The Origin Story of Sin

February 26, 2023 First Sunday of Lent Year A The Origin Story of Sin Prelude Welcome Call to Worship Happy are those whose sins are forgiven. Happy are those whose sins are cast away. Rejoice in the Lord! Be glad! Sing out! Shout for joy! Rejoice in the Lord! Rejoice! Amen! (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Bill Hoppe) Opening Prayer God of Grace, as we begin this Lenten season, thank you for the ways you surround and sustain us, even when we turn our backs to you. Help us repent – turning once more to fill our hearts, minds and spirits with you. Teach us once more to keep our eyes focused on you as we travel this 40 day journey of prayer, repentance and sharing our financial resources with those who are in need. AMEN (Disciples of Christ, Center for Faith and Giving) Song What I Survey the Wondrous Cross UMH 298 Children’s Sermon So everyone should have gotten a piece of peppermint when you came in. I know, this is the perfect candy for passing out and eating in church. As you come into church, you have your candy – and told that you couldn’t eat it. The candy represent our theme for today -temptation. The more we are told not to do it – the more we want to do it anyway. What was your reaction to being told not to do it – did you say who are you to tell me I cant do something, were you like now I really want to candy. Or were you like okay. We are all different and have different reactions to being told no. Today we focus on two different reactions. We focus on the story of Adam and Eve and how they were told not to eat something – and they just had to eat it. And Jesus who was told to do whatever he wanted, and he was able to say no. Are we supposed to be more like Adam and Eve or Jesus? Of course like Jesus. Lent is our time to practice being like Jesus – and realizing that I don’t have to do everything that I want. How can we practice being more like Jesus in our everyday life? PRAYER OF CONFESSION O God, you offer us so much, forgive us for sharing so little. You have called us to your ways, forgive us for ignoring your call. You have given us the gift of family, forgive us for not giving thanks. You have given us countless blessings, forgive us for taking your love for granted. And now, gracious God, be merciful to us in our sin and indifference, through Christ, our Savior. Amen. From Joel N. Martínez and Raquel M. Martínez, Fiesta Cristiana: Recursos para la Adoración (Abingdon Press, 2003), 148. Psalm 32 UMH 766 Scripture Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7 Sermon The Origin Story of Sin Someone once asked me, "Where was the Garden of Eden located?" I looked at him and said, "The Garden of Eden was located at 803 Blue Street in Hope, Arkansas." A surprised look crossed this man’s face. For a moment he was speechless and then he asked, "Arkansas? I thought the Garden of Eden was supposed to have been someplace in the Middle East." "Well," I responded, "I don’t really know where the biblical Garden of Eden was located. But, I know that my Garden of Eden was on Blue Street in Hope, Arkansas. I was only a young boy (four or five years old) and I did something that I knew was wrong. My father usually put his change in a caddy on his dresser. I took a quarter without asking and went down to the store and bought myself some candy. As I ate the candy, shame overwhelmed me, guilt gripped at my heart, and sin became a reality for the first time in my life. My Garden of Eden was lost and I was embarrassed by my sinfulness. The lush, secure world of a little boy had evaporated and I headed home from the store aware that what I had done was wrong. Sin was no longer something only found in Bible stories. Sin was now a reality in my life." Imagine being set in a lush garden with all kinds of flowers, plants and trees. There are lemon trees, fig trees, olive trees, date palms, oranges and apples. Thhe Lord says, "You may freely eat of every tree in the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat." How hard could it be? All those trees, boughs lush with so many succulent and delicious choices. How could you get caught with your mouth full of the forbidden fruit! The subtle pressure of a smooth-talking snake doesn't seem sufficient to explain such audacity or stupidity. Put us in a garden and perhaps we could handle it! Or how about a desert? Jesus is in a swirl of sand and sun, of Satan's remarkable and recurrent presence, of prowling beasts and the beat of angels' wings. We might believe, foolishly, that set in a garden or a wilderness we could resist temptation. Give us a chance to try it in a space set apart from the routines of our daily lives -- to mark the tree, to identify the enemy and gather grace to resist. A garden is a beautiful place to start our Lenten journey. The Garden of Eden is full of metaphors and meanings. It is the origin story of sin, humanity, suffering, and our journey in life in general. Adam the first human lived in a garden. A garden is a plot of land that has been cultivated, planned and is intentional. That is in contrast to the gospel story of Jesus Temptation when he goes into the wilderness – plot of land which is wild, natural and untouched by human hands. Adam is the first man and Jesus is the new Adam. – But as they go into nature, both are challenged by temptation. Both are seeking a relationship with God – but on the other hand their journeys are very different. One of them pulls us all into a world of sin, the other shows us the way out. Our reading for today conveniently skips all of the verses that talk about Eve. But in this sermon, Adam and Eve are a couple- they are working together with a shared destiny. So, Eve is implied in everything that I said about Adam. So Adam and Eve live in a lovely garden – not paradise, but a place in earth. They are free to go wherever they want, do whatever they want and even eat as much as they want. With all of that freedom – they start to focus on the one thing that they can’t do – eat of the tree of knowledge. Now most of us learn in adulthood that freedom always has some limits. – you can’t do everything that you want. But most of us, like to focus on our limits and not our freedom. If there is one thing we cant do- that is what we want to do. For Adam and Eve it is the tree of life. That is the first step into temptation – an unwillingness to accept limitations as humans. The second step for all of us into temptation – the need to have all of the answers. That is the whole point of the book of Genesis – it gives the answers to all of the questions about life – who are we, where did we come from, why do we take care of the earth, who was the first man, how did our families start, why is life so hard, why do we have fear, what is the point of shame. Genesis answers all of those questions, but the more answers that we get, the more we need to know. The young man and his father were headed into New York City for a Saturday outing. It had been some time since they had spent much time together, and the father reasoned that a day such as this was just what was needed. As they crossed The Tapanzee Bridge into Fun City, the son asked, "Dad, what is the name of this bridge?" The father answered, "Son, I don’t know." Later they were driving along Fifth Avenue and the son asked his father, "Dad, is that the Empire State Building?" Replied the father, "Son, I don’t know." Later still, they were driving along Riverside Drive and the son asked his father, "Is that Grant’s tomb?" And replied the father, "Son, I don’t know." Nevertheless, they had a grand time of it and their closeness was restored. As they headed home in the evening, the son felt a bit remorseful about asking his father so many questions and said, "Dad, I’m sorry I bugged you with so many questions." Answered his father, "Oh that’s okay, son, how else are you going to learn?" Undoubtedly, the father would answer in the affirmative the question around which we want to build our talk together: Must we have all the answers? Sometimes I think it is not the questions that get us in trouble, it is the need to know everything. In Adam and Eve’s case, God tells them that not everything is their business. No matter how much we may know – we can just never know all about God. For matter, there are things that we can never understand about life – and yet we continue to ask why is this happening to me. Maybe we ask so many questions so that we can feel that we are in control. We want to be in control in our life. I have told this story before. There is an ancient story about the time God was confronted by a man who argued, “It’s easy for you God. You tell us we must do this and we can’t do that. What do you know of the struggles of people like me? You are God. It is easy for you.” But God argues, insisting that being God was no picnic either. “You only have to look after your own little self,” said God. “But I have to look after the entire world and that is not easy. In fact, just to show you, Ill change places with you for 24 hours. You’ll see then. So God gave the man one day to see what a hard job is was to rule the world. Twenty four house later, God returned and said, “You see? It wasn’t as easy as you thought”. Then God prepared to be God once more. But the man wouldn’t give God back his power. He found that he liked playing God. Since that time, man has played God. That is why the world is as it is today, so the legend goes. That is probably why lent is so important. Occasionally, we have to be reminded of what it means to be human – in relationship with an omnipotent God. The story of Adam and Eve is not a story really about sin – there is nothing in the bible that says that they were wrong. It is more a story about them being human – and doing things are human nature. They struggled with what it means to be human, in relation to God. – so do we. When God comes to look for them, God does not know that they did what he told them not to. But they know, and they start to have fear, doubt, and shame. And instead of taking responsibility – they place blame. That is what happens when we go against God’s intentions for our lives. “Not Responsible for…” Have you ever gone to a restaurant, hung up your coat, and noticed a sign warning that the management is not responsible if it gets lost or stolen? Ever read the small print on your airplane ticket? The airline takes no responsibility for any delays or missed connections, and if your baggage is lost, they only have to pay an amount agreed upon at a convention they held in Warsaw in 1955. Park your car in some high-priced garage or lot, and a sign will tell you that management is not responsible for any items lost or stolen from your vehicle. Do those "Not responsible for..." disclaimers bother you? They do me. It seems no one takes responsibility for anything anymore. I read about a man who was suing a hospital. A doctor had performed staple surgery on his stomach to help him lose weight. A couple of days after his operation, he raided the hospital refrigerator and stuffed himself with everything he could find. This tore open the staples and forced another surgery. He was suing the hospital for having a refrigerator near his room. He claimed the temptation was too great. Thus, his complications were not his own fault but the hospital's fault! A little girl was sent to her room for misbehaving. Sometime later her mother happened to pass by her door and heard her praying. "God, I am stuck up here because of YOU, you know. Last night I prayed for you to help me be a good girl. Well, you didn't, so it's your fault!" David E. Leininger, Collected Sermons, ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc. Along with shame and blame comes guilt. There once was a stern-faced, plainly dressed man who could be seen standing on a busy street corner in the heart of the city. As pedestrians hurried by on their way to lunch and business appointments, he would solemnly lift his right arm, point to the nearest person and loudly yell, "Guilty!" Then, without any change of expression, he would resume his stiff stance for a few moments before repeating the gesture. Then, again, he would raise his arm, again he would point at the nearest person, and again he would yell, "Guilty!" The effect of this strange pantomime on the unsuspecting pedestrians was extraordinary. They would stop in their tracks, they would stare at the man, they would hesitate for a moment, they would look to see if he was, perhaps, pointing at someone else, they would look at the strange man one more time, then they would hurry on their ways. One man, who had been singled out, turned to his companion and asked, "But, how did he know?" "Guilty! Everyone is guilty," is what this strange man on a busy street corner seemed to be saying. And so we are! We are guilty of sin and we know it. We have struggled with right and wrong and we know that there have been times when we have given in to sin. We know the reality of sin in our lives. We are all guilty of something. We are all guilty of being human. We are not perfect, we don’t have all of the answers, we have limitations – we all have something to work on in our relationship with God. The bible defines sin as disobedience to God’s laws, doubt of God’s word and a desire to be like God. Sometimes it is just getting ahead of ourselves. There are a lot of things that remind us to slow down – like lent. Jesus was an example for us in dealing with the hardship of life. Jesus is a better example of how to deal with temptation then Adam. Jesus is an example, because in each test that he faced, he had an opportunity to not just do the right thing, but to be the person God called him to be. He was the son of God. He had integrity to live out his calling. Not only did he know who he was – but we also got to witness his character for ourselves. His temptation was a test. A chance for him to fulfill his true hunger. Jesus does not have to serve 2 masters. He trusted God, so God can trust him. He remained faithful to who we was called to be in the midst of a test. God didn’t ambush him, God examined his character. The key to Jesus being faithful, is that he knew his scripture. Every response that he gave the devil is a verse in the bible. Psalm 32:10-11 says that the bridge between temptation and obedience is hope and trust. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about. Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: Jesus was able to overcome the temptations of the devil just by being the person, God had called him to be in the first place. Temptation is anything that leads us to live life in any way other than what God intended. We all know that at the end of chapter 3 in Genesis – that God banishes Adam and Eve from the garden of eden – They have to go live in the harsh real world. From there, Genesis reports the first murder, the affects of jealousy in a community, violence in the family. It all stems from that original temptation. As I read the rest of the story of their family in Genesis, I am not sure that they ever get beyond fear, shame, blame and guilt. Jesus story of temptation is a lot different. Jesus moves beyond temptation. He walks out of the wilderness on his own, and he begins a life of service to God. We should try to be more like Jesus. Lent is an opportunity to follow Jesus. Forty Days for Recommitment Lent was originally established for new Christians, those who experienced a call. They were to spend forty days and forty nights preparing for their baptism. If at the end they still wanted to follow Jesus, then on Easter Eve they would be baptized as the sun was rising in the east, signaling the new day, the new era, inaugurated because of the Resurrection. I am sure it had a powerful significance for them, to have prepared for their vocation as Christians the same way that Jesus prepared for his vocation as the Messiah: forty days of introspection and self-examination. But later the Church used the forty days as a time of renewal for those who were already Christians, because at a certain point everyone in the empire became a Christian, everyone was baptized as infants. So the time of Lent was used as a time of renewal and recommitment to the Christian life, examining our lives in light of the one we are supposed to follow. Mark Trotter, Collected Sermons, ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc. We don’t have to move beyond being human, as a matter of fact we need to accept that we are human. Human in relationship with an omnipotent God who loves us fiercely. We don’t always have to have all of the answers, but we do have to have faith. "BELIEF--which is an act of the mind "TRUST--which is an act of the heart "OBEDIENCE--which is an act of the will." (2) There is a lesson that we can learn from Adam and Eve getting kicked out of the garden for giving in to temptation. It was all a part of God’s plan. Perhaps God never intended for them to be in the garden forever. In moving forward, their faith in themselves and in God grew. They would have never thought that God would be with them in the midst of all of the hardships of life. Their fear, shame and blame turned into belief, trust and obedience. Their newfound faith set the stage for Jesus to come and show us all how it can be done. I wonder how our faith needs to grow right now? Amen. Song Jesus Walked this Lonesome Valley TFWS 2112 Pastoral Prayer Loving, Creating God, you are in covenant with your people. You have pledged to be our God and ask us to be your people, trusting in you in all our ways. But we find many excuses to prevent us from really trusting you. We erect barriers before our faith journey even begins. Our time, obligations, energy, all become part of the bricks and mortar which fashion this barrier. We can give lip service to the journey; we can daydream about what it would be like to truly place our hands in yours and follow you. But when it comes to actually making the journey, our time constraints and weak commitments loom largely before us. Help us to tear down this barrier. Make us ready for the journey by replacing the fear in our hearts with a sense of joy and challenge of self-discovery and discipleship. Remind us that in service to you, helping others, we will also find our selves made more fully whole. As we have spoken the names of our friends, and family members, and others situations in which healing and comfort are needed, let us remember that we, too, stand in need of prayer and healing. Make us ready to receive your good news and then to be witnesses to your love to all your people. AMEN. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Nancy Townley) Stewardship Moment Invitation to Offering In Matthew’s account of Jesus’ 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness, Satan appears to Jesus, asking him to turn his back on God. Instead, Jesus offers scriptural responses to each of the three temptations, rejecting what Satan held out to the famished and exhausted Jesus. This 40 day season of Lent gives us time to get clear about we can offer from our own lives (whether we’re famished and exhausted, simply plugging along, or filled with energy and enthusiasm). For some, Lent is a time to “give up”. For others, these 40 days provide enough time to form a new habit, “taking on” the traditional 3-prong prayer, repentance and alms-giving. Is there some outreach or mission effort you might support with a weekly gift for these next 6 Sundays? Do you want to support a particular ministry of this congregation (name a specific one, if you can)? Are you eager to join with others in a new church-wide response to a need you can identify? This first Sunday of this season is a great time to launch our own Lenten discipline of giving. Consider what you might do, and make a start today! Prayer of Thanksgiving Holy God, thank you for your steadfast love and presence. We’re eager to let our actions help share your love with a weary and worn world. Please accept these gifts, the good intentions of our hearts, and the deep desire we have to help grow your Realm here on earth, as it is in heaven. Fill us with hope and confidence in you, even as you help multiply these resources and our energies for action. AMEN (Disciples of Christ, Center for Faith and Giving) Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook Beloved people of God; I invite you, in the name of Christ, to observe a holy Lent by self-examination and penitence, by prayer and fasting, by works of love, and by meditating on Gods’ word. May the grace, hope, peace and love of God our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer be with us all, now and forever. Amen. (Book of Common Worship) Community Time Benediction As you depart this space and enter the wilderness of the world, know that God is with you. Whatever may come, let God be your safe place to go and your soft place to land. Amen. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Rev. Tena Nock) Additional Illustrations The Really Big Sale He had finally got his chance to make the Really Big Sale. He was going into the final interview on the biggest contract he had ever written. As he was ushered into the office of the executive buyer, an assistant brought her coffee and left. The atmosphere was cordial, and he knew he was giving his best presentation ever. Then the assistant tapped on the door, re-entered the office and spoke briefly with the executive. She stood and said, "I apologize, but I have to tend to a matter. I'll just be a minute or two." And she followed her assistant out of the room. The sales representative looked around the beautifully appointed office. He saw her family pictures on her desk. Then he noticed a contract on her desk. She had evidently been studying a bid from a competitor. Leaning forward, he could see the column of figures, but it was obscured by a diet soda can. He was tempted to move the can and see the bottom line of his competitor's bid. What harm possibly could there be in reading her private information? After all, she had left it out in plain sight, almost. After wrestling with himself a while, he finally decided to take a peek. As he lifted the soda can, he discovered that the can wasn't filled with soda at all. Instead it was a bottomless can filled with 1,000 BBs which gushed out, and ran all over the desk and cascaded onto the carpet. His attempt to short cut the competition was exposed. Not every temptation is so obvious. Not every failure is so embarrassing. But every temptation is a challenge. Not even Jesus was spared the choosing. Mickey Anders, Six Flags over Jesus Deliver Us From... A mother was teaching her 3-year old daughter the Lord's Prayer. At bedtime, she repeated after her mother the lines from the prayer. Finally, she decided to go solo. Mom listened with pride as she carefully enunciated each word, right up to the end of the prayer: Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us some E-mail. Amen. Traditional We Help Each Other When Edmund Hillary, who passed away just a few weeks ago, was at the summit of Mount Everest in 1953, he had a partner in his success. He had climbed the mountain all the way to the top, the first man ever to do that. The thing that impressed me about the whole story was not that Edmund Hillary climbed the mountain, but that he had a companion who climbed the mountain with him. Nobody ever hears his name. His name was Tenzing Norgay. Tenzing, however, climbed the mountain with him and on the way back down the mountain, Hillary fell and was almost lost. He would have been lost without Tenzing Norgay. Tenzing Norgay literally pulled him back up the cable and saved his life and Edmund Hillary lived to tell a great story because of this help from an unknown man. When someone asked Norgay why he didn't make more of it, why he didn't brag about it, he said, "We mountain climbers help each other." What a great model this would be for our church. We Christians have no need to be on television or make millions of dollars putting out a show. It is time we reversed the process and touched people and say very simply, "We Christians help each other. That's who we are." Calvin Miller, Moving From Entertainment to Servanthood No Easy Buttons Staple's, the huge office supply chain store, has a new commercial out that illustrates the power of the devil's various temptations. In their ad whenever an individual confronts a difficult situation, all they have to do is reach over and push a red, over-sized, glowing button that reads, "easy." Got to pick up three kids, make dinner, finish that report at work, and be supportive to your spouse? No problem, just push the big easy button. Need to do a risky surgery never performed before? Hey, just push the big easy button. Faced with the need to balance economic growth and stability with environmental safety and the welfare of worldwide ecosystems? No problem, just push the big easy button. Big problem: there are no easy buttons. There's no easy button to free us from the trials and tests of diabolos. Jesus taught us to pray, not "save us from temptation," but "lead us not into temptation." Leonard Sweet, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com Even When We Know Better: Our Temptation We are often tempted by material things, opportunities, and possibilities of contemporary life - items that we generally know will only lead us away from God. The choice to avoid such temptations is ours and, thus, we must be wary of their allure. A Native American folk tale describes this problem: One day an Indian youth, in an effort to prepare for manhood, hiked into a beautiful valley, green with trees and decorated with many lovely flowers. There he fasted and prayed, but on the third day he looked up at the surrounding mountains and noticed one tall and rugged peak capped with snow. He decided that he would test himself by climbing this mountain. Thus, he put on his buckskin shirt, wrapped a blanket around his shoulders, and set out to climb the peak. When he reached the top he looked out from the rim to the world so far below. Then he heard a rustling sound and, looking around, saw a snake slithering about. Before he could move, the snake spoke to him, "I am about to die. It's too cold for me up here; I am freezing. There is little food and I am starving. Please put me under your shirt where I will be warm and take me down the mountain." The young man protested, "No. I have been forewarned about your kind. You are a rattlesnake. If I pick you up you will bite me and I might die." But the snake answered, "Not so. I will treat you differently. If you do this for me, you will be special to me, I will not harm you, and you will receive whatever you want." The young man resisted for some time, but this was a very persuasive snake with beautiful diamond markings. At last the young man tucked the snake under his shirt and carried it down the mountain. Once in the valley he gently placed the snake on the ground. Suddenly the snake coiled, rattled, and then bit the man on the leg. "You promised me!" cried the youth. "You knew what I was when you picked me up," said the snake, which then slithered away. Richard E. Gribble, Sermons For Sundays: In Lent And Easter: Building Our Foundation On God, CSS Publishing Company, Inc. In August of 1991, a priest, Father Alexander Borisor, demonstrated how the power of faith was greater than the power of fear. It was the Christian''s greatest weapon. Fear was beginning to grip the hearts and minds of the Russian people. So this man of God, propelled by faith in God, found himself passing out Bibles right smack in a midst of the uprising in Red Square. The Soviet military was in position to silence the voice of the people yearning for freedom. He took to the streets with Bibles--the military was ready with bombs and bullets. So the priest and the members of the local bible society actually climbed onto the tanks and began passing out Bibles. They passed them out to the soldiers on the streets. They stopped the tanks with nothing but arm loads of Bibles, and when they had opportunities they would climb on top of the tanks and throw the Bibles inside. One morning a soldier was given a larger size children''s Bible because they ran out of New Testaments. It was larger than would fit in his front pocket. Realizing this and wanting to keep the Bible with him, he emptied his pocket of bullets so the Bible would fit. Yes, when faith in God replaces the fear and timidity in us--the giants of life fall down in defeat before us. Yes, the power of fear can be deadly. However, the power of faith can be transforming and victorious. We believe, because Jesus Christ is Lord, that the Bible and its truth are always greater than bombs and bullets. A legend from India tells about a mouse who was terrified of cats until a magician agreed to transform him into a cat. That helped him to control his fear for a while . . . until he met a dog. So the magician changed him into a dog. The mouse-turned-dog was content until he met a tiger--so, once again, the magician changed him into what he feared. But when the tiger came complaining that he had met a hunter, the magician refused to help. "I will make you into a mouse again, for though you have the body of a tiger, you still have the heart of a mouse." (1)

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

Into the Wilderness in Search of God - repreach of 3/9/14

March 1, 2020 Matthew 4:1-11 First Sunday of Lent Into the Wilderness to Meet God Year B repreach of 3/9/14 Children’s Sermon Then the Spirit led Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the Devil. Objects: Some crayons and/or scissors. Lesson: Good morning, boys and girls. Today we are going to talk about a word that I am sure all of you have heard many times but you may not be sure what it means. The word is "tempted" or "temptation." How many of you have heard that word used before? (Let them answer.) How many of you know what it means? (Let them answer.) Those are very close answers. Let me see if I can help explain it a little better. I brought with me some crayons and some scissors. How many of you have crayons at home? Almost all of you. What do you do with crayons? (Let them answer.) That's right, you color pictures. Sometimes we use them in coloring books and sometimes we use them just on a piece of paper. That is the right place to use them. No problem and no temptation. But have you ever used them anywhere else, or thought about using them somewhere else? Have you ever colored a wall in your house, or thought about coloring the wall, or maybe a table or your bed? If you thought about it, and you wanted to do it, then you were tempted. You could almost hear a little voice that said, "Go ahead and color the table, or go ahead and color the wall. It's all right, no one will ever know." That is temptation. Of course, if you color it, then the temptation is over. You have done something wrong. But if you just think about it and you want to do it, and you think it might be all right, then you are being tempted. Jesus was tempted. Did you know that Jesus was tempted? He was. The Bible tells us how the Devil tried to get him to follow him rather than the Father in heaven. Jesus knew it was wrong but he listened to the Devil tell him how he would make him wonderful, and how he would give him land and all the food he could eat. Jesus listened to the Devil and he was tempted. How many of you knew that Jesus listened to the Devil, or as the Bible calls him Satan? (Let them answer.) That's a true story. Jesus was high in a mountain and the Devil came and tried to get Jesus to follow him just like that little voice tries to get you to color the table. But Jesus did not give up. He was tempted, but he told the Devil to get away for he was not going to do anything that was a sin against God. After three times of the Devil offering Jesus everything he had, the Devil left Jesus and went away. We must often do the same thing. There are things that we know are wrong, but they sound wonderful. That is temptation and we must be strong and put it away. Temptation is strong, but God is even stronger. If you listen to both voices, you will do it God's way. THE ONE-HANDED CLOCK, Wesley T. Runk, C.S.S. Publishing Company, 1989, 1-55673-141-8 Stewardship Moment This is the first Sunday of lent. Lent focuses on almsgiving, prayer, service and fasting. Not always about giving up, but putting in. At the Ash Wednesday service, given a sheet to write out Lenten practices. First is to give to a great cause – the mission of the church Scripture Matthew 4:1-11 Common English Bible (CEB) Temptation of Jesus 4 Then the Spirit led Jesus up into the wilderness so that the devil might tempt him. 2 After Jesus had fasted for forty days and forty nights, he was starving. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “Since you are God’s Son, command these stones to become bread.” 4 Jesus replied, “It’s written, People won’t live only by bread, but by every word spoken by God.”[a] 5 After that the devil brought him into the holy city and stood him at the highest point of the temple. He said to him, 6 “Since you are God’s Son, throw yourself down; for it is written, I will command my angels concerning you, and they will take you up in their hands so that you won’t hit your foot on a stone.”[b] 7 Jesus replied, “Again it’s written, Don’t test the Lord your God.”[c] 8 Then the devil brought him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 He said, “I’ll give you all these if you bow down and worship me.” 10 Jesus responded, “Go away, Satan, because it’s written,You will worship the Lord your God and serve only him.”[d] 11 The devil left him, and angels came and took care of him. Footnotes: a. Matthew 4:4 Deut 8:3 b. Matthew 4:6 Ps 91:11-12 c. Matthew 4:7 Deut 6:16 d. Matthew 4:10 Deut 6:13 Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible Sermon How do we interpret temptation? Now we tend to interpret temptation as an invitation to sin. But the bible says that it is more than that. Let us go back to the story of Abraham. The bible says that God tempted Abraham to kill his son. Would God really encourage Abraham to kill his son? Or would God test the character of Abraham by putting him in a situation where he had to make a choice. I think that God puts us all in situations, where we discover who we really are and what we are really made of. I don’t think that any of us start out really good. But when we are put in situations where we make the right choices, we find that we can really trust ourselves, we understand what we will do and what we will not do. When given the choice to kill or not kill his son. Abraham chose not to kill his son, but to trust God. And he went on the become the father of our faith, because of his journey with God. As a matter of fact, this is probably the example that Jesus was thinking of when he went into the wilderness to journey with God. Matthew 4 is meant to be an example for us in dealing with temptation. Temptation is a life test, it is not our choice to be a good person or a bad person. Scripture says that the holy spirit led Jesus into the wilderness, where he fasted for 40 days. And after the fast he was famished, he was hungry. He needed something to eat, but how did he fulfill that hunger? We tend to think that the best way to avoid temptation is to avoid being hungry. But Jesus was hungry. The bible does not say whether he was hungry for food or for something else. He may have been hungry for a deeper relationship with God. My point is that is is okay to be hungry. As a matter of fact in Genesis 2, when God created adam scripture says that God blew breath into him and made him a nephesh chayah. A nephesh is a clay man made human by having breath. And chayah means desiring. Adam became a desiring being – a man with needs. In other words he became fully alive. Hunger is not just about a physical hunger, but is it spiritual and emotional. Jesus was hungry, and it is human nature to be hungry for all sorts of things. The lesson is in how you fill that hunger. You have a choice to fill it with something good or something bad. Usually when you fill it with the rights things you are satisfied, when you fill it with the wrong things you continue to be hungry. Now the story tells of 3 temptations or test that Jesus faced. This year I am not going to focus on them individually. I think that the biggest temptation that faces us all is the need to be in control. To be the boss of our lives. To fulfill our will and not God’s will. There is an ancient story about the time God was confronted by a man who argued, “It’s easy for you God. You tell us we must do this and we can’t do that. What do you know of the struggles of people like me? You are God. It is easy for you.” But God argues, insisting that being God was no picnic either. “You only have to look after your own little self,” said God. “But I have to look after the entire world and that is not easy. In fact, just to show you, Ill change places with you for 24 hours. You’ll see then. So God gave the man one day to see what a hard job is was to rule the world. Twenty four house later, God returned and said, “You see? It wasn’t as easy as you thought”. Then God prepared to be God once more. But the man wouldn’t give God back his power. He found that he liked playing God. Since that time, man has played God. That is why the world is as it is today, so the legend goes. Jesus is an example, because in each test that he faced, he had an opportunity to not just do the right thing, but to be the person God called him to be. He was the son of God. He had integrity to live out his calling. Not only did he know who he was – but we also got to witness his character for ourselves. His temptation was a test. A chance for him to fulfill his true hunger. Jesus does not have to serve 2 masters. He trusted God, so God can trust him. He remained faithful to who we was called to be in the midst of a test. God didn’t ambush him, God examined his character. The key to Jesus being faithful, is that he knew his scripture. Every response that he gave the devil is a verse in the bible. Psalm 32:10-11 says that the bridge between temptation and obedience is hope and trust. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about. Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: Jesus was able to overcome the temptations of the devil just by being the person, God had called him to be in the first place. 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. 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 The word tempt in English means an enticement to do the wrong thing. But the word in this story peirazein means a test, to prove worthiness for something positive. This lent, may we be tested by God so that our faith can grow. Amen Let us pray……. Additional Illustrations How Are We Tempted Today? William Willimon, in his book What's Right with the Church (San Francisco: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1985), tells about leading a Sunday School class that was studying the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. After careful study and explanation of each of the three temptations, Dr. Willimon asked, "How are we tempted today?" A young salesman was the first to speak. "Temptation is when your boss calls you in, as mine did yesterday, and says, `I'm going to give you a real opportunity. I'm going to give you a bigger sales territory. We believe that you are going places, young man.' "But I don't want a bigger sales territory," the young salesman told his boss. "I'm already away from home four nights a week. It wouldn't be fair to my wife and daughter." "Look," his boss replied, "we're asking you to do this for your wife and daughter. Don't you want to be a good father? It takes money to support a family these days. Sure, your little girl doesn't take much money now, but think of the future. Think of her future. I'm only asking you to do this for them," the boss said. The young man told the class, "Now, that's temptation." Jesus overcame his first temptation by putting his complete trust in God. That's a good example for us. We're so concerned about "having it all." The wise person trusts that God will provide all that he or she needs. William Willimon, adapted by King Duncan, www.sermons.com We’re Kind of Stupid That Way In the very first Calvin and Hobbes comic strip, Calvin's dad is working on the car, when Calvin walks up in a safari hat and says, "So long, Pop! I'm off to check my tiger trap! I rigged a tuna fish sandwich yesterday, so I'm sure to have a tiger by now!" His dad replies, "They like tuna fish, huh?" As Calvin walks off, he says, "Tigers will do anything for a tuna fish sandwich!" The final frame shows Hobbes, hanging by his foot from a tree, munching on a tuna fish sandwich. He says to no one in particular, "We're kind of stupid that way." Every day we are tempted to be less than we can be. Without giving it much thought, we choose what's easiest. We seldom consider how much more is possible. We take tuna fish when we could do better. We're kind of stupid that way. Brett Younger, Disabling Temptations The Really Big Sale He had finally got his chance to make the Really Big Sale. He was going into the final interview on the biggest contract he had ever written. As he was ushered into the office of the executive buyer, an assistant brought her coffee and left. The atmosphere was cordial, and he knew he was giving his best presentation ever. Then the assistant tapped on the door, re-entered the office and spoke briefly with the executive. She stood and said, "I apologize, but I have to tend to a matter. I'll just be a minute or two." And she followed her assistant out of the room. The sales representative looked around the beautifully appointed office. He saw her family pictures on her desk. Then he noticed a contract on her desk. She had evidently been studying a bid from a competitor. Leaning forward, he could see the column of figures, but it was obscured by a diet soda can. He was tempted to move the can and see the bottom line of his competitor's bid. What harm possibly could there be in reading her private information? After all, she had left it out in plain sight, almost. After wrestling with himself a while, he finally decided to take a peek. As he lifted the soda can, he discovered that the can wasn't filled with soda at all. Instead it was a bottomless can filled with 1,000 BBs which gushed out, and ran all over the desk and cascaded onto the carpet. His attempt to short cut the competition was exposed. Not every temptation is so obvious. Not every failure is so embarrassing. But every temptation is a challenge. Not even Jesus was spared the choosing. Mickey Anders, Six Flags over Jesus “Not Responsible for…” Have you ever gone to a restaurant, hung up your coat, and noticed a sign warning that the management is not responsible if it gets lost or stolen? Ever read the small print on your airplane ticket? The airline takes no responsibility for any delays or missed connections, and if your baggage is lost, they only have to pay an amount agreed upon at a convention they held in Warsaw in 1955. Park your car in some high-priced garage or lot, and a sign will tell you that management is not responsible for any items lost or stolen from your vehicle. Do those "Not responsible for..." disclaimers bother you? They do me. It seems no one takes responsibility for anything anymore. I read about a man who was suing a hospital. A doctor had performed staple surgery on his stomach to help him lose weight. A couple of days after his operation, he raided the hospital refrigerator and stuffed himself with everything he could find. This tore open the staples and forced another surgery. He was suing the hospital for having a refrigerator near his room. He claimed the temptation was too great. Thus, his complications were not his own fault but the hospital's fault! A little girl was sent to her room for misbehaving. Sometime later her mother happened to pass by her door and heard her praying. "God, I am stuck up here because of YOU, you know. Last night I prayed for you to help me be a good girl. Well, you didn't, so it's your fault!" David E. Leininger, Collected Sermons, ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc. Temptation: Just Don’t Look A pastor once told his congregation, "I learned a great lesson from a dog." He said, "His master used to put a bit of meat or a biscuit or some kind of food on the ground, and he'd say to the dog, 'Don't eat that,' and the dog would run over and eat it, so he'd hit the dog. And he put another piece of meat on the ground. He'd say, 'Don't eat that.' The dog would go over and eat it, and he hit him again. Well, after awhile, the dog got the message: eat meat, get hit. So the dog decided he wouldn't eat the meat." But the man telling the story related how that the dog never looked at the meat. The dog evidently felt that if he looked at the meat, the temptation to disobey would be too great, and so he looked steadfastly into his master's face and never took his eyes off him, and thus the temptation never caused a problem. John Macarthur, How to Overcome Temptation No Easy Buttons Staple's, the huge office supply chain store, has a new commercial out that illustrates the power of the devil's various temptations. In their ad whenever an individual confronts a difficult situation, all they have to do is reach over and push a red, over-sized, glowing button that reads, "easy." Got to pick up three kids, make dinner, finish that report at work, and be supportive to your spouse? No problem, just push the big easy button. Need to do a risky surgery never performed before? Hey, just push the big easy button. Faced with the need to balance economic growth and stability with environmental safety and the welfare of worldwide ecosystems? No problem, just push the big easy button. Big problem: there are no easy buttons. There's no easy button to free us from the trials and tests of diabolos. Jesus taught us to pray, not "save us from temptation," but "lead us not into temptation." Leonard Sweet, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com We Help Each Other When Edmund Hillary, who passed away just a few weeks ago, was at the summit of Mount Everest in 1953, he had a partner in his success. He had climbed the mountain all the way to the top, the first man ever to do that. The thing that impressed me about the whole story was not that Edmund Hillary climbed the mountain, but that he had a companion who climbed the mountain with him. Nobody ever hears his name. His name was Tenzing Norgay. Tenzing, however, climbed the mountain with him and on the way back down the mountain, Hillary fell and was almost lost. He would have been lost without Tenzing Norgay. Tenzing Norgay literally pulled him back up the cable and saved his life and Edmund Hillary lived to tell a great story because of this help from an unknown man. When someone asked Norgay why he didn't make more of it, why he didn't brag about it, he said, "We mountain climbers help each other." What a great model this would be for our church. We Christians have no need to be on television or make millions of dollars putting out a show. It is time we reversed the process and touched people and say very simply, "We Christians help each other. That's who we are." Calvin Miller, Moving From Entertainment to Servanthood Life Will Not Be Easy Back in the 80's there was a movie titled Saving Graces. In the film, Tom Conti played the leading role of the Pope. As leader of the Roman Catholic Church, he finds that he has little time for the real issues of the world, the issues which he was able to deal with as a parish priest. Even worse was the distance between him and his "flock." One day in the movie the Pope finds himself, by accident, locked out of the Vatican. He is wearing street clothes and to his surprise he discovers that nobody recognizes him without his ecclesiastical garb. The pope decides to use this newfound freedom to go to a village without a priest and to spend some time getting in touch with the people. In a plot similar to a western, the pope rides into town and saves the town from the bad guys. The pope returns to the Vatican in time for his annual Good Friday address in St. Peter's square. For the first time in years he is able to speak with power and conviction. The power with which he speaks does not come from his office, nor does it come from his garments. The power of the pope as played by Tom Conti came from strength he found as he withstood temptations and fought evil in that village. To his surprise, he found life in the Vatican to be easy for he was protected from the real difficulties in people's lives. Friends, we need not be misled into thinking that because we have been called by Christ into his church, life will be easy. It will not be easy. Even Jesus was tempted when he tried to follow God's will... Jeff Garrison After the Mountaintop Have you ever noticed that almost every mountaintop experience in life is followed by a valley experience? You graduate from school with the great expectation of making your mark in the world, but you find out that the world doesn't exactly welcome you with open arms. You get married with the full expectation that your new spouse will relieve your loneliness and solve your problems, but you find out you are still you. Life's high moments are often followed by low times -- depression and bewilderment. If we knew our Bible a little better, these experiences would not surprise us because this happened to Jesus, too. He had gone to John the Baptist who immersed him in the Jordan River and baptized him into a way of life which was to change the world. The heavens opened and Jesus saw the form of a dove descend upon him and heard the voice of God say, You are my son; I am well pleased in you. What a grand and high moment! But looked what happened next: Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert where for 40 days he was tempted by the devil. Don M. Aycock, God's Most Unmistakable, CSS Publishing Company Power: The Easy Substitute What makes the temptation of power so seemingly irresistible? Maybe it is that power offers an easy substitute for the hard task of love. It seems easier to be God than to love God, easier to control people than to love people, easier to own life than to love life. Jesus asks, Do you love me? We ask, Can we sit at your right hand and your left hand in your Kingdom? (Mt. 20:21). ... We have been tempted to replace love with power. Henri Nouwen in Mornings with Henri J.M. Nouwen, quoted in Christianity Today, February 8, 1999, 72.

In the Wilderness

March 10, 2019 Year C Luke 4:1-13 In the Wilderness First Sunday of Lent Children’s Time 1 - a credit card, a crown, a star Children’s Time 2 Object: Some packages of chewing gum. Lesson: Good morning, boys and girls! How are you today? Did you know that this is the first Sunday in Lent? (Let them answer.) Did you know that this is the time when we begin to think a lot about the way that Jesus shared himself with us by dying for our sins? (Let them answer.) That's the truth. Lent is the time for you and me to spend some time thinking of Jesus and giving thanks to him for all of the good things that he did for us. One of the things that he did was to teach us to be strong against the devil and all of his evil ways. The devil is always trying to get us to forget God and to think only about ourselves. That seems to be easy. All of us like ourselves, and we spend a lot of time trying to make ourselves look good. It is easy to think of ourselves first. I want to show you how hard it is to keep from being this way. We call it denying. When you deny yourself something you are supposed to think of others and of God. That is one of the things you should do during Lent. But the devil is tempting you all of the time to think only of yourself and to forget God and others. Let me show you what I mean. I have some chewing gum here which I want everyone to have, but there aren't enough pieces for everyone. I know that there are 25 children here, but I only have 10 pieces of gum. What should I do? Should I just keep it all so that no one will be disappointed? If I gave it to 10 people would that mean that 15 of you would be disappointed? What should I do? What is your suggestion? (Let them answer. Keep working until you have total agreement that it should be divided in some way so that everyone has some even if there is some left over. The temptation here is that some would like to have it all for themselves, while others would like to give it only to the big kids and forget the little ones, etc.) Do you see what temptation does to us? It can make us forget about anything but ourselves. The devil tried to get Jesus to forget about his heavenly Father and to become his disciple. He promised Jesus everything in the world including all of the riches and power, but Jesus would not be tempted. He turned the devil down and thought first of God. You are tempted every day to think only of yourself. That is the devil working on you. Deny the devil by denying yourself, and your life will be made full by God. Amen. CSS Publishing Company, Making A Parade for Jesus, by Wesley T. Runk Luke 4:1-13 Common English Bible (CEB) 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. Footnotes: a. Luke 4:4 Deut 8:3 b. Luke 4:8 Deut 6:13 c. Luke 4:11 Ps 91:11-12 d. Luke 4:12 Deut 6:16 Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible 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 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. Jesus was the son of God. but Jesus was also a model for us on how to follow God. We all struggle with temptations, but we all struggle with the question of how to do the right thing. I like this story, because it is a story about our doubts. We all have to deal with the question of who we are in life. What is our life about, and more important what is our ministry about – is it about serving ourselves, or others, is it about not paying attention to who is watching, or letting our life be an example, is it about fame and fortune or about humility, is it about being self sufficient, or obeying God’s will. Lent is our chance to think about those questions and to come up with an answer. I love this text, because Jesus intentionally went out into the wilderness to get answers. 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. Life is like a wilderness, but we can choose to walk toward a powerful Easter morning. Let us pray…..

Coming Upon Lent

March 5, 2017 First Sunday of Lent Year B Coming Upon Lent Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7 Easter comes a little late this year. But no matter how late Easter is, lent always comes upon my unexpected. I am never to start lent, and every year I am faced with that proverbial question, what am I doing for lent. What am I going to give up for lent. I was surprised that the host of Windy City Live were having this conversation on Ash Wednesday- about what to give up for lent. Each of them named a bad habit they were going to give up.they decided that whomever did the forbidden activity for the next 40 days had to put money in the jar. They even argued about how much money was appropriate. So apparently it has become a social statement to give something up for lent. But what struck me was that even though they were talking about it, they were all totally ignorant about the meaning and point on lent. Life is not so simple. Not one of them even made a promise to change their behavior. They all admitted that they would probably fail, so the charity that was going to get the money was going to do well. Because all they had to do was to put money in the jar. No reflection, no self discipline, and more importantly, no relationship to God. God doesn’t want our money, or our guilt. And giving up something for lent is symbolic. God wants our hearts. When Easter comes we should be changed, transformed but more importantly much closer to God. I was going to give up sugar for lent, but after watching that episode on Windy City Live – I decided that rather than worrying about a symbolic act – to open my heart and to invite the spirit to come and live with me for 40 days. To work with me, challenge me but to stay close enough for us to be friends in the days to come. So I thought that this morning I would have us look at the scripture from Genesis this morning. On the first Sunday of Lent I usually focus on the gospel of Jesus in the wilderness for 40 days as an example. But I thought that Genesis has a deeper message on who we are as people, why we have those bad habits, and important lessons about what lent is all about. If you are going to give up something for lent – have the power to give it up. Genesis teaches us about an important concept to prevent us from having to keep money jars around all month- it teaches us about temptation. Of course what tempts us is very different. But with the things that tempt us, we know that there is always a chance that we will give in, or else it would be a temptation. But our faith teaches us that we always have the power to overcome. Genesis starts with the story of God creating Adam, and teaching him to care for the rest of creation. God instructions were to Adam not Eve, It was Adam who passed the information onto Eve. I make that distinction because in our popular telling of the story – we blame Eve and think of Adam as just going along. But I digress. My point is that the story starts with Adam having a direct relationship with God, he was so close to God that they could have a conversation about life. About his purpose, and even about the consequences of his actions. He tells him that he is to till the land, that he is to enjoy the fruits of his labor, he is free to do whatever he pleases. God puts one boundary on that freedom – don’t eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil or you will die. God wants us to be free, to be happy, to enjoy life. But in order to do that, God knows that in order to have true freedom, there has to be some boundaries around that freedom. There has to be some context around our freedom in order for it to have meaning. We have been hosting a class from Garrett at our church this semester, and one of the things that professor taught us was that the word religio – the word that religion comes from means to fence in. Religion fences in our freedom so that we can enjoy use it and enjoy it. It helps us to be in control of our lives, instead of our lives being in control of us. God put Adam in control of the land and creation. The first words of our text says that God took the human and settled him in the garden of eden to farm and to take care of it. God continues to order his creation. The text shows that God took man, God commanded, God said. God knew what God was doing and God did it. We know how the story goes, one day a serpent comes and talks with the woman and questions everything that God has done and said. Did God really say that? Did God really mean that? The serpent goes as far as to take the boundaries off of God’s freedom. You wont die! As a matter of fact, says that serpent, God knows that if you eat of the tree of knowledge that you will be just like God, knowing good from evil. And that has been our problem every since the beginning – once the boundaries have been broken down in our lives, we want what God has. We want to be God in our lives and in the lives of all of creation. There is an ancient story about the time God was confronted by a man who argued, “ It is easy for you God. You tell us we must do this and we cant do that. “What do you know of the struggles of people like me? You are God. It is easy for you. But God argued, insisting that being God was no picnic either. You only have to look after your own little self, said God. I have to look after the entire world, and it is not easy. As a matter of fact, just to show you, I’ll change places with you for 24 hours. You will see then. So God gave the man one day to see what a hard job it is to run the world. Twenty four hours later, God returned and said, You see? It wasn’t as easy as you thought. Then God prepared to be God once more. But the man wouldn’t give God back his power. He found he liked playing God. That is why the world is as it is today, so the legend goes. You will notice in this story the serpent did not have any power in this story. All he did was question God and that was enough to get Eve going. To tearing down those boundaries and wanting to be free from what God had taught her. God has already given them control of the land and creation, but she wanted to be in control of God’s commandments – do not eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge. She didn’t eat the fruit because it tasted good- but because it would make her equal to God – or so she thought. Usually when we give in to temptation and do those forbidden things, we are not happier. We are more miserable. Eve and Adam did not die immediately, but life was a lot harder for them. There is a reason that God has put a fence around our freedom. It is not freedom that makes us happy, it is freedom in the context of boundaries. It is freedom that can be channeled, guided, informed, and used that makes us happy. And if we continue to look at the text. Eve and Adam did not die. As a matter of fact life went on for them. They even gained the knowledge of good and evil, but once they attained the knowledge, they were forced to use it. They put on fig leaves and were put out of the garden of eden forever to live their lives with the knowledge that they had been given. I believe that this is a story of life as it is, and not as it should be. In other words – Idont think that this is a story of what would have happen if Eve and Adam had lived in the garden forever. God knew that they would fail, God knew that they would not remain innocent forever, God knew that they would sin and have to live with the consequences of their decisions. No matter how familiar the story – there is always something that we can learn that will help us in our lives today. The lesson that I learned this lent season from the story of Adam and Eve is that alongside the tree of knowledge was also –planted right to it the tree of life. God did not forbid them from eating the fruit of the tree of life. The tree of knowledge God said brought death, but the tree of life bought life, strength, common sense, joy, fulfillment, true understanding. Everything that you needed in order to live the life God intended. God always gives us a choice, and life is about the choices that we make. If we decide to do wrong, we can also decide to do right. When we are faced with temptation we also have the tools we need to resist our temptation. We don’t need to put out money jars for lent- because if we can decide to do wrong, we have the power to decide to do right. As a matter of fact, the prophetic story was about man and woman making the wrong decision, the gospel story was about Jesus in the face of temptation having the power to so no. to resist temptation. To keep the boundaries of his faith, his connection to God, his focus on life – not death. That is our task this Lenten season, not to worry about giving something up. But to repair the fences in our faith that life has torn down. To look at our relationship with God and to shut down all those extraneous voices and to listen only to God. Let us turn now to the deeper meaning of this passage. At that level it is of course no longer speaking of something that happened long ago, but addressing life in the present. It shows us “man” confronted with a choice: “You may freely eat...”, “You shall not eat...” “Man” can either work for God and find happiness and freedom in serving him, or he can go his own way thinking he knows all there is to know, and live with the inevitable consequences. This is the most fundamental choice that any of us is ever called upon to face, the choice between God and ourselves, between real freedom and the illusion of it, between Paradise and Hell, between life and death. It is our choice and our choice only. God cannot interfere, otherwise it is not a genuine choice. But how anxious he is that we make the right choice, how devastated when we make the wrong one! There is an ancient legend of the cypress Tree of Life. It tells that when Adam was dying, he sent Seth to the Garden of Eden to fetch him some Oil of Mercy. Seth could not release the oil, no matter how much Seth begged, but the guardian angel gave Seth instead a sprig, or seed, from the Tree of Life, which he as told to plant upon his father’s grave. When Adam died, Seth did as the angel had said. From that seed grew a tree which, years later, gave Moses the wood for his wonder-working rod. Later the tree was cut down and cast away. As a rejected tree, it was picked up and used . . . to fashion the cross on which Jesus was crucified. It was truly the Tree of Life. He is truly the way, and the truth, and the life. There is something so very curious about the man from Galilee. He has captivated the imaginations of people throughout twenty centuries. He transcends time and place, culture and custom, race and language. Something there is in Him that always speaks clearly to us. We see it throughout the gospels, everywhere He went, in everything He said and did. Son of God and Son of Man, we know He became one of us. While He is the answer to all our struggles, we see Him struggling with the things He faced. And, as He finds the way for Himself He finds the way for us as well… Temptation: Just Don’t Look A pastor once told his congregation, "I learned a great lesson from a dog." He said, "His master used to put a bit of meat or a biscuit or some kind of food on the ground, and he'd say to the dog, 'Don't eat that,' and the dog would run over and eat it, so he'd hit the dog. And he put another piece of meat on the ground. He'd say, 'Don't eat that.' The dog would go over and eat it, and he hit him again. Well, after awhile, the dog got the message: eat meat, get hit. So the dog decided he wouldn't eat the meat." But the man telling the story related how that the dog never looked at the meat. The dog evidently felt that if he looked at the meat, the temptation to disobey would be too great, and so he looked steadfastly into his master's face and never took his eyes off him, and thus the temptation never caused a problem. John Macarthur, How to Overcome Temptation An overzealous preacher felt it was his calling to aggressively "make" people become Christians as they would ride on the city bus system. One day a man who was obviously intoxicated stumbled onto the bus that the preacher was on. The preacher sprang into action and shook his Bible in the face of the inebriated man and yelled, "Did you know you're headed for Hell?" And the drunk replied, "Oh, no, I'm on the wrong bus again!" Even worse, many of us are unwilling to take responsibility for our transgressions. And since we refuse to take responsibility, we make the same mistakes time and time again. We are like Adam blaming Eve for their transgression, and Eve blaming the serpent. Two men were watching a western on television. As the hero rode on horseback toward the edge of a cliff, one man said, “I bet you $50 he goes over the cliff.” “You’re on,” said the other man. The hero rode on straight over the cliff. Being a sportsman, the second handed over the money. The first man looked at it and said, “I feel guilty about winning this. I’ve seen this film before.” “So have I,” said his friend, “but I didn’t think that cowboy would be stupid enough to make the same mistake again.” The first step in dealing with sin is to take responsibility for it. Quit doing the same stupid thing over and over again. The lines have at last met. If when we try to restate the meaning of this story in modern terms, everything is not as neat and tidy as we would like, that is because of the story form. It is removing to the past and concentrating on an uncomplicated pastoral stage what is in fact the root cause of this whole complicated universe’s present misery. That root cause is the strange mixture of ability and arrogance, of success and failure, of hope and remorse, of knowledge and guilt which is human sin. It has set an unbridgeable gulf between the human race and its Father in heaven—a gulf at any rate unbridgeable from its side.