Sermon for
February 13, 2005
1st Sunday in Lent
Series 2--Discipleship: A Reordered Life
What Is It Like to Be A
Child of God?
Mt. 4:1-11
If you want to be a disciple of
Jesus Christ, your life must be reordered. Your fundamental understanding
of life must be turned upside down. The life of discipleship, no longer
ordered by the ways of the world, is reordered by the ways of the kingdom
of God.
Over these three weeks I want to
suggest three important steps you and I must take to be disciples. Last
week we discovered at the top of the mountain of Transfiguration the first
step in discipleship. That first step in discipleship is to be where God
is. The problem is we look for God in the wrong place. We are always
tempted to believe that God is only “up there” when God is always and
especially “down here”—right in the midst of life. The first step in
discipleship is to be where God is, right where Jesus can touch you, right
here, right now, just exactly as you are. You have to reorder your entire
perspective on where to look for God. When you do, you’ll find God right
there with you all along.
This morning we find
in the story of the temptations of Jesus in the wilderness the second step
in discipleship. To take this second step you to have to leave behind old
understandings. Worldly notions of “the way things are” and how you “get
things done” must be discarded. You have to unlearn the ways of the world
so you can relearn the ways of God. The second step in becoming a
disciple of Jesus Christ is to be a child of God. Once you find yourself
where God is, then and only then can you experience, truly experience and
know, what it is to be a child of God.
For illustrative
purposes this morning consider a penny…a mere penny. A penny is not worth
much in our day. We hate to carry very many of these around because even
a lot of them aren’t worth very much.. They are of so little value that
merchants even give them away so as to create exact change and avoid
having to count them out.
A penny. Cheryl’s
and my preaching professor at Duke, Dr. John Berglund, (Dr. John
Berglund, Professor of Preaching, Duke Divinity School, a sermon preached
for a Chapel Service during my seminary days 1973-1977)
used this to help us understand the immense power of God. He said God is
so powerful, can do all things, that anything we, as children of God, may
ask of God to do for us is merely one of God’s pennies compared to the
vast creative power that made the universe. Think about that—anything we
usually ask of God, even miracles—merely one of God’s pennies.
As children of God we are always asking God for things. Sunny days! Or
snow! Or for your big brother to leave you alone. A passing grade on a
test. For your children to behave. For a good job. Reconciliation with a
friend. To be healed of disease of body or mind. For the church to have
such a witness in the world that all may come to know God. For an end to
world hunger, injustice, and war.
Brothers and sisters,
is it not true that God could do all these things and more right now,
instantly, and it would exhaust God’s vast power no more than a
thimble-full of water would deplete the ocean.
If that is true, then
to be a child of God would mean you could ask God for anything and God
would grant it. God would do anything for God’s own children… But what
does it mean to be a child of God?
Jesus spent 40 days
and 40 nights in the wilderness fasting, meditating, praying, and
struggling over just that. At his baptism
The heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God
descending like a dove
and alighting on him.
And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved,
with whom I am well
pleased. (Mt. 3:17)
What does it mean to be Son of God? Not just for
Jesus but ultimately for us. What is it like to be a child of God? We
need to understand this in order to take the second step in discipleship.
In these three
temptations Jesus faces the rivals of God that any disciple of Jesus
Christ must face every day. I need not spend a great deal of time this
morning on the content of these temptations, I think, for the point is not
in the details of the temptations but in the character and nature of the
Son of God and, ultimately, the character and nature of discipleship.
So the tempter offers three golden opportunities to have all that the
world would ever invite or demand. Let me briefly share these tempting
morsels:
PROVISION PROMINENCE POWER
PROVISION
Jesus has been fasting—a spiritual discipline to help one experience one’s
dependence upon God. As you pray and you experience hunger your body,
mind, and spirit begin to focus more and more powerfully on one’s ultimate
dependence upon God—a cultivation of spirit the entire exercise is
designed to enhance. Jesus has fasted and, according to the text, “he was
famished.”
If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become
loaves of bread.
(Mt. 4:3a)
As if the tempter is saying, “You are the Son of God. You don’t have to
be hungry—work a miracle—feed yourself.”
Also implicit here we can imagine the tempter to say, “You are the Son of
God. There are millions of starving children in the world—work a
miracle—change stone into bread everywhere and feed them right now! What
a gracious act of love that would be! Is that too much for the Son of God
to ask for?” That’s what any child of God wants God to do.
But Jesus answered,
It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by
every word that comes from the
mouth of God. (Mt.
4:3b)
Provision. In this
scripture Jesus declares the ultimate source of all provision. God
created the world in the beginning with plenty for all—there was enough to
go around and we were all full in that garden. But once humanity said,
“We’ll provide for ourselves now, God” too many of us have taken more than
our share and left others to go hungry. Now it would be a simple thing, a
mere penny, for God to instantly feed all the world again, but God
already did that for us and look what happened. No, the answer is not for
a child of God to expect God to change stone into bread. The issue here
is we worship the provision more than we worship the God. We center
ourselves on the things God provides rather than on God. Jesus does feed
people miraculously—the 5,000, the 4,000. How does he do it? “You feed
them.” But the disciples don’t have enough. A little boy offers his few
loaves and fish and of this gracious sacrifice they all have more than
enough.
It is
written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes
from the
mouth of God. (Mt. 4:3b)
Jesus does not ask for this miracle, this penny from God’s hand, because
the way of God is to change hearts, reorder consumption, change economic
systems, maybe even change food distribution systems, where all are fed.
The way of God is to transform a culture of greed and hoarding and keeping
what is “mine” into a culture where people freely sacrifice and vigorously
struggle with issues of justice, a culture that takes seriously Jesus’
call “you feed them” because God already provides everything we need. And
Jesus does not just demand this of us, but he ultimately takes all the
hungers of the world on himself, suffers and dies from it in such
solidarity with a suffering and dying world that in the resurrection there
is power and hope in the transformation of that culture into the very
kingdom of God.
In the face of the
first temptation:, the Son of God does not ask for instant, miraculous
provision, either for himself or for the world. The Son of God gives his
life for the conversion of the world.
Not by provision
instantly miraculous, but by conversion.
The second is PROMINENCE. When the
tempter took him to the top of the temple in the holy city he said,
If you are the Son of God, throw
yourself down; for it is written:
‘He will
command his angels concerning you,’ and
‘On their
hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a
stone.’
(Mt. 4:5)
What a display that would be! What spectacular evidence of the power and
majesty of God! A mere penny. It would exhaust God’s power and majesty
not a bit to do this. And don’t you think people would stand up and
notice? Would they not all say in unison, “Look, the Son of God” and
recognize him and finally follow him?
That’s what any child
of God wants God to do. Don’t you often wonder why Jesus doesn’t just
come in to our world right now in such a display of prominence—make his
presence known so obviously that the whole world just has to stop, see
him, and change their ways? What a better way to bring about justice and
peace--just have Jesus show up in person in the Middle East, Bagdad, or
Washington, South Roanoke, your living room. Such prominence could not be
missed or denied.
Jesus said,
Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the
test.’ (Mt. 4:7)
God knows what God is doing and Jesus must trust God all the way through.
So does a child of God. So does a disciple. Jesus ultimately knows that
our culture is not so easily dazzled into obedience and even when the
spectacular does get our attention it doesn’t last. Jesus claims in the
wilderness that children of God have known all along. It is not by fame
and prominence that the world is transformed. It is by losing your life
and thereby finding it. In the wilderness Jesus knows that public acclaim
and acts of wonder will not ultimately free creation from the power of
darkness but only by taking on himself its very power, suffering and dying
by its hand. Jesus knows only in his death upon the cross will his true
identity be recognized, even as the Roman soldier testifies as he gazes
upon Jesus’ lifeless body, “Truly this man was the Son of God.” The Son
of God who suffers and dies is the one who, in the resurrection, can free
creation from the grip of evil and unleash the process of restoring
creation.
Not by prominence and
fame, but by sacrifice;
Not by provision instantly miraculous, but by conversion.
Neither by POWER.
Finally the tempter takes Jesus to the top of a very high mountain and
shows him all the kingdoms of the world.
All
these I will give you, if you fall down and worship me.
(Mt 4:9)
There it is, this is what this whole conversation has been leading up to.
Who is in control here anyway? Either I am or you are. Either the
culture rules or God does. The key is in how you take power.
Our culture knows all
about power. We worship power—to have control. It is interesting what
the tempter does here. He doesn’t say, “If you are Son of God,” he says
“You can have all this if you bow down and worship me!” You see, he
tempter knows that if Jesus took over by force, even overturning the
powers of darkness by the sheer power available to him, and thereby
forcing human allegiance to him, Jesus would actually be bowing to the
tactics if not the ultimate rule of the tempter himself. If God took the
world back by force, came in and claimed what we have squandered and
destroyed, and said, “This is mine and you can’t have it anymore and you
will obey me,” the very purpose of creation itself would be destroyed in
the process. Creation would be destroyed because it would no longer be
based on love, but on whose got the power. And that is exactly the mess
we are in right now. For God to come in and do that would be tantamount
to God acknowledging to the devil, “You were right all along—the only way
for this creation of mine to do what I want it to do is to take it back by
force and impose my will” and the devil would laugh all the way to the
bank, for ultimately God would be in control but would in the process
surrender creation’s very soul.
So Jesus said,
Away with you Satan! For it is written, ‘Worship the Lord
your God and serve only
God. (Mt. 4:10)
God’s way is the way of love, not force.
God’s way is the way of sacrifice, not prominence and fame.
God’s way is the way of conversion, not instant, miraculous provision.
At the end of this struggle over
provision, prominence, and power
Then the devil left him.
And suddenly the angels came and waited on him.
By denying all the temptations of the world on
how to get provision, prominence, and power, God grants it all to him by
grace. He is provided for, he is carried on the wings of angels.
Ultimately the name of this suffering and dying and rising Messiah shall
be above every name.
To be a disciple of
Jesus Christ your life must be reordered. Your fundamental understanding
of life must be turned upside down. Worldly notions of the “way things
are” and how you “get things done” must be discarded. You have to unlearn
the ways of the world so you can relearn the ways of God.
The second step in
discipleship—be a child of God.
Yes, children of God. God can
indeed do everything we might ask of God…
--provide miraculous provision for the whole world
--demand prominence by spectacular
display
--use divine power to finally take
the world back by force
Yes, God can do everything we might ask….and it would be a mere penny.
For God to do all this, to change it all instantly, would exhaust God’s
vast power no more than a thimbleful of water would deplete the ocean.
But children of God, why take the penny form the father’s hand when you
can take the father’s hand?
