Temptation and Love Psalm 25.1-12 and Luke 4.1-13 Sunday, Rev. Charlie Berthoud, Covenant Presbyterian Church In this season of Lent we are encouraging everyone to read through the gospel according to Luke from beginning to end. It would take about two hours in one sitting, but we hope you ll read some every day. This devotional is available, with brief daily selections from Luke, along with reflection questions and a prayer. We have hard copies and it is on our website, and if you re on the church weekly email list, you have received it last week. Each week, the devotional also features a psalm, and we are sharing those psalms in Sunday worship. The psalm for the week beginning today is Psalm 25, which you just heard read and sung. The traditional gospel reading for the first Sunday of Lent is the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, which can be found with slight variations in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. As you ll hear in Luke s account, Jesus rebuffs the temptations of the devil by quoting scripture. This should tell us of the importance of knowing scripture, God s word. But as you ll hear the devil also cites a scripture verse, which reminds us that we need to be thoughtful and careful about how we understand scripture. Now would be a great time for me to remind you of the importance of Bible study and for me to make an advertisement for our Luke Bible study. If I were going to do an advertisement, I would invite you come join our Luke Bible study on Wednesdays at 11:00 am or 7:00 pm, along with about 50 people, including 3 new folks this past week. We are reading, learning and growing together, and that we have delicious snacks too. But it s probably not appropriate for me to do an advertisement for Bible study in the introduction to my sermon. So I won t. In the gospel lesson, Jesus is tempted to misuse his God-given power three times, and he resists each one. It is important to note that just prior to his temptation, the text tells us that Jesus was baptized. At his baptism, God the Father says to Jesus: You are my son the beloved, with you I am well pleased. And the account of the temptations concludes with a strong suggestion that temptation will return. As we journey into the season of Lent, listen for God s word. 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. Thank you God for your word. Amen. * * * * * Girl Scout cookies are on sale this week! I was at the supermarket yesterday and I saw these Caramel de-lites, aka Samoas. They are so good. I couldn t resist The problem is that these cookies go on sale as the season of Lent begins, when many Christians are pondering of giving up something, like sweets, for Lent. I see three possible explanations. 1. The Girls Scouts are against Christianity, but I don t think that s true. 2. God is testing us mightily, but I don t think God acts like that. 3. Or perhaps there is more to Lent than avoiding cookies. During the season of Lent, many Christians do decide to give up something for the season, and I think this is a good practice, but it should be done for the right reasons. Lent is not a diet program or a self-help activity. Lent is a chance to reconnect with God, and to ponder the things that get in the way of that connection. Fasting from certain things during Lent, such as 2
alcohol, or caffeine, or TV, or shopping, or social media, or anything that has too much control over us even those delicious Girl Scout cookies is a good exercise in Lent, when at the same time, we try to make more room in our life for God God s word, God s spirit, God s love. The word Lent comes from an old English word meaning spring which is a time when new things grow. So I think of Lent as a time to weed out the junk in hearts, our heads, our lives, and to make room for God s love to grow more deeply. But Lent isn t just about me and God. Our faith is relational. We are interconnected. So I think it s brilliant that Pope Francis encouraged Christians to not simply give up vices like chocolate or booze, but more importantly to give up indifference toward other people. http://time.com/3714056/pope-francis-lent-2015-fasting/ And Methodist pastor and author Mike Slaughter is asking essentially the same thing, with different language. On his blog, he wrote, instead of giving up chocolate this Lenten season, why not make a commitment to give up being a jerk? http://mikeslaughter.com/blog/40-day-fast-from-being-a-jerk That would be an engaging prayer: Dear God, help me to not be a jerk today. The Pope and Mike Slaughter are onto something with Lent by inviting us to not mistreat other people. The positive way of saying this would be love. And that s a very good word for today, as after all, this first Sunday of Lent is also on Valentine s Day, a day when we think of love. Jesus told his followers that the greatest commandment is to love God and to love neighbor. From that teaching, it seems to me that being a Christian is about learning to love the right things in the right way. Today is a good day to ponder: who or what do you really love? Who or what do you love most? Our consumer culture wants us to love all sorts of things: shiny and fast cars, sparkling and expensive jewelry, fancy updated kitchens, all the latest 3
fashion, luxurious and indulgent vacations. Those things are not necessarily bad, but sometimes they get more love than they should. We can easily be tempted to love the wrong things in the wrong ways. Jesus tells us to love God and neighbor. On this day with mushy sentimentality, we need to remember that love is a noun, something we feel, but more importantly, it is a verb a verb that requires intentional, deliberate action. Those of us who are married took vows to love one another, and that means more than flowers and chocolate. Those of us who call ourselves Christians follow the one who tells us to love our neighbors and to even love our enemies. * * * * * I am so glad that we have a baptism today, because baptism of an infant reminds us of the precious gift of life and because baptism helps us remember who we are and whose we are. At the conclusion of just about every baptism I have done, I share the words of 1 John 3. 1. See what love God the Father should have for us, that we should be called children of God, for that is what we are. We are beloved children of God. You are a beloved child of God. This is the most important point in the sermon. And remember, Jesus heard a similar message at his baptism, and then right after his baptism, he was tempted. The devil challenged his very identity, saying If you are the son of God. It seems like the gospel is saying that Jesus was tempted to forget his baptism, to forget his identity but he didn t. Today we baptize five month old Henry Peterson. And while we might not want to think about it, before too long, he ll be growing up and facing challenges and temptations. We need to do the best we can to help him be strong and learn to love the right things in the right way. We need to help him know and claim his Christian identity, as a beloved child of God. This is what the church is all about. All of us need to remember that we are beloved children of God. Because when we have taken this love to heart, when we know it and feel it and really believe it, that love will give us the strength to resist temptation and love the right things in the right way. 4
One way to help us remember that we are beloved children of God is through prayer. There are many different ways to pray. I mentioned one particular way a couple weeks ago, and I want to follow up on it. How many people have a smart phone? Your smart phone is so smart, it can help you pray and help you remember the central message of the good news, that God loves you. The idea is to set your phone for a minute or two or five and to sit in silence to listen for God, to feel God, to experience God. If we all took a couple minutes a day to remember this simple message, I think our lives would be much healthier, we would be stronger against temptation, and our love would be closer to what it needs to be. If you don t have smart phone, maybe you can borrow one. Or you can use an oven timer or a stopwatch. I d like to do this right now, to take one minute in silence, right here in worship. I know I speak a lot of words, and maybe we need a little more silence, so that we can hear God reminding us that we are beloved children of God. [one minute of silence] Thank you God for claiming us, for loving us, for giving us the strength to live and your people. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. 5