February 25,
2007
Luke 4:1-13 – “Winning the
Deuteronomy 26:1-11; Psalm
91:1-2,9-16Romans 10:8b-13
Luke 4:1-13
1Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and
was led by the Spirit in the desert, 2where for forty
days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the
end of them he was hungry.
3The devil said to
him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread."
4Jesus answered,
"It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone.'"
5The devil led him
up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority
and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want
to. 7 So if you worship me, it will all be yours."
8Jesus answered,
"It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'"
9The devil led him
to
" 'He will command his angels concerning you
to guard you carefully;
11they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot
against a stone.'"
12Jesus answered,
"It says: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"
13When
the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
Perhaps
you have heard the story about a little boy named Bobby who desperately wanted
a new bicycle. His plan was to save his nickels, dimes and quarters until he
finally had enough to buy a new Trek Mountain Bike. Each night he asked God to
help him save his money. Laying in his bed, he prayed, "Dear Lord, please
help me save my money for a new bike, and please, Lord, don't let the ice cream
man come down the street again tomorrow."
The
reality of temptation hits at an early age, doesn’t it? Temptation is a
powerful force no matter one’s age... a force which would divert us from
achieving the great goals set before us. And while we might be right in
proclaiming victory over occasional temptations, none of us can say that we can
understand the full power of temptation because we have all given in to it.
C.S.
Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity:
Only
those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find
out the strength of (an) army by fighting it, not by giving in. A man who gives in to temptation after five
minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later........We
never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight
it. C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, book 3,
chapter 11
None of us can say that we can understand
the full power of temptation because we have all given in to it, whether that
temptation is ice cream, or something else:
-
We’ve walked away from the teller knowing she gave us too
much change.
-
We’ve taken peeks at photos that cause our hearts to lust.
-
We’ve cheated on a test... or our taxes.
-
We’ve called in sick, when we wanted a day off.
None of us fully knows the power of
temptation, none of us except for one, Jesus Christ. He knew temptation’s full
power because He alone was victorious over temptation. And as we begin our
Lenten excursion this year, we consider the pain Jesus experienced, and the
victory we have, because Jesus kept saying “No” to the Devil and “Yes” to His
Heavenly Father.
Our
Gospel reading this morning (Luke 4) has cleverly been described by some
as “Jesus' first day on the job”. For
after being baptized, He was immediately led into the wilderness and confronted
with three major temptations. These are the most basic temptations in life and
they form the foundation for all other temptations. Try it sometime; when
temptation comes your way, pause and classify that temptation. If you do, I
believe you will be able to classify it under one of the three temptations
Jesus faced. And if you do, I also believe you will be better equipped to
answer Satan with the words and obedience of Christ living in you.
Today is the first Sunday in
Lent. Lent is a time of in-depth reflection upon the passion and death of
Jesus. Lent is also a period of repentance for both the Church as a whole, and
for us personally. Our Lenten journey begins this year with a review of the
temptation of Christ. This account is a reminder to us that goodness is not
synonymous with innocence. True goodness comes only after a victorious struggle
against evil.
Today’s message is simple: Jesus achieved
victory over temptation and the sins common to us all, and His victory over temptation
models our new life in him, even as it makes God’s gift of salvation possible.
As we
again enter the Lenten season, let us consider afresh the victories our Lord
Jesus had against the three great temptations.
Today let us remember that....
1. Jesus
was victorious over temptation to make ourselves more important than God’s will.
Luke 4:1-4
1Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and
was led by the Spirit in the desert, 2where for forty
days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the
end of them he was hungry.
3The devil said to
him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread."
4Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on
bread alone.'"
The issue
here is priorities. No one would deny that Jesus was hungry. Can any of us come
close to imagining 40 days without food? No one would deny that Jesus was “in
need of” food; scripture itself declares “he was hungry”; Jesus had a need, a big
.. a justifiable need to find food.
But,
there was something BIGGER in His mind than His personal needs, and that was
His Father’s will. For whatever reason, Jesus’ fast was a crucial element in
His discovery and acceptance of His upcoming ministry. The Spirit of God had
communicated that truth to Him as it led Jesus into the wilderness. And while
Jesus’ feeling of hunger along with Satan himself, were trying to call off the
fast, the Heavenly Father had not. And when tempted to use the powers He had to
transform a hot desert rock into a warm loaf of bread, Jesus was victorious
when He made God’s will more important than human need and human desire.
I
must confess to you that I grew up facing this temptation almost every week,
and I lost just about every time. I can still hear my Mom today, after serving
up a gigantic Sunday dinner, saying “Now, how about some dessert?”
Forget
fasting... forget even hunger. With little if any room left in my stomach, I’d
say “Sure, why not?”
Why
not?... Maybe because God loves you and wants your heart to be beating 50 years
from now!
Why
not?... Maybe because you’ve already consumed enough calories for the coming
week, and God know what obesity does to the human body!
How
many of us have built up a repertoire of rationalizations for doing what we want to do, even though God
has made His will and wisdom known to us?
And
whenever we use those rationalizations (and believe me, none of them will be
better than hunger after a 40-day fast), we are in fact saying that we are more
important than God. We are saying that we know better what we need than God. When
we prioritize our will over God’s will we’ve lost the battle because that, my
friends, is sin.
I
understand that St. Francis of Assisi once set out on a 40-day fast., but after
39 days he broke his fast by eating bread because he was fearful of vainglory;
he was concerned that if he accomplish a fast as long as Jesus’, or even
longer, that his accomplishments might tempt him to place himself above God.
The
sad truth is that such vainglory happens all the time among us human beings; it
happens whenever we accomplish a “good” which seeks to overshadow God’s glory.
-
This is the tension Christians will experience on a mission
trip, whenever they are tempted to focus on what they have done, rather than on what God has done through them.
-
This is the tension all human beings experience whenever
they use the resources God has given them, resources like money, knowledge or
power, for their own glory and not the glory of God. We can rationalize all
kinds of things that seem good, though they may not be God’s will.
Whenever we raise up our needs over
God’s will; or our glory over God’s glory, we have given into this temptation
faced by Jesus in the dessert. By ourselves we lose the battle when tempted to
make ourselves more important than God’s will, but Jesus was victorious over
this temptation, and calls us to follow in His way.
Let us also remember that...
2.
Jesus was victorious over temptation to wield power in a world ruled by Satan.
Luke 4:5-8
5The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant
all the kingdoms of the world. 6And he said to him,
"I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given
to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7So if you
worship me, it will all be yours." 8Jesus answered,
"It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him
only.'"
The classic
film It's a Wonderful Life celebrates George Bailey's contribution to
his community. You may remember that George, played by Jimmy Stewart, is a
generous and compassionate owner of a local building and loan association.
George offered loans to individuals denied by the bank headed by the greedy “Mr.
Potter”. George helps countless young families move out of Potter-owned rentals
and buy their own homes.
Threatened by
George and his loan company, Mr. Potter invites George to join his company.
George sits in Mr. Potter's ornately carved chair, a symbol of Potter's
success. A blazing fire roars in the fireplace, and the old miser sits in a wheelchair
positioned in front of his massive desk. After offering George an expensive
cigar, Potter paints a picture of the struggling life this young 28-year-old
man, George Bailey, must have: a young wife, family needs, a business that is
always struggling, and a salary of $40 a week.
"What's your point,
Mr. Potter?" George asks.
"My point is I want
to hire you," Potter responds. "I want you to manage my affairs and run my properties. George,
I'll start you at $20,000 a year."
George was so shocked by the tempting offer that he drops
his lit cigar in his lap.
"$20,000 a year?" he
asks in disbelief.
"You wouldn't mind
living in the nicest house in town, buying your wife a lot of fine clothes, a
couple business trips to New York a year…maybe once in a while Europe. You
wouldn't mind that, would you, George?"
Looking over his shoulder, George asks, "You're not talking to someone else are you? This is me, George
Bailey."
"I know who you
are. George Bailey whose ship has just come in, providing he has enough brains
to climb aboard."
George is tempted by the promise of materialistic security,
though it would necessitate giving up his family business. Potter agrees to let
George sleep on the decision for 24 hours and holds out his hand. As George
grips the hand, he pulls back, coming to his senses.
"I don't need 24
hours. I know right now the answer is no. You sit around here, and you spin
your little web, and you think the world revolves around you and your money.
Well, it doesn't Mr. Potter. In the whole vast configuration of things, I'd say
you were nothing but a scurvy little spider."
Citation: It's a
Wonderful Life (RKO Radio Pictures, 1946), written by Philip Van Doren Stern,
directed by Frank Capra
The devil says to Jesus, “So if you worship
me, it will all be yours." But Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your
God and serve him only.'"
Who are you willing to “worship” if it brought
you a big salary, a comfortable home, and what looks to the world as a “secure
future”?
I am not sure where the idea of “selling one’s
soul to the devil” comes from..... (a theme we see examined in It’s a Wonderful
Life, as well as in the new movie Ghost Rider), but I can imagine that idea
coming out of Jesus’ second temptation. Fortunately, Jesus said “No”, and like
George Bailey, Jesus is our hero because he thought more of others than himself
(Philippians 2).
As
20th century German theologian Helmut Thielicke described so
vividly:
(Jesus) rose up from the
place where the kingdoms of the world shimmered before him, where crowns
flashed and banners rustled, and hosts of enthusiastic people were ready to
acclaim him, and quietly walked the way of poverty and suffering to the cross.
By
seeking power in earthly Kingdoms we fail to serve God’s Kingdom where our
all-mighty God modeled servanthood as He wrapped a towel around his waist and
washed his follower’s feet, before he offered His life for our salvation.
We have lost the battle with this temptation,
but Jesus was victorious, and he calls us to live a new life following in His
ways.
Let us also remember that....
3.
Jesus was victorious over the temptation to view God as owing us something
rather than us living as God’s servants.
Luke 4:9-12 9The devil led him to
" 'He will command his angels concerning you
to guard you carefully;
11they will lift
you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot
against a stone.'"
12Jesus
answered, "It says: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"
How
often have we lived our life “claiming” the promises of God as if we controlled
God; as if God were our servant rather than us serving God and trusting in His
mercies?
In these verses the devil is using the very
tool that Jesus had used to rebuke Satan’s earlier temptations; God’s Holy
Word. Jesus had sited the Holy Scriptures that called Him to prioritize God
over our physical needs, and to worship God above all things and all other
beings. But now Satan quotes a promise from Psalm 91:11-12; describing God’s
ability to save us from harm. But will we use those promises to accomplish our
wills, or will we rest in God’s promises as we always seek to do his will?
In 2006, the
A zoo official said the
man lowered himself by a rope into a concrete enclosure holding four lions.
Shouting, "God will save me, if he exists," the man took off his
shoes and strode toward the animals who quickly met him and knocked
him to the ground.
Citation: "Lioness in Zoo Kills Man Who Invoked
God," Yahoo! News (6-5-06) modified
God
is not glorified when He does our will. God is glorified when we do his will.
We
are tempted daily to use God to justify our actions. As one commentator wrote:
When people become so
arrogant as to think we have God figured out, we can easily miss God's true
purposes and become Satan's mouthpieces.
Citation: Keener, Craig S., Matthew: The IVP New Testament Commentary Series,
We
have lost this battle, but Jesus was victorious over this temptation, and He
calls us to follow in His way.
Finally, as we remember Jesus victory over
these three central temptations, let us not forget the greatest news, that....
4.
Jesus’ victory over temptation made God’s gift of salvation possible
Just
as real as a father’s victory over alcoholism will offer a measure of salvation
for his family, and just as real as a mother’s victory over depression will deeply
affect her entire family, we too must understand the effect that Jesus’ victory
over temptation has over us.
While
we see in Jesus’ victories just how different Jesus is than us, we are
connected with Him because of God’s great love for us. For while Jesus’
sinlessness makes him unique, it also made Him the “unblemished lamb of God”
needed to atone for our sins. Jesus would become the One, the only one, who can
reconnect sinful humanity with Holy God.
For generations, through the Jewish people,
God had taught humanity about the need for blood to be shed for the forgiveness
of sins against a Holy righteous and
just God.
-
Now we’re not talking about shedding the blood of our
enemies, but rather the blood of
an innocent; an unblemished sinless life. A
perfect lamb became the symbol. It was by the blood of the lamb spread on their door posts that the
Hebrews were saved when the Angel
of Death passed over their Egyptian homes.
-
Later, it was by yearly sacrifices that the Hebrews would
seek atonement from their sins.
(“Atonement” meaning “being made one
again with God; being reconciled with God.)
But then, through the prophet Isaiah, (Isaiah 53:7) God began to
speak to his people about a servant... a “suffering servant”; a person who was
to come... and referring to him as a “lamb led to slaughter”.
The
dots are finally connected in the Apostle John’s Gospel and His book of
Revelation, where Jesus is heralded as the “lamb of God”. In the first chapter
of his gospel the famous words of John the Baptist are recorded, who upon
seeing Jesus walking by, proclaimed:
Look,
the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! – John
1:29b
And in Revelation, we receive
John’s vision of
a Lamb,
looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of (heaven’s) throne.... (a lamb praised) because
(he) were slain,
and with (His) blood (He) purchased men for
God
from every tribe and language and people
and nation. Revelations 5:6,9b
On
this first Sunday in our 2007 journey through Lent, we are reminded of the
agony of our Lord, who experienced the full brunt of temptations common to
man.... temptation to which we have all succumbed. But he didn’t..... and he
didn’t because he loved us and came to offer his sinless life as an atonement
for our sins.
As
we prayerfully thank God for Jesus gift of salvation for each one of us, let us
in this Lenten season consider our daily temptations, and the power Jesus’
actions have given to us
When Martin Luther was tempted he would shout
out to Satan, "I am baptized. I am baptized."
Martin Luther knew the power
he had been given when he identified with Christ. He knew that while his powers
alone could not claim total victory over sin, the power of Jesus living in Him
could claim victory over any temptation.
As we prayerfully thank God for Jesus gift of salvation, let
us also recognize the gift we can offer our families, our spouses, our friends,
even our world when we say “No” to the devil. Recognize the blessings you will
bring to others as you live for God by walking in the ways of Jesus Christ our
Lord.
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL
VERSION (r).
Copyright (c)
1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.
Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.
|
:: back to main :: All images and text protected by copyright © Copyright 2007 Community Covenant Church of Hopkinton All Rights Reserved. |