Title: Pursuit of Priority/Matt 6
Content [Seek ye first his kingdom and his righteousness. And all these things will be added to you!]
These are the words of Jesus. It is the imperative request and promise of Jesus given to us about our concerns over the food, clothing and shelter issues.
The command is to pursue 'first priority'. Our text uses the word [first]. This means 'priority'.
I. This first order of pursuit is a blessed privilege given only to Christians.
Our text says [you are...].
Here you are characterizing the crowd of followers of Jesus Christ, those who receive Him.
That is, they are separated from the Gentiles (Matthew 5:32) mentioned in the previous verse. In other words, Gentiles are those who are outside Christ.
What do the Gentiles eat? what to wear He said that he was looking for what to drink. He said that he is concerned and seeking for himself and his body.
But [you] said that there are [things to ask first]. It is a priority pursuit.
Here, the verb [to seek] implies being preoccupied with finding something, that is, persistent effort to obtain something. For example, it is like the heart of a merchant who seeks to find fine pearls (Matthew 13:45).
Also, the word [ask] here means 'to ask constantly', 'to seek without ceasing, to seek and to seek', so to speak, to seek (Colossians 3:1).
I was told to [seek first], so I ordered the pursuit of the highest priority.
First in mind, first in time, first in action, first as value, first as purpose.
II. The content of the first pursuit was 'his kingdom and his righteousness'.
The word 'his kingdom' here refers to 'the kingdom of Christ', that is, 'the kingdom of the Messiah'. John the Baptist exclaimed, “The kingdom of God is at hand.” It is the [Kingdom of God] that the Lord Himself proclaimed.
This is a country that has been consistently prophesied by the prophets of the Old Testament. This refers to the realm where Jesus Christ Himself is king and is ruled by Him. If so, it is a concept that includes ① the spiritual heaven of individual believers, ② the church on earth that they form together, and ③ finally the eternal reign and the heaven of the afterlife.
[His righteousness] refers to ① the merits of Christ’s own cross, and ② includes our justification by receiving the merits of the cross through faith.
Then, the highest priority should be the 'Kingdom of Grace' and 'Kingdom of Gifts' given and obtained through the merits of the cross of Jesus Christ as the top priority. More blatantly, it is to seek the reign of Christ first. It is to pursue the kingly rule of Jesus Christ as our top priority.
What does it mean to seek first the kingly rule of Christ?
First, it acknowledges absolute 'his ownership' and 'sovereignty' over us.
It means acknowledging his absolute possession and exercise of absolute sovereignty over our entire lifetime of time and activity in space, our reason, our conscience, our emotions, our assertions, and our purposes. It means that our entire life is under His complete conquest, complete control, and complete sovereignty. He is a sovereign king.
Second, it means acknowledging the sovereignty of 'absolute redemption', 'absolute forgiveness' and 'absolute love' toward sinners.
It is confessing that only Jesus has the right to forgive our sins and to exercise the right to forgive, love, and bless.
For us who are sinners against this, only irresistible grace is possible. It is confessing that only he has the right to take away the wrath of God that has come upon us, and the power to accept sinners as righteous.
The effect of redemption on the cross he accomplished is to confess that he has an absolute power and effect on sinners. He is the king of forgiveness.
Third, it is an act of absolute obedience and submission to the 'law of love' set by him.
I think this is our spirit, our privilege, and our pride as his subjects of the king's rule. He is the King of the new commandment.
Fourth, it signifies an oath of 'faithfulness to him' towards him.
This is all we are to serving our King, Jesus Christ. Because a righteous king has only loyal people.
There are only people who are loyal to their hearts. He is the King as the great Lord. You are the Almighty King.
Fifth, it means complete trust, total trust, and eternal trust in the power and promise of Christ's protection and security as king.
Therefore, doubting his own existence, his redemption, his love, and his blessing as subjects and people to the king is unspeakable disloyalty.
When the reign of Christ rests upon each of us, the only vital action that happens to us is complete trust in it all.
Sixth, it means being the King as our 'purpose of life'.
The purpose of the king's glory, the king's reign, and the king's love is that it is our duty and everything we do. It is the fact that food, clothing and shelter exist as a means to glorify the king. What the Gentiles seek is themselves. And it is consciousness. But the Christian's supreme pursuit is Christ as an end.
Seventh, it symbolizes the hope and gratitude for the king's 'eternal reign'. His existence, his reign, his majesty, and his blessing are unchanging. That is why he is said to be the living king for ever and ever (Hebrews 13:8). He is the living King for ever and ever.
Then the meaning of the phrase [seek his kingdom and his righteousness] becomes clear. It means to pursue 'the righteous reign of Christ' first.
It tells us to pursue his sovereignty over us, absolute redemption toward sinners, absolute obedience to his love law, allegiance to him, full trust in him, the king as the purpose of his previous life, and his eternal reign as the top priority. will be
Those who have received this mission are Christians in this world.
Ⅲ. It is a promise that follows the pursuit of priority.
[And all these things will be added to you]. 'All of these' means eating, wearing, drinking, lodging, that is, food, clothing, and shelter. Health, longevity, fame, etc. They tend to follow as a means to those who aim to pursue their first priority.
Romans 8:32 says, "He who did not spare the Son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him the gift of us all things?"
Solomon sought his kingdom and his righteousness, and it was in God's heart, and he added to the wealth, number, and honor he had not asked for (1 Kings 3:10-11).
Elijah gave the woman of Shunem first priority (1 Kings 17:8). First bring me a little loaf of bread, and then make it for you and your son.” As Elijah said, she pursued the first priority, and the result was abundant.
In Mark 10:29-30, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, he who has left houses or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for me and for the sake of the gospel will in no time leave houses and brothers and sisters and mothers. There is no one who will not receive a hundred times as much money, children, and lands, with persecution, and in the age to come eternal life.] This is what the Lord told His disciples to do first. It is saying that 'the Lord and the Gospel' is the top priority.
1 Timothy 4:8 says, "Physical exercise is profitable for a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, and has promise in this life and in the life to come." Paul said that 'priority pursuit' is 'godliness'. There is a promise in all things, and it is said that the promise will follow in this life and in the life to come.
Dear saints!
The Jesus globalization movement is a 'seeking priority' movement. It is a blessed command given to Christians.
Its top priority is 'the country and its righteousness'. It is said that all things will follow in addition to those who seek this first.
Christians give priority to the greater, the wider, the more, the higher, the more distant, the more beneficial, the heavier and the heavier, the more valuable, the more representative, the more essential, the more ultimate. I was told I should seek it out.
You and I are community members who seek the kingdom of God and the righteousness of God first.
They are those who seek not only myself but God, not physical things, but spiritual things, things that are invisible rather than visible, and things that are eternal rather than changeable.
Gentiles do not know what is their top pursuit They said that if there is a priority pursuit, it is food, clothing, and shelter for themselves. But eating, clothing, and shelter are by no means the first, best or best of human pursuits.
It is just a means to a purposeful life. Our lives and bodies are more important than clothing, food, and shelter.
If food, clothing and shelter are the top priority in life, we say that we are inferior to lilies in the field or sparrows. The reason is because they said that God feeds and cloths them without bloody tears of survival like people do. How much more is it life?
Therefore, we must open our hearts. You need to open your chest. You must embrace the world. No, we must first pursue 'his kingdom', 'the church' and 'his righteousness', that is, 'the cross of Jesus'.
You really need to change your mind from 'here' to 'there'.
The first thing in our thinking is to put God first.
We must put God first in the purpose of our actions.
I can't give you detailed words with certain details. But the central content is clear. I came across the news of the person who founded Handong University, which was opened in Pohang, Gyeongbuk this year, through the president of the school, Dr. Kim Young-gil. He is the deacon of a church in Pohang, and it is said that he saved money by doing business of disposing of 'industrial waste'. He dedicated all the money he had raised through such hard work to the foundation that established the university and appointed a devout Christian as the president. And he heard that President Kim promised to donate whatever money he needed to run a Christian school. He has dedicated his entire life to cultivating talented people with a Christian spirit. Indeed [I think it is the life of a blessed person who put his country and his righteousness first.
The water bird spoke to the sparrow/ Why do humans worry/
Are you worrying about this and that/ I don't know why/
The sparrow answered the waterfowl/ to the man who cares for us/
Maybe there is no such heavenly father/ someone wrote this.
It is thought that this article is a commentary on the unbelief of people who are slaves with the purpose of food, clothing and shelter.
Jesus Globalization Movement!
That's the first priority.
It is a Christian's first pursuit.
It is to seek his country first. That is the Christian purpose. value. It is the meaning of existence.
For the one who has set the goal of his first pursuit right, everything he needs is added.
An example of this is the case of the so-called developed countries of history that are the heads of the world today. God made them a leader in globalization. Isn't this the blessing that today's trends are experiencing?