Sermon for the Second Sunday before Lent - 8th February 2026
Readings:
Genesis 1:1-2:3
Romans 8:18-25
Matthew 6: 25-34
This week we continue our journey through Epiphany and towards Lent. The season of Epiphany reveals to us the nature of Christ as God’s beloved son. Today I would like to explore how Christ is revealed to us through one verse in our gospel reading:
“Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well”
What does it mean to seek God first and how do we do that? And what is it that Christ promises we will receive?
One of the most well-known verses from today’s gospel reading from Matthew is “do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear”.
A study led by University College London found that between 2000-2019 depression, anxiety and stress increased throughout society, most significantly in young people between the ages of 16-24 where incidences doubled. Anxiety also increased in individuals living in more deprived areas and within minoritized ethnic groups. On hearing this, you might respond that you are not surprised. We live in an increasingly turbulent world. The news headlines alone generate fear and worry and seem to be increasingly alarmist in nature. Life is tough for many people who may struggle with health, occupational, relationship or financial worries. Social media can then fuel this negativity, playing with any self-doubt, fears or worries we may have.
And yet, we are told not to worry. We are told to seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness. In other words, if we search out God, pray for our needs and the needs of others and put Him and our relationship with Him first in our order of priorities, He will ensure that our needs are met and that we are provided for. This does not mean that we will be protected from all of life’s problems. It does not mean that we won’t be affected by bad news headlines. Indeed, we see plenty of examples of biblical characters who faced many ordeals and trials, despite their trust in God. If we look at the ministry of Jesus, this was almost entirely comprised of him being tested in some way. But it does mean that we can have an assuredness and trust in God that will help us to manage and cope with life’s problems and worries, relying on God’s strength, not ours.
You might ask how can we seek Christ first, when there are so many more pressing issues to deal with. Our new testament reading today comes from Romans Chapter 8. In this beautiful chapter, we learn how our lives can be transformed if we seek God first. We hear that ‘All things work together for good for those who love God”. We are promised that, so long as we prioritise our relationship with God, we can trust that all will work together for good. There is, however, a requirement to examine ourselves, to prayerfully assess where the priorities in our life lie. Matthew says: ‘Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing’. In other words, we should address our material desires, putting them aside to focus on the more important issue of examining our spiritual priorities, trusting that God is a loving Father who already knows and will provide for our day to day needs. We are told that God will bountifully provide for us as ‘the birds in the air do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?’. Rather than letting worry about tomorrow and thoughts about the future distract us from the joy of today and the present moment, we need to trust in God, his abounding love for us and in his daily provision. I am currently helping to lead a Youth Alpha course in the Harwich deanery. I asked my group of young people what they wanted to learn from participating in the course. One young person said that they wanted to see what God had in store for their life for the next ten years. I thought this was an interesting observation and, although an intelligent and thoughtful answer, it made me realise how conditioned we are to want to be in control, to feel that we are at the helm of our own lives and how mistaken we are to think that, ultimately, we can control anything that happens to us. I thought of myself when I was that age and how I couldn’t possibly have imagined all the things that actually did happen over the next ten years. It made me realise that society does not condition us to willingly hand over the reins of our lives to God and allow him to lead and to reveal in his own time.
So what about God’s righteousness? How do we seek God’s righteousness and what does this mean? Righteousness, in a biblical sense, refers to God’s perfection; his inherently just, holy and faithful actions. God is the standard of all goodness, incapable of sin. Jesus is the embodiment of God’s righteousness. He perfectly fulfilled all of God’s laws during his life on earth and remained sinless up to his death, despite experiencing human emotions just as we do. He fulfilled God’s will for his ministry in a perfect manner, allowing the establishment of the new covenant thereby allowing us all to have a direct relationship with God. In order to seek God’s righteousness, we first need to believe in Jesus Christ as our saviour. However, although faith is a vital component, there is more to it; seeking God’s righteousness is a call on our lives. God is calling us not just to enter into a relationship with Him but to listen to Him and obey his calling on us, allowing us to be gradually transformed in his image in order that we too may share in his kingdom . This is a daily, intentional journey. It is a choice that we make to lead sincere, authentic and faithful lives. In Romans 8 verse 8 we are told that ‘those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God’. Again, we are being told to discard a life focused on materiality and day to day distractions and, instead, to turn to God, to trust in him and to align our lives with God’s goodness and perfection. We can only do this through prayer, the study of God’s word and through examining our actions and repenting of anything we have done wrong. As we begin to develop new habits of seeking God, He draws near to us. As we pursue Him, He responds with his presence, his blessing, his power and his peace.
I would like to end my sermon this morning by talking about hope. Paul tells us in Romans that ‘our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us’. He tells us that in a world full of bondage and decay, creation itself will be liberated and that the children of God will enjoy freedom and glory. He also talks about the groaning of creation in pains of childbirth. I believe that creation is going through these pains of childbirth now. The climate crisis, the outbreak of wars and violence and political turmoil that we see throughout the world only serve to evidence the crisis that our planet faces. We can see the decay that Paul speaks of and how this biblical prophecy is playing out.
However, we are told that in our hope to be adopted to the kingdom of God we are saved. We are also told that what we are hoping for is something unseen and something we do not have. In other words, that Christian hope is a confident expectation of future glory. We can be sure that in our patiently waiting, we will be fully adopted as children of God. We do not need to worry about this; it is a certainty for those who believe and trust in Jesus and who turn to him.
So, to repeat the words of Paul, do not worry. Instead, focus on turning your minds and hearts to Jesus, seeking first his kingdom and his righteousness, being gradually transformed into his image.
Amen