"Spiritual Integrity: Not Caving In"
Pr. David Hewitt - February 24 & 25, 2007

     You know, religious jokes say a lot about what people really believe about things. For instance, let me examine a joke you may have already heard.  Picture Moses, Jesus and a very old man out golfing one fine day. Moses drives his ball and it bounced off a tree into a water hazard. So he parted the water and knocked the ball onto the green. Jesus drives his ball and it bounced off two trees into the water. So he walked on the water and scooped his ball onto the green. The very old man drives his ball and it bounced off a tree into the water, the ball was eaten by a fish, the fish swam to the surface and was snatched up by a bird, the bird flew upward and was struck by lightning, the fish fell from the sky onto the green, the ball bounced out of the fishes mouth, and the ball rolled into the hole. Moses turned to Jesus and said, "I hate golfing with your dad."

     Now that joke, funny as it may be, implies we are to view Moses and Jesus in a certain way, as superior to the typical person. Of course they both performed miracles, and Jesus was the Son of God. But they still were both human. We sometimes forget that, and, when we do, we are in danger of failing to understand key passages in the Bible, such as the one we are examining today - the devil tempting Jesus in the wilderness. It is easy for us to think of Jesus as only God and think, "Well, this temptation story, here, has a foregone conclusion; of course Jesus was successful in resisting Satan's temptations - He's God." But neither Satan nor Jesus saw it that way. You see, to be tempted means that there must really be a chance that you may fall for that temptation. Jesus knew there was a chance he could fall. He knew he was human, too. Therefore, let's realize that His temptation is our temptation, and thus His victory over temptation can be ours as well.

     You know, it's hard to claim to follow Jesus, walking His road, if we think He is so far above us, walking in the clouds.  One of my favorite prayers in the green hymnal asks that we see Jesus not just as "a sacrifice for sin" but also as "a model of the godly life"...so that we may "conform our lives to His" life. Jesus' faithfulness to God can be a model for us, as we allow His Holy Spirit to work through us. This is true in fighting temptation, in our struggle for spiritual integrity, though we will never be perfect.

     In looking at the 3 times that the devil tempts Satan, in Luke's version, it's helpful this time to look at the 3 temptations as of 2 types. I would describe one type - where Jesus is tempted to turn stones to bread and where He is tempted to rule the world by bowing to the devil - as the temptation to be powerful on our own - the temptation to go it alone. There is no doubt that since there are more and more people today who either do not believe in God or who believe in a distant God it is easy for many to think that they can go it alone. But, since we live in the same godless time, it is easy for us Christians to think we must go it alone, too, in our practical, everyday, non-Sunday lives. This godless view of life, where God is either not here or too distant to see us or be a part of things, appeals to the sinful nature that is rooted deep inside of us. If there is a way to be selfish, to go it alone without God, to trample on other people's rights and feelings, we will find that way.

     A child was asked by his Sunday School teacher to say the Lord's Prayer for class one day.  The little boy did well reciting the prayer but when he came to the line about temptation he said, "And lead us not into temptation," then paused and added, "because we can find the way there all by ourselves."  We will find a way. On top of that, while a large part of the temptations we experience arise from our own lusts, we need to recognize that there is also a vast spiritual realm that encourages temptation. St. Paul once wrote, "For our struggle is not against enemies of flesh and blood, but against...the cosmic powers of this present darkness." (Ephesians 6:12) I may be illustrating this sermon with some jokes, but Satan and his minions are no joke. We can only rely on God to guide us, which is why, when Satan offered power over all the earth to Jesus, Jesus refused by saying, "It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only Him.'" (Luke 4) The human side of Jesus relied on God alone to pull Him through many troubles. The same is true of you and me. When Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemene, just before His arrest and death, He was tempted to give up, to cave in. If it was up to Him, He really might have. But He became our model for being a disciple of God when He said, "Not my will, but Your will, O God, be done."

     But I find the devil's final temptation a particularly strong temptation for us Christians. Satan turns to Jesus for the last time, takes Jesus to the highest point of the Temple in Jerusalem, where he, the devil, also quotes Scripture, saying to Christ, "If you are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here, for it is written, ‘He [God] 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.' Luke himself, I believe, put this temptation last to highlight it, to make it clear to his fellow Christians that this was the greatest of all temptations for us in the church.

     What is this temptation? It is the temptation to have a misplaced faith. It is the temptation to rely on a religious faith, instead of a real faith. It is the temptation to use God, instead of to follow God. It is the temptation to have a faith that presumes upon God, rather than a faith that receives whatever God, in His own wisdom, decides to give to us sinners.

    Jesus saw through those devilish designs. He says to Satan, "It is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.' Do not put the Lord your God to the test-what kind of faith is that, the world says! What good is a faith in God that does not assume that God will automatically get you out of every jam? The world might compare this kind of faith to the "dumb person's parachute," you know, the parachute with instructions to "open upon impact"! What good is a faith, the world asks, that does not automatically protect you from harm...that doesn't completely guarantee a successful, pleasurable, trouble-free life?

     You know, when I first got here and became your associate pastor, I noticed something my predecessor had drawn - the pictorial logo for King of Glory - illustrating that Jesus, our king, wears a crown. But, I noticed, two crowns were drawn together - the expected jeweled crown - and other  crown there, the shadowy crown - the crown of thorns. There's a real crown of thorns hanging right over there. And what is that crown hanging on? What? [A cross.] That's right - a cross. Jesus knew a cross was ahead for Him - because He loved you and wanted to eliminate your sinfulness. As Jesus stood on the high pinnacle of that temple with Satan, He could see past Satan's shoulder to a little hill just beyond the gate on the edge of the city. He knew that one day He would be lifted high, then, too - but on a cross. The devil would be tempting Him there, too-not directly, but through the shouts and catcalls of the religious men standing at his feet, the Pharisees. In all of their false piety they cried out, knowing Jesus was listening, "He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Messiah of God, His chosen one." (Luke 23:35) As the devil had suggested in the wilderness, should Jesus "throw Himself down" from the cross, with angels rescuing Him?

     "If You are the Messiah of God"..."If you are the Son of God"...the words of the religious leaders and the words of the devil in His temptation are just about the same. Prove Yourself, Jesus. Prove Your faith. Force God's hand. Use Him-for what's a religion for?

     Jesus knew what a real religion was for - to serve God, not the other way around. You know, according to Luke, Jesus didn't just say to us, "Take up your cross and follow Me." He said, "Take up your cross daily and follow Me." (Luke 9:23) Jesus knows that daily you and I are tempted to go a different way...a different way and yet convince ourselves that it's Jesus' way, saying to ourselves, "Hey, I'm a Christian, if I think it's the right thing to do, it must be what God wants me to do." Did you catch that? Did you catch how tricky the devil is? That's what the third of the 3 temptations is all about. We are tempted, like the Pharisees in Jesus' day...like the Church leaders in Luther's day...to say, I'm a Christian, therefore, whatever I, a Christian, believe is right, God must agree with me."

     --And when, every day, we are tempted in that way, we are being tempted daily to lay down that cross, to cave in, and follow someone other than Jesus. "Narrow is the way," Jesus says. It's as easy for religious people as it is for non-religious people to fall off the path of discipleship. So, if that's the case, what should we do? How can we defeat temptation?

     Here, again, Jesus provides us, in His own life, with the model of what we should do...the "model of the godly life." The marks of discipleship that Jesus followed, we, too, should follow. We can pray every day to God, just as Jesus prayed every day to His Father, asking for His will to be revealed. "I do nothing on My own," Christ once said, "but I speak these things as the Father has instructed Me." (John 8:28) He received His instructions through daily and constant prayer. He listened more than He talked, when praying to His Father God. As Pastor Paul pointed out last week, God calls on us to open a prayer channel to God so that, first and foremost, we may listen to Him-a more important reason than just talking to God. So Jesus tells the devil that humanity "shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" -to our ears, in prayer.

     Secondly, Jesus defends Himself from temptation by quoting Scripture. "It is written," He says, again and again. But Jesus doesn't just say it - He means it. He means to follow what Scripture is telling Him to do. Christ can use Scripture as an instrument in His own defense because He studied it - again, His human side - studied it from childhood, and took what He studied and thought long and hard about how it applied - or could apply - to His own life. So He was ready for the devil. So, too, can we, as we, day by day, become students of the Word of God.

     Finally, Jesus told the devil that He would "worship the Lord...and serve only Him." (Luke 4) He would not worship Himself or anyone else - least of all, the devil! That means that Jesus would always keep in His mind and heart what we need to keep in our minds and hearts, as we deal with temptation - that we belong to God, and that, as God-followers, we don't lie or cheat or steal or manipulate or commit sexual sins or gossip or get lazy or selfish-that that is our central identity as a person - and that we don't have to prove to anyone else or to ourselves, that we are Christian by their standards - or even our own; we only follow God's standard. In that way, He becomes our Lord. Satan says to Jesus "If you are the Son of God, do this or that." Satan likewise says to us, "If you are a good Christian, or if you want to impress other people, do this or that bit of service." Like Jesus, we take our marching orders from God, and from God alone. We get our identity as good Christians only from our baptism into Him.

     Let me refer you back to our logo again. The crown of thorns here reminds me of what we call that room back there - "Cross and Crown." Note the word order. Cross first, then crown. God doesn't want you to try to wear the cross of triumph too early. He wants to form your character some more. He wants you and me to go through the cross, to get to a crown that's really worth something. With all humility, He wants you to triumph over the temptation to make yourself a god-tyrant...and over the temptation to make God the Father into a little genie in a lamp, that, at a moment's prayer, grants your every wish. Instead, He wants you to carry your cross and follow Him. He is both your Savior and your Lord. He is your Savior on that cross, taking away your sinfulness. He is your Lord as you carry your cross, as you learn what true godliness is really all about. Amen.