THE KINGDOM PERSPECTIVE
Matthew 6:31-33
Read at beginning of service:
John 14:27 (NIV)
27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
INTRODUCTION
I remember some of the activities that would be done to foster the skill of cooperation and reasoning when I was growing up in school. One activity was centered around the story of being stranded on a desert island. As a group we would have to decide what items would be the most important to have on this desert island with us. It was funny some of the responses that would come from the group members – of course the girls were always more concerned about the hygienic items than the guys!!
In another scenario the discussion centered around a trip to the moon and what would be the most important things to have on this trip. I remember that we had violent arguments over what would be crucial to take on this trip and the sheepishness we all felt when the teacher pointed out at the conclusion that we hadn’t even thought about air! It would have been a pretty short trip!
One of the things I remember about these kinds of activities was that invariably there would always be disagreement about what was most important! But another impact they had on me was that it made me think about some of the things I take for granted in life such as food, water, and the air I breathe!
The questions posed in these activities are parallel to some of the kinds of questions every single one of us ask about our lives. Of course we’re not stranded on desert islands or headed to the moon but we all have our own opinions about what kinds of things are most important for where we are right now. Our answer to the question, "what is most important to my life?" defines the things that give us our sense of fulfillment and security in life. And when our answer to that question is not obtained then we experience anxiety and worry.
As we grow older our answer to this question is continually changing. When we were babies all that was really important was food, sleep, a loving touch, and a fresh change of clothes every now and then! Gradually with age these basic needs have never changed but a whole slew of other things become just as - or even in some cases more - important to us!
Today, as we conclude the series on the "Secrets of the kingdom of God" we’re going to look at a portion of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount that I believe describes one of the greatest impacts the kingdom of God can have on your life.
Matthew 6:25-34 (NIV)
25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 28 "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ’What shall we eat?’ or ’What shall we drink?’ or ’What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
The point that I started out making this morning is that we all have different answers to the question, "What is the most important in my life?" Of course the answer to this question describes the things you seek to have in your life – and the success of that search determines our fulfillment and security – failure in this search leads to anxiety and worry.
A lot of times when we look at this particular passage of scripture we zero in on Jesus’ admonition to not worry and have anxiety about things in life but instead seek Him out and trust that He will take care of all this stuff. Though I don’t want to challenge this observation in any way I really don’t think that this is the whole picture of what Jesus wants us to understand here, especially in the light of what I’ve discovered about the kingdom of God (or kingdom of heaven).
You see, I believe the point that Jesus is trying to drive home to his hearers is that "WHAT we seek is not as important as what we seek FIRST!" In other words, Jesus isn’t saying, "don’t concern yourself with what you eat, drink, or wear" BUT He is saying that the pursuit of the kingdom of God and His righteousness MUST take priority over the other stuff in life!! God knows that there are things in our life that we need and that are important but I want you to hear something very clearly, what God knows and what we think don’t always line up! THAT IS WHY Jesus said, "…seek first his kingdom and his righteousness…" The reason is that when you do this it affects you PERSPECTIVE of what’s important in your life – you start to gain a kingdom perspective – a godly perspective. The answer to the question, "What is most important in my life?" is influenced by your pursuit of the kingdom of God.
Friends, this is where the kingdom of God has the greatest impact on your life. For as you seek it and as you understand it, you start to see things in your life a little bit differently.
What are some of the ways that the kingdom perspective affects your life?
It acts as a filter on all the "important" stuff that clamors for attention.If I was to ask you what are the important things in your life your answer would probably fall into one of three categories.
People
That is your relationships with others (families, friends).
Your appearance to others
Your acceptance by others in your relationships.
Possessions
what you own, what you have
how much you have, how much you own
material things
Performance
what you do and how well you do it.
Having something to do and being able to do it well.
Anything that you could tell me about what is important in your life would most of the time fall into one of these three categories. Now, when you seek first the kingdom of God then all the things that you think are important in your life are filtered through its perspective and you begin to understand and see the things that are truly of value.
For example:
People
Luke 10:41-42 (NIV)
41 "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."
With the kingdom perspective what is most important is your relationship with Jesus Christ and the acceptance you gain from Him. Relationships on earth may fail us but God will never fail you!! This is not to say that relationships with family, with friends, with other believers etc. are not important but that they are not the most important!! The kingdom perspective filters out the truly important relationships from those that are not. With the kingdom perspective instead of growing anxious about your appearance to others you are reassured with your appearance to God.
Possessions
2 Corinthians 5:1 (NIV)
1 Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.
With the kingdom perspective you begin to realize that there are things of more importance than how much we amass here on earth. Instead of becoming anxious and worrying about the things we don’t have we start to rejoice with the things we do have in Christ. There is nothing that brings more peace than knowing the riches you possess in Christ. For no matter what circumstance you find yourself in, his abundance is always available – though not necessarily in the way we expect!
2 Corinthians 4:17-18 (NIV)
17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Performance
Probably one of the more crippling pursuits affecting people takes place when the important things in their life are performance related. But with the kingdom perspective this is filtered out and what is left is the understanding that with God its not what you do or how well you do it but who you are that matters! Again, I am not saying, and no where does the Bible says that what we do isn’t important but what I am saying that what we do is not the most important. For the Bible is very clear that what we do flows out of who we are and that is what is most important to God.
Isaiah 29:13-16 (NIV)
13 The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men. 14 Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish." 15 Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the LORD, who do their work in darkness and think, "Who sees us? Who will know?" 16 You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, "He did not make me"? Can the pot say of the potter, "He knows nothing"?
Psalm 51:16-17 (NIV)
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
For Christ it is far more important to him that you believe in him and you are a child of God than doing all kinds of "righteous" acts. Why? Because when you believe in Him and He is Lord of your life, you will be doing what He wants you to do! Kingdom perspective.
So the kingdom perspective acts as a filter on all the "important" stuff that clamors for our attention.
It helps us to live in the present moment.There is a tendency among all of us to forget about the present and live either in the past of yesterday or the future of tomorrow. In one sense, some of us are prisoner to the hurts/joys of the past or the hopes/fears for the future.
Song writer John Lennon once said, "Life is what’s happening while we’re busy making other plans."
James 4:13-15 (NIV)
13 Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that."
Matthew 6:34 (NIV)
34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
We too often create trouble by dwelling on the past and conjuring up fears for the future. The kingdom perspective sets us free from this. When you seek the kingdom of God first you are able to enjoy the present because what has happened in the past is nothing compared to the present with God and you know that the future is something that is the hands of God – a better place could not be found.
It stops the snowball effect of your thinking.
Negative thinking can often quickly spiral out of control.
I remember when I was 17 my parents let me drive their car (by myself I might add!) to go into town and do some banking. Just newly licensed I was already nervous about driving on the busy streets but everything went smoothly. I did everything I was supposed to do – all the right signals, checking my blind spots, doing the 15 second twitch (or so I called it – you know where you’re supposed to move your eyes every 15 seconds?). I arrived safely at the bank and pulled the car into the parking lot and stopped the car and sighed with relief.
I went and did my banking and then came out and got into the car. I started the car up, checked all around and made sure there was no one behind me and then I proceeded to back up. Just as I started to turn the wheel I heard this most terrifying screeeeccchh! I stopped the car and got out – I knew I hit something but I didn’t know what. To my dismay I noticed that the front-right side of the car had this huge dent and scrape in it thanks to a small metal post that was below my field of vision. When I backed up I had turned right into it.
I was scared. My heart was pounding, I started to shake and the thought going through my mind was, "Dad is going to kill me!" All the way home I was saying over and over again, "I wish I hadn’t drove the car…!" I tried to think of ways I could explain what happened to the car. I kept thinking, "Dad’s never gonna let me drive again". I kept thinking, "Maybe if I just say nothing, he won’t notice!" Like that would happen! There was a dent so big the Grand Canyon looked small in comparison!
When I pulled in the driveway I was praying that Dad wouldn’t be home but then it occurred to me that I had the car – where would he go! I resigned myself to the fact that I would have to tell my Dad. I ran up to him, gave him a big hug, and said, "Dad, I love you!" Of course my Dad replied, "Okay, what’s going on…"I’ll never forget the shock I had after telling my Dad what happened. He simply looked at me and said, "Darren, we all make mistakes, it’s okay." What? No screaming, no yelling, no banishment?
Now of course I’m not saying this would happen to everyone but the point I’m trying to make is that for the most part when we think negatively our thinking tends to snowball into something more than what actually is the case.
Philippians 4:6-8 (NIV)
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.
When we seek the kingdom of God first we give God control of our thinking. The kingdom perspective puts a stop to the kind of thinking that leads to excessive worry and anxiety about things that are non-existent!
CONCLUSION
There was a report on television about a lady who was not satisfied with her nose. She fretted over thinking it was too big. It consumed her to the point she felt she had to have plastic surgery to remedy the problem. After hours upon hours of pain and thousands of dollars her nose literally collapsed because too much of the cartilage had been taken out to make it smaller.
Too often the things we think are important in life are not and we’ll fail to see the truly important things that matter. God wants us to have the perspective from His kingdom. A perspective that helps us to see the most valuable things in life – a perspective that helps us find joy in the present – and a perspective that takes control of our thinking.
In the light of our series on the kingdom of God probably the greatest thing we have uncovered is this: It is a kingdom that you can be a part of right now – even more, it is a kingdom that can be lived out in your life right now. The question is, "Are you ready?" "Do you want it?"
"Repent for the kingdom of God is near,"
Matthew 6:31-33 (NIV)
31 So do not worry, saying, ’What shall we eat?’ or ’What shall we drink?’ or ’What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
This sermon was preached by Darren Ethier at Hanover Pentecostal Church on July 15, 2001. This message is Part 4 of the sermon series: Secrets of the Kingdom of God: Revealed!. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, Copyright © 1873, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.
