First: Seek the Kingdom of God
Name of Assembly: United Apostolic Church
Type of service: Bible Study
Date: March 22nd, 2022
Series: SCRIPTURAL PRIORITIES
Lesson 1: FIRST: SEEK THE KINGDOM OF GOD
Scripture Text: St. Matthew 6:24-34
“24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. 25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? 26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? 28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? 31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof” – St. Matthew 6:24-34.
INTRODUCTION
The Webster dictionary defines priority as the quality or condition of being before, it is to be treated with precedence in time, order, importance.
In studying the Bible, we are quickly confronted with several things that God expects us to give special attention to; ensuring that these commands are observed by us. Perhaps all of us have been guilt of charting our own course and establish certain ranks of importance in the things we pursue. In so doing, we put secondary matters first, while relegating the things of God to some spare-time project. While our intentions may be noble, with no desire to disobey the Scripture or offend God, we often do offend Him by allowing temporal matters to displace things of eternal worth. Reversing biblical procedure is common among people. We often major in what is minor, spending our money for that which is not bread, and laboring for that which does not satisfy (Isaiah 55:1-2).
Blindly we go on hungry, thirsty, and dissatisfied when all we need is an adjustment of our value system and a rearranging of our priorities.
This series of lessons that we will be focusing on will present scriptural formulas that will produce the relationship with God and our fellowman that we long for. However, for the formula to work, we must allow God's Word to dictate our priorities—not human reasoning, fleshly desires, or carnal concepts.
The Lord told the Prophet Jeremiah the following concerning the Israelites in Jeremiah 2:13, “For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” Forsaking the fountain of living water and hewing out our own cisterns will only pro- duce more thirst. However, forsaking our way and our thoughts, seeking and returning unto the Lord are prerequisites to salvation and inner peace as recorded in Isaiah 55:6-7, “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” God's requirements and expectations of us often run counter to our ways and plans. Therefore, submission to biblical directives and putting them first in our lives are necessary.
Throughout this series of studies, we will establish the biblical priority for each subject. This does not imply that secondary matters are not important. In fact, they are so important and impressed upon our minds so indelibly that we tend to put them first. From this frame of reference, problems develop by our putting the proverbial cart before the horse. Our humanity and carnality place secondary matters first, and first matters second.
May God help us through the guidance of His Word and the empowering of the Holy Ghost to establish a scriptural order in our lives. We must establish an orderly, scriptural sequence of events if we are to be in harmony with divine order. The Bible alone decrees what God's priorities are for us. Our focus is to study and apply these principles of truth to our lives so that we will be pleasing to God. Defining own priorities is a sure route to defeat and failure. Following God's plan is a sure route to success in this life and eternity. The late, Bishop T. E Tenney is quoted as saying, “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”
Our Savior, Jesus Christ, ranked seeking the kingdom of God as the first priority in our lives. Jesus Christ classified what people will seek after and what they should seek after, dividing them into two distinct categories: namely The Kingdom of God and the things of this life.
What does it mean to seek first the kingdom of God? It means putting Christ and the things of His Kingdom first in our lives. Every day, we are faced with choices and opportunities to put our time and energy into temporal things that have no lasting spiritual value or to invest in things that are related to the Kingdom of Christ. We are commanded to be His disciples, choosing to invest our time, talent, and resources into God’s Kingdom.
Conditions of Discipleship
Listen to the conditions of discipleship, outlined by the Lord Jesus in Luke 14:25-33.
“And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them, If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish. Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.”
The Message Bible renders the passage in the following way:
“One day when large groups of people were walking along with him, Jesus turned and told them, “Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters—yes, even one‟s own self!—can't be my disciple. Anyone who won't shoulder his own cross and follow behind me can't be my disciple. “Is there anyone here who, planning to build a new house, doesn't first sit down and figure the cost so you'll know if you can complete it? If you only get the foundation laid and then run out of money, you're going to look pretty foolish. Everyone passing by will poke fun at you: „He started something he couldn't finish.‟ “Or can you imagine a king going into battle against another king without first deciding whether it is possible with his ten thousand troops to face the twenty thousand troops of the other? And if he decides he can't, won't he send an emissary and work out a truce? “Simply put, if you're not willing to take what is dearest to you, whether plans or people, and kiss it good-bye, you can't be my disciple.”
These are the conditions of discipleship. Unless we are willing to accept and embrace these conditions we are not qualified to enter into the University of Eternal Life. According to these conditions, not every individual who calls himself or herself a Christian is a disciple. When the lives of many Christians are put alongside the lifestyle that Jesus Christ outlined for His disciples and the lifestyle that He demonstrated Himself, there is a huge discrepancy. In our day one may be regarded as a Christian even if there are few, if any, signs of progress in genuine discipleship. It was not so in the early church. Then discipleship involved the kind of commitment referred to by Peter in Mark 10:28: “Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee.”
The word “disciple” is the translation of the Greek word mathetes, math-ay-tes, which means “a learner, a pupil”. Our Lord imparted to that simple word a wealth of profound meaning. As it is used by Him it refers to “a learner or pupil who accepts the teaching of Christ, not only in an intellectual way but also in lifestyle.” This involves a complete acceptance of the views and practice of the teacher. In other words, it means learning with the purpose to obey fully what is learned until what is learned is incorporated into one’s lifestyle.
This kind of discipleship involves a deliberate choice, a definite denial, and a determined obedience.
The disposition of our times is for instant gratification and short-term commitment, for quick answers to prayer and quick results with a minimum of effort and very little discomfort. But there is no such thing as easy and instant discipleship. A walk of discipleship may indeed begin in a moment, but that first step must lengthen into a lifelong walk. There is no such thing as short-term discipleship. Jesus Christ calls for an extremely high level of commitment from those who desire to follow Him. Following Jesus is not an easy walk in the park. Nowhere do we see Jesus, during His earthly ministry, complying with easy levels of commitment. A call to follow Jesus may involve radical changes in one’s life, career and family.
In Luke 9:57-60 we read the following:
“And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.”
In the first scenario a man comes to our Lord pledging to follow Him wherever He would go. There is nothing in the text to suggest that the man was not entirely sincere. Jesus looks into the inner recesses of the soul of this earnest man, who is promising to follow Him everywhere. The response of Jesus is not very encouraging “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head”. Jesus is really asking this man “Do you have the capacity to follow me even though I don’t know where I am going to sleep tonight? I have nothing to pay you; we will move from place to place and not be anywhere long enough to establish any lasting associations. In some places we will be despised, in other places we will be ignored, in yet other places the threat to our very lives will be a reality. You may have to go for periods without food, shelter, friendship, and love. In some instances, we will have to deal with loneliness and rejection. We will be laughed at, ridiculed, and scorned. Now, Mr. would-be disciple, do you still want to follow me whithersoever I go?”
In the second scenario it is Jesus Himself who bids a man to follow Him. This man asks for time to attend to the duties relating to the death of his Father, surely this is a legitimate excuse! Our Lord does not think so, however. How different is His assessment of men and situations from ours!
All our earthly wisdom agrees with this man’s explanation, but the Lord is unflinching. “Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.” Jesus in His omniscience knew that this man was looking for an escape route to avoid the consequences of true discipleship and was using his father’s situation as an excuse.
In Luke 14:25 we are advised that “there went great multitudes with him”. Jesus was surrounded by a thronging crowd, who was attentive to His every word. The multitude was attentive by the novelty, inspiration, and challenge of His teaching, for at this time, the tide of popular opinion had not yet turned against Him. The situation presented Him with a unique opportunity to capitalize on the great interest of the crowd. The whole Jewish nation was earnestly longing for a charismatic leader who would deliver them from their servitude to the Romans and Jesus appeared to them to be superbly qualified for the task. All He needed to do was to give a directive to the people to rebel against the authority of Rome and a general insurrection would have ensued.
What did our Lord do? Did He flatter them, did He offer some persuasion, did He perform some spectacular miracle to win their allegiance? He did none of these things. It appears His intention was to alienate their interest and discourage them from following Him. He stated in the strongest possible manner the very demanding conditions of discipleship. The method employed by Jesus was the exact opposite of that adopted by many evangelists today.
Instead of majoring on the benefits and blessings, the thrills and excitement, the adventure, and advantages of being His disciples, He spoke more of the difficulties and dangers that those who chose to follow Him would have to encounter. He placed the cost of being His disciple very high. He never hid the agony of the cross.
Why did our Lord impose such stringent terms for those who desired to be His disciples? If He had made the conditions of discipleship less stringent the crowds would have swept along behind Him, but that was not His way. He was looking for men and women of quality; mere quantity did not interest Him.
In His message to the multitude of would-be disciples, Jesus used two illustrations to outline the conditions on which they could be His disciples. He used the illustration of a builder constructing a tower and a king preparing for battle.
“For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish. Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace” (Luke 14:28-31).
Our Lord employed these two illustrations to demonstrate His disapproval of impulsive and ill-considered discipleship. Like the builder, Jesus Christ is engaged in a building program. In Matthew 16:18 He said: “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Like the king, Jesus Christ, the King of kings, is engaged in a battle against the Devil and the kingdom of darkness. In this building and fighting campaign, our Lord desires to have associated with Him men and women who will be disciples of quality. He desires to have associated with Him men and women who will not turn back when the building becomes difficult, and the fighting becomes fierce.
The message Jesus proclaimed was a call to discipleship. The call to discipleship is a call to obedience and not just a call to faith. In Matthew 7:21 our Lord gave a very solemn warning: “Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” Obedience is the evidence of the reality of our faith. Our obedience does not earn our salvation, but it is the evidence of it. It is a sad fact but a true one that whenever the way of the cross and all that the cross implies is preached or taught in its fullness, superficial, shallow Christians, who have never gone beyond an initial conversion experience, tend to fall away.
CONCLUSION
Nothing in this lesson should be construed as being against having things or even seeking to provide them for ourselves and our families. God's Word condemns laziness and instructs us to provide for our families (I Timothy 5:8; II Thessalonians 3:10). Planning for retirement, saving for emergencies, having goals, etc., is not evil or contrary to Scripture. By the same token, it warns us against trusting in uncertain riches and warns us to lay up a good foundation against the time to come (I Timothy 6:6-19).
God does not normally ask for all our time or for all our money. He does not condemn personal achievement, industry, and advancement. God's Word allows us to achieve, excel, abound, and be stewards of earthly goods. Possessing things does not mean we are displeasing God or out of His will. Having possessions does not make us spiritual; neither should they stop us from being so. God's will, and His command to us is simply "seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness" (Matthew 6:33).
To keep your life in balance and to obey this command, consider the following:
- Set your affections on things above. Love God and the things of God more than earthly things.
- Lay up treasures in heaven. This can be done by giving time, money, talents, etc., to God's work.
- Set aside some of your time to engage in both physical and spiritual causes around your local church.
- Take time to pray, fast, read your Bible, attend church, as well as be with your family.
- Respond if God calls you for a special work (ministry, missionary, etc.) or gives you talents in needed areas (music, teaching, etc.). By all means, make them a priority.
- Pay your tithes and give offerings; as you prosper, bless God's work and the less fortunate with your bounty.
- Do not develop a spirit of pride when you have things. Do not think yourself better or above those who may have less than you.
- Bear in mind that things are temporary items for our use. Soon we will leave them to give account to God of how we used them.
Our entrance into this world was ever so humble: we came with nothing. Our exit from this world returns us to the same lowly position: "It is certain we can carry nothing out" (I Timothy 6:7). At this juncture, what we have sought "first" will determine our destiny.