Lead us not into temptation this lent

March 6, 2022 Luke 4:1-13 First Sunday of Lent Year C Prelude Welcome Invocation Call to Worship L: For some of us, it was tempting to “sleep in” this morning. P: But God has called us to this place, to hear God’s word, to open our hearts in prayer and praise, and to seek direction for our lives. L: There are many temptations placed in front of us. We are called to be strong and place our trust in God. P: God is always faithful to us, comforting, guiding, lifting us. AMEN. (Nancy Townley) Opening Prayer Lord, the temptations of the world loom large before us. We are enticed, cajoled, and “sweet-talked” into moving from lives of service to lives of self-centeredness. We need your healing love. As you resisted the temptations in the wilderness, help us to place our trust in you, that we may be strong in our faith and confident in our service to you through serving others. AMEN. (Nancy Townley) Hymn of Praise I Love to tell the Story UMH 156 Responsive Reading Psalm 91:1-2,9-16 UMH 810 Scripture Luke 4:1-13 Luke 4:1-13 Common English Bible Jesus’ temptation 4 Jesus returned from the Jordan River full of the Holy Spirit, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. 2 There he was tempted for forty days by the devil. He ate nothing during those days and afterward Jesus was starving. 3 The devil said to him, “Since you are God’s Son, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” 4 Jesus replied, “It’s written, People won’t live only by bread.”[a] 5 Next the devil led him to a high place and showed him in a single instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 The devil said, “I will give you this whole domain and the glory of all these kingdoms. It’s been entrusted to me and I can give it to anyone I want. 7 Therefore, if you will worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 Jesus answered, “It’s written, You will worship the Lord your God and serve only him.”[b] 9 The devil brought him into Jerusalem and stood him at the highest point of the temple. He said to him, “Since you are God’s Son, throw yourself down from here; 10 for it’s written: He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you 11 and they will take you up in their hands so that you won’t hit your foot on a stone.[c]” 12 Jesus answered, “It’s been said, Don’t test the Lord your God.”[d] 13 After finishing every temptation, the devil departed from him until the next opportunity. Anthem Sermon Lead us not into Temptation this lent There are few words that disturb a Christian more than the word temptation. The Lord’s prayer says lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. So we tend to associate temptation with something bad. The story of Jesus temptation is included in three of the 4 gospels. Each has a little bit of a different spin on the story, but in each Jesus goes into the wilderness and the devil tempts him and Jesus comes out victorious and begins his earthly ministry. Jesus has been baptized, he hears the voice of God and that same voice leads him into the wilderness. The devil comes and encourages him to take care of himself and his needs by using his special powers as the son of God. That is the point of this passage, for us to think about what it means for Jesus to be the son of God. The things that the devil tempts him to do are all come from his needs and his thoughts – he is hungry, he is struggling with what a messiah does, he is all alone in the dessert. Why wouldn’t he do all that he can to take care of himself and to survive a difficult experience? – because he realized that being the son of God did not mean having access to the power to do what he wanted, but it meant having the power to back away from our deepest desires. It meant thinking beyond our immediate needs to think about the better cause. Temptations don’t come from the devil, they come from our hearts. And they are not always intended to lead us to the wrong place. The Union Pacific Railroad built an extensive bridge over a canyon in the west. In order to test the bridge, they sent a train across it with extra weight and extra cars. They stopped the train in the middle of the bridge and left it there for 24 hours. People asked it they were trying to break the bridge before it started. No they said, they were just trying to prove that it wont break. In the same way, the temptations Jesus faced weren’t designed to see if he would sin, but to prove that he would not. (Word, March 14, 1991) Life sometimes does the same for us. Temptation doesn’t come to mislead us, but to show us our own strength. Just as the Spirit and the Word led Jesus, they also lead us. Just as Jesus is the son of God, we too are children of God. Thomas Pilgrim, a pastor reminds us that in those times when we feel as if we are in the wilderness, trying to find your way and temptation offers you the wrong answer, the wrong choice, the wrong use of power, the way to popularity, the wrong kind of partnership, then remember that God called us by name. He said of each of us, this is my beloved son, my beloved daughter in whom I am well pleased, and if God calls us by name, God will see us through. Our job is to make sure that in the midst of all of the other noise of life, that we are able to hear God’s voice. That is our job during lent. We too have the spirit and the word to sustain us. We listen to our faith, we read about our faith, but I think most of us learn from singing our faith. . When you think about what you know and remember about your faith – did it come from the bible, from a sermon, or for a song? I am a pastor and I give sermons every week – its my job. But I never know if they make a difference. Of course whenever I try to fudge and give a short sermon – someone always calls me on it. When I was younger – I looked forward to coming to church – I wanted a chance to see my friends. I came to hear the choir sing. When the pastor would get up to preach – that was my cue to tune out and think about something else until the choir started singing again. Yes there were some things that the pastor said that stuck with me – but it is still the songs and hymns that capture my heart and come to mind in the dark corners of life. Unfortunately, for pastors, our brains are wired to sing. There is something deep inside of us that responds to music. Even on the late stages of alzheimers disease – long after people have lost touch with he world- they can remember the songs of their childhood. All those songs that we learned in Sunday school – the words are still there. That is something to look forward to in life. But I want you to think of some of the faith songs that are important to you…… I just finished a book called wintering by Katherine May. The book is about some of the traditions and things that we do in order to survive winter. As she goes through the winter months, she talks about her personal winter moments. One chapter is titles – “Sing”. Where she felt that she was losing her voice in life, and she went to a voice coach to learn to sing again. She said that singing was important to her and to her family. She says “There’s a moment of deep genetic resonance in hitting the exact same not in the exact same way.” She goes on to say that when I sing with my son, I am teaching him something: not just words and lyrics, but how to survive. Like the robin, we sometimes sing to show how string we are, and we somethings sing in hope of better times. We sing either way.” (page 228) Personally, I am not a big fan of contemporary Christian music. Some of it is too simple for the ears of someone with a seminary degree. But what is called contemporary includes a wide variety of music. But I do have to say that within the last two years, Shine.FM out of Olivet has become my goto radio station. In those days where I am searching for hope, motivation, support for the struggle to survive – it soothes my soul in a ways that nothing else can. And in the last 2 years, survival has become an every day issue. What are some of the songs that have become a staple in your faith life? What are your favorite faith songs? Two songs that will be sung at my funeral are Precious Lord Take my Hand and I’ll fly away. Lately as I listen to Shine.FM two songs catch my attention every time they come on – Looking for my promisedland by Toby Mac. And a song, Sunday Sermons by Anne Wilson. The line that resonates with me – “Devil gone try to take me out of the church. But you can’t take the church out of me.” This lent we will look at those songs – those lines that speak to us when we are in the trenches of life. I will let you know what songs we will look at on Sunday. And on March 13th – Bettylou will lead us in a hymn sing. Our guide will be a devotional called “Unrevealed until its season – a Lenten journey with the hymns by James C. Howell. He starts the journey with the song “Hymn of Promise” – the song that we sang. The song reminds us that life is always a work in progress. The future is connected to the present. The flowers of the future lie in the seeds that we plant today. Our Lenten practices will carry us forward. The three pillars of lent are prayer, fasting and almsgiving. On Sunday I will have a sheet with the things that we will do as a church for lent. But my challenge to us – is to declare this a holy lent. How can we improve our relationship with God in the next 40 days? Prayer of Reflection and Growth God of the Road, we journey together into the wilderness again. In this time filled with new spiritual practices and studies, our minds will be “tested.” Doubts will creep in as we seek your presence. At times, we will slide away from our responsibilities to care for our neighbors. “Keep awake,” you call to us. And so we ask ourselves: Will hurtful words from others taunt us, and inhibit our growth with you? Will negative images in our minds draw us away from our practices? Will we snooze to the needs of this world and ignore the pain in our communities? Deliver us from the temptations of this world and the tests that we impose upon ourselves. Amen. Assurance of God’s Grace When we aimlessly wander throughout this Lenten journey, God follows us – even into the depths of the wilderness. May we see God’s presence, knowing we are never alone on arid days and in barren lands. Amen! (Rev. Michelle L. Torigian) Lord’s Prayer Stewardship Moment Moment for Stewardship This is the first Sunday in the season we call “Lent”. In earlier years, this 40 day season (in which every day counts except the 7 Sundays from today through Easter) was a rigorous time of fasting, which began with Mardi Gras (“Fat Tuesday”) as a time to clear the house/kitchen of meat, oil, butter and sugar. Today, Christians are encouraged to use these 40 days to practice three acts: 1) prayer, 2) giving to the poor and 3) fasting (stepping away from some act, practice or thing you ordinarily would consume). I don’t believe it meets that practice to declare you’ll pray for lima beans to disappear, offer cans of lima beans to the local food pantry and promise not to eat any lima beans from now until Easter (I wouldn’t touch a lima bean for ANY reason, in any season!) [use your own example of something you detest] Rather, I want to challenge each one of us to a three-fold, season-long practice: “prayer, share, care”. Will you start today? Will you pray for this faith community, share your finances to help ________ (name your particular recipients or organization you’ll bless with a financial gift at the end of this Lent), and care for your mind/body/spirit by taking on a new discipline or giving up something separating you from living as you believe God intends you to do? (if you want to encourage this more strongly, create for each person present a 2 part card: 1 piece for the offering plate, the other to take home and post in a prominent place – refrigerator door or bathroom mirror — as a reminder of their intent.) Will you share your intention? Please sign the card, then tear off that part and add it to your morning offering. Remember to take the other card home to remind you of this 40 day challenge. May you find this Lent to be a power-packed season as you take these three steps! Prayer of Thanksgiving Loving God, you filled Jesus with your Holy Spirit before his 40 days in the wilderness. We thank you for inspiring (“in-Spirit-ing”) us as we step into these forty days of Lent. Now, receive these gifts and these cards of our positive intentions for this season. Please use these resources to build up your Realm on earth, and your Church in this place and around the world. AMEN (Center of Faith and Giving) Hymn of Dedication O God our Help in Ages Past Communion Invitation to Communion In the first temptation, described in Luke 4:1-4, Jesus had fasted for forty days! While we don’t know the specifics, most of us can hardly imagine fasting from bread, dessert, or coffee, for 40 days! Jesus, however, after fasting in the wilderness, was able to turn aside from the suggestion/temptation of the devil to create bread from a stone. Using scripture as his piece-de-resistance, the famished man quotes from Deuteronomy 8:3; “one does not live by bread alone.” At this table, we are all invited to participate in a simple meal which Jesus instituted on the last night of his life. It is not bread alone, but it is a small piece of bread, and a sip of juice, which help us remember Jesus’ body and blood. These elements bind us to God and to each another, renewing our identity as one part of the body of Christ on earth. Together, let us share these gifts as signs of our decision to be disciples of Jesus, the Christ. (Center of Faith and Giving) Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook Benediction (Psalm 91:9-12) God will command the angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear us up. Because you have made the Lord your refuge, the Most High will be your dwelling place. No evil shall befall us. Go in peace, in the provision and protection of the Lord. Thanks be to God! Amen. (Matthew J. Packer) Community Time Benediction The journey has begun. God is with you. Go forth to learn, to teach, to serve. Go bringing peace and hope to all in the name of Jesus Christ. AMEN. (Nancy Townley) Choir Postlude Children’s Sermon from Sermon4Kids I would like you to help me with something today… I have this bag of homemade chocolate chip cookies (again, this could be another treat, or a toy or other item). Would you like one? Well, I am going to give each of you a cookie to hold…but DON’T eat it! You can touch it, you can feel it, but don’t eat it. Why don’t you smell it? Does it smell tasty? Do you think you would like to eat it? Don’t eat it, though! Is your mouth watering yet? You might be getting tempted to take a bite… Have you ever heard of the word “temptation”? Do you know what it means? Being tempted means you want to do something you are not supposed to do. Right now, you might be tempted to take a bite of that cookie. Well, eating cookies is not necessarily wrong, but if I specifically told you not to do it, then you should probably not be doing it, right? Sometimes it’s tempting to disobey, or to not listen well to our parents. What are some rules you might have at home? (Allow kids to share examples of rules. Optional: hold up list of rules or procedures for something.) Now, you might be tempted to skip some of those rules, or to do something other than what you should be doing. Maybe one of the rules doesn’t sound fun, and you’d like to do something else. It can be hard to be obedient. In fact, on our own power, it’s downright near impossible! But guess what? We don’t have to obey everything perfectly on our own power. Jesus took care of that, and we can rely on HIS power! Did you know that Jesus faced temptation? It was in our Gospel lesson today, as a matter of fact! He went out into the desert, and for a long time He didn’t have anything to eat. Well, that made Him pretty hungry, and Satan picked that time to try to make Him do things He knew He was not supposed to do. These were things that might not have been bad if God instructed it, but Jesus knew He couldn’t listen to Satan for directions. Being tempted is not a sin, but giving in to temptation is. Jesus did not give in, though. Do you know what He used to get rid of the Devil? He used Bible verses! He told Satan that He was not just going to rely on His physical body, but on the Word of God. He threw out Scripture like arrows, and it hit those temptations and eventually made Satan run away! Now, it can be hard to do the right thing. But we know that Jesus lived a perfect life, and died for us so that we can live. Jesus faced temptation, so He knows what it’s like when we are having a tough time trying to obey. What do you think we can do when we are tempted to do the wrong thing? (Take suggestions.) Yes! We can pray to God for help, and we can read our Bibles. And we can also focus on positive things in our lives. The best way to fight off a negative temptation is to focus on something wonderful instead. Why don’t we pray for help with that right now? Oh, and afterwards, you may eat your cookies… (Optional: after prayer, let kids enjoy their treats.) Additional Illustrations A Collapse of Concentration We have all gone through times of testing – times which tried our patience and tested our faith. Christians are not immune from troubles. I played in nationally-rated chess tournaments for years. The one thing all tournament chess players had to guard against was making a mistake when your position was under attack. The pressure of defending a difficult position would often cause careless errors. I’ll never forget a game I was playing against a much-higher ranked player than myself who was from Fresno. Even though the position was relatively even, I was applying a lot of pressure. Every time he parried one threat I seemed to find another way to continue the attack. Finally, he made a blunder and lost a knight and the game. Afterwards I was analyzing the game with some other Fresno chess players. Their attitude was: you only won because our player made a mistake. They didn’t realize that fatal mistake was preceded by a series of pressure-creating moves that finally resulted in a collapse of concentration. All tournament chess players face that – they have to try to not emotionally respond to a tense situation on the chessboard and allow their game to fall apart. This is why God allows testing to come our way. He wants us to learn how to not respond to the pressure, and learn how to go through the difficulty without being crushed emotionally. David Humpal, Overcoming Times of Testing Temptation in Tough Times In tough times, we are tempted not to believe in God. I remember when Old Man Lunde was alive so many years ago. I remember him telling about the Depression in the 1930s and the dust storms of North Dakota. I remember how Al Lunde was broke and didn’t have a dime to his name. He, his wife and kids moved out here to the Pacific Northwest, and Al’s face stuck into my face, as his finger wagged at my eyes, “And where was God in all of that?” Al was still mad at God for what happened to him in the Depression. The years passed, and his wife, Cora, ultimately had a stroke. As she came closer to death, Al was wrestling with loneliness and depression. He was again angry with God and me and again wagged his finger into my face, “How could a good God do something like this to my wife, Cora?” … How nice it would be in the primary temptations of life had to do with sugar cookies, ice cream and popcorn, but the temptations of life have to do with the gut issues of life such as the temptation not to believe in God. The temptation not to believe that God knows your name. The temptation to not believe that God counts the numbers of hairs on your head. The temptation not to believe that God is good. The temptation to not believe that God is not watching our every action and is close to us. Edward F. Markquart, Sugar Cookies, Ice Cream and Popcorn Settling for Less? Do not bother looking for Lent in your Bible dictionary. There was no such thing in biblical times. There is some evidence that early Christians fasted 40 hours between Good Friday and Easter, but the custom of spending 40 days in prayer and self-denial did not arise until later, when the initial rush of Christian adrenaline was over and believers had gotten very ho-hum about their faith. When the world did not end as Jesus himself had said it would, his followers stopped expecting so much from God or from themselves. They hung a wooden cross on the wall and settled back into their more or less comfortable routines, remembering their once passionate devotion to God the way they remembered the other enthusiasms of their youth. Little by little, Christians became devoted to their comforts instead: the soft couch, the flannel sheets, the leg of lamb roasted with rosemary. These things made them feel safe and cared for -- if not by God, then by themselves. They decided there was no contradiction between being comfortable and being Christian, and before long it was very hard to pick them out from the population at large. They no longer distinguished themselves by their bold love for one another. They did not get arrested for championing the poor. They blended in. They avoided extremes. They decided to be nice instead of holy, and God moaned out loud. Barbara Brown Taylor, Settling for Less, article in the Christian Century, February 18, 1998, page 169. How Do Needs Become Sinful? Jesus was really tempted. By definition temptation is something that appeals to us. But how can the Spirit-filled Son of God be tempted by something that is potentially sinful? Spirit-filled, sanctified, spiritually vibrant Christians are still subject to temptation. Jesus was hungry. There was nothing wrong with craving bread after a forty-day fast. All of us have certain desires, wants, needs, both physical and emotional. We crave food when we are hungry. We need companionship, acceptance, approval of others, love and appreciation. These are legitimate needs. And even our wants are not necessarily sinful. How then do they become sinful? The devil is often viewed as the source of our temptations. But we need to understand something about ourselves. It is doubtful whether the devil would have suggested that Jesus turn the stone to bread had Jesus not been hungry. The source of our temptations is almost always our own legitimate, normal, natural desires. The desire for food, sexual intimacy, approval of others is not from the devil. These are wholesome, normal, legitimate desires. How do they become sinful? Jirair Tashjian, Lectionary Commentary and Preaching Paths Christ Lives Here The sure antidote to temptation is to be focused on Christ, to be so filled with his power, his salvation, his life and service, that there is no room for temptation. Shortly after the Reformation, some young followers of Martin Luther wrote him (kind of like an original Ann Landers) with a question, saying, "We are harassed by many temptations which appeal to us so often and so strongly that they give us no rest. You don't seem to be troubled in this way and we should like to know your secret. Don't temptations bother you? Are you somehow immune to sin?" Luther wrote them back in reply, saying, "I, too, know something of temptation. But the difference is that when temptation comes knocking at the door of my heart, I always answer, 'Go away! This place is occupied. Go back where you came from, for Christ is here.' " Lee Griess, Taking The Risk Out Of Dying, Lee Griess, CSS Publishing Company Commentary and Devotional This passage (4:1—11) is often appointed by lectionaries for the first Sunday of Lent. The presumption is that the narrative is of direct relevance for Christians as they enter a period of penitence. Ordinary Christians are unlikely to perceive it so, and with good cause. The story does not correspond with our experience; we do not hold conversations with a visible devil, nor are we whisked from place to place as Jesus is in the story. Moreover, the temptations that Jesus faces are peculiar to him; they seem very remote from those we face day by day. This passage may in fact prompt some to doubt the validity of Hebrews 4:15: “For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” What did Jesus know of the temptations that are faced daily by the recovering alcoholic and substance abuser? The lonely divorcee? The struggling business owner? The teenager who covets peer acceptance above all? There is, however, a common denominator that links all of these with the temptations ascribed to Jesus. The basic, underlying temptation that Jesus shared with us is the temptation to treat God as less than God. We may not be tempted to turn stones into bread (we are more apt to turn butter into guns, but we are constantly tempted to mistrust God’s readiness to empower us to face our trials. None of us is likely to put God to the test by leaping from a cliff, but we are frequently tempted to question God’s helpfulness when things go awry; we forget the sure promise, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (II Corinthians 12:9). Pagan idolatry is no more a temptation for us than it was for Jesus, but compromise with the ways of the world is a continuing seduction. It is indeed difficult for us to worship and serve God only. We should be continually grateful that we have a great high priest who, tempted as we are, was able to resist all such temptations by laying hold of Scripture and firmly acknowledging that only God is God. Douglas R. A. Hare, Interpretation: Matthew, John Knox Press. God's Testing As the Union Pacific Railroad was being constructed, an elaborate trestle bridge was built across a large canyon in the West. Wanting to test the bridge, the builder loaded a train with enough extra cars and equipment to double its normal payload. The train was then driven to the middle of the bridge, where it stayed an entire day. One worker asked, "Are you trying to break this bridge?" "No," the builder replied, "I'm trying to prove that the bridge won't break." In the same way, the temptations Jesus faced weren't designed to see if He would sin, but to prove that He couldn't. Today in the Word, March 14, 1991. Sermon Closer Harry Emerson Fosdick was one of the greatest American preachers of this century. He described his preaching as counseling on a large scale. Few people knew that as a young seminary student he reached the breaking point after working one summer in a New York Bowery mission. He went home and was overcome by deep depression. One day he stood in the bathroom with a straight razor to his throat. He thought about taking his own life. And then -- and then he heard his father in the other room calling his name, "Harry! Harry!" It called him back. He never forgot it. It was like the voice of God calling him. So I want to remind you today that in those times when you are in the wilderness, trying to find your way through, and when temptation comes and offers you the wrong answer, the wrong choice -- the wrong use of power, the way to popularity, the wrong kind of partnership -- then you remember that God has called your name: "This is my beloved son, my beloved daughter, in whom I am well pleased." And, you remember that because God has called your name He will see you through. Thomas A. Pilgrim, The Man From Galilee, CSS Publishing Company The Savior Is There I think of Mother Teresa, ministering to those often left by others to die. I think of the press coverage on Mother Teresa's long dark night of the soul, as she wrote with weary familiarity of an arid landscape from which, seemingly, the Deity had disappeared. Is that the more convenient time? Or is it the senior years, when the reality of age rudely intrudes into your personal fantasyland? When the temporary exuberance of youth has surrendered to the inexorable advance of old age with its cynicism, if not possible disillusionment? When the fumes of yesterday’s zeal and vision may be all that is left in an empty spiritual tank? As I sort through all that, I arrive at the inescapable conclusion, to know that opportune time might be helpful, but what you and I really need to know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, is not the “when.” The focus of our attention ought to be, whenever the enemy’s opportune time—despondency, sickness, failure, waning stages of life, whenever—the victorious Savior is there. Benjamin Reaves, What You Need to Know