The text for our meditation on God's Holy Word is the Gospel lesson appointed for the day. I bring you grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Wednesday night after the worship service Caroline and I were in the kitchen helping clean up after the meal. And as I put dish washing soap into the bucket to wash some of the utensils, I said out loud that “Caroline ALWAYS complains that I put too much soap in the dish water” and Caroline immediately responded that “she NEVER says that”--which is hilarious because not fifteen minutes before in the sermon I had used that exact illustration of what we shouldn't be doing when we argue with one another! Fifteen minutes--which is about right for me when it comes to resisting temptation!
A couple of Sundays ago in confirmation class one of the students asked me why it was that when they knew what their parents wanted them to do--and when they themselves wanted to do the right thing--why did they did they find themselves doing just the opposite. And I just had to smile to myself and say "kiddo, do I have an answer for you!" And we turned to the seventh chapter of Romans when Paul asks that exact same question and give the answer: it is the sin living in me--what a wretched man I am!
What Caroline and I experienced last Wednesday and what my confirmand was going through and what Paul experienced is very familiar to us all--it is a part of our broken human condition--it is temptation--from the world, the devil, and our own sinful flesh. And we should not be the least bit surprised. The Bible says in 1 Peter chapter 4: Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial you are enduring.
From the moment we were baptized and became God's children, we have been targets in the devil's sights—him trying to wrench us away from God. And not only has it been that way in our lives, it has been that way from the very beginning and throughout salvation history. Adam and Eve faced temptation and failed. The children of Israel faced temptation and failed. The patriarchs and great heroes of the Bible like David faced temptation and failed. All people were victims to temptation right up until the moment that the Son of God entered into the field of battle--and then it all changed.
Jesus was not defeated by temptation. He is the new Adam who got it right when it comes to temptation. He is faithful Israel who was faithful to his heavenly Father in every way. What we're going to see as we reflect upon God's Word, is that Jesus’ obedience is the best possible news for us because through faith in him, his faithful victory against temptation is counted as our own-- and he provides the model we need to remain steadfast in temptation--and that is to take our stand on the Word of God. Luke writes that:
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil.
I want you to realize that when it comes to temptation, you are not being tempted because you are a bad person or because you are weak but you are being tempted because you are a child of God. I remember as a young man struggling with this and talking with the principal of our school about it because I felt terrible that I was constantly faced temptation--Paul's Romans 7 struggle was my own and I worried that I had lost my faith. But thank God for that wise man who told me that it was BECAUSE I was a Christian that I was tempted--BECAUSE I knew God's will and wanted to do God's will that I regretted it when I didn't. This was a profound comfort to me-- that being tempted didn't mean that I had lost my faith-- but struggling against it meant I was still a believer.
There is a spiritual battle that rages against us and in us and each of us must fight against temptation. From almost the very beginning when Satan and his angels rebelled against God, a battle has raged on and Satan and his evil angels have done everything in their power to destroy mankind--to wreck the fellowship that were created to have with God--and that certainly included tempting Jesus who was not only a human being like we are--but also the heaven-sent Savior of us all. Right before his temptation…
Jesus had just been baptized--the Spirit had descended on him--the Father had announced his pleasure in him, identifying him as his Son--and yet immediately Jesus faced temptation from Satan. Jesus did not seek this out--he did not cavalierly put himself in harm's way--he wasn't looking for a fight--it simply came to him because he was filled with the Spirit and led by the Spirit.
In the same way, we should not intentionally put ourselves in harms way spiritually. If we have problems with alcohol we should stay away from places where it's served. We should be circumspect in how we interact with the opposite sex and so on. But even when we do all that we can to avoid it, temptation will still come to us because Satan is a destroyer and we are his goal. Luke writes that:
Jesus ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’”
If you remember the stories of Israel wandering in the wilderness for those forty year before entering the promised Land, you know how they struggled with trusting God to meet their physical needs--how they grumbled and complained and would have gone back to being slaves in Egypt just for the food-- if Moses had let them do it.
Now please understand--being hungry is no more a sin than being thirsty is a sin or desiring companionship is a sin. God made us creatures with physical appetites. But on account of sin, those appetites have become distorted and misdirected and the devil tempts us to meet them sinfully. Adam and Eve ate the one thing they were forbidden to eat in a whole world of food. Noah served God faithfully and kept mankind from complete annihilation in the flood by building the ark but got drunk to celebrate. David sinned sexually with Bathsheba. That sorry list goes on and on and includes us.
And so when Jesus goes hungry in the desert there was no sin in that--there would be no sin in turning a stone into bread and certainly within his divine power--but what he would not do was take his cue from Satan on how to meet a legitimate bodily need.
Jesus is the faithful Adam who says "no" to Satan. He is the faithful Israel who is satisfied with his Father's provision no matter what it is. He is the faithful man that God wants all men to be who find their sufficiency in God himself and Jesus responds to this temptation by saying, "IT IS WRITTEN." If you have your bibles open or your bulletins open you ought to underline that each time it occurs in our text for with each temptation Jesus has but one response: "IT IS WRITTEN."
Jesus' faithfulness is our salvation and his method of remaining steadfast is something that every child of God can make use of--in fact, the Bible says that we are to take up the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. Now this doesn't mean that we simply quote some verse of the bible when we are tempted—though there is sure nothing wrong with that. What it does mean is that who we are and what we desire and the direction and purpose of our lives is to be drawn from the Word of God.
The devil and the world want us to believe that we are nothing but biological creatures--merely animals-- who are at the mercy of our appetites-- and our flesh wants us to believe that lie. But we are much more than that. We are God's children for we were created in God's image and we find our life in his Word that has called us forth from death to life through the Good News of his death on the cross--The very thing which the devil would have wrecked in the next temptation. Luke writes that:
The devil took Jesus up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’”
The really sinister thing about Satan's temptations is that truth and lies are always twisted together. When he tempted Adam and Eve with the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil he promised them that they would be like God—knowing good and evil. And sure enough they did know good and evil-- but what they discovered is that they were evil and God was good and they weren't like God at all but had lost the image of God altogether and become subject to death.
That's the way it always is with temptation--Satan shows us the pleasure but hides the danger--the glass of wine with a meal that becomes an early death and a ruined family--the innocent friendship at work that becomes a destroyed marriage—and so on--spiritual danger in some good thing that Satan ruins.
That is how Satan tempted Jesus. He showed him that which was rightfully his: kingdoms and glory and power and honor--the kings of the world casting down their crowns before him--every knee bowing before him in submission--and all he had to do was one small thing--to render one act of worship to Satan. Who would ever know--they were all alone--why go through the rejection and suffering-- when what is rightfully yours-- can be yours-- right now? Why die?
This temptation cut to the very heart of Jesus' mission--he had come for this purpose—to die. This was his work--to offer up his own life upon the cross as the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world--to do what we have failed to do in giving our all to God. The Bible says that we are to worship God by offering our bodies as living sacrifices-- but we all know how often we have failed to render to the Lord the worship that is his due and instead have used the members of our bodies as instruments of unrighteousness.
But Jesus did not fail--he did not abandon the way of the cross. He was tempted in every way as we are and yet without sin. He set his face towards Jerusalem and the cross and never looked back. After his death and resurrection he ascended to the Father and took his rightful place at the Father's right hand--the ceaseless worship of angels and archangels and all the company of heaven sing his unending praises and on the last day every knee will bow before him BECAUSE the way of glory went through the cross.
So it is to be for us. We are constantly tempted to take short-cuts in our spiritual life--to desire forgiveness and peace and hope apart from hard work of taking up our cross and following Jesus in faith. We want a life of ease unaffected by the hardships of living as God's people in this broken world. Now sure enough, the day will come when the hardships of this life will be no more--but that journey goes through the cross--not around it--and so we take our stand on the promises of the Word of God. But in doing so, we should also recognize that even there, that Satan is at work. Luke writes:
The devil took Jesus to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said 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 guard you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
I don’t think that any of us would consciously put the Lord to the test—which implies that we doubt his word and demand some kind of tangible proof of his existence or promises. But how often do we say or think to ourselves: “Well, if God really loved me…then this or that would take place”. Who we are in God’s sight and what his attitude is towards us is certain—his Word tells us of his love and the sacrifice of his Son is the enduring sign of all of it. But Satan tempts us to seek certainty in some external sign.
With Jesus, Satan used the Word of God itself—inviting him to put God’s promise to the test and cast himself down from the pinnacle of them temple with the promise that the angels would catch him as a sign to himself- and a testimony to all looking on- that he really was God’s Son.
But at his baptism, Jesus had already heard God’s Word concerning his identity and that was sufficient. The same is true for us. When we were baptized God said: you are my child. And he has not changed his mind. We can return to that promise again and again no matter what is going on in our lives—no matter how we are being tempted-- and be certain that it is true and unchanging. Luther said that morning and evening we need to lay claim to that promise because Satan is not going to give up and we have to fight on until the day that God calls us to our eternal rest. Luke writes that:
When the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Jesus until an opportune time.
The devil never gave up on Jesus—step by step in his public ministry the devil was right there beside him trying to undermine his mission and destroy his purpose. But Jesus was faithful each step of the way—going to the cross—laying down his life—rising again and descending to hell to announce—not only his own victory—but ours as well.
What we see before us in our text today in Jesus’ faithfulness in temptation is God’s promise to us of our own victory over Satan as we put our faith in Jesus and take our stand in his Word. Amen.
And now may the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.
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