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"The Fullness of Faith"

February 1, 2004 The Rev. Dr. John Ward

I'm going to read to us a Scripture.  I'm going to read on Jesus' temptation.  I've chosen this passage for what I always consider to be the beginning of the new year and the season of ministry.  We watched 2004 starting on January first, but at the church, in my mind, we always do that as we launch the annual meeting.  It then allows us to think about our new future.  That new future starts and it's very important for us to start it right.  And we do that by starting with the Lord's Supper, with the cross.  It would be tempting to point to a solid budget, to a new pastor, to a bright future, but we're correct to focus instead on the sacrament of the Lord's Supper because the business of the church, my brothers and sisters, is the Kingdom business of God.  And the Kingdom business of God begins at the cross.  Jesus Himself was embarking on His earthly ministry, as I read this passage in just a moment or two, and He chose to begin with the cross in mind.  You remember last week what Chris Carlson taught us:  to begin with the end in mind.  Jesus, indeed, did that as He began His earthly ministry.  He was tempted and offered the opportunity to pass that up.  Indeed, to receive greatness from the tempter without the cross.  That's what the devil was offering Him.  But to have chosen greatness without the cross would have meant to have chosen to be something less than who Jesus was called to be, and that is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  Listen to the Word of God as I read to you from Matthew chapter 4, the first 11 verses.

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished.  The tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread."  But he answered, "It is written,

      'One does not live by bread alone,

      but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.' "

Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying 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.' "

Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.' "

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor, and he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me."  Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan, for it is written,

      'Worship the Lord your God

      and serve only him.' "

Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.

This is the Word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Jesus had just received the Holy Spirit at the baptism.  This is the sign of His anointing for earthly ministry.  It is not the first time He received the Spirit.  We know He was conceived of the Spirit.  But in that wonderful vision, the Holy Spirit of the dove comes down and alights on Jesus, letting all those around Him know that He is being set apart and, indeed, doing what God has told Him as the obedient Son going into ministry.  He begins and the Spirit begins His work in Jesus Christ by leading Jesus into a quiet place, into a desolate place, for a time of preparing.  Now, it says here that the Holy Spirit brought Him into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  I think that confuses us sometimes, thinking that God is tempting Jesus--which we know God would never do.  But this tempting is understood as the testing of Jesus.  Because, friends, any ministry that we walk into, we will be tested commensurate with that.  This is exactly what Jesus is receiving.  He is receiving the ultimate testing as to what He's going to do for God.  This is consistent as far back as the Old Testament times.  Jesus brought in, fasting for 40 days and 40 nights, becomes hungry.  And then the tempter comes and invites Him to become less than what God had intended Jesus to become.

I think it was Ray Fenton who told me this--that what satan was trying to get Jesus to do was to become the great baker, or become the great wizard, or to become the great czar, or world leader.  But not to become the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  And this is what's going on here.  The first thing that the tempter tempts Jesus to do--or tests Him to do--is to see if He will indeed use His power to serve Himself, to turn these stones into bread.  Jesus was indeed hungry, but at the same time, the devil (who did not deny the power of Christ) wanted Christ to take that power on worldly terms rather than on godly terms.

I like the way that A. W. Tozer says it.  He says this:  "The devil is a better theologian than you and I, but he's still the devil himself."  And we see that--don't we?--in this passage here as the devil uses Scripture again to tempt Jesus, but Jesus works back not with His own power, but by the power of the Word of God as He answers back the devil with the very Word of God.  He's saying that instead of being the great baker, He will do something more with the power that He has.  He will not only meet His felt need, but He will not leave the gospel out of it.  We're called to meet the felt needs of the people, even as the church, are we not?  This is why we are concerned as missionaries.  This is why we go to meet the needs of people.  That's why we do that in pastoral care.  It's important for you and I to understand the felt needs.  And it's a goal of ours as a church to meet felt needs.  But we never do that without the gospel.  We can never take the gospel out of it. 

I'm reminded of a story that I read with regard to this.  Quite often we've been told that people won't listen to the gospel when their stomachs are grumbling, but let me tell you a victory story with regard to that.  This is about a missionary in the Ivory Coast.  He reports that recently an African pastor passed through on his way to the Republic of Chad, which was his home, where civil war was raging. 

Now, the missionary from the Ivory Coast talked to the African pastor and said, "What would you like to take to complete your 44 pounds of baggage allowance--Sugar?  Powdered milk?  More medicine?"

The pastor from Chad said, "If I could have some Bibles or a few good books."

"How's that?" the missionary asked.

"Well, back home," the African pastor said, "we lost everything in the war.  And we learned to place less importance on that which passes away and more importance on that which lasts."

The missionary said to himself, "Am I dreaming?  We've heard so often that the hungry stomach has no ears.  It turns out we've misread the epistle to the Romans.  It does not say, 'Faith comes from what one eats.'  Instead, 'Faith comes by hearing, and hearing the Word of God.' "

That African pastor reminded the missionary that we must not fail to share our bread with those who are hungry.  Not at all.  But neither dare we forget that "Man shall not live by bread alone."  And Jesus claimed that at the beginning of His ministry.

Now, the tempter also wanted Jesus to be the great wizard--basically to throw Himself from the pinnacle of the temple down to prove that indeed God and His angels would fulfill the passages of Scripture that are said, that they would not let His foot even be damaged.  And Jesus said, "We will not test the Lord."  It is the Lord who tests us.  It is His job as God to grow us up, and that's what testing does for us, friends.  But it's not our job to test God.  He's God.  We are not.  And so in the midst of our testing, we know that God is with us.  We do not test God or tempt God to make Him serve us.  And Jesus refused to do so.  He would not throw Himself down upon the pinnacle.  God and the angels would indeed have protected Him, but Jesus would have sold out and become a great wizard.  He would have been a great entertainer.  It would have been fun to watch Jesus do all those magic tricks and miracles, and even more than He could have done.  He chose to use the miracles, the power of God given to Him, to heal, to cast out demons.  He didn't do any magic tricks.  He wasn't into impressing people with His power.  He was intent on being obedient as the Son of God come, indeed, to take away our sins.  So the miracles He did showed the compassion of God, the relationship that God offers you and me.  And then it points to the power of the gospel message--the Word of Christ.  That He, indeed, is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  And, indeed, Scripture can be fulfilled by One who is obedient to His Father in heaven.

And we have to be careful of this as a church, as well, and as leaders in the church, and as people.  We would love to, I think, entertain the masses, do whatever we can to get people to come to church.  Sometimes we're tempted like any other business to try to create great models that are attractive.  I'm reminded of the comment that says this:  "Christian leaders, Christian communicators, all Christians, face the temptation--as Jesus did--to test God and find a shortcut to success.  If Jesus had jumped from the pinnacle of the temple, He would have been the ultimate publicity stunt, but that wasn't the way God wanted to usher in the Kingdom."  God was not going to usher it in through magic.  He was going to usher it in through the obedient Son, who mounted the cross for you and for me.

And then, finally, the tempter offers Jesus all the power He could have to indeed have world power and to have world influence.  That was the last temptation that was given to Christ, and Jesus said, "No, thanks.  I will not take it your way."  He did not need to be made into the great czar, to seek the world and to rule the world.  Instead, what he came to do was to redeem the universe to our Father in heaven.  Now, those temptations were overcome because Jesus was, indeed, obedient. 

I'd like for you to think about, perhaps, some testing you may be going through now.  Perhaps some of you, even now, are understanding exactly what God is trying to say to you this morning.  Perhaps He's brought you here, despite the snow, just to come and to hear a word that as you are feeling as though you're being tested, perhaps God is growing you up for something very big.  Just as Jesus was tested right at the beginning, before He began His earthly ministry, perhaps as well, you are being tested.  Perhaps the trials and ordeals that you are facing is the tempter giving you a way out--a way for short success, a way of escape.  But what you're hearing instead is the Holy Spirit who is strengthening you, to allow you to remember God's Word for your life, and God's promises for your life, so that you can be strong and say "No, thanks" to any shortcuts.  Say "No, thanks" to some sort of worldly success, but to truly be successful in your obedience as a disciple of Jesus Christ. 

For just as Jesus was tempted to be something less than the Lamb of God, you and I can be tempted to be something less than disciples of Jesus Christ.  We're not here for the success.  We're here to be obedient, to be sons and daughters of God.  To listen to the Word of the Lord.  To be grown up, and to be tested in such a way that we can provide answers.  That is our goal.  I invite you, in 2004, to begin with, as Chris taught us last week, the end in mind, just as Jesus did.  Jesus began His ministry with the end in mind.  That end would lead Him to the cross.  Friends, it will lead you and me there as well.  In fact, we claim to begin this wonderful year, this great future, with the cross.  It's important for us to remember this.

As church people, sometimes we assume that we're immune to the temptations of power, but that's not true.  And especially in terms of what it means to take on secular power and success, sometimes we fail to see that we, too, can get caught up, for the very noblest of reasons, in the same ambitions that motivate everybody.  Eventually the people climbing to the top of the body of Christ can look just like those scrambling to the top of the corporate ladder.  Often you can't tell much difference between our leaders and the leaders of the Gentiles.  When that happens, friends, it's God's reminder that we're to pull ourselves down from our ladder and to be obedient to Jesus Christ on the cross.

If you wish to be a disciple of Christ, do not be surprised by any testing.  But just as Christ overcame His test, because He is Christ and Lord, because He is our Christ and our Lord, He has passed the test for us.  You and I no longer need to be afraid as to whether we'll pass.  No.  We can be confident that in the midst of our testing, whatever testing you are in right now, whatever testing this church will face in the near future, that Christ is there with us.  Christ will strengthen us and allow us to be tested, to be strengthened, so that God can do good things through us.

I'm not sure if I want to wish that upon any of us here.  But I have a feeling that we're excited about our future at Faith Church, are we not?  We are in the midst of a new era of ministry.  Well, if we would like to do well for the Lord, then we must be ready to be tested and to be grown up.  And if we can pass than test, then God can give us great things to do. 

So, if we seek success first, we fail.  If we seek the felt-needs without the gospel, we have failed.  If we seek any power other than Christ, we fail.  And that's why we begin right here and right now with the body of Christ.   [transition to the sacrament of Communion]

The Rev. Dr. John Ward

Associate Pastor for Discipleship

Faith Presbyterian Church

Minnetonka, Minnesota

[Transcribed from an audiotape of the 10:00 a.m. worship service on February 1, 2004.]