Matthew chapter 6
Today we are walking in: The Divine Priority Mandate
1 Chronicles 16:7
Then on that day David delivered first H7218 this psalm to thank the LORD into the hand of Asaph and his brethren.
FIRST
Today we look to the word-FIRST-H7218 ro'sh --top, upper part, chief, front, beginning; chief, choicest, best
The Torah Testifies.............................
Exodus 12:2
This month shall be unto you the beginning H7218 of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.
The prophets proclaim...............
Isaiah 41:4
Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? H7218 I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.
The writings bear witness.............
1 Chronicles 26:10
Also Hosah, of the children of Merari, had sons; Simri the chief, H7218 (for though he was not the firstborn, yet his father made him the chief;) H7218
“Whatever you prioritize you will pursue.”
THE DIVINE PRIORITY MANDATE
Yahusha Hamachiach came to earth to inaugurate a Kingdom, not establish a religion. First, He announced the Kingdom: “Repent: for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. MATTITHYAHU (MATTHEW) 4:17 את CEPHER. Then He taught about the Kingdom wherever He went: “The kingdom of Heaven is like….” He identified the Kingdom of Yah as the first priority of man: “But seek ye first the Kingdom of Elohiym, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. MATTITHYAHU (MATTHEW) 6:33 את CEPHER.
Only those who seek the Kingdom of Yah will find it, and with the seeking comes the understanding of the Kingdom and how it operates. Yahusha told His closest followers, “He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but to them it is not given. MATTITHYAHU (MATTHEW) 13:11 את CEPHER. When we understand how the Kingdom operates, we will understand how to live in the Kingdom and experience its fullness in our lives.
Our first priority—the principal and most important activity of our life—is to seek the Kingdom of Yah. But how do we do that? What does it mean to seek Yah’s Kingdom? How can we find the Kingdom of Yah if we don’t know how to look for it or what to look for? Yah will never demand from us what He does not supply. He will never instruct us to do something that He doesn’t show us how to do.
Even more important, He wants us to seek and find His Kingdom. He gave us this promise: “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. YIRMEYAHU (JEREMIAH) 29:13 את CEPHER. Finding Yah is the same as finding His Kingdom because the two are inseparable. And Yahusha assures us: “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you את the Kingdom. LUQAS (LUKE) 12:32 את CEPHER.
With these scriptural truths and assurances in mind, let’s take a closer look at our divine priority mandate, “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.” A mandate is a command issued by a ruler. Yahusha’ charge to us to seek first the Kingdom and righteousness of Yah is a command, not a suggestion. If we claim to be His followers and call Him Most High, we must obey Him. Otherwise, He is not our Most High, we will never find the Kingdom and never experience the fulfillment of our life purpose.
THE DIVINE COMMAND: “SEEK”
The first part of the divine priority is what we can call the divine command: seek. To seek means to pursue with vigor and determination. The idea is that of a diligent, unceasing search until the object of the search is found. In Luke 15 Yahusha tells of a man with 100 sheep who lost one, and of a woman with 10 silver coins who lost one, and how both of them searched diligently and did not give up until they recovered that which was lost. This is what it means to seek. We are to pursue the Kingdom of Yah with determination and vigor.
To seek also means to study. Students seek knowledge and understanding. In the same way, Kingdom citizens must be students of the Kingdom and of its constitution, the Bible. Psalm 1:2 says that the blessed man delights in the law of the Most High and meditates on it day and night. Paul, New Testament ambassador of the King, counsels us to, “Study to show yourself approved unto Elohiym, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth. TIMOTHEUS SHENIY (2 TIMOTHY) 2:15 את CEPHER. The Greek word for “be diligent” is spoudazo, which also means “study” or “labor.” Seeking the Kingdom means studying it with diligence. Only by committed and rigorous study can the secrets of the Kingdom and the Word of Yah become known to us. As we study, the Spirit of Yah will open our minds to understand.
Seeking also means to explore. Human explorers through the ages traveled the globe seeking new lands, new peoples, new horizons. Exploring carries the element of high adventure, and the Kingdom of Yah is indeed an adventure. We must explore the Kingdom; we must explore its power, its laws, its government, its culture, its society, its commands, its economy, its taxation—everything. The Kingdom of Yah is so vast that we could spend the rest of our lives exploring it yet only scratch the surface.
Another critical aspect of seeking is understanding. We could pursue something, seeking it diligently, yet not understand it when we found it. Without understanding, the search is not complete. Nothing is truly ours until we understand it. Until we understand the Kingdom we cannot properly teach it, pass it on or fully realize its benefits and blessings. Once we understand for ourselves, then the promises of the Kingdom will begin manifesting in our lives.
Closely related to study and understanding, to seek also means to learn. Learning is more than mental knowledge of facts and information; the knowledge must be reproducible in practical terms. This means demonstrating the ability to perform the action learned as well as teach it to someone else so that they learn it also.
Seeking often involves taking the time to consider, to sit and ponder something in an effort to understand. This is similar, of course, to meditation. Some things require deep thought and analysis before they become comprehensible. The psalmist said, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained; What is man, that you are mindful of him? and the son of A'dam, that you visit him? TEHILLIYM (PSALMS) 8:3-4 את CEPHER
Yahusha said, “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 Shalomah in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. MATTITHYAHU (MATTHEW) 6:28-29 את CEPHER. We need to take the Word of Yah and consider it, ponder it, chew on it, memorize it, and the more we do so the more we will comprehend.
When we seek something, we have a desire to know. Who pursues something he has no interest in? Who takes the time to ponder something that means nothing to him? If we desire to know the Kingdom and its ways, the King will make sure our desire is satisfied. Yahusha said, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. MATTITHYAHU (MATTHEW) 5:6 את CEPHER.
Not only should we desire the Kingdom, we should have a passion for the Kingdom! What are you passionate about? What gets your blood going in the morning? What infuses your life with purpose? Everyone is passionate about something. If you are not passionate about the Kingdom of Yah, then you are focused on the wrong thing.
Anything worth seeking is worth pursuing with diligent dedication. Diligence always involves discipline. If we want to seek the Kingdom it may mean disciplining ourselves to turn off the TV so we can study the Word of Yah. It may mean rearranging our schedule in order to have more time to pray. It may mean reordering our time priorities to ensure we get enough sleep so that we’re not “too tired” to gather with other believers for worship. Seeking the Kingdom is deliberate and proactive. We will never stumble on it by accident. We must plan for it.
Finally, to seek the Kingdom means to become preoccupied with the Kingdom. If we are seeking the Kingdom, that means we are thinking about it all day long. It possesses us. Everywhere we go and with everything we do and say we are focused on the Kingdom. We evaluate every decision in light of how it will affect our pursuit of the Kingdom. Our every thought, word, motive, and action is “Kingdom First!”
THE DIVINE PRIORITY: “FIRST”
If the Divine Command is to seek the Kingdom of Yah, the Divine Priority is that we must seek it first. Seeking the Kingdom first means that we pursue it as the principal thing, the first thing above and before and beyond all other things. First means that the Kingdom of Yah is more important to us than anything else. It means that we place the highest value of all on the Kingdom and stand ready to sacrifice anything and everything else for its sake. First means that we establish the Kingdom as our primary interest. All other priorities in life are secondary to the priority of the Kingdom and so far below it as to be almost nonexistent by comparison.
Kingdom first does not mean first among many but first and only. When Yah told the Israelites, “You shall have no other elohiym before me. SHEMOTH (EXODUS) 20:3 את CEPHER, He was not saying, “As long as you worship Me first and foremost, you can have other gods.” What He meant was that they were never to bring any other gods before His face or into His presence. Yah claimed exclusive rights to their worship, love, and devotion. The “Kingdom First!” priority is just as exclusive.
Seeking the Kingdom of Yah first means considering the interests of the Kingdom before making decisions—when and where we go to school, who we marry, what job we accept, how we spend our money. Before deciding on these and other issues, we need to ask the question, “Is this in line with the Kingdom of Yah?” Every day we are bombarded with opportunities to compromise our morality, honesty, integrity, and character. Your boss asks you to do something dishonest at work. Your boyfriend or girlfriend tries to talk you into an immoral relationship. You are tempted to cheat on your taxes.
Learn to ask yourself, “Will this be pleasing to the Kingdom?” It’s not worth violating the principles of the Kingdom for the sake of expediency or to avoid offending someone or rocking the boat. Developing the habit of considering the Kingdom first will help you avoid a lot of mistakes and bad decisions.
THE DIVINE OBJECT: “THE KINGDOM OF YAH”
It is one thing to know how to seek the Kingdom of Yah but quite another to understand that Kingdom and the principles under which it operates.
Few people in the world today live in a true kingdom, particularly in the West, so almost no one knows what kingdom life is really like. Consequently, Kingdom language in the Bible often can seem confusing or alien to modern readers. If the Kingdom priority is so important, we had better know what the Kingdom is and how it functions.
So what is the Kingdom? Simply stated, the Kingdom is Yah’s government. It is His rulership and dominion over Heaven and earth. In practical terms it refers to His universal jurisdiction and executed will over all creation.
When Yahusha said we are to seek first the Kingdom of Yah, He was telling us to seek first the ownership of Yah, He was telling us to seek first the ownership of Yah over ourselves and everything we have in life.
The word kingdom also means to have influence over a territory. When we seek first the Kingdom of Yah we are seeking His influence to be extended over the entire world in our private life, our business life, our marriage life, our relationships, our sexual life, and all other dimensions of life.
Part of this influence has to do with administration. In the Kingdom of Yah we are under the administration of Heaven. This means that Yah, the King, becomes our reference point for everything. His will becomes our will, His ways become our ways, His culture becomes our culture, His society becomes our society, and His interests become our interests. As Kingdom citizens and children of the King through Hamachiach, we become ambassadors on earth of His heavenly Kingdom.
Influence also means impact. Kings and queens impact the land and the lives of the people over whom they rule.
Americans, by the way they live, prove that they are not under a political earthly kingdom. The islands of the Bahamas were under British rule far longer than were the American colonies. Consequently, Britain’s impact on Bahamian life, law, and culture has been more substantial and more enduring. And that influence is reflected in our daily lives.
This raises an important point: we can tell which kingdom we are in by the way we live. If we claim to believe and follow the King, our lives will reflect the influence of His government and administration. Other people who are not in the Kingdom will wonder, and perhaps even ask, why we are so different. It is because we are under a different administration from that of the world; a different government, a different culture, and a different law.
Yahusha said, “Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree brings forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. MATTITHYAHU (MATTHEW) 7:16-18 את CEPHER. This means that others can tell what kind of tree we are by what we produce in our lives. Our lives are supposed to manifest the fruit—the influence—of the Kingdom of Yah so that anybody can look at us and tell where our allegiance lies.
In the Bible, the Hebrew word for “kingdom” is mamlakah; the New Testament Greek word is basileia. Both words carry the same general range of meaning: king, sovereignty, dominion, control, reign, rulership, and royal power. Considering all of these terms and characteristics, we can define a kingdom, then, as:
The governing influence of a king over his territory (domain), impacting it with his personal will, purpose and intent, producing a culture, values, morals and lifestyle that reflect the king’s desire and nature for his citizens.
This describes perfectly the Kingdom of Yah, which is the Kingdom that Yahusha commanded us to “seek first.” And it is in the seeking of this Kingdom—not in religion—that we will receive from the King “all these things,” all the daily needs of life that the rest of the world toils and labors and frets and worries and strives and scrambles for. No religion has such a guarantee as the Kingdom guarantee.
THE DIVINE POSITION: YAH’S RIGHTEOUSNESS
In addition to seeking first the Kingdom of Yah, we are to seek also His righteousness. This is not a first and second priority but two parts of one complete whole. Yah’s Kingdom cannot be separated from His righteousness. A kingdom always reflects the nature and character of the king. Yah is righteous and therefore His Kingdom is also righteous.
Only righteous people will enter the Kingdom. The problem is that none of us are righteous on our own. As David, psalmist and king of Israel wrote, “Yahuah looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek Yahuah. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that does good, no, not one. TEHILLIYM (PSALMS) 14:2-3 את CEPHER. When we are born again through the new birth by repentance of sin and faith in Hamachiach, Yah imputes righteousness to us. He declares us righteous on the basis of the righteousness of His Son and we gain entrance into the Kingdom.
The Gospels calls this transaction justification. Justification is a legal term, not a religious term. It means to declare someone innocent just as if that person had never committed an offense. When we are justified in Hamachiach, we receive a royal pardon from the King. He naturalizes us as citizens of His Kingdom and all the rights, privileges, and resources of the Kingdom become ours. But we also come under the government and administration of the Kingdom and are accountable to the King.
Seeking the righteousness of Yah is extremely important because His righteousness protects us. It keeps us under the Kingdom covering. And once we are under the Kingdom covering, all the additions—“all these things”—become automatic.
Like justification, the word righteous is a legal term. It means “right positioning, to be in correct alignment with the ruling standard.” To be righteous means that we do not violate the laws of the government. A righteous person is in right standing with authority. Right standing carries with it the even deeper element of being in fellowship with that authority. As long as we abide by the laws and standards of government, we have nothing to fear. Our conscience is clear. The moment we break the law, however, our fellowship and right standing with the ruling authority is broken. We are no longer righteous.
As an example, imagine driving down the road in your car. As long as you observe the speed limit and make no moving violations, you have nothing to worry about. Penalty and punishment are the farthest things from your mind. Suppose, however, that you accidentally travel through a red light. Now what happens?
Immediately you check your mirrors to see if the police are coming after you. You broke the law. You’re guilty and you know it and you hope no one saw you. But your guilt creates tension in your mind because you know you are now out of alignment with the ruling standard.
This analogy perfectly describes the dilemma faced by the human race. None of us are righteous. We are all out of alignment with the ruling standard, with Yah’s standard. Why? Because when Adam sinned, his sinfulness passed to every succeeding generation, corrupting the entire race of man. Sin is rebellion against Yah’s Kingly authority. If we want to enter the Kingdom of Yah, our right standing with Yah must be restored. This is why Yahusha Hamachiach came to earth, not only to announce the coming of the Kingdom but also so that through His sinless death we could be made righteous in Him. Yahusha came and died so we could enter the Kingdom.
If you want to be righteous, you’ve got to submit, not to religion, but to Yahusha Hamachiach, the King who gave His blood for you. His blood cleanses the stain of rebellion and removes your guilt. He puts you back in right standing with Himself. You start driving on His side of the street. You start eating what He eats and drinking what He drinks. You begin conforming your life to His in every way possible because you are under His Kingdom. You are righteous.
Yah has committed Himself to you because you now are in right relationship with Him. To be righteous means that you are legal, lawful, in sync with the government. Nothing stands between you and the law. Therefore, you need not fear authority. If you keep the laws of Yah, He will protect you. Stay in the law and everything you need will come to you. The Bible says that even the wealth of the wicked is laid up for the righteous (see Prov. 13:22). And who are the righteous? Those who are within the law.
PRINCIPLES
1.Our first priority—the principal and most important activity of our life—is to seek the Kingdom of Yah.
2.If we desire to know the Kingdom and its ways, the King will make sure our desire is satisfied.
3.Seeking the Kingdom is deliberate and proactive.
4.Kingdom first does not mean first among many, but first and only.
5.When Yahusha said we are to seek first the Kingdom of Yah, He was telling us to seek first the ownership of Yah over ourselves and everything we have in life.
6.We can tell which kingdom we are in by the way we live.
7.Only righteous people will enter the Kingdom.
8.When we are justified in Hamachiach, we receive a royal pardon from the King.
9.The word righteous means “right positioning, to be in correct alignment with the ruling standard.”
10.None of us are righteous.
11.Yahusha came and died so we could enter the Kingdom.
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