"We Belong to God" (Luke 4:1-13)

“We Belong to God” (Luke 4:1-13)

Rob Tennant, HillSong Church, Chapel Hill, NC

Sunday, January 20, 2018

            As I mentioned last week, I was in the National Guard for six years.  The obligation was 1 weekend a month and 2 weeks every summer.  We grunts had a lot of time where we sat around until officers came with orders.  

            During the down time we talked about any and everything.  On one occassion, dirty jokes were told, guys exaggerated and lied, and then, the topic of religion came up.  I stayed quiet and listened.  Guys were arguing, throwing around opinions.  One guy boasted, “I don’t know much about what you guys are saying, but I have accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, so I know I am going to Heaven.  I’m set!”  Smiling, he gave his buddy a triumphant high-five.

This was a boisterous, life-of-the-party type who cursed and drank with the best of them.  Nothing in his words or actions suggested that Jesus had any voice in the way he lived.  He claimed Jesus was his Lord.  But, he did not live under Jesus’ lordship.  He acted as his own master.

I was a youth pastor for five years before I became a senior pastor.  Once the youth group was hanging out waiting for the Bible study to start.   A 15-year-old girl, Meghan,  talked up a storm, bragging about all she had done, naming guys she had been with and what she had done with them.  She wanted to show off how worldly she was.  I got fed up and asked her, “Meghan, do you know what it means to be a Christian?”  She put her hand on her hip, struck a defiant pose, and said, “It means I have declared Jesus Christ to be my Lord and Savior.” 

Like my fellow soldier, she spoke words of faith.  But, she was not living under Jesus’ authority.  She thought she was her own authority.  The soldier I mentioned?  He lived the way he saw fit; his way, not God’s way.  I wonder how many of us live a Christianity in which we, each individual, acts as his or her own authority.  What we have talked about in this sermon series up to now, seeking and obedience, allows us to step toward Jesus, but still on our own terms. 

Along with the wise men, we follow the star.  We work on spiritual disciplines that help us see God in daily life.  It’s something we do.  Like Joseph, John the Baptist, and Jesus, we live obediently.  We choose to do what God says.  We commit throughout 2019 to practice spiritual disciplines that strengthen our resolve to live obediently.  

We can live observantly and obediently and we must if we want to follow Jesus.  But then we take a next step.  Once we decide to condition ourselves to walk in the light by seeking and seeing God in daily life and obeying God in daily life, then we have to submit to God.  We have to emphasize the “Lord” part of the claim “Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior.” Until we submit to him as Lord, it’s an empty statement. 

Fully submitting to Jesus is countercultural.  Our culture tells us to feed our own happiness.  It’s all about me.  Life is all about you.  When we become Christians, we know “it,” life, is not about us at all.  We live for God’s glory.  We belong to God. 

In his analysis of the encounter of Jesus and Satan in the desert, New Testament professor Joel Green shows the tension between submitting to God and submitting to other authorities.  Jesus goes to the wilderness because the Holy Spirit led him. 

I think he planned the fast.  His 40 days in the wilderness recalls the 40 years of wandering the Israelites did, recorded in the book of Exodus.  God freed them from slavery in Egypt, but instead of worshiping God and waiting on God, they created a golden calf and worshiped it.  So, God allowed them to march in circles for 40 years.  Jesus would reenact this time of Israel’s desert trials with his 40-day fast.  Only where Israel failed to show faith, he would succeed.  Weakened by hunger with his spiritual alertness heightened through the prayer and fasting, he would do what Israel did not: rely on God for salvation.  The devil shows up to test Jesus.

            In the devil’s opening salvo, he invites Jesus to abandon his 40-day fast.  The devil knows Jesus has divine power.  There’s nothing wrong with a hungry man eating bread.  Jesus was hungry.  If you are the Son of God, turn the stone to bread.  What clever irony!  To prove your relationship to God, you simply need to abandon the fast meant to help you focus on God.  

            Jesus responds by turning to the word - Deuteronomy 8:3.  “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”  Jesus would eat; he would feast.  First, he had to submit completely to God and this required denying himself in order to fix his eyes upon the Father.

Next the devil tempts Jesus to declare himself independent of God and to then give his allegiance to the devil.  If Jesus will do this, the devil tells him, he can rule the the earth: Rome; Greece; Persia.  He can have it all.  Just reject God as Father and become the son of the devil.  Again, Jesus relies on scripture, Deuteronomy 6:13.  “Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.”  In worship, we humble ourselves and exalt God.  The devil tempted Jesus with power, but he humbled himself and pledged not to rule, but to serve. 

Rely on God before relying on food.  Serve God and don’t worry about ruling anyone.  What would the devil come up with next? 

He drags Jesus to the rooftop, the pinnacle of the temple.  A fall from there would be deadly.  Then, the devil tries to beat Jesus at his own game.  He quotes scripture accurately. Psalm 91:11-12, “For the Lord will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.  On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.”  If the word of God you keep quoting is true as you say it is, then if you fall from this great height, nothing will happen.  You’ll be protected.  Throw yourself off.  Let’s see how much you really trust God.  Again, Jesus reaches back to Deuteronomy, this time chapter 6, verse 16.  “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”

Rely on God before relying on food.  Serve God and don’t worry about ruling anyone.  Trust God, don’t test him.  At that point the devil departs.  And then, Matthew’s Gospel reports, those angels the devil said would help Jesus came and did exactly that (Matt. 4:11).

The devil knows the scriptures better than any of us and can use the Bible to lead us down the wrong path, away from God.  The devil will use anything he thinks might work to lead us away from God.  Professor Green points out that the scriptures are valuable because they bear witness to God’s purpose.  “The scriptures are interpreted correctly by those who are unswervingly committed to God’s purpose and in line with God’s purpose” (Green, p.28).  We do not worship the scriptures.  In the scriptures, we meet the God we worship.  We are not submitted to the scriptures.  In the scriptures, we hear the words of the God to whom we are submitted.  The Bible is authoritative because it brings us to the word of God. 

By following the lead of the Holy Spirit, by understanding the scriptures in light of God’s mission for him, and by leaning on God when temptation came, Jesus fully gave himself over to God so that his life was not his, but belonged to the Father.  As I said, he would go on to times of feasting.  He would stand in fearless opposition both to the Jewish king Herod and to the Roman governor Pilate.  And, he was never swayed when people around him tried to win him from flattery.  In full surrender to God, Jesus was completely free from the shackles of human authority, all of it tainted by sin.  He carried out his mission to preach salvation, give healing, and point people to the Kingdom of God after he received the freedom God gave.

What does full submission to God look like for us?  We submit our marriages to God.  We submit our careers to God.  We submit our appetites, longings, money, and dreams to God.  We seek God and obey God so that we are positioned to lean in to God so completely that no part of our lives makes any sense apart from who we are in Christ.  

I’ll watch football this afternoon.  As I do, I submit to God.  I don’t mean I pray for my team to win.  That would be the opposite of submission.  One submitted knows God loves everyone on both teams and everyone in the cities both teams represent.  Submitted to God, I am God-aware during the game, as I watch commercials, and in my interactions with the people who are with me as we watch the game.  It may be a simple as that - remaining God-aware.  It may mean modeling calm and peace if the game doesn’t go my way.  I have had many times in my own life when I have utterly and completely failed in submitting myself to God while watching my team lose; or while driving in bad traffic; or while trying to appropriately, lovingly discipline my children.  I need to be reminded of the call to submission in normal places of life.  We all do. 

I am not suggesting a 40-day fast, although a pastor friend of mine did exactly that.  A 2 or 3-day fast might be better.  We need disciplines that help us submit ourselves fully before God.  You have to find what works for you.  Here is a suggestion.  Envision your life in segments - relationships, family, career, interests, commitments.  Now, focus on one of those segments, for example, your job. 

Write down everything about your job you like.  Write all the reasons why you have that job.  Write all the expectations of you on that job.  Write all the temptations you face related to the job.  Four lists - what you like; why you have the job; expectations of you; temptations you face - all in the context of that job.  There should be 3-5 entries on each list. 

Now, under each list, write how what you’ve written changes when you see it under God’s authority.  This exercise should take time and be something you go back to every so often as you pray regularly.  You may have one sense right now of how this aspect of your life looks when God’s light is shined upon it.  After a few months, it may look different.  This can be a yearlong process, submitting your career to God.

The goal is to become a person fully connected to Jesus in that context, your workplace.  And we do this in all the segments of our lives.  But start with one. 

I invite you to live under Jesus’ rule because I believe that is the best life you can hope to have.  The only way to see if this is true is to try it.  Try this week a discipline that helps you lived a fully God-directed life.  Jesus  said, “I have come that you might have abundant life” (John 10:10).  He wants joy for you.  We find that joy when we die to self and life for Christ.  Follow him and see what that life is like.

AMEN

.  

Works Cited

Green, Joel B. New Testament Theology: the Theology of the Gospel of Luke. Cambridge University Press, 1995.

Filled and Hungry (Luke 4:1-13)

First Sunday of Lent, February 14, 2016

            Jesus fed 5000 people with just a few pieces of bread. Miraculously, he multiplies the food.  With one boy’s lunch, he feed the equivalent of a small town’s population.  How can he do this? 

Well, he can do it because he’s God in human flesh.

            With his disciples, he was out on a boat on the Sea of Galilee, water in all directions.  The winds beat against the men as the try to control their vessel in the face of angry waves.  As the boat is tossed to and fro, the men panic.  Jesus sleeps through it all until they wake him.  Then he commands the storm to be silent, and it obeys.  A raging storm at sea; how can he control it? 

He is God in human flesh.

            He had a good friend, Lazarus, and Lazarus died.  He was buried.  He was in the tomb for 4 days.  Jesus comes and calls him back to life.  It works!  Lazarus walks out of the grave. 

Jesus is God in human flesh.

            He gives blind people their site!  God in human flesh.

            So, we are not really expecting it when we see him tempted in Luke 4.  It’s not like you or me.  We are tempted by greed or anger or by hurt or by a thirst for revenge or by lust or by any of a 100 other things that lead us to destructive behavior.  Not Jesus. 

            In Luke, Jesus is born as all babies are.  In Luke, he is a teenager who worries his mother to death.  He is baptized and something happens to him when the Holy Spirit descends on him (3:22).  He experiences a change with the coming of the Spirit.  The Jesus we meet in Luke is very human. 

            Filled with the Holy Spirit, he is also led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness, without provision.  What fool would go on a 40-day camping trip without any supplies?  Jesus.  But he didn’t go of his own volition.  Forty days without eating is more than fasting.  That’s starvation.  Imagine how badly your body would feel.  Jesus’ body felt that weak.  He had hunger pains.  He experienced that as a human experiences things.

            All the while, the devil openly tempted him.  I don’t think the devil appeared as a hideous beast.  That would be scary, not tempting.  No, I think the devil was inviting – encouraging Jesus in ways that sounded sensible. 

The devil offers food; Jesus was starving.  The devil offers authority; Jesus’ mission was to announce the kingdom of God.  Maybe it would be easier to announce “mission accomplished,” from the position of ruler of the world.  The devil challenges Jesus’ faith.  If you are the son of God, his angels will protect.  Do you hear the echo of Eden?  You won’t die if eat the fruit of this tree.  I know God said you would, but you won’t.  You’ll become like God.

Eve ate the forbidden fruit.  And she did not die, not in that moment any way.  Just as the serpent promised, she had vision she did not previously possess.  However, the first thing she saw was that she had disobeyed the God who created her and loved her.  Naked means more than unclothed.  She sinned and then she could see what she had done.

Satan’s temptations are half-truths and appear attractive.  Why should Jesus starve out here?  It makes no sense.  Why not accept the devil’s offer to rule all the kingdoms of the world?  Think of the good you could do.  Why not show all of Jerusalem who you are as angels carry you safely from the pinnacle of the temple to the ground?  Then everyone will know who you are.  Why not?

Obviously, we the readers can say “why not.”  We sit in the comfort of our heated building on our cushioned chairs as we read this.  We worship in a nice place and as we do, we make plans for lunch in nice restaurants.  There is a certain ease and from this luxury we form our opinions and draw our conclusions.  I say without judgment on us.  This is merely an observation.  From where we are it is easy to gaze into a story and with hindsight declare how clear and simple the ethical and moral choices are. 

What if we read it in a place that’s not so nice? 

Starting right now, don’t eat again until Easter Sunday.  Not a bite.  Don’t go indoors.  From now until March 27, fast and pray.  Jesus was tempted.  The urge to turn those stones to bread was real and strong.  He had emptied himself of his divinity.  How did this human being resist?  It is surprising, when we think about it, to imagine that Jesus truly was as human as your or I are. 

Another surprising thing is the paradox displayed in Jesus in this story.  By paradox, I do not mean “fully God and fully human at the same time.”  But, I do mean two things were going on in Jesus.  Two very different dynamics were at work in him.  I think a similar paradox exists for us when we want to follow Jesus, but we do this in a world that is lost and is in the late stages of corruption because of sin.  Sin has built up over the generations and the world is on the verge collapse.  In this place, that is not so nice, we are witnesses and we are disciples.

The paradox.

Jesus ate nothing for 40 days and true to his habit of understatement, Luke grandiloquent method of portraying this is to write he was hungry.  No kidding. 

Jesus was starving.  At the same time, he was full.  Luke begins this passage about temptation in the desert by telling us Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit.  He begins the next passage where Jesus is back in Jerusalem, again declaring Jesus to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  Jesus was filled and hungry at the same time.

Why could he calm storms at sea, restore the sight of the blind, and miraculously feed multitudes with a few loaves and fish?  You know what I said a moment ago.  He could do it because he was God in human flesh.  But what if that’s not the answer?  What if incarnation means he really did step out of his divinity?  What if the miracles happened because he was Spirit-filled? 

He didn’t just flip a switch and turn on his godself whenever that was needed.  Jesus is God, but he related to God from the standpoint of being human.  He depended on the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit.  He moved at the prompting of the Holy Spirit.  He submitted to the authority of the Holy Spirit. 

It’s a paradox, Jesus (God) relating to God as a human relates to God.  And it leads to another paradox.  Jesus is starving and filled at the same time.  We get caught off guard by Jesus’ humanity.  This idea of starving and fulfillment together in the same person – and the two conditions, starvation and satisfaction relating directly to the other – also surprises us. 

Maybe the most surprising thing is that we can be filled as Jesus was.

The writer of this Gospel, Luke, is also the author of the book of Acts.  There we read about baptism in the Holy Spirit.   In Acts 2, the Holy Spirit takes hold of a few 1000 of Jesus’ followers who are in Jerusalem at the time of Pentecost.  Spirit-filled, they preach the Gospel, and that day 1000’s turn to faith in Jesus Christ. 

In both the Gospel and in Acts, Luke tells the story of Jesus and the early church, but he did not simply write this to show what happened.  He tells us that he shares this so that we, the readers, will know the truth (Luke 1:3).  And he ends his writing at the end Acts with Paul under house arrest in Rome.  Luke’s verse says, Paul live in Rome for two years “proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance” (28:31).

It’s an odd ending; not really an ending at all.  He doesn’t tell of Paul’s death.  He simply tells of Paul preaching.  Why could Paul, while arrested, preach without hindrance?  It is not because he was God in the flesh.  He wasn’t.  He could do it because he was filled with the Spirit.

We, like Paul and like Jesus, can be filled with the Spirit.  Does it mean we will feed 5000 with one child’s bag lunch or bring raging ocean storm to a quiet calm or raise the dead?  When we are Spirit-filled like Jesus, do we do those things?  I don’t know.  I won’t say, No, we do not.  I will say we can stand as Jesus stood: dependent on the Spirit, prompted by the Spirit, and submitted to the Spirit. 

At times this means, like Jesus, we will be hungry, starving even, while we are filled.  Each year during Lent, Christians focus on spiritual disciplines and that can include fasting or giving something up in order to focus on the Lord.  But the hunger is more than the desire for food that comes with a fast, even one as extreme as Jesus endured.  The hunger is for God’s Kingdom; they Kingdom come, they will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.  We want it so badly, we pray for it over and over. 

This is what Jesus meant in the Sermon in the Mount when he said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:5).  The devil knew Jesus hungered for this and tried to persuade him with this.  The devil offered food – turn the stones to bread; and power – I will give you the glory of all the kingdoms of the earth; and spectacle – throw yourself down from the pinnacle of the temple so all Jerusalem will see the angels catch you.

Jesus wanted to multiply food to the hungry.  Power and would enable him to show the world the ways of God.  But, he knew to do these things on the devil’s timetable would amount exalting the devil as God.  He was able to resist because of the power of the Spirit in Him.

Let that settle on the mind.  The power in Christ during his ministry in his time on earth is available to us.  I won’t say it can be ours because they power is the presence of God and God is never ours to hold.  But, when we fully confess our sins and turn from them and when we open our hearts to God and when we hunger for his Kingdom and long for His presence, then we are ready to be filled the Spirit. 

No the Holy Spirit is not ours.  We belong to the Spirit.  We are prompted by the Spirit.  And in those seasons when we aren’t sure what to do the Spirit seems quiet and feels absent, then we go to prayer and other disciplines if needed.  We present ourselves fully before the Lord.

This is where we end on this first Sunday of Lent.  As we move into a time of singing, each of us invited to come without hesitation and holding nothing back.  Come before the Lord.  Come open, asking to be filled.  I end with prayer.

Holy Spirit of God, in this moment, we lay ourselves before you.  Remove all doubts, distractions, and obstacles.  Come to us, forgive us, fill us, and lead us.  This we pray in Jesus’ name.

AMEN