SERMON 1 st Sunday in Lent March 13, 2011 Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7 Psalm 32 Romans 5:12-19 Matthew 4:1-11 Brothers and sisters in Christ, grace to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus, who is the Christ. Amen. For those of you who have known me for some time, you might have heard this story before. I think that many of you know that I lived much of my life in Minnesota. For those of you who have never lived in the north, you might not know what it is like to live in a place where there is so much cold and snow during the winter months. As a matter of fact, this past winter, Minneapolis has already had over 75 inches of snow, and temperatures with wind chills in the 30-50 below zero range! I remember days when the daily high temperature did not make it above 20 degrees below zero! But what many of you might not know is that before I lived in Minnesota, I lived in a place that made Minnesota look like a tropical paradise. Well, that might be a bit of an exaggeration. However, when I was a young boy, I lived in the northern part of the upper peninsula of Michigan, right close to Lake Superior. You see, my father was in the Air Force, and for 7 years during the height of the Viet Nam war, we lived at K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base, which was part of the Military s Strategic Air Command. You want to talk about snow? One winter, a town not too far from us had 312 inches of snow. That s 26 feet! If we heard of a snowstorm coming, my dad would have to leave our house for a few days and live in the barracks that were located next to the flight line.
There were these snow caterpillars that would serve as ambulances. I remember one morning we woke up and the snow was almost to the top of our screen door. We opened the door, and had to shovel the snow into our entry way so that we could tunnel out. There was one snowdrift that went from one side of the street to the other, and it was as high as the peak of a two-story home. The plows could not plow through it, so they had to get huge trucks with blowers on the front to tunnel through the drift and then haul away the snow in dump trucks. I also remember walking though the woods after a fresh snowfall. The snow was usually very heavy because of its high moisture content due to Lake Superior. It was so peaceful, as the snow acts like a large blanket that creates an awesome silence. But every so often, I would hear a loud cracking noise. It came from the large trees where the branches could not bear the weight of the snow. The branches would break loose from the tree and come crashing to the ground. The silence would be momentarily shattered. But then I remember seeing a small pine tree, only about four feet tall. The weight of the snow was so great that the top of the tree was only inches from the ground. I thought that the tree was dead for sure, even though none of its branches were broken. However, when the snow melted usually by the first part of June, the tree straightened up to its original height, and continued to grow. Now, I realize that there is a scientific explanation for why these trees responded differently to the snow. Yet in these trees, we can see an illustration of life itself and the nature of the Christian faith. You see, both trees experienced the same adversity of the tremendous weight of the snow. Both were tempted to allow their limbs to snap off.
One tree gave in and lost a lot of its branches. But the other tree remained flexible and withstood the temptation. Its limbs remained connected to the trunk of the tree. Perhaps we can see our Lord as the trunk of the tree and we are the branches. As a matter of fact, I believe Jesus even said that during his ministry. It is often tempting for us to break away from the trunk and go it on our own. But all of us know what happens to branches that are separated from the trunk. They sit on the ground and rot. There is no life, no growth. Eventually they become petrified and do not change for thousands if not millions of years. I believe that the main temptation Christians face in life has not so much to with breaking rules; but rather with breaking away from God detaching ourselves from the trunk. And breaking away from God is especially tempting when we find ourselves burdened by the heavy snows of life. In our Old Testament reading this morning, Adam and Eve were tempted. Their temptation was to be like God. The serpent convinced them that they did not need God to sustain them they did not need the trunk. Therefore, they felt that they could go it alone apart from the one who gave them life. In our Gospel story, Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. The Greek word for devil is diabolos. A word in our language that comes from diabolos is diabolical. The best way to define the word devil is the adversary. And the work of the adversary implies always an attempt to separate God and humans. Now this is extremely important. The final goal of the devil is not to tempt us into sinful behavior. Rather, to alienate people from God to cause people to believe that they do not need God.
Let me say that again. The final goal of the devil is not to tempt us into sinful behavior. Rather, it is to alienate people from God to cause people to believe that they do not need God. That was the temptation that Jesus faced in the wilderness. He was tempted to separate himself from the Father, who was his lifeline. The devil, the great tempter says to Jesus, You don t need to depend on God for your food, simply command these stones to become loaves of bread. And, I will give you all of the kingdoms of the world if you just fall down and worship me. There is a restaurant in the city of Jericho called the Temptation Restaurant. What a great name. It got its name not because the food is so delicious and irresistible, but because of the location. As you step out of the doors of that restaurant, you can look first at the ancient ruins of the city of Jericho. On one side is the lush green of modern Jericho surrounded by orange, date and almond orchards. You can see fields of other crops as well. But on the other side and just beyond all that lush greenery of this oasis, you look out upon what is known as the Judean wilderness. It is lonely and desolate. There is no greenery no water, just rocks and barrenness. It s hard to imagine anyone living there or staying there for any extended period of time. But Jesus did. For 40 days he wandered the Judean Wilderness. Or perhaps he just stayed holed up in a cave wrestling with the temptation to turn away from God; to disconnect from the trunk that sustained him. All of us have been there. We too have been tempted to disconnect from the one who gives us life. Just when we think we have a handle on our faith, and God seems to be blessing every step we take; it happens.
We go from a wonderful cuddly experience with God to a long, dry period, when our spiritual life seems mechanical. It no longer seems real. Oh, we still go through the motions, but it just doesn t seem to have any meaning. We wonder why we even bother to attend worship. In a sense, we enter a desert time of our faith. And it is at these times when the devil says; Ah,ha, I have you just where I want you. You are beginning to separate from the trunk. All I have to do is convince you that life will be much better apart from the trunk. As a pastor, I see that quite often. A reasonably active member of the congregation suddenly ceases to show up at worship. One Sunday the person is there, the next Sunday he or she is not. After a while, I try to follow up by making a telephone call. The person will usually say something like; I just don t get much out of going to church anymore. Or perhaps they say; I ve just been so busy lately. Or maybe they criticize a recent decision that was made by the Leadership Team. But if I push a little harder, I will find out that perhaps a divorce is pending. Maybe a disease has been diagnosed. It could be that a job has been lost or one of the kids is in trouble with the law. And then there is almost always the following comment; Maybe when things get straightened out, I ll start coming back to church. Do you see what s wrong with this picture? This brother or sister in Christ is disconnecting from the very thing he or she needs most at this time of crisis in life. They have disconnected themselves from the trunk of the tree. For the Church is the body of Christ on earth. The Church is the means in which Jesus is present in the world. I would like to close this morning with the following story:
A tragedy left a man homeless, widowed and fatherless. Fire had swept through their trailer, and all was lost, including his wife and two little girls. It took some time for the full weight of the loss to sink in. But when it did, he was devastated. Like Job, he would not be comforted. When the shock finally lifted, anger and resentment filled every waking thought. God had not been fair to him. God had not protected his family. God had not come to him with a special visitation to explain the why and the what next. He was in a wilderness just as rugged as the Judean Wilderness. The greatest temptation was to add to his losses by giving up his faith. He felt justified. No one would fault him. Some might even support him. He prayed angrily, daring God to hurt him further challenging God to give him any reason to hold on to the thin thread of his faith that was left. Even so, he prayed. The anguish continued to mount until one afternoon, he uttered a cry so forcefully, that it could only be described as a scream. No words were spoken. Just a loud angry scream against the forces of heaven and hell, as if to say; I ve hurt all that I can, and I ve paid my dues for the love that I gave to my family. HELP ME! The silence that followed was quieter than silence. A sense of peace came over him for the first time in months. Perhaps we could even say that, Angels came and waited on him. Think back to your wilderness times. There were angels who ministered to you also. Perhaps you didn t recognize them as angels while you were in the wilderness, because your cynicism blinded you. But now, looking back, you see the Spirit of God was hard at work. Please remember this. The pressures of life will tempt us to break away from the trunk to fall away from God. But like the branches of a tree, the trunk is our lifeline.
Without the trunk, there is no life. I commend you to cling to the trunk especially in times of adversity. And may God s holy angels give you the strength you need. Amen. May the peace that passes all understanding be with you now and for life everlasting. Amen.