Text: Matt 4:1-11
(Gen 3:1-21, 2 Cor 6:1-10)
In the name of + Jesus. Amen.
Jesus is fully God, and He is fully man – so He endured all of the struggles of our human existence in the flesh, including being “tempted by the devil.” This diabolical temptation of our Lord Jesus Christ is an act of desperation by the devil, who is the serpent.
And in the aftermath of Adam and Eve’s fall into sin, when death entered the world, God explained to the serpent: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring (literally, “her Seed”); He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” The expression: the “Seed of the woman” is significant, because it suggests that this promised male champion will be born of a virgin mother. And while the devil will bruise His heel, the devil will suffer a mortal blow to the head. And we will see this confrontation, the fulfillment of this prophecy, happen at the cross.
But three years before the cross, the cosmic enemies square off face to face in a sort of skirmish. The Holy Spirit directed Jesus to go into the desert for this combat. And our Lord prepared Himself by fasting for forty days. In the wilderness, Satan tempted Him as he does all of us: by dangling something that we would like before our eyes. He offered our hungry Lord food. But our Lord quotes Scripture, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Satan tempts our Lord into testing God by throwing Himself from the temple, and as a bonus, the devil quotes himself Scripture out of context. Jesus once again retorts by quoting the Word of God: “Again, it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Satan tempts the Lord one more time, this time with the offer of worldly wealth and power. Our Lord replies, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.’” And “the devil left Him.” They will meet again three years hence at the cross, where indeed, our Lord’s heel was bruised, and Satan’s head was mortally crushed.
Why did Jesus endure this temptation, dear friends? For the same reason He did everything: love for us. For Jesus came to redeem us, to recreate the world anew to its perfection and glory before the Fall, to take vengeance upon the malignant serpent. He teaches us exactly how to resist the crafts and assaults of the devil in our fallen state and our fallen world: “It is written.”
St. Paul describes the Christian in terms of a soldier bearing armor, to protect himself in the midst of spiritual warfare. And the only offensive weapon this warrior of the sixth chapter of Ephesians bears is “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” The Word, dear friends! “It is written!” This is how we beat back temptation. This is how we fight. This is how we train. Holy Scripture! We see our Lord skillfully use the sword to parry the attacks of the devil, dispatching him by means of the Holy Spirit.
This is why our Divine Service is lifted out of the Bible almost in its entirety. This is why we have Bible classes. This is why the Scriptures were translated into our own language. This is why the Bible is the best selling book in history. This is why Lutherans became pioneers of education back in the 16th century: so people could read the Bible. The point is not to know a few stories that you learned in Sunday School. The point is not to give you “instructions for living.” The point is not to show off because you know some Bible trivia. The point, dear friends, the point is to use the point of the sword to fight back against Satan and his demonic forces. Whether you like it or not, you are a soldier. You have been drafted into the armed forces of the kingdom. So you need to train, because Satan is ruthless, and you will be tempted to sin, to turn against God, to repudiate your baptism, to take your salvation for granted, to yield to the devil, to worship false gods of this world, and to allow your fallen flesh to have its way with you. These temptations come every moment of every day to every fallen man and women in our fallen world. The Word of God is your weapon, dear brothers and sisters.
Our Lord was able to defy Satan because He knows the Scriptures. And we are also able to make use of God’s Word because the Word has been given to us as a gift!
Satan will tempt us into thinking we can take credit for our successes. If we are rich, we think we deserve it. If we are healthy, we think we deserve it. If our church is growing, we think it’s because of us. We must not be tempted to think this way, dear friends. This is the theology of glory. It is a trick of the devil. For hard times come to everybody. We will all get sick and die of something. And we run the risk of being tempted into believing that God has abandoned us. And think of the centuries when Christians suffered martyrdom, and their churches were destroyed. Rather we are to be theologians of the cross: the cross, dear friends, where our Lord defeated the devil for us by suffering and dying for us. The cross is where the serpent’s head was smashed. And our Lord tells us to take up our own crosses in order to follow Him! So take up your cross and your sword.
Satan tempts pastors and churches with the theology of glory. We are easily tempted to believe that we can “grow the church” by using gimmicks. But we are instead to faithfully sow the seed of the Word of God – the Word, dear friends! The rest is up to the Spirit – the same Spirit that led Jesus into the wilderness. One of the principles of the Reformation is that our preaching and teaching – and even our very lives – are normed by the Sacred Scriptures. The Bible is our highest authority to which all must submit, including pastors and bishops and popes and councils and District Presidents and synods. Luther reflected on the success of the Reformation, and he correctly credited the Word of God, saying: “I simply taught, preached, and wrote God’s Word; otherwise I did nothing. And while I slept, or drank Wittenberg beer with my friends Philip and Amsdorf… the Word did everything.”
What a great gift the Lord has given us in the Holy Scriptures, dear friends! This unique book of books was written by some 40 authors over 1,500 years in three languages. And yet it fits together seamlessly, revealing everything we need to know about God, and revealing both the shame of being a sinner, and the glory of being a saint: thanks to the forgiveness won for us by the Seed of the Woman on the cross.
As the old saying goes, let us “read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest” the Holy Scriptures, these treasures that not only teach us who Jesus is, who we are, and what our eternal destiny is, but also empower us to beat back temptation and follow our Lord by taking up our crosses, allowing us to share in His victory over Satan.
Take up your sword, dear friends. And taking to heart the warning of St. Paul, let us not “receive the grace of God in vain.” Let us be active in our faith by God’s grace, thanking Him for providing us this bountiful blessing that is the revealed Word of God. For even when we are sorely tempted, we can say with our Lord, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written…”
Amen.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment