Sermon 3/1/2020 “I forgive you”
Preacher: Jo J. Belser
Location: Church of the Resurrection in Immanuel Chapel, Alexandria, VA
Text: Matthew 4:1-11
Day: 1Lent, Year A
Today’s gospel says, “Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil… the tempter.” Our first lesson calls the one who tempted Adam and Eve “the serpent.” The Bible says the devil, the tempter, and the serpent are all the same, “the deceiver of the whole world.”[1]
Let’s pause right there. Do YOU believe Satan exists? You may be uncomfortable with this language. What if I ask this way: “Do you believe there is a force at work in our world that would lead us away from life and health, lead us away from God?”
I do. Satan—the force against life—keeps showing itself by motivating active shooters and genocide, by urging priests and other people in power to molest children, and by suggesting ways to turn us from true life’s purpose to amassing wealth instead—to name just a few examples?
I’ve been told people who believe Satan exists are “ignorant,” that evil is just mental illness. The problem is it would mark us all as mentally ill! Don’t we all have temptations to do what we know is wrong? The apostle Paul said this is the work of “sin living in us.”[2]
Today I want to think about Jesus’ temptations in the context of his long-standing opposition of Satan so we can better understand what was going on.
In ancient times, people explained the existence of evil in the world God had created this way: A divine council meets in the heavenly realm to administer Earth under the absolute authority of God. Council members role was “Sons of God,” sometimes known as stars in the sky or heavenly hosts, the ones who exist to praise God, to carry out God’s will, and to act as God’s messengers—in other words, angels.
As the story continues, when God created humans, he told the heavenly hosts to bow to humanity because humanity was greater than they. And one of the angels refused. His council role had been “the Satan,” the one who argued AGAINST those who were unjust. He led an unsuccessful rebellion and his punishment was eviction to Earth with those who had sided with him. Revelation 12 says Satan’s followers were a third of the angels, having been defeated by “Michael and his angels.” On Earth, where God had granted to all the freedom to choose him or not, Satan had the same license, and Satan chose to continue to oppose God.
This ancient world view is hinted at in Jewish scripture when it talks of Nephilim, the children of the “Sons of God” and human women.[3] This world view is seen when God allows the Tempter to test Job.[4] This world view is plainly spoken of in Psalm 82, which declares that God has “taken his place in the divine council” and “holds judgment” there over those who “judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked” over those who need rescuing such as the weak and the orphan, the lowly and the destitute. And finally, this ancient world view is described in Revelation 12, where God sends “his only Son,” the archangel Michael who had opposed Satan in the heavenly realm, on a mission to oppose Satan on Earth.
Today’s gospel tells how the meeting of these opponents played out in the wilderness. Right after Jesus had been baptized and a voice from heaven had proclaimed him both divine and had given God’s approval, the Spirit of God “led him” into the wilderness.
The epistle of James explains[5] that God allows our testing to produce perseverance in our faith. Perseverance is an essential quality for anyone who would do God’s will, especially for the Christ as he began his earthly ministry.
James added that we are tempted by our own desire, being lured and enticed by it; then, when that desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and that sin, when it is fully grown, gives birth to death.”[6]
So here Jesus was, in the wilderness being tempted by his desires. Because Jesus was famished, Satan urged him to use his divine power to turn stones into bread. There is something reminiscent of Esau here, selling his birthright for a bowl of stew, swapping what was truly important to his purpose here on Earth in exchange for something incredibly trivial. Scripture says, “Thus Esau despised his birthright.”[7] This is one of Satan’s tricks, trying to distract us from our life’s purpose.
Jesus’ second temptation was to avoid the suffering he knew would be part of his mission.[8] Satan tempted Jesus with a spectacular act that would have revealed him as the Christ. But Satan’s short cuts don’t lead to where we are headed. As John’s gospel puts it, “There is no truth in the devil; he is a liar and the father of lies.”[9]
Jesus’ last temptation was to obtain earthly power at the cost of “only” worshiping Satan. Notice Jesus didn’t say Satan didn’t have world dominion to give. Afterall, Earth is where Satan “has his throne,” as Revelation puts it.[10] Christ Jesus was here to defeat Satan on his own turf and rescue humanity from him. Jesus resisted Satan, saying we are to worship only God.
Jesus quoted scripture, and Satan did, too. Theoretically, WE could use scripture to resist temptation if we knew enough to make this method of resistance practical.
So how DO we resist spiritual temptation? Prayer, reason, and “just say no” or “stay away from it,” the old geographic cure! We also can focus on something else, consider the consequences, exercise, or just go to bed (the old “covers over the head” method).[11]
The epistles offer other strategies for resisting temptation. My favorite is “We come together to worship and pray so that Satan won’t tempt us beyond our lack of control.”[12] Here’s one: “Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will free from you.”[13] This is what happened in the wilderness with Jesus. After Jesus resisted temptation, the devil left. Perhaps this is why we are instructed to resist the devil by “standing firm in [our] faith.”[14]
We know we can succeed in resisting temptation because, as 1 John 4:4 assures us, “He who is in you [the Holy Spirit] is greater than he who is in the world.”
This is how the Christ won the opening round of his mission to defeat the Satan once and for all.
[1] Revelation 12:9
[2] Romans 7:15-20
[3] Genesis 6, Numbers 13, Ezekiel 32:27
[4] Job 1:6
[5] James 1:2
[6] James 1:12-16
[7] Genesis 25:19-24
[8] Matthew 16:21
[9] John 8:44
[10] Revelation 2:13
[11] These are from responses to a 2012 Barna Group survey, list from most to least cited by respondents.
[12] 1 Corinthians 7:5
[13] James 4:7
[14] 1 Peter 5:10
