Sermon Central
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What's Your Story? Series
Contributed by Jeff Strite on Jul 20, 2014 (message contributor)
Summary: What does it mean to "seek first God's Kingdom"? What does it mean to "seek first God's righteousness?" How do we know when we've done that, and how willing are we to embrace those priorities in our lives?
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OPEN: We showed the following youtube clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93LY5O7E5bU
(An interview with Jase & Missy Robertson of Duck Dynasty where they described what their home life is like)
What you just witnessed was an interview with Jase and Missy Robertson (of Duck Dynasty) on K-Love Radio. What I found interesting about that interview was Jase’s last comment. He meant it to be humorous, but it struck me as being the main focus of their message in the interview.
And his comment was this:
"That’s our story and we’re sticking to it."
So, what was their story?
What were they talking about here?
Well, their story was that they had “core values” and a foundation they’d built their family on. And as I was listening to the interview I found that those core values they described fit right in with what Jesus was teaching in Matthew 6.
In the sermon on the Mount Jesus said: “…seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33
That’s what the Robertson’s were saying was their foundation.
Now, what does that mean though?
What does it mean that you seek 1st His kingdom and His righteousness?
It means that your priorities begin FIRST with God.
So, let’s think this through: Whose Kingdom is it? (God’s)
That’s right, it’s God’s Kingdom!
And for every Kingdom, there’s a King and subjects.
Who’s the King in this Kingdom? (God)
That’s right - God is the King - it’s His kingdom.
He gets to set the standards and to say what is "right" and what is "wrong."
And every kingdom has subjects. Who are the subjects in God’s Kingdom? (We are)
That’s right. If we belong to Jesus Christ, we are His subjects.
Because if we aren't the subjects of His Kingdom, then we belong to the other guy’s Kingdom.
And that’s not an appealing concept.
So, how do I seek first His kingdom?
Well, we’d have to decide to agree with the Robertson’s.
They said: “we trust in God and we believe His way is the better way in all things in life.”
If we seek first His Kingdom then we believe His way is the better way in everything
So if God’s way is the best for us… why wouldn’t we want to seek His kingdom first? (Pause)
Well, the problem is, I want things MY WAY. After all, it’s MY LIFE… it’s not His.
He may be God… but I have to pay the bills.
He may be God… but I want this promotion/ position/ place in the group. People may not want me around if I chose God’s way... so maybe I won’t seek His Kingdom first.
There can be a price to pay that I may not want to pay.
ILLUS: Just to prove the point, last week we talked about A&E suspending Phil Robertson for his comments about homosexuality. What I didn’t realize until I began to do research for this sermon series was that originally Phil was not the only family member in the room when the interview began. In fact, the entire family – and some of the rest of the cast – were in the room to begin with. But the reporter was so confrontational that everybody just go up and left… except Phil Robertson, who wanted to tell this reporter about Jesus. But more about that next week.
As you know A&E was not pleased with Phil’s comments and so they suspended him.
A&E reasoned that the rest of the family would continue with the show.
They reasoned that no one would give up the popularity of such a show for their principles.
They reasoned that this family would care more for the money than they did for their God.
They reasoned wrong.
Immediately after the suspension, the family put out a news release: "We have had a successful working relationship with A&E but, as a family, we cannot imagine the show going forward without our patriarch at the helm. We are in discussions with A&E to see what that means for the future of 'Duck Dynasty.'"
You know what they were saying?
They were saying: “You suspend Daddy, you’ve suspended all of us.
You can roll those cameras all you like, but we won’t be there to do the show.”
They were saying: "We agree with Dad and we agree with God. And if we need to… we’ll say goodbye to A&E.”
In their case, A&E backed down… but it doesn’t always work that way
ILLUS: Just recently Home and Garden Television (HGTV) canceled a do-it-yourself program hosted by a couple of Bible believers Jason & David Benham. They had spoken out about their view on issues like gay marriage and abortion and HGTV didn’t like that… so they fired them.
