1 Sunday in Lent Text Matthew 4:1-11 Title A Time of Contrast
2/13/2005
Title: A Time Of Contrast
Text: Matthew 4:1-11
O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen
Lent, coming as it does into a society that bases everything on one’s success and fulfillment, human potential, and self-esteem is a season of contradictions. For in this world, what the church calls us to do during these 40 days of reflection, self-examination, and repentance, is just the opposite of what society calls us to do.
During Lent, God’s church is swimming against the current, in our seasonal confrontation with sin, and death. The world will do all it can to avoid the subject, but not the church, and it should not, for it is only in confronting sin and death that we can see the cross and resurrection.
In our readings for the first Sunday in Lent we are confronted by a series of contrasts. Our Old Testament reading from Genesis depicts quite a contrast between the gift of a lush garden and the aftermath of sin.
God gives the woman and man a garden where all they have to do is enjoy God’s creation. He tells them that there is only one rule, do not eat the fruit off those two trees, you know the ones right over there. As soon as God’s back was turned, we really do not know how long after, Adam and Eve made a bee line for the tree of knowledge and the rest is history.
Paul’s inspired words in Romans are also a string of contrasts and contradictions. Sin came into the world by Adam, grace by Jesus Christ. Many die, in fact all die, because of Adam. Many, God would have all, live because of Jesus. Adam brought judgment and separation, Jesus Christ brought forgiveness and reconciliation. From Adam came death, through Jesus Christ came eternal life.
In our Gospel reading, concerning the temptation of Jesus, there are many lessons to be learned. First, we can learn that Satan will attack when you are the weakest, whether it is from hunger, stress, illness, or what ever weak point you have in your life.
The second thing we can learn, is that Satan will twist God’s holy words against us, to turn us away from God.
The third thing we can learn from our Gospel lesson, is that Jesus has given us a perfect example of how to overcome temptation. He has shown us that we can use God’s Holy Scripture to turn Satan away. To be able to do that we need to study his words to us in his Holy Scripture, so that when Satan starts twisting God’s Words we will know what he is doing, and can respond with the correct application of God’s Words to drive him away.
There is one more lesson to be learned from our Gospel lesson and that is temptation is not coercion. As I read Saint Matthew’s account of Jesus’ temptation I realized that none of Jesus’ temptations were to do anything grossly evil, but to do good things for the wrong reasons or at the wrong time.
After all, what is wrong with turning stones into bread, if one can do it, to feed the hungry? Later, Jesus will turn a couple of fish and five loaves of bread into a feast for 5000. He will turn water into the finest wine ever made.
What’s wrong with believing scriptures so strongly that one trusts the angels to protect them? Later, Jesus will walk on water and through crowds that want to kill him.
What’s wrong with the King of kings and Lord of lords having ultimate power over the kingdoms of the world? Isn’t that what we expect when he comes back on the final Judgment Day?
You see, Satan did not try and force Jesus to sin. He does not force Christians to sin either. He works by lying, and stretching the truth. He really excels when he gets us to do good things for the wrong reasons.
We need to escape his grasp, but how do we do it? I think the best way is to follow Jesus example, for God had this encounter with Satan written down by Matthew for our benefit. The answer is found in Jesus’ first quotation of scripture from Deuteronomy, “Man, (in the Greek, human beings), does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." In other words, you are to only listen to God.
It is a wonderful answer, for Satan was misapplying God’s words when he tried to tempt Jesus. Because he did not correctly apply God’s word, I think I could argue that they were not God’s Words anymore, but Satan’s. If Jesus had done what Satan had asked him to do, something as seemingly innocent as making bread from stones, he would have been listening to something that is not from God.
Whenever temptation comes to you and it always does, Satan does not have the power to make you do something against God’s will. As much as you would like to, and as popular as it is to shift the blame, you cannot use the excuse, as Flip Wilson use to say, in I think it was his character Geraldine, “The devil made me do it.”
Temptation is not coercion, it involves your participation. The serpent in the garden did not hold Edam and Even down forcing them to eat that fruit. Satan could not make Jesus, turn stones into bread, or do any of the other things he tried to tempt him to do. Satan works by enticing or convincing someone to do something against God’s will. It is creating the desire for something that is harmful to you, and there in lies the problem, because too often at the time it does not appear harmful, but beneficial.
Satan will usually not launch a direct attack on you. He knows a far better way and that is to use our natural inclination to sin, to go against God’s will.
To give you and idea of what I mean, I want to refer to a C. S. Lewis book called, The Screwtape Letters. In this book he records the letters from Screwtape, who is Satan, to his young apprentice named Wormwood. Wormwood has been assigned a particular human being to bring back to hell for food. I do not have enough time to give you an example of Wormwood’s work, but as we follow Screwtape’s responses to Wormwoods letters we see Wormwood’s successes and failures as the human he was assigned to discovers Christianity, falls in love, conducts business, reaches middle-age, grows old, and finally dies.
If I remember correctly there was not a single time that Wormwood launched a direct attack on his human. Screwtape kept reminding him that the temptations he set before him had to be subtle, with the idea being that his human, who as I mentioned earlier, had become a Christian, would think he was doing the right thing, or at the very least just doing what human beings do. You know, all those human weakness we all have, sins that we no longer call sins, but weakness. Wormwood is to make use of that and sometimes he wins, other times he fails.
In the end though, God wins, and Wormwood loses his human to him, and boy does he get chastised for it, as Screwtape signs his last letter to Wormwood who has been called back to hell for consumption, “Your increasingly and ravenously affectionate uncle Screwtape.” .
Remember at the beginning of the sermon, when I listed all the lessons we could learn from Jesus’ temptation, I did not list everything, for I wanted to leave the most important lesson for us to learn today for the end of my sermon.
This account of Jesus’ temptation is Good News for us today because Jesus was not tempted in that the thought of listening to Satan crossed his mind, for if it had, he would have sinned. For him to not even consider the temptation is inconceivable to us, for when we are tempted we weigh the pluses and minuses of the temptation. If the pluses outweigh the minuses we will usually commit the sinful thought or act.
Jesus in his human nature, so completely trusted in God the Father that he did not weigh the pluses and minuses, and in doing so he was not tempted in any thought or deed. He trusted in God and resisted Satan’s attack.
In this temptation account Jesus had already started defeating Satan, one of many temptations I am sure he had to face on the way to the cross, where Satan’s final defeat was completed. Because of Jesus’ perfect trust in God, and his innocent death, Satan is permanently defeated.
Because he is defeated, you do not have to listen to him anymore as he tries to work through your sinful flesh. You can tell him to get lost, that you do not belong to him anymore, for you belong to God.
You are now free to love people, even those people who society calls unlovable, just as Christ loves you. You are free to forgive, even those who are not always repentant, just as Christ forgives you. You are free to serve God, even as he continues to serve you. Most importantly you are free from the punishment of your sin. I guess the only question left to ask is; what are you, going to do with that freedom, the freedom that he won for you on the cross? Amen
Title: A Time Of Contrast
Text: Matthew 4:1-11
O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen
Lent, coming as it does into a society that bases everything on one’s success and fulfillment, human potential, and self-esteem is a season of contradictions. For in this world, what the church calls us to do during these 40 days of reflection, self-examination, and repentance, is just the opposite of what society calls us to do.
During Lent, God’s church is swimming against the current, in our seasonal confrontation with sin, and death. The world will do all it can to avoid the subject, but not the church, and it should not, for it is only in confronting sin and death that we can see the cross and resurrection.
In our readings for the first Sunday in Lent we are confronted by a series of contrasts. Our Old Testament reading from Genesis depicts quite a contrast between the gift of a lush garden and the aftermath of sin.
God gives the woman and man a garden where all they have to do is enjoy God’s creation. He tells them that there is only one rule, do not eat the fruit off those two trees, you know the ones right over there. As soon as God’s back was turned, we really do not know how long after, Adam and Eve made a bee line for the tree of knowledge and the rest is history.
Paul’s inspired words in Romans are also a string of contrasts and contradictions. Sin came into the world by Adam, grace by Jesus Christ. Many die, in fact all die, because of Adam. Many, God would have all, live because of Jesus. Adam brought judgment and separation, Jesus Christ brought forgiveness and reconciliation. From Adam came death, through Jesus Christ came eternal life.
In our Gospel reading, concerning the temptation of Jesus, there are many lessons to be learned. First, we can learn that Satan will attack when you are the weakest, whether it is from hunger, stress, illness, or what ever weak point you have in your life.
The second thing we can learn, is that Satan will twist God’s holy words against us, to turn us away from God.
The third thing we can learn from our Gospel lesson, is that Jesus has given us a perfect example of how to overcome temptation. He has shown us that we can use God’s Holy Scripture to turn Satan away. To be able to do that we need to study his words to us in his Holy Scripture, so that when Satan starts twisting God’s Words we will know what he is doing, and can respond with the correct application of God’s Words to drive him away.
There is one more lesson to be learned from our Gospel lesson and that is temptation is not coercion. As I read Saint Matthew’s account of Jesus’ temptation I realized that none of Jesus’ temptations were to do anything grossly evil, but to do good things for the wrong reasons or at the wrong time.
After all, what is wrong with turning stones into bread, if one can do it, to feed the hungry? Later, Jesus will turn a couple of fish and five loaves of bread into a feast for 5000. He will turn water into the finest wine ever made.
What’s wrong with believing scriptures so strongly that one trusts the angels to protect them? Later, Jesus will walk on water and through crowds that want to kill him.
What’s wrong with the King of kings and Lord of lords having ultimate power over the kingdoms of the world? Isn’t that what we expect when he comes back on the final Judgment Day?
You see, Satan did not try and force Jesus to sin. He does not force Christians to sin either. He works by lying, and stretching the truth. He really excels when he gets us to do good things for the wrong reasons.
We need to escape his grasp, but how do we do it? I think the best way is to follow Jesus example, for God had this encounter with Satan written down by Matthew for our benefit. The answer is found in Jesus’ first quotation of scripture from Deuteronomy, “Man, (in the Greek, human beings), does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." In other words, you are to only listen to God.
It is a wonderful answer, for Satan was misapplying God’s words when he tried to tempt Jesus. Because he did not correctly apply God’s word, I think I could argue that they were not God’s Words anymore, but Satan’s. If Jesus had done what Satan had asked him to do, something as seemingly innocent as making bread from stones, he would have been listening to something that is not from God.
Whenever temptation comes to you and it always does, Satan does not have the power to make you do something against God’s will. As much as you would like to, and as popular as it is to shift the blame, you cannot use the excuse, as Flip Wilson use to say, in I think it was his character Geraldine, “The devil made me do it.”
Temptation is not coercion, it involves your participation. The serpent in the garden did not hold Edam and Even down forcing them to eat that fruit. Satan could not make Jesus, turn stones into bread, or do any of the other things he tried to tempt him to do. Satan works by enticing or convincing someone to do something against God’s will. It is creating the desire for something that is harmful to you, and there in lies the problem, because too often at the time it does not appear harmful, but beneficial.
Satan will usually not launch a direct attack on you. He knows a far better way and that is to use our natural inclination to sin, to go against God’s will.
To give you and idea of what I mean, I want to refer to a C. S. Lewis book called, The Screwtape Letters. In this book he records the letters from Screwtape, who is Satan, to his young apprentice named Wormwood. Wormwood has been assigned a particular human being to bring back to hell for food. I do not have enough time to give you an example of Wormwood’s work, but as we follow Screwtape’s responses to Wormwoods letters we see Wormwood’s successes and failures as the human he was assigned to discovers Christianity, falls in love, conducts business, reaches middle-age, grows old, and finally dies.
If I remember correctly there was not a single time that Wormwood launched a direct attack on his human. Screwtape kept reminding him that the temptations he set before him had to be subtle, with the idea being that his human, who as I mentioned earlier, had become a Christian, would think he was doing the right thing, or at the very least just doing what human beings do. You know, all those human weakness we all have, sins that we no longer call sins, but weakness. Wormwood is to make use of that and sometimes he wins, other times he fails.
In the end though, God wins, and Wormwood loses his human to him, and boy does he get chastised for it, as Screwtape signs his last letter to Wormwood who has been called back to hell for consumption, “Your increasingly and ravenously affectionate uncle Screwtape.” .
Remember at the beginning of the sermon, when I listed all the lessons we could learn from Jesus’ temptation, I did not list everything, for I wanted to leave the most important lesson for us to learn today for the end of my sermon.
This account of Jesus’ temptation is Good News for us today because Jesus was not tempted in that the thought of listening to Satan crossed his mind, for if it had, he would have sinned. For him to not even consider the temptation is inconceivable to us, for when we are tempted we weigh the pluses and minuses of the temptation. If the pluses outweigh the minuses we will usually commit the sinful thought or act.
Jesus in his human nature, so completely trusted in God the Father that he did not weigh the pluses and minuses, and in doing so he was not tempted in any thought or deed. He trusted in God and resisted Satan’s attack.
In this temptation account Jesus had already started defeating Satan, one of many temptations I am sure he had to face on the way to the cross, where Satan’s final defeat was completed. Because of Jesus’ perfect trust in God, and his innocent death, Satan is permanently defeated.
Because he is defeated, you do not have to listen to him anymore as he tries to work through your sinful flesh. You can tell him to get lost, that you do not belong to him anymore, for you belong to God.
You are now free to love people, even those people who society calls unlovable, just as Christ loves you. You are free to forgive, even those who are not always repentant, just as Christ forgives you. You are free to serve God, even as he continues to serve you. Most importantly you are free from the punishment of your sin. I guess the only question left to ask is; what are you, going to do with that freedom, the freedom that he won for you on the cross? Amen
posted by Pastor Rhoads | 1:18 PM
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