Motivation of the Kingdom
Psalms 40:4-8
Blessed is that man who makes the Lord his trust, And does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. Many, O Lord my God, are Your wonderful works Which You have done; And Your thoughts toward us Cannot be recounted to You in order; If I would declare and speak of them, They are more than can be numbered. Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; My ears You have opened. Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require. Then I said, “Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God, And Your law is within my heart.”
Psalms 40:4-8 NKJV
There is something in this world that we are lacking or missing.
Many of us look and search for this and find it very difficult to obtain.
Motivation!
There is such a lack of Motivation in the church.
I’ve been thinking about this.
What drives men and women to pursue the world?
Promotion, power and wealth. These are probably the most common things the world had to offer us.
We work hard to get that promotion.
We do extra work to be seen by the boss to recognize the effort we are putting in.
We may start early or stay late.
There is the Motivation to believe that if I work hard I will get what I deserve. If I push towards my goal it will be accomplished.
This is what the world has to offer.
It sets these things before our eyes to motivate us to meet the goals we have made.
That is the world.
The Kingdom of God doesn’t work like that.
What about our Walk with the Lord?
There is a lack of motivation to pursue Him.
We say a prayer of repentance, some get Baptized and some follow.
Now we are good because we have the promise of Heaven in our back pocket!
Many stop there.
There’s is nothing left to gain, we now have the Assurance of Heaven because Jesus said so!
We are no longer motivated because our needs have been filled. Now instead of acting like the Church we act just like the world.
Because of that lack we as a society have suffered.
Motivation is a verb, it’s an action word.
It moves us towards something. It stimulates an interest. Motivation is to drive us to our goal.
As a Follower of Christ what is your goal right now?
Think about this.
We all want families to be together. We want to stop the killing of God’s precious unborn.
Human trafficking. Homelessness.
Christian persecution. The list goes on and on!
We want to do all these things for the Kingdom of God and in the Name of Jesus!
But what motivates you to get up and battle again? Is it seeing the evil of this world or seeing the Goodness of Heaven?
What motivated you to repent and believe the Gospels?
Why would we leave this world behind and all its riches to Follow a Man from Nazareth? What good comes out of Nazareth!
At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry He performed many amazing miracles. He healed, He delivered people with demons.
He would speak in the Synagogues with power and authority! And all that witnessed were astonished by what this man was doing!
The motivation was to see more and more. To follow this man and see what He could do.
Then in His compassion He feeds the masses with a few fish and some bread.
And they ate until their bellies could no longer accept any more.
What was their motivation?
Signs, wonders, and food.
Many in the Church are still motivated by this. They are severely missing the point.
Shortly after this many would no longer be motivated to follow Him.
Jesus would teach a hard lesson.
He would explain about His body and Blood.
For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, “Does this offend you? What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before?
John 6:55, 61-62 NKJV
He would give them Spiritual food!
They would start to dissipate and the number of people would dwindle from the tens of thousands to a handful of faithful followers!
Why would they start to leave Him?
They wanted the bellies to be full and not their Spirit. They wanted the signs and wonders and the power to perform them for themselves.
Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
John 6:67-69 NKJV
Simon Peter gives the answer to it all.
All of our questions. All of our fears and doubts. And all of our motivation should stem from this!
Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
We have forgotten to seek first the Kingdom. Yes, there are many, many things that have to be done in the Name of the Lord. Yes, we have to spread the Gospel. Building the Kingdom of God is essential.
You cannot be the seed spreader of the Gospel if you have no seed to spread!
King David says something interesting.
I delight to do Your will, O my God.
Nothing more nothing less. But this will be the hardest and most rewarding thing to do.
Being in full service to the Lord! Imagine that. Not to say it but to be it. To do the will of the Father! No matter what He says. Where He wants us to go, when He wants us to stay.
Truly under His power and authority with no sense of self but a true Bondservant Of Jesus Christ!
He has the Words of Eternal Life!
Paul and the Apostles saw and understood this concept!
Jesus is everything.
That is our motivation to continue on, doing the will of God!
When we pursue the will of the Father and not our own, then things will start to change. Then we will be more useful for the Kingdom of God.
The motivation to do the will of the Father should be all we need to go out. Why?
Because it pleases Him!
We speak so much about being empty vessels. Being filled by the Lord to do His will.
We talk about being Ambassadors for the Kingdom. Being His hand, feet and mouth piece. Yes these are all good, only if they are tools to do the will of the Father and not our own!
The Kingdom of Heaven awaits, that was our first motivation!
The promise of Heaven, escape from death and hell. Eternal life. That is what persuaded us to accept and follow.
But now our motivation must change today.
Today seek the Lord’s face in prayer. Ask Him to reveal His will for you just for today!
Tell Him you Trust Him. Then let Him know that you will delight to do His will!
Nothing more nothing less!
No matter what it may be.
This is First seeking the Kingdom of God!
Seeking, trusting and being motivated by the One the rules and reigns forever to do the Holy and precious desire of HIS heart!
Then today delight in what He has for you today!
Pastor Ed