February 25, 1996
Preface
Today is the first Sunday in Lent. Six weeks from today is Easter Sunday. I would like to give you a verse to use during these weeks and days before Easter as we join together in seeking to draw nearer to God. (Let me read the first few words in Hebrews 12:)
"Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls." (Hebrews 12: 1 -3)
I especially underscore those three words: "looking unto Jesus..." All through Lent let's make that the key to our Bible reading and prayer. I ask you to look to Jesus "in all his offices," as John Wesley would urge us. By that I mean remember that Jesus is always our Prophet, our Priest, and our King.
Jesus is our Prophet, who calls us to turn from any selfish ways and be right with God. Jesus is our Priest, who by the sacrifice of his life on Calvary forgives our sins, and brings us with Himself to God by his blood. Jesus is our King, who leads us in the way we should go— our Shepherd who loves us and cares for us— our Physician who heals us, makes us whole.
Will you try to do this? to remember all through the time between now and Easter to be "looking unto Jesus— our Prophet, our Priest, our King!"?? (With that introduction to Lent (as a six week journey) we look at today's lessons:)
I. AT THE BEGINNING OF LENT WE LOOK AT TWO BEGINNINGS
We look back to the Garden where it all started— and to the Desert where Christ's battle with evil began in earnest. The two "beginnings" are very much connected.
You remember the story of what happened in the Garden.
One writer called it "the Big Mistake made by the father and mother of us all before they had really gotten the hang of being human." In a Reader's Digest version:
God said, "Don't eat the fruit!"
They ate the fruit anyway. And the rest is history.
And so we have our first parents to thank, or to blame, for what we call "original sin," however it is that we have been tainted with it. We are all sons and daughters of an Adam and Eve who were tempted, and who gave in to their temptation. Every son and daughter ever since has had some version or other of a repeat of that loss of innocence. We know that story pretty well:
God said it.
We heard it.
We thought about it.
And we went ahead and did it anyway. Every son and daughter has sinned— except One.
But we also remember another story. This story took place in the desert.
The first Adam, and Eve, came into a Garden. When they failed in their test of obedience they were expelled, and the earth was cursed. The Second Adam, Jesus Christ, was tempted in a Wilderness.
Fresh from the baptism, from the glory of God the Father's wonderful words: "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased!," Jesus is brought into confrontation with raw evil. The ordeal in the desert lasted forty days.
That is one big reason why Christians have taken the forty days before Easter to unite in spirit with our Lord.
The temptations of both Adam and Eve, and Jesus were across the whole spectrum of human needs and desires. There was the level of physical hunger, which could be understood as the drives or appetites of our bodies. There was the level of emotional need and the desire for acceptance, the cravings of our souls. There was the highest level, of choosing, of deciding who will say what is right and wrong, the statement of what it ultimately means to be human.
Jesus was asked to prove he is God's Son by making stones into bread. He was asked to prove he trusted God's Word by throwing himself off the temple so angels will catch him. He was asked to compromise "just once" and avoid all the agony of the cross.
In every case, of course, Jesus refused to argue or reason with Satan. He had taken the role of Servant of his Father— and he uses the written Word as his guide.
By his triumph over sin, both there in the desert, and then on the cross, Jesus gave us the right and privilege of getting in on a new race of human beings. (John 1:12 As many as received Him, to them gave he power to become the children of God, even to those who believe on His name.")
We all carry Adam's genes. we know what it is to fail. Every one of us has lost innocence before God. But if we will, we can be sons and daughters of this new Adam. We can be born of the Spirit. We can all carry Jesus' genes— and we can know what it is to overcome temptation.
II. BOTH STORIES SAY TWO BASIC THINGS ABOUT TEMPTATION
All temptations begin with a question of God's Word, of one kind or other.
"Has God really said THAT?" That's the first approach of the wily serpent. In the desert Satan's opener was "IF you are (really) the Son of God all weak and hungry and wretched like this..."
The first line of attack will be to blur the lines— to confuse the difference between right and wrong— to question the Word of God Himself. (God HAS spoken!)
Treasure the Word of God! Listen when God wants to speak— even by humble means. Be careful how you handle the Bible! It is a very human book, and has been translated by very human people. But somehow the same Spirit who inspired it— and inspired it in ways no liberal OR fundamentalist can prove or disprove by merely humanistic means— somehow the Spirit is able to preserve that message of salvation so we don't need to err if we will listen.
The serpent is still saying "Has God SAID?" Ask your heart! You KNOW God has said!
All temptation, ultimately, is temptation to try to take God's place.
The second aspect of temptation is to say— even if God HAS spoken, HE IS NOT TO BE TRUSTED! I WILL MAKE MY OWN DECISION ABOUT RIGHT AND WRONG!
Adam and Eve fell for Satan's promise "You will be like gods to know right from wrong." Jesus, in His mission as God's Servant, remained totally obedient to the Father's will.
In Adam, Paul tells us, we all died. In Jesus— in his victory— we all (potentially) were made alive.
In Adam something was LOST— the secret of what we were supposed to be/become. In Jesus for the first time we get a picture of perfect humanity.
Humanity was recovered!
When Adam sinned all the earth was cursed. When Jesus, the Perfect Man, submitted wholly to the Father's will, and resisted temptation He was ministered to by angels, and all the earth was blessed.
But the message is more than just history— more than true stories: the message is as we look to Jesus we find help in our temptation:
III. TEMPTATION AND OUR PROPHET, PRIEST, AND KING
Jesus did not just TELL us how to defeat Satan. He showed us.
He did not argue or reason with temptation. In every instance he fell back on the written word of God.
Jesus refused to do the right things for the wrong reasons. Later Jesus would feed 5,000 people in the wilderness. After all, he had provided manna for the thousands in the wilderness during the Exodus. Making bread, or showing his power, becoming sovereign over all the earth was never in question, nor were those items the issue. Jesus refused to do the tempter's bidding, refused to step outside the plan God had for His ministry.
He was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin.
Look to Jesus in his offices:
As Prophet Jesus calls us to choose God's Word, His will, His way over our own. All of us have failed in the past. All of us have faced temptations great and small hundreds of times. Our Prophet calls us to recognize the Tempter in matters of the will— and to choose God's Word! God has spoken!
As Priest Jesus overcomes the sin that does so easily beset us. By His sacrifice on the Cross he has given us power to receive Him and become sons and daughters (John 1:12) of God. He is praying for you and me right NOW! We can overcome as we plead the merits of the blood of Calvary! God has stooped to lift us!
As King Jesus comes alongside us by His Spirit to "lead us not into temptation, but (to) deliver us from evil." Our King is a Shepherd King—a Physician King— a Presence! God is WITH us right now!
Prayer: You have taught us to pray— "Lead us NOT into temptation, but DELIVER US from evil! Thank You for answering that prayer— for showing how we can flee to You in our need. Amen
Hymn: 636 Jesus Lover of My Soul
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Dr. Russell Metcalfe is Pastor Emeritus of the Wollaston Church of the Nazarene. Permission to reprint or publish this material is GRANTED as long as the reprinting or republishing is not-for-profit.
You can access more of Dr. Metcalfe’s sermons at his scripturally indexed sermon archives web site. Now with MP3 audio sermons and audio bonus material. http://russellmetcalfesermons.nazarene.nl/Sermons/Sermons.htm
