Why we should Seek first God’s Kingdom and
His Righteousness. God’s Kingdom and its meaning were
discussed in the previous
article:What is God's Kingdom and its meaning.
When Jesus was on earth He preached about God’s Kingdom
as His central message. Indeed, Jesus related many parables which
described what God’s Kingdom is like and that He is the Kingdom of
God. Jesus related the value of God’s Kingdom and how precious
this Kingdom message really is. God’s Kingdom is defined as
literally a divine governance with Jesus as King ruling on earth.
This Kingdom will never end in which righteousness dwells. God’s
Kingdom will rule on earth as it is in heaven. The Kingdom of God
will have exclusive dominion over all of creation; as was originally
intended before Adam and Eve sinned.
According to the bible, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they rejected
God as their ruler and effectively chose His adversary, Satan, as their
ruler, to have dominion over the earth (Genesis 3:6
&11). Consequently, Adam and Eve elected the Devil as
ruler not only for themselves but for all of their descendants and
humankind (Genesis 3:17, Romans 5:12 & Romans 8:20-21).
However, when Christ came to earth He redeemed humankind from sin and
death through His sacrifice for all time: So then as through one
transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through
one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all
men. 19 For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made
sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made
righteous…so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 5:18 & 19,
21). God through Jesus’ ransom has given everyone the
opportunity to choose everlasting Life.
Jesus tells us: But seek first His
kingdom and His righteousness, and
all these things will be added to you (Matthew 6:33). Why
was
Jesus emphasising that His followers should first seek the Kingdom of
God?
We know from the bible that Jesus’ disciples enjoyed a close
relationship and personal fellowship with the Messiah. His
apostles knew that Jesus is the Son of God and witnessed many of His
wonderful miracles, a testament of God’s power in Jesus. They
were privileged to hear His teachings face to face and Jesus, himself,
remarked: “Because you have seen me,
you have believed; blessed are
those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John
20:29) However, the miracles Jesus performed and the
parables which he related all pointed to his central theme of his
ministry, the good news of God’s Kingdom. Jesus’ powerful works
and miracles gave a prelude to what God’s Kingdom will deliver.
God’s Kingdom will bring an end to all of human suffering,
unrighteousness, injustice, evil and death itself. This is
what Jesus highlighted throughout His ministry on earth. Many
Christian disciples today are still preaching this message throughout
the world. In Matthew 24:14 Jesus prophesied: This good news of
the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness
to all the nations. The Kingdom message and its
significance are
echoed by millions of Christian groups and missionaries all over the
globe.
Jesus admonished his disciples to seek first God’s Kingdom because
earthly and material pursuits can detract from having a spiritual,
Kingdom focus. In Matthew Chapter 6 He warned that we
should not be overly concerned with what we are to eat and what
clothing we are to wear (as these anxieties can distract us from
spiritual pursuits) for God knows what our physical, basic needs are;
after all He created us! Rather, if we first seek God’s
Kingdom God will provide for all of our material needs. This is
God’s personal guarantee and promise: Look
at the birds of the air,
that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your
heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more
than they? (Matthew 6:26)
When we accept Christ as our Saviour we receive the Holy Spirit,
whereby Christ abides in us (‘greater is He who is in us than he who is
in the world’): Do you not know that
you are a temple of God and that
the Spirit of God dwells in you (1Corinthians
3:16). We not
only become God’s children but also active citizens of God’s Kingdom
work, preaching the gospel through God’s Holy Spirit.
Essentially, the Holy Spirit reveals God in action on
earth. The fruitage of the spirit represents the tools of
our trade, enabling Christians to preach God’s Word to others so that
others may come to know Christ, receive salvation and eternal
life. As believers we receive an anointing to do God’s
work, to be a light in a dark world (Matthew 5:14
The Holy Spirit empowers us to deliver the Kingdom message, to save as
many souls as possible before Jesus returns, and to live the life that
our God intends us to live. If we have a ministry, if we
are providing food to the disadvantaged and shelter to the homeless
then we need to be led by God’s spirit in order to accomplish these
missions. We need to put the Kingdom of God and His
righteousness first in our lives as we help others to seek God’s
Kingdom. Also, in everyday life we need to be led by the Spirit
of God in order to have authority over the invisible forces in the
world (Ephesians 6:12).
In the Old Testament we read how God provided manna (bread) from heaven
to the Israelites while they roamed in the wilderness for forty years,
following their release from bondage in Egypt. God instructed
Moses to tell the Israelites: “that
they may see the bread that I fed
you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.”
(Exodus 16:32) Centuries later God sent His Son as
the spiritual manna from Heaven to preach to many, offering salvation
and everlasting life (Isaiah 61:1). We feed on God’s Word daily
for our spiritual sustenance. While on earth Jesus fed people
spiritually and gave living water so that they may never hunger or
thirst spiritually again: But He answered and said, “It is written,
‘Man shall not live on bread alone,
but on every word that proceeds out
of the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4)
Therefore, it is essential that we put God’s Kingdom and His
righteousness first in our lives as this is the key message of Jesus’
ministry. By seeking God’s Kingdom through Jesus we place
priority on spiritual pursuits rather than material ones. We
receive the Holy Spirit who equips us to preach the Kingdom message
that embodies sayings of everlasting life, as we eagerly await Christ’s
return. Then Jesus our King will take over dominion and
reign over all of creation in God’s Kingdom which will become manifest
here on earth.
