Sunday, January 20, 2008
Matthew 4:1-11
Senior Pastor
Immediately prior to
these verses that we read today is the description of Jesus coming to be
baptized, which we read last week. At
the end of that story Jesus rises out of the water and Matthew reports that
Jesus saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him
and then he hears a voice that says: This
is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased. (Matthew 3:16 & 17)
That part all sounds
good. For those of who earnestly desire
to be followers of Christ we like the idea of God descending upon us and
telling us that we are loved and he is pleased with us. I mean that would not be a bad experience to
have.
But then Matthew
records this in the very next verse: Then
Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness. (v. 1) All of a sudden it doesn’t seem to be such a
grand experience. Right after the
glowing affirmation, this same Spirit leads you into the wilderness to starve
for forty days and nights and be tempted.
Now who wants to follow Jesus?
Who wants to go now? Who wants
to be “all in.”
We are spending
these first few Sundays in 2008 following Matthew’s Gospel as it describes
Jesus being born and being baptized and now being led out into the
wilderness. We are using an image that
struck me when I was watching people playing poker on TV with a large stack of
chips in front of them. Particularly we
are looking at the pivotal point that sometimes comes in these high stakes
poker games when one or more players push all of their chips to the middle and
declare, “I’m All In!” We are looking
at that moment to explore our own willingness to risk it all on Jesus. Are you ready to go “all in” as a Christ
follower?
It was late in the year
1739 that some people came to John Wesley, before he was the founder of the
Methodism movement, and told him they wanted to be “all in.” They were seeking his help to live as more
faithful followers of Christ. So he
agreed to start meeting with them on Thursday evenings for prayer and
practical instruction. Out of this
grew what came to be known in Methodism as the General Rules.
There are only three
General Rules and I believe they could be a great help to us in our efforts to
be “all in,” so we are going to touch on them one at a time over the next three
weeks. The first rule serves as our
sermon title today: Do No Harm. Wesley simply told these folks that if they
truly committed to be followers of Christ that their lives should evidence
that. This is how it reads in our
official records, “It is therefore expected of all who continue therein that
they should continue to evidence their desire of salvation, First, by
doing no harm, by avoiding evil of every kind, especially that which is most
generally practiced.” The Book
of Discipline of the United Methodist Church, 2004, p. 73)
How does that
sound? If you want to work out your
Christian walk, start by first doing no harm and avoiding evil of every
kind. Then it says, especially that
which is most generally practiced. You
may be wondering as I do: What is he including here? What are these evil practices to which he refers?
Well, Wesley was
very detailed, so he tells us by listing ten examples:
“The taking of the name of God in vain.
The profaning the day of the Lord,
either by doing ordinary work therein or by buying and selling.
Drunkenness: buying or selling
spirituous liquors, or drinking them, unless in cases of extreme necessity.
Slaveholding; buying or selling
slaves.
Fighting, quarreling, brawling,
brother going to law with brother; returning evil for evil, or railing for
railing; the using many words in buying and selling.
The buying or selling goods that
have not paid the duty.
The giving or taking things on
usury—i.e., unlawful interest.
Uncharitable or unprofitable
conversation; particularly speaking evil of magistrates or of ministers.
Doing to others as we would not they
should do unto us.
Doing what we know is not for the
glory of God, as:
The putting on of gold
and costly apparel.
The taking such
diversions as cannot be used in the name of the Lord Jesus.
The singing those
songs, or reading those books, which do not tend to the knowledge or love of
God.
Softness and
needless self-indulgence.
Laying up treasure
upon earth.
Borrowing without a
probability of paying; or taking up goods without a probability of paying for
them.”
Now some of these
may seem outdated, but for the most part I think they show us how
serious and
searching these would-be Christ followers were. But
I think they are worth considering and useful in evaluating our own Christian
walk and how serious we are about our faith and our devotion to God and God’s
ways. I find my faith is easily diluted
by the ways of the world.
I think of how I deal
with Sundays. Wesley suggests we look at our observance of
“the day of the Lord” as he calls it.
One of the evil practices he points out is buying and selling on Sunday. Now I can either say, “Don’t be ridiculous,
I will go to Wal-mart if I want.” Or I
can step back and wonder what I may have lost of value in not treating Sunday
as a holy observance of God, all day long.
Do I really want to be “all in”?
Others items on the
list may seem even more outdated but have a contemporary connection. I am thinking for example of number four on
his list: Slaveholding. None of us have slaves, so it does not
apply. Yet racism, which is deeply
intertwined with our American history of slaveholding, still is a thorny
issue. Our presidential candidates as
of late would surely illustrate that.
Over the holidays I
saw the movie The Great Debaters. It is a movie directed by Denzel Washington and he also plays one
of the lead characters. It recounts the
true story of a group of student debaters from Wiley College in Marshall,
Texas, back in the 1930’s. You probably
have never heard of this little school but it might interest you to know that
it is one of our historically black United Methodist schools. It is still a fine school.
But the movie
chronicles the story of Professor Tolson who coaches the debate team. He is outstanding and they become
outstanding. In fact, so good that they
start to beat the bigger colleges they are debating. They are on a roll. Their
winning gave them opportunity to travel and with each victory they gained
greater notoriety. It was a wonderful
experience for all of them.
Then one night
driving home from a debate tournament on the back roads of Texas they came upon
a crowd blocking the road. As they
slowed their speed and drove closer they were shocked to see that it was a
party of whites who had just lynched and burned a black man on the side of that
road. He was still hanging from the
tree. It was a grizzly sight. The mob began to chase them, cursing and
throwing rocks at their car, but they were able to escape. What had been all fun and exciting had taken
a dramatically different turn. Who
wants to be “all in” now?
In our scripture
reading this morning the Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness. Typically we think of temptation as a bad
thing, but Matthew tells us that the Spirit who blessed Jesus at his baptism is
now taking him into the wilderness as a time of testing and as a time to face
his temptations. The Spirit is going
help Jesus face his temptations and in the process clarify his intentions
and purify his heart. Does he
really want to be “all in” in regard to doing God’s will?
He faces the
temptations of allowing his physical needs (his hunger and thirst) to become
primary; he faces the temptation of allowing a crisis (falling off a cliff) to
put God to a test; and he faces the temptation of allowing personal gain to
become primary (power over the kingdoms of the world). For each of them he quotes a verse of
scripture from Deuteronomy that guides him.
But I want to focus on his last response in which he tells the tempter, Worship
the Lord your God, and serve only him. (v. 10)
That sums it all
up. Jesus is saying clearly and
resolutely that he believes the key to his life is to focus on God first and
foremost. Worship the Lord your God,
and serve only him. Two chapters
later Jesus will say the same thing is key to our lives: Seek first the kingdom of God and his
righteousness, and all these [worldly] things will be given to you as well. (6:33)
The Good News and
the challenge for us is to worship God and serve him only. It
is simple, yet it is not easy in this world of ours filled with fears and
distractions, pitfalls and an avalanche of alternatives. Worship God and serve him only – first start
by doing no harm. Clear enough and yet
deeply profound in their implications for our living.
Let me close with
this last story. It is about a group of
businessmen traveling – hurrying through a very busy airport trying to make
sure they get home for supper on Friday night.
It has been a long week away and they are really ready to be home but
their flight into the airport was late and they have to really move to make the
connection.
In their rush, with
tickets and briefcases, one of these guys inadvertently trips over a table,
which held a display of apples. Apples fly everywhere. Without stopping or
looking back, they all forge ahead – all but one.
He had another
thought. He experienced a twinge of
compassion for the girl whose apple display had been overturned. He hollered to his buddies to go on without
him, waved good-bye and returned to the scene of the accident.
There he found a 16- year-old girl softly crying, tears running down her cheeks
in frustration, and at the same time helplessly groping for her spilled produce
as the crowd swirled about her. She was
blind.
The man knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them back on
the table and helped her organize the display. As he did this, he noticed that
many of them had become battered and bruised; these he set aside in another
basket.
When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the young lady,
"Here, please take this $40 for the damage we did. I am really sorry. Are you okay?" She nodded “Yes,” her cheeks still streaked
from tears. He continued with, "I
hope we didn't spoil your day too badly."
He stood with her for an awkward moment and then bid her farewell and
started back toward his airline.
As he walked away,
the bewildered blind girl called out to him, "Mister!" He paused and turned to walk back to the
young lady. She continued softly,
"Are you Jesus?"
He stopped in mid-stride; now he was the bewildered one.
As he slowly made
his way to catch the later flight that question was burning and bouncing about
in his soul: "Are you Jesus?"
Do people mistake
you for Jesus? That's our destiny, is it not? If we are baptized, we are to be like him -
to be so much like Jesus that people cannot tell the difference as we live and
interact with a world so often blind to his love and his power and his
grace.
Worship God and
serve him only – first start by doing no harm.
Amen and thanks be
to God.
Then Jesus was
led up by the ____________…wilderness. (v. 1)
Are you ready to
go “all in” as a ____________ follower?
…Thursday
evenings for prayer and practical instruction.
“…should continue
to evidence their desire of salvation, First,
by doing no harm,
by avoiding ________ of every kind,
especially that
which is most generally practiced.”
I think they show
us how serious and searching these
would be
____________ followers were.
I think of how I
deal with ______________.
The Great
________________.
Who wants to be
“______ ____” now?
…in the process
clarify his intentions and purify his __________.
Worship the
Lord your God, and serve ________ him. (v. 10)
The Good News and
the challenge for us is to worship ______
and serve him
only.
Without stopping
or looking back, they all forge ahead –
all but ______.
Do people mistake
you for __________?
Worship ______
and serve him only –
first start by
doing no harm.
Kid’s
Question: Who are we to worship and
serve?