“But seek ye first
the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added
unto you.” – Matthew 6:33
I suppose that it is easy to lose
sight of this principle in today’s world.
Furthermore, I dare risk the injury of falling from the tree of religion
by going out on a proverbial limb when I also suppose that most churches in
fact have lost sight of this principle.
Again, not a difficult thing today, especially in our fast paced, high
tech, overly commercialized culture. As
a young preacher, I wish it were not so, but it would seem that many churches
and religious organizations have succumbed to the pressures of would be statues
of Nebuchudnezzar in a modern day Babylon, bowing down to any concept that would
elevate them to a level of so-called success, measured by some arbitrary
standard of numbers, or viewership, or something of that nature.
What I am aiming to establish at the
outset of this work is simply this: the primary and central issue, not just of
Christianity, or your local church body, or your denomination, but of life
itself is the Kingdom. The old saying
goes “first things first.” Without the
first thing, without the Kingdom, anything else in our possession, be it
spiritual or carnal, is nullified. It does us no good to have a great number of
souls in the house of the Lord on Sunday (and please, do not be offended, I am
all for having as many in church as we can possibly reach), if that great
number of souls have no access to the Kingdom. I will even go out on a further limb and say
that we can preach Jesus, yes, even Christ Himself; but if we preach Him apart
from His position as it relates to the Kingdom, then we are not fully preaching
the Jesus of the Bible. In other words,
if He is not preached as the King of the Kingdom, but just a graceful Savior
and Creator, then we will be missing a key element in our walk with God, which
is His Rulership.
I’ll go another mile and say this:
as Pentecostals we can even have signs, wonders, miracles, and even revival –
but without the structure and design of a Kingdom, we will have no way to keep
it perpetually going. We will enjoy the
angel coming down at seasonal intervals to trouble the water, but miss the Man
from Galilee who is in charge of the angels and the seasons. Some will be saved. Some will be healed. But without a Kingdom mindset and message,
the ones like the man with the infirmity thirty and eight years will still have
no man to put him down in the water.
On the level of the individual
person, the pursuit of this Kingdom must become the first priority. The major problem on an individual level is
that humanity tends to place earthly provision above spiritual things. Take a closer look at the context of the
scripture leading up to our main text.
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. – Matthew 6:25-32
It is not as though our great God is
not concerned with provision! Again, he
“knoweth that ye have need of these things,” speaking of food, clothing, and shelter. As vital, and as important as these things
are, they are not to trump the priority of the Kingdom on the level of the
individual believer. As we move ahead in
the following chapters, we will see that this attitude is natural. Scientists would call it the survival
instinct. One of the primary purposes of
the Kingdom is to reverse this order.
Heaven must become first priority, and then earth. Again, spiritual things must be put in their
rightful place, and earthly things must come under their submission and
provision. You will read this principle
time and again in this book.
Another great truth we will
discover, or perhaps rediscover as we journey through these pages together is
that the Kingdom of Heaven is not merely a pearly-gated, golden paved place in
the great beyond reserved for the afterlife.
Contrary to that tradition, Heaven is a place we have access to now as
believers. We are not merely seeking
salvation for the afterlife, but in seeking first the Kingdom we are seeking
heavenly power and provision for our lives that we are living now on the
earth. Let’s forge ahead into our
rediscovery of the priority of the Kingdom of God in our lives today.
57
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.
58
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.
59
And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go
and bury my father.
60
Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the
kingdom of God.
61
And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them
farewell, which are at home at my house.
62
And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking
back, is fit for the kingdom of God” – Luke 9:57-62
A closer look at this passage boldly
reveals two magnificent spiritual truths concerning the Kingdom. It reiterates that there is nothing in this
earthly life that should ever trump the pursuit of the Kingdom, and it also
shows us that there is a great price to that pursuit. A closer look at these verses will highlight
these principles.
If you will notice verse fifty-seven,
this “certain man” that comes to Christ, like many of us have come to Him, has
all of the best and spiritual intentions in his heart. How many of us have knelt down at an altar,
perhaps many times, and prayed this prayer: “Lord, I will follow you wherever
you go. I will go wherever you lead
me.” As a matter of fact, if you have
been in the Lord for any number of years you are very likely to be familiar with
a chorus that we sing quite often during altar calls:
“Lead me Lord, I will
follow. Lead me Lord, I will go. You have called me, I will answer! Lead me Lord, I will go…”
These
are certainly noble words and noble purposes.
No one could fault a man for praying that prayer. The response of Christ in this passage
however is maybe not quite the enthusiastic “welcome to the team” affair that
we would expect. Instead He meets this
man’s noble purpose and prayer with a sharp word of caution: this looks
glamorous but it’s really a bundle of hard work and sacrifice. How many of us have ever been captivated by
an anointed camp meeting speaker, or the pastor of a large church, and have
sensed that there was some limelight and glory to this thing we call ministry? Christ was trying to prepare this man. I know that all these signs, and miracles,
and wonders, and these big crowds have a certain attraction to them, but you
need to know before you ever take the first step on this journey that all of
that comes with a heavy price tag. The
call to the Kingdom is not only a call to glory, but it is a call to
sacrifice.
He
said in another place that if a man desires to be His disciple that it would
require not only following Him wherever He may lead, with no guarantee of a
comfortable place to sleep, but that it would also require taking up a
cross. Not just His cross, our own
personal cross of sacrifice and suffering.
I know this may not be the best way to start off a book and persuade you
to keep reading, but as the author I would do you a disservice if I told you that
this book is a short cut to revival and growth.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Oh yes, we will have revival, and we will have growth, but what we
really need is to find this Kingdom, and it will come at a price.
In
a later chapter we will discuss a spiritual principle called the law of
exchange. If you want something on the
spiritual market, just like any market, there is a price to be paid for
it. The man in Matthew 13 found a
treasure buried in a field, but in order to purchase it he had to sell
everything that he had in order to gain it, and so is the Kingdom.
In
spite of what seems to be a heavy price tag of sacrifice, the glory that comes
along is well worth the price we will pay.
In view of scripture though, if we are to be obedient to Him, we really
don’t have the option either way. We
must seek the Kingdom at all costs!
Christ was simply trying to tell this man what He was really signing up
for.
Look
at verse fifty-nine. Here is another
man. This time Christ calls him to
follow Him and seek the Kingdom. The
command was simple, yet if followed, completely life altering. “Follow me,” the Lord calls, as He says to
all of us. The response of this
individual is another indication of priorities not set correctly. I want to follow you Lord, but there is this
matter of burying my father first.
Christ’s response seems to lack some sensitivity to the man’s
situation. “Let the dead bury the dead.” And not only that but “you go preach the
Kingdom of God.” No one could really
fault the man for wanting to bury his father, but here is the principle. Spiritual matters, such as the preaching of
the Kingdom, and doing the will of God must far outweigh earthly matters. That would include even important and
familial matters. As much as it would
pain me to say it, seeking the Kingdom first, above all, may result in a
sacrifice of some earthly relationships that we have. Earthly fathers certainly are important, but
what about our heavenly Father? Feeling
the call to preach is certainly noble, but what will heeding the call cost us?
Finally we have a third man. He’s gung ho about this “following Jesus”
thing. He is all for being signed
up. However, scripture again will show
us, although this man is noble, his priorities are not in order. He said to Christ “first let me go and tell my loved ones good-bye.” No doubt he had close relationships with his
earthly friends and family. He may have
been very popular, perhaps even involved in some type of leadership role within
his community. We can certainly conclude
that there was an emotional attachment to these certain people in his
life. Notice, when called the man does
not reject it. He even realizes that his
life has to completely change. He
realizes that there are things and people that he must say good-bye to in order
to begin this new path of pursuing the Kingdom.
Again, however, we find Christ with a great censure and rebuke of sorts. “If a man puts his hand to the plow and then
looks back, he’s not fit for the
Kingdom…”
From that statement, we can draw
some more powerful conclusions concerning the Kingdom and its pursuit as we lay
a foundation for these later lessons.
Firstly, when we decide to pursue the Kingdom, we are putting our hand
to a plow. Plows are work. Plows are for sowing, and reaping, and
harvests. God calls no one to the
Kingdom to keep pews warm. Secondly,
that if a man looks back after putting
his hand to the plow, after deciding to pursue this Kingdom, he is not fit for the Kingdom. I don’t believe that the looking back
described here would be a casual glance.
I don’t believe it means that we are not going to miss our loved ones or
be homesick from time to time. These
things are natural. This would be more
the looking back that Lot’s wife committed in the exit of Sodom and
Gommorrah. There was a longing there, a
desire deep down in her heart. Her old
life had become an idol in the midst of her deliverance, and that was ultimately
her salty downfall.
The
first generation of the church in the wilderness fell victim to the same
attitude. Observe the recording of
scripture:
“They set out from Elim, and all
the congregation of Israel came to the Wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim
and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they left the land of
Egypt.
And the whole congregation of
Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness,
And said to them, Would that we
had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the
fleshpots and ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this
wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” – Exodus 16:1-3
(Amplified)
It is amazing to me that such a
short time after such a miraculous deliverance as the Exodus that the children
of Israel could display this kind of attitude.
No doubt it broke the heart of God.
God brought them out of Egypt, but as of yet Egypt was still in their
spirits. Oh sure, there was this issue
of provision (again notice how the priorities were earthly), but far above that
was the issue of the pursuit of a promised land. No doubt God would provide everything they
needed in a physical sense. History and
Hebrews tells us that this generation with this attitude missed out completely
on the promised land. That major
spiritual failure began with a looking back after they had already crossed the
Red Sea.
How often do people enter into this
glorious new birth, having their sins washed away in the waters of baptism, the
spiritual Red Sea if you will, leaving the Egypt of this world system behind,
only to at some crisis point look back to their old life and desire to go
back? Jesus said, it is those people
with this attitude that are not fit for
the Kingdom. Much like a physical body
must be fit to do certain physical tasks (the greater the task the greater the
fitness required), our spirits must be fit to pursue this Kingdom! This is no walk in the park, it is a
marathon. We could never be more
spiritually out of shape, or unfit, than having our priorities and pursuits on
earthly things, and having a desire to go back to our own personal Egypts which
God has miraculously and graciously brought us out of. In order to pursue this Kingdom, we must be
fully committed to moving forward and leaving our old life behind, lest we die
in the wilderness of pursuit, full of potential, but having failed to reach the
promise. (possible insert here about Peter’s statement on forsaking everything
and the reward involved)
Again, we must seek this Kingdom. We must
look for it, pursue it with great vigor.
The beauty of seeking is that seeking scripturally carries with it the
promise of finding!
“And ye shall seek me, and find
me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13)
“Keep on asking and it will be
given you; keep on seeking and you will find; keep on knocking [reverently] and
[the door] will be opened to you.
For everyone who keeps on asking
receives; and he who keeps on seeking finds; and to him who keeps on knocking,
[the door] will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8 Amplified)
We must become passionate Kingdom
seekers. I believe in our pursuit of
this great Kingdom, and even in the process of this book we will discover,
however, that we are not seeking a physical place, as were the children of
Israel in the wilderness. We are seeking
the revelation of a spiritual kingdom. As a kingdom of priests, a royal priesthood,
it is an honor from God to seek out this Kingdom.
“It is the glory of God to
conceal a thing, but the glory of kings is to search out a thing.”(Proverbs
25:2 – Amplified)
Notice with me that this Kingdom is
hidden away. It is not hidden from us,
but it is hidden for us. It is not
unfindable! God has hidden it to the
intent that only those that truly desire it will find it. That’s why cold, satisfied churches and
church organizations will not find this Kingdom. That’s also why those individual church goers
who have no real desire to know Him will miss the Kingdom. Spiritual hunger and desire are
necessary. They are the driving forces
behind the seeking.
“He said to them, To you it has
been given to [come progressively to] know (to recognize and understand more
strongly and clearly) the mysteries and secrets of the kingdom of God, but for
others they are in parables, so that, [though] looking, they may not see; and
hearing, they may not comprehend.” (Luke 8:10 Amplified)
The key to any spiritual mystery is
always revelation. Moving forward, it is
my prayer that God would blanket this book with a spirit of revelation, so that
those hidden truths and principles might be discovered and made know unto us.
The life of the man Christ Jesus was
glorious in every way. His life is
definitely the core of all scripture and all revelation. He in fact was the greatest revelation and
manifestation of the invisible God of the heavens. After three years of ministry and
discipleship, as it had been in the plan of God since before the foundation of
the world, that precious Lamb was crucified for the sins of the world. He rose again on the third day, just as He
had prophesied. From there, I think if
we were writing the story, perhaps after showing that He had risen to His
disciples that He would simply ascended back into the heavens, and taken His
rightful place on His throne. Our God,
however, is methodical. The following
scripture contains a great key, and is a great source of revelation concerning
the Kingdom.
“The former treatise have I made,
O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,
2 Until the day in which he was
taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the
apostles whom he had chosen:
3 To whom also he shewed himself
alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty
days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:” (Acts
1:1-3)
Christ’s purpose was to plant His
church in the earth! In doing so, He
would ensure that His earthly ministry would live on. This text highlights again for us the
priority of the Kingdom. It is first of
all. It is so vital in fact, that to
prepare His disciples for the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost and the church
age that He spent forty days in the state of His resurrected body doing just
one thing: speaking of the things
pertaining to the kingdom of God. Everything He taught was wrapped up in one
main general subject, that being the kingdom of God. His death, burial, and resurrection had
everything to do with the kingdom.
Signs, miracles, and wonders had everything to do with the kingdom. Healing the sick, raising the dead, casting
out devils all fell under the category of the kingdom. The Spirit coming at Pentecost was a core
issue in the kingdom.
I believe in our rediscovery of God’s
kingdom, we will also rediscover his church.
The revelation of the kingdom does not nullify or cancel out the church,
but it will highlight God’s true church in the earth.
“Joseph, he of Arimathea, noble
and honorable in rank and a respected member of the council (Sanhedrin), who
was himself waiting for the kingdom of
God, daring the consequences, took courage and ventured to go to Pilate and
asked for the body of Jesus.” (Mark
15:43 Amplified)
Joseph of Arimathea, a believer, the
one who loaned his tomb to the Savior, here stumbles upon a great truth. Joseph was “waiting for the kingdom.” Following the crucifixion of the Savior he
goes to Pilate and asks for Christ’s body.
The uncovered truth in this text is this: anyone who is truly seeking
the kingdom will seek the true body of Christ.
“Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.” (I
Corinthians 12:27)
As we begin to put the pieces of
this puzzle together in their totality it will bring to light the church, the
body of Christ in its fullest revelation.
The church itself must step into this reality: that the church cannot be
merely a building, or an organization.
The church must become the hands, and the feet, and voice of our Lord in
this present world. The church will not
achieve this, nor will the individual believer achieve this without a kingdom
mentality.
Can't wait for chapter 2.
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