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March 9:
Call: Genesis 2: 15-17; 3: 1-7
Text: Matthew 4: 1- 11
Prayer: "Lent" (268)
Psalm: Psalm 32
What Tempts You?
Donuts, and cookies, and Snickers bars
These tempt me much, much more than fancy clothes and flashy cars.
That is my initial light hearted, but honest answer to
The question in the message title
A question that alerts us to the fact
that we will be spending our time this morning with
Tempters and temptresses
and most importantly, as a part of "The Tempted"
Playing the part of the tempters and temptresses are:
The serpent and Eve in our call and Satan in our text
Playing the part of "The Tempted" are:
Adam and (again) Eve, in the call
Jesus in the text
and us (you and I) in life.
Oh, every week we get together and we pray
"Lead me not into temptation"
But Jesus was a realist who understood human beings
And thus our prayer does not stop there.
It continues with a second part of the same thought.
This second part does not begin
With the conjunction "and"
- as I used to think it should -
It begins instead
with the conjunction "but"
which I used to question -
[Sometimes I wonder
how amused Jesus was that Jim Barnes thought he should edit The Lord's Prayer.
I certainly hope he was amused and not angered.]
But be that as it may,
This second part of this thought is not
"and" deliver me from evil
This second part is
"but" deliver me from evil
Jesus' choice of conjunctions implicitly recognizes
That all human beings will be tempted
And thus our prayer is
Lead me not into temptation
But when I encounter it and experience it
guide me away from my temptations
by delivering me from evil.
Our story from Matthew
(a traditional Lent opening scripture)
is about Jesus' 40 days in the wilderness
and his temptation by Satan at the end of that time.
But temptation goes back long, long before that
For in chapters 2 and 3 of Genesis
We learn the story of Adam and Eve.
Later in the OT we hear about David
In the creation story
God rests at the end, surveys what has been created
And declares it - including human beings
"very good."
Adam and Eve were part of that creation
And God declared them "very good."
And yet they fell into temptation.
And ate the fruit That God had told them not to eat.
David is - to this day - considered the greatest king of Israel.
God specifically selected him, anointed him, and guided him
And God's own son traces his human lineage back to David
And yet David dramatically fell into temptation.
By his dalliance with Bathsheba
And his attempt to cover it up by having Uriah killed.
If Adam, Eve, and David could fall into temptation
How could any of us believe that we are immune?
But Jesus shows us that we can resist and reject temptation,
For although tempted, he did not succumb to his temptation.
This is his story: [Matthew 4: 1-11]
Unfortunately, we have a tendency to read this story as observers
Certainly observers with rooting interests - but still observers
We become observers because you and I cannot relate to
Turning rocks into bread
you and I cannot relate to
leaping from a steeple, counting on angels to catch us
you and I cannot relate to
ruling all the land and all the people for miles around
and it makes us observers because
you and I cannot relate to being called "Son of God"
Thus the story becomes to us a story about Jesus
But not about us.
We are observers, spectators, and audience
But we do not see ourselves in the story.
But we can and we should.
We can easily find ourselves in this story.
Think about the first temptation: food and nourishment
Not something trivial, but something that Jesus needed.
It was not like offering a well fed me
Donuts, cookies, and Snickers bars
(I like them, but I do not need them)
Or offering Adam and Eve an apple (or whatever fruit)
While they lived in a bountiful garden
Jesus had fasted for days
He was hungry; he was famished; he needed nourishment
And now Satan offered him bread
By urging him to command the stones to become bread
You and I are tempted when we need something
Food, clothing, a house, money to pay our debts
Or buy Christmas presents for our family
In fact, you and I are often tempted when we just want something
But Jesus rejected Satan's suggestion
and instead gave priority to God and to God's words
Then Satan made another second attempt
The second temptation was fame
We know the names of
Harry Houdini and David Blaine,
Charles Lindberg and Neil Armstrong
People who achieved fame by their daring.
Can you imagine the fame of one
who threw himself down from the pinnacle of the temple
and was caught by angels?
Yes, you and I can be tempted by fame
Even though our daring may not equal Houdini or Armstrong
But Jesus again rejected Satan's suggestion
Refusing to test God to achieve such fame
The third temptation was an offer of power
Satan offered Jesus dominion over all he could see - in exchange for worshipping him
And most of us - if not all of us - can be tempted by power.
But Jesus told Satan to go away
For he would only worship God, the Father and creator
When we break these temptations down,
We see how we can - and have been - a part of the story
Despite our lack of divinity
For when we are offered things we need (or a person we love needs)
We are tempted to sell out what God has commanded
And too we are tempted to greatly to expand our definition of "need"
Turning "wants" into "needs" so we can justify them
When we are offered fame
We are tempted
For the idea of being famous
can blot out God's instructions to us.
And feeds our human egos
Rather than our sense of belonging to God.
When we are offered power
We are tempted
Often justifying our acceptance of it
"so we can help others"
And then using it to indulge ourselves
and developing the arrogance that comes with power
I believe that we are all good people
In fact, I believe that God would look at us and say,
"very good" like God said about Adam and Eve
But I also believe that now that we have disposed of
The specific examples in the Matthew scripture
(the 40 days in the wilderness, the temple pinnacle, and the high mountain)
you and I can relate to all three temptations
and not only relate to them
but also that many of us have fallen victim
to one or more of them
At some point in our lives
And thus once we see ourselves as participants in the story
We can understand that we too can avoid the temptations
The same way that Jesus did
By taking God and God's instructions seriously.
For we don't live by bread alone
But by God's words
we should not put God to the test
and we need to worship and obey only God
This is a lesson that propels us into the season we call Lent
And enables us to get the most out of the season.