Sermon for Lent 1, Invocavit, March 6,
2022
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ. Amen.
Matthew 4:1-11 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the
wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. 2 After
he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The Tempter came and
said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become
bread.” 4 But Jesus answered, “It is written: Man shall not live by bread
alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God.” 5 Then the Devil took him into the holy city. He placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and
he said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: He will command his angels
concerning you. And they will lift you
up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” 7 Jesus said to
him, “Again, it is written: You shall not test the Lord your God.” 8 Again the Devil took
him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and
their glory. 9 He
said to him, “I will give you all of these things, if you will bow down and
worship me.” 10 Then
Jesus said to him, “Go away, Satan! For
it is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.” 11 Then the Devil left
him, and just then angels came and served him. (EHV)
Jesus defeated temptations by the Word of life.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
St. Paul
explained the reason we have forgiveness and the sure hope of eternal life when
he wrote, “For just as through the disobedience of one man the many became
sinners, so also through the obedience of one man the many will become
righteous.” (Romans 5:19) In our
text, we see that epic battle played out in real time as Jesus defeated
temptations by the Word of life.
Because of the disobedience of Adam and Eve,
all mankind, including you and me, became subject to death and to the control
the devil deceitfully seized over us. Because
of sin, the devil became our master, an overlord intent on destroying everyone
God loves. However, don’t be deceived by
the devil’s lies; God was not powerless before Satan’s deceptions, and the Lord
promised that He would be the devil’s downfall.
However crafty the devil may be, he can never
have God’s wisdom nor strength. In fact,
his temptations can only go as far as God allows. Yet, because the first man was defeated by
temptations, the Spirit led Jesus, willingly, we might add, out into the
wilderness to face the worst the devil could offer. The Spirit made sure that this was a true
test of Jesus’ faithfulness. We should
further note that Jesus faced the devil’s taunts as a Man. Plus, in contrast to Adam and Eve, who were
tempted to eat the forbidden fruit in the midst of a garden of unlimited
plenty, Jesus faced the devil’s wiles after fasting for forty days and forty
nights in an area with little or no food available. Therefore, Jesus was at His hungriest and
weakest.
So much of what is called fasting in our world
is merely keeping away from one or more favorite things. In slightly more disciplined fasting, people
often forgo all food during daylight hours but feast after sundown. Contrary to such lightweight challenges,
while Jesus was being put to the test, He ate nothing at all for forty days and
nights in a wilderness. His human body
was literally starving when the devil pulled out his most powerful temptations.
In some ways, the three temptations recorded,
here, are similar to what felled Adam and Eve, as well as the Israelites in
their forty years of wandering in the wilderness. God’s people failed early and often. As we study these challenges, we also see how
poorly we have fared against the devil’s deceits. However, for our eternal good, Jesus defeated temptations by the Word of life.
The Tempter came and said to him, “If you are
the Son of God, command these stones to become bread.” This test has two
components. First, the devil challenged
Jesus to prove that He really is the Son of God. It is much like how the serpent challenged
Eve in the Garden when he asked whether God had really said they should not eat
of the fruit of the trees. He likewise tempts
us to doubt whether the Bible is God’s Word and whether it still has use and
value for us. Satan also challenges us
to doubt whether we are God’s children.
Maybe that happens when the world is fighting against us, or when trouble
seems to be brewing on every side. When
the weather goes against us, or people hurt us, the devil needles us with ideas
that God just doesn’t care about us.
It’s worth noting that even if Jesus could have somehow forgot who He
is, immediately before this challenge came, the Father had declared Jesus His
Son whom He loves.
The second part of the test is physical. The devil pretends that if Jesus truly is
God’s Son, certainly God wouldn’t want Him going hungry, so why shouldn’t He
use His divine powers to ease His physical distress? How many of us haven’t face a trial in which
our physical desires have pulled us away from trusting God to provide what we
need? How many of us haven’t failed to
resist that kind of sin?
For you and me, Jesus never wavered. Jesus didn’t need to prove to anyone that He
is God’s Son. He felt no pang of fear
that God had abandoned Him. He trusted
that if it was His Father’s will that He starve so that you and I might live,
He would gladly endure it. Remember,
even our thoughts, desires, and fears are often rooted in sin. Not Jesus.
Jesus answered, “It is written: Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God.” Faithfully, so that He could provide
righteousness for those of us who have failed, Jesus stayed true to His
Father’s will, and He answered with the pure truth of God’s Word. Jesus later confirmed this when He told His
disciples, “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and they are
life.” (John 6:63)
Then the Devil took him into the holy
city. He placed him on the pinnacle of
the temple, and he said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself
down. For it is written: He will command
his angels concerning you. And they will
lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a
stone.” The devil can masquerade as an angel of light. Here, Satan quotes the Scriptures Jesus
trusts, but the connotation is false.
God didn’t cause this word to be written to encourage us to challenge
His faithfulness. Rather, God’s Word is
given to give us confidence in His love and care.
Furthermore, we must never pit one part of
Scripture against another but trust it all as true and holy. So, while promising great blessing for
trusting His love and care, God’s Word also requires that we not test God
foolishly. The devil’s second test is
aimed at getting Jesus to doubt His Father’s faithfulness to His Word. Satan likes to use that one against us as
well, and how often do we fall for the devil’s lies? Go ahead, he says, drink until you are not in
control of your senses and let God take care of you. Go ahead and abuse your wife or children
because God still forgives. Go ahead and
sleep in because God has promised to save you regardless of whether you are
faithful. Oh yes, we have fallen for the
devil’s lies far too often and in too many ways to count.
But not Jesus.
Jesus remained faithful to His Father’s will, and to His mission to save
you and me from our sins. Jesus said
to him, “Again, it is written: You shall not test the Lord your God.” Jesus is the Word of God, and He had spent
His human youth absorbing that Word of Truth again, so He would not misuse any
part of the message God gives for our salvation. Jesus’ trust in God’s loving plan remained perfect. The true test of God’s love for Jesus would
come when Jesus allowed Himself to be put to death on a cross for sins He
didn’t commit. There, Jesus would put
His life on the line, yet not foolishly, for He knew the Father would raise Him
again. Jesus told His disciples, “This
is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it up
again. No one takes it from me, but I
lay it down on my own. I have the
authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it up again. This is the commission I received from my
Father.” (John 10:17-18)
Satan wasn’t ready to concede his defeat, yet, though
it was always certain. Again the
Devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the
world and their glory. He said to him,
“I will give you all of these things, if you will bow down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written: Worship the Lord your God,
and serve him only.” In this test,
Satan displays two of his most common lies.
First, he pretends that the world is his to give. Second, he pretends that if a person makes a
deal with him, great benefits will follow.
In our world, many fall for this trap. The end justifies the means is the rallying
cry of many sinners. Go for the
gusto. Get what you want while you
can. Live it up without a care for
tomorrow. How often haven’t we heard or
seen just such ideas in play? Tyrants and
criminals attack their neighbors because they think the earthly gain will be
worth the cost to their reputations and the lives that are shattered.
The serpent was active in this test just as in
the garden of Eden. He was saying,
“Don’t do it God’s way. Enjoy the
forbidden fruit and see what great treasure I can give.” Yet, the devil has nothing to offer but
deceit, death, and destruction. Adam and
Eve believed Satan’s lie that knowing evil was something good to possess. It sent them to the grave. Jesus was offered the opportunity to avoid
the suffering and pain of death on a cross if only He would give His allegiance
to someone other than the One true God. Oh,
how a normal human body would have desired to avoid the great suffering, pain, and
death that lay before Jesus, and to be rewarded with riches, on top! How could anyone resist? Thank God, Jesus is not just anyone.
Though Jesus was facing these temptations as a
Man, He resisted with the holiness of God.
That’s why Jesus came into this world—to do for us what we could not do:
“The Lord looked and saw something evil—there was no justice.
He saw that there was no one. He
was appalled that there was no one who could intervene. So his own arm worked salvation for him, and
his own righteousness supported him.” (Isaiah
59:15-16) For you and for me, Jesus
defeated temptations by the Word of life.
Jesus had one perfect response to the devil’s
final temptation that day: Jesus said to him, “Go
away, Satan! For it is written: Worship
the Lord your God, and serve him only.” Then
the Devil left him, and just then angels came and served him. The very first and most important command of
our God is what Jesus held up before the wicked foe. Jesus came to be the holiness we need. His love for us would allow Him to do nothing
less than trust God completely.
How often haven’t we wished for the willpower
to send temptations away? How often
hasn’t the guilt of giving in to what we know is wrong made us feel helpless
and afraid? Every time is a good time
for us to stand firm and say with Jesus, “Go away, Satan! For it is written: Worship the Lord your God,
and serve him only.”
What is the best way for us to worship the Lord
our God? When some asked Jesus, “What
should we do to carry out the works of God?”
Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God: that you believe in the
one he sent.” (John 6:28-29) On our
own, we don’t have the strength to send the devil away, and we couldn’t
withstand his assaults without a Savior more powerful than ourselves. That is what we have in Jesus. Jesus didn’t withstand the devil’s lies and
temptations for Himself only. Rather, He
was crushing the devil’s head with every strong stand against the evil one so
that we could be credited with true righteousness and faithfulness through faith
in Jesus.
The Lord furthermore promises that we are never
alone in this battle. King David wrote, “Where can I go from your
Spirit? Where can I flee from your Presence? If I go up to heaven, you
are there. If I make my bed in Sheol—there you are! I rise on the wings of dawn. I settle on the far side
of the sea. Even there your hand guides me, and your right hand holds on to me.” (Psalm 139: 7-10)
Dear friends, no matter what the devil and this
world might throw against you, you have the victory in Jesus. In Him, you have forgiveness and life. In Him, you have a Friend and Protector who
was willing to die so that you could live forever as His dearly loved and
forgiven child. For you and me, and for
all people, Jesus defeated temptations by the Word of life. Amen.
After you have suffered
a little while, the God of all grace, who called you into his eternal glory in
Christ Jesus, will himself restore, establish, strengthen, and support
you. To him be the glory and the power
forever and ever. Amen.
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