Matthew 4

February 26, 2023 · Ben Hoyer · 28:38

Matthew 4

A first-Sunday-of-Lent message on the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness (Matthew 4), framing Jesus as the fulfillment of Israel who resists the temptation to live off what he can make for himself, trusting instead that what God gives is better.

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Okay, so for a lens, I'm going back to the lessonary with your interest in those readings. I can send you, they're all planned out already. So, it's maybe one of the lensing practices if I want to read the song that's assigned for Sunday every morning. I can send you that. Also, several of us are reading this book of common prayer for everyday radical that I like it because it has a song and every day has two readings for every day.

It also has these quotes from these different people that you might not have. Think of on a regular, a little bit of stories about different people from history that you might not know that are intentional for the day. And then we have a little Whatsapp thread where we're dropping the thoughts of the culture from the readings. But I might be a good lunch and practice for some of you to pick up the book of common prayer for everyday radical. I read it from a website because I don't have any help to carry on books and books. It's definitely not the same too.

But for Sunday morning, we're going to go through the lecture and they assign that song that I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for

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I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for I've read for What Israel couldn't accomplish Jesus does, Jesus fulfilled all calling that was placed on Israel beginning with Abraham but really culminating in Sinai as a where they get the 10 words where they're called out to be a kingdom of priests in a holy nation the treasure possession of God for the sake of the world Jesus fulfilled that and so when he

comes through the Jordan River he goes into the desert and sort of green to obituate Israel going through the Red Sea and then going into the desert and he does that for 40 days they were the desert for 40 years and then he comes back and he delivers the sermon on the mount and moves the sermon on the plane but it's very similar to when then the Israelites got the 10th of May and it's at Sinai he gives a re-giving of those 10th of in the Sonoma so we're right there in Mus

still thinking about Ask Wednesday we we commemorate the Ask Wednesday up here together and one of the things that we mentioned in that in that gathering was this all the kidding, I was on our head it's like this physical after prayer, the physical after prayer and I was thinking about this story from Jesus or I think about that when I read this story from Jesus we look at Mark chapter four verse one together the heading is the temptation of Jesus

and it says then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil we think that probably when when Matthew writes that Jesus is led up by the Spirit it's like he has its included sense that this is the place God wants him to build a God which call and hand inviting him into the desert for this specific purpose into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil verse two and after fasting for 40 days and 40

nights in the country and the temperature came in and said if you are the kind of God command these stones become low to the bread that he answered is written man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God and when I looked at this story before I got these different temptations we could do that this morning but for us this morning what I want you to think about is that what Jesus is tempted with here the the trick of

the the tension who comes to Jesus is the same trick that was in the garden and essentially is the same trick for you and I there's a couple of ways you could look at it but one of the ways I've been talking about it lately is Jesus is tempted to live off of what he can create with he can man faster what he can death for himself rather than waiting for what God can do

the temptation is hey just take what you need you are capable creative you have your own set of power and means just take what you want you can this is the temptation and in each instance through which the strong with what God gives is better than what I can get I'll wait for what God is there I don't need to take I'll wait for what God can get and if we get nothing else out of

length and can begin to look at our life with the lens of in what ways am I receiving from God there is a God it's not me and the God is good my posture is to be food to receive good things from God like Abraham Isaac Jacob Sarah Rachel Rebecca before me I received good gifts from God that's my fault Jesus does that in the desert okay now I could say if we got nothing out of it at least we would get that but here let's try and get a little bit more out of it

this morning by the way because we've got time and we're here uh okay the question that occurred to me is uh what why is Jesus and that occurred to me like on two things like one why is he even talking uh because he's like why why is Jesus talking like the person of Jesus why does he need to talk like he's going out he says he's led by the spirit

into the desert to be tempted so he starts with 40 days of not eating which seems silly you know because like you're weakening yourself or something and the first answer for me is like to remind you a little bit about how we understand the person of Jesus it's so kind of confounding right because he's this incarnate word of God in the flesh of Jesus and like I I got I went a little

academic which I won't drop on all of you but I forgot to say um there is whole like sectors um library on what we call sicology the way of thinking about who the Christ is the way of thinking about who the Christ is what's going on in the incarnated God what attributes does that person present and the the big word that I will give you because it

could lead to some trails if you google it which could be fun is called the biggest static unit so uh the key to understanding what like why Jesus of Nazareth born of Mary uh taught by Joseph uh spent time in the temple gathered from backside by dawn what's hopeful to understand why

Jesus of Nazareth would start is understanding that this simple static union that there is a union of these two persons divine and uh divine and human coming together and in this type of the person of Jesus the attributes of the divine are scared with the the attributes of the human and vice-versal so that Jesus carries with him divine capabilities this is how in dawn one

one could say all things will create in him and through him and without him nothing of his being how it's ever been created because somehow in ways that we can understand beyond our death of the in touch the person Jesus of Nazareth though he had to begin with also without beginning after the day the hip is not a union so uh Jesus uh a man as a human would fully submit to the spirit that's why i could tell the kids um that uh Jesus was dating temptation in the

death rate ought to give them a hope that they too could withstand the temptation to make their brother or sister because uh Jesus lived as a human fully submitted to the spirit even though this devolinkability is there the human capability is there each way um and we could go down that road further but the main thing i want you to hear is like

that the fact accomplice something for Jesus what does he gain in the fact he definitely gains something that's because he's divine doesn't mean he doesn't suffer or grow or evolve or change if he's had he and he has divine and human characteristics together so then what does he gain from the fact

i had a professor uh who named a historical phia he pre-eat taught historical phialities names he was kind of like uh i mean he was kind of like he wanted to be a pro-voc

throughout spaces but one of the things he said all the time was that he thought spiritual was a completely throwaway word he's like spiritual when he says spiritual after spiritual if any of the common language doesn't mean anything we just call something spiritual when we don't know what it is right we just call from the spiritual when we don't know what it is and he made me mad when he said that i was like told me that is it so what i want to think about when i when i started to think about what do he gain what might what does Jesus what might

Jesus gain you know 40 days fast wise if he knows he goes he's tempted why would he deplete himself before the temptation like if he's going to face the tender with me like he he offers him all the kingdoms of the world and mostly a logins of like figure that that was a legitimate offer that that if if uh Jesus took up the enemy on it bowed down to the instead of that there would be a way where like i don't know all of Rome and Persia fall under the purgy of Jesus of now good for the

time of the year right like if he knows he's going to face these significant difficult trials and temptation wise of he himself and i'm thinking because of the work we were talking about on Winston that that spiritual includes the physical that there's not a separation so i was thinking about like Jesus has his physical body and his divine characteristic both of those

things are true he has a physical and like a metaphysical self-defense and so do you I'm not giving you things you don't know but there is a a metaphysical there is uh ultra extra other than physical symposium and your spiritual reality comprises your physical self and your metaphysical self together so that you can have physical sex of prayer that nourishes

your spirit that your body is not some dead vehicle carrying around something that matters that your body matters that God's just a time to mold and chase the characteristics and nuances of your physical body and went through the trouble of the incarnation death and resurrection in order that you might he might receive your body in the life of time so that when Jesus moved into a 40

day fast he knows it's a it's a spiritual accurate prayer that pulls together everything about it though it's not a head experience it's not a escape from the body it's experience it's metacysics and physics together spiritual assets recognizing dependence upon death and let it fortify and fear it body and soul together it fortifies his spirit in the reality that he created and submitted

to the God so that when he comes into the period of temptation he's uh embodied in life in fear like the whole thing submitted to him you uh like these that have both things often when I first started to think about this I thought oh my god where have I put my body what have I done to my body

in what way have I viewed my body your body has spiritual components it matters such and bold couple weeks months ago we said that phrase that it's Christ being happened to you but he embodies flesh and bones leaves behind the blessing your body matters and so does your your medical physical soul together they make it spiritual reality

okay so Jesus I think because he is uh blessed and soul together they give it spiritual reality and all of it needs to live together why so our people reading from Rome and chapter 5 we can look at that briefly but two must be able to look at all of it they give us a longer text they give us like Roman chapter 5 12 through something 19 we only need like two sentences of all this one and it's all we need he says that at the Roman chapter 5 verse 12 therefore just as sins

into the world through one man and death was sin and so death spread over to all men because all sin for sins indeed within the world before the law was given back so go on the the plan here be that uh experiences the reality the struggle of temptation because it comes into the world with a real body and all bodies in the world experience the struggle of sin the the pain of wanting to

be the God ever we talked about this before a couple weeks ago but like one humanity at the very beginning there says oh God holding out of me you know what I know God intended for me to listen and do what he said only let him be God and I'll receive I think he told the enemy I think I know a better way I think I could make the decisions of God when humanity believes that they can be a better God right the weight of the responsibility they can't hold it right the weight of God decides

to be a future God's manifest origins and beginning God's separate the nuances of right and wrongs they discerned motivations of hearts they restore according to justice they give according to mercy we cannot hold it a responsibility humanity cannot hold it a responsibility of being God of only step under the weight of God's

its questions this is why at the very beginning when they step under the wait time shoulder responsibility of God they feel a guilt same isolation vulnerability senior these come from sin in the world Jesus moved into a period of fasting he needs to reinforce his spirit of self body and soul altogether in order to endure the call the like highly song of hate you'll make a better better thing he will you know the future

you can provide for the present you can appropriately interpret the times Jesus himself needs to be fortified body and soul in order to endure the temptation of trying to be done and like some kind of ancient and archival's bureau Jesus doesn't take the date ever

Jesus doesn't take the bait once though he though he was in spirit equal to God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but humbled himself remember that phrase but humbled himself and you and I though it is not ours to ground who not humble ourselves own ground for divinity for power for ultimate decision making for ultimate provision

we need like a some kind of a long body and soul whole spiritual self but align self with the true God not ours um look back at the song that my bread for I'm 32

this is the song that they gave us for this morning song 32 oh this is uh remember that the song happened before Jesus uh and so like sometimes we want to say that the god of the Old Testament gets from the god of the the song about

generosity but he knows the character of God and his understanding of the character of God means some solution is coming to this problem that he wouldn't abandon me to the grave David says and it comes in song 32 blessed is one whose transgressing is forgiven whose sin is covered blessed is the man against whom the lord counts no liberty

and in his spirit there is no defeat um one of the premises of Luther theology comes out here the goal of all good theology is to give all comfort to the sin and all glory to God all comfort the goal of proclamation of the gospel is to give all comfort to the and all glory to God and looking how David is trying to do that in song 32

look at all the different names for the thing that you might find uh blessed is one whose transgusting and individual active thing is forgiven whose sin and different words sin is covered blessed is the man against whom the lord counts no iniquity the state of being in and in whose spirit there is no defeat liable like David in song trying to say blessed are the ones who are forgiven because when you

stack up the decisions that you have made in your mind over the last year five years months we stack up the decisions that you have made in your mind to align with the idea that you would make a better job and when you when you start up the words you have come out of your mouth that can never come back when you think about the places where you have put your body and the ways in which you have used it we might stack up all sorts of ways we

have saved in light of the temptation David wants to come strong and say wherever you have been whatever you have said all the things you have done taught said not done not done blessed are you and they are forgiven and many good words for when i kept silent my bones were wasted away we talked about we said i stand awake get told of the way the

possibility of being done for when i kept silent my bones were through my growing all day long for day and night your hand would tell you upon me my strength was dried up by the heat of summer and then i acknowledged my sin to you i did not cover my iniquity and i said i looked and pressed my hands rushed you to the Lord and you forgave the iniquity of my sin therefore that everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found

truly in the rush and great water was down at region you are hiding here for me you preserve me from trouble you surround me with the status of diligence it's all your sin body and soul will win you away

it will spiral down you can't spin your way out of thing you can't banger your way out of anger you can't hoard yourself into generosity you can't self-care yourself into mercy your not the self-carers then take care of yourself

but what i'm saying is you can't escape and retain yourself into law than dinner but that um your sin insignificant can extend on forever the way you find life is acknowledged by David in the college you stand before the day you

even to the temptation i took control i decided that i i controlled presence i were daily here i used myself this way i i impressed my will here i spoke these words there i left this face i would ask it from there speak it out because when we do the forgiveness of god is sufficient

body and soul for your whole total some for life wrong I love the idea that David even before Christ knew that the one through God finds a way to restore all that is broken for any who will find their way to

I'm praying that this one in season will find our way to God body and soul our whole spiritual selves will find our way to God when we do our will experience forgiveness and then don't forgive us when you experience life right hey lord thank you for the example of your son for the testimony of Paul for the

prayers of David make his prayer ours the time that we might confess or paint and receive all forgiveness this name would turn amen