Put your hope in the One who reigns over Caesar

Posted on November 3, 2024 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Trinity 23

Philippians 3:17-21  +  Matthew 22:15-22

The last time the 23rd Sunday after Trinity showed up in our liturgical calendar was six years ago, on the Sunday before the midterm elections in our country. And here we are today, on the Sunday before the general election, hearing again the Scripture readings for the 23rd Sunday after Trinity which turn our attention to our citizenship under “Caesar,” and to our greater citizenship in the kingdom of heaven. Even if you’re as tired as I am of thinking about the political realm, don’t tune out from the Word of God before us today, because your Lord Jesus Christ has something to say to us about it, and we dare not ignore Him.

First, let’s walk through the Gospel. It was Tuesday of Holy Week and the Pharisees and leaders of the Jews were preparing their case against Jesus to put Him to death. So they conspired together to trap Him in His words. Now, remember the political situation in Israel at that time. Rome had conquered Judea some 60 years before Jesus was born, at the time of Julius Caesar. Julius Caesar was such a popular figure that all future emperors of Rome after him were given the title “Caesar.” At the time of Jesus it was Tiberius Caesar who was in charge, and you see on your service insert a picture of the coin that bore his image. King Herod himself served under Caesar’s authority, so the fact that some Herodians were present when our Gospel takes place is relevant to what happened next.

The Pharisees had carefully crafted their question to Jesus, using flattery first and then presenting a yes or no trap question that could have derailed His ministry right then and there. Teacher, we know that you are truthful and that you teach the way of God in truth. You do not care what people think, for you do not pay attention to who they are. So tell us, what do you think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? If He answers no, then they have Him for inciting rebellion against Caesar, and Herod’s officials are there to witness it. If He answers yes, then He has to spend His last few precious moments of teaching explaining it to His followers, who were angry at living under Roman rule and saw the Roman tax as an unjust burden that the people of God shouldn’t have to pay. Either way, He would end up being sidetracked away from His main message.

Jesus sees right through their trap and gives them the perfect response. “Why do you test me, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for paying the tax.” So they brought him a denarius. And he said to them, “Whose image is this, and whose inscription?” They said to him, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “So give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God.” It wasn’t exactly a yes or a no. But who could argue with what He said? His answer made it possible for Him to stay “on message” and move on, without getting sidetracked on this final day of teaching before His crucifixion on Friday of that week.

You see, God does have something to say to the Christian about the Christian’s responsibility toward secular government. It’s important, but it’s certainly not the heart of the Gospel message, not nearly as urgent as Jesus’ warnings to repent of all sin and to put your trust in Him for eternal life, not nearly as important as the judgment Jesus was foretelling for those who rejected their God and Savior, not nearly as important as the sacrificial death Jesus was about to suffer for sinful mankind at the end of the week.

And so, instead of fleshing out, at that moment, God’s will regarding the believing Christian’s duty as a citizen of Caesar’s kingdom, Jesus saw to it that His apostles fleshed it out sufficiently in the rest of the New Testament writings, so that we, who have already been born again and made citizens of the kingdom of heaven through faith in the Gospel, might have His teaching on this topic without losing focus on the heart of the Gospel, which is repentance and faith in Christ Jesus to deliver us from sin, death, and the devil.

You heard the apostle Paul say something about this in today’s Epistle. He says, Our citizenship (that is, the Christian’s true citizenship) is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly bodies, that they may be conformed to his glorious body, according to the power with which he is able to subject all things to himself. Our true King and Emperor is Jesus Himself, seated at the right hand of God, reigning supreme over every king, over every Caesar, over every earthly kingdom. Heaven is the true home of the Christian. We’re just passing through this life, in the world but not of the world, and whatever earthly citizenship we may have here is temporary and far inferior to that other citizenship, in which Paul writes that Christians have been made fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone.

But that doesn’t mean that our citizenship here on earth is unimportant or meaningless. Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords, working through the acts and decisions of men, has appointed “Caesars” all over the earth and has commanded us to “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar.” What does that mean?

First, who is Caesar? The Roman Caesars no longer exist. But “Caesar” is a reference to whatever secular authority God has placed a person under. The overarching authority that a single emperor used to have over everyone in a vast territory has now largely been diminished and spread out among various government officials and branches of government, each having its own scope of authority, with each nation having its own authorities and forms of government. So, for us, that means city government, county government, state government, and the federal government of the United States.

Now the question: What things belong to the various forms of “Caesar” where we live? Jesus said, give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. Well, what things are those?

To Caesar belong honor and respect. Peter writes, Fear God. Honor the King. God would have His children honor the secular authorities. Honor begins in the heart and extends to our behavior. Now, “to honor” doesn’t mean to love or to like, necessarily. To honor certainly doesn’t mean to worship. And it doesn’t depend on how honorable Caesar may or may not be. Because it’s not about honoring the person. It’s about honoring the position of authority that God has established, and it’s about trusting in God’s good purposes in governing the events of this world, even through ungodly and wicked authorities, as has been the case throughout most of history.

To Caesar also belongs our conditional obedience. St. Paul writes in Romans 13, Whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves…And St. Peter writes, submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. God would have His children submit to or obey the authorities who are over us, but conditionally, only when they issue lawful orders, within their scope of authority, and only where their commands don’t conflict with God’s own commandments. So we pay our taxes, even if we don’t think they’re fair or just. We obey the laws of the land, even if we disagree with them. But we don’t obey blindly or unconditionally. When Caesar ordered the early Christians to worship Caesar or to offer incense to the gods of Rome, the faithful Christians rightly disobeyed Caesar, even though it meant they were tortured and put to death. We obey whenever we can obey in good conscience, because, as Peter writes, this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men—as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God.

“Bondservants of God.” That’s what Jesus would have us remember when He says, Give to God what is God’s. What things belong to God? Everything you have belongs to God. Your very life belongs to God. Your heart does not belong to Caesar, but it does belong to God, along with loving God with your whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. Not only honor but worship belongs to God—not to the government. Faith and trust belong to God, not to the government. As the Psalm says, Do not put your trust in princes, nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help. But, on the other hand, Trust in the LORD with all your heart. And unconditional obedience belongs to God, even if you don’t understand why He commands what He does.

So, since God has placed us under the laws of the kingdom where we live, that means that He also allows Christians to use secular laws and public ordinances, to make contracts, to do business in this world, and even to serve in secular offices, as long as these things are done lawfully, without disobeying any of God’s commandments, and with love for our neighbor at all times.

He has even given His Christians a role (in this country, at least) in choosing our various Caesars—thinking not only of ourselves, but also of our neighbor’s good. He has given us the responsibility to evaluate the available candidates for office according to His Word and to vote, not for the Caesar who will be perfect, but for the Caesar who, of the available choices, will best conform to God’s will, as an authority under God’s authority, to vote for the Caesar who (as far as we can tell) will do the most good and the least amount of harm for our neighbor, according to God’s Word. And since intentionally killing our innocent neighbor is one of the greatest harms that can be done, abortion is one of the most clear-cut issues for the Christian, making it our duty, as citizens of the kingdom of heaven, to do everything in our power, as citizens of an earthly kingdom, to keep the more-pro-abortion candidates as far away from power as possible, and you know very well who they are in this year’s election.

Who will Caesar be for us after Tuesday’s election? I suspect that, in some cases, it won’t be altogether clear for a while, and that it’s going to get messy, and that you’ll have very angry people on both sides claiming that an election was stolen and possibly causing chaos like we’ve never seen before. Whatever happens, we’ll get through it together, as the citizens of the kingdom of heaven, with God’s almighty help. Make it your purpose to avoid violence, to avoid hatred, to avoid vitriol, and to avoid despair. Do your best to give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. But above all, pray to the one who is above Caesar, and put all your hope in Christ, who reigns supreme over every Caesar, for the good of His beloved Church. Leave all things to God’s direction. And, as Paul writes, set your mind on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Amen.

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Good reasons to be happy

Posted on October 30, 2024 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for the Festival of All Saints

Revelation 7:2-17  +  Matthew 5:1-12

As we pause today to give thanks to God for the glory of the Church Triumphant, for those whom we call “saints,” “holy ones,” for all the believers in Christ who have fallen asleep in faith, who have entered their eternal rest, who have fought the good fight here below, who have run their race, and who have now received the crown of glory that never fades away, we hear again Jesus’ words from the Sermon on the Mount, where He describes some of the rewards those saints have now received. But as Jesus preaches this sermon, His purpose isn’t primarily to give us comfort about those who have already finished the race. It’s to give us comfort for ourselves as we still run toward the finish line, as we still compete for the prize. And it’s also to spur us on toward the finish line, because great rewards await us there. He paints a picture for us of the Christian life, and He assures us that, as we live it, we have good reasons to be happy.

That’s really what the word “blessed” means in this context. “To have a good reason to be happy.” Let’s briefly walk through the Beatitudes this evening and take a look at who Jesus says has good reasons to be happy, and why.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

We always need to take note here of the “in spirit” part of “poor in spirit.” God has compassion for those who are materially poor and wants us to have compassion for them, too. But they aren’t the ones Jesus called “blessed.” It’s the “poor in spirit” who have good reason to be happy. It’s those who are humble before God, who are penitent, contrite, sorry for their sins who have good reason to be happy, because the kingdom of heaven doesn’t belong to those who, like the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable, try to tell God how wonderful they are, or how deserving of His kingdom, but to the poor in spirit who, like the tax collector in Jesus’ parable, offer God nothing, but seek His kingdom only on the basis of the mercy He has promised for Christ’s sake. The kingdom of heaven belongs to such poor in spirit even now.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Not all who mourn have good reason to be happy. But those who mourn with godly sorrow, whether over their own sins, or over the rampant wickedness they see all around them, or over the state of utter desolation in which outward Christianity finds itself in the world—they have good reason to be happy, even as they mourn, because comfort is coming, ushered in by the Holy Spirit of God, now already through the Word of God, and soon when the Lord Jesus returns to take care of every problem that makes Christians mourn.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

To be meek is to be gentle, like Jesus. That doesn’t mean you can’t be forceful and direct and bold when necessary, as Jesus also was. But in Psalm 37 it says that “the meek will inherit the earth,” and there it defines “meekness” as those who don’t behave wickedly or trust in themselves and their power, but who commit their way to the Lord, who trust in Him, who are still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him, who refrain from anger and wrath. Such people have good reason to be happy, because without lifting a finger themselves, they will inherit the earth, because God will worry about defeating the devil and all the wicked. The Christian can remain meek, because God will fight for us.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Again, pay attention. It’s not hunger and thirst for food and water that makes a person blessed. It’s hunger and thirst for righteousness—those who have such hunger and thirst have a good reason to be happy. There are two ways to hunger and thirst for righteousness. You hunger and thirst for righteousness by knowing that you have no righteousness to offer God, and so you crave the gift God has promised, the righteousness of Christ being counted as your own through faith in Him. You also hunger and thirst for righteousness by yearning for justice in the world, both for yourself and for others, to be treated fairly, to be treated rightly. In both cases, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness have good reason to be happy, because in both cases they will obtain what they so fervently desire. Christ’s righteousness is given even now to believers, and Christ’s justice will be carried out when He comes again.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

You remember the parable of the unmerciful servant. The king forgave him his incredibly large debt, and then he went out and mercilessly mistreated the one who owed him just a little bit. So the king threw that merciless wretch in prison until he could repay everything. God first shows us that kind of great mercy by forgiving our sins and bringing us into His kingdom. He’s serious about wanting us then to show mercy to others. Will we lose out on something great by showing mercy to someone? On the contrary, the merciful have good reason to be happy, because they will receive even more mercy from God.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

We only become pure in heart through the forgiveness of sins and through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, so that our love for God and our neighbor is genuine, and our motives are pure. So we pray with the Psalmist, Create in me a pure heart, O God! And then we have good reason to be happy, because we will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

The opposite of making peace is not just making war, but causing discord and strife, allowing bad feelings to fester and divisions to get wider, refusing to forgive when a brother repents. But God has called us to peace, and to live at peace with people, to the extent that it depends on us, and to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Those who work toward peace and maintain peace and who forgive those who trespass against them have good reason to be happy, because they will be called sons of God, because in doing these things, they are imitating their Father in heaven.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Being persecuted doesn’t sound like a reason to be happy, but Jesus says otherwise. Being persecuted “for righteousness’ sake,” that is, doing what is right in God’s eyes, saying what is right and true and then suffering the consequences for it as the people of this world make life difficult for you. Some Christians stumble and fall when the threat of persecution comes. They give in to the demands of the wicked to avoid persecution. They refuse to bear the cross that Jesus told us we must bear, if we wish to be His disciples. And, in this way, faith dies. But those who accept the burden of persecution willingly show themselves to be disciples of Jesus, and they have good reason to be happy, because, as we sang on Sunday morning, take they our life, goods, fame, child, and wife, let these all be gone. They yet have nothing won. The kingdom ours remaineth.

Finally, Blessed are you, when for my sake they insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you. Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For in the same way they persecuted the prophets who came before you.”

No one likes to be insulted. No one likes to be lied about. No one likes to have people saying bad things about you, to your face or behind your back. Still, when you’re insulted or lied about or talked badly about because you were being faithful to the Lord Jesus, Jesus wants you to know that you have good reason to be happy, to rejoice, to be glad, because you’re in the best company of all, in the company of the prophets of God, in the company of Jesus Himself. And, while you may be hated and spoken against here, your reward in heaven just keeps getting greater and greater, the more you’re despised here for the sake of Christ.

Now, all the good things Jesus talks about here, all the blessed results of Christian faithfulness here on earth, are already being experienced by those who have died in faith. So think of the apostles and prophets and other role models of faith from the Bible. Think of your loved ones who died in the faith, or church members who were with us for a time but are with us no longer, having crossed over from the Church Militant into the Church Triumphant. Take comfort in the Word of God, which assures you that the saints in glory have received prizes that far surpass anything they suffered here. But above all, take the words of Jesus to heart for yourself, so that you devote every day to being the kind of Christians that Jesus describes here in these verses, penitent, believing, and striving to live according to God’s commandments, that you may always have all these reasons to be happy, that, together with the saints in glory, you may always live with the blessing of Christ your Redeemer. Amen.

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The Christian Church must remain Evangelical

Posted on October 27, 2024 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for the Festival of the Reformation

Galatians 2:16-21  +  John 8:31-36

You probably know that Lutherans didn’t refer to themselves as “Lutherans” at the time of the Reformation. It was actually a derogatory term that was attached to them by the Roman Church, followers of this recalcitrant monk named “Luther.” No, the early “Lutherans” called themselves “Evangelicals.” (Our own church’s legal name is Emmanuel Evangelical-Lutheran Church.) Now, today the term “Evangelical” has become sort of an umbrella term covering a large group of Protestants, mostly a mixture of Methodists and Baptists and Pentecostals. But originally it was the churches who aligned theologically with Martin Luther who used that name. “Evangelical” comes from the Greek word “Evangel” which means “Gospel,” “the good message.” They used that term because they recognized that the Christian religion is founded on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news of God’s promise to forgive, to save, to justify sinners by faith in Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and rose again for our justification. They used that term, because they had come to recognize that the Roman Church, under the Bishop of Rome, had moved away from that “Gospel” foundation and back onto a different one, a very old one, the foundation of the “Law” as the path to God.

If following the path of the Gospel is called “Evangelicalism,” then following the path of the Law is rightly called “Legalism,” the teaching that, if you do the right things, if you offer to God the right things, then He will accept you, whereas the path of Gospel teaches that God will accept you, not if you do the right things, but if you believe in the right Person, the Lord Jesus Christ, who has done all the right things in your place. And you may ask, “How could the Christian Church ever slide off the Gospel foundation onto a Law foundation? How could it possibly revert from Evangelicalism to Legalism?” But the truth is, it’s very easy to do. In fact, the Christian Church came very close to doing that very thing in the earliest days of its existence, twice!, even under the watchful eye of the original apostles. It’s the very thing St. Paul was addressing in today’s Epistle from Paul’s letter to the Galatians.

What was going on among the churches of Galatia that prompted St. Paul to write this letter? Well, Paul had recently founded those churches on his first missionary journey. He had preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ to them, and they had believed. But after he left, certain Christian Jews came up from Jerusalem and were trying to convince the Galatians that faith alone in Christ wasn’t quite enough to be accepted by God. No, they also had to be circumcised, according to the Law of Moses, if they wanted to be saved. That’s “Legalism” replacing “Evangelicalism.” And it’s bad enough when people use obedience to the Ten Commandments as a path to God, which already doesn’t work. But it’s even worse when people want to impose extra laws on people, like being circumcised or observing dietary restrictions or other traditions. But that’s what Legalism always does. It loves to add more and more laws, more and more things you can do to ensure your salvation. It’s what the Pharisees had done among the Jews. And now, in Galatia, it’s what certain Jews from Jerusalem were trying to do with the Christians. And Paul has heard, to His horror, that they’re falling for it!

So he writes this whole letter to them to call them back to the truth of the Gospel. The words you heard in today’s Epistle actually refer back to another occasion when Evangelicalism was at risk of being replaced by Legalism in the Christian Church. And the apostle Peter was front and center in that controversy.

Earlier in chapter 2, Paul tells how he had been in the city of Antioch, a major city in Syria, to the north of the land of Israel. There were both Jews and Gentiles in that Christian congregation who had heard and believed the Gospel, that salvation is not to be found on the path of the Law but on the path of the Gospel, believing in the Lord Jesus for salvation. So they had set aside the Old Testament regulations about circumcision and about following a Kosher diet. Jews and Gentiles were happily practicing fellowship with one another in the Christian Church on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ, and Peter and Paul, who were Jews, were there at the time, and were eating together with the Gentiles without any issue.

But then certain men came from James in Jerusalem, men who still believed that there was a distinction between Jews and Gentiles, and that the Old Testament Law still needed to be followed. When they came, Peter gave into the pressure of their influence and pulled away from the Gentiles, giving them the impression that believing in Jesus wasn’t actually enough, but that they had to follow Old Testament ceremonial laws in order to really be accepted by God. And then Peter’s example began to lead still others astray. Legalism was starting to rear its ugly head.

So, Paul says, “I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong.” And then he goes on to tell the Galatians what he said to Peter. Let’s walk through it together.

Since we [who are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners] have come to know that a man is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law; for by works of the law no flesh will be justified.

The Jews (even before Jesus was born) generally led lives that conformed outwardly to God’s commandments more than the lives of Gentiles did. They generally upheld marriage and sexual morality, they worshiped the true God, etc. The Jews might have claimed that they had earned God’s acceptance more than the Gentiles had, and the Pharisees did make that very claim at the time of Jesus. But Paul reminds Peter that, although they were Jews by birth, they knew better than to seek God’s acceptance through their obedience to the Law. Instead, they sought God’s acceptance by believing in Christ, which is not a work of the Law. Seeking to be acceptable to God by the Law is trying to put something into God’s hand. Faith, according to the Gospel, is coming to God to have Him put something in your hand—the righteousness of Jesus and the atoning price He paid for our sins by His death on the cross. Paul reminds Peter that they sought to be justified by faith in Christ, not by works of the Law, because no one who relies on the Law will be justified.

But, he goes on, if, while we seek to be justified in Christ, we ourselves were also found to be sinners, then Christ would be a minister of sin! That cannot be!

In other words, we’re seeking to be justified in Christ, by faith, according to the Gospel. But if God, instead of counting us righteous, were still to count us as sinners (for not keeping the Law well enough, for associating with the uncircumcised and eating pork with them, for example), then Christ would not be a minister of grace and life and salvation, as we thought. No, then He would be a minister of sin and death! And that simply cannot be!

For if I rebuild those things which I destroyed, I show myself to be a transgressor.

That is, when I became a Christian, I “destroyed,” I rejected the path of the Law as a path to God. If I now rebuild that path, if I revert to legalism, if I try to reconstruct the Law as a way to salvation—as you have done, Peter, by treating the Gentiles as unworthy because they don’t follow the laws of circumcision and dietary restrictions—then that is not Christ’s doing. No, if I do that, if I resort to legalism, I make myself a transgressor, because all who walk the path of the Law are transgressors, according to the Law itself.

For through the law I died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; I live, and yet no longer I, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith—faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me.

The Law required the sinner’s death. So I gave it what it required—not by actually dying myself, but I have been crucified with Christ. When I came to faith in Christ crucified, God accepted His death in place of my death. God considers me, Paul the sinner, according to the Law, to have died. I, Paul the sinner, no longer live. If I did, I would be required to keep the Law in order to reach God. But I died to the Law and am now on a different path, the path of faith in Christ, the path of the Gospel, where Christ lives in me, Paul the believer, where Christ’s obedience is what counts before God, where I am justified before God, not based on what I’ve done, but based on what Christ has done, in whom I believe.

And so now I live, not to earn God’s favor, not to offer Him the gift of my obedience, but in gratitude to Him for His gift to me, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. So I do make it my goal to live for God, yes, to keep His commandments, but never in a legalistic way, never pretending that my obedience is what makes me acceptable to God, never adding additional laws as a way to be extra special in God’s sight. I live every moment of the rest of my earthly life in gratitude, and in faith.

And then the grand conclusion to his argument: I do not set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness were gained through the law, then Christ died in vain.

In other words, if I can get to God by trying hard, by following this or that law, by doing a series of “right things,” then Jesus didn’t have to die. I could have saved myself. But, no, I uphold the grace of God. That is, I claim that Christ did have to die for me, that God’s grace is the only way for sinners to be saved, that the Gospel has freed us from legalism in all its forms, and we dare never return to it. The Christian Church must remain Evangelical!

Now, if St. Peter began to fall into legalism, if the congregations founded by the Apostle Paul in Galatia began to fall into legalism, is it really any wonder that the Roman Church eventually did, after so many centuries? If you buy this indulgence, you can earn God’s favor and forgiveness. If you observe this fast on this particular day, if you refrain from eating meat on certain days, if you go to Mass, if you pay for a Mass, if you pray to the saints and ask for their help, if the priest performs just the right gestures during the Mass, if they put the right number of candles on the altar, if you submit to the pope as the Vicar of Christ, if you enter a monastery or “get thee to a nunnery,” if you take vows of celibacy or of poverty or of obedience, if you pay your tithe, if your perform the required works of penance, then you may finally be worthy of the absolution, then you will be more acceptable to God, then you can hope to be justified.

It was this legalism that had infiltrated the Roman Church that sparked the Reformation among Luther and the other Evangelicals. What the Reformers did was no different from what the apostle Paul did in today’s Epistle, except that the Reformers couldn’t stand on their own apostolic authority, like Paul could. They had to rely solely on the Word of God left behind for them, and for all of us, too, in the writings of the apostles and prophets.

And isn’t that what Jesus told us to rely on in today’s Gospel? If you remain in My Word, you are truly My disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

Free from the slavery to sin. Free from the condemnation of the Law. Free from death. Free from hell. Free from the devil’s power. Free from legalism, in all its forms. Because God has loved us and has given His Son into death for our sins, because we had no hope of saving ourselves by doing things required by His law, or by man’s law, or by any law of any kind. Jesus alone is our hope. Jesus alone is our confidence. Jesus alone is our salvation. Jesus alone is our righteousness. And the Word of Jesus—that is something you can stake your very life on, your very soul. Because while popes and councils may err, while heaven and earth may pass away, Jesus’ Word will never pass away. “The Word of God will endure forever.” That was the motto of the Lutheran Reformation, because that was what the Lutheran Reformers staked their lives on, the ever-enduring Word of God. Let us stake our lives on it, too, and let us always, always strive to be and to remain a truly Evangelical Church. Amen.

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The Lord is a Warrior. You want to be on His side!

Posted on October 23, 2024 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Midweek of Trinity 21

Isaiah 63:1-10

The Bible gives us many pictures of God, all of them true, but often quite different from one another, showing us different aspects of who our God is. The Lord is depicted as a kindly Father, a gentle Shepherd, a bleeding Savior dying a cross. Then there are the images like the one we have in Isaiah 63. The image of the LORD as a warrior, covered in the blood of His enemies. In this first half of Isaiah 63, we see the LORD making war against the enemies of Israel, but also against Israel when Israel turns away from their God, driving home this message: The Lord is a warrior, and you want to be on His side!

Who is this who comes from Edom, in crimsoned garments from Bozrah, he who is splendid in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength? As you recall Edom is the territory just south of the land of Judah, and Bozrah is one of the chief cities in the land of Edom. Edom belonged to the descendants of Esau, Jacob’s brother, who was also named “Edom,” which means “red,” because he was “red” like the earth when he was born, and because he craved the red stew his brother Jacob once made. In spite of their blood ties, the people of Israel and the people of Edom were ongoing enemies of one another. Here, Isaiah sees a picture of a mighty man marching back from the land of Edom, dressed in “crimson,” a shade of red.

Who is it? The LORD God replies, “It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save.” The Lord is the One dressed in red, marching back from Edom. Isaiah then asks:

Why is your apparel red, and your garments like his who treads in the winepress? The Lord answers, “I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with me; I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood spattered on my garments, and stained all my apparel. For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and my year of redemption had come. I looked, but there was no one to help; I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold; so my own arm brought me salvation, and my wrath upheld me. I trampled down the peoples in my anger; I made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”

God has returned from Edom, covered in the blood of the enemies of His people Israel. Now, Edom wasn’t the only enemy of Israel, but clearly Edom was chosen to represent all Israel’s enemies because it means “red.” It’s a play on words, which goes together with all the other red images in these verses: the color crimson, the red splatter from the winepress after the Lord trampled His enemies like people used to trample grapes in the winepress to squeeze out the juice, the blood spattered on the Lord’s garments and on the earth where their bodies fell. It’s a graphic depiction of the Lord as a warrior bent on destruction.

But “God is love!”, isn’t He? Yes, God is love. And He wants all men to be saved. And He gave His own Son on the cross for the sins of all, so that all might believe in Him and actually be saved and become part of His people, members of His holy Church. But God is also a warrior. He wants us to understand that. He wants us to understand that all those who remain opposed to Him and to His people will not be put up with, will not be left alone forever to keep opposing His Church. The time will come when God steps in to make war against His enemies, and no one will escape.

The book of Revelation draws heavily on these images from Isaiah 63, where Jesus Himself is depicted with this very same imagery when He comes again at the end of this age to carry out His judgment against all who remained enemies of His Church. So, ultimately, this part of Isaiah’s prophecy is pointing forward, pointing ahead to Judgment Day.

But then Isaiah points backward, back to the beginning of God’s dealings with the people of Israel. He says, I will recount the steadfast love of the LORD, the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD has granted us, and the great goodness to the house of Israel that he has granted them according to his compassion, according to the abundance of his steadfast love.

Now we hear of the Lord’s compassion for Israel as they were just starting out, His compassion toward Jacob and his family, His choice of that nation to be His own special people whom He would tend as a Shepherd, and for whom He would fight as a Warrior.

For he said, “Surely they are my people, children who will not deal falsely.” Obviously God knew that they would eventually deal falsely, that the children of Israel would turn away from Him, for the most part. But Isaiah is setting the stage here, comparing God to an earthly father who expects great things from his children, who expects that, for all the love he will show to them, they will certainly love him in return! Surely they wouldn’t turn against their own father!

And he became their Savior. In all their affliction he was afflicted. God saved the people of Israel over and over again, from famine in Canaan, from slavery in Egypt, from starvation in the desert, from enemy armies on their way back to Canaan. In every way, God became their Savior. And when they were afflicted by earthly troubles or foreign adversaries, “He was afflicted.” God didn’t relish the suffering of His people. When they suffered, God suffered.

And the angel of his presence saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. For over a thousand years, God cared for the people of Israel, rescued them from their enemies, taught them, carried them, loved them. He was a Warrior for them, a Warrior on their behalf. Even when they went astray, He kept going back for them.

But, after over a thousand years of God’s care and nurturing and innumerable “second chances” that He gave them, they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit; therefore he turned to be their enemy, and himself fought against them. After turning away from God and His Word and back to their idols over and over and over again, Israel’s persistent rebellion against God grieved His Holy Spirit to the limit of His patience. And then God, the Warrior, who had acted on their behalf for so many centuries, eventually turned into their enemy. When God, the Warrior, chooses to save and protect, no one can stand in His way. But when God, the Warrior, makes Himself the enemy of someone and fights against someone, well, no one can stand in His way there, either.

This verse is talking about the punishment of the Babylonian captivity. Sadly, it is also what happens when Christians stop living in daily contrition and repentance. St. Paul uses the same language as he warns the Ephesian Christians: Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

So what lesson shall we draw from these verses? First, how good it is to be on God’s side. He is a loving Father who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. He patiently calls us to repentance when we stumble and calls us back to His Son, the Lord Jesus, where there is perfect acceptance and forgiveness of sins. And there is forgiveness in Christ precisely because the Lord is a Warrior on our behalf against every enemy. He took down Satan for us through the cross, and He’ll take down Satan once and for all on the Last Day. He battled against sin for us and won, and eventually He will save us from this sinful world. And in the meantime He defends us in just the right ways so that no evil can befall us. That’s the first lesson.

The second lesson is that you want to remain on God’s side, so that He never becomes your enemy. And that means, don’t become arrogant when it comes to your faith. Don’t become indifferent to the Word of God, or to the preaching of it, or to the living of it. Don’t let sin reign over you, so that you grieve the Holy Spirit. But live each day in contrition and repentance. Live each day remembering God’s saving acts on your behalf, which are more than you can number. He will not easily become the enemy of those whom He has purchased with the blood of His Son and whom He has called and brought into His kingdom. Always let the red blood of Christ mark the door of your heart by faith. Then you will have nothing to fear from the One who comes from Edom as warrior on the Last Day. Because He won’t be coming to fight against you, His people. He’ll be coming to fight for you, to save you from every last enemy. Amen.

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Let God’s Word be enough for your faith

Posted on October 20, 2024 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Trinity 21

Ephesians 6:10-17  +  John 4:46-54

We sometimes to refer to the Church on earth as the Church “Militant,” because when a person becomes a Christian, he becomes engaged in a battle, in a struggle, not against flesh and blood, but, as Paul writes in today’s Epistle, against forces of evil in the spiritual realm, against the devil and his demons and against their influence in the world. Christians are not couch-sitters but battle soldiers, equipped, not with firearms or physical weapons, but with the spiritual body armor and the spiritual weapon that God provides. The battlefield is your every-day life in this world, which is destined for destruction, and the struggle is real.

Among the spiritual pieces of body armor that God provides is the shield of faith, with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Since today’s Gospel focuses on the faith of the nobleman who came to Jesus, we’re going to have a look at the faith part of the whole armor of God, which is essential for standing and withstanding in the battle that is raging all around us and in which God has made us all battle soldiers.

Jesus had performed a single miracle up in Galilee so far, His first miracle of changing water into wine at the wedding in Cana. Then He had gone down to Judea and had performed many miracles there. And many of the Jews from up in Galilee had seen those miracles, because they had also gone down to Judea to attend the feast of Passover. Now Jesus is back in Galilee, back in Cana. And a nobleman from the town of Capernaum—about 16 miles away from Cana—heard of all the signs Jesus had been doing, and he was hopeful that Jesus could help his dying son. He went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.

There’s faith there. A little faith, at least. Faith in Jesus’ power to cure an earthly disease. It isn’t necessarily saving faith—faith in Jesus as his Savior and Redeemer from sin—but at least the nobleman believes Jesus can help. He also assumes, apparently, that Jesus has to come with him, has to be there in the room with his son to perform some sort of healing ritual.

Jesus’ first response is a warning, and an expression of righteous frustration on God’s part. Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will never believe. Believe what? That Jesus can do miracles? Well, they already knew that, after seeing all the miracles He had performed in Judea and after hearing about changing water into wine right there in Cana. But this is important. The miracles were not the purpose of His coming. They were to be signs confirming His teaching and His identity as the Son of God. They were to be signs confirming that He had been sent by God, that He was the promised Christ, and that He was to be their Savior from the spiritual forces of evil, from sin, death, and the power of the devil. That’s what the people were supposed to believe, and not primarily because of the miracles, but by the power of Jesus’ teaching, that is, by the power of His Word, both the Word written in the Old Testament and the Word that He and John the Baptist had spoken. In summary, they were supposed to believe in His words and promises. In the end, His Word was supposed to be enough.

But hardly anyone believed yet in His words and promises. Their faith was limited to what He could do for them to improve their earthly lives. And even that faith was built on the foundation of what they could see with their eyes.

The nobleman was still in that category. But he was desperate, and he did believe Jesus could help his son, if only He could be there in the room where his son was. Lord, come down before my little boy dies!

Jesus was willing to help, but not to come down with the man to his house. No, Jesus simply said, Go! Your son lives. Nothing to look at, nothing to see. Just a word and a promise to cling to, a word the man was to believe, without seeing a thing.

And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken to him, and he went. Just the word and promise of Jesus. And the nobleman believed it. Maybe not yet with the full conviction of an unshakable faith (“I know for certain that my son is now healed! How happy I am!”), but he believed it enough to act on it. He stopped begging for Jesus to come with him. He left, hoping to get back and find things as Jesus had said. Again, it wasn’t a perfect faith; there were surely shadows of doubt in his heart. But it was still faith, clinging to the word of Jesus for dear life.

He started walking those 16 miles back to Capernaum, but had to spend the night somewhere along the way, because the miracle took place in early afternoon, and he could only walk so far before sunset. But he got up the next morning, still hopeful, and continued his journey. Then his servants met him along the way and told him his son had been healed the day before, at the same time Jesus had spoken that almighty word. Then we’re told that he himself and his whole house believed. Believed what? That Jesus had healed his son? That was no longer a matter of faith, but of sight. No, the man and his household now believed in Jesus Himself, that His word was powerful, that His word was true, that He had come from God, that He was the promised Christ, that their lives and their very souls were now safe in His hands.

With that kind of faith, the nobleman was prepared for what was to come, both for himself and for Jesus. Regardless of the miracles Jesus would do over the next few years, most of his countrymen would never believe in Him. Many would follow Him for a time, but then turn back when He didn’t perform signs on demand, like they wanted. And the sight that looked like total defeat for Jesus—bloody, beaten, and hanging on a cross with a crown of thorns pounded into His head—caused all whose faith was built on sight to turn away. “This can’t be the Son of God. Just look at Him dying on that cross!” But the nobleman and his family had been brought to a faith that was stronger than that, faith, not in what was seen, but in the word and promise of Jesus, which is true in spite of what anyone can see.

That’s the kind of faith we all need. That’s the kind of faith God wants to nourish and grow in each of us. God isn’t looking to create faith in you by showing you any other signs but the ones He has already given in Holy Scripture. He isn’t looking to bring you to faith or to strengthen your faith with bright lights or shiny visions or spectacular miracles, and certainly not with the testimonials that other people might give of such things. He gives you His Word, recorded in Scripture, and also preached by a pastor whom He has sent. And He expects that to be enough.

He gives you His word that the water of Baptism saves. You can’t see it washing away sin. You can’t see it giving new birth or sealing the new birth of faith. You can’t see the Holy Spirit working in it. But Jesus speaks the word that Baptism is a washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit, and He expects you to believe it. He expects His word to be enough.

He gives you His word that “this is His body” and “this is His blood” in the Sacrament. You can’t see anything but bread and wine. You can’t see or taste the body that was sacrificed on the cross or the blood that was poured out for the forgiveness of your sins. And human reason tells you, “It can’t be Jesus’ body and blood. It must only be a symbol of those things.” But Jesus speaks the word about His holy Supper, “This is My body, this is My blood.” and He expects that to be enough.

Of course, it isn’t enough for our sinful flesh, for our fallen human reason. We demand to see a sign of God’s love and faithfulness, to see a sign that tells us, “The Bible is true!” or “God is truly on our side!” Or maybe we simply refuse to be comforted by God’s promises, we go on living in despair, as if the world really were out of control, as it appears, as if Jesus’ word about His reigning over all things at the right hand of God weren’t really enough.

No, you need to repent of your reliance on human reason and what your eyes can see. You need to repent of the despair and the hopelessness that your experience tells you is all too reasonable. And you need to listen to Jesus again, just to Jesus, just to His Word, and cling to it for dear life, whether it’s His Word about Baptism, or the Lord’s Supper, or about the final victory of His Holy Christian Church—or about the raging spiritual battle in which you have been made a battle soldier, as Paul depicts you and all Christians in today’s Epistle.

With the shield of faith, He says, you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. What are those flaming arrows? They’re attacks on your soul—spiritual attacks. They come in the form of temptations. Temptations to sin against any of the Ten Commandments. Temptations to go along with the world in order to avoid persecution, to be silent when you know you should speak, to ridicule when God calls on you to show mercy, to hate when God calls on you to love. Temptations to despair, or to disbelieve God, or to forfeit the peace and joy that God offers in His Word. With the shield of faith, you’ll be able to extinguish those flaming arrows and say with Joseph, “How could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?”

Those arrows also come in the form of persecution, demonic persecution, which may sometimes be direct, but is usually indirect, as the demons influence society and government to turn against those who believe in God, seeking to make your faith in God’s Word seem ridiculous, seeking to make you bitter and angry and sorrowful. With the shield of faith, you’ll be able to extinguish those flaming arrows, too.

Those arrows also come in the form of demonic lies, lies from false teachers and false prophets about who God is and what God’s will is, lies from government officials and candidates for office, lies from “scientific experts” to support demonic agendas, lies from your own neighbors and from your own culture about what is right and wrong. With the shield of faith, you’ll be able to extinguish those flaming arrows. That doesn’t mean the lies go away, or the persecution goes away, or the temptations go away. It doesn’t mean we turn the culture around or turn it back to God. It means the demons won’t be able to destroy you. They won’t be able to snatch you out of God’s hands. They won’t be able to separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Faith is powerful protection in this battle, which goes together with the other pieces of armor that Paul mentioned. Keep your faith focused on the word of God alone. Believe what He says, no matter what things look like. Don’t worry about signs that you can see. You have the word of God as the true lamp for your feet and the light for your path. Let that be enough. Amen.

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