingdom over everything. Over food, over, clothes, over status, over wealth, over things, over goals, and yes, over family itself. You may think this is a hash saying, but husbands, let me tell you something. The absolute best thing that you can do for your wife is that you love and seek God’s kingdom first. Wives, the best thing you can do for your husbands is to love and seek God’s kingdom first. Parents, you want to be the best mom or dad that you possibly can? Love God and seek His kingdom first. Don’t put them first, put God first and watch as He gives your family an abundant life.

Seek first God’s kingdom, hunger and thirst after His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. No need to worry. No need to fret. No need to be anxious. We can seek Him first knowing that He cares for us and will provide for us according to His will.

It takes humility. You have to put yourself last. Not second, last. In English, we can use the word JOY as an acrostic that can help us to remember how we can have joy.

J - Jesus

O - Others

Y - Yourself

This is seen in Jesus’ response to the question, “What is the greatest commandment?” To which Jesus responds, “The first [not in order of appearance, but order of priority] and great commandment is this, Thou shalt love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind. And the second {again, in order of priority] is like the first: thou shalt love your neighbor as yourself.”

It takes humility to seek God’s kingdom first. Satan will try to make you uncertain, but look at what 1 Peter 5:6-7 says

1 Peter 5:6–7 KJV 1900

6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: 7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

Only when you are humble, only when you put God first, can you cast all your anxieties on Him and be certain that He cares for you.

So that is our promise for the present. I can cast my cares about what is going on around me and happening to me now upon Jesus, but what about tomorrow? What about next month? I can’t seem to shake the worry for the future.

Don’t Worry about Tomorrow

This is Jesus’ instruction for us. Look at Matthew 6:34

Matthew 6:34 KJV 1900

34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Remember, “take no thought” does not mean, “don’t think” or even “don’t prepare,” it means don’t worry. Don’t worry about tomorrow. Why? Because you can’t bank anxiety. Tomorrow is something I cannot control. I cannot control what will happen tomorrow. I cannot control if I will even be alive tomorrow. Tomorrow in the eyes of the heathen is uncertain, but in the eyes of the Christian, it is certainly in the hands of God.

One more thing of which we are certain as Christians is that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. God never changes. Hebrews 13:8

Hebrews 13:8 KJV 1900

8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

The same God that provides for me today and leads me today is going to be there tomorrow, and He will do the same thing tomorrow, as long as I do what? Seek first His Kingdom.

Invitation

This message, like all the messages in the Sermon on the Mount, have been primarily for Christians. But let me tell you something. If you are here and do not know Jesus as your personal savior, you are not a Christian, and these promises do not apply to you. But God has no desire for you to live your life in worry, anxiety, and uncertainty. He wants you to be certain of your salvation, He wants you to be certain of your future in heaven. he wants you to be certain that you are His child and that He is your loving and caring heavenly Father.

That is why Jesus came. He came to die on the cross to pay for our sins. He offers that payment to you for free so that you can be God’s child. But you must accept that payment. If you are here this morning and unsure of your relationship with Jesus but would like to know more about it, I would love to pray for you and talk with you after the service.

Christians, we discussed a couple of weeks ago that there are some tough truths to swallow in the Sermon on the Mount. This passage came with one too, and that is that if you are seeking anything other than God’s kingdom first in your life, then you are living like an unbeliever. Your spirituality is negligible. Your philosophy is worldly, and thus, you have every reason to worry about food, about clothes, about life, and everything in it, because it is those that hunger and thirst after righteousness, it is those that are true practicing followers of Jesus, it is they that have the certainty that they need not worry about a thing in this life.

Is there anyone that would say this morning, “Bro. Mike, if I am honest, I have been seeking my own will and my own treasures and my own things first. I have prioritized other things and other people above God, but today as God is dealing with my heart, I am going to commit to seeking God’s kingdom first.”

Is there anyone like that?

I am going to as Tahsha to sing a song. During this time of invitation, I am not going to ask you to sing. I am simply going to ask you to deal with God. Take this time, examine yourself. Are you really seeking God’s kingdom first?