Temptations 021008

Gen. 2, 3 and Matt 4:1-11

Margaret Scott

Have you really really wanted something? ever done something wrong to get something you want?

Cookie jar story—can’t have one, took one, then lied about it

Sometimes we do wrong things to get what we want, push and shove, tell a lie, take from someone else

The bible tells us a story where Jesus is tempted to do something wrong—the bible says his enemy was the devil tho we don’t have any idea what the devil looks like.

But does Jesus do the wrong thing?

Jesus shows us that loving God, and doing what God wants is more important than having stuff

When he was tempted to do something wrong, he used words from the Bible to help him

I’ll teach you something he said that we can say when we are tempted to do something wrong:

Get outta here, devil. I choose God’s way.

Repeat

You can teach your family do say it too when they might do the wrong thing.

Prayer

My donut story – get behind me Satan, it’s lent

There I was, doing just what Jesus did, quoting scripture to avoid yielding to the temptation.

Jesus responded to each of the temptations with a quote from his holy scriptures.

Temptation, obviously, is the common denominator in both these stories we heard today. But they have other things in common too: our SLB group came up with several: the force of evil, personified…the choices temptations force on us…power issues….identity issues….relationships.

It’s on relationships I want to focus this morning, because it seems to be a mark of our world that humanity is not doing well with relationships: marriages are fraught with tension,

nations prefer weapons to words,

we’ve become so egocentric that we’d rather not put in the work involved (personal example)

Last night I was privileged to attend the sweetheart dinner, with couples who are willing to put the work into maintaining relationships, and who came to a service of holy communion first, recognizing that the primary relationship of all– the God relationship - has to be right before the others can really flow.

So what on earth do these stories have to do with relationship?

It is no accident that both stories draw a picture of the enemy, give a face to the adversary. In Genesis, it’s the serpent, the ‘snake in the grass’. In Matthew, it’s the devil, however you picture that entity.

They both make ‘it’ look real because it is…the power of evil does exist; there is a dark force that opposes God’s force. Jesus names it Satan, Adversary, for that is what it is. Adversary. A name that cannot be belittled in importance by humor, like a snake or a wee red man with horns and a forked tail.

In the genesis story, the second of the creation stories, Adam and Eve are tempted by the adversary to ‘be like God’. Well surely that’s not relevant to us, we know we’re not God.

Ah but it is, for what they were tempted by was a chance for power and autonomy and control. And they took it. And so do we.

But of course it didn’t work. They weren’t like God at all; they were naked and afraid.

And worse, it changed the relationship between humanity and God. In the human-divine relationship, harmony, joy and intimacy were replaced by fear and anxiety - that’s what happens when we try to be like God, manage the universe, be completely autonomous – we’re just not cut out for it. We need to let God be God.

And in the Jesus story, the Adversary tries again to come between a human and God. The temptation is again to be like God: have power, even over nature (change stones into bread), gain autonomy (rule the whole world), use your status to defy even the laws of gravity.

For us the temptations may not be literally the same, but they’re not literal temptations anyway.

We still want instant, free gratification when we’re hungry,

we still want God to do magical miracles to rescue us from our own foolish decisions,

we still want power and control and recognition.

And did you notice that all the temptations in both stories come with the little word ‘if’ in front of them? (if you eat, if you are God’s son)

The adversary uses doubt to make us question our sense of identity, who we are ourselves AND who we are in relationships, with others and with God:

For A&E and us:

you could be more than God made you, you know.

God’s keeping something from you

You don’t really need God

For Jesus and us:

you’re a child of God, you should get special treatment.

You could do things to test and prove this God’s care for you, you know.

A& E chose things, tangible like food or intangible like autonomy over the relationship

Jesus chose relationship over things

A&E denied their humanity and succumbed to the temptation to be like God.

Jesus accepted his humanity and chose instead to be with God.

This Lent, may we choose the Jesus way. May we spend time developing and nurturing our relationship with God. Lent is a time to choose to recognize our broken relationship with God, and begin to rebuild it…

to recognize those temptations of life for what they are, and call on God and God’s word more often…

to recognize the ways we try to be like God and aim instead for a closeness and harmony and intimacy with God.

I came across a quote this week that speaks to this relationship building. It’s a quote from the Islamic tradition.

The truest and highest stage of worship is to see God face to face, and to receive guidance from God’s own mouth. As we reach for this stage, we choose for ourselves whatever God chooses for us. Our entire characters are transformed by God. We are God’s friends…wherever we go, we go from God; wherever we arrive, we arrive at God; whatever we do, we do for God, whatever service we perform we perform it in God.

Three temptations—stones into bread, angels to rescue, recognition and power.

Let’s look at them one by one and see if they’re ancient, or still relevant.

• stones into bread. The Adversary (Satan, what Jesus calls the evil force) comes at our weakest moments (HALT from 12 steps) Jesus has spent 40 days and nights fasting, and he’s hungry! That’s where the Lenten habit of giving up something for the 40 days of lent comes from. Use your status as God’s son and you don’t have to wait till you’re home to get something to eat; you’ve got power even over the forces of nature. Don’t we still want free, instant gratification for our hungers? Don’t we still use and misuse the earth to our own ends. Jesus’ response: there’s more to life than bread; I can wait if it means deepening my reliance on God. It’s not all about things; relationships are important.

• jump from the pinnacle: angels to the rescue. We still want God to pull off magical miracles and rescue us from our own foolish decisions Jesus’ response shows his insight into what the adversary is doing, which is inviting him to test his faith in God with a really stupid action. He doesn’t need to test God. He trusts God no matter what life holds for him

• rule the world. We still want glory and recognition, authority or power over others. Adversary can switch tactics in a wink of an eye and tackle us at our strengths-things we do well. Jesus clearly a leader in the making, you could go far if you just let me be your backer. Jesus response: God’s the only backer I need. My job is to point to God, not have people point to me.

Like Jesus, we need resources to fight the testings and temptations in our lives

Jesus was pretty creative in the ways he responded to the temptations.

1. Jesus dealt with it by calling on God’s word—the Bible.

Some of us can do that, and have found that God’s word and wisdom can strengthen us. But many of us have little knowledge of the Bible.

For some, another resource is WWJD? - we might use the example of Jesus’ life, instead of Bible quotes.

Or people have shared with me how certain hymns have helped them overcome those times.

2. Jesus also had developed insight. He had spent 40 days and nights remember, with God’s spirit in the wilderness. He could see what the adversary was up to. If we take time to be in God’s presence and community, we too will learn how to recognize temptations when they roll around

3. And Jesus had his priorities clear. He knew God was number one in his life - that his life was not to be lived for himself, but as a pointer to God. If we live our lives pointing to God, instead of ourselves, what transformation there might be in us and in the world!