Sermon for the Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity

Matthew 6:24-34 - Seek First the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness

September 28th, 2025

There is a place where life isn’t broken. A place where there is no pain, no suffering, no sickness, no sin, no death. A place where your mind doesn’t ache for days gone by. Where the longing for things that could have been is no more. A place where decisions made in hast, words spoken in anger, things done that can’t be undone, no longer haunt your minds.

A place you no longer weep for loved ones lost.

A place beyond today where the birds always sing in perfect harmony, the lilies never die. The harvest is finished; the barns are always full. The long, cold, dark days of winter don’t exist. The grass doesn’t die; the leaves don’t fall; the flowers are always in bloom. The fragrance of spring and the newness of life surround you at all times.

A place where all things are perfect. Yesterday’s sin and failure gone for eternity; no memory of the brokenness. No tears to shed. The uncertainty of tomorrow and the fear of the unknown no longer your constant companion. No anxiety. Loneliness doesn’t exist. You are surrounded by those you love. Jesus is always before your eyes. The present moment is all there is and it’s perfect and it never ends. It’s paradise with Jesus.

We are steadily moving toward that most glorious place. Today it feels as if we will never reach it. Like it’s only a dream. But it isn’t. With eyes of faith it’s reality. It’s ours today. Even as we live in the now not yet of the perfection to come. It’s the painful paradox of suffering today with the promise of glory that stands on the horizon.

Today must be endured knowing that all things we long for will be fulfilled in the end at the Resurrection of the dead in Jesus. Jesus guarantees it. Jesus bled and died for it. Jesus carries you to that place. Believe it.

Now we see in a mirror dimly but then, on that day and in that place you will see face to face - Jesus - and all the promises of the Cross fulfilled. Love perfected in all its goodness and beauty. Joy eternal.

Until that day when all the promises of Jesus are realized in their fullness we suffer with fear, worry, and anxiety. We constantly desire more and better things. Our desire for good things, health and happiness consume us. We focus on the past as guilt and regret torment our minds. We fret over the future. Anxiety and uncertainty cloud our minds and steal our joy as our bodies ache and weaken as time marches on.

And yet we have eternity and perfection today in the promises of Jesus. Jesus said: Do not be anxious about tomorrow. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

In our desire for paradise to come we seek to find it in the here and now in things and places that God has not promised to give it. We convince ourselves that we can find true peace and happiness in the fleeting and mortal treasures of life – in mammon. Wealth and possessions that moth and rust destroy. Things that will not endure into eternity.

We covet, we lust, we seek goodness where it isn’t found.

Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

God wants to give you His Kingdom – “All these things” that Jesus speaks of are found in the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God isn’t some imaginary place. The Kingdom of God is Jesus and all the places He promised to be found for you. The Kingdom of God is yours through faith. Seek God’s Kingdom by hearing His Word. Holding firm to the heavenly reality that you are baptized into Jesus at all times. By coming to church and feeding on the fruit of the Cross.

This is seeking the Kingdom of God. It’s not difficult. The action itself of seeking Jesus doesn’t save you, but in the seeking of Jesus where He promises to be found you receive Jesus. And where Jesus is there is His Kingdom and there is salvation. And all these things will be added to you. Jesus promised it. The Promise is fulfilled at the Resurrection.

All the things that are found in the Kingdom of God are only for the children of God through faith. They satisfy your spiritual longing for the goodness lost in the Garden in the beginning. They forgive your sins. They strengthen your faith. They deliver you into paradise with Jesus when this life is over.

The flesh is opposed to the Kingdom of God. The things in the Kingdom of God don’t satisfy the flesh. They subdue the flesh and it’s sinful longing for the material things that moth and rust destroy.

The flesh is strong it’s always fighting to pull you away from Jesus. The flesh doesn’t want you to hear the Words of Jesus in the Gospel reading. The flesh doesn’t want the absolution, it doesn’t want to sing, to confess, to sit and listen, to eat and drink. The flesh says it really doesn’t matter; you have better things to do. The flesh lies.

Doubt and anxiety are found in your flesh. Your flesh doesn’t believe that God will take care of tomorrow. Your flesh is angry with God for not giving you what you want today. Your flesh torments you for the days that are gone because you are convinced that today would be better if it wasn’t for your sin and failings of the past.

Your flesh lies. It is broken. Only Jesus heals it.

We are in a state of constant longing for something more, something different, something better than what we’ve been given. Contentment escapes us. Longing for more enslaves us. Jealousy rules our emotions as we covet our neighbors wealth and possessions, our neighbors’ bodies and health, their minds and contentment.

We secretly despise and hate those who have the things we want. We look at our life and wonder if this is all there is, if it’s all worth it in the end. We get angry at God because He hasn’t given us the desires of our heart.

And yet the Words of Jesus are true even when the world and our flesh says otherwise. Listen to Jesus.

Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Walk in the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. You have been given eyes of faith to walk in the Spirit as you battle the broken flesh. The Word of God is your light; the Spirit is your life. You have faith, you see God’s Kingdom among the mess and the muck of this world, among the lies of satan and the corruption of the flesh that deceives.

Your eyes of faith find a home and a rhythm in the Kingdom of God found in the heavenly mysteries that invade your mortal flesh and subdue your desire for the fleeting things of this life. You’ve been brought from death to life in the Kingdom of God. You are delivered and saved today in Jesus.

You are no longer enslaved to the things of the flesh. You are filled with the Spirit. Therefore you have been given the strength to walk in newness of life. You can now set your mind on the things of the Spirit in the Kingdom of God where there is peace and eternal joy.

In this eternal Kingdom of God eyes of faith hunger and seek eternal treasure found in the fruit of the Cross that delivers your soul into the life of the world to come. In that eternal world to come your flesh will be raised to immortality. The things that torment today will be gone. These bodies of flesh will be raised to immortality and gloried - perfect as God intended.

Your longing for gold and silver, treasure and wealth, goodness and beauty, peace and joy, will be fulfilled in the love of Jesus perfected and realized in its fullness in that world to come. We are steadily moving to that time and place. Abide in Jesus. Paradise awaits.

You have the Kingdom of God today. You didn’t seek it, you didn’t chose it, you didn’t earn it. You were taken into it by God’s Word and the Spirit with faith. It is a gift. It is yours through faith as you abide in God’s Word.

God’s Kingdom found in Jesus is here among us today even as satan and his demons work to conceal, twist and pervert God’s Kingdom with lies. God’s Kingdom in Jesus cannot be overcome with lies or your broken flesh. Fear and anxiety cannot steal your hope and peace in Jesus.

Look at the lilies and the birds. Of how much more value are you? Jesus didn’t take on the flesh of lilies or birds. He took on your flesh, and He redeemed it.

You will lack not good thing needed to endure in this life. God’s will be done in all things. What God ordains is always good. It is for your eternal salvation. Jesus died that you might live beyond today. Don’t be anxious about tomorrow. Tomorrow is in the hands of Jesus. He will make sure it works out for your eternal good; there is nothing to fear.

Today’s trouble is sufficient enough to keep your eyes focused on the Bloody Cross of Jesus. Focus there and nowhere else. Rejoice in your suffering. Give thanks in all things. Your flesh and this world does not have the final say. Jesus does. You are in the Kingdom of God today and you will endure into eternity. You will rise again to live in Paradise with Jesus.

In Jesus name. Amen.