Hearing The Word Of God Selectively?

Text: Luke 11:14-28

The focus of today’s sermon comes from verse 28 that says, “Blessed rather are the ones hearing the Word of God and observing it.” 

In the name of Jesus: Amen.

Individual Christians, congregations, and entire church denominations have chosen to hear the Word of God selectively, giving the Bible their own personal interpretation.  But why is this so? It is this way because they want to do and believe what seems right in their own eyes without the inconvenient threat of God’s judgment.

You see, when God speaks to us, He has two words.  One is His word of Law – God’s No.  In His word of Law, He tells us what to do and what not to do. Typically, though, the Law is harsh and accusatory, not because it is bad, but rather because it confronts and exposes our sins – it holds our sins before our eyes.

Indeed, the Law shows how we have not measured up to God’s holy demands and it shows us how God will punish us sinners for all of eternity because of our sins.  The holy Law is the will of our Holy God.  And anything short of absolute perfection must be punished, that is perfect holiness.

On the other hand, the second Word God speaks is His word of Gospel – God’s Yes.  This is His word of forgiveness.  Because we are unable to live up to the holiness God demands in His Law, in His love He sent One who could live a perfectly holy life in our place.  That was Jesus. 

Even though Jesus was perfect in thought, word, and deed, He was the one who took our place on the cross to suffer and die for us.  The Gospel – that is the Good News – is the news that by grace through faith in Jesus we have God’s forgiveness, our sins are pardoned, and we are given eternal life in heaven.  This is the word of Gospel, the word of forgiveness; it is the word of life. 

Considering both God’s Word of Law and Gospel, we must acknowledge that it is that word of Law that is most often disregarded or interpreted away, at least in twenty-first-century America.  You see, we do not like to hear that absolute standard of right and wrong, it is too intruding and too judgmental.  We prefer to live in a world of gray, somewhere between right and wrong, always deciding for ourselves what we can do or maybe shouldn’t do.

So we reject God’s Word of Law.  We refuse to hear it; we refuse to keep it.  We ignore or reinterpret His Word of Law to take off the edge and make it more user-friendly, so we can do what we want when we want, whenever we want.

And I am not only talking about those other churches or those other Christians.  I’m talking about us, Zion.  Whether we like to admit it or not, every one of us does this – including me, your pastor.  For example, we are embarrassed to say what we know is right and wrong according to God’s Word when push comes to shove with our friends, family, and neighbors. We fear mankind more often than God, for we do not want to be talked about or worse yet, ostracized from fellowship activities or popular groups.

Tragically we are afraid to take a stand on the Word of God and to be right in matters of faith and religion and to say so publicly because we do not want to offend anyone and we do not want to cause division or worse yet, be accused of pride and arrogance.  And yet this kind of being right is not a matter of personal opinion.  That is to say; taking a stand on God’s Word is not a matter of personal opinion or our church’s opinion, but a matter of what God says in His Word. 

Ask yourself this, how many times have you been in a situation where faith or the Word were at stake, and you know what is being said or done is wrong – that it is wrong according to what you believe?  Let me clarify, that it is wrong not because you feel it in your heart and not because of what your parents taught you, but wrong because you know God’s Word says it is wrong. 

And yet in those times, we often change the subject or state our opinion while laughing to downplay any tension or we chose to remain silent altogether or we say, “We are saying the same thing but using different words!” while knowing that you and the other person are actually saying different things. 

Tragically, we are not only afraid of making things uncomfortable, but I believe we are afraid of being right, for we do not want to be labeled as a ‘know it all’ or as a ‘Bible thumper.’  And there is more to this; I believe we are afraid of being right because we are afraid that God’s Word is right.  And if God’s Word is right, then so many people – including us – have got things wrong. 

Keep in mind, though, that hearing and keeping God’s Word in its entirety is not a matter of simply being a good Christian.  It is not about checking off some morality checklist.  But rather, keeping God’s Word in its entity is a matter of us knowing that we are captive to the Word of God.  It is a matter of knowing that if we ignore the Word of God, we will lose it.  It is a matter of knowing that if we give up His Word, we also give up all the blessings that come through it…forgiveness, life and salvation. It is a matter of knowing that God’s Word tells us how things are, not the other way around.

Now, generally speaking, no person, no church, and no denomination would ever say they have rejected the Scriptures completely.  This is the kind of things atheists do to shock and awe Christians. So, as we have already heard, instead of rejecting the Scriptures, certain individuals and churches will just reinterpret a verse here or there or a certain doctrine that does not sit well with them.  This is the reason why not all churches are equal and not all the same.  And because of this, not all churches who claim to be Christians and biblically based are in truth.  Therefore, this is why we need to hear the Word of God and keep all of it.  Indeed, Jesus said in our Gospel reading from today that, “Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it.” 

Dear friends, we need to hear the Word – all of it.  We need both God’s Law and God’s Gospel.  God’s word needs to challenge us, comfort us, convert us, form us, shape us, and sustain us.  Yes, we need the Word of God to kill us and give us life.

Furthermore, we must acknowledge this day that we do not come to this church merely for social or fellowship reasons, as if the church is no different than a typical rotary club or a country club.  No, this is not who you are or what we are about or what the Lord is about.  We come to this church to hear the whole counsel of the Word of God—both Law and Gospel.  And so we know that when the Word of God clashes against our ideas and takes us captive, we are not easily surprised or even offended. But rather, we know that without the clear announcement of God’s judgment on our sinfulness that we could never know the danger and condemnation that we need to be rescued from.  That is right; we cannot know the blessed Gospel or our need for Jesus unless we first recognize our malady. 

Hear this loud and clear: without God’s Law, we have no need for God’s Gospel; without God’s Gospel, we are left in our sins.  We need both: God’s Law and His Gospel. 

Dear Baptized Saints, the Holy Spirit has spoken His Word to you this morning.  Not just the parts you would prefer to hear, but in the parts that you and I would prefer not to hear.  He does this, though, in love that you and I would come to see our sins and to confess them for what they are.  And then He leads us and strengthens us to hear and keep and cling to His precious Word of forgiveness that He speaks to us because of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Therefore, hear yet again, God’s Word of Gospel – for you.  You are a forgiven child of God.  Forgiven even for not hearing His Word, for not keeping it.  He spoke that forgiveness over you in the absolution, He spoke it over you in your baptism, He speaks it to you in His Holy Supper, and He speaks it again to you today in His Holy Word of Gospel.  You are forgiven for Christ’s sake!

Without the Word of God, we would have nothing.  With the Word and because of the Word we have forgiveness, life, and salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ – we have everything. 

In the name of Jesus: Amen.

- Borrowed in part from a Sermon by Rev. Joshua Reimche.  

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You Can't Have Your Cake And Eat It Too

Text: Revelation 2:12-18

In the name of Jesus: Amen.

The city of Pergamum was a bustling city. It had many shrines to many pagan gods, chief among them was a pagan god named Baal.  And like many other places in the world of that day, the people worshiped the emperor as god. 

Jesus, though, does not give Pergamum a four-star rating but calls this place the very throne of Satan.  

But, what can be said about the small church in the city of Pergamum?  Well, the church had held fast to Jesus’ Name and not denied the faith.  That is right; they did not deny the faith even though a Christian named Antipas was put to death for his Christian confession and for his refusal to worship false gods. 

Now, even though they did not deny the faith entirely, there were still problems in this church.  All of their problems could be summed up like this: there were some in the church who thought that they could have it both ways.  They thought that they could live in peace and offer sacrifices to false gods and practice sexual immorality and then still remain true to God and His Word. 

We all know the common phrase, “You can’t have your cake and eat it too.”  This phrase is basically used to express the impossibility of having something both ways.  And well, some in the church of Pergamum were doing just that.  They were having their cake and eating it too.  As previously mentioned, they were trying to live in peace and offer sacrifices to false gods and practice the sexual immorality that was common among the pagans of Pergamum, and still remain true to God and His Word.  They were living as if falsehood and Truth could actually stand side by side. Frankly stated, they were straddling the fence.  They were two-faced.  They were speaking out of both sides of their mouth.  They were two timing.  They had one foot in the pagan culture and one foot in the church.  They were drinking the Kool Aide of the culture and were drinking the wine from the church’s chalice. 

To make things worse, though, the pastor of this church did not try to correct this but tolerated it.  He turned a blind eye to this blatant double-dealing. 

As a result, Jesus calls to account the pastor of the church who tolerated those in his congregation who believed this way.  He calls to account the congregation too, for they had accepted and believed the lie. He calls them to repentance, to turn away from worshipping idols and craving the things of the pagan world; He calls them to repentance for their acceptance and even adoption of the sexual immorality that was all around them.  He says,

“Repent, lest I come myself and stand in front of you and war against you with the Sword of the My Mouth, just as I did when I stood against Balaam and sent a plague on Israel.”

Dear friends, we are separated from the church and culture in Pergamum by about two-thousand years; however, the spirit and ways of Pergamum live on in our culture.  Indeed, the Christian church in the twenty-first-century still exists in the place where Satan has his throne.  And sadly, churches and Christians are easily tempted to double dip.  It is easy to get wrapped up into this tolerance and acceptance of what is false, even though deep down we know that what is false actually infects and poisons God’s people.  It is easy to not sweat the supposed small stuff and to try and make peace between the culture and the church.  

We may be tempted to say that the church in the twenty-first-century is not like the church in Pergamum in order to help ourselves sleep better at night; however, we need to ask ourselves this, how many Christians think that they can have it both ways? Do we think that we can have it both ways? That is to say; is it believed that a Christian can accept and even participate in the godless things of this world and yet be faithful to the true God and His Word?  Ask yourself this, how many people think that they can separate what they believe and how they live?  At best, this is spiritual schizophrenia, at worst it is blatant hypocrisy.  Regardless, though, it is dangerous and the reason why?  One cannot claim the title of Christian and at the same time embrace teachings that attack and undercut the person and work of Christ.  One cannot confess the Christian doctrine of the sanctity of life and then advocate for a women’s right to choose an abortion of a precious child in the womb. One cannot confess that God is the giver of all great gifts and then hold our wallets with a tight fist claiming that our resources belong to us and only us. One cannot confess the importance of the family while also supporting same-sex marriage, which undercuts the family.  One cannot work towards the removal of gender distinctions and then celebrate that we are created uniquely by God.  One cannot uphold the importance of the Bible and then cut the legs out from underneath the Bible by promoting the ideas of evolutionary biology.  One cannot actively fight against everything Jesus teaches in the Bible and then in the next breath claim the title of Christ follower.  The reason why this can’t be done?  There is no middle ground.  Either we are a part of the kingdom of Satan or the Kingdom of God.  If we think that we can ride the fence, if we think that we can have it both ways, well… then we have actually moved into the church of Satan. 

James says it well in his epistle,

“You adulterous people!  Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?  Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” 

What does all of this mean? It means that you and I need to repent.  It is a clear solution.  We need repentance.  Repentance stops the actions.  It acknowledges that there is no middle grown.  Repentance acknowledges that we can’t have our cake and eat it too.  Repentance stops the lies, it stops the false doctrine, it stops the hurt, and it removes all of this nonsense and deception from life, and in faith turns to the one and only Christ and His mercy. 

And as we consider Jesus in the midst of our mess, we see that Jesus came into His creation and gave His life that all people would be justified before God.  In that moment of the cross God has no more enemies. 

“Father forgiven them, forgive them all, for they do not know what they are doing.” 

And because the Son dies in the place of God’s enemies and for their many sins, the Father indeed forgives them.  But not all have received His gift because not everyone is content with what the Lord offers.  Many still seek after other treasures.  Many have turned aside from the Gospel.  Many still run to the kingdom of darkness. Many want to cozy up to the world and still try to be buddies with God, which is not an option but a cop out and an insult to the Lord.  You see, either we are sinners who are buried deeply in the wounds of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins or we are dancing with the devil in the lies of the world. There is no middle ground.    

Dear friends, what God has ordained and blessed, man cannot curse and destroy.  To those who deliberately go on sinning after receiving the knowledge of truth, well… there no longer remains a sacrifice for their sins but a fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume them, for they have spurned the Son of God, profaned His blood and outraged the Spirit of grace.[1]  However, to those who listen to God and His judgment against their sins and renounce the Devil and all his works and all his ways; to those who beat their breast confessing, “I am a poor miserable sinner!”; to those who trust in Jesus’ forgiveness and cling to His cross and His blessings by the power of the Holy Spirit; to those – yes to you – Jesus gives of the heavenly manna, of His own body and blood. 

You, who have ears, hear this, Jesus has washed you clean in Holy Baptism, He gives a white stone, the token of admittance to His feast.  And to you, who hear His Word, He gives a new Name, a holy Name written on your stony heart; His own Name, the only Name given under heaven by which men must be saved.

You Baptized Saints do not belong to the devil.  His throne is not over you.  You shall not tremble, and you shall not fear the evil foe; he can do you no harm.  He is judged; he is done, for you belong to another – Jesus Christ. 

And just so you know, because of the Cross, you have been crucified in relation to the world, set free from the stifling atmosphere of pleasing others and fitting into their little patterns that they dictate.[2] 

Yes, there is no middle ground for you, for you are in Jesus; you belong to Him.

In the name of Jesus: Amen.   

---

[1] Hebrews 10:26-29.

[2] Paraphrase from Eugene Peterson’s, “The Message,” on Galatians 6:14. 

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This Is What Faith Does

Text: Matthew 15:21-28

In the name of Jesus: Amen.

It sounded like croaking.  It sounded like a cry of a raven.  It was a loud shrieking sound that persisted over and over and over.  It was so loud and persistent that it made people uncomfortable. 

Sometimes this is what faith sounds like.  Indeed, at times the Christian faith does not sound pleasant or smooth or calm, but rather sometimes the Christian faith cries out and shrieks towards the Lord in desperation. 

It is usually in those times where life hits you on the head that our faith sounds like a croaking raven.  We have all been there, in one way or another; those times in life when we find ourselves out of control.  Maybe we have an uncontrollable illness, or maybe a large mountain of debt that seems to be crashing down upon us or perhaps a drug or alcohol problem in the family. Maybe violence or a severe accident or persecution or the death of a loved one brings about desperation and a faith that cries out.  And to complicate things even more, running in, with, and through all of life’s circumstances is typically sin, yes sin.  The problem of sin ungirds life’s problems.  Sin is deep and permeates our whole being.  And no matter how hard we try or no matter how hard we scrub, this sin does not go away. 

Indeed, the harsh reality is that these difficult situations in life and the problem of sin all point us to the reality that we are not in control of our lives and that we are literally powerless in this life.  Difficult circumstances and sin have a remarkable power over our lives; they control us.  And so we find that our Christian faith will at times shriek and croak in cries of desperation. 

To make things worse, there will be times when we stand before God and in the midst of our uncontrollable situations that God seems quiet.  He may seem off in the distance and uninterested to our cries.  This only adds to the anxiety of our cries of faith.  Therefore, these cries of faith can become louder and turn into constant screeching to the Lord.

This is precisely where the woman in our Gospel Reading was at.  Her daughter was demonically possessed.  The evil one had seized her precious girl, and nothing that the mom could do was able to remove the claws of the demon from her daughter’s soul.  All she could do was stand and watch her daughter squirm and wail in agony from the hellish clutches of that demonic being.  She was helpless to cure her own child.  She was out of control as the demon tormented her daughter. 

So in her helplessness, she goes to the only one that she thinks that can help her.  She goes to Jesus.   She goes to Jesus and cries out.

I get the impression that she had a lot of tears, that her speech was muffled, that she was somewhat out of control in her plea for mercy.  It seems that she dumped all of her emotions, struggles, and groans upon Jesus.  But keep in mind that this was not just an emotional appeal.  All of her emotions and all of her cries were bundled together and compelled by ‘faith.’  That is right; she cries out to the only one who could help her ‘in faith.’

She cries out to the only one who has power over the devil, as we heard last week in Jesus’ temptation.  Problem solved; everything taken care of. Right?  Well, actually no. 

To our surprise, she is actually met with an icy rejection of our Lord.  It was almost as if Jesus was treating the mother as if she had a demon. 

But this does not matter.  The woman continues to cry out, for that is what faith does.  Faith connects itself to Jesus regardless of the circumstances and regardless of the Lord’s response. 

Even the disciples do not understand the Lord’s lack of reaction.  They wanted Jesus to grant her the request to heal her demon infested daughter, because frankly, she was making a scene.

Yet, Jesus does not grant the women’s request. 

But this does not matter.  The woman continues to cry out, for that is what faith does.  She is like a yippy little dog, begging and barking for the smallest of crumbs from the master even when told to go. 

Long story short, the woman ends up on her knees in the dust, begging, “Lord help me!”  And Jesus ends up calling her a dog, unworthy of bread he came to bring to His own people, the Jews. 

But this does not deter the woman.  If Jesus calls her a dog, so be it, she will be a dog.  But even as a dog, she demands to clean up the crumbs of the Lord.  She says to the Lord,

“Yes, Lord, you’re right I am a dog, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”

In astonishment, Jesus eventually looks at her, and He says,

“O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” 

And so, Jesus gives and she receives. 

Dear friends, the woman would not let Jesus be anything other than the gracious, kind, and loving Savior that she had heard about, for this is the way of great faith.  You see, great faith looks to Jesus as the only one who can help but does not flinch when the answer does not come as quickly as expected or in the way that it is expected. 

It is very tempting to look at faith as something that we conjure up from within our willpower.  It is very enticing to see faith as something we possess and self-generate which in the midst of difficult times, leads us to easily believe that we do not have enough faith or that we need to believe harder to somehow get God to God bless us.  But that is not the point of our Gospel reading.  The point of the Gospel reading is not to create this impression that the woman has somehow conjured up great faith by her own willpower.  But rather, the point of the Gospel reading is the greatness of the one in whom she had faith.  That is to say; the point is that the Canaanite women looked to Jesus to help her, and nowhere else, for that is what great faith does. 

Great faith clings to Jesus.  Great faith does not listen to the lies of Satan.  Great faith does not listen to our own feelings.  Great faith does not trust in our own reason.  Great Faith is not being self-confident and pretending that everything is o.k.  Great Faith is not having the right words to pray.  Great Faith is not even being self-confident in the midst of a struggle.  But rather, we see in this Canaanite woman that great faith is nothing more than crying out and clinging to Jesus in the midst of our helplessness. 

Dear friends, this Canaanite woman is a picture of the Christian Church.  She is a picture of the Church living by faith – always crying out, always trusting, and always relying on Jesus. She is a picture of you and me coming to this sanctuary each and every Sunday confessing that we are nothing more than dogs – poor miserable sinners in thought, word, and deeds, yet still rising up and coming before this altar to receive sips of wine and pieces of bread – the body and blood of the Lord.  This Canaanite woman is a picture of us coming to the throne of grace with all our suffering, all our trials, and all our uncontrollable situations and while beating our breast saying,

“Lord Jesus, you may seem to be cold to me at times, and you may even call me a dog as You like, and yet I will not leave you or doubt that you love me.  You only are my help; You only are my Hope.  On You, I will rely.  You went to the cross for me, and you died so that I might belong to you forever.  To You alone, then, I will cling.  Do with me as You will.  But I am Yours.”[1]  

This is the great struggle of faith dear Baptized Saints.  Faith does only one thing, it clings to Jesus and His Word and Sacraments, in spite of everything around us and in spite of our feelings and circumstances.  Faith hangs tightly to Jesus who loved us all the way to the Cross and the Empty Grave even when the world throws its worst at us. 

With that Canaanite woman, we today cling to Jesus and His word of promise.  Today we know that what makes our faith great is not our will, our commitment, or our own determination. Rather, what makes our faith great is what our faith clings to and receives.  Today we receive Christ with the Canaanite woman.  Therefore, your faith is great when you receive Jesus; receiving Him in a beggarly status, knowing that even though we often cannot control much of anything that the Lord controls us and has blessed us by His redemption, forgiveness, and life. 

Today, you have faith that clings to Jesus and no other for we know that Jesus is the unshakable rock which our faith rest. 

May the Lord grant us faith like the Canaanite woman this day, faith that clings to Jesus and His gifts, today, tomorrow, and forevermore. 

In the name of Jesus: Amen.    

__________

[1] William Weedon, Reminiscere Sermon for Matthew 15:21-28. 

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If It Were Up To The Devil...

Text: Matthew 4:1-11

In the name of Jesus: Amen.

The day that you were baptized was the day that you became an enemy of the Devil.  Yes, being a Christian is not rose peddles and long walks on the beach, but warfare against the Devil, the world, and the sinful nature.

Now, if it were up to the Devil, he would end this war by seeing you hung a cross like Jesus.  He would rejoice in your destruction.  However, since the Lord God has not permitted this to happen and has preserved you from these blatant attacks, well, the Devil then resorts to a more subtle way of trying to rip you and me away from Jesus and our baptisms.  And that method is to tempt us. 

We usually think of temptation as desiring something that we don’t already have, or maybe even something we know we shouldn’t have.  But that is actually greed.  And for us as Christians, greed is usually too easy to recognize. 

So knowing this, the Tempter – that is the Devil – does not always come to us in a way that seems threatening.  He does not always come with a noticeable red cap, pitch fork, and a grimacing laugh.  In other words, his temptations do not always take the form of something we may even think we want.  More often he carefully offers us a counterfeit of what is right in front of us, of what God has already graciously given.

For example, the Lord gives us our daily necessities and nourishment for our bodies.  He gives us food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, farm, fields, livestock, money, property, spouses, children, peace, health, and good friends.  He does this out of His great benevolence and graciousness to provide for our daily needs.  However, the Devil comes to tempt the appetites of our belly and our desires for riches.  He comes to us and whispers,

“God has forgotten you; he does not care about your well-being.  He doesn’t want you to have a full belly.  He does not want you to have good things.   He might even be a bad God. You know, come to think of it, you spend too much time with faith and too much time in church; you need to get what is coming to you.  You need to reach out and seize all that money and possessions to be had.  You deserve it.  God will not become angry with you since you are only taking what is rightfully yours.” 

And so, we give in to the temptations of the evil one.  We fail to realize the gifts that the Lord has already given to us, and then we convince ourselves that we must fight for our daily bread and hoard everything we have.  We convince ourselves that coveting and hoarding are not sin because somehow the Lord God does not care for us.  In the end, our faith shifts away from the Lord and His good gifts to ourselves and everything that we are lacking.  We shift from gratitude to being a coveting hoarder who goes through life acting like a victim who never has enough stuff, which is exactly what the Devil wants.  You see, if we are fearing, loving, and trusting in ourselves and material things, we are not fearing, loving, and trusting the Lord.  

Now, if the Devil is not able to tempt us to give into the desires of our belly and the desires for riches at the expense of leaving the Lord and His Word, he then tries to see whether he can make us proud and reckless enough to rely on our righteousness.  You see, the Devil knows how to behave in church.  He knows how to quote Scripture.  In fact, all heretical false teachers can quote Holy Scripture, and they do so to the damnation of their listeners.  So, the Devil uses Holy Scripture, not to bless and edify God’s people, but to tempt them away from the truth.  The Devil cites Scripture in a way that he adds and subtracts from it so that you end up saying to yourself,

“God will be with me no matter what I do, so I can do whatever I want.  I’m o.k. I fine. No problem here. I can throw myself into whatever sin I want, and the Lord’s holy angels will protect me so that I will not dash against destruction!”

If the Devil is still unsuccessful, then he pulls out all the stops and promises power and dominion, only if you do things his way.  In other words, if you and I only do things his way, we may just end up getting power and glory as we journey towards the jaws of hell.  It is like this; we are already citizens of the powerful kingdom of God.  We have the Lord Jesus Christ who is all-powerful and sits at the right hand of the Father and will come someday to judge the living and the dead.  But the Devil comes along and speaks of a greater glitter.  He says,

“You have that good Bible stuff and that baptism and that bread and wine things, but if you will just make a few adjustments, not really big ones, then you too can strike it big.  Yeah, that baptism and Bible are pretty neat, but wouldn’t you like to be an enormous church?  Wouldn’t you like to be the popular people in town that everyone wants to be with and wants to be like?  Wouldn’t you like to be a super growing church?  Well, if you just follow me and do it my way, like maybe not focusing so much on that Lord’s Supper get in the way, then things will really grow. After all, that eating and drinking of Jesus’ body and blood is kind of weird to most people.  Yes, if you just follow me and not talk so much about the Ten Commandments or the Apostles’ Creed or the Lord’s Prayer, then you will rise to the top. People will want to be just like you. We can rise to the top together!” 

Dear friends, this is the way of temptation.  The Tempter offers us an imitation of something that we already have.  It is the promises of fully bellies, riches, contentment, and popularity, if we just do it his way and not God’s way.  The Devil makes promises to us for things we already have by faith in Jesus Christ.

You see, the Devil uses temptation as a tool to divide and conquer, to create doubt in God’s promises and gifts.  He offers a counterfeit of the very things we already have.  Keep in mind that the Devil cannot create, so he perverts God’s gifts and lies.  All the love, warmth, happiness and fulfillment the Tempter offers is already there in front of you, waiting to be nourished. 

We have to admit though that the Devil is pretty clever, getting us to think that we are lacking and then offering us a fake substitute for something we already have.  But that’s how temptation works.  The Devil wants to fool you into putting your trust in him, to turn your back on the blessings of God, and most of all to turn away from the gift of forgiveness and eternal life that is already yours through Jesus Christ, through Whom God has given us every good gift.

That is what Satan tried to do to Jesus.  St. Matthew writes:

“Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil.” 

Our Lord went to face the Tempter in our place.  To do what we are unable to do.  To face the very same trials of temptation that we do, to suffer them to the end and to be victorious in our place.

Three times the Devil tempted Jesus with very real temptations to lead Him into sin and to turn Him away from His Father’s promises.  But in all of those temptations, Jesus held on to the promises of His Father given in the Scriptures.  That He really is God’s Son, that His Father really will take care of Him.

Jesus knew and believed that everything the Devil was offering was already His.  There was truly nothing the Tempter could give Jesus, and even though the Devil made it look so enticing, those temptations were only counterfeits of what already belonged to the Lord, and so also to you by faith in Jesus.

Funny isn’t it, how the Devil repeats himself throughout human history?  How he tempts us with what’s already ours.  It is the most subtle and one of the last temptations any of us would see coming.

But remember, Satan has nothing to offer you except death and damnation.  He has nothing for you, except to turn you away from God and His gracious blessing of the forgiveness of your sins through faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The Devil cannot make your wildest dreams come true or fill you with happiness, pleasure or contentment.  The greener grass is always plastic.

Because in your Baptism you are made a child of God, there is no reason now to look to the supposed greener grass.  Temptation truly has nothing to offer.  We have already been given everything because we are baptized into Jesus Christ.  And in Him, we are given everything that God has to offer. 

The Lord gives the gift of faith for the forgiveness of our sins.  He gives eternal life and His Holy Spirit.  And He fills our lives with His real genuine blessings and gifts: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

And even though we will still be tempted and at times fail and walk into sin and death, we are graciously reminded in the reading from Hebrews,

“We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Jesus knows what it is be tempted as we are, and in love for you He overcame that temptation when we could not, so that He could be your Savior and you can approach His throne of grace with all confidence to receive forgiveness for all your sins and failures, no matter how deeply you have walked into temptation with your eyes open.

And that throne of grace is right here in His church, where your Lord Jesus is seated in His word of absolution, in His very body and blood given and shed for you.  This is where you are filled to overflowing with His real gifts of grace and forgiveness.  And as you are filled, you are so equipped with every good thing to resist the Tempter and his tools of temptation.

In the name of Jesus: Amen.    

Note: The second portion of this sermon is indebted to Rev. Joshua Reimche.  

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