Lent 1 [Luke 4:1-13] (17 February, 2013)

This sermon was preached at St. John's Karoonda at 9 am.  

Temptation. “Ooh, that sounds like a new ice-cream bar. Sounds good.” And I'd agree, but it's not the only thing to think of when it comes to this word. But the first thing that should pop into our heads when we do hear the word is: Jesus. Not because he is the source of temptation (he's not), but because of this very reading, and the Lord's Prayer which he teaches us.

Christ Jesus leads us through temptation and in the Church.

He leads us through temptation because he was tempted in our place. For us, to be tempted is #1 – to be a Christian. All Christians are tempted because they are Christians, and as long as they are Christians. To be tempted is #2 – from three sources: our sinful nature, the world, and the devil. God is not the source, but he does allow these temptations to happen, so that they may be overcome only in Christ. Without faith in Christ, our temptations would be too much for us. To be tempted is also #3 – not the same thing as giving in to temptation. This is obvious from our Gospel reading. Jesus was tempted, but he resisted the temptations of the devil. So temptation, as the Bible shows us, is a serious thing. So for those who are tempted, we must be armed for it. To be armed is to confess that:

Jesus was tempted in our place. For Jesus, to be tempted is something a little different. As the Son of God born of the Virgin Mary, he has no sinful nature. But the manner of his temptation is very similar –

He was tempted by the devil in the wilderness. To be tempted by the devil as he was reminds us of Adam, which is no surprise because Luke places the genealogy of Jesus at the end of chapter 3, and it ends with Adam. Then here in chapter 4 we have the temptation of Jesus. That's on purpose. But to be tempted in the wilderness is to be tempted just as the children of Israel were tempted after the exodus from Egypt. And both Adam and the children of Israel have something in common – they both are tempted to break the same commandments – the commandment of gladly hearing and keeping God's Word (#3), and the commandment of having no other god (#1). Jesus faced the same issues in his temptation. But another thing that those two temptations have in common is that both failed – Adam fell, Israel failed. But not Jesus. Where Israel was faithless, Jesus was faithful. Jesus is fulfilling what Israel was supposed to do in the wilderness; for us he is Israel reduced down to one person. He resisted the devil, and the devil left.

Jesus overcame temptation as true man in Israel's place and ours, and for our sake. As true God he was in no trouble from the devil, but as true man he obeys God in place of humanity, for the sake of humanity. When he had done so, the devil left. But he left, as we heard “until an opportune time.” That time was the Passion and death of our Lord. That's why we read this reading at the beginning of Lent – it points to the cross. The devil was very active in Jesus' death, through Judas. But there is another link: in the third temptation the devil takes Jesus to the highest point of the temple in Jerusalem. It's in Jerusalem that Jesus dies as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world. Jesus doesn't go to Jerusalem to have angels catch him (as the devil tempts him), he doesn't go to Jerusalem to be rescued at all, but he goes to be totally abandoned, to bear God's wrath against sin all alone, that we may be rescued.

And when Jesus resisted the devil, he did so with the same tools that we have: #1 – as we hear: “And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness ² for forty days”. We too are filled with the Holy Spirit because Jesus sends us the Holy Spirit. And #2 – every word that Jesus says to the devil is a quote from the book of Deuteronomy. He combats the devil with the Word of God! We also have the same Word of God! We have the same tools!

More important than that, the same Jesus who overcame the devil is the one who delivers us through all temptation in the Holy Christian Church. We may pray “and lead us not into temptation”, but that's because we don't remain in temptation, but are just passing through. Temptation isn't forever, it only lasts from the time Christ claims us through faith until, we pray, we enter into eternal life in heaven. That does still seem like a long time, but –

We're just passing through the attacks of our sinful nature, the world, and the devil. But we overcome them and win the victory only because of Jesus. That's the overcoming of temptation for us – as we pray in the Lord's prayer: “and deliver us from evil”. This is because Jesus overcame temptation, died to forgive our sins, and we belong to him.

Aside: [But this does mean that on earth we are never free from temptation, and as the saying goes “we stand today, and tomorrow we fall”. So daily we pray for the victory that Jesus has promised us, that he may drive back the devil from us. The more we try to do that ourselves, the more space we give the devil to attack. Jesus must do it. And we pray this part of the Lord's Prayer always right after we pray “and forgive us our trespasses” - because as often as we need the devil to be driven back is as often as we need forgiveness for the sins where we have fallen.]

And if we pray “lead us not into temptation” together in the Lord's Prayer, then in truth Christians pass through temptation together in the Holy Christian Church. This is true because Jesus overcame temptation in the place of the people of God, and also because the Church is the place where the attacks come (and because of our sinful nature, the place the attacks come from).

Israel may be reduced to one in Jesus so that he might actively fulfill God's Law. But Israel, the people of God, grows in Jesus (as he gathers in the nations by giving his Word and Spirit). By his Word and Spirit, Jesus brings about the Church, safely places those who believe in him into the Church. It's the best place to weather the attacks of the devil.

Christians pass through temptation in a congregation by living in our baptism, repenting and being absolved (and forgiving each other), hearing the Word read and preached, and receiving that same eternal life by the forgiveness of sins when we receive the body and blood of Christ in our mouths and on our tongues. But other than that, being a member of a congregation isn't important [That's sarcasm.]

We pass through temptation in the Church. “In the Church” is right, because temptation really ramps up in the Church (outside of the Christian congregation is easy pickings for the devil, to be cut off from the Word and fellow Christians is to be vulnerable). But at the same time, inside the congregation we are under serious attack precisely because the congregation is the place of the most protection. So that's also why the congregation is where the attacks happen, because the devil loves to use the members of the congregation as the weapons of tempting Christians into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice.

The devil quoted Psalm 91 to Jesus when he said, “for it is written, "'He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,' ”. If he even uses the Word of God, which is pure and holy, as a weapon to tempt, we can bet he'll use the congregation as a weapon. But that's precisely because the congregation is such a strength to Christians under attack – because God is at work in the church service: here we are washed, fed, taught, and loved. Here there is strength in numbers as we strengthen each other through the same strength we have received in the congregation from God. That's why I love the Church: she is Christ's holy creation, through water and the Word.

Conclusion: We should be concerned about temptation, but that concern should only chase us to one place: to Jesus. Jesus was tempted, but overcame the devil. Jesus was tempted in our place, that he may overcome where we fall. Jesus was tempted, but he would not turn aside from his journey to the cross, that through his death he may send his Holy Spirit to put believers into the Holy Christian Church to weather temptation and receive strength until, we pray, we pass through all the attacks into eternal life in heaven. Amen.