The Kingdom First

JESUS said: "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness;

and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matt. 6:33.)

What a transformation would be wrought in this wicked old world if all

would do that! Yea, what a transformation would be wrought in the church

if all the members of it were to put thekingdom ahead of everybody and everything! Christians do that. Nothing takes

precedence over the church with them.

When we put the kingdom of God first, we attend all the services of the

church. We do not forsake the assembly. (Heb. 10:25.) We do not allow our

business engagements and social affairs to keep us from assembling. Our

religious duties have the right of way. If anything must suffer, it will be our

business relative to the affairs of this life. The kingdom must come first. We

know that all of our physical necessities will be taken care of when we put the

church first. When we put the kingdom of God first, we will meet with the

disciples to break bread. (Acts 20:7.) We will not meet to worship a preacher,

but to worship God. The worship will be the thing uppermost in our hearts.

We would not think of allowing anything to keep us from the worship. We

will not be found going on pleasure jaunts when the saints are assembling for

worship. We will not be going visiting at the hour of worship. We will not be

found at home entertaining some of our relatives and friends.

When we put the kingdom first, we will give as we have been prospered.

(1 Cor. 16:1, 2.) We will abound in the grace of giving. (2 Cor. 8:7.) So many

times we put the grocery bill, the clothing bill, the rent bill, the fuel bill, the

insurance bill, the pleasure bill, and other bills ahead of the church. Yes, we

must have food, clothing, and shelter; but these we shall have when we put

the kingdom first. We can spend most of our income for the things of this life,

but we do not do that when we put the kingdom first. Real Christians find real

pleasure in giving their means for the spread of the gospel, alleviating

suffering, etc. The only money that we are really saving is what we are laying

up in the bank of heaven. Some brethren in these war days are "investing" ten

per cent of their incomes in war bonds. Brethren, listen: If people can do that

to perpetuate a worldly government, why can we not give as much or more to

save souls? We can. We will when we put the kingdom of God first.Most of us make great sacrifices to get an earthly home. We are not afraid

of a debt of a few thousand dollars. We want a little place that we can call our

own. That is right. And then when we get that house, we want comfortable

furniture in it. We want it to be neat and attractive. We do not like dirty

houses. And that is right. But sometimes brethren will have nice houses well

furnished, but where the saints meet to worship the Most High God is a shame

and a disgrace. The house is anything but neat. The furniture is not

comfortable. The lawn is unkept. The song books are torn and dirty. Copies

of the Bible are scarce, and what few there are may be dirty and torn. When

I see conditions such as this. I know that the brethren are not putting' the

kingdom first. They are putting their own homes and their own comforts ahead

of the Lord. One brother will go in debt five thousand dollars for a home for

his family, but twenty brethren cannot go in debt ten thousand dollars for a

neat and commodious place in which to meet to worship God.

And oftentimes the meeting house is on some back street or alley where

even the poorest of the brethren would hesitate to live. Why should not the

meetinghouse be well located? Why should we have to apologize to strangers

for the meetinghouse and its location? If we would put the kingdom first, it

would save us a lot of embarrassment and a lot of needless apologies. Yes, we

can worship without a house at all. "The groves were God's first temples." But

not often would it be good sense to meet in the groves. Our climate precludes

that in most sections. I understand that theatres in our land are very

commodious and comfortable. I have noticed that they occupy prominent

sites. Why are they not stuck in some back alley and made desolate, cold, and

uninviting? The children of the world seem to be wiser in some ways than we

are.

It is a rare thing that I go into a home without one or more newspapers

coming to that home. Even the very poorest have a newspaper with the

"funnies." Brethren think nothing of stopping on their way home from meeting

and paying ten cents ormore for a Sunday paper. Our very best religious papers cost less than four

cents a week. And they are filled with worthwhile reading matter. Reading

them draws you closer to God and to the brethren. We have thousands of

homes in the brotherhood without any gospel paper coming regularly to that

home. We cannot plead poverty. If any are so poor that they cannot raise four

cents a week for a good gospel paper, there are many brethren who would

gladly donate them the paper. Oftentimes filthy magazines are allowed to

come into the home. When I see these lying around Christian homes. I know

that I am in another home that does not put the kingdom of God first. The

environment is not right. The atmosphere is not conducive to Christian living.

When we put the kingdom of God first, we find time for daily Bible

reading. Yes, we are busy and crowded for time: but we must not get so busy

that we have no time left for God. We read about some folks being more noble

than others because they searched the Scriptures daily. (Acts 17:11.) And you

will please note the word ''searched." A hurried glance into the sacred volume

would scarcely come under the head of "searching the Scriptures." We know

what it means to "search'' for other things. When we lose something and search

high and low for it, we know what that means. We should take time to search

the Scriptures. There are to be found the brightest jewels and the greatest

wealth. No other searching will pay dividends comparable to that which

comes from searching God's word. May the Lord help us to put the word of

the kingdom first.

And some brethren get so busy in worldly organizations They are in this,

that, and the other thing. And how they do work! They will give time, talent,

and money to these worldly things—yes, time, talent, and money that should

be expended in working for the Lord. When we put the kingdom of God first,

we shall not have time for these other things. And I am about ready to say that

we will not have any desire for them. We are so busy going about the Master's

business. Our meat isto do the will of God. Of course worldly people cannot understand this, but

we have meat to eat that they know nothing about.

I have been going about preaching the word for twenty-five years. It has

been my personal observation that the more brethren get tangled up in the

affairs of this life the less they enjoy the work of the Lord and the less real

influence for good they exert. I have seen brethren so busy with worldly things

that their attitude toward the church was just about like it was toward their

fire insurance policy—just "in case"! Christianity is more than taking out a fire

insurance policy against the fires of hell. It is a life to be lived so that a crown

may be won.

May the good Lord help us to put first things first—yes, may we seek "first

the kingdom of God, and his righteousness." And the Lord will take care of

the other things he knows we need.