03.06.2022 - Lent 1 - Tempted

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Scripture: Luke 4:1-13

Luke 4:1–13 NRSV

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’ ” Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’ ” Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’ ” Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.

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God’s Grace and Temptation

God's grace changes us and makes us far more than we could ever be on our own. One of the biggest dangers we face as human beings is letting our success go to our own head. Pride goes before a fall as Proverbs 16:18 says, or more  literally “Before destruction pride.” God's grace does not eliminate sin. It gives us a real fighting chance. We will indeed experience the victory Christ has won for us, but we have to follow Him to it to experience in our own lives. Victory does not get delivered to our doorstep.

You might think of it as the story of the Exodus. The Hebrew people, God's people, were delivered from slavery and given the Promised Land. In order to receive that gift, they had to leave Egypt and go to the Promised Land. God's grace gives us the victory when we leave our life of sin, which the Bible calls repentance, and follow Jesus to eternal life. We do this with God's help, God's grace, every step of the way.

We also face the temptation to give up, turn back, and refuse to trust and obey Jesus each step of the way. That's a lot of choices, and too many choices can wear a person out. In fact, the devil is counting on it. He knows he can outlast us in times of trial and temptation. However, our scripture today shows us that He cannot outlast God.

With God's help, we can face temptation without falling for it.

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Denying hunger

Lent is a season of fasting and this is one of the introductory passages to the season. It shows us how and why Jesus fasted so that we can model our behavior and lives after His example. So when I hear this story beginning it has me thinking about hunger and emptiness. But that is not how this story starts. This story starts with Jesus feeling full.

Luke 4:1 NRSV

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness,

NRSV

1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness,

He was there 40 days before anything happened. First, he felt hungry. No, not hungry. Famished. Starving. The kind of hungry where we get too weak to think and ready to follow anyone with a home-cooked meal. Or, ready to pass up home-cooked meals for fast food if we can get it quicker.

Some of the gospel writers switched the order of these three temptations, but they always start with hunger. It is immediate and urgent, and the immediate and urgent will block out what is right, good, and truthful every time if we let it.

Jesus remembered in this first moment of temptation that it wasn't food that filled Him at the beginning of this passage. It was the Spirit of God that was the source of His strength. Bread or no bread, Jesus lived because God granted Him another day. Furthermore, Jesus knew He had nothing to prove to the devil. When we get goaded into showing off what we can do rather than being obedient to God, we welcome in our own self-made destruction. We cannot control God's power, let alone hold onto it. God's power and grace respond to His will and we get to experience working with God only when we are obedient to Him.

When Jesus tells the devil that scripture says, “One does not live by bread alone.” He reminds us all that God is the true source of life, and also the true source of fullness. Only in being filled with God’s Spirit will you find the life that lasts.

Commitment to worship and serve only God

The first temptation is about urgent needs. Often they are physical needs, but sometimes they are mental or emotional as well. If not held in check, our lives are held by the tyranny of the urgent and we become slaves of what’s happening next.

The second temptation of Jesus here in Luke was to find a shortcut. When there is work to do there are always people who want to be in at the beginning and then show up at the end for the celebration but want to duck out during the hard work that happens in the middle. It is hard work going through the whole process. We, as a culture, traded our wood-fired stoves long ago for microwaves.

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The devil knew better than to just ask Jesus to worship him, or anything other than God. The devil knew better than to try to convince Jesus that evil would win out in the end. So instead, he offered peace negotiations. A compromise. Jesus, if you worship me, just this once, I will surrender it all over to you right now. Let’s skip the suffering and go right to the celebration in the end.

Now when you read the gospels you find that Jesus is fearless when it comes to being with people. He is not afraid of sinners, of sick people, of pagan foreigners, or those who are blatantly demon-possessed. He does not run from the devil or anyone else. In the same strand though, Jesus is fearlessly committed to God. When you discover the things that Jesus values the most, you will see that nothing will shake Him away. So, Jesus draws a line in the sand and simply says, “It is written, Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.” The First Commandment and the Greatest Commandment together tell us to keep our commitment to God, no matter the cost. Not only is God the first object of worship, but He is also the ONLY object of worship for us.

Trusting instead of testing

The last temptation is for those of us who have learned not to trust. We have been deceived by others, often those we trusted the most. Friends have betrayed us. Family members have abandoned us. We know the feeling, we live with the feeling that we are on our own. So when it comes to all of this talk about a relationship with God, we are very cautious. Jesus, you want me to give up my whole life and follow you without question? Sell everything? I don’t think so. That’s too big of an ask. Let’s start small. I will give you Christmas and Easter, two hours a year. Then maybe I’ll take the big leap and give you an hour a month. Maybe I’ll put some money in the offering plate. Maybe I’ll bring my kids. Maybe I’ll join a bible study group… “Maybe” becomes one of our most used words.

We use the word “maybe” because we are not sure about God, we are not sure about Church. We have questions but sometimes we don’t always want the answers, because we might not like some of those answers. While this skepticism may be crowned in our culture under the name “Common Sense”, it is not how Jesus lived nor is it how He led His disciples. The gospels are very clear that God desires Faith, not Doubt and when we try to put God to the test, to “make sure” He will keep His Word, we are out of line and out of faith. We are not asked to understand God, we are asked to have faith in HIm.

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Isaiah 55:8 NRSV

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.

This last temptation equates safety, comfort, and a self-centered view of success as a measurement of God’s love and faithfulness to us. If Jesus tripped and fell, busted his leg wide open, had to get stitches, use crutches and a cane, and walked with a limp the rest of His life, and that caused Him to doubt God’s goodness, how could He ever have gone through the crucifixion? I’m sure He hit His fingers with a hammer, working with Joseph in the carpentry tent in Nazareth, but I’m also sure He did not blame God when it happened. He struggled and hurt as we do, lost friends and family, faced betrayal and discrimination. He was hated by some of the very people He came to save. Yet, His faith was not shaken.

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We do not test God’s faithfulness. God tests our faith. That is not because God is mean and overbearing, it is because He is gentle and loving. Our passage today is a clear example of that. Jesus went toe-to-toe with the devil in the wilderness and faced three temptations. That was like jumping into the kiddie pool compared to the deep end of suffering He would face at Calvary. When our faith is being tested, we get the opportunity to see God at work in our lives, not sparing us from suffering, but growing our faith through it.

Jesus did not chase away the devil by reciting scripture. He withstood the temptation because He knew God. Jesus tells us that we can know God as He does as well.

John 14:8–14 NRSV

Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.

Seek God and you will find God. Seek God before the temptation comes, so that in that day you will not be working off common sense or human wisdom. You will know God and God will grow the faith you have further than you can go on your own.

Communion – The Great Thanksgiving II

Christ our Lord invites to his table all who love him,

who earnestly repent of their sin

and seek to live in peace with one another.

Therefore, let us confess our sin before God and one another.

Merciful God,

we confess that we have not loved you with our whole heart.

We have failed to be an obedient church.

We have not done your will,

we have broken your law,

we have rebelled against your love,

we have not loved our neighbors,

and we have not heard the cry of the needy.

Forgive us, we pray.

Free us for joyful obedience,

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Hear the good news:

Christ died for us while we were yet sinners;

that proves God's love toward us.

In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven!

In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven!

Glory to God. Amen.

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them up to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

It is right, and a good and joyful thing,

Always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

And so,

With your people on earth

And all the company of heaven

We praise your name and join their unending hymn:

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, Heaven and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest.

Holy are you, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ. By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection

you gave birth to your church,

delivered us from slavery to sin and death, And made with us a new covenant

by water and the Spirit.

On the night to which he gave himself up for us

he took bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread,

gave it to his disciples, and said;

“Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

When the supper was over, he took the cup,

gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples, and said:

“Drink from this, all of you

this is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for you and for many

for the forgiveness of sins. Do this as often as you drink it,

in remembrance of me.”

And so,

In remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving,

as a holy and living sacrifice,

in union with Christ’s offering for us, as we proclaim the mystery of faith.

Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here,

and on these gifts of bread and wine.

Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the body of Christ,

redeemed by his blood.”

By your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other,

and one in ministry to all the world,

until Christ comes in final victory,

and we feast at his heavenly banquet.

Through your Son Jesus Christ,

with the Holy Spirit in your holy church,

all honor and glory is your, almighty Father,

now and for ever.

Amen

The body of Christ, given for you. Amen.

The blood of Christ, given for you. Amen.