B, Post-Pentecost 23 Proper 26 – Psalm 119:1-8; Hebrews 9:13-14 “Teaching & Promise”
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Saturday, November 03, 2012
Saturday, September 01, 2012
B, Pentecost 14 Proper 17 – Deut 4:9, James 1:17-18, Mark 7:21-23 “A Gift for God the Father”
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Saturday, August 27, 2011
A, Pentecost 11 Proper 17 – Matthew 16:24 “The Scandal of the Cross"
Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. (Matthew 16:24 ESV)
These words would have been total shock in the ears of the disciples. Why?
One has to put aside post-resurrection or salvation thinking to begin understanding what went through the hearts of people living in the Roman empire two thousand years ago. And especially in the hearts and minds of the Jews who lived under oppression from Roman occupation.
A cross was a blood barbaric affair. Being hung out to die was not just a Roman torture practice. In the minds of all Israelites would have been stories of Assyrian atrocities when people were displaced from the northern kingdom of Israel and exiled, whom some were impaled on poles, stood up and left to slowly die, further terrorising their captives with fear and horror. And now this same order of oppression terrorised the Jews, right in the heart of Judah, at Jerusalem.
This overwhelming fear of such a death, with massive amounts of pain and suffering, was not just physically horrific. This type of death was without honour. One was exposed, stripped of dignity, naked, humiliated, ridiculed by some who passed by, while others were forced to look upon the shame and embarrassment of the dying person on the cross. This humiliation was not just of the person hanging there, but for the family, and even the nation and their Jewish practise.
The sight of a bloody Jew crucified in contempt would have made their hearts churn as they passed by. It was a sign the people had lost their inheritance and their land was being defiled. The words of the law from Deuteronomy would have been at the fore of their thoughts.
"And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance." (Deuteronomy 21:22–23 ESV)
The sight of a cross to a Jew, was a sign of guilt. Even if they were wrongly crucified by the Romans, they were still hung on a tree, and therefore cursed and guilty before God. Being hung on a cross meant you were unclean, outside the temple courts, outside the city, out with the refuse where the unclean lived. Prohibited from entering into the loving kindness of God, the cross was the place where one experienced total wrath, from both God and man.
It's now we might start to comprehend what could have been going through the hearts of the disciples when Jesus talks of taking up one's cross. To take up one's cross means the practice of lifting one's guilt up for all to see. To admitting to one's guilt even before being found guilty. To expose the scandal of one's existence by continuality putting the hidden reality of the heart out to be dealt with every day.
This is the scandal of the cross. This is the stumbling block Jesus was putting in front of his Jewish disciples, and this is the foolishness put in front of us gentiles. But we're told the weakness and foolishness of the cross is greater than us. The cross, the ultimate bloody barbaric guilty-man's death machine surpasses any person's wisdom.
When Jesus began to announce God's scandal, Peter took exception, and led Jesus aside to give him a piece of his mind. He did this since Jesus had just announced to him he was to be the rock on which the church was to be built. But rather than Peter's wisdom being received, Jesus quickly uncovers the scandal within Peter, who was being deceived by the devil.
Jesus said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man." (Matthew 16:23 ESV)
Literally when Jesus says to Peter, "you are a hindrance to me", he says, "you are a scandal to me", "you're bent, you're as crooked as a dog's hind leg". Perhaps we might say, "he was hell-bent on looking after himself" since Satan was leading him to look away from God's purpose.
But before we get on our high horses against Peter, we must look at what we've done to the cross. Haven't we sanitised the cross somewhat today? We hang it around our necks as a nice ornament. We stick it up in our church buildings, and on signs in the street, and with the familiarity we forget this scandal is our scandal, this is our guilt, our shame, and our cross. Perhaps our removal of the Corpus Christi (the wretched broken body of Jesus) from our crosses is our way of taking Jesus aside, just as Peter did causing him to receive condemnation from Christ.
Perhaps it's the work of Satan deceiving us from reality so we might overlook our guilt and the scandalous reality of ourselves and therefore forget the treacherous and horrific reality Jesus went through to bear the burden of your scandalous life; the inner hidden horrors of every human heart.
So the scandal of Jesus' word here in Matthew 16 and the brutal Good Friday cross meets the scandal of your life. We're called to see the stark reality of God the Son beaten, broken, humiliated, bearing the complete wrath of God, outside with the dogs where there is no access to any loving kindness. But it's your reality Jesus was bearing. He was on your cross, he was hell-bent, because you and I are bent. The scandal of the cross is the announcement and advertisement of your scandal. Being exposed for who you are is the horror of every human as we all face decay and death.
And it's right here where the scandal is increased even more. Where Peter takes Jesus aside to reprimand, where Jews might do just about anything to avoid the horrors and separation of crucifixion, where we try our hardest to sanitise our realities and the reason we all must die, Jesus says, "take up your cross and follow me".
Deny yourself and take up your scandal and follow Jesus. What Jesus calls you to do is virtually turn yourself inside out! To not put yourself first, but the very motives and hidden urges that cause you to put yourself first, he calls you to hoist up for all to see and then follow him.
The true you, out there for all to see. Nakedness not in the physical sense but to peel off the flesh exposing the mental and spiritual nakedness of your soul. Who of us has the faith to do this?
Thankfully our scandal is born by Jesus. Our cross became his cross. Satan was ultimately put behind Christ at the cross, and as we're led by Christ towards our cross, our earthly death, Jesus' faithfulness towards you is moving the Holy Spirit in you to confess and bear the horrors of your sinful nature so your scandal is won over in victory by Christ's resurrection over your scandalous nature and my scandalous nature too!
As God lovingly leads you to admit and confess your scandal. The scandal of Jesus on your cross is believed more and more for your victory. Your daily bearing of this cross is one which you can faithfully bestow more and more on Christ, trusting the Holy Spirit to move you in repentance, faith, hope, and love. The Holy Spirit gives you the right practice, he places Christ in you and you in Christ.
Therefore, those who believe they are sinners and allow Christ to be their scandal will receive eternal life when Jesus comes to eternally remove the scandal which causes us so much horror in this life. This is why the peace of God surpasses all human understanding, and it can keep your hearts and minds (in peace) in Christ Jesus, Amen.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
A, Palm Passion Sunday – Philippians 2:8 “Understudy”
UNDERSTUDY Being an understudy would have to be one of the most difficult jobs. The stage actor gets all the accolades while the understudy remains in the limelight. The work load is the same though! The understudy must know all the same lines to stand in and keep the show running in the event the actor, for whatever reason, cannot be on stage. The actor gets their name up in lights outside on the Broadway billboards yet the understudy hangs in the shadows ready, yet never knowing if he or she will get the opportunity to let their talents shine. Nevertheless, the understudy is an important job. Theatre companies need understudies as an insurance policy for their shows. The actors out front might be responsible for drawing the crowds, but the understudy, stands by as a "fill in" so even if the crowd are disappointed by the absence of one actor, they might still have opportunity to see all the other name actors fill their parts next to the "fill in" understudy. During the Lenten season we have heard and spoken a phrase over and over again. "Christ humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross." It's part of what is known as the Christ hymn from Philippians chapter two. We hear it again here: Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11) Pauls calls us to have this mind, which indeed we already have because Christ lives in us. However, this mind or attitude of Jesus so often gets squashed from within because we like to be the ones who have out names recognised — up in lights like an actor. But the attitude of Jesus is like that of a faithful understudy. He is the archetypal servant of society, humbly listening to God, seeking his will in his word, throughout his ministry right to the point of death. Jesus Christ deserved to have his name up in lights — the Son of God, Co-Creator of all things with the Father and the Holy Spirit. But he put that all aside and became the Son of Man; a servant who was killed by the very folk he sought to served. Our attitude so often runs contrary to the attitude of Jesus. The very things Jesus did, when we contemplate attempting them, seem second rate. No one seeks to be the understudy. How often do we hear about the glitz and glamour of an understudy? But this is exactly where we're called to focus our efforts and attitudes. So how do we do this when it's so different to our way of thinking? It's not so much about how we do it, but rather in enduring in Christ, returning to hear his Word of life over and over again, the mindset of Jesus grows within. This growth is cultured by the Holy Spirit so that over time we come to realise Christ has been our understudy the whole time and all the glitz and glamour we sought in the past, perishes with the past. Alternatively, those who try to live in the glory of this fickle glitz and glamour end up washed up like so many Hollywood types these days. A world away from seeking glory for one's self is Christ's attitude. This attitude is obedience. It allows us to remain faithful to God. It's not about doing anything in particular. Rather it's about letting God undergird us with his will, his way, and his word. He insures a safety net of salvation for us by giving us Christ as the understudy. Jesus Christ obediently listened to the Father, and now continually listens for when we lose our way, forgetting the lines of holiness we're called to before the Father. His obedience as the understudy meant no glitz and glamour, rather it meant the opposite. He humbled himself and became your understudy, to the point of death… even death on a cross. There an old saying, "being hung out to dry". And Jesus was literally hung out to dry; he was hung on the cross to die. In the ancient world being hung out for all to see was a horrendous way to be killed. Slowly dying, choking on your own body, suffocating yourself to death, usually outside the town gate where everyone passed by and hurled insults at you as you slowly suffered and died. Scripture tells us that any one hung on a tree is cursed (Deut 21:23). The Assyrians barbarically sharpened sticks like pencils and impaled people on them to die for all to see. So death on a cross or a tree is a blight on any person guilty of the punishment. We don't have crucifixion for punishment these days, but if we did, what kinds of crimes would deserve this type of cursed death? Only the worst, for sure! So Jesus, your understudy, knew he was going to receive not only death, but death deserved by those who have committed the most abhorrent crimes. And he did it obediently, all the way, despite his innocence. There's just no way we could ever do what he did. But we don't have to! He has done it; all we're called to do is believe it. Trust Jesus as your faithful understudy, who saves your reputation before the Father in heaven. In believing, you'll never expect whom you will be used to serve as an understudy as you focus on faithfully following the will of him who obediently, faithfully, undergirds you as your understudy, until the glorious day of your resurrection into the realm of eternal bliss. Amen.
A sermon on Philippians 2:8
PALM PASSION SUNDAY (Year A) 17/04/11
Pastor Heath Pukallus Katanning-Narrogin Lutheran Parish
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Epiphany 6 - 1 Corinthians 3:6-9 Deuteronomy 8:7-18 "His Holy Harvest"
In the Old Testament God promised to give the Israelites a new land. The land in which they dwelt was Egypt, a land of slavery and oppression. Having been freed from that place it seemed they went from the fry-pan into the fire. They found themselves wandering around in the Sinai wilderness, amongst snakes and sand. It seemed they found themselves between a rock and a hard face – a very hard place indeed.
But the Old Testament tells us of a promise made, that God would deliver them into a better place as the chosen race. He would give them an inheritance, a land of their own overflowing with milk and honey. And those he would deliver into this land of plenty would be a great nation, too numerous to count, as he had promised Abraham all those years before when he called him to look at the night sky and see his family numbered like the stars.
We know Abraham never saw the multitudes for himself. He only had one son, Isaac. Isaac too, never saw a large family. In fact, both of these men had wives who struggled to fall pregnant and have children, and the land in which they inhabited was not their own.
It was only when the land in which Isaac inhabited descended into drought and desolation that God began to grow Israel, but still only as a family. Jacob, and his wives and concubines, had a large family, but with no food it appeared they too would perish and die. If it was not for Joseph being sold into slavery and God raising him as Egypt’s second in charge, they would have surely become dust in death.
And so Jacob was the first to see a large family, but only after a series of severe testings throughout his life. He saw his family on the brink of starvation, he saw his family squabble and secretly sell one of his sons into slavery. And only in his last days did he see Joseph had survived and his family fed through God’s preservation. But was the land they were to inhabit the land of Egypt on the fertile Nile river?
We know it wasn’t, and for four hundred years it seems God goes quiet before he severs them from the slavish hell their lives had become in Egypt. Nevertheless, while they were there they grew as God had promised. From about seventy in the household of Jacob, saved from famine, not until after four hundred years and generations past, did they number like stars in the sky.
God delivered them through the Red Sea into the Sinai wilderness and God gave them the Law on Mount Sinai. Moses came down from the mountain with two stone tables and inscribed on them were Ten Commandments, given to guide the Israelites. They were commanded to look not to themselves but to the Lord. But what of God’s promise they would inhabit a land of their own? Moses tells the people…
For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.
Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end.
Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. (Deuteronomy 8:7–18 ESV)
Can you imagine how they must have felt hearing this promise? Food and freedom; no more building bricks with mud and straw! Iron and copper, crops and vineyards, water and wealth; they were going to be masters in this land of promise and plenty.
Just like a child wide-eyed at the prospect of getting a gift, the Israelites promise to acknowledge the Lord, follow him adhering to the Law, and remember it was he who gave them power and wealth. “Yes Lord, o course we will listen to you, follow you, acknowledge you, and remain under your almighty guidance!”
However it seemed the Lord was a long time in coming good with his promise. The Israelites wandered in the wilderness just outside this place of plenty for forty years. For many it was a lifetime and most of them died never trusting God nor seeing the land of Canaan. God was again testing them and teaching them to trust him, his promises, and to follow him. If they weren’t going to follow him in the tough times how would they be able to do it in the good times?
So Israel’s promise is an inheritance of land. God grew the nation. He opened the wombs of Sarah, Rebekah, Leah and Rachel to do this. He carried them into Egypt and fed them, and while there he grew their numbers despite slavery and suffering.
He delivered them from the hand of the Egyptians, and made his presence known in the desert. And as they wandered in this wilderness he fed them, watered them, and increased their number and power. And then he delivered them into the land of plenty; a land flowing with milk and honey, an inheritance promised through adherence to the Law given on Mount Sinai.
What is God’s promise to you? What is God’s promise to us in his church? What is your inheritance?
Things are a little different from the days of the old covenant, the Old Testament, the Ten Commandments. Or are they?
Jesus Christ has come but the Law remains. In fact, he increases the Law. Do not murder, is increased! Now if you hate, you are guilty of murder. Settle your disputes lest the Law calls you to pay back “every” last penny! Just one look in lust and we’re guilty of adultery. And don’t make promises you can’t keep, by swearing or making oaths.
Jesus calls for impeccable thoughts, words, and deeds – to flee from all evil and acknowledge your lack of power. He says, “…do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.” (Matthew 5:36–37 ESV)
And what of our inheritance? The Israelites received land through the promise and remained in it as long as they adhered to the Law. And the Law led them to remain faithful to God. The Law reminded them, focused them, and revealed the reality they faced in their hearts every day.
Our inheritance is not our farms, our gardens, the milk and honey, the wheat and barley, the bread and water which we take from the earth. These things are the things God gives us as we walk in this wilderness towards the inheritance promised in Jesus Christ.
Nevertheless, our struggle is still the same as that of the Israelites, the Corinthians, and every other person. Paul tells the church in Corinth…
For I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.
Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.”
We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.
Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. (1 Corinthians 10:1–14 ESV)
The greatest temptation we face today is doubt, worry, and pride. To believe God’s promise is not for us, to think our inheritance is what we work for now — our power, our time, and our possessions. We’re tempted and so often fail to trust God is in control, and seek to seize power for ourselves. We turn from God to the greatest idol in our lives; we the idolater become the idolatry. You and I set ourselves up as the great “I am” and our ego left to its own devices always turns to worry, doubt, and pride.
All of us are the same. All of us in this building, all in this generation, our parents, our children, all those we place on a pedestal and all we avoid in the gutter! Every temptation you face people have faced before, and they will be faced again. You have not been tempted by a temptation so great it can’t be resisted, or forgiven. God is still faithful and he provides a way out.
So what is the way out of our wilderness of sin? How do we depart from our deeds of destruction; the thoughts of temptation; and our testing times? What is our inheritance; our land of plenty?
It is not an inheritance here on earth, but rather this is the place of God’s harvest. Rather God wants us as his prize possessions. He longs to let his eternal glory rest on us as we rest in him. Yet in these days he calls us to let his glorified Son Jesus Christ, grow you into his kingdom.
St Paul says… I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labour. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building. (1 Corinthians 3:6–9 ESV)
Your inheritance is you! God seeks to harvest you as he originally intended you to be; united with all in his kingdom as one before him!
Seek this heavenly holy fellowship. Soak up the water of God’s Word, be fertilised and fed in the body and blood of Christ. Allow yourself to repent; to be rebuilt through the testing times you face in this life. Let the Holy Spirit grow faith in you. You are God’s field, let him weed you! Be one in God’s holy house; let him build you as a believer. Let God grow you like grain, into his holy harvest gathered in Christ. Amen.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
C, Lent 1 - Luke 4:1-2 "Trials & Temptation"
Text
And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. (Luke 4:1-2)
Sermon
Just when you'd think things couldn't get any worse, then it does! You see, he came from a privileged place. There was no pain or suffering, hunger or want. But where he found himself was a far cry from the fertility and luxury from where he had come.
Jesus walks in the wilderness; his stomach knotted from hunger. Now when things seemed like they couldn't get any worse, old hairy legs shows up - the devil. He grabs the opportunity to take Jesus to task, testing him in the weakness of his hungry human state.
These forty days wandering in the wilderness follow a time where at the Jordan Jesus was baptised, the Holy Spirit came down on him, and God declared him to be his Son whom he loved. But on having received the Holy Spirit, and wonderful acknowledgement of his Father's love, he's led into a time of trial and suffering. How much worse could it have gotten?
After all, the preincarnate Son of God, before he was born to Mary, was at the Father's right hand in heaven. He was a member of the Holy Trinity! The Son of the Father from eternity, eternally begotten! God the Son was there with the Father and the Holy Spirit at the creation of time and space. This God was untouchable by sin, suffering, trial and temptation.
But this is what God the Son gave up because he loved the Father. He became bound by time and space; born in Bethlehem and dependant on humans. God the Son became the epitome (e-pit-o-me) of weakness lying in a makeshift bed in an unwholesome environment!
Having been baptised he now walked in the wilderness. This is where the Spirit led him. And the Father who announced his love for his Son now allows him to flounder for forty day in the desert. Imagine yourself in this situation. If we had Christ's power, surely we would rationalise our situation with our sinful nature to improve our lot.
Just as Jesus walked in the wilderness for forty days, the Israelites had been in the Sinai wilderness for forty years. They stood on the edge of entry into Canaan. Just across the very same Jordan River in which Jesus was baptised before he went into the wilderness.
God walked with the Israelites in the desert during this time. Although the Israelites inherited their wilderness wanderings due to their wickedness and waywardness! Yet, God still remained with them and was faithful to his promise to deliver them into a land flowing with milk and honey - into the land of Canaan. All they had to do was remain faithful to God and things would get better and better.
The Israelites and Jesus walked the same road, but on it they walked the completely opposite direction. Jesus, the eternal Son of God, came from his heavenly glory to be born a human, was baptised into death, and wanders in all human weakness in the wilderness. However, Israel, adopted as God's children, is delivered from trial and testing in Egypt, into the Sinai wilderness, and then into Canaan, an earthly paradise chosen by God in which for them to live. God's one and only Son, and God's adopted children, walked very different directions for a very good reason.
The Israelites were tempted by just about everything that came their way. It made no difference whether they were in a place of plenty or paucity, they whinged and wanted more and more all the time. They didn't trust God. In fact, they begrudged him even while he provided for them and protected them in the wilderness.
Jesus on the other hand, had everything, and gave it up, yet he didn't doubt God for a moment. Surrendering his Godliness, he was born with the same flesh as the Israelites, and as you and me. He was susceptible to sin and suffering, but he didn't fall into disbelief; not even once!
Jesus and the Israelites cross paths at the Jordan. Jesus came from paradise into the wilderness and the Israelites were delivered from the desert into the fruitful land of milk and honey.
They crossed roads at the Jordan and its where the X marks the spot. Israelites were being baptised by John with a baptism of repentance. And Jesus received a baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire, which landed him on "the Cross" and a descent into hell.
In fact, "the Cross" is the X which marks the spot. The Israelites walked to the Jordan with the guilt of sin, and away with a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus too, walked to the Jordan, but not with sin and guilt. He came holy, pure and spotless and left carried by the Holy Spirit into forty days of temptation, and three years of trial ending in his death on the Cross; cursed by our sin, yet in himself was pure and spotless.
The Cross marks the spot for us too. Christ meets us at the crossroads in baptism. St Paul challenges us in Romans chapter 6, "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life." (Romans 6:3-4)
You now walk in your baptism called to trust baptism's power in you for Christ's sake, allowing the Holy Spirit to do his perfecting work in and through you. You are called to trust the forgiveness of your sin, knowing that sin and death have no power in your life. And sin and death continue to have their power weakened by the light shone in our hearts through repentance that exposes the sinful things you're tempted to do. From baptism into Christ, you're called to walk and trust every day in the power of your baptism, through which the Holy Spirit gives you the newness of life.
However, unlike Jesus, we being born with a sinful nature continue to do sinful things. We go out from our baptism into the wilderness of this world and succumb to temptations all the time. We see our trials and the suffering we still must go through in this life and become hesitant of the Holy Spirit's leadership, doubtful of the Son's salvation, and are quick to replace faith in God through his Word, with faith in ourselves through our own works.
This is exactly why Jesus was the only one who went to the cross. Everyone else fell and continues to fall to the temptation that God and his kingdom will let them down. And Jesus knew this too. So he sends the Holy Spirit to continue turning us back to him and the power won at the cross given in our baptism that we might turn and return to Christ and his Word.
The greatest temptation we face as God's adopted children is to think God has abandoned us and left us for dead. Just like the Israelites did so many times in the Sinai wilderness, we are quick to toss our God-given faith away in favour of a faith, which comes from our morals, our understanding or intellect, and our feelings. This temptation is ultimately ground in a disbelief which wills us to believe God's kingdom is not near us or for us because of who we are as sinners.
Jesus knows we struggle to believe his kingdom is coming to us, especially when we seem to be having so many trials and troubles in this life. We're blinded seeing our day to day lives only in negative unbalanced Godless ways. Then temptation quickly comes willing us to throw out our trust in God who promises to lead us through the wilderness of this life and through death.
Jesus addresses our temptation to believe the kingdom is not coming to us. In the Lord's Prayer he gives us his very own personal words which move us to trust our Father, whose kingdom comes, and to trust the Holy Spirit's leadership away from the temptation that God's kingdom is not coming to us.
In the Lord's Prayer we are lead into a deeper and deeper belief that despite how things might appear, God is providing our daily bread in this life and will continue to do so right through into the resurrected life he has for us in eternity.
In fact, in Jesus' hunger he rebuked the devil with God's word, in part, from Deuteronomy 8:3, "man does not live by bread alone." (Deuteronomy 8:3, Luke 4:4) But this whole verse points to the very thing every person needs to receive throughout their earthly lives. Let's hear the full verse, "And he (the Lord your God) humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord." (Deuteronomy 8:3)
And so for us the food that leads us away from all temptations and specifically the temptation to believe that the kingdom of God is not for us is the Word of God. In fact when we hear the word of God preached we receive the Holy Spirit, we receive faith, and we are grounded in the assurance that "Jesus is Lord" and "God has raised him from the dead" (Romans 10:9)
So it's right at the point where everything seems to be getting worse, and we realise how weak we truly are, that we come to the crossroads where we're called to trust in he who has already walked the other way towards death and hell for us, but then was raised and glorified.
Through the Word of God the Holy Spirit works to plant in us faith that the kingdom of God is for us, and near us, despite the wilderness in which we walk today. Amen.
