This Lenten Road

“The Holy Wild: The Wilderness Road”

Matthew 4:1-11

February 13, 2005 (First Sunday in Lent)

What a prayer we’ve just sung. “We fall down, we lay our crowns at the feet of Jesus.” Earlier we sung “Jesus, be the center”. These prayers, like any sincere prayers to God invite certain things. They invite God to do as we’ve asked Him to do. We’ve asked him to take from us our crowns, our pride, our stuff and get rid of anything that prevents us from following him whole heartedly. Then we asked him to be the center of our existence—the source, the wind. What we’re implying as we sing that prayer is that some things are going to have to be moved around so that Jesus can be the center.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t pray these things. I’m saying we need to pray these prayers recognizing the danger involved. It is, as the writer of Hebrews declares, “A fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb 10:31). But fall we must, if we’re to be called disciples of the Living God.

For many of us, the season of Lent is an unknown quantity. Evangelicals have traditionally rejected Lent for its apparent connection to the Roman Catholic tradition. But while our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters have observed Lent for a long time, its roots are deep in the rich soil of Holy Scripture. Today, more western evangelicals observe Lent than ever before. And this is part of an awakening to some of the rich, important and forgotten traditions of the faith.

The season of Lent is an important time in the life of the church. Previous generations walked through the forty days of Lent as a season of reflection, intense scriptural study, repentance, and evaluation. Evaluation of what? Well, of one’s commitment to Jesus. Lent is patterned after Jesus’ 40 day fast and subsequent temptation in the desert by the devil. During that 40 day period, Jesus was stripped of two of a human’s most basic needs: food and community—all for the purpose of clarifying, refining, and solidifying His commitment to fulfilling His Father’s plan.

It is important, therefore, that we begin this Lenten road by looking closer at that story. (Matthew 4:1-11)

¹Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Jesus had just come from the Jordan River where he’d been baptized and where there had been this other-world display of God’s presence when the Father spoke, the Spirit descended, and the Son was commissioned. The Trinity physically present on earth at the same moment.

It was for Jesus an awesome beginning—as baptism is for all of us. But as is often the case, things were about to get hard. It says “then” Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Consider this for a moment. Jesus was led by the Spirit…to be tempted by the devil. Notice that it does not say Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness and, what a coincidence, the devil happened to be there. No the Bible implies that something was arranged. That what was to happen was planned. It reads—forgive me if I crass, like an itinerary! Thursday morning, baptism, Thursday afternoon, follow Spirit into desert to prepare for temptation.

²And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. ³And the tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." ⁴But he answered, "It is written," 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.' "

⁵Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple ⁶and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, " 'He will command his angels concerning you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.' "

⁷Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.' " ⁸Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. ⁹And he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me."

¹⁰Then Jesus said to him, "Be gone, Satan! For it is written,

" 'You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.'"

¹¹Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him. (Matthew 4:1-11, ESV) Have you ever thought about what that must have looked like? Try and imagine it. Jesus has just suffered 40 days of hunger and loneliness, bested the devil in a bare knuckle scrap, and now there are angels ‘ministering’ to him. Ministering, what a proper, orderly word! These angels were sent to Jesus by God the Father. And I think that this moment was the prodigal Father running out to meet his long-lost son, yelling his name, throwing a rich cloak over his shoulders and ordering the servants to bust out the finest and richest for the feast!

Temptation is part of our journey as followers of Jesus Christ. Temptation is used by God to test our resolve, to test our commitment to Him and His way. Now, temptation comes in many forms, but one thing is consistent: temptation plays on our weaknesses.

If I’ve skipped a meal and I’m out on the road and I get hungry, it is a bad situation because I like fast food. And there’s nothing inherently wrong with liking fast food. However, on a tight budget, buying fast food whenever one gets hungry is wrong. Eating fast food for someone with a family history of obesity and heart disease and stroke, is generally a bad idea. So when I’m hungry and away from home, the temptation is to satisfy my hunger by hitting a drive through. After all, I’m hungry.

But Jesus was hungry. So hungry was Jesus that the stones started looking appetizing. So Jesus used his power to turn stones into bread so he could eat, right? No, he chose a better way: “Man does not live by bread baked in ovens, but by the bread of Life, the Word of God.”

Notice what Jesus did? Notice what guided his responses to the devil’s schemes? Jesus responds with what he knows to be true. He draws on what does not deceive: the Word of God. I bet Jesus felt differently. I wonder if he felt like jumping off the pinnacle of the temple because he felt like either he wanted to die or that the angels would save him and take him off this God-forsaken globe. But Jesus never acted on his feelings. Because feelings can betray us. Feelings can lead us to do and say things and live certain ways that are not Godly. But the Word of God is true and life-giving. And Jesus shows us that when everything feels bad, God’s Word sustains.

Imagine if advertisers tried to sell their product by encouraging prospective buyers to take some time to think before buying. What if magazine publishers put a wrapper over the cover that said, “We’d like for you to read our magazine, but we want you to consider that the pictures inside will ignite lust and serve to objectify women. So before you buy this magazine, think about the effects it might have on your soul.” Of course we’re never going to hear that because as a society what feels good is what we do—we’re not supposed to think!

As the church we’re in a bit of a pickle because we’re immersed in a culture that is pressing on all sides for us to bow to our appetites and feelings, while at the same time we’re urged in Holy Scripture to “be transformed by the renewing of our minds”(Romans 12:2). Act on feeling, or be transformed through the renewing of our minds. It would be so much easier to live in this culture if the Bible said “be transformed by acting on every feeling and satisfy your appetites”.

So what do we do about this dilemma? I think maybe the clue is in comparing motives. Culture’s motive, it seems to me, is self gratification—it’s all about me and my feelings and my appetites. The trouble with that is that we’re never satisfied by the things of this world, are we? We always want more. God’s motivation, on the other hand, is transformation. It says so: “be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

Transformation, now that seems to me to go beyond “what feels good”. Transformation implies complete change—transformation is like a heart quintuple bypass surgery. My friend Steve’s dad had a heart bypass operation last year. Before, he was tired all the time, and cold, and sickly. Before the surgery his colour pale and he was quite melancholy. But after the surgery, he’s a new person. He had energy, he had colour, and he’s strong and healthy. He has been transformed.

That’s God’s desire for us.

So where can we turn? Where is an example to follow? Jesus. Jesus is who we follow. But some say well, He’s God, of course he’s going to survive the temptations. But just a minute. It says that Jesus was tempted. To be tempted doesn’t there have to be some measure of internal conflict? A tension between giving in or resisting? The Bible does not say “Jesus brushed the devil off with a laugh.” It says that Jesus was tempted. That he suffered conflict between his appetites and feelings and the truth.

Jesus was truly human and therefore had to have been capable of giving in to temptation. If this were not so, his ministry in general is nonsense.

“The Gospel accounts of this crucial event are fairly brief, and can’t even begin to convey the agony of mind, body and spirit that Jesus must have felt. We can discard the mental picture of a tall, noble, clear-eyed, blond hero with an angel perched on his shoulder dismissing Satan with an airy wave of the hand. After almost six weeks of fasting in the heat of the desert, reviewing again and again the fatal implications of total commitment to his Father, Jesus, thin and weary must have come seriously close to adopting the way of the world and the devil. Material possessions, personal safety and comfort, and ultimate power were set before him like a three-runged ladder to earthly contentment.

In his weakened state it must have seemed a very attractive option compared to three years of celibacy, conflict and rejection, followed by one of the most painful forms of execution ever devised by man. Jesus didn’t give in to temptation. He flung scriptural truths at the devil like David flung stones at Goliath.

Jesus had to win this battle as a real man supported by God, even though he was God, so that it could be possible for him to say to ordinary men and women, ‘Be perfect, even as I am perfect.’ It is a mystery beyond mysteries, but, like many mysteries, it finds a home in the secret places of our understanding.

We followers of Jesus Christ will have to go through wilderness experiences. We will be asked to follow the Spirit into the desert to be tempted. God does this to test and purify our commitment to Him. He takes away things and people to see where our allegiance lies.

And we fear that in those times we will fall and fail. It feels awfully dark to give away the world and all that it might offer, but it is the beginning of the ministry we’re all called to as followers of Christ. Jesus was armed with the knowledge of the Scriptures, and so should we be, He also walked voluntarily into that desert. God doesn’t push people into the wilderness, but if we find ourselves there, and we will, he’ll suggest that the time as come to make the most basic choice of all.

In my own desert times I’ve seen the options lined up before me quite clearly. I’ve tried to dismiss the devil, with only partial success, but opportunities are still graciously offered to me by God, and Jesus died to bridge the gap between what I am and what I should be, so I remain optimistic.

Are you being led into a desert place? Are you in one now? Are you avoiding one? Where are you? Let’s pray.