Well, good morning. If you didn't hear Ricky say it, my name is Austin. And it's just a joy to be with you this morning. I'm, man, just so grateful for you all. I have the awesome privilege, pleasure, honor, joy of pastoring at Jesus Chapel on the West Side.
And then every once in a while I get the opportunity to connect with other pastors in the city, and Ricky is one of those pastors who I have just really enjoyed getting to know and growing in relationship with.
I am so grateful for your church. I can't even begin to express what you all mean to me. When my wife and I were praying about moving back to El Paso, we were living in India and we were praying about moving in this direction and started to kind of look at the landscape of churches and found Cross of Grace. And I thought, that's a gospel name, Cross of Grace, that sounds like Jesus. And so we ended up just listening to sermons and kind of checking out the church and we just really fell in love.
Because of the language that is used around here. It's similar language to our heartbeat, that Christ and his kingdom are what matter most, that Jesus is a really big deal, and we want to make sure that he is emphasized in all things. And it just brought me joy to see that this church is here in this city proclaiming the good news of Jesus for all to hear.
I don't think we often give credit to what it is that you guys are doing, and so I'm just going to give it credit, just give it a lot of credit right now. The faithful proclamation of the gospel week after week and in every area of life, in your homes, in your workplaces, in your community, that has eternal ramifications.
Unfortunately, well, actually fortunately, we don't always see the fruit of that in the moment, right? Not every gospel proclamation gets a yes, or not every moment of trying to be a grace-filled parent to your kid makes them respond with joy, and yet the long-term effects of faithful gospel proclamation are ridiculously powerful and will leave a legacy, if the Lord tarries, long after all of us are here. It's worth doing, and you all do it so well. I'm so grateful for you. I actually think I may have invited more people to this church than to my own church.
I'm trying to sort through that in my brain a little bit right now, but I'm just grateful for you. And I'm grateful for who you are and the way you love this city, the way you love Christ, the way you love me. So thank you. I'm trying to— been thinking about how to pray for you, or how to thank you guys, and I just thought, man, one of the ways that I want to thank you is I just want to spend a moment praying for you as a church before we preach the word this morning. I'm moving around too much, I think.
Lord, thank you. For this church, this church that is a family of grace, Lord, that is a people who proclaims the good news of Christ in every area of life. Lord, I am just so overwhelmed that we get to do this together here in this city. We get to be gospel partners for your glory, Lord, and I just I'm grateful for that and I rejoice that I get to be here today and that we get to sit under your word together and that every Sunday we know in both of our churches that the good news of Jesus is being proclaimed from all of the word. And Lord, we just pray that you would give them an abundance, an abundance of fruit.
Lord, that they would be able to just see all around them how the gospel is shaping and is forming. Lord, I pray that you would bless I pray for every single person in this room and everything that they need, that you would give them all that they need, Lord. I pray for the pastors of this church, for Ricky and for Joe and for Chuck and for Todd, Lord. I pray that you would grant them with wisdom, supernatural wisdom, to navigate the days that we are in. And I also pray that you would grant them with strength to be pillars of the gospel.
Lord, I pray for John and Alec, pastors in training, Lord, that you would just continue to strengthen them and bring them up and train them up into this role. Lord, thank you for that news that there are men who are walking in the calling of ministry. Lord, I pray for other staff members, Ingrid and for Becky and for Jen, and if there's any I'm forgetting, Lord, please remind them that they are loved and they are cherished even if I don't remember. And so, Lord, I just pray that you would bless them and that you would bless their efforts and gift them with everything they need. Lord, thank you again for this church.
We pray that their lofty goal of 100 churches in 100 years would be met. Lord, we pray that from this church we would see thousands come to faith, whether that's through partner churches or church plants. Lord, we pray that you would just bless them abundantly, that they would see the goodness of the Lord in the in the land of the living through the making of many disciples. We ask that. It's in your name we pray.
Amen.
Hey, if you have your Bible, would you open to Matthew chapter 6? We're going to be in verse 33 this morning. And once you get there, I'll go ahead and read for us. Matthew chapter 6, beginning in verse 33, ending in verse 33.
I was telling some people in the intermediary time, the intermediary state, I think is what it's called, before the two services, that I didn't realize I was preaching until about 15 minutes in last service. And so I think I'm a little more awake now that it's closer to my service time, so hopefully we will be able to keep track of my thought a little bit more. Matthew 6:33.
It says this: "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." This is the word of God.
I know that you came here this morning for a piece of advice. So I'm here to give it to you. I don't want to disappoint. The key to life— here's what it is— the key to life is finding out what matters most and building your life around it. The key to life is finding out what matters most and building your life around it.
Around it. Here in this passage of Scripture, in Matthew chapter 6, verse 33, Jesus wants you and I to know something vital for our lives, and it is that your life is more significant than you. Your life is more significant than you.
I think, I'm convinced that so many of us are stuck unable to move forward, unable to see significance in our everyday lives because we've bought into one of two lies. The first lie is that my life is about me.
My life is about me.
The second lie that I think we buy into is what I do today doesn't really matter. There's always tomorrow.
And the kingdom of God silences both of those lies by reminding us that your life is more.
What I want to plead with us today, what I want to just plead with us from this text today is to realize that your life is more. Seek first the kingdom. Your life is more. Here in this passage, I've been preaching through the Sermon on the Mount for about the past year. We just finished last Sunday in our church, and Jesus is— he's shown up on the scene in the beginning of Matthew, and as he shows up on the scene, he begins healing people and he begins performing miraculous works of deed.
And then he goes up onto a mountain as he is going to proclaim a miraculous work of word where he will teach his people what it means to follow him. So he's called individuals to follow him, and now he is going to teach individuals what it means to follow him. What it means to follow him. And as Jesus teaches, the things that he's saying are quite striking to his original readers, and they're quite striking to us. The Sermon on the Mount is one of the most quoted portions of Scripture.
I mean, you have the famous "Judge not, lest you be judged" that our culture loves so much. You have "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you." You have the Beatitudes, which— I'm currently in seminary right now, and in my seminary there's a section in the library on the book of Matthew, and it's a massive section. And then there's another section almost as large on the Sermon on the Mount, and another section just as large about the Beatitudes. I mean, this is a very popular portion of Scripture in Matthew 5 to 7.
6 · The pastor explains that Jesus' original audience would have wrestled with the practical implications of his teaching, especially the tension between kingdom priorities and earthly needs
But his original readers, they're hearing these words that he's preaching to them, that he is teaching them, and there's this question that's going to start to arise among them: "But if I follow what you're saying, what does that mean for my life?" What does that mean for my life?
You see, as followers of Jesus, when we hear the message that Christ is proclaiming, when we hear things like, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are those who hunger and thirst," the natural response is going to be, but What about the things that I need? What about my possessions? What about my life? And Jesus recognizes that his original readers in hearing his words are going to have questions about some things. Just like you and I have some questions about some things.
In the context, we have some anxieties about some things. We have concern about the things we need.
Jesus recognizes that when we're confronted with the kingdom, we're going to be confronted with some questions, like what drives us? What makes our life meaningful? What leads to happiness? What leads to life? And there have been countless attempts to answer that question throughout the ages.
7 · The pastor uses Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs as a cultural-historical illustration of one prominent attempt to answer the question of what drives human beings, detailing the pyramid's structure from physiological needs through self-actualization
In fact, in Jesus' own day, there were many who would be trying to answer that question. We don't have time to do a historical survey, but we do have time to point to one answer to that question. In 1943, a psychologist by the name of Abraham Maslow, he attempted to answer the question, "What drives us?" by writing an article called "The Hierarchy of Needs," or if you're more familiar with the term Maslow's Pyramid. And in Maslow's Pyramid, he poses that what drives us is first our physiological needs. Like, the first thing you and I have to function on, the first thing you and I should be pursuing, the first thing you and I should be seeking after is food, water, oxygen, sleep.
And every young parent said, "Amen." Those are the things that you're supposed to pursue. And once you get those things down, then you can move up to the next level of the pyramid. After you've attained to those things, you can move to the next level of the pyramid, which is our safety. So you have shelter and income, the things that secure your physiological needs. So you've got physiological needs down, then you move to safety, and after that, you can obtain love and belonging.
So once you've got safety and security down, once you have got your physiological needs down, now you need to find a place that accepts you, that loves you just as you are and welcomes you in, that tells you you belong. And after that, you can move on to esteem, which is purpose. What you have in life that gives you meaning and gives you drive. So now, you don't just need to pick a job for one that will provide for your physiological needs, now you move into picking a job that actually is what you dream of doing. And after you've arrived there, you come to the last step of the pyramid, which is self-actualization.
It's a fun word, isn't it? Self-actualization. You have arrived. Now that all of your other needs are met, what drives you is being your own unique self. You can be creative here, you can think up things because you're not worried about all the other needs, you can now focus on being you.
8 · The pastor critiques Maslow's pyramid by identifying its fundamental flaw: it makes the self the ultimate goal
But the problem with this, the problem with this view, is that the goal of life from start to finish is about becoming yourself. It's about you.
Now, hear me, I don't believe that Maslow is completely off in what he's writing. I think he's tapping into some things that are important. He's tapping into the reality that even the Bible would say some of these things are needs.
9 · The pastor turns to the immediate context of Matthew 6, showing that Jesus explicitly addresses the same categories of need Maslow identifies—food, drink, clothing—but reframes them not as things to seek first but as things the Father already knows we need
I mean, Jesus in chapter 6, verses 31 and 32, He says this, He says, "Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear. Those are the physiological needs, those are the safety needs, those are the kind of baseline needs.
Don't be anxious about those things. Those should not be the things you seek first. Why? Because your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. So God knows we need those things.
God affirms those are needs for us. We need those things to be provided for.
10 · The pastor continues to connect Jesus' teaching to Maslow's categories, noting that God knows and provides for all the needs Maslow identifies—but the command is to seek the kingdom first, not these needs
But seek first the kingdom. You see, your heavenly Father knows that you need these things. Your heavenly Father knows that you need to belong.
Isn't that amazing? That he offers belonging in his kingdom as well? He knows that you and I need our physiological needs taken care of. He knows that we need our safety needs taken care of. He knows that we need to belong.
He knows that we need esteem. And yet, Those are not the things we are called to give our lives to, to seek first.
11 · The pastor establishes that the kingdom of God is Jesus' central message, citing Mark 1 as evidence, and sets up the need to understand the kingdom by acknowledging that the sermon text lands in the middle of a larger biblical narrative
What are we supposed to seek?
The kingdom. The kingdom of God. Now, if I were to ask you this morning, what's the number one thing Jesus talked about? If you're not familiar with the Bible, you might say something like love, or you might say something like, well, he had some really good teachings here and there. I think he said, said something about a cross at some point in time, I don't remember.
I know that we wear it, I think probably Christmas. But what Jesus talks about the most, more than anything else, is the kingdom of God. It's the number one subject of his entire ministry on earth. When he shows up in Mark chapter 1, the proclamation is, "The kingdom has arrived. Repent and believe." The kingdom is front and center in Jesus' message.
So you and I, in order to understand this text, have to know what the kingdom is. But the problem is we're starting in the middle of a story. Starting in the middle of a story.
12 · The pastor uses a personal story about reading books mid-stream to illustrate why understanding Matthew 6:33 requires understanding the larger biblical narrative of the kingdom
Now, to give context for what that looks like, my family and I on Black Friday, we have a tradition. That we will go to a bookstore and everyone gets a new book.
And we love this because we love to read and we love books in my family. And I'm trying to read more stories, I'm trying to be more involved in fiction, I'm trying to just not always read thought and start to read story. And so I'm trying to figure out how to do that. So I was at this bookstore on Friday and I started to go into the fiction center and section and I'd open up to the middle of the book and kind of read a couple pages, but that was problematic because there was a lot of things in the middle of the story that I didn't understand because I hadn't read the beginning of the story. And so if we start in this conversation that Jesus is having in Matthew 6:33, we won't be able to understand what he's calling us to seek unless we understand the whole story.
13 · The pastor begins tracing the biblical narrative of the kingdom from creation, emphasizing that the story is God-centered from the first four words and that God's triune self-existence and love overflow into creation, which is good and unbroken
You see, the story of the kingdom, it starts back in the beginning. And the good news is it's not about us, even from the beginning. The first 4 words of your Bible are, "In the beginning, God." Tells us who the main character is, front and center. I love it. It's wonderful.
It's probably one of my favorite parts about the Bible, that it's not hiding who the hero is. And then, so in the beginning you have God, and God is self-existing eternally in Himself, the Father loving the Son through the Spirit, and they pour out in that loving relationship onto the pages of creation and all things are good. Without brokenness, no fracturing, no wrong, everything beautiful.
14 · The pastor explains that humanity is created at the climax of creation as God's representatives, called to rule and subdue the earth under God's authority
And God, He creates humanity in that context. At the pinnacle, the climax of creation is humanity and they've been created for rest in God.
And they are now called to be his representatives on the earth, ambassadors of his rule and ambassadors of his reign. They're called to go out into all of the earth ruling and subduing. That's kingly language, right? Dominion over the earth. In the beginning, it's God's people, Adam and Eve, they have been placed in God's place, the garden, under God's rule and because of those things, they are experiencing his blessing and it is good and it is right and it is beautiful.
15 · The pastor traces the fall, showing that Adam and Eve's rejection of God's rule in pursuit of their own thrones introduced pain, suffering, and brokenness into creation
But while the vision of the kingdom is God's reign over all of life and all of creation, Adam and Eve reject the vision of the kingdom in pursuit of their own thrones. They reject God's rule, they rebel against the good king, and that leads to pain and brokenness Everywhere. Like any sickness. I've been having some back trouble recently. I think it's because I'm getting old and I'm not working out like I should.
But part of that is also because we live in a fallen world. Part of that is also because we live in a broken world where, man, now we experience pain and we experience suffering and we experience loss and we experience relational conflict. And all of that is because what Psalm 2 says we have done as humans. Raged against God's kingdom. We have raged against God's King.
We have said, "Let us break His bounds off of us. We will be the lords of our own life." We've rejected God's rule. And in the story of Scripture, as Adam and Eve reject God's rule, that leads to brokenness, and this is now the state of humanity, rejection of God, living in open rebellion to the good King who wants to bless us through life in His kingdom.
16 · The pastor pauses the biblical narrative to address the congregation directly, cultivating a posture of wonder at God's grace by noting that God could have justly ended the story at the fall but did not
And if we're honest with ourselves, we should be shocked that the story doesn't stop there.
Like, we should be shocked that God just isn't like, "All right, well done."
17 · The pastor traces God's promise of a redemptive kingdom through Abraham's offspring and shows partial fulfillments in Israel, David, and Solomon—but notes that every human hope is eventually undermined by sin
But no, instead God promises that he will bring about a redemptive kingdom. He promises that through a man named Abraham, he will send an offspring who will bless the whole world through his rule. And so, that's the story of the Bible from Genesis 12 on is kind of waiting for that ruler, the one who will come, the offspring of Abraham who will make all things right. And we see that promise of God's kingdom partially fulfilled throughout the first half of the Bible. We see Israel being set up, we see David becoming king, we see his son Solomon who really lives in a golden age.
Of Israel's history and life. And yet, for every glimmer of hope, around the corner is a dark cloud of sin and death waiting to depress us again. And as we go throughout the story of Scripture, it's becoming clear to us that if this kingdom that God has promised will come, it's like the only way that's going to happen is if God does a work. The only way that that will take place is if God does something impossible. It's not going to happen through mere human effort because every time we see a mere human show up on the scene, they royally screw it up.
Even the good ones.
18 · The pastor continues the narrative through exile, emphasizing God's faithfulness to His promises despite Israel's failure
God is going to need to do something impossible to make this kingdom happen.
And so, as God's people continue to fail to live under His rule, they're therefore removed from experiencing the blessing of His place, they're sent into exile, but God will not forget His promises.
God will not forget His promises. He promises to bring His kingdom through His offspring, and so the prophets, when you get to those weird, poetic, angry guys in Scripture, like the ones who, like, live under rocks and stuff like that, lay on their side for 365 days, those guys in Scripture, they are prophesying that the kingdom will come.
They prophesy that one day God will come, one day God will establish his kingdom, one day God's king is coming, and he's coming soon.
19 · The pastor brings the biblical narrative to its climax in Jesus, who is identified as the long-awaited King, the Son of David and Abraham
And then Matthew 1 opens up with a genealogy summarizing all that story in the lives of people to bring us to the recognition that the King, Son of David, the Son of Abraham, he's here. It's Jesus. This story, it culminates in Christ, the promised King. He's the climax of it all. He's the Savior.
He establishes God's reign and reconciles God's people. He shows up on the scene proclaiming the good news of God's kingdom and inviting everyone who will hear to turn from their rebellion and to come and find refuge in him and refuge in his kingdom. To turn from their rebellion to experience the blessing of living in the kingdom of God.
20 · The pastor describes Jesus' earthly ministry as the kingdom breaking into every area of life—healing, exorcism, forgiveness, restoration
And here is Jesus on earth bringing the kingdom to bear on every area of life. He's welcoming the broken, he's healing the sick, he's casting out demons, he's giving sight to the blind, he's proclaiming He's proclaiming the good news of His kingdom.
He's proclaiming forgiveness to those drowning in sin, which, if you ever think that Jesus doesn't claim He was God, any time He says that, "I pronounce forgiveness to somebody," that's something that was reserved for God and God alone. So Jesus is proclaiming forgiveness, claiming that He is this impossible work of God here in the flesh.
He embodies the kingdom. Of God. He is God's King. He brings about new creation.
He is the wisdom of God, the fulfillment of all of the Old Testament, and he invites you and I to embody the kingdom as we follow him.
He's teaching us in the Sermon on the Mount how to live in light of his kingdom, how to follow him.
21 · The pastor extends the narrative into the present and future, explaining that believers now represent God's kingdom on earth just as Adam and Eve did before the fall, and that the kingdom will be consummated when Christ returns to establish the new heavens and new earth
But the story doesn't end there. You see, the story continues on. In salvation, God invites us to live and to reign with him as his people. Now reconciled to God, we get the joy of bringing and proclaiming the good news of God's kingdom to every area of life. And just like Adam and Eve before the fall, We are now God's representatives here on the earth, representing His benevolent reign, proclaiming God's reign over all of life and over all of creation.
And one day, one day, Christ will return in glory and He will fully establish His kingdom, not somewhere in the clouds, but here on earth where We, God's people, will live in the new heavens and the new earth with Him, experiencing His rule and the eradication of sin and the presence of sin forever.
This is why Jesus teaches us to pray, "Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Like, bring the kingdom, bring the full picture of your rule and reign, destroy sin, destroy death, destroy brokenness, Renew and restore all things. Let your kingdom come. When we're praying that, we're praying that God would return in Christ and that we would experience the fullness of his promises.
22 · The pastor returns to the text with the weight of the entire biblical narrative now behind it, asserting that Jesus' command to seek first the kingdom is a call to build our entire lives around what matters most—the kingdom—trusting that God will handle our needs
Here's what Jesus tells us in Matthew 6, verse 33: The kingdom is what matters most.
The kingdom is what we need to build our life around. The kingdom is everything. And you and I, my friends, you and I, we are so distracted and concerned with other things, but our Father in heaven knows what we need. Seek first the kingdom.
23 · The pastor diagnoses the backward logic of getting one's life in order first and adding the kingdom later, asserting that Jesus calls for a complete reordering that prioritizes the kingdom and trusts God for everything else
I mean, it is so easy to get this backward.
Let me focus on my needs. Let me focus on I'm just kind of getting my life situated, make sure that my house is in order, and once I get that done, then I can kind of add the kingdom onto the top. But I got to make sure that I get everything else first, you know? I got to get everything else done first. I got to take care of the things that I can take care of.
But Jesus is calling us to a complete and total reordering of our life. A life that says, "I will focus on the kingdom and trust God to handle the rest." We can get caught up in pursuing our hierarchy of needs that we forget what matters most, and Jesus wants us to see that the way forward is not to add Jesus on the side of all of our other pursuits. The way forward is not just to have Jesus as a nice addition to the meal.
24 · The pastor uses MasterChef as an extended analogy, describing how beautifully garnished dishes fail when the meal itself lacks substance
Let me see if I can make this plain. I love the show MasterChef.
It is a gift to TV. Okay, so the premise of the show MasterChef is that a home cook like you or like me could compete in front of some of the world's best chefs and earn the title of MasterChef. You could be the best home cook in America. That's pretty amazing. And so you compete in front of these chefs, and then you're taught how to be a better chef by people like Gordon Ramsay, and it's just mind-blowing, and it's amazing.
And one of the things they try to focus on in this show is the presentation of the meal, right? When you go over to somebody's house, you don't really expect to get artwork on a plate. You expect to get like meat and potatoes and like maybe a veggie. But what they want you to— what they're trying to teach these people is how to create a masterpiece of a meal. And sometimes there's just some dishes that look like a work of art.
I mean, they've garnished with like rose petals and reduction sauces, and they've used ingredients I've never heard of, and it's just incredible. And this thing will happen where they'll present the dish to the judges, and the judges will look and they'll say, wow, this is a beautiful work of art, and then they'll taste the meal, and it will be disgusting.
You see, if the meal itself has the wrong components, then the garnishes don't do anything.
If the meal itself has the wrong components, then the garnishes don't do anything.
25 · The pastor applies the MasterChef analogy by asserting that Christ and His kingdom are the substance of life, not the garnish
Let me make this clear. Christ and His kingdom are the meal. They're the substance of it all, and so many of us are seeking happiness outside of the kingdom, and then we try adding the kingdom on to make the meal look better, but the meal itself is just not very good at all.
And it won't work, and it won't last, and it certainly won't win MasterChef.
Hear me, man, there is no such thing as sprinkled garnish Christianity. There's no such thing as side dish Christianity. There's no such thing as part-time Christianity. The Bible knows nothing of it. There's no such thing as pursuing other things and taking a side of the kingdom to spruce it up a little bit.
The kingdom is not the paint job. The kingdom is not the white picket fence. The kingdom is the very foundation of it all, and without it, the house falls.
The kingdom cannot be an addition to our lives. God and his purposes in the world need to take center stage. They need to be the driving force of everything that we do, and until he does, we will continue to believe the lie that our life is about us, or that today does not have eternal value. We'll continue in pursuit of lesser things and we will miss it all. Presenting a dish with a beautiful garnish but no substance.
Your Father, oh man, your Father in heaven, he knows what you need. Seek first the kingdom.
26 · The pastor signals a structural shift from exposition and theology to practical instruction by asking how believers should seek the kingdom first
So, how do we do this? How do we seek first the kingdom? How do we kind of reorder our lives in this way?
27 · The pastor asserts that the kingdom encompasses all of life—identity, work, play, relationships, rest, art—not just the 'spiritual' compartment
Well, I think the first thing we have to recognize is that the kingdom is not just a spiritual message. It's about God's reign over everything, over all of life.
Your identity is shaped by the kingdom. Your work is shaped by the kingdom. Your play is shaped by the kingdom. Your relationships are shaped by the kingdom. Your rest is shaped by the kingdom.
Your art is shaped by the kingdom.
28 · The pastor uses a book on Christian art to illustrate the point that God's kingdom shapes every area of life, including art
My wife and I, we just picked up this book on Friday And if you come to me afterwards and ask for who wrote it, I won't remember because somebody asked me after the first service. And so just to give you a preface there, um, it's a book called Inspiring Generosity. And the premise of the book is kind of how Christian art has embodied the generous nature of God. So God is generous and he is creative and he gives.
And so these artists over time have become convicted by God's nature and his generosity, and so they've given of their creativity to the world. Like, our art is shaped by who God is and his kingdom and the way that informs every area of life.
29 · The pastor cites Jeremy Treat to reinforce the claim that Jesus cannot be compartmentalized, then restates the thesis that Matthew 6:33 calls us to abandon our personal kingdoms and build our lives around God's kingdom alone
Or in the words of Jeremy Treat, "Jesus will not fit into our religious compartments. He is the King who reigns over all." Matthew 6:33 is an invitation to stop building our own personal kingdoms and to seek first the kingdom of God, the one thing that's worth building our lives around.
30 · The pastor signals a shift into application by repeating the question of how to seek the kingdom first
So how do we do this?
31 · The pastor instructs the congregation to remember their salvation, defining it as repentance (turning from self-rule to God's rule) and belief (trusting that Jesus is the King and the only way forward)
Well, remember your salvation.
Remember your salvation. Here's what I mean by that. Salvation is repentance and belief. Repentance and belief. It is claiming repentance.
I was wrong. I was headed in the wrong direction in pursuit of my own kingdoms, in pursuit of my own desires, in pursuit of the things that I love, and I need to turn from that and pursue God's right way of living in the world. And in God's right way of living in the world, he is on the throne and I am not.
He is not a consultant on my nonprofit board. He is not a consultant that I will every once in a while check in with to make sure that I think that we're good. He is the commander of it all, the ruler of it all. He is the king. I am the subject.
Repentance is turning from my way of living and towards his.
But it's also belief. And I think the danger for us is we think that belief is just like, I affirm that Jesus was a historical figure, which is not hard to do. There's enough evidence to affirm that Jesus is a historical figure. That's not actually what we're really referencing when we talk about belief. Yes, you must affirm that Jesus was a historical figure, He was real, but also that He's the King and believing that He is right.
So, it's repentance, turning from what I've done wrong and believing that He is right for my life, that He is the way forward, believing that it is only by Him and through Christ and Christ alone and His blood shed for sinners that I actually have any hope of life. Like, our salvation is not, "My external circumstances got better." And man, I'm so sorry that so many of us have heard that message. "Come to Jesus and you'll never lose your job again. Come to Jesus and you will always, always, always have plenty of money to do whatever you want." But that's not what salvation is. It's not external circumstances got better.
In fact, throughout Scripture, typically when people started to follow God, their external circumstances got worse.
32 · The pastor uses Job as an example of suffering that leads to deeper knowledge of God, then defines salvation not as improved circumstances but as comprehensive reordering of life to align with God's plan to reconcile all things
And it's a good thing. Because at the end of that process, which all of us have to go through, we get to come to where Job got to at the end of the book of Job. Where in the beginning of the book of Job, he had heard of the Lord, but at the end of the book of Job, he had seen the Lord. And it was worth it. It was worth it to see the Lord.
You see, salvation is not my external circumstances got better. Salvation is that my whole life is being reordered to a new way of being in the world that accords with God's plan to reconcile all things to Himself.
This is much bigger than me. God's salvation is much bigger than you and much bigger than me. It's a whole reordering of the entire cosmos, making all things right. And yes, you and I are a part of that, but we're caught up in a greater story that God is redeeming it all.
Our salvation is much bigger than our external circumstances.
Our salvation is the kingdom of God. Renewing the earth, and you and I are part of that renewal.
33 · The pastor calls for wholehearted devotion, diagnosing the tendency to trust God for salvation but revert to self-reliance when the future is unclear
The next thing I think that we need to pursue is wholehearted devotion.
So many of us find ourselves anxious about the things of tomorrow because we lack clarity about the future and our willingness to put trust in God is only insofar as I can have clarity about tomorrow.
So this kind of becomes this, like, man, I lean on the cross, I lean on Christ for my salvation, but as soon as tomorrow gets a little fuzzy in my mind, I'm going to start running to my own way of doing things.
But even when we lack clarity about tomorrow, which we do, Like, hear me, I have 12:18 on that clock up there. At 12:19, I have no idea what's going to happen, and neither do you. Welcome to church, here's some more anxiety for you. Yeah, happy Sunday.
Thanksgiving, here's some anxiety for you.
We just don't know. We're very unclear about the future. But I'll be watching the clock. When it turns 12:19, I'll let you know what's happening. We're very unclear about the future, but even if we lack clarity— even when we lack clarity about the future, we trust that God is who he says he is.
We seek his kingdom, we seek his righteousness, and we trust that he will take care of all that we need. And we don't swerve from that when our external circumstances aren't lining up with how we'd hope they would.
34 · The pastor uses Ecclesiastes to illustrate that even when we do everything right, life can still go wrong—and in those moments, the call remains to fear God, keep His commandments, and seek the kingdom first
I love the book of Ecclesiastes. There's an implicit message in Ecclesiastes that says you can do everything right and everything will still go wrong. So, what do you do in that moment?
You fear God and you keep His commandments. You seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
35 · The pastor reiterates the call to trust God even without clarity, defining wholehearted devotion as trust in God's character regardless of circumstances
We trust. That he will take care of everything. And even though God doesn't always give us clarity, he does tell us that we can trust him. And wholehearted devotion says, even when I don't know what's going to happen now at 12:20, I can trust God. I can trust God.
36 · The pastor asserts that all of life belongs to Christ without segmentation
Next, I think, is we have to be aware that all of our lives, like all of life, is all of Christ. There's not segmented, like, this is the part that's Christian and this is the part that's not. Like, on Sunday mornings I go to church, on Mondays I go to work, and they both have their place but they're separated. No, Christ influences all of it. Every area of your life is called to be brought into submission to this King.
Emotions, jobs, relationships, hobbies, all of these things are good things, but They are not ruling things. Your emotions, they aren't a ruling thing. They're a good thing, but they're not a ruling thing. They're God-given, but they're not a ruling thing. Your job is a good thing, but it's not a ruling thing.
Your relationships are good things, but they're not ruling things. Your hobbies are good things, but they're not ruling things. Your needs are good, God-given things. God actually created us as limited beings, and that's a good thing. But they are not ruling things.
They are not ruling things.
37 · The pastor uses the analogy of glasses to explain that the kingdom doesn't diminish the value of work, relationships, and needs but brings them into proper focus
When we're looking through the lenses of the kingdom, it doesn't mean that those things don't matter.
What it means is that those things make sense now. So I can use this illustration really well because I have glasses. When I take my glasses off, you are all blurry and weird-looking. And then I put my glasses back on and you're beautiful and I'm so happy to be here with you. And it's wonderful.
You see, the lenses of the kingdom make sense of the way our lives look. The lenses of the kingdom shape the way we see things.
38 · The pastor applies the kingdom lens to boredom, diagnosing it not as a call to change circumstances but as a sign that one is not seeing life through the kingdom
Maybe you're bored right now.
And the typical kind of Western advice is, "If you're bored, you just gotta find some new things to do." You gotta go find a new job, maybe it's time to move on, maybe it's time to get a new spouse, maybe it's time to move on from your responsibilities. But the lenses of the kingdom say if you're bored, maybe you're not looking through the lenses of the kingdom. Maybe you got the wrong glasses on. It means you aren't seeing every area of your life through the lenses of the kingdom today. Your entire life has eternal value and worth.
Seek first the kingdom and all of it will be put into its proper perspective.
39 · The pastor signals the transition into the conclusion by framing a series of diagnostic questions as tools for prayerful self-examination in the week ahead
Here's what I want to do in closing, and I'll be in my seat quick. I want to leave us with some diagnostic questions. I'm really an advocate for time in intentional prayer seeking the Lord, and so what I want to just encourage you to do is just carve out some time this next week to seek the Lord and ask him for clarity around these questions.
40 · The pastor gives concrete instruction to ask God to reveal misplaced priorities and to invite close friends to speak into what appears most important in one's life
So the first, the first question that I think you should ask is, are there any places where I have misplaced the kingdom of God as what's important in my life?
Ask the Lord to reveal that to you. And then I also think that you should go to the people closest to you and ask them this question: what do you think is most important in my life?
Man, that will reveal so much. I've had an opportunity to ask that question to a few people over the last few weeks, and man, what it has revealed about me has been so hurtful and so helpful. Faithful are the wounds of those friends.
41 · The pastor steps out of the pulpit voice to confess his own misplaced priorities—church success over the kingdom, children's behavior over grace, business profit over employee care, national politics over gospel proclamation
Man, I love my church that I'm at. I love the opportunity to serve that. I want it to do well. I want God to be made known through my church, but sometimes I'm more concerned with the church succeeding than I am with the kingdom of God. Man, I love my kids, but sometimes I'm more concerned with them behaving than that they would understand the grace that the Lord Jesus has for them.
Man, I own a business and I love my business, but sometimes I'm more concerned with the bottom line than by caring for the employees that are there, which is what the kingdom would have me do.
I love my nation.
Sometimes I'm more concerned with the direction our nation is taking than I am with proclaiming the gospel and making disciples.
Man, I need a drastic reordering of my life.
42 · The pastor continues with additional diagnostic questions: What is your only hope in life and death? What would make you stop trusting God if you lost it? Is Jesus an add-on or necessary? These questions expose whether the kingdom is the foundation or the garnish
So ask these questions. Ask that question to people nearby. Ask the question of what is your only hope in life and in death? Like, what is the one thing that if you lost, you would not trust the Lord anymore.
Ask the question, "Is Jesus a nice add-on to my life, or is he necessary?" Like, do I believe what Paul says, that in him I live and move and have my being, or do I believe that he's a nice garnish on the top?
43 · The pastor gives specific instruction to invite Christian community into the process of reordering life around the kingdom—confess misplaced priorities, ask for prayer, and trust that God delights to answer such prayers because Christ has already secured the kingdom by His blood
Then, here's what I want you to do. Sometime, in the next few weeks, grab some brothers and sisters in this room and just say, "Hey, I want to go to dinner and I want to just tell you about my misplaced priorities in life." And then you just be honest with that and then you ask them, "Hey, will you pray with me? Will you pray with me that I would put the kingdom in its proper place in my life?" And guess what? The Lord loves that prayer. He is so excited to answer that with a blood-bought yes and amen because he is not asking you to go to the cross for your sins.
He has gone to the cross for your sins so that the kingdom might be blood-bought, not by your efforts, but by his.
44 · The pastor directs the congregation's gaze back to the cross as the clearest picture of the kingdom—God redeeming a needy people by His own work, not theirs
So, we turn to the cross again and we look to the shining picture of the kingdom, a God who sees a people in need and he redeems them.
45 · The pastor closes the application section by calling the congregation to recognize that God has sovereignly placed them in specific relationships and locations to embody the kingdom
The last question I have for us, how do we seek the kingdom first? Ask the question, where does God have you? Where has he placed you today? Who's around you? You go where I can't go.
You go where Ricky can't go. God has intentionally placed you in specific relationships in your life.
There is no accident to who's around you. And don't mistake that, for recognizing that you could be a picture, an embodiment of God's kingdom in that place. Don't miss out on that opportunity. Where does God have you? Who's God placed around you?
Don't underestimate where you are and don't underestimate who God has placed there.
46 · The pastor concludes by restating the text's command and promise: seek the kingdom first, and God will take care of everything else
In closing, seek first the kingdom and his righteousness. And He'll take care of the rest.
47 · The pastor closes with a prayer asking God to bring life through the preached word, acknowledging total dependence on the Spirit's work, and asking that the kingdom would become most important in the congregation's lives
God, we thank You for this morning. Your Word says that there is life and death in the power of the tongue, and so, Lord, I pray that this morning, as we have sought to proclaim the words of life, that You would bring about life in our midst.
Lord, I recognize that if Your Spirit does not do the work, all this was vain. And so, Lord, we pray that the Spirit would move right now in hearts and in minds, and that you would, through the preached word, renew us and restore us and redeem us. And we pray that your kingdom would be most important in our lives. It's in your name. Amen.