Jesus is Not Our Example - He is Our Substitute
Joining Jesus on His Journey through Lent • Sermon • Submitted
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Concordia Commentary: Matthew 1:1–11:1 Jesus Is Victor over Satan (4:1–11)
Mt 4:1–11 does not so much teach disciples that they should “find the right Bible verse with which to combat temptations.” Rather, as men and women in Christ, Jesus’ disciples of all ages can learn to recognize Satan’s temptations as attacks on their identity as the children of God, and on what it means to live out that identity in the world and in our vocations. So the pattern of combat with Satan that Jesus here establishes is not so much “find the right Bible verse,” although “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God” (Eph 6:17), is indeed the believer’s chief weapon in this battle that will go on until Christ our Victor returns in glory. Rather, Jesus’ paradigm is this: “Know from God’s Word who you are and how that identity as God’s baptized, adopted son or daughter is to be lived out.” In that sense, even as he wins the victory, Jesus the Son of God prepares his disciples for the battle. Just as the Spirit led Jesus into temptation and spiritual warfare with the evil one, so it will be with Jesus’ disciples as they serve and follow their Master.
Lord God, bless Your Word wherever it is proclaimed. Make it a Word of power and peace to convert those not yet Your own and to confirm those who have come to saving faith. May Your Word pass from the ear to the heart, from the heart to the lip, and from the lip to the life that, as You have promised, Your Word may achieve the purpose for which You send it, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
How many of us have read the Gospels as morality tales, with Jesus serving as our example of a godly man, albeit one who has “powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men,” to borrow from the old Superman TV show opening? We watch Jesus obey God the Father perfectly, we see him deal with His enemies flawlessly, we see Him work miracles effortlessly.
Then the person who presents this portrait tells us to “walk in His Steps,” ask “What Would Jesus Do,” and pep-talks us into declaring how we will “step on the devil’s head,” “possess the gates of our enemies,” and a host of other things that sound really good on Sunday morning, but fade like a spring morning fog by mid-day on Monday morning.
What are we doing wrong? Why can’t we do what God wants us to do? Why do we struggle to resist temptation, only to get blindsided by the devil over and over again? Why do we have to get reclaimed, redelivered, re-anointed, and reprogrammed by the latest church fad, promoted by the hot new Gospel celebrity, sung about into blissful oblivion during the Praise concert , but always just out of reach of our spiritually hungry hearts?
Doesn’t God want you to be victorious? Aren’t we supposed to be more than conquerors like Paul wrote in ?
If there is a problem in our Christian lives, it doesn’t lie with God, or with the Word of God. Sound teaching not only draws from the Word of God, it is consistent with the rest of the Word of God. “Contempt of the pure doctrine is contempt of the truth; for the pure doctrine is simply nothing else, absolutely nothing else, than the pure Word of God.”
Carl Ferdinand Wilhelm Walther, William Herman Theodore Dau, and Ernest Eckhardt, The Proper Distinction between Law and Gospel: 39 Evening Lectures, electronic ed. (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2000), 349.
It is the responsibility of called and ordained pastors to proclaim the pure teaching of Christ, and it is the responsibility of the Church to uphold and protect it from those who would distort it. Paul wrote to Timothy, a young minister whom he had left in Ephesus to teach and shepherd the church there:
I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God unto salvation because we are sinners in need of a Savior, not innocent people who need an example to follow. Christ lived, died, and rose again to make us holy, because we are unable to sanctify ourselves by our passion, energy, or perseverance. We can only sanctify ourselves by dying to ourselves, leaning not on our own understanding, but trusting in “his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire” ().
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .
Of course, to trust in them, you need to know them, and to know them, you have to hear them.
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
The first thing that the world must hear, and that the Church must proclaim, when it is popular, and when it is not, is that we are walking contrary to God’s revealed will, so much so that even our righteousness is suspect, corrupted by sin, and filthy before God. The only solution to our sin problem is repentance and forgiveness that is God’s gift to us through the Gospel. It might seem trite, old fashioned or out of date to focus on the Cross of Christ, but it was through the cross that Jesus Christ delivered us from our sins. It was His blood that was shed for the forgiveness of our sins. He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities.
The Reformation, in its preaching and its hymns, focused on the Cross as God’s antidote to our bondage to sin and death. Today’s seeker-sensitive, liberation -focused, purpose-driven but Christ-ignoring “pseudo-Gospel” of man’s pursuit of health, wealth, and fleshly satisfaction points people away from the cross, while Jesus declared that it was His suffering and dying on the cross that would draw all men unto Himself to receive the forgiveness of sins and eternal life.
God doesn’t want you to “fall in love with Jesus.” He wants you to “listen to Him.” Jesus didn’t go into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil to show us how we should deal with the devil; He went there to defeat the devil Himself, to undo what Adam did when he did not trust in God’s Word.
Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.
What does God want you to do? He wants you to confess, repent, and believe. He wants that so much for you that He even gives you the words to say and things to do that bring forth and strengthen your faith in Him. Instead of allowing us to stumble around trying to make up ways to approach Him, He gives us the Divine Service, which reflects the way that God has always directed us to worship Him, hearing His word, and responding to it, not as individuals, but as the household of faith. Together, we hear His Good News. Together, we eat His Body and drink His blood. Together we thank Him for His gifts to us. Together, we go in peace to love and serve the Lord, thanks be to God. Together, we rejoice in those who the Lord finds and rescues, and we mourn over those who reject His free gift. We encourage one another with the knowledge that He is with us, empowering us with His Holy Spirit, keeping us in the one true faith, just as He promised us that He would do, and just as you have been taught.
If you want to do what God wants, He wants you to confess, repent, and believe. He wants that so much for you that He even gives you the words to say and things to do. Instead of allowing us to stumble around trying to make up ways to approach Him, He gives us the Divine Service, which reflects the way that God has always directed us to worship Him, hearing His word, and responding to it, not as individuals, but as the household of faith. Together, we hear His Good News. Together, we eat His Body and drink His blood. Together we thank Him for His gifts to us. Together, we go in peace to love and serve the Lord, thanks be to God. Together, we rejoice in those who the Lord finds and rescues, and we mourn over those who reject His free gift. We encourage one another with the knowledge that He is with us, empowering us with His Holy Spirit, keeping us in the one true faith.
What do we believe? Let’s confess it together:
Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions The Apostles’ Creed
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
So let the peace of God, that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.