Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Text (Matthew 4:1-11):
Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.” Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.
Prayer: Sanctify us in the truth, Lord. Your word is truth. Amen.
So – what’s your temptation?
One of the great Christian men of the early church once said, “Take away temptations and no-one will be saved.”
This means that the church of all times is a fighting church. Christians are people who pick up weapons – the weapons of truth, of love, joy and peace, of hope, of encouragement, of courage.
St Paul in Ephesians writes about what it means to fight as a Christian. He says: “Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.”
Now if there’s a war or a battle, you have to know who the enemy is. It’s no use fighting if you don’t know who’s side your on. Also, you have to know what your weapons are and how they work.
So who is the enemy? The enemy is the devil. And what does he target? He targets you. “Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.”
And what is the weapon? St Paul talks about the sword of the Spirit, which is the “Word of God.”
Now what did this old man in Christian history mean though when he said, “Take away temptations and no one will be saved”? What did he mean by that?
The devil only attacks those who are a threat to him. Every false religion promises a peaceful life, an easy life, a life where everything is sunshine and lollipops and rainbows. Even many Christians have promised that to people, and said, “Convert to Christianity, and you life will be easy.” But then what happens, Jesus lays upon them the cross, just like he lays it upon every Christian, and then the devil comes, and says “If you are a child of God, this shouldn’t be happening. You’ve got the wrong religion. You’re on the wrong bus – atheism will make you a lot happier, Buddhism will make you a lot happier, in fact, anything will make you happier except Jesus Christ.” Put simply the devil doesn’t bother with people who are already his.
Don’t forget though, that St Paul does say, “Rejoice in the Lord always.” It’s not like Christianity is a morbid dreary religion with no happiness. But he also says, “We rejoice in our sufferings.” In Acts 5, we read that the disciples rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonour for the same of Jesus.
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In our reading today, we read Jesus was being tempted by the devil.
This is what we read:
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
Notice that it was the Spirit who led Jesus into the wilderness. When we are tempted by the devil, we are put there by the Holy Spirit, so that we may share in the holiness of God. The devil didn’t lead Jesus there, but it was the Holy Spirit. This is a great comfort, because we know right from the start, in the time of temptation that the Holy Spirit is there leading us. And where is Jesus? He’s in the wilderness. He’s in the desert – a desolate place, a deserted place, a lonely place.
We read on:
And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.
It’s hard to know here whether or not Jesus drank any water at all, or whether or nor it humanly possible to fast for this long without a special support of God. Never mind, what is the important thing here is that he fasted and he was hungry. The number forty is also significant: Moses was on Mt Sinai for forty days and forty nights. The people of Israel were wandering around in the wilderness for forty years. And there’s all sorts of other occurrences of the number forty in the bible. We are now in the season of Lent, which is forty days long, and there are also forty days from the time when Jesus rose from the dead and when he ascended into heaven.
Now when it comes to fasting for yourself, you might have thought about giving something up for Lent, or something like that.
The Augsburg Confession, which is one of the founding confessions of the Lutherans Church, says: “Our adversaries object by accusing our teachers of being against discipline and the subduing of the flesh. [In other words, at the time of the reformation, the Catholic accused the Lutherans of being lazy and accused Lutheran pastors of encouraging their congregations to be lazy. It goes on to say:] Just the opposite is true, as can be learned from our teachers’ writings. They have always taught that Christians are to bear the cross by enduring afflictions. This is genuine and sincere subduing of the flesh, to be crucified with Christ through various afflictions. Furthermore, they teach that every Christian ought to train and subdue himself with bodily restraints, or bodily exercises and labours. Then neither over-indulgence nor laziness may tempt him to sin. But [we] do not teach that we may merit grace or make satisfaction for sins by such exercises. [In other words: we do not discipline ourselves to earn something from God by it.] Such outward discipline ought to be taught at all times, not only on a few days.”
Also St Paul says to Timothy: “Train yourself in godliness, for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.”
Now, back to our gospel reading… we read:
And the tempter came and said to [Jesus], “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Now as we read before, the devil comes and speaks three temptations to Jesus. And today, we are not going to focus so much on what these temptations actually are. Instead, I want us to look at how the devil tempts him, and how Jesus counterattacks him.
Each of these temptations that the devil speaks to Jesus begin with these words: “If you are the Son of God…”
And each time Jesus responds with the words: “It is written…”
Each time the devil calls Jesus identity into question. He wants Jesus to doubt that he is truly the Son of God. He wants Jesus to prove that he is the Son of God.
And each time, Jesus refuses to prove anything, but he quotes the Scripture. “It is written…”
And for us, all of our temptations begin with, “If you were a true Christian, you would…” “If you were a real church, you would…” “If you were a real pastor, you would…”
And each of us have to deflect all of these attacks of the devil with the words, “It is written…”
As Christians in the 21st century, we are constantly under attack because we are seen as a thing of the past. We are seen as a boring, irrelevant thing from yesterday.
We are always being asked to drag ourselves out from the past and be modern, be relevant. And it’s amazing how often Christians, pastors, bishops are told how relevant, how modern, how refreshing they are when they deny that Jesus was born of a virgin, when they deny that he rose from the dead, and when they deny that there is any need for the forgiveness of sins.
But we are suffering from one thing: many Christians today don’t know what’s written. One of the first things I remember being told at the seminary was, “Read the bible as much as possible. You have to be as much of an expert on the bible as can possibly be. You’re people will expect it of you even if they don’t say it of you.”
And the same goes for you. Read the bible and learn it. Learn every page, every word. Nit-pick and be pernickety. Ask every question there can possibly be asked. Nothing is insignificant – nothing is irrelevant. There is no easy road to the growth and the strength of Christianity.
There is a temptation as well to educate young people and children in just the bare basics of Christianity. People say, “They don’t need to know that, all they need to know is x, y and z.” Many children throughout the country are being taught close to nothing of what the bible says, but instead are being taught “how to pray.” It simply isn’t good enough – it’s not a solid foundation. Jesus said, “Teaching them everything I have commanded you.” There is only one response to the devil, and that is: “it is written.”
It is not good enough to say, “I have Jesus in my heart.” You need to say, “It is written that Jesus promises to live there.”
It is not good enough to say, “God is love.” You need to say, “It is written, “God is love.””
You can’t fight the devil with your own opinions. You can only fight him with the word of God.
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There’s a movie that I always used to like called “Fiddler on the roof.” In the movie, there is an old Jewish man, who often says to people, “as the good book says.” At the same time, he goes outside and often has a talk to God. At one time he says to God, “As the good book says… Hang on a minute, Why should I be telling you what the good book says!”
Now, Jesus is the Word of God. Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is actually truly God. And nevertheless, isn’t it strange that in our reading even he doesn’t fight the devil with this power that belongs to him – even he doesn’t fight the devil with his own authority. He fights the devil with the words of Scripture. And if it’s good enough for Jesus, it should be good enough for us.
So remember these words, “It is written…”
It is written, The words of the Lord are Spirit and life, and I have heard it for myself.
It is written, I baptise you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
It is written, I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
It is written, Take and eat, this is my body given for you. Take and drink, this is my blood shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.
It is written, I give to my sheep eternal life, they shall never perish neither shall anyone pluck them out of my hand.
It is written, The very hairs of your head are numbered.
It is written, I have written you on the palms of my hands.
It is written, your life is hidden with Christ in God.
It is written, The Lord bless you and keep you.
And he will bless you and keep you, he will make his face shine on you and be gracious to you, he will look with favour upon you and give you peace, because, after all… it is written!
Amen.
Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you for your temptation in the wilderness. Have mercy on us, and strengthen us. There is no one else who fights for us except you O Lord. Give us courage in our lives, and fill our minds and hearts with your holy precious words. One little word can knock the devil over, one little word can send him running. Amen.
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