To seek first the kingdom of God above all else, the pursuit of which will never disappoint. And as we look through the reading of God’s word, if you join with me in prayer.
Father of all mercies, let us stand in awe of you this day, that you would help us by your Spirit to put your words into our hearts, to write them upon our minds. Father, that your word would come to us in power. We ask you’d help us to receive it in love with attentive and reverent, teachable minds. And through your word, that you would allow us to taste the flavor of eternal life which you have given to us in your Son Jesus, in whose name we now pray. Amen.
Amen. Beginning in verse 25. 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. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 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? And which of you by anxious— being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow.
They neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 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? Amen. 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. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Why this text on this day?
140 years ago Sunday, September 12th, the very first church service was held in Flathead Valley. Though then it was a part of Missoula County. Montana in the 1870s was actually home to quite a disparate group of people. Some 27 countries of origin are on record and likely more than that. Besides the 11 native tribes, people came from all over the place to find fame and fortune.
Well, Presbyterian minister George McVay Fisher, he came up from Missoula in 1886. And he brought with him his new wife. They had just recently been married and came up here to see how things were in the Flathead Valley. And this area developed more slowly than the rest of Montana. There was no gold mines found or anything like that.
So It didn’t have the immediate draw that other places did. And if you were to come up here, you probably took a train to Missoula. Then you either rode a horse or a stagecoach to Polson. And then you boarded the steamer and headed up to the north end of the lake or even up to the Flathead River. And the valley at that time was just a small tribe of natives.
And before the 1870s, you would just run into a few fur trappers. But homesteaders started coming here in the 1880s. That was around the time that my family actually settled here. I’m not really sure if my great-great-grandfather and his son attended this worship service or not, but it would have been around the same time. And from this point, when the railroad came to Whitefish and into Kalispell, 1891, the whole region really started to take off and to develop.
So Pastor Fisher came here just before all that took place.
Place. And he came to Ashley, which was the settlement over by Meridian, whether it be around the fairgrounds or maybe towards Foy’s Lake. It’s just a little ways away. And he came here, and in a very small log schoolhouse, he brought the first Christian service, September 12th, 1886. And his text was Matthew 6:33.
His sermon, Seek ye first the kingdom of God. Amen. The next Sunday, he actually hired a boy to ride through the area to announce the service that afternoon. And Reverend Fisher commented on the attendance. He said, there was an audience of interested and uninterested people numbering about 20.
Besides the town of Ashley, Fisher went on to establish churches in this area of names that you probably have not heard of, but they were here. Sheldon, Salish, Brocken, Fairview, Pine Grove, and then of course later Kalispell. And all those places are now gone, but they were early settlements and churches were developed there. And a few years after this, a Lutheran and Episcopalian and Baptist minister came into the area, and apparently they did actually work really well together and shared in the labor. There was even a joint training of Sunday school teachers by the Presbyterians and the Baptists.
So 140 years ago, the first sermon delivered about a mile from where we are now, seek ye first the kingdom of God. And it’s interesting too, in our own congregation, Carol Stewart, who’s 100 years old, she was born the year before Fisher died. You think about that connection. It seems like so long ago, and here we have someone in living memory Of all of this here. And those who first heard this message, they’re really no different than we are today.
They came here trying to raise families, trying to make a living, eking out life here was a lot of hard work. How easy it is for us to be focused on ourselves and upon our efforts as we try to start new. Start new. To gain the things that we think life in this world is needing to give us. And the words of Jesus refocus our attention on what is truly important.
And because the Lord is our highest pursuit, we are called to seek Him above everything else. And Jesus tells us that in this great sermon of His, the Sermon on the Mount, which this is a part of, that this call to the Kingdom of God Was the very thing that he proclaimed from town to town. Matthew chapter 4, it says Jesus went throughout all of Galilee teaching their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, healing every disease, every affliction among the people. Well, what does it mean by the kingdom? It’s the rule and the reign of God over our lives here and now, as well as that which is still to come.
And then and now, it has always been easy to get sidetracked, pursuing the good and losing the best. And Jesus had already told them in Matthew 6 about how to pray the Lord’s Prayer: Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And then he tells them this, he says, do not lay up for yourself treasure on earth where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourself treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroy, where thieves do not break in and steal. He puts our pursuit of money in its right place.
Then he goes on, he says, no one can serve 2 masters. Either he’ll hate the one or love the other. He’ll devote to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Now, we often think about those who are giving their lives, becoming rich, as those really greedy people.
And Jesus does include that, but he’s including all of us. All of us who put our hope and our confidence in money. And then he goes on in verse 25. Therefore I tell you, don’t be anxious about your life, what you’ll eat, what you will drink, about your body, what you’ll put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
And of course the answer is yes. Life is way more than those things. But we also know that these things are important. And that’s why he goes on. He says, look at the birds of the air.
They neither sow nor reap, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you of more value than they? And again, the answer is yes, you are. And he speaks about the need for clothing and even how the lilies of the field, how they grow, something that is very ephemeral, here now and gone later, and how beautiful they are and how arrayed they are. And God knows you need these things.
You are of much more value than them.
How much more will he clothe you than he has on the— oh, you of little faith.
Therefore do not be anxious, saying, what shall we eat? What shall we drink? What shall we wear? For the Gentiles— and when he’s saying Gentiles, he’s speaking about those who are outside of the kingdom, those who are no longer pursuing the things of God. They seek after such things, but your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
Food and clothing are not bad pursuits. Jesus is not telling us we don’t need these things because we certainly do. He’s telling us that the pursuit of these goods will get in the way of the pursuit of the best if we’re not careful. That’s the very nature of idolatry. We try to substitute things for the Lord.
We try to use the Lord to get his blessings. Our priority has to be God himself and not the blessings of God. When that switches, we run right into idolatry. We’re trying to use God to get his things rather than to get God.
And Jesus tells us that we are firmly to put our trust in him. And that question, well, how do you know? How do you know if you’re putting your trust in him? How do you know what you value? And the easy answer is, tell me what you worry about.
Do you want to know what you value? What are you worrying about? What is keeping you up at night? What are the things that are going over and over in your head that you’re trying to change or to think about that has your attention? My anxiety tells me that I do not trust that God is going to be good to me.
One writer put it this way, he said, worry is practical atheism and an affront to God. When I’m worried that God is not going to provide the things I think I need, I’m not putting my trust in him. And scripture does tell us to plan, to work hard. Very clear in scripture, planning for the future, thinking of a career, planning for retirement. Those are all good things and we should invest time in those things.
But these good things, if we’re not careful, can get in the way of the best thing. They can take all of our attention. And repeatedly Jesus tells his disciples to follow him. All these other goods are to be placed in the service of the best. And that best is pursuing the kingdom and gaining Christ.
Amen. When Jesus tells us to seek the kingdom, he’s speaking about what is the controlling drive of our lives. What has our time? What has our attention? The ultimate quest, the ultimate pursuit.
And then he tells us what it should be. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. As we submit our lives to the Lord, we are to live in confidence that he’s going to provide for us the things we need. That’s the basis of trust. I am trusting that God knows what I need more than I do, and that he is going to be the one, as I pursue him, that’s going to make sure that these things are given.
And Jesus tells us that the Father’s providential care of creation extends to us, how much more to us, he says. God’s caring for the world around us and he’s caring for us.
We are called then to live in submission to the Lord’s redemptive rule. As one writer puts it, to live in response to Jesus’ ministry. That’s what Jesus is doing as he’s going and telling people about the kingdom. He’s calling them to respond. According to what he is doing.
He is undoing the kingdom of the world, and he’s ushered in the kingdom of God.
What is God’s righteousness that we are to seek? Well, it speaks, of course, of good conduct, how we are to live. That’s certainly true, but not in the sense that we are to do certain things first before God will then let us into the kingdom. It’s not the idea that we are to pursue righteousness to such a degree that God approves And now he says, okay, you can come in, ’cause that’s never gonna happen. Our righteousness is as filthy rags before the Lord.
It’s a call to righteousness, but it’s a call to Jesus’ righteousness, what he has done for us. All of this is a gift from the Lord to a people who are powerless to please the Lord on their own merit. The kingdom and the righteousness are all a part of the ministry of Jesus. All of it is a gift in him. Our deepest desire then is to live according to God’s way.
To be a part of his kingdom means that we are willingly subjecting ourselves to his control. We’re not trying to usher in the kingdom as if somehow that’s in our power. The Lord alone is the one who brings about his kingdom, but we are living in his kingdom now as we await for the fullness of it to be revealed. Amen. And Jesus reminds us it’s pointless to try to worry about things we cannot control.
Don’t be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient today is its own trouble. A proverbial saying, but connected to this call to the kingdom, because that’s the nature of worry and anxiety— to be stressed out about things that we cannot change or cannot control. And somehow we think that our worrying is actually doing doing something. It might accomplish an ulcer, high blood pressure, but nothing of real benefit.
And Jesus is not simply just saying, stop it, stop worrying about those things, as if that’s all we needed to hear. The Lord gives us both a current help and a future hope. He also puts us in places that teach us to trust him. If you’ve walked any length of time with the Lord, you know that to be true, that he will actually put you in places that requires you to trust him. There’s nothing else to be had but trusting in him as a part of his great work in us, developing our dependency upon him.
And so that question comes in, well, what exactly does seeking the kingdom look like? Short list from New Testament professor Dan Doriani. He said, to seek the kingdom is to seek the King. Seems obvious. Jesus is the one we set our eyes on.
So if you’re seeking the kingdom, you’re seeking Jesus. To seek the kingdom is to pray for it. We hear that in the Lord’s Prayer. Your kingdom come, your will be done. And that means also then to seek the kingdom is to evangelize.
The message of Jesus is certainly good news, and we are to share this good news with others. We want our neighbors to know King Jesus. That’s a part of seeking the kingdom, is looking for the best interest of others. The best interest of others is Jesus.
To seek the kingdom means submitting personally to God’s reign by obeying him more than, you know, putting a fish on your business card or on your business sign. It’s actually practicing the very things that we’re portraying, that we live according to the truth of God’s word. In business, other practices, that we are putting the truth into practice. That’s seeking the kingdom. It also— seeking the kingdom means pursuing wages and profits in a way that pleases God.
God does know we need the things of this world, but we do so in a way that pleases him, that he is the priority, and that the way that we go about that is not business is business, we do whatever we do to gain as much money as we can, but we put him in a priority. And to seek the kingdom means to have an eye on social reform. Everywhere Scripture tells us to care for the widow and the orphan, care for those who are needy. And that means if you’re seeking the kingdom, you’re seeking the kingdom for everyone. The blessings of it to go to all people.
All of that is a part of what it means to seek the kingdom. To pursue righteousness in public places and distant lands. Again, an aspect of evangelism, but also an aspect of influencing the world around us. Amen. For the good of the kingdom, of bringing about righteous laws and decrees that are good for everybody.
The influence of Christ into the world around us is a part of seeking the kingdom. And all these are what it means then, as disciples of Christ, to have a priority and a focus on him. And to each of us, of course, this might look different. Different people, different gifts, different callings. That has always been hard for us.
We try to overlay onto others what we think their life should look like. Isn’t that something we like to do? We like to think about what other people’s life should look like. That’s the heart of a Pharisee. You see, if I judge another by human standards, all in the name of the Lord, that’s all I’ve done.
I’m judging them for the standard that I placed on them. Amen. And then I am putting a fish on it.
We have all kinds of differences like that. How do you educate your kids? What kind of home do you live in? What kind of car do you drive? How do you arrange your home life?
Pursuing Christ is going to look different for each one of us, even though the commandments are going to stay the same. The truth is the same. The call for us individually is not. Amen. We’re different people, we’re different gifts, different abilities, different passions.
The things that God has given to us to pursue will look different. Jesus told the man that he cast the legions of demons out who wanted to go with him, he said, no, you stay, you stay in this region and tell everyone about what I have done for you. And then to another he said, you know what, you need to sell everything you have and come and follow me. And then there were some that he healed And he simply blessed them and told them to go on their way. And everything in between.
And we can struggle with judging how we think others should pursue Christ, how they should pursue and seek the kingdom.
That is a natural propensity of our sinful hearts. And Paul gives us a great reminder in Romans 14. He says, who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? Amen. It’s before his own master that he stands or falls, and he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
And then a little later, why do you pass judgment on your brother? Why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.
Paul is reminding us that worrying about my own life is more than sufficient. Not needing to take on what I think everyone else should be doing. And what is clear is that to pursue the kingdom of God and his righteousness is to pursue Jesus. Jesus is the pearl of great price. He is the one worth giving everything for.
That’s true in Kalispell now, just as it was 140 years ago. In Ashley. Money and worry have bedeviled us all. We have lost all kinds of sleep, all kinds of comfort, anxiety and worry over that.
And Jesus is the one who’s worth giving everything for.
We are lost until Lord Jesus finds us.
And if we belong to him, we are to allow the truth of who he is to invade us, to invade our fears rather than allow our fears to invade our faith. We are to allow God’s truth to triumph over our anxious hearts. That’s a part of what it means to follow. Because like breath on a mirror, anxiety and worry can cloud our faith. They can often be A vertigo between fear and hope that we can succumb to.
And Jesus is going into the midst of this, telling us not to fear and to worry about those things, that he has those things. The Father is watching over us, that our focus and our priority is him.
Paul goes on in Philippians 4 to say, don’t be anxious about anything. But in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. How do you get beyond anxiety and fear? By prayer and supplication, by thanksgiving. That we are going and we’re praying to God, we’re asking him to provide for those things, and we’re giving thanks for what he has done.
We’re putting the Lord into the center place. Paul’s not just saying stop it. He’s instructing us with real hope. Go to our God who listens and speak to Him. And then he finishes and he said, the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
That’s a part of what God does for us. And so the question immediately comes is, who has your heart? What are you seeking? The answer, of course, is seek Jesus. But that’s a part of that diagnostic.
What are you worrying about? What’s your focus on? And I think this is so important as well when we think of some young people and what they want to go on to do and careers and things like that. You think of how do we generally counsel them? So often the counsel we give to people in pursuing a career path is what’s going to make you the most money?
How are you going to provide for life and have affluence and respectability?
That’s so often the thing we tell people, or at least imply, as opposed to, God has gifted and equipped you in a particular way. How are you going to bring glory and honor to him with who he has made you to be? That’s a different animating principle, isn’t it? How can you get everything for yourself? It’s how do you take what God has equipped you with and to serve him and serve his people?
And, and that response is going to look different for each one of us because we are different. But the overall command is still the same: seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and he will add these things to you that he knows that you need. The priority and the principle is always putting the Lord first and foremost. What are the things that you’re passionate about, that are driving you, that give fuel to your fire. And Jesus is saying ultimately that must be him, that this is the part that he brings into our lives as the Creator to his creatures, that we are going to be most satisfied when he is most glorified.
Amen. That we are going to fundamentally be in this world, in this kingdom, as God intended us to be, when our eyes are off of ourselves and they’re on him. That’s the good news of the gospel. We are set free from our petty selfishness. We are set free from life preoccupied with us, our gain, our freedoms, our respectability, our comforts, and is put in the person and work of Jesus.
And this is what Jesus has done. He has come to set us free, that our sins are forgiven, our debt is paid by him, that as we seek him, we truly then enter into a life of fulfillment and satisfaction, not in itself. Again, we’re not the idolaters’ pursuit of the gifts, but those things follow because we serve a good and generous God who loves to give to his people as we follow in him and our hearts and our eyes and our focus is on him. This is countercultural today as it was 140 years ago. They weren’t set up any better than we are to hear this because they were struggling with the sin in their hearts just like we’re struggling with the sin in our hearts.
There was someone there who was looking covetously at somebody else’s horse and buggy.
As we do the same. That part hasn’t changed.
Brothers and sisters, what are you seeking?
Seek the one who is going to demand your life, but in the taking of that is going to give you far more than you could ever ask or dare to imagine. Brothers and sisters, seek Jesus. Pray with me. Father, as we come before you, we just say thank you. Father, you have sought lost things and we’re lost.
Father, we have such messed up priorities. We have— Father, we just think of ourselves far too much. We judge others by a standard that we can’t even uphold ourselves. And Lord, we ask that you would forgive us. Father, that you would forgive us of our sins, that you would forgive us of our judgmental hearts, that you would forgive us of pursuing Pursuing vanity.
And Lord, we just thank you and praise you that you have opened our eyes to see, that you have opened our ears to hear the good news of Jesus. Father, continue to set us free. And Lord, may you be pleased to use us in the furtherance of your kingdom. Father, that through our lives, your Son would receive the reward of his suffering. Amen.
We pray and ask this all in his mighty name. Amen.
Discaimer: This sermon text was generated by an automated transcription service.