Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 

Background
The early Church started in Israel as per God’s plan.  As seen in multiple places in Genesis (18:18, 22:18, 26:4, etc.), Israel was supposed to be a witness to the world that trusting God and loving others led to a blessed life.  And, at various points in their history, they did trust God, He blessed them and other nations saw that.  But their human nature also led them to many other times in their history to trust in and seek “self”.  When they did, natural and God-sent consequences soon came their way.

Over time, their “self” focus led them to put God into a box of do’s and don’ts provider and they lost the purpose in their internal design of finding their ultimate purpose and satisfaction in trusting their loving and wise Heavenly Father and loving others as much as themselves.  Much to their dismay, they were under Roman rule when Jesus was sent to them.

What it meant to the original audience
A call back to the two greatest commandments.  Jesus said that all the commandments could be summarized in the two greatest commandments:  Love God and love your neighbor as you love yourself.  The early Church grew quickly because they learned how to love and serve others more than “self”.  They saw the results so clearly that they were willing to suffer and die for it.

For us today
Today, like so many times in history, people and cultures have again lost the purpose and benefit of being outward focused as God designed us.  Many in Western cultures have fully embraced “self” and the insightful find it hollow.  Many in the Eastern cultures have been taught to put others above self, but it is usually an obligation rather than love based and also turns out to be hollow.  Only when we truly understand to actually love others as we love ourselves do we understand the old adage “it is better to give than to receive”.

Loving others as much as ourselves is the key to finding purpose and peace.