Sermon - Invocavit 2022 - Matthew 4:1-11

Baptism and Temptation of Christ, Paolo Veronese, 1580-1582

Temptation, what’s temptation? A temptation is something enticing and alluring. It’s not always a bad thing, for instance it’s tempting to sit next to the fireplace when it’s cold or it’s tempting to cuddle your cute little kids or grandkids. But temptation can also be enticement to sin, such as when Eve saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and a delight to the eyes. That’s really what we’re talking about today: temptations toward sin.

Jesus said “It is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes!” By whom do temptations come? The adversary, Satan, the Devil, the slanderer and liar. In Genesis he came disguised as a snake, cunning and sweet talking, quickly tempting Adam and Eve with the one fruit that they must not eat. Later in the wilderness, after Jesus was baptized and fasted forty days, he came as the tempter to tempt Jesus with his sweet-talking lies.

It seems almost ridiculous that Satan would even bother trying to tempt Jesus, as if Jesus could be so easily swayed by some piddly worldly temptations. Jesus is God, He can’t sin, He can’t give into temptation, Jesus cannot be what He is not. But this was the will of the Father: “Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” God is the Master of all things, even Satan, so it was God’s will that Jesus be tempted by Satan.

By being tempted, Jesus, who is true 100% man, underwent the same trials and temptations which Adam and Eve and us all face. Except Jesus didn’t give in to temptation, instead He won this battle against the devil. When Jesus was crucified the war against Satan was finished. Not only did our Lord resist temptation, but He died in order to forgive us for every time we gave into temptation. The devil’s temptations are utterly vanquished through Christ.

When Christ conquered temptation in the wilderness and on the cross, He also gave us an example to follow so that we might learn from Him how to defend against Satan’s temptations. Afterall, the devil and his legions of demons do tempt us, not just occasionally, but regularly. The reason for this is because the devil hates God’s children. No sooner were Adam and Eve created and declared very good then the devil came along to tempt them. As soon as Jesus was baptized and the Father declared from heaven: “this is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” there comes Satan to tempt Him.

As Christians, who have been baptized into the triune name, Satan hates you and wants to destroy you. The Father said that you are His beloved children with whom He is well pleased, and the Devil can’t bear to hear that. So the tempter will do anything within his power to make you fall away. Don’t doubt it, demons are all around you tempting you. If you seem to get them to stop for a moment, remain on your guard, because they’ll come back. 

This week we’re training to resist temptation. Lent is a time of intense Christian training. In the early church it was the practice that during Lent the catechumens were being prepared to join the church in a much more intense manner than before. It’s also used as a time for intense re-training for those already Christians. This week we’re focusing on resisting temptations with Jesus.

To help us resist temptation, it’s important to understand the types of temptations we will have to face. Jesus faced three temptations, which are three basic types of temptations we often face in life. Temptation to distrust God, temptation to tempt God, temptation to be disloyal to God.

The first temptation is to distrust God. “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” Jesus had just fasted forty days, and it was likely an understatement that He was hungry. So Satan focuses on God’s care of Jesus, sowing doubt that God actually cares for Him. “If God is actually Your father, then He’d take better care of You, He wouldn’t let You be so hungry.” 

Satan tempts us like this often. Whenever we suffer or things don’t go the way we want them to, or we have some lack, the devil tempts us to distrust God’s care of us. Instead of trusting that God is working all things together for good, we get tempted to stop trusting in God, and start trusting in ourselves. It’s kind of like the heretical saying: “God helps those who help themselves.” That saying promotes distrust in God and trust in self, as if I know better than God and I can help myself.

The second temptation is to tempt God. “The devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said 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, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” Tempting God is when we expect God to bless our disobedience. 

We usually tend to just apply this to matters of our health, like we shouldn’t tempt God by doing things which are dangerous to our health, and that’s part of it, but there’s more to it than just that. Whenever we knowingly sin and think “God will forgive this,” we’re putting God to the test and expecting Him to bless us in spite of our willful disobedience. Whenever we behave contrary to God’s will, we’re putting God to the test.

The third temptation is to be disloyal to God. “The devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.  And he said to Him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”” The temptation here is not to blatantly abandon God, but to worship another in addition. Jesus is good, obviously, so if He controlled all of the kingdoms on earth, we’d have a great earthly king if only He’d worship the devil. But the ends do not justify the means. He can’t be disloyal to God even if it means some nice earthly benefits.

This temptation is similar to tempting God, but takes it a step further. This is the temptation to be friends with the world (and friendship with the world is friendship with the devil who rules this world). This world and Christianity are diametrically opposed to one another, so in order to be friends with the world you have to give up some of your Christian beliefs, you have to be disloyal to God. When we become enamored with the pleasures, riches, and glories of this world, it’s a temptation to become disloyal to God by bowing down to this world. St. James talks about this in no uncertain terms: “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

So, seeing the temptations that Jesus has faced and which we face on a daily basis, how do we combat these temptations? How did Jesus combat these temptations? Firstly, Jesus combated these temptations by clinging to the scriptures. Even when the devil misquoted the Bible (which happens all the time today), Jesus knew that scripture interprets scripture and so He knew that the devil was misusing those verses. Secondly, the devil always tried to divert attention away from God, but Jesus repeatedly refocused on God. 

Thus the way by which we will combat temptations is by maintaining faith and trust in God. His Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. When Satan attacks with his cunning, sweet-talking lies, God’s Word illuminates the truth. So we study and memorize the scriptures daily in order to daily fight against the demons. Furthermore, God is our Savior, He rescues us from these temptations, His Word is a gift from Him to us. When we’re weak, He is strong, so we entrust our souls to Him. “Now is the favorable time; now is the day of salvation… as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way” to Him who fights with us and for us.