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Morning Message Text: Matthew 4: 1-11
Jesus Is Tested in the Wilderness
1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness 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 shall 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.
Morning Message:
The Lenten season is a time of self-testing. It can be a time to practice self-discipline. Why should we test ourselves? Too often people test themselves during Lent for all the wrong reasons. They do it with the thought that they are somehow pleasing or appeasing God. Testing is not designed to make you righteous; it is designed to make you faithful, and if done in the right frame of mind, it will draw us closer to God. This should be our goal during Lent: To practice ways of drawing closer to God. Fasting, giving up something for Lent, is unproductive unless through fasting you find a way to draw closer to God. I used to work with a guy who made himself completely miserable every Friday in Lent. We would all be ordering food for lunch, mostly fish sandwiches, although eating fish on Fridays during Lent is also just a myth. If you are eating fish every Friday, it is not helping you unless, you, like me, just like fish. But back to my poor miserable friend. He fasted on Fridays, and he just tortured himself. I asked him once why he put himself through this. His answer was very revealing about his lack of true faith. He said, “This is the only thing I do all year for God.”
So how can we benefit from testing ourselves? Philippians 2: 3-4 says: “Do nothing from selfish ambition or empty conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests but to the interests of others.” Let’s think about that for a moment in concert with the season of Lent. If we decide to take on a discipline, what is our goal? Are our motives selfish? When we fast, is it to draw closer to God or, in the back of our minds, does it just seem like a good way to look holy and maybe lose a little weight at the same time? When we fast or do any other discipline during Lent do we draw attention to ourselves and hope that we look good in the eyes of those around us? Can we find a way during Lent to think of others instead of ourselves? Can we look around and try to meet the needs of others, humbly, with the love of Jesus in our hearts? That focus on each other will glorify God.
I want to share this with you from one of my Lenten devotionals. The story of the Tower of Babel serves as an apt description of what has become of us and our world. We seek to make a name for ourselves, looking out only for our own interests and glories, and denying the life that God would have us live. Hence, we remain confused and scattered, unable to hear and understand the needs or interests of others, including the most vulnerable among us. Even the disciples of Jesus were not immune to that conceit. Seeking their own glories, they could not comprehend the glory that comes from service nor the necessity of Christ’s cross unto death. They could not make sense of why Jesus had to suffer and die on a cross. Can we make sense of it? Can we understand the need for sacrifice? Our scripture from Romans today explains it in detail, but do we understand?
How many of you our familiar with the rabbinic “allegory of the long spoons” (or 10-foot chopsticks in some cultures). It tells the parable of the difference between heaven and hell. Listen carefully, don’t miss this point. With such unwieldy utensils, people starve in hell because of their unwillingness to feed the others across the table. But in heaven, we feed each other and find joy. Think about that. Last week we said that God sets before us life or death and says choose. Here the same utensils that starve also feed. What makes the difference between the two? The hearts of those holding the spoons. Instead of focusing on feeding ourselves, the test is, can we in humility feed others knowing that in doing so God will make sure someone feeds us. Selfish pride gets us nowhere, save only death and despair. But Jesus came in great humility, living and dying for others. Jesus comes to feed us with life and love, even in our private little hells of failure and death. That is the heavenly dish of good news for all!
As we look at the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, let us do so remembering His mission to save mankind. His body was fully human; He felt pain and hunger just as we do. Forty days and forty nights without food. He was hungry! I can’t imagine, can you? He had the power to turn rocks into bread, and the devil, knowing the anguish Jesus was in, reminds Him that He can use His power and feel better. Why does Jesus resist? Because His mission was to save us. So He humbly, relying on strength from God, goes hungry for us.
Has anyone ever challenged you for your faith? You believe in a good loving God. Where is He when you need him? Why are you suffering if you are a child of God? If your God is so great and powerful Jesus, then jump off of this cliff and show everyone who you truly are. Why did Jesus not just simply show him? Because it was not the time or place for Him to show His power. He had a mission of salvation, and this was not how He would save the world. This would have been a distraction, so He just took the abuse of Satan and quoted scripture to him. Try it some time when temptation is getting the best of you. Well, you need to know scripture first.
If worldly gain is your interest, you are in the wrong place this morning. To me this seems like the silliest of all the things that Satan tempted Jesus with. It’s not silly for us. Satan can give you all that is his, this world, everything that your heart has ever desired. You can have wealth and all of the pleasures that go with it, everything that your mind can possibly think of. There is only one catch; you can only keep it until you die then all you will have is your soul and you will stand before a Holy God. My favorite message that Billy Graham preached was from this verse, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul.” Jesus created this world, so Satan was offering Him something that was already His. Jesus faced and passed this test of humility for us. The answer to the question that I asked at the beginning of this message is: The right way to test ourselves during Lent is to do something for others, to humble ourselves as our Savior did. That will draw us closer to God.
In Christ’s Love and Peace,
Pastor Bob
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