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Lent 1, 02/10/2008
Sermon on Matthew 4:1-11, by James Mueller
1Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." 4Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"
5Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6"If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written: " 'He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'" 7Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"
8Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9"All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me." 10Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'" 11Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
We're entering the season of Lent and I want us take this day to acknowledge the struggles we have with the wilderness. The wilderness within or the wilderness we find ourselves in. When we go through a time of testing it can actually feel like desperation, a loss of hope. We may cry out, "where is God?" in the face of random or meaningless suffering, immense stress, depression, illness, debilitating grief, war, and tragic death. And today the lectionary has for us the story of Jesus' wilderness temptation. In my sermon studies I leaned a lot this week on exegetical work done by Matt Chandler at The Village Church.
This story on the surface can cause a lot of anxiety. His sole purpose in going out into the wilderness, starving, sick, whatever, vulnerable, is to be tempted by the devil. Not some junior varsity demon, but El Diablo himself. Who knows what's going to happen out there? He's fasting. He's not doing a cleanse for weight loss. He's saying the Father is better than food, and I'm feasting on the Lord. And here's the weird thing, the fast is now over and the devil shows up and says turns the stones into bread. Now, there's nothing sinful about rolls right? Thou shalt never make dinner rolls is not in the scriptures. And the fast is over. But Jesus is single-minded. He always seems to have one purpose, one goal, like a laser beam. He always seems to have his eyes on Jerusalem, to the cross. He'll go somewhere, and heal some, but then leave others behind because he's got an appointment. He knows where he's going. And Satan shows up here and takes a good thing - can we all agree that bread is a good thing, good carb, bad carb, whatever? - Satan takes a good thing and tempts Christ in a moment of hunger and takes a good thing and makes it ultimate. Temptation, take good things and make them ultimate.
There is nothing evil about seeking success. It's okay to earn money - there's nothing intrinsically bad about money. There is nothing evil about sexual desire. Song of Solomon says drink your fill lovers - do I need to unpack that? There are single people here tonight. There's nothing evil about money, bread or sex. The temptation is to take something good and make it ultimate. And it can destroy you. Out in suburbia it's children - they're a competitive sport out there. You can make your children ultimate, but they're not the center of the universe. So by teaching them that they are, you've sown seeds that tell them that everything revolves around them, and then they walk in the world and they can't believe they're not the sun that everything revolves around. They're not God. That's the point. You can be destroyed by good things in their improper place. But man shall not live by bread alone.
Temptation #2 - Satan offers him control and power. So many of us believe everything is everybody else's fault. So what we will do is manipulate and lie to control the people's behaviors around us. But it doesn't work. You can modify behavior but you can't modify the state of the soul. That's God stuff. Peter is always fun to look at because he gives us all hope. Like after he's restored and Jesus is telling him his future he keeps asking well what about John? What's going to happen to him? How long does he get to live? John? John? Tell me about John? And Jesus really goes at him, what's he to you? Stop looking over your shoulder. I'm telling you that you're going to face a crucifixion, and your heart needs to be ready, and your life is at stake in all this, and your soul will not be prepared if you're always playing the control game. What is it to you if he lives forever? Stop looking over your shoulder and make sure your heart is ready for your mission. Satan offer us all control and power and Jesus responds "serve the Lord your God only".
Temptation #3 - Satan now uses Scripture. Throw yourself down from the temple and God must rescue you. The devil is working hard here to make sure Jesus won't suffer. Oh you're hungry, I hate being hungry, eat Jesus. Oh men are trying to harm you, no let me give you all the power on earth to rule them. Oh you're going to the cross, oh doesn't the Scripture say that even your feet won't be hurt? Jesus you deserve safety.
Everything worth having has risk. There's a risk in having children. I never knew fear or rage until I had kids. Taking them to the pool and every time they go under you freak out. Or there are other kids that know each other and they are shutting your kids out. And your kid wants to go to the big pool because the other kids won't play with them. And I'm like I will drown those girls over there. (pause) Now that can't be my default reaction. I wanted to fix it, protect my kids, but you sort of think it. At least I'm sane and I can say to myself don't kill kids. Risk is a part of my job. Going to a hospital room as a pastor really freaks you out. You're not in control and loving people in a church means going through risky times with people. Loving people means going through the darkest times with people. Having soul filling relationships means you take the risk being known and being rejected or being broken.
And here's how temptation works itself out. Christianity is not for the spiritually elite. In the Scriptures drunks and prostitutes cling to Jesus. It's easier to play it safe. But Jesus clings to people that have some very dark stuff and takes the risk to love them. We have friends going through marriage problems and invariably one person is looking to get it out in the open. We need counseling and we need to talk to our friends so they can pray for us. And the other is saying no, no, no. What will they say about us, will they avoid us, and what will they think about us? You cut yourself off from all the people who want to help heal you. You can't walk around on fire and pretend that you're not. If you're on fire scream out. But I don't want people to think I have issues. 99% of the people here will tell you they have issues, and the 1% are too self-righteous to admit they have issues, and I've been trying to get them to leave since I got here. Everything worth anything is risky.
Soon enough I will send my kids on a mission trip to Asia or a relief effort to Central America, and people will tell me about the bird flu or that garbage that happened in Aruba with people looking to take advantage of others. Do you want to know what scares me? My kids are growing up in suburban Austin. With all the money, cars, and schools that go with it. My kids will think this is what the world is like. They'll think the world gets to be picky about what's for dinner that night. They'll think that 2 transformers, a playground set, and a Barbie corvette are not that good of a haul on Christmas. So how in the world am I supposed to teach my children empathy, compassion and hope, when they live in Camelot? And I call it Camelot because it just looks pretty from the outside. They need to go see an orphanage in Central America so they can see 50 girls sleeping without a roof. It will increase their depth and love for humanity. I will risk some safety to feed their soul. Now I'm not sending them to Baghdad with an "I love Jesus" shirt on. "Hand out the tracks boo, hand out those Jesus tracks." I'm not talking about being stupid. But Jesus didn't die for them to ignore the world around them.
All of Jesus' responses come from Deuteronomy 6-8 after his temptations. And we have to be careful that fundamentalism doesn't take this truth and turn it into some Harry Potter incantation. Bam - 2 Corinthians 4! Take that! We're waving our wand and whoever quotes the most Scripture wins. It's a ridiculous idea. There's this story floating around about a preacher at a conference who gets into an elevator and a woman gets on. He asks her politely which floor? She says, "I don't know, which floor?" She's soliciting him. But a Scripture verse comes to his mind, and he quotes it, and screams out "to the lobby with you". And when that story was told apparently half the clergy in America had that happen to them. And I've never had this happen to me at a conference. Guess I'm not good looking enough. What is going on out there? Although I believe passionately in the weight of the Word of God, I don't believe the verses are given as incantations to combat evil. It is vital to know the Scriptures so we can know God and know there are better things than bread. We can remember that only God can change the heart. The Scriptures help us see the universe for what it is.
Here's the promise. The book of Hebrews says that Jesus bore all the temptations that you and I go through so that we would not be without an empathetic high priest. When small things want to become your ultimate, Christ can take you aside and say no, no, I'm here walking with you. What is the driving force in your life? Is it a person, a thing, money? What is trying to be ultimate? What do you spend your time on? What are you reading? Finding Jesus in your life is easy because you can just check your planner. You have to answer this. What is ultimate in your life? Are there relationships where control and power are out of control? Are their good risks that you're not willing to take? Do you struggle with fear and anxiety? These are things that need to be repented of. Man does not live by bread alone.
Jesus' temptation in Matthew 4 is a part of the cross. It encompasses so much of our stories and struggles. It shows us that the sins that Jesus died for on the cross include those things at the simplest level. Jesus died for the very temptations that strive to derail your life. As we enter the season of Lent I ask you to take seriously the temptation of Jesus, the eternal matters won by his death on the cross, and the new life he gives to you. Come with us as we take that journey. My hope is that each of us will dig deeply into our souls to find the brokenness of sin. And we'll do this in humility but not in a despairing way. We will keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and the forgiveness of the cross. May God continue to work in your lives this week and always. Amen.