Charles Spurgeon began a sermon on Matthew 6:33 by saying, “There is just as much need of this exhortation today as there was when our Savior first uttered it.” These words fell from the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ more than 2,000 years ago. Yet they are as relevant as the latest “Breaking News.”

Matthew 6:25 says, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.” “Anxious” means care or concern. It can refer to legitimate concern or sinful anxiety. Legitimate concerns become sinful anxieties when they produce a divided mind. 

• One thought uplifts. Another thought discourages. 
• Hope pulls in one direction. Fear pulls in another direction. 
• You wish for the best. You expect the worst. 

Our word worry is derived from a German word that means to choke or strangle. Worry is internal strangulation at the ruthless hands of uncertain circumstances. Jesus says, “Do not be anxious.” The command forbids an action that is already in progress: “Stop worrying!”

During the 1980s, the First Lady, Nancy Reagan, started an initiative to keep kids off drugs called “Just Say No.” The program was unsuccessful. The reason was obvious. It is hard to say no when you do not have something to say yes to. Worry cannot be overcome cold turkey. In Matthew 6:33, Jesus gives a spiritual antidote for sinful anxiety: “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” This is the key statement in this rebuke of anxiety. It is the golden verse of the Sermon on the Mount. It is the open secret to a blessed life, death, and eternity: Put God first.

Why put God first? God put you first! 1 John 4:19 says: “We love because he first loved us.”

• This is the reason we are still alive. 
• This is the reason you are saved. 
• This is the reason things are as well as they are. 

God went first. Romans 8:29 calls Jesus “the firstborn among many brothers.” We are children of God because God gave his only begotten Son first. 1 Corinthians 15:20 calls Jesus “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”“Firstfruits” were the first and finest portion of the harvest that declared, “If you think this tastes good, just wait. The best is yet to come!” God put you first. Put God first. How do you put God first? 

Seek God.

There are three types of people. Some do not seek God. They do not know what true happiness is. Some seek God, but not first. They are the most unhappy people. Some seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. They are the happiest people in the world. Do you want true happiness? Thomas a Kempis gave the formula: “Seek God, not happiness.”

Seek God personally. Jesus says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.” The KJV reads: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God.”

• No one can seek God for you. 
• You cannot seek God for anyone else. 

It is an individual and intimate decision. Jonathan Edwards wrote a series of resolutions to live by. The first two are most memorable: “Resolution One: I will live for God. Resolution Two: If no one else does, I still will.” This is the first, foremost, and fundamental commitment of one who seeks God. You must have a personal resolve that is unaffected by what others think, say, or do. After Jesus miraculously fed a multitude, the people sought to make him king by force. Jesus proclaimed the costs of discipleship. The entire crowd dispersed. Only the Twelve remained. Jesus asked them, “Are you leaving, too?” In John 6:68-69, Peter answered, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

Seek God continually. Jesus says, “Seek first the kingdom of God.” The verb is in a grammatical emphasis that indicates continual actionor habitual activity: “Keep seeking the kingdom of God.” Sinners may seek the benefits God provides. But they do not seek God. Romans 3:10-11 says: “None is righteous, no not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.” Lost people do not seek God. God seeks them. Luke 19:10 says, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” The Lord is not seeking to punish you. The Lord is seeking to save you. Surrender to Christ today. 

Salvation is not just an event. It is the beginning of a lifelong process of seeking God. In the Benedictine monasteries of medieval Europe, monks wore habits of simple cloth as a symbol of their new spiritual journey. Upon arriving at the monastery, the novice received the new habit. But his old clothes were not discarded. They remained in the monastery closet as a reminder that, should he ever want to leave, his old clothes were waiting for him. Likewise, you must daily choose between seeking God and chasing sin. 

Seek God ultimately. Imagine a friend showed up at your door with a pan. She says, “I just pulled this cake out of the oven. I got here as fast as I could because I wanted you to have it.” Imagine that same friend showed up with a small saucer covered in tin foil. She says, “I made this delicious cake. As I was about to eat the last piece, I thought about you. These crumbs are all that is left, but I wanted you to get a bite. We should not do friends that way. We should not do God that way! God is worthy of the cake, not just the crumbs! 

Jesus says, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.” “First” is the emphatic word in this command. It is not first in series, order, or process. It is first in priority. Jesus is not saying seek God first, family second, career third, and so on. Seeking God is to be the most important thing in your life. This does not mean nothing else should not matter to you. It means seeking God should dictate the other things that matter to you. 

Luke 9:59-60 reads: To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” The Lord does not take next. He desires, deserves, and demands first place in your life. 

• If you are too young to seek God
• If you are too proud to seek God 
• If you are too happy to seek God
• If you are too busy to seek God
• If you are too tired to seek God

It may be too late to seek God. Isaiah 55:6-7 says, “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”

Seek God sincerely. I was getting beaten up at my first church. A local pastor called to check on me. He said he did not want to be on the list of people I did not hear from when things went bad. Citing Matthew 6:33, he encouraged me that everything would be alright. I admitted that I made some bad decisions that contributed to my problems. He told me I misunderstood Matthew 6:33. “It does not say you have to be a perfect citizen,” he explained. “It says you must seek first the kingdom of God.” 

This verse is not a call to sincere devotion, not sinless perfection. It is to seek God on God’s terms, not ours. Jesus says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.” “The kingdom of God” is not a geographic location. It is God’s sovereign rule. In Matthew 6:10, Jesus teaches us to pray: “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Citizenship in God’s kingdom is submission to God’s will. 

“Righteousness” is synonymous with the kingdom of God. It is conformity to the revealed will of God. To be righteous is to be right with God. Matthew 5:6 says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” To seek the kingdom of God is to hunger and thirst for righteousness. Ray Pritchard wrote: “What you seek, you find.” You are as close to God as you want to be. If you are not closer to God, it is because you do not want to be. Jeremiah 29:13 says, “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”

Seek God practically. The hymn says, “Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart.” But if you want to be a Christian in your heart, it will be evident in your time, money, and relationships.

Put God first in your time. Start each day in prayer and Bible intake. Start each week in corporate worship on the Lord’s day. A man who could barely see or hear never missed church. He explained: “I just want everyone to know what side I’m on.” 

Put God first in your money. Proverbs 3:9-10 says, “Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of your increase; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.” 

Put God first in your relationships. 1 Corinthians 15:33 says: “Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company ruins good morals.’” God-seekers hang out with other God-seekers. John 13:34-35 says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for another.”

Trust God.  

Verse 33 begins with a command: “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.” It ends with a promise: “and all these things will be added to you.” Warren Wiersbe wrote: “God’s people don’t live on explanations; they live on promises.” God guarantees that if you seek him first, he will add everything you need. 

• This is God’s affirmative action. 
• This is God’s bailout plan. 
• This is God’s faith-based initiative. 
• This is God’s social security.
• This is God’s stimulus package. 

Where is your faith? In verse 31, Jesus says: “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’” Verse 32 explains why you should not be anxious about how your needs will be met: “For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.” Sinful anxiety is functional atheism. People who do not know God worry about how their needs will be met. But your heavenly Father knows what you need. Your needs are a part of the compassionate omniscience of God. Matthew 6:8 says, “Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” 

Do you believe that? If so, pray, don’t worry. To seek God is to make prayer a first response, not a last resort. Philippians 4:6-7 says: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

As a missionary began a long trip in a foreign country, a wealthy friend, who accompanied him to the ship, slipped a sealed envelope into his hand. He said, “If you come to the place where there is a need you cannot meet, open the envelope.” The missionary thanked him, put it in his pocket, and departed. When he returned, twelve years later, the friend was there to welcome him. The missionary handed him the unopened envelope and said, “I never came to a place where I had a need that was not met.” 

Where is your focus? Years ago, I invited one of my professors to speak to the married couples in my church. Early in his talk, he threw out a statement I wrestled with the entire session: “You will never find happiness by looking for it. You stumble over it on the pathway of duty.” This is the point Jesus makes in Matthew 6:33: “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” The word “added” means “to place alongside.” If you focus on your needs, you will not get your needs met. But if you focus on the kingdom of God and his righteousness, God will place what you need alongside you.

When Solomon became king, God told him to ask for whatever he wanted. Solomon did not ask for fame, riches, or power. He asked for wisdom to do God’s will. God answered Solomon’s prayer and gave him what he did not ask for. Trust God to do it for you! 

Matthew 6:33 is not a promise of health, wealth, and prosperity. It is a promise that God will meet your needs. Some commentators argue that God will add what you need through the generosity of others. Indeed, God blesses us to make us a blessing to others. But it is wrong to limit this to a promise of mutual generosity. This is a promise of divine generosity. God will meet your needs! Some suffer for the gospel and are deprived of life’s necessities. But the promise of God stands. 

• If you seek God, you can trust God. 
• If you seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, he will supply your needs. 
• If you take care of God’s business, God will take care of your business. 

In Psalm 37:25, David says, “I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread.”

When the stock market crashed in 1929, J.C. Penny lost his material assets. Penny was hospitalized with severe anxiety, physical ailments, and deep depression. One night, his symptoms were so bad he thought he was dying. When he woke up, he realized he was still alive. As he walked down the hospital corridor, he heard singing from the hospital chapel. The song caught his attention. He went into the chapel, where prayers and scripture readings directed his focus to God. This was the turning point for J.C. Penny. He made a complete recovery from his illness. And he went on to build one of the most successful retail businesses in the United States. The song they were singing in this chapel was… 

Be not dismayed, whatever betide; God will take care of you;
Beneath his wings of love abide, God will take care of you. 

Through days of toil when heart doth fail, God will take care of you;
When dangers fierce yoru path assail, God will take care of you. 

No matter what may be your test, God will take care of you; 
Lean, weary one, upon his breath, God will take care of you.