The Temptation of the Faithful
Pastor Mathew Magera – 3/13/19 – Sermon 335
St. Thomas Lutheran Church, Trufant, MI
To God be the Glory!
Grace and peace to you from
God our Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
When I was about 8-10 years
old, there were two things that I really enjoyed: riding my bike and playing
Nintendo. I spent much of my childhood outside and I remember being so
frustrated when I got in trouble for something and was limited to simply
looking out the window as my friends played. When I wasn’t outside or in
trouble, sitting by the TV playing Nintendo would be a good place to find me.
Conquering another level on Super Mario Brothers, fighting my way through
another boss on Double Dragon, like any kid I enjoyed my video games. But,
there were levels I just could not complete. There were levels so hard that I
wanted to break the game controller and scream. I just could not pass them. Fortunately,
I had an older sister still living at home. If I hit a hard level, I’d try to
pass the controller off to her. She was more experienced than I was. I remember
this one time I was playing Super Mario Brothers and I had reached a level that
is in complete darkness. You had to use a certain strategy to get through the
level, a certain way that would somehow light the path. But, one wrong move and
you would find yourself starting over pretty quickly. I, for the life of me,
could not figure out how to do it and so I called on my sister. She had the
patience and a better ability to strategize and keep her cool, unlike her
short-fused little brother. After a while she would beat the level for me, I
would thank her again and again, take back the controller and keep playing. She
made it possible for me to continue by winning a battle I could not win no
matter how many times I tried.
Using this as an analogy, I
could say that life can sometimes feel like a video game. Things can be going
great, you’re moving along just fine, maybe a challenge every once in a while.
But, then like in a video game you reach a point where the opposition is just
so powerful that in your attempt to pounce on it, you, not the enemy are
overcome and you fall.
Today, in our story from Luke,
Jesus becomes our older sibling, so to speak, who takes the controller and wins
a battle that had not previously been won, not by any person who had ever
lived. That battle is our battle with temptation. How do we get through it?
What’s the strategy? How do we resist the temptation of the faithful?
To answer this question, I
want to go back to our first encounter with this battle, all the way back in
Genesis chapter 3. It begins this way, “Now the serpent was more crafty than
any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God
really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’”
The attack from the opponent
is subtle yet ever so strategic and it has nothing to do at all with trees.
Instead, it has everything to do with what God said. Did God really say… Of
course, the serpent misquoted God. Back in chapter two, God told Adam he could
eat from any tree in the garden except the one in the middle. The serpent
misquoted God, but I bet that was all part of the strategy. It was a test. How
much of God’s Word did she really know? Did Adam teach it to her since she was
not yet around when God had given this command? Well, she knows it and she
nearly quotes it word for word back to the serpent. She knows the Word. So the
serpent moves on to attack number two. If she can spot a misquote of the truth,
how would she respond to an alternate truth? You won’t die. You’ll become like
God and know good and evil. Two potential truths. One decision to make. She has
to place her trust in one of these options. She falls for it. Literally. The
serpent had pulled her away from the Word, his attack had been successful. She
knew the Word but she did not trust it. Adam was no better as a back-up here.
Eve at least put up a fight. When Eve handed the fruit to Adam, he quick
plopped it in his mouth, no questions asked. At that it was over. No more extra
lives to attain. It was literally game over.
Fast forward through the
Bible to Luke 3. Here is Jesus being baptized. We see the heavens opening up and
the Spirit descending like a dove. We hear that booming voice of God saying, “You
are my Son, whom I love; wit you I am well pleased.” It was a glorious moment.
Jesus is full of the Holy Spirit. The very next thing that happens is Jesus is
led by the Spirit into the wilderness where he would be tempted. Jesus is now
going to come face to face with the same power that overcame Adam and Eve in
the garden. Jesus is being handed the controls to that opponent who has not yet
seen defeat.
Now, here we are in Luke 4.
Jesus is in the wilderness 40 days, fasting. He’s hungry. He’s so famished he’s
seeing hamburgers just walking through the desert. Then, we catch a glimpse of
his attacker. The devil is back. He says to Jesus, “If you are the Son of God,
tell this stone to become bread.” Believe all you want that this first
temptation is about food but that’s just what we see first. It’s the first
three words we should be concerned with. If you are… If you are the Son of God.
Remember, God had just opened up the heavens at his baptism and said, “You are
my Son” and now the devil is here saying, “if you are…” It sounds rather like
“Did God really say…” Did God really say you were his Son? Did God really say
that?
Three times the devil does
this. Three times the devil seeks to divide Jesus from God’s Word. Three times
does the devil try to destroy his faith. That’s what the devil does. He
destroys faith. He can smell it miles away and when he does, his impulse is to
destroy it, obliterate it, stomp it to pieces. This is the same battle fought
by Adam and Eve. This is the same strategy. But, where Adam and Eve could not
succeed, Jesus finds victory. Where Adam and Eve fell down, Jesus stood up.
Where Adam and Eve were told game over, Jesus got a level up.
How’d you do that? I know
those words well. When my sister would beat a level for me on a video game, it
would be pure amazement on my part. How’d you do that? How did you defeat that
enemy when I couldn’t? So, that is the question we ask Jesus. How’d you do it?
How does he do it? Three
words. Jesus battles three words with three words of his own. It is written. He
knew the Word. Man should not live on bread alone. (Cite Reference) Worship the
Lord your God and serve only him. (Cite Reference) Do not put the Lord your God
to the test. (Cite Reference) It is written. Jesus escapes the devil’s attacks
as they grow in strength to the point where he’s got Jesus at the highest point
of the Temple saying if this is not a distortion, if God is not lying to you,
if this Word is true, then prove it. Trust it. Throw yourself down. Get away
from me. If God’s Word is true, leave me up here and jump down there to get
away from me. Oh, the thought of getting away from the devil must’ve been
pretty tempting for him. But, he stands there and holds fast to God’s Word.
Then what does it say after Jesus resists a third time? “When the devil had
finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.” It was over.
Jesus had set him straight. Level complete. Victory won. Jesus knew the Word.
How do we resist temptation?
Know the Word. When the devil tempts us, he tempts our identity. He tempts our
connection with the Word of God. Did God really say this? Did God really say
that? Are you really a child of God? He leads us away from the Word just as he
did so with Adam and Eve. Each time Jesus resisted, he responded with the truth
of the Word of God. In times when we want to cling to something, that
temptation will come. When our lives are in utter failure or when our faith is
stronger than ever. As soon as faith gets separated from its object, from
Christ, and collapses on itself, we fail. Just like Adam and Eve, we fall.
Do you believe it? How
strong is your faith? When you find yourselves asking that question you know
the devil is near, trying to pull you away. Do not let the devil confuse you of
your identity. In your baptism, you were called a child of God because that’s
what you are. Do not let the devil take that identity from you. Know the Word. Our
faith can only find strength and certainty when it relies and rests in the Word
of God. Jesus resisted that temptation by displaying his knowledge of the Word
itself. We cannot resist temptation without Jesus.
But, of course, we’re no
better than Adam and Eve. We get knocked down, not necessarily because we know
the Word but because we don’t always trust it. When we’re knocked down again
and again, the devil just seems to come closer and closer, whispering in our
ear, “are you sure you’re really a child of God? Are you sure Jesus will save you
from this? I mean, you mess up constantly. How could God save you from this
one?” The devil is playing with our trust. The devil tries his hardest to take
away from that promise that we have been given, the promise that tells us that
because Jesus won it, we’ve won it too. He tries to take our eyes off of Jesus
because he knows that when he does he’s got us eating right out of the palm of
his hand like a goat at a petting zoo.
Jesus knew the Word. But,
his trust was not necessarily tempted in Luke 4. Remember the ending and how it
said the devil would come back at an opportune time? Even though we never see
the devil himself speaking in the rest of the Gospel, the opportune time came
as Jesus was headed to the cross. If the devil can’t get Jesus away from his
knowledge of the Word, then maybe he’ll get Jesus to doubt the Word by turning
his own followers against him, by condemning him though he was innocent, by
killing him in the most brutal and painful way. Would Jesus be able to trust
that even though he had to suffer God’s will would still be done? Would Jesus
be able to trust that upon his death he would rise three days later? Would
Jesus be able to trust that the way to life is through his death and the
shedding of his blood? The serpent said to Eve, “you won’t certainly die.” The
devil whispers to Jesus, “you won’t rise again.” But, Jesus trusted the Word.
Even on the cross, Jesus
will not be hushed away. Even in his death, the scriptures say he would rise
again. Hebrews tells us this victory is once for all. Romans tells us that all
who believe in him are saved. Matthew tells us that he is with us always. It is
written. It is written. It is written again. Jesus clung to the Word when he
died on that cross, he knew the Word when he died on that cross and he trusted
that Word when he died on that cross. We can cling to that Word as we carry our
own crosses. We can know the promises he assures us of and we can trust him to
fulfill them even when we fall into temptation once again. We have been made children
of God and that is something that cannot be taken away. We have been given a
promise and that is something that cannot be taken away.
When I hear “Did God really
say?” When I hear “If you really are God’s child…” When I hear “Are you sure of
the promises?” I have no choice but to cling to Christ in faith and renounce
the devil himself. We are saved because he knew the Word and trusted the Word.
When we can’t, we can have faith that because he did we are saved and can share
in that victory with him.
When I was young and playing
video games, if I happened upon a difficult level, I clung to the experiences
and abilities of my older sister to beat the level for me when I failed time
and time again. Now, I say, when I find myself having my identity tested, I
cling to Christ himself to beat the devil for me when I fail time and time
again. No, Jesus is not our older sibling, but he is our Savior. We can’t do it
on our own. But, in Jesus, the victory is already won. Cling to the Word. Know
it. Trust it. Cling to the promise and the devil will flee from you. He’ll run
away. Like a coward, he will flee. To God be the glory, now and always. Amen.