“Seek first the Kingdom of God”, Jesus says in Matthew 6. When you do, all “these things” you need will be added to you. What kind of things? Food, shelter, clothes. The basic necessities of life.
This tells us a lot about the Kingdom of God (aka the Kingdom of Heaven). The Kingdom is to be our primary focus. So what does that mean for us?
1. The Kingdom of God is added “to”, not added “on”.
That is a huge difference. We live as is the Kingdom of God is added on to our kingdom, but that is not what the scripture tells us. The Kingdom is added to by God. Those things such as food, shelter, and clothes are the whipped cream and cherry on top of an ice cream sunday. The Kingdom of God is to be the most important focus of our life.
2. The Kingdom of God is more important than you.
What is best for the Kingdom may not appear to be what is best for you. That may mean that what is best for the Kingdom is you being without a job. While that appears to be bad for you, God may need to teach you dependence through that difficult time so that for the Kingdom’s sake, you can be in a deeper relationship with Him. What may be best for the Kingdom may be the death of a close family member, such as the case of Jim Elliot.
This creates, potentially, a great deal of concern, anxiety, and possibly fear. God has a prescription for that as well (Phil. 4). God sometimes has to strip us and break us down so that he can build us back up in his image. He wants us to become the human we were created to be. But if we don’t understand the primacy of the Kingdom, we will fight it.
3. The Kingdom of God is more important than your church.
We must note the distinction. The Kingdom and the church are not equal. The Kingdom is bigger than the church.
Unfortunately, our concern is on the church, not the Kingdom. We seek to do what is best for the church. God, however, requires us to understand that the Kingdom is primary. Therefore, what is best for the Kingdom may not appear to be what is best for your local church.
What may be best for the Kingdom is that you release half of your church family to plant another church. What may be best for the Kingdom is your church selling all of its assets and use the money to minister to the community, meaning that the church moves into a house church structure. Are you open to that? Are you really open to that?
This means that as individuals and as churches we must see the primacy of the Kingdom. When we do, “all these things” will be added to the value, joy, and meaning the Kingdom of God offers.
Sorry for not posting much lately. I’ve been working on a couple of writing projects and just haven’t had the time. I’m posting some simple thoughts today on ministry models. It is just some recent thoughts, and decided to write them down to help me to process them.
