FOLLOW | Seeking

Tonight's teaching text comes from Matthew 5, verses 3-12 and Matthew 6, verses 25-34. Says this, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven. For in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air, they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow, they do not labor or spin, yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all of his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, you of little faith? So do not worry saying, what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear? For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,

and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. This is the word of the Lord. You guys may be seated. Thank you. Thank you, Pastor Tim. Good evening, everyone. Welcome again to our Sunday night downtown gathering. And of course, the welcome extends to all of the people that are worshiping with us online. It is good to be with you. If we've not had the chance to meet, my name's Ralph, and I serve on the care team here at Church of the City. And I also have the honor of continuing our follow series through the gospel of Matthew. And I want you to know that Matthew begins his gospel with an announcement that changes the world forever. And Matthew wanted his audience to feel the full weight of that announcement. If you're one of the 2,000-plus people already participating in our church-wide Bible reading plan through the gospel of Matthew, if you're not, you can text the word Bible to 212212 and tap into our Bible reading plan as a church. But perhaps you've already begun to notice this thread running through Matthew's gospel. And I think that it can be summarized in three statements that will serve as our frame today. Number one, Jesus is the king. Number two, he has a kingdom. And number three, we're invited into apprenticeship with him. Everything that Matthew writes in his gospel flows from these three realities. And I would like to submit to you that if we can truly grasp these realities, then the idea of seeking first the kingdom won't feel like religious duty or one more item

to add to our spiritual to-do list. Rather, we will hear the invitation to reorient our entire lives around the reality that Jesus is King, that His kingdom has broken into time and is among us, and that He invites us into apprenticeship with Him. Each week of our follow series, the teaching team has been tasked to preach a verb, an action word from our respective assigned passages. And so, two weeks ago, Pastor Keithen kicked us off with the verb, recognize. And then last week, Pastor Reagan preached the verb, resist. And today, my assignment is to preach the verb, seek. Matthew 6.32 says, for the Gentiles, seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. Matthew 6.33, Jesus says, but seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Jesus uses the same verb in both verses. It is the Greek word, zetho, zetho. I went on YouTube to ensure that I found the correct pronunciation. And while I was preparing to be with all of you, I was in my study and I was saying, zetho, zetho, zetho. My wife came in my study and she said, hey, bro, are you good? Zetho. It means to seek. It means to search for, to pursue,

to strive after, to desire, to aim at, to endeavor, to obtain. This seeking is much more than a casual look, more than a once a week, more than a when I get around to it. This is not casual. This is intentional, active pursuit. This is not, where are my keys? Where's my phone charger? Where did I park my car? This is not casual. It's also important to note that in Matthew 6, 33, when Jesus gives us this command to seek, it is in the present tense, which really means that when he says seek, it really means keep on seeking, keep on pursuing in all of your striving, continue seeking. Make this your continual daily pursuit. Seek first the kingdom of God. And I want us to notice in these two verses that Jesus isn't contrasting people who seek with people who don't seek. He's contrasting what they're seeking. And the results of Jesus's cultural biopsy is that we are all seekers. The text tells us that the Gentiles seek. We know that the pagans seek. We know that the disciples seek. The issue isn't whether we're seekers.

The question that Jesus is asking is what occupies first place in our hearts. That means that I'm a seeker and you're a seeker, and we're all seekers. Go ahead and turn to your neighbor and say, hello, seeker, nice to meet you. Hello, seeker, nice to meet you. And here's what's so beautiful. Before Jesus ever invites his disciples to seek first the kingdom, Matthew spends the first five chapters of his gospel laying down the tracks for this crescendo moment in Matthew chapter six and verse 33. Jesus is the king. He has a kingdom, and we're invited into apprenticeship with him. So let's begin where Matthew begins. Matthew does not begin his gospel with the Sermon on the Mount. He begins with an announcement. Can you imagine waiting for the promised seed of the woman in Genesis three? Could you imagine waiting for the Passover lamb in Exodus? The bronze serpent lifted up in Numbers. The kinsman redeemer in Ruth. The bridegroom in the Song of Solomon. The prince of peace in the book of Isaiah. The good shepherd in Ezekiel. The son of man in Daniel. The son of righteousness in Malachi.

And then silence. Not for a day, not for a week, not for a month, not for a year, not for decades, centuries. Of silence between Malachi and Matthew. Is God gonna make good on his promise? And then we get to Matthew chapter one and verse one. And he says the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Church, this is a coronation announcement. Notice that he calls Jesus the son of David. This is king talk. This is royal language. This is Matthew saying the champ is here. This is Matthew saying that the king has arrived. The one you've been waiting for is now here. He's reaching back to the covenant that God made with David all the way in second Samuel chapter seven, verse 16. Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me, and your throne shall be established forever. Matthew wants us to know exactly who Jesus is. He is the long awaited king, the fulfillment of God's promise that one of David's descendants would reign forever. Matthew is saying, this is Jesus and he's him. Then Matthew calls him the son of Abraham. This is covenant language. He reaches further back into the promises of God and he goes all the way back to Abraham,

our father in the faith. Genesis 12, three, in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Matthew breaks the cosmic silence with a coronation announcement. Jesus is Israel's king and the one through whom the blessing will finally extend to all the nations and Jesus is the fulfillment of both promises. Matthew one, verse one, this is Matthew's announcement that Jesus is the king and in his kindness, he gives us 14 generations, stacked on 14 generations, stacked on 14 generations and says in all of Matthew chapter one, here's the genealogy of Jesus. And I want you to know that this announcement immediately causes ripple effects. We meet the Magi who traveled from the east and they asked the question, where is he who's been born king of the Jews? For we saw a star when it rose and we've come to worship him. Where is the king of the Jews? Then we meet Herod the king and we're told that when Herod the king heard this, he was troubled in all of Jerusalem with him. Sometimes the announcement of the king causes people to. worship, and sometimes the announcement of the King causes

people to feel threatened and troubled. Herod was troubled by the announcement and the arrival of the King. Then we meet John the Baptist in Matthew chapter 3, and he says, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And then when Jesus begins his ministry in Matthew chapter 4, it says that from that time, Jesus began to preach saying, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Why repent? Repentance is one of the most beautiful words in scripture. The word repentance, metanoia, means to change one's mind, an inner reorientation. Jesus and John the Baptist call for repentance because the arrival of the King and the arrival of the kingdom requires a change of one's mind and a reorientation. And we see this as soon as Jesus begins to invite his first disciples to follow him. Matthew chapter 4 verse 19, and he said to them, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. And then Matthew chapter 4 verse 20, the very next verse, it says immediately they left their nets and they followed him. Why would they immediately leave their nets and follow Jesus? Why would anyone leave what they know to follow an itinerant rabbi who claimed to be the long-awaited Messiah and King? I want to suggest to us this evening that it is because they have begun to see the surpassing worth of the one who was calling them. I shared this quote the last time I preached from Thomas Chalmers, and it says that the only way to dispossess the heart

of an old affection is by the expulsive power of a new one. Forgive me for skipping ahead here in Matthew, but I want to quickly point to two references where Matthew tells us two parables where Jesus is describing this kingdom that is among us, this kingdom that is at hand, Jesus gives us two parables to help us understand what it means to have the kingdom among us and for us to participate in that kingdom. The first one is in Matthew 13, and he says the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field which a man found and covered up. And then in his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and he buys the field. He buys the field because of the treasure hidden in the field. And again, Matthew 13 verse 45, again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls who finding one pearl, one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and he bought it. In both of these examples, there is a treasure, there is a joy, and there is a cost. Let me say that again. There is a treasure, there is a joy, and there is a cost. Notice the sequence, the treasure, the joy, then the cost. The cost is real. The cost of following Jesus is real. But it pales in comparison to the surpassing value. This leads us to our second point. He has a kingdom. If Jesus is the king, what kind of kingdom has he come to establish?

And what kind of people does his kingdom produce? And this brings us to the sermon. on the Mount, in the interest of time in my assignment, we won't have the luxury of preaching through the sermon, but I do wanna point out one thing here, right up top in Matthew 5, one and two. It says, seeing the crowds, he, Jesus, went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him, and he opened his mouth, and he taught them, saying, we're told that his disciples came to him. These are not just people in the crowds, these are people that have already begun to follow Jesus. These are Jesus' disciples, Jesus is speaking to them. And we see the rabbi king sitting down with his apprentices, and teaching them, beginning to teach them what life in the kingdom looks like. Friends, this is formation and apprenticeship in action. This is Jesus giving his disciples a vision for the good life, life in the kingdom among us. Could you imagine being there? You left your nets to follow Jesus. You're changing your mind about this itinerant rabbi. You see some of the miracles he performs. You listen to his messages, and we're told that he spoke as one with authority, and you're thinking to yourself, while all of this is real, and substantive, and meaningful, there's a cost. And I wonder if some in the audience were thinking

about maybe the loss of family and friends, maybe persecution that awaited. And Jesus sits down, and he opens his mouth, and he begins to describe the kind of people that his kingdom produces. And I hope you see what Jesus is doing. He doesn't begin with the heavy yoke of the rabbi. He doesn't begin with demands. He begins with blessings, and he offers them a vision of the good life in his kingdom among us. And this leads us to our last movement, number three. We're invited into apprentice with him. Jesus is the king. He has a kingdom, and we're invited into apprentice with him. Before Jesus gives his disciples what I believe to be one of the most life-altering invitations of all scripture, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. In Matthew chapter six, we heard it in the teaching text. Jesus goes for the heart of the people. He addresses the issues that are on their hearts, the things that they were currently seeking. Therefore, 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. Jesus is talking about food and clothing and tomorrow. And I don't know what you think about Jesus today in this room. I love transcendent Jesus.

I love the king of glory. I love the second person in the Trinity, but I also love his eminence. I love Emmanuel, God with us. I love Jesus 10 toes down. I love Jesus, the friend in Proverbs that sticks closer to a brother. And this Jesus is speaking to the people on the mountain and he knows what's on their heart. And so he talks about food and he talks about clothing and he talks about tomorrow. And I wonder if in this room today, the presence of the Lord is in this place. And I wonder if he walks up and down the aisles and he knows you and he knows what's on your heart and he knows what concerns you. The word worry here means to literally pull apart. What are the things that are pulling you apart? What are the things that are overwhelming you? What are the things that are stressing you out? We think that Jesus doesn't care about those things, but here we see the rabbi, the king, pulling up to his first disciples, all of that love, all of that proximity, and saying, I see you, I see you. This is the king that is among us. Food and clothing and tomorrow, these are the things that they're seeking. Now, there's nothing wrong with these things,

but Jesus is going after something very important because it matters the place they occupy. The gifts that God gives us make terrible masters, and if we're not careful, we take the blessings that God gives us and we elevate them to the first place, and the created things take the place of the creator, and that is the thing that causes fragmentation in our lives, and that is the thing that causes us to feel anxious and to feel overwhelmed because we're managing competing masters. But these are the things that are currently occupying the center of their lives, and Jesus is gonna go on to say, for the Gentiles seek after all these things, but your heavenly Father knows that you need all of them. There it is again. Jesus assumes that everyone's already seeking. Gentiles seek, disciples seek, pagans seek. The issue isn't whether we seek. The issue is what occupies the first place in our hearts because Jesus knows that whatever sits at the center of our lives will eventually shape our whole lives, and it is at this moment that Jesus offers us a glorious alternative. He says in Matthew 6.33, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. The answer to our worry and our anxious striving

is the proper prioritization of the king and his kingdom as the organizing center of our lives. Like the planets that orbit the sun, when Christ and his kingdom is first in our lives, everything he adds orbits in his proper place. I want to just pause here and offer a few sentences. I've been a Christian for over three decades, and I have to tell you that this revelation right here is probably one of the major, major keys to my faith story, and here's why. The best way that I could describe my walk with Jesus would be to say that I met Jesus as a teenager, and I had an encounter with him, and I made decisions in my life, immediate decisions. The first song I learned when I became a Christian was Jesus on the inside working on the outside. Oh, what a change in my life. Oh, what a change in my life. And it was all the theology that I had. I knew that Jesus, when he came into your life, he would change you, and at every season of my life, I have felt invitations to come up higher, invitations of more sacrifice, increased consecration, and in those pain points, I can tell you that in every single one of those moments, it was a fight, because I never wanted to stop doing what I was doing. I never wanted to give up the thing that I was holding onto, because at the moment, it was the thing that was most important. It was the thing that was of supreme value,

but Jesus would be patient, and he would invite me over and over, and I started to see a pattern in my walk with Jesus. Are you ready for this? When Ralph was trying to figure it out in his own strength, I could only get but so far, but whenever I would seek first the kingdom of God, and I would prioritize him, you won't believe this. The thing that I was after, God in his mercy, God in his grace, God in his kindness would allow it to reenter my life. life, but the difference was that now it wasn't me grasping and striving. It was me with Christ in the center, and now God bringing those things into my life when he knew I could handle them, and the people, places, and things were no longer idols. Now they were orbiting in their proper place. Okay, go ahead. Okay. Okay. There are a lot of young people in this room. I'm trying to help you. I dare you. I dare you to trust Jesus and to make him the organizing center of your life. It's not prosperity gospel. I'm not saying everything's going to be up and to the right. Here's what I am saying to you. He's a good father. He's a good father. He loves to give good gifts to his children, and I don't know who this is for, but he's saying to you, if you give me your life and you trust me, watch what I'll do. I'm going to be 50 in two months, and I feel like my life is a movie. I'm living a dream. I couldn't imagine my life when I was growing up in the streets in Brooklyn and Queens. Nobody made it past their 18th birthday. I can't believe what the Lord has done. He's been so gracious. He's been so kind. God is not a respecter of persons. He does this for anybody that is willing to put him first. He says, seek first the kingdom of God, and he will add all these other things to your life. Jesus is still saying in Matthew chapter 4, follow me. He's still saying, learn from me. He's still saying, seek first the kingdom of God. Musicians, please come. Jesus is our example. As we come to the close, before Jesus ever invited his disciples into apprenticeship, he modeled the life of an apprentice. You know this in John chapter 5. He says, the son of man can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the father doing.

This is Jesus saying, I don't do anything, only what I see the father doing. John chapter 8, he says, I do nothing of my own authority, but I speak just as the father taught me. Did you catch that? Jesus is saying, I only do what I see the father doing, and I only speak what the father has taught me. Jesus is demonstrating what it looks like to seek first the kingdom of God, to prioritize your relationship with the father, not to do things in your own strength, but to look to the father and to invite him into your life. Jesus depended on the father for daily direction. What about in the garden, Matthew chapter 26, he says, my father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. I love this verse because Jesus is honest about the thing that is in front of him. He says, if this cup can pass, there's things in your life and in my life that we don't like, we don't agree with. We can bring that to God. We can be honest with him about it. But even in this moment, he is submitting to the father's will because he trusts that the father has his best interests. And so he says, not my will, but your will be done. This is Jesus seeking first the kingdom above comfort, seeking the kingdom above convenience. The Bible says that it was for the joy set before him, that he endured the cross and despised the shame. Jesus doesn't ask us to do anything that he hasn't already done first. And what about on the cross in the beginning of Jesus's life, in the middle of Jesus's life, at the end of Jesus's life, he's saying, father, Luke 23, father, into your hands, I commit my spirit. When we see Jesus again, praying to the father, announcing his dependence. Do you see the pattern? Jesus doesn't just teach, seek first, he models, seek first. He seeks first, and then he invites us to follow him. Matthew 4, 19, follow me because apprenticeship is about staying close enough to Jesus that over time, we begin to become like the one we're following. And as Kethan mentioned, when he kicked us off in this series, it is my prayer for all of us tonight, that all of us be covered in the dust of our rabbi and king. Amen.