PUTTING GOD FIRST!

Text:  Matthew 6:25-33  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.

Matthew’s numeric position is the 40th book of the Bible.  This Gospel portrays Christ as “KING”!

Forty is the number of testing:  Jesus was tempted 40 days of the devil; Israel wandered 40 years in the wilderness; David ruled as King for 40 years; Moses was in the palace of Pharaoh 40 years and also on the backside of the desert for 40 years.

Two weeks ago God spoke to us about “The Authority of the Believer”!  Last week God spoke to us about His “Counsel”!  The message this week is:  “PUTTING GOD FIRST”!

Today’s text is housed within the body of the “sermon on the mount”.  Jesus teaches on several different topics about living a life dedicated and pleasing to God.

In this text Jesus touches on common questions we all face in life for survival.  How will I get my needs met?  What will I eat or drink?  What will I wear?  Jesus clearly informs us:  do not worry!

Worry is defined as distraction; to divide in parts; preoccupation with things causing mental anxiety, stress, and pressure.

Five reasons why you shouldn’t worry:

• Unnatural - We are the only creation of God who worries.  God provides for birds He created, and surely we are more valuable than they are.  We are outside of God’s natural design when we worry.  

• 1 Peter 5:7  Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

• Unreasonable - Concentrating on food and clothing is not important.  Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?  In other words, I’ve already given you the two earthly treasures that are more valuable than anything else.  They are “life” and “a body”.  If He loved you enough to give you life, I’m sure He loves you enough to give you other things He knows you need.  

You might not have the exact job you desire, or the car you want, or that 42 inch Samsung LCD TV you want.  But God will always make sure you have what you need!

If God can take care of birds and flowers, He certainly values us, His creation (creatures), more than these.  It’s unreasonable to spend time worrying.  You must realize that worry brings on illness.  I read where Americans consume 15 tons of aspirin.  Why, because of worrying and being up tight.

• Proverbs 12:25  Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad.

Worry will weigh you down even more than work.  If you are worrying about something, you’re more fatigued than if you went out and did some work.  It’s unreasonable.

• Unproductive - It doesn’t work.  It’s useless.  It’s like a “rocking chair” - you’ve got a lot going on but you’re not going anywhere.  That’s what “worry” does.  It doesn’t change yesterday, and it doesn’t affect tomorrow.  All it does is make you miserable.

Jesus said in Matthew 6:27  Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

Or who can add a single hour to his life?  Not only will worrying add anything, it might shorten your life.  If you suffer with heart conditions or digestive problems, worrying can worsen it.  It’s unreasonable and unproductive.

• Unnecessary  

• Matthew 6:30  Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

Unbelieving – you’re acting like God doesn’t exist.  Where is your faith?

It’s not an issue of whether hardship will come into our lives; it’s an issue of what we do when it does.  

Will you turn to other people?  Some turn to alcohol/drugs, which only create new problems.  Others go into denial, or pretend nothing’s wrong.  Jesus said:

• Matthew 6:33  Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

The problem with Society is that its main focus is on all these things instead of seeking God’s kingdom first.  Putting these things first will cause you a lot of grief and distress.

If you’re like most of us, you never seem to find the time to do all you would like to do.  Your work schedule, household duties, and family responsibilities crowd your schedule and seem like there are not enough hours in a day for necessary activities:  sleeping; working; eating; hygiene; and travel, etc.  Then you have people, sports events, watching TV, listening to music, home up- keep, church, visiting others, shopping and education.  Many times you end up feeling bombarded and overwhelmed when you consider all these “time consumers”.  So we must put God first.  The question is “How do you manage putting God first”?

• SETTING PRIORITIES:

The right to precede others in order of rank; privilege; arrange or do in order of propriety:

Preferential attention to what is most important among many demands.

God knows us better than we know ourselves.  Since He is God our Creator, Sustainer and Father, He knows what is best for our life now and our life to come.  He has established priorities for our life through His written Word.  If you don’t set priorities in your life, then circumstances, situations, and other people will set them for you.

Why seek the Kingdom?  Seeking is a matter of paying attention with an engaged mind with acute awareness toward something.  It’s the first step on the pathway of God’s miracles.  You cannot walk this pathway without knowing His will and purpose for His call on your life.  

History shows humans cannot effectively rule themselves because the end results are that all human government apart from God will fail.

Solomon said:

• Proverbs 14:12  There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.  
• St. John 14:6  I am the way, the truth, and the life.

We must seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness, to know His will, to be a counted member of Christ’s body.

Asking, requesting, petitioning, (Matthew 7:7) or verbal communing with God shows dependence on Him for your needs that can’t be met any other way.  Showing faith pleases God.  

• Hebrews 11:6  But without faith it is impossible to please him.  
• Matthew 7:7  Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.  
• Psalm 34:10  The young lions do lack and suffer hunger:  but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.  
• Psalm 119:2  Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart

God is not hiding from His children.  He desires us to persistently and passionately look for Him all around us, and when we do, He promises He will be found.  

• Proverbs 8:17  I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.

Knock and the door will open.  When you need something behind a door, the natural thing is to knock.  It shows you’re physically moving or taking action to meet the need.  This is important.  

• 1 John 3:18  My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.

Christians ought not to love in word alone, but with action.  

• St. John 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

God knows your needs.  Jesus has informed us in Matthew 6:25-28 how well He takes care of birds and flowers.  He reminds us of just how little we accomplish by worrying about our needs.  We don’t have to worry about food, drink, nor clothing.  This is what the pagans run after.  Your Father already knows you have need of these things.  That’s the purpose of knowing God and His abilities.  He owns everything.  He’s Creator!  

• Philippians 4:19  And my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Invest in God’s Kingdom!  This is not a suggestion, but it is a requirement!  

What is “kingdom”?  Kingdom is from two words, “king” and “domain”.  The “domain” is the realm or territory, over which the “king” reigns or rules with complete sovereignty.  Domain includes both visible and invisible realms.  

• St. John 1:3  All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.

Whatever He created is His property by right of creation, and everything belongs to Him.  He is King over everything whether visible/invisible!  He is El-Shaddai, God Almighty!  

It is clear the “kingdom” is not physical, nor is it a geographical area.  

• Luke 17:20  And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:  

21 Neither shall they say, Lo here!  or, lo there!  for behold, the kingdom of God is within you”!

God is “spiritual reality” available to each person to receive Him right now.  The King is to receive His kingly rule, not only in your life over your affairs, but through your life and by your service and love for Him.

Kingdom is from the Greek word basileia, meaning rule; sovereignty; to reign; to master:  and basileus, which is a foundation of power:  also basis, meaning, the foot; a pace; to walk (or to live).  It means to rule and live as “king”, walking on and over all the power of the devil!!

• Luke 10:19  Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy:  and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
• “Dominion” is synonymous with “kingdom” – the root of this concept means “to rule”!  When God created man (male  & female), the first mandate and assignment He gave “man” was “dominion”.  
• Genesis 1:26-28  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:  and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.  

27  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.  

28  And God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it:  and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.  

HALLELUJAH!!!

We are not little “peons” walking around here without power.  When we come into the “kingdom”, we receive sovereignty, power, greatness, absolute authority!  This is true monarchy:  a King is sovereign because his word is law.  In God females are “kings” also!  

• Revelation 19:16  And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS!  
• Galatians 3:28  There is neither Jew nor Greek (Gentile), there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female:  for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

The King answers to no one but Himself.  We are delegated sovereignty, which causes us or gives us the right to have absolute authority!  We don’t have to sit by helplessly while the enemy reaps havoc in our lives.  We can stand up to him in the name of Jesus and take our authority over life’s circumstances/ situations.  That’s our right as “kingdom citizens”!

One of our biggest problems is we refuse to claim it.  Our slave mentality blocks us from so much that is ours for the asking, and we settle for the far off dream of the “pie in the sky by and by”!

• Romans 6:12-14  Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.  

13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin:  but yield

yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your member as instruments of

righteousness unto God.  

14 For sin shall not have dominion over you:  for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

We have gotten so side-tracked on secondary and peripheral issues.  It seems the message of the “kingdom” has all but disappeared.  It’s no doubt Jesus died on the Cross for our sins.  It’s no doubt He is the way, the truth and the life (St. John 14:6), and He is the only way to eternal life!  

All of this is part of the message, but not all of it.  That’s why we need to “seek God’s face”, so we will know who we are.  God wants us to have the kingdom, and Jesus is the way in.  

• Luke 12:32  Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

If you think of the “kingdom of God” as a glorious palace or mansion in the sky, I’m happy to redirect your thought process because you have totally missed the message.  You are stuck at the door, but you must enter in.  A door is an entrance.  Jesus is “the Door” and way to enter the kingdom.  If you get stuck at “the door”, you’ll never experience the fullness of the kingdom that our Father has prepared for you and given you already through Jesus Christ.

How important is the “kingdom of God”?  It’s so important that our lives depend on it.  All that we are, all that we see,  all that we hear, the air we breathe, the food we eat, the water we drink, this physical world we inhabit was issued forth from God’s hand at creation.  The Kingdom of God is the center of everything!  It must be our highest priority!

We are required to not only seek the kingdom.  We are required to seek His righteousness as well!

Have you heard – “You are what you eat”.  Nutritionists tell us that our appetites determine our diet, our diet determines our intake, and our intake determines our health.  

1st  - You are what you eat applies to the spiritual realm as well as the natural.  

• Matthew 5:6  Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness:  for they shall be filled.  
• Matthew 5:10  Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake:  for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Looking at these two scriptures, Matthew 5:6, and verse 10, we are to hunger and thirst after a kind of life that will cause some people to persecute us for our faith.

Righteousness is a “life style” that distinguishes you as a true Christian and invites opposition from the world.

2nd  Matthew 5:20  Jesus said, For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.  

They had concocted a religious system built around church attendance, intricate rules, and regulations that meant following precepts and traditions.  It was professional routine.  It was like wearing cheap perfume splashed on to make yourself smell good, but it couldn’t cover the odor underneath.

True righteousness starts in the heart and changes one from the inside out.

3rd   Matthew 6:1  Take heed that you do not your alms before men, to be seen of them:  otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.

The Pharisees loved praying in public loudly.  They loved to dress up in their religious garb and throw their offering in the metal containers so people could hear the coins rattle.  They would sacrifice anything to win praise of others.  Their religion was built on praise of men.  And they still thought God would reward them.  But it was “Cotton Candy” religion.  It looked good but had no substance.  Like old Mother Hubbard’s cupboard – there was nothing there.  

True disciples do not need to be seen by others - only by God.  

• St. John 13:35  By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love, one to another.

But “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness”, and all these things shall be added or provided for you!  (Matthew 6:33)

What is it that you’re seeking in life:  fame, fortune, career advancement, a good salary, a secure future, a happy retirement, a marriage partner, fulfillment of your dreams?

As good as those things may be, they aren’t the most important things in life.  But God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness are first.  When you do seek Him first, everything else you need shall be given to you!

Seeking “righteousness” means letting God’s Word set the standard for your life and your seeking to do that which is right and pleasing to Him!

FIRST THINGS FIRST!!!

~  Evangelist Brenda Hansley