“Identity”
Luke 4:1-13
A four-year old asked his mother: “Hey mom, what do you know about the devil?”
Quite startled by this question she replied: “What YOU know about the devil?”
“Well,” he began, “the devil talked to Jesus and the devil was mean.”
Then, leaning closer to her and dropping his voice to a loud whisper he said, “For instance, if we were at a store, and you and Dad were in one aisle, and I was in another aisle, and”—at this point his hushed tones became downright conspiratorial—“there was candy…”
…he paused for effect, “The devil would say, ‘You should take some.’”
At this point her son stopped.
Curious as to what her son would do, she asked, “Honey, if we were at a store, and Dad and I were in one aisle, and you were in another aisle, and there was candy, and the devil said, ‘You should take some!’ What would you say back to the devil?”
A genuinely sweet grin lit up the boy’s entire face and without hesitation he replied, “Oh! I would say thank you!”
It’s not all that surprising that a four-year-old kind of missed the point, but I think lots of us often miss the same point as well.
I know I do.
It’s much easier for us to say, “Thank you,” when temptation comes calling than to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit and the identity we are given as children of God and say:
“No.
I know in Whom I have believed.
I know Whose I am and therefore who I am.
I will trust in God and God alone.”
(pause)
Today’s Gospel Lesson is about what it means to be the Son of God…to do the Father’s will…
…and for us…
…what it means to be His followers.
This is the first Sunday in Lent.
And in this season of Lent we are invited to embrace an intentional way of living.
For the forty days of Lent, we follow the example of Jesus Who was “led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.”
And notice from our Scripture passage that the Holy Spirit doesn’t just drop Jesus off in the wilderness to fend for Himself saying something like, “Good luck! I’ll see You in forty days.”
Instead, the Spirit stays with Jesus, abides with Jesus, enabling Him to grow stronger through this time of testing and overcome it!!!
Back in Luke Chapter 3 we are witnesses to Jesus’ baptism and at Jesus’ baptism “the Holy Spirit descended on [Jesus]…” and God identified Jesus for Who He was: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
After this, we are given the genealogy of Jesus which traces Jesus’ lineage back to Adam…
…the first human being.
So, it is set.
Jesus is both Son of God and Son of Man.
Both Son of God and Son of Adam.
And now, going into the wilderness, Jesus shows us what it means to be both the Son of God and the Son of Adam.
Now, this is interesting.
This is really important.
Because as human beings—all of us are born as children of Adam, so to speak—like the human side of Christ.
Of course, Jesus was born of both God and humanity.
And when we become believers in Christ, we are born of the Spirit—and become Children of God as well as children born of flesh and blood.
As Paul writes in Romans Chapter 8: “[we] received the Spirit….and by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’
The Spirit himself testifies to our spirit that we are God’s children…”
So, how are we to live out our calling as God’s children?
Jesus shows us.
He shows us in our Gospel Lesson for this morning, and He also shows us through His entire ministry, teaching and healing.
He shows us by His humility, His self-less and unconditional love and He shows us by His death for the lives of all Who will believe.
He also shows us by His Resurrection, which He shares with those who are the children of God.
But, we will talk more about that part forty days from now, on Easter.
In any event, God has given Jesus His identity.
He is the Son of God.
And Jesus travels into the wilderness of temptation and testing in order to show what that identity looks like—what this Son of God stuff is all about.
He also shows us what that identity what this Son of God is NOT about.
Now, biblically speaking, what does the wilderness represent?
It represents the journey, does it not?
It represents wandering.
It can represent hardships, difficulties, doubts, fears, feelings of isolation, loneliness and yes—times of temptation.
It also represents a people who were led by God.
Remember that the Book of Deuteronomy records Israel’s forty years of wandering in the wilderness, and Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy when He declines the devil’s invitations and enticements.
It is in the harsh environment of the wilderness that the habits of the Israelites…
…the habits that were formed by being slaves in Egypt were done away with, discarded and new habits of learning to trust in God and live as children of God were formed.
And so, on this earth.
In this time.
Like the Israelites…
…We very much live in the wilderness.
We are traveling with Jesus to the Promised Land.
And along the way we are tempted, and tested but not abandoned by the Holy Spirit—not for one second--in order that we will learn to rely on God rather than the old human nature—our human nature—our fallen sinful nature, that would naturally give in to the temptations of the devil without thought nor without an alternative…
…that would naturally say: “Thank you,” to what the devils offers.
So, how does Jesus do it?
How does Jesus overcome the devil’s temptations?
For, certainly, they are tempting--indeed.
For one thing, Jesus knew His Bible and He knew His Bible in context.
Why do I say in context?
Because the devil knew the Bible as well, but the devil used it out of context—distorting it and using it to try and prove what the devil wanted it to prove.
What is that old saying, “You can make the Bible say whatever you want it to say.”
And that is true, if you are trying to deceive people.
So many churches and preachers are described as being Bible believing and Bible preaching.
And many, many are.
But anyone can pick up a Bible and tell people it means one thing when it doesn’t really mean that at all.
That’s how we get so many of these mega-church prosperity gospel folks who make it seem as if God wants us to be rich and powerful.
And they put on big displays of religious super-hero antics to try and gain followers.
They take the Bible out of context, distort it and tell people what people will want to hear.
Well, the devil temps Jesus with the same kind of stuff, trying to convince Him that this is biblical— “Hungry? Fill yourself up with all the bread you could possibly eat.
Get, take, look out for number one!
If you are the Son of God You can do it.
So, do it.”
But Jesus tells Him that REAL life is not about bread; it’s not about material things, it’s not about doing things just because we can, it’s not about just looking out for number one—real life is found only through trusting in God and God alone--be we rich, poor, well-fed or hungry.
In the next temptation, the devil takes the Scripture out of context again.
Claiming that the kingdoms of the world, all their power and splendor have been given to him and he can give it to anyone he wants—he offers all this to Jesus if Jesus will bow down and worship him.
The true context: Although, he is called “the prince of this world,” “the god—lower ‘g’ god of this world,” and the “ruler of the kingdom of the air,” is--the Bible makes it clear that he is fallen, remains under God’s Sovereign power and control, is the enemy of people who seeks only to kill, steel and destroy, he is a liar and the father of lies, his power over death has been defeated by Christ and his future is hell.
In other words, he has no true power, no authority, no splendor and certainly nothing to give to anyone.
He is not God; not even close.
And through him people can gain nothing…nothing but destruction, despair, self-hatred and terrible regret.
And the DEVIL doesn’t even give THIS; it is simply the natural outcome—it’s what happens if people think
that his temptations and enticements are what this life is all about.
Only God can give good gifts.
Only God can give anything.
Only God is in control.
Only God can be trusted.
Only God has power.
And thanks be to God for God is the only One Who loves us and can transform us and give us life!!!
Jesus answered, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.”
This is the only way to find life.
(Pause)
For the final temptation the devil quotes from Psalm 91…and totally misuses it and masks it’s true meaning.
He’s tempting Jesus to use displays of spectacle and put on some huge religious show in order to impress people for selfish ends to make them think He has God in His back pocket.
Jesus answers with Scripture--in context: “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Besides misquoting and misusing Scripture, what all these temptations have in common is that they are not about love for God and love for neighbor.
They are not about the self-giving, humble, all-encompassing, agape love of God.
They are about selfish love—me, myself and I—and nothing more.
And in the end, anything less than loving God and loving neighbor gets us no-where.
Jesus said to the Church—that is all believers—that is you and me—that is the human children of God: “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven”.
But what worth is a key if we don’t use it to unlock the door?
And what worth is a door if we do not enter?
And what is it worth entering if we don’t fling it wide open for all others to come in?
And that is exactly what Jesus inaugurated on the night He gave Himself up for us…
