"Seek first the Kingdom of God" Mt 6:28-34 WBC 19/6/05am
You know I’m not strongly ’formulaic’
- life isn’t that simple
- formulas can let you down
But I have a formula for you this morning. I have a guaranteed recipe… remedy for:
- worry (here), provision (here), life, church!, purposelessness, frustration, fruitfulness (this IS the secret!)… all!
If you will listen to what Jesus says, this morning- the penny will drop…hope and help will come
- (of course I’m not Jesus! I’m talking about His words. Do you trust Jesus… His words?)
- then please listen
SEEKING…. SOMETHING
Maybe you are seeking something. You’re seeking God for something…. or (being more blunt and honest!)- you WANT something. From Him.
- "I want God to do something for me". I want:
o financial help. Get finances sorted
o to get my spirit sorted. "Do it, God, please!"
o that job, That promotion. Accommodation. House
o to overcome my brokenness
o God to take away this worry, fear
o His power with my ageing parents. More grace
o Him to sort this family problem out!
o A partner!
o Help for my children
o To be useful. Guidance, Direction.
o His intervention…..
Do you want these things? Is that where your focus has been?
- maybe you’re frustrated because God’s not coming up with the goods?
- Maybe you think He doesn’t care?
o Or: why it’s really frustrating! You know He does, but He’s not doing anything!
But I need to ask you- "if you want God to do what YOU require of Him… are you doing what He requires of you? First?"
- actually: there is no reason, guarantee or promise that when we say ’Jump’, the almighty will just say "how high, Ewen?!"
- and there is no promise that is we are not doing our part He will do His part
o (He often does- but that is unmerited grace. Not a promise)
- He is not a tame lion! He IS safe…but not tame… our ’pet’
It says in PS 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
PS 37:5 Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in him and he will do this:
PS 37:6 He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn,
the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.
PS 37:7 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when men succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes.
Are you? Are you doing your bit? Seriously? Or do you think God can be fooled…. He’s some kind of slot machine?
Here is the recipe for ’the desires of your heart’…. ’everything else you NEED’…. ’God’s power, even’
SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD
This is what we are to seek- and if we look to this… to God’s will… He’ll look to our needs. Worries. Fears. Provisions
- but we must seek it first
- as Richard Foster says in celebration of discipline ’the person who does not seek the kingdom of God first, does not seek it at all’
If you don’t do this
- you build the house, but the labour is in vain
- you earn your money only to put it in pockets with holes
- everything is topsy-turvy
- the promises of God can seem empty and unfulfilled
What is the Kingdom that we are to seek? What does it mean?
- this will shock you! It was the complete focus of Jesus’ ministry
o only 3 times does He mention church. 119 times He mentions the kingdom of God. The rule of God. The Kings will being done. Lives changed. Heaven, now!
o In fact- even after His resurrection, what does He talk about?... for 40 days!
Acts 1;3 After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
He speaks about the kingdom- and the power of the Holy Spirit is linked with… given for… this. God’s will being done on earth as in heaven.
Illustr: BBC Programme on Genghis Kahn first shown on BBC1 on 25 April 2005. Genghis had the largest empire ever: twice the size of the Roman Empire. He felt God wanted him to be ruler of the whole world. His early 13C empire stretched over Mongolia, China and through the Urals into Europe. It was stopped short of advancing into Poland by sheer fortune and his death.
He enquired of monks as to the secret of eternal youth, as he felt he was to rule forever.
On his deathbed he stated that he had failed in his task of world domination. He charged his son to continue his work and ’take the world’. They doubled the Mongol empire but on the death of his son the empire started to fragment.
Thought: ALL human empires are limited and come to an end. Jesus’ kingdom is one that will have no end and will never cease to increase. If you think about it- this is SO true. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end.
He promises that if we seek this first- He’ll look after everything else
- even the church
- WE are to seek first the kingdom. He says ’I will build my church’
o He takes full responsibility for it
o And how wrong is our focus, so often? (basically because the church is run by professionals who are salaried by it… and because we find security in it)
" All our focus is on the church!
" But we are to be a ’church without walls’ a kingdom church
Now this doesn’t mean the church doesn’t matter. That’s taken by inference. We are to be committed to it, and it’s clear in the NT that there is no church-less Christian!
- but people who seek first the KOG will naturally be part of the church as that’s where they
o share their news! Get encouragement and equipping. Go out FROM
- Illustr: I have to say (humbly!) that there are many churches and they are dying because that (church) is where the emphasis is. " we must grow this. DO this. Press this button"
o Truth is you don’t necc DO anything. You seek first the reign of the king and stuff the church!
o In fact- I’d love it if 60% of you weren’t here! (go away will you!). No, seriously- I’d love it if this almost couldn’t function because so many of you were- witnessing at car boot sales, going to Africa, running alpha courses, being with non-Christian friends. (not sitting on your backsides avoiding ’stress’ and watching TV)
(side issue: because I simply know your lives would be healed and this place would be the best place to be in the world!
- Illustr: healing rate at Feast. Yet to be verified- but seemed remarkable!
- "GO- and surely I am with you always……")
Can I digress? Please?
- I am centred around a few things: Jesus, word, trinity, creedal things, church (member?!), kingdom.
- But things get so out of kilter if we are church focussed (PPT). Focus becomes what happens INSIDE circle… all becomes programme oriented, seeks to grow by absorption, other churches = competitors! Kingdom perspective: focus becomes BETWEEN the circles
" Those areas where God’s will isn’t done. The homeless (hard!), the teens who pee through our doors (Edge! Huge step forward! Wanna be involved in frontline Kingdom?!). Those car boot sales where God doesn’t feature. People’s loves. Social care and justice.
" Look at the openness! Astounding at the Feast!
o It sees the brokenness in people’s lives
o Strategy = God’s rule
o Other churches = partners. Pulling in the same net
Other thing that happens is Sunday becomes sacred and the week wasted. Sacred/secular divide.
- but this was never in Jesus’ agenda! And for the person who seeks first the Kingdom it isn’t either
- Mon- Sat I build the KOG. Sunday I revel in it, too!
- And who cares whether it is (so called) ’social’ or ’spiritual’
o It’s all the Kingdom (and "Mission" for us)
A bloke called George Otis says, "When the Kingdom of God comes to town it makes no distinction between the restaurant and the church." It needs to invade both.
- the king is standing outside our congregation this morning knocking. Rev 3:20, Like in Laodicea. "Let me, the king of the kingdom in"
SHIFT YOUR FOCUS AND PRIORITIES
Will you let the king in, this morning? The kingdom in, to your hearts and priorities? Shift your priorities?
- or, have you put your hands to the plough, but now you are looking back?
- LK 9:62 Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.". Fit for church, maybe- but missing the point, the power and the promises of God.
So- here’s the recipe. The remedy. The radical call from Jesus to you. His purpose for you.
- the part you need to play so God can do His part
o in your life, circumstances
o in this world
You must make a decision now to re-orient your priorites and seek first God’s rule and God’s reign in YOUR hear and in this world and the lives of others
Apply:
- pray Lord’s prayer
- songs: Jesus shall reign where’re the sun
Come to the front to show a shift/commitment
- Songs: seek ye first the KOG
- Jesus, God’s righteousness revealed
