First Sunday in
Lent
February 22nd, Year of Our + Lord 2026
Our Savior’s and Our
Redeemer Lutheran Churches
Hill City and Custer, South Dakota
Christian Confidence - Matthew 4:1-11, Hebrews 4:14-16, 1 Samuel 17:40-51
Audio of the Sermon can be found HERE.
In the Name of the Son of
David, our Confident Champion.
Confidence.
A mighty fortress is our God, a
sword and shield victorious! And so, we Christians
are called by God to live with confidence.
I think that almost all of us have room for growth in our Christian
confidence. I certainly do. Every time I hear how my original namesake,
David the son of Jesse, broke into the public consciousness of Israel, I marvel
at that young man’s confidence. He’s a
kid, maybe 15 years-old, going up against a seasoned champion, the greatest
warrior of Israel’s greatest enemy. Oh,
and Goliath also happens to be a giant.
“No worries, I’ve got this,” young David asserts. “In fact, I don’t need anything but my
slingshot, and a stone. The Lord of hosts, the God
of the armies of Israel, will take care
of the rest.” Confidence!
None of us are called to slay Goliath. The Thursday Men’s breakfast (at Our
Redeemer) does not need to add slingshot practice after their weekly feast of
fats. Slaying the giant was David’s
calling. He was special, chosen and
empowered by God, to kill Goliath, and to do much more for God, and for His
nation, Israel.
We don’t have to fight Goliath. But all of us are called to Christian
confidence. It’s all over the book of
Hebrews. Today we are exhorted to hold
fast to our confession, the clear statement of the teaching of Christ, and we
are called to pray to God, to approach the throne of grace in time of need,
with confidence.
Confidently trust in the Word of God, and, then as dear children, pray
confidently to our dear Father, through Christ Jesus, our Great High Priest in
the heavens.
Pray with confidence. Worship God with confidence, drawing near to
the Holy of Holies that the Lord makes available to us here, and everywhere
that His people gather around His Word and His Altar. The New Testament is filled with calls to
confident Christian living. Even more,
there are many examples, confident heroes of the faith who bore witness to the
truth of God in their daily life, proclaiming God, His power and His promises,
plainly, and with assurance.
Confidently the saints of God turn away from
the way of the world when it demands us to go against what we know is true, the
truth of Christ that sets us free. Jesus
sets us free from fear, and free to live confidently.
Be a confident Christian. That’s easy enough to say. But, at least speaking broadly, we have to
recognize that the Christian Church has lost a lot of confidence in recent
decades. Sometimes it has been easier
for us Christians to display our assurance.
Down in the basement at Trinity Lutheran in Sidney, Montana, my first
call, there are picture boards with confirmation classes going back to nearly
the founding. For the years after WWII,
these boards include astounding adult confirmation classes, multiple photos of
40 and 50 adults, packed into the chancel to be photographed, all received into
membership on the same Sunday. Richland
County was growing, and folks were flocking to the Church. The Sidney Herald published Sunday School
attendance numbers of the various churches every week, fomenting what I hope
was a friendly competition between congregations. Across America, the Christian Church was
ascendant. I assume individual
Christians found it relatively easy to live confidently.
So much has changed. The weeds were already sprouting earlier in
the 20th century, but in the 1960s, and every decade since, popular
culture and the heights of academia openly turned against the Church, and
especially Biblical Christianity. Of
course, if a particular Christian, or a church or denomination was willing to
abandon their confession and adopt the values and morals of the world, then the
culture would extend them a little credibility, for a while. But faithfulness to God’s plain Word became
decidedly unpopular with all the “best” people.
Church membership and church attendance have been in steady decline for
many decades. Today, it is decidedly not
cool to be a Christian in popular American society. Public expressions of Biblical morals or
faith in Christ went from common and uncontroversial 50 years ago to now being
loudly rejected, and even attacked as hateful.
Our context for displaying Christian confidence is increasingly
difficult.
But, should that matter? Perhaps broadly as Church, our confidence has declined because of our loss of prestige with the dominant culture. But, should our confidence depend on the what
the world thinks or says or does? No, of
course not, we all know this. Christ the
Son of God, resurrected from the dead and reigning over all things, He is our confidence. We are called
to pray, worship, confess the faith, and live with confidence, because of the
Good News of Jesus. We are confident,
because in Jesus Christ we are forgiven our sins and so are at peace with God,
today, and forever and ever.
Our recent American history might make this
seem strange to us, but across the last 2,000 years, the times when faithful,
Biblical Christianity was popular with the world are pretty rare. In so far as the Church in America began to
or continues to depend on worldly approval for our confidence, we must
repent. Faithful, Biblical Christian
confidence only flows from God’s Word, which reveals God’s love for us in
Christ, and teaches us what wise, confident Christian living looks like.
And what does Scripture teach us about
Christian confidence? Are we to be
combative, like young David, boldly facing down Goliath? Well, maybe, sometimes, if and when the Lord
calls us to face a clear enemy. When
called upon to defend the faith, we certainly need not be shy. We shouldn’t apologize or speak tentatively. The Truth of God deserves our best, most confident
delivery.
We do need to remember that, while the Old
Testament Church of God was the Kingdom of Israel, and so had a literal army
and fought wars, at God’s direction, the Church of the resurrected Christ is
not a nation state. Our sword is of the
Spirit, the Word of God. We are in a
struggle, but not against flesh and blood, [rather, we fight] against
the rulers, against the powers, against the worldly forces of
this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness
in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6) Slingshots, tanks and guns will do us no good
against Satan and his demons.
Generally speaking, our confidence should
not lead us to be combative, but rather calm and clear. The examples of confidence in the New
Testament are mostly related to believers plainly speaking God’s truth with
assurance, to everyone, friend and foe, no matter the consequences.
Peter and the other Apostles astounded the
Jewish Sanhedrin when they testified before them. Their defense of the faith was confident and
eloquent, despite the fact that none of the Twelve had received higher education.
(Acts 4) Jesus spoke to His disciples plainly,
confidently, and directly about His coming suffering and crucifixion. (Mark 8) Paul prayed that the Spirit would give him
utterance, so that he would proclaim the Gospel boldly, with confidence, as he
should. (Ephesians
6)
We are rightly impressed by the calm courage
of so many Saints, and of course, most especially by the courage of the Holy One, Jesus, Son of God and Son of Mary. We want to see such courage displayed among
us, Christians saying and doing great, Godly things, out of a proper
confidence. But to see this, we must all
remember our confidence is not found in our courage, not found in our hearts, not
in our strength. Coaches routinely
exhort athletes to look inside themselves and dig deep for the strength to
compete, and win. And that’s fine for
sports, and lots of other earthly pursuits.
But not for confident Christian living.
Looking inside ourselves is an important part of Christian life.
But, what happens when we look inside?
Will we find nothing but strength and resolve to walk in God’s Way and
make the good confession in our words and deeds? No. At
our very best, we see in ourselves a mixed bag, a desire to live with Christian
confidence, yes. And right alongside, we
will also see weakness, a damnable tendency to fall back into spiritual
laziness, to pursue sin, and not righteousness.
It is important for us to look inside, to daily examine our motivations,
our desires. This is the first step in the
daily drowning the Old Adam who remains in each of us.
But let us not be fooled into thinking that our
self-examination and resolve to do better will by themselves lead to consistent
and confident Christian living. No, we
examine ourselves primarily to be reminded to look outside ourselves, to repent
of our sinful weakness and fix our eyes once again on our true Confidence, on
Jesus, who lived and died and rose again, not merely to show us the Way, but to be the Way, for us. Only when our hearts are focused on Jesus can
the New Man arise to live in righteousness.
And then yes, we pursue confident Christian
living, because we are victors, we are champions. By extension.
By imputation, to use a 25-cent theological term. Everything that Jesus is and has done is
imputed, it is reckoned or counted by the Father as belonging to us, when the
eyes of our hearts are trustingly fixed on Christ. In Him, by the imputation of His
righteousness to us, we are victorious.
We are greater champions than young David was 3,000 years ago, as he
held up Goliath’s head and proclaimed the victory of God. In Christ alone, the exalted Son of David, we
have perfect confidence.
When we struggle to live with assurance,
when we fail to recognize the true shape of Christian confidence, David, and
especially Jesus, guide us on the Way.
When he volunteered to fight Goliath, David was accused of arrogance by
his older brother, but the lad’s confidence was clearly in the Lord, not in
himself. He calls out to Goliath, “You
come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to
you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of
Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day
the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down
and cut off your head. Godly
confidence.
Even more Jesus shows us what Godly
confidence looks like. After going
without food for 40 days, Jesus faces the Devil. This was the first step on His path of
reversing the failure of Adam in the Garden, and all our failures that have
followed. Adam and the Woman sought food
that was not given to them, worshiped the deceitful lie of the Serpent, and put
the Lord God to the test. Jesus rejects all these temptations, and not
simply by His personal inner strength, although Jesus certainly could have
relied on His own strength. Even more
easily than David defeated Goliath, the eternal Son of God could have destroyed
Satan in an instant, just with His Holy presence.
But such a victory would not have helped
us. To save us, Jesus needed to destroy
Satan through suffering, suffering in our place, to wash our guilt away. But wait, there’s more. To help us in our Christian walk on this side
of heaven, Jesus’ way of rejecting the Devil also shows us how we are to do the
same. Jesus laid aside His power, and
defeated Satan’s temptations using the Truth of the Word of Scripture. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by
every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God. (That’s from Deuteronomy 8.) “You shall not put the Lord your God to
the test.” (That’s Deut. 6) “You shall worship the Lord your God, and
Him only shall you serve.” (Deut. chapter 6 & chapter 10.)
Jesus shows us that Godly, Christian
confidence is lived out by knowing well and applying God’s Word, in the face of
whatever temptation comes our way.
Christian confidence is lived out in and through the Word, the instruction
and the promises of God.
This insight is helpful for us when we
examine our lives. When we live in
contradiction to God’s Word, when wasteful, sinful, worldly habits gain a place
in our daily lives, then it is no surprise that our confidence wavers. The charge that we Christians are hypocrites
is a favorite weapon of Satan and the world.
The question for us is, “How much ammunition are we providing our
accusers?”
Examining our thoughts, words and actions
honestly in the light of God’s truth will help us turn around, to repent, and
to pursue the holy living God wants and expects in all of us. Clearly, we do not base our confidence in our
holiness. But, when by prayer and
meditation we properly seek more holiness in our lives, we will, in this very
pursuit, be more often and more intimately in contact with the Word of the Lord, the living, active, powerful, two edged sword of the Spirit. And the Holy Spirit, through His Word, will
be changing and shaping us. We never
make our lives our confidence; we never put our faith in ourselves. Still, as we pursue God’s righteousness,
God’s Way, we can expect to see, as a bonus, more good and less bad happening
in our lives, today, and tomorrow. Our
confidence is in the forgiving love of Jesus.
But, is also nice when we have to deal with fewer self-inflicted wounds,
less consequence of sin in our daily lives.
To raise confident children, parents need to
love them, in word and deed. If parents
don’t tell and show their children their love, then regardless of what they may
claim, they are not truly loving them. Children
need their parents loving words and actions.
Babies’ brains will literally be damaged, they will not develop
correctly, if they are not held and talked to and cared for. Loved.
Parents should never assume that their children know they are
loved.
God is your Father. He is the heavenly Good Parent, and He loves
you. He has loved you, and He seeks to
love you, in Word and Deed, every day.
Every good and perfect gift you have received came down to you from the
Father of lights. And your heavenly
Father talks to you, through His Word.
If we like rebellious teenagers shut our ears to God’s voice, if we do
not hear Him, if we do not respond in prayer to Him, using both His Word and also
words from our hearts, then our confidence will fail.
And so today is a good day for us. For God is speaking Words of wisdom and love,
He is showering us with gifts, here, today.
And we rejoice to respond with our thanks and praise, often quoting back
to God what He has first said to us. Forgiven,
strengthened, reminded of and strengthened by His Truth, our Father sends us
forth, to live with confidence, in and through our Champion, Jesus the Son of
David, who has completely defeated all our enemies, for us. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment