Jesus is talking about the highest priorities for children of the heavenly Father. Most of us have heard one of the multiplied thousands of sermons from this verse exhorting lost sinners to put getting saved first. We might even be one of the multiplied thousands who got saved through one of these sermons. (Another example of the marvelous grace of God). But, Christians will miss the most essential principle of the Christian life if they fail to grasp that this verse is for them.

To whom did Jesus bring the sermon on the mount? "…His disciples came to Him" - Chapter 5:2. In this portion He says to those to whom He is speaking, "…your heavenly Father…" twice! (Verses 26 & 32). Folks, the unsaved cannot claim the true God as their heavenly Father.

How do we become one of that blessed number who can claim the true God as "our heavenly Father"? Jesus made that very clear in John 1:12,13, "But as many as received Him (Jesus), to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." Our part in becoming a child of the heavenly Father is receiving Jesus by faith as our Savior. God’s part is giving us spiritual birth into His family by the Holy Spirit. Once we have become children of the heavenly Father Jesus said we have two preeminent priorities…the kingdom of God and His (God’s) righteousness.

The kingdom of God is a great subject that goes far beyond what we can deal with here. Suffice it to say that the King (Jesus) presented Himself to Israel for their acceptance. They rejected Him and in so doing, rejected the kingdom of God. In calling for His crucifixion they unknowingly contributed to the redemption price He paid for all mankind on the cross. The kingdom promised by the prophets in which Jesus, the Messiah, reigns over redeemed Israel from Jerusalem has been delayed to a future time. The present age may best be described as the kingdom in mystery form. Yet, when a lost sinner of any race receives Jesus Christ as their Savior they are given a spiritual birth by the Holy Spirit into the kingdom of God (See John 3:3-7). In their spiritual nature they are

children of the heavenly Father and hold citizenship in God’s kingdom. Paul wrote, "For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." NASB.

And so, making the Kingdom of God our first priority will involve bringing others into the kingdom or, as James put it at the first church council, "….taking from among the Gentiles a people for His name." Acts 15:14. It also means that we will seek to be a good steward of our time, resources, talents, spiritual gifts and finances to support, strengthen, and advance the cause of God’s kingdom.

We are also to "seek first" or make our highest priority God’s righteousness. At the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, "Blessed (or happy) are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." -Chapter 5:6. We will be off track if we identify the righteousness spoken of here as the imputed righteousness of Christ which every sinner receives the instant they receive Jesus Christ as their Savior by faith. Jesus is exhorting us to make it our highest priority to be like God and live pleasing to God. He had already said, "Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." Matthew 5:48. Does this mean that believers attain sinless perfection in this life? We must sadly admit it does not.   Jesus taught that one of our daily prayer requests is to be "And forgive us our debts (ie. Moral debts or sins) as we also have forgiven our debtors." -Matthew 6:12.  Luke’s account is simply, "and forgive us our sins…" Luke 11:4

To seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness means we make these our highest priorities and unite our intellect, our will, and our emotional passion in pursuing them through our earthly pilgrim journey. To make the Kingdom of God and His righteousness our highest priorities as children of the heavenly Father is the best thing we can do because:

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth…But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven…" Matthew 6:19, 20.

Every living thing has a value system. Man prides himself in the fact that his value system is far superior to animals, fish, and fowl. And yet, we don’t have to look very far to see that the value system of natural man is far short of what it should be. This week I heard a television report of a crime ring that had stolen a number of automobiles. The leader was thirteen years old and the youngest member was seven. They were living according to their value system. I also heard of many teachers bemoaning the fact that there is a huge strata of students in our public schools who do not want to learn math, science, and other difficult subjects and they resent those who are trying to get them to learn. They are living according to their value system.

The dominant value system of our natural, fleshly nature is to lay up treasures for ourselves on earth, or as it has often been said, "get all we can, and can all we get." It seems the unabashed goal of the yuppie generation is, "He who dies with the most toys wins."  Jesus exhorts children of the heavenly Father to lay up treasures in heaven. The question is, "what are these treasures we lay up in heaven?" We will find the answer in the following areas:

We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind –the greatest commandment. We are to love our neighbor as ourselves - the second greatest commandment. Matthew 22:36-39.

Jesus went on to say that all the law and all the prophets’ teachings hang from these two commandments. We build up treasure in Heaven by applying these two commandments to our relationship with God and our fellow man.

In 1st  Corinthians 13, the Apostle Paul taught that all earthly practices will pass away except three, -faith, hope, and love, and that the greatest of these is love. Verse 13.

Faith is relying on God to fulfill His promises.

Hope is confidence that all God has promised about the future will come to pass.

Love is the affectionate commitment that our thoughts, words, and actions will be in the best interests of those we love.

We lay up treasure in heaven as we live by these principles of faith, hope, and love.

We are told plainly that the fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Galatians 5:22, 23. To the extent we "walk in the Spirit" (in His fellowship and will) He will produce these spiritual qualities in our lives and we will be laying up treasure in heaven. Peter refers to these qualities as steps of spiritual growth and gives the exhortation that we are to give all diligence in adding them to our spiritual nature. 2 Peter 1:5-8.

Jesus also pointed out that a reason spiritual treasure is superior to earthly treasure is that earthly treasure is temporary and spiritual treasure is eternal. There are moths and rust that destroy earthly treasure and thieves that steal earthly treasure, but none of these can touch the treasure we lay up in heaven. He also pointed out that where our treasure is there is our heart (or affections). A simple look at how we spend our discretionary time; how we spend our money and the things we give our energy to accomplish will reveal crystal clear where our treasure is.

Jesus is using a physical illustration to show that if we are physically blind it puts severe limitations on our ability to place a correct evaluation on things and conditions around us. The spiritual application is that if we are not children of the heavenly Father whose highest priorities are the kingdom of God and His righteousness we are severely handicapped in placing proper value on all affairs of life.

OUR VISION IS ELEVATED…NOT JUST REFINED.

When we look at things from the viewpoint of the fleshly nature we see them in the limitation of spiritual darkness. The world provides abundant schooling and training to see things better from the fleshly viewpoint, but we continue to peer through pervasive darkness.

When children of the heavenly Father commit to make the kingdom of God and His righteousness their highest priority their spiritual eyes are flooded with God’s glorious light.

Sadly, it seems that most Christians look at the affairs of life with one spiritual eye and one fleshly eye. James, our Lord’s step-brother, had some strong things to say about this. He describes the man who doubts when he makes a request from God as a "double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." James 1:8 He says the Christian who wishes to be a friend of the world (system) makes himself an enemy of God." James 4:4 and follows with this exhortation, "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded." James 4:8.

We know Who God is, but what is mammon? The word mammon has the root meaning of "to gain". It can be anything we value as such a great gain to our

fleshly nature that we will serve in whatever way we have to serve in order to have it. The problem is that serving anything to satisfy fleshly desire will surely bring us into conflict with serving God. There are countless Christians whose lives are one continuous mental and emotional conflict because they never rise above serving two masters. The only remedy is to make our highest priorities the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

There are probably very few Christians who never worry and some seem to be a walking bag full of worries. Jesus undoubtedly considered anxiety a sufficiently common problem with Christians that He returned to this subject quite often. Our anxieties usually concern things of this life…our food and drink, the clothes we wear, proper shelter and what calamity may befall us on one of our tomorrows. To each of these He counsels, "Take no (anxious) thought!" Yes, Greek scholars inform us that the idea of anxious is inherent in the word. We are encouraged to make prudent forethought about preparations for the future. "Go to the ant, O sluggard, observe her ways and be wise…" Proverbs 6:6-8. But when our thoughtful preparations drift into anxiety and worry we have also drifted into doubt and unbelief in the provision of our God

Our heavenly Father has given to us our bodies, our physical life, and our spiritual life. Because of this Jesus said we are worth much more than the birds that do not plow, sow, or reap and yet our heavenly Father feeds them. He said we are worth more than the grass of the field which does nothing to provide clothing and yet is clothed with a greater glory than Solomon. He said that worry and anxiety cannot add to our height or the length of our life. He said that our heavenly Father knows every need we have.

In the key verse of this whole portion Jesus assured every child of the heavenly Father that when they seek first or make the highest priority of the kingdom of God and His righteousness that He will add all these things to us. What things? Life, food, water, clothing, shelter, His grace in trial. 
       1. Satisfying the desires of our flesh,
       2. Trying to satisfy our flesh and God,
       3. Making the kingdom of God and His righteousness our highest priorities and trusting him to add to us all the things we need.

Copyright © 2002 Thomas E Berry
All Scriptures quoted from NKJV unless otherwise noted