Luke 4:1-13; Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13
1 Lent - Lutheran Lectionary Series C
On Being Tempted: Is It Satan or My Habits?
Rev. John Sattler
Holy Cross Lutheran Church
Indianapolis, Indiana
(Research has shown that lots of our daily activities are done by habit, like walking, driving, going down stairs, even responding in stressful situations. Are some of our sinful behaviors more from our habits than from satan himself? We like to blame satan for what we do, when most of our sin comes from within us. And the solution is only found in Jesus.)
The local sheriff was looking for a new deputy, and one of the applicants (who was not known to be the brightest academically) was called in for an interview. "Okay," began the sheriff, "What is 1 and 1?" "Eleven," said the applicant. The sheriff thought to himself, "That's not what I meant, but he's right."
Then the sheriff asked, "What two days of the week start with the letter 'T'?" "Today & tomorrow." he said. And the sheriff was again surprised at his answer, that actually made sense.
"Now, listen carefully, who killed Abraham Lincoln?", asked the sheriff. The job seeker seemed a little surprised, then thought really hard for a minute and finally admitted, "I don't know."
The sheriff replied, "Well, why don't you go home and work on that one for a while?"
The applicant left and wandered over to his pals who were waiting to hear the results of the interview. He greeted them with a cheery smile, "The job is mine! The interview went great! First day on the job and I'm already working on a murder case!"
In our reading today from the Gospel of Luke it's Jesus' first day on the job. He began the day with John’s baptism... where He officially begins His ministry as the Messiah (or the Christ)... which means He’s the One that God sent to be the Savior.
And then the very first thing He does after that is to spend 40 days in the Wilderness... which included this encounter with Satan.
The 40 days thing in the Wilderness is why we do Lent for 40 days... where the idea is that we spend some time, just like Jesus did, in reflecting on why we are here, and how much we need a Savior... that we’re NOT who God wants us to be, and that when we get to Easter, we appreciate what a great thing it is that Jesus actually came and lived for us and died for us so we can be sure of heaven.
And so the first thing Jesus did (after going public, so to speak) was to spend those days in prayer, and in union with His God...which is in itself and fascinating thing, that Jesus IS God and He’s spending time in prayer WITH His God...
But we’re told that while Jesus was in the Wilderness, that satan saw an opportunity to take Him on... and to see if he couldn’t poke at the human side of Jesus and maybe get Him to crack...and give in.
Cause sometimes I think we read stuff like this in the Bible and we kind of say to ourselves... why is this a deal? I mean, how hard can it be for Jesus to be tempted...how hard can it be for God to resist temptation? HE can do it, but I have a real hard time with temptation, and I don’t think God understands.
But He DOES!
I think it’s true that God DOESN’T struggle with temptation. As the creator of everything in the universe, including satan who was created originally as one of the angels... which are created beings just like you and me... God is so far beyond that, that satan doesn’t even try to challenge God. But he DOES poke at God where it hurts Him the most... as satan pokes at US... and he does everything he can to lead us away from God.
He does that because he wants to be like God. Which is the basic element of ALL sin... trying to be like God. God said don’t, but I know better.
That’s what really was going on in the Garden of Eden. When satan tempted Eve, the way he did that was by trying to convince her that God wasn’t trustworthy. He was not telling Eve everything. He finally won her over when he said to her,
Genesis 3
4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
He told her that she would be “like God”.... which is ultimately what we all want. WE want to be in charge of our life. God has given us some really clear guidelines for living this side of heaven, but we choose instead to live life the way we want.
God said love one another and forgive each other... but that person hurt me, and so it’s my job to make sure that person pays for what they did... I don’t trust that what God says is better.
So all sin is really trying to be like God.
But here’ the interesting thing about what satan was doing with Eve: he told her that SHE would be like God... when, in fact, what satan actually wanted was for HIM to be like God. He wanted Eve to do what HE wanted her to do...and to not listen to God ...or to trust God.
That’s really what’s behind ALL temptation...the temptations that WE experience, and what Jesus experienced... ultimately it’s satan’s attempt at trying to get us to do what HE wants us to do...so that HE is like God!
That’s why he was cast out of heaven in the fist place... the Bible doesn’t tell us a lot about what went on there in heaven, but the little we know it had something to do with satan wanting to be like God.
He still does. And the only way he can do that is by getting us to do what he tells us to do.
And what satan is doing here in the wilderness with Jesus is that for the very first time, satan has a chance to poke at—not the “Godness” of Jesus—but at the humanness of Jesus.
God has never been a human before. He made us, obviously, and He knows everything...including what it’s like to be a human. But He’s never actually BEEN a human. And so satan takes advantage of this chance to work on that side of Jesus to see if he can’t get Jesus to crack, or show some sign of weakness.
Just as an aside, let me mention that one of the places you will find that satan loves to poke at God’s people is during times of transition. Have you ever noticed that? He tries to find times when we’re distracted by something or weaker or more vulnerable... during times of stress or pressure... maybe during or after we move someplace... or in the midst of a divorce, or sickness, or a job change... or the birth of a child...
And he’ll use that moment, when we’re distracted, and instead of turning TO God, we turn away from God to focus on whatever the stressor is... never intending to wander off from God... but during those times of transition, satan always seems to find a way to make us irritated, or annoyed, either at each other, or at God, for letting it happen... and we get busy with whatever’s going on... and we just simply drift, and fail to see who is behind it, and who is keeping us distracted...and away from God and away from each other... away from those who can help us walk through this transition (whatever it is).
When couples get divorced, I’ll be honest, I worry more about what’s going to happen to them (and to their kids) spiritually, than I am what’s going to happen emotionally. Satan loves those moments.
And that’s why the Bible tells us that satan gets really bold here in the Wilderness with Jesus. Satan tried to do what he could when Jesus was born, by trying to get Herod to kills all the babies in Bethlehem.
But you don’t hear anything about satan in the life of Jesus until this time of transition into His public ministry as the Christ. Satan was prowling around like a roaring lion, waiting for just the right moment to see if he couldn’t get Jesus to crack... or show some sign of weakness.
And the temptations that satan used on Jesus, are probably not the same ones that you and I face. I have never been tempted to turn rocks into bread. Or to jump off a pinnacle of the temple.... although I have jumped out of a plane! But I did it with a parachute... I wasn’t just hoping that angels would show up. Although I remember praying a prayer like that on the way up... that they make sure that the parachute actually works.
The temptations that satan uses on us are different obviously, but his motive is still the same... for him to be like God; as we give in, and do what HE suggests instead of trusting that God’s Word is the Truth and following God’s will in all things and in all situations.
Satan’s tactics to poke at Jesus are the same ones he uses on us. He started with the stones-into-bread temptation... which, to us, might not seem like much of a temptation...because there are no commandments against doing that. In fact, Jesus did a miracle later on where He DID make bread for 5,000 people. So making bread wasn’t the temptation. It was the way that it was presented. Satan said “IF you are the son of God...
Luke 4
3 The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread."
in other words, “At Your baptism, Jesus, God said ‘You are my Son’... so aren’t You interested in what that means? Do you think it’s true? Wouldn’t you have the ability to do miraculous stuff? Show me, Jesus, that You ARE this Messiah. You’re not just going to take God at His Word, are you?”
It’s the same temptation he tried on Eve, when he got her to doubt that God had told her the truth... and that God’s Word is trustworthy.
And you can assume that it’s one that satan is going to use on you too.
and like, I said, it’s the root cause of all sin... that God said one thing, but I’m going to do what seems better...
And it doesn’t have to be big stuff like alcoholism or adultery or drugs or murder or porn. Satan is really effective with more subtle stuff like trying get even instead of forgiving, or to hold bitterness in my heart instead of love... or make somebody pay for what they did wrong, when God said not to. Or even more subtle than that: when we try to convince ourselves that we’re better than people like that... at least we’re not murderers, or alcoholics, and we don’t do drugs or porn... so we’re OK. Satan’s at work there too.
It’s not temptation in and of itself that’s sin. Jesus was tempted obviously. What’s really critical is that when we are tempted, what do we do next?
What is our programmed response? What’s our gut reaction? Our habit?
I’m reading a book right now called “The Power of Habit” (http://charlesduhigg.com/the-power-of-habit/) about how so much of our daily life is lived by habit. We have to. Our brain needs habits in order for us to be able to function. Just about everything we do is habitual.
How we walk... you don’t have to think about how to move your legs and to lift your foot and bring it forward and to shift your weight. When you’re 2 and learning how to walk, your brain spends a lot of energy training your brain to do that. But now you don’t even think about it... until there is some disability or arthritis or when we trip over something... and then suddenly our brain has to move that thought to our conscious brain.
But if we had to think about every single movement or how we do anything, our brain would be so overwhelmed, we couldn’t get anything done. God designed our brains in a way that most of what we do is done in a small part of the brain that just takes over to free up our conscious brain, that takes more energy.
Try something once (just go with it here). Cross your arms.
Now do it the other way. You have to think about it don’t you?
Almost everything we do, we do by habit... or a series of habits. Walking, talking, eating, driving a car... how you get ready in the morning... and so God designed us this way so that we could function most of the time.
When you get to the top of a set of stairs, your brain already knows what this looks like and so the brain hands it over to the amyg-dala (part of the brain) to do that hard work of which foot goes first and how the stepping motion works, so that you can focus instead on any surprises that might change the habit, like stuff ON the stairs, that you need to avoid.
It’s a really cool function of the brain to help us handle all the decisions we face constantly everyday.
And if that’s true, then it makes me wonder how much of what we do by instinct and is NOT what God wants us to do, is more from habit than it is a temptation from satan.
Because not only is the good stuff habitual... but so are the things we’d rather change... and it’s why it’s so hard to change our habits...because it has been moved to that part of the brain deep inside that tends to work on instinct instead of consciously.
And so a lot of our sinful behavior isn’t really from satan (per se)... as much as it’s just the habits we have fallen into and developed over time...stuff we have done so much that it is just the way we respond by instinct without a lot of conscious thought going into it.
Like: Eating...eating the wrong stuff and eating too much... and
drinking...the habits we fall into with that...
swearing--something happens that triggers our programmed response and we just click into the habitual reaction without even thinking about what we’re doing... or what it means in our relationship with God and with each other.
And a lot of us try to convince ourselves that “that’s just the way I am”... “I’m just hardwired that way”... and so we blame our parents for how they raised us, or on some event in our past that makes us do what we do... or like Adam & Eve we blame each other, or we blame satan... when really it’s not satan’s fault. It’s not our parents fault. It’s just a habit... a sinful habit.
But habits can change. People start exercising, or they stop drinking, or they lose weight, simply by learning how to change their habits. And we can use habits to change how we respond when people irritate us... or what we do with our free time... or when somebody cuts us off on the highway.
A lot of sin is just habit. And we can change our habits.
That’s how AA works, or Weight Watchers...they just change what used to be habitual into something we have to do consciously... until it becomes a new habit.
You don’t think you have time to read your Bible. Yes you do... you have the same time as everybody else. But you have to move parts of your day into a place where you’re thinking consciously. You can change how you react to people, or when you’re under stress... or angry or tired.
And it’s easier than you think.
You CAN develop habits that actually help you avoid sin. You can develop spiritual habits that draw you closer to God and strengthen your faith, instead of living our lives in sinful behaviors.
I think Jesus responded to satan by habit.
He didn’t have to think about whether satan’s idea was a good one or not. ..as if, in His head, he’s weighing the options and trying to figure out if there’s anything wrong with making bread or jumping off towers... it was instinct. Because He was so “in tune” with what God’s Word says and what the Truth is, He could filter the temptation and immediately respond with what GOD has to say about that thought.
And the only way that can happen is if we’re constantly into God’s Word and reading it and studying it, and making it part of our conscious behavior so much that it actually becomes how we think and live and respond in every situation...so it becomes a habit.
there are good habits.. like what you’re doing here right now. Worship is a habit...Hopefully not a mindless habit... but a habit, or a routine, that is just part of how we live our week...every week... and it feels as weird not to go to church as it does to cross our arms the other way.
When we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “Lead us not into Temptation,” that is not a prayer that God would stop tempting us...as if the temptations we face are from God. They’re not. Most of our temptations come from inside of us. Jesus said:
Matthew 15:19
9 For out of the heart come evil thoughts,
The Lord’s Prayer is a prayer that God would help us not put ourselves in situations that cause us to sin. It’s a prayer that either we stay away from people or settings that trigger us to sin, or to develop new habits that enable us to be strong and to say no, and respond like Jesus would... in forgiveness and compassion and love.
I think the point behind all this is that we can’t lose sight of the fact that satan is real, and that he’s really subtle, and he knows more about how you work and how your brain works than you do...
But the cool thing is that, so does GOD, obviously. And most of what God commands of us in Scripture isn’t really as hard as we think it is, if we just learn to live by His Truth and learn to consciously make new habits that are formed around the Truths we have from God instead of what haunts us from our past or what we hear from satan and the world.
Satan is always going to be at work trying to be your god. And because of our humanness and the sinful desires that are part of our very being, we are always going to need a Savior... one that was also tempted just like we are, but was without sin... who is willing to offer Himself in our place to be our sin for us and to die our death, to give us the assurance that even when satan wins and we do give in and we live by habit instead of by the Word of God... that there is forgiveness and grace and mercy for each of us... in the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Let’s stand for prayer.
Lord Jesus,
We give you our thanks for remaining faithful and obedient and standing up to Satan in the face of very real and challenging temptations. And in your victory over satan, you have not only made our forgiveness possible, but you have given us the strength and the power to resist satan and to change how we live, and how we respond, and how we treat each other. Forgive us for giving in to temptation and for living more by habit than by the Truths we learn from You. Fill us with Your Spirit and help us to mold our lives and our habits around the life that you desire for us as your disciples... and through us to the world.
In your holy name we pray.
