Life's Pursuits

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:33

What are you pursuing in your life? The world has many different options from which to choose. It could be fame, power, wealth. As Christians, of course, we know that there is more. And there is. The Lord Jesus made it clear in the verse that is our focus in this study. You probably know that these words are a part of the Sermon on the Mount, a message that Jesus gave to a crowd of people with the theme presented in Matthew 5:20, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” This is a message that describes the character, attitudes, and actions of those who are going to be citizens in the Kingdom that Christ will establish when He comes again. And as members of His Church today, it is also a description for us as well.

In the part of the sermon that leads to our verse, Jesus has been discussing the attitude that His followers should have toward money and material possessions. Our treasure should be in heaven, not on earth (6:19). We cannot (read, “impossible”!) serve both God and money (6:24). And we are not to be worried about our everyday needs, like food, clothing, and shelter (6:25-34). More directly to our verse, which begins with that important conjunction “But”, He says, “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” (6:31-32).

So, instead of having an attitude/action of worry over these areas of our life, we need to have a different focus, a different pursuit. “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” we are commanded by our Lord. Let Him take care of those “things” that the Gentiles are pursuing. We have a different kingdom than they have. The world, those who do not follow our Lord, have different priorities. Or, at least they should. Do they? That is a question each of must answer. Where is our priority? What is our focus in life? What are you going to pursue as you go through your day?

We can have a lot of discussion about the meaning of “kingdom” in this verse. The scholars do. For some, it is the spiritual kingdom where God is ruling in your heart. For others, it is strictly the future literal, physical kingdom that is established at Christ’s triumphant return to earth. Hopefully, you see that the future kingdom is also a spiritual kingdom where God does rule in the hearts of His people as well as in the world. We certainly cannot separate a physical kingdom of God ruling without also having a spiritual kingdom as well.

But whatever your understanding of the kingdom, it is very clear what is meant by “righteousness”. It’s what Jesus has made his theme in the sermon. It involves doing God’s will. It means doing things God’s way. Go back and read the high level of character and obedience that Christ was expecting of his people in chapter 5. Look at how he talks about the way of “practicing your righteousness” in the opening verses of chapter 6 where he deals with giving, prayer, and fasting. There can be no mistake that He wants us to pursue everyday obedience, practical righteousness.

So what does that look like each day? Obviously, there is the simple aspect of obedience, of following not only the letter of the law, but also the spirit, as Jesus has already described in chapter 5. This is not legalism; it’s obedience that comes from the character of his followers as described in the Beatitudes. Further, since the message of my blog is “training for godliness”, which involves the practice of the spiritual disciplines, how can you not include them? Many of these disciplines are covered in the Sermon on the Mount as Jesus gives a description of righteousness. We have prayer, giving, serving. And He tells us how to do it correctly.

Finally, while not specifically taught in this famous sermon by our Lord, should we not also be concerned with what we do not pursue? Would it not be appropriate that we not pursue unrighteousness, which is so prevalent in our culture today? There is so much available for us to consume that truly cannot possibly be described as seeking God’s righteousness. I leave it to the reader to make his/her own judgments in this area.

There is so much to consider in these brief words given to us by the Lord Jesus. We would do well to ask ourselves each day, “What should I do today that will help me focus on God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness?” Perhaps the question should be asked throughout the day. And certainly we should be praying that we will be faithful in the life pursuit that He has directed for us.

Father and Provider of all that we need,

I thank you for all that I have,
For my food, which is more than abundant,
For my home, which is comfortable beyond my needs,
For my clothing, which is nicer than most,
You, Father, are a great provider
And you have chosen me to be a member of Your kingdom.
I ask that I might be a loyal subject in Your kingdom,
Making myself subject to Your rule,
Obedient to Your will,
Honoring You in my actions,
And committed to the work that You have given me to do.
May my treasure not be that which is valued by the world,
But may it be that which is valued by Your servants,
That I might pursue the righteousness that You have laid before me
as it is revealed in Your Word.
May my life pursuit be one that brings honor and glory to You
and to Your Son, my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Book Review: The Bookends of the Christian Life

Jerry Bridges has a new book out, this one written with a younger man that he has been mentoring, Bob Bevington. It is their second book written together. This effort, The Bookends of the Christian Life, is a book that presents a personal worldview for every Christian. It is a picture of a Christian’s life as a bookshelf, with the books representing all of the activities of your life, including spiritual and temporal activity (work, recreation, home life, church, serving, etc.). The bookends that hold the life together are the two sections of the book: the righteousness of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. Without those two truths holding the books up, our life becomes like a bookshelf without bookends: the books fall over, often causing a domino effect with others falling over, some onto the floor. We need to lean on each of the two bookends to stabilize our entire life.

The first half of the book discusses the righteousness of Christ. Our own righteousness is not enough because we fall short of God’s requirement, which is perfection. God does not grade on the curve. It’s 100% or we fail. So we are all under God’s curse. We need a Savior. The truth of our righteousness is found in 2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” In this verse we find the sinlessness of Christ, His perfect obedience; our sin is transferred to Christ because he was sinless (“just-as-if-I’d never sinned”); His righteousness is credited to us (“just-as-if-I’d always obeyed”).

This position of Christ should then motivate us to love and serve Him as it did Isaiah in the Old Testament and Zacchaeus in the New. They then explain the danger of two gospel enemies: self-righteousness, where we begin to think we deserve God's blessing because of our own persona obedience, and persistent guilt, when we will not accept God's forgiveness as already being secured when fall short of our own expectations. The end of this part of the book, then offers three suggestions, or focus points so that we lean on this bookend. First, we focus on our own sinfulness; second, on the righteousness that is secured by Christ on the cross; third, reject those actions and duties that we tend to depend on, which they call "functional saviors", things or activities upon which we depend (money, family, recreation).

The second bookend, the power of the Holy Spirit, is also needed to keep our lives under control. This is a fine balancing act, because it is the work of the Holy Spirit to change us into the image of Christ, yet we have responsibility. Bridges has called this in previous works "dependent responsibility". We depend on the work of the Holy Spirit while we obey the commands of scripture. The Holy Spirit uses a variety of means to enable us to grow in our salvation: the Word of God, prayer, fellowship. Of course, there is another danger, another gospel enemy, that arises. That is self-reliance. We depend on ourselves, our own efforts, to make us more like Christ. We become legalistic and proud as we look at all the wonderful works we perform. This section is closed with more focus points so that we lean on this bookend. First, recognize our desperate weakness; we are helpless to accomplish anything. Second, rely on the Holy Spirit to do the work of changing our lives. Third, reject self-reliance. We have to say that “God is God, and I am not.” Then we have to replace self-reliance with humility and godliness.

The book has a concluding chapter that puts forth the message of the book as an appropriate worldview for every Christian. And indeed, it does. The book identifies two truths that are absolutely essential for every Christian, and should be followed. The book is an easy read and every believer will benefit by leaning on these bookends. I highly recommend this book.