Trickle-Down Spirituality
TCF Sermon
February 15, 1998
Organization is a hot topic in our world. From Palm Pilots to Daytimers, there are new ways to get organized at work and at home.
The issue we face as believers, in organizing our lives, is separating the ”urgent from the important” --- we’ll touch on that a bit later.
The idea that we focus on what’s truly important is really wise, too - but I believe the Word has a different idea about what’s truly important than the world does.
It’s a big club: The too-busy - the need a 30-hour a day club.
If I’ve heard anything from people consistently in recent months, it’s that they’re busy. Not just occupied - but really busy.
Because of my work situation, I’ve been giving that a lot of thought. I don’t want to get into a “top this testimony” - but I’ve been busy, too. In the past three or four months, I’ve juggled the responsibilities of more than a half-dozen “roles” in my life. I’m a husband, father, an elder of this church. I’m the church administrator here, as well as a house church pastor. I still operate my own public relations consulting business. I’m president of the board of a local crisis pregnancy center. I’m chairman of the public relations committee of the local chapter of the American Lung Association, and a member of their board of directors.
I’m a busy guy, too.
A few months ago, when Owen Carey prayed for me, he shared this impression from the Lord:
“This is an exciting time for you because God has done great changes, and is doing great changes, and he is bringing about a fruition and a fulfillment to something that beat in your heart. But you are also experiencing the stretching that will come because of the consecration, because you have said a complete “yes” to your God, because God is beginning to use you in that place of oversight. You’re going to be stretched. This is good. And how you conduct yourself through the stretching will determine the type of example you are to the church.”
I’ve had others share with me that God would allow me to redeem the time effectively, would make me fruitful, would enable me to accomplish all He has set before me.
I’ve had some communicate to me that I should also to go ahead and plan, but to allow God to interrupt my plans, and to be discerning about who and what is interrupting my plans. This is a message that God’s been working in me for at least four or five months, probably really a lifetime.
Ever notice that some of God’s most important words to us are from things we’ve heard before?
That’s because familiarity breeds contempt, and if not contempt, then at least complacency - we hear something often enough and we tend to think we’ve got it figured out, or that we don’t need to hear it anymore. Yet the Bible talks about stirring us up by way of reminder.
Here’s a familiar verse that can help us with this problem of being overwhelmed because we’re too busy:
Matthew 6:33: Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well (NIV)
The RSV says: Set your heart on His kingdom and his goodness, and all these things will come as a matter of course.
The Message paraphrase says: “steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday
human concerns will be met.”
Let’s look at Matt 6:33. The context of the passage is material provision, but a careful read and an understanding of the whole of scripture will tell you it applies to more than simply material provision. This passage in verse 33 is framed by
verse 25, which says don’t worry about your life, verse 34, which says don’t worry about tomorrow, verse 27, which says don’t worry about time. This
passage also points out that by worrying about these things, we’re just like the rest of the world (verse 32 calls them pagans), who “run after all these things,” but adds that our Heavenly Father knows just what we need.
Also, we must recognize what comes before this part of Jesus words:
In verse 24 we read you can’t serve both God and money. That is followed by the word “therefore” - indicating a transition to the next thoughts. The prior passage shows we can’t have a “both...and” attitude about who we’re gonna serve. Some of you may remember the Bob Dylan song: Gotta Serve Somebody - it may be the devil, or it may be the Lord, but you’re gonna have to serve somebody.
So when we see this transitional word “therefore” it’s as if Jesus says, “Since this is true....since you cannot serve two masters, the implication is apparent: we must serve the Lord...and if we serve the King of Kings and Lord of Lords...don’t worry about your life...worrying won’t add any time to your day...it won’t provide your food and clothing...etc...”
That’s the immediate context of where we end up in Matthew 6:33, so let’s take a closer look. It starts with the word seek:
The word has the sense of coveting earnestly, striving after. Scripture is clear that God does not hide from us, if we seek Him we will find Him: Prov 8:17 says “those who seek me find me.”
Seek is followed immediately by first. This refers to time, in the first place, before, earlier, to begin with. It’s a word talking about priorities. There can be no doubt about our priorities when we say “seek first” - nothing else comes before first.
Then there’s this word kingdom. It’s an interesting word because it seems to imply so many nuances in the Word. For the purposes of this message, let’s remember these things:
1. kingdom here is not to be confused with an actual earthly kingdom, but rather the right or authority to rule over a kingdom
2. this word is primarily denoting sovereignty, royal power, dominion (we might say, in the strongest terms possible, “in charge”)
3. Luke 17:21: says “the kingdom of God is within you,” or “is in your midst” - the idea being here that where the King is, there is the kingdom
Vines Expository Dictionary notes: Thus, at the present time and so far as this earth is concerned, where the king is and where his rule is acknowledged, is, first in the heart of the individual believer.
Remember the Lord’s prayer: Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven ...in light of Matthew 6:33 we might say “may your will be done in
me and every area of my life as it is in your heavenly kingdom.”
The Lord’s Prayer perhaps comes closest to an exact definition of the kingdom when it equates the coming of God’s kingdom with the doing of His will. Where God’s will is done with perfect submission, there, according to the New Testament, His kingdom is revealed.
So what does this mean in a practical sense as related to Matthew 6:33? We might say, in light of this understanding of what these words mean, that “seek first the Kingdom of God” means this:
“before you put effort and energy and heart into anything else, strive after and seek earnestly to let God rule and reign, let him be in charge of your heart and mind and your attitude and everthing that concerns your life.”
You may remember trickle down economics - though this was originally a derogatory term used by the opposition to Ronald Reagan’s economic ideas, it’s the idea that if those at the top of the economic structure create wealth, it creates jobs, and the economy benefits from the “trickle down” effect...it starts at the top and everything else falls into place...so economic policies were developed to support and encourage the top part of the economy.
Matthew 6:33 is about trickle-down spirituality. If you start at the top, with the Maker of the universe, you make Him your priority, everything else in your life takes care of itself. Your seeking first God’s Kingdom has an impact on everything else in your life. Interestingly, this fits with what Republicans called Reagan’s economic plan - “supply side” economics. With Matthew 6:33, it helps us remember our source of supply.
To me, as I’ve studied this and thought about it and lived through it...it all comes down to priorities. Clay Sterrett said, “We all find time to do what we really want to do...a lot of time usage simply comes down to right priorities.”
Priority is not a word found in any version of the bible that I could find, but the Word has a lot to say about priorities. It means prior, preceding in order or importance, preeminence, preference. As related to Matt 6:33, sometimes we forget the most important thing - the priority that helps everything else fall into place.
Here’s a story to illustrate:
A woman bought a parrot to keep her company but returned it the next day. "This bird doesn’t talk," she told the owner. "Does he have a mirror in his cage?" he asked. "Parrots love mirrors. They see their reflection and start a conversation." The woman bought a mirror and left.
The next day she returned; the bird still wasn’t talking. "How about a ladder? Parrots love ladders. A happy parrot is a talkative parrot." The woman bought a ladder and left.
But the next day, she was back. "Does your parrot have a swing? No? Well, that’s the problem. Once he starts swinging, he’ll talk up a storm." The woman reluctantly bought a swing and left. Then she walked into the store the next day, her countenance had changed. "The parrot died," she said. The pet store owner was shocked.
"I’m so sorry. Tell me, did he ever say a word?" he asked. "Yes, right before he died," the woman replied. "In a weak voice, he asked me, ’Don’t they sell any food at that pet store?’"
Sometimes people forget the main thing.
I can’t help but wonder how that might relate to our busy lives, our overwhelming schedules. I can’t help but wonder how we set our priorities, how do we decide on what we will spend the most valuable hours of our day?
How do we determine, as we go about our daily schedules, what are divine interruptions, and what are devilish diversions?
First, we must ask ourselves why we are so busy?
There are a couple of possible answers, if we’re honest with ourselves.
1. we are truly committed to God and want to do His work
2. we believe that if we don’t do all we do, we’ll lose something: income, respect, people will think less of us, think us less important, we’ll lose social status
That leads us to the amazing fact that we can be involved in good things, Godly things, and still not practice what Jesus commands in Matthew 6:33...and still not grasp the importance of what Jesus says earlier: do not worry about your life.
We can even be a devoted student of scripture and still miss God. In John 5:39, 40: Jesus says “You diligently study the scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
Oswald Chambers says: Beware of anything that competes with loyalty to Jesus Christ. The greatest competitor of devotion to Jesus is service for Him.
We must ask ourselves, are we more devoted to service than to Jesus? Are we more devoted to work, TV, sports, ministry, activities? Have you ever noticed that the most active chicken is the one with its head cut off? Where do you think we get the phrase that someone’s running around like a chicken with its head cut off?
Our lives are like that when we don’t seek God first, day by day, even moment by moment - our head’s cut off and our activity is frantic and meaningless.
Again quoting Chambers: “The teaching of the sermon on the mount is, in effect, narrow all your interests until the attitude of mind and heart and body is concentration on Jesus Christ.”
Then service flows from that. Service is the overflow of superabounding devotion. God gets me into a relationship with Himself whereby I understand His call, then I do things out of sheer love for Him.
But again - notice where it starts: Seek first God.
God is our priority. The first commandment: Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength - it’s no accident that it’s first among all the commandments. C.S. Lewis said: “Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you will get neither.”
Everything is a by-product of our relationship with God. That’s why Jesus says Seek God first. That’s why the first commandment is Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.
Yet, we get so involved, so wrapped up in things, basically because we worry about these things. So, we worry about it, and get busier still!
Eerdmans Bible Handbook commented on this passage, “Men can choose what to set their hearts on. They can go all out for money and material things, or for God and spiritual things. But not for both. Everyone must decide his or her own priorities. Those who put God first can rest assured He knows all their needs
and will not fail to supply them. They can be free from worry.”
Here’s a true life church bulletin notice: Don’t let worry kill you. Let the church help.
Here’s a time management technique you won’t hear from Steven Covey:
Martin Luther, the great reformer, said, “I have so much business I cannot get along without spending three hours daily in prayer.”
Our flesh rebels against an idea like that. Our minds rebel, saying: I don’t have three hours to pray. We say “I can’t afford to take three hours in prayer.” Luther says: I can’t afford not to take three hours in prayer.
The idea is that without God’s guidance, His direction day by day, there’s no way we can possibly accomplish all He sets before us. Clay Sterrett said “Prayer is first and foremost communion with God, and most answers to prayer will be a by-product of our relationship to Him.”
Helmut Thielicke, the German theologian, noted, “The propaganda of men, even when it masquerades as a kind of evangelism and becomes an enterprise of the church, is always based on the accursed notion that success and failure, fruit and harvest, are dependent upon our human activity, upon our imagination, energy, and intelligence. Therefore the church too must guard against becoming merely a busy enterprise, and pastors must beware of becoming religious administrators devoid of power and dried up as far as spiritual substance is concerned.”
Not only pastors must guard against this, so must all of us.
Thielecke continued: “Jesus is not a propagandist. And there is one fact which shows that he is not, and that is that for him speaking to his Father in prayer is more important than speaking to men, no matter how great the crowds that gather around him. Just when you think that now he must seize the opportunity, now surely he must strike while the masses are hot and mold them to his purpose, he "passes through the midst of them" and withdraws into the silence of communion with the Father.
Why was it that he spoke with authority, as the scribes and Pharisees did not? Because he was rhetorically gifted, because he was dynamic? No; he spoke with such power because he had first spoken with the Father, because always he came out of silence. He rested in eternity and therefore broke into time with such power. That’s why he is so disturbing to time. He lived in communion with God; that’s why his speech to men becomes an event of judgment and grace which none can escape.
Jesus’ powerful speech derives from the power of his prayer life, and the very reason why he can afford to pray so diligently and give the best hours of the day to this communion with the Father is that he knows that while he rests in eternity, it is not that nothing is happening, but that in doing this he is rather giving place to God’s Spirit, that then God is working and the seed is growing. Woe to the nervous activity of those of little faith! Woe to the anxiousness and busyness of those who do not pray!
In most cases today, we do not sin by being undutiful and doing too little work. On the contrary, we ought to ask ourselves whether we are still capable of being idle in God’s name. Take my word for it, you can really serve and worship God simply by lying flat on your back for once and getting away from this everlasting pushing and producing.”
It’s a very dangerous, very risky thing for me to say: you can say no, you can be idle in God’s name.
After all, there are two roles in which I act as a recruiter. First, as church administrator, the other as president of Mend CPC, I recruited many of you for one or both. So, when I call you to ask you to do something for TCF or for Mend, forget everything I said today - just kidding.
For me, it’s a real act of faith, because I have to trust God that you will seek God first...that you won’t say no and use God as an excuse for it, but if you say no it’s really because you’re seeking God first and He ordered your steps.
I’m also confident that if you are seeking God, you will respond when He does tell you to get involved, to serve Him by serving others. But we must remember that "Opportunity is not a mandate." (the booklet the Tyranny of the Urgent put it this way: The need is not the call - the call must come from God who knows our limitations).
God doesn’t expect me to take every opportunity. If I know who I am, what my gifts are, and what my calling is, I can determine which needs I can say yes to and which needs I must leave for others.
Our best efforts don’t come from frantic activity but from concentrated attention.
Of course, we can’t know that apart from Matt 6:33.
In "The Imitation of Christ," Thomas a Kempis writes, "Whoever intends to come to an inward fixing of his heart upon God and to have the grace of devotion must with our Saviour Christ withdraw from the world.
Often as I prepare to preach, certain songs that contain these truths come to mind, and this time is no exception.
1. Keith Green: ain’t no use banging your head up against that cold stone wall...nobody’s perfect, except for the Lord, and even the best bound to fall....He is divine and we are de branch. He’d love to get you through it if you give Him a chance...so keep doing your best, pray that it’s blessed, and He’ll take care of the rest...
2. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.
Having said all this, I don’t believe that practicing Matthew 6:33 is likely to make us any less busy - there’s too much to be done, and God wants us to be involved...why else would He instruct us to pray that God would send laborers into the harvest?
It might make some less busy, as the Lord redirects your priorities.
With most of us, seeking God first will mean worrying less about what we don’t accomplish, while remaining probably just as active, and being more fruitful and more productive, because we’re doing what God would have us do, not just what we think is best.
What this dependence on God brings is independence for us, freedom, peace. Isaiah 26:3 says that God will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is stayed on Him. Here the word “stayed” means to lay, lean or rest upon, support, uphold, sustain - him whose mind is steadfast. Yet, as we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, we will grasp what Mary grasped in the story of Mary and Martha.
Remember this story from Luke 10:38-42? Martha was distracted by all the preparations she had to make. After all, Jesus and his disciples were coming for a meal. There’s no indication that Martha was doing anything bad - she was serving, and that’s a good thing to do. At the same time, the story indicates she was distracted by it, she was worried about getting everything done.
The other interesting thing is that when she was distracted by her business, she thought Jesus and Mary should be, too.
Now we can all relate to Martha. Haven’t you felt put upon when you did all the work and someone else seemed to be sitting around being lazy?
So Jesus wasn’t chiding Martha for being a good hostess. Don’t hear Jesus say you should sit around while others do the serving. What He was saying was that while He was there, Mary had understood Matt 6:33. Jesus said only one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen what is better. It doesn’t say don’t serve. It says put Jesus first.
In our lives, we live in constant danger of letting the urgent things crowd out the important. We look at Jesus’ life, and he was able to accomplish everything God set before Him. He made an amazing statement in John 17:4: “I have finished the work you gave me to do.”
No question Jesus worked hard - he was busy, he was in demand. But
His life was ordered by the Father - he was never hurried, never overwhelmed.
He was tired and exhausted by his pace, but not to the point of being overwhelmed. He prayerfully waited for His Father’s instructions: it gave Him
a sense of direction, and enabled Him to do every task God assigned.
But the man who has grasped the mystery of the seed growing secretly and, like the farmer, goes out and does his part of the job and then commits the fields to God and lies down to sleep in his name--that man is doing not only the most godly, but the wisest thing. For godliness and wisdom are far more closely related than our philosophy and the wisdom of the "managers" ever dream.
Some of us need to repent today. We need to repent because we haven’t been seeking God first. Most of us here need to remember Matthew 6:33: seek first the kingdom of God. We need to apply it to every area of our lives. Let’s pray, and consider how God might be speaking to you today about seeking first His kingdom.
