Seeking Him Leads To Relational Fruitfulness
So we took last Sunday to dig into Jesus' profound command:
"Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you" Matt. 6:33.
This is our Christian life, yet it is one of the most difficult things to do.
Check out last Sunday's sermon "One Thing" from our new series, Seek Ye First
Seeking first calls us to reexamine our priorities.
To question the thought patterns, illusive desires, and cultural ideologies...
And to focus ourselves on the "one thing"--seeking first the King.
Actually those two phrases "the kingdom" and "His righteousness" are one.
The Kingdom is, as you might guess, the Kingdom of God.
But it doesn't mean, as many simply assume, merely the return of Jesus at the end of time.
Nor does it mean merely salvation as a one time prayer (as miraculous as that moment is!)
The Kingdom is the active reign of God in a person, or organization, or nation or whatever it may be.
Think of the Kingdom as the "King's Domain", when a person or people are totally given over holistically, internally and externally, to the ways, rights, power, and purpose of God.
Jesus will say, ""But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you" Luke 11:20.
Oh, we say, okay Jesus--is that what you meant by seeking first the Kingdom? Spiritual warfare? Is it all about finding a demon behind every bush?
No and yes.
What He is saying is that the Kingdom of God is evident when everything working against the reign of God on earth has been expelled.
Whether a demon expelled, a sin forgiven, an injustice made right, a wound healed, etc.
Or in other words, for Jesus, it is the reign of God in a person or people that we need to be seeking first.
And it includes our whole selves.
Our whole lives.
Whether we're saved.
Whether we've prayed a prayer.
Whether we're secure for the second coming or not.
The Kingdom, the domain of God in my life and in our lives is something that we must keep seeking daily.
And that will actually manifest itself in relational fruitfulness.
This is where the phrase "and His righteousness” comes in.
I've heard it said that the Kingdom of God is a Kingdom of right relationships.
And if God's reign is sought first in our heart and in our church family and in our community, what will shift is our relationships.
This includes a whole host of things like forgiveness, forbearance, honesty, compassion, testimonies, honoring one another, wisdom, counsel, generosity, more forgiveness, lots of prayer, more honesty, leaning on Jesus.
There's nothing like an unrighteous dynamic in a relationship to reveal to you that you still have a ways to go in seeking first the reign of God in your heart and around you.
And thus, the two phrases become one, for our lack in the areas of love mirror to us the need and desire for seeking first the Kingdom in us and around us.
And, remember, this is all so that God can entrust to you the things that you are needing.
He is a good, good Father.
He knows what we need before we ask Him.
He's not stingy.
He's prioritizing your heart.
And He's inviting us to do the same with Him.
Let's see where He'll lead us in the weeks ahead, as we “Seek Ye First!”
Pastor Dave