Called to imitate the love and humility of Christ

Posted on October 12, 2025 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

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Sermon for Trinity 17

Ephesians 4:1-6 + Luke 14:1-11

You heard in today’s Epistle a powerful encouragement from the Apostle Paul. He said, I, the prisoner in the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all humility and meekness, with patience, bearing with one another in love. According to St. Paul, you Christians, you baptized believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, have a “calling.” You have been “called,” called by the Holy Spirit, through the Gospel. In fact, the very word “Church” in the Greek New Testament comes from a word that means “called out.” The Church is the little congregation of baptized believers, scattered around the world, that has been “called out.” And yet, not only “called out,” but also “called to.” St. Peter, in his first Epistle, puts it just that way: You have been called out of darkness, he says, to God’s marvelous light, called out of ignorance to knowledge, called out of the devil’s kingdom into God’s kingdom, called out of the slavery to sin into the service of righteousness, called out of unbelief to repentance and faith.

Today’s Gospel also highlights the Christian’s calling “out of” or “away from” a certain place and our calling “to” another place. Through the Gospel, the Holy Spirit calls us away from a place of indifference to a place of love. He calls us away from a place of pride to a place of humility.

Away from a place of indifference to a place of love. We see that in the first part of today’s Gospel. Jesus had been invited to a Sabbath-Day dinner at the home of one of the rulers of the Pharisees. And there was a man there at the supper who suffered from dropsy, a painful swelling in the arms or legs—often a sign of heart failure. Jesus had miraculously healed many diseases before this. And some of those healings had taken place on the Sabbath Day, the day of rest, according to the Third Commandment under the Law of Moses. And each time Jesus had healed on the Sabbath Day, the Pharisees and other Jews had gotten very angry, both at Him and at those who dared to be healed by Him on the day when they were all supposed to be resting.

So Jesus knew that the Pharisees would be watching Him at this supper. But He also knew that the man in front of Him, the man with dropsy, needed help—the kind of healing help only Jesus was able to offer. But before performing the healing, He had a lesson to teach the Pharisees. He asked them, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? According to God’s Law, in context, it was. The commandment prohibited doing “work” on the Sabbath day for a person’s own benefit, working your job, your farm, your kitchen, your yard, etc. But works of love, good works to help a person’s neighbor in an emergency—even good works to help a needy animal!—were not forbidden. Not by God, at least.

But these experts in the Law remained silent. They weren’t there to discuss God’s Word with Jesus. And they certainly weren’t there to seek help for this sickly man. They didn’t care about either; they had become indifferent to both—to both God and their neighbor—and, instead, were only there to carry out their own agenda to watch Jesus and to catch Him in a trap.

But Jesus cared, both about God’s Word and about His neighbor. He healed the man and let him go. And then He still wanted these men to confront their own lovelessness, to admit it, to repent of it. So He asked again, Which of you, if your ox or donkey fell into a pit, would not immediately pull it out on the Sabbath day? They all would, and they knew it. They wouldn’t sit back and “rest on the Sabbath” while their pack animal needed their help. But when it came to their own flesh and blood, their neighbor, their brother, their friend, their fellow church member—no, they didn’t care enough about him to intervene. They cared more about their agenda than they cared about their neighbor, so they still refused to answer Jesus.

Today, God would call you away from the indifference that still dwells in your sinful flesh to a place of love—love for God’s Word, so that you actually care what He says, so that you know His commandments, in context, and don’t try to twist His Word for your comfort, for your convenience, or for your own selfish purposes; and love for your neighbor, so that you actually care about your neighbor, being ready to go out of your way to help him, no matter what day of the week it may be. And sometimes, “love” means speaking hard truths to your neighbor, even as Jesus spoke hard truth to the Pharisees in today’s Gospel, exposing their indifference. Here, in this Gospel, God calls all people away from indifference, to repentance, to faith, and to love. And if you’re a baptized Christian, you have not only received but accepted that calling. Now walk in a manner worthy of it.

In a similar way, Christians have been called away from a place of pride to a place of humility.

Jesus witnessed this all-too-familiar pride at that same Sabbath dinner. He watched the guests arrive, and He saw how each one made a beeline for the place of highest honor at the dinner table, for the seats reserved for the most important guests, each one assuming that the host favored him the most, each one thinking, “Surely the host wants me to have the place of honor. So I’ll go ahead and seize it for myself.”

That provided Jesus with an opportunity to tell a parable about choosing one’s place at someone else’s dinner. He uses the example of a wedding banquet, but it’s a parable, so He isn’t really giving them advice for the proper etiquette at a banquet. He’s comparing the kingdom of heaven, the Church of God, to a wedding banquet. When you are invited by someone to a wedding, do not sit down in the place of highest honor. Otherwise, if someone more honorable than you has been invited by him, the one who invited you both may come and say to you, ‘Give this man your place.’ Then, with shame, you will proceed to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that, when the one who invited you comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher!’ Then you will have honor in front of all those who are sitting at the table with you.

As I said, Jesus isn’t interested in earthly wedding banquet behavior. He’s interested in saving people from sin, death, and the devil, and He knows the danger of thinking highly of oneself when it comes to God.

God is the Host of the banquet. He is the One who invites everyone to come into His kingdom. But how you come in is incredibly important. If you want to approach God with pride, as someone who thinks he deserves recognition, who has worked hard and earned a place in heaven and whom God is lucky to have by His side, if you approach God on your own terms, with your own beliefs, doing what you think is right (regardless of what He has to say about it in His Word), that’s like making a beeline for that place of highest honor and seizing it for yourself. But if you do that, you’re going to be in big trouble, because the Host of the heavenly feast will come in and see you sitting there, all proud of yourself, assuming you’re more deserving than the rest. If He finds you sitting there, He will tell you to get up and give your place to someone else. You’ll be disgraced before God and men. And when Jesus says in His parable that you’ll have to go down to the lowest place, what He means is, you won’t have a place in God’s presence at all. You’ll be ushered out of His kingdom into eternal darkness.

On the other hand, if you approach God, as He has invited you to do, in humility, as someone who acknowledges he deserves nothing from God, who recognizes that he has no righteousness of his own to offer God, who has earned only wrath and punishment from the just and holy God, who only looks to God for the mercy and favor He has promised to poor sinners for the sake of Jesus Christ, who died for you so that you might be acceptable to His heavenly Father, if you approach God on His terms, listening to His Word and believing in His Son Jesus Christ, leaving your life, your future, and your honor in God’s hands, to do with you as He pleases, that’s like choosing the lowest place at the banquet. And if God finds you sitting there, you’re safe, because the Host of the heavenly feast has already told you what He will do. He will come in and see you sitting there, where Jesus told you sit, and He will tell you to get up and go to a higher place, to a place of glory, to the place of a son or a daughter of God, to a place of eternal life.

Jesus summarizes it this way: For whoever exalts himself will be humbled; and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. To exalt yourself is to lift yourself up, to look at yourself and take pride in yourself, and, in so doing, to place yourself above God and man. But the Holy Spirit, through the Gospel, has called you away from that. He has called you to recognize pride as the devil’s own attitude, to turn away from it, and to turn, instead, to a place of humility. To humble yourself means to lower yourself, with the sure hope that God won’t leave you in the dust.

Called away from indifference to love. Called away from pride to humility. In the end, the calling you have received is nothing other than the call to be imitators of God, the call to be like Jesus. When you read this Gospel, you can’t help but think of what Paul wrote to the Philippians in chapter 2: Let this mind be in you all, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. But He emptied Himself, taking upon Himself the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in the form of a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross. For love of you, for love of everyone, Jesus humbled Himself, lowered Himself all the way down to death on a cross. But God the Father didn’t leave Him in the dust. Paul goes on: Therefore God highly exalted Him and gave Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. See how highly the Father has exalted Jesus, after He humbled Himself. You have His promise that the same will be done for you, if you humble yourself before Him.

Here, in this Gospel, God calls all people away from indifference to love, from pride to humility. He calls all people to know and to believe in His Son, Jesus Christ, and then to imitate Him, to walk in His footsteps. If you’re a baptized Christian, you have not only received but accepted that calling. Now walk in a manner worthy of it, with all humility and meekness, with patience, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace: one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above you all, and through you all, and in you all. Amen.

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God’s mighty messengers, the holy angels

Posted on October 1, 2025 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

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Sermon for the Feast of St. Michael & All Angels

Revelation 12:7-12 + Matthew 18:1-11

On Monday, which was the actual feast of St. Michael, President Trump posted this on the White House website: According to sacred Scripture, when the Devil rebelled against God in Heaven, Saint Michael and his legion of angels cast Satan down to Earth—triumphantly reasserting God’s sovereignty over all creation. For 2,000 years, Christians have looked to Saint Michael the Archangel for protection, strength, and courage in times of conflict, distress, and doubt. In 1886, nearly 140 years ago, Pope Leo XIII, leader of the Roman Catholic Church, fearing for the future of the western world, introduced the legendary Prayer to Saint Michael, which is still recited to this day in churches and homes all across our Nation and throughout the world: Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan, and all the evil spirits, who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

On the one hand, it’s nice to see the government speaking positively about religion instead of persecuting it. But we should always think critically when a government official says something about God or the Bible, because they’re not good theologians. Consider what the president wrote and notice a couple of things. First, he tells the nation that St. Michael cast down Satan in the beginning, when the Devil rebelled, “reasserting God’s sovereignty over all creation.” But what you heard about Michael casting out the devil in tonight’s first lesson from Revelation 12 didn’t happen in connection with the devil’s rebellion. If we look at the context, we see that it happened in connection with the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ Jesus. In fact, the vision is so full of symbolism that it would be unwise for us to think about that “battle in heaven” too literally in the first place. Nor was God’s sovereignty over all creation ever in question, needing to be “reasserted” by Michael and the angels. Nor are we ever taught in Holy Scripture to pray to any of the holy angels. Instead, we are taught over and over again to pray to God.

But, having said that, it is entirely appropriate to give thanks to God for the help and protection of the holy angels, and to pray to God that He would continue to send them to help us and to minister to us in our time need. Because there are many and great forces working against us in the spiritual realm. The devil is real. His demons are real. But so is Michael, and so are the holy angels, whom God employs to fight for us in ways that are almost always invisible to us.

Now there’s much we don’t know about angels, but there are some things we do know from Scripture. Angels don’t have flesh and blood as we do, but they can appear as men when they wish, like the two angels who accompanied the Lord in His visit to Abraham. We often picture angels with wings. That’s because Scripture describes them that way in several places, including how God Himself commanded Moses to depict them on the ark of the covenant and in the temple. Some of them are called “cherubim,” others “seraphim,” pictured as having either no wings, or two wings, or four wings, or six.

What do the angels do? Well, first and foremost, they worship God, their Creator, their Father, and their Lord. The seraphim are pictured doing that in Isaiah’s vision as they flew around God’s throne, calling out, Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory! Or in Revelation, the angels join their voices with all creatures, singing, Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing! The writer to the Hebrews tells us that when God brought His firstborn into the world, He says: Let all the angels of God worship Him. And they did. Remember when they appeared to the shepherds of Bethlehem, and a great multitude of the heavenly host appeared and sang, Glory to God in the highest! Peace on earth, goodwill to men!

Not only do the angels worship God, but they teach us to worship God together with them, with joy, with reverence, and with humble awe. There was a reason why God told Moses to place two cherubim on the mercy seat, the lid of the ark of the covenant, with their wings spread over the mercy seat, and with their faces staring down at it in reverence, just as there was a reason why God instructed Solomon to have two statues of angels made to stand guard in the most holy place in the temple, with other carved figures of angels placed in the walls of the Temple. God was teaching Israel to worship Him as the angels do. God was teaching them to imitate the worship of the angels, and that, when we worship God, the angels are present there, too, which is why, whenever we sing the Sanctus before Communion, we pray, “Therefore, with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify Your glorious name!”

Now, if the angels worshiped God there at the mercy seat where He appeared, and in the temple, shouldn’t we worship Him a hundred times more? The angels worship Him as their Creator and Father. We worship Him, not only as our Creator and Father, but as our Redeemer and Savior. The sinless angels have never needed God’s mercy. We poor sinners need it at all times. God didn’t send His Son into angels’ flesh, but into ours. God didn’t give His Son into death for the angels, but for us men. God has not had to forgive the angels any sins, but He forgives ours daily. God has not brought the angels into the body of Christ, but He has made us members of Christ’s body. So may our worship not just imitate, but surpass that of the angels. We have far greater reasons to worship our God than they.

But the main purpose of the angels, the primary work they were created to do, at least as far as we’re told in Scripture, is to serve the people of God. As it says in Hebrews about the angels, Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?

There have been two main ways in which angels have served the Church. First, they were often God’s messengers to certain men, bringing the Word of God to people, here and there, in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. But such messages were rare. The chief and ongoing work of the angels is something that we never get to see, and that is, to guard and protect the people of God from dangers both seen and unseen, from attacks both spiritual and physical, both demonic and human. The angels are God’s instruments to keep us safe from harm.

Michael is said to be one of the chief angels, an “archangel.” His name itself is a word of praise, meaning, “Who is like God?” The prophet Daniel was told that Michael is “the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people.” Whether “your people” was only a reference to the Old Testament nation of Israel or to all the people of God throughout the world for all time, we don’t even know. And it doesn’t really matter. Because, whether Michael is our archangel or whether it’s another, all the angels work together, at God’s command, to guard and protect the children of God.

All of this fits perfectly with what David wrote in Psalm 34, The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him and delivers them; and with what the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 91, Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; for He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. The truth is, if we could only see all the dangers that surround us, and the spiritual battles being fought all around us, we would never stop giving thanks to God for the protection He gives us through these mighty messengers of His.

So take comfort in the angels’ presence and protection, whether you’re on land, on sea, or in the air, in your home or in the hospital, knowing that the angels are faithful servants of God, and mighty warriors against all that might bring us harm. And if any bad thing does happen to a child of God, we can know for certain that it was not a failure of the angels to protect us, or a failure of God to see to our protection. As St. Paul wrote, “We must enter the kingdom of God through many tribulations.” This is not yet Paradise, where we will be truly safe from all harm. We’re still on the battlefield here, still living in the realm of the prince of this world, still living in enemy territory, as it were. But if any bad thing happens, we have God’s promise that He allowed it to happen for a good purpose, for our eternal good, and for the good of His holy Church, even as it finally worked out well for poor Lazarus, who suffered much in this life, but whose soul was finally carried, by the angels, up to Paradise.

There will come a day when the troubles of this life are finally removed forever, and the angels will be there on that day, too. Jesus says, The Son of Man will come in His glory, and all His holy angels with Him. And, As the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. At the same time, Jesus says, He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Give thanks to God today for how He runs the universe to work all things together for good to those who love Him, including His use of these holy messengers of His, the mighty angels, our fellow servants of the God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who worship Him together with us and lend us their ministry and protection. We don’t see them now, but we will see them when Christ comes again. Until then, we will continue to pray in Luther’s Morning and Evening Prayers, “Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me.” Amen.

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If God is your God, you have nothing to worry about

Posted on September 28, 2025 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

(There is no recording of today’s service, due to technical difficulties. Only audio of the sermon is available.)

Sermon for Trinity 15

Galatians 5:25-6:10 + Matthew 6:24-34

You all know the First Commandment. The LORD God, the God of the Bible, the God who eventually sent His Son, Jesus Christ, into the world, said to the children of Israel on Mt. Sinai: I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.

What does it mean to have a God? Luther provides a nice little answer in his Large Catechism: A god means that from which we are to expect all good and in which we are to take refuge in all distress. So, to have a God is nothing other than trusting and believing Him with the heart.

What does it mean to have other gods? It means to worship, or to trust in and take refuge in, an idol—things, or people, or angels, or demons—anyone or anything that is not the true God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In fact, God goes on to spell it out for the children of Israel, what one form of idolatry looks like. He says, You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. Making an idol, an image, a statue, a picture, and bowing down to it, or serving it as your god—that’s idolatry. That’s a sin against the First Commandment.

But, as Jesus teaches in today’s Gospel, there’s another, very common way to commit idolatry. And that form of idolatry is what leads to much of the worrying that people do from day to day. So we learn from Jesus to recognize that idolatry for what it is, to renounce it, and to make God your God. Because, if God is your God, you have nothing to worry about.

The form of idolatry that Jesus brings up is the idolatry of serving Mammon. Mammon is a word for money, wealth, and possessions. He says, No one can serve two lords. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Mammon.

What does it look like to serve Mammon? No one bows down to their wallet or prays to their possessions. But people do “serve” them. People do tend to “trust in them.” That means that, if you have wealth and possessions, you trust in them to keep you fed, to keep you clothed, to keep your retirement safe and comfortable. And, if you don’t have enough wealth and possessions, you serve them by going after them, coveting them, setting your heart on getting them, spending your days seeking them, working for them, so that, someday, you may have them and then trust in them to keep you fed, and clothed, and comfortable. And then, worse yet, if you can’t ever seem to get enough wealth and possessions to be satisfied—and few people can!—then your heart grows bitter, and fearful, and anxious, and full of worry, because you haven’t found the way yet to satisfy your “god” called Mammon.

Those who make Mammon their god, the thing in which they trust the most, the thing for which they work the most and covet the most, have much to worry about. Because their god doesn’t provide for them, doesn’t love them, doesn’t care about them at all. Their god doesn’t even acknowledge their existence. He has no control over the universe. Even if they acquire him for a time, he can easily slip away. And this god called Mammon can’t do a thing for a person after he or she dies. You can’t take Mammon with you into the grave, which is exactly where all who serve him will end up, in an earthly grave, and, worse, separated forever from the true God in eternal condemnation, for their incessant, persistent idolatry.

If you are among the servants of Mammon, repent. And if you are among the servants of the true God, which all believing Christians are, but have allowed yourself to be dragged away and enticed by Mammon and the service of it, and the resulting worry caused by it, repent. Repent. Acknowledge your attraction to and dependence on this false god, and the idolatry you’ve committed against the true God.

And, understand, it’s not I calling you to repentance for myself. It never is. It’s God, right now, calling you to repentance. I’m only His messenger. God wants to be a Father to you. So, first, He calls you away from your idolatry. He calls you to His Son, the Lord Jesus, whom He gave into death for your idolatry and for all your sins, in whom He promises that, when you come to Jesus for mercy, you’ll find a Father’s welcome, a Father’s forgiveness. A Father’s eternal inheritance in the world beyond this world. And, even more than that, you’ll find a Father’s lifelong care, a Father’s lifelong providence already here in this world, so that, if God is your God, you have nothing to worry about.

What Jesus says in these verses from the Sermon on the Mount, He does not say to all people, as they now are. He says it to those who have been made children of God. He says it, directly in the Sermon on the Mount, to those who were Jews under the Old Testament, and who, therefore, had the right to call God their Father. But now that Jesus, the true Son of God, has come, has died and risen again, He says it to those who believe in Him, to those who have been baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, because only they have been given the right to be called children of God, have been given the right to call God their dear Father.

Therefore I say to you, stop worrying about your life, what you will eat, or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? In our superabundance here in the United States, most of us don’t worry too much about the bare essentials of food and clothing. It’s the extra stuff we tend to worry about. But we may still be faced with real financial challenges: medical bills, car repairs, mortgage payments, and rising costs of just about everything. Isn’t life more than food, and the body more than clothing—more than all these things? Yes, Jesus tells you. It is more than that.

But before He spells out what life is really for, He wants you to think about how God the Father provides for His soul-less creation—for His creation that doesn’t have an eternal soul, for His creation that He values but hasn’t elevated to the status of “children of God.” He provides for His whole creation. He cares for it. But He hasn’t sent His Son to die for it.

Look at the birds of the air! They do not sow, nor do they reap, nor do they gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? As for clothing, Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they do not toil, nor do they spin. And yet I tell you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like one of these. Therefore, if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today stands and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

Are you not much more valuable than they? The answer is, yes you are! Will he not much more clothe you? The answer is, yes He will! God provides for the daily needs of flowers and birds, and animals, and grass, all of which perishes from one day to the next, none of which lasts into eternity, none of which the Son of God came to serve, none of which bears the illustrious title, “child of God.” But you, baptized believers, have been given that title, not only for this life, but for all eternity. If God provides for the perishable things of this creation, much more will He provide for His dear children, who are not only part of His creation, but whom He has redeemed for eternal life with the precious blood of His beloved Son. As Paul writes to the Roman Christians, He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

So. If God is your God, then stop worrying about your daily needs. Don’t act as if money and possessions were your god, or as if you yourself were your god. You have something far, far better than that. Do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or, ‘What shall we drink?’ or, ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles (that is, the unbelievers, those who don’t have God for a Father) chase after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. You don’t have to inform Him of what you need. He knows it before you do. So let the unbelievers worry. Let those who serve Mammon for their god worry. As for you, if God is your God, you have nothing to worry about.

Instead of worrying about getting the things you need for this life, do as Jesus says. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. As believing children of the heavenly Father, you have already found the kingdom of God and His righteousness in Christ. Now “seek His kingdom” in making it the thing you live for. Remember? Life is more than food. Man does not live by bread alone but…by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God. “Seek God’s kingdom” as you decide on and pursue a career. “Seek God’s kingdom” as you look for and then live with a godly spouse, and raise your family to seek God’s kingdom with you. “Seek God’s kingdom” by setting aside time to gather with your fellow Christians to praise our Father in heaven and to receive the ministry of His Word. “Seek God’s righteousness” by living in daily contrition and repentance, and by striving to walk with the Holy Spirit every day, as He guides you, through God’s Word, to know and to do what is right, and good, and true. And seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness first. First, before seeking anything else. First, before making anything else your priority, including where you’ll get food and clothing. Because Jesus makes a solemn promise here to all God’s children: Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. All the things that you need for this body and life will be added, will be provided. If God is your God, you have nothing to worry about.

And so, Jesus concludes, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. It is enough for each day to have its own trouble. What do we say in the Lord’s Prayer? Give us this day our daily bread. There’s Jesus, teaching us again not to worry about tomorrow’s bread, but to ask your heavenly Father today for today’s bread, and to trust in Him to provide it. Focus on today. And ask for God’s help today to stifle that annoying voice of the sinful flesh that keeps nagging, “Yeah, but, what about tomorrow? What about the next day? What about the rest of your life?” Just stop it. Whatever struggles you’re facing, if God is your God, you have nothing to worry about. If poverty comes, if sickness comes, when death finally comes, if God is your God, you have nothing to worry about. As we’re going to sing in a few moments, All depends on our possessing God’s abundant grace and blessing, though all earthly wealth depart. He who trusts with faith unshaken in his God is not forsaken and e’er keeps a dauntless heart. Let your heart be dauntless. Let your faith be unshaken and immovable, because, when God commands you to have no other gods, to trust in Him above all things, it’s only because He, above all things, is trust-worthy. As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the LORD is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him. Amen.

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Put your hope in the Hope of Israel

Posted on September 24, 2025 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

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Sermon for the week of Trinity 14

Jeremiah 17:13-14 + John 5:1-15

In the First Lesson tonight, you heard about one of the miracles Jesus performed, healing a man near the pool called Bethesda, in Jerusalem. It was no ordinary pool. According to John it was a healing pool, a pool to which God would send one of His angels, from time to time, to stir up the water and to heal whoever was first to step into the water. It sounds fantastical, but it isn’t really that surprising. Jerusalem was still, at that time, the city of God, His chosen dwelling place among men. The Israelites, at that time, were still the chosen people of God. So it isn’t that surprising that God would mercifully provide them with this miraculous place of healing.

But the healing God occasionally provided there, by the hand of an angel, for only one person at a time, was nothing compared to the true healing of the soul—and, eventually, the full healing of the body, too—that God offered to all Israel, and to all people, through the promised Christ. Physical ailments are the result of, and signs of, the spiritual ailment that infects us all, the disease of sin that corrupts our flesh, our very nature. So when Jesus went and healed those physical ailments, as He did in that First Lesson, it was always a sign that people should put their trust in Him as the Healer of sin, the Healer of their relationship with God. As we heard on Sunday, He is the Physician who came to heal the sick, who came to call sinners to repentance. Because with repentance comes the healing of the forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and salvation from sin, death, and the power of the devil.

The prophet Jeremiah knew that the Lord God was the source of that healing, and that the Lord would eventually send His Messiah to Israel, the Savior of Israel, the Savior of the world—Jesus, whose name means “Savior”—the only name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. And so Jeremiah prayed, O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who forsake You shall be ashamed.

The LORD was Israel’s only and sure hope against their enemies, against famine, against sickness, against death itself. And now that Christ has come, remember that “Israel” no longer refers to that country in the Middle East. It refers to the Christian Church throughout the world. The Lord, and His Christ, is the hope of the Church—a sure hope who will not disappoint us—unless we forsake Him. All who forsake You shall be ashamed, put to shame, disappointed.

But forsaking the Lord, the God of Israel, was all too common among the Israelites in the days of Jeremiah, leading up to the Babylonian captivity. Israel forsook God by worshiping idols, and by trusting in men to save them, and by taking the words and promises of God out of context. How so? They took His promises of peace to Jerusalem to mean that they were safe from foreign invasion, regardless of whether or not they kept His covenant, regardless of whether or not they lived in repentance and faith. These same forms of forsaking the Lord are still common today. All those who reject Christ Jesus as Lord have already forsaken the true God. But how many idols have Christians gone after, too, whether it’s in the form of praying to the saints for help, or of putting their career and their earthly life ahead of God, or clinging to institutional churches that have abandoned the pure doctrine of God’s Word? How many Christians put their trust in manmade forms of worship, or in politicians, or in charismatic church leaders? How many Christians take the words and promises of God out of context, preaching “peace” and “forgiveness” without repentance, without recognizing and turning from sin? Just as Israel was put to shame and subjected to destruction and captivity, so all who forsake the Lord will be put to shame when Christ returns.

Those who depart from Me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters. Now God speaks through Jeremiah. He warns that those who depart from Him, all who depart from Him, will be “written in the earth.” What does that mean? Well, just as the names of believers are “written in heaven,” as Jesus once put it, because, through faith in Christ, they are counted among the citizens of heaven and will inherit the heavenly kingdom one day, so all who depart from the true God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, will be written in the earth. They will not take part in the resurrection to eternal life. They will not see the heavenly kingdom, but will die an earthly death and then be raised to the second death of hell.

Why? Because the Lord alone is the fountain of living waters. He is life. He gives life, and health, and hope. Jesus tied Himself to the living waters of the pool of Bethesda (in John 5), to show that He is the true source of life and health. He promised the woman at the well (in John 4) that He would give her living water, if she asked Him for it. And two chapters later, also in John’s Gospel, Jesus will cry out, If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water, referring specifically to the Holy Spirit who would dwell in the hearts of believers after the Day of Pentecost. To forsake the Lord God—to forsake Jesus as the Savior—is to abandon the only source of true life. But to come to Him, to remain with Him and in Him, is to receive life, and health, and hope that will never be put to shame, no matter how much death and darkness surround us in this evil world.

And so, in response to this, Jeremiah pleads: Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; Save me, and I shall be saved, for You are my praise. If only the sick man lying by the Pool of Bethesda had known who was talking to him when Jesus asked, Do you want to be made well? He didn’t know who it was, so he complained about not having anyone to help him down to the pool. But the pool wasn’t the real answer. Jesus was, and is, the answer. Jesus was, and is, the Healer—the Healer of bodies, yes, for a brief time while He was here on earth, but much more than that, the Healer of souls, the Healer of guilt, the Healer of the breech between God and man. He is the only One through whom healing comes. And since all men are sick with sin and guilt, all men need the Healer, and are urged and invited by God to call upon the name of Jesus for that healing: Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed. Save me, and I shall be saved!

Let that be your constant prayer. Look nowhere else for healing. Look nowhere else for salvation. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ. Call upon His name. Put your hope in the Hope of Israel. And soon, when He comes again, you will find that, not only your soul, but also your body will be healed and made new. And you will see the Lord’s salvation in the eternal life of your new heavenly home. Amen.

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The danger of being more evangelical than Jesus

Posted on September 23, 2025 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

I was really happy to see so many good and true things said about Christ and Christianity at Charlie Kirk’s memorial. I was also very impressed with Erika Kirk: her attitude, her strength, her skill in communicating, and her desire to be Christ-like in these terrible circumstances. She is a role model for Christian women, in many ways.

Because it has received such massive attention around the world, I need to say something in response to something Erika said on stage, not in criticism of her, but of the poor teaching she has received from pastors who are supposed to know better. This post is not about Erika, but about bad pastors and teachers, including many who call themselves “Lutheran.”

Erika is being widely praised for saying this: “On the cross, our Savior said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’ That young man. I forgive him.” People around the world are stunned and in awe of this. “Christ forgave from the cross! This is Christianity!” they think. Not exactly.

What did Jesus do from the cross? “And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.’” (Luke 23:33-34). Not, “I forgive you.” Not, “God forgives you.” He spoke not a word to those who had sinned and were sinning against Him. Instead, He prayed for them. He made intercession for sinners, asking that the Father might forgive them even this heinous crime of crucifying the Son of God.

A prayer that someone be forgiven is not the same as forgiving someone. By praying for these sinners, Jesus was perfectly in line with what Paul writes about God: “God wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4). He was doing exactly what He had told His disciples to do: “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:44-45). Loving someone, praying for someone, is not the same thing as forgiving someone.

Jesus teaches His disciples whom they are to forgive and under what circumstances. “If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him” (Luke 17:3).

Does Jesus Himself follow His own counsel, or does He behave differently?

On some occasions, Jesus spoke for God, as God, to those who hadn’t sinned against Him personally, but against God. “Your sins are forgiven you,” He said to the paralyzed man who was brought before Him, “when He saw their faith” (Matt. 9:2). “Your sins are forgiven you,” He said to a sinful woman who washed His feet with her tears. “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace” (Luke 7:48,50).

He told two parables about forgiveness. In the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, it was the penitent tax collector who went home justified (that is, forgiven by God), rather than the Pharisee, who did not go home justified (that is, forgiven by God) (cf. Luke 18:14).

He told another parable about a man who owed an immeasurable debt to his king. The king sought to collect the debt, but when the man begged for mercy, the king forgave him the debt, and then expected him to forgive his fellow servant’s debt *when that servant acknowledged his debt and sought mercy from him.* The king did not simply forgive all the debts of all his subjects at once, but of the one, when the one asked him for mercy (cf. Matt. 18:23-35).

This is what it means when Jesus tells us to pray, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” We are to forgive as God forgives, not differently than God forgives. When the one who has sinned against us repents and seeks forgiveness from us, we are to forgive them. “And if your brother sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him” (Luke 17:4).

Many times, Jesus was sinned against personally. On no occasion did He speak forgiveness to those who were mistreating Him, while they were mistreating Him. When the Pharisees criticized and falsely accused Jesus, He never once replied, “I forgive you.” When the Jews were ridiculing Him on the cross, challenging Him to come down, He never once replied, “I forgive you.” When He stood before Pilate, who was about to unjustly condemn Him to death, Jesus didn’t say, “I forgive you.” He said, “The one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin” (John 19:11).

But Jesus prayed on the cross for those who sinned against Him! How could His prayer not be answered? It was answered, on the Day of Pentecost, when Peter addressed the crowds in Jerusalem, some of whom were at least partially responsible for Jesus’ crucifixion. He did not proclaim, “I forgive you!” He did not proclaim, “God forgives you!” He said, “Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ *for the forgiveness of sins*” (Acts 2:38).

Stephen, the first Christian martyr, did exactly as Jesus did, when the Jews were unjustly stoning him to death. He prayed, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin” (Acts 7:60). And, in the case of at least one man who was there that day, the Lord answered his prayer.

Saul was there giving approval to Stephen’s stoning. He was not forgiven by Stephen or by God on that day. But he was forgiven later. When Jesus confronted Saul on the Damascus road, He did not say, “I already forgave you when Stephen prayed for you.” He said, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?” (Acts 9:4) When and how was Saul actually forgiven? When God sent his minister, Ananias, to speak the Word of God to Saul, who had, by that time, been humbled and brought to repentance, and then said, “Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16).

Those who truly follow Jesus don’t seek to walk beside Him or ahead of Him. They walk behind Him, following in His footsteps. This movement that calls upon Christians to “forgive” all people, all the time, even when those people remain impenitent, is dangerous. It isn’t walking in the footsteps of Jesus. It is seeking a way that, at first, appears Christ-like, but, in reality, is a new and different way than Jesus walked.

What, then, should the Christian do when he is sinned against? As Jesus said, “If your brother sins against you, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him.” Or, if a rebuke is not possible, then there are still other things we are instructed to do. Love your enemy. Have a heart of mercy toward your enemy. Let your enemy know that you are ready to forgive him, from the heart, if he seeks forgiveness from you.

And pray for the one who sinned against you, that God may forgive him—not immediately and directly, but by sending His Word to the offender and by working through His word to call the sinner to repentance and faith in Christ Jesus.

Again, I have absolutely no condemnation for Erika Kirk, only deep sympathy and a great deal of admiration and praise. But I have something against her pastors, and against all pastors who mislead the flock of Christ into false belief.

If Erika’s pastors had taught her properly to follow in Christ’s footsteps, then she might have said something like this: “That man, I want him to understand that what he did was wicked and wrong. Charlie did not deserve to be gunned down in cold blood, and my family did not deserve to be robbed of a husband and a father. But I also want him to know that I feel sorry for him, and that I am ready to forgive him, as God, through Christ, has forgiven me all my crimes against Him. If that man ever seeks my forgiveness, he will have it. But more importantly for his eternal soul, I hope and pray that he will repent before God and seek His forgiveness through Christ, who died for all our sins. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

It’s good to call for Christians to avoid hatred, vengeance, and bitterness. It’s important to call upon Christians to forgive, *when forgiveness is what God commands.* But what God commands is that we walk in the footsteps of Jesus, which does not always mean “forgiving.” To be evangelical *like* Jesus is the goal of every Christian. But there is great danger in trying to be more evangelical than Jesus. The danger is that, in the end, we create a subtly different Jesus in our hearts than the One who is revealed in Scripture. And that can be deadly, for us and for those who would learn of Christ through us.

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