Welcome
This is the first Sunday in the season of Lent and so at the beginning of our journey to Easter we reflect on the time Jesus spent I preparation before the start of his public ministry. Forty days and forty nights, fasting in the wilderness, tempted by the Evil One and encouraged by Angels.
Call to Worship (Inspired by Psalm 91) As we enter the wilderness of Lent, Let us seek to rest in the shelter of the Most High; We abide in the shadow of the Almighty; We find refuge under the wings of our Holy God. We trust that the angels of God the words of God the people of God the very hands of God Will somehow bear us up. As we seek to hear God’s voice And follow his purpose and will We humbly come to Worship the one who has promised and is ever present.
HYMN 512 To God be the glory
Prayer
Let us pray
Above all earthly power, O God, you are reigning.
Help us to acknowledge you as king. Underneath the depths of human weakness and sorrow are your everlasting arms: help us to trust in you for all our needs. Beyond the reach of our imagination and desire is your never-failing love and care: help us to realize your presence with us, and to offer the worship of heart and mind and will – all surrendered to your service through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Though we are bound to you, our God, by many ties, we recognize that in our lives there is restlessness, anxiety and fear. These often arise because we reject your leading. We wonder from your purpose and way as we listen to other voices, we ask you to give us now the humility and honesty to admit our failings and the courage to repent of them. Hear us, therefore, when we pray:
Lord, have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Lord have mercy.
Thank you for your grace and forgiveness. Now fill us afresh with your guiding and empowering Spirit that we may serve you and bear witness to your unending love and faithfulness.
Amen
Scriptures:
Romans 10:8b- 13
8 But what does it say?
‘The word is near you,
on your lips and in your heart’
(that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because[a] if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. 11 The scripture says, ‘No one who believes in him will be put to shame.’ 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. 13 For, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
Luke 4:1-13
4 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. 3 The devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.’ 4 Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, “One does not live by bread alone.”’
5 Then the devil[a] led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And the devil[b] said to him, ‘To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.’ 8 Jesus answered him, ‘It is written,
“Worship the Lord your God,
and serve only him.”’
Then the devil[c] took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written,
“He will command his angels concerning you,
to protect you”,and
“On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.”’
Jesus answered him, ‘It is said, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”’ When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.
HYMN 337 Forty days and forty nights
Reflection:
This is the first Sunday in the season of Lent a time in many faith traditions set aside to reflect and repent. Forty days, Moses was up on mount Sinai communing with God and receiving the commandments. When Moses returned His face shone, those forty days had changed him. Forty days between resurrection and ascension, Jesus returning to glory. Some say it takes forty days to instil a habit, forty days of consistent and persistent behaviour in the same direction can form a habit. And good habits have a lasting positive impact on us. You may never have deliberately set aside 40 days to focus on your faith journey, your spirituality, so right at the start of this reflection I want to challenge you to put in place something specific, that is going to focus your attention more clearly on God. Make it clear, obvious and achievable. Some form of Spiritual discipline you are going to make a habit so that you can hear what God is saying to you. It could be times of Solitude and silence; we hear God more clearly when we remove other voices. It could be serving others or studying the scriptures, in serving we are like Christ and the scriptures reveal God’s heart. Choose a tried and tested way that will allow you to listen to what God is saying to you this season.
Last week the lectionary gospel text, was the supernatural event of the transfiguration. Peter, wanted to set up tents to stay on the mountain top, to preserve the experience but the voice of God interrupts him with these words, “‘This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!’ (Luke 9:35). Those words echoed another mountain top experience for Jesus when he was baptised in the Jordan river, the voice had said “This is my Son, loved by me “and the Spirit came on him powerfully. A few weeks ago, we reflected on Jesus in the synagogue, reading from Isaiah and declaring His mission statement, his purpose for being. Jesus, had come to open the eyes of all to the nature and character of God, to set captives free and declare the year of the Lord’s favour. From that moment on he would go out and teach about the Kingdom of God and he would demonstrate that Kingdom come in his presence by healing and casting out demons. From his identity received at baptism on the banks of the Jordan to his purpose proclaimed in the synagogue and then lived out. Ultimately, Jesus would lay down his life in obedience to the will of the Father, Easter which we will celebrate in 40 days’ time.
Mark 1:12-13 “ And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13 He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.” Matthew, Mark and Luke all have Jesus in the desert for forty days of testing and tempting. In our world of comfort, where popularity and money are praised and prized, we often seek to circumvent the desert to avoid it at all costs. The desert is a dry and desolate place. The desert is a place of solitude and survival, when we would much rather prefer to be guided to a secure and successful place. In Jesus’ journey between the proclamation of his identity at his baptism and his own declaration of his mission statement, he goes to the desert and is tested and tempted. He doesn’t just go to the place we avoid; no, he is led by the Holy Spirit. Is that even a possibility in your Spirituality? Would you be able to hear God leading you to a place of testing and tempting? God tested Abraham and then provided, a lamb in the thicket. God tested the Israelites in the desert as he guided and provided daily. We often test things that are important and vital. You would want the brakes on your vehicle to be thoroughly tested and obviously you would want any medication you took to be thoroughly tested. In the gospel of Mark, the word used is “drove” or “pushed” it has the sense that this could not be avoided. There is an urgency and a necessity for a desert time of testing and tempting between identity revealed and purpose lived out.
I have used two words testing and tempting, and they are often used interchangeably and I think it is because they often happen simultaneously. The Greek word can be correctly translated “to test” or “to tempt”. God tests us to see how faithful we are, if our trust is placed on him alone or on the ways and things of this world, are we depending on Him listening to his voice? Satan tempts or seduces us to make a mistake, to make the wrong choice. God tests us to bring out the good, Satan tempts us to make the bad choice even when we know the good. Often these two are at play in the same scenario. If you struggle with the concept of an evil one incarnate in the form of the devil, the Hebrew word could literally be translated “adversary”, the one who is not for you but against you. The ones against Jesus often came in the form of people like pharisees and even his own disciples. Luke however over and over again in his gospel uses Satan to refer to a supernatural being. Mark’s gospel has Jesus with “wild animals” symbolic of earth, the natural, and angels symbolic of heaven, the supernatural.
There are three temptations of Jesus in the gospels of Matthew and Luke: to turn stones into bread, Jesus is famished, not in itself particularly bad; to jump from the temple because you have enough faith that God will protect you and to bow down just once so that you can take charge, is that not what is going to happen anyway. Matthew and Luke both have the bread temptation first and they swop the next two around. As we go through them briefly, I want you to keep in mind this is happening between baptism and declaration of purpose. This is happening between identity affirmation and the fulfilling of Jesus’s mission. Luke 4:3, 4 “The devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.’ Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, “One does not live by bread alone.”’ Jesus being hungry is an understatement after 40 days of fasting. Jesus is preparing for his mission and he is going to have to rely fully on God’s plan as he faces each adversary, those that would want to pull him down and those that would want to instil him as earthly king. He would have to be able to hear God’s voice and be true to what God had purposed. Firstly, Jesus is tempted to take care of his own needs. Is that not what all tempting is ultimately about, using our, power, wealth or influence for ourselves. You never really feel tempted to take leave to help a stranger, it almost always revolves around self. We wrongly confine tempting to Sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll, but what if it is far more subtle than that. What if it is using what you have for you? What if it is fulfilling your needs in a way that God had not purposed for you? What if it is simply listening to another voice, to direct your steps and not the voice of God?
Every temptation starts with an identity questioning statement, “If you are the Son of God” or “Since you are the Son of God”, the implication is you should do this, you should not be hungry or suffering if you are loved by God. But what if the hunger draws us closer in our dependence on God and what if our suffering helps us to identify with the pain of others and we deal with our selfishness so that we can bear witness to others? Jesus responds by quoting from Deuteronomy 8:3, Luke only has the first part, but Matthew includes the second part and it is vital and mostly missing in modern day spirituality, “but every word that comes from the mouth of God”. As John would repeat, in his gospel, Jesus declaring again and again, I only say what the father wants me to say I only do what the father wants me to do. And in the gospel of John when Jesus is hungry and his disciples want to feed him, Jesus responds “My food is to do the will of him who set me and to complete his work. (John 4:34) As “a Christian”, “a follower of Jesus” or “child of God”, however you describe your identity after coming to faith in Jesus, does that imply a purpose and is that purpose discovered and fulfilled in listening to God’s leading and guiding? If Jesus had turned stones into bread he would have been listening to another voice, not the one who had declared that he was a loved child. If Jesus had turned stones into bread he would have been depending on his own wisdom and strength. If Jesus had turned stones into bread, it would have been to fulfil his own needs when he was sent to serve.
How often is our divine purpose derailed by the subtle voices, that tell us all manner of good things, but they not the God thing. Maybe this lent for you is a time to reflect on your identity as a child of God and how that implies a divine purpose beyond fulfilling your own needs. What great restraint and discipline not to fulfil a personal need to advance our ultimate goal. Resisting short term satisfaction for long term glory, we are all faced with those choices daily. Next Jesus is tempted with the promise of all the kingdoms glory and authority if he would bow down and worship. In a culture driven by more, wealth, position and power, it is easy to start bowing and lifting up all manner of pursuits and prizes that take our eyes off God. Jesus reminds us that all temptations ultimately undermine God’s primary purpose for our lives: to bring glory to God. Jesus responds, ‘It is written, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”’ Luke 4:8 Again quoting from the scriptures Deuteronomy 6:13, those instructions received by Moses up on the mountain. Then the tempter took him to Jerusalem and we know that it would all end in Jerusalem, not at the temple but beyond the walls. From the highest point of the temple, you could see for miles and what magnificent views they were. Now the Adversary uses scripture in the next temptation, quoting what we know as Psalm 91 or at least part of it. In a sense the tempter is asking Jesus to prove his faith, to trust God for what God said he would do. Jump from the temple because the angels will save you from harm. This speaks profoundly to the way we may be tempted to use the scriptures. The very promises of God can be used to judge him and others when taken and applied out of context. When we presume on God, if I do this God has to do that then ultimately, we are again serving our own interests. Rather than living out God’s word to us, we seek to have God act according to our words.
Jesus would fulfil God’s words not by calling legions of angels to his rescue though he could have. Jesus fulfilled God’s word not by coming down off the cross as some tempted him to do “…, save yourself. Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” (Matthew 27:40). The temptation on the cross was even greater than that, they said they would believe in him if he came down. Time and time again Jesus would be tempted throughout his life as recorded in the gospels to listen to other voices. The steps and actions he was tempted to take were often in and of themselves not inherently bad but they were not God’s purpose and plan. The sentences in Psalm 91 just before the ones used by the Tempter read as follows: “Because you have made the Lord your refuge, the Most High your dwelling-place, no evil shall befall you, no scourge come near your tent.” In other words when we are following God’s voice, we are so close, that we fall under his protection. Again, Jesus responds by quoting from Deuteronomy “Do not put the LORD your God to the test.”
Have you ever travelled through a desert all alone? You may feel like you in that place right now! Please know you are still a child of God and he has a divine purpose for you, take time to listen to his voice. Have you ever fasted for forty days? You may have had an empty feeling for a long time? Please do not be tempted to fulfil your purpose outside the voice of God’s call. He calls us His loved children and he has a purpose for each one of us to bring him glory. When you find yourself in the desert know you are not alone. When you find yourself in a tough place, remind yourself of your identity and remain true to your purpose. When voices call you to subtly serve self, do not be tempted to presume on God. May you take extra time over next forty days to reflect not only on your identity but also your divine purpose. That is often the purpose of the desert. Have you ever fasted for forty days and forty nights? Have you ever journeyed through a desert alone?
HYMN 550 As the deer pants for the water
COMMUNION
Prayer:
Lord God, sometimes you call us into the desert. Into those places where we must rely fully upon you for our survival. At other times your Spirit drives us into those places but each time we have entered those places we have been tempted and tested – tempted to turn back before the time is right for turning back, tempted to give up before the time you have appointed for our testing and for our growing is past. Help us, Lord, should this be a time in our lives when we feel alone – a time in which we feel oppressed by the evil one – help us to claim the blessings that you have prepared for us in the middle of the wilderness – lead us on our journey – and bring us safe to the other side…
Lord, hear our prayer, and in Your love, answer.
Lord God, there are many among us who face barren times – wilderness times in their lives. Help us to minister your loving presence to them in those times so that they may come through the wilderness and enter the promised land. Help us to bring food to the hungry, water to the thirsty, shelter to the homeless, courage to those who faint, and hope to those who are tempted to despair…
Lord, hear our prayer, and in Your love, answer.
Lord God, in this time of impending conflict between nations – this time when we are being tested to see if we will do justice as well as love mercy – we pray for guidance – and for your light to lead the way of the rulers of our nation and the nations about us….
Lord, hear our prayer, and in Your love, answer.
Lord God, hear our prayers for those among us who are in need – those whom we name before you now….
We ask these things through Jesus,
our brother, our Saviour, and our Lord. Amen.
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial
and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours
now and for ever. Amen.
HYMN 396 And can it be, that I should gain
Benediction:
Benediction
Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Sung Amen:
Acknowledgements:
Bible Quotations taken from: New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
English translations of The Lord’s Prayer, © 1998, English Language Liturgical Consultation (ELLC), and used by permission. www.englishtexts.org
Prayers adapted from Church of Scotland Weekly Worship for 6th March 2022.
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