We saw yesterday how Jesus said one goal mattered more than even day to day concerns like food and clothing: his kingdom. He said, “seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you.” What does that mean?
First of all, it doesn’t mean seek only God’s kingdom as some spiritual distant concept and ignore the realities of day to day life. Jesus doesn’t meant we should never eat or sleep, or that those things are inherently bad. He says quite clearly, when we seek first the kingdom, “then all these will be added to you.” He knows we need them, and wants to be the one to give them to us, but in their proper perspective.
For example, consider food. We need food to live, and good food is an enjoyable part of living. But that good thing can be made into an ultimate thing, and when that happens, it becomes a very bad thing. When we elevate food to become more than it was meant to be, and it becomes our source of comfort, emotional stability, we are in both physical and spiritual danger.
Instead, Jesus challenges us to seek kingdom of God. God is the creator sustainer of the whole world, including its food sources. He created, called it good, and wants us to enjoy the world’s sustenance so we can do our daily work and enjoy his provision. When we find our true satisfaction in God, then we can enjoy good things for what they are…we don’t have to overdo it, and we don’t have to hate it. This applies to food, and any number of other good things God created.
In the Christianity 101 course, we sometimes illustrate this with a wagon wheel. The hub is special – it’s particularly strong, and has a unique shape to do its job. The spokes are meant to be all connected with, and delivering power from the hub to the rim.
If we try to remove the hub and replace it with a spoke, you know what happens, it all falls apart. It’s the same with our lives. We were made to have God at the center of our lives, providing meaning and purpose to the whole. Unfortunately the human race tried to remove God from the center long ago, and have been trying to shove spokes in ever since, whether it be money, career, sexuality, power, or any other good thing God created that can be abused. This is a good definition of sin: When we take good things, try to make them our ultimate good, and that’s ultimately really bad for us.
Question: Make a list of good things in our world that can be abused.
Reminder: We are reading the Bible in sync as one community – so check out today’s reading here.
Reminder: The best way to grow spiritually this year is to join our Christianity 101 in the Cafe Course in Pickering starting tonight. Register for you and a friend today!
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This week is about the practice of prayer, and our motivations. We've seen this week how God says we can get what we want out of prayer.
If we want to pray, wherever, however, to know and love God, then we can have that kind of relationship with him - it's offered to us.
If we want to pray in public to impress people with our big words and religiosity, we can have their applause. But that’s it.
I think every sitcom has an episode with a high school reunion, where someone scrambles to find the most beautiful, successful date possible to make everyone else jealous.
Dating them because of what other people will think, rather than because they truly want to know and love the person.
In the same way, we can try and use God, and the outward signs of a relationship with him, to try and impress others.
But Jesus gives us an example of prayer, known as the Lord's Prayer
He started it out with relationship being number one. He began with Our Father. Actually, he said, Abba, an Aramaic word like daddy.
Here’s my paraphrase: Your name is holy. We want your kingdom to come to this earth, for your realm of heaven to be our realm. We trust you to provide for us now and forever, even though we rebelled against you in sin. Because of that you owe us nothing, we owe you everything, but you gave us everything instead. Help us to forgive others in the same way, and keep us from temptation to sin and rebel against you again, so we never stray into evil again, but remain in your light.
Every line is a reflection back to him of God’s values and teachings…as we’ve seen them in Jesus.
This is not a prayer telling God anything he doesn't know…trying to use or control God.
It's not a prayer about how big our words are, or how many there are.
It's about relationship… God I know you and what you care about, and want to know and care about the same things.
That attitude is most apparent in the line, "Your will be done."
Challenge: Pray, this prayer today, quietly, alone. The version in Matthew, might be slightly different from what you may have memorized in the past…but we’ll use it because it’s what we studied today. Start with the whole thing. Then go line by line, and pray to God about each line.
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
(Matthew 6:9-13 ESV)
