| Christian Life and Doctrine | May 1961 |
Seeking the Kingdom
“Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness.” —Matthew 6:33
SOME of the Bible’s references to the kingdom of God apply to the subjects of the kingdom, and to the blessings they will receive through the righteous administration of its laws. However, in our text the reference is to those seeking a position of rulership in the kingdom as joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. All dedicated followers of the Master are to view this as the “first,” or all-important consideration of their consecrated lives.
It is wholly upon the basis of faith that we “seek” to be associated with Jesus in the ruling phase of his kingdom. We must have faith to believe that God is a rewarder of those who “diligently seek him.” (Heb. 11:6) Our faith is in God whom we cannot see, and in his promises of rewards which are as yet invisible, except to the eye of faith.
If our faith is strong we will be able to consider as of secondary importance the material things of life, and take a firm hold of the promises of God while we forge ahead in the way of sacrifice which leads to the goal we seek. We cannot successfully seek the kingdom while clinging to the things of the earth—those things which actually are of such trifling worth in comparison to the eternal joys of joint-heirship with Jesus in the kingdom.
With Whole Heart
WE SEEK the kingdom through constant and alert obedience to the doing of our Heavenly Father’s will. We know his will through the testimony of his Word. The psalmist wrote, “Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.” (Ps. 119:2) We cannot be halfhearted in our seeking to know and to do our Heavenly Father’s will—not, that is, if we expect to make our “calling and election sure,” so that an entrance may be ministered unto us “abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”—II Pet. 1:10,11
James wrote, “A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.” (James 1:8) This instability manifests itself in various ways. There is indecision in taking steps of obedience, especially when sacrifice is involved. There is a disposition to temporize with the world and the flesh, and the Devil. There may be a desire to make progress along spiritual lines, yet material allurements are frequently permitted to lead away from the true course of obedience by which spiritual gains are made.
The only remedy for this is singleness of purpose, or wholeheartedness in seeking the kingdom. James also wrote, “Purify your hearts, ye double-minded.” (Jas. 4:8) James indicates that in this way we draw near to the Lord, and that he in turn will draw near to us; and with the Lord nearby to help, real progress toward the kingdom can be made.
Things Above
SEEKING joint-heirship with Jesus is seeking “things … above.” Paul wrote, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above. … Set your affection [margin, mind] on things above, not on things on the earth.” (Col. 3:1,2) Is our “affection” really set on things above? Jesus expressed the thought very clearly when he said, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”—Matt. 6:21
We set our affection upon the things which we treasure, or consider of great value. Earthly riches are highly treasured by the world, but Jesus explained what our attitude toward the things of the world should be when he said, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.”—Matt. 6:19,20
Jesus’ instructions to the young ruler went a little further than this, in that he was advised to give up the riches he already possessed and follow him, and thereby be assured of “treasure in heaven.” (Matt. 19:21) The testimonies of the Lord along this line are unmistakably clear. In dedicating our lives to do his will we accepted these terms of the narrow way. So far as the Lord is concerned they remain unchanged; and to us, also, if we continue to seek the kingdom with our whole heart.
The instructions of the Lord, his will, are as a light to our souls. Jesus said that “the light of the body is the eye.” To this he added, “If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!”—Matt. 6:22,23
Here the eye is used as a symbol of vision—our spiritual vision. If we become double-minded, our spiritual vision will not remain clear, or single. We will have double vision in the sense of seeing and doing things other than those outlined by the will of God. We will see too much value in material things, and begin to set our affection upon them. If this condition is permitted to develop it means that we are leaving the narrow way of light and sacrifice, and entering into the way of darkness. If we fail to retrace our steps, we will go into complete darkness.
Evidently Jesus realized the need of this warning. He knew that his disciples would have to struggle constantly to keep their affection set on things above. He knew that the desires of the flesh would be as a constant weight to drag them back into the ways of the world and of the unconsecrated. He knew that the desire to make a good showing in the flesh would he a constant temptation to all of his people, whereas singleness of purpose and a whole-hearted seeking for the kingdom would be their only safeguard against these temptations.
No Thought
JESUS continued his lesson on single-heartedness, saying, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?”—Matt. 6:24,25
Obviously Jesus did not mean that his people should abandon all thought of their physical needs. Other translations indicate that his admonition was to take no “anxious” thought, or to be overly concerned about the things of which the Lord knows we have need. We are not to set our affection on these things, and allow them to become our masters. To permit this would mean that we were failing to “seek first the kingdom of God.”
This same admonition by Jesus is presented in Luke 12:22,23. Here it is the climax of a parable in which he relates the case of a “certain rich man” whose “ground brought forth plentifully.” It got to the point where the man did not have sufficient room to store his fruits, so he decided, “This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?”—Luke 12:15-20
To this Jesus added, “So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” Then follows the practical lesson to us, “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life,” and so forth. In other words, the followers of Jesus who are seeking “first the kingdom of God” are not to take the kind of thought for the morrow as did this man of the parable. To do so would mean that the material blessings of life had taken the place of God, and that they had become spiritually poor.
What Not to Seek
WE SEEK the kingdom through the sacrifice of the material good things of life, yes, even of earthly life itself. Jesus reminded us forcibly of this when he said, “Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it.” (Luke 17:33) Jesus here refers to our human life, and we could well include all of its associations—its comforts, its pleasures, its reputation, its hopes and ambitions. If we seek to save these at the expense of our spiritual interests we will not gain joint-heirship with Jesus in his kingdom.
As Jesus reminded us, our Heavenly Father knows that we have need of food and clothing, and shelter, and he expects us to give reasonable consideration to these things. The point is that our affections are not to be set on these “things on the earth.” These necessities of life are not to be viewed as “life,” and our main attention centered upon them. We are to be content with the reasonable provisions made by divine providence, and seek to use them to the Lord’s glory, sacrificing time and comforts whenever and wherever there is an opportunity to serve him and his.
The will of God is to be the deciding factor in every decision of our consecrated lives, whether little things are involved, or issues of far-reaching consequences. We have an illustration of this in Jesus’ own experience. He knew that the will of God for him was to lay down his life as the world’s Redeemer. He also knew from the prophecies when his sacrifice was to be consummated. When this time neared, he announced to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem, where he would suffer and die.—Matt. 16:21
Peter objected to this, “and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee Lord: this shall not be unto thee.” (vs. 22) From the standpoint of human reasoning this was good advice. Why should Jesus voluntarily place himself in jeopardy?
However, Jesus knew that Peter’s reasoning was not in keeping with the will of his Heavenly Father, and said to him, “Thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.” (vs. 23) Peter had expressed a human viewpoint, but Jesus was being guided by the will of God, and the will of God was that he should sacrifice his life.
Jesus followed up this lesson, applying it to his disciples. We quote, “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”—vss. 24-26
The “man” referred to by Jesus in his question, “What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” is one who has taken up his cross to follow Jesus. To take up our cross to follow Jesus means to follow him into sacrificial death. It is this “covenant by sacrifice” that we enter into when we take up our cross to be Jesus’ disciples, and this places us in the same relationship with our Heavenly Father that Jesus had.—Ps. 50:5
Since Jesus had voluntarily agreed to die as a human, and since he knew that the time had come for this sacrifice to be consummated, he knew that to hold back in any way would mean unfaithfulness to his covenant. He knew that while he might thus seek to save his human life, his spiritual life as a new creature would be lost because of his unfaithfulness.
It is the same with us, for we are being planted together in the likeness of Jesus’ sacrificial death. If we are wholeheartedly seeking the kingdom, we will not hesitate to take any steps of obedience the Bible and God’s providences may indicate, for side-stepping the privilege of sacrifice would mean serious loss.
“Jerusalems”
IN THE Lord’s providence, the Apostle Paul was placed in a situation similar to the one which confronted Jesus, for he also knew that bonds and imprisonment awaited him at Jerusalem. As with Jesus, so with Paul, the brethren endeavored to dissuade him from taking this course which so obviously would mean suffering and perhaps death.
Paul took the same position as Jesus did, and his reply was, “What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” (Acts 21:13) Paul had reason to believe that the Lord wanted him to go to Jerusalem at this particular time, and the possibility that it might lead to his death did not deter him from his course of faithfulness.
Every consecrated follower of the Master has these “Jerusalem” experiences. They are not often dramatized as they were in the case of Jesus and of Paul. Perhaps seldom does a single test involve the possibility of the actual death of the flesh. But every decision is to be made, not according to the desires of the flesh, but from the standpoint of the will of God; and we know that, basically, the will of God for each of the disciples of Christ is that they suffer and die with him.
This does not mean that we are to choose the way of certain hardship and suffering regardless of all other considerations; but it does mean that the probability of such experiences should not lead us to choose an easier way, a way that will be more pleasing to the flesh. As new creatures in Christ Jesus our every decision is to be based upon our best endeavor to interpret correctly the will of God under the circumstances, regardless of what the cost to the flesh might be.
How, then, are we meeting our “Jerusalem” tests? How wholeheartedly are we following in the footsteps of Jesus? It is especially needful at this time that our “eye” be “single” with respect to the meaning of true discipleship, for the reason that, generally speaking, throughout the nominal Christian world following Jesus is held up as a way of peace, and joy, and prosperity, and the Lord’s true people might easily be influenced by this viewpoint, for it is pleasing to the flesh.
It is true that Christian discipleship is a way of peace and joy, but not necessarily according to the flesh. Jesus possessed an inward peace and joy which the world could neither give nor take away, and these he bequeathed to his dedicated followers. The possession of this heritage, which is ours by faith, gives strength and courage to walk in the way of sacrifice.
True, we are to rejoice if, in the Lord’s providence we enjoy a measure of good things according to the flesh. But we are to think of them mainly from the standpoint of how we can use them in the service of the Lord and of his people, knowing that all we have is devoted to him and to his cause.
Patience Needed
MUCH patience is needed in seeking the kingdom. There could well be a certain amount of excitement to urge us on to faithfulness when we first enter the narrow way of sacrifice. This is understandable, for it is a new experience, and we rejoice to realize that the Lord has given us such a wonderful opportunity. But, as the months and years pass, we will need patience. Paul wrote of those who through “patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality.”—Rom. 2:7
The Apostle Paul informs us that it was the joy which was set before Jesus that enabled him to endure the cross and to despise the shame. Because Jesus endured faithfully to the end, he was exalted to “the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb. 12:2) Jesus was assured that in this blessed position of exaltation there would be “pleasures for evermore.”—Ps. 16:11
And this same joy is set before us. When Paul admonished us to set our affection on things above, he added, “Where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God.” (Col. 3:1,2) When we consider the joys which await us at the end of the way, we should realize the wisdom of seeking “first” the kingdom of God, and that no effort is too strenuous, and no sacrifice too great, in order to attain that to which we have been invited.
Let us then continue to seek the kingdom, not only “first,” but also with a “whole heart,” and in faith, and with patience, giving all diligence to make our “calling and election sure.” (Ps. 119:2; II Pet. 1:10) Through the precious words of truth we know that we have been “called” and “chosen.” Now it remains for us to be faithful—faithful even unto death—in following the Lamb in that exacting course of sacrifice which he exemplified so faithfully for us.—Rev. 17:14
We know that the way is narrow and difficult. We know that the forces of selfishness and evil are opposing our progress, endeavoring to persuade us to hold back from giving our all. From various quarters comes the admonition of human reasoning, “Be this far from thee.” But let us at all times remember that such reasoning does not reflect the will of God.
Instead of giving ear to the will of the flesh, let us be encouraged by the assurance of Jesus, who said, “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32) How strengthening is the thought that we are seeking for that which it is the Father’s “good pleasure” to give! Surely we can depend upon him for strength in every time of need!