The sermon text for Sunday, February 21st, the first Sunday in Lent is recorded in Luke 4:1-13, the account of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness by Satan. In this cosmic conflict, Satan’s goal was to sidetrack Jesus from fulfilling His redemptive purpose by enticing Him to exert His independence from God the Father and be His own kind of Messiah. Satan sets before Jesus three temptations as “spiritual shortcuts” to seduce Jesus into believing that He could compromise with Satan and still get the job done. Thankfully, Jesus saw through Satan’s ruse and followed the path that the Father had laid before Him. In each of the three temptations, Jesus was able to overcome Satan by standing on the Word of God – “It is written ….”
Satan couldn’t defeat Jesus, who ultimately went to the cross and rose again from the dead for our salvation. Satan is now, therefore, a defeated foe, but his goal is to hinder the extension of Christ’s rule and reign in human hearts. He tempts us with subtle shortcuts in our spiritual lives too, so that we’ll remain distracted from our true purpose of extending God’s Kingdom throughout the world. Satan won’t tempt us to turn “stones into bread” like he did with Jesus, but he will entice us to sell out to the almighty dollar. He won’t ask us overtly to bow and worship him, but he will charm us into putting things like our careers, our social status, our possessions, or even our families ahead of God. He may deceive us to substitute various kinds of experiences, even spiritual experiences, for a deeper walk with God in His Word.
Satan is subtle, and in our diverse and complex society his methods are sometimes masked. Now, perhaps more than ever, as the lines between right and wrong, good and evil seem increasingly blurred, it’s important for us as followers of Christ intent on doing God’s will, to be those who can ward off Satan’s ways with the same words Jesus used – “It is written.” I invite you to listen to the audio file of today’s message for further insight into this important passage of Scripture.
Draw Near To God
Part of our CoJ vision is to be “God Honoring.” What does it mean to be God Honoring? One way is to draw near to God. James 4:8 says, “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” The context is dealing with how to resist temptation. James is saying we can’t be out there doing our own thing and going our own merry way and expect to be spiritually strong enough to fend off temptations when they strike. James admonishes Christians to draw near to God. Meet with Him in prayer. Treat Him like your best friend. Get to know His heart and share your heart with Him and by so doing, find the strength to resist temptation.
Remember that God made the first move toward us in His offer of salvation. God so loved the world that He gave …. Furthermore, He keeps reaching out to us with overtures of love. How then shall we live? Ignoring or neglecting Him? Of course not! We’re family. Our instinct is to be close. Yet, we become busy. Life crowds in on us. We have lots of pressures and demands on our time. Yet, by neglecting Him we drift further and further from the awareness of His presence. Just remember, God wants nothing more than to spend time with His children, but He respects our freedom. He normally won’t force Himself on us. He wants us to choose to be with Him. So honor God by drawing near to Him. He’ll be there waiting.