The Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased

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1 Tempted Romans 10:8b-13; Luke 4:1-13 February 14, 2016 (The 1 st Sunday in Lent) Jesus has just been baptized. Luke writes: The Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased (Luke 3:22). It s strange, though, isn t it? Right after Jesus baptism, right after those tender words, right after that extraordinary experience of the Holy Spirit, Luke writes, Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit for forty days in the wilderness, tempted by the devil (Luke 4:1-2). You have to wonder. What kind of a loving Heavenly Father is behind all of this, anyway? Treating his beloved Son like this! Celebrating his baptism by leading him into the wilderness. I ve been to the wilderness of Israel/Palestine around the Dead Sea. It looks like it could be the moon, to tell you the truth. Lifeless. Just rocks--everywhere. Some rocks are even shaped like loaves of bread. (But that s getting ahead of ourselves). Jesus is led by the Spirit into that desolate wilderness. And there he is, for 40 days. A very long time! With no food. And there he is tempted by the devil. We have all been tempted, haven t we, at one time or another? When I was in Mexico one summer, right after my junior year in college, I remember being downtown. It was during the Summer Olympics. As I walked along I passed a television store. I stopped in front of the window, because a big television there was showing a boxing match between a very tall, thin American and a musclebound Mexican. I felt scared for that American. He looked like he didn t belong in the same ring. But the bell sounded, the match began, and within the first minute the American had won. I did my errands, went home, and the strangest thing happened. My Mexican host family called me into the family room. A boxing match was about to start. It was the one I had just seen. This was some kind of rebroadcast. My host family had no idea. Their brawny countryman was heavily favored, and they felt sure that skinny American didn t have a chance. Hey Tomas, they said to me, How much do you want to bet?

2 P. 2 2/14/16 I was tempted! Sorely tempted! Jesus is tempted, there in the wilderness. It might be hard to understand just how STRONG these temptations are. And it might be hard to understand what this all means for us. The Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness for 40 days, and the Bible tells us that he ate nothing. One translation says, He is hungry. The New Revised Standard Version gets it right: Jesus is famished. The devil says to him, IF you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread (Luke 4:3). Doesn t that bother you? Doesn t that make you angry? Remember, at Jesus baptism a voice came from heaven, saying, You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased (Luke 3:22). But here the devil is saying to him not once but twice, there in the wilderness: IF you are the Son of God That s what the devil does, isn t it? The devil tries to undermine our relationship with God. Who are you, REALLY? he asks. Did God really do that, or did you just imagine it? Can you REALLY trust God? Shouldn t you take matters into your OWN hands? That s what the devil does to Jesus and to us. The devil says to him, IF you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread. As we ve said, Jesus is famished. But do you see what else the devil is doing? He is trying to get Jesus to use Jesus power for HIMSELF for his own selfish purposes. You know, Jesus could then use his power not just to feed himself, but to feed others, to BRIBE THEM. Almost like a politician, promising: A chicken in every pot. Jesus could have the whole world following him. People would be seeking what they could GET out of being a Christian, rather than what they could GIVE. This isn t the kind of Messiah the kind of Son of God Jesus is meant to be. Do you see what I m talking about? The devil is tempting Jesus to be someone he is not tempting him to be a DIFFERENT KIND of Son of God, faithful not to God the Father but to himself. The devil shows Jesus in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. To you I will give their glory and all this authority the devil says, If you will worship me, it will all be yours.

3 P. 3 2/14/16 I saw a poster at a homeless shelter. It said, Many people worship a homeless person on Sunday, and then turn their backs on a homeless person on Monday. Jesus, you see, was homeless. He became poor to bring good news to the poor. The Bible says, Though he was in the form of God he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant (Philippians 2:7). There in the wilderness, the devil is tempting Jesus to be someone else. To seize and hold an earthly crown, rather than wear a crown of thorns for us and for our salvation. Then the devil takes Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple. If you are the Son of God, the devil tries again, throw yourself down from here. In other words, Flaunt your power, Jesus. Be a spectacular entertainer, rather than a Savior. Impress them, rather than die for them. Be a Son of God MY way, rather than the Father s sacrificial way. Do you see? Jesus went into the wilderness, and faced these brutal temptations for YOU and for ME. The Good News of the Gospel could have ended right here, before it had hardly begun. Jesus could have said No to the cross right here and now No to being faithful for us, and even dying for us. Jesus is with us in our temptations because he has been there and done that. The very worst the devil could dish out, Jesus took, and WON. He did this for you, and for me. As we will sing at the end of this service, What wondrous love is this! When I was growing up we didn t have Lent. For my parents and for my home church, Lent was a Roman Catholic thing. It seemed like a lot of empty rituals, to tell you the truth. Give up chocolate?! I mean, come on! Jesus gave up ALL FOOD for 40 days! Prepare for Easter?! We should ALWAYS be preparing for Easter! Every week is holy every DAY is holy! But then we started studying history. And we realized Lent isn t a Catholic thing, it s a CHRISTIAN thing. As early as the 2 nd century, Christians were spending 40 days leading up to Easter, getting ready to experience the power of the resurrection, getting some intense spiritual exercise to grow stronger.

4 P. 4 2/14/16 We began to glimpse the important gift of spending 40 days (just as Jesus spent 40 days). We can make the most of that time, remembering that God is most important in our lives far more important than chocolate, or our Starbucks, or are favorite television show. We can give up something, remembering that God is more important than anything and anyone. So we, as followers of Jesus, might give something up for this season of Lent, but we also might take something on take on a spiritual practice. For example, we might calendar some time each day to spend in prayer. After all, what do you think Jesus was doing during those 40 days all alone in the wilderness. He was praying! Now our prayers might not be as intense as HIS. But you can do your best to make your prayers more intense than the usual for you. Tell God how much you love Him! Ask the Lord for help when you need it and you WILL need it when you are being tempted. I deeply love what Paul writes to the Romans (you ll find the full passage in your bulletin announcements). It s what Jesus shows us in the wilderness: The Word that saves is right here, as near as the tongue in your mouth, as close as the heart in your chest No one who trusts God like this heart and soul will ever regret it. Everyone who calls, Help, God! gets help (Romans 10:8,11,13). Did you notice? Jesus overcomes each of those temptations with the help of the Bible. Each time, he quotes the Bible to the devil, and believe it or not, every time Jesus quotes from the same book Deuteronomy. It s as if he s showing us the incredible power of God s Word! We have 66 books in the Bible. There is enough power and truth in each one to get us through the wilderness. During these 40 days we can take on reading more of the Bible each day. Our Lord will be with us even when we are sorely tempted. Especially when we are sorely tempted. Praying each day, reading the Bible each day, caring for those in need these are ancient, life-giving Lenten disciplines. And they are crucial practices for the rest of our lives, too.

5 P. 5 2/14/16 Patrick was a boy in our youth group where I was serving as a youth pastor. On the bus ride home one day a bully somehow decided to target Patrick. I m going to fight you after school tomorrow, he announced. It was almost like that bully was making an appointment. Mark your calendar, Patrick. Tomorrow afternoon I m going to fight you. Patrick didn t know what to do. My 11 th grade friend was a big, strong kid himself. He knew he could handle himself if it came to that. But should he? He prayed about it, and prayed about it. Tomorrow came, and when they got off the bus the bully tried to attack. But do you know what Patrick did? He kept on walking! The bully was punching him, but Patrick kept walking, saying, I don t WANT to fight. I don t WANT to fight Patrick got home and told his parents what happened. They were horrified, and then his mother started to weep tears of pride. He explained to them: I kept asking myself, What would Pastor Tom want me to do? What would my church family want me to do? I knew God didn t want me to fight. Do you see? In the midst of temptations, we help each other remember who we are. We are shaped here into the people we are called to be out there. Will Willimon, the former dean of the Duke University Chapel, writes about when he was little. He remembers Friday and Saturday nights, when his older sister was about to go out on a date. His mother would say to her, Remember, you are somebody. Be who you are. are! In these 40 days you get to ask, Who are you in Jesus Christ? Be who you You might be wondering. Remember? I was there in Mexico, and I knew for certain the American would win. But my host family and friends felt sure the Mexican would win. They asked me, How much do you want to bet? and I was sorely tempted! Well I said Sure! But, of course, I was just having a little fun! I did not take their money. That is not who I am.

6 P. 6 2/14/16 Dear ones, Jesus faced temptation for us, and he won. He won, so that we in Him can be victorious, too. Thanks be to God! Amen!