Your Life is More Than Meat

[00:00:00] Let's go to Matthew 6 this morning. [00:00:05] We'll begin in the last section of Matthew, chapter 6. Lord willing, we'll cover it today. [00:00:18] Matthew 6. [00:00:22] We'll begin reading in verse number 25, and we'll read down through number verse 34. [00:00:30] Bible says. Therefore I say unto you, Please don't forget as we read this, who is saying, I say unto you, it's not just the Bible, although it is the Bible, but it's our Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ, key word being our Lord as we read this passage. 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. [00:01:03] Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? [00:01:09] Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? [00:01:22] Which of you, by taking thought, can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They toil not, neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. [00:01:42] Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you? O ye of little faith. [00:01:55] Therefore take no thought, saying, what shall we eat, or what shall we drink? Or wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek. For your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. Things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. [00:02:20] Take therefore no thought for the morrow. For the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. [00:02:28] Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Would you pray with me? [00:02:33] Our Father, thank you for this Scripture. Thank you for Lord, for speaking these words on the Sermon on the Mount. Thank you for the truths in this passage of Scripture that we've been walking through that have indeed in ways we don't fully understand, but they have transformed our lives. They have set us an entirely new worldview and entirely new set of priorities and values. And as we look at this passage of Scripture and these few thoughts that I want to focus on today, Lord, I pray especially that you would be the one who does the preaching and the teaching, and that you would walk among us and speak to each and every person's heart. That's here. Lord, some are listening in by means of the Internet. And I pray for them that you'd help them to benefit and grow from your word here this morning. Lord, just guide me and help me to say the things I need to say and in the way that I need to say them. Lord, we indeed our life is. We have a life. You've given us life for you. That's the only reason we're here. [00:03:40] So, Lord, help us to see these things plainly in Jesus name. Amen. [00:03:45] Now, you'll notice in verse number 25, down through the end of the chapter, the Lord opens up really, it's not a different subject, but he does kind of take a little turn and goes into the direction of talking about anxiety or worry. That's what the idea of taking thought, being careful. In fact, the idea of taking thought is the same as when we read in Ephesians. I'm sorry, Philippians chapter 4, verse 6 says, Be careful for nothing. We're talking about the same thing here. Worry, anxiety, and Lord willing, I want to talk about that tonight in our evening service. But this morning I want to just bring a few thoughts out from a couple of places here in this. In this passage, verse number 25 begins with the word therefore. So you can't read verse 25 without picking up, kind of getting a running start into verse number 25 in the previous verse. Notice in verse number 24, the Bible says this, the Lord concluding the section dealing with riches and laying up Treasures, verse 24 says this. 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. Of course, that's referring to money. [00:05:10] Now, when you read the word in verse 24, when you read the word serve, we think of service as a good thing, right? Our policemen, they often on their cars, it'll say, what? Protect and serve. So we think of service in a good way. But instead of looking at the word serve and thinking of that, and service is obviously good in this case, it's not put in such a good light, especially in regards to money. But when you see the word serve, I want you to think of the word servant. [00:05:41] And that really kind of, I feel like drives home what the Lord is saying. Now, does anyone in here want to be a servant to money? [00:05:54] Want to be a servant to wealth, a servant to worldly goods? [00:06:00] There's a difference, as we saw last week, there's a difference between having them Using them and serving them, being a servant. Because when you have a servant situation, a servant relationship, there's also a master, right? A servant always has a master. And a servant, in this case, the master, of course, can be the Lord. And that's fitting and that's right and that's proper. The Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ should be our master. He should be our Lord. [00:06:32] But money should not be our master. It should not dictate to us what we do when we do it and how we do it. It should not dictate to us our. Our priorities. Now, with all of those things in mind, we go into verse number 25. [00:06:48] Therefore, because of what we've read before about money and worldly goods being our master and we serving it, the Lord says, therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life what ye shall eat or what you shall drink, nor yet for your body what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment. Now, we know, all of us, it goes without saying, all of us have physical needs like are being described here, in fact, here, these particular needs. It's not by accident that the Lord describes these particular physical needs. First Timothy 6, verse 8 defines poverty and contentment as this having, therefore, food and raiment, that's clothing. Let us therewith be content. [00:07:45] So we know that we have to have food to eat, and we know we have to have clothes on our back. And those are not. Those are not wants. Those are not desires. Those are necessities. Those are necessities. And notice in verse 25, that's what the Lord is talking about. He speaks of, take no thought for your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink. Now notice, he says, take no thought for your life. And then he defines your life as what you eat and what you drink. So as far as your physical life is concerned, we're sustained by food and clothing. And so that's a common theme throughout Scripture. [00:08:22] But you have to note in verse number 25 that we are not talking about in verse 25, things that we desire, things above our necessities that we desire. And how many of you have things like that in your life? I have. Every one of us has a multitude of things in our lives that we do not need, but we have, and we are glad that we have. Say car, say phone, say, you know, an innumerable number of things, and we are thankful for all of those things. Those things are not evil. Those things are not evil. [00:08:58] But in verse 25, we're not looking at those, we're looking at necessities. We're looking at necessities. So from the starting blocks, we have to understand all of us have necessities. [00:09:11] And the Lord expects us to work for our necessities, right? If a man will not work, neither should he. [00:09:19] Neither should he eat. So, of course, eating involves food, and that's one of the necessities. And. And, you know, I was talking to Brother Joseph yesterday because we often, probably at least a few times a week, get calls from people who are in various kinds of distresses and they want us to pay for this. Us, meaning the church, to pay for, you know, hotel rooms and rent and power bills and food and diapers and just all kinds of things. And, you know, it is very difficult to discern if the story's true because everybody's got a story, you know, it's just very difficult. And those of you. I'm thinking of the loggers that have worked with people in the inner city and have worked with people, you know, kind of down and outers. Not to say that's. I mean, not to say that in a derogatory way, but it is. You know, as a missionary, there was a lot of that. [00:10:12] It's difficult to know those things and to know. [00:10:16] And to know the claims and whether they're true and how to help and those kinds of things. [00:10:20] When you're talking about necessities, all of us have them. [00:10:26] But here's the thing I want to remind you of in verse 24 is this. [00:10:33] We should not use our necessities, which we all have. [00:10:37] We all have them. We should not use our necessities as an excuse to give ourselves as servants to mammon, to money. [00:10:49] I've observed that, you know, especially considering verse 24, I've observed people who have. And I have no one, no one in particular I'm thinking of in our congregation. But I've observed people that out of a drive to provide for their family, out of a drive to labor and to work, they choose. [00:11:09] They choose to set the seeking of those necessities and therefore the service to money, they choose to set that above a place that it really should be. [00:11:27] And they say when it becomes evident that their service for the Lord is kind of dwindling and it's being trapped, traded for service toward money. The excuse is, well, God says I'm supposed to provide for my family. And that's true. But at. No, listen, ultimately, if this passage teaches anything, it teaches this, that your provision for your family is not solely dependent upon you. In fact, it is ultimately and primarily dependent upon God. [00:11:59] This is why we should never let the blessings that God gives us by way of. Of food, by way of clothing, by way of house, by way of even the beneficial things, even the things that we like and want that are above those necessities. We should never take the good things that God gives us and allow them to become idols in our lives and steal our heart and our service and our devotion away from God. That's the warning of verse 24, because that's often what happens. Well, I've got to provide. I got to work, I got to provide. And all of a sudden the things that should be priority are not. [00:12:37] But the excuse is, well, I'm providing for my family. You got to remember, you are not the provider for your family. [00:12:46] Now, as a husband, you are the provider for your family, speaking in human terms, but I'm speaking to the husband. You are not the ultimate provider for your family. [00:12:56] God is the provider for all creatures, great and small. That's what this passage teaches. Therefore, no human necessity that we might have should ever be used as an excuse to give ourself to serve something as low as money. [00:13:18] You know, you can work a job, and you should. [00:13:23] You can work hard for your business and your company, and you should. [00:13:28] But you should never give yourself to serving money. [00:13:33] God must keep his place in our lives. He must keep his place in our lives, even when we're talking about necessities providing for our family, as we usually say. [00:13:47] So that's the first thing I want us to see, is that using necessities as an excuse to serve mammon is not excusable. The Lord does not want us to take his blessings and turn them into idolatrous things that usurp his place in devotion. [00:14:08] And he does not want us to trade in our relationship to. To him and our service to him for lower things, especially things that he has said he will provide for. [00:14:23] Now, the second thing I want us to see is. This is in verse number 25. [00:14:28] Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life what ye shall eat or what you shall drink, nor yet for your body what ye shall put on. Is. This is the. This is the key here. Is not the life more than meat and the body than raiment. [00:14:47] You know, this life you live, of course, physically, it's sustained by food and clothing, like we see here. Those are the two necessities being pointed out here. [00:14:57] But your life. [00:14:59] Listen, if you are a disciple of Christ, your life is not summed up with food and clothing and paying bills and eating and drinking and taking vacations and enjoying pleasure and taking ease. That is not what our life is about. [00:15:25] All these things. Here the Lord says, is not the life more than meat and the body, than raiment? And the answer is no. No, the life is not simply those things. The life is far more than that. [00:15:40] We take so much time being careful and anxious about all of the things I just listed. Our necessities and our desires and our wants, about our pleasures and our bills and our listen. And again, all of those things in the proper place. They're not evil and they're not bad, but those things do not constitute the life of a disciple of Christ. [00:16:07] That's what the Lord said. Is not life more than meat and the body, than raiment? Of course there's more to it than that. There are things in your life that are far or should be far more important than just food and clothing and vacations and paying bills and the common things of all men. There are things in your life that are more valuable than that. The question is, are you placing the value on those things that are more valuable? [00:16:39] Are you prioritizing? Are we prioritizing those things that do make up our life? [00:16:49] The Lord says this. [00:16:51] We'll see it later. He says those things. Not the common, not the physical, not the food, not the clothing, not the work, not the bills, not the vacations, not the ease, not the pleasure, but the real important and valuable things in life. And when I say that, I'm not even talking about. Of course we in our human thinking. And I'm the same way. We think the valuable thing. What are the valuable things in life? You see that kind of stuff on TV and that kind of thing. And what do they say? Well, what's family? Nothing is more important than family. That's not right. [00:17:29] Verse 33 tells us there's things more important than our families. There's things more important than our stomachs. There's things more important than our bills. There's things more important than our vacations and our pleasures. There's things that are value, that are more valuable than all of these earthly things. And those things should be sought first. [00:17:51] Things that are eternal. [00:17:53] Verse 33 says, the kingdom of God and his righteousness. The Lord. Listen, I want you to understand the Lord, when he. When he uses the kingdom of God and his righteousness, he uses it in comparison, not to the. To the excesses that we have, but to the necessities. [00:18:12] Let me give you. Try to illustrate what I'm trying to Say, so if the economy took a downturn, right, and you and I fell on hard times, you know what you would start to do and what I would start to do? We would start to shave off things, right? [00:18:31] 2008. How many of you had a hard time around 2008? Maybe you did, maybe you didn't. It affected people in different ways, the economic downturn. [00:18:40] But I know for us, we were missionaries and our support went, and that was just reflective of the trouble that God's people were having in churches. And, you know, of course, I didn't blame anybody, but it's interesting that we felt it the same as everybody else, even though we were on the other side of the world. [00:19:02] But when the economy goes down and things start to go sideways, or you have a bunch of extra bills, or when you get in a hard way financially and your budget starts to get crunched, what do you start to do? You start shaving things off. You start canceling that subscription. And, you know, maybe instead of going to a little plug for Aldi here, instead of going to Publix or instead of going to Ingles or, you know, whatever, you might start going to Aldi or worse yet, I feel for you. If you go to bargains and Pilzer, Please don't do that. [00:19:33] Some of you know what I'm talking about. You start shaving that stuff off. [00:19:37] You know why? Because you're cutting out all the luxuries, right? You don't go out to eat as much or if at all, you start, you know, maybe you maybe even sell your car, Get a smaller car, less expensive car, cheaper insurance. You start doing that, you shave everything down. Why? Because you're getting down to the necessities. [00:20:00] See what I'm saying? You're getting down to what is what. You must have food in your mouth. Paying the rent, paying the mortgage. You know, you're getting down to the most important things in the physical life, right? Everybody with me, it is those things that you try to keep at all costs that the Lord puts his finger on and says, not even those things that are more important than every other luxury, not even those things should be put above the kingdom of God and his righteousness. [00:20:37] Not even food in your mouth, not even clothes on your back. [00:20:44] That's crazy. [00:20:47] That's radical talk. That's cuckoo stuff. [00:20:53] Is that not what he said? [00:20:55] That's what he said. [00:20:59] Brothers and sisters, your life is not just about what you eat and what you drink and paying a mortgage, working a job. [00:21:08] Those things are all needed and necessary. In fact, The Lord says. He said. Just kind of waves it off. Just. Your Father knows. Just like it's a minor trifle, your Father knows you don't even need to worry about it because your life is more than that. [00:21:28] What is your life? [00:21:32] You see, if I have food and clothing, I can live. But if. Please listen. But if all I have are these earthly things that everyone in this world wants, if that is the sum total of my life, I am poor indeed. [00:21:50] If that's it. [00:21:52] If the most important things, the most valuable things that can be had, I have neglected to get the things that are eternal, the things that are most precious, the things that are not temporal. [00:22:10] I might have life, but I abide in death. I listen. I might be able to live here. [00:22:17] But when this life is over, what will there be to show for it? [00:22:22] Jesus said this in Luke 12:15. This is a parallel passage. Listen to this. And he said unto them, take heed and beware of covetousness. [00:22:32] For a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of. Of the things which he possesseth. [00:22:43] We all. Again, I reiterate it because I don't want anybody to misunderstand. We all know we gotta have all those things. That's not the question. [00:22:52] Our life should not be defined and measured by those things. [00:23:00] You see what I'm saying? That is not our purpose. That is not why we exist. That is not why we're here. That is not why we live and breathe. We can say this. That is not our life. Our Lord said this in John 4. In our Sunday school. We were talking about the Samaritan woman. Listen to what Jesus said in that same context. He said, therefore, said the disciples, one to another, hath any man brought him ought to eat? They went to the town to buy food. They brought it back. And Jesus says, I have meat. That is food to eat. That ye know not of. Right? And they said, did anybody bring him something to eat? Jesus saith unto them, now listen to this. My meat. My food is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. Let me ask you a question. Did our Lord Jesus need food to live? [00:23:49] As a human being, did he need food to live? Yes. Do you need food to live? [00:23:54] Yes. But you see, his mentality, to him, the necessities were minor. [00:24:04] His real purpose. And that's why he uses food as a comparison. My meat is what you could say my life. Because that's what Matthew 6 says. What is your life? Right. Your life is not meat and meat and raiment. Your Life is more than that. And that's what Jesus says. He says, my food, my life is not meat food. My life is to do the will of him that sent me. That's Matthew 6:33. Same thing. So I want to ask you a question. [00:24:37] Listen. Is that your life? [00:24:41] Is that your life is doing the will of God? [00:24:45] The reason you live is doing. [00:24:50] Seeking God and His kingdom and his righteousness. Is that what your life is? Is that the stuff like Luke 12 says, the stuff your life is made of? [00:25:06] The Lord didn't say this to preachers. He didn't say this to missionaries, to evangelists, to some, you know, clergy class. [00:25:16] No. The Lord said this to every one of his disciples. [00:25:25] What is the stuff your life is made of? I sure hope it's just not bills and grocery stores and food and drink and pleasure and vacation. That's all fine and good, but I hope that's not what your life is made of. A man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. [00:25:45] Aim higher, brothers and sisters. Aim higher. [00:25:50] Take a peek, if you would, at Luke, chapter 16, verse 19, verse 19. You're familiar with this story. There was a certain rich man which was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. You know what this man had? [00:26:30] This man had a good life. [00:26:33] See it? [00:26:36] This man had a good life. [00:26:39] He was living. [00:26:41] This was living. He fared sumptuously every day. He had pleasure. He had food. He had everything he needed. [00:26:49] And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his feet, full of sores and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And in hell. He lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, father Abraham, have mercy on me. And send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. [00:27:24] This is it. This is an illustration of this point. The rich man's life consisted only only in the physical things. It consisted only in food and clothes. It mentions faring sumptuously, eating, feasting. It mentions his clothing, all of those things. That was his life. He had nothing of any eternal value. He had nothing of any serious value. [00:27:49] And the moment he Left this world. None of it mattered. [00:27:54] It was all gone. [00:27:58] This is one of the reasons why you and I should never give ourselves as a servant, the money. Because the moment we leave this world, it is gone. [00:28:07] We better not serve it. It's not worth it. It's not a worthy master. It doesn't endure. [00:28:16] He died. [00:28:19] And because his life was food and drink and pleasure. [00:28:24] When his life ended, there was nothing else but torment and hellfire. [00:28:33] Listen, if there is anybody among us that does that's not born again. I'm looking around here. I think most everybody in here saved. I can't see anybody's heart. [00:28:44] I can't see anybody's heart. [00:28:46] But if you're not saved, if you are not a believer, I want to tell you something. What? I just described this rich man. You might not have as much as he has, but I want to promise you this. That's all you got. [00:28:58] That's all you've got. [00:29:00] When your life is over and you fall into the pit, none of the pleasures of this life will matter. Not one moment more. [00:29:10] They're all gone. [00:29:13] You better start seeking the kingdom of God, looking for things with eternal value. [00:29:22] This stuff here is temporary. [00:29:27] Look back at Matthew 6. If you would look at verse number. [00:29:35] I won't read everything again, but. Because, as I said, I want to talk about worry tonight. But look at verse 31. [00:29:44] Therefore take no thought saying, what shall we eat? Notice that. Or, what shall we drink? Or wherewithal shall we be clothed? [00:29:55] Look at this little tidbit in verse 32. For after all these things do the Gentiles seek? [00:30:06] You know, just in that one sentence, you know what the Lord does? He describes the worldview of mankind. [00:30:17] In one sentence, the Lord describes the worldview of mankind. The Gentiles, we might say unbelievers. They seek these things. They seek the food and the drink, and, you know, the pleasures and the ease and the happiness and the joy, everything this earthly life can provide. They seek it because that is all they have to seek. They have nothing else. Their life consists in those things. They do not know God. They live their life to fill their belly and to spend their days in pleasures without any kind of purpose. They live to live. That's it. [00:30:59] They just pass their days. [00:31:02] And when their life is over, they have nothing. They perish in spiritual poverty. [00:31:08] And the Lord said, listen, I know that's a dismal. But listen, it is true. If you listen, if you do not have the Lord Jesus Christ, you have nothing. The Bible says it's not just me first. John 5:12. What does it say? He that hath the Son hath life. And he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. That means you have no life. [00:31:32] You need Jesus. [00:31:34] That's the thing that is. Listen. That is life without Christ. [00:31:46] But notice what the Lord says here. [00:31:52] For after all these things do the Gentiles seek. [00:31:58] Look back at verse number eight. [00:32:01] We see that very similar. [00:32:07] A very similar principle here. Notice what it says. But in this case, he's talking about how they pray. [00:32:14] Verse 8 says this. Be not ye therefore like unto them. For your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask Him. That's almost exactly the same as he says in verse 32. Here's the point. [00:32:28] This is the way of the world. This is the way of mankind. [00:32:33] Don't be like them. [00:32:37] This is their value system. This is what is important to them. This is their priorities. And the Lord says, don't be like that. [00:32:47] Do not imitate and mimic their values and their priorities. As a disciple of Christ, you and I should have a different value system. You and I should have an entirely different worldview. Listen, I want to say something to some of the younger people. I'm talking to adults, too. But listen, because adults are. What I've realized as I've gotten older is that adults are just older, young people. [00:33:17] The body ages, but it's like the mind and the heart never really. Never really age. Isn't that right? So I can talk to the young people, still be talking to the old people. [00:33:28] I'm not going to define old. I'll let you guys define it individually. [00:33:36] But listen, as you're a young person, you're at a stage in your life where you're thinking about or in the future here shortly, you're going to be thinking about what I'm going to do with my life. [00:33:52] This world has a view. You know what this world's view is? [00:33:56] You do what you got to do to get as much stuff to amass wealth so that you can take vacations when you want to. You can live in pleasure as you want to. You don't lack for anything. You don't lack food. You have all the nice clothes. You have the newest phone, whatever. And that is set forth as. This is living. This is what it's all about. I want to tell you something. This is not what it's all about. [00:34:22] This is not what it's all about. You listen, if you're a young person, you should plan your life for God. [00:34:32] You should plan Your life for God, he should be the core, the center, the beginning and the end of your life. Your life is about the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is all. Period. Full stop. [00:34:51] You're planning for your life. The Lord Jesus Christ should be the center of your life because it might be. The Lord would. [00:35:01] The Lord would call you to go to a mission field and all the things that you might be able to accrue here, you can't accrue there. You know, you just got to let it go. [00:35:11] That's what it means to serve God, right? [00:35:18] It's a completely different view than this, than the Gentiles, as it says here. All these things did the Gentiles seek. We have something higher than that. [00:35:26] You have. Listen, you've got a greater purpose. If you're looking toward the future, you've got something. A greater purpose than just making money. Make money, Go ahead and make money. But you have a greater purpose than that. You have something far more valuable, far more important. You need to give yourself to that holy. [00:35:43] I think probably a lot of young people do not practice Romans 12:1. [00:35:51] I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye. What does it say? Present your bodies. A living sacrifice. You know why I think a lot of younger people don't do that? [00:36:02] Is because they see. Listen, they see the shiny things. [00:36:10] And in each stage in life, at each age bracket, those shiny things that distract our attention and get our attention change. [00:36:19] You know, when you're 14, 15, you know, you see somebody getting a new phone, you want a new phone. Like they have a phone or they got a computer, they have this. And then you start driving and then you want a new car. And of course it progresses on from there. But it's all about the things in this world that you can. The things that you can accrue, the possessions that you have. It's all about food and raiment. That's all it's about. Listen, set your affection on something better than that. Plan your life with a target, and that target should be the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where it should be. [00:36:55] Your life is about him. [00:37:01] The last thing I want you to see is in verse number 33. [00:37:20] In verse 25, the verse ends by saying, this is not the life more than meat and the body than raiment? And the answer is, yes, it's more than that. [00:37:31] But the question is, what is it then that is higher, that is greater, that exceeds mere earthly, temporal things that fill our belly and make us happy on this earth? What are those things The Lord tells us, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. [00:37:59] You see that? [00:38:01] Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. These are the things that are higher and more valuable and more precious and more worthy than food and clothing. [00:38:16] These are the things that are more valuable than mere earthly necessities. God knows you need all that. Forget about that stuff, right? Look at the Lord. Look at his kingdom. Look at his righteousness. If you're a disciple of Christ, you listen. You are a disciple of Christ for His kingdom, for his sake, for his righteousness. That's why you're here. [00:38:39] Colossians 3, verse 1. Listen to this. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek notice, the same word as in verse 33. Seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth, on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth, for ye are dead. Speaking of life, right? Speaking of life. Life is. Well, all this stuff I can get, right? [00:39:07] That's what the Gentiles say. [00:39:10] But this says, ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye appear with him in glory. So what is your life? Your life is not your life. And my life is not the things we get. It's not the food, not the clothing, not the pleasure, not the vacations, not the work, not the bills. Your life is Christ. [00:39:36] So seek him, his kingdom, his righteousness. [00:39:42] In verse number 33. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. In this verse, the Lord is claiming the preeminent place in the lives of his people. [00:39:55] You understand that The Lord is saying, this is my place. [00:40:00] I am first above food, above water. I am first above work. I am first above children. I am first above every consideration. I am number one. [00:40:13] Seek me first. [00:40:19] Listen, I dare not say that to any of my kids. [00:40:26] I dare not say that. [00:40:29] I cannot make that demand upon anyone. [00:40:33] But God can and he does. [00:40:36] He doesn't beg us. [00:40:39] He doesn't beg us to acknowledge that he is supreme. He is preeminent. No, he claims that place even over our necessities. [00:40:56] And our response should be, we should set God in His kingdom as our supreme priority. You see the word first, first seek ye first the kingdom of God. That's first in time and that's first in importance. You know, I talked to. I was speaking to the young people a minute ago. As you plan your life, you don't need. Listen. You don't need to say, well, I'm going to do this, and I'm going to do this. I'm going to go to this college and I'm going to do this trade and I'm going to learn this thing and I'm going to go work here, and I'm going to live here and I'm going to have this car and I'm going to do all that. And then later on, maybe I'll do something with God. It says, seek ye first the kingdom of God. [00:41:35] You put him at the front of the line. [00:41:38] He is the first one to make decisions. [00:41:42] First in time, first in importance. [00:41:48] Listen, anything that challenges God's preeminent place in your life, anything that challenges his place is something that you do not need to view as a friend in your life. [00:42:07] He is to be supreme and unchallenged over everything. [00:42:14] That's what he's claiming here you say, well, that's stupid. I guess I'm not going to go. I guess I'm not going to go to work. [00:42:24] That's what you call naysaying, questioning. [00:42:28] Remember, the Lord knows all about that. We'll talk about that tonight. The Lord knows all about that. [00:42:35] Seek first the kingdom of God. [00:42:38] When we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, all other desires, all other things that we might want, all other pleasures, all those things which are not evil in and of themselves, all of the things that we might seek as a human being because we are, must be made secondary. [00:42:59] You see, it's not that the Lord doesn't want us to have pleasure. It's not that the Lord doesn't want us to enjoy. In fact, rather the opposite. The Bible says that he that will live a good life, let him seek peace and ensue it. Right? That's what the Bible says in First Peter. The Lord has given us these good things, all things richly to enjoy. He's given us these things, but they must be secondary. [00:43:24] They must be secondary. [00:43:27] So the question I have for you is, is the Lord actually in his supreme place in your life where every other thing that is is secondary? [00:43:46] Are you seeking him first above everything else? [00:43:51] Let's pray.