"TEMPTED" - Genesis 3:1 - 7; Matthew 4: 1 - 11
A Sermon by Alex Evans, Pastor,
Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, VA
Sunday, March 1, 2020
Texts: Genesis 3:1-7; Matthew 4:1-11
“TEMPTED”
Here is a question I get from time to time: How come Presbyterians almost never talk about the DEVIL?
I try to answer this question – sometimes with humor – but also with some strong affirmations: First, the Bible is not about the DEVIL. The Bible is about God – God’s presence and promises, God’s claim on our lives, God steadfast love which is from everlasting to everlasting, God’s victory over evil and death such that nothing can separate us from God’s love. That is the message of Christian faith.
We affirm this good news again today in the Baptism of little Grayson. Our lives belong to God – not the devil. We are to live our lives loving and serving God – not the devil.
Second, the DEVIL is NOT a very prominent figure in the Bible. He appears in a few places. In nearly every instance where the devil appears, he is the instigator of evil, one who is opposed to God or against God. His very name, “the Devil,” means, actually, “the tempter,” or maybe even better, “the splitting one” – the one who splits us, or wants to split us, away from God and what God intends. This is what the serpent is doing in the first lesson from Genesis. The devil is the embodiment, the name given, to those evil forces that come at us very personally – speaking, luring us away from God’s plans - and seeking to split us away from God’s love, promises, and purposes.
So here is a way to think about this – evil is real; evil comes at us personally and touches us specifically – and because it can be very personal and real – we might give evil a face and a being – “the devil” – by adding a “d” to “evil.” We will see this in just a minute in a story of Jesus.
But then a THIRD point about the devil is very important. Whenever we come upon the devil, or demons, or other forms of evil in the Bible, God - or Jesus, or God’s Spirit - ALWAYS WINS OUT. Evil is real. Evil is part of life. Evil can touch us personally and individually and closely. But evil – the devil – never holds the day. God holds the day. God holds all of life. That is the message of Holy Scripture.
Finally, whenever we encounter the devil in the Scriptures, there is NO detailed description. He does not have horns and a pitchfork. He does not have a threatening scowl on his face. He is not a monster. Actually, that would be nice. When certain moments emerge in our lives – wicked people, uncertain and destructive temptations, evil circumstances – we do not always know what is evil and what is not. Evil can be very hard to recognize. We find ourselves in various situations and we can be deep into them before we realize we are consumed with an evil mess, or overwhelmed with evil people. We get tricked or scammed before we even know it. Moreover, there is nowhere in the Bible a history of where the devil comes from; it is all conjecture. Whenever the devil appears, he just appears. This mostly affirms that evil is present in the world and near – often too near to our lives. Evil and temptation can come at us – in unexpected or even unforeseen ways. The Bible does not say where the devil comes from or actually how he looks – he just appears.
So all of this is very important. The Bible is about God and God’s pervasive ways over evil, injustice, and death. Be sure to remember that whenever someone wants to talk lots about the devil. The devil does not deserve significant emphasis. The devil is NOT very prominent in the Bible. The devil never wins; God wins. Jesus wins. Life and love prevail over death and hatred. All of this should help keep us focused and faithful as God’s people.
With all that in mind, listen now to one of the prominent passages in the New Testament where we meet the devil. This story is in all three gospels – Matthew, Mark, and Luke. So it is an important story. I am reading from Matthew 4:
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. 3The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” 5Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6saying to him, “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.’” 7Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”8Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; 9and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’” 11Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.
This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Chapter 4 in Matthew’s gospel comes immediately after Jesus is baptized. Do you remember the story of Jesus’ baptism? Just as he “came up from the water, suddenly 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.’”
There is that scene, and then immediately, this one: Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness - and then – there is that verb – to be TEMPTED – by the devil. The TEMPTER came and said, “if you are the Son of God,” do this. . . . . “If you are the Son of God,” do that. . . . . “If you are the Son of God,” how about this?
The devil is the TEMPTER. The devil is trying “to split” Jesus away from God’s plans. The devil is trying to drive a wedge between God’s Son and God’s intentions for the world.
This is a good day to think about where we are . . . TEMPTED.
It is easy – even tempting – to think about TEMPTED in terms that are very personal, involving habits and choices, things that touch our lives. Lent – the season of 40 days leading up to Easter – might give us a fresh opportunity to consider some of the things that TEMPT us. We decide to give up chocolate for Lent, or maybe caffeine, or alcohol. We might do this to strive to be more disciplined. We are going to try to push back from the table and take care how much we eat. We are going to watch what we say – or what we spend – to address some of our ongoing temptations.
Or, maybe there is another temptation that needs some attention from you – something you know that is not helpful to your life or faithful to God. We want to become better people – more loving, more relational, more patient, more kind. All of this might be very important to consider - and helpful to us as we commit our lives to growing in discipleship - as we seek to be increasingly converted as the trusting, loving, serving people of God.
But let me reflect on other ways we are TEMPTED.
I will be honest. I am TEMPTED . . . to be very discouraged. We live in a world where the cruelties are becoming too prevalent, the atrocities too pervasive, and the fractures seem beyond repair. We get discouraged about politics, the state of life in our democratic republic. We get discouraged by the injustices, the polarization, the suffocating environment.
We call ourselves the wealthiest nation in the world, and we love our ideals of democracy and justice, . . . but we still have children in cages at the border. They may not be our children – so we are TEMPTED not to think about them. But what does God expect from us?
We have more people in prison – and high percentages of blacks and Hispanic - than any other developed country. Maybe they are not our people – so we are TEMPTED not to worry about this.
We are a nation where the Constitution – and the “rule of law” – is supposed to mean something but we seem to be struggling with truth – what is truth, really, in these days? And justice – is there “one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all?” Can we say that, honestly?
It is TEMPTING to be discouraged when we know we are – as disciples of Jesus - supposed to defend bullied people – so many people being bullied. We are – as Jesus disciples - supposed to befriend the vulnerable – and so many people are more and more vulnerable. We are – as Jesus disciples - supposed extend kindness in a way that makes other people’s loads lighter – and so many people are carrying heavy loads.
It is TEMPTING to be discouraged when a threatening virus sweeps across the world. Talk of a pandemic is not fake news. This virus cannot be blamed on the previous president, or on your enemies. You cannot fire this virus. You cannot impugn its character with baseless attacks. You cannot ask Putin and the Russians to take it away. You cannot rage-Tweet it into exhaustion. We have a dangerous and uncertain situation that calls forth the best from our nation, . . . and the world and we are not getting it. (see Feb 27, 2020, Johnpavlovitz.com)
It is TEMPTING to be so discouraged.
It is TEMPTING to just focus on what keeps us comfortable. Do we have to talk about white privilege and our legacy of racism? It is TEMPTING to want to avoid that. Do we have to think about and pray for the people suffering so much in Syria? It is TEMPTING to want to avoid that too.
It is TEMPTING . . . . too, when personal crises come so close to us – with health scares to our lives, . . . or sincere losses, . . . or family situations, . . . or long and uncertain seasons in our lives that just keep going, . . . . We get caught in swirling despair. It is TEMPTING to lose hope, to forget about God’s love and promises.
Do you know what I am talking about?
This passage in all the gospels is super important, NOT because it gives us a glimpse of the devil but because it gives us a great depiction of Jesus. Jesus is TEMPTED. When Jesus is TEMPTED – this intends to help us when we are TEMPTED.
What are we to do when we are TEMPTED? TEMPTED to be discouraged, TEMPTED by crises, TEMPTED by complacency, by challenges and loss, by uncertainty and confusion?
As we re-affirmed on Ash Wednesday, we belong to God – we remember who we are and whose we are. This is what Jesus does in the desert, with temptation. He remembers who he is, and whose he is.
We do not live by bread alone, but by the promises and word of God. Jesus let the promises and the Word of God shape him. We know life comes with changes and challenges, but we keep trusting God. We know we get tired and discouraged, but we keep on, seeking to serve God, to love what God loves, to live with kindness and compassion, with empathy and energy toward the promised purposes of God.
Friends, Lent is a time to focus on our faithfulness – re-claim God’s love, and live into it. Lent is a time to re-frame our priorities – kindness and grace in a mean world – that is how we live; hope and possibility even against the principalities and power – that is how we live.
Lent is a time to center our lives. What gives life? What makes life better? The Word of God will always nourish us; the power of God will uphold us; and the worship of God will always strengthen and direct us.
I want to end this sermon by re-quoting something sent out this week in his Second Reflections, Roger, quoting Kelly Brown Douglas:
Martin L. King spoke of a dream for a different world. He did not surrender to the crucifying realities of the world. He did not permit it to have the last word. This was the power of his black faith. It enabled him to live into the resurrection promise of new life. . . . King often proclaimed that the “arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” King's dream was a testament to this arc. (Gench, quoting K.B. Douglas, 2/25/20)
Despite being TEMPTED, we cannot be discouraged. We keep striving to live by faith, with love, integrity, grace, and conviction, toward the wonderful and certain promises of God. May it be so. Amen.
Prayer of Commitment: We believe, O Lord; help our unbelief. Focus us – for faith, love, hope, and life. Amen
Alex W. Evans, Pastor, Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, VA preached this sermon during Sunday morning worship on March 1, 2020. This is a rough manuscript.