March 6 2022

Lent 1 March 6 2022

Old Testament: Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Psalm: Psalm 91

Epistle: Romans 10:8b-13

Gospel: Luke 4:1-13

Sermon Text: Luke 4:1-13

Sermon Title: “Quoting Deuteronomy to the Devil”

Grace to you and peace, from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

“Since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin”. (Hebrews 4:14-15) Because He (Jesus) Himself has suffered when tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted”. (Hebrews 2:18)  

According to Holy Scripture, “it is necessary that temptations come” (Matthew 18:7b). So, we are constantly being tempted to sin, by the devil, by the world, and by our own sinful flesh; therefore the Apostle Paul warns us “let anyone who thinks he stands, take heed, lest he fall” but also “God is faithful and will not let you be tempted beyond your ability … He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it”. (1st Corinthians 10:12-13) If/when we overcome any temptation to sin, it is not due to anything good in us, but rather to the grace and mercy of Christ who has overcome sin for us.

In our Gospel text, Christ Jesus, in His human flesh, endured the temptations of the devil/Satan for us. “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil; and He ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, He was hungry”. (Luke 4:1-2) This temptation is part of what is called in the catechism Jesus’ “Active obedience”, His keeping the Word/Law of God perfectly for us.  

Now, the Holy Spirit led Jesus to be tempted by Satan, which took place over the whole forty days, but this in no way indicates that Jesus was an unwilling participant. In fact, it shows just the opposite; that Jesus knew it would be necessary to have this battle with Satan, so He engages him at the beginning of His ministry; as the Apostle John declared, “the Son of Man came to destroy the works of the devil”. (1st John 3:8b) And so He does, by His perfect life of obedience, of which this is an important part, and His sacrificial death on the cross to atone for the sins of the world.

The fact that “Jesus was (physically) hungry” (Luke 4:2a) after forty days of fasting, led to the first temptation. “The devil said to Him, If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread”. (Luke 4:3) Just as he did with the first temptation, of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden with the words “Did God really say” (Genesis 3:1b); Satan tempts Jesus to doubt the very Word of God.  

But Jesus answered him, “It is written, man shall not live by bread alone” (Luke 4:4) “but by every word that comes from the mouth of God”. (Matthew 4:4b) Three times, the devil will come to Him and three times Jesus will respond with the words, “It is written”. (Luke 4:4, 8, 12) Each of Jesus’ responses come from the Holy Scriptures, in the book of Deuteronomy; His very own Word.  

Next, “the devil took Him up and showed Hiim all the kingdoms of this world in a moment of time, and he said to Jesus, to You I will give all this authority and their glory; for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If You will worship me, it shall all be Yours”. (Luke 4:5-7) The devil offers Jesus a shortcut to glory, a way out of the suffering and death that He knows awaits Him. You can have it all, without any of the pain, all You have to do is bow down to me, the devil tells Him. But once again, Jesus quotes the book of Deuteronomy to the devil saying, “It is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve”. (Luke 4:8)  

Of course, the devil knows the Scriptures well enough to misquote them and that is what he does next; “He took Jesus to Jerusalem, and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple (about feet high) and said to Him, If you are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here; for it is written, He will give His angels charge of you, to guard you, and, On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone”. (Luke 4:9-11)  

One final time, “Jesus answered Satan; It is written/said, you shall not tempt (put to the test) the Lord your God. And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time”. (Luke 4:12-13) The devil and his demons never rest in their temptations, their attempts to drive us (the people of God) from Christ and His Word and His gifts which we receive here in this place; and worship is (contrary to the thinking of many) about what we receive, not what we give.  

If you open up your hymnals, you will find this to be true; the headings of the liturgy are called “Divine Service”, which means that the worship service is first and foremost, God’s service to us. He is the One giving gifts in the church service, we are simply responding to what He has first done for us by His cross and bodily resurrection. “We love, because He first loved us”. (1st John 4:19b)

This is an important distinction that we dare not lose sight of. If we think of worship as primarily something that we do, it is all too easy to diminish the importance of gathering around God’s Word and sacraments here with other believers in Christ. If worship is primarily about us and what we do or think or feel, then we (begin to) think that we can do it just as well at home or online, or in some heterodox church that contradicts the Scriptures in many and various ways; almost anywhere but here.  

But, if it is about what God Himself is doing among us through the preached Word; if it is about the gifts God Himself wants to give us, then we need to be (we want to be) where the gifts of God are being given/distributed. If you know and believe that church (again, the Divine Service) is about the gifts of God that you receive here, then you will as Luther said, “not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it”. (3rd Commandment, Small Catechism)  

As Christians, we “must constantly keep God’s Word in your heart, on your lips and in your ears. For where the Word is not heard, the devil breaks in and does damage … but through the Word the devil is cast out, put to flight”. (3rd Commandment. Large Catechism) Therefore, the Christian gladly hears and studies the Word, not refusing to hear because of grudges or personality conflicts or thinking it to be unimportant compared to the rest of their lives; for that is giving in to the devil’s temptation. Rather, when the devil (or the world or our sinful flesh) tempts us to sin and unbelief, we say/pray “It is written” in God’s Holy Word.  

The Christian is therefore urged to daily repentance (as spoken of in the Small Catechism under the fourth part of Baptism) and the study of God’s Word, “lest you forget the Lord your God, by not keeping His commandments … by going after other gods and serving them”. (Deuteronomy 8:11a, 19a) Moses declared “These words I command you this day shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise”. (Deuteronomy 6:6-7)  

As we heard on Ash Wednesday from the prophet Joel, “Even now, declares the Lord; return to Me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning; (over your sins) rend your hearts and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love”. (Joel 2:12-13) Acknowledge and confess your sins to God, so that you may freely receive the forgiveness that Jesus won for you and for me and for all by His sacrificial death on the cross. Again, its all about what God has done and continues to do for us and all who trust in Him alone, and not in our works.

Trusting in the mercy of God, today, we again gather around His means of grace; the Word and sacrament. As Joel also declared “gather the people, consecrate the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber. Behind the vestibule and the altar, let the priests, the ministers of the Lord weep and say; Spare Your people O Lord and make not Your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations … then the Lord had pity on His people”. (Joel 2:16-18) May the Lord bless and keep us as we gather around His Word and receive His gifts during this forty day season of Lent. Amen.

The peace of God …

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