Louie Giglio - Seek First the King
Hello, Passion City Church! It’s so good to be back together, all of us in one gathering. Although we’re scattered all over the city today, I know many of you are joining in from all over the world as well. It’s so good to be in church today and still feel that New Year vibe a little bit. That’s why we’re so excited to kick off this new journey, this new collection of talks called «Seek First.»
Today, I was thinking about one of my favorite follows on Instagram and got a little beef with Instagram because it used to be about who you followed, but now Instagram wants to put things in your feed that they think you might like based on other interests. I’m like, «No, I just want to follow the people I want to follow, thank you very much!» One of the people I want to follow is Vermont Matterhorn. Many of you know that back in the day, my friend Mark and I climbed the almost 15,000-foot Matterhorn in the Alps. It was one of the craziest experiences of my life, and I don’t know if I’m ever going to go to the top of that thing again. But I love seeing the posts every day in my feed. The Matterhorn Instagram looks something like this—you can see it on the screen right now. I love scrolling through my feed and seeing that particular sight, thinking, «Wow, I remember the day Shelley, Mark, and I got to Vermont and looked up the valley for the first time at that mountain.» I thought, «How in the world are we going to go up that? How are Mark and I going to get up that thing?» I was pretty convinced that the trail to the top must be on the other side because we’re surely not going up that side!
Then I saw the stunning majesty of it all and imagined what it would be like to stand on the precipice of the Matterhorn. The top, as it turns out, is about this wide, so you must be really careful when you’re up there, as it’s a mile straight down in any direction. We went up to the Hornli Hut, where you sleep for the night—not much sleep going on. We were up at 4:45 in the morning—not because I’m a morning person and love being up before dark. At 4:45, we were dressed and heading out the back door of the Hornli Hut into the dark to climb that mile to the top. You might think, «That doesn’t sound too terrible—just one more mile to the summit, right?» Yeah, but in that mile, there are 4,000 vertical feet, so you’re talking pretty much straight up.
Off we went, my guide leading me, Mark’s guide leading him, our headlamps on in pitch black. We went out the back door, not the front, because other climbers going up were gathering there. My guide, in particular, was on a mission: we were going to be the first to the top. You might ask why that matters. Well, would we get a prize? No, we would just have the advantage of starting down the narrow route before the other people came up. He wanted us to be the first two of the 50 climbers going up the Matterhorn that day. We were seeking to be first; we were seeking to see the view; we were seeking to accomplish something pretty massive; we were seeking the adventure and thrilling nostalgia for Mark, who had a family from Switzerland.
Fast forward to 4:45 in the morning—we were seeking to be the first to the top. I’m telling you, we were not the first two. I think we were third and fourth in getting there. The effort and energy it took to get up and down were probably the hardest things I’ve ever done on this planet. But all of it tied back into this idea of wanting to seek to be first, wanting to seek to do something great.
I was thinking about you. Maybe you haven’t climbed a mountain or ever planned to climb a mountain. Perhaps you’ve climbed bigger mountains than the Matterhorn, but have you ever had an experience like that? Maybe it was when you took that night class, the hardest thing you’ve ever done, but you figured out how to negotiate the schedule and make it work. Maybe it was the half marathon you did or when you took that leap and said, «I’m going to study for the bar exam.» Or perhaps it was with a friend or family, deciding to get tickets for a particular event, planning to go to that city and have a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
I don’t know; has anything in your story made you say, «We’re going to do the work, put in the commitment, make the effort, get up at 4:45 in the morning if necessary, go out the back door if we have to, go straight up for five hours in the dark, but we’re going to do it»? I wonder, as we roll into 2022, is there anything on your list in that category? Are you planning anything this year? You might say, «Louie, nobody’s planning anything this year.» Well, we all still have vision, and we’re all still making plans. Some of us are much bigger planners than others, but are you planning anything this year? Is there a Matterhorn on the horizon in your story or in your family that you’re considering?
To say it another way, what do you want to get out of 2022? When this year comes to a close, what do you want to be able to say you went after? What are you willing to actively pursue this year? I was thinking about Shelley and me flying to Zurich, getting on a train to Vermont—places we’ve never been—and going up to Zermatt on the train because no cars can go into that town. We would be checking in, spending a week there, doing all the acclimation climbs and test climbs, getting checked out by the guides—all that process, all those hours, and late nights and early mornings in the football stadium near our house here in the States for month after month after month after month. All that energy went into pursuing standing on the top of that mountain.
I’m just wondering if there’s anything on the horizon for you in 2022 that you’re thinking you’re willing to put that kind of pursuit toward that accomplishment. Then for me, personally, I dial it back a bit and ask one more question. This is the question that led me to this collection of talks as we take our first steps together into the new year: Is there any more time for me to get to know the King better?
On my 2022 list is one of the things that’s percolating deep down inside me. Whatever happens this year, I’m willing to put in the effort, energy, work, planning, and commitment to take the flight, to do the thing, so that I can spend more time with the King, and I can know the King more at the end of 2022 than I do right now. By the King, I’m talking about the King of all kings, King Jesus. He himself is encouraging us, and these are his words: «Therefore, I tell you» — this is from Matthew’s gospel, the most famous sermon of all time — «do not worry about your life.» That seems like a throwaway phrase, but how much is packed into that one statement!
We are people immersed in worry about our lives, and then Jesus steps into the equation and says, «Oh, by the way, don’t worry about your life.» In other words, the thing you are an expert at doing—you need to resign from that. Here’s why: «Don’t worry about what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear.» To which I reply, «It’s important what you eat and drink and important in our culture that you wear something.» So, these are necessities, not options. But he asks, «Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?» He gives an example: «Look up! Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow, reap, or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat? ' or 'What shall we drink? ' or 'What shall we wear? ' For the pagans run after all these things.» In other words, on their 2022 lists are «My life, the things I think are important in my rhythm and lane.» He says, «They’re all running after these things, but your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things—what? What I’m going to eat, what I’m going to drink, what I’m going to wear, where I’m going to live—the necessities of life, the important things—he says all these things will be given to you as well.»
So he sums it up again: «Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.» Jesus himself is saying to you and me, in the midst of your plans, «Seek first the kingdom of God.» In the midst of everything else on the horizon, «Seek first his righteousness.» In other words, «Put God first.» In the sense that Jesus is saying, «Put me first before everything else you’re concerned about. Be concerned about your relationship with me. Put me first in everything—your thinking, your affections, your doing. All this other stuff, I’m telling you, will be added. All that’s going to come if you make the primary decision to seek first the kingdom of God. I’m first. I’m going to seek him.»
So Jesus is inviting you today; he’s inviting me today to seek first a relationship with him—to seek the other world, not this world; to seek the spiritual world, not the natural world; to seek the eternal world, not the world that’s passing away; and to seek its King. To say, «I want in 2022 to know Jesus more.» I know that can sound like a spiritual platitude. It probably would be on all of our lists somewhere because we’re at church today for crying out loud; yes, I want to do this. «We’re going to buy that house; we’re going to take that trip; we’re going to do this thing, and I want to grow closer to Jesus this year as well.»
But I want you to know today it’s totally possible that you and I could end this year being closer to the King and knowing more of the King. If we take him at his word, having everything else we need in life added to us by a Father who already knows today what we need and is working on it right now! He says to us, «Oh, you can stop worrying about all that stuff because I’ve got all that. What you need to be focused on is just making me the center of everything—in your thinking, your affections, and your doing.»
We see this in a powerful story in Luke’s Gospel, chapter 10. This story is about Mary and Martha. Do you know it? Poor Martha always gets the knock from this story, but I want to applaud Martha today because in Luke 10, it says that Jesus and his disciples came into town. When they came into town, Martha invited them all to her house. We don’t know how many of them; it was Jesus and the disciples, but maybe there were a few extras. She said to all of them, «Hey, come to my house; I’ll take care of all of you.» If it weren’t for Martha’s generosity of spirit, for her belief in the kingdom and its righteousness, if she hadn’t done what Jesus said—to seek first the kingdom—then we wouldn’t even have this story. So can we applaud Martha for a moment?
But she always gets the short end of the story. As Jesus is in the house, you know how it goes: Martha is trying to manage it all, so she’s busy, and her sister Mary is sitting and hanging out, listening to Jesus, eyes locked on him, focused on what he’s saying, not wanting to miss the moment that Jesus is at her house. She is soaking up the opportunity of having the King in her house. Meanwhile, Martha is frustrated and says to Jesus, «Um, could you assist here? There’s a whole lot going on, and my sister isn’t being very helpful.» Jesus looks at Martha and says, «Martha,» and he says it again. That’s not good when Jesus says your name twice: «Martha, Martha! You are so busy with so many things.»
But notice what he says next, which is crucial. I want to read it word for word because it’s so important not to miss this today. He responds, «You’re worried and upset about many things.» See how we’re tying back to what he said in Matthew 6? Worry and being upset—those two always seem to go together. «But only one thing is needed.» He’s zeroing in on the important thing. He’s not saying the other things are incidental. We all are going to need to eat tonight. We all are going to need a roof over our heads. But there’s something greater than that. He continues, «Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.»
Man, that is the phrase. That is the line! That’s what’s burning inside my heart! That’s what I want to be said about me this year—that I chose what was better, and what I gained by choosing what was better cannot be taken away from me. I sought first what was best!
Now, there are two important things in this text that I want us to see, and then I want to talk practically at the end so we can start this journey together. First, Jesus says, «Mary has chosen what is better.» In other words, this did not happen by happenstance. Mary didn’t find herself in this position by neutrality. She made a decision; she chose what was best. I want to encourage us today in that there are a lot of things out of our control right now, but you still have the most important power to set the direction of your life, and nobody can take that away from you. No circumstance, no climate, no economy, no whatever’s happening in the world—nobody can take that away from you. You have the ability today to make a choice.
But in making that choice, we have to understand that knowing the King more will not happen out of neutrality. It only happens out of determination. It’s going to require that I prioritize, press, pursue, and persist. I wanted to say today that God has already done all the prioritizing he can do. He’s already done all the pressing, persisting, and pursuing he can do. He cannot pursue you anymore than he has already pursued you! He cannot persist further than he has already persisted. He cannot prioritize a relationship with you any more than he has already prioritized the relationship.
So, here’s what he’s saying to me today and what he’s saying to you: The ball is not in God’s court for you to know him; the ball is in your court. What an amazing thought! The ball for 2022 to see whether I know the King better and am closer to him is in my court. The best part of all is I can make that play if I want to! I can make the decision.
The second important thing in this story is that it’s not either/or. This story always ends up with busy people versus those who spend time with Jesus, the workers and the resters. It always ends up being a dichotomy. Jesus isn’t trying to build a big dichotomy. There was another time when Jesus was glorified on the Mount of Transfiguration; it was so powerful that a few of his disciples said, «That’s the best thing we’ve ever seen! We’re going to build a temple right here and stay here!» And he said, «No, we’re not staying here on the mountaintop. We’ve got work to do! Let’s go!»
So, it’s not like it’s better not to work and to sit at Jesus' feet. No, that’s not the point. The point Jesus wants us to see is not whether we work for God or sit with God. The question is, have I missed the King because I’m too busy working for the kingdom? That’s the question Jesus wants all of us to grapple with for 2022. You say, «Well, Louie, he just said seek first the kingdom and righteousness, so we should be like Martha, busy about the kingdom.» No! Jesus said when he was asked what’s the greatest commandment, «That’s easy! That goes all the way back to Deuteronomy 6, the Shema, what the Jewish mindset would know! Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.»
Jesus didn’t say love the kingdom with all of your heart. He said love the King. Why? Because the King is the kingdom. He is the center of it all, and he’s painting a picture for us, saying it’s possible to have a great heart and be really busy doing all the right stuff and not even realize that the King is in your house. Yes, do the stuff! Take care of everybody! Take care of the city! Take care of your family! Take care of yourself! And take care of the world! Be about your Father’s business! But don’t miss the fact that while you’re doing all that, the King is near, inviting you to make a choice—deciding to seek first the kingdom of God and seek first the King of the kingdom. That’s on my list of things I want to do in 2022!
If you resonate with that, let me offer a few handles. I’m not going to put it in a formula today, but just a few handles. Number one, I want us to think about the long arc of the year ahead. This is not a resolution message. This isn’t about the next eight days, or four months, or in this little window of time. Here’s what we’re going to do. I want us to think not pretentiously—because we don’t know if we even have tomorrow—but I want us to think about the long arc of 2022 under the grace of God.
We don’t want to all set our affection on fire today and then in an hour from now say, «Oh yeah, the whole thing about getting to know Jesus better this year? I don’t see that happening.» This is a long arc. This is like the Matterhorn. This isn’t something you do in a day or can even decide in a day. This is something you have to spend a year working on, right?
So, I want us to think about the long arc of the year and not get frustrated or anxious, starting to have the fear of failure syndrome set in before we even take a step. We’re talking about a long journey this year! You don’t have to get it all right today, this week, or even in January. You just want to move in the direction toward the King.
The second thing I want to emphasize is that if this is in your heart, acknowledge your desires and fears to God. In other words, take out your journal, write God a letter, or just take out a note card and write him a letter telling him what you want. You might just want to go on a walk and tell him what you want. Writing it down is powerful—this way you can refer back to it next week, next month, four months, or eight months from now.
Write to God and say, «God, I want to know you more. I don’t know what that means because I’m saved, and I love church, but sometimes church feels like going to a concert. I know a lot about the person on stage, and I love their music, but that’s not the same as having a relationship with the Almighty.» He’s inviting you into that. So just tell him, «I don’t know what this means. I don’t know if I’m going to be good at it. I have some sense that I might fail, and I’m not good at following through. Write it all down and tell him what you want.
Go to Psalm 27:7 and say what the psalmist said: „Hear my voice when I call, Lord; be merciful to me and answer me. My heart says of you, seek His face; your face, O Lord, I will seek.“ Maybe that line needs to be at the top of your letter: „Your face, O Lord, I will seek.“ Not your hand; I’m going to need you to help me this year. Not your muscle; I’m going to need that this year. I want to seek your face—not for what you can fix but for who you are.
A third handle for me is to set the direction with structure and spontaneity. We always have to figure out if we’re the spontaneous type—doing things when we feel the moment—or the structure type—wanting a devotional guide, a journal, time, and place on schedule. No! I believe God has created all of us with a need for structure, but he’s also created a desire and need for spontaneity. We’ll talk more about structure later—you’re going to need some routine and ritual.
A few years ago, Leighton, one of the guys on our team, and I were flying to the Middle East and had a layover in Paris. If you’ve been in the airport in Paris, you know it’s not that spectacular necessarily. We had five hours to sit there or we could see Paris. Leighton had never been to Paris before, so we decided to go. Before we knew it, we were checking out the Champs-Élysées, the Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre, the Seine River, and the Eiffel Tower.
We had hot tea at a little courtyard of a hotel that Shelley and I love. We experienced a little of Paris—not a lot—because we had to get back to the airport. We navigated customs, got in the car, and back onto the freeway to spend that little time experiencing a city in a moment of spontaneity. That’s what God wants for you and me this year. There’s going to be a need for structure, but you need spontaneous moments, too.
Another handle I believe Jesus loves is to commit to making space and then ask him to fill it. A lot of times, we create space and then fill it ourselves. „Here’s what I’m about to do! I have 20 minutes set aside for God, and I’m going to do this thing.“ But sometimes the King just says, „Just ask me to allow you to sense I’m with you and follow that nudge.“
You might say, „I’m going to sing a song of worship. I want to write to you what’s on my heart. I feel like I want to get into your word and connect with your truth.“ I want to sit with you. Just sit! You don’t have to talk the whole time. Simply be with me, and say, „Jesus, I’m here. Let’s be here together.“ Can you imagine what that would do to his heart? „You just want to be with me? Yeah, I just want to be with you.“
A couple more handles, and I don’t know who you are, but this is important today: believe in the good intentions of God’s heart. I want to read this from Psalm 34, which I encourage you to meditate on and pray through early in the year. Verse 10 says, „The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord.“ Not those who sit back in paralysis and neutrality saying, „I don’t know; everything that’s happened to me hasn’t gone the way I wanted; I’m not that in control of my life right now.“ He’s saying, „Look, here’s what you are in control of: Do you want to put in time, effort, and energy to pursue the God who has put in all the time, effort, and energy possible to pursue you?“
Do you want to move the ball out of your court and into play? To be one of these people who seek the Lord? That’s the nature of the gospel: ask, knock, seek. In other words, all the good stuff is not on the bottom shelf. The best stuff isn’t in a little quip on the back of a book. You’ve got to dig a little, press a little, climb a little, sacrifice a little. You’ve got to feel it; you’ve got to want it, and you’ve got to go after it; you’ve got to prioritize it and say, „All these things are necessary, and I will care for them, but I’m going to seek first the face of the King.“
And you know what he says about you? „The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.“ That requires belief for some of you here today! You must believe that if you prioritize God, the good intentions of his heart will turn your way. Somehow the enemy has gotten into the story and convinced you that God isn’t good, that God doesn’t care, that God won’t come through, that God doesn’t love you, that God doesn’t want the best for you, and that God doesn’t want to spend time with you. This is a lie from the pit! God values you and wants to shower you with the good intention of his heart.
He says if you seek him first, everything else you need in life—trust me—stuff you don’t even know you need—will come! Why? Because his intentions are good.
Two more things. An important handle as we start this journey together is to seek after him through the unchanging word, not through my evolving emotions. Remember the long arc of 2022. Your emotions are going to be all over the map this year. You’ll wake up some days full of faith and other days full of doubt. You’ll wake up one day full of joy and another full of sorrow. A few days you’ll think you have a direction, and other days you won’t even know what life is.
If your seeking relies on emotions, you’ll be lost. But if you press through your emotions—just like going up the Matterhorn—you don’t go up on the day you feel like it! You don’t train on the days you feel like it! You don’t pay the price on the days you feel like it! You do that every day, whether you feel like it or not.
Eventually, you’ll stand on the top and say, „This is the most amazing thing, blowing my mind beyond anything I could’ve ever imagined.“ It’s just like that with pressing on to know the Lord. So when you wake up and don’t know if there is a God, say, „You know what? Today, I’m going to seek him.“ Lord, I’d like to come in honestly today and say, „I don’t even know what’s going on in life, but I’m coming to seek my King in the pages of something that doesn’t change even though my emotions are all over the map.“
Lastly, I believe this is vital for us in the coming weeks: move toward God, both with your affection and allegiance. We’ll look closely at this in the weeks to come, but in John 14, Jesus says something very interesting: „If you love me, you will obey me, and if you obey me, I’ll show you more of me.“
He reiterates this in different ways. „People who obey me, my Father makes his home with them.“ In other words, he wasn’t just saying, „Come with your affection and say, 'I want to know you, God; I want to love you; I want to love you with all my heart and soul.'“ He’s saying, „I want to know you, and I already love you, but you’re going to know me when you come with both affection for me, when there’s emotion and love in the mix, and when you align yourself with me.“
You come and say, „I’m with your kingdom! I’m with your righteousness! I’m with your ways! I’m with you Jesus! Whatever you want to do, that’s what I want to do! Wherever you stand, I stand! Whatever you say, I say; whatever you believe, I believe!“ Align your life—not just your theological framework—but your being, doing, and living! You want to align it to him!
You can’t be out here doing your own thing and still say, „I really want to know the King.“ You’ve got to get over here and get aligned with the King. The kingdom implies that there is a King, and to be in the kingdom means I am not the King. So I want to raise the white flag over me because I believe there’s nothing greater than Thee!
Seek first the kingdom; more specifically, today, seek first the King. Everything else in 2022? Trust Him! He already knows about all of that! The decision in your hands is to say, „If the ball is in my court, I’m putting it in play today, and I’m going up that mountain in 2022, going up with the King!“