Friendship Lutheran Church Blog

It’s at http://friendshipcincy.org/pastor.htm.

From Man in the Mirror, Dr. Patrick Morley

“Meaningful ministry must call people to right things: surrender, sacrifice, suffering, and service; not to success. It must help people discover their identity and purpose in Christ, not in satisfying worldly ambitions. It must help them discover their spiritual gifts and calling, rather than endorse the pursuit of pleasure. It must help men and women discover God’s will rather than encouraging them to write their own script–a script that invariably includes a constant desire for more and more things.” (http://www.maninthemirror.org/alm/alm183.htm)

Our journey through Lent is about reflecting on our life and lifestyle.  It calls us into accountability for our actions as well as repentance.  At the base of it all, this is a season of remembering who we are – followers of Christ – and what is really important – faith in Him.

This season is hard because we are so far removed from this context that we cannot relate.  Here in America, our day-to-day lives are focused on materialism, individualism, and caustic suffering.  That is to say, we are focused on our jobs only for what it gives us (money, power, influence, etc.); we are focused on our selves, our family, our community, that looking to our neighbor can be difficult; within our system of belief is a God who is all loving and all powerful so when things go wrong there must be a cause, a reason for it, and when I cannot find a reason my faith in God disintegrates. 

We can break through this American norm by taking the time to reflect on what are priorities are and what they should be.  And then develop a plan to change our lifestyles to reflect how we truly want to live and act.  Finally, we act on that plan.  But more significantly faith is not about changing your life, but the lives around you as well.  Therefore, discuss how your life is being transformed this Lent with another person.  Your conversation may be just what they need to begin their journey of living more fully for Christ.

Prov. 23:17b-18 “Always continue in fear of the Lord.  Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.”  Then the wise king later adds in 29:18 “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”

What is God calling us to do and to be?  Our mission statement reads: “Linking Hands with God and Neighbor by Growing in Faith, Family, and Friends.”  I like this mission statement because it has a vision and an action.  Our vision is to link hands together with God and neighbor and we do this by growing our faith, family, and friends.  We have the vision, we have our purpose, so now what?  Now we need to act on it.  We need to step up and own it, you need to step up and own it.  A saying that I have used before comes to my mind, “I want to be a pastor with you, not for you.”  At the end of the day, I can do everything necessary to create programs, events, studies, and worships.  However, if you do not attend it is a loss.  If you do not participate, it is a loss.  If you do not invite others to join you it is a loss.  It is a loss because your faith would not have grown, your life transformed, or your faith developed in the passion of Christ.  It would be a loss because faith is a journey meant to be traveled with others and if you never invite someone to join you, what is it that you believe?  Why would you not want to share a peace that passes all understanding with another person?  Why would you not want to share the hope and love of Christ that lifts us out of our deepest and darkest despair with one who is struggling?  The question posed to us by King Solomon in these two proverbs echo Martin Luther’s explanation of the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.”  God is calling us to partake in His Kingdom and we pray that we are able to participate in it.  We pray this because God’s reign is going to take place despite human failure.  Despite our inability and sin, God’s kingdom will come.  And for this fact we should fear the Lord.  Yet, our hope also rests in that future and we will not be cut off from it for we have been given God’s vision and purpose for our lives through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Deut 26:7-9 7 We cried to the LORD, the God of our ancestors; the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. 8 The LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; 9 and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

Indeed God has brought us to this land, to this place. A place full of hope and promise. If you were to take a moment and think of all the events that have happened in your life that have shaped who you are and how you have come to be in this place there would be stories of promise, hope, and expectation. And intermixed with those memories would be those, perhaps more pointed moments, of struggle, doubt, and hurt. It is in each of these moments where God has tested you, where the devil has tempted you. It is in each of these moments where we find ourselves, like our spiritual ancestors, lost in the wilderness and in desperate need of God’s guidance. God led the Israelites through the wilderness as a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. And then, He upped the anti a bit more. He wanted to push the faith of those who were following, because it is pretty easy to just go with the crowd and never really be impacted. So, he sent them manna from Heaven to feed them for one day at a time. God provided for their every need and desire, but in small amounts that required a great amount of trust. They were essentially lost in the wilderness, away from the comforts of ensured food, prestige, and perhaps highest on their list, security.

You see the wilderness, be it a dessert, jungle, the city, or your life, is a dangerous place. There are the predators and then there are the prey. There is a high level of uncertainty that food could not be found the next day, everyone has to work in order to survive, and no guarantee of safety. This sounds like everyday life, and at every corner of your life there is a potential for something to go wrong. Be it a direct confrontation with another person, nature, or machine. Not to mention all the other smaller organisms which disrupt life with illness and disease. Within such a place where anything bad can happen at any moment, we have a choice to make. We can choose to follow God’s guidance through the Spirit, or we can trust ourselves.

Our ancestors, the Israelites, did that too with the Mana. They were only suppose to collect enough for one day, yet there were some who collected extra – just in case.

The Greek word for sin is hamartia (ἁμαρτία) which was also used in Classical Greece by archers when they missed their mark or target. So when we sin, we are missing our target, our goal to follow Jesus. Jesus as shown us the way to live our lives, HOWEVER, like the archer’s arrow, we stray from our intended path which Jesus has guided us on. We have strayed from our intended destination, finding ourselves to be like the Israelites who longed for what was certain, what we can bring about ourselves rather than let God provide for us. So the definition of a sinful act is an act which moves us away from God; an act which does not come from God’s guidance and providence , but from our own. In the wilderness of our lives, when we do not trust God to guide us, when we do not trust God to provide for us, we are sinning.

And it is so easy to do. Sin is easy, that is why when we are faced with a choice to follow God or to not, it is tempting to not be obedient to God’s will and follow our own instead. As we face these temptations in our lives, and as we face the turmoils and afflictions of our wilderness, what can we expect as Christians to happen?

Today’s gospel reading begins with Luke telling us that Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit and led by the Spirit in the wilderness. Similarly, the Israelites were led by God through their wilderness. And we too are led through our wilderness. This is reassurance to us and reminding us that God is always present to provide guidance along our journey, if we but listen to Him.

Then Luke tells us that while being led by the Spirit Jesus fasted and for 40 days he was tempted. We know that Jesus was sinless and so he must have been obedient to the guidance of the Spirit. Yet, even in perfect obedience to the Spirit, the devil continually tempted him. For 40 days, the devil tempted Jesus. The Israelites wondered in the wilderness for 40 years. The number 40 is a chronological reference to a long time. So for a long time, a grueling persistent nagging of temptations, Jesus was worn down, mentally, physically, spiritually. Yet, empowered and encouraged with the Spirit’s constant presence Jesus was able to face the devil with in the strength of the Word for the final three temptations.

He was at the end of his fasting and was but a short time away from completing his Spiritual journey when Luke records the first temptation of food. After fasting for such a long period of time, Luke says Jesus was famished and the devil said to him: “If you are the Son of God, then command this rock here to become a loaf of bread.” Famished, starved, Jesus was hungry and knowing that food was but a word away had to be pretty tempting.

Have you have tried to go on a diet? It is hard because it requires the willpower to withstand the temptation of giving in to one’s desires. This is why fasting is a significant spiritual journey because it causes us to give up something significant in our life cold turkey. And it is difficult to deny ourselves something we are use to having, especially something we desire. This is why going on a diet is so difficult, we are use to eating food that is delicious and struggle with breaking our habits and overcoming our desires to eat those foods.

They say that the best diet is one that doesn’t make you feel like you are depriving yourself of the foods you love. My favorite diet was one that you ate healthy 6 days a week and on the 7th day you rested from your diet and ate anything you wanted…I tried that one once, in fact I’ve been on that diet now for several years. It works great. The first week I ate really health, lots of fruits and vegetables, then on my free day I ate all the ice-cream and Doritos I wanted. I started this diet a couple years ago, only I forgot to stop eating the junk food. So, maybe I’m the progressive plan.

When faced with such an easy, and accessible temptation, Jesus responds to the devil: “One does not live by bread alone.” Bread, is the basic needs. Jesus pointed out to the devil that he could do it easily, however, there were other needs being met by His fasting. Through his discipline his Spirit was being nurtured, his relationship with His Father in Heaven was growing, and He was living for God’s will by doing so. He could have easily made the stones into bread and ate, but he would be hungry again and the cost of doing so would be the sacrifice and disruption of His spiritual growth through his fasting.

After failing to tempt Jesus with basic need of food, the devil then tried to tempt Jesus with prestige by giving Him all the authority and glory of the entire world. But Jesus responds: “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.” Sure supreme authority would be neat, assuming everyone listened to you and you didn’t have to deal with all of the world’s problems. One nation’s struggles are enough, even one town’s problems can be overwhelming at times. I’m not sure this was in deed a very appealing temptation when you think about it. But that aside, Jesus tells the devil that He will only worship and serve God, which means, if the devil was telling the truth, that God does not have authority over the world. And this is inline with Jesus’ and His teachings. As we looked at just last Wednesday, the true treasure of life is life, it is not things that nature destroys with rust or moths, it is not things that thieves break in and steal. No, the things that matter most to God is not even your physical life on this earth as murders can destroy your body, but not your soul.

Recognizing the limitations of this world, that all things may belong to the devil, what really matters is your soul. This is why Jesus responds that what is more important than supreme authority and glory on earth is worshiping God and being obedient to His will rather than feeding our own desires for temporary, limited prestige.

The third and final temptation was one of security. The devil tried to tempt Jesus with basic needs, then with prestige and glory, now he tries to tempt Jesus to prove that God will save Him. Jesus, when proposed with this temptation, responds boldly: “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” God promises to protect us, as the devil points out. However, God’s will for our lives may not always be the same as ours. And as the devil points out, the world is his to command and control. Experience has made this evident, bad things happen all the time. So, Jesus responds to the devil by telling him that God is not a puppet God. He does not bend His will to suite our desires. For this reason we pray that we may live for Him and serve only Him. To do otherwise would be sinning.

These three temptations are theologically and spiritually deep. Their significances are imperative to understand if we are to understand how God is present with us in our wildernesses. Jesus’ last temptation was security and it reminds us that God has promised to keep us safe as we journey through the trials of our wildernesses. The second temptation was prestige and glory, and it informs us that we matter the most to God, and that the glory of this world means nothing when compared to our eternal life in Him. The first temptation was basic needs, and it reminds us that we are to rely completely on God who has promised to provide for our needs. All of this is coupled with the reminder that Luke gives us at the beginning of the pericope that the Spirit is always with us to strengthen us and give us what we need to make it through our temptations. We truly live in a wilderness. But God is there to guide us, Christ is there to redeem us when we miss our mark and stray from God’s path, and the Holy Spirit is always present with us to give us the strength we need to journey through our wildernesses.

AMEN

It’s at: http://friendshipcincy.org/pastor.htm.