Lent 1 - 2001

Todd A. Peperkorn, STM
Messiah Lutheran Church
Kenosha, WisconsinInvocabit – Lent 1
Matthew 4:1-11

TITLE: “God’s Word Protects His Children”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Our text for today is the Gospel lesson just read.

It seems like everybody is moving and traveling these days. Whether it’s new jobs, vacation, or whatever, we Americans generally like to be on the move. If you look around our congregation this morning, how many people in our pews were here two years ago, five years ago, or ten years ago? So the question is, how do you plan for a journey? You might ask yourself some of these questions: What do I bring? Where am I going? Who am I taking with me? And perhaps the most important question, Why? Why am I taking the journey at all?

This Sunday we are taking a look at the first episode in Christ’s journey to the cross, Jesus’ temptation by Satan in the wilderness. We will then look at how the Christian life is a journey of the cross. We’ll see how that cross defines and shapes you as a child of God, and how God will preserve you on the journey to heaven.

It’s the beginning of Lent, and Christ’s pilgrimage to death outside Jerusalem is just about to start. After Jesus was baptized, He was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. Satan has one very simple goal: Do anything He can to keep Christ from accomplishing His mission of the justification of the world. Satan tries to deter Jesus with all sorts of tactics and schemes, but it really boils down to this: If Satan can get Jesus to take the short road to glory now, then Satan could defeat Him.

The temptations always centered on trying to get Jesus to deny his mission to Jerusalem to save the world from sin. Jesus is hungry, and so Satan temps Him to make bread from a rock, and thus save himself. The devil promises “authority” and “glory” to Jesus, just like he tempted Adam and Eve in our Old Testament lesson. They weren’t Satan’s to give, but he offered them all the same. In the third temptation the devil temps Jesus to worship him, and not the Lord, thus trying to get Jesus to break the First Commandment, You shall have no other gods. Where Adam and all of Israel failed, Jesus succeeded. The Word of God was the weapon Jesus used to win the first of his battles with Satan. Jesus continued on His journey to Jerusalem and death.

If you think of it though, Jesus’ temptation is really programmatic for our own Christian life. We are always tempted to go for the glory now, rather than take the rode of suffering and servanthood. How are you tempted? Satan tempts us in many ways. The temptations may come from obvious places, such as the culture of death that has embraced our country. But the temptation may also come from the not so obvious places. Have you ever been tempted to put family or friends before Christ and the Church? Jobs, entertainment, there are countless things today that tempt everyone to sin. Sometimes the most innocent of temptations are the ones that are the most dangerous. In the words of the hymnist:

I walk in danger all the way, The thought shall never leave me

That Satan, who has marked his prey, Is plotting to deceive me.

This foe with hidden snares, May seize me unawares

If I should fail to watch and pray. I walk in danger all the way. (LW 391, v. 1)

Satan will use anything within his power to get us to fall away from faith and turn toward him. I sometimes think that we don’t realize how hard Satan is working against us. We Lutherans often talk about the Real Presence of Christ in the bread and wine of Communion, and of His presence here in the divine service. How often do we talk about the real presence of Satan in our lives, trying to tear us away from the life that God has given us in our baptism? As we prayed in our sermon hymn, Keep us from the evil one, uphold our faith most holy (LW 170).

We are all tempted to go for the gusto, to take the easy road of the Christian faith, and to look to a Christianity that is shallow and fake. I remember once visiting Robert Tilton’s church outside Dallas, Texas. Tilton was one of the big televangelists from a few years ago. It was like a huge stage, with lights and cameras and all the fixings. It was supposed to be a Christian Church, but there was one glaring thing missing. You would not find a cross in the place anywhere. Thus it is with pop Christianity. This Christianity-lite has no tolerance for such things as cross and suffering. The season of Lent forces us to look at this journey of our Lord, and for us to reflect more seriously on our own journey of life. When we veil the cross like we have here during Lent, it is done to help us remember our Lord’s great sacrifice, not because we are ashamed of the cross.

Perhaps we should take this temptation thing a little more seriously than we do. If the power of Satan is so great that it took the Son of God to defeat him, then perhaps we should look at little closer at the life God has given us, and see how often Satan tries to tear us away from the faith. When you were baptized, you were baptized into a life and journey of suffering, where Jesus and Satan battle for your life. Satan is tempting you constantly to forget what God has given you in your baptism, to turn away, and to turn to the life of sin and death which surrounds us all. I don’t think it’s any accident that we have programs on TV now like Temptation Island. This is how our culture has worked for decades; it’s only fair that TV start to make money off of it. But this certainly does offer the challenge for the Christian.

This is why in Lent one of the themes is prayer. Think again to the words of our hymn. This is one of the hymns our Sunday School has learned this year, and it’s very appropriate that we pray this hymn often during Lent:

Triune God, oh, be our stay; Oh let us perish never!

Cleanse us from our sins, w e pray, And grant us life forever.

Keep us from the evil one; Uphold our faith most holy,

And let us trust you solely, With humble hearts and lowly.

Let us put God’s armor on, With all true Christians running

Our heavenly race and shunning The devil’s wiles and cunning.

Amen, amen! This be done; So sing we all, “Hosanna!” (LW 170)

This prayer exhorts us as Christians to keep our race with Christ, and to let His journey be our journey. Christ’s journey began at his baptism, and he went from there to the temptation in the wilderness. Your journey began at your baptism, and you are in your temptation of the wilderness. But you are not alone in your temptation. Christ is there with you. Where he starved for forty days, you are fed with the Bread of Life. Where you fail, He succeeded. He will keep you in all His ways, and guard and protect you from all evil. This is why we can pray and sing with Luther

Though devils all the world should fill, all eager to devour us.

We tremble not, we fear no ill; they cannot overpower us.

This world’s prince may still, scowl fierce as he will.

He can harm us none. He’s judged, the deed is done.

One little word can fell him. (LW 298:3)

Satan will try to pull you away from Christ and the Gospel in your life as a Christian. But don’t be afraid! Jesus’ great weapon was the Word of God, and it is your weapon as well. God’s Word says that Satan is the liar, that God’s Word is true, and His Word for you is that He loves you with an everlasting love. Jesus fulfilled the Law for you, so that when you eat His body and drink His blood in the Holy Supper, all of God’s power comes to bear to fight for you. One little word can fell him. Liar. Satan is the liar that would try to pull you away from Jesus. But God’s Word is true, and God’s Word says that He has called you by name, made you his through the waters of Baptism, and kept you in the true faith through Word and Sacrament. Believe it, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

And now may the peace of God, which passes all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in true faith unto life everlasting. Amen.

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This page was created on 02/18/2007 and last edited on: 02/18/2007

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Lent 1 - 2001


Main Menu Sitemap Recent Home Beliefs Liturgy and Preaching Parish Education Articles History Links Contact Pastor * Pastor's Blog Calendar Directions Photobook This Section Lent 1 - 2007 Lent 1 - 2001 Lent 1 - 2002 Lent 1 - 2003 Lent 1 - 2005	Lent 1 - 2001 Todd A. Peperkorn, STM Messiah Lutheran Church Kenosha, WisconsinInvocabit – Lent 1 Matthew 4:1-11 TITLE: “God’s Word Protects His Children” In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Our text for today is the Gospel lesson just read. It seems like everybody is moving and traveling these days. Whether it’s new jobs, vacation, or whatever, we Americans generally like to be on the move. If you look around our congregation this morning, how many people in our pews were here two years ago, five years ago, or ten years ago? So the question is, how do you plan for a journey? You might ask yourself some of these questions: What do I bring? Where am I going? Who am I taking with me? And perhaps the most important question, Why? Why am I taking the journey at all? This Sunday we are taking a look at the first episode in Christ’s journey to the cross, Jesus’ temptation by Satan in the wilderness. We will then look at how the Christian life is a journey of the cross. We’ll see how that cross defines and shapes you as a child of God, and how God will preserve you on the journey to heaven. It’s the beginning of Lent, and Christ’s pilgrimage to death outside Jerusalem is just about to start. After Jesus was baptized, He was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. Satan has one very simple goal: Do anything He can to keep Christ from accomplishing His mission of the justification of the world. Satan tries to deter Jesus with all sorts of tactics and schemes, but it really boils down to this: If Satan can get Jesus to take the short road to glory *now,* then Satan could defeat Him. The temptations always centered on trying to get Jesus to deny his mission to Jerusalem to save the world from sin. Jesus is hungry, and so Satan temps Him to make bread from a rock, and thus save himself. The devil promises “authority” and “glory” to Jesus, just like he tempted Adam and Eve in our Old Testament lesson. They weren’t Satan’s to give, but he offered them all the same. In the third temptation the devil temps Jesus to worship him, and not the Lord, thus trying to get Jesus to break the First Commandment, You shall have no other gods. Where Adam and all of Israel failed, Jesus succeeded. The Word of God was the weapon Jesus used to win the first of his battles with Satan. Jesus continued on His journey to Jerusalem and death. If you think of it though, Jesus’ temptation is really programmatic for our own Christian life. We are always tempted to go for the glory now, rather than take the rode of suffering and servanthood. How are you tempted? Satan tempts us in many ways. The temptations may come from obvious places, such as the culture of death that has embraced our country. But the temptation may also come from the not so obvious places. Have you ever been tempted to put family or friends before Christ and the Church? Jobs, entertainment, there are countless things today that tempt everyone to sin. Sometimes the most innocent of temptations are the ones that are the most dangerous. In the words of the hymnist: I walk in danger all the way, The thought shall never leave me That Satan, who has marked his prey, Is plotting to deceive me. This foe with hidden snares, May seize me unawares If I should fail to watch and pray. I walk in danger all the way. (LW 391, v. 1) Satan will use anything within his power to get us to fall away from faith and turn toward him. I sometimes think that we don’t realize how hard Satan is working against us. We Lutherans often talk about the Real Presence of Christ in the bread and wine of Communion, and of His presence here in the divine service. How often do we talk about the real presence of Satan in our lives, trying to tear us away from the life that God has given us in our baptism? As we prayed in our sermon hymn, Keep us from the evil one, uphold our faith most holy (LW 170). We are all tempted to go for the gusto, to take the easy road of the Christian faith, and to look to a Christianity that is shallow and fake. I remember once visiting Robert Tilton’s church outside Dallas, Texas. Tilton was one of the big televangelists from a few years ago. It was like a huge stage, with lights and cameras and all the fixings. It was supposed to be a Christian Church, but there was one glaring thing missing. You would not find a cross in the place anywhere. Thus it is with pop Christianity. This Christianity-lite has no tolerance for such things as cross and suffering. The season of Lent forces us to look at this journey of our Lord, and for us to reflect more seriously on our own journey of life. When we veil the cross like we have here during Lent, it is done to help us remember our Lord’s great sacrifice, not because we are ashamed of the cross. Perhaps we should take this temptation thing a little more seriously than we do. If the power of Satan is so great that it took the Son of God to defeat him, then perhaps we should look at little closer at the life God has given us, and see how often Satan tries to tear us away from the faith. When you were baptized, you were baptized into a life and journey of suffering, where Jesus and Satan battle for your life. Satan is tempting you constantly to forget what God has given you in your baptism, to turn away, and to turn to the life of sin and death which surrounds us all. I don’t think it’s any accident that we have programs on TV now like Temptation Island. This is how our culture has worked for decades; it’s only fair that TV start to make money off of it. But this certainly does offer the challenge for the Christian. This is why in Lent one of the themes is prayer. Think again to the words of our hymn. This is one of the hymns our Sunday School has learned this year, and it’s very appropriate that we pray this hymn often during Lent: Triune God, oh, be our stay; Oh let us perish never! Cleanse us from our sins, w e pray, And grant us life forever. Keep us from the evil one; Uphold our faith most holy, And let us trust you solely, With humble hearts and lowly. Let us put God’s armor on, With all true Christians running Our heavenly race and shunning The devil’s wiles and cunning. Amen, amen! This be done; So sing we all, “Hosanna!” (LW 170) This prayer exhorts us as Christians to keep our race with Christ, and to let His journey be our journey. Christ’s journey began at his baptism, and he went from there to the temptation in the wilderness. Your journey began at your baptism, and you are in your temptation of the wilderness. But you are not alone in your temptation. Christ is there with you. Where he starved for forty days, you are fed with the Bread of Life. Where you fail, He succeeded. He will keep you in all His ways, and guard and protect you from all evil. This is why we can pray and sing with Luther Though devils all the world should fill, all eager to devour us. We tremble not, we fear no ill; they cannot overpower us. This world’s prince may still, scowl fierce as he will. He can harm us none. He’s judged, the deed is done. One little word can fell him. (LW 298:3) Satan will try to pull you away from Christ and the Gospel in your life as a Christian. But don’t be afraid! Jesus’ great weapon was the Word of God, and it is your weapon as well. God’s Word says that Satan is the liar, that God’s Word is true, and His Word for you is that He loves you with an everlasting love. Jesus fulfilled the Law for you, so that when you eat His body and drink His blood in the Holy Supper, all of God’s power comes to bear to fight for you. One little word can fell him. Liar. Satan is the liar that would try to pull you away from Jesus. But God’s Word is true, and God’s Word says that He has called you by name, made you his through the waters of Baptism, and kept you in the true faith through Word and Sacrament. Believe it, for Jesus’ sake. Amen. And now may the peace of God, which passes all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in true faith unto life everlasting. Amen.
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