I had quite a dream last night. Spring training hasn’t even started yet, but in my dream I saw the final game of the 2007 World Series. It was in Wrigley Field. The Cubs were winning in the bottom of the 9th. Two outs, bases loaded. Kerry Woods is on the mound, looking to cap a phenomenal year. Everybody knows he has the Cy Young Award wrapped up. Who should come up to bat, but Paul Konerko, for the White Sox, to cap an amazing season with a batting average of .418. The pressure is on Konerko. With a strikeout the Sox lose, to the Cubs. With an infield grounder the Sox lose. With a deep sacrifice fly, the Sox lose. Everybody knows Konerko’s going to be swinging to put it safely out of the park. Kerry Woods opens up with a fast ball, low and inside, but a strike. Konerko swings furiously to catch up with the pitch, but just tips it. Strike 1. Woods tries to trick him with a curve that goes outside, but Konerko doesn’t fall for it. The count is 1 and 1. Kerry Woods blows a fastball past him that just barely catches the upper inside corner of the strike zone for a called strike. They both know that Konerko has to swing at anything close to the strike zone. If he just stands there and watches a third strike go by to end the World Series, it would haunt him forever. So, Wood gives him 4 of his hottest fastballs in a row, each one in that gray space where the umpire might call either way. Konerko just swings to put some wood on the ball, hitting them safely foul, waiting for his moment to really swing at one. People are wondering how many of those fastballs Woods has left in his arm this late in the game. The crowd is on its feet and yelling for all it’s worth as they watch history being made in a truly epic baseball battle. Chicagoans will be talking about this game for generations.
And then I woke up, so I don’t know how it ended. But don’t worry. All you have to do is wait for October to find out what happens.
Today we will wrap up the gospel of Luke’s account of an even greater battle of the titans. This was Jesus, the Son of God, versus the devil, once one of God’s top angels, a battle that had been in the making for centuries, a battle with eternal consequences of life and death. The devil threw his best pitches at Jesus. And we know the results of this battle. Jesus handled every one.
Have you noticed how he handled them? He did the same thing with each of the three temptations. He didn’t try to argue with the devil. He didn’t try to build up his will power to do better. He just quoted scripture. And that ended it. The devil had to flee. That’s one of the values of really grounding yourself in the Bible. If you know clearly what God has commanded, it is easier to recognize the devil’s tricks. If you just aren’t clear on what God has said, then he’s got you.
Please stand for the reading of God’s word, from Luke 4:1-13.
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. 3 The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread." 4 Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone.'"
5 Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And the devil said to him, "To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours." 8 Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'"
9 Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,' 11 and 'On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'" 12 Jesus answered him, "It is said, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" 13 When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.
Jesus was the Son of God. But before even Jesus launched his public ministry, he went off alone into the wilderness for a character check, to be stretched so that he would be ready for all the temptations he would face once he went public. And the devil was all to glad to use the moment as a chance to take a shot at him.
We looked at the first temptation two weeks ago, the temptation to give in to the flesh, to put our own comfort ahead of obedience to God. If we will only obey
God when it is comfortable or convenient, then our service won’t be of much value
at all. Jesus passed the test. He chose to continue to obey God, even after 40 days of fasting.
Last week we looked at the temptation of power. God was going to work amazing acts of power through Jesus, healings, stilling of a storm, feeding large crowds miraculously, even raising the dead. How many times have people been seduced and corrupted by power? To be useful for God, our hearts must be set on being servants, never on using God’s power for selfish reasons or to hurt anyone else. Jesus passed that test, too. He determined to use the power of love and servanthood over the power of coercion.
And today we look at the temptation to impress people. The devil’s offer must have been tempting. He took Jesus to some high point that was part of the temple compound. He quoted him a scripture about how God’s angels would protect him. And then suggested that he should jump off in front of the crowd. The crowd would gasp, sure that he would be killed when he hit the ground. But at the last second angels would appear to catch him and he wouldn’t even be scratched. That would really get his campaign off with a bang. But to do that would be pushing God the Father to serve his desires on his own agenda. And any time we start down that path, our usefulness for God is just about finished.
This was a temptation Jesus would face many times. When he healed the man who was deaf, it would have been pretty impressive to stand the man up in front of the crowd and use his disability to impress people with his power to heal.
But Jesus refused to use anyone’s misfortune for public relations. He took the man aside and healed him privately and then told him not to tell anyone else what had happened.
One day there was a huge crowd and the meeting had gone overtime and there were no McDonalds’ nearby, and so Jesus prayed and, with the disciples they miraculously fed over 5,000 people. The crowd would have liked to see that one every day. He could have drawn crowds bigger than that anywhere he went if he just let himself get distracted, trying to give the people what they wanted (free food and entertainment), rather than what they needed (to hear the word of God).
He would face this temptation in conflicts with the Pharisees. Everybody knew that if you got the Pharisees mad at you, they could make a lot of trouble. Jesus could have saved himself a lot of grief by smoothing over his criticisms of them. But the narrow minded legalism and the spiritual arrogance of the Pharisees had really hurt a lot of people. And so Jesus spoke the full truth about them. And sure enough, the day came when they harassed him at every opportunity.
And how do we experience this same temptation, the temptation to please other people more than God, today?
All sorts of wonderful and important things get blocked in churches because we worry more about what others will think than we worry about what God will think.
Somebody makes a reference to a Bible verse or some important part of the Christian faith and several of the hearers have no idea what he’s talking about. The natural, and healthy thing would be to stop the conversation and say, “I didn’t understand that. Could you explain it to me?” That’s how we learn, through asking questions. But how many of those questions get stifled because we are afraid people will think we’re dumb.
One of my confirmands years ago said something very wise. She said, “If you ask a question you might look ignorant today. If you never ask questions you will be ignorant all your life.”
Don’t give in to that fear of what people think. Dare to ask your questions. God wants you to understand. And don’t be surprised if someone sitting next to you says, ‘Yeah, thanks for asking that. I was wondering, too.’
Sometimes when church leaders are discussing what to do, somebody uses that argument, “If we do that, some people will be mad.” And that’s always something to consider. But do you know what gets accomplished in churches that are always afraid to take any risk that might get somebody mad? Nothing! And you can bet that will make some people mad, too.
Before we ask, what will the people think about our decision, let’s ask, “what will God think about our decision?”.
We’ll feel this temptation when we see one of our brothers or sisters disobeying God in some way. Maybe they are gossiping. Maybe they are doing some dishonest business. Maybe they are lying. Maybe they are indulging in bitterness against someone rather than going to them and trying to work it out.
And we all know the pressure to just say nothing, to try to keep them “liking us.” I know I feel that pressure and I’ve fallen to it. And it takes work to learn how to do it and it’s sometimes a risk to step out and say something. But that’s just the moment when we can learn what is really of highest importance to us. If pleasing God is number one, then we’ll speak up for God’s standards. If pleasing people is number one, then we’ll bite our tongues and say nothing.
The early Methodist movement learned to speak the truth in love with each other and that was one of the greatest dynamics. People flourished and grew as they dared to speak about the things that really mattered in their lives. They learned to speak the truth in love. And they pledged themselves to welcome the truth when it was spoken to them in love.
Jesus had moments when he got wonderful feedback from the people he served. On the first Palm Sunday, as he came into Jerusalem, the whole crowd was shouting out praise to him. On their good days he could send his disciples out for ministry practice and they did really well. I’m sure that helped him keep going.
But then there were those other days. His disciples had arguments over stupid things. Pharisees disrupted his teaching sessions with heckling questions. When he healed the sick and fed them, everybody wanted in. But when he talked about the cost of discipleship, most of them just walked away. They abandoned him.
How did he keep going when he didn’t get the appreciation and the positive feedback that we all crave? He had already determined right from the start that first of all he would do what pleased his father in heaven. And once that was settled in his mind, he had the ability to endure right through all the fickleness of the crowds.
When your day comes when you feel like you just aren’t being appreciated like you deserve, that trying to please everybody just isn’t paying off, remember Jesus. Don’t worry about what people think. Worry about what God thinks and just keep right on doing what you should do.
The devil hit Jesus with three of his best pitches, pitches he has used to strike out millions of Christians who had gotten started on the road to discipleship. They were the call to serve the comforts of their own body rather than God, to take the shortcut to power of using coercion rather than the power of love, and the temptation to give in to fearing what other people will think rather than living by what God will think.
And Jesus faced him down and went on to hit home run after home run. And he showed us how we can do it, too.
It’s easy to say, God I’ll do anything for you. But then the devil starts tempting us to indulge ourselves and we start saying, OK God, I’ll serve you, but not if it means going out in nasty weather, not if it means missing my favorite TV show, not if it means having to cut back on eating out to be able to give more money. And if we give in to those temptations, each one narrows the room that God has to work in our lives.
But Jesus showed us that we can say ‘no’ to selfish indulgence. We can say yes to the word of God, which tells us that he will give us strength to do what is right, that he will bless our service and strengthen us every time we choose to do right. And each time we do that, the possibilities of what God can do in our lives expand.
The devil will tempt us to take shortcuts to getting what we want. Use gossip and slander to undermine people who bother us. Use harsh or critical words to defeat people who disagree with us. Gather a clique around yourself and get them working to fight against ‘those other folks.’ And pretty soon our habits of abusing other people have made us useless and even destructive for God’s purposes.
But Jesus showed us that we can say no to coercive power. He showed us the power of love, which heals, unites, and builds up. And each time we reach out for reconciliation, with encouragement, in love and servanthood, the possibilities of what God can do in our lives expand.
The devil will tempt us to worry about what other people will think. Will they think I’m a hypocrite for speaking out for Jesus? Will they think I’m trying to show off? Will they think I’m a fanatic? Will they think I hate them if I point out where they need to change their lives to be more useful for God? Give in to those fears and you’ll never be free to take a step of faith. The options for what God can do in your life will get narrower and narrower.
Jesus showed us that we can live for God, caring only about what God thinks of us. And God will honor us and bless us. And there will be space for him to do great things through us.
Work through these 3 temptations, and the doors of usefulness for God will be wide open.
Years ago John Wesley took some of these lessons and beautifully summed them up in a covenant prayer for the people called Methodists. I invite you to pray it with me now. And take it home with you and pray it every day through Lent so it can work into your heart.
A COVENANT PRAYER IN THE WESLEYAN TRADITION
I am no longer my own, but thine,
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee,
Exalted for thee or brought low by thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O Glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
Thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven. AMEN
