Kingdom Building 101: First Things First

KINGDOM BUILDING 101: FIRST THINGS FIRST

MATTHEW 6: 25-34

FEBRUARY 22, 2004

INTRODUCTION: A parable is told of a community of ducks waddling off to duck church one Sunday to hear their duck preacher. After they waddled into the duck sanctuary, the service began and the duck preacher spoke eloquently of how God had given the ducks wings with which to fly.

He pounded the pulpit with his beak and said,

With these wings, there is nowhere we ducks cannot go!

There is no God-given task we ducks cannot accomplish!

With these wings we no longer need walk through life.

We can soar high in the sky!

Shouts of Amen! were quacked throughout the duck congregation.

The duck preacher concluded his message by exclaiming,

With our wings we can fly through life!

WE......CAN.....FLY!!!!¨ More ducks quacked out loud AMENS! in response.

Every duck loved the service.

In fact all the ducks that were present commented on what a wonderfully convicting message they had heard from their duck preacher....

and then they left the church and waddled all the way home.

APPLICATION

Too often We waddle away from worship

the same way we waddled in....

Unchanged. Contributed by: George Rennau

TRANSITION THOUGHT: I have been wrestling with this one all week. The text Tony read for us today has a very, very familiar line in it: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well (Matthew 6:33).” We all learned this one in the King James and it says: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” The thing I have wrestled with all week is how do we apply this text to our lives. How do we truly become God seekers? What does it mean to put first things first? Maybe the real issue is how do we not apply the text to our lives. We all seem to be stressed out most of the time and I include my self in this reality. God’s word, our text clearly teaches an opposite lifestyle for those that follow Jesus. So what can we learn from Jesus, this text, and putting first things first? How do we ducks learn to fly and not waddle?

THESIS SENTENCE: WHEN THE KINGDOM IS FIRST IN OUR LIVES WORRY IS LAST IN OUR LIVES.

I. A WORRYLESS LIFE IS KNOWING OUR VALUE VV. 25-27

A. WORRY IS THE PROBLEM

1. There is one word in this text that I just can’t seem to get around. Can you guess what the word is?

2. Why one earth would Jesus use the same word six times in 10 verses? I do believe our Lord is making a point! Not only is he making a point, He is sharing a Command. The command is: “DO NOT WORRY.”

3. Is this just pie in the sky by and by? Surely Jesus is just speaking to the simpletons of HIS day who had no real life issues to worry about?

B. VALUE IS THE ANSWER

1. Value in and of itself is not the answer our text shares with us. We put value on many things and have value placed upon us for many reasons. We value an old sweatshirt because it is comfortable. Friends and family because of mutual needs value us.

2. In our text, however, we are given value by the highest member of our family. He is our heavenly Father.

3. Life seems to be the worrisome issue here and Our Father seems to understand life and how to perpetuate it.

4. “Give us today our daily bread” (6:11) has just been shared with us and it seems that Jesus is validating the reality that Our Heavenly Father can handle the request. He feeds the world; he can feed us.

5. The highlight of these verses is really the why of it all. We are much more valuable than everything else our Father feeds.

ILLUSTRATION: A story is told of a man who loved old books. He met an acquaintance who had just thrown away a Bible that had been stored in the attic of his ancestral home for generations. "I couldn’t read it," the friend explained. "Somebody named Guten-something had printed it." "Not Gutenberg!" the book lover exclaimed in horror. "That Bible was one of the first books ever printed. Why, a copy just sold for over two million dollars!" His friend was unimpressed. "Mine wouldn’t have brought a dollar. Some fellow named Martin Luther had scribbled all over it in German."

Our Daily Bread, June 7, 1994.

TRUTH: OUR HEAVENLY FATHER VALUES US!

QUESTION: DID YOU KNOW YOU WERE VALUABLE?

II. A WORRYLESS LIFE IS LEARNING FAITH VV. 28-30

A. WORRY IS THE PROBLEM