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Lent Gets Right To The Point

            “Let’s go!  Let’s get a move on.  This is no time to fool around.  There’s no time to lose.  Time’s a-wastin’.”  Does anyone doubt that we live in a fast-paced society?  Who’s got time to stop and smell the roses?  Producers of television commercials know that and design their messages to grab our attention within two seconds.  They know the importance of getting to the point.

            The first Sunday in Lent does the same thing.  The theme, tone, and mood of our worship are set each Sunday by the three Scripture lessons, in particular, by the Gospel for the day.  The hymns we sing, the Prayer of the Day, the Psalm of the Day, the Verse of the Day, the choir anthem, the organ and other instrumental music all revolve around that key theme.  Today’s theme from Mark’s gospel lesson is a perfect illustration.  Of the four gospel writers, Matthew begins with the family tree of Jesus. Luke warms our hearts with details of the Savior’s birth and childhood.  John soars as on eagle’s wings to give us a glimpse at the nature of the God-man, but Mark gets right to the point.  It takes him just eight verses to summarize the ministry of the forerunner, John the Baptist, three more to record Jesus’ baptism, and then he whisks us to the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and gets right to the point – a fitting gospel lesson for this first Sunday in Lent because we’ve got no time to lose when it comes to making sure we are right with God and ready for our battle against temptation.  That’s not something anyone should put off or procrastinate about.  We thank God that we are here and ready to hear that Lent Gets Right To The Point.

The point of battle

            Don’t let Mark’s terse, two-verse treatment of Jesus’ temptation by Satan in the wilderness detract from the momentous nature of what happened.  At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan.  No sooner had the Son of God been inaugurated for his work as Savior, when – Bang! – he entered into a one-on-one duel with the devil.  That’s exactly what Jesus came into this world to do, battle the devil.  The whole point of God sending his Son into our world in the first place was for him to go into combat against Satan because no human warrior could do the job.

            “What job?” you ask – the job of freeing humans from Satan’s chokehold on our hearts.  The Bible makes it perfectly clear that from the moment of our birth we are trapped in the devil’s clutches with no human way out.  That news shocks some people, but it’s true nonetheless.  There have been many great warriors in history, many great soldiers, generals, fighters, combatants: King David of Israel; Julius Caesar; Frederick the Great of Prussia; George Washington; Napoleon; Generals Grant, Lee, McArthur, Eisenhower, Schwartzkopf, Patraeus.  The list could go on.  But not one of them could stand alone against the devil, much less help others.

            Neither could some of the people we have always considered heroes of faith.  Even the strongest Christians are no match against Satan’s schemes if they try to go it alone.  Adam and Even tried it on their own.  Their efforts were fruitless.  Jacob tried it on his own, got caught in greed, and stole blessings meant for his brother.  Judah tried it on his own and got tangled in a web of immoral passion.  Moses tried it on his own and fell prey to self-glory.  David tried it on his own and couldn’t keep his eyes and hands off another man’s wife.  Solomon tried it on his own and was pulled down by the undertow of having things.  Humans, who try to withstand temptation on their own, can’t.  And I’m not talking about fighting the devil to prevent demon possession.  The devil is not primarily interested in possessing bodies.  He’s interested in possessing souls.  That happens when he gets people to turn their back on God and to sin.  So his real weapon is temptation.

            How are you doing when tempted to sin?  Have you lost more battles than you’d care to admit?  Does your mind wander down dark alleys of insecurity, which is basically telling God, “You didn’t know what you were doing when you made me”?  Does your heart yearn for things that others have, ignoring God’s call for contentment in what you have?  Are you tempted to retaliate with stinging retorts when anyone so much as looks at you funny?  Are you secretly feeding lustful passion with thoughts and behaviors which would embarrass you to death if anyone found out?  Do you make excuses when it comes to paying attention to your spiritual growth, meaning God has to play second fiddle to the parties and plans that fill your calendar?  Are you wasting money and wracking up debt for gadgets and fun with no thought of long term care for your personal family and your church family?  “Oh, I can overcome those temptations on my own!  I’ll just flip a switch and get myself back on track with God.”  Really?  How often have we tried that and fallen right back where we started with the same old, same old failings and faults.  We all need a super-hero, a super-warrior.

            That’s exactly what God promised Adam and Eve.  When they broke the happy connection they had with God, he had a perfect right to ruin them.  But remarkably he didn’t turn on them.  Instead, he turned to the devil and said, “Some day somewhere one descendant of the woman is going to come into the world and crush your power.  I’m not going to tell you yet who or where.  But as surely as I am God, it’s going to happen!”  That must have driven the devil crazy, “Which baby born would be the one?  Which one is going to destroy me?”  Then, we see this Jesus of Nazareth standing knee deep in the Jordan River.  A voice from heaven proclaimed, “This is my Son!” (Matthew 3:17).  Don’t you think the devil was listening?  You better believe it.  Now he had but one target.  If he could get Jesus off track, then he’d have the whole human race in his control forever!  And that takes us to this battle in the desert.

            Jesus got right to the point.  At once – Mark wrote.  No excuses for first time jitters.  No grace period.  No internship.  No practice till you get it right.  No trial and error.  No waiting around.  The time had come.  It was time to begin the battle with Satan.  At once the Spirit sent him.  This was the plan that flowed from God whose identity is a mystery we can’t begin to understand and don’t have to.  God the Father approved it, God the Holy Spirit ignited it, and God the Son carried it out.  Yet, there aren’t three Gods.  There is only one God.  How can that be?  I don’t know.  But the fact that God’s identity soars beyond my brain capacity is a good thing, because it reminds me that he can do things I can’t – like battle Satan.

            Note that Jesus didn’t back down from this battle.  “At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan.”  Note that this was a constant series of temptations over the forty days.  Mark wrote: he was … being tempted.  And note that Jesus was in this alone.  We can sense the isolation when Mark tells us, “He was with the wild animals.”  This battle in the desert was not a cleverly staged stand-off performed by stunt doubles with plastic Ninja weapons.  These temptations were real and intense.  The devil was trying to get Jesus to take the easy way out.  “Jesus, you know that you are the Son of God.  So do I.  You have all authority and power over heaven and earth.  Just snap your mighty fingers and make everyone bow down to you.  Why go through all the pain, all the torture?  Why suffer when you can have the glory now?”

            The other Bible writers describe how Jesus fought off Satan’s temptations and won.  He used God’s words.  Mark gets right to the point and indicates Jesus’ triumph with the comment, “angels attended him.”  But this victory wasn’t the end of Satan’s efforts to trip or trap Jesus.  While there was never again until Calvary a graphic head-to-head encounter such as this, Satan put Jesus to the test in subtler ways.  At different times crowds tried to crown him as their king.  At other times they tried to kill him when he didn’t do as they wanted.  Satan was there at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, he was their in the middle, and he was there at the end in Peter’s suggestion to forego suffering, in Pilate’s sneers, and in the mob’s taunts.  Through it all Jesus stood the test, battled temptation, and came through with flying colors.  And here’s the good part – God credits Jesus’ perfect record in this battle to our account as though we fought it!  That’s the message of this first Sunday in Lent – short, sweet, and to the point because Lent Gets Right To The Point.  Jesus fought our battle for us and won for us.

The point of victory

            Mark takes us in the time machine again and whisks us one year forward from the temptation in the wilderness to the beginning of Jesus’ ministry in and around Capernaum, a fishing city on the Sea of Galilee, and gets right to the point.  After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.  What’s the “good news of God”?  That it’s March, and the temperatures are going to go up?  That spring is only twenty days away?  That the flu season is almost over?  That you have a chance to wash the salt off your car?  That the economy will eventually turn around?  No!  The good news is “of God.”  He is the Author and Source of the good news.  And here it is, “The time has come ... the kingdom of God is near”.  The time is now.  Paul wrote, “Now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).  Jesus announced that his work was as good as done.  Nothing could stop him: not religious enemies, not confused disciples, not even Satan.  He was on his way to the cross.  He went there.  He died there.  He put in motion the kingdom of God there, which is none other than pardon from God that wipes away our sins and power from God that equips us to ward off temptations.

            Saul was the first king of the ancient nation of Israel, and he was a total flop.  But his son Jonathan was a prince of a guy, in more than just his title.  On one occasion the Philistines assembled to fight Israel, with three thousand chariots … and soldiers as numerous as the sand on the seashore … When the men of Israel saw that their situation was critical … they hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in pits and cisterns … All the troops with Saul were quacking with fear … They numbered about six hundred(1 Samuel 13:5-7,15).  But Jonathan would not stand for that.  Any threat to Israel was a threat to the survival of God’s promise to send a Savior through that nation.  The next Bible chapter sketches a skirmish that defies gravity and parallels the best of an old Steven Seagal movie.  Jonathan and his armor-bearer scaled a cliff and slaughtered twenty Philistine warriors in the space of about half a football field.  The Bible writer tells us, “Then panic struck the whole [Philistine] army … It was a panic sent by God”(1 Samuel 14:15).  It didn’t take long for the word to get out.  In fact, the news spread like wildfire, and the Israelite soldiers crawled out of their hiding holes and stood in amazement as the LORD rescued Israel that day(1 Samuel 14:23).  An improbable victory, but everyone heard the news, “The Lord fought for us, and the Lord won the victory!”

            Jesus is not only the warrior who defeated Satan.  He is also the victor who comes to us with the news that we are on the winning team.  Mark summarizes Jesus’ announcement to the world in just six words, “Repent and believe the good news!”– which is right on target as we enter this Lenten season because Lent Gets Right To The Point.  God has many things to say to us in his Holy Word, all of which are important for our life with him and life with others.  Keep God number one.  Uphold his reputation.  Use his words.  Respect those over you.  Take care of physical well-being, yours and others.  Respect the opposite gender.  Take care of property, yours and others.  Watch your tongue.  Control your desires.  But above all of that, Lent Gets Right To The Point and tells us what we need to hear more than anything else, “Repent and believe the good news!”  Believe that Jesus won the ultimate victory and gives it to you.

            No time?  In a hurry?  Got to get moving?  Sit back and watch your Savior.  That’s what Lent is for.  Then step up and fight the devil with all the Savior’s might.  You’ll win those battles against temptation because Jesus won for you.  There’s no better time to commit yourself to that battle than now.  Companies that want to move forward need a point man on special projects.  Basketball teams that want to advance in a tournament need a good point guard.  We need a point man to get us right with God and help us in our battle against temptation.  Praise God that we are in the Lenten season because Lent Gets Right To The Point and points us to the best point man ever, the God-man, Jesus Christ.   Amen.

Preached at Grace Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, WI (http://www.gracedowntown.org/) on March 1, 2009

Services

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Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church | 1209 North Broadway Milwaukee, WI 53202 | (414) 271-3006

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