Faith will survive the testing

Posted on March 1, 2026 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

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Sermon for Reminiscere – Lent 2

1 Thessalonians 4:1-7 + Matthew 15:21-28

Remember that, last week, we talked about how the devil tempts believers, trying to get them to fall into sin, unbelief, and, finally, eternal condemnation, while God tests believers, putting them through certain trials and challenges to see what they’re made of, to remove the impurities from them, to strengthen their character, and to praise them in the end—even though it’s God Himself who always helps believers to pass these tests. How could a teacher ever praise a student for his or her intelligence if that intelligence were never tested? How could a player on a sports team ever earn a trophy, or the praises of the spectators, if the players were never tested in an actual competition? No, testing is necessary in life, and even more so in the Christian life, which is much more important than any game or competition. The stakes are much higher. But the praise at the end is also much greater.

It’s testing that we see in today’s Gospel. Oh, there was also tempting going on on the devil’s part; he isn’t absent from the account of the Canaanite woman. But whereas last week we mainly saw the devil’s temptations of Jesus in the wilderness, for His harm, today we mainly see Jesus, not tempting, but testing the woman’s faith, for her good. God does that testing of His saints throughout the Old and New Testaments, and it continues to this day, even through this very Gospel account. So let’s consider again today the account of the testing of the Canaanite woman, and be comforted with the assurance that faith will survive being tested.

The first test came in the form of silence. Then Jesus went from there and departed to the regions of Tyre and Sidon. And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same territory and was crying out to him, saying, “O Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is dreadfully tormented by demons.” But he said not a word in reply.

Why Jesus stepped outside the territory of Israel on this one occasion, into the northern territory of Tyre and Sidon, we don’t know. But He did. And, even though He was trying to stay out of the public eye, as Mark tells us, this woman from the region found Him, somehow. Both Matthew and Mark make it very clear that she was not of Jewish descent. And yet she addresses Jesus by that special Jewish title that only came from the Jewish Scriptures: Son of David! —that is, David’s promised descendant, the Christ, who was to come and sit on David’s throne as King over Israel, but not only over Israel. His kingdom would fill the earth. That’s what the prophecies said. Obviously the word of God, including some of those prophecies, had reached those Gentile regions, and so had the word about Jesus, including the fact that He had power over the demons, including the fact that He was the promised Son of David. So, believing that simple word, she called out to Him for help for her demon-afflicted daughter. Mark tells us that she cried out repeatedly to Jesus. But He “said not a word in reply.”

That was the first test, the first challenge to her faith. And you can imagine how hard it was, to get up the nerve to go begging to this Jewish Man for help, and then to have Him ignore her cries. If she had any sort of haughty spirit, any sense of entitlement, any chip on her shoulder, she would have just gotten angry and left. Or, if she had a judgmental attitude, or rashly jumped to conclusions, she would have taken Jesus’ silence in the worst possible way, assuming He was just arrogant, assuming He was just uncaring. But silence doesn’t have to mean any of those. Sometimes silence, especially from God, just means, “I want to test your persistence and your perseverance for a little while. I want to test your faith, to see if you’ll give up on Me or assume the worst about Me just because I don’t answer you right away.”

This is often how God tests His people still today. God is always silent, in that He never speaks an answer to anyone. He spoke a few answers to people in the Old Testament, and then Jesus spoke many answers to people while He walked the earth. But now? God doesn’t speak, except through the preaching of His Word. Many questions that people have are, in fact, answered in God’s Word, if they take the time to study it and understand it. Why is there suffering in the world? What is the meaning of life? Why do wars happen? Those questions God answers, but it takes study. Other questions, or prayers, God doesn’t answer verbally, though He may grant a request, or deny it, or delay its granting. That denying or delaying is part of the testing. And it has a purpose, a good one. Don’t give up on God, and certainly don’t assume the worst about Him. Trust, and wait. You won’t be disappointed if you do.

Then there was a testing in the Gospel, not of the woman, but of Jesus’ disciples. Then his disciples came and begged him, “Send her away! She is crying out after us!” But he answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” To them, it looked like Jesus wasn’t going to help the woman, so He might as well send her away, because her incessant, unanswered cries for help were becoming troubling, so they prayed against her, instead of praying for her. Now, previously, Jesus had sent His disciples on a mission, instructing them not to go to the towns of the Gentiles, but telling them to go “only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” And yet, there’s a difference, isn’t there?, between not going to Gentile towns, and not helping a Gentile who is right there, calling out for help. What’s more, the disciples had followed Jesus up here to the territory of the Gentiles. They had previously watched Him heal a Roman centurion’s servant, and praise the man’s faith. So, how would they take these words of His, and His silence? Would they assume He really didn’t want to help this woman, simply because she wasn’t a Jew? Would they assume Jesus had no interest in helping the Gentiles? Or would they pause, and consider that, as the Old Testament said and as Jesus had already shown, the Messiah had come to save all people from their sins, and that the “lost sheep of the house of Israel” didn’t actually have to be Israelites, but could include any who, like this woman, put their faith in the Lord Jesus?

There is a test here for us, too. How will you read those Old Testament prophecies about Israel’s future? How will you recognize a true Israelite today? Will you look for the lost sheep of Israel among a certain ethnic or racial group or economic group? Or will you recognize that everyone who calls on the name of Jesus, in repentance and in faith, is a true Israelite, no matter their race or their background? And when you recognize a brother or sister in Christ, will you pray for them?

In the final testing of the woman’s faith, her faith was tested, not by Jesus’ silence, but by the words He spoke to her. Then she came and fell down before him, saying, “Lord, help me!” But he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

There she was, on her knees, begging for her daughter, begging for Jesus to conquer the demons for her, which only He could do. His answer would test anyone’s faith, comparing the people of Israel to children sitting at the table with their food, and comparing the Gentiles to little dogs under the table. The thing is, there was an enormous difference between Jews and Gentiles at that time. The Jews weren’t God’s children by nature. They, like the Gentiles, were sinners by nature and hostile to God by nature. The difference was that God, out of pure mercy and grace, without any goodness on their part, had brought the Jews into a covenant with Him. He had made them His people, His children. And, at least outwardly, they worshiped the true God. But the Gentiles, for their part, were idolaters who worshiped false gods, who didn’t want anything to do with the true God, the God of Israel.

Except that, this woman here is looking to Jesus, the true God of Israel. She was coming to Jesus in faith. Would her faith be strong enough to keep trusting in Jesus’ goodness when all external signs pointed to His indifference? Would her faith survive being tested?

It certainly did. Her answer is a shining example for all of us. She said, “Yes, Lord. But the dogs do eat from the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “Oh, woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly. For a few minutes, it looked like this Gentile woman was being shamed and ignored. But looks are so often deceiving. In the end, we hear Jesus giving her some of the highest praise anyone has ever received from God. How often did He say to His own (Jewish) disciples, “Oh, you of little faith!” But to this Gentile woman, He says, “You have great faith!” Great, because she kept trusting in Jesus for good, in spite of how things looked on the outside. Great, because she humbly submitted to being tested by her God, unlike Old Testament Israel, who always grumbled and complained against God whenever He tested them. And by contrasting this Gentile woman’s great faith with the very weak faith often shown by the Jews, the Holy Spirit used this encounter to teach all future generations that it’s not your bloodline that matters before God, or any great works you’ve done. It’s faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that will result in salvation.

Let this Spirit-inspired account of the testing of the Gentile woman inspire you to humbly submit to God’s testing, too. God’s testing is not intended to harm you, but to help you. It’s a form of discipline from a loving Father who knows all and whose plans for His children are perfect. He will never let you be tempted—or tested!—beyond what you can bear, but He Himself will provide the way out so that you can bear up under it. Faith will survive being tested, if it remains focused on the Lord Jesus and His goodness and love, which never fail. And after faith survives the testing, you will receive God’s praise, and, ultimately, God’s gift of salvation from sin and from every evil. Amen.

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It’s not too late to listen

Posted on February 25, 2026 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

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Sermon for the week of Lent 1

Matthew 21:23-32

For the next five Wednesdays, including today, I’ll ask you to fast-forward in your mind to Holy Week, specifically, to the Monday and Tuesday of Holy Week. During Holy Week itself, we’ll hear again the account of Jesus’ ride into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, and about all the events of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. But we’re going to devote these five Wednesdays, and the Monday and Tuesday of Holy Week, to hearing some of Jesus’ teaching in the earlier part of the week, as the Pharisees and other Jewish leaders were making their final plans to get rid of Him.

On Monday, the day after Palm Sunday, Jesus went to the temple with His disciples. He was there to teach, and this teaching was urgent, because He knew that these two days, Monday and Tuesday of Holy Week, were His final opportunities to speak to the people. But He found it impossible, because the temple was full of moneychangers and buyers and sellers of animals. So He threw them out of His Father’s house, even overturning the tables and chairs of those who had so desecrated it. And then He began to teach the people, and many gathered around Him to listen.

After a while, though, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?” Doing what things? Well, publicly teaching the Word of God, but also the cleansing of the temple. Neither teaching nor clearing out the temple was the automatic task of every Israelite. You had to have authority to do such things. So there were really only three possible answers to their question. Either the Jewish priests or council had given Him the authority; they knew that wasn’t the case. Or, God had authorized Jesus directly; they were sure that wasn’t the case. Or, Jesus had simply taken it upon Himself, as a man, to do things He had no authority to do. That’s what they assumed. And they were ready to pounce on Him, no matter which answer He gave.

But Jesus saw right through their trap. He answered and said to them, “I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things: The baptism of John—where was it from? From heaven or from men?” The answer to both questions was, of course, the same, that both John’s authority to preach and to baptize and Jesus’ authority to preach and to baptize had come from heaven, directly from God the Father. But instead of making that lofty claim for Himself, Jesus sought a reply from the Jews. An honest reply for an honest reply.

But honesty often doesn’t fit into politics, and that’s all these men were about. They reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the multitude, for all count John as a prophet.” So they answered Jesus and said, “We do not know.” And He said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.” Jesus dealt with them masterfully. They refused to say what they believed, namely, that John’s baptism was from men, that is, that John just got up one day and decided all on his own to preach and to baptize. They believed that John had made up his message, and that his preaching was worthless. But they wouldn’t say it out loud, because the people loved John, and all the more since he was put to death by King Herod. And the religious leaders, like most men in power, knew that their power depended on convincing the people to follow them. So they couldn’t say anything that the people would disagree with too strongly. Since they didn’t answer, Jesus didn’t have to answer, either.

But Jesus wouldn’t let them off the hook so easily. “But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go, work today in my vineyard.’ He answered and said, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he regretted it and went. Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, ‘I will go, sir,’ but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” Well, that’s a question they thought they could answer. They said to Him, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when you saw it, you did not afterward relent and believe him.

You see, the tax collectors and harlots were like the first son in the story. God told them, as Israelites, “Keep My covenant! Keep My commandments! Love Me with your whole heart, and love your neighbor as yourself! And believe in My promise to send a Savior to you!” And they at first said, “No!” They turned away from God’s commandments and committed theft and all kinds of sexual immorality, among other sins. They walked away from God’s covenant. But then John the Baptist came and called them to repentance, and to the baptism that God had sent him to perform, a baptism for the forgiveness of sins. And then he called on the baptized to produce fruit in keeping with repentance, to mend their sinful ways, to stop stealing and committing adultery. And the tax collectors and prostitutes believed him, that they were sinners, but that God had provided a way for them to be forgiven, and, once forgiven, a way forward, walking no longer in the darkness of their sins, but in the light of God’s children. In the end, they did the Father’s will.

Meanwhile, God had said the same thing to the chief priests and elders, “Keep My covenant! Keep My commandments! Love Me with your whole heart, and love your neighbor as yourself! And believe in My promise to send a Savior to you!” And they immediately said, “Of course we will! We’re good Israelites. We’ll do everything you say, Lord!” And they thought they were doing everything, keeping the Law as well as a human being could keep it (especially compared with those horribly sinful tax collectors and harlots). But when John the Baptist came, calling them to repentance also, accusing them of not reaching the perfection that God’s law required, they didn’t believe him. Which was fine, if his authority to preach to them only came from men. But if his authority came from God, and they refused to listen, then they were like the second son in Jesus’ story, who ended up not doing the will of his father.

Yes, Jesus was praising the tax collectors and harlots over the religious leaders of the Jews. Those horrible sinners were actually doing the will of God more than the chief priests. How that must have stung those priests! But they would have their revenge. By the end of the week.

Now, here’s the lesson everyone can take away from this Holy Week encounter. Whether you’ve been living like the first son, or like the second son, it isn’t too late to listen and do the will of your Father. God isn’t authorizing prophets directly anymore, as He did with John the Baptist, and with Jesus. But He is still authorizing ministers to speak to His people on His behalf. As Jesus said to His chosen apostles after His resurrection, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore, go, and preach, and teach, and baptize. And what did the Apostle Paul tell us in Sunday’s Epistle? But we, as workers together with him, urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says, “At the acceptable time I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is the acceptable time! Behold, now is the day of salvation!

Now is the time to admit that, no matter how well you’ve lived, it isn’t good enough to earn God’s favor. Now is the time to admit that you need a Savior from sin—One who does live up to God’s righteous standards, One who can suffer what you deserve to suffer, and who can restore your relationship with God. Now is the time to realize that Jesus is that Savior. So hear God’s call, today, to repent and believe in Him, and then to go and sin no more. Through faith in Jesus, you have a gracious Father in heaven who forgives you, and who now sends you out again to work in His vineyard, not as a slave, but as a son or daughter. It isn’t too late to listen. It isn’t too late to do the will of your Father, which means, first and foremost, to believe in the One the Father sent to suffer and die for your sins. Amen.

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Passing the tests and resisting the temptations

Posted on February 22, 2026 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

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Sermon for Invocavit – Lent 1

2 Corinthians 6:1-10 + Matthew 4:1-11

You’re all familiar with the word “trial,” from the verb “to try.” A defendant is tried in court, where his trial will seek to determine his guilt or innocence. The Olympic Trials are challenging competitions that force athletes to show what they’re made of, to see who has the ability and the determination to represent their country well in the Olympic games. Teachers try their students’ knowledge by giving them tests. Trials, in the sense of testing someone, are neither good nor bad. There’s certainly nothing nefarious about them, nothing harmful, or at least, no harm intended, only getting at the truth, usually by forcing someone to pass through difficulties or challenges. Defendants are tested to see if they’re innocent or guilty. Olympians are tested to see who has what it takes to compete. Students are tested to see how much they know, or don’t know. And for a Biblical example, God tested Abraham when He commanded him to sacrifice his son Isaac. How will Abraham do with this test? Will he pass, or will he fail?

But the same word, “trial,” can be used with nefarious implications, intending harm, trying to get a person to do something wrong, to go astray from what is right. In that case, English uses the word temptation, although it’s the same word in the Greek of the New Testament for both “test” and “temptation.” It’s not for no reason that the devil is known as “the Tempter,” not “the Tester.” He intends harm. He’s trying to get a person to do something wrong. God tests, the devil tempts. God puts a person through a trial to test him; the devil puts a person through a trial to destroy him.

In many cases, the same situation ends up being both test and temptation. God tested Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden by giving them that commandment not to eat from a single tree in the middle of a garden filled with good trees. How will they do? Will they honor the word of their Creator or not? Will they pass this simple test by keeping this easy-to-keep commandment? Or will they fail? Meanwhile, the devil used the occasion to tempt Eve, trying to get her to fail, and to fall, and, as we know, the Tempter was successful. Adam and Eve showed us the wrong way, how to fail a test and give in to temptation. And as a result of their failure, mankind was doomed to eternal death, because, now, no one, by nature, is able to pass any divinely given test. No one, by nature, is able to truly resist the devil’s temptations.

And so it was necessary for the Second Adam, the Son of Man, the Lord Jesus, to face harder tests, and to suffer worse temptations, to see if He would qualify to be the Savior of mankind. He did qualify! And in today’s Gospel, Jesus shows us the only way to pass a divine test and to resist a diabolical temptation. And it’s a good thing, because Christians often find ourselves facing them both. How to pass God’s tests? How to resist the devil’s temptations? By knowing, believing, and using the Word of God.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record Jesus’ Baptism at the beginning of His ministry, where the Father praised His beloved Son, and the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus in the form of a dove. All three Evangelists also record what happened next: The Son of God was “led up by the Spirit”—or, as Mark puts it, was “driven by the Spirit”— into the wilderness, to be tempted by the devil. There we see it, both the test and the temptation. The test from God the Father’s perspective, the temptation from the devil’s.

The devil, for his part, wasn’t there to test Jesus, but to tempt Him. After Jesus had fasted for forty days, without eating anything, He was hungry. And the devil took advantage of His hunger. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread!” It’s not unlike his temptation to Eve in the Garden of Eden, part of which was essentially, “You are a daughter God! You deserve to eat from this tree and to have the knowledge it would give you!”—in spite of the fact that she wasn’t hungry, she had a whole garden of trees she could have eaten from, and, if she lacked any knowledge, she could have approached God directly and asked Him any question, as a dear child asks her dear father. But just as the devil was successful with her, he tried the same trick on Jesus, who was very hungry and had no food at His disposal. He was trying to get Jesus to focus on what He deserved as the “beloved Son of God, with whom His Father was well-pleased,” as if He deserved to eat, right now, no matter what His Father wanted, as if His Father were actually cruel to allow His Son to go without food for so long.

Meanwhile, the Father was testing His Son through the devil’s temptation. Will He remain humble before Me? Will He continue to trust? Will He put Me first? Or will He put Himself before Me and let His stomach become His god?

Jesus answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” You see how Jesus reaches back into the inspired Scriptures, back to the book of Deuteronomy, specifically, in order to resist the devil’s temptation. By not giving the Israelites food in abundance as they wandered in the wilderness, by giving them only the bread they needed for each day, it wasn’t to be cruel. God was teaching them, testing them, making them realize that they depended on God for everything, and that His word was dependable. He promised bread from heaven each morning, and each morning it appeared, showing, over the course of forty years, that God’s word was 100% reliable. So Jesus reached for that word, and stood upon it, refusing to do anything contrary to the Word of His Father. He passed the test and resisted the temptation.

Then there came a second temptation from the devil. The devil took him up into the holy city, set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down! For it is written, ‘He will put his angels in charge of you,’ and, ‘In their hands they will lift you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’” It sounds like a strange temptation, but, again, it’s not unlike the temptation to Eve in the garden. Essentially, “You are a beloved daughter of God! Yes, He said you would die if you ate from this fruit, but you won’t. He wouldn’t let that happen to you. Go ahead, try it and see!” And she did. For Jesus, who obviously loved God’s Word, the devil added a verse from a Psalm to make the idea of jumping sound more appealing, as if God’s promise of angelic protection applied, even when a believer went out of his way to test God. He was trying to get Jesus to trust that word about God’s promised protection for the believer, while ignoring all the other words of God about how believers should behave, which certainly didn’t include jumping off tall buildings for no good reason.

Meanwhile, the Father was testing His Son through the devil’s temptation. Will He love all the words My Spirit has inspired, or will He only love one or two passages and forget the rest? Will He trust My loving care, or will He put it to the test? You see, teachers are supposed to test their students, but students are not supposed to test their teachers. And in the days of His flesh, in His state of humiliation, Jesus had agreed to live as a student of His heavenly Father.

He answered, It is written again, ‘You shall not test the Lord your God.’ Again, Jesus reached back into the Scriptures and found the answer to the devil’s temptation. Christian humility recognizes that God is right to test man. That doesn’t mean we have to enjoy the experience! But it means we recognize His right to do it and His goodness in doing it. At the same time, Christian humility recognizes that it’s not right for man to test God, to make Him prove His love and care in the ways we choose. Israel, in the wilderness, did put God to the test by demanding that He give them water in the time and manner of their choosing. But Jesus reached for God’s word, and stood upon it, refusing to do anything contrary to the Word of His Father. He passed the test and resisted the temptation.

Finally we come to the third temptation mentioned by Matthew, where the devil took Jesus up onto a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these things I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Once again, it’s not unlike the devil’s temptation of our mother Eve: “God doesn’t care about you. I do. God doesn’t want you to have what you deserve. I do. God wants to test you. I want to free you and give you happiness and glory and everything your heart desires. Give up on Him! And serve me instead!”

Meanwhile, there is the Father testing His Son. Will He take the easy path to glory, or My path, which will require sacrifice? Will He let the devil give Him the kingdoms of the world, or will He spend the next three years, toiling and struggling, suffering and dying, to earn salvation for mankind, according to My plan?

We know which path the Lord Jesus chose: Go away, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. Nothing could distract Him. Nothing could deter Him from the path His Father had chosen for Him. God’s word demanded that the Israelites, and all mankind, worship Him and Him alone. Adam and Eve chose to serve the devil, and so did all their children, except for one, except for the Virgin’s Son, the Son of Man, who passed through the trials in the wilderness and came out spiritually unscathed, and fully qualified to be the Savior of mankind, because He reached for God’s word, stood upon it, and refused to do anything contrary to the Word of His Father. He passed the test and resisted the temptation.

As a result, Jesus proved Himself qualified to be our Savior from sin, who could be a valid Substitute for sinners, a Righteous One who would give His life for the unrighteous, to bring us sinners to God.

And now, having brought us to God through faith, Jesus says to His people, Follow Me! And that includes following Him through trials, through testing and temptation, watching how He was able to pass the tests and resist the temptations, and learning from His example. The devil hardly ever comes to anyone as openly and as directly as he came to Jesus in the wilderness. But sometimes that makes it harder, harder to recognize the source of those doubts about God’s goodness that arise in our hearts, harder to recognize the source of those ideas and teachings that sound so sweet but that contradict God’s Word, harder to recognize the source of those longings for things we should not have, or do, or where that unrighteous anger comes from, or those self-destructive thoughts, or those merciless, loveless attitudes toward our neighbor. Understand that the devil, the unbelieving world, and our own sinful flesh are always working together to tempt Christians, to harm us, to lead us away from God.

But there stands Jesus, our Savior, showing us how to reach for God’s Word when we’re tempted, how to stand on it and rely on it, how to throw it back in the devil’s face, how to use it as the sword of the Spirit that it is, to fight off every diabolical attack. And, at the same time, how to use God’s Word to pass the tests our Father sends, even in our weakness, because while we are weak, God’s Word is very strong, and our Father wants us to pass, and has promised to help us do it. If you rely on God’s Word, and put it into practice, and also pray fervently to God, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,” you will be able to stand amid all the trials and temptations, and you will make it safely to the end of the trials, just as Jesus did, because they don’t go on forever, only for as long as your Father determines is needful and right, so that, in the end, He can rub it in the devil’s face: “This one believed in Me, in spite of all your attacks. This one trembled at My Word, in spite of all your temptations. Yes, this one was a sinful descendant of Adam and Eve and belonged to you by birth. But My Son has defeated you and won him back for Me. You can’t have him. He’s Mine.” You are His, and you will remain His, if you remain steadfast in the word of God. Amen.

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Here’s what you must give up for Lent

Posted on February 18, 2026 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

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Sermon for the First Day of Lent

Joel 2:12-19 + Matthew 6:16-21

We’re going to focus on the Gospel this evening, but first, a word about Lent and the Lesson from Joel 2. The prophet Joel wrote to warn the people of Israel about the coming “day of the Lord,” which, as is often the case in the Old Testament, had a double fulfillment. The first “day of the Lord” would be the judgment brought upon Israel through the Assyrian armies—a judgment that would come upon the northern kingdom because of their stubborn idolatry and their insistence on living for the things of this world instead of living for God. The final, great and awesome “day of the Lord” is still coming, in the future, at the end of the world, when Judgment Day will come upon all flesh.

But in between these two “days of the Lord,” there would be a time of repentance, and renewal, and expansion for Israel. You heard Joel call Israel to earnest repentance this evening, but it’s later in the same chapter where Joel prophesies the Day of Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit, and the renewal of Israel before the final Day of the Lord comes—not the Israel that rejects Jesus as the Christ, but the true Israel that embraces Him, the Holy Christian Church.

And so, as the true Israel of God, we take Joel’s call to Israel and apply it also to ourselves. Turn to me with all your heart, with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning. Rend your hearts and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God! For he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, rich in mercy, and he relents from sending disaster. A fitting word for the first day of Lent.

In many ways, the Lenten season is like every other season in the Church Year. We hear the Word of God, both Law and Gospel, and we rejoice in God’s goodness to us in Christ. But this season does have an emphasis on the call to repentance, to perform an ongoing, sober evaluation of your heart and your life. And wherever your thoughts, words, deeds, and the attitudes of your heart have strayed from what is good and right, wherever your sinful flesh has begun to tug at you to lead you astray, take this opportunity to recognize it, to turn from it, and to turn to God for forgiveness for Christ’s sake, before the Day of the Lord arrives.

Turning to our Gospel, we see Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, doing that very thing, teaching His disciples to recognize where their sinful flesh may easily go astray, to give up their bad behaviors and to pursue better ones. Some people think Lent is about giving up harmless things, like certain foods, or certain pastimes. In reality, Lent is only about giving up sinful thoughts and behaviors and beliefs. It’s about wrenching your heart away from its attraction to this passing-away world and setting your mind on God, and on the heavenly things that last. According to today’s Gospel, here is what you must give up for Lent: Seeking the praise of men, and storing up treasures for yourself on earth.

When you fast, Jesus says, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sullen look on your face. For they disfigure their faces, so that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.

Jesus mentions fasting here, which is probably why this text was chosen to initiate the Lenten season, with its traditional focus on fasting. But in reality, it isn’t fasting itself that Jesus is teaching about. He’s using fasting as a example of a common practice among the Jews that was meant to serve a spiritual purpose—to focus their hearts on God—but that many had turned into a way to show off before men, to get people to look at them and marvel at how spiritual they were, how devout, how religious. How would you know that anyone is fasting? You wouldn’t, unless they made sure you knew. In the example Jesus gives, some Jews would put a sour, sullen, gloomy expression on their face as they went around town, to get people’s attention, to show people that they were fasting. “Oh, look at his face! He must be fasting today. What a devout, religious person he is!” They were seeking the praise of men.

Notice what Jesus says about such people: They have received their reward. In other words, God has no praise, no reward, no approval for such people. The praise they have received from the people around them is all the reward they’re going to get.

Don’t do that! Jesus says to His disciples. Don’t be like that, going around doing religious things, doing virtuous things in such a way that you draw people’s attention to how religious you are! Today we call it “virtue signaling,” where you have to make sure everyone around you knows that you don’t approve of someone else’s behavior, because you’re better than that—and you want to make sure everyone knows it. No, seeking the praise or the approval of men, of other people, is an ugly thing, in God’s eyes. But that’s exactly what your sinful flesh wants to do—to please other people, to get other people’s attention, and approval, and praise. The sinful flesh craves those things. And the more you live to please men, the less you will end up being pleasing to God.

Instead, Jesus says, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that your fasting is not seen by men, but by your Father, who is in secret. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you openly. If you’re going to perform some spiritual exercise or discipline, like fasting, or praying, make sure not to let people see or know about it. If you’re doing anything to honor God, to worship God, to devote yourself to God, then keep it a secret, and let God be the only one who sees it. Give up seeking man’s approval and turn your longing for approval entirely over to God, and you will have the reward of His approval and praise, for the sake of the Lord Jesus, who makes believers pleasing in His Father’s sight.

Another thing to give up for Lent is mentioned in the second part of today’s Gospel, where Jesus says, Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. He isn’t commanding His disciples to get rid of all their possessions. He isn’t telling people to empty their closets, or their pantries, or their barns, or their bank accounts, where they store their food or their money. What is He warning His disciples not to do? He’s warning them not to order their lives around filling their closets, or their pantries, or their barns, or bank accounts, as if having a healthy bank account or retirement account were the goal of life. Remember, everything you have here on earth can be gone in an instant, whether destroyed by moth or rust, or stolen away by thieves. And even if your possessions aren’t destroyed or used up or stolen during your lifetime, at the moment of your death, they won’t do you any good at all, when you have eternity staring you in the face. If you lived your life to store up things for yourself, you will be shocked to find out that your short life was wasted, and horrified to learn that there is nothing waiting for you but the everlasting torment of hell.

Your sinful flesh is always seeking earthly comfort, earthly security, earthly success, and earthly glory. But the more you seek those things in this life, the less you will have after this life. So give up storing up treasures for yourself on earth.

Instead, Jesus says, store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. What are the treasures one can have in heaven? And how does a person store them up there? The treasures that await in heaven are the great blessings God has promised after this life: eternal life and joy in His presence, seeing Him face to face, knowing fully, even as we are fully known, eternal dwellings that Jesus is right now preparing for us, perfect fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ, no more tears, no more sorrow, no more pain, no more loss. Beyond that, there will be rewards of grace for each and every deed of love, done in faith, and many more treasures than that—treasures we can’t even conceive of now. As the Scripture says, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.”

But in order to have all those treasures in heaven, you need to reach that heavenly inheritance.

So give up storing up for yourselves treasures on earth. Give up seeking the praise of men. And focus on Christ and on the things above. As the writer to the Hebrews say, Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Consider Him, the Lord Jesus, throughout this Lenten season. Consider the things He suffered and the opposition He endured from sinful men during Holy Week. Fix your eyes on Christ, and on the things above. And so prepare, O Israel, for the great and awesome Day of the Lord. Amen.

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Faith, though imperfect, is powerful

Posted on February 15, 2026 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

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Sermon for Quinquagesima

1 Corinthians 13:1-13 + Luke 18:31-43

I’d like you to think about the story of Abraham for a moment. Think of all the things God told him that made no sense. Get up, leave your home and your country and go to the place I’ll show you! It’s true, you have no children, and you and Sarah are old, and she is barren, but you will have offspring as numerous as the stars in the sky. Yes, I told you your offspring would be reckoned through Isaac, but go and sacrifice him anyway! None of those things made sense, even to Abraham. And yet he clung to the word and the promise and the faithfulness of God. Not perfectly, as we see in many examples, but persistently. We call it “faith,” this clinging to the word and promise and faithfulness of God. Hebrews 11 gives us a classic definition of faith. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. In other words, to have faith is to cling, already now, to the things you hope to have in the future, because, even though you don’t see those things now, you know for certain that, one day, you will. Now, Abraham’s faith was strong, but still imperfect, as was the faith of every Old Testament and New Testament saint. But in reality, even the strongest faith is still imperfect in this life, because perfection lies in seeing, in actually having and experiencing the things we hope for. Paul described it in today’s Epistle like this: Now we see through a mirror, darkly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I am also fully known.

That describes well the situation that Jesus’ apostles found themselves in in today’s Gospel—seeing through a mirror, darkly, knowing only in part. And, as Paul makes clear, that also describes our situation. We see and we know imperfectly when it comes to the things of God. But, as we see in the example of the blind man in the second part of the Gospel, even imperfect seeing can achieve amazing results, because, even though faith isn’t yet perfect in this life, when faith is placed in Jesus and His Word, it does have a perfect object—something perfect in which to believe. Faith, though imperfect, is powerful, because the object of faith, which is Jesus and His word, is perfect, and perfectly reliable.

Our Gospel begins with Jesus taking His twelve apostles aside and telling them plainly, Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all the things that were written through the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be finished. For he will be delivered to the Gentiles, and he will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon. And they will scourge him and put him to death. And on the third day he will rise again. It’s very close to Holy Week. They’re heading toward Jerusalem. And Jesus, as the Son of God, sees perfectly the path before Him. He sees it. He understands it. He knows exactly what will happen to Him, and He even knows why. He will be unjustly accused, attacked, arrested, tortured, condemned, and crucified, as the atoning sacrifice that pays for the sins of the world, so that sinners might look to Him in faith and have our sins blotted out before the judgment seat of God. Our forgiveness would come at the price of Jesus’ suffering and death. He saw the path forward perfectly.

But His apostles didn’t, even after He explained to them what had to happen, even after telling them that He would rise from the dead on the third day. They understood none of these things; this saying was hidden from them, and they did not understand the things that were said. And that’s okay. They weren’t supposed to understand everything perfectly yet. They weren’t supposed to see clearly at this point. All they were supposed to do was listen, remember, and trust. Trust Jesus, who always saw everything perfectly, even though their faith was imperfect. Jesus, the object of their faith, was not imperfect.

And they did trust Him. Not a single disciple walked away after hearing the dreadful things Jesus said would happen to Him, even though they didn’t understand what He meant, or why these things had to happen. They all kept following, except for Judas Iscariot, who kept following physically but, by this time, in his heart, was no longer a believer. The rest of them stayed with Jesus, and would eventually see everything play out with their own eyes, and would eventually understand what it had all been about. Their faith, though imperfect, was still powerful.

Then, on their way to Jerusalem, Jesus and His apostles, along with a great multitude accompanying them in a great procession to the Passover feast, encountered a blind beggar. His sight was certainly imperfect, non-existent, even. He was, physically, in about the same shape as Jesus’ apostles were spiritually, when it came to their understanding of Jesus’ prediction about His suffering: unable to see.

But this blind man showed a faith that went beyond that of most people. Blind as he was, he still heard the crowd approaching and asked what the commotion was all about. They told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. Hearing that, he began to cry out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Those simple words tell us quite a bit. To call Jesus the Son of David was to acknowledge Him as the Christ for whom Israel had been waiting for two thousand years. Even the crowds weren’t claiming that. Even Jesus’ apostles had not yet publicly proclaimed that, though they had in private. But faith in Jesus, and in the word of Jesus, doesn’t know any boundaries of social class or religious education. Faith comes from hearing the message, not from anywhere else. What’s more, the beggar cried out to Jesus for mercy. That tells us that he had heard that the Son of David had both the power to help him and the reputation for showing mercy to those who sought it from him, whether they were lepers, or tax collectors and sinners, or beggars on the street. This beggar hadn’t heard everything Jesus had ever said or taught, didn’t know as much doctrine as the apostles did, but he had heard that Jesus, the Christ, was merciful. And he believed it.

And what did this beggar want from Jesus? Not a handout. Not a meal. Not wealth or comfort. He wanted one simple thing (which no one else on earth could provide): Lord, I want to see. And Jesus granted his request. Receive your sight! Your faith has saved you! Your faith has saved you. See what power faith has! Not because it’s perfect. Faith isn’t powerful because of its perfection, but because of its object, which is Jesus, and His word, and His faithfulness. When the beggar first came to Jesus, he didn’t yet have the thing he hoped for—to be able to see. But, by calling out to Jesus in faith, by holding onto his hope in Jesus in spite of the scoldings of the crowd for him to be quiet, he showed that he already had the substance of what he hoped for. By believing the word about Jesus, he already had the evidence of the things not seen. And his faith, though imperfect, proved to be a powerful thing, because it held onto Jesus, who is both powerful and perfect. As the Scripture says, No one who believes in Him will ever be put to shame.

For those who have no faith in the Lord Jesus, it’s not too late. You stand condemned before a righteous God because of your sins, including your sin of unbelief. But Jesus, the Son of David, is merciful and good. He knowingly faced suffering and the cross to atone for your sins. Repent and believe in Him, and you will be saved!

As for you Christians, you know there are many things you don’t fully understand when it comes to God and His word. Whether it’s sayings in Scripture that make you scratch your head, or, just as likely, things going on in the world, or in your life, that just don’t make much sense. So often it’s hard to see what God is doing, or why He’s doing the things He does. And even on its strongest day, your faith is not perfect. We’re still waiting for perfection, still waiting for the full explanation of things, which only comes at the end. But that’s okay. Cling to Christ, the Son of David, who suffered for you, willingly and knowingly, that you might live with God forever! Cling to His word, and know for certain that God’s Word is always dependable—more so than anything on earth. And trust that God Himself is faithful. He would never lie to you. He would never lead you astray. Your faith doesn’t have to be perfect. In fact, it will never be. But God is perfect, and so is His Word. As long as your faith is placed in Him, it’s powerful enough to save you and to make you eternally blessed. Amen.

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