March 1, 2020 Text: Matthew 4:1-11
Dear Friends in Christ,
Come in real close . . . I’ve got a secret . . . I can be a smart-aleck. Shocked? Hyperventilating over this sermonic revelation? Take out your bulletin for today. Look at our opening hymn. What does it tell us to do? We stand! My home church in Decatur did this with many of their hymns when I was a wee little lad and I didn’t always feel like standing…but I did…believe me I did. To express my displeasure I would write on the worship folder – We sit! – and I would hand it to the usher on the way out. I doubt that guy thought I would be standing in a pulpit today. There were other smart-aleck moments – playing a mannequin at my friend’s sister’s clothing store at Hickory Point Mall, getting my freshman English Class to bombard our teacher with paper wads and all the grief I gave my mom over the years.
The thing is that little guy has never completely left me. Just ask my friends and family. What is that voice in my brain that motivates such behavior? What temptation can I not overcome?
Can you relate? I am almost certain you can. Maybe it is not being a smart-aleck but it is something from your younger days that no matter how hard you try as an adult it is shadowing you constantly. Can we stare into the darkness and overcome it? Negatory, good buddy.
We need a stronger one. We need someone outside of ourselves to step into the picture. We need Jesus. Let’s take a song line and make it the title . . .
“TEMPTED BUT THE TRUTH IS DISCOVERED”
Before we venture into the desert let’s get a few things straight. The devil has power but it is limited. Satan knows the words of Scripture – He even quotes them. The only way to defeat your adversary is to know His playbook.
The temptations take place in the wilderness – Satan’s home field. It is a place of nothingness with few points of reference and endless sand and rocks.
Satan was smart and subtle. He is saying to Jesus, “grab a little glory now. Turn stones into bread; throw yourself down and you will be protected; bow down and worship me and you can have all these things now.” Thankfully Jesus would not play that game. Jesus was tempted but the truth is discovered. Jesus knew that His destiny was the cross. Jesus fought with the only truth He had – God’s Word. It was The Word fighting with the Word.
Satan would have one more attempt after this in a garden outside of Jerusalem. Jesus sees the cup of wrath he must drink to overcome our sin. He looks into the abyss and even asks to let the crucifixion pass from Him. Jesus was tempted but the truth is discovered. In the end, He asks that the Father’s will be done. It was. It is. Only through suffering and death is God making right what has gone wrong – He enters the darkness and brings forth light in the resurrection of his body from the dead. Jesus makes right what has gone wrong by taking on Satan in the wilderness, in the Garden of Gethsemane, on the cross, triumphing over every temptation thrown His way and lighting our darkness with the light of His resurrected flesh.
Jesus’ cross is where you see both your salvation and the pattern of your life. When your suffering becomes so intense and the darkness so deep, trace on your forehead the baptismal cross that binds you to Jesus, who continues to feed you with his very body and blood at his table and then in Jesus say, “Not my will, but thy will, be done.” Tempted but the Truth is Discovered.
During the troubling days of World War I, many songwriters did their best to raise the morale of the troops in the field and the folks at home. Felix Powell penned a little ditty for those troubled with their worries. Powell encouraged the fearful person to put their troubles behind them and smile instead.
If we just pack up our problems and put them away that is only a temporary solution. The true cause of our troubles is sin. Either inflicted by giving in to the devils’ temptations or the consequences of living in a fallen world, we are unable to pack up and put away our own troubles. Only Christ can permanently banish our problems. No pasted-on grin will chase away the devil, but when Christ smiles on us, we know the old evil foe is vanquished and our joy is made complete.
A quick note before this message ends. While the teacher found the stunt quite funny, to my amazement, I do not advocate bombing your teacher with paper. I learned a lot about grace that day. I pray we learn about grace every day. Jesus, the purveyor of grace looked into the eyes of Satan and won. He showers that grace on us when we don’t deserve it. See the Truth in a new light this morning – He was tempted but His Truth is discovered.
Amen.