Temptation
Matthew 14:1-11
by Jim Westmoreland
The story is told of four high school boys who couldn't resist the temptation to skip morning classes. Each had been smitten with a bad case of Spring fever. After lunch they showed up at school and reported to the teacher that their car had a flat tire. Much to their relief, she smiled and said, “Well, you missed a quiz this morning, so take your seats and get out a pencil and paper.”
Still smiling, she waited as they settled down and got ready for her questions. Then she said, “First question, which tire was flat?”
What do we do when temptation comes? On this first Sunday of Lent we stop to remember the story of Jesus’ being tempted in the wilderness. Let us turn to Matthew 4:1-11
“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.’ But he answered, ‘It is written,
“One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” ’
Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying 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, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.” ’
Jesus said to him, ‘Again it is written, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” ’
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour; and he said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Away with you, Satan! for it is written, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.” ’ Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.”
When Jesus was being tempted, he did not run, and act like nothing was happening. According to the scriptures, Jesus faced temptation head-on, with courage and with the Word of God in His heart and coming from His lips.
The following story appeared in The Denver Post: “Like many sheep ranchers in the West, Lexy Fowler has tried just about everything to stop crafty coyotes from killing her sheep. She has used odor sprays, electric fences, and 'scare-coyotes.' She has slept with her lambs during the summer and has placed battery-operated radios near them. She has corralled them at night, herded them at day. But, the southern Montana rancher has lost scores of lambs, fifty last year alone.
“Then she discovered the llama, the aggressive, funny-looking, afraid-of-nothing llama...'Llamas don't appear to be afraid of anything,' she said. 'When they see something, they put their head up and walk straight toward it. That is aggressive behavior as far as the coyote is concerned, and they won't have anything to do with that... Coyotes are opportunists, and llamas take that opportunity away.”
Apparently llamas know the truth of what James writes: 'Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you" (4:7). According to James, the moment we sense his attack through temptation is the moment we should face it and deal with it for what it is. That is what Jesus did, and that is what we should do, too.
We start our journey with Jesus this Lenten season amid a society of self-satisfied, self-indulgence. "Deny thyself, take up thy cross, and follow . . ." is a statement that has never been uttered in a TV advertisement.
"Enjoy yourself," that's our most popular slogan, followed by "You owe it to yourself," and "You deserve it." For some years many segments of the church have been in the grip of what some have called the "prosperity gospel." Got something wrong with your life? Want more out of living? Then come to Jesus and he'll get that for you. Jesus is there to fix what ails us, to go and fetch us what we want but can't reach on our own. Few "prosperity gospel" advocates are so crude as to promise us new cars, mink coats, and the like; the rewards promised are usually psychological or spiritual rather than material, but they are still rewards. They preach message that feels good and tells us what we want to hear. Christianity becomes just another self-help technique of getting what we want. Indulge yourself.
Our culture thus makes Lent one of the most countercultural of the church's seasons. During these 40 days we walk behind Jesus toward his cross. The work of God in our world is not to help us get what we want but rather to enable us for the first time in our self-centered little lives to get what God wants. And how does God get what God wants? Not through the use of economic, political, or spiritual power (the three temptations offered to Jesus in the wilderness) but rather through rejection and renunciation.
What Jesus said to Satan was "No!"
One of the toughest jobs of a parent is to have "the courage to look your children in the eye and say 'no.'" That is a particular challenge in a culture where most of what we hear tells us that our job as a parent is to work hard to give our children everything their hearts desire.
Advertising tells us that we are the most important projects in
the world. The only damage that you can do to your psyche is
by denying yourself what you really, really want. Self-care,
self-promotion, and self-satisfaction are what our much heralded
American "freedom" has come to. We worship the self. We have
no greater project than ourselves. Perhaps that's why Jesus
responded to Satan's temptations by mentioning worship. He
repeats the prayer that Israel knew by heart: You shall worship
only the Lord your God. That's a tough word to hear in a world
that tells us to worship ourselves.
In his book, Men at Work, George F. Will takes a close look at four baseball players. One of those examined is Orel Hershiser (of Dodgers fame), who talks about his philosophy of pitching.
“There are two theories of pitching,” Hershiser says. “One is that you try to convince the batter that a particular pitch is coming and you throw something different. The other theory, that you don't hear as much, but that I use, is that if the batter expects a particular pitch, you throw it, but you throw it in a place where he can't hit it.” That is: Know what a batter wants or expects and throw the ball almost there. If he is a highball hitter, throw it a bit too high. His eagerness will prevent him from laying off it, but it will be hard to hit well.
Isn't that the way the enemy works in our life? He knows just
what kind of pitch that we are a sucker for and then throws it
our way. But, it is just a little higher or just a little bit more
outside than where we like it, and most likely we will bite on it
every time. After all, it looks so good. It feels so right.
Bertoldo de Giovanni is a name even the most enthusiastic lover of art is unlikely to recognize. He was the pupil of Donatello, the greatest sculptor of his time, and he was the teacher of Michelangelo, the greatest sculptor of all time.
Michelangelo was only 14 years old when he came to Bertoldo, but it was already obvious that he was enormously gifted. Bertoldo was wise enough to realize that gifted people are often tempted to coast rather than to grow, and therefore he kept trying to pressure his young prodigy to work seriously at his art.
One day he came into the studio to find Michelangelo toying
with a piece of sculpture far beneath his abilities. Bertoldo
grabbed a hammer, stomped across the room, and smashed the
work into tiny pieces, shouting this unforgettable message,
'Michelangelo, talent is cheap; dedication is costly!"
The way that we handle our own temptations and lives will determine whether we have settled for cheap service or whether we gave all of ourselves in costly service.
So, here are some Lenten questions for us: What do we need to give up in order to give Jesus a chance with our life? What is that thing in our life that is in danger of taking over our life? What do we love too much in the wrong way?
The good news of today's Gospel is that Jesus says "No!" to Satan, not once but three times. He triumphed over the temptation to be who he was not meant by God to be.
And so can we. The good news is that Jesus is powerful over temptation, even our own temptations. He can give us the grace to deny ourselves, to take up our crosses daily and follow. Ask him to give you what you need in order to face the temptations in your life, to stop denying them and to stop rationalizing them. Now, that would be something to give up for Lent. Amen.
Century Christian Church, February 10, 2008 - Sermon by Jim Westmoreland
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