But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. -Matthew 6:33

Above is a well-known and oft-quoted verse spoken by Jesus during His “Sermon on the Mount.” But what does it mean to our everyday lives? It’s implications are significant and far-reaching.

The search

First of all, Jesus tells us to seek. We are to seek God’s kingdom and righteousness. And at the end of the verse, He mentions that all of the things that we think we need for this life, (such as food, clothing, etc.) will be added to us: almost as a bonus.

How often do we try to turn this principle completely upside down? We seek after the things that we think we’ll need, and go to considerable efforts to obtain them. And in so doing, we expect that perhaps—since we’re Christians—that we’ll just stumble upon God’s righteousness as a blessing on the side.

How completely opposite are God’s ways than ours! “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD” (Isaiah 55:8). Our Lord Jesus has told us rather that we ought to be seeking, (i.e., looking for, searching, hunting) God’s kingdom and righteousness. They are to be our primary focus, and all of the other things of this life ought to be esteemed as only secondary: even so much as the very food that we eat. For God cares for us so deeply that He will not allow His children that are truly seeking Him to go hungry.

Our top priority

Not only does Jesus tell us to seek the kingdom of God, but that we ought to seek it first. It is not enough to simply seek after His righteousness with our “leftovers.”

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God deserves our very best.

The Bible sometimes refers to this as the “firstfruits,” it’s the cream of the crop. God deserves our best of our time, our money, our efforts, and any other thing that we have under our control: we ought to use it first and foremost for God’s kingdom.

Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. -Proverbs 3:9-10

God’s kingdom and righteousness

Jesus tells us earlier in the Sermon on the Mount to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven, and not on this earth. “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:21).

Everything that is done for eternity will be as rewards to us that will never grow old, yet the works that we do for ourselves will perish with our earthly bodies. But more than this, when we are working for eternity—to the neglecting of our own needs and necessities—God delights to show us His provision while we are focused on His tasks.

Truly, if we had been looking after our own needs, (such as food, clothing, etc.) we probably would’ve been able to provide these things for ourselves anyway; but I believe that a special blessing comes when we focus intently on God and His kingdom, and allow our Heavenly Father to provide our needs for us. We become dependant on Him (a good thing) and we increase in our faith and gratitude. Plus, when it comes to providing for a need, nobody can do it better than God!

“A God all mercy is a God unjust.” -Edward Young

The amazing thing about God is that He cannot deny Himself. That is, if we sin, God has designed the universe in such a way that there must be payment made for this sin. God is perfectly just: He has only shown us mercy at someone else’s expense: His very own Son. As the acrostic says: God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. -Isaiah 53:5

God isn’t all mercy and no justice

God did not simply wave a magic wand and bid our sins be gone. He was just, and had to make a payment for our sins. From the very beginning, when Adam and Eve received the animal skins from God, He was making payment for their sins. He showed his first created man mercy at the expense of an animal. He was unmerciful to an animal so that He could show mercy to His people.

And on through the Old Testament, God showed His people Israel mercy—delivering them from the angel of death—at the expense of a spotless lamb. He was unmerciful to the lamb, that He might show His nation Israel mercy.

And finally, to all mankind, God showed mercy on us all by sacrificing His very own Son to die on our behalf. He could not simply make sin disappear or go away: justice was stitched into the very fabric of His creation: there must be a payment.

He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? -Romans 8:32

God was unmerciful on His own Son so that He might show us mercy. He was acting in complete justice, and yet showing us overwhelming mercy. And with such a great payment made, how then ought we to live, seeing as how our mercy came at such a great cost? How then ought we to conduct the manner of our lives, seeing as how our freedom did not come freely?

He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. -Isaiah 53:11

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. -Psalms 1:1

The words in the verse above should be mostly straightforward. A man that is blessed of God is one who doesn’t walk in the counsel of ungodly people, nor does he stand in the way of sinners. Yet, the last phrase, “nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful” is a bit more cryptic.

What does it mean to sit in the seat of the scornful? Two main components should be noticed: the seat, and the scornful.

Laughed to scorn

The phrase “to laugh someone to scorn” is common in the Bible, occurring some 11 times by my count.

I am as one mocked of his neighbour, who calleth upon God, and he answereth him: the just upright man is laughed to scorn. -Job 12:4

Using the Bible to define its own words in context, we can see above (and from several other verses) that to scorn someone is to mock them. And in this same vein of using the Bible to get meanings of words, here’s another helpful verse:

And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it. -Habakkuk 1:10

So a few more synonyms for scorn are: scoff, and deride.

Going back to our original verse, blessed is the man that does not sit in the seat of the scornful: that does not sit in the seat of mockers and scoffers.

Sitting in the seat

Sitting down in a seat could imply a variety of things; it could mean that we are spending time and being around those that are scorners of God and His ways. It implies a comfort: that we are sitting down and are at ease while doing it. It implies permanence: that we are not just passing through with scornful people, or that we didn’t just come upon them by chance, but that we have willfully and intentionally sat down and remain among scorners.

Combining the two phrases, we get a person who has made the choice to mock and scoff at God, His holy people, and His ways. In the Bible, scorn is almost always used in a context that is against people. One who sits in the seat of the scornful is one who mocks and makes fun of the righteous and the holy—those whom God loves.

I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy hand: for thou hast filled me with indignation. -Jeremiah 15:17

And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward: -Isaiah 37:31

Although there are many references to roots, plants, fruitfulness, etc. throughout the Bible, very few of them describe things as succinctly as the prophet Isaiah. He speaks by the word of the Lord a simple phrase:

“[T]ake root downward, and bear fruit upward.”

A picture of spiritual things

What most of us Christians are after is fruit. We want to do great and mighty works for God. We may look at other great Christians of the past—as mighty trees—and see their great quantities of fruit that they have borne for Jesus, and want to emulate their success.

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We need depth before we can get height.

But one important thing to remember is that we are only human, and we cannot look upon the heart or soul of a person. When we see a Christian bearing fruit in a seemingly effortless manner, we may get discouraged that we don’t equal their output.

Yet in the message that Isaiah spoke, he mentioned first taking root downward, and then bearing fruit upward. It may seem overly obvious to mention, but we cannot see the giant roots that have been developed by God in a Christian’s life over the course of many years.

A shift in focus: the root system

Undoubtedly Jesus spoke of bearing fruit: and it truly ought to be the goal of every Christian while upon this earth to bear fruit for our Master. “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples” (John 15:8). But in terms of our focus, we ought to not be too preoccupied with the fruit-bearing, especially if our roots are weak or underdeveloped.

As I have mentioned in the entry Seasons of Fruitfulness, it should come as no surprise if we are as young, vulnerable saplings and we bear little to no mature fruit. We are still growing.

Yet it is important during this time to focus on our growth, and ensure that we truly are growing, and not that we’re simply choked out with the cares and worries of this world. We ought to ensure that each day we are feeding on the daily bread of God’s word, and that we are walking in His will, and making clear progress in our spiritual life.

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. -Psalm 1:1-3

And the LORD stirred up an adversary unto Solomon, Hadad the Edomite: he was of the king’s seed in Edom. -1 Kings 11:14

For all the good that king Solomon did, he also had many wives and concubines, (roughly 1,000 of them), and his heart was turned away from the Lord. As a punishment, God told Solomon that He would tear the kingdom from him in the days of his son, and God began to bring difficulties into Solomon’s life. One such difficulty was that God stirred up opponents and adversaries to come against Solomon.

From the earliest giving of the Law in the Old Testament, one of the curses of disobedience is the stirring up of adversaries.

The LORD shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth. -Deuteronomy 28:25

Chastening: not just in the Old Testament

The idea that God would punish a Christian may seem too harsh to today’s believers, yet it’s fully supported and taught in Scripture, even in the New Testament.

In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes. -Judges 21:25

In case there is any confusion as to the context and the meaning of the phrase in the above verse, “every man did that which was right in his own eyes,” it is used in a negative sense. That is to say, there was no king in the land at that time, and it was akin to anarchy: there was no one to rule over the people, and everyone did their own thing.

As humans with a selfish, inherently sinful nature, we like to do our own thing. We don’t like to take orders, and we don’t like to restrained by rules or commands. And unfortunately, this attitude often translates from worldly things into the spiritual.

It is the devil’s mentality, and the devil’s religion that would have the center of the world contained in one word: ME. It’s all about me. And even a notable occultist/satanist named Aleister Crowley said of his doctrine: “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.”

This is exactly the same deceit that Satan spoke to Eve in the garden of Eden! “Sure God told you not to eat that fruit, but you can do your own thing…” the serpent whispered.

Selfishness and stubborn rebellion against established laws is a natural inclination. That is, it’s natural, but not right! Due to Adam’s fall, sin is natural, but it’s not right. Wickedness is the norm.

A disturbing trend

The same attitude that stirs in us and tells us to do our own thing is found in the church of God as well. We do not want God to truly rule over us. We agree that God is good, and just, and worthy of our praise, but when it comes down to it, we don’t want to be restrained and squeezed into the narrow path of His Will. We want to do our own thing. We still recognize God as Lord, and Savior, and we still seek to give honor and glory to Him: but we don’t want to do it His way, we want to do it our way.

Jesus made it clear that there are those who aren’t truly Christians, yet they believe that they are serving God and bringing Him honor. And what is their calling card? They do their own thing.

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. -Matthew 7:21-23

It’s clear from the verses above that following God’s will is better than following our own will, even though our own will might be “right in our own eyes.”

King Saul was a perfect example of this: he thought he was doing God a favor by sacrificing to the Lord, when that wasn’t what God wanted. He thought that the good works that he was doing was pleasing to God, yet in his heart Saul was rebellious against God’s commands, and didn’t walk in God’s will, and as a result he received the now-famous admonition from the prophet Samuel:

And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. -1 Samuel 15:22

“Vice lives and thrives best by concealment.” -Virgil

How very true; when we do wrong, it is as darkness, and we wish to keep such deeds in darkness. Many of our sins are done in secret, and if we had no means of concealing them, they would cease to thrive.

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. -John 3:19-21

God requires of us to bring our vices and wrongdoings into the light. Sin is self-destructive, and the longer we hide and conceal it, the more likely we are to suffer graver and graver consequences.

He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. -Proverbs 28:13