Sunday, March 6, 2022

First Sunday in Lent
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
Psalm 91:1-13
Romans 10:8b-13
Luke 4:1-13

I will say of Yahweh, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust.’

We own a few acres of land in Pennsylvania. I recently walked the property when I was home for a visit. It is lovely, with plenty of trees and other plants. Some of the land is rented by a local farmer who grows feed for his animals. Our family uses the land during hunting season. They also clean out brush and cut down trees to keep it looking nice. We both can picture where we would build a house but decided long ago that we want to live in Texas. Though the property is used and it belongs to us, we have not made it our own by putting our mark on it.

From the time of Abraham, God promised the Israelites that they would have a home of their own. He showed Abraham and the other patriarchs the land that would be their own. In today’s Old Testament lesson, God showed them how to make that land their own. Possessing the land meant more than just owning it. It even meant more than inhabiting it. The land had been given by God, and in response to God’s grace the people were called to dedicate all they had to God by offering the first fruits of the land to Him.

The ritual behind presenting the first fruits is found in this passage. The people are not to simply thank God for what they are able to give, but also to remember God for all that He had done for them. The exodus was more than an event in their history. God used the time in Egypt, the escape from slavery, the forty years of wandering, and the victories over enemies to mold them into the nation they were meant to become. These experiences were all gifts from God. Everything they had in the present was theirs by the hand of the same God who did so much for their ancestors.

When they presented the first fruits, not only in that first generation, but in every generation to follow, they were to remember their roots. How they got to that moment was as important as what they had to give. It was in the recitation of their history that they praised God for such incredible gifts. It did not matter that a future generation were not the ones who escaped and wandered; the gifts of God were given to every generation that followed.

Jesus was baptized by John at the River Jordan, during which God embraced His Son and called Him the beloved. After He was baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit, He was led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. God’s beloved was put to the test, and even though He was God incarnate, He had a human body that required the satisfaction of His physical needs. He was in the wilderness for forty days, too long for anyone to be alone without food. Though He was alone, He was not far from God, always dwelling in the presence of His Father. He was hungry at the end of the forty days, and Satan appeared to taunt Jesus. “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” Jesus answered with the Word of God.

Satan taunted Jesus a second time. After showing Him all the kingdoms in the world, he said, “I will give you all this authority, and their glory, for it has been delivered to me; and I give it to whomever I want. If you therefore will worship before me, it will all be yours.” Again, Jesus answered with the Word of God.

A third time Satan taunted Jesus. “If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down from here.” In this temptation, Satan quoted from our Psalm for today. “‘He will put his angels in charge of you, to guard you;’ and, ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest perhaps you dash your foot against a stone.’” He twisted this scripture to tempt Jesus into tempting fate. Our faith is given, not to test God but to love and worship Him. Again, Jesus answered with the Word of God.

Satan had a point with each temptation. Jesus was hungry, should He not provide food for Himself? Jesus was about to begin a ministry that was not going to be easy. Wouldn’t it have helped if He had a head start with control of all the nations of the world? What sort of impact could Jesus have had if He had proved from the very beginning that He was truly the Son of God? Jesus knew that was not the way of faith. Faith does not mean that God will keep us from difficult times, but that He will get us through.

Each time Jesus faced Satan’s taunts He had an answer that came from God. He dwelled in the shadow of the Most High and the Almighty dwelt within Him. In that He was secure. He certainly did have the power to change stones to bread, to command over the nations of the world and to call the angels to His aid. Yet that moment was neither the time nor the place. Satan took God’s Word and twisted it, claiming for himself the authority that he did not have.

Unfortunately, this twisting even happens within many churches today. They take God’s Word and make it fit their desires. They seek God’s power for all the wrong reasons, to bring wealth and fame and power, rather than to glorify God. Jesus knew the temptations we would face today; He faced them Himself in that wilderness experience. Satan did not just offer Jesus a loaf of bread, a kingdom, or angelic protection. He was offering Him an incredible ministry of miracles, authority, and power. Satan was trying to prove Jesus was nothing more than any other man, easily tempted away from God’s will to a self-centered ministry.

Jesus proved He was the Son of God by dwelling in the presence of God and secure in His calling to save the world. Jesus did not come to feed the hungry, to rule over the nations, or to be a famous preacher. He came to die, to bring forgiveness and healing to a world that was sick and dying from sin. He was Immanuel, God with us, and from then until now God no longer lives in a temple. Instead, He lives within the hearts of those who believe.

This life He has given us began in the beginning and continues into the future. He calls us to this life to do more than just own it. We are meant to possess it, to put our mark on the world in which we live, to respond to God’s incredible grace by giving back to Him everything we have with praise and thanksgiving. We may not have the same connection as the Israelites had to the Exodus, but we are meant to remember God’s salvation every time we share our offering with Him. That salvation comes to us through Jesus Christ, but it also comes to us through the witness of the generations that have come before us.

I wonder if any of us really think about our ancestors and what God did for them as we offer our gifts to God. Do we consider how God’s hand was in their lives and do we praise Him for all that He did for them? Perhaps we should. We may not be able to claim the story of the Exodus for ourselves, but we have a story, too. We have a story in which God has saved His people which is all the Christians who have come before us and how He blessed them in this world. As we present our offerings, whether they are the tithe of our weekly paycheck or the first fruits of some harvest, let’s remember where we came from and thank God for the history that has brought us to each moment.

We tend to forget the past. We tend to think that we earned our present blessings with our own power and ability, ignoring the role that our ancestors played in getting us to where we are today. Their history is our history. Their successes have become ours; their failures are a part of how we have grown to be. Their life and their faith has imprinted on our lives and faith. Where would we be today if they had not shared God’s grace so that it would trickle down to us?

Unfortunately, we also inherited their humanness. That’s why we need Jesus. The next forty days are a time when we can think about the ways we need to be transformed by God’s Word. It is also a time for us to recall God’s story as it was lived out by those who came before us so that we can respond to Satan’s taunts with His Word. The hope is that we come out of our wilderness wandering closer to God than we began.

There is a movie starring Julia Roberts, Susan Sarandon and Ed Harris called “Stepmom.” The movie is about a woman (Julia Roberts) who falls in love with a divorced man (Ed Harris). Susan Sarandon plays the ex-wife. Two children complete this very modern family.

Early in the movie Susan Sarandon’s character did everything she could to make it difficult on her ex and his new lady. She even tried turn the hearts of her children away from the new woman in their father’s life. The boy once told his mother, “Mom, if you want me to hate her, I will.” Julia Roberts did not know how to be a mom. She was young and inexperienced but willing to learn. One day the boy got lost because he wandered off when he was in her care. Julia’s character was scared, and his mother was angry, accusing her of not caring enough. She even threatened to restrict visitation. The daughter was a teenager who willfully fought her own mother was often rude and mean, trying to get her stepmom in trouble so she would be forced out of the picture altogether. Both children thought that if new woman was gone, then their family could be right again.

However, their mother got very sick with an incurable cancer. Though the doctors tried to make her well, her condition progressively worsened throughout the movie. She did not tell the family until it was too late. One day, when she was feeling very ill, she realized that her ex-husband’s new woman offered hope for her family. She knew she was dying so she began treating the stepmom with more respect. The children saw her change and also began treating her differently.

The mother told her daughter, “Try to see something good in her.” One day, Julia Roberts and the daughter were in their home and the daughter was frustrated by an art project. Julia asked her what was wrong. The daughter wanted to push her away, but eventually admitted the problem. Patiently and graciously Julia, who was an artist herself, showed her a technique that would work. That moment of grace was a turning point in their relationship. In the end the entire family accepted Julia Roberts, even the mother, and they all dealt with the future together.

It wasn’t easy. The catalyst for love was a dinner between the mother and the stepmom. The younger woman wanted to do things one way; the mother had her own way. However, they began to co-exist in a right relationship that helped the children to adjust to the inevitable. It took not only a mindful decision to cooperate, but also a love that was beyond their understanding. At first the mother grasped the importance with her head of making the stepmom welcome into her world. However, it was not until they knew each other in a deeper way - with their hearts - confessing their fears and their hopes for the children together, that they really came into a right relationship.

It takes heads and hearts for us to be righteous in God’s eyes, which is the righteousness about which Paul speaks between God and His people. In the Old Testament, righteousness came from obedience to the Law. However, Paul explains in the book of Romans that it we can’t be righteous by our works. Human flesh is unable to be good enough, to do right enough to be in that right relationship with God. God made it possible in a new way, with a new covenant. That covenant is found in Jesus Christ. God’s Word, which is Jesus, dwells in us and it is He that makes it possible for us to be right with Him.

We love God. We know God. It is not enough to just love God or to just know God. For a right relationship, we need to possess Him with our hearts and our heads, to confess with our mouths and believe in our hearts that Jesus is Lord. Salvation is found in Him, and it is ours when we give our whole beings to Him.

Paul reminds us that our faith in Christ is not just a heart thing or a head thing. It is both. Jesus Christ is Lord and as Lord He is the foundation on which a new covenant and a new relationship is built. Paul looks to the past, to the story of God as we read in the scriptures, to explain this new covenant of God. The people of the past personified wisdom as the manifestation of God. Paul identified Jesus as the One who manifested the Incarnate God who dwelled with His people. The past established what would be, and Jesus fulfilled the promises.

Everything that we are - our strength, our hope, our peace - is found in Jesus Christ. He is Lord. We dwell in Him. Our salvation is embraced by our love for God and our faith in Jesus, but it is also built on our knowledge of God as He is manifest in the flesh of Jesus. We dwell in Him but dwelling in Him does not mean that we should test His faithfulness. God will protect us, save us, empower us. However, we see in Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness that we can be tempted by things that appear good. We need to rest in all the gifts that God has given us - our past, God’s Word, and His promise - and with His strength we will be able to discern what is right and do what is truly good.

When we moved to Texas, we bought a house in a brand-new neighborhood. Some of the houses were only a couple years old and most of the houses had not yet been built. Even while that neighborhood was under construction, however, people were already selling and moving elsewhere. Our current neighborhood was much different. Though a few houses, like ours, have owners that have only been there a few years, most of the neighbors have lived here from the beginning. They built their houses, and though for most of them the houses are too big since their families are grown, they love it so much they stay.

The reasons for the sales in the last neighborhood varied. Some families were military and they had to move with the job. One family decided that they wanted to live in a different house in another area of that development. Unfortunately for some families the reason for moving was more financial. They bought their home with the expectation that they would be secure, but for one reason or another, the payments became unbearable. We came close to being in the same situation. Some people purchased a home more expensive than they could afford, hoping they could make it work. After a year or so they realized that they could not continue to live beyond their means. Fortunately, the houses were selling well, so they are able to get out of trouble into a better situation.

We put so much energy into taking care of ourselves and satisfying our deepest desires. We look for the perfect house, thinking that we will find happiness and security and contentment if only we have exactly what we imagine those things to be. I’ve known way too many people who have purchased above their means and then struggled for years. They never really experienced the security they expected to be found nestled in the perfect dwelling.

It is easy to get caught up in the idea that God will protect us from all suffering, as we hear in today’s Psalm. We want to think that if we have faith, we won’t struggle. We want to believe that if we have enough faith, our enemies will never be able to harm us. Yet, we know by experience that we will have times of trouble. The faithful expectation is not that God will keep us from all harm, but that God will make circumstances, both good and bad, work out to the best for those who love Him. Yet, in this Psalm it seems to say that no matter what we do, in faith we will not suffer or be harmed.

I suppose the lesson we can take from this is not that we should be running around stomping on snakes or lions, but rather living in the assurance of God’s presence in and through our lives. Dwelling in Him might not save us from hardship or financial troubles, but it will give us hope for the future and the strength to see ourselves through. When we know that God is with us, we live with an assurance that He will guard us, lift us, hear us, and deliver us from evil. We are called to trust in God, but not to do something stupid to test God’s faithfulness. Jesus never promised that we would have a life of ease; He showed us how to dwell in God’s grace as He helps us through the tough times.

We begin Lent with the story of Jesus’ temptation because we are encouraged during this time to face our own temptations and fight them with God’s Word, just as Jesus did in the wilderness. Jesus confronted the temptation to fill His belly with the word, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’” He rejected the temptation to receive worldly authority, because Satan demanded to be worshipped. Jesus answered, “ For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.” He confronted the temptation to follow an easier path with the word, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’” Jesus faced the temptations of flesh, power, and faith with God’s Word and He prevailed against it.foolish actions like jumping off the roof of the Temple. Jesus proved He was the Son of God by dwelling in the presence of God and relying on His faithfulness. He was secure in His calling to save the world. The proof was not in what Jesus did. Jesus did not come to feed the hungry, to rule over the nations or to be a famous preacher. Jesus proved Himself to be the Son of God because He dwelt in the power of the Most High God, turning to God’s Word and God’s promises as the foundation of all that He was to do. He came to die, to bring forgiveness and healing to a world that was sick and dying from sin. He was Immanuel, God with us, and from then until now God no longer lives in a temple. Instead, He lives within the hearts of those who believe.

Jesus did not prove Himself to be the Son of God by doing foolish things like jumping off the top of the Temple. Jesus proved He was the Son of God by dwelling in the presence of God and relying on His faithfulness. He was secure in His calling to save the world. The proof was not in what Jesus did. Jesus did not come to feed the hungry, to rule over the nations or to be a famous preacher. Jesus proved Himself to be the Son of God because He dwelt in the power of the Most High God, turning to God’s Word and God’s promises as the foundation of all that He was to do. He came to die, to bring forgiveness and healing to a world that was sick and dying from sin. He was Immanuel, God with us, and from then until now God no longer lives in a temple. Instead, He lives within the hearts of those who believe.

First He gives the gift, and then we confess our faith. We believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths because God first loved us. Through grace, we dwell in the shelter of the Most High, resting in the shadow of the Almighty. He is our refuge and our fortress. In Him we can trust.

Someone once said (and many continue to say), “It does not matter what you believe, only that you are sincere in your belief.” This might sound good, a way of tolerating other people in a world where there is such diversity. Yet, the scriptures are very clear when they tell us that it does matter what we believe. Jesus is Lord. Salvation comes from no one else. We can’t earn heaven by doing good works, even if we fill our schedules with the busy-ness of ministry. We can’t prove ourselves to be faithful by our actions. We are called to live in the assurance that God is faithful. He has given us faith, and by His grace we are saved. His Word is on our lips and in our hearts. We won’t be put to shame because He is faithful, but we need not test God on this.

We who are not Jewish can not identify with the statement of faith that is found in today’s Old Testament lesson. The Exodus is not our story, nor is the taking of the Promised Land. However, it is part of who we are in Christ, because it is part of who He was as a man in flesh and blood. We remember, but that is just part of the story. We have another story – the story of Christ – on which our faith is built. He is the fulfillment of the promise, it is in Him and through Him our salvation comes. Though we have our differences, all who call on Jesus’ name and believes in Him will be saved for He is Lord of all. It is on this promise everything we have and everything we give is founded. So as we offer ourselves and as we offer our gifts, let us do so with the story of His grace on the tips of our tongues so that we remember that everything we have is His.