Sermon Tone Analysis

“Lord, thank you that you lead us out of temptation and that you deliver us from evil.

We need you.

We need your strength and your love to overcome the tests, temptations, and challenges that we face today and every day.

Thank you that you are freely willing to give.

Amen.”

Hello, church!

Today we are going to see that overcoming temptation is possible in our lives.

I don’t know about you but sometimes I feel my hardwiring is a little messed up.

Did God make me this way on purpose?

Because I struggle.

I worry.

I try to change and get better and sometimes I get so frustrated at my lack of progress.

Sometimes I wonder, what is wrong with me?

Do you ever feel that way, too?

Or am I the only one?

Let’s remember something important:

If you’re like me and sometimes you feel a little messed up, God does not condemn you.

He actually came to save you!

He sees your mess and it doesn’t scare Him.

He understands, and he enters into our lives to save us, not condemn us.

That’s an important reminder.

There’s a word I want to introduce today that describes our potentially messed up, internal hardwiring.

The word is called “habitus.”

That’s the word.

Habitus.

It sounds a lot like “habits” but it’s not the same thing, even though they’re related.

Habits are what we do, our habitus is who we are.

It comes from a French sociologist named Pierre Bourdieu.

Basically, it means our internal, habitual, reflexive behavior.

When we automatically react to something, we are acting out of our habitus.

Our habitus is the combination of our beliefs, our understanding, our personality, and our habits — everything.

It’s the core of who we are and why we do what we do.

To be blunt, our habitus can be good or bad.

It can be courageous or it can be fearful.

It can be selfish or it can be generous.

It can be sinister or it can be Christlike.

It will choose to love or it will choose to hate.

It all depends on what we believe and how we put into action what we believe over a long period of time.

Alan Kreider writes about the early church:

The early Christians rarely grew in number because they won arguments; instead they grew because their habitual behavior was distinctive and intriguing.

Their habitus enabled them to address the common and terrible problems that ordinary people faced in ways that offered hope.

When challenged about their ideas, Christians pointed to their actions.

They believed that their habitus, their embodied behavior, was eloquent.

Their behavior said what they believed.

And the sources indicate that it was their habitus more than their ideas that appealed to the majority of the non-Christians who came to join them.

The early church was full of people whose internal core had been completely rewired into something hopeful, optimistic, patient, and joyful.

They lived, loved, and reacted differently, “in ways that offered hope,” to the terrible problems life brings all of us.

They lived with incredible love and self-control that non-Christians were strongly attracted to.

I wonder: is my habitual behavior “distinctive and intriguing?” Do I “face common and terrible problems in ways that offer hope?” Are my actions reflective of what I believe?

What about you?

How would you answer those questions?

Today we’re going to look at a passage of scripture that demonstrates Jesus’ habitus.

This passage is called the testing of Jesus because after Jesus fasted 40 days he was tested by the devil.

The way Jesus responds gives us a good look at his habitus.

Some Observations

So let’s start by making a few observations.

Jesus had just finished 40 days of fasting and then was tempted by the devil.

First, the devil tempted him to turn stones into bread; then the devil tempted him to throw himself off the temple; then the devil tempted Jesus to worship him and in return receive all the kingdoms of this world as his own.

Did you notice how the devil barked at Jesus?

“Say this!” “Do this!” “Do that!”

The devil is demanding, bossy, manipulative, and hurried.

Jesus is never like that.

If you ever feel God is speaking to you like that — in a demanding, bossy, manipulative, hurried way — realize that’s not your Father, it’s your accuser.

The devil talked to Jesus as if the devil was in charge.

But notice this: the devil barked three commands at Jesus to no effect.

None! Jesus spoke one command to the devil and the devil immediately obeyed!

Jesus has all authority over demonic powers, including the devil.

And guess what?

You have all of Jesus.

Another quick observation is what the devil used to tempt Jesus with.

What were the best tools the devil could find in his toolbox to give him the best shot at derailing the Son of God?

The devil tempted Jesus with lots of food.

“Turn these stones into bread” (4:3).

The devil tempted Jesus with safety and security.

“Throw yourself down…and you will not strike your foot against a stone” (4:6).

The devil tempted Jesus with wealth and power.

“All this I will give you…” (4:9).

The best tools the devil came up with were comfort, security, wealth and power.

Jesus rejects them all.

Now, what does that tell us about the priorities of God?

Comfort, security, wealth, and power are the exact same temptations the devil uses to derail us!

They can easily become idols in our life, but not because our desires are too strong, but because they are too weak.

God has much greater things in store for us than mere comfort, security, wealth, and power.

Those are things of this world that will fade away.

We are people who want more: we long for love, justice, peace, purpose, and joy.

Those are the better things.

C.S. Lewis said,

It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.

We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition [comfort, security, wealth, and power] when infinite joy is offered to us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a vacation at the beach.

We are far too easily pleased.

How Jesus Responded

The devil tempted Jesus three times with the most powerful ammo he had at his disposal, and each time Jesus held strong and overcame the challenge.

Let’s look at Jesus’ habitus, his internal reflexive behavior.

Jesus responded each time with scripture, with relational trust in the Father, and with self-control.

These three qualities are part of the internal wiring of Jesus (the human part— we do recognize he is fully human and fully God) that can also become part of our internal wiring as well.

Jesus responded with scripture

Three times the devil tempted Jesus and three times Jesus responded with scripture.

Jesus didn’t have a pocket Bible or an iPhone, so these verses were planted deeply in his heart and mind.

Jesus answered,

When we routinely read and reflect on scripture, it becomes part of who we are.