We
know all about Matthew 5, 6 and 7 but there was one verse that has just
meant so much to me. It is like a key to open many doors and solve
many mysteries. It is also well known that Jesus was in the wilderness
for forty days and forty nights. Then at the end of those forty days
the devil came with those three terrific temptations and trials in His
life, and He overcame. But the question is this, what happened in those
forty days? Or shall we say, the first thirty-nine days? What happened
there, as Jesus was alone in the wilderness?
We
read of Moses in the Old Testament, that he went up into the
mountaintop and stayed there forty days and forty nights in God’s
presence. Moses was there alone all those weeks, alone all those days
and nights, forty of them, and he received the law of God. He received
the word of God. He received the greatest law of Old Testament times
for the human race, there in the presence of God. He received all that
during forty days.
It could be, it may not be, but it could be, that during those first forty days, Jesus received Matthew 5, 6 and 7. I’m not saying it is so, but it just could be. Those days alone, those days in prayer, those days in meditation, those days of seeking God’s face, it could well be He received these basic truths of God’s kingdom in the world today.
There are all these wonderful things from the “blesseds” right through to the two ways, the two houses, and so forth. But this morning I’ll read just one verse to you from Matthew 6:33. This verse means just so much to me. It says here, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.” We may feel that that’s a promise for God’s servants; those who had no raiment of clothes of their own, no food of their own, no homes of their own. We could well feel that what it says here that, “all these things shall be added unto you”, that’s a promise to God’s servants. It’s true, but I like to think that that is a promise also for all those who seek first the kingdom of heaven and His righteousness. As I’ve said before, this is for me the key, the answer, the solution to just so much in the way of God. If we’re doing this, we’re doing the right thing. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God....”
A number of years ago during preparations for conventions over there in Switzerland it was my task to clean out the barn. It was quite a large barn there to be cleaned out, swept out, have all sorts of rubbish removed, so that we could put up some beds for the women folk. I went into the barn and looked around. I looked at the walls. They were not too bad. I looked at the floor. It was quite dirty with lots of dirt and dust there. I said, “Good! I’ll start there. I’ll sweep out the floor first of all.” So I took out the broom, also the shovel and I began to work on the floor. When the floor was all finished I said, “Well, now I’ll start on the walls.” I swept down the walls. Then I noticed that all of the dirt fell to the floor and I had to do the floor again. I should have started first of all with the walls, and afterwards the floor. There are first things to do, even in natural things. If we start at the right place, the end will be right. But that day, I had extra work because I started at the wrong place, with the floor, instead of the walls, in cleaning out that barn.
It’s the very, very same thing spiritually speaking. We think of the fields. We think of the seed being sown. We think of the crops growing, of the harvest season coming and we know so well that we need the good seed. We need the best seed. We need fertile seed to be sown in the ground to have a good harvest weeks or months later. We also know that there’s just no point in buying the best seed in traversing the whole field if, first of all, we don’t plough the field; if we don’t break up the ground and prepare the earth to receive the seed. There is just one right way to do all things, in all matters, be it natural, be it spiritual, and Jesus says here in these words (and I do believe He received the answer in the wilderness in those lonely days and in those dreary days, in seeking God’s face. He received this key and this answer to every question)“Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness....”
A few years back now, a young man phoned. He wished for a visit. This man was just not so young, about forty years of age and I knew his life was in a real mess. He grew up in the truth and made his choice to serve God. He had zeal and he loved the things of God. But he made one big mistake. He married outside; took a wife from outside that produced then a divided home. That wasn’t the worst aspect of the whole thing. What happened a few years later is that she left him for someone else. He asked me for a visit. Well it was a long train journey down to his home where he lived. I was in the train for hours and the whole way down there was turmoil in my mind, in my heart. “What shall I say? What shall I advise? What can there be given as counsel for this young man? His life is in a mess. He wants to talk. He wants to talk things over. He wants to find an answer. He wants to get down to the bottom of things to put his life in order. What can I tell him from the word of God which will be right in God’s sight?” That whole way down there was just turmoil in my mind. I sought for an answer. I thought of this. I thought of that and of something else and it didn’t seem the right thing to say. Well, we sat down together in his room and he told me the whole sad story. Well, just to put it simply, his life was in a mess, in a terrible, horrible mess. He’d made a mess of things as far as his life was concerned. It was all in a mess. And now, what was the answer? I sat there just perplexed until this verse flashed into my mind. “But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.” You know, we’re inclined to stop just halfway through the verse. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness....” and just stop there. But there’s a wonderful promise in this verse for those who do that, who seek His kingdom and His righteousness. He will add so much more to our lives. Be we in the work as servants of God, in the home life, in the business life - wherever we may be, He will do the adding and will add such wonderful blessings if we are prepared to seek first of all, His kingdom and His righteousness. I said to that young man that day, “I don’t know what God will add to your life. I have no idea what God can give you and add to your life in future days, but one thing I do know: to put things in order, to have blessings in the future, to have God’s blessing, there’s only one thing to do and you must do it sincerely, and from the depth of your heart, and every day, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and leave the rest to God. Sad to say, he didn’t do it. Today he’s outside the kingdom of God. Today he’s wrapped in business life and today his life is in a bigger mess than ever. It seemed to me to be the only answer to his problems: as it says here in these words, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God....” and God will add. God will add!
I don’t know you folk. I don’t know your problems or your concerns; your worries or your place in this life. But I know one thing: that this verse applies to all of us. If you haven’t got the answer, you can’t find the key to the door. You haven’t got the solution to the problem. Well, here’s the answer. Just put God first! Seek God with all your heart and He will add what is missing, according to His good pleasure, to His Spirit and His will for our lives.
“Seek ye first . .” Noah - that man of the Old Testament, after the flood, the waters receded and the ark came onto solid ground. Noah stepped out of the ark and saw all around him, I dare say, destruction, death, decay, all those dead animals, all those dead bodies; death on every side. There must have been, can I say it, a horrible smell as Noah left the ark to go out onto the dry ground again after so much time. And what did Noah do? He realized, “There’s lots of things to be done here. The whole place has been destroyed. We need a new home, a new house. We need to plough up the fields. We need to sow some new seed. We need to grow things. We have to eat. We have to care for the animals.” And so forth. There was just so much to do when stepping out of the ark. But the first thing he did was to build an altar, and he sacrificed. The Bible tells us so nicely that when Noah sacrificed when leaving the ark that a sweet smelling savor ascended unto God and it touched the heart of God. Can you imagine the scene? Just a stink on every side, death, decaying, decomposing, a horrible smell. Then amongst all that was just one sweet smelling savor which rose to the nostrils of God, to the heart of God. The word of God says that God smelled it.
It could be, it may not be, but it could be, that during those first forty days, Jesus received Matthew 5, 6 and 7. I’m not saying it is so, but it just could be. Those days alone, those days in prayer, those days in meditation, those days of seeking God’s face, it could well be He received these basic truths of God’s kingdom in the world today.
There are all these wonderful things from the “blesseds” right through to the two ways, the two houses, and so forth. But this morning I’ll read just one verse to you from Matthew 6:33. This verse means just so much to me. It says here, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.” We may feel that that’s a promise for God’s servants; those who had no raiment of clothes of their own, no food of their own, no homes of their own. We could well feel that what it says here that, “all these things shall be added unto you”, that’s a promise to God’s servants. It’s true, but I like to think that that is a promise also for all those who seek first the kingdom of heaven and His righteousness. As I’ve said before, this is for me the key, the answer, the solution to just so much in the way of God. If we’re doing this, we’re doing the right thing. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God....”
A number of years ago during preparations for conventions over there in Switzerland it was my task to clean out the barn. It was quite a large barn there to be cleaned out, swept out, have all sorts of rubbish removed, so that we could put up some beds for the women folk. I went into the barn and looked around. I looked at the walls. They were not too bad. I looked at the floor. It was quite dirty with lots of dirt and dust there. I said, “Good! I’ll start there. I’ll sweep out the floor first of all.” So I took out the broom, also the shovel and I began to work on the floor. When the floor was all finished I said, “Well, now I’ll start on the walls.” I swept down the walls. Then I noticed that all of the dirt fell to the floor and I had to do the floor again. I should have started first of all with the walls, and afterwards the floor. There are first things to do, even in natural things. If we start at the right place, the end will be right. But that day, I had extra work because I started at the wrong place, with the floor, instead of the walls, in cleaning out that barn.
It’s the very, very same thing spiritually speaking. We think of the fields. We think of the seed being sown. We think of the crops growing, of the harvest season coming and we know so well that we need the good seed. We need the best seed. We need fertile seed to be sown in the ground to have a good harvest weeks or months later. We also know that there’s just no point in buying the best seed in traversing the whole field if, first of all, we don’t plough the field; if we don’t break up the ground and prepare the earth to receive the seed. There is just one right way to do all things, in all matters, be it natural, be it spiritual, and Jesus says here in these words (and I do believe He received the answer in the wilderness in those lonely days and in those dreary days, in seeking God’s face. He received this key and this answer to every question)“Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness....”
A few years back now, a young man phoned. He wished for a visit. This man was just not so young, about forty years of age and I knew his life was in a real mess. He grew up in the truth and made his choice to serve God. He had zeal and he loved the things of God. But he made one big mistake. He married outside; took a wife from outside that produced then a divided home. That wasn’t the worst aspect of the whole thing. What happened a few years later is that she left him for someone else. He asked me for a visit. Well it was a long train journey down to his home where he lived. I was in the train for hours and the whole way down there was turmoil in my mind, in my heart. “What shall I say? What shall I advise? What can there be given as counsel for this young man? His life is in a mess. He wants to talk. He wants to talk things over. He wants to find an answer. He wants to get down to the bottom of things to put his life in order. What can I tell him from the word of God which will be right in God’s sight?” That whole way down there was just turmoil in my mind. I sought for an answer. I thought of this. I thought of that and of something else and it didn’t seem the right thing to say. Well, we sat down together in his room and he told me the whole sad story. Well, just to put it simply, his life was in a mess, in a terrible, horrible mess. He’d made a mess of things as far as his life was concerned. It was all in a mess. And now, what was the answer? I sat there just perplexed until this verse flashed into my mind. “But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.” You know, we’re inclined to stop just halfway through the verse. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness....” and just stop there. But there’s a wonderful promise in this verse for those who do that, who seek His kingdom and His righteousness. He will add so much more to our lives. Be we in the work as servants of God, in the home life, in the business life - wherever we may be, He will do the adding and will add such wonderful blessings if we are prepared to seek first of all, His kingdom and His righteousness. I said to that young man that day, “I don’t know what God will add to your life. I have no idea what God can give you and add to your life in future days, but one thing I do know: to put things in order, to have blessings in the future, to have God’s blessing, there’s only one thing to do and you must do it sincerely, and from the depth of your heart, and every day, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and leave the rest to God. Sad to say, he didn’t do it. Today he’s outside the kingdom of God. Today he’s wrapped in business life and today his life is in a bigger mess than ever. It seemed to me to be the only answer to his problems: as it says here in these words, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God....” and God will add. God will add!
I don’t know you folk. I don’t know your problems or your concerns; your worries or your place in this life. But I know one thing: that this verse applies to all of us. If you haven’t got the answer, you can’t find the key to the door. You haven’t got the solution to the problem. Well, here’s the answer. Just put God first! Seek God with all your heart and He will add what is missing, according to His good pleasure, to His Spirit and His will for our lives.
“Seek ye first . .” Noah - that man of the Old Testament, after the flood, the waters receded and the ark came onto solid ground. Noah stepped out of the ark and saw all around him, I dare say, destruction, death, decay, all those dead animals, all those dead bodies; death on every side. There must have been, can I say it, a horrible smell as Noah left the ark to go out onto the dry ground again after so much time. And what did Noah do? He realized, “There’s lots of things to be done here. The whole place has been destroyed. We need a new home, a new house. We need to plough up the fields. We need to sow some new seed. We need to grow things. We have to eat. We have to care for the animals.” And so forth. There was just so much to do when stepping out of the ark. But the first thing he did was to build an altar, and he sacrificed. The Bible tells us so nicely that when Noah sacrificed when leaving the ark that a sweet smelling savor ascended unto God and it touched the heart of God. Can you imagine the scene? Just a stink on every side, death, decaying, decomposing, a horrible smell. Then amongst all that was just one sweet smelling savor which rose to the nostrils of God, to the heart of God. The word of God says that God smelled it.
We
think of the world today and there is just so much in this world today,
be it here or elsewhere. There is just so much decay, decomposing,
death and destruction and what God must feel is much the same as God
felt - or rather smelled - so many years ago in Noah’s time after the
flood. But it is nice to know that in Durban and elsewhere in this
country, elsewhere in this world, there are sweet smelling savors
arising to God because His own are putting Him first. They’re
sacrificing. First of all they build an altar and they sacrifice unto
God and that is rising to the heart of God.
But what appeals to me so much is just this with Noah, or with God. God said that when He smelled that sweet smelling savor, He said, “I will no longer destroy mankind. There will be no more flood. There will be no more destruction; no more floodwaters as there have been in recent times. I promise mankind it will never happen again. I will never again destroy life in this manner,” because He was just so touched and so moved by the sacrifice of Noah. That sweet smelling savor was just so sweet to the heart of God that He promised in His own heart, and God cannot lie, that “There will never again be floods in the world’s history as there has been in the past,” and He gave the rainbow as proof of this. But something more: Noah’s sacrifice helped God not to destroy. But Jesus’ sacrifice on Calvary’s cross years later, when He hung there in agony, those nails through His hands and through His feet, that great suffering when He cried out in darkness, “My God, My God! Why hast thou forsaken me?” For the first time in His life He said perhaps two things. He said, “Why?” He couldn’t understand why. He understood always God’s will, always God’s plan, always God’s way for His life, but now abandoned and forsaken on Calvary’s cross, He cried out, “”Why hast Thou forsaken me?” He was prepared to face that for our sakes. Instead of saying “Father” He said “My God.” He always said “Father,” when He prayed. This time He said, “My God.” “I’m abandoned. I’m forsaken.” But this sacrifice so touched the heart of God that God said more than “I will not destroy mankind.” He said, “I will save mankind.”
We have salvation today. We have a hope for the future. We have this most wonderful privilege of a place in the kingdom of heaven because the sacrifice of Christ so touched and so moved the heart of God there on Calvary’s cross that God said, “Salvation is complete. Mankind, all mankind, even those of the Old Testament, can be saved” - like Moses, Elisha and Elijah and so forth.
“Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness....” There’s a family back there in Europe. I won’t say where they are or who they are. It doesn’t matter. When this young couple first met, became engaged and thought about married life, we had a visit together. I’d known the young man since his childhood days. The young woman told me her story. She said, “I grew up and I realized God had a plan for my life. I didn’t wish to choose for myself.” She never thought of the work, giving herself as a servant of God. That wasn’t her calling apparently. She realized, “I’d like to have a home. I’d like to have a family. I’d like to have an open home, a useful home - a home in God’s kingdom and be useful amongst God’s people. I’d like that,” she thought to herself. But she said, “I won’t chase after the boys. I’ll just wait. I’ll wait until God chooses for me.” What she was looking for, I don’t know - whether some circumstances or some sign, I have no idea.
But she told me in all sincerity, “When I met this young man, I knew. It was of God.” God had chosen. It is a great thing to let God have a part in all our choices. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness....” and you just can’t go wrong. I look at that family today and see an open home, a love for the truth and children growing up in the fear of God. The prospects are good for future days. We know tests will come. Trials will come. Hard days will come. That belongs to it in God’s way; but there were two young people who said, “We will seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness....” and God did the adding. God added the right person, at the right time and, I do believe, in the right place.
“Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness....” This is a verse which has just meant so much to me. Another time we were asked to go and visit a family. This family was in trouble. There were grown up children, teenage children, four or five of them, and the parents. We heard this morning from our sister about a young couple over there in her homeland. It just didn’t work out. We sat in on a session, a family session, my companion and myself, where we were. It was amongst people who were a wee bit hot-blooded; you understand the expression. They give vent to their feelings and let you know what they’re thinking about. They’re not conservative - one’d almost say “Not Englishmen”. It’s not the right word to use, but they give vent to their feelings. We sat in that home that particular evening and just sat and listened, and listened, and listened. And what was said, the voices were raised and accusations were made. It was horrible. It went on for at least two hours. The wife and then the husband, then the wife. It went back and forth, accusations of lies and untruths and dishonesty and . . . what can I say? The whole thing was a real mess. We sat and listened.Then we tried to sum up. We tried to seek for help. We didn’t know what to say to help this couple in such tragic circumstances, after twenty-five years of married and family life. All we could say was this, “Well, look! There’s only one piece of advice we can give you. You both have to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. There’s lots missing in your relationship. There’s lots missing in your family. There’s lots gone wrong in the whole sphere here in this house and lots that needs adding to it to make it right. It can only happen if you are both prepared to put God first.” “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness....” We pleaded with them. We asked them, “Try it. Do it. Pray. Take time. Read. Meditate. Go to the meetings. Give God the first place. It’s the only hope for your marriage; the only hope for married life for you both in the future.” Love had gone. There was coldness there in both hearts and their only hope was to put God first. Sadly, once again, the advice wasn’t heeded.
I’m just trying to make it clear that this is a verse which means just so much to me, putting God first. Six years ago now, I was asked to leave my second homestead and go to a different land to labor over there in Europe. It was quite a move at my age. I’m not an old man, but it was quite a move six years ago. Down there, I guess, it’s something like South Africa. Italy has a great climate, great vegetation. All sorts of fruit and vegetables grow there. It’s a beautiful country as far as that goes with vegetation and growth. The Italians love the land. They love the earth. They cultivate it, spending time at it. It’s a great sight to see all those vineyards, those olive groves, and just so much vegetation. Amongst all that, there are the fig trees. I was surprised to learn that there are different types of figs. I thought figs were figs before going there. Also apples: there are different types of apples, different types of pears and different types of oranges. It is the same with figs. There are different types of figs. We know the story in the Bible, of Jesus going to that fig tree and He saw the leaves were out. He thought, “Well now, there’s bound to be figs on this tree,” because He saw the leaves. Well, He came there and there was no fruit there. I was told when I asked a few questions about those fig trees, that there’s a certain type that the first crop comes before the leaves come. The figs come before the leaves come. It’s just a minor crop, a minor harvest. There are just a small number of figs on the tree and then the leaves come. After that the main crop comes. Then there’s a flourishing with the fig tree and there’s fruit everywhere on the tree once the leaves are there, but before the leaves, there’s a crop there. So I asked this question to a man who knows his business about fig trees, “If the first crop doesn’t come, can the second crop come?” He said, “No, it can’t come. There has to be the first one.” Jesus knew in seeing those leaves, because the first crop never came, the first fruits never came, there was just no hope or no chance for the second lot of fruit on that fig tree. He knew it just so well with that type of fig tree.
Those folk who came to John the Baptist in New Testament times wanted to be baptized, those Pharisees, Sadducees and others. They asked to be baptized of John. Then he said these words: “Bring ye forth first fruits meet for repentance.” He implied, “There’s no point in being baptized and going into the water and through this ceremony unless there is first of all fruit of repentance.” Bring forth first of all one of these first things. Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven. Seek ye first repentance.
We’ve heard just so much in this convention about repentance. I asked myself why? I thought, “Well, it must be that it concerns you; your own life. You need more repentance in your own life.” It says here in these words, “Bring ye forth first fruits meet for repentance.” It was just so clear to me that if there is no repentance, if there is no first fruits, if there’s no first harvest, then there’s no second harvest. We can try and become humble and kind and loving and joyful and have peace and so forth; try and acquire all these fruits of the Spirit. We can try it but it’s just a waste of time if there’s not first of all repentance in our hearts and lives, true repentance. It starts there. That’s the first fruit. Seek ye first repentance and the other things will come. Oh I desire more love, more peace, more joy, more humility, more thankfulness. I desire these things but I realize also: first of all comes repentance.
I don’t know how you folks feel, but sometimes I go to pray. I find it hard just to bend; to bow. I don’t mean my knees. I mean my heart, my spirit and my will. Sometimes I find resistance there and unwillingness just to really give myself, to be yielded there, surrendered to the place of prayer. It just takes so much sometimes for me. I go there and I bow. There’s a hymn that says, “Bend me oh bend me” [now “Mould me oh mould me”]. I don’t agree with it. I think it’s wrong. No, not wrong in that hymn, but the thought on my mind is, it’s just not sufficient to bend and to bow. If we take a branch, a branch of a tree, a living branch, a branch which is green, we can bend that branch. We can bend it more and more and what do we feel? We feel resistance in the branch. We feel the strength in the branch and we feel that the branch wants to straighten out. It takes strength to bend the branch until the branch breaks. Then there’s no more resistance. For me, bending is not repentance. Being broken is. I can bend. I can bow. I can fit in. I can go so far, but to be really broken in my spirit, in my heart as Jesus. As it says in the Old Testament, “a broken and a contrite spirit”, that is a step further. It’s not just so easy to be really broken. Seek ye first this fruit, the fruit of repentance because otherwise there’s just no fruit whatsoever in our lives.
We heard that verse yesterday in Romans 2:4, “The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.” I’ve been glad of that verse many times because I realize that if goodness and kindness can’t do their work, nothing else can. I was faced up with an experience a few years back to try and help someone and I realized that this person also needed to repent. There had to be a change in this person’s life to become more useful and to become better in the service of God. There had to be a change. I realized full well there’s bitterness there, there’s hardness there, there’s unwillingness there; there’s just so much in this person’s heart which has to be changed. I’d like to help this person to change and to become more in God’s service. I also realized full well that first of all, it has to be done through repentance. This person has to repent. I also realized I could speak harsh words. I could lay down the law. I could be severe. I could use the rod, symbolically speaking, with this person and tell him a few “home truths”. But I realized, “No!” the goodness of God leads people to repentance. If the goodness of God can’t touch this person’s heart then nothing can. Forget the severity. Forget the rod. Forget the hardness. Forget the strong words. If you can’t touch his heart through goodness and kindness, forget the whole matter. This is one of the first fruits we have to bring forth, the fruit of repentance.
Remember when Jesus gave the sop to Judas, you know, at the last supper before Jesus was crucified. I have heard it said that it belongs to the custom there in the Middle East, that when there is a feast or a meal given and the host invites people to come, there’s a big pot on the table with the food inside it; meat and vegetables and so forth. There were no knives and forks on the table. There weren’t any in those days. You ate with your fingers. It has been said that the host, the person who has done the inviting, in order to show a special kindness or a special gesture to someone at the table, he takes a piece of bread, the sop, between his fingers, between the fingers and thumb, and seeks out the choicest piece in the pot with the bread bent in his fingers, and gives that to this person to show a special privilege. This is a special gesture as far as the host is concerned. Could it be, that when Jesus gave Judas the sop, He realized, “He’s going out to betray. He’s already sold me? He’s become a thief. He’s become a dishonest, twisted person, a person you cannot trust in this life. The only thing that can help him, if anything can, it’s kindness. It’s goodness. It’s the sop. I could give him a piece of my mind. I could speak hard with him. But I know full well (Jesus knew) that won’t help him one bit, at all. If anything at all can touch his heart it is kindness; it’s goodness.” “... the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.” Well, I went there to try and help this person; trying to be good, trying to be kind. It’s not in my nature, but through the working of God we can be a little bit kind, a little bit good in some ways.
Then a few months later it was convention time. I was somewhere there in Europe. Sitting in the convention, something struck me like a thunderbolt in thinking of the need of that particular person, trying to help that person. Something struck me very, very hard and I realized that goodness is not sufficient. Kindness is not enough. I could see that it had to be more than that as I sat in convention and heard about Jesus.
In John’s Gospel, chapter 13:1, it says in the English, “ ... he loved them unto the end.” It says in French, “He put the crowning feature to His love.” When He took that basin and that towel and washed the feet of His disciples, He was able to wash their feet, not to show them up, not to say, “Look at your feet. They’re so dirty. Where have you been?” He did this to help them. To give them an example in true humility He did all this. He did it not out of goodness, not out of kindness, but because He loved them right unto the very end.
After that convention, I went back to my field with the purpose in my heart, “I want to be not only good, not only kind. I want to love this person. Then, through loving, perhaps he’ll come to the place of repentance.” Please don’t think that I am any better than that person. That’s not the point. I am just trying to get the point across, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and these things will be added unto you.”
There’s something else. We know the story of David in the Old Testament, when David had to flee because of Absalom, because of his son who had taken his place on the throne in Jerusalem, in the kingdom, and David had to go, and go quickly. He left with his folk from the city of Jerusalem and he came to the last house. He just stood there and watched those who went by. I’m pretty sure that David shed many a tear that day. He may have said, “Well, you’ve come. Thanks. And you’ve come. I’m just so glad. You are here too and you’re going to go with me on this desert way.” I’m sure he was so touched to see those who were loyal, those who were true and those who were prepared to go with him to an unknown future on “the desert way”, as the Bible says. Then along comes this man Ittai. He was a foreigner. He was a stranger. David said to him, “You know, you can go back to the kingdom. You can go back to Jerusalem. You don’t have to come. You’re not an Israelite. You’re not a Jew. You’re quite free to do as you wish. You came yesterday. Don’t follow me. I’ve got no future. My future’s unknown. You go back into the city.” Ittai said, “Where my Lord the king will be, there will also be thy servant.” David said, “Go back to the kingdom. Go back to Jerusalem. Go back into the country. Enjoy the country. Enjoy the freedom. Don’t follow me. I’m on the desert way.” On this day this man had to choose between the king and the kingdom. He chose the king. I know full well for my own life, that I must be prepared to choose the King every time, before the kingdom. The kingdom is great. The kingdom is wonderful, but the King must come first in my life, and then the kingdom.
A few years back now there was a union meeting there in Switzerland. The room was filling up and the people were coming in. There may have been perhaps thirty or forty people in that union meeting. Then along comes a young couple at just about meeting time. They’d been married perhaps just a couple of months. They asked me, “Graham, are there perhaps two spare seats in the room?” I said, “Sure, there are two seats. There’s one at the front there and another over there at the back.” They went in and came back out again looking a wee bit flustered or upset and said to me, “But we’d like two seats together if that’s possible.” They didn’t want to be separated so we did our best to give them two seats together, this young married couple. Well, the meeting started. As is the custom over there, we sat up front, my companion and myself and looked over the congregation and saw that young couple sitting together. Then over on the left I saw a different picture. There was a family with two teenage boys. There was the father on the left, one teenage boy, another teenage boy and then the mother on the right. There was a lesson. That young couple sat together, just a young married couple. Here was a couple married 14, 15, 16 years and now there were two teenage boys between that couple, between man and wife. Nothing – nothing - should come between man and wife. For a husband, the wife should always be number one, before the children; before the family. That’s God’s order. That’s the best order for a happy marriage, humanly speaking. The husband and the wife must have first place and the children afterwards.
I learned a lesson, spiritually speaking. You know, sometimes something comes between the King and ourselves. Sometimes it could even be the kingdom. We’re sometimes so busy with the gospel work and so busy helping people, so busy visiting people and so busy writing letters, doing so much for the kingdom, that we’re inclined to neglect the King. If we want all these things added to our lives, all the blessings which would come our way, it’s first of all the King and then the kingdom. “Seek ye first ....”
Just one more small thought, then I must close. We have the first of the day. We have the first of the week. We have the first of the year. The first of the day should be the quiet place, the secret place. The first of the week should be Sunday morning meeting and the first of the year should be convention. Time does not permit just now to speak of these three things, but just one.
The first of the day should be the seeking of bread for our souls. We know the story so well of the manna in the Old Testament. They had to go out before the sun came up to gather the manna. That happened all those forty years in the wilderness - six days a week and sufficient on the sixth day also for the seventh day. But God said, “Just enough for each day.”
Some must have tried to gather enough for two days, but found out on the second day that the manna of the previous day had begun to stink, decay and go bad. You know, I suppose some neglected to go. Some stayed too long in bed, couldn’t get up in the morning. I guess some thought, “Well I’m too busy right now. I’ll go later.” Some mothers thought, “Well the children are crying. I can’t go just yet. I’ll go later and gather this manna.”
The Bible says that when the sun came up the manna disappeared. Those who did not go first thing in the morning before the sun came up, what happened? They found no manna. Not only that, they were hungry the whole day through. They had no breakfast. They had no dinner. They had no supper; no in-betweens, nothing to eat the whole day. Not too serious perhaps, but just think of the small children, when they realized there was no breakfast, no midday meal, no evening meal. Can you imagine the scene? Those poor mothers, those poor fathers: trying to console, trying to comfort hungry children who were crying, who were hungry, who were making great noise. “We are hungry! We want to eat!” There’s nothing there because the parents had failed to go out early in the morning to gather in the manna for that day for those people.
The very same thing applies, spiritually speaking. Well, I’ll tell you my testimony. I have to rise early in the morning. I have to read the Bible early in the morning. I have to do all that before breakfast and breakfast is early in Switzerland. Then the phone starts ringing. The mail comes in. There’s just so much to be done for the kingdom’s sake, but the King must come first.
If you forget all my thoughts this morning, just try to remember this one, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness....” and He will add what, I don’t know, but He will add what’s lacking, what’s missing, what we need, what is necessary for our future lives if we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.
But what appeals to me so much is just this with Noah, or with God. God said that when He smelled that sweet smelling savor, He said, “I will no longer destroy mankind. There will be no more flood. There will be no more destruction; no more floodwaters as there have been in recent times. I promise mankind it will never happen again. I will never again destroy life in this manner,” because He was just so touched and so moved by the sacrifice of Noah. That sweet smelling savor was just so sweet to the heart of God that He promised in His own heart, and God cannot lie, that “There will never again be floods in the world’s history as there has been in the past,” and He gave the rainbow as proof of this. But something more: Noah’s sacrifice helped God not to destroy. But Jesus’ sacrifice on Calvary’s cross years later, when He hung there in agony, those nails through His hands and through His feet, that great suffering when He cried out in darkness, “My God, My God! Why hast thou forsaken me?” For the first time in His life He said perhaps two things. He said, “Why?” He couldn’t understand why. He understood always God’s will, always God’s plan, always God’s way for His life, but now abandoned and forsaken on Calvary’s cross, He cried out, “”Why hast Thou forsaken me?” He was prepared to face that for our sakes. Instead of saying “Father” He said “My God.” He always said “Father,” when He prayed. This time He said, “My God.” “I’m abandoned. I’m forsaken.” But this sacrifice so touched the heart of God that God said more than “I will not destroy mankind.” He said, “I will save mankind.”
We have salvation today. We have a hope for the future. We have this most wonderful privilege of a place in the kingdom of heaven because the sacrifice of Christ so touched and so moved the heart of God there on Calvary’s cross that God said, “Salvation is complete. Mankind, all mankind, even those of the Old Testament, can be saved” - like Moses, Elisha and Elijah and so forth.
“Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness....” There’s a family back there in Europe. I won’t say where they are or who they are. It doesn’t matter. When this young couple first met, became engaged and thought about married life, we had a visit together. I’d known the young man since his childhood days. The young woman told me her story. She said, “I grew up and I realized God had a plan for my life. I didn’t wish to choose for myself.” She never thought of the work, giving herself as a servant of God. That wasn’t her calling apparently. She realized, “I’d like to have a home. I’d like to have a family. I’d like to have an open home, a useful home - a home in God’s kingdom and be useful amongst God’s people. I’d like that,” she thought to herself. But she said, “I won’t chase after the boys. I’ll just wait. I’ll wait until God chooses for me.” What she was looking for, I don’t know - whether some circumstances or some sign, I have no idea.
But she told me in all sincerity, “When I met this young man, I knew. It was of God.” God had chosen. It is a great thing to let God have a part in all our choices. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness....” and you just can’t go wrong. I look at that family today and see an open home, a love for the truth and children growing up in the fear of God. The prospects are good for future days. We know tests will come. Trials will come. Hard days will come. That belongs to it in God’s way; but there were two young people who said, “We will seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness....” and God did the adding. God added the right person, at the right time and, I do believe, in the right place.
“Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness....” This is a verse which has just meant so much to me. Another time we were asked to go and visit a family. This family was in trouble. There were grown up children, teenage children, four or five of them, and the parents. We heard this morning from our sister about a young couple over there in her homeland. It just didn’t work out. We sat in on a session, a family session, my companion and myself, where we were. It was amongst people who were a wee bit hot-blooded; you understand the expression. They give vent to their feelings and let you know what they’re thinking about. They’re not conservative - one’d almost say “Not Englishmen”. It’s not the right word to use, but they give vent to their feelings. We sat in that home that particular evening and just sat and listened, and listened, and listened. And what was said, the voices were raised and accusations were made. It was horrible. It went on for at least two hours. The wife and then the husband, then the wife. It went back and forth, accusations of lies and untruths and dishonesty and . . . what can I say? The whole thing was a real mess. We sat and listened.Then we tried to sum up. We tried to seek for help. We didn’t know what to say to help this couple in such tragic circumstances, after twenty-five years of married and family life. All we could say was this, “Well, look! There’s only one piece of advice we can give you. You both have to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. There’s lots missing in your relationship. There’s lots missing in your family. There’s lots gone wrong in the whole sphere here in this house and lots that needs adding to it to make it right. It can only happen if you are both prepared to put God first.” “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness....” We pleaded with them. We asked them, “Try it. Do it. Pray. Take time. Read. Meditate. Go to the meetings. Give God the first place. It’s the only hope for your marriage; the only hope for married life for you both in the future.” Love had gone. There was coldness there in both hearts and their only hope was to put God first. Sadly, once again, the advice wasn’t heeded.
I’m just trying to make it clear that this is a verse which means just so much to me, putting God first. Six years ago now, I was asked to leave my second homestead and go to a different land to labor over there in Europe. It was quite a move at my age. I’m not an old man, but it was quite a move six years ago. Down there, I guess, it’s something like South Africa. Italy has a great climate, great vegetation. All sorts of fruit and vegetables grow there. It’s a beautiful country as far as that goes with vegetation and growth. The Italians love the land. They love the earth. They cultivate it, spending time at it. It’s a great sight to see all those vineyards, those olive groves, and just so much vegetation. Amongst all that, there are the fig trees. I was surprised to learn that there are different types of figs. I thought figs were figs before going there. Also apples: there are different types of apples, different types of pears and different types of oranges. It is the same with figs. There are different types of figs. We know the story in the Bible, of Jesus going to that fig tree and He saw the leaves were out. He thought, “Well now, there’s bound to be figs on this tree,” because He saw the leaves. Well, He came there and there was no fruit there. I was told when I asked a few questions about those fig trees, that there’s a certain type that the first crop comes before the leaves come. The figs come before the leaves come. It’s just a minor crop, a minor harvest. There are just a small number of figs on the tree and then the leaves come. After that the main crop comes. Then there’s a flourishing with the fig tree and there’s fruit everywhere on the tree once the leaves are there, but before the leaves, there’s a crop there. So I asked this question to a man who knows his business about fig trees, “If the first crop doesn’t come, can the second crop come?” He said, “No, it can’t come. There has to be the first one.” Jesus knew in seeing those leaves, because the first crop never came, the first fruits never came, there was just no hope or no chance for the second lot of fruit on that fig tree. He knew it just so well with that type of fig tree.
Those folk who came to John the Baptist in New Testament times wanted to be baptized, those Pharisees, Sadducees and others. They asked to be baptized of John. Then he said these words: “Bring ye forth first fruits meet for repentance.” He implied, “There’s no point in being baptized and going into the water and through this ceremony unless there is first of all fruit of repentance.” Bring forth first of all one of these first things. Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven. Seek ye first repentance.
We’ve heard just so much in this convention about repentance. I asked myself why? I thought, “Well, it must be that it concerns you; your own life. You need more repentance in your own life.” It says here in these words, “Bring ye forth first fruits meet for repentance.” It was just so clear to me that if there is no repentance, if there is no first fruits, if there’s no first harvest, then there’s no second harvest. We can try and become humble and kind and loving and joyful and have peace and so forth; try and acquire all these fruits of the Spirit. We can try it but it’s just a waste of time if there’s not first of all repentance in our hearts and lives, true repentance. It starts there. That’s the first fruit. Seek ye first repentance and the other things will come. Oh I desire more love, more peace, more joy, more humility, more thankfulness. I desire these things but I realize also: first of all comes repentance.
I don’t know how you folks feel, but sometimes I go to pray. I find it hard just to bend; to bow. I don’t mean my knees. I mean my heart, my spirit and my will. Sometimes I find resistance there and unwillingness just to really give myself, to be yielded there, surrendered to the place of prayer. It just takes so much sometimes for me. I go there and I bow. There’s a hymn that says, “Bend me oh bend me” [now “Mould me oh mould me”]. I don’t agree with it. I think it’s wrong. No, not wrong in that hymn, but the thought on my mind is, it’s just not sufficient to bend and to bow. If we take a branch, a branch of a tree, a living branch, a branch which is green, we can bend that branch. We can bend it more and more and what do we feel? We feel resistance in the branch. We feel the strength in the branch and we feel that the branch wants to straighten out. It takes strength to bend the branch until the branch breaks. Then there’s no more resistance. For me, bending is not repentance. Being broken is. I can bend. I can bow. I can fit in. I can go so far, but to be really broken in my spirit, in my heart as Jesus. As it says in the Old Testament, “a broken and a contrite spirit”, that is a step further. It’s not just so easy to be really broken. Seek ye first this fruit, the fruit of repentance because otherwise there’s just no fruit whatsoever in our lives.
We heard that verse yesterday in Romans 2:4, “The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.” I’ve been glad of that verse many times because I realize that if goodness and kindness can’t do their work, nothing else can. I was faced up with an experience a few years back to try and help someone and I realized that this person also needed to repent. There had to be a change in this person’s life to become more useful and to become better in the service of God. There had to be a change. I realized full well there’s bitterness there, there’s hardness there, there’s unwillingness there; there’s just so much in this person’s heart which has to be changed. I’d like to help this person to change and to become more in God’s service. I also realized full well that first of all, it has to be done through repentance. This person has to repent. I also realized I could speak harsh words. I could lay down the law. I could be severe. I could use the rod, symbolically speaking, with this person and tell him a few “home truths”. But I realized, “No!” the goodness of God leads people to repentance. If the goodness of God can’t touch this person’s heart then nothing can. Forget the severity. Forget the rod. Forget the hardness. Forget the strong words. If you can’t touch his heart through goodness and kindness, forget the whole matter. This is one of the first fruits we have to bring forth, the fruit of repentance.
Remember when Jesus gave the sop to Judas, you know, at the last supper before Jesus was crucified. I have heard it said that it belongs to the custom there in the Middle East, that when there is a feast or a meal given and the host invites people to come, there’s a big pot on the table with the food inside it; meat and vegetables and so forth. There were no knives and forks on the table. There weren’t any in those days. You ate with your fingers. It has been said that the host, the person who has done the inviting, in order to show a special kindness or a special gesture to someone at the table, he takes a piece of bread, the sop, between his fingers, between the fingers and thumb, and seeks out the choicest piece in the pot with the bread bent in his fingers, and gives that to this person to show a special privilege. This is a special gesture as far as the host is concerned. Could it be, that when Jesus gave Judas the sop, He realized, “He’s going out to betray. He’s already sold me? He’s become a thief. He’s become a dishonest, twisted person, a person you cannot trust in this life. The only thing that can help him, if anything can, it’s kindness. It’s goodness. It’s the sop. I could give him a piece of my mind. I could speak hard with him. But I know full well (Jesus knew) that won’t help him one bit, at all. If anything at all can touch his heart it is kindness; it’s goodness.” “... the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.” Well, I went there to try and help this person; trying to be good, trying to be kind. It’s not in my nature, but through the working of God we can be a little bit kind, a little bit good in some ways.
Then a few months later it was convention time. I was somewhere there in Europe. Sitting in the convention, something struck me like a thunderbolt in thinking of the need of that particular person, trying to help that person. Something struck me very, very hard and I realized that goodness is not sufficient. Kindness is not enough. I could see that it had to be more than that as I sat in convention and heard about Jesus.
In John’s Gospel, chapter 13:1, it says in the English, “ ... he loved them unto the end.” It says in French, “He put the crowning feature to His love.” When He took that basin and that towel and washed the feet of His disciples, He was able to wash their feet, not to show them up, not to say, “Look at your feet. They’re so dirty. Where have you been?” He did this to help them. To give them an example in true humility He did all this. He did it not out of goodness, not out of kindness, but because He loved them right unto the very end.
After that convention, I went back to my field with the purpose in my heart, “I want to be not only good, not only kind. I want to love this person. Then, through loving, perhaps he’ll come to the place of repentance.” Please don’t think that I am any better than that person. That’s not the point. I am just trying to get the point across, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and these things will be added unto you.”
There’s something else. We know the story of David in the Old Testament, when David had to flee because of Absalom, because of his son who had taken his place on the throne in Jerusalem, in the kingdom, and David had to go, and go quickly. He left with his folk from the city of Jerusalem and he came to the last house. He just stood there and watched those who went by. I’m pretty sure that David shed many a tear that day. He may have said, “Well, you’ve come. Thanks. And you’ve come. I’m just so glad. You are here too and you’re going to go with me on this desert way.” I’m sure he was so touched to see those who were loyal, those who were true and those who were prepared to go with him to an unknown future on “the desert way”, as the Bible says. Then along comes this man Ittai. He was a foreigner. He was a stranger. David said to him, “You know, you can go back to the kingdom. You can go back to Jerusalem. You don’t have to come. You’re not an Israelite. You’re not a Jew. You’re quite free to do as you wish. You came yesterday. Don’t follow me. I’ve got no future. My future’s unknown. You go back into the city.” Ittai said, “Where my Lord the king will be, there will also be thy servant.” David said, “Go back to the kingdom. Go back to Jerusalem. Go back into the country. Enjoy the country. Enjoy the freedom. Don’t follow me. I’m on the desert way.” On this day this man had to choose between the king and the kingdom. He chose the king. I know full well for my own life, that I must be prepared to choose the King every time, before the kingdom. The kingdom is great. The kingdom is wonderful, but the King must come first in my life, and then the kingdom.
A few years back now there was a union meeting there in Switzerland. The room was filling up and the people were coming in. There may have been perhaps thirty or forty people in that union meeting. Then along comes a young couple at just about meeting time. They’d been married perhaps just a couple of months. They asked me, “Graham, are there perhaps two spare seats in the room?” I said, “Sure, there are two seats. There’s one at the front there and another over there at the back.” They went in and came back out again looking a wee bit flustered or upset and said to me, “But we’d like two seats together if that’s possible.” They didn’t want to be separated so we did our best to give them two seats together, this young married couple. Well, the meeting started. As is the custom over there, we sat up front, my companion and myself and looked over the congregation and saw that young couple sitting together. Then over on the left I saw a different picture. There was a family with two teenage boys. There was the father on the left, one teenage boy, another teenage boy and then the mother on the right. There was a lesson. That young couple sat together, just a young married couple. Here was a couple married 14, 15, 16 years and now there were two teenage boys between that couple, between man and wife. Nothing – nothing - should come between man and wife. For a husband, the wife should always be number one, before the children; before the family. That’s God’s order. That’s the best order for a happy marriage, humanly speaking. The husband and the wife must have first place and the children afterwards.
I learned a lesson, spiritually speaking. You know, sometimes something comes between the King and ourselves. Sometimes it could even be the kingdom. We’re sometimes so busy with the gospel work and so busy helping people, so busy visiting people and so busy writing letters, doing so much for the kingdom, that we’re inclined to neglect the King. If we want all these things added to our lives, all the blessings which would come our way, it’s first of all the King and then the kingdom. “Seek ye first ....”
Just one more small thought, then I must close. We have the first of the day. We have the first of the week. We have the first of the year. The first of the day should be the quiet place, the secret place. The first of the week should be Sunday morning meeting and the first of the year should be convention. Time does not permit just now to speak of these three things, but just one.
The first of the day should be the seeking of bread for our souls. We know the story so well of the manna in the Old Testament. They had to go out before the sun came up to gather the manna. That happened all those forty years in the wilderness - six days a week and sufficient on the sixth day also for the seventh day. But God said, “Just enough for each day.”
Some must have tried to gather enough for two days, but found out on the second day that the manna of the previous day had begun to stink, decay and go bad. You know, I suppose some neglected to go. Some stayed too long in bed, couldn’t get up in the morning. I guess some thought, “Well I’m too busy right now. I’ll go later.” Some mothers thought, “Well the children are crying. I can’t go just yet. I’ll go later and gather this manna.”
The Bible says that when the sun came up the manna disappeared. Those who did not go first thing in the morning before the sun came up, what happened? They found no manna. Not only that, they were hungry the whole day through. They had no breakfast. They had no dinner. They had no supper; no in-betweens, nothing to eat the whole day. Not too serious perhaps, but just think of the small children, when they realized there was no breakfast, no midday meal, no evening meal. Can you imagine the scene? Those poor mothers, those poor fathers: trying to console, trying to comfort hungry children who were crying, who were hungry, who were making great noise. “We are hungry! We want to eat!” There’s nothing there because the parents had failed to go out early in the morning to gather in the manna for that day for those people.
The very same thing applies, spiritually speaking. Well, I’ll tell you my testimony. I have to rise early in the morning. I have to read the Bible early in the morning. I have to do all that before breakfast and breakfast is early in Switzerland. Then the phone starts ringing. The mail comes in. There’s just so much to be done for the kingdom’s sake, but the King must come first.
If you forget all my thoughts this morning, just try to remember this one, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness....” and He will add what, I don’t know, but He will add what’s lacking, what’s missing, what we need, what is necessary for our future lives if we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.
GRAHAM S. - 1998 - Seek Ye First -
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