Never before in history have human beings trying to focus on a task in front of them that needs doing faced distractions as powerful as the beep or flash of our cell phones intruding into our consciousness. In the face of such constant distractions (often by good things), Christians all seem to be struggling to save any time or energy to devote to the most important goal of our lives—honoring Christ through the spiritual fruitfulness of our lives. We know that Jesus said, “By this is my father glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples,” and that God is honored when we accomplish the mission Christ has assigned to us. But we are also sobered by the truth that “bearing much fruit” does not happen accidentally, or randomly. This episode examines the question, “What will it take to be as fruitful as possible for Christ in the months ahead as life returns to the fall routine?”
John Piper, in his book, “Don’t Waste Your Life,” shares a story from his boyhood that had a life-changing impact on him. A church had been praying for a hardened man to come to faith in Christ for decades and decades. Finally, as an old man, he came to faith. The part of the story that Piper could never forget were the tears running down the man’s wrinkled face as he sobbed, “I’ve wasted my life. I’ve wasted it!”
No Christian man I know wants to waste his life. He wants to get to the end of the race marked out for him and hear, “Well done” from the master. In fact, We want to do a GREAT job of living for Christ. David Murrow observes that men are motivated by a desire to hear the words, “GREAT JOB.” He argues that men want to be GREAT at what they do and that such motivation is not wrong. He points out:
The Lord promised GREATNESS to two OT patriarchs: Abraham and David. What di the Lord say to Abraham? “I will bless you and make your name great” (Gen. 12:2) How about David? “Now I will make your name great like the greatest men of the earth” (2 Sam. 7:9). In both instances He promised these men a great name. A name that would go down in history. Like any good father, God wants His children to grow up into great men and women. He doesn’t seem offended if others recognize this greatness (Why Men Hate Going to Church).
When discussing the desire to be great with his disciples, Jesus does not disparage the masculine longing for greatness; rather, he teaches them the way to true greatness. Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. (Mark 10).
How do we do a GREAT job of living for Christ as life returns to semi-normal this fall? How can I maximize the fruitfulness of my life, which brings glory to God?
This episode provides just one biblical principle to answer this question: Being intentional and not haphazard about our mission. In other words, we must take charge of our lives and schedule, and shape them according to our mission. There is a surprising passivity that has infected men when it comes to our mission as followers of Christ. Men know that in nearly every other sphere of life, to succeed we plan. Game planning in football begins immediately after the films from the previous game are reviewed and all week the offense, defense, and special teams learn the game plan. Finding a job, going on vacation, getting the bills paid on time, going to the grocery store, how you will allocate your time at work, how to use your weekend free time—everything requires us to do something to formulate a plan….except when it comes to our spiritual lives. This episode shows from three different biblical perspectives why every believer who wants to live a life that honors Christ, must be intentional and not haphazard about his mission from Christ. As a mentor of mine, Pat Morley, used to say, “If we are going to beat the old man (sinful nature) in us, we are going to have to get organized to do it.”
Let’s think a little bit about this concept of intentionality before delving into the Biblical support for it. To be intentional is to have a direction, a focus, a spiritual game plan, a mental awareness of where we intend to invest our energy and decision making. It is to rule life, instead of allowing life to rule us. It is being in control of our schedule, having a rudder for our raft as the fast-moving current of life sweeps us down the river instead of just bouncing off of whatever boulders are in front of us. In contrast is the out-of-control, haphazard life that Christians today often fall into. Too often it is aimless, casual, disorganized, random, helter-skelter. You might even say careless with our stewardship of the precious gift we have to offer God in response to his love—our lives. What is the biblical case for staying focused on our mission?
WHY FAITHFULNESS TO CHRIST’S CALLING REQUIRES INTENTIONALITY
A. Adam and Eve were created not to sit on their hands and passively enjoy God’s creation. The five verbs in God’s command to them require, shaping, i.e., imposing their will upon creation: And God said to them, “BE FRUITFUL and MULTIPLY and FILL the earth and SUBDUE it, and HAVE DOMINION OVER the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Gen 1:28). Because Adam and Eve are created to bear the image of God our creator, the sovereign ruler over the universe, God designs Adam and Eve to also be rulers of a kingdom—the earth, which has enormous untapped potential for them to develop and shape into a God-honoring culture. At the core of humanness is the calling to order our lives and shape our surroundings.
After Genesis 1 reports this creation calling of all humans, Genesis 2 retells the creation story with the focus on the differentiation of Adam from Eve. God puts Adam in the Garden of Eden to work it (AVAD) and to keep it (SHAMAR). This word, AVAD, for work it, or cultivate it is an especially proactive word. Whereas protecting the garden could be seen as reactive—i.e. responding to danger, working the garden is by definition, proactive—taking the initiative to do what is necessary to cause the garden and those in it to flourish. As you hear me mention often on this podcast, the most important living things in the garden, whose flourishing Adam is to foster are Eve, and his children. A godly man, by definition, is intentional in providing what his wife and children need physically, emotionally, and spiritually to thrive. He will fail to do so without a game plan.
So being intentional, i.e., taking the initiative to impact our surroundings for Christ is fundamental to accomplishing the very purpose for which God created a man. The next place we see the importance of intentionality is in Matthew 6:33.
B. In this verse, Jesus hearkens back to the Genesis 1 calling of Adam and Eve to impact the world around them, shaping it according to God’s agenda of righteousness. This mission is restated by Jesus in his sermon on the mount. Indeed, it is assigned to us by our Lord as our top priority. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness (Matt 6:33). By definition, the word, seek requires intentionality. It means to pursue, to go after, to follow, to trail. It means deciding to move towards a goal, whether it is seeking a gold medal or seeking more customers through advertising. The context surrounding this command to seek first God’s kingdom suggests that a good translation of this word, (ZETEO), might be, to be pre-occupied with. Here is what I mean. In Matthew 6, Jesus is saying:
1. Don’t Be Preoccupied With: What Others Think of You
When you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others (vs 2) …and when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others (vs 5)… And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others (vs 16).
2. Don’t Be Preoccupied With: Piling Up Earthly Treasure
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust[e] destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (vs 19-21).
3. Don’t Be Preoccupied With: Worry
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. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these…. Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all (vs 25-32).
4. INSTEAD, Do Be Preoccupied With the Kingdom of God--Your First Priority
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you (vs 33). Those who put their faith in Christ are not called to a life of haphazard spontaneity; they are called to put their energy into pursuing something. In fact, says Jesus, we are to avoid three distractions which can easily push kingdom pursuit into the background 1) fear of what others think of us, 2) preoccupation with building a nest egg of material security, 3) and obsession with worry. Instead, what is to preoccupy us is advancing the kingdom of God and his righteousness.
However, one of the reasons that we fail to keep the pursuit of God’s kingdom of righteousness in the forefront of our minds is that it is nearly impossible to strive towards reaching a goal that is nebulous and completely out of focus. We must have a concrete picture of the kingdom of God, or we can’t stay focused upon it. Fortunately, Matthew, the author of this gospel, understood much of the confusion surrounding the concept of God’s kingdom. As a Jew who celebrated the Psalms, he knew that God’s people often sang of God’s kingship over the whole earth meaning his universal sovereign rule over all the affairs of men. But Matthew knew that could not be what Jesus was commanding his followers to seek. God is already sovereign!
Matthew, being one of the twelve, had also heard Jesus use the term, kingdom of God, in many seemingly different ways. The kingdom of God is a community in which the king exercises dominion with his followers on his left and right (Mt 20:21), in which the righteous shine and from which the wicked are cast out (Mt 13:43). It is a place where there is a certain perspective (Lk 9:62; Mk 12:34). The kingdom is also a gift from the Heavenly Father (Lk 12:32), which is being prepared by God for his people (Mt 20:23; 25:34). It is a condition of peace and happiness in which kingdom members will sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Mt 8:11), and feast (Mt 26:29; Lk 14:15). In addition, the kingdom of God is a moral good to be pursued (Mt 6:33) and prayed for (Mt 6:10). So, what ASPECT of the Kingdom of God are Jesus’ followers are to seek as the highest priority of their lives?
Actually, Matthew makes it quite clear which aspect of the kingdom of God Jesus was referring to—by continuing the Matthew 6:33 command, Seek first the kingdom of God with the words AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS. Matthew uses a grammatical structure (called a hendiadys) to make clear what Jesus was saying in the original Aramaic. Seeking first the kingdom of God is seeking the righteous rule of Christ over every sphere of human life. It is:
- Seeking to implement Christ’s agenda over my heart loyalties, loving him with all the allegiance of my heart.
- Second it is surrendering to Christ’s agenda for my heart attitudes—making me more like him—replacing self-centeredness with a servant’s heart, pride with humility, self-indulgence with self-discipline, apathy for those broken by sin with tears of compassion, anger over my violated rights with quiet trust in God to provide my needs, selfishness with self-giving sacrifice for others, shutting out the one who hurts me with forgiveness, a cavalier attitude towards my sin, with a hunger and thirst for righteousness, a preoccupation with my reputation with a passion to see Christ’s name honored.
- Seeking first Christ’s agenda begins with my heart loyalties, moves to my heart attitudes, but then extends outward—striving to implement Christ’s agenda for my marriage, my kids, my brotherhood connections, church involvement, extended family, workplace, neighborhood, nation, world.
Not only am I to seek (be preoccupied with) the spread of Christ’s righteous agenda over every sphere of my life, but God’s name being honored as Christ’s kingdom of righteousness prevails over the kingdom of darkness is to be the starting point for my prayer life! “Pray then like this,” taught Jesus, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt 6:9-10). Father, may the very righteousness of heaven, where there is no sin, be poured out on this sphere of earth, because Jesus has broken the back of sin, set Adam’s kingdom—this world—free from its slavery to it, disarmed the Evil one (Col 2:15) and poured out from heaven, your Holy Spirit to empower restoration.
The original disciples who heard Jesus’ life calling to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness never understood the gospel apart from the coming of the kingdom of God. Being a disciple of Christ involves much more than changing a few behavioral patterns; it requires a complete reordering of one’s life around demonstrating to the world, what restored human life is to look like as the members of the new humanity living out the countercultural values and character of Christ’s kingdom of righteousness. Kingdom discipleship changes our perspective on every aspect of life, engages our heart with a passion to see our King’s agenda established over the entire world, and gives us a paradigm for exercising dominion over every aspect of our lives for Christ, our King. But there is a third compelling reason why intentionality is required of Jesus’ followers.
C. Our highest calling, to love God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength requires us to be intentional about applying the commands of Scripture to our everyday lives. Loving God is not about sentimental feelings; it is about allegiance to Kings Jesus, supreme loyalty proven by our devotion to pattern our lives according to his commands—that will most honor him. Notice how clear Jesus is about this truth in John 14. If you love me, you will keep my commandments (vs 15) ….Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me (vs 21) ….If anyone loves me, he will keep my word (vs 23) ….Whoever does not love me does not keep my words (vs 24). So, what is your game plan for discovering, understanding, and putting into practice the commands of Jesus? How are you getting organized to pursue the reign of Christ’s righteousness over your heart loyalties, heart attitudes, and spheres of your life? Jesus did not try to complete his mission without a game plan.
- Jesus got up before dark to sort out whether to stay in Capernaum and heal or move on to other towns to preach (Mark 1:35-39).
- He prayed all night and then chose 12 apostles (Luke 6:12).
- He commissioned the twelve to expand his ministry, giving them power to heal, exorcise demons and proclaim the kingdom of God (Luke 9:1).
- He sends out the 72 ahead of himself into every town where he was planning to go (Luke 10:1).
- The location, where Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do you say that I am,” Caesarea Philippi, was not accidental. When Peter answered, “You are the Messiah,” Jesus responded that this confession of trust in Jesus as the Messiah who would conquer Satan, sin, and death would be the foundation of the church. Jesus went on "and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” This city was the center of the pagan worship of Pan believed to be the great God of the Underworld. Inside the cliff above their city was Pan’s caved, which housed the gates to the underworld. Jesus was challenging his followers to press his kingdom of righteousness over the earth, chasing demonic powers back to hell (Matt 16:13).
- Luke tells us that when the days drew near for Jesus to be taken up, “he set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51).
- Jesus waited several days for Lazarus’ body to be in the proving he was dead, before he came to Bethany (Jn 11:6).
- Jesus made arrangements to borrow a donkey to ride into Jerusalem to fulfill Zechariah’s prophecy, Behold, your king comes to you, humble riding on a colt the foal of a donkey (Luke 19:30).
Our Lord was continually thinking about and planning how he was going to accomplish his mission to please the Father. We are terribly naive if we think we can, actually, stay focused on our mission to seek first the righteous rule of Christ over every sphere of our lives, without intentionality, without thinking through what the mission looks like in our unique everyday life and devoting time and energy to formulating a game plan. Not having every been a football coach, I can’t begin to fathom the amount of effort that Bruce Arians and Andy Reid and their staffs put into their game plan for Superbowl 55. But I do know one fact. Your life is more important than any Superbowl game. Giving ourselves to Christ’s mission to honor him with our lives requires an intentional game plan. It will not happen by accident!
