The Temptation of Jesus

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0:00 I hope that was encouraging for you all this morning. I don't know how your morning went or what it took for you to get connected to us this morning, but I'm glad that you did get connected to us this morning. Hope that you're finding ways to connect with people throughout the week. I've heard different stories of how we're doing that together. Some of us reaching out for ways that we can serve the people around us.

0:30 Some of us trying to figure out what work looks like in this time. I just want to remind you to start off the sorting that you're not alone as you're tackling those questions and don't be afraid to reach out. This is times like this is why we are a church together. It amplifies the reason that we are a church because we need one another. And so I want to encourage you to continue to raise those questions about how and how do I live, but don't raise those questions by yourself.

1:02 Find ways to raise those questions with us. We celebrated last Sunday the resurrection. So it's worth reminding you that Jesus did die once, but he'll never die again. As sure as he rose and appeared to his closest friends there at the beginning, he will return and appear to us as well.

1:33 That the Jesus rose from the dead and lives yet today. And we'll come again and resurrect all of us along with him to live for eternity. So we live now in the season of Easter. The church has always celebrated the season of Easter for seven weeks. Just kind of stayed on this idea of the resurrection.

2:05 I was thinking about that, this idea of the resurrection and the current state that we're living in. And I had a conversation with a friend about how part of my work is helping facilitate these coffee shop locations. And I was telling him how crazy it was to see how quickly sales dropped off at those locations. A little bit of news and a couple of orders and all of a sudden within the span of a week,

2:40 everything changed. And we all have our stories of that. And we'll continue to have our stories. Those will be things that are isolated in our memory. But as I was talking about that with him, what came out of my mouth, and sometimes the ideas come out of my mouth before they hit my head, I think out loud sometimes, what came out of my mouth was I can't believe it highlights how powerless we are in normal circumstances. And I had this image of myself kind of managing all of my responsibilities in normal life

3:14 as just like surfing on top of this wave. But when I'm riding this wave long enough, I sometimes forget what's powering the movement. I can get enamored with the line that I'm picking maybe on the wave or the board that I've chosen or how I positioned myself just right and forget that without the wave, I'm not moving at all. And something happened where the wave I had been riding just collapsed underneath me. And all of a sudden I realized, oh, but for the wave, I'm just like kind of sitting on the water.

3:50 And that there is there are forces sure economic or political forces that drive those waves. But behind all of that is this kind, generous, resurrected God. And when there are times when those waves stop, when I'm aware of my powerlessness, there are some choices I get to make in the midst of that. And that's what I want to think about for a little bit. I was thinking about that powerlessness and feeling a sense of powerlessness and recognizing

4:22 all of the ways that I try and manage that feeling of powerlessness, the little places of control that I carve out for myself or the places where I still have things under my authority or within my reach. I was thinking about that idea of palace. And I remembered one of my favorite professors, one of the most engaging professors I had in seminary really focused on the synoptic gospels. And he wrote a really compelling commentary of the gospel of Matthew.

4:58 And one of my favorite sections in the gospel of Matthew is that section of the Beatitudes. And this professor had a really beautiful kind of discursus on the Beatitudes. And he talked about poverty of spirit being this like entryway into being the people of God. And so I was thinking about poverty of spirit. And then I found this little book on my shelf that Jordan Crandall had given me. It must be a couple of years ago.

5:29 And sometimes not all the time, but sometimes what happens when other people give you books is they go on your shelf because the other people are excited about them, but you didn't buy them. So you may not be this book went on my shelf. And then I was thinking about poverty. Jordan has nothing to say about you. It has everything to say about me, the fact that it went on the shelf. But it just went on the shelf. And I was thinking about poverty of spirit. And this book is titled Poverty of Spirit. And it gave me a lot of things to think about. And so I want to walk through it a little bit with you together. And the place that it starts is like thinking about

6:05 the poverty of spirit is it goes to Matthew's temptation. This or not Matthew's, Jesus's temptation. And I want to look at it in Matthew. I mean, it exists in all the gospels. And you may have read it before. It's right towards the beginning, you know. Jesus has gone to his anointing. He's like, he's grown up. He's been through all the childhood, all the childhood rights of a good Jewish kid. And

6:41 he's he's learned to apprentice with Joseph. And then he finds his cousin out at the Jordan River. And in John Baptist, he's like, dude, I don't not really baptize you. And Jesus says, this thing we got to do. He goes down in the dove comes down and and the spirit of God anoints him. He says, my son, whom I love with him at well, please. And he goes off into the desert then. So he has a special anointing by the spirit of God for the ministry in front of him. And then he goes off into the desert. And he goes off into the desert and fast for 40 days, which if you've tried to fast

7:15 for three days, fasting for 40 days is a long time, right? And if you think about it, Jesus, at this point, he's been incarnated in the person of Mary, this like beautiful Trinitarian act of second creation in the womb of a woman. He's been born. The magi came from the East Herod tried to kill him. He escaped to Egypt. Like he stayed for three days at the temple. And

7:47 didn't you know, I should be about my father's business. He's like had this very, he's definitely fully God. But what we find is he goes off to fast is he's also fully human. Like he fasts for 40 days and gets very hungry, right? Very hungry because he has like a flesh and bone. He's not just God. He's all the way man, Jesus of Nazareth. And in his humanity is exemplified then in the way

8:17 he's tempted. This there is an idea that my beginning to think that this professor that I had had read this book, it's a Catholic theologian that actually just died in this past December. And he wrote this book, Poverty of Spirit. He says, one of the core premise or principles of being fully human is being limited. Jesus has fasted for 40 days and is very hungry. And the first

8:56 temptation that the enemy brings to him is to turn stones into food so he'd no longer be hungry. To say, to say, you don't have to put up with being human. The enemy says you're hungry, you can solve that problem. You have like divinity in you. You don't have to put up with these

9:30 limitations, the the faults of being human. And so when Jesus says it's true that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, he's demonstrating a fully human response to the problem of limitation. The enemy says, hey, Jesus, you and I know that you have divinity in you. Why would you put up with the limitations of humanity? And like in some

10:04 great humble, generous act, the infinite, unbounded God of the universe, bound in the flesh of Jesus of Nazareth, chooses humanity, chooses limitation, picks to count on God instead of trying to solve the problem himself. And so the enemy turns his focus, right? And he says, okay, your hunger is

10:37 not a big enough need to get you to abandon your humanity. Says then 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 the stone. He's saying, hey, we know you're the son of man, but demonstrate your credibility, your magnificence, your importance

11:13 to all the people around. Get the honor, glory, get the reputation, the recognition you deserve. And again, Jesus says, I will take the recognition, the credibility that God gives me. I won't take it for myself. Jesus said to him again, as you should not put the Lord your God to a task. I trust

11:49 God for the unfolding story of my life. I won't try and micromanage my future as though I were in control of it. The problem of humanity is this severe, these limitations where we can't where we are limited, right? And Jesus on two occasions here now has chosen the limitations of humanity

12:22 instead of the kind of expansive potential of divinity. Again, it is written, you should not put the Lord as that. Then verse eight again, they devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory and said to him, all these I will give you if you will fall down and worship me. So the enemy has gotten Jesus, tried to get Jesus to abandon humanity, to say their limitations, their frailties, their shortcomings, their

12:56 powerlessness is not for you. Step out of their powerlessness and into your power. Don't be limited by the things that limit humanity. Step in when Jesus says, no, in solidarity, I stand with humanity. Then the enemy says, okay, look at the things I can give you. Abandon the God and take what I can give you. This must be really interesting, I think. I mean,

13:32 who knows? It's a good question, but like, I don't, I think it's hard to know what God has offered Jesus at this point. I mean, he knows for sure that he's got like these 12 young knuckleheads that can't, aren't going to be able to figure out what he's doing. And half of them just don't ever get it until he's gone, right? And then maybe they get it. And he knows he's going to be

14:02 rejected in his hometown, or they want to stone him. And then finally, of course, his own will crucify him. And here's the enemy offering him all the kingdoms of the world. When the enemy can't get Jesus to abandon humanity, he tries to get him to abandon the God. And here's the thing, when you come up against your powerlessness and limitations, options start to appear.

14:38 When you begin to encounter, like, and especially in times when the wave is crashed down underneath you, and you're just kind of sitting there on the water, when you're used to riding the wave, picking the line, enjoying the spray, feeling the wind, and now you're just sitting, all of your powerlessness can rush to the front. And there are questions that come immediate. And why am I so hungry? And why am I so needy? And why can I not solve my shortcomings? Why am I subject to

15:25 employers and bank accounts? Why can I not manufacture my own security and future? It is compelling that the God of the universe identifies with our limitations, our powerlessness, our poverty, and spirit. I think it's a fair question to ask why.

16:04 I mean, it's a fair question and probably one that we can ask him. The easiest answer, looking at the story of scripture is for some reason, the God is infinitely motivated by love. Love to rescue and to say, God identifies with humanity because he is motivated by love.

16:38 The other thing that's really interesting, the more you move into the powerlessness of humanity, our own limitations is you realize that this, your limitation is not a design flaw. Your limitation is not a problem of the fall. Your limitation is not a manifestation of your sin. Your weakness is not something to run from or hide from. In fact, the God of the universe

17:11 imagines and accomplishes the incarnation in humanity in order to move toward your weakness. The unbounded infinite God of the universe comes out of wherever with original life to run towards embody and stand in human frailty, weakness, limitation. Your limitation is not something

17:45 to run from. It is your divine design. You were always intended to be limited. Of course, being uncomfortable with our limitation is the fatal flaw of humanity. The first ones jumped at the opportunity to be God and we do too.

18:23 Whether it's manufacturing my own ways to meet my need for love or significance, whether it's cultivating little ways to feel powerful, I am coming up with ways all the time to solve my own, to put myself in the position of the divine when even Jesus denied it.

18:54 Of course, one of my favorite stories in the Gospels and the Synoptics is when he's in the Garden of Gethsemane and he can't get the three knuckleheads to stay awake with him and he's off by himself under the tree, under the weight of the guilt and obligation, feeling the crunch point of relaunching humanity and he's in the Garden of Gethsemane and he asks God, could we do this some other way? I'd rather not do this, but Lord, your will not mine.

19:25 He pushes human limitation all the way to its end and rather than take matters into his own hands, he counts on the God as he walks alone to his death. This is why Easter, the resurrection, is such a beautiful and significant culmination to the story

19:56 of Jesus because it says that humanity in our limitations and frailty, in the midst of death itself, can count on the provision, protection, and connection to God. Now, right now, when your powerlessness is so evident, don't run away, entertain, and

20:26 know, sit in your weakness and there, ask for God. Remember that story when Jesus is teaching and disciples are feeling significant and important and these kids come by and they come running to Jesus to sit on his lap and the disciples are like, man, this is not time for kids. We're talking about important things and

20:59 Jesus' silence of them is just be quiet. This, like little children, is how people come to God, ashamed or embarrassed, embracing their limitations in full hope and expectation that God can provide. Poverty of spirit. We are the ones who are poor in spirit by design.

21:36 Draw us in to that good God, the God of Easter life. My hope that the spirit of God might come to you this morning, wrap you in a safe space of peace and welcome you in faith this morning to believe it is okay to be broken, needy, and limited because your God is here. It's in his name that

22:12 we gathered today.