Matthew 6:33 "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."
To seek means to desire. To seek first is to desire more importantly, chiefly among other things. To seek God's kingdom means to turn to God first for help, fill your thoughts with His desires, take His character to your pattern and serve and obey God in everything. Do people, objects, your goals which compete for priority seem more important to you than God? Any of these put God out if you don’t give him first place in every area of your life.
THE KINGDOM OF GOD. KINGDOM signifies a state of things which God is recognized as King whom everything must submit. KINGDOM of God comes when God removes evil and brings real peace and justice.
It will be established by the messiah over Israel first then over all the nations of the earth (Zech 14:9) "And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one." (whose name is worshiped everywhere on earth.)
John the Baptist first proclaimed this KINGDOM (Mt 3:2) " And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Two other bible translations of this say: (CEV) He said, "Turn back to God! The kingdom of heaven will soon be here." (GW) "Turn to God and change the way you think and act, because the kingdom of heaven is near."
Jesus inaugurated this KINGDOM (Mt 12:25-28) "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand? And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges. But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you." Verse 28, in another translation, says it more clearly: "But when I force out demons by the power of God's Spirit, it proves that God's kingdom has already come to you."
This is continued in the church of today (Mt 10:7) " As you go, announce (preach) that the kingdom of heaven will soon be here." In Matthew 16:19, Jesus tells Peter of "giving him the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and that whatsoever he (or the church) shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever he (or the church) shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. To bind means to be in bounds while loose means to destroy or break up.
The members of the KINGDOM of God are called "children of God" and even in this life enjoy that eternal life which will be completely expanded in the future world (Jn 3:15F) " That whosoever believeth may in him have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life."
The KINGDOM of God comes when God removes evil and bring real peace and justice to His entire creation. The main theme of the Jesus' teaching is about God's KINGDOM: "They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, And talk of thy power; To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, And the glory of the majesty of his kingdom. Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And thy dominion endureth throughout all generations." (Ps 145:11-13).
Now lets come to the Cebuano translation of the text: "Apan labaw sa tanan paharia ninyo ang Dios ug pagkinabuhi kamo uyon sa iyang kabubut-on ug ang ubang mga butang ihatag ra niya kaninyo." God's Will (kabubut-on sa Dios) is "God's pleasure" or "what God wants." In other words, God's purpose or decree. Several keys are needed to desire or seek God's kingdom.
THANKSGIVING AND PRAISE. We need to have a life-giving attitude of praise and thankfulness to experience God's kingdom and glory in our midst. God "inhabits in the praises of His people" (Ps 22:3). We are to give thanks in everything "for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus towards us" (1Th 5:18). We have to show God our gratefulness in all circumstances.
HIDDEN LIFE WITH GOD. This hidden life concerns our deeds of righteousness before men, not to be seen of them: else we have no reward with our Father in heaven. (Mt 6:1-6) "When therefore thou doest alms, sound not a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have received their reward."(v2) then it adds, "But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:" (v3) which means that when we help a needy person, lets do it in such a way that even our closest friend will not know about it. We give but we must not advertise. King Solomon tells us to "Ponder the path of our feet, and let all our ways be established." (Pro 4:26).
OVERCOMING FAITH. This faith is not just about to trusting, believing and obeying. This is to have a strong faith and an unreserved surrender of the will of God’s guidance and dependence. The faith of the gospel is that emotion of the mind, which is called trust or confidence, exercised towards the moral character of God, and particularly of the Savior.
But there’s that sincerity, honesty, faithfulness that overcomes—that triumphs over all and even the world. Rom 10:9 says that “If you declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. The following verse keeps on: “For a person believes with his heart and is justified, and a person declares with his mouth and is saved. The word “believes” means to entrust one’s spiritual well-being to Christ, commit or to have faith. The righteous (will) live by faith (Rom 1:17). Our faith is that dynamic force and guide to life, an action and direction. “For we live by faith, not by sight.” (2Cor 5:7). We walk in truth and in reliance in Christ and not by appearance.
TRUE REPENTANCE. God did allowed us to repent and come to a full knowledge of the truth (2Tim 2:25) God brought forth a reversal of our decisions and actions in each one of us. Paul intimates in this verse that as bad as we were before, we were not out of the reach of God’s mercy. When sinners repent, they will come to be led into the glorious liberty of the children of God, and have their wills melted into the will of the Lord. Jesus will pull us through out of the devil’s snare. We should therefore ask it of him by earnest, persevering prayer. We should make progress ourselves and take this position of opposing the intrigues and schemes of satan intending to be converted. True repentance is God’s gift: it brings freedom, truth and blessings.
DILIGENCE. Proverbs 21:5 says, “The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; But every one that is hasty hasteth only to want.” Another way of saying this is “If you plan and work hard, you will have plenty; if you get in a hurry, you will end up poor.” The purposes of the man of industry have their outcome only in wealth; but one who is over-quick in acting will only come to be in need.
Christians should therefore be consistent, reliable or unswerving. In what? Paul tells Timothy to give diligence to present thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, handling aright the word of truth.( 2Ti 2:15). The apostle tells to young missionary to do his best to present himself to God as an approved worker who has nothing to be ashamed of, handling the word of truth with precision. A workman who has no cause for shame, a man faithfully performing his duty, so that when he looks over what he has done, he may not blush.
God’s ministry of the word is a work, and it is a good work; and those that perform it aright are worthy of honor and esteem; and it requires industry, diligence, and application, and for which no man is sufficient without the grace of God; and those who are employed in it are workmen, workers together with God, and laborers in his vineyard.
In closing, let us be concerned first and only about God's kingdom and His righteousness, and all of those things we desire will be provided for us, Christ's rule on the earth, the blessings and advantages of all kinds that flow from this rule and the subjects of this kingdom taken collectively, or the Church. From the following message we can learn that we cannot enter into God’s kingdom if one of the keys is lost.
Jesus tells Nicodemus in John 3:3 that except a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. This should be the center of anybody’s aspirations--those who want to desire more importantly, chiefly among other things, God's kingdom not of worldly splendor and force, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit; beginning in humility, and passing to happiness; only unless someone is “born from above.” This is Jesus’ guarantee to those who diligently seek God’s kingdom. AMEN!
