Prayer - seek first the kingdom

Come at a good time / bad time for me….

I need to hear it as much as anyone in the room, so I intend to talk to myself and you can listen in.

Do not be anxious! (repeat)

Read commentaries looking for hidden meaning – no hidden meaning – worry is practical atheism!!

This is the testimony of my life – Anecdote.

Never really looked back, just a bad time to have to tell it.

Plus its not your testimony is it? Is it?

Its in the bible though.

One thing to say another to do.

I come from a long line of worriers its probably genetic.

So I am preaching a sermon about not being anxious when I am feeling really, really anxious.

Samuel at Uni sorting accommodation.

I imagine however that Jesus expects part of the human condition to include anxiety or he wouldn’t have taken so much trouble to counsel against it.

One of my other really favourite verses is John 6:66-69 - where else will we go?

I would bet that most of you will have been there? Hanging on by your fingertips.

‘You have the words of eternal life.’ In John’s gospel to know Jesus is to be saved by him.

‘You have the words of eternal life.’ Jesus words quicken life, produce more life, we better go back to the passage and look at them then.

But a key point is that we are in a war; problems aren’t going to go away, you might as well get in the fight!

V25 -26 There’s a bigger picture to life than just surviving, just eating and wearing clothes. Jesus followers called to have eternal life, starting now, life in abundance.

God already knows about basic needs and will provide he is interested in the other stuff, life!

V27 Besides which even if it was about life worrying doesn’t help, it doesn’t make life longer.

V28-30 That which applied to eating applies to clothes.

V30 You of little faith – phrase used another 4 times by Matthew in context of not understanding who Jesus is or what he has said.

V31-32 pagans worry, you are not pagans by definition because you have a relationship with a father in heaven.

V33 Key verse – what you should be doing is seeking the kingdom!

In the original Greek – an ongoing quest

Kingdom – God’s rule and reign over sin, illness, isolation, death.

Righteousness – (in Matthew’s gospel) trust in God and aligning your will with his.

In contrast to two things the pagan’s are concerned with food and clothes, the disciples are to be concerned with God’s reign, (already here in Jesus for Matthew) and their own wills aligning with his.

So what does it mean for us to seek the kingdom.

Have different priorities

  • Be swept along a bit more
  • Slightly less tight grip on our plans
  • Time
  • Energy
  • Money
  • See what God is doing and join in
  • church is growing, where can I be involved?
  • less rotas more teams
  • less top down more bottom up, passion vision calling
  • stopping being so much an organisation be more an organism
  • Think about what it means to seek the kingdom
  • Change the world, change your bit of the world
  • The coming of the kingdom is the good news!
  • The coming of the kingdom is brought into individual lives by Jesus death and resurrection
  • The coming of the kingdom is brought into the world by Jesus death and resurrection
  • The kingdom means overcoming sin through conversion, isolation through Christian community, illness and even death through the HS, although for the converted soul death has no victory

In short live a fuller more adventurous life – how

  • Listen when you pray
  • Not just a list of concerns and anxieties
  • Listen to what the spirit is saying
  • Listen to where the kingdom is coming and join in.

So how might we respond practically?

Consider trusting God for the basics and address your giving, going to be talking about and thinking about finances.

The church is growing – see where you can join in. Don’t wait to be asked come and ask us.

Consider seeking the Kingdom (vision or calling) listen to God live the adventure.

Open the church to the spirit, the spirit grows the church, stand.

  • Hanging on by your finger tips
  • Anxiety about material things
  • Joining in with what you see
  • Hearing God and seeking fresh vision and calling for the kingdom