What does it really mean to seek the kingdom of God?
Have you ever imagined what it would have been like if you had lived in the time of Jesus and were able to go hear him preach and teach? Would you have been one of his followers? Would you be bold enough to approach him and ask for healing? Would it make sense when he said to seek the kingdom of God?
I wonder sometimes if I would have been one of the twelve disciples? Or one of the seventy? There are a few times in my life I’ve been more like one of the Pharisees.
How would you see Jesus?
If you and I had lived back in the time of Jesus, how seriously would we have listened to and embraced what he said?
Would we have wondered if Jesus was just another guy trying to get attention, maybe some new prophet? Or would we have perceived that Jesus was the Messiah?
I know how I want to answer that question, but I really don’t know for sure. We can see the whole story in the Gospel now, but if we were living back then, we wouldn’t know everything we do now.
Back then, if you decided to follow Jesus, would it be because so many others were, or maybe it was good entertainment and you wanted to see him put those hypocritical religious leaders in their place?
Would you grasp the deeper meaning and importance of what he was saying?
Every once in a while, I think it can be helpful to ask these kind of questions, not in a longing way, wishing we had been there, because we have our own purpose to fulfill right now. But in a thoughtful reflection of how sincerely we’re going to follow Christ today.
What would Jesus say to you?
So, assuming you were living in the time of Jesus, that you earnestly chose to follow him because of the truth he taught, and that you had become convinced he was the Messiah, imagine for a minute if Jesus had come to your house for dinner. What would you ask him? What would he ask you? What would Jesus say to you?
What was the core essence of his message, his gospel, or the good news?
Well, what was it that he was always talking about? What did he focus on in most of his teachings?
The more I’ve studied and prayed about all that Jesus said, it’s becoming clearer and clearer that Jesus was always focused on sharing the good news about the kingdom of God, the fact that is at hand and within us.
First things first
Sometimes we tend to put the cart before the horse. That’s a common phrase here in the United States. If you’re listening in another part of the world, are you familiar with that saying, putting the cart before the horse? If not, just imagine if you were to hitch up a horse behind a cart and then try to get the horse to push the cart forward. It just won’t work. The horse needs to be in front.
The saying means we get things in the wrong order. We don’t understand priorities or we get the relationship between cause and effect mixed up.
For example, if we have a problem or a need, all too often we jump right in trying to solve the problem or find a way to get what we need.
That makes perfect sense, right?
But Jesus says this is the wrong approach, we’ve put the cart before the horse, so to speak, we’ve got our priorities wrong, and we won’t find a lasting solution.
Now I can just hear someone saying, “But James, if I’ve got a problem, I’ve got to solve it, right?”
The world’s way or Jesus’s way?
Yes, but what is the best way to solve a problem, meet a challenge, or get what you need?
The world offers a wide range of possible solutions. But Jesus, as always, gives the best way.
In his Sermon on the Mount, and imagine you and I are there listening to him actually preach this sermon, Jesus explains why we don’t need to worry about what we’re going to eat, drink, or wear, because God is going to take care of us, just as He cares for the birds and the flowers of the field. (Matthew 6:25-30; see below)
I’ve always felt like Jesus was reading his audience pretty well here. He knew what people were thinking, what they were afraid of, if they were worried about not having enough to eat, and clothes to wear.
Today, people are often worried about these same things, plus a whole lot more.
Jesus was reaching out to those worried hearts in the crowd that day, to encourage and empower them spiritually.
Jesus’s way: Seek the kingdom
He makes that famous remark, which is about two thirds of the way through the Sermon,
Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:31-33 ESV
Here is Jesus’s core message. It’s all about the kingdom of God. It’s not enough to know this kingdom exists or to hear Jesus talk about it. Jesus wants us to discover it for ourselves. To engage with it and be citizens of his Father’s kingdom.
Jesus want us first and foremost to seek the kingdom of God and God’s righteousness. When we discover the presence of God’s kingdom here and now, and within us, as Jesus describes it later (Luke 17:21; see below), he promises that God will meet all our needs.
That’s what the title of this episode is all about: Jesus said do this first: Seek the Kingdom.
The solution: Always seek the kingdom first
Back to the question of how to solve our problems and get what we need, Jesus says we first must seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
And that sounds pretty good doesn’t it. But are we actually doing it? Sometimes, Yes! But sometimes, No.
Unfortunately, we’ve heard this phrase so many times that it has become a spiritual sound bite, something familiar that rolls too easily off the tongue. We know the words, oh, so well.
But once again, imagine you and I are in that crowd listening to Jesus say these words for the first time. He’s talking about the very things you’re worried about. You feel like he understands what you’re dealing with and the struggles you’re facing.
Jesus: To seek the kingdom is your top priority
And then he drops the truth bomb: that we need to seek God’s kingdom first, before trying to get what we need.
This is really a startling thing to say. It goes against common sense. But somehow, it starts to makes a lot of sense, the more you think about it.
Sometimes when we hear that phrase today, “seek first the kingdom of God” we think of it in a chronological way.
But it can also be used in the sense of being our first priority. There may be times in your life when the first thing you do in a situation is not get out your Bible and pray to find the kingdom of God. But seeking the kingdom is still the top priority in your life.
Jesus lives this precept in his own life to show us how to live it in ours.
Parables of the kingdom
Think of how often Jesus is telling parables about the kingdom of heaven. He’s always nurturing his listeners to get a better sense of God and His kingdom.
Once someone asked him,
“Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”
Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’
This is the first and greatest commandment. Matthew 22:36-38 NLT
Jesus uses the word first, to say it’s at the top of the list, but it’s also the most important.
Jesus is actually quoting Deuteronomy 6:5 (see below). He’s always putting God and His kingdom first.
The Lord’s Prayer starts with the solution
Think of how the Lord’s Prayer starts.
Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:9, 10 KJV
Once again, Jesus puts God and His kingdom first.
He doesn’t want us to start our prayers telling God our problems. No! We start with God and pray for His will in heaven to be fulfilled here on earth.
Why? Because when we are conscious of the presence of God and His kingdom, which represents His authority and supremacy, we will be in a mental and spiritual frame of mind to receive the answers and solutions that God has for us.
When you start your prayers with the problem, you’re more likely to end up with the problem. But when you start your prayers with the solution, which is the kingdom of God and His righteousness, you’re much more like to end up with a solution.
Putting God first
Jesus always put God first in everything he did.
I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. John 5:30 ESV
Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. John 7:16 KJV
Jesus always turns our thought to the Father.
Bible characters who seek the kingdom
Let’s look at a few examples of people in the Bible who were seeking God and his kingdom and see what we can learn from them.
Once a young rich man came to Jesus
As Jesus was starting out on his way to Jerusalem, a man came running up to him, knelt down, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked. “Only God is truly good. But to answer your question, you know the commandments: ‘You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. You must not cheat anyone. Honor your father and mother.’”
“Teacher,” the man replied, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.”
Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. “There is still one thing you haven’t done,” he told him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
At this the man’s face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions. Mark 19:17-22 NLT
First, I want to say, this is the only person Jesus ever told to sell everything. It’s not a literal command for everyone. It was designed to force this fellow to comes to grips with which kingdom was more important to him, his own or God’s.
This young rich man appeared to be seeking first the kingdom of God and probably thought he was, but he wasn’t willing to let go of his own little kingdom.
It’s easy to wag our judgmental fingers at this fellow because he decided not to follow Jesus. But I like to give him the benefit of the doubt. He may have changed his mind later. Of course, there’s no way to know. But Jesus planted a seed in his heart that day about getting priorities right.
Letting go of our kingdom to seek THE kingdom
Can’t you just see the smile on Jesus’s face when Peter said,
Peter said to him, “We have left all we had to follow you!” Luke 18:28 NIV
That’s really what Jesus is asking of us.
You and I can take the spirit of Jesus’s command to sell everything and follow him. Are we willing to get rid of and let go of all the belief systems and emotional baggage we’ve accumulated from the past? Are we willing to leave our little kingdoms for God’s kingdom?
There are times and seasons in our lives when we do just this. And there are the times when we may hold onto something we need to eventually let go of. But keep going forward in this seeking-first-the-kingdom-of-God process.
What to rejoice over
There’s one more example I want to mention when Jesus turns our focus to what’s going on in heaven as opposed to what’s happening on earth.
At some point when Jesus’s ministry was expanding, he sent 70 disciples (some ancient manuscripts say 72) out to preach the gospel and heal the sick. (See Luke 10:1 below)
When they returned some days later, they said,
The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” Luke 10:17 NIV
They were pretty impressed that they had done such wonders as they were preaching.
But Jesus, as always, redirects them to what is going on in heaven. He says,
However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” Luke 10:20 NIV
Do you see a pattern here?
Jesus is always refocusing our thoughts to God and the kingdom of heaven.
How do we seek the kingdom?
So what does it mean to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness?
How do we do it?
First, it’s important that we realize our need for seeking first God, His kingdom, and His righteousness.
There needs to be a genuine, sincere desire in your own heart. You can’t just do this because some preacher told you should or you heard it on this podcast., or read it here on this page right now.
I think the most important thing is to acknowledge your right and ability to seek and find God’s kingdom.
Too many people believe God’s kingdom is not here and cannot be discovered here on earth. It’s only after we die that we’ll find heaven.
But Jesus refutes that perspective with his declaration that the kingdom of heaven is at hand and within us.
A helpful example
Once I went to a church program with a friend. The speaker was talking about God as the divine intelligence that governs the whole universe. I don’t remember much about what she said, but just before she finished her remarks, she challenged us, in a good way, to go out and look for all the evidence of God’s intelligence, where ever we could find it.
She had given us lots of examples, for instance, the way traffic lights work and people, most of the time, obey them. She said that was an example of people reflecting God’s intelligence.
My friend and I came out of that meeting and saw God’s intelligence manifested everywhere. The orderly bricks in the pedestrian walkway. The orderly placement of trash cans in the public square. Directions on signs. The way buildings were designed and built. The creative way things were displayed in shop windows.
We saw examples of God’s intelligence everywhere. Maybe the people who had built or created these things didn’t necessarily think God had given them the ideas. But the speaker shared her belief that it was, nevertheless, God who was the source of all intelligence, whether we realize it or not.
The point I want to make is, that all this evidence of intelligence was there long before my friend and I noticed it as such.
One way to seek the kingdom
Now, I encourage you to do the same thing as you seek first the kingdom of heaven. Look for every evidence you can find of God’s presence. Look for the way God’s kingdom is revealed, situations where God’s goodness and grace are shining through.
It could simply be the smile of a baby, laughing with her mother. It might be the way someone speaks with a soft, loving voice and melts away someone else’s anger. (You and I might be either one of those someones at any given moment).
Look for ways God is revealing Himself and His kingdom to you.
Open your spiritual eyes
There are examples everywhere. But we need to open our eyes, our spiritual eyes, and search for them. We need to put off our microscopic vision, focused on ourselves and our little kingdoms, and look up and out with a larger perspective on what God is doing in our lives and the world.
There are so many ways to seek and discover God’s kingdom here and now, but I think probably the best approach is hinted at something Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount.
Again, imagine standing there and hearing Jesus say this.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Matthew 7:21 NIV
The best way to seek the kingdom
The way to seek and discover the kingdom of God is to do God’s will. That’s what opens our eyes to it.
How on earth are we supposed to know what God’s will is?
A good place to start is taking to heart everything Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount. I keep coming back to this, have you noticed.
When you put Jesus’s teachings from that sermon into practice in your daily life, you are doing God’s will.
When you do God’s will, this is the kingdom of God in action and is the fulfillment of the Lord’s Prayer,
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:10 KJV
This is Jesus’s hope and prayer for us all.
In this process, you’re not just seeking the kingdom of God and His righteousness as your first priority, but you will discover and experience God’s presence, His kingdom, and His righteousness as well, in your daily life.
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Resources
Download the prayer project: 22 Ways to Pray with the Mindset of Jesus in 2022
If you have questions or comments please contact me. I’d love to hear from you..
James Early, the Jesus Mindset Coach, is a Bible teacher, speaker, and podcaster. He conducts Bible workshops online and in person. His focus is on getting back to the original Christianity of Jesus by embracing the mindset of Christ in daily life. Contact him here.
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Bible references
Matthew 6:25-30 ESV
25 I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? [literally: a cubit to your stature]
28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,
29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
Matthew 6:31-33 ESV
31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Luke 17:21 NKJV
21 For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”
Matthew 22:36-38 NLT
36 “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”
37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’
38 This is the first and greatest commandment.
Deuteronomy 6:5 NLT
5 And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.
Matthew 6:9, 10 KJV
9 Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
John 5:30 ESV
30 I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.
John 7:16 KJV
16 Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.
Mark 19:17-22 NLT
17 As Jesus was starting out on his way to Jerusalem, a man came running up to him, knelt down, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked. “Only God is truly good.
19 But to answer your question, you know the commandments: ‘You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. You must not cheat anyone. Honor your father and mother.’”
20 “Teacher,” the man replied, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.”
21 Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. “There is still one thing you haven’t done,” he told him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 At this the man’s face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.
Luke 18:28 NIV
28 Peter said to him, “We have left all we had to follow you!”
Luke 10:1 NIV
1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go.
Luke 10:17, 20 NIV
17 The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”
20 However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
Matthew 7:21 NIV
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 6:10 KJV
10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
