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Religious jargon does my head in, but this week I realised that Jesus used it - check out this familiar verse: 'seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.' (Matthew 6:33 ESV). What on earth is this 'Kingdom of God', or 'righteousness' come to that? We'll look at the Kingdom this week, then at righteousness next week. The three facts to discover when opening the Bible are (1) what the text means, (2) what it meant to the original hearers, and (3) what it therefore means for our lives. Hopefully we'll be able to cover these bases today and in doing so uncover what Jesus is getting at in this passage.

What it means

Now the idea of the Kingdom is an important one. Jesus prays for the Kingdom to come (Matthew 6:10) and declares that it being close at hand is the reason to repent (Matthew 3:2,4:17) so he clearly thought it a central theme of his mission. It is described as the 'Kingdom of Heaven' or the 'Kingdom of God' interchangeably, and carries with it an important message. The dictionary definition of a 'kingdom' is 'the domain ruled by a king or queen', so the Kingdom refers to the domain over which God's rulership extends. If God is fully in control of all creation, which He is, why does Jesus therefore pray that the Kingdom would come? Is it not simply everything?

What it meant to them

Clearly 'the Kingdom of God' does not refer to everything, and Jesus' listeners would not have thought so. Bearing in mind the fact that this sentence is part of the Sermon on the Mount and was therefore delivered to his disciples we can assume that they would have had at least a basic knowledge of the Old Testament, and would most likely have had an extensive knowledge of its teaching. And Old Testament teaching on the Kingdom of God is clear. The Psalmist tells us that the Kingdom of God is ruled by 'a scepter of uprightness' (Psalm 45:6), so in God's Kingdom there is no injustice. We read also that His Kingdom is 'an everlasting kingdom' (Psalm 145:13, Daniel 7:27). We also know that the one who will usher in the Kingdom of God is the Messiah as predicted in Isaiah 9. So we know that in the eyes of the first century Jews the Kingdom of God was to be perfect and just, everlasting, and led by the Messiah.

What it means for us

Having the benefit of the rest of the New Testament and 2,000 years of commentaries means that we can see the bigger picture; the Kingdom of God is seen in part in creation but is clearly not fully here because injustice still exists. Jesus is the Messiah so welcomed in the Kingdom through his life, ministry, death and resurrection but it is not fully here yet. More than that, it is not even part of creation; Paul tells us that 'the Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit' (Romans 14:17). So the Kingdom is spiritual not physical; sound familiar? Jesus used similar language when talking to a Jewish teacher: 'unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.' (John 3:5-6)

So the Kingdom of God is not so much a noun but a classification; all Christians are 'born again' into the family of God, which is the Church (hence Paul's use of adelphoi to address the brothers and sisters e.g. in Galatians 1:2), which therefore is the Kingdom. The Kingdom is God's rule in people's lives, releasing them from sin and folly and bondage and sickness. So what does it mean to seek first the Kingdom of God?

Firstly it means to seek it personally. Asking for God's Kingdom to come in our lives means to eradicate sin and see God's grace intensely magnified. Let us increase in joy, love, and thankfulness to our God, the King of Kings.

Secondly it means to seek it in the world. We want to see justice brought by feeding the hungry, healing the sick and providing for those in need. Social action is one form of seeking God's Kingdom.

Thirdly it means to seek it in growth. Some people do not like this concept nowadays but the Kingdom of God will grow, so we ought to look for that! Any earthly kingdom would send out ambassadors into other nations to represent itself, and God does the same; we bear the title 'ambassadors for Christ' (2 Corinthians 5:20) because we have a responsibility to tell the world about Christ crucified in our place!

Fourthly it means to seek God's justice within the Kingdom. We should not be those who gossip about one another, or bear grudges. We should not be jealous of one another and should not allow sin to creep in or remain. Let's be radical and seek to see God's Kingdom firmly established as intended in our local churches.

Finally it means to live life with an eternal perspective. Seeking the Kingdom first means seeking other things second. Have a look at the priorities list and think, does this make an eternal difference? Have a look at the bank balance and see if the money is going to where it will count in eternity. Do the same for the calendar. I am tempted to give an example but I don't want to put any ideas into anyone's heads - have a look and ask God to speak.

Conclusion

Seeking the Kingdom of God first is a radical choice to make. It means making decisions based on God's ideas, not our own. It means putting the church above everything else in our lives that the name of Jesus would be glorified.

I would like to close with a quick challenge. I wanted to give the encouragement of the fact that 'all these things will be added to you', but I feel stirred not to push on that one - perhaps next week. I would rather ask you to genuinely look at your response to this article; how will you respond? Will you seek God's Kingdom first? It is not a question of reason and logic, it is a question of obedience. Jesus commanded: 'seek first the Kingdom of God' - will you obey him? Or will you choose to disobey?

"Bible verse and quote" from Jan Couns

Bible and Quote - March 17-21