Priority of the Kingdom
Matthew 6:25-34
This week Dr. Evans began a new series of sermons entitled “Living for the Kingdom.” In the previous series, “Understanding the Kingdom Agenda,” Dr. Evans helped us to view Scripture through the lens of God’s kingdom as its unifying theme. He defined God’s kingdom agenda as “the visible demonstration of God’s comprehensive rule over every area of life.” In this new series, “Living for the Kingdom,” we will explore how to place ourselves under this comprehensive rule in order to experience the full benefits of God’s kingdom for our lives. This week, we began by learning why God’s kingdom must be prioritized by looking at Jesus’ command to “seek first His [God’s] kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).
1. Seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness first. The goal in seeking first “His [God’s] kingdom and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33) is that His comprehensive rule might be manifested in every area of life. In Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus pointed out that the strongest competitors to God’s rule in our lives are often the material “things” (the drink, food, and clothing of Matthew 6:25) that we prioritize before the interests of God’s kingdom. These material things become our “treasures,” and Jesus cautioned that “where your treasure is, there you heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). Jesus is not saying that drink, food, clothing, and other material things are wrong in and of themselves; in fact, he will argue that God provides these things freely to the birds of the air and flowers of the field (Matthew 6:26-30). The issue is that what we “treasure” or desire is that to which our hearts become affixed, and the human heart is only wired to have one master. Jesus makes this clear in Matthew 6:24: “No one can serve two masters….You cannot serve God and wealth.” This problem is illustrated by Jesus’ observation that the Gentiles, “eagerly seek all these things” (Matthew 6:32). How did the Gentiles seek after food, drink, and clothing? Dr. Evans suggested that they sought after these things without God in the equation. The Gentiles were the pagan nations who, in contrast to Israel, served false gods and idols rather than Yahweh, the one true God. When God is removed from His rightful throne as the focus of our desire, (the One that we seek “first” after), then the desire for “things” becomes an all-encompassing, idolatrous quest to acquire all that we can in this brief life that we are given. In other words, what we “seek first” can be better defined as that which we worship, and thus the things that we desire and pursue are fashioned into the idols of our worship.
2. Then, “all these things will be added to you.” The problem with fashioning “things” or material elements into the objects of our worship is that they are merciless idols that can never fill the God-sized hole in our hearts. Our pursuit of them is an anxious, worry-filled quest because we were designed to seek the Creator and His kingdom rather than the material that He created (see Acts 17:26-27). This is why the broader context for Jesus’ command to seek God’s kingdom first is the order, given by Jesus, to “not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on” (Matthew 6:25). Jesus will repeat this command not to worry in verses 27, 28, 31, and 34 of this passage. After all, “the birds of the air” are fed (Matthew 6:26) and “the grass of the field” is clothed (Matthew 6:30) by the hand of their Creator without any anxious forethought or toil on their part. The antidote to anxiety, therefore, is to seek first the kingdom of God with full assurance that the King who created us best knows our needs (Matthew 6:32). When we prioritize God’s kingdom, our hearts release their restless, worry-filled pursuit of the temporary treasures of this world.
In conclusion, we live for the kingdom by prioritizing the pursuit of God’s kingdom above all other desires. When we do this, we find the additional benefit that as we smash the idols of other “things” in our lives and abandon our anxious quests to possess them, our needs are fully met by our Creator King. In so doing, we learn to testify as the fourth century church father Augustine did in his book The Confessions, “Oh God, you have formed us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find rest in You.”
- What would you place on a top ten list of things that you are “seeking” in this life?
- What does each item on this list say about your priorities, and how do these priorities line up with God’s kingdom agenda?
- In light of this sermon, how would you define idolatry?
- Read Acts 17:22-31. What does Paul define as the reason that we are created? Why do we often stifle that reason with “created things”?
- Read Matthew 6:16-24. Why, according to this text, is it important to evaluate our “treasures”? What would you list as the “treasures” of our contemporary culture? What do these treasures say about our culture?
- What are some ways in which you have heard Jesus’ promise that “all these things will be added to you” misread by other Christians? What exactly is Jesus promising that He will provide, and how will it be provided?
- Dr. Tony Evans, The Kingdom Agenda.
- Dr. Tony Evans, Returning to Your First Love.
- Dr. Tony Evans, Free at Last: Experiencing True Freedom through Your Identity in Christ.
- J. Dwight Pentecost, Thy Kingdom Come: Tracing God's Kingdom Program and Covenant Promises throughout History.
- Scot McKnight, The King Jesus Gospel: The Original Good News Revisited.
- John R. W. Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount: Christian Counterculture.
- Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God.
- G. K. Beale, We Become What We Worship: A Biblical Theology of Idolatry.
Understanding the Kingdom Agenda
Week Two - Part 1 - "The Concept of a Kingdom Agenda"
Week Three - Part 2 - "The Need for the Kingdom Agenda"
Week Four - Part 3 - "The Lord of the Kingdom Agenda"
Week Five - Part 4 - "The Covenant of the Kingdom Agenda"
Week Six - Part 5 - "The Spheres of the Kingdom Agenda"
Week Seven - Part 6 - "The Authority of the Kingdom Agenda"Living for the Kingdom
Week Eight - Part 1 - "Priority of the Kingdom"
