Seek first the Kingdom of God! (Matthew 6:19-34)

[Stephan Choe]

February 26, 2026

Key Verse 33: “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

I have lived in Germany for 47 years. Until last June, I had never experienced a burglary. Therefore, I thought my apartment was safe. But on July 11, 2025, a thief broke into my apartment and stole money. At that moment, Jesus' words echoed: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal” (verse 19).

Not only money, but also health, career, and relationships—none of these are completely secure; therefore, we cannot rely on them.

So, what should we rely on, and what should we strive for to have security?

In this passage, Jesus Christ teaches us what we must strive for to live in security. He wants to show us the right path for our lives so that we can live in security.

1. Where should we keep our treasures? (19–24)

No one wants to live in poverty. Everyone desires a sufficient income. Some people want to be rich. Ultimately, everyone desires financial stability.

Today, Jesus gives us advice on where to keep our income, our treasures.

He says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (19–21)

We can paraphrase Jesus’ words as follows: “Do not store up your treasures in places where they cannot be kept, but in safe places.”

Where is a safe place for our money and our treasures?

Any place where thieves can break in or where moths and rust can cause decay and destruction is a dangerous place. We often hear about large sums of money being stolen in bank robberies. We also see people suffering enormous losses due to stock market crashes.

Jesus teaches us where we can most safely store our money and assets. He says, “Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal.” (20)

What does it mean to store up treasures in heaven?

It means that we are rich toward God and other people by actively using our money for God and others. In doing so, we ourselves can be blessed and store up our treasures in heaven.

But what does a healthy attitude toward accumulating treasures look like? I'd like to address three points:

First, we shouldn't place our hope in earthly treasures, but in God.

Jesus says in verse 24: “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

Money has a magical power, making it easy for people to become its worshippers. That's why money is called Mammon, meaning the idol of money. Those who are poor can easily believe that they would be perfectly happy if they had enough money. Many think that if you have a lot of money, you can conquer the world. You can do some things with money, but not everything. Some people become unhappy because of their money, because they have become money worshippers.

But if we place our hope in God, we will be happy and confident, because God gives us great joy and blesses our future with heavenly hope.

Money has a magical power, making it easy for people to become blissfully unaware. Secondly, we are to actively use our treasures for God and His kingdom.

This is a blessed investment. We should not be foolish enough to use our money and energy only for our earthly lives. I will discuss this point in detail in the second part.

If we do not want to become money worshippers, we must choose not to worship money, but to use it wisely for God and other people. Everyone needs this attitude. To achieve this, we must decide to actively use a good portion of our income for God and other people. This is a blessed attitude. When we have such an attitude, money becomes a blessing for us and many others. May God grant us such a blessed attitude.

2. How can we actively use our treasures for God and His kingdom? (25-34)

He gives us three instructions so that we can look to the future without worry:

First, He tells us to enjoy working.

He advises us to earn our living well through our work. For example, the Lord says in Proverbs 6:6: “Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!”

Paul also says in 2 Thessalonians 3:10: “For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.”

Work is also good for our health. Research shows that those who are lazy suffer a decline in intelligence. In the experiment, the IQ dropped by 20 points after three weeks of inactivity. So we shouldn't be lazy, but rather enjoy working on worthwhile tasks.

Since Esther retired, some people ask me how she spends her time. They probably can't really imagine what life is like for a retiree. I tell them: “She always has something to do.” Enjoying work—that is God's blessing.

The Lord tells us secondly that we should not worry unnecessarily because God cares for us.

He says: “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” (25-27).

At that time, people worried a great deal about bread and clothing, because bread was scarce and clothes were very expensive. Therefore, they felt their concern was justified. We, too, imagine what would happen to us if we lacked food and clothing.

Everyone experiences worry and anxiety due to a lack of necessities or interpersonal conflicts. We feel fear or anxiety because no one is perfect. But excessive worry or anxiety can make us ill. This has also been medically proven. The number of people who consult their family doctor because of an anxiety disorder is among the highest.

But Jesus says to us, “Why do you worry about clothes? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They do not labor or care to clothe themselves. Yet I tell you that even Solomon in all his splendor was not dressed like one of these flowers. If then God clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?” (28-30).

We believe in God. This means that we believe in the almighty, loving God. That God is almighty and loving means that God knows each of us and our needs well and cares for us.

That is why God's word in Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

We should believe in God and his care. If we believe in God but not in his care, that is only half a faith.

When we believe in the almighty, loving God and in his care, God rejoices and blesses us abundantly. In this way, we can enjoy heavenly peace and joy. Faith is precious, more precious than gold. We should cherish living faith and have this faith. And we should continually renew our faith so that we always have living faith and can please God.

Thirdly, the Lord says that we should seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

Look at verse 33: “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

He teaches us to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Then God will provide for our needs.

What does Jesus mean by his words, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness”? He means two things by this:

First, he means that we should first gratefully accept God's kingdom and his rule in Christ and truly enjoy fellowship with God.

At the beginning of his ministry, Jesus said, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" (3:2).

He also said, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he (i.e., God) has sent" (John 6:29).

Jesus Christ brought us God's kingdom and opened the way to God wide for us. He freed us from the power of sin and the might of darkness. He made us children of God and gave us the kingdom of God. He gave us eternal life and the kingdom of heaven. He gave us the Holy Spirit. This is the good news of God. We should gratefully accept this message. This is God's grace for us. We don't need to worry much about various things, because we already have eternal life and God's kingdom. Furthermore, we have God as our heavenly Father. When we accept this Good News and give thanks for it, we are freed from many everyday worries. For we already have eternal life and God's kingdom. And our heavenly Father cares for us. Because of the Good News, we are to be different from non-believers.

We are to truly enjoy fellowship with God with great longing. That is why Jesus said, "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness."

We tend to think first of our earthly needs and forget God. That is why our thoughts revolve around me: my desires, my food, my work, my money, my house, and so on. Of course, everyone should think about their needs and work towards them. But when we forget God, we have a spiritual void. For God is our Creator and our heavenly Father. He wants to have fellowship with us. But when God is missing from our thoughts, we are empty. And this void cannot be filled.

When we forget God and think only of ourselves, we also become prisoners of our ego. Although we mean well, our ego is a bad master, for it makes us prisoners of sin.

We are to continually embrace the Kingdom of God in Jesus Christ. And we are to think first of God and our fellowship with Him, and only then of ourselves and our needs. Where we have fellowship with God, there is the Kingdom of God. We can find joy in Him every day and enjoy deep peace. When God reigns over us, our lives have true meaning, and we have a living hope. We can remain hopeful despite all adversity.

Secondly, Jesus means, with his words, "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness," that we are to work actively for the glory of God and the salvation of humankind.

God has freed us from false worries and desires. He now wants us to work for the salvation of others so that they, too, may be blessed. God is not only our God, but He is also the God of all people. Therefore, He wants to save all people from sin and the power of death and give them eternal life and His Kingdom. He has a burning desire for the salvation of humankind. He wants us, who were the first to believe, to work together with God for their salvation. God wants to work with us for their salvation. In this way, God wants to expand his kingdom of mercy every day. Our Alpha course and our summer conference are also for this purpose. God wants to invite as many people as possible to his glory. That is why he says to us: “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

How can we look to the future with great hope and without worry, and actively use our resources for God and his kingdom? That is a good question for all of us. Let us turn to the Master of Wisdom and receive the answer from him.

What does the Master answer to our question?

Now I will summarize Jesus' teaching.

First, we should not be lazy, but rather work willingly. That is God's will for us.

Second, we should not worry unnecessarily, because God cares for us.

Third, we should seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.

May God help us to practice these three teachings well and to richly experience heavenly bliss.