SEEK FIRST HIS KINGDOM

 

Matthew 6:19-34

Key verse 6:33

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” 

 

So far we’ve studied the book of Galatians and went through sound doctrines. We will go back to the dynamic book of Acts. You may wonder why we are studying today’s well known passage. As we know, it has two parts. From v.19 to 24, Jesus encouraged us to store treasures in heaven. From v. 25 to the end, Jesus helps us to overcome worry and seek his kingdom. It reminds me of a regular health check up from Jesus, so called our spiritual doctor. For example he is checking our heart, eye, and body in part 1, and gives us a diagnosis and a remedy in part 2. Through this passage let us have a right direction in our hearts and live a victorious life in Jesus.

Part 1, Treasures in Heaven (19-24). 

 

 Look at verses 19 and 20. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal.” Here Jesus encourages us to store up treasures in heaven. In these two verses the word “where” is repeated up to four times. So the question is why Jesus emphasizes “where”. I like to answer this question in three ways. 

 

First, it is because it’s very safe in heaven. Again let’s read all together verses 19&20. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal.” Often times in Jesus' days, wealth was measured by garments or the best clothes. No matter how beautiful they're, moths would attack and chew them up. Also rust would corrode and consume treasures made of metals. So they eventually decay overtime. Also treasures can disappear. Those days, there was no bank to guarantee accounts like FDIC. Rather their valuables were often buried in the field or hidden in the wall made of mud. So thieves would easily break in. Likewise when we try to hide it for ourselves, thieves can steal it. “For yourselves” means the self centered accumulation of wealth as the major end of life. We often times invest our time, money, and energy to store up treasures on earth. Unfortunately they are fleeting, unstable, and insecure. Especially at this time of recession we’ve seen the stock market decreasing in value and house values tumbling down. Our computers are becoming obsolete quickly. Jesus challenges us to make long term investments that are permanent. Deposits made in the First national bank of Heaven will not decay or disappear because they are protected and insured by God himself. 2 Timothy 6:18&19 read, “Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.” Recently I was impressed by a story about one young American named Jim Elliot. In 1956 at the age of 29 he gave his young life among one of savage indian tribes in Ecaudor. He said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” His act of love produced everlasting fruit of the salvation of many souls. Encouraged by his life giving sacrifice, his wife and children, even his grandchildren have continued his sacrificial ministry. Also as a co-founder of our ministry, mother Sara Barry set a good example in giving her whole life to Jesus and His world mission command: “Go and make disciples of all nations.”  Likewise when we have the assurance of eternal life in the kingdom of God, we find right direction. Then we store up treasures in heaven. While we are in the physical body, it is the only chance to prepare the world to come. It is the opportune time to store up treasures for eternity.  

 

Second, it’s because we have healthy heart and eye when we store up treasures in heaven. Look at v. 21. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Again notice the word “where” and “there.”  Also look at the order. “your treasure” first, and then “your heart”. Here Jesus related ‘treasure’ with ‘heart.’ When we give our treasures such as time, money, and career for God, we do not know its full value at the beginning. But gradually we come to know how valuable and how glorious it is. Jesus wants us to give our heart to him. Jesus shows us here how working for the treasure on earth is able to steal our heart from Him and turn it towards this transient world. Jesus also shows us how working for treasure in heaven keeps our heart with God. If we are living to store up treasures in heaven, we have a heart that is naturally turned towards God. 

Look at v. 22&23. “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness.” Medically speaking the eye is the first organ showing the clear sign of chronic silent deadly diseases. So doctors are examining the eye very carefully. Likewise Jesus said that our eyes are either good or bad. What does that mean? Here the eye was also compared to the lamp. Those days an oil lamp was one of the important household items. It is a devise to illuminate rooms. In the connection of the previous verse, the eye is very important to enlighten our heart. The eye is a discerning eye, a valuing eye, and a treasuring eye. According to our eye, our body moves accordingly. The body represents our whole life. When our eyes are enlightened to see all the treasures in heaven, we are supposed to live a meaningful life with a clear direction. In contrast, when our eyes are only looking at the perishing world, our eyes become bad and our whole body will be full of darkness. The author of this book, Matthew used to have such bad eyes. He thought that in order to survive in a difficult time he decided to become a tax collector. When he became a tax collector, he collected tax mercilessly. So the people had hard time. But he didn’t care about their suffering. Even his family members were greatly disappointed. Only he looked at his money making job as a tax collector and accumulated money as his life goal. Inwardly though he was greatly condemned due to the fear of judgment. Nobody cared about him. But Jesus was different. He visited him in person, saying “Follow me.” Thanks to Jesus’ love, he became a disciple and later delivered Jesus’ sermon of mount, so called the constitution of the kingdom of God. In the book of Matthew, the word “king” or “kingdom” appeared more than 70 times. He saw  great profits and all treasures in the kingdom of God. When he used to live for money, his eyes were bad and his whole life was really dark with so much frustration.  He had no hope. There was nothing but loss. But when he had right eye and right value system in the right place, he found the very treasure Jesus himself worthy of his full devotion. His life was fully restored. His heart was full of joy, meaning, and purpose. Literally there was sunshine in his soul. In short he was the typical case of those rescued from bad eye and dark body and dead life thanks to Jesus’ personal shepherd love and calling. 

 

When I was a college student, I didn’t know the meaning and purpose. I was wandering in the darkness. My eye was so bad and my whole body was full of darkness. My life had no real hope. But God had mercy on me and sent me a personal Bible teacher. Genesis 12:2, “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.” Through this verse my heart was enlightened and I could see God’s great vision for me to be a Bible teacher for young students. I praise God who called me out of darkness and healed me and led me into his wonderful light.  

 

Third, it’s because we can truly love God when we store up treasures in heaven. Let’s read v. 24. “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” Here we meet two masters; God and Money. Notice the capital “M”. Jesus didn’t say that you “must” not serve two masters. Rather he said that no one “can” serve two masters. Or you “can not” serve both God and Money.  In the context, it has to do with our heart. Our heart is single. We can not give our single heart to both. When we love one, we ended up despising and hating the other. The word “serve” indicates that it requires personal choice, decision, and devotion. To be a committed disciple is not a matter of lip service or the emotions like the general crowds, but also of our minds and wills. To love God requires service and even sacrifice. This type of allegiance cannot be rendered to two parties at the same time. Whatever we devote ourselves becomes our true God. May God open our eye to see our God as our true king and serve Him only. 

Part 2, Seek first his kingdom (25-34). 

The disciples like Matthew set a good example in storing up treasures in the right place by leaving everything behind to follow Jesus. However still they had hidden worldly desires and worries about their future. Jesus like x-ray doctor saw through what’s really going on despite their silence. Here in part 2, Jesus taught them about the spiritual secret of living in this world. First Jesus teaches them not to worry. Someone wrote that the average person's worry focuses on 40% of things that will never happen, 30% of things about the past that can't be changed, 12% of things about criticism by others, largely untrue, 10% about health, which may get worse, only 8% about real problems that will be faced. Worry can grow like a cancer to consume all of our time and energy. Worry makes us waste our precious lives doing nothing. Worry comes when we see our need without seeing our God. Let’s read v. 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?” Here Jesus compared “life” and “body” with “food” and “clothes”. Both our lives and our bodies came from our heavenly Father, not from our biologic father or by accident. When we have such creation faith, we can have a sense of history. God will not or can not abandon them, rather continue to care for us as our loving Father. 

Look at v. 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?” Have you ever heard that birds worry? Birds fly through the sky all over God’s creation without worry. God never fails to feed them. God created all kinds of insects being scattered throughout the earth. Do you know how many insects on earth? It is close quintillion meaning 18 zeros. Wow! So far one million kinds of insects had been identified scientifically. But 30 million different species had not been yet discovered and identified. Flying birds were designed and made to have both good eye and sharp beak to pick them up well. All they have to do is to freely fly like American eagles on the vast sky to enjoy all kinds of insects. When we go to hometown buffet, how many different foods can we enjoy? They maybe at best less than 100. But everyday birds are enjoying more than 30 million different foods on the buffet table on earth free of charge. The message is clear. Since God feeds birds, creatures of instinct, how much more will he feed his precious children being made in his own image. Thank God! Praise God! By faith in God, we can be free from worry, as free as the birds. Jesus wanted each of us to know his very loving heart as the Father in heaven. Often times we are greatly misunderstood because of the undesirable memory about our biologic father. But we are greatly blessed with our heavenly Father. When we see him, we can live a very joyful life in Him. 

Look at verse 27. “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” Worry causes many diseases through increasing stress hormones, making our lives shorten. We will live in this world as long as God allows us to. When God’s time comes, we will leave this world and go to our eternal destiny. Most importantly our lives are in the absolute hands of our Father in Heaven. So the secret of true freedom from any worry is freedom from ourselves and abandonment of our own seemingly good plan or will. That is why the Bible has to say about the sovereign rule of God and his Kingdom. The whole message of Jesus on the Mount depends on the fact that God rules the world, that His ways are perfect, and that His purpose will stand forever. It is God, our Father, who prepares perfect worlds in advance, for us to accomplish his own plan. When we see that clearly, we see how useless our worry is.

 

Look at v. 28-30. “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 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?” Again our God who creates the beautiful lilies will clothe us beautifully according to his purpose. “O you of little faith?” It is a final diagnosis of our Lord Jesus. If we are worrying, it means that it is not natural but we are spiritual patients. Daily we must see him and his love and provision. And then we will be healed from our sickness.

Look at verses 31-32. “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.” Notice the word “we”. We have different value system and different life goal. We are supposed to talk about how to serve the Lord together because we have already plenty of reasons to do so. But often times we ended up discussing these things endlessly. When we see people running after the things of the world, we can easily fall into statistics, thinking we must imitate them. This is exactly what Jesus warns us to avoid. We must trust our Father in our practical matters.

 What then must we do? Look at the key v. 33. “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” First of all notice the word, “But”. We have to live a different life to listen God's voice. It is the first stage that we can manage our lives according to His different perspective. Christian life is characterized by one word, “But”. The second word is “Seek.” It is to pay attention to what God really desires. Seeking his will and purpose is ongoing endeavor instead of overnight transaction. It is based on our constant commitment and a persistent prayer topic in our hearts. How about “First?” First is first, not even second. It has to do with order and priority in our daily lives. When we are students, we are compelled to seek first our high GPA. When we graduate from the school, we need to seek first our job and then marriage. When we become parents, we are obligated to seek first our financial security. But Jesus teaches us to now seek first his kingdom. Everything else must give way before its demands because we know its eternal value. What about “his kingdom?” The “kingdom” is the combination of “king” and “domain”. So it is to accept Jesus as our true King and to obey him. A king is different from a president. A king is a sovereign ruler. His subjects do not vote for him; they belong to him, and they serve him wholeheartedly. They strive to expand the territory of his kingdom. Even they lay down their lives for him and his kingdom. In return the king cares for them and provides for them. What then does it mean by seeking “His righteousness?” According to Hebrew language, “Righteousness” means or equals “giving”. Who in the world likes to give? It is Jesus who gave up his position as a prince of God and came down to this smelly world to suffer and die on the cross to save us from our sins. He gave us a good example to follow. Galatian 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Everyday when we die to our sins and give our heart and life to him, we have great chance to learn of him and our Father who sent his one and only son Jesus. In this way we learn his righteousness. Therefore the way to be truly meaningful and happy life on earth is to seek God's kingdom and His righteousness and participate in his redemptive work.

 

Now what might be the practical application to us? It is to diligently write Bible testimony with a repentant heart. It is to pray early in the morning before starting daily routine activities. It is to go to the campus diligently until we find the Bible students. It is to persistently be rejected in order to share the word of God with students. It is to welcome them, even at the most inconvenient time. Like our several coworkers it is to work hard every week to produce the question, Bible notes, and the message. It’s not easy to gather together on a regular basis unless they’re seeking first His kingdom. As a result all of us are well fed with God’s words. We’re being charged to be ready to pioneer west coast campuses Despite difficulties several coworkers among us went out to encourage three Latin summer Bible conferences. Also I was encouraged by m. Mark Park’s family who came down to Downey. Recently he became an internist in Sacramento who could earn large salary. But he decided to seek first his kingdom despite a new challenge to start his medical office from the scratch. Among us there are so many known and unknown stories. I believe that God will bless us to double up our ministry according to our prayer topic. This upcoming summer Bible conference, may the Lord richly bless us with his living words and other graceful programs.

 Through this passage I also learned that I must set my direction clear to seek first his kingdom. Personally I had hard times in many ways. When I set my direction to be a rich dad like Robert Kiyosaki, 10 years had passed quickly. I saw a lot of gray hairs. My sons are getting taller than me. I realized that my life is not long enough. According to the recent Los Angeles medical statistics, my expected life span remained less than 35 years if I lucky to avoid cancer. I must set the right direction now. I repented of my wrong direction. I was the very one who worried the most. But thanks to Jesus I came back to my own senses and renew my direction in Him. Now is the high time to love him and do his work wholeheartedly. May the Lord help me to seek first his kingdom.  

Also this key verse reminds me of our forefathers to set the good example. When American forefathers came to this land, they could hardly eat. In addition, the persecution of England was intense and American Indians were constantly near. Still they kept seeking God first above all other things. As a result for the last century America was blessed abundantly. We could feed all peoples on earth both spiritually and materially. Now the question is, “What are we seeking first?” Often times we lost fundamental principle to seek first his kingdom. Rather we ended up being self-centered and self-complacent and talked about merely family matters, economy or so on. But today Jesus helped us to go back to such basic and fundamental issue. “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” May the Lord help us to obey him first and share this command with young campus students so that their eyes are enlightened and they may fully restore God's great hope and vision to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation once again. Look at v. 34. “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” When we seek God day by day, we need not worry about tomorrow for God holds it in his hand. All we have to do is to take up cross daily to follow Jesus and obey his last command to go and make disciples of all nations. Amen. 

In conclusion, God our heavenly Father is our Creator who gave us our very lives. He is our Provider who sustains us with all necessary things each day. God also gave us his one and only Son Jesus as a ransom sacrifice for our sins. May the Lord help us to know his heart better daily and share his love and his clear direction with others. Amen. One word: Seek first his kingdom