But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. --Matthew 6:33
It took me a long time to ask the obvious question: why should I seek first God’s kingdom and
righteousness? Why can’t I just do
whatever I want? Does my obedience make
God feel good such that He will subsequently look after me? Does my obedience make God love me, or love
me more? Could it be something
else? Is it possible that God knows my true
need better than I do?
God does not tell you to seek righteousness so He can love
you. He tells you to seek righteousness
because He loves you.
Righteousness is sometimes defined as the state of moral
perfection required to enter heaven.
That is somewhat of a circular definition. To be righteous, or upright before God, is to
enter heaven. The Hebrew word at the
root of it all is sedeq. This usually gets translated in the
Septuagint as dikaiosynē (so I am
told). According to the New Dictionary of Theology (Wright,
Ferguson, and Packer), “It thus denotes
not so much the abstract idea of justice or virtue, as right standing and
consequent right behaviour, within a community.”
Jesus said, “For God
so loved the world …” – why not stop there?
The Lord could have just said, “We’ll call it good, and everybody is all
right.” That’s not the way it
works. Man is destroyed for the lack of
righteousness -- not by God -- by the lack. Both the libertine and
the legalist miss the point Christ is making -- in His words, in His
death and the shedding of His blood.
One
of Jesus’ parables is about a wedding feast to which many were invited. The invited guests refused the invitation, so
the king sent out his servants to gather in the poor, the strangers, and the
homeless that the abundance might not go to waste and that the marriage would
be joyously celebrated. Since these
people were not necessarily properly clothed, the king even provided for
that. He probably gave them the
opportunity to bathe, and he gave them new, clean wedding garments to
wear. So the king is walking around,
enjoying the great feast, making sure everybody is having a great time. But
when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no
wedding garment. And he said to him,
‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was
speechless. (Matthew 22:11-12)
By this parable to which the covenant of marriage is central,
Jesus shows us the covenant side of righteousness. To be part of the covenant community is both
a gift and an obligation. If we would
accept the offer of life, we must also accept the appropriate garment, of
righteousness. To enter into the covenantal
relationship we must put off our old clothes and “put on Christ”.
The deepest need of the creature is the Creator, and,
possibly, because He created us, the Creator – no, I am too fearful to say He
needs us; He loves us more than we can comprehend. That is enough. He wants the best for us which can only be
ours if we can be upright before Him.
But we are broken, weak, marred vessels, wandering beggars along the
roads. He calls us who are covered in
grime and the filthy rags of our unrighteousness. He says, Come in and we will clean you up,
and robe you in righteousness that you may enter. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew
no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
We do not need better marketing, more gadgetry, faster
connections, more hybrids, more tolerance for wickedness, more celebrations of
decadence – not even more money, more jobs, and better politicians. Our deepest need is for righteousness. Ease, comfort, convenience, pleasure – these things
are sought and when they are obtained, we quickly find they are not
enough.
Yet if we would simply hunger and thirst for righteousness,
we would be freely, abundantly, and everlastingly filled.
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