First comes the test, then the Testimony

February 17, 2013 Deuteronomy 26:1-11 Luke 4:1-13 First Sunday of Lent “First a Test, then a Testimony” Year C Read Psalm 91 In honor of the season of lent I want us to start out our time by reading psalm 91 responsively, it is in the hymnal #810. I wanted to start out with this hymn because it sums up our lesson for today in a perfect way. With just the right words - look at verse 2 – it says my refuge and my fortress; my God in whom I trust. We can feel safe, not just because God is God, but because we trust in God. One of the lessons for today is to learn to trust and have faith in God. Verse 9 says because you have made the lord your refuge, no evil shall befall you, no scourge shall come near your tent. No danger comes to you, not because you are special, danger comes all of the time – but when you trust in God the dangers of life don’t affect you. Verse 11 -12 says – for God will give his angels charge over you to guard you in all your ways. They will bear you up on their hands lest you dash your foot against a stone. These are probably the verses that Jesus was thinking of when he was in the desert being tempted by the devil. In the third and final temptation the devil challenges Jesus to jump from a high place- for if he is truly the son of God, 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 the stone. Luke – Jesus Son of God Today, I will use some other scriptures – but I want to focus on the intent of Luke. And why Luke is important to us during this season of Lent. Interesting enough, Luke’ s Jesus is tempted in proving that he is the son of God. that is one of Luke’s biggest points – that this man, is the Son of God. We need to take his story, his actions, his love for us and for the world seriously – he is no ordinary man – and his actions are no ordinary actions – in him we see the acts of God. Spiritual grounding of Luke On the first Sunday of lent – we are reminded of the 40 days that Jesus spent in the wilderness. Jesus was baptized, the sky opens and said this is my beloved son. Luke 4 opens by saying Jesus full of the holy spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the spirit in the wilderness, where for 40 days he was tempted by the devil. Now I want us to look at that verse for ourselves, because it says that holy spirit led Jesus into the wilderness. And you will notice in Luke wherever, Jesus is – the holy spirit has led him there. Luke likes to focus on the spiritual life of Jesus. In every lesson from Luke we see that Jesus prays, he talks regularly with God. Why is Jesus talking to the devil? And yet interestingly enough in this verse he is not talking to God. who is he talking to? He is talking with the devil. If Jesus is the son of God, and he prays, and he follows the spirit- then why would he be talking with the devil? He talks to the devil – because he knows that the devil talks to us – daily. God sends his son to earth to live our life, to have our concerns, to even die our death. Because between God and the devil is the life we live every day. Every day we face sin, evil, the devil and death. Jesus engaged each of those threats to our faith, so that we would have the strength to overcome them each and every time that they come along. Jesus first day of work The local sheriff was looking for a deputy, and one of the applicants - who was not known to be the brightest academically, was called in for an interview. "Okay," began the sheriff, "What is 1 and 1?" "Eleven," came the reply. The sheriff thought to himself, "That's not what I meant, but he's right." Then the sheriff asked, "What two days of the week start with the letter 'T'?" "Today & tomorrow." Replied the applicant. The sheriff was again surprised over the answer, one that he had never thought of himself. "Now, listen carefully, who killed Abraham Lincoln?", asked the sheriff. The job seeker seemed a little surprised, then thought really hard for a minute and finally admitted, "I don't know." The sheriff replied, "Well, why don't you go home and work on that one for a while?" The applicant left and wandered over to his pals who were waiting to hear the results of the interview. He greeted them with a cheery smile, "The job is mine! The interview went great! First day on the job and I'm already working on a murder case!" In our Gospel reading this morning in Luke 4 it is Jesus' first day on the job. Immediately he is confronted with three major temptations. And he is confronted with this basic question: Would he take the crown without the cross? These are the most basic temptations in life and they form the foundation for all other temptations… The problems of temptations We always start our lent conversation with the subject of temptations. Because temptations are the biggest threat to our trust, faith and loyalty to God. First, recognize that we are most vulnerable when, like Jesus, we are stretched to our limits. Exhausted, hungry, weak, beaten down by deadlines, stressed out by the demands that pull us in every direction -- if we cannot keep our lives in order, if we do not put Christ on the throne in the center of our lives, if we neglect the rest that God has given us in the sabbath, we are asking for trouble. Even the King of kings and Lord of lords had to face temptation when he was famished and exhausted Temptations of being a self proclaimed leader The three temptations that Jesus encountered in Luke 4 was first to turn stone into bread, to force all of the world to worship him and live a dangerous life and let God save him from his own mistakes. I thought that it was interesting that one commentator noted that Luke was attacking the leaders of the day. The emperor of Rome would have been tempted to have others bow to him and to serve him and to go as far as worship him – and Jesus tell the devil in each instance that one who is loyal, trusting and faithful to God does not need to give in to those temptations. Temptations are things that stand in the way of serving God I would say that is what temptations are – things in our lives that stand in the way of us giving God the ultimate praise and glory in our lives. They are just obstacles for us to overcome. They remind us that we are all vulnerable, and if we are not aware of what makes us vulnerable – them we give in to sin. And yet the son of God, the one who prays to god, who talks to God about everything in his life – talks to the devil – so that we can rise above our temptations and move on the life under the cross. Devil does not go away Another interesting that about this scripture - - verse 13 says that when the devil had finished every test he departed from him until an opportune time. In other words the devil does not flee and go away. He just sits down to be quiet. If you continue to read about Jesus journey to save us – evil is lurking around somewhere in the scene. – just waiting for another chance to stand up and create a problem. And evil and temptation never leaves our life either. One of the greatest temptations of life is thinking that we have overcome our sins. They can always reappear in our lives, sometimes even as good intentions. Jesus talks to the devil not so that he can defeat the devil, but so that he can show us the way to overcome the effects of the devil. You can tell how big a person is by what it takes to discourage him. Temptation are those things which stand in the way of our faithfulness to God. our faithfulness to God is the only way for us to overcome temptation. A friend of mine writes this poem about temptation OUR WILDERNESS Somewhere, sometime each one of us takes an unchosen path through the wilderness. Not the rocky, broken land, nor the frigid night winds, nor the terrible beasts, nor the parching thirst will frighten us most. But it is the loneliness, the utter fear that we are forgotten and that nothing makes sense-- this is the barrenness where we finally cry out, pray for love to find us. And then He comes. Deuteronomy says that the Lord bought us out of the wilderness into the promiseland. I like this scripture because it addresses another important lesson about lent – when you get to the promisland – never lose sight that it was the Lord that bought you through. Another lesson for lent – for all of our lives – is to remember to give our best to God – because God always gives us his best. STORY: Did you know that a person with six kids is more satisfied than a person with six million dollars? What do you think? The reason for this is that the man with six million dollars wants more. At this Lenten season, what do you like about your present giving patterns? What do you dislike? What would you like to change? Deuteronomy reminds us about the first fruits – to give the first of what we have. We don’t live on farms and grow fruits and vegetables. We go to work and earn money. Which is why the conversation is about tithing today and not first fruits. But the challenge is to look at all of our lives, all of what God has given and all of what we can give back to God. Lent is a time to look at what part of our lives are we giving to God. how are we intentionally being faithful, truthful and loyal. 2. To Deny Ourselves: Why don’t we give God what’s left of our paycheck, or of our time, of our efforts? Many people will say, “if I don’t have anything else to do Sunday, I’ll be at church. If I don’t have too many bills to pay, I’ll give a little bit.” If you operate on that principle, you will never give of your time or money. You’ll always be too busy or too broke to do anything. STORY: A Japanese artist painted a picture on a fairly large canvas. Down in one corner was a tree, and on the limbs of the tree were some birds, but all the rest of the canvas was bare. When he was asked if he was not going to paint something more to fill the rest of the canvas, he said, “Oh, no, I have to leave room for the birds to fly.” We often fill our lives so full of obligations that there is not room for the birds to fly and there is no room for God besides. This recitation helped them to remember what God had done for them. They told their story. During the Lenten Season what is the history of your relationship with God? What is your story? We need to share our story with someone this week. “Give God YOUR BEST; expect HIS BEST.” If we give God just the bare minimum, that doesn’t take much faith. Give to God your very best even if it stretches your faith. If you were giving your best to God, what would it be? What would you consider to be your very best? What would your best look like? CONCLUSION: Has God fulfilled His part of the bargain when you gave him your very best? God promised to be with you. Did He? to deliver you from whatever bound you. Did He? to teach you how to live abundantly. Did He? Are your vows a testimony to God’s blessings to you? Are they meaningful vows that connect with your whole life and vows that give God the best of your lives? What stands in the way of you giving all honor and glory to God in your lives? What temptations do you need to overcome. How do you give back to God? Have you made space in your life to give honor and glory to God? If not, lent is a good time to stop and think about how to overcome temptation, and to live in faith, loyalty and trust in God. No matter how we pray, how we go to church, how we trust God – temptation will not go away – evil will not go away. But good always defeats evil. Trust in the lord, in Jesus Christ gives us the strength to over look evil. Verse 14 of psalm 91 says o Because they cleave to me in love, I will deliver them, I will protect them, because they know my name. I will satisfy them with a long life and show them my salvation. Let that be our prayer this day Amen. We Haven’t Been Up To Bat Yet Temptation tries to blind us to other possibilities. A business man driving home from work one day, saw a little league baseball game in progress. He decided to stop and watch. He sat down in the bleachers and asked a kid what the score was. "We’re behind 14 to nothing," he answered with a smile. "Really," he responded. "I have to say you don’t look very discouraged." "Discouraged?" the boy asked with a puzzled look on his face. "Why should we be discouraged? We haven’t been up to bat yet." Brett Blair, The story is told of four high school boys who couldn't resist the temptation to skip morning classes. Each had been smitten with a bad case of spring fever. After lunch they showed up at school and reported to the teacher that their car had a flat tire. Much to their relief, she smiled and said, "Well, you missed a quiz this morning, so take your seats and get out a pencil and paper." Still smiling, she waited as they settled down and got ready for her questions. Then she said, "First question--which tire was flat?" Lent: Spring Training For Christians When I was a boy, I was told, "Baptists don't do Lent." No one knew why. I suspect that it was an anti-Catholic thing which I pray we are over. It was the old argument, "whatever they do, we don't!" - a curiously convoluted, twisted and unhealthy way to decide on religious practices. Whatever the reason for "not doing Lent," I think it is a great loss for any Christian not to prepare for Good Friday and Easter. Every spring the baseball players prepare for the season with spring training; every spring ordinary people prepare for summer by doing "spring cleaning." So why shouldn't Christians prepare for the most important events in Jesus' ministry - what he did for us on Good Friday and Easter Sunday, what he did for us on Golgotha's cross and at the empty tomb? If it helps you, think of Lent as a kind of Christian spring training and spring cleaning. John Ewing Roberts, Remembering and Forgetting