Perhaps once or twice in a century a truly titanic battle occurs in which the history of earth hangs in the balance. The D-Day invasion might be one. Both armies had invested many thousands of their men, millions of dollars worth of equipment and their very best modern strategies. It was a titanic effort. For quite a while it really was up in the air whether the Germans would be pushed back or the Allies would be wiped out on the beach. But gradually the tide turned. The Germans were pushed back. Without the incredible effort and sacrifice of those men on the beach, history might have been very, very different. But they prevailed. The battle was won.
This morning we look at another titanic battle. This one had no mass armies, just two solitary warriors, face to face. There was no technology involved at all. Perhaps no one on earth besides those two even knew it was happening. But a titanic victory was won for the kingdom of God. The forces of darkness were not yet defeated for all time. But on this day, they were forced to abandon the field of battle and hope for another day.
Last Sunday we saw the launching of Jesus’ ministry. He accepted his calling from his heavenly Father by asking to be baptized by John. The Holy Spirit came upon him in a moment of tremendous affirmation and empowering from God.
You might think that he would be so fired up by these things that he would head straight to Jerusalem to start reforming the temple practices and organizing against the Romans right away. Rent an office in a good location. Order fancy stationery and business cards with a catchy logo. Start building a mailing list.
But the Spirit inside him stirred him up to go a different direction, to fight a different battle first. If he was really going to be able to fulfill his calling, he would be facing tremendous obstacles. Was he ready for that? There would be one sacrifice after another. Was he ready for that? The devil would make every effort to deter him, to pull him off course, to get him to burn up his energy on things that didn’t matter much. Was he ready for that? Jesus’ first battle was not against other human beings, but against himself and the devil.
Would you join me in reading our text for this morning? It is printed in your bulletin. And the way I would like to do it is that I will read the narrator’s part. I’ll ask those on the south side of the sanctuary to read the words of the devil, and those on the north side to read the words of the Jesus.
1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished.
3 The devil said to him, `If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become a loaf of bread.' 4 Jesus answered him, `It is written: `One does not live on bread alone.'
5 Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And the devil said to him, `To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.' 8 Jesus answered him, `It is written: `Worship the Lord your God and serve only him.'
9 Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him. `If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here. 10 For it is written,
`He will command his angels concerning you to protect you,'
11 and 'On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'
12 Jesus answered him, `It is said, `Do not put the Lord your God to the test.' 13 When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time."
When I’ve read this in the past I’ve always thought of the devil as the aggressor here. But right now, I’m rethinking that. Jesus knew there were battles he would have to fight to fulfill his calling. He could have put them off, delayed as long as possible, started off down the easy road first. But no, he wanted his priorities to be clear, his will strong right from the start. He wanted to be ready for whatever came his way. The Spirit guided him here to confront the devil, face to face, to confront his own bodily weakness at the same time.
So, the Spirit led him to go out alone into the wilderness. The Spirit led him to fast, no food for 40 days. That is possible. In 1981, an IRA terrorist, Bobby Sands, went on a hunger strike in a British prison. He died on the 65th day. So, 40 days is possible, but you pay a price to do that.
And when the 40 days were over, the devil spoke to him, a very simple, seemingly innocuous suggestion. “If you are God’s son, turn this stone into a loaf of bread and have something to eat.” That seems just totally reasonable. And after 40 days without eating, don’t you think that his body was screaming out, “FEED ME!”?
But Jesus said, “No, there is nothing wrong with eating on other days. But this is the day when the Spirit told me to fast. And when the Spirit leads, I’m going to follow. Nothing is going to deter me, nothing.”
It’s interesting that it turned out that my sermon plan has us talking about fasting the day after our high school kids did the Thirty Hour Famine. There is nothing like fasting to force you to make decisions about what is really important to you. When your body is hungry, crying out, “feed me”, most days everything stops. It’s hard to say ‘no’ to your stomach. In our culture today it is getting harder and harder to say ‘no’ to anything.
But if you are ever going to accomplish anything really important with your life, you are going to have to learn to say ‘no’ to a whole lot of good and reasonable things so that there is room for the most important things. Fasting gives good practice at saying “no” to our bodies.
And this was a lesson that Jesus absolutely had to master. It wouldn’t be long before he would just be mobbed by people who were sick, hungry, lost and alone. The needs were way too great to fit neatly into nine to five office hours. The days would come when there was not time to stop to eat. The days would come when he was pouring himself out for the people so completely that his family came to try to bring him home and make him slow down. But he kept going. His body must have told him to stop many times. But he had already made the decision in the wilderness, with just him and the devil fighting out. God’s work comes first. And of course, nobody can work all day every day. God calls us to take regular Sabbaths, regular times of rest. But when God calls, we need to be there.
The day would come when the crowds were huge, but he sensed something was incomplete. I want to be cautious about trying to guess what was in Jesus’ mind, but I can easily imagine him looking at the huge crowds thankfully, but feeling there needs to be more. While many in the crowds still needed to hear the most basic message, a few were ready to move on to something deeper. No matter how much he poured out himself day after day, he was not going to be able to heal every leper and restore every sinner himself. And he knew his time on earth would be short. What should he do?
The temptation would have been to just go on being the hero. But he determined to press in and extend his ministry. One night while everybody else was asleep, he took off for the hills and he prayed all night. Have you ever tried to pray all night? Your body keeps shouting, ‘give me rest.’ It’s hard work! But he was determined to find God’s will, no matter what. And as he prayed the new direction came clearer. The next day he selected 12 disciples out of the crowd. He would invest in them. He would teach them the deeper things. He would train them to preach and heal so that they could spread out and multiply his ministry, so that it could keep going even after the cross. That wise decision, to back off from the crowds and make an intensive investment in developing more leaders, came to him when he prayed all night. God’s work comes first.
And then the day came when he was about to be arrested and crucified. He knew what was ahead. He had seen people crucified many times before. His body cried out, “No, don’t do it.” But he had fought that battle already years ago. Even through the flesh was weak, the Spirit was willing, and he went all the way to the cross. God’s work still came first.
How much the devil would have wanted to stop all this. But Jesus determined that he was going to be free to follow the Spirit, no matter what. And once the victory had been won in his own mind, the devil couldn’t touch him. The fasting got him ready for that.
And this isn’t a battle that only Jesus has to fight. Nothing worth anything is accomplished for God without some sacrifice.
We had a beautiful youth event this weekend with the Thirty Hour Famine. That didn’t come cheap. Nancy Hutchins and Betsy Musinski were here all night with a large group of teenagers. That’s not conducive for a peaceful night’s sleep. They missed meals, too. When God called, they were there and wonderful things resulted.
I loved the supplements to yesterday’s Northwest Herald on heroes. There was the man in Cary who had invested in children by making little league baseball possible. It meant that he was the one who was up at 5:30 on Saturdays getting all the baseball diamonds ready. It meant long hours other times getting things organized. How much easier it would have been to sleep in on Saturdays, to just veg out on the sofa and watch TV instead of all that work. But he did it for the kids. The volunteers ran food pantries, helped seniors with their taxes, visited in nursing homes, provide Christmas presents for needy families, helped schools get wired for computers, protect battered women, organize community events, provide rides to the doctor for people who can’t drive, and on and on and on. And none of it can happen without paying a price.
How far do you want to go for God? Are you serious about growing in faith, developing spiritual muscles, really being useful for God? That journey begins with an important decision to say “no” to the road of comfort and ease so that you are free to say, “yes” to God.
This Wednesday we begin the season of the church year called Lent. For centuries Christians have found it a good source of growth to practice some discipline, some way of saying “no” to less important things so that they find the freedom to say “yes” to God. Fasting of deserts could give you the gift of stronger will power. Fasting TV one or two nights a week could give you the gift of hours available to study or pray or serve. Fasting eating out could give you the gift of some money to offer to the Lord. Fasting complaining could give you the gift of a cheerful heart. Let God’s Spirit guide you to a fuller life. AMEN
