At Keys Vineyard Church, we are presenting a series called ‘Kingdom Wisdom,’ which we post here on Online Bible Institute.

We are starting a new series this week called Kingdom Wisdom, based on Matthew 7. Last week, as we finished our Kingdom Alignment series, Jesus brought us to a simple but life-shaping invitation: “Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness…” For thirteen weeks we walked through Matthew 6, and again and again Jesus brought us back to the heart. Why do I give? Why do I pray? What do I treasure? What am I looking at? Who am I serving? What am I worried about? What am I seeking first? Kingdom Alignment was about learning to live with our hearts aligned with the Father.

Matthew 7:1–5 (NIV)
1 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

Now we come to Matthew 7, and Jesus begins to show us what that aligned life looks like when it encounters other people. Following Jesus is never only about my relationship with God. Eventually, the life God is forming in me has to show up in the way I see you, speak to you, respond to you, and even disagree with you. And that may be where things get difficult. It is possible to know the right things, believe the right things, and even practice the right things—and still treat people terribly.

So Jesus begins this part of the Sermon on the Mount with an important lesson: Kingdom wisdom begins with humility. Before I focus on what is wrong with someone else, Jesus invites me to let Him deal with what is happening in me. Jesus gives us this unforgettable picture of someone trying to remove a tiny speck of sawdust from another person’s eye while a plank is sticking out of his own. It’s funny. Jesus intends it to be. Imagine someone walking around with a two-by-four sticking out of his eye saying, “Excuse me…I noticed something in your eye.”

The problem isn’t that the speck isn’t there. Jesus never says the other person doesn’t have something in their eye. The problem is that I can become so focused on their speck that I become completely unaware of my plank. And isn’t that deeply human? We can recognize someone else’s impatience while excusing our own. We can see someone else’s pride while remaining blind to ours. We can identify someone else’s harsh words while justifying the words that come out of our own mouths.

Jesus isn’t telling us never to discern what is right or wrong. Later in this same chapter, He tells us to recognize false prophets by their fruit. Discernment matters. But Kingdom discernment begins differently. It begins with humility. It begins by asking, “Father, before I talk about what You need to do in them, what do You want to do in me?” That is Kingdom Wisdom.

This weekend at Keys Vineyard Church, we will discuss all this and more, so be sure to join us in person or online.

Steve Lawes is a pastor at Keys Vineyard Church and also the founder of the Online Bible Institute Network.

At Keys Vineyard Church, we are presenting a series called ‘Kingdom Alignment,’ which we post here on Online Bible Institute.

Last week in our Kingdom Alignment series, we talked about recognizing the Father’s faithfulness. We were reminded that our lives are held by a Father who has been faithful in the past, is faithful in the present, and will continue to be faithful in the future. This week, Jesus shows us what a life that trusts the Father begins to look like.

Matthew 6:31–33 (NIV)
31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

For the last couple of weeks, Jesus has been talking about worry. He has told us: Look at the birds. Consider the flowers. Remember your value. Trust the Father. And now He brings everything together with one clear invitation: Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness.”

Jesus is not simply telling us to stop worrying. He is giving our hearts somewhere better to go. Because worry is rarely just about circumstances. Worry is often connected to pursuit. What am I chasing? What am I trying to secure? What do I believe I must have in order to be okay?

Jesus says the answer is not to pursue all those things more desperately. The answer is to seek something greater—the Kingdom of God.

In Matthew 6:32, Jesus says that the world “runs after all these things.” That phrase paints a powerful picture of restless pursuit—chasing, striving, grasping, and organizing our lives around getting enough. Enough money. Enough security. Enough approval. Enough comfort. Enough control.

Jesus is not criticizing us for having needs. In fact, He immediately says, “Your heavenly Father knows that you need them.” The problem is not having needs. The problem begins when meeting those needs becomes the organizing center of our lives. Think about a treadmill. You can run hard. You can increase the speed. You can sweat more and exhaust yourself. But after all that effort, you are still standing in essentially the same place.

That is what life can become when we organize it around anxious pursuit. We run after security. We run after success. We run after control. We tell ourselves, “If I can just get this settled, then I can rest.” But something else always appears that needs to be secured.

Jesus offers another way. He invites us to step off the treadmill of anxious striving and learn to walk with the Father. We do not have to spend our lives desperately trying to secure life for ourselves. Our Father already knows what we need. Our invitation is to trust Him, seek His Kingdom, and receive our lives from His hand.

This weekend at Keys Vineyard Church, we will discuss all this and more, so be sure to join us in person or online.

Steve Lawes is a pastor at Keys Vineyard Church and also the founder of the Online Bible Institute Network.