Showing posts with label temptation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label temptation. Show all posts
Thursday, November 02, 2023
Monday, June 29, 2020
Monday, March 02, 2020
The One Who Remembers
[This message was shared yesterday during worship with the people and friends of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]
Matthew 4:1-11
Years ago, a man I knew shared with a group of us what his dad told him every time he went out with friends or with his girl back during his teenage years. “Remember,” his dad said, “who you are.”
Those seem like wise words to me because it’s so easy in the individual moments of life that come at us like the ocean tide every second of every day to forget who we are and who we’re called to be.
The Word of God teaches that we all have a call, a vocation. This doesn’t refer to our jobs, although our call will usually include what we do as working people. For the Christian though, our vocation is about who we are and who we are called by God to be.
The call we all have as disciples of Jesus Christ is given to us at the moment of our baptisms when, after we are washed in the water charged with God’s life by God’s Word, Christ’s cross is marked on our foreheads and we are given our vocation, our identity, “child of God.” “Mark James,” the pastor said at my baptism, “child of God, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever.” Pastors said similar things when you were baptized, whenever you were baptized.
As Christians, our vocation, our call, is to be God’s children: God’s daughters, God’s sons.
To be a child of God is an incredible privilege of grace, making us God’s intimates and heirs of all that He has in mind for those who repent and believe in Jesus.
We Christians aren’t the first on whom God has conferred the title and the call, child of God, daughter of God, son of God. Moses once told Egypt’s king, Pharaoh: “This is what the Lord says: ‘Israel is my firstborn son, and I told you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.’” (Exodus 4:22-23) Through Abraham, Israel had been given its call to be God’s children. Israel was to be a light to the nations, helping the whole world to see the God Who loves us and saves all who turn to Him in faith from sin, death, and darkness.
History shows that Israel failed in its calling as God’s son. The people of Israel--the children of God--forgot who they were. They chased after false gods, temporary pleasures, worldly power. They became diverted from their mission as God’s children to be God’s light to the nations.
Our first lesson for this morning shows us that it was always God’s intention to send a Messiah into the world in order to save the human race and the universe our sin has impacted. After the fall of Adam and Eve, from whom we all inherit the condition of sin, God told the serpent, the devil, speaking of the Messiah Who would be born of a woman in Bethlehem thousands of years later, “...I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:18)
Jesus was to fulfill the call that Israel--and no human being in their own power--ever could fulfill: the call of being the perfectly obedient child of God, the Son of God, Who by going to the cross as God the Father willed, would crush the power of Satan over you and me.
Our gospel lesson for today picks up Matthew’s narrative of Jesus’ story right after Jesus had been baptized in the Jordan River. There, you’ll remember, “As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’” (Matthew 3:16-17) Jesus was given His call, His call as the Son of God. But in today’s lesson, Matthew 4:1-11, we see that Jesus was given no time to savor that. The first verse says: “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.”
Notice that while Matthew’s account of Jesus’ baptism emphasized Jesus’ deity, here Matthew underscores Jesus’ humanity. Jesus is Lord of heaven and earth, the second Person of the Holy Trinity, but He is also a human being. He had to take on our humanity in order to save us from the inside out, becoming the perfect human sacrifice for our sins, paying the debt we owe for failing to remember our call to be children of God. Jesus is, like all human beings, even those who know nothing of God or who reject the very idea that God exists, under the authority of the other Persons of the Trinity: the Father and the Holy Spirit. So the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness for the express purpose of Jesus being tempted by the devil. Like ancient Israel, who God had called His Son, Jesus, just proclaimed God’s Son at the Jordan, goes into the wilderness. In Jesus’ forty days, He was tempted in the same ways that ancient Israel was once tempted for forty years. But with a different result: Jesus resists every temptation, fulfilling His call as the Son of God.
Jesus is tempted in three ways by the devil.
Knowing that Jesus is hungry, the devil tells Jesus to turn stones into bread. But citing words Moses uses in Deuteronomy to speak of Israel’s wilderness wanderings, Jesus refuses to perform this miracle to prove Himself or to feed His groaning belly. “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4)
Next, the devil tells Jesus that He should throw Himself from the top of the Temple in Jerusalem to show people how the Father takes care of Him. Again, citing words from Israel’s wilderness days, Jesus refuses saying, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” (Matthew 4:7)
Finally, the devil shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and says that Jesus can have them all without suffering, scorn, rejection, cross, death, or grave, if Jesus will just worship him. “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” (Matthew 4:10)
Although the devil continued to try to prevent Jesus from dying on the cross for our redemption, tried to lure Jesus into turning from His call as our Savior, and still tempts people today, the devil knew at that moment that the jig was up. Jesus had defeated the devil by remembering Who He was and that His call was and is to save us.
We often read this account and think of it as a how-to guide: “how to evade temptation by knowing God’s Word.” I've even preached on this lesson that very way.
Being steeped in God’s Word will help us to avoid the temptation to individual sins: adultery, cursing, thievery, gluttony, covetousness, murder, idolatry, not worshiping with God’s people, or lying.
But if that’s why we think the Holy Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted, we miss the point.
In Jesus' temptations, God is not telling us to so much remember who we are, but more to remember Who Jesus is.
And who is Jesus?
He is God the Son Who willingly became one of us, bore the rejection of the world, flogging, hatred, condemnation, and crucifixion because He never forgot you.
He never forgot that you need to be saved from sin, death, and the grave.
He always remembered His vocation.
In Jesus, the preacher of the New Testament book of Hebrews says, “we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” (Hebrews 4:15)
Jesus remembered Who He was--He remembered His call, so that He could save you from yourself, from the temptations we all face and the sins we all commit to be something other than what He died and rose to make us, children of God.
The Savior Who went to the wilderness and the cross and now sits at the right hand of the Father, always remembers you. May we never forget that! Amen
[I'm the pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]
Matthew 4:1-11
Years ago, a man I knew shared with a group of us what his dad told him every time he went out with friends or with his girl back during his teenage years. “Remember,” his dad said, “who you are.”
Those seem like wise words to me because it’s so easy in the individual moments of life that come at us like the ocean tide every second of every day to forget who we are and who we’re called to be.
The Word of God teaches that we all have a call, a vocation. This doesn’t refer to our jobs, although our call will usually include what we do as working people. For the Christian though, our vocation is about who we are and who we are called by God to be.
The call we all have as disciples of Jesus Christ is given to us at the moment of our baptisms when, after we are washed in the water charged with God’s life by God’s Word, Christ’s cross is marked on our foreheads and we are given our vocation, our identity, “child of God.” “Mark James,” the pastor said at my baptism, “child of God, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever.” Pastors said similar things when you were baptized, whenever you were baptized.
As Christians, our vocation, our call, is to be God’s children: God’s daughters, God’s sons.
To be a child of God is an incredible privilege of grace, making us God’s intimates and heirs of all that He has in mind for those who repent and believe in Jesus.
We Christians aren’t the first on whom God has conferred the title and the call, child of God, daughter of God, son of God. Moses once told Egypt’s king, Pharaoh: “This is what the Lord says: ‘Israel is my firstborn son, and I told you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.’” (Exodus 4:22-23) Through Abraham, Israel had been given its call to be God’s children. Israel was to be a light to the nations, helping the whole world to see the God Who loves us and saves all who turn to Him in faith from sin, death, and darkness.
History shows that Israel failed in its calling as God’s son. The people of Israel--the children of God--forgot who they were. They chased after false gods, temporary pleasures, worldly power. They became diverted from their mission as God’s children to be God’s light to the nations.
Our first lesson for this morning shows us that it was always God’s intention to send a Messiah into the world in order to save the human race and the universe our sin has impacted. After the fall of Adam and Eve, from whom we all inherit the condition of sin, God told the serpent, the devil, speaking of the Messiah Who would be born of a woman in Bethlehem thousands of years later, “...I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:18)
Jesus was to fulfill the call that Israel--and no human being in their own power--ever could fulfill: the call of being the perfectly obedient child of God, the Son of God, Who by going to the cross as God the Father willed, would crush the power of Satan over you and me.
Our gospel lesson for today picks up Matthew’s narrative of Jesus’ story right after Jesus had been baptized in the Jordan River. There, you’ll remember, “As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’” (Matthew 3:16-17) Jesus was given His call, His call as the Son of God. But in today’s lesson, Matthew 4:1-11, we see that Jesus was given no time to savor that. The first verse says: “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.”
Notice that while Matthew’s account of Jesus’ baptism emphasized Jesus’ deity, here Matthew underscores Jesus’ humanity. Jesus is Lord of heaven and earth, the second Person of the Holy Trinity, but He is also a human being. He had to take on our humanity in order to save us from the inside out, becoming the perfect human sacrifice for our sins, paying the debt we owe for failing to remember our call to be children of God. Jesus is, like all human beings, even those who know nothing of God or who reject the very idea that God exists, under the authority of the other Persons of the Trinity: the Father and the Holy Spirit. So the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness for the express purpose of Jesus being tempted by the devil. Like ancient Israel, who God had called His Son, Jesus, just proclaimed God’s Son at the Jordan, goes into the wilderness. In Jesus’ forty days, He was tempted in the same ways that ancient Israel was once tempted for forty years. But with a different result: Jesus resists every temptation, fulfilling His call as the Son of God.
Jesus is tempted in three ways by the devil.
Knowing that Jesus is hungry, the devil tells Jesus to turn stones into bread. But citing words Moses uses in Deuteronomy to speak of Israel’s wilderness wanderings, Jesus refuses to perform this miracle to prove Himself or to feed His groaning belly. “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4)
Next, the devil tells Jesus that He should throw Himself from the top of the Temple in Jerusalem to show people how the Father takes care of Him. Again, citing words from Israel’s wilderness days, Jesus refuses saying, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” (Matthew 4:7)
Finally, the devil shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and says that Jesus can have them all without suffering, scorn, rejection, cross, death, or grave, if Jesus will just worship him. “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” (Matthew 4:10)
Although the devil continued to try to prevent Jesus from dying on the cross for our redemption, tried to lure Jesus into turning from His call as our Savior, and still tempts people today, the devil knew at that moment that the jig was up. Jesus had defeated the devil by remembering Who He was and that His call was and is to save us.
We often read this account and think of it as a how-to guide: “how to evade temptation by knowing God’s Word.” I've even preached on this lesson that very way.
Being steeped in God’s Word will help us to avoid the temptation to individual sins: adultery, cursing, thievery, gluttony, covetousness, murder, idolatry, not worshiping with God’s people, or lying.
But if that’s why we think the Holy Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted, we miss the point.
In Jesus' temptations, God is not telling us to so much remember who we are, but more to remember Who Jesus is.
And who is Jesus?
He is God the Son Who willingly became one of us, bore the rejection of the world, flogging, hatred, condemnation, and crucifixion because He never forgot you.
He never forgot that you need to be saved from sin, death, and the grave.
He always remembered His vocation.
In Jesus, the preacher of the New Testament book of Hebrews says, “we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” (Hebrews 4:15)
Jesus remembered Who He was--He remembered His call, so that He could save you from yourself, from the temptations we all face and the sins we all commit to be something other than what He died and rose to make us, children of God.
The Savior Who went to the wilderness and the cross and now sits at the right hand of the Father, always remembers you. May we never forget that! Amen
[I'm the pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]
Friday, July 19, 2019
Lord, Don't Let Me Cause Others to Stumble!
[These are reflections from my quiet time with God earlier today.]
Look: “Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come.’” (Luke 17:1)
Because of our sinful nature, the fallen world, and the incessant meddling of the devil, temptations are inevitable in our lives.
Jesus knew all about this. The great gamble of the Incarnation--God the Son coming into the world as a human being--is that, during His time on earth, Jesus was constantly subjected to the temptation to sin.
Yet, in order to be the effective sacrifice for our sin, Jesus had to be a new human (Paul calls Jesus “the new Adam”), a sinless member of the human race Whose unjustified execution opens salvation to the rest of us by God’s the power of God’s grace to create within us faith in Jesus. Jesus, the Bible says, “has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” (Hebrews 4:15) “...at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.” (Romans 5:6) I’m grateful that Jesus resisted temptation and won life with God for all who trust in Him.
In Luke, the conqueror of sin over us, warns His disciples--including modern day disciples, those who confess Jesus as Lord--not to put the eternal lives of others at risk by conduct or words that tempt them to sin. Jesus goes on to day in Luke 17:2-3: “It would be better for [disciples who cause others to stumble into sin] to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. So [disciples,] watch yourselves.”
Listen: There are so many ways we can be the serpent to others, luring people into sin, even when that’s not what we think we’re doing.
In the New Testament, Paul tells Christians not to eat food offered to idols in the presence of those who are weaker in the faith. It wasn’t, he said, that Christians weren’t allowed to eat such food; all food is clean to the Christian. But those weak in the faith, Paul asserted, might derive the wrong impression from seeing mature Christians eating food offered to idols and be tempted into believing that a Christian could also worship false deities. But there’s only one God, the One definitively revealed to us in Christ.
In my own life, there are people with whom I won’t have a glass of wine because I suspect or know that they have issues with alcohol. I refuse to be an instrument of their temptation even though drinking an occasional glass of wine isn’t forbidden by God.
On the other hand, I must confess that I have sometimes caused people to sin. This has happened when I’ve said things I shouldn’t have or when I’ve become obsessed with my own grievances or desires. When we engage in this kind of behavior, we in effect, give permission to those who witness it to cave into temptation and sin too.
I ran across this quote from Martin Luther the other day: “Christ desires nothing more of us than that we speak of Him.” When we, in loving and appropriate ways, commend Christ to others, there’s no opportunity for me to become the instrument of temptation and sin in others’ lives. When we speak of Christ, it’s gratitude for grace, the peace of knowing Christ, and the call to others to experience saving faith in Christ that comes through.
Respond: Father, in the name of Jesus, I ask You to forgive me the obsession with self, the grievances, and the selfish desires that lead me away from Your will and have caused me to unwittingly tempt others to sin.
Give me Holy Spirit-saturated wits, Lord!
Today, speak of Christ to others through me. Make me an instrument of Your grace and the faith to which You call all of us and not an instrument of temptation or sin.
In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen
Look: “Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come.’” (Luke 17:1)
Because of our sinful nature, the fallen world, and the incessant meddling of the devil, temptations are inevitable in our lives.
Jesus knew all about this. The great gamble of the Incarnation--God the Son coming into the world as a human being--is that, during His time on earth, Jesus was constantly subjected to the temptation to sin.
Yet, in order to be the effective sacrifice for our sin, Jesus had to be a new human (Paul calls Jesus “the new Adam”), a sinless member of the human race Whose unjustified execution opens salvation to the rest of us by God’s the power of God’s grace to create within us faith in Jesus. Jesus, the Bible says, “has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” (Hebrews 4:15) “...at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.” (Romans 5:6) I’m grateful that Jesus resisted temptation and won life with God for all who trust in Him.
In Luke, the conqueror of sin over us, warns His disciples--including modern day disciples, those who confess Jesus as Lord--not to put the eternal lives of others at risk by conduct or words that tempt them to sin. Jesus goes on to day in Luke 17:2-3: “It would be better for [disciples who cause others to stumble into sin] to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. So [disciples,] watch yourselves.”
Listen: There are so many ways we can be the serpent to others, luring people into sin, even when that’s not what we think we’re doing.
In the New Testament, Paul tells Christians not to eat food offered to idols in the presence of those who are weaker in the faith. It wasn’t, he said, that Christians weren’t allowed to eat such food; all food is clean to the Christian. But those weak in the faith, Paul asserted, might derive the wrong impression from seeing mature Christians eating food offered to idols and be tempted into believing that a Christian could also worship false deities. But there’s only one God, the One definitively revealed to us in Christ.
In my own life, there are people with whom I won’t have a glass of wine because I suspect or know that they have issues with alcohol. I refuse to be an instrument of their temptation even though drinking an occasional glass of wine isn’t forbidden by God.
On the other hand, I must confess that I have sometimes caused people to sin. This has happened when I’ve said things I shouldn’t have or when I’ve become obsessed with my own grievances or desires. When we engage in this kind of behavior, we in effect, give permission to those who witness it to cave into temptation and sin too.
I ran across this quote from Martin Luther the other day: “Christ desires nothing more of us than that we speak of Him.” When we, in loving and appropriate ways, commend Christ to others, there’s no opportunity for me to become the instrument of temptation and sin in others’ lives. When we speak of Christ, it’s gratitude for grace, the peace of knowing Christ, and the call to others to experience saving faith in Christ that comes through.
Respond: Father, in the name of Jesus, I ask You to forgive me the obsession with self, the grievances, and the selfish desires that lead me away from Your will and have caused me to unwittingly tempt others to sin.
Give me Holy Spirit-saturated wits, Lord!
Today, speak of Christ to others through me. Make me an instrument of Your grace and the faith to which You call all of us and not an instrument of temptation or sin.
In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen
[The illustrated quote from Martin Luther was published this past week by the Institute of Lutheran Theology.]
[I'm the pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church.]
Sunday, March 10, 2019
Victory in the Wilderness
[This message was shared this morning during worship with the people and friends of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]
Luke 4:1-13
Jesus has just come from being baptized in the Jordan River by his relative, John the Baptizer. There, Jesus heard God the Father tell Him, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:22)
Verse 3: “The devil said to him, If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.’”
The word devil translates the word in Luke’s original Greek text, diabolos. We get the word diabolical from this. The word itself means one who slanders, defames, accuses falsely. The devil likes to slander, defame, and falsely accuse human beings, especially those who seek to follow Jesus, because of his deep resentment toward the human race.
Luke 4:1-13
Today’s gospel lesson, for this First Sunday in Lent, is Luke 4:1-13. This is Luke’s account of Jesus being tempted in the wilderness by the devil.
The most important thing to remember from this incident is that Jesus, the Son of God, succeeds where Adam in the garden of Eden and ancient Israel in the wilderness failed. And He did this for us, despite the unneeded and unwanted suffering and death it brought to Him.
So, let’s look at what happens, starting at verse 1: “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.”
So, let’s look at what happens, starting at verse 1: “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.”
Jesus has just come from being baptized in the Jordan River by his relative, John the Baptizer. There, Jesus heard God the Father tell Him, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:22)
We know from the rest of Scripture that when Jesus is described as “the Son of God,” it means more than I mean when I speak of our son and our daughter. Colossians 1:15-17 says of Jesus that He is “...the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” Jesus is both God and human, “the Word [made] flesh” (John 1:1, 14).
Others in Scripture have been portrayed as God’s sons, but in different ways.
Others in Scripture have been portrayed as God’s sons, but in different ways.
For example, in Hosea 11:1, God recalls, “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.”
And, in the passage just before his account of Jesus’ temptations, Luke traces Jesus’ genealogy back to “Adam, the son of God (Luke 3:38).” The meaning here is that Adam was generated from God’s creativity. God looked on Adam and Eve in much the same way parents look on their children, with love.
But in the garden, lush with everything he could possibly need, Adam, the son of God, fell prey to the temptations of the serpent, feeling the impulse to stuff his face with the very fruit God had told him not to touch.
Similarly, about 1500 years before the birth of Jesus, God led His people Israel out of slavery in Egypt and, taking them to the promised land, oversaw the testing of their faith in the wilderness. Israel, even its leader Moses, didn’t pass with flying colors. A whole generation of Israelites, save for two--Joshua and Caleb--died on a forty year journey that should have taken eleven days because it fell prey to temptation, worshiping other gods, rebelling against God.
In today’s gospel lesson, Jesus, the Son of God, is led by the Spirit into the wilderness. Jesus spends forty days there and is, like Adam and Israel, tempted to sin and to rebellion against God the Father. Jesus goes there to begin the process of erasing the sin and death that had enslaved humanity since Adam and Eve fell into sin and to fulfill the mission of Israel to bring light and life to all nations.
In today’s gospel lesson, Jesus, the Son of God, is led by the Spirit into the wilderness. Jesus spends forty days there and is, like Adam and Israel, tempted to sin and to rebellion against God the Father. Jesus goes there to begin the process of erasing the sin and death that had enslaved humanity since Adam and Eve fell into sin and to fulfill the mission of Israel to bring light and life to all nations.
Verse 3: “The devil said to him, If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.’”
The word devil translates the word in Luke’s original Greek text, diabolos. We get the word diabolical from this. The word itself means one who slanders, defames, accuses falsely. The devil likes to slander, defame, and falsely accuse human beings, especially those who seek to follow Jesus, because of his deep resentment toward the human race.
The devil is a fallen angel. And angels, aren’t as important in God’s creation as human beings. Only humans are created in God’s image. This is why the devil set out to lure the human race away from God.
Jesus says that the devil is the father of all evil and lies in the world (and of everyone given over to lying and evil as their way of life) and that he has been a liar, a deceiver from the beginning. People who make lying their way of life are of the devil.
The devil, the liar and slanderer, calls Jesus’ place as the second Person of the Trinity, God the Son, into question. He’s challenging Jesus to prove Himself. He tells Jesus to take care of His hunger by turning stones to bread rather than fulfill His mission of enduring temptations sinlessly so that He can offer Himself as the perfect sacrifice for human sin.
Verse 4: “Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”
Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 8:3, in which Moses recalls when the people of Israel went hungry in the wilderness, wanting bread to eat, and when God, by the power of His Word, created something called manna for them to eat. God gave the people of Israel exactly what they needed from day to day, their “daily bread.” Moses said that we can’t live just for the bread we plant, harvest, mix, and bake. We must rely totally on God. Jesus did. And, unlike Adam in the garden, who ate fruit he didn’t need and so dishonored his relationship with God, Jesus refused to create food He could have used for Himself. Jesus lives for God and for us. Who do we live for?
Verse 5: “The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, ‘I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours.’”
In the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve wanted to “be like God.” In the wilderness, ancient Israel erected a golden calf to worship and manipulate for its own purposes. Jesus could have taken the kingdoms of this world without saving us. But He refused to do this. He knew that only His death and resurrection could allow us to become part of His kingdom. Our eternal life with God was more important to Jesus than His temporary comfort. That’s a measure of the depths of His love for each of us. Without relying on the God we meet in Jesus, it's impossible for us to dismiss taking the easy path and opt for doing the will of God as Jesus did.
Verse 8: “Jesus answered, ‘It is written [again citing words from Moses’ words in Deuteronomy about Israel’s wilderness experience]: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’” Jesus is ready for temptation not just because He’s the Son of God, but also because He knows God’s Word and through God’s Word, He knows Christ. If Jesus needed to know God and His Word to get through the wilderness, how much more do we need God and His Word?
Verse 9: “The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. ‘If you are the Son of God,’ he said, ‘throw yourself down from here. For it is written: “He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”’”
The devil is a cunning jerk. 1 Peter 5:8 tells us, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” The devil would have liked nothing better than to have devoured Jesus, gobbling up our chance for life through faith in Jesus in the bargain. He cunningly uses God’s Word from Psalm 91, twisting the promise God gives to help His people into a magna carta for human stupidity, a blank check for believers to do any lame-brained thing that comes into our heads in order to prove that God is good for His word. That’s why in verse 12, Jesus cites another passage from Deuteronomy: “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Jesus turns each of the devil’s temptations away. Ambrose, an ancient church father, said that in the three temptations with which the devil tried to trap Jesus, the temptation to turn stones to bread, to worship the devil, and to take the kingdoms of this world rather than institute the kingdom of God for all who trust in Jesus, there was “every human transgression...for the courses of our own [forbidden] desires are the delight of the flesh [taking care of ourselves without regard to others], the pomp of vainglory [our love of being number one], and the greed for power.” The temptations with which Jesus contended in the wilderness are the same ones that confront you and me every day. One contemporary New Testament scholar calls them “the normative seductions of our...culture.”
And they always have been. But unlike Adam and Eve and ancient Israel, who were defeated by the seductions--the temptations--to sin, Jesus succeeded in resisting them and so, has was able later to win everlasting life with God for all who turn away from sin, as He did in the wilderness, and follow Him.
Verse 4: “Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”
Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 8:3, in which Moses recalls when the people of Israel went hungry in the wilderness, wanting bread to eat, and when God, by the power of His Word, created something called manna for them to eat. God gave the people of Israel exactly what they needed from day to day, their “daily bread.” Moses said that we can’t live just for the bread we plant, harvest, mix, and bake. We must rely totally on God. Jesus did. And, unlike Adam in the garden, who ate fruit he didn’t need and so dishonored his relationship with God, Jesus refused to create food He could have used for Himself. Jesus lives for God and for us. Who do we live for?
Verse 5: “The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, ‘I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours.’”
In the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve wanted to “be like God.” In the wilderness, ancient Israel erected a golden calf to worship and manipulate for its own purposes. Jesus could have taken the kingdoms of this world without saving us. But He refused to do this. He knew that only His death and resurrection could allow us to become part of His kingdom. Our eternal life with God was more important to Jesus than His temporary comfort. That’s a measure of the depths of His love for each of us. Without relying on the God we meet in Jesus, it's impossible for us to dismiss taking the easy path and opt for doing the will of God as Jesus did.
Verse 8: “Jesus answered, ‘It is written [again citing words from Moses’ words in Deuteronomy about Israel’s wilderness experience]: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’” Jesus is ready for temptation not just because He’s the Son of God, but also because He knows God’s Word and through God’s Word, He knows Christ. If Jesus needed to know God and His Word to get through the wilderness, how much more do we need God and His Word?
Verse 9: “The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. ‘If you are the Son of God,’ he said, ‘throw yourself down from here. For it is written: “He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”’”
The devil is a cunning jerk. 1 Peter 5:8 tells us, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” The devil would have liked nothing better than to have devoured Jesus, gobbling up our chance for life through faith in Jesus in the bargain. He cunningly uses God’s Word from Psalm 91, twisting the promise God gives to help His people into a magna carta for human stupidity, a blank check for believers to do any lame-brained thing that comes into our heads in order to prove that God is good for His word. That’s why in verse 12, Jesus cites another passage from Deuteronomy: “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Jesus turns each of the devil’s temptations away. Ambrose, an ancient church father, said that in the three temptations with which the devil tried to trap Jesus, the temptation to turn stones to bread, to worship the devil, and to take the kingdoms of this world rather than institute the kingdom of God for all who trust in Jesus, there was “every human transgression...for the courses of our own [forbidden] desires are the delight of the flesh [taking care of ourselves without regard to others], the pomp of vainglory [our love of being number one], and the greed for power.” The temptations with which Jesus contended in the wilderness are the same ones that confront you and me every day. One contemporary New Testament scholar calls them “the normative seductions of our...culture.”
And they always have been. But unlike Adam and Eve and ancient Israel, who were defeated by the seductions--the temptations--to sin, Jesus succeeded in resisting them and so, has was able later to win everlasting life with God for all who turn away from sin, as He did in the wilderness, and follow Him.
But if it’s our intention to follow Jesus to life, we need to watch out. The devil is still looking, in the words of verse 13 of our lesson, for “opportune times” to trip us up. Referring to the gospel--the good news of forgiven sin and new life for all who trust in the crucified and risen Jesus, the preacher in Hebrews tells a people flirting with defection from faith in Christ, “We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.” (Hebrews 2:1-3)
Jesus won a victory in the wilderness because His eyes were turned always to God the Father and His purposes. Isaiah 45:22 tells us, “Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.”
Jesus won a victory in the wilderness because His eyes were turned always to God the Father and His purposes. Isaiah 45:22 tells us, “Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.”
In Lent and in all of life, our call is to keep turning to Jesus so that He can give us life with God. That’s what Jesus died and rose to make possible, so that we can, day after day and into eternity, turn to Him and live. Amen
[I'm the pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]
Saturday, March 09, 2019
Notes on Luke 4:1-13
[These are note for tomorrow's gospel lesson, Luke 4:1-13. Tomorrow is the First Sunday in Lent.]
Jesus once more invokes the experience of ancient Israel. The passage He cites is Deuteronomy 6:16. Here, Jesus refuses to do anything to prove His identity. He knows Who He is. He doesn’t doubt Who the Father has declared Him to be.
13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
The diabolical one hasn’t given up, although in the wilderness unlike Israel in the wilderness and Adam in the garden, he has been defeated.
1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
Commentators, both ancient and contemporary, agree that the major Old Testament backgrounds for the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness are Adam in the garden and Israel in the wilderness.
Some have also linked it to the temptations of Job. This is the third incident recounted in Scripture of Satan tempting someone (Adam and Eve, Job, Jesus).
Luke is the only one of the gospel writers to say that Jesus was tempted for forty days. This solidifies Jesus’ position as the fulfillment of ancient Israel’s office in history: both Moses and Elijah went through forty days of preparation before major activities.
Given the fact that the Holy Spirit has led Jesus into the wilderness, it seems that God the Father was deliberately exposing Jesus to a showdown in the desert at the start of Jesus’ ministry. Like Job, for Jesus to be insulated from temptation would leave questions as to whether Jesus would “fold” in the face of temptation. As it is, in Jesus “we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” (Hebrews 4:15)
The word devil is, in the original Greek of the text, diabolos. The word is used for one who slanders, defames, accuses falsely. This is the devil’s stock in trade. He doesn’t like the human race or the elevated position we enjoy as the only ones of God’s creatures made in God’s image. So, he specializes in slander. And he does so also in those who repudiate God’s authority over their lives to whom he is, whether they are conscious of it or not, a kind of father figure.
Commentators, both ancient and contemporary, agree that the major Old Testament backgrounds for the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness are Adam in the garden and Israel in the wilderness.
Some have also linked it to the temptations of Job. This is the third incident recounted in Scripture of Satan tempting someone (Adam and Eve, Job, Jesus).
Luke is the only one of the gospel writers to say that Jesus was tempted for forty days. This solidifies Jesus’ position as the fulfillment of ancient Israel’s office in history: both Moses and Elijah went through forty days of preparation before major activities.
Given the fact that the Holy Spirit has led Jesus into the wilderness, it seems that God the Father was deliberately exposing Jesus to a showdown in the desert at the start of Jesus’ ministry. Like Job, for Jesus to be insulated from temptation would leave questions as to whether Jesus would “fold” in the face of temptation. As it is, in Jesus “we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” (Hebrews 4:15)
The word devil is, in the original Greek of the text, diabolos. The word is used for one who slanders, defames, accuses falsely. This is the devil’s stock in trade. He doesn’t like the human race or the elevated position we enjoy as the only ones of God’s creatures made in God’s image. So, he specializes in slander. And he does so also in those who repudiate God’s authority over their lives to whom he is, whether they are conscious of it or not, a kind of father figure.
3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
Two things are going on here. First, the slanderer is casting doubts on whether Jesus is “the Son of God.” This is something that the Father has just affirmed to Jesus at His baptism by John in the Jordan. The Father told Jesus: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased (Luke 3:22).”
Second, a contrast is being established. At the conclusion of Luke’s reverse genealogy in 3:23-38, Adam, the first man created by God, is described as “the son of God.” Applied to Adam, it obviously means that Adam was directly generated by God’s creative activity. Son of God, as the rest of the gospels show us, when applied to Jesus, tells us that He is of one essence of the Father (John 1:1-14; Colossians 1:15-20). Jesus is the new Adam, who successfully resists temptation in order to be faithful. He also, unlike ancient Israel, successfully negotiates the temptations of the wilderness.
The devil is, of course, trying to get Jesus to act on His own behalf. This is like Adam’s temptation from the serpent to feed himself with the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The difference is that the temptation Jesus faces comes in a wilderness in which He has no other food options. Yet Jesus knows that God wants Him to be in the wilderness and to rely on God the Father alone. Jesus refuses to take the easy way out of a temporary situation, knowing that doing so would have eternal consequences, for Him and for us.
Two things are going on here. First, the slanderer is casting doubts on whether Jesus is “the Son of God.” This is something that the Father has just affirmed to Jesus at His baptism by John in the Jordan. The Father told Jesus: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased (Luke 3:22).”
Second, a contrast is being established. At the conclusion of Luke’s reverse genealogy in 3:23-38, Adam, the first man created by God, is described as “the son of God.” Applied to Adam, it obviously means that Adam was directly generated by God’s creative activity. Son of God, as the rest of the gospels show us, when applied to Jesus, tells us that He is of one essence of the Father (John 1:1-14; Colossians 1:15-20). Jesus is the new Adam, who successfully resists temptation in order to be faithful. He also, unlike ancient Israel, successfully negotiates the temptations of the wilderness.
The devil is, of course, trying to get Jesus to act on His own behalf. This is like Adam’s temptation from the serpent to feed himself with the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The difference is that the temptation Jesus faces comes in a wilderness in which He has no other food options. Yet Jesus knows that God wants Him to be in the wilderness and to rely on God the Father alone. Jesus refuses to take the easy way out of a temporary situation, knowing that doing so would have eternal consequences, for Him and for us.
4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”
Here, Jesus invokes the experience of Israel in the wilderness. He quotes Deuteronomy 8:3, which recalls how Israel had run out of food. The people were hungry. God, by His Word, provided them with what they needed with manna, something of which the people had never previously heard. Jesus is choosing to listen to God for life.
Here, Jesus invokes the experience of Israel in the wilderness. He quotes Deuteronomy 8:3, which recalls how Israel had run out of food. The people were hungry. God, by His Word, provided them with what they needed with manna, something of which the people had never previously heard. Jesus is choosing to listen to God for life.
5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 If you worship me, it will all be yours.”
Diabolos gained a foothold in the world when Adam and Eve fell into sin. In Luke’s gospel, we see how the kingdoms of the world operate differently from the kingdom of God. Many of the world’s kingdoms are overtly demonic.
When Luke speaks of kingdoms, he doesn’t have in mind just nations with armies. He’s talking about what might be called world systems, be they neighborhoods, patriarchies, matriarchies, companies, corporations, attitudes, mythologies, religions, etc. A kingdom exists whenever people operate under the reign of something or someone.
8 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”
Jesus, again, cites the Word of God from Israel’s wilderness experience, quoting Deuteronomy 6:13. God alone is worthy of our worship.
Diabolos gained a foothold in the world when Adam and Eve fell into sin. In Luke’s gospel, we see how the kingdoms of the world operate differently from the kingdom of God. Many of the world’s kingdoms are overtly demonic.
When Luke speaks of kingdoms, he doesn’t have in mind just nations with armies. He’s talking about what might be called world systems, be they neighborhoods, patriarchies, matriarchies, companies, corporations, attitudes, mythologies, religions, etc. A kingdom exists whenever people operate under the reign of something or someone.
8 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”
Jesus, again, cites the Word of God from Israel’s wilderness experience, quoting Deuteronomy 6:13. God alone is worthy of our worship.
9 The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here.10 For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you
to guard you carefully;
11 they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
Here, we see the cunning of the diabolical one. He cites Scripture, Psalm 91:11-12. But, these words are not a magna carta for stupidity, nor are they an excuse to put God to the test to prove a point. Over the centuries, people have tried to take isolated passages of Scripture for evil ends. We will be less susceptible to such challenges to our faith if we get to know God through His Word.
It’s also important to remember a fundamental principle of faithful biblical interpretation: Let Scripture interpret Scripture. This means allowing the whole of Scripture to inform our understanding of pieces of Scripture.
12 Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”It’s also important to remember a fundamental principle of faithful biblical interpretation: Let Scripture interpret Scripture. This means allowing the whole of Scripture to inform our understanding of pieces of Scripture.
Jesus once more invokes the experience of ancient Israel. The passage He cites is Deuteronomy 6:16. Here, Jesus refuses to do anything to prove His identity. He knows Who He is. He doesn’t doubt Who the Father has declared Him to be.
13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
The diabolical one hasn’t given up, although in the wilderness unlike Israel in the wilderness and Adam in the garden, he has been defeated.
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