Behold the Champion of the World! (Mark 1:12-15)

February 26, 2012

  

Dear friends in Christ.

This summer the eyes of the world will turn to London as champions from every nation on earth gather to compete in the games of the 30th Olympiad.  Each athlete will come prepared and ready to give everything they have, to leave it all out on the field, in the hopes that they might have the opportunity to stand on the victor’s platform, have the gold medal placed around their necks, hear their national anthem played, and receive the title of “Champion of the World.”  Though I’m not certain that Champion of the World is an official title for the winner of the gold medal, if you think about it, the title is indeed fitting.  For the goal of each national champion who competes in the games is to come home with the gold as the champion who beat all the other champions; the champion who has become the champion of the world.  Well, in our lesson today, we see another champion step into the ring of competition, for we see Jesus as he is about to go head to head with satan for the title of “Champion of the World!”

Now, as we meet Jesus in our lesson this morning, he is willingly stepping into the boxing ring of the wilderness as it were, to go head to head with satan in a 40 day winner takes all battle.  This is the battle royal that took place immediately after Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River and the Holy Spirit led him out into the wilderness to be tempted, as Mark tells us in our lesson today: 12 At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, 13 and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him. 14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”" (Mark 1:12–15, NIV84)

In some ways the bout that was about to take place could easily be described in the manner of two heavy weight champions approaching the ring to do battle knowing that the winner would be declared champion and take home the belt.  We’ve seen scenes like this countless time in movies, TV shows, and maybe some of you have seen it in person in an actual boxing ring.  We’ve all seen it, the procession of the fighters to the ring.  We’ve seen them in their warm up robs, surrounded by their entourage as well as security.  We’ve seen them walk into the ring, sometimes strut to the ring, with all those people following, often times being led to the ring by the coach.  We are all very familiar with how the announce will excite the crowd as he announces each fighter, which corners they are in, and which is the defending the title.  But today, as our Champion approached the ring of the wilderness, there were no security guards; there was no entourage.  There was only Jesus being led by the Holy Spirit.  Even the announcers were absent from the spectacular battle that was going to be waged here.  Though it is true that God the Father had announced Jesus as his Son whom he loved just minutes before the Holy Spirit led him out, none of the people who had witnessed Jesus’ baptism moments earlier had any clue of what was coming.

Yet this was the way Jesus wanted it.  For it was there, in the wilderness, that our Champion stepped into the ring and went head to head with satan, not just for 15 rounds, but for 40 days; for 960 hours of temptation.  But unlike boxing matches that start so civilly with the ringing of a bell, this fight began as soon as Jesus stepped into the ring.  From that moment on, satan began a barrage of temptations that did not let up or ease off until the very end of the 40 days.  Though we are very familiar with the temptations of turning rocks into bread, throwing oneself off the temple, and bowing down and worshiping satan, which the other Gospel writers include, Mark, by not listing any of the temptations, makes the point that satan continued with one temptation after another for the entire 40 days that Jesus was in the wilderness.  In the same way that a boxer who gains the advantage will continually pummel his opponent until he is knocked out, the ref stops him, or the bell rings, satan came at Jesus with everything he had hoping to knock Jesus out by tempting him to sin.  But our Champion never once gave into any one of the temptations that satan offered, and he won the battle for you and me.

As Jesus went head to head with our enemy the devil, our champion thoroughly and completely defeated satan in the wilderness.  Though Jesus had “weakened” himself, in satan’s opinion by taking on human flesh and blood, our Champion held his ground as a human being, perfectly following and keeping God’s holy law in our place!  Though Jesus had “weakened” himself, in satan’s opinion, by not making use of his divine powers and was tempted in every way, just as we are, he remained faithful to the Lord his God and remained our sinless Savior.  Though Jesus had weakened himself physically by fasting during the 40 days that he was out there, he proved that he was indeed the Champion of the World by sending satan running when the 40 days were over.  Though satan continually popped up during the remaining days of Jesus’ earthly ministry, our Champion never once fell prey to those temptations.  Our Champion won the victory!

Now, if there was ever a fighter who never let you forget that he was the best, that fighter would have to be Muhammad Ali.  For, from what I have come to know about him from TV and the Internet, he was one of the most vocal fighters when it came to the subject of his talent, his style, and his incredible record of wins.  Well, in many ways, this is what Jesus, our Champion, was all about after he defeated our enemy in the wilderness.  For after that battle was over, Jesus came out spreading the news of his victory.  Mark tells us in verse 14, “After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”" (Mark 1:14–15, NIV84)

Though Mark skips over almost an entire year of Jesus’ life with these verses, our Champion’s message of victory sums up what Jesus was up to during that time.  For before John was put into prison, Jesus went throughout Jerusalem and Judea preaching and teaching the same message.  He traveled from town to town and village preaching that same message of victory, “Repent and believe the good news!”  No matter where Jesus traveled, he proclaimed his victory to the people wherever he was so that they might put their faith in him and receive the blessings of victory that their Champion had won.

It is this same beautiful message of victory that Jesus, our Champion is proclaiming to us today.  For through these simple words, recorded by the Evangelist Mark, we are assured that Jesus has indeed won the victory over satan for us.  We are assured that though our enemy came at Jesus again and again in the wilderness, Jesus never once fell for the temptations.  We are assured that he won the victory by never sinning.  Though it would be about two more years until Jesus went to the cross, he could rightly tell the people that he had won the victory.  For it was Jesus our Champion who threw satan out of heaven when he rebelled.  It was Jesus, our Champion, who defeated satan in the wilderness.  It was Jesus, our Champion, who defeated satan’s every attempt to steer him off course, and it was Jesus, our Champion who completely won the victory over our enemy when he went to the cross. 

For it was there on that cross that our Champion stood his ground and died to win the full and final victory over satan, forever.  It was there on the cross that Jesus, the Son of God, was rejected by God himself!  It was there, on that cross, that Jesus endured the pain and suffering of eternal damnation as he who is God was cast out of God’s presence!  It was there, on that cross that our God who cannot die, gave his life for sinners, and died to pay the price of our sins!  It was there, on that cross, that Jesus our Champion won the victory over satan forever!  This entire message of victory, which we know so well was wrapped up in the message of victory that our Champion brought to the people of Israel, and this is the message of victory that we now take to the world!

Now that we have been reminded of the victory our Savior won for us, it is our mission to go out and spread that message of victory to the world.  It is our mission to climb up to the highest heights and announce to all the world that Jesus is truly the Champion of the World whose victory over the devil gives all people the forgiveness of sins.  It is our mission to take that message to every single person who does not know Jesus or the things he has done for them.  So let us do just that!  Make the effort this week to tell even just one person about Jesus Christ, the Savior and Champion of the World.  As you talk to your friends and co-workers this week, invite them to come and worship with us next week.  As you sit down to dinner with your families make sure you turn off the TV for even just one meal and talk to each other about what Jesus did for you.  Only don’t do nothing, letting this opportunity pass you buy, rather make it your personal goal that each time you talk to someone, that person will learn about the victory that Christ our Champion won for him and all the world.

Though Jesus didn’t win that title by competing in any type of Olympic games, we know that he is truly our Champion.  For he is the one who went head to head with our enemy the devil, he is the one who won the victory over satan, and he is the who has assured us of that victory so that we, like him, can spread the news to all the world.

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN

Learn from Jesus' Lessons on Avoiding Temptation (Matthew 4:1-11)

March 13, 2011

Dear friends in Christ.

I think it was about 10 years ago when I first heard of the Do It Yourself, the DIY, Network. I remember being intrigued by the different levels of projects that they displayed, and being especially impressed at how they laid it all out so simply for people so that they could do it themselves. Since then, DIY has grown. All you have to do is type DIY into an Internet search engine and you will have millions of results in about 1/10 of a second. So if you need to know how to do something, with just a few key strokes you can find instructions on any topic under the sun. Well, in some ways, you could say that our lesson today is a bit of a DIY project, because as we study this section of Matthew, we will see Jesus showing us exactly how to resist and avoid temptation. Now, understand, this is not Jesus teaching us how to be holy, perfect, or sinless! Rather, this is Jesus teaching us by his word and his example how to live in our faith and avoid temptation. In fact, I invite you to open your Bibles to our Gospel lesson, to Matthew 4:1-11 and we’ll take a look at the lessons that Jesus is teaching us on avoiding temptation.

Now, as you are turning to Matthew 4, let me remind you of the events that took place just prior to our lesson today. John the Baptist had been preaching and preparing the people for the coming of Jesus. Then suddenly, without warning, Jesus had appeared at the Jordan requesting Baptism by John. After Jesus was baptized God the Father spoke from heaven and the Holy Spirit descended on him as a dove, and immediately Jesus went out into the wilderness. This is where we begin with Jesus’ lessons on avoiding temptation. We begin with lesson 1: Listen to the Lord your God. Take a look at what Matthew records, “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.’ Jesus answered, ‘It is written: “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” ’ ” (Matthew 4:1-4). It was just after Jesus’ baptism when this event took place. For after the Holy Spirit had descended on Jesus he led Jesus out into the wilderness where he was to be tempted by the devil. As part of his preparation, Jesus had been fasting for the past forty days and forty nights. He had not eaten anything for over a month! He was undoubtedly being wracked by intense pangs of hunger, and was surely growing weak from lack of food. This was the opportune time the devil wanted, and this was when satan came to Jesus to tempt him!

But did you notice what satan did as I read the text for you? He appealed his temptation to Jesus’ hunger, but he disguised the temptation with religious talk. For he came to Jesus saying, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” With these words, satan was playing to Jesus’ human nature trying to get him to doubt that he truly was the Son of God, and trying to get him to doubt that the Lord God would take care of him. He was in effect trying to suggest that it was beneath the Son of God to go without food! After all, if Jesus really was the Son of God, he would have had the power to create food out of nothing and eat rather than wander around this wilderness starving himself simply because his Father in heaven had commanded him to. Basically, with this temptation, satan was trying to play to what he perceived as a weakness for Jesus.

This is the same thing that the devil does to us. When he tempts us, he always plays to our weaknesses. He focuses on our pet sins, entices us, and makes us want to do something we know is absolutely wrong. Even when we are wise to his temptations, and feel that we are ready to contend with him, he disguises his real temptation, as he did with Jesus, and leads us right around the defenses we’ve set up until we are wallowing around in the pool of the sins which we had hoped to avoid. This is when we need to learn a lesson from Jesus’ examples and listen to the Lord our God as he did. For on our own, we will constantly fall into temptation, but when we follow Jesus’ examples, he will help us stand against our enemy. This is what Jesus did when he was tempted. He didn’t use his almighty power to send satan packing, rather, he used God’s Word. For when satan tempted him to turn those stones in to bread, Jesus simply replied: “Man does not live on bread alone, but every word that comes out of the mouth of God.” In effect, Jesus was saying, “I will listen to what the Lord my God commands, and not you.”

This is the example that Jesus gives for us to follow. For when we are tempted, we have the Word of our Lord to which we also can listen. We have his Word recorded for us in the pages of Scripture, and when we are daily reading our Bibles, we are that much better prepared to face temptations. For when satan comes to tempt us, we can listen to the Lord by simply reminding ourselves of what he tells us in his word. When satan tempts us to steal, we can remember that the Lord says no. When satan tempts us to lie, we can remember how the Lord tells us to let our yes be yes and our no, no. When satan tempts us to do anything, we can listen to the soft, still voice of the Lord our God as he speaks to us through the Bible. Then, as we listen to the Lord our God, we can avoid the temptation into which satan is trying to lead us. Though there will still be times when satan’s temptations get the better of us and we fall into sin, when we turn to the Lord in repentance he will forgive us. When he forgives us he also equips us to listen to him all the more carefully, as we use his word to avoid temptation.

However, the problem is that this is never a onetime battle! The problem is that satan and all his evil angels are crafty individual who are always looking for a way around our line of defense, and just as the Germans marched right around France’s Maginot Line during World War II, satan’s forces quickly find a way to flank our fortifications. This is exactly what satan was trying to do to Jesus after his first temptation failed, and it is this second temptation that leads us into Jesus’ second lesson on avoiding temptation. Let’s take a look at what Matthew tells us, “Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. ‘If you are the Son of God,’ he said, ‘throw yourself down. For it is written:’ “He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” ’ Jesus answered him, ‘It is also written: `Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” (Matthew 4:5-7).

As satan lead Jesus to the highest point of the temple he tried to lead Jesus in to a false trust in God. Though Jesus had brilliantly proven he was the Son of God by listening to what the Lord said and trusting that the Lord would sustain him, satan was now trying to maneuver around that defense by getting Jesus to prove his trust. Quite simply, satan was playing on Jesus’ trust in the Lord and trying to use that trust against him. But Jesus’ trust never once wavered, because Jesus, the Author of the Scriptures recognized that satan was setting one Scripture against another. Yet, even as satan did this, Jesus demonstrated his trust in the Lord by placing one Scripture along side of another when he answered satan for Jesus basically responded, “It is true that the Lord has charged his angels to take care of his children, but it is also written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test!’ ”

Well, just as satan used this ploy against Jesus in the wilderness, so he also uses it against us on a regular basis. In fact, it is because we have placed our faith squarely in the Lord that satan constantly seeks to make us doubt that decision, by seeking to make us doubt the Lord himself. Just think about how satan tries to chip away at our trust when bad things happen in our lives. He subtly begins to plant doubts in our minds about the goodness of our God. He makes us wonder, “Why is this happening to me?” “What have I done to deserve this?” He even goes so far as to remind us that the Bible assures us that God loves his children, but we must not be his children if all these things are happening to us. He is right there telling us that the Bible says that God watches over those he loves, but he must not love us, if we are going through such frustrating hardships. And in doing this, satan is seeking to drive a wedge between us and our Lord. He is seeking to weaken our trust in the Lord our God. He is hoping to make us doubt the Lord’s love and give into the temptation to trust ourselves and turn away from the Lord. Though there are times when he succeeds in weakening or even breaking our trust in the Lord, when we turn to the Lord in repentance, it is the Lord who forgives us. It is the Lord who renews us. It is the Lord who reestablishes our trust in him and gives us the ability to trust him all the more. In fact, it is the Lord who assures us that when we completely place our trust in him, satan is not able to tempt us, because the Lord is on our side and fighting for us.

But once again, the problem still remains! Satan does not give up easily. He will continue to tempt us and tempt us as long as he is able. That is why Jesus’ third lesson to us is this: resist the devil and he will flee from you. When satan came tempting Jesus, this is exactly what Jesus did. Just as Matthew tells us in our lesson: “Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. ‘All this I will give you,’ he said, ‘if you will bow down and worship me.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Away from me, Satan! For it is written: “Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.” ’ Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.” (Matthew 4:8-11).

When it came to the last temptation of the day, satan pulled out all the stops. He took Jesus to a high mountain, and because the Lord allowed him to, he showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and all their splendor. Then he simply said, “All this can be yours if you simply bow down to me and worship me.”

With these words, satan was trying to tempt Jesus with an easy way out. He was trying to tempt Jesus with an easy way out because he knew why Jesus had come to the earth. He knew that Jesus had come to the earth to suffer and to die for the sins of the world. He knew the horrors that Jesus would endure as he hung on that cross suffering under the weight of all those sins. He knew that in his human nature this would be something that Jesus just wasn’t looking forward to, and with this temptation, he was trying to get Jesus to take the easy way out. In effect he was saying, “Why go through all that pain and agony and suffering to attain the glory which the Lord has promised, when I can give you all that glory right now if you just bow down and worship me.” But what was Jesus’ response? “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’ Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.” (Matthew 4:10-11).

How often doesn’t satan do the same thing to us? How often doesn’t he tempt us to take the easy way out? How often doesn’t he whisper in our ears, “You know it’s so hard to get up in the morning to get to church on time, maybe you should just sleep in today.” How often doesn’t he try to convince us, “You know, God will understand if you miss church from time to time. He understands that you are busy and that you might want to go to church but your job has to take precedence over worship.” How many times doesn’t he try to convince you that you get more out of worshiping God in nature than you do from sitting in church and listening to the Pastor drone on and on about nothing. How often doesn’t it happen that he succeeds and we take the easy way out? Though there are times when we give in and take the easy way out, when we turn to the Lord in repentance, it is the Lord who forgives us. It is the Lord who builds us up, and it is the Lord who reminds us that when we resist the devil, he will flee from us. Sometimes it may happen with a single rebuke to our enemy. Other times we may have to stand our ground five, six, seven, or even more times as satan comes at us with stronger and stronger temptations. Yet, as Jesus taught us today, we know that when we resist satan, by the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, satan must flee from us

Yet, while these lessons should be aptly learned, there is one final lesson we need to keep in mind. In fact, it is the very lesson that has been intertwined with the three we have learned here today and that lesson is simply this: when we do fall into temptation, turn to the Lord in repentance for forgiveness. Though by listening to the Lord our God, by placing our trust squarely in him, and by resisting the devil, we will avoid temptation, we are not perfect like our Savior, and we do fall into temptation. But when we do, we don’t need to beat ourselves up over it, because Jesus Christ our Savior, who endured all of satan’s temptations and never once fell into sin, is the one who forgives us. This is our comfort when we do fall Jesus Christ has forgiven all of our sins, and we can rely on his salvation.

What greater lessons could Jesus be teaching us today than these lesson on avoiding temptation. For it is through his example we have learned that through faith we are able to avoid satan’s temptation by listening to the Lord our God, by placing our faith squarely in the Lord, and resisting the devil until he flees from us. But best of all the lessons is the assurance that when we do fall into temptation all is not lost. Rather we can always turn to the Lord our God in repentance and he will forgive us. he will forgive us, strengthen us, and give us yet one more opportunity to learn from his lesson on avoiding temptation.


Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church --Le Sueur, MN

Wield the weapon of God’s Word (Luke 4:1-13)

Dear friends in Christ.

In 2008, DreamWorks Entertainment released the computer animated movie, Kung Fu Panda. Now, if you have kids at home, or Grandkids that like to spend time with you, I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve seen this movie on at least one occasion. But if you haven’t seen it, permit me, if you will, to tell you a little bit about it. Kung Fu Panda is a movie about a lazy, irreverent, slacker panda named, Po, whose greatest desire is to become a kung fu master and fight alongside his heroes—the Furious Five—even though his destiny, if you will, is to follow in his father’s footsteps and one day take over his noodle shop. Yet Po continues to hope that his dreams might come true. A few days later, on the day when the entire village gathers to see who will be chosen as the Dragon Warrior, Po is unexpectedly chosen as that warrior. From that point on, Po goes into strict training to learn how to wield the weapons of a kung fu master. At first things don’t go so well for Po, but as the movie progresses, we see how Po grows in his knowledge and his ability to wield the weapons of a kung fu master.

Now some of you might be wondering why I’m telling you all this. Some of you might be wondering why on earth I’m spending so much time talking about a cartoon panda and his struggles to learn how to wield the weapons of a Kung Fu Master. Well, the reason is simple. For in the same way that Po was taught by his master in the movie, so also, our Master, Jesus is taking time to teach us how to wield the weapon of God’s Word against our enemy, the devil, and the temptations that he continually brings against the fortress of our hearts. Thus, as our text begins this morning, we have Jesus teaching us his first lesson of wielding the weapon of God’s Word when satan seeks to make us doubt God’s promises. Luke writes: “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone.’” (Luke 4:1–5, NIV)

Now, to fully understand what’s going on, we have to go back a few weeks to the First Sunday after the Epiphany, when we heard about how Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan River. We have to go back to that day when the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus in the form of a dove and God the Father spoke from heaven giving his approval and saying, “This is my Son whom I love, with him I am well pleased.” We have to go back to that point, because it was immediately after Jesus was baptized that the Holy Spirit led him into the wilderness to do battle against the devil. It wasn’t that Jesus decided to go head to head with satan on the spur of the moment, rather, he was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness according to the will of his heavenly Father so that during those 40 days Jesus might be tempted in every way, just as we are. Though the gospels of Matthew and Luke list only three temptations that Jesus faced, the three temptations serve as a summary of all the other temptations going on during that forty day period. For as the battle began, satan came to Jesus with the very same temptation that worked so well on Eve; the temptation of doubt. Satan sought from the beginning to cause Jesus to doubt who he was and to make him wonder why he, the Son of God, must face such mind numbing hunger from fasting for 40 days and nights. Thus, Satan sought to make Jesus doubt his father’s will for him and tried to move Jesus to act with a demonstration of his power, turning the stones around him into bread. Yet, even as satan attempted this with one single question, Jesus wielded the weapon of God’s Word and said, “Man does not live on bread alone.” Though Jesus could have defeated satan with a single, divine command, he fought against satan according to his human nature, using the weapon of God’s Word, thereby beginning our lesson on how to wield that same weapon when satan seeks to make us doubt God’s promises.

This is truly an important lesson for each of us to learn, because in the sparring match that is our life, doubt is one of the most powerful weapons that satan has in his arsenal. Although we are Christians who have every reason to be confident in the Lord and in his promises, how often doesn’t it happen that a single drop of doubt begins to permeate our hearts and minds in the same way that a single drop of food coloring will begin to permeate the water into which it was dropped? How often doesn’t it happen that our enemy creeps into the garden of our hearts and plants a simple seed of doubt which can quickly grow into a giant tree before we know it? In fact, I don’t want you to raise your hands or anything like that, but how many of you were dealing with doubts when you walked in that door this morning—doubts of whether or not God really loves you, or has forgiven you for the things you have done. How many of you walked in with doubts about God’s care because your health has taken a turn for the worse, or someone you know and love is sick, or suffering, or even dying? How many of you are facing worries and doubts this morning because your expenses have far exceeded your income or your investment portfolio is no longer what it used to be? How many of you are afraid because your position at work has already been eliminated, or may soon be eliminated? How many of you have found that one of the questions echoing in your mind more regularly is, “If God really loves me, why is this happening to me?”

Yet it is against onslaughts such as these that our Savior shows us how to wield the weapon of his Word to defeat our enemy. For when doubts arise in our lives, our Savior simply leads us back to his Word where we are reminded again and again that we are dearly loved children of God. Just as Paul reminded us in our first lesson this morning when he wrote, “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”” (Romans 10:8–13, NIV)

When we wield the weapon of God’s Word against our enemy, it works every time. His attack is met, his advance is slowed, and he immediately finds himself in a battle not with us, but with God himself who fights for us, who encourages us, and who helps us in every situation in life. When we wield the weapon of God’s Word, our enemy is then forced to make a choice either to retreat, or to change tack and press the attack harder, as he did against our Savior. Though Jesus had completely resisted satan’s attack and used God’s word to parry temptation, satan quickly changed his approach from that of doubt to that of making Jesus his slave. Luke tells us, “The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. So if you worship me, it will all be yours.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’” (Luke 4:5–8, NIV)

Satan knew why Jesus had come. He knew the glory that Jesus had set aside when he took on human flesh and blood. He knew that just a few weeks earlier, God the Father had declared Jesus to be the Messiah who had come to crush satan’s head. He knew all this and he also knew how terrifying the idea of suffering and dying at the hands of a righteous God would have been to Jesus human nature; so he tries to tempt Jesus to take the easy way out. Rather than go through all that suffering satan offers Jesus another option. He offers Jesus the opportunity to bow down and worship him so that he might give to Jesus all the authority and honor that Jesus would have earned a couple of years sooner. All satan was asking Jesus to do was pay a small price on the front end which would have resulted in exorbitant fees on the back end, because Jesus would have failed his Father and become the slave of his enemy. Yet even as satan hoped and almost prayed that Jesus would fall into his trap, Jesus again withstood the temptation as he wielded the weapon of God’s Word, saying, “Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.” Thus Jesus delivers to us his second lesson on wielding the weapon of the Word when satan tries to make us his slaves.

How often doesn’t satan do that same thing to us? How often doesn’t he display before our eyes the “glories” of our own sinful desires and addictions? How often doesn’t he ask us why we pay such a high price for good grades when it would be so easy to sneak the answers into class? How often doesn’t he ask us why we pay such a high price to teach our children about their Savior when it would be so much easier to drop them off for an hour and let the Church teach them once a week? How often doesn’t he ask us why we pay such a high price to make certain that everything is correct when we turn in our 1040 form when it would be so easy to invent a few key deductions that would help save some money. How often doesn’t he ask us why we seek to spend so much time with your husband or your wife and your children, especially when you know that there are so many other interesting and captivating people to be found online? How often doesn’t he ask you why you wake us so early on Sunday morning just to come to church and hear Pastor Shilling drone on and on when you could have stayed home, slept in and read the Bible for yourself?

These are but a few of the blows that satan seeks to land even before we are able to wield God’s Word against him. These are but a few of the ways he hope to counter our defenses so that he can make us his slaves and lead us captive into the dungeons of everlasting damnation. Yet, as we wield that weapon of God’s Word, we are assured that our God is also fighting for us. Though there are times when satan’s blows land on our flesh and we are deeply cut by his temptations and infected by our sins, it is our Savior who heals us with the salve of the Gospel. For in the same way that the Lord led his people out of slavery he also leads us from the slavery to our sins, into the freedom of his Gospel. He drives back our enemy and even knocks him to the ground for us, the only problem is, that in the same way that a prize fighter refuses to lay down on the mats, but gets back up to continue the battle with his opponent, so also our enemy, continues to get up and advance against us again and again. But even as he continues to advance, we continue to wield God’s Word, just as our Savior did when satan came back at him with one last strategy. Luke tells us, “The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered, “It says: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time. ” (Luke 4:9–13, NIV)

Since none of his other tactics were working against Jesus, satan sought to use Jesus’ own weapon against him. He took Jesus to the highest point of the temple and then dared him to jump off quoting the Psalmist who said that God would protect him even if he acted so rashly and so foolishly. But, of course, our Savior immediately saw through satan’s misuse of God’s word, setting one Scripture against another, in an attempt to deceive him into the rash action of testing the Lord his God. So, once again Jesus wields the weapon of God’s Word saying, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test,” and in doing so, he bestows upon us his final lesson of wielding his word to combat against satan’s continual desire to elicit rash disobedience by his constant misuse of Scripture.

For the truth is, satan’s misuse of the Scriptures is probably the most effective weapon that he has at his disposal. Just think about how our enemy has made each and every Christian afraid to judge anyone or anything by continually pulling out of context the simple passage in Matthew: “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.” (Matthew 7:1, NIV) Though this passage speaks about judging, from the context it tells us not to judge rashly or without all evidence while other passages of the Bible tell us that it is our Christian Duty to judge sin and sinners according to God’s law. Or think about how many people believe that money is the root of all evil, rather than sinful human nature, when the Bible clearly tells us, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” (1 Timothy 6:10, NIV) Or how many people have bought into the idea that we can do whatever we want with our body and our life even though the Bible tells us, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. ” (1 Corinthians 6:19–20, NIV)

But the biggest misuse of Scripture that leads even the most faithful Christians into rash actions and sinful lives is the misuse of the passage, “God is love.” (1 John 4:8 NIV) The misuse of this passage is the whole basis for the acceptance of living together before marriage, experimenting with sexuality, and engaging in same sex unions, and countless other ideas and perversions. It is the whole basis because by leading people to focus on the fact that God is love, then it logically follows that God loves us for who we are and what we are as long as we continue acting in love. Thus, it naturally follows that if we are acting in love, then no matter what we do, we must be acceptable in the sight of God because by that logic, love becomes our god. This, is by far the worst misuse of Scripture by our adversary, because it is a misuse that is leading countless millions away from the truth and down the path that leads to destruction. Thus, it becomes all the more necessary for us to wield the weapon of God’s Word boldly against these false ideas spawned from satan’s misuse of the Scriptures. For when we wield that weapon, we know our God is fighting for us and beside us. When we wield that weapon we are able to see through the misuses our enemy brings and even avoid the traps into which they lead. When we wiled the weapon of God’s Word and immerse ourselves in his word, we are ready to resist satan’s logic when he places one Scripture against another, or even one Scripture against the rest of the Word.

These are the lessons that our Master is teaching us today. These are the lessons that Jesus teaches in his battle against our enemy, the devil. Though we may sometimes face difficult times as Po did, even as he sought to become a kung fu master, with the training we have received win God’s Weaponry today, we are ready to wield them against our enemy. We are ready because we know that even as we wield them, our God fights alongside us so that through his Word, we might be victorious in Christ Jesus our Savior.

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church Le Sueur, MN