Seek Ye First The Kingdom Of God 2
Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God
Matthew 6:24-34“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
“That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?
“And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?
“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God[a] above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
From this passage of scripture, we want to study today the instruction of our Lord to seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness. In this chapter, Jesus is explaining that no one can be successful in serving two masters. Only Jesus or Satan can be your master. Not both of them. One or the other rules over you depending on which one you obey. Jesus tells you to seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness above all things including the necessities of life.
The Lord knows that most people spend lots of time toiling for their food, clothing, housing and the basic essentials of this physical life. He draws a comparison with this effort of providing the necessities of life to the necessity of putting forth an even greater effort to obtain the kingdom of God and his righteousness.
How does your effort compare to your Lord’s instruction? What is the most important thing in your life this day? Are you doing all you can do to find the kingdom of God and his righteousness?
But, it will take a lot more to press your way into this kingdom that your Lord has provided for you. First let us begin by defining the kingdom of God. Just what does the Bible mean by the kingdom of God?
When we think of a kingdom, we think of a nation ruled by a king. We naturally think of a certain geographical location on the globe such as North America. Is this what the Bible means when referring to the kingdom of God? Let us look into God’s Word and see what it has to say about this most important subject. Since we are to seek this kingdom above even the necessities of life, we surely need to understand what it is that we are seeking. Let us turn now to:
John 18:36-37Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world.” Pilate said, “So you are a king?” Jesus responded, “You say I am a king. Actually, I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true.”
Notice that Jesus’ words are “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom.“. If his kingdom is not of this world, then it must be a spiritual kingdom. Let us continue our study of the scripture.
John 3:1-8There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.” Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again,( Or born from above)you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?” Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.(The Greek word for Spirit can also be translated wind) Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. (Greek what is born of the Spirit is spirit) So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You (The Greek word for you is plural)must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”
Notice that Jesus told Nicodemus that a man can not even see the kingdom of God until he is born of the spirit. Also he can not enter the kingdom of God except by being born of the Spirit. So since spiritual birth is required to see the kingdom and to enter the kingdom of God, it stands to reason that we are talking about a spiritual kingdom.Col 1:12-13always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light.For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son,
Here the Bible tells us that we are transferred in the kingdom. and God is the one that does this. Jesus taught us in:
Luke 17:20-21One day the Pharisees asked Jesus, “When will the Kingdom of God come?” Jesus replied, “The Kingdom of God can’t be detected by visible signs.( Or by your speculations) You won’t be able to say, ‘Here it is!’ or ‘It’s over there!’ For the Kingdom of God is already among you (Or is within you, or is in your grasp)”
And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said,For the Kingdom of God is already among you(Or is within you, or is in your grasp)”
Yes, the kingdom of God is within the believer. It is not a literal kingdom as a nation of the world. It is a spiritual kingdom that is inside of you when you accept Jesus as your king. It is a kingdom of righteousness and peace and joy.Rom 14:17For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.The kingdom of God is not meat and drink. In other words it is not a literal kingdom. It is not a nation or a country in the physical sense. It is a kingdom of righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. As long as you obey the Holy Spirit of God you will live a righteous life. And as long as you live a righteous life, you will enjoy peace and you will have real joy. No wonder the song writer wrote “Tis a Kingdom of Peace, it is reigning within”. The kingdom of God is a kingdom of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. This kingdom is available to you today. You can press your way into it by being obedient to the Holy Spirit.
It is the Holy Spirit that convicts you of sin. It is the Holy Spirit that convinces you to repent of sin. It is the Holy Spirit that teaches you how to break free from the bondage of sin. As you obey the Holy Spirit He teaches you to live holy. That is why He is the Holy Spirit.He is Holy. He leads to holiness. I know that the devil has many agents out in the world telling you that no one can live holy and you have to sin every day. But, I also know that the Holy Spirit and Jesus and God the father will never tell you to sin. Who will you obey? You don’t find peace by committing sin. Sin brings grief and heartache. Right doing brings peace. The Holy Spirit inspires and empowers you to live right. You can have this kingdom of peace within you by repenting of sin and accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord. We read in:Rom 6:12-18Do not let sin control the way you live;(Or Do not let sin reign in your body, which is subject to death.) do not give in to sinful desires. Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace. Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you.Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living.
Don’t let sin reign in your mortal body. Or, in other words, don’t allow sin to rule you. Do not yield your members to sin. Sin has no dominion over the real Christian. Our Lord has paid the price for our redemption and has made a way for us to live righteous lives. Yes, we used to be servants of sin and the devil had us under his power, but, thanks be to God we have found a new king in a new kingdom of righteousness and peace and joy in the holy Ghost. We are no longer the servants of sin. We have become servants of righteousness. Praise God! You too can become a servant of righteousness. Repent of your sin and take Jesus Christ as your King. Press your way into the kingdom of God where you can enjoy righteousness and peace and joy. Let not sin reign over you. It is your choice. You are the one that chooses who and what will rule over you. Jesus would like to be your King. What is your answer to Him?
1 Pet 2:9-11But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, (Greek a royal priesthood) a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. “Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people.Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.” (Hos 1:6, 9; 2:23.) Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls.
You can see how when you take Jesus as your Lord that you are called out of darkness, out of sin. You become a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a special people even though in time past you were held in the bondage of sin. God’s mercy is available to all who will call upon Him. He offers mercy to forgive you of your past sins. He offers His Holy Spirit to empower you to abstain from fleshly lusts that would drag you back into sin. He offers righteousness. Righteousness brings peace. Peace brings joy. Joy that is unspeakable because it is deep within your being. We turn now to:
Rev 1:5-6and from Jesus Christ. He is the faithful witness to these things, the first to rise from the dead, and the ruler of all the kings of the world. All glory to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by shedding his blood for us. He has made us a Kingdom of priests for God his Father. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.
In this passage we can see that our Lord not only washed us from our sins, but, He also made us kings and priests unto God. In other words the plan of salvation provides you the opportunity to be cleansed of sin and to rule your body. You do not have to be under the bondage of sin any longer. You can be king of your life. You can rule over yourself. You can be in charge. You can make your decision to serve the Lord. You can enjoy the kingdom of God today. The Bible tells us in:
Rev 5:9-10And they sang a new song with these words:“You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it. For you were slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. And you have caused them to become a Kingdom of priests for our God. And they will reign (Some manuscripts read they are reigning.) on the earth.”
Here we are reminded of the fact that our Lord is the one that saved us. He was our sacrifice for sin that we could be forgiven. We have come from all nations and families and languages. There is no one that is excluded. Everyone that wants to has opportunity to be forgiven of his sin and receive the kingdom into his life. Out of all kindred and tongue and people and nations we have come to become the people of God. Our Lord has forgiven us and made us kings and priests and we are reigning in this life over all sin. This is the great kingdom of God that the prophet Daniel told us about:Dan 2:44“During the reigns of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed or conquered. It will crush all these kingdoms into nothingness, and it will stand forever.
Dan 7:17-18“These four huge beasts represent four kingdoms that will arise from the earth. But in the end, the holy people of the Most High will be given the kingdom, and they will rule forever and ever.”Daniel told us that the time would come that God would set up a kingdom which would never be destroyed. The kingdom of God will stand for ever and ever. Daniel also explains that the saints of God would posses the kingdom. John the Baptist and Jesus told us:Mat 3:1-2In those days John the Baptist came to the Judean wilderness and began preaching. His message was, 2 “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near(Or has come, or is coming soon).
Mat 4:17From then on Jesus began to preach, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”Both John and our Lord began their ministries with the message that the kingdom of God was at hand and the way to get into it was to repent. By the expression, at hand (is near), we understand that it was available to them then. This kingdom of God was not something that would be far out in the future, but it was available to those that would repent when John and Jesus began their ministries. Jesus told us in:Luke 16:16“Until John the Baptist, the law of Moses and the messages of the prophets were your guides. But now the Good News of the Kingdom of God is preached, and everyone is eager to get in. (Or everyone is urged to enter in).Mat 12:28But if I am casting out demons by the Spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God has arrived among you.So we see by the Bible that the kingdom of God has been available to us ever since John began to preach and men began to repent of their sin. Jesus taught us since John the kingdom of God has been preached and every man that wants to can press his way into it. Jesus further taught us:Luke 12:32“So don’t be afraid, little flock. For it gives your Father great happiness to give you the Kingdom.Yes, our God is pleased to give us the kingdom. In fact the angels in heaven rejoice over every sinner that repents and comes into the kingdom of God. This great kingdom can be yours today. Our Lord is preaching it to you and you can receive it if you will.Heb 12:28Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe.Yes, we have received the kingdom of God. That is we that have repented of sin, have received it. And we are now serving God with reverence and godly fear. God is our heavenly father and we honor Him as such. He loves us and we love Him because He first loved us. He provided us this great Kingdom of righteousness, and peace and joy.1 Thessalonians 2:11-12And you know that we treated each of you as a father treats his own children. 12 We pleaded with you, encouraged you, and urged you to live your lives in a way that God would consider worthy. For he called you to share in his Kingdom and glory. Our God is calling you today unto His kingdom. The kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom. It is an experience of complete salvation that enables you to live a righteous life in this present world. Everyone is invited. The kingdom is being preached and every one that wants can press into it today. The kingdom of God is not a kingdom of this world. It is a spiritual kingdom of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. If you will obey the Holy Spirit of God today, you too can receive this great deliverance form sin. You can receive the peace that passes understanding. You can enjoy the presence of God in your life. What is your answer to Him?