March 12, 2000
First Sunday in Lent
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION:
Lord, open our hearts and minds by the power of Your Holy spirit Holy Spirit, that, as the Scriptures are read and Your Word proclaimed, we may hear with joy what You say to us, today. Amen.
1 Peter 3:18-22
3:18 For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit,
3:19 in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison,
3:20 who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water.
3:21 And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you - not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
3:22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.
"Cross Road: Tempted"
(Mark 1:9-15)
Rev. Billy D. Strayhorn
Mark 1:9-15
1:9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.
1:10 And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.
1:11 And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."
1:12 And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.
1:13 He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.
1:14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God,
1:15 and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."
LET US PRAY:
A little girl was totally engrossed in drawing a picture, one Sunday after Church and Sunday School. Dad walked up behind to look at the picture, when the little girl said: "There. All finished."
On one edge of the drawing, there was a group of people standing next to some water. A couple of the people were actually in the water. One guy had his hands held up in the air. On the other edge of the picture there was what appeared to be a very large bird driving a chariot. And riding in the chariot with the bird, was a character who looked a whole lot like Jesus. So, Dad asked: "That's pretty honey, but what is it?".
The little girl gave Dad one of those looks. You know the one I'm talking about. The one that says: "Don't you know anything?" And then she said, "It's our Sunday School lesson. That's John the Baptist in the Jordan River baptizing people."
Dad pointed to the bird and the chariot on the other edge of the page and asked, "OK, but then, who is this?"
Again the look. And in a tone that conveyed just how out of touch Dad really was, she answered, "Well, that's the Holy Spirit driving Jesus into the wilderness so he could be tempted."
This morning is the First Sunday in Lent. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and lasts for 40 days (not counting Sundays because they are considered little Easters). It ends with Easter. Lent represents the 40 days Jesus spent being tempted in the wilderness. For us it is a time of introspection and challenge. A time to look at our personal lives and maintain our focus on Jesus.
Last week, Transfiguration Sunday, was a reminder to stay focused on Jesus Only. This week begins a period of focusing more completely, through looking at Jesus' life and ministry on the Road to the Cross. That's why the title of the upcoming Lenten series is Cross Road. For through Lent, we join Jesus on the Road to the Cross. And as a Church preparing to build, we're at a Crossroads.
A. One of the first things we notice in this passage is that it's brief. Jesus is baptized by John, God confirms it and then Jesus is tempted in the wilderness. Mark doesn't ever give us as much information as any of the other Gospels do. He's brief and to the point, almost as if he thinks he's got to tell it and tell it quick before it's too late. There's an urgency about his way of telling the story.
From the story, we know that Jesus was tempted for forty days. Forty days is a Biblical way of saying "for a very long time." The length of time isn't important. But the important point is that Jesus was tempted, just like you and I are everyday. And we are.
B. Sometimes we're tempted to think that our kids will learn everything they need to know about faith in Sunday School.
One Sunday after church, Rev. Don Maddox noticed his five-year-old son writing something in his take-home Sunday School paper. While writing, the boy asked, "Dad, how do you spell God?"
Well, Dad was pleased that the boy was still thinking about his Sunday School lesson, so and spelled God for him. The boy wrote "God" and then asked, "Dad, how do you spell 'Zilla'?" (1)
We're tempted to bring our kids to Sunday School and leave their spiritual formation to the Sunday School teachers when they learn best by our example. If you talk about Sunday School and Worship together and if you attend Sunday School and Worship with your children, it shows how important faith is to you. If you drop them off and don't attend, then they know how important faith is to you. You've shown them by example.
C. Sometimes we're tempted to believe that we know all the answers. That we have everyone else completely figured out, and they won't change. A physician tells the story of how she and her four year old daughter were on the way to preschool. The doctor had left her stethoscope on the seat of the car and her daughter had picked it up, stuck it in her ears and started playing with it. The doctor thought to herself, "Wow, my daughter wants to follow in my footsteps and become a doctor, too."
And then her daughter spoke into stethoscope. "Welcome to McDonald's. May I take your order." (2)
We don't know all the answers but sometimes we're tempted to believe that we do. And that can get in the way of our relationship with God and with others.
D. Sometimes we're tempted to let our priorities get out of whack. Our priorities should be God, Family and Self, in that order.
A certain man's career kept requiring him to travel more and more. After a long trip away form home, his wife and kid's met him at the airport. On the way home, Dad asked his son what he thought he wanted to be when he grew up. And without hesitation, the boy answered, "A pilot."
Dad asked, "Why do you want to be a pilot."
The boy answered, "So I can spend more time with you." (3)
You know, we can trick ourselves into thinking that all the time we spend on the job is for the family. Don't get me wrong, don't misunderstand, I know that sometimes it is. Longer hours allow us to give our kids more of what they want. But giving them more of what they need is even more important. Our kids won't look back and say with remorse that they didn't have enough stuff, they didn't all the things that money could buy. But believe me, they WILL look back and say "Mom or Dad was always there when I needed them." Or "Mom or Dad was Never there."
E. Sometimes we're tempted to think that our actions don't really matter. But they do.
Two gas company servicemen, a senior training supervisor and a young trainee, were out checking gas meters in a subdivision. They parked their truck at one end of the street and then worked their way to the other end, checking meters along the way. At the last house, a woman was looking out her kitchen window, watching the two men as they checked her gas meter.
As they finished checking the meters, the senior supervisor challenged the young trainee to a race back tot he truck, just to show the younger guy what kind of shape he was in. So off they took. As they came running up to the truck, they realized the lady from the last house was huffing and puffing right behind them. They asked her what was wrong. And gasping for breath, she replied, "Well, when I see to gas men running as hard as you two were, I figure I'd better run, too!" (4)
You may not think of yourself as a leader. You may not think of yourself as important. But you are. You are somebody's role model. You are somebody's hero. There are others: children, youth, your spouse, family, friends, coworkers and the like, who are watching you. And will follow in your footsteps. What you do and how you live your life is very important.
F. I've used lots of humor to talk about a very serious subject. Temptation. And we know there are a jillion kinds of temptation. I haven't even begun to list all the temptations that we face. But you see, the point is, we're all tempted in various ways. We don't have to be driven into the wilderness like Jesus to be tempted. Everyday life is filled with temptations. Some of them are small and some are large. But they are all temptations. And they can all lead us from the path Christ Jesus has set before us.
So, how do we face temptation? What do we do when we're tempted? And how do we say "NO" to temptation?
A. Again, like last week, we're called to focus on Jesus. Jesus focused on God. And we're called to focus on Jesus in the midst of temptation. Jesus Preempted Temptation. Jesus was able to preempt temptation because He kept His focus on the will of God. And He did it through obedience.
B. Jesus Subjected, Rejected and Reflected.
First Jesus Subjected Himself to God through Prayer. He didn't go into the wilderness with His own agenda. He didn't argue with God's purpose for His life. He didn't try to be more than God called and created Him to be. Instead, Jesus subjected Himself completely to the will of God.
And Second in Subjecting Himself to God, He Rejected the temptation. Now it wasn't easy. He wrestled with it a long time. That's the whole point of the forty days. But the Good News for us is that Jesus NEVER Surrendered to temptation. Not once. He may have struggled with it. But he NEVER surrendered to anything or anyone but God.
Unfortunately, you and I are more like the guy who gave up sweets for Lent. He loved doughnuts, brownies, cake, pies, etc., and decided that he needed the spiritual discipline of giving something up for Lent. So he chose his favorite thing, Sweets. He told everyone in the office in which he worked. But then one day he came in with a bag of doughnuts. Everyone immediately asked him about it.
He told them. "Well, I was driving past my favorite doughnut shop and I smelled those fresh pastries and so I prayed, 'Lord, if it's Your will that I have a doughnut this morning, show me by having an empty parking place right in front of the door.' And God did. It took me 12 times around the block before one opened up, but God provided."
That's how most of us face temptation. But Jesus Subjected Himself to God and Rejected the temptation.
And Third, in Rejecting the temptation, Jesus Reflected the love and grace of God. In other words, He kept His focus and in keeping His focus, He reflected the love and grace of the One who sent Him. And that's what we do when we say "NO" to temptation.
Not only do we reflect the love and grace of God, but we feel good about ourselves and we are made stronger for the next time we're tempted. And we need that extra strength because no one is exempted from being tempted.
But because Jesus has been through all that we go through, without giving in to temptation. He can strengthen us. Because He didn't give in, He can equip us not to give in.
A. But even if we do. Even if we struggle and still give in to temptation, all is not lost. You see it wasn't only temptation that was preempted by Jesus, the power of sin was preempted as well.
Jesus went to the cross, sinless and unblemished, having said "NO" to temptation his entire ministry. On the cross, he took upon Himself, the sins of the entire world. Through his death our sins have been forgiven. The brokenness caused by our saying "Yes" to has been healed and we have been made whole. That's called Redemption. And that's what Jesus does for us.
We, who were filled with sin, are redeemed by the death of the one who is sinless. We, who turned our back on God's will and sought our own will and destroyed the relationship with our Creator are recreated and brought back into that relationship by Christ Jesus.
B. Peter writes: "For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God."
(1 Peter 3:18) This is the fullness of the Good News. If the Good News is that we don't have to face temptation alone, then the Great News is that if we fail, if we blow it, if we give in, if we stumble and fall, if we sin, however you want to say it, sin doesn't get the last laugh. Instead, Jesus, the Son of God, offers us forgiveness. And if we will repent of our sin, then He will pick us up, make us whole and bring us back into the family where we can begin to live a life of obedience again.
When we truly repent, then the answer is always forgiveness. Sometimes we don't truly repent, though. Sometimes, we're like the guy who came to the farmer and told him, "I stole a rope from you awhile ago." The farmer was the generous sort and said, "Ah just forget it." But the thief's conscience bothered him later because he hadn't told the farmer there was a cow on the other end of the rope he'd stolen. You see, sometimes our repentance is imperfect. We say we're sorry and we're not really. (5)
However, when we come with repentant hearts, seeking to change our ways and be obedient to God, then we are forgiven. We are given new life. We are redeemed. We are made whole and brought back into the presence of God. And it's easy to obey and do what's right when you're in the presence of God, knowing full well you can call upon Jesus for help.
John, age 2, usually didn't behave well in restaurants. But when they took him to a boarding house restaurant with religious pictures and old plates every where, John sat up straight in his chair, had perfect manners and he was a little angel.
After the meal, when Mom was buckling him into his car seat, she asked, "Did you like Hopkins' House?"
And he asked, "What is Hopkins' House?"
Mom said, "You know, the restaurant where we just ate."
And then John said, "That wasn't Hopkins' House, that was Jesus' House!"
Astonished, his mother asked, "John, what makes you think that was Jesus' house?"
John looked at his mother as though he couldn't believe she would miss all the clues and said, "HIS MOM HAD PICTURES OF HIM ALL OVER THAT HOUSE!"
It's true. We can do what's right when we're in the presence of God and when we know that we can call upon Jesus for help.
I doubt we'll ever be driven there in a chariot but no one is ever exempted from temptation. It is a part of life. It's a part of our faith journey. But with the help of Jesus, we can be strengthened to overcome temptation. And with the help of Jesus we can obey God.
So, the next time you are tempted, let Jesus preempt that temptation and strengthen you.
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