February 25, 2007 Lent 1C
Sermon Title: “Into the Wilderness”
Series: The Path of Discipleship
Text: Deut. 26:1-11; Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16; Romans 10:8b-13; Luke 4:1-13
Dr. Steve Jackson
Delivered on February 25, 2007
“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the Devil.” Luke 4:1-2
Into the Wilderness
Long ago someone very wise pointed out that “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”[i] Today, with that proverbial first step, we begin a journey towards the cross of Jesus Christ and the empty tomb beyond it. For the next several weeks we’re going to be traveling what I’m calling “The Path of Discipleship.”
The premise behind this entire series is my belief that people today are looking for a faith in God that “works.” I’m talking about a life of love, health, wholeness and peace. I’m talking about freedom from the inadequacies of life and the sin that so easily causes us to stumble. I’m talking about real relationships, wisdom that works in everyday life, and an outlet to express what we’re passionate about and gifted by God to do. In short, I’m talking about the kind of life characterized by Jesus himself in the Sermon on the Mount and elsewhere as the “Kingdom Life.”
Jesus called a dozen men to follow him as ‘disciples’ – to become apprentices of his; disciplined learners of the ways of God and his kingdom. As those first disciples learned and walked in his ways, the overflow of their encounter with Jesus changed their lives and changed the world. The same opportunity is there for you and me. Regardless of where you are in your own discipleship journey, I want to challenge and encourage you today to take the first step on the “path of discipleship.”
Why am I characterizing discipleship as a path and a journey? I’m doing so because the Bible is all about people who set out on a journey towards God. Think about it; Abraham and Sarah set out for the promised land, giving up home and friends and all that was safe and comfortable to become wanderers for the rest of their days. Jacob fled for his life after stealing his father’s blessing and became what today’s Genesis passage calls a “wandering Aramean.” There, in instructions for making the offering of the first fruits, was a ritual of remembrance where each Jew was to recite the story of Jacob and his descendents so they would never forget that they (and we) are a people on a journey—descendants of a wandering Aramean who eventually, led by Joseph, went to Egypt for refuge. There they were enslaved, and brought out by God only to wander forty more years in the wilderness before being brought into the promised land.
Over in the New Testament we read the story of Jesus calling the twelve
and training them as he walked with them along the dusty paths of
The wandering didn’t stop at the New Testament either. Martin Luther
walked all over
Clearly the path of discipleship, is just that, a journey for a people on the move. In this series we’ll be looking at some of the paths we must travel as we move forward as students of Jesus beginning today with the account of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness.
The story of Jesus’ temptation, which is always the main text on the
first Sunday of Lent, pictures Jesus beginning a journey of his own. After
being baptized by John the Baptist in the
I’ve preached this text a number of times, and looking back, most of my sermons about it focus on the temptations themselves in an effort to get at their meaning for us. You know, this temptation is about this, and that one is about that. I’m sure there’s great merit in doing that—after all, preachers have been preaching it that way since the earliest days of the church. But today I want to get behind all that to ask, and then hopefully to answer, just one question. And that question is this: Why did Jesus’ journey toward the cross have to begin in the wilderness? And since the stories of the Bible are all relevant to us at many different levels, we must consider the extension of that thought and wonder if our own path of discipleship should begin in the wilderness like Jesus’ did.
Obviously I believe there is a very important reason why his journey had to begin in the wilderness, as does our own. First, let me talk about the “wilderness” though, and demonstrate that his journey did begin there.
When you think of the wilderness, or
Did Jesus’ ministry journey begin there? Yes. If you have your Bibles
with you, open them up to the Gospel of Luke. Chapter one has Jesus’ birth
being foretold by the angel Gabriel. In chapter two he is born. In chapter
three he’s baptized and then In chapter four he begins his ministry by immediately
going into the wilderness. Notice the proximity of his temptation to his
baptism, Luke 4:1 even has him going straight from “the
Why did Jesus go to the wilderness? I believe he went there to sort out what it meant to be “God’s beloved son in whom he (God) was well pleased” (Luke 3:22). Jesus went off alone into the wilderness and spent forty days asking himself the question what it meant to be Jesus and what his special relationship with God meant.
In other words, the question that lies behind all three of the temptations is actually a question of identity. In order to begin his ministry Jesus had to decide who he was in relation to God and to decide what kind of Messiah he was going to be. That’s why in two of the three temptations the devil begins by saying, “If you are the Son of God…” He’s questioning Jesus’ identity and he’s trying to stir up doubt in his mind. Doubt about who he is, about what he’s supposed to do, and about how he’s supposed to do it.
Our journey on the path of discipleship must also begin in the wilderness. Why? Because, we, like Jesus, must settle all issues of identity before we ever strike out. We must deal with doubt and consider what we’re supposed to do and how we’re supposed to do it—and we must do so right at the very beginning of our journey. If we don’t settle this question up front, then every time we encounter turbulence in our walk of discipleship, the tendency will be to fall back, to settle down, and to stop moving forward.
We’ve got to deal with the tough questions right up front. Who are we? Who is God? Why? Because there is a sense in which all temptation begins with doubts about our identity in relation to God. Does God exist? Will he help us in our time of need? During Lent, we’ve got to ask what it means to be ourselves. What it means to be a child of God. What it means to be a disciple—a Christ follower.
One of my favorite authors[ii] has a list of questions to ask yourself as you enter the wilderness to begin your journey on the path of discipleship.
· If you had to bet everything you have on whether there is a God or whether there isn’t, which side would get your money and why?
· When you look at your face in the mirror, what do you see in it that you like most and what do you see in it that you most deplore?
· If you had one last message to leave to the handful of people who are most important to you, what would it be in twenty-five words or less?
· Of all the things you have done in your life, which is the one you’d most like to undo? Which is the one that makes you happiest to remember?
· Is there any person in the world, or any cause, that, if circumstances called for it, you would be willing to die for?
· If this were the last day of your life, what would you do with it?
Asking, and then answering questions like these will help you figure out who you are in relation to God. They’ll also help you figure out who you are, what you are becoming, and what you are failing to become.
This is the wilderness we need to begin our journey in. We’ve got some identity and doubt issues to settle, right up front. Quite honestly, doing this can be difficult and even depressing. I’ve been doing it since last Wednesday when Lent began and I can tell you, it’s been tough. It’s definitely a wilderness experience. Donna can attest to the fact that it’s tough living with someone doing this too. Aside from getting away from the distractions, perhaps that’s why Jesus had to go off by himself to deal with this.
But there is good news…the good news is the journey you are about to embark on doesn’t end at the cross, it goes on beyond the cross to Easter and the empty tomb. The sludge in your life that you may stir up when you begin asking yourself these kinds of questions don’t have the final word. God does.
The good news is we have a great hope in Christ and that the life he calls us to live is definitely a possibility. I’m not talking about a sinless life, that, I believe, is not possible while we are alive. But the kind of life I talked about as the premise of this series, a life of love, health, wholeness and peace. A life where you don’t stumble over every little pebble along the path. A life where you can turn the other cheek when wronged. A life where you can wish your enemies well and pray for them. A life where the first are last and the last are first. This kind of life is possible. How do we know? Because Jesus proved it by what he accomplished in the wilderness when he was tempted.
Even before Jesus broke the power of sin and death on the cross—he demonstrated that the life he holds out to us is possible. And just think how much more this is possible for us after his resurrection!
Of course, all of this matters only if Jesus resisted temptation in his “humanity” versus in his deity, which I believe he did. Without going into a deep theological treatise on how Jesus is fully human and fully divine at the same time, suffice it to say, the Bible is clear that what Jesus accomplished on our behalf while he walked the earth was done in his humanity without calling on his divinity, although that was always an option (and no doubt another temptation he often faced, including here). Several Scriptures attest to the fact that Jesus faced testing in his humanity versus his divinity. Perhaps one of the best and most well-known verses about this is Hebrews 4:15 which says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.”
The fact that Jesus faced this test in his humanity is even alluded to in the passage for today. Did you notice Jesus’ response to the devil at the first temptation? He says, “Man does not live by bread alone” (v. 4). The NRSV tries to be inclusive with it’s use of “one” in that verse, but the Greek word there is anthropos – which means a male or female human being. Why would Jesus have quoted that passage from Deuteronomy if it didn’t apply to him personally as a man? If Jesus had met his temptation in his deity it would have been no help for you and me, but since he met the challenge in his humanity what that means is what he did, we can do! The new life he offers is possible—he proved it! And that brings us great hope right here at the beginning of our journey on the path of discipleship.
After all, in any journey we undertake, isn’t it much more encouraging to know someone has gone this way before? That someone has accomplished what we’re setting out to do? I think of those first brave explorers who set out across the open seas in search of unknown lands, or the first men to sit atop a rocket ship to be shot off into space. If I were in either of those positions, I would take some measure of comfort in knowing someone has done this before—it is a possibility. Jesus triumphed over evil in such a way that God’s ultimate power over all that tempts and oppresses us is demonstrated beyond a doubt right at the beginning of his ministry and that should give us great hope.
I don’t know about you, but I take great comfort that God has experienced every temptation I’ll ever face and more, and he’s passed the test. I’ve been reading the Old Testament as this new year has begun in my “read through the Bible in a year” plan. And quite frankly, the pattern of the Israelites turning to God and him rescuing them, and then them turning to idolatry and chasing after foreign gods and then God punishing the Israelites and then saving them, is getting a little tiresome. God seems so impatient with the people – after all, how can he sit up in heaven and judge them for turning to idols if he’s never experienced the temptation to do so himself? Jesus coming to earth and facing the same temptations we face, to me, makes me look at God now and say, “He knows what it’s like…he’s been there…he understands.” What a wonderful God we serve!
As I wrap this up, I want to mention two resources God has given us to deal with temptation. They’re the same two resources Jesus had and used and they’re available to us today as we enter our own wilderness to begin the journey.
The first is the Holy Spirit.
Luke really wants us to get that point. He almost stumbles over himself to
point that out, repeating himself for emphasis. He writes,” Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the
The second resource we have, just like Jesus, is the Word of God. Jesus responds to each temptation by referring to Scripture to correct and rebuke the devil. It's amazing really. You’d think he would’ve done something supernatural like zapped Satan, or done something else spectacular. Instead he relied on the same ordinary means of grace available to you and me—he quoted Scripture from his heart.
You know, being alone and isolated, and fasting from the things of this life, it eventually boils down to just that—you and the devil, “duking it out.” Him showing you images and filling your mind about how things could be if you’ll only bow down to him, and you rebuking him with words of Scripture in the power of the Spirit.
I realize it doesn’t sound fun—there’s nothing romantic about it—it’s not a plot for the latest Cecil B. DeMille biblical epic. It’s your life and mine—but only if you take the all important first step of entering the wilderness to find the beginning of the path of discipleship.
I’ll close with a parable. One day last year Donna and I were in the
mountains of
We got back in the road and we rode a few miles further and we came to a
sign for another path; there was even a parking area for this one. We got out
and began hiking thinking this path was probably a mile or two long. We walked
for about three miles before running into another couple who showed us a trail
map they had indicating the trail we were on was actually about 17 miles long
and ended up in
Having covered approximately 10-12 miles before lunchtime, we were exhausted, but we were content. We knew we had eventually made it to the path we were supposed to be on that day. We shared a deep sense of accomplishment and adventure about the trails we had been down that day.
This morning I want to encourage you to strike out on the path I believe you and I are supposed to be on this morning—the path of discipleship. I realize some of you have been wandering around in the woods for what seems like forever. Your feet are wet and you’re feeling frustrated and very tired. But what I’m trying to convince you of this morning is that there is a path out there—one that Jesus himself has been down. It won’t be an easy path, but there will be some spectacular views and you can make it because he’ll be right there beside you to help you. As the Psalmist said in Psalm 91, “Because you have made the Lord your refuge, the Most High your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, no scourge shall come near your tent” (v. 2,10)
The path to discipleship starts in the wilderness but the Holy Spirit will guide you and the Word of God will be your support as you go. You will not dash your foot against a stone (Ps. 91:12) nor will you stumble. The question this morning is, will you take the all-important first step today down the path of a thousand miles that will lead you to Him? Let’s pray.