33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Seek
Jesus is states this as a command “You all seek now first the Kingdom of God”. This word for seek means to search for, to pursue, to endeavor to __________ and find by any means. We are to seek the Kingdom of God with the same passion that we find when Jesus says in luke 19:10 that 10 For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Jesus didn’t just wait for sinners to come to Him, He sought them. In Luke 19, he didn’t wait for Zacheus to _________ down from the tree and come over to Him, instead He saw the desire in Zacheus’ heart and went over to the tree. He pursued Zacheus, saying that He must stay at his house. It is more than a simple, “looking around” for some lost sheep, but includes the idea of diligently, earnestly and tenaciously searching for the sheep, sparing no effort, because that which is searched for is of the _____________value. Now, think about __________ you were when Jesus found you, how much searching it took for Him to find you, and bring you into the fold. THAT’s the same _______________ that we are to show in seeking the Kingdom of God. A true understanding of what Jesus has done for us, and a ______________ appropriation of the salvation that Jesus has purchased for us on the cross will result in our striving and pursuing after righteousness.
First
We, as Jesus’ disciples are to seek as our __________ priority, the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. It means that our first and our __________ effort should be directed toward the furthering of God’s kingdom, and that means ___________things God’s way. We find the same priority in the model prayer that Jesus taught us to pray earlier in the chapter—The Lord’s prayer starts out: ‘Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.’ It starts with God, and so should we. We must allow the Holy Spirit to keep bringing us to that place in our mind, heart and spirit, that we desire Him _________ all else, that God is the ruling passion of our life, taking priority over everything else.
His Kingdom
What does Jesus mean by telling us to “Seek first the Kingdom of God”? Remember that The Kingdom of God is both the _____________ subject of the Sermon on the Mount, and of Jesus’ teaching during His time on earth. As Citizens of the Kingdom, we’re trusting God with something much more _______________ than our financial well-being and our material needs—we’re trusting Him with our souls. And so, if you don’t think you can trust Him to provide material things, then what makes you think that you really believe in Him as Lord and Savior? No, it’s only when you really KNOW Him, then you realize that it’s because if His _________________ that you can trust Him with your soul, then we can say with Paul in 2 Tim 1:12 12 For this reason I also suffer these things; but I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to protect what I have entrusted to Him until that day. Because we know HE whom we have believed and believed IN. Jesus is giving them His ____________________ of them as Citizens of Heaven. When we pray, as in Jesus’ model prayer for His disciples, “Thy Kingdom Come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” we’re praying “God, rule on earth the way that you rule everywhere else in the Universe” And as Citizens of the Kingdom on earth, as His ambassadors, we are the ones that God has ________________ to make this happen. The Kingdom of Heaven is current reality now experienced by believers in our spiritual life, as we are reminded of by Paul in Romans 14:17 “17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Paul also taught that followers of Jesus Christ enter into the Kingdom of God at salvation in Col 1:13: 13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. And someday we will get to experience as a reality, together, the Kingdom all around us, it all of it’s glory, in the kingdom’s ______________ consummation. We’re supposed to be seeking first the Kingdom of God so that we can both experience life as a Citizen of Heaven in our daily lives, and to the extent that we follow Jesus closely, bring more of His rule to the world around us by the way that we live our lives and the _________________ we set—so that unbelievers will _____________ to follow Him.
His Righteousness
Righteousness is right-living—being ___________________ about what pleases God, and doing what He requires of us. So, if we’re already seeking the Kingdom, why does Jesus feel the need to tell us to “seek His righteousness” as well. This means ____________, the life of righteousness. We are not only to seek the kingdom of God in the sense that we set your affections on God and His Kingdom, but we must also seek holiness and righteousness. Earlier in the Sermon, Jesus said ‘Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.’ We, as Christians are to seek to be more like Christ in our character, growing in holiness and in the knowledge of the Lord. This is the way to increase our faith. IT’s a positive reinforcement cycle: Our faith allows us to __________ to lean on God, and in getting to know Him better, we realize that He is a Holy God, with ___________________ of those who are called Citizens of Heaven and are called His children. He calls us to Be holy, even as I am Holy. And, as we cooperate with the Holy Spirit in sculpting our hearts to be more like Jesus, we become more holy, and look ___________ and more like Jesus. This releases God’s blessings toward us, because it removes the danger that we’d become arrogant or self-sufficient because of them. Then when we see how God deals so righteously with us, and what a Good God He is, then we have the __________ to press into Him more and lean on Him more, and the cycle starts all over again. We, as followers of Christ are to grow in him. (see 1 Peter 1:4-8, etc.) By seeking Him, His righteousness more and more, becoming more and more like our heavenly Father, we are partakers of the divine nature, and we, as Peter puts it, ‘make [our] their calling and election sure’. To God—No! He already ____________ who are really His. To our neighbors? No, they probably can’t tell a shaft of wheat from a tare. No, It makes our calling and election sure to ________________!
All these things will be given to you as well
What things? Well, first off, those things food, water and clothing that they were anxious and worried about! All those things that the unbelievers spend all their __________ clawing and grasping for, will simply be added to disciples who focus on God, and allow Him to provide. Our Father expects his children to put him first, but God _____________ in meeting our needs. And, when we were young in the faith, we found that our earthly needs _________________ our prayers, we prayed mostly about these things, but we never found satisfaction—it was because God had to change our ____________ first. As we grow in _________________ and have some experience in trusting God, we begin to pray about and seek the ________________ of God. Now, that doesn’t mean that we think that God does not care about their needs, nor do we hesitate to bring them to Him. That is unbelief. But, as we prioritize God, seeking His rule in our life, and that His Will be done on earth, pursuing His righteousness in our lives, then we focus on all our needs less, and we find that just by following His path for our life, we receive all we need to eat, drink and wear as fringe benefits.
Seeking God’s kingdom and righteousness will ___________ a man against those vain habits, like keeping up with the Jones’ that cause a person to live _____________ their real income. If your outflow exceeds your income, then your upkeep will be your downfall. God will preserve us from financial mis-management. It is not an accident that the Puritans of the seventeenth century, became wealthy people. It was not because they __________________ wealth, it was just that they were living for God and His righteousness, and the result was that they did not throw away their money on worthless things, or habits that harmed them.
Our ____________ concern is our spiritual condition, our nearness to God and our relationship to Him. If we put this first, then worry about everything else will go; that is the ___________.