We Need Pentecost.5.28.23

Scripture

Luke 4:1–13 NIV

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’” The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’” The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. For it is written: “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

Pray

Introduction

The scene has always been a weird one for me. I think it is because I cannot get these weird images from the Jesus movies over history that try and capture this scene.

Wilderness, A different kind of sermon. Jesus Wilderness and why it is important for us on this pentecost Sunday

Background and Luke’s gospel

So let’s look at this story and the surrounding context:

In Luke’s gospel you have these parallel birth narratives of John the Baptist and Jesus, you have a little more information on Jesus’ childhood than we are accustomed....but then setting the scene for ministry we have John preparing the way for Jesus. There are some even speculating about John’s teaching that he might be the sent one....

Then Jesus comes and is baptized.

Heaven is opened

Holy Spirit descended

A voice from heaven: You are my Son, whom I love, with whom I am pleased.

Then the genealogy that begins with Joseph, his earthly, step-dad....? and goes all the way through King David, through Abraham, and to Adam, and God.

This is a weird interjection…we must ask the question of why it is here.

Then we get to this testing:

Luke’s narrative says, full of the Holy Spirit, and led by the Spirit into the wilderness

40 days he tempted by the devil. Matthew says it was after 40…Luke and Mark seem to say it was concurrently.

Three temptations....

you’re hungry....fix this, you can do it.

Man shall not live on bread alone

Your mission is about a new kingdom, let me give you all the kingdoms if you will just worship me....

Worship the Lord your God only

I bet you know this mission is going to be tough....just end it know… you can do that.

Do not put the Lord to the test.

All responses from a few chapters in Deuteronomy.

Now I have heard all kinds of teaching on this text

I have heard the three temptations of challenging God’s provision, of false worship, and to doubt God’s protection…these are the three temptations of the devil on your life.

I have heard spiritual warfare sermons about ways to defeat the devil.

and listen, I believe there is much through the inspiration of the Spirit that we can learn but I think there is something very specific happening scripturally in this Lucan text. So we are going to biblically nerd out here for a minute, we are going to talk about some big theological ideas that are at work, then we will consider some implications.

Jesus confirms his identity

Everything that has happened to this point is the telling of who Jesus is. Telling of his power, telling of his credentials. Now he must walk in it. This is critical. Joel Green is helpful here:

“Interestingly, Jesus appears in much more active role, in some ways reminiscent of his behavior 2:43– 51, than otherwise been the case since his reintroduction in 3:21. He was baptized, the Spirit descended upon him, he was the assumed son of Joseph— these all portray him in a passive mode; now, he becomes the deixic center, the one around whom the narrative and its actants are oriented, the one preparing to take the initiative for which he has been equipped.”

He continues, talking about the immediate context: baptism, geneology, and then desert:

Luke 3:21– 38 was in its own way integral to the demonstration of his competence, indicating his possession of the requisite credentials, power, and authority to set forth on his mission. But these are not enough. They must be matched with Jesus’ positive response to God’s purpose. Hence, here Jesus will signal his alignment with God’s will in a way that surpasses the evidence already provided by his display of submission to God at his baptism.

Three big things at work here:

A. Son of David, Son of Abraham, Son of Adam

First, as I have alluded to here, do not miss the significance of the genealogy being thrown into the mix in the Luke text. I know, I know we skip over those in our daily readings, but they have a very important function in the text.

Matthew here is saying he is credentialed. Providing the family line and it is something impressive. It is royal, it is Jewish, it is the family line of all family lines.

Son of David: King, the one who would rule

Son of Abraham: The promise that one family would bless all families....

He does not stop there, though, he goes back to Adam. The first imager of God.

Adam is the first one that was to have been credentialed and given the opportunity to walk in obedience and in partnership with God. He is the first one that faces the adversary, and now a new Adam will walk in that place.

For the ancient audience, all of these things are coming together like the most tense story line you can imagine.

B. Jesus, Son of God; Israel in the Wilderness

Next, Jesus in this wilderness points to the wilderness of Israel’s story.

The scriptures he responds to Satan with are straight from Deuteronomy. A few chapters in particular of when Israel was walking in the wilderness.

One commentator says it is as if Jesus has been thinking about Israel in the wilderness and that is on his mind…no, this more than Jesus was doing his daily bible reading and it happened to be in Deuteronomy....he is declaring that he is Israel in the wilderness. Let me explain:

According to Deuteronomy,

(1) Israel was allowed to hunger in order to learn that one does not live by bread alone (8:3);

(2) Israel was instructed to worship the one and only God, and not to follow after any other god (6:4– 15); and

(3) Israel was commanded not to put the Lord God to the test (6:16).

In each case, however, Israel failed in their obedience to God

See for the ancient reader or hearer of Luke’s gospel they are going to immediately see the connections of Jesus in the wilderness (40 days versus 40 years) and the lessons that come forth in the interaction with Satan. Here is the kicker, though, Green puts it well:

“But no sooner are the resemblances sensed than remarkable discontinuities assert themselves. Unlike Israel, Jesus proved his fidelity in the wilderness and so is “… presented as the true Son of God, in whom the destiny of Israel was recapitulated and the divine purpose accomplished in that he renders to God the obedience and trust that Israel failed to give.”

Jesus is the representation that will lead the people out of the wilderness.

C. Spiritual War Begins

This marks the beginning of a war in the ministry of Jesus. Before Jesus would ever face a human adversary, he faces the adversary. Before the first Pharisee or Roman persecutor, in Luke’s story there is not even a Herod going after the children episode like in Matthew. And the very first thing that happens after Jesus leaves the desert, he goes into the temple and then the first act he has is a demonic encounter.

The adversary is said to be at work behind the scenes in the Judas betrayal. There is a story of human complicity, but here in the desert it is clear that the war is cosmic.

The good news is that Jesus is faithful to the mission he is sent on:

But the confrontation here in the wilderness is the first occasion in history that a son of Adam has raised an effective defence against Satan. For him, the writing is on the wall. For humanity, the possibility of a new start comes electrifyingly into view.

We live in this tension as well. The writing is on the wall....Satan is all but defeated, especially in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus....but it is not fully accomplished and so we see the brokenness in our world right now and cry out…God come!

Closing Implications

We stand in Christ, in this reality. The victory makes way for our own. For all of us in Christ, there is no power that we are held in captivity too. But let me be clear…we will go into the wilderness, but this wilderness was the one that Jesus faced for us. It is not our own. Similar temptation may come, similar testing, similar experiences....but Luke is showing that this is the beach-head of the war.

Implications for us:

Pentecost…

we celebrate pentecost today. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Crossing language barrier, socio-economic barriers, giving voice to those who did not have a voice. The same power and breath of God that filled Jesus in our text and led him and strengthened him, and gave him clarity and strength....The Spirit has been poured out on all those that are in Christ.

And by the Spirit we are in the same victory against evil.

2. Scripture:

This may seem like an aside, but it is so important. I hope you see how Satan uses and manipulates scripture. I also hope you see how Jesus does not just quote some out of context scripture but it is something very specific. Jesus is walking in the narrative of God. He is aligning himself with all that God has been doing, is doing, and will do.

It is not enough to do a little church, it is not enough to memorize a little scripture here and there....we are called to obedience. We are to know the narrative and walk in it. He knows his role as an obedient son....do we know ours in the middle of this narrative?

3. We have to face evil:

Jesus, the perfect imager of God, the faithful son of Adam, the son of God facing evil in the desert is a promise that we will have to face evil as well....

Later in Luke 10, Jesus sends out the 72. Another text we do not love to preach in its entirety. He sends them out into all the villages and they come back and they come back and say “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”

He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

Now, we cannot unpack all of this. But we are called to face evil. Jesus wilderness and the power of the Spirit means that we are to participate in the redemption of the world.

I was sitting in the mechanic shop on Friday, my day off, because when we fixed something in my wife’s car, it broke something else. Cool. Yeah, I am not bitter.

There was an older woman in the lobby waiting. We connected over our lamenting over being there for too long. The news was on and it was dreary:

Texas politics

Florida Politics

Presidential politics

murder

public schools stuff

Target and Bud Light was even on the news (if you dont know whats going on, look it up…not going there. Yall ain’t ready)

on and on. Then she asked me what I did....

What are we going to do for our kids? How do we turn this thing around? She is right, things are dark.

313,000 victims of trafficking in Texas

79,000 are minors

15K in Houston

in 2021, there were 28,000 kids in the foster care system in Texas.

The church is attacking itself

You know what’s as bad, while there is deep and systemic evil....evil has convinced us the church community is not that important, that we should take care of ourselves, we should always choose our preferences, and that Fox News and CNN have more for us than Jesus.

This conversation with the woman ate at me all day. I wish we had more time with her, but they gave me a 1990 Ford Focus loaner that smells like balogne, so i had to leave. I am grateful.

If I had more time....

We worship a God who has already broken the power of the dominion of evil. The first born, the big brother, the one that we give our allegiance to, the one that lives in us by the power of the Spirit, He stared down all that evil could muster, both in a single lifetime, but actually all the evil of all lifetimes, and was victorious.

Because of Pentecost, that Spirit lives in us. We are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus.

Hear me, that wilderness in Luke 4. It was Jesus’ wilderness and thank God. But we will and should go through our own wildernesses, but this time with Christ in us. We are not the people of Israel, we are not the first Adam…

So today. I am asking for the Spirit to fill me again. Even if it means I must be led into the wilderness. Even if it means I have to face evil. I am asking for the Spirit to come again in my life and this community so that we might follow Jesus’ lead as the obedient ones, as the faithfulness ones, as the ones that will bring about God’s mission in the world.

How are you living into the Spirit-enabled potential of your life?