Grace, mercy, and peace to you from
God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ,
An old gospel hymn called “Love Lifted Me” begins with these
words, “I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore, very deeply
stained within, sinking to rise no more.” A cry from the heart that invites a
question: how can a Christian who attends church regularly and faithfully reads
the Bible ever fall into such a pit? This morning’s gospel brings us an answer.
The devil is forever stirring things up; he never sleeps; he never stops trying
to trip us up by putting one temptation or another before us. He’s always busy
striking at God’s beloved children.
Now, listen to the next lines of “Love Lifted Me”: “The
Master of the sea heard my despairing cry, from the waters lifted me, now safe
am I.” Temptation may strike us, but we trust by faith that our Savior rescues
us and lifts us back to safety. Our Lord defeated the devil in the wilderness,
not just for himself, but also for us and for all other people. He is our
powerful friend who carries us through the perils of temptation. The author of
the Letter to the Hebrews tell us why: “Because he himself suffered while he
was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”
We begin our Sundays in Lent, then, by spending a few
minutes thinking about temptation and Christ’s work of redemption. The purpose
of Lent is to make us more aware of our frailties than we usually are and more
aware of our need for Christ so that Easter will be a joyous time for us. The
spiritual disciplines of Lent – the Scripture readings for the season and any
belt-tightening we may take on in our personal lives – are meant to refresh us.
So on to temptation. Matthew’s description of Jesus’
encounter with Satan shows us three different ways that temptation may strike
at us. First, in times when we feel deprived and it seems that we don’t have
everything we need. Jesus had been fasting for forty days and nights. He was
hungry and would surely have succumbed to the devil’s tricks if the power of
God hadn’t been on his side. Satan tried to convince him that his Heavenly
Father wouldn’t provide for him: “Use your power to turn these stones into bread.”
We all may feel deprived at times, especially if something we want very much is
missing from our lives. Maybe others have more than we do or somebody treats us
unjustly or opportunities we hoped for haven’t come our way. We keep a rein on
thoughts and feelings like that because the devil can work on us to make them
larger than they are and we are tempted to think and act in ways that don’t
please our Lord.
We follow Jesus instead, who looked for refuge in God’s
Word, which teaches that no one lives by material things alone. We are not
machines. Our souls need the Word of God that brings life and salvation. While
the devil tempts us to let go of the best parts of life, God’s Word sustains us
as we cope with the miseries and injustices of daily living. “Be strong in the
Lord and in his mighty power,” Paul wrote. “Put on the full armor of God so
that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. Our struggle is not
against flesh and blood, but against the powers of the dark world and against
the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Jesus equips us to battle
the enemy of our souls, and so we never fear that the devil will overwhelm us.
The first temptation describes how the devil attacks us if
we’re needy. The second is the opposite, for Satan also hits at us when every
need if fulfilled. He tried to trick Jesus into carrying out a foolish stunt
simply to show off that he is God as well as man. Again, Jesus silenced the devil with a verse
from Scripture. God’s people do not put him to the test. Satan would love to
persuade us that since we are Jesus’ sisters and brothers we may do whatever we
want and no trouble will come to us. He would dance in the street if he could
coax us to drive a car and read a magazine and talk on a cell phone all at the
same time or to believe that we can live well without taking care of daily
necessities, because we think that God will look out for us no matter what. The
devil would like us to think that the rules of life don’t apply to us. He wants
to persuade us that we can sin any way we please because we live under the
protection of God’s umbrella of grace and forgiveness. Instead of looking on
ourselves as forgiven sinners whom God has invited into his kingdom, we might
come to think of ourselves as very special people above the law who can do no
wrong. If we ever catch ourselves thinking like that, then we need to confess
that corruption has blossomed in our hearts and turn to God for pardon with the
hope that he will show us how to chase away the remnants of pride.
We are often at war with temptation, so we stand firm, as
Paul wrote, with the belt of truth buckled around our wastes, with the
breastplate of righteousness in place, and with our feet fitted with the
readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. We are vigilant for God, on our
guard so that Satan won’t trick us into spiritual ease and slovenliness.
In the third temptation, old Satan offered Jesus all the
kingdoms of the world in exchange for an act of worship. He promised Jesus what
he didn’t have the power to give, but he took a risk and hoped that he could
deceive the Lord into giving up his ministry, his burden of care for others and
a future that included public humiliation and the cross. He wanted Jesus to
take the easy way and settle for the glamorous life of a miracle worker. But
Christ ordered Satan away, for Scripture commanded him to worship and serve
only God. His heart belonged to his Heavenly Father. Satan uses God’s good
creation to tempt God’s children away from faith. He wants us to believe that
the stuff this world brings us is the only reality. It’s tempting to dream, for
example, about life in a warm climate with plenty of comforts and a non-stop
supply of money and lots of people to wait on us. The devil tempts us,
moreover, to believe that we can get this way of life by adjusting our values.
We don’t follow Satan’s lead, however, because we trust that the life we
receive from God is much more meaningful than the daydreams the devil sends us.
Like Jesus, our hearts belong to the Heavenly Father. We worship and fear him
only.
Still, we may worry that our flesh will get the best of us
and that we’ll raise ease and comfort to first place. This won’t happen if we
keep putting on the armor the Lord gives us. “Take the helmet of salvation,”
Paul wrote, “and the sword of the Spirit, which is the work of God.” Paul
encourages us to pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers
and requests.” The Lord saves us through our faith in the death and
resurrection of Christ to withstand the devil and his temptations. He falls to
the ground before faithful people who are equipped with the spiritual armor
from Christ.
So – to sum up – the temptations that come to us follow a
pattern. We feel a little thrill when they first strike as if the freedom and
loveliness we crave are finally within our reach. But the devil’s joys are
brief and insubstantial. He loves to mock folks who surrender to them and make
them feel miserable with guilt, so we put on the armor of God because we can’t
resist temptation by our own strength. If we ever try to do that, we find
ourselves tied up in a bitter struggle that could make us crabby and unlovable.
Either way, whether we give in or try to resist by our own strength, we end up
crying out like the person who wrote “Love Lifted Me”—“sinking deep in sin, far
from the peaceful shore, sinking to rise no more.”
We cling to Christ in faith. He brings us life and empowers
us for our daily battle. Discipline and sacrifice become easier with Jesus as
our partner. He is sympathetic to our struggles and come to us with love. He
cleanses our hearts and minds; he endows us with hope and strength. His Word
that worked against the devil in the wilderness also works on our behalf. It
rescues us the way it rescued the Christian who wrote the old gospel hymn: “The
Master of the sea heard my despairing cry, from the waters lifted me. Now safe
am I.” The God of life is stronger for us than the devil or any temptation that
troubles us, so in his name we say AMEN.
The peace of God that passes all
understanding keeps your hearts and minds in the knowledge of Christ Jesus.
AMEN.
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