1.
In
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. At
a time of grieving like this, those who are present, and I on behalf of this
church, offer your family and all who were close to Carl our deepest sympathy. May our Lord, who knows your needs, comfort
and give you strength and faith to uphold each another. Today we’re going to look at Matthew 6:33,
Carl’s confirmation verse and also at John 14 and Romans 8. In Matthew 6:33 we hear the words of our Lord
Jesus who says, “33But seek
first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be
added to you.” The message is
entitled, “Seek First the Kingdom of
God.” Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2.
Carl
was a wonderful person to get to know. I’m
thankful that I had the privilege to be his pastor and give to him God’s Words
of comfort, forgiveness, and hope in Jesus through His Word and Sacraments. Carl was a man of God. Did you notice in his biography how he lived
out his Christian faith, the faith he received in his baptism. For Carl, he would have said, “I am baptized, not I was baptized.” He lived always in the identity of his
baptism, living out his Christian faith in serving his neighbor. He did that here at
Christ Lutheran having served as an elder, head usher, a trustee, and he sang
in our church choir.
3.
I
enjoyed my many talks with Carl & his wife Doris over the last few months
that I’ve been a Pastor here at Christ Lutheran. I really enjoyed hearing stories of Carl and
Doris’ life together as husband and wife and how God blessed them with each
other and a blended family after both their spouses were called to heavenly
rest at an early age. It was great to
hear about Carl’s love for auctions and about his life as a farmer. I
especially enjoyed his trapeze artist in his dining room. He would entertain me
from time to time with it, allowing the trapeze artist to wheel its way across
the kitchen ceiling riding on a piece of string. I also enjoyed learning how Carl made a wagon
that actually was being pushed by a donkey instead of pulled, it was funny to
hear how he had created something that literally put, “the cart before the horse.” Carl and Doris would always give a smile to my face
whenever I came to meet them.
4.
That’s
what I love about Carl. He simply lived out the faith that Jesus
had given to him through the hearing of God’s Holy Word and the Sacrament of
Holy Baptism. His confirmation verse
says it well about him from Matthew 6:33, ““33But
seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will
be added to you.” Even while his health wasn’t as great as it
once was, he still faithfully came to worship to hear God’s Word, receive the
forgiveness of his sins, and our Lord’s body and blood. He sought first God’s Kingdom and all these
things were added to him as well.
5.
Jesus
says in Matthew 6:31–34—31Therefore
do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or
‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the Gentiles seek after all these
things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33But
seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will
be added to you. 34“Therefore
do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.
Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Jesus says that the Christian isn’t to worry at all. Worry is like
the unbelief of the heathen world. Unbelievers think that they “earn their own way in this world,” that
they provide for their own needs. But
the child of God lives by a different creed because he resides in a different
kingdom. Since he has a heavenly Father who knows exactly what he needs, then
why worry at all? Only … “… Seek first his kingdom and his
righteousness.” Every disciple is already a member of Christ’s kingdom. This is what Carl believed. But the follower
of Christ is to go on seeking, to continue to desire nothing more highly than
God’s rule of grace in his heart. And
when his heart is found in Christ’s loving hands, then such material items as
food, drink, and clothing will all flow from those same hands as well. “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave
him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all
things” (Ro 8:32). The primary focus within Matthew 6 here, then, is that
the child of God isn’t to worry, not to be anxious for daily needs, because we
have a Father in heaven who cares for us and provides for us. Trusting in him
for all our needs is the sure antidote for worry, even in the face of anxiety
over death.
6.
Jesus
our Great Physician continues to give to us an understanding of seeking first
God’s Kingdom and receiving the antidote to worry when He says in John 14:1-3, “1[Jesus said:] “Let not your
hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2In my Father’s house are many
rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place
for you? 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again
and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” Jesus had just told them that He would soon
leave them and they couldn’t follow where He was going. The thought of separation after many months
of companionship was a source of grief and pain to them.
7.
The
disciples’ hearts were troubled, just as our hearts are troubled with the death
of our beloved brother in Christ, Carl.
And so, in Jesus’ wisdom and compassion, He chose words to soothe their
sorrows and silence all their fears. Martin
Luther says of the words we are about to read, “Here we find the best and most comforting sermon preached by Christ
while on this earth…a jewel and treasure not purchasable with the world’s
goods.” (AE 24:7). May God grant us
believing hearts that this treasure, which can’t be purchased with gold and silver,
may be ours by simple, trusting faith.
8.
“Let not you hearts be troubled,” Jesus
says. But, He also tells us why, “In My Father’s house are many rooms… And if I go and prepare a place for you, I
will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be
also.” All sorrows, all heartaches,
all disappointments, and all of our grief and sorrows lose their bitterness in
the sweetness of the Savior’s promise, “I
will come again.” I will come again
and turn your sorrows into joy, your heartaches into gladness, and your grief
and sorrow into heavenly reunions in My Father’s house above, because of my
death on the cross for the forgiveness of your sins and my resurrection from
the dead. Because I live, Jesus says,
you who believe in me as your Savior will also live and have eternal life. This is the promise that God gave to our dear
brother in Christ Carl, and it’s a promise He gives to us too, if we believe in
Jesus as our Savior from sin, death, and the power of the devil.
9.
In
the healing light of that heavenly assurance, Jesus our Great Physician, has
given us the cure for all our griefs and sorrows. He also gives us assurance from Romans
8:38-39, 38For I am sure that
neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to
come, nor powers, 39nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all
creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our
Lord.” Jesus whose love brought Him
to Calvary’s cross to open the doors of His Father’s house to a world that had
spurned His every pleading. He will come
again to lead us, His children, into the eternal mansions, prepared by Him for
all who love Him. What a glorious
promise! What a hope! Carl’s confirmation verse says it well again
from Matthew 6:33, “33But seek
first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be
added to you.” Jesus reminds us to
seek God’s salvation, and then entrust our daily lives to His loving care, as
Carl did. We do this by faithfully making use of God’s Word and Sacraments,
through which the Holy Spirit leads us to repent of our sins and to trust Jesus
for forgiveness. Convinced of our salvation, we commit our daily lives into the
caring hands of our heavenly Father.
Amen.
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