Lent 1

Luke 4:1-13

What would you say is the biggest temptation that you struggle with? Last week CNN released the results of a survey that asked Americans that same question. The most common answers: Procrastination, gluttony and spending too much time on media. We could probably agree that those are issues that our society has to deal with. But if that survey had been done thirty or forty years ago, the answers would've probably been quite different. But while temptations may vary, the way the devil attacks doesn't really change too much. In today's gospel lesson we saw three ways that the devil attacked Jesus, and when we look closer we'll see that the devil still attacks us in some similar ways. We also saw that Jesus overcame the devil's temptations. And when we look closer we'll see what that means for us and how we can also defeat the devil when he attacks.

The first thing that the devil attacked was Jesus' confidence. Listen to the first temptation: ³ The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” You might think to yourself, “What would be the problem with Jesus turning these stones into bread? He was hungry!” It might seem like an innocent enough thing, changing rocks into bread. And it's not so much the act in and of itself that would have been wrong. The problem would be that changing stones into bread would've shown a lack of trust in God. God had brought Jesus into the wilderness. Changing these stones would have shown a lack of trust that God would care for Jesus in this hunger that he had brought him to. That's what would have been the problem with this.

And you know that that's what the devil was getting at. Just look at the way he approaches the situation. In the chapter before our text for today, Luke recorded the baptism of Jesus. At that baptism, Luke tells us God said, “You are my son, whom I love.” Now look at the very first words out of the Devil's mouth: “If you are the son of God...” This approach aimed to cast doubt in Jesus' confidence in those words. If Jesus had yielded to the devil's temptation in order to prove himself as the son of God, that would have shown a lack of trust and security in his relationship with his father.

But Jesus didn't feel the need to prove himself to the devil. Instead he responded with God's Word. He said, “⁴ Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone.'” Jesus didn't need to miraculously change these rocks into bread. He had the words of God. He knew that God meant it when he said that Jesus was his son whom he loved, and that was the basis for his confidence.

The devil tries to attack our confidence in God too. God has given us promises that our faith is founded upon, but the devil tries to get us to doubt those. God says that all things work out for the good of those who love him. Then there's the devil, trying to cast doubt in our confidence in God, asking, “How could it possibly work out for your good that someone you loved was taken from you so soon?” Or he might try to get you to doubt God's promise that his Word will not return empty. You share God's Word again and again with a friend, but nothing seems to be happening. So the devil seizes that opportunity to tempt you to doubt the trustworthiness of the one who made the promise. And, sad to say, but sometimes our confidence is shaken. So we want to look again to see Jesus overcome the devil's temptation. We look to him, not just as our example, but more importantly as our substitute. Even though the devil tempted Jesus, just as he tempts us, Jesus' confidence wasn't shaken. And because Jesus perfectly obeyed his Father's will, that covers over all the times we've failed when faced with temptation. So how can we defeat the devil when he attacks our confidence? Well, Jesus has already defeated him for us, and that's where we find our confidence.

But the devil didn't give up after just this one try. He tempted Jesus many more times, two of them are recorded for us. Here's one: “ The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. ⁶ And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. ⁷ So if you worship me, it will all be yours.” At first glance it seems like the big temptation here is that the devil wants Jesus to worship him instead of the true God. While that appears to be what his ultimate goal was, there's a lot more to the temptation than just that. The devil wanted Jesus to take the easy way out. Jesus knew what was ahead of him. He knew that God wanted him to bear the sins of the entire world on the cross. Now here was the devil, and he offered to Jesus the opportunity to skip over those three difficult years and rule over the world right away. And all he had to do was bow down and worship him! Suddenly this offer sounds a little bit more tempting.

But Jesus didn't get distracted by the devil's lies. Instead, his focus was on the will of his father. “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’” No matter what the devil had to offer him, Jesus refused to worship him because God has made it clear in his Word that only he deserves our worship.

The devil tempts us the same way he tempts Jesus. He wants us to make him or something else more important in our lives than God is. And he appeals to the same desires. When Jesus says, “Take up your cross and follow me” the devil tells us that we don't have to take up any crosses and that we don't have to deny ourselves. And sometimes he doesn't have to work too hard. Sometimes we're glad to indulge our selfish sinful nature at every opportunity. But when we find ourselves, once again, having failed to bear the cross as our heavenly Father wants us to, we remember how Jesus did bear the cross. He chose to walk down the difficult path that was in front of him, all the way to the cross, where he paid the price for all the times that you've failed. So in response to that self-sacrificing service that Jesus showed us, we respond by worshiping and serving him only.

In the last temptation that Luke records for us, we see the devil attack the Word of God itself. It says, “The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. ¹⁰ For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; ¹¹they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” What the devil did here was he twisted God's Word. He emphasized one passage of scripture that says that God will take care of his people. But he emphasized that verse at the expense of the other verses that should go along with it. But Jesus, knowing the Scriptures, wasn't fooled. He pointed to the clear statement of God that the devil had ignored. “Jesus answered, “It says: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'”

The book of Ecclesiastes says that there's nothing new under the sun. We see an example of that here, don't we? This is the same tactic the devil used in the garden of Eden. Adam and Eve had the clear words of God: You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But then Satan said, “Did God really say?...” He twisted the clear words of God to tempt Adam and Eve, and they fell for it.

But what about us? Does the devil tempt us that way too? You better believe it. You hear the “Did God really say?” echoing throughout the world over and over again. You could trace back just about every false doctrine to someone listening to something other than God's clear words. But, surely, that couldn't happen to us, could it? I mean, we're Wisconsin Synod Lutherans! God's Word is our great heritage and shall be ours forever! We certainly have been blessed by our heritage that the Word of God has been passed down to us and taught in its truth and purity. But you better not ever, for even one second, think that your membership at Our Savior Lutheran Church means that the devil can't attack you. It's important for you to study the Bible for yourself. So that when Satan comes along and asks you, “Did God really say?” you don't have to respond with, “Well, let me check with pastor.” Instead, you can respond, emphatically, like Jesus did, “This is what God says.” And there's no way that you're gonna be able to do that unless you cling to the clear words of God, just like Jesus did.

This isn't an exhaustive list of all the ways that the devil tempted Jesus. But we know that in all the temptations Jesus faced, he never lost sight of God's Word. You see, Jesus has given us a pretty simple formula for defeating the devil: God's Word. So, whenever the devil tempts you, whether he attacks your confidence, your cross, the clear words of God or anything else, cling to God's Word. Most of all, cling to the words that tell you that the God gives you the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord.