A Sermon deliverd to All Saints Anglican Church on February 10, 2008 at the Convent Chapel of St. Mary's Medical Center, Huntington, WV , based on Matthew 4:1-11.
Today is the first Sunday of Lent. Having observed Ash Wednesday in our small groups, I’m sure we have discussed what types of abstinence or spiritual disciplines we will observe for these forty days.
One of the things we notice right off the bat when we begin to practice a new intention is that no sooner do we start than we begin to fail. We are like Oscar Wilde, who glibly remarks in one of his plays, “I can resist anything but temptation”. (Lady Windermere's Fan, 1892, Act I)
In today’s reading from Matthew, we see Jesus confronting temptation and successfully resisting it. Since he is our great Exemplar, we want to be like him. Therefore it behooves us to notice what Jesus did in response to temptation from the Adversary.
Fasting and Temptation
We must first note that immediately after his Baptism by John, “… Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness… [specifically] to be tempted by the devil (Mt.4:1). This was the way God wanted Jesus to begin his ministry – to be tempted by his enemy right off the bat. Fasting quiets the mind and the soul, making us more open to God and heightening our spiritual awareness. It gets God’s attention, because it lets Him know we are serious about our intention.
Fasting also leaves us physically vulnerable. In a famous example of understatement, Matthew tells us that “…after fasting forty days and forty nights, he (Jesus) was hungry. (4:2). Jesus was spiritually in tune with God but physically hungry. The Devil knew that He was going to be a formidable enemy , so he was quick to try to undermine Jesus’ ministry with several temptations.
As we begin to consider this in terms of our own lives, I think we need to ask ourselves some pointed questions.
Three Pointed Questions
Do we even believe in the Devil? – That he is real and personal, that he hates us and has a terrible plan for our lives?
Do we believe that the Devil tempts us to sin?
Do we even believe in Sin and its real effects upon our spiritual life?
The Devil, our Tempter
Author CS Lewis tells us that:
“There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.” (Screwtape Letters).
Most of us don’t have the latter problem so much. Instead we wrestle with actually disbelieving their existence.
But to quote Hal Lindsey, “Satan is alive and well on planet earth”. He is a real personage. Lucifer, God’s worship leader, arrogantly thought he could take over God’s throne and rebelled against Him.
War ensued and God tossed Lucifer – now Satan, the Adversary, out of heaven, along with a third of the angels – all of whom now serve Satan as underdevils. Satan and his minions are real and they “prowl around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour” (I Pet. 5:8).
We need therefore, to “Be sober-minded and … watchful…, mindful that the Enemy of our soul does indeed try to tempt us.
For an interesting and entertaining study of the temptation tactics Satan and his ‘lowerarchy” employ read CS Lewis’s “The Screwtape Letters.” It will enlighten you as to how subtle our enemy really is.
Sin
In 1973, Psychiatrist Karl Menninger wrote a book called “Whatever Became of Sin?” He caused great consternation in many circles by asking whether we had become so psychologically oriented that the notion of sin had become passé. But I’m here today to tell you that sin
is real and separates us from God. Sin is any action or thought that goes against God’s will for us. It’s not just our actions – though these are extremely important, but our thoughts as well – just as Jesus told us when he said that even to look upon a woman lustfully was sin (Matthew 5:28).
Sin is birthed in our hearts and then comes to life when we give attention and energy to the desire of our hearts. “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.” says Jesus (Matthew 15:19).
Sin grieves the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:30) and Separates us from God:
“…your iniquities have made a separationbetween you and your God,and your sins have hidden his face from youso that he does not hear” (Is 59:2)
The Good News is that because we have been saved and adopted as God’s children, this separation is not eternal leading to damnation, rather it a temporary disruption of our relationship with God, that can be healed after we repent of our sin. Nevertheless, unconfessed sin in the life of a Christian can lead to very grave consequences, even death. (I John 5:16) “Then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” (James 1:15).
So….Sin is real, and it has real impact in our lives. Satan is real and He really does tempt you to sin so that you will be at odds with God.
The Nature of Temptation
Let’s now think a little bit about the Nature of Temptation. James tells us that no one is tempted by God, “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire” (1:14)
Desire is what tempts me. And what do I desire? I want what I want when I want it! - Whatever makes me happy, whatever I think I want, whether that be an object, an experience or a relationship – or to put it crudely: ‘Money Sex and Power” (see the book by the same name by Richard Foster).
Really, what we are talking about is Idolatry, that is: asking a thing or a person to do something for you that only God can do. This Idolatry has within it the seeds of self-sufficiency. I want to fulfill my perceived needs and wants my way – just like Frank Sinatra. I don’t’ care what God says, I want what I want when I want it! Temptation appeals to our basic desire to be self-sufficient and thus is a type of Pride.
The Blessing of Resistance
Now over against this basic desire to do things my way, God promises us something very good for doing things His way:
“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.” (James 1:15).
Successfully resisting Satan and his temptations brings us the Crown of Life – that is life in fellowship with God – Divine Favor plus human happiness, all that a human being could reasonably want.
So with all that in mind as prologue, let’s consider how we imitate Jesus in his resistance of temptation.
How to resist temptation like Jesus:
Fast, Pray, and Apply the Word
Fasting increases spiritual awareness – and as we observe with Christ, also opens us up to the attack of the enemy.
Praying to God shows my dependence upon God. I’m not doing thing in my own power, but in His.
Applying the Word correctly give us the ammunition we need to resist the Devil when he comes after us. ‘Thy Word have I hid in my heart, that I may not sin against Thee” says Ps. 119:11. Satan twists the Word to His own purposes; he is a subtle and deceitful enemy and not to be trifled with.
There is much more to say about how to resist the enemy, but rather than give a long list of tips, I’d like to tell you the story of a Successful Resistance.
A Successful Resistance
Recently, one of my clients loaned me a book called “Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust.” It is the true story of a Tutsi woman named Immaculee Ilibagiza and how she lived through the bloody genocide of 1994 in which nearly a million Tutsi – and Hutu Rwandans died. During the three-month killing spree her entire family, save one brother, was brutally murdered. She and seven other women survived by huddling together in the cramped bathroom of a local pastor’s home while machete-wielding killers hunted for them.
During the endless hours of isolation and terror in her hiding place, Imaculee faced temptation in a way that few of us ever will. A Roman Catholic Christian from childhood, she prayed the rosary 12-13 hours per day for comfort, but she was constantly reminded that the Lord’s prayer calls us to ‘forgive those who trespass against us’. She treid not to think about those who killed her family because she knew she couldn’t forgive them.
One time, when the killers were literally inches from discovering her, she could hear people outside laughing and chanting demonically, “Kill the Tutsis big and small ….kill them one and kill them all. Kill them!”
She heard an ugly whispering in her head: “Why are you calling on God? Don’t you have as much hatred in your heart as the killers do? Aren’t you as guilty of hatred as they are? You’ve wished them dead; in fact, you wished that you could kill them yourself! You even prayed that God would make them suffer and make them burn in hell.”
The insidious voice continued, “Don’t call on God, Immacuee. He knows that you’re a liar. You lie every time you pray to Him to say that you love Him. Didn’t God create us all in His image? How can you love God but hate so many of His creations?”
“It’s no use…don’t call on God. Who do you think sent the killers here for your? HE did! Nothing can save you. God doesn’t save liars.”
Can you feel how wicked and manipulative this is? Just like Satan taunted Jesus and misquoted Scripture, so too he used biblical reasoning against Immaculee to taunt and demoralize her.
The killers did eventually leave, and she made an attempt to forgive them, but deep inside she believed they deserved to die. She pleaded with the Lord, “Please open my heart, Lord, and show me how to forgive. I’m not strong enough to squash my hatred – they’ve wronged us all so much…my hatred is so heavy that it could crush me. Touch my heart, Lord, and show me how to forgive”
She struggled with this for days on end, barely eating or drinking anything. Finally the struggle climaxed when she heard the wails of an infant. It’s mother had been killed and the child was left to die in the street. Immaculee listened to the cries weaken and then stop suddenly followed by the ominous snarling of dogs. She called out to God: “How can I forgive people who would do such a thing to an infant?”
At that moment she says, “I hear His answer as clearly as if we’d been sitting in the same room chatting: You are all my children…and the baby is with Me now. “ In God’s eyes, the killers were part of His family, deserving of love and forgiveness. I knew that I couldn’t ask God to love me if I were unwilling to love His children.” She did pray for the killers and God did touch her heart. "For the first time," she says, "I pitied the killers. I asked God to forgive their sins and turn their souls toward His beautiful light. That night I prayed with a clear conscience and a clean heart. For the first time since I entered the bathroom, I slept in peace" (adapted from pages 91-94).
Folks, I don’t know about you, but to me this is about as tough as it gets! Notice how she overcomes. She struggles honestly with her feelings. She talks to God. Sometimes she avoids talking about her true feelings. She wrestles with God. She prays and fasts. Finally, after days of agony culminating in an unspeakable atrocity, she is quiet, and the Lord speaks clear words of truth and freedom to her.
Imaculee Ilibagiza submitted herself to God. She resisted the devil. She drew near to God in prayer; she persevered under trial with fasting. The devil fled from her when she applied God’s Word.
And God gave her the grace to forgive her enemies, securing for her the Crown of Life.
Dear Brothers and Sisters, I pray that you and I never have to go through what Imaculee endured. But rest assured, if we do have something terrible to face in the future, God will be with us. Jesus promised that He would never leave us or forsake us (Heb.13:5-6). He promised that if we keep our minds stayed upon Him, he would give us perfect peace (Is. 26:3) and that He would guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:6,7).
As you face temptations, hold fast to the Lord, pray without ceasing and apply His Word to your situation. As you resist the enemy in this way, you will succeed and you know the blessing of overcoming.
May God help us all. AMEN.
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