Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Holy and gracious God, give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation so that with our hearts enlightened, we may know the hope to which Christ has called us, the riches of his glorious inheritance among us, and the greatness of his power for those who believe. Amen.
Well, as the spoiler that Matt just gave us, we're reading from the Gospel of Luke this Morning, Chapter 4, Verses 1 through 13. You'll find it on page 835 of your Pew Bible. Let's hear from God.
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for 40 days he was tested by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished.
The devil said to him, if you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.
Jesus answered him, it is written, one does not live by bread alone.
When the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world, and the devil said to him to you, I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you then will worship me, it will all be yours. Jesus answered him, it is written, worship the Lord your God and serve only him.
Then the devil led him to Jerusalem and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, if you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, he will command his angels concerning you to protect you, and on their hands they will bear you up so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.
Jesus answered him. It is said, do not put the Lord your God to the test.
When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.
This has been the word of the Lord.
[00:02:03] Speaker B: Thanks, Joan.
So, as it's been mentioned, today is the first Sunday of Lent, the season of the Christian calendar that leads us towards Easter.
A season of preparation, a season of stripping away. And appropriately, the tradition is that this first Sunday of Lent has focused on the story we just heard of Jesus being tempted in the wilderness.
In a number of ways, this is actually a pretty disturbing story to me, I'll be honest. First of all, we have the devil appearing, which I'm sure puts all sorts of imagery and connotations in your head right away. Then we have the devil quoting scripture, taking the Bible out of context for their own agenda. Can you imagine anyone ever doing something like that? Okay, maybe we can. Disturbing. Not surprising, but perhaps what could be most disturbing about this story is that very first line, did you catch it? Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for 40 days he was tempted by the devil.
Now, why on earth would the Holy Spirit lead Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted?
And maybe more disturbing still, if the Holy Spirit is leading Jesus that way, does that mean the Holy Spirit might lead me that way? Because I'll be honest, I don't want to go.
When I said I wanted to walk with God, I was imagining we'd be, like, walking along some beach somewhere, you know? Or at the very least, walking through life together with the Holy Spirit leading me away from trouble into safety and flourishing, abundant life.
But that's not exactly what it sounds like when it says the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness or the desert, especially when the devil is prowling around out there going through the Bible with a pair of scissors.
But if we trust God, which Jesus seems to, and I want to, we have to believe there is more to this temptation in the wilderness.
For starters, I'm not sure if temptation is the most helpful translation here. The Greek word may be closer to test. This is a story of Jesus being tested. And I don't know if that makes it better or worse. I'm not a huge fan of God testing me. I'm not a huge fan of tests in general, but what kind of test is this?
When I was a sophomore in high school, I had a terrible, terrible chemistry teacher who was just completely checked out for most of the year. And I just struggled in that class.
And I know this story is going to be completely unrelatable to many of you because half of you are scientists or have PhDs. But, okay, for me, high school chemistry was hard. Okay, so one day we had a test, and about halfway through wasn't feeling great about it. I probably skipped more than I had answered, thinking, I'll go back to that one later, when all of a sudden the teacher gets up and walks out of the room.
I don't know what she was doing. I don't know where she went, but she was gone. And the whole class kind of came to this awareness.
And the whispering started and then the giggling, and pretty soon people were calling across the room with their full voice, hey, what'd you get for number five?
And everybody started leaning over and cheating on each other. And I'm sitting there thinking, I want to cheat, I need to cheat.
But I know I'm not supposed to cheat. And I just felt this real conviction in my core. So I put my head down and I finished the test on my own and I turned it in. I really felt this sense of if I'm faithful to God, God will be faithful to me.
So a few days later the tests come back and everybody has A's because they all cheated off each other. And I get my test back and you know what?
I had an A.
No, I'm just kidding. I had a C. I had a C. I probably should have cheated, but yeah, but you know what? I think the real test wasn't on the page. The real test was in my choices, in that moment when the teacher left the room. Or at least that's what I told my mom when she saw my grades for the class.
And she probably told me, no, the real test was the night before when you should have been studying.
But okay. When we talk about testing in the Bible, maybe our instinct is to imagine this kind of anxiety inducing academic test. Like God is sitting up there with a frown saying let's see if I can trip him up this time.
I don't think that's what God is like.
Maybe a better image. Speaking of chemistry is a litmus test. Now keep my grades in mind as I try to explain this, but a litmus test takes a special type of paper and puts it in a solution and it changes color. Whether it's a base or an acid. It's about finding out what something is made of.
Throughout the Gospels, this word is used again and again. Test. Sometimes Jesus tests the disciples, asking them questions to reveal what's going on inside them. Other times the Pharisees test Jesus. They test him about taxes and divorce and the greatest commandment. They're trying to figure out who he really is and what he's all about.
In the Bible. Again and again people face these kind of tests whether where their, where their true character, their true commitment and devotion to God, their true selves are revealed.
Sometimes it works out people act faithfully.
But more often than not, the Bible shows us pictures of people facing the test and revealing a brokenness, a sinfulness inside of them.
I mean, it starts on page three of your Bibles. God rests from creation on day seven and, and on day seven and a half, we have Adam and Eve being tested by the serpent. This isn't God giving them a test to try to make them fail. This is God allowing a test to reveal who they really are.
We should see echoes of the same story. When the devil comes to whisper in Jesus ear, did God really say, you must not eat from any tree in the garden becomes, if you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.
What comes out of those first people when they're tested in Genesis 3? What's revealed?
Distrust of God, hunger for power, blaming and accusing each other.
The test in the garden exposes their sinfulness, and they are sent out into the wilderness because of it.
Look at one more example. Just before our story of Jesus in the wilderness, Luke tells us that Jesus was baptized. He comes out of the water and is led by God into the wilderness for 40 days. What should this remind us of? The Israelites who came through the waters when Moses parted the Red Sea and then were led into the wilderness for 40 years.
In that story, the Israelites are tested again and again, and what's revealed? They grumble, they revolt. They want to go back to Egypt and be slaves. They make these golden idols. They are tested, and what comes out of them is unfaithfulness, this failure to live into the covenants God has made with them.
And yet in the wilderness period, God remains faithful to them. And through the testing, God is offering them opportunities to be shaped and, and molded into the people of God.
You can read through the books of Leviticus and numbers and Deuteronomy and see it all over the place if you can stay awake long enough. God gives them instructions about how to treat their neighbors, how to act with justice, how to repent for their sins. The day of atonement, the year of jubilee. Even as they face all this uncertainty, they are being shaped. Their time in the wilderness is actually really important to creating their identity.
Ultimately, though, even after reaching the promised land, they end up failing to be the people that God has called them to be. They cannot pass the test.
So when we get to Jesus here in Luke, chapter four, Luke is intentionally placing him right in the middle of this larger narrative. He wants us to see how it all fits together and what happens when Jesus is tested.
The devil says, tell this stone to become bread. Worship me and I'll give you authority over all the kingdoms of the world. Throw yourself off the temple and let God save you.
He's offering Jesus provision, power, protection, a shortcut, a get out of the wilderness free card that would bypass and avoid not only the 40 days now, but the road ahead that leads to the cross.
In the wilderness, the devil's whole temptation seems to be surely God wouldn't want you to be in the wilderness, right?
Isn't God supposed to make you happy? Isn't God supposed to keep you safe? And comfortable.
That's what we want to hear, right? That's the watered down version of American Christianity that we are constantly bombarded with. God just wants you to be a good person. And if you're a good person, then good things will come your way, which usually look like money and comfort and safety.
And there's something appealing about that, except that it's not the way of Jesus.
The way of Jesus leads into the wilderness.
The way of Jesus has meals with tax collectors and prostitutes. Even when it's unpopular. The way of Jesus turns the other cheek because it expects to get hit in the face.
The way of Jesus says, take up your cross and follow me.
I had a college professor who would say, Jesus doesn't die so that we don't have to.
Jesus dies so that we can learn how.
When Jesus faces this test in the wilderness, what comes out of him?
Faithfulness.
The Bible comes out of him. He quotes from Deuteronomy three times. He takes the story from Genesis 3, he takes the story of Israel. He takes a whole biblical narrative of people failing these tests. And he says, this is what faithfulness looks like.
The devil offered him provision, power and protection. And he says, I'll get my provision and my power and my protection from God, thank you very much.
Now make no mistake, Jesus deserves provision and power and protection. He should have authority over all the kingdoms of the world. Absolutely. But Jesus knows that the way he gets those things is just as important as the end result.
At the end of Matthew's Gospel, after Jesus has suffered through the cross and risen again to resurrected life, after time of appearing to the disciples, the gospel says this now, the 11 disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped him. But some doubted. Just as an aside, I love that Matthew includes this. Even now, after everything, the test is revealing a lot of doubts in some of these guys. And Jesus said to them, all authority on heaven and earth has been given to me.
What the devil tried to offer him, God the Father has now given him. He did not take the shortcut. He did not avoid the wilderness or the cross.
And now Jesus sits on the throne over all the world.
Jesus says, go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always to the end of the age.
People of God, if Jesus is with us, we never need to be afraid of the wilderness.
In fact, if the way of Jesus must go through the wilderness to the cross. Then the way of discipleship for us must go through the wilderness to the cross.
There's a reason why we, as followers of Jesus, go through this season of Lent to Good Friday before we celebrate Easter. Before we learn how to live, we have to learn how to die. We can't be born again until we die to ourselves.
When we're in the wilderness, as many of us have found ourselves lately being tested, there's that voice that says, surely God wouldn't put you through this voice that says, just take the easy way out. Ignore the wilderness, get around the wilderness. Distract yourself from the wilderness, because surely God just wants you to be happy and comfortable.
But Church, Jesus is in the wilderness and he's saying, follow me.
Do we trust Him?
This isn't about glorifying suffering. This isn't about trivializing the hardships we're going through. Please don't hear that. But I do wonder. Do we trust that Jesus has in store for us a joy that transcends temporary happiness?
Do we trust that Jesus has in store for us a life of meaning that's not possible without some important discomfort?
Do we believe that the spirit of God will shape us and mold us and disciple us in the wilderness in preparation for the promised land, the promised life on the other side?
Because when we go through our own testing in the wilderness, a lot of who we are will be revealed. And sometimes it'll be good and faithful, even through the hardships, praise God.
And sometimes, if we're being honest, it won't be.
What comes out of us will be broken and even rotten.
And maybe those times are even more important to pay attention to.
But take heart. The beautiful thing about Jesus going through the test is we get to share in Jesus test. We get to cheat off of him in a way. And because Jesus passed the test of the cross, conquering death, we get to share in life on the other side. We know how this wilderness ends, even when the test reveals our own brokenness.
Today is the first Sunday of Lent and Knox. My prayer is that we would use this time of Lent as a time of introspection, looking inward, seeing what is revealed in our hearts when we go through some really difficult tests.
Church for those of you who are in the wilderness right now, I urge you, don't give up.
When your marriage feels like a barren wilderness, press into it.
When you've been praying and praying for your sons and your daughters or your parents, and it feels like your prayers are just echoing in the wilderness. Keep praying.
When your wilderness is this deep, grief, don't run from it. The only way out is through.
Maybe your faith is a wilderness right now, and you don't even know what you believe anymore. But even now, when you can't see him or hear him, Jesus is with you in the wilderness too.
Whatever your wilderness may look like, I urge you to to invite Jesus in with you. Or rather, listen as Jesus invites you, because Jesus is already there.
And it'll be uncomfortable and it'll be messy and it will stretch you beyond your capacity. But that is when you find yourself leaning on God's capacity instead.
That is where you will find yourself being molded and shaped and prepared for. For this resurrection life that Easter promises.
Let's pray together.
Holy God, we confess we are afraid to enter the wilderness. We are afraid of what may be revealed in us when we are tested.
We cannot face it alone. Lord, we thank you for never leaving us alone.
We ask that you shape us, disciple us as we walk with you through the wilderness, holding on to the promise of life on the other side.
We pray in Jesus name.
Amen.
