The First Sunday in Lent - Invocabit - March 13, 2011

The Church Season of Lent,
The First Sunday in Lent - Invocabit,
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (March 13, 2011)
One Year Series

Readings: 
        Psalm 118:1-13   
        Gen. 3:1-21       
        2 Cor. 6:1-10           
        Matt 4:1-11

+INI+

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the Gospel Lesson from the 4th chapter of St. Matthew, especially the following verses.

Matthew 4:1-11 (NIV)

1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” 4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” 7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” 10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” 11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

    It is no accident that Jesus finds Himself in the wilderness for forty days after His Baptism: The Holy Spirit has led Him there, because this is part of His journey to the cross. This forty days is part of His active obedience for your sake. Throughout the forty days, Jesus fasts. And throughout those forty days, He is tempted by the devil.

And remember that, although he is far too clever for us to deal with, the devil has a losing hand. He is Satan, "the Accuser" because all he can do is point out the sin of people. For a while, as we hear in Job, he could stand before God in heaven and accuse people of their sin. We may picture him as the prosecuting attorney standing before the Judge as he, mockingly says so-and-so deserves an eternal death sentence for his sin, and I have their list right here. Therefore, condemn him.  But it is a bluff, he does not have the cards, because on account of Christ, satan lost not only the hand, not only the game, but the whole of his battle.

But you know, if you think about it satan would have nothing to accuse us of if we didn’t have sins to be accused of; this is why the Accuser tempts us to sin, so that he can gain leverage for his accusations against us. And this is why he's at a distinct disadvantage in the Gospel lesson, because Jesus is without sin.

Therefore, the devil has no accusation to make unless he can make Jesus give in to temptation.  So the devil tempts Jesus for those forty days. He tries out those temptations of physical appetites, wooing Jesus to turn the stones into bread and fill His aching stomach. But this is against the Father's Word and will for His Son in the wilderness, so Jesus refuses the devil's suggestion. The devil tempts Him with power, promising to give Him all the kingdoms of the world without the suffering on the cross; this shows how weak the devil's hand is, trying to dish out the lie that Jesus needs his help for power. And the devil tempts Jesus to pride, telling Him to test His Father by throwing Himself off the temple; instead of all this suffering Servant stuff, wouldn't it be a lot more gratifying to make God jump out and save you? But once again, the sinless Son of God says no. He is not about self satisfaction or power or pride; He has become flesh for humble self-sacrifice and servant-hood.

The Accuser leaves as a loser for all of his efforts. Jesus has resisted all temptation and has no sins to be accused of, so there's no use in hanging around Him. The devil departs "until an opportune time." Three years later, he'll still have no ammunition against God's Son, but he'll opt for Plan B: He'll accuse the consciences of sinners so badly that they'll want the Savior destroyed. The Liar will induce them to speak all sorts of lies so that the Son of God is put to death.

You know, of course, that the devil loses when Christ is crucified. He wants Jesus dead, but the Lord dies of His own will and Christ dies as the sinless Sacrifice for us, dying our death for our sin so that we don't have to. At the climactic battle of the cross, your Savior Jesus Christ is the clear winner, and His victory is demonstrated three days later when He rises from the dead. For His death and resurrection, we give thanks, acknowledging that He has defeated the devil for us.

But don’t skip so quickly past this Temptation in the Wilderness; for already here, Jesus deals the Accuser quite the blow. By resisting temptation there, He remains the perfect, sinless Sacrifice; this means that, even while Jesus is the scapegoat sent into the desert for you and His crucifixion hasn't yet taken place, the devil's defeat is already secured.

So what Good News from the Temptation in the Wilderness do you hear from this reading?  It is that Jesus perfectly resisted temptation, and He did so for you. He did this so that, along with the forgiveness of sins, He could give you the credit for His perfect resistance to temptation.

Again, more Good News of this text: Jesus resisted temptation so that He could give us the credit for His perfect resistance. This is important, because this text is so often taught in a troubling way. The message here is often perceived as, "Jesus went into the wilderness and resisted the devil to see the example, to show you that it could be done. Therefore, if He can do it, so can you. So get out there and resist that devil. That's what being a Christian is all about."

If that is the message of this text, then this text has no comfort for you. The notion that you can do whatever Jesus did is ludicrous from the start, as you and I are not the sinless Son of God. If this is the message, it gets worse: What if being a Christian is all about resisting temptation and living a better life? If that is true, and you keep on giving in to temptation before you even know it, it means you're a pretty lousy Christian. If this keeps up, you will eventually wonder: Given the fact that I daily sin often and much, am I good enough to be a Christian at all?

So, hear then the Good News of the text: Jesus did not go into the wilderness to set an example that He expects you to live up to. He went there and resisted all temptation because He knows full well that you can't, and He wanted to do it for you.

Well then you might say, "Since Jesus resisted temptation for me, I'll just go ahead and sin." That's real smart. It's as smart as saying, "Since there's a cure, I think I'll just go ahead and contract some sort of hideous, often-fatal disease." Both have something in common-both hurt your life and intend your death. The Lord commands you to resist temptation and flee from sin for a reason: Every temptation and sin is an attempt by the devil to destroy your faith. If you just go ahead and willingly give into that temptation, then you're getting hooked by a sin that apparently you find attractive. The more attracted you are to that sin, the less you want to confess it and be forgiven. Eventually, yielding to temptation enough, the sin becomes so important or so seductive that you're willing to abandon faith and even forgiveness just to keep the sin. Be well-warned, for satan uses this like a frog-in-a-kettle masterpiece of murder. It happens gradually, slowly over time, so that the next temptation never seems all that worse than the one before, and the next sin doesn't seem all that bad. Then, when the net temptation comes, sin and satan is at work to destroy you.

Repent, and remember that the fact that the Lord did not, could not, sin does not make the temptations He faced any less real or tempting.  Yet this truth remains for you: Christ has endured all temptation for you. He resisted the devil in the wilderness with all the temptations that were thrown at Him there. He resisted the cries to come down from the cross and save Himself so that He might remain there to save you. And with the forgiveness of sins, He gives you the credit for His perfect obedience. He has washed away your iniquity in the waters of Holy Baptism. Where the devil seeks to accuse you, the Lord absolves you, declaring that you are not guilty for His sake. Where you are still plagued with the temptations of a sinful heart and flesh, He gives you His perfect, sinless body and blood for the forgiveness of all your sins.

That's your hope. It's a far better hope than, "I don't sin as much as I used to." It's far better because it declares that Christ did not sin, and He gives you credit for His not sinning. You will still face temptation, and you will succumb to it even today. But the One who has resisted all temptation declares specifically to you that you are forgiven for all of your sins in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

+SDG+