Come into the Desert to Meet
With God!
Sermon for February 13, 2005
1. Good
Morning! Let’s
pray – O Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be
pleasing to You O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
2. Opening
Comments: Today
is the first Sunday of Lent – so what is Lent really all about anyway? Can God use the next 40 days to change you
and me in profound ways? Yes! Let me say it again “Yes!” That’s the whole point of Lent – it’s a time
when God creates space for us in which we can change - if we’re willing.
He’s inviting us over the
next 40 days to come into the desert with Him and to allow Him by the power of
the Holy Spirit to cleanse us of old habits and old sins that have been with us
for too too long.
A few days ago I went to the Abbey and spent an hour or so with Fr. Jerome and I asked him “Jerome, you’ve known me now for a good 5 years – we’re like brothers you and I – Who am I? Don’t pull any punches – Who am I? I sense that God wants me to really do some growing up during this Lenten period and I want to cooperate with him fully. So who am I?”
And then he proceeded to
give me some hints into my nature that only a beloved friend could see and be
willing to share.
You see I feel completely
safe with him. I know he wants the best
for me and he’s not going to share stuff with me just to hurt me. I know him – I know that he wants to be used
of God to bring healing and freedom and strength into my life – so I entrusted
myself to him.
It’s great to have a
friend like that – do you have someone like that? I pray that you do.
Now I hasten to add here
that he also asked me for time to pray about my question so that he could give
God time to give him some heavenly insight – insight that will, if received by
me, bring me into a more and more intimate relationship with our Lord.
3.
Focusing in on the Scripture readings. So let’s
turn to our
The Old Testament reading
from Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7 speaks to us about The Fall – when Adam and Eve chose
to disobey God and in doing so succumbed to the temptation of the Devil. It really is a most appropriate reading for
the beginning of the Lenten Penitential period. After all this is our story – we inherited
from them this tendency to rebel – to choose for ourselves over and against
God! This tendency has become part of
our DNA.
Now given this fundamental bent to our humanity Psalm 51 becomes our cry for
forgiveness and cleansing. It’s the cry
of every heart overwhelmed with it’s own
sinfulness. Truly if there is a Lenten Psalm this is it.
In this Psalm we hear David
asking for God’s mercy Psa. 51:1 “Have
mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great
compassion blot out my transgressions.”
And then he cries out later on, “Create in me a clean heart O Lord, and renew a right spirit in me.”
Turning now to our New Testament Epistle reading from the Book of Romans 5:12-19 we hear Paul wrestling with the thorny theological issue of the consequences of Adam and Eve’s fall and Christ’s answer for us!
His resolution to the ontological dilemma of our fundamental fallen-ness
is contained in these words, “For if by the transgression of the one, the
many died, how much more did the grace of God and the
gracious gift of the one man Jesus Christ overflow for the many.” And also in the following words, “in
conclusion, just as through one transgression condemnation came upon all, so,
through one righteous act, acquittal and life came to all.”
While Adam was the problem – Jesus is the answer!
And finally please turn with me to our Gospel reading in the Book of Matthew 4:1-11. In this reading we see Jesus, God incarnate, himself going into the desert of testing and engaging in a 40 day fast – this to prepare Him for the next three years of revolutionary ministry – a ministry that would turn the world upside down forever!
Could God be telling us that the next
40 days are to be our “days in the desert” to prepare each and every one of us
for a transformative ministry that may turn
4. So what does it
all mean? The central theme
linking the First
And the Lenten Psalm becomes our cry for transformation – that God would create in us a clean heart!
Can you see how
appropriate all of these readings are at the beginning of this 40 day Lenten
Season?
The focus then of our reflections this morning is “temptation” and it’s tragic legacy when we succumb to it but there’s something else that our Lord wants us to reflect upon and that is the role that the next 40 days of Lent can play in our fundamental transformation. Temptation overcome can become profoundly liberating!
Let’s look at the Gospel reading in more depth and let’s discover the anatomy of temptation and God’s solution to it.
Please turn again
with me to Matthew 4 verses 1 through 11:
Remember now, Jesus is about to launch out on His world transformative 3
year ministry but before He does this He purposely decides to go into the
desert. Now think about that – God
incarnate Himself withdraws into the desert – not an oasis – not a city – not
the comfort of His village – not to a friends home but out into the stark and
desolate desert! What could this tell
you and me about the desert experiences in our lives and their profound
subsequent value?
Let’s read now
asking ourselves the question: “What is happening here – what is God trying to
say to us?”
Matt. 4:1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit
into the desert to be tempted by the devil – who led Jesus into the desert?
Yes, the Holy Spirit and for what reason? To be tempted by THE DEVIL! What does that tell you? Think about it – God is using the Devil to
prepare His Son for His world changing ministry! Could God ever use the
Devil or one of His henchmen or women to “prepare you and me” for our future
ministry? And what form may this
“preparation” take? Yes,
“temptation.”
So our
responses to “temptations” are critical aren’t they? How often do you succumb to temptations? Could they be given to us
to bring us ultimately to a new level of spiritual strength instead of drawing
us ever downwards into spiritual impotency and physical depravity? So Jesus is being led by the Holy Spirit into
a desert experience so that He can be tempted by the Devil.
By the
way, why couldn’t the Devil temp Him in
2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was
hungry. That has to be an understatement!
Can you imagine how hungry you would be after 40 days of not
eating? Wow! Now that’s a fast!
Do you think that that fast would have made
Him very vulnerable to the Devil’s temptation?
I wonder? But
what about . . .
“Heb. 4:15 For we do
not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we
have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are — yet was without
sin.” Tempted? Yes!
BUT WITHOUT SIN! Let’s read on .
. . verse 3:
3 The tempter came to him and said, –
Ah! What is the Devil’s second
name? Yes, “The Tempter!” When you are tempted to sin – who is tempting you?
The Tempter – the Devil!
Reading on: 3 The
tempter came to him and said, “If you’re really the Son of God, tell these
stones to become bread.” Can you hear the scorn – the disdain? If you’re really the Son of God then tell these stones to become bread!
This is
the temptation to get what Jesus most needed now after 40 days of fasting. What did Jesus want more than anything
else? The Devil thought “food” but
listen to Jesus’ answer – verse 4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on
every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” What
did Jesus just say to the Devil – “the most important thing to me – mind, body,
soul and spirit is God and His words to me! His heart cried out louder than his
stomach! Our hearts are always much
stronger than anything else in us – touch the heart and your touch the whole
being. Jesus loved His Father and
nothing could overwhelm that love!
Now what does that tell you and
me about overcoming physical desires – addictions? It tells us that if our heart is in love with
God then nothing can overtake us! Let’s
read on – verse 5:
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city
and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he
said, “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.’” This is the temptation of “security or protection.” This temptation plays to our human need for
security – to know that we’re not vulnerable – that we’re completely safe -
that God will always protect us from all threats. It’s that power to ensure by ourselves – by
our own efforts that we’re completely covered.
It’s that desire to have insurance to cover all contingencies! But what was Jesus’ response? Verse 7 . . .
7 Jesus answered him, “It is also
written: ‘Don’t put the Lord your
God to the test.’” Ah! Don’t test God but trust
yourself to His protection! That’s the
response of a trusting heart that is certain that His Father is not only
capable but infinitely willing to protect His Son . . . this is rest in the
sovereign care of God! And finally
let’s turn to the third temptation – verse 8 . . .
8 Again, the devil took him to a very high
mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he
said, “if you will bow down and
worship me.” Ah! The ultimate perversion –
The Creator worshipping the Creation!!!!
That’s the definition of “upside downness!”
ha!
This is really what the Devil is
after – he wants to play god but how does God incarnate respond to him? Look at verse 10 . . .
10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan!
For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your
God, and serve him only.’” 11 Then the devil left
him, and angels came and attended him. This was more than Jesus could tolerate –
“Away from me!” He said – “Away from
me!” And that was the end of His trials!
“Get away from
me! I know who you are now – when the
result of the temptation is my worshipping anybody or anything other than
Almighty God Himself I know that you – Satan, are it’s
author!
What does this tell
us? That at the end of
it all – when we succumb to any devilish temptation we ultimately end up
worshipping Satan and not God Almighty!
5. The challenge: So now that we know a little more about the anatomy of Satan’s seductive temptations what is God telling us to do?
We will most certainly succumb to the Tempter if we don’t have the Spirit of the Son in us. Only His Spirit can overcome Satan’s temptations but only His Spirit can love the Father as a Son – a heavenly Son, can.
O how you and I need to Spirit of the Son within us – helping us daily to combat the seductions of the great Tempter.
And how does God prepare us for this – He takes us into the desert times of our life and makes our hearts hungry for Him and Him alone. You see it’s in the deserts of our lives that we develop a hunger for God Himself! We get the Son’s heart for the Father and we slowly become deaf to his many yet lame seductions! Do I hear an Amen out there?
Let’s Pray . . .