As a followup to the Testing God series, I’d like to mention three specific New Testament promises that are testable. That is, anyone can test God on these promises, in a personal way, simply by drawing near to Christ and seeking His kingdom. If you do, you’ll find that God is true and faithful to keep His promises.
Matthew 6:33
Let’s start with Matthew 6:33, which reads:
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.
The key to understanding this verse is to have a proper understanding of what the kingdom of God is. The verse appears in the middle of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, which has been interpreted through the centuries in a variety of ways. Jesus begins his sermon with the popular Beatitudes then uses them to segue into a short discourse on salt and light. After that, he claims that he came to fulfill rather than abandon the Law and the Prophets.
All of that, and much more, take up Matthew, chapter 5. In verse 20, he says, “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” From there, he launches into a contrast between worldly values and the values of the Kingdom.
He starts with an exhortation to reconcile with others with whom his listeners may have a difference, as opposed to being angry with them. Then he talks about adultery and divorce. He then tells his audience to be plainspoken rather than making vows and empty promises. And he goes on to exhort his followers to love their enemies, ending on the high note of “be perfect … as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
These admonitions seem impossible. But the Lord Jesus has much more to say. He begins chapter 6 with an instruction to give to the poor in secret rather than as a public show. And pray, he says, in secret, not like the babbling hypocrites.
He also has something to say about fasting, serving two masters, and worrying, which culminates in the verse where he encourages his disciples to seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness.
There is a lot to unpack in these verses, but we can sum it all up by saying that Jesus is describing, throughout the sermon, what the kingdom of God is like. As a sidebar, I’d like to add that “kingdom of heaven” and “kingdom of God” are synonymous terms. They are referring to the same thing. And that “thing” is Jesus Himself.
In Luke 4:16-21, we see Jesus’ first recorded sermon. He had just returned from his 40-day fast. When he returned, he launched his ministry by teaching in the synagogues in Galilee. Then he went to his hometown of Nazareth where he read from the book of Isaiah. When he finished reading in the synagogue at Nazareth, he sat down and proclaimed, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
He was announcing the arrival of His kingdom.
In Matthew 6:33, when Jesus says to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, He is referring to Himself. The admonition is to seek Christ. The reference to “His righteousness” is the righteousness of Christ, which is imputed into every believer. When Jesus makes reference to going beyond the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees in chapter 5, He is talking about the same thing. None of us can achieve that level of righteousness without Christ’s help.
It is Christ’s righteousness—the kingdom of God—that we are to pursue. When we do, God will provide for all of our needs. That is a promise, and we can test God on that promise.
James 4:7-10
The book of James is full of practical wisdom. His exhortations to live a Godly life are second to none. I could pull out several verses from this book alone on which to offer a test of God. But let’s look at chapter 4, verses 7-10. They read:
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter to mourning, and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.
James’ exhortation consists of eight different commands and three promises. These are the commands:
Submit yourselves to God
Resist the devil
Draw near to God
Cleanse your hands
Purify your hearts
Grieve, mourn, and weep
Turn your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom
Humble yourselves before the Lord
Three of these commands contain a promise. They are:
Resist the devil and he will flee from you
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you
Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will exalt you
Each of these promises can be tested. Let’s take them one by one.
Resist the Devil
As believers, we have power over Satan and His demons, and over the powers and principalities of this dark age. We do not have that power in our own strength. We have that power only insofar as we are walking in Christ. By putting on the full armor of God, we can resist the devil.
To resist the devil, we must first seek the kingdom of God. As we pursue Christ, we can strengthen ourselves against temptation. When it comes, we can simply resist. The devil will flee. Do not be afraid to invoke the name of Jesus.
Draw Near to God
When we draw near to God, He will draw near to us. But how do we draw near to God?
We draw near to God by praying and meditating on His word. We also draw near to God by studying His word. Another way to draw near to God is by joining in fellowship with other believers.
I call these three disciplines the legs on the footstool of faith. By praying to God and earnestly seeking His will, we are drawing near through communication, a heart-to-heart interactive discussion with the Almighty. By meditating on God (and all things excellent and praiseworthy), we silence our minds and spirits so that we can hear God. By studying God’s word, we focus our mental energies on understanding what God’s purpose is. And fellowship with other believers keeps us connected to the body of Christ where we can encourage and spur one another to love and good deeds. This, too, is a drawing near to God.
There are other disciplines we can practice to draw near to God. We can fast. We draw near to God when we submit ourselves to each other and to various authorities. We also draw near to God in confession, service to others, and by living simply before God and man.
Richard Foster has written a great book called Celebration of Discipline, which I highly recommend.
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. You can test Him on this.
Be Humble
Finally, James exhorts his readers to be humble. The promise is a Godly exaltation.
This echoes Jesus’ own teaching in Matthew 20:16 that “the last will be first, and the first will be last.” In Matthew 23:11, he says, “The greatest among you will be your servant.” The reality of the kingdom of God is that those who serve others will be the ones lifted up. In Luke 9:48, Jesus said “whoever is the least among all of you, he is the greatest.” He said this in the context of discussing the kingdom of God.
In God’s economy, things do not operate the way they do in earthly economies. That is why He warned his disciples not to store up treasures on earth. Our citizenship is in heaven, and that is where our rewards will be if we live in the spirit of the kingdom.
Be humble. Do not seek worldly riches, rewards, and promises. Instead, seek the riches of Christ, the rewards of heaven, and the promises of God. This is how one practices humility. Do not seek to be great in the eyes of men, but be faithful in the things of God. It is God who exalts and God who strikes down. He opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Be humble, and follow Jesus.
Ephesians 6:1-3
Ephesians 4 through 6 are full of practical applications for Christians and derive from the relationship that we have with Jesus Christ our Lord, which is delved into in beautiful detail in the first three chapters of this glorious book (one of my favorites). Following his exhortations for husbands and wives, the Apostle Paul turns his attention to children. He says,
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (which is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may have a long life on the earth.”
Interestingly, he quotes from the Old Testament, one of the Ten Commandments, noting that this is the first commandment with a promise. That promise is, honor your father and mother so that you may have a long life on the earth.
Notice that it does not say that you will have a long life. It says you may have a long life. How can this be tested? Since there is no way to measure a maybe, or a might, how can children test this verse against God’s faithfulness?
I believe the instruction goes deeper than simply the admonition to clean your room and put your socks in the dirty clothes. In Deuteronomy 6, the Israelites were encouraged to teach God’s statutes to their children. This was not because those statutes in and of themselves produced any sort of righteousness. It was because, as it says in verse 23, God had promised Israel that He would deliver them from slavery and lead them into the promised land. That promise was a foreshadowing of the real promise, the promise of freedom in Jesus Christ. In the New Covenant, the “slavery” is a slavery to sin and the deliverance into the promised land is the land of Jesus Christ. He is the new Canaan. In Him, true milk and honey flow.
When children obey their parents, they are reflecting the glory of Jesus Christ, and when they submit themselves to the spirit of Christ, they will, by the power of the Holy Spirit, live out the fullness of freedom in the new land.
Paul uses the same language in the reiteration of the promise in Ephesians 6:3. He says “it may go well with you” and “you may have a long life.” That phrase may go well with you is taken from Deuteronomy 6:18 and is connected with entering and possessing “the good land that the LORD your God swore to give to your fathers” while you may have a long life is taken from Deuteronomy 6:2 where it says “so that your days may be prolonged” and is connected with keeping God’s statutes and commandments.
Of course, we know of Israel’s failure to keep those commandments, but God never intended for them to do so in the first place. Paul makes that clear in the book of Romans.
God’s real intent, since the foundation of the world, was to give all of His children the promised land in the flesh and blood of His firstborn son Jesus Christ, who fulfilled the law for us and took on sin for our freedom. This is the instruction that parents are to give to their children; their children, in return, are to honor that teaching by trusting in their Lord and savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself as a ransom for their salvation. Honoring Christ’s sacrifice IS honoring your father and mother, and that commandment extends to adults, or children of any age.
We can test this exhortation by placing our faith in the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. God, according to His promise, will then give us eternal life. Teach that to your children.
Many More Promises
The New Testament is full of many more promises to the children of God. Those promises can be tested. All of God’s word can be tested. God’s character can be tested. But we must be careful not to test Him as Israel tested Him at Massah (Deuteronomy 6:16).
Read Exodus 17 to understand the reference to Massah. When the Israelites wandered around in the desert, they camped at Rephidim, but there was no water. Instead of trusting God, the people grumbled and complained. Despite their lack of faith, God still provided. He instructed Moses to strike a rock with his staff and out of that rock flowed water for the people to drink. That rock was Christ, and out of Christ flows living water. Drink of it and you will never thirst.
Allen Taylor has been walking (and wavering) with the Lord for 28 years. He has served local churches as a Sunday school teacher, a small group leader, a worship leader, a prayer group leader, and a minister of the Word. His journey isn’t over yet, and he still needs discipling.
“I am Not the King” is a personal testimony of how Jesus Christ has worked in my life. It is available at Amazon and Smashwords.