But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:33)

Many people think that they are doers of the word when they are merely hearers of the word (James 1:22). Sometimes they think that they have done what is required, and feel good about themselves for it, just because they agree with what they have heard from God’s word. Sometimes they misunderstand a verse to demand something lower than what it does, and so they think that they have satisfied it. Or, when they fail to fulfill even this lower standard, they still think that it is close enough. The result is that they perform far below what God’s word demands, and enjoy far less of the life and power that God has promised.

There are those who exhibit unabashed rebellion, and blatantly make wealth their chief pursuit. They are non-Christians, headed toward everlasting suffering in hellfire. They are accustomed to doing the opposite of what God commands (v. 32). All of their thinking reflects the fact that they love “Money” and despise God (v. 24). Their aim in life is to attain financial abundance. This often translates into an emphasis on the means to attaining this, such as secular education and business relationships.

We expect this from non-Christians, but those who claim to be Christians are often no better. They would admonish their children to focus on school work, but they lack the same urgency when speaking to them about church work. They tell their children to work hard at school, be admitted to excellent colleges, so that they will find high-paying jobs. However, their agenda is not nearly as specific and ambitious when it comes to the children’s theological studies and progress in ministry. For them, God’s kingdom does not come first.

Then, there are those who make seeking God’s kingdom the way to obtaining material things, and wealth is still the end of all their seeking and striving. Jesus means that we should seek God’s kingdom instead of material things, and we will not need to worry, because when we do this the material things will come. However, they take the verse as a teaching on how to obtain material things from God.

The attitude is essentially the same as the first. The difference is that instead of seeking wealth directly and apart from any Christian context, they convince themselves that they are seeking after material things “the right way” by seeking the kingdom of God. This is a deception, and it contradicts the point of the passage, which is to direct our focus to God’s kingdom and away from material things. Jesus does not say, “Seek first the kingdom of God, so that you will obtain wealth and things.”

After this, there are those who make wealth the means by which they seek and promote God’s kingdom, but they do this in a way that really makes wealth the direct object of their seeking and striving. They claim that they ultimately have God in mind, but they center their lives around wealth and other things, so that if they pay any attention to God’s kingdom, it is obviously an afterthought.

Some of them are rather bold about this. I have heard several people declare that although the verse tells us to seek first the kingdom of God, the best way to seek first the kingdom is to become as rich as possible! So what if you study, pray, and preach? A rich man can use his money to train up a hundred people like you!

They say that the way to see first the kingdom of God is to refrain from doing anything for the kingdom at this time, but to have a larger “vision,” which means to become extremely rich first so that you can make large donations to churches and ministries. They are so deceived that they think this is the right, and that this is what the verse teaches. From their perspective, those who seek God’s kingdom through study, prayer, and ministry, demonstrate inferior vision and ability.

Of course, this is only an excuse for rebellion. It claims that the best way to obey the verse is by doing the opposite of what it says. Jesus makes it clear that to seek God’s kingdom means that we would not run after wealth and the things that non-Christians consider most important. His point is that we should not worry about these things because God will give them to us as we seek his kingdom first.

Another way to distort the verse is to represent it as teaching a chronological order, in the sense that we should first seek the kingdom, but then seek wealth and things. However, Jesus is not telling us to make the kingdom merely the first thing on an agenda of many items. He clearly wants us to make the kingdom the “first” in the sense of the only item on our agenda. In verse 33, he does not say, “You must serve God and then Money” or “You must serve Money so that you can serve God.” Rather, he has said in verse 24, “You cannot serve both God and Money,” and therefore in verse 33 he must mean, “You must serve God and not Money at all.”

The verse says, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” The first part tells us what we should do, but the second part tells us what God will do, and not something else that we need to do. Jesus is not indicating that we should give the kingdom of God mere chronological priority, but that we should make it the sole focus, and make all other things subservient to it.

You have not done what it says just because you meditated on a Bible verse for two minutes “first” thing in the morning, but then cast out all spiritual matters from your mind for the rest of the day. Rather, to seek first God’s kingdom would mean to think on his words all day and all night (Psalm 1:2), even while you are doing other things. Many things compete for your attention throughout the day, and each time you must put the kingdom “first.” You must let it dictate your agenda, your thinking, and your behavior every time.

This does not mean that you must neglect all other things in life. The Bible teaches that it is your duty to attend to your family, your work, and the matters of life that are needed to sustain a normal lifestyle and to function in society. Nevertheless, even legitimate things must be done in the context of seeking God’s kingdom, and the kingdom must come first even at their expense. It is often because of these legitimate things that cause people to neglect spiritual things.

In a sermon on the same verse, Warfield writes:

How many think it would be unreasonable in God to put His service before their provision for themselves and family? How many of us who have been able to “risk” ourselves, do not think that we can “risk” our families in God’s keeping? How subtle the temptations! But, here our Lord brushes them all away in the calm words, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Is this not a rebuke to our practical atheism?[1]

We have so many reservations. Of course we should care for our families, and we are disappointed when they must do without certain things because of our service to God’s kingdom. Those who in many ways appear to measure up to the verse still fall short when it comes to this point.

Jesus tells us to seek first the kingdom, and first means first. As Warfield observes, it is practical atheism to think “that we cannot trust God for our earthly prosperity but must bid Him wait until we make good our earthly fortunes before we can afford to turn to Him.”[2] God demands our attention now and not later, and he requires us to serve him continuously and not intermittently. He commands us to put him first every time.

What is our ambition? Is it worldly or spiritual? Is it centered around the kingdom of God or our own little empire? It is easy to deceive yourself (James 1:22), and to think that you are a doer when you are only a hearer. It is easy to think that you are doing what Jesus says when you are falling far short of it. Some theologians even invent an interpretation of “the cultural mandate” that makes it a duty for Christians to be worldly. Why? They want to be worldly, but they want to appear spiritual and obedient. But God is not deceived.

Matthew Henry comments that obeying this verse means “making religion your business,” and to “mind religion as your great and principle concern.”[3] Is this what you are doing? Is this what you are enforcing in your family? Does the way that you spend your money and your time suggest that you are “making religion your business”?

What do you teach your children? Do you keep telling them to study hard so that they will earn a lot of money, or do you tell them to focus on growing in spiritual knowledge and character in order to honor God? Do you ever tell them to stop doing their homework to pray a while, to read a commentary, to write a theological essay, or to preach the gospel and heal the sick?

Jesus says that we must seek first the kingdom, and first means first. We must believe that even the needed things concerning the children’s education will be “added to them” if they will seek first the kingdom of God. In any case, there is no excuse for our children to know more about algebra than theology, to know more about the theories of physics than the letter to the Romans, or to perform better at sports than casting out demons.

Some parents have their children’s academic career all planned out by the time they enter elementary school, but few seem to plan their theological training and character development, so that they will become productive citizens of God’s kingdom. Of course, parenting is not the only aspect of our lives that we need to be concerned about. We use it only as an example, and as something that might expose our true priorities and concerns. We must examine every aspect of our lives to make sure that we are indeed seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

[1] Benjamin B. Warfield, Faith and Life (The Banner of Truth Trust, 1990), p. 46.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible (Hendrickson Publishers, 2001), p. 1642.