“Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, for His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!” (Psa 2:12 nasb)
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Journal,
Sometimes believers have a hard time finding a balance in their walk with the Lord. This is not uncommon. We begin as babes in Christ, and thereafter have to grow in all areas of our walk with Him. Then there is the problem of unbalance. Unbalance usually tends towards extremes.
One area of unbalance is the belief that God is not really concerned about our life in this present world. We are to be so focused on heaven that life in this present world has no relevance. And so the less you have in worldly goods the more in tune with heaven you are. Of course this is an unbalanced view of our walk with the Lord.
The opposite extreme of this is when we are taught that we can measure our Christian faith and our relationship with God by the things we accumulate. This again another error. This view can even gender to greed. Jesus said, “Be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.” (Luke 12:15)
So, where is the balance?
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The balance is in the Lordship of Jesus Christ. 
Jesus gave a gauge that is to set the tone for our new covenant walk with Him. It has to do with ‘seeking’ two things, seeking first His kingdom, and seeking His righteousness. These seeking’s are interrelated. Kingdom seeking has to do with the rule of God in our life. Seeking His righteousness has to do with finding the path that the Lord would have us travel.
When Jesus spoke of seeking the kingdom of God and His righteousness, His disciples had a concept of what this meant. They had been taught that Israel was the kingdom of God on earth, and that keeping the Law of Moses was the determining factor of righteous living. What they didn’t realize at the time is that the spiritual dynamics of the kingdom of God were about to change. The new dynamic would come out of the cross.
This is where the ‘sermon on the mountain’ enters the picture. This sermon was the staging place for preparing the Lord’s disciples for kingdom living under the new covenant. In this teaching, Jesus calls attention to the former way of living under the law of Moses, by making room for the experience of the new covenant. This new phase of God’s kingdom in the earth would be called ‘the kingdom of His beloved Son.’ (Col1:13)
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This concept of God’s kingdom wasn’t entirely new.
The prophets had long spoken of the Messiah’s kingdom to come. It was this very knowledge that the Lord used to cause discomfort with the Jewish religious leaders. Various groups began throwing questions at Jesus, hoping to trip Him up. The Lord disarmed each question with an answer that could not be refuted. Finally it says of these leaders, “They did not have courage to question Him any longer about anything.” (Luke 20:40)
It is at this juncture that the Lord asks them a question. He said,
How is it that they say the Christ is David’s son? For David himself says in the book of Psalms, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”‘ Therefore David calls Him ‘Lord,’ and how is He his son?” (Luke 20:40-44)
What a provoking question. Jesus is quoting from Psalm 110. What caused them concern, however, was that all the people accepted that Psalm 110 was about Messiah. They also knew that Messiah was to be David’s son. Yet in this Psalm, David calls the Messiah his Lord. The question? How can Messiah be David’s son, and yet also be David’s Lord? They had nothing to say.
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But that isn’t all that David said about Christ.
David laid out God’s redemption program through His Son in the second Psalm. He writes,
I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You. ‘Ask of Me and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance.”
David further says,
Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, for His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!” [Here David points to the second coming of Christ, i.e., the day of wrath.]
So, when Jesus said, “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you,’ is another way of saying that to enter into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son you have to call upon Him as Lord.
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The decree of the cross.
By the way if you aren’t familiar with the decree of the cross, here it is – “And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Act2:21; Rom10:13)
But there is something more at hand. Since Jesus is talking to disciples in the sermon on the mountain, He is laying out a kingdom principle. To seek first His kingdom, the word for kingdom is ‘besileia’. This word translates over into English as royal power, kingship, dominion, rule.
Jesus is not speaking of a kingdom that can be measured by borders. Jesus said that His kingdom was not of this world. What we are to seek for is the royal rule of the King in our lives. This is the essence of kingdom Life.
Paul has this in mind, in saying, “As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.” (Col2:6) Here Paul is telling us to live out our lives in the sphere of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Jesus said we were not only to seek His kingdom rule, but also to seek His ‘righteousness.’ The issue here is not the righteousness we are given when we are born again. Every believer is given perfect righteousness before the throne of God when they are born again. However, the issue here is ‘pathways.’ (How to live out our life.)
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Seek the pathway of the Lord.
This matches up with something David said in Psalm 23;
He [the Lord] restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” (Psalm 23:3) In this case, our seeking ‘His righteousness’ means we are to seek the Lord’s directives and His will for our lives. And this is what gives distinction to the new covenant.
In the new covenant every person has direct access to the throne of heaven, any time, all the time, wherever and whenever. And if you will notice Jesus places our kingdom-righteous walk in the care of our loving Father. He said,
Your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.” The point is that as we seek to live under kingdom rule, that is, by directives from the Lord Jesus, every need in our life will be met. Jesus said, “All these things will be added.”
Peter later elaborates on this, when he says,
Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.” (2Pet1:3)
Paul says much the same;
So then let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos or the world or life or death of things present or things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God.” (1Co3:21,23)
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Don’t get caught up in just seeking blessings.
Have you ever noticed that as a person begins to serve the Lord, their lot in life also begins to improve. This is because the Lord sees to both to our spiritual needs and our temporal needs. This means more than having needs met. Seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness means we have an obligation to see where we fit in the Father’s business. The most miserable Christian on earth is that one who gets caught up in seeking blessings, but does not seek his or her place of service.
What often happens is that as some seek the Lord’s will they do not want their comfort zone to be disturbed. This is why many of God’s people never discover the true joy of a Biblical disciple’s walk. It is only when we are able to say with Jesus, “Abba! Father! Not what I will, but what You will.” (Mark 14:36) Everything in a disciple’s life must revolve around applying his or heart to seeking and doing the will of God.
With this in mind let me share a personal story. Let’s call it…
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The Gate to Miracle Land
Some many years ago I left the full time ministry for a season. I had experienced burn out. Over a period of three years I went through a spiritual restructuring of my life. Then the time came when I once again found myself able to say, “Lord, I’ll go anywhere you want me to go. I’ll do anything you want me to do. All I ask is that You tell me Yourself what you want me to do. Don’t send someone to tell me.” (Pretty close to exact words.)
In a few short weeks the Lord offered me an invitation to walk through what I can only term, ‘the gate to miracle land.’ It happened Friday, January 19, 1975. That morning I was playing my guitar and singing to the Lord. I heard in my spirit, “Go home!” We were living in South Louisiana and home was Central Louisiana.
I shared with Betty what the Lord said. We took our children out of school and headed north. I kept trying to figure out what the Lord had in store. I began making plans to visit a number of churches that I had held revivals in. I thought the Lord wanted me to share my testimony. Was I ever wrong. That wasn’t what the Lord had in store at all.
We took our children to my sister’s home. Across the road from her house was a church I had held my first revival in. The lights were on. I found odd since it wasn’t a church night. Cars were everywhere. I thought this must be where I am to begin.
A service was in progress. Betty and I sat quietly in the back. I waited, but the Lord said nothing else. When the minister recognized me, he said, “Brother Martin, do you have anything you would like to share.” By that time I didn’t know what to say. I simply stood, and said, “Brother, I don’t know why the Lord sent me, but I am here.”
When I spoke those first words, I heard weeping in the congregation. What I didn’t know was they had lost a pastor, and they had been praying for the Lord to send them ‘their’ pastor. At that moment the Lord gave them a witness that their pastor was standing in their midst.
Anyway, that was my initial venture into miracle land. And that was the beginning of my venture into the world of a disciple.
I could share story after story of how the Lord has provided for us, and especially how He taught us principles of discipleship. It is a never-ending story. But walking through that gate was the best thing that had ever happened to my wife and me. It brought us to where we are today. As for tomorrow, who knows?
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What is the level of your walk with the Lord?
Is there a gate the Lord would have you walk through?
Rather than add anything else at this point, let me simply point out that the level of our walk with the Lord will always be measured by how we respond to the principles of His kingdom. I only shared one principle. The Sermon on the Mountains is filled with instructions for the disciple.
You may want to read through the sermon again. Do it like it is a first time. Listen to the Spirit of the Lord. Just put your disciple ‘glasses’ on as you read it.
In the mean time take a listen to Lynda Randle as she sings, ‘Walk With Me, Lord.’
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Remember, there is much love to be found in Jesus.
Buddy
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