SERMON ON THE MOUNT
SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD
DR. JIM DIXON
MATTHEW 6:25-34
NOVEMBER 25, 2001
James Cash was born in Hamilton, Missouri, in the year 1875. He was reared in poverty on a farm. He was one of twelve children. His father was a farmer and also a pastor. His father worked the land six days a week, and every Sunday his father would preach in the little church that served the farm community. James accepted Christ when he was very young. He asked Jesus into his heart, and he loved Jesus all the days of his life.
His first job was in a general store, and it was there that he grew to love the retail merchandising business. The year was 1902, in the State of Wyoming, when James was 27 years old, when he saved enough money to open his own store. It was a little department store and James called it The Golden Rule Store. He called it The Golden Rule Store because he wanted to apply Christian principals to his business. He sold merchandise at a fair price, and he only would receive cash for a purchase. He shared the profits with all of his employees. His business was very successful, and soon he opened up another Golden Rule Store and then another Golden Rule Store and then another. Incredibly, by the year 1927, when James was 52 years old, he had 750 Golden Rule Stores in 47 states of America. That was also the year, 1927, when he changed the name of the stores. They were no longer called Golden Rule Stores, although James continued to practice the Golden Rule.
James retired in 1947, at the age of 72. When he retired, he had 1,612 department stores across America, and they all bore his name: James Cash Penney. J.C. Penney died in 1971 at the age of 96. Of course, his business grew incredibly. It’s an amazing story how it grew from a single store in Wyoming to this massive chain of department stores that run from coast to coast.
There’s a sense in which the kingdom of heaven is exactly like J.C. Penney Department Stores. The kingdom of heaven, we’re told in the Bible, is to begin very small and it is to grow on earth and become very large. Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it is fully grown, it is the greatest of shrubs so that the birds of the air come and make their nest in its branches.”
In Daniel, chapter 2 and chapter 4, we’re told that the kingdom of heaven is to begin very small and then eventually envelop the earth. Of course, our Lord Jesus Christ said, “I will build My church and the powers of hell will not prevail against it.” The kingdom of heaven began with twelve men, and it has grown to where it is at least nominally 1,900,000,000 strong. It has grown.
The kingdom of heaven in this world is meant to grow spiritually and relationally. It’s not meant to grow governmentally or politically. The Bible promises that the day will come at the consummation when Christ returns. Then He will establish His kingdom governmentally on the earth. But in this time, in this age, the kingdom of heaven is meant to grow spiritually and relationally.
If you’re a Christian, if you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you have entered the kingdom of God. You’ve embraced the reign of His Son Jesus Christ. You’ve entered His kingdom, and you are to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. This is the key sentence in the passage of scripture we have for today, and, indeed, in this whole section on the Sermon on the Mount. It sums up everything Jesus has been saying. “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.” This means you must seek the growth of the kingdom of God on earth. You must seek the growth of the kingdom of heaven in this world.
This call is not only upon pastors. It’s upon every single Christian woman or man. “You shall be My witnesses,” Jesus said, “in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth. Go into all the world and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you. Lo, I am with you always, even to the close of the age.” Through evangelism and discipleship, we all are to seek the growth of the kingdom of heaven on earth, and we are to seek it above all else. “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.” We are to seek the increasing reign of Christ in our own lives. Now, if we do this, if we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, two realities will characterize us, and these comprise our two teachings this morning.
First of all, if we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, we will be people of faith. If we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, we will need to be people of faith. Jesus spoke of the birds of the air. He said, “They neither sow nor reap nor gather in the barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them all. Are you not of much more value than they?” He spoke of the lilies of the field. He said, “They neither toil nor spin and yet I tell you that Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If God so clothes the grass of the field, which is here for today and tomorrow is burned, how much more will He clothe you, oh ye of little faith?” He was concerned about faith. We are to be people of faith. If we’re going to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, we’re going to have to be people of faith.
To understand this, we need to look at the passage contextually, which most Christians never do. When you look at this passage of scripture contextually, you begin to see it in a whole new light. You begin to realize that Jesus is making these statements in the context of His teachings on money. He’s making this statement in the context of His teachings with regard to materialism. He has just said that we are not to “lay up treasures on earth, where rust and moth consume and where thieves break in and steal,” but we are to lay up treasures in heaven. He has just told us that we are to have a single eye, that our eye is to be focused on things heavenly. Our eye is to be focused on the things of the kingdom of heaven. We are not to be distracted by material things.
If we are so focused, we will be generous. He has just said that we cannot serve God and mammon; we cannot serve God and money. And so, in this context, He said, “Therefore…” and in the Greek, as every Greek scholar would tell you, this means that the teaching on the birds and the lilies is tied to the prior statements about money. And so, what Jesus is saying is if you seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, it’s going to be reflected in your view of money. You’re going to be giving. You’re going to be generous. You’re going to use your money to seek first the growth of the kingdom of God on earth, and you’re going to be so generous that you’re going to be in situations of need. You’re going to be in situations of need, and you’re going to need to trust. This is a radical teaching in our culture, so radical that most people just don’t want to accept it. This is a radical teaching. I think most of us, particularly as Christians here in America, do not understand the radical nature of the call of Christ.
I want to tell you a story, a story I’ve never shared with you before, but it’s similar I’m sure to stories you’ve heard. It concerns Ivan III, who was called Ivan the Great. He came to the throne of Russia in 1462, which was a hundred years before Ivan the Terrible reigned. Ivan the Great WAS great. He united all the warring tribes of Russia and he built one vast empire. He was the Grand Prince of Russia. He’s regarded by Russian historians as the first true leader of united Russia.
In the year 1472, at the age of 32, he married the niece of the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Constantine XI. Her name was Zoe, a Greek word meaning “life.” The Russian people changed her name and called her Sophia, which is a Greek word meaning “wisdom.” For that marriage, Ivan the Great is famous, but it wasn’t his first marriage. He had been married in prior years to the daughter of the King of Greece. This marriage is rarely spoken of but it is so important for us today.
Ivan III, Ivan the Great, married the daughter of the King of Greece, and she was beautiful, so beautiful that Ivan, before marrying her, begged the King of Greece to give his daughter to him in marriage. The King of Greece said, “I will only do this if you agree to be baptized in the Greek Orthodox Church.” So Ivan the Great said okay. And so, the King of Greece sent a Greek Orthodox priest to Moscow. This Greek Orthodox priest trained Ivan the Great in the catechism. He was prepared for baptism. Then, when the time came, Ivan the Great, with five hundred members of his royal guard, journeyed to Athens. He was to be baptized in the Mediterranean Sea. As he arrived in Athens, the five hundred members of his royal guard all wanted to be baptized with him, but they hadn’t been trained in the catechism. And so, the King of Greece appointed five hundred Greek Orthodox priests to train the five hundred soldiers of Ivan the Great in the Greek Orthodox catechism.
Then there came this incredible day when there was to be this mass baptism in the Mediterranean Sea. You can just picture it, the 500 Greek Orthodox priests in their black robes with those tall black hats. The 500 soldiers of Ivan the Great, his palace guard in full regalia with their ribbons of valor and their medals of honor and their weapons of war. Of course, there was Ivan the Great himself and the patriarch of Athens who was to baptize him personally. You can picture them all heading into the Mediterranean Sea. It must have been an amazing day, an amazing scene. But suddenly it all came to a halt when an ecclesiastical authority pointed out something they had all forgotten, and that was that people who are serving in the military service cannot be baptized into the Greek Orthodox Church.
Here were these 500 soldiers. Some compromise had to be reached, and so they did this. They reached this compromise where the 500 soldiers of Ivan the Great would go into the Mediterranean in Christian baptism. They would draw their swords from their sheaths and hold the swords above the water so that they would not surrender their swords to Christ but everything else. What a strange compromise.
It’s like other stories you’ve heard and I’ve told about Charlemagne as he conquered opposing armies and drove them into the sea and forced them to receive Christian baptism. Many of them held their battle axes above the water. Frederick Barbarossa did the same, driving opposing armies into the sea, forcing them to receive Christian baptism. Some of those conquered peoples refused to submit their weapons.
We might think, “What a strange thing.” At least we should acknowledge that they understood something about Christian baptism we rarely think of today. I mean, when we think of Christian baptism, we think when we go under the water (and of course when we sprinkle that’s just symbolized through the sprinkling) we think of forgiveness of sins. You go under the water, and you go completely under because you want to be totally forgiven. You want to have all of your sin forgiven. You want to have your whole person cleansed. That’s how we think of Christian baptism, and that’s part of the symbolism biblically of Christian baptism. But that’s only part of it.
In the early church, in the Middle Ages church, they understood that when you went under the water, you were surrendering yourself to Christ. That that was part of the symbolism. As you go under the water, you surrender yourself to Christ, to His reign, to His authority in your life. That’s why baptism is called a sacrament in the early Church, from the Latin word “sacramentum,” which means “sacred oath.” The sacramentum was the sacred oath the Roman soldier took when he joined the Roman Legion. He took the sacramentum, the sacred oath, where he swore loyalty unto death to the Emperor and the Empire. So, baptism was called the sacramentum, the sacrament. You go under the water. You surrender yourself to Christ. You want to go completely under because you want to surrender your whole self to Christ. You don’t withhold something. You don’t hold something above the water.
I think the question God would ask you this morning is, “Have you gone completely under? Have you surrendered it all to Him? Are you wholly surrendered to Christ? Have you really taken the sacramentum? Is baptism a sacrament for you? Have you taken the sacred oath? Have you pledged yourself to Christ, and is it reflected in all your life? Is it reflected in your financial life? Are you tithing? Are you going beyond the tithe? Are you giving offerings freely? Do you help the poor? Do you seek to grow the church? Do you seek to grow the number of people who come to Christ through the taking of the gospel to the nations? Are you sold out? Do you seek first His kingdom and His righteousness?”
There’s a great cost to become a Christian. That’s why the gospel is so radical. Jesus said, “He who would come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow Me. He who would save His life will lose it but he would lose his life for My sake and the sake of the gospel will find it.” You gain so much, eternal life itself, and yet the cost is great.
I’m reminded of a little story of the Clotman diamond. This woman was on an airplane. She had this beautiful diamond pendant. The man sitting next to her on the plane said, “Wow! That’s the most beautiful diamond I’ve ever seen in my life.” The woman said, “It’s the Clotman diamond.” He said, “Clotman diamond? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of the Clotman diamond.” She said, “Well, have you heard of the Hope diamond?” He said, “Of course.” She said, “Well, it’s a lot like the Hope diamond. It’s not as large, of course. The Clotman diamond is not as large as the hope diamond, but in beauty and clarity, it’s every bit its equal. Just like the Hope diamond, the Clotman diamond comes with a curse for the person who wears it.” The man said, “What kind of curse?” She said, “Mr. Clotman!”
Now, that’s a dumb story, but it is true that everything has a cost. Everything of value has a cost. Everything of value has a price. We see that in this world. Anything of real value has a great price. Anything of real value has a huge cost. This is true of the kingdom of heaven. This is true of the kingdom of God. The cost is great. It is huge and it means that you must go under the water and consecrate your all to Him. Take the sacramentum, and it will be reflected in everything you do, in the way you live, what you do with your money and your financial resources. You’ll need to trust Him.
The Bible doesn’t condemn setting aside money for the future. It doesn’t condemn saving for your retirement. In fact, there are passages of scripture which speak of the wisdom of that, but if you do it to such an extent that you cannot seek first His kingdom, you’re doing something wrong. You can’t set aside for yourself to such an extent that you aren’t seeking first the kingdom of God on this earth. That’s why many of us just need to change our lifestyles. We need to change our lifestyles.
Well, there’s a second teaching about seeking first the kingdom of God. The second teaching is this: If you seek first the kingdom of God, you will not need to fear—not now, not ever. If you seek first the kingdom of God, you’ll not need to fear. You’ll need to trust, but you’ll not need to fear.
In this passage of scripture, Jesus said, “Do not be anxious about your life.” The Greek word for anxious is “merimna.” This word literally means “to pull in all directions,” and it refers to somebody who is care worn, someone who is riddled with anxiety and experiencing chronic fear. Jesus said, “Do not be anxious about your life.” You really don’t need to fear. If you are seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness, you don’t need to fear.
Now, September 11, 1683, is one of the most important dates in world history. For the Muslim people, September 11, 1683, is one of the most significant dates in their history. I’m sure that’s why the terrorists chose September 11th of this year to perpetrate the atrocity they perpetrated in New York and Washington, D.C.
In 1683, the Muslim Empire was called the Ottoman Empire. It was the greatest empire on earth. The Ottoman Empire controlled Northern Africa, and it controlled the Middle East, and the Ottoman Muslim Empire controlled much of Asia and almost all of Eastern Europe. The Ottoman Empire, in 1683, was the most powerful, the largest, and the greatest empire on the earth. But they did not control Western Europe where Christianity had its bed, where Christianity was seated. And so, they longed to control Western Europe. So, the Ottoman Empire came with their vast armies to attempt to conquer Western Europe.
It was September 11 when the Ottoman Empire was defeated outside of Vienna, Austria. September 11, 1683. That’s when the Ottoman Empire was defeated in its effort to conquer the West. From that day forth in history, the Ottoman Empire began to decline. It began to decline in scope of power, it began to decline geographically, and Western Europe began to grow and Christianity along with it. It all hinged on September 11th.
Now, to understand why this is so important to the Muslims, we have to understand a Muslim worldview. The Muslim people divide the world into two groups of people. They divide the world into two parts. Part of the world they call “Dar al-Islam,” “the abode of Islam.” This is where the Islamic State has power; the part of the world where the Islamic State rules is “Dar al-Islam.” There are 49 nations in the world today that are Islamic nations. Twenty-two of them have governments that are constitutionally Islamic. Most of the other twenty-seven nations have governments which are functionally or practically Islamic. Dar al-Islam, the Islamic state, Islam in government.
The other part of the world they call “Dar al-Harb,” which means “the abode of war.” They seek to conquer it. I mean, this is the goal of Islam. They believe it is their destiny that the Islamic state will ultimately control the earth. They believe this is their destiny, and they believe it from their sacred writings, from the teachings of the hadith as well of the Koran. And so, they seek an Islamic state globally by any means possible. Muhammed bore the sword, and he told his followers to do the same.
Islam hates America and it hates the West, but we need to understand why. They hate America because they view America as morally debauched. They aren’t without a valid point. They view the Western world as morally debauched. They also hate America because they believe that America has meddled in the affairs of the Islamic state in Islamic nations. They also hate America because America, they believe, has sided with Israel and has sided with the Jews, and the Jews are their enemies. They also hate America because they associate America with the people of the cross, and they view the people of the cross as their historic enemies. They also hate America because America stands for democratic freedoms and civil liberties. Most Muslims do not believe in democratic freedoms and civil liberties.
To understand this, we need to understand their worldview. I mean, most Muslims believe in sharia law. Sharia law is the code of behavior that is derived from the Koran and the hadith. It’s how people ought to live according to the teachings of Islam. They want the Islamic state to be in power so that sharia law can be enforced. They really believe that democratic freedoms lead to license or licentiousness. They believe that civil liberties lead to immortality. They believe this strongly.
Of course, for us, when we think of freedom of speech, the thought that you could be in a coffee shop with a Christian and a Buddhist and a Hindu and a Muslim and a Jew and that all could be openly talking to each other and each could be trying to convince the other of the rightness of their own view, that’s a good thought for us. That’s the free marketplace of ideas, and we believe in that as Americans. I believe in that as a Christian because I believe God wants people to come to Christ freely. “Whosoever will may come.”
I don’t believe God wants people to come to Him by compulsion, but freely. Yet, you see, for the Islamic people, that kind of freedom is not a good thing. In those 49 Islamic nations, the most liberal of them where there is some measure of religious freedom there is still not freedom of speech. Even though in the most liberal Muslim nations Christians can go worship in a church, they cannot share their faith on the streets. They cannot share their faith with other people. Only Muslims can share their faith. There are no true civil liberties. There are not democratic freedoms, which we take for granted in our nation.
Now, on this Thanksgiving Day weekend, we all are grateful. We are so thankful to live in America. We have problems here. We have problems morally. We have other problems, but I know I am so grateful to live here. I’m grateful for the freedoms we enjoy. I’m grateful for the freedom of speech, and I’m grateful for the freedom of assembly. I’m grateful for the freedom of the press. I’m grateful for freedom of religion. But you see, even a great nation like America cannot give us complete freedom. It can’t give us freedom from fear. This nation and its government cannot give you freedom from fear and particularly in the aftermath of September 11. I mean, we live in a whole new world now.
There are a lot of people who are experiencing anxiety and a fear like they’ve never experienced before. They’re afraid of terrorist activity. Of course, not all Muslims are terrorists, and there are some wonderful, wonderful Muslim people in the world who are peace-loving. But terrorism opened up a whole new era. People are afraid of bioterrorism. They’re afraid of nuclear terrorism and various forms and acts of terrorism. There’s anxiety. But Christians, of all people, should be anxiety-free. We should be anxiety-free in the sense of chronic worry and in the sense of being “care worn.” We should be anxiety-free because, you see, we have eternal life. If you’re a Christian, your soul is secure.
Jesus said, “I know My sheep. They hear My voice. They follow Me. I give them eternal life. No one is able to snatch them out of My hand.” That’s security. We have confidence in His providence, that He is working providentially in our lives, that He has power to bring good out of every circumstance and situation and that He is Jehovah-Jireh. He is the Lord who Provides, as He provides for the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. And so, we approach life, even in the midst of stress, with a kind of peace the world cannot understand. This was true of the early Church that lived in a very scary Roman era where their lives were constantly in physical danger, and yet they had the peace of Christ. It must be true of us. We need not fear. We need only trust.
As we close, I want to tell you a little story about the Hagia Sophia. The Hagia Sophia was built in 537 by the Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, Justinian. Of course, the Eastern Roman Empire is known to historians as the Byzantine Empire. Justinian built the Hagia Sophia to be the greatest Christian Church in the Christian world. It was awesome. It was beautiful. It was majestic. The dome of the Hagia Sophia is 100 feet in diameter; the top of the dome rising 189 feet from the marble floor beneath. He built the Hagia Sophia in the city of Istanbul, which was then called Constantinople. He built it on the Bosporus, which connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara. He built it where two continents come together, Asia and Europe.
The Hagia Sophia was inlaid with silver and gold, and it had 40 thousand pounds of silver just in the altar area alone. When Justinian had completed it, he said, “Oh, Solomon, I have surpassed thee.” The Hagia Sophia was called “the supreme accomplishment of the kingdom of God.” Of course, the Hagia Sophia still stands today in Istanbul. It’s no longer a church. It was conquered in 1453 by Mehmed II and the Ottoman Empire. It was converted into a Muslim mosque. Today, the Republic of Turkey has made it into a museum. But it never was “the supreme accomplishment of the kingdom of God,” because the supreme purpose of the kingdom of God is not the building of buildings. I mean, if the building of buildings were the supreme purpose of the kingdom of God, the Hagia Sophia would be as good as it gets.
But, you see, the supreme purpose of the kingdom of God is to invite men and women the world over to embrace the reign of Christ. That’s the supreme purpose of the kingdom of God, that we invite men and women the world over to embrace the reign of Christ and thereby bring glory to God. We do that as we take the gospel to the nations beginning right here in the community in which God has placed us. We seek His reign more and more in our own personal lives as we seek first His kingdom and its righteousness.
We build buildings simply because churches need buildings, but our primary call is to bring people, men and women, into the community of Christ where collectively we can embrace the reign of Christ. Is that your supreme purpose in life? Is that what it’s all about for you? Do you even give that a thought when you wake up in the morning? Do you pray about it when you go to bed at night? Is it on your mind as you’re at lunch? Do you take that hope and that dream and that work and that call with you to your place of employment? Do you think about it when you talk to your neighbors? Do you think about it when you write your checks, when you put something in the offering plate? Do you seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness? That’s the question Christ wants us to answer this morning as we conclude with a word of prayer.