Jesus at War with the Devil

First Sunday in Lent

March 9, 2014

Matthew 4:1-11

Jesus at War with the Devil

In the name of Jesus.

I.

What is it about the Devil and food? In the Garden of Eden, he used fruit to get the attention of Eve and then Adam. In the wilderness, he tempted Jesus with bread.

Even though he himself doesn't eat—he's a spirit with no body, after all—he knows how badly our stomachs can lead us astray. And so the Devil tried his food tricks with Jesus.

II.

In the wilderness for 40 days, He did not eat any food. I believe the rule of thumb is that you can survive for three minutes without air, three days with water, and three weeks without food. Jesus could have died—He was well over 21 days without food.

So the Devil came to Him with a request we would have made. If you had seen Jesus, ragged and hungry, what would you say? You would say, “Jesus, You have to eat something!” The Devil said to Jesus, “Jesus, You need to eat something! Jesus, if You want to save these people, You need to live, so You need to eat.”

But He refused because He saw through the Devil's very reasonable advice for what it was: another lie from the Liar.

John 8:44

“. . . there is no truth in [the Devil]. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

In contrast to the mouth of Christ, whatever comes from the Devil's mouth is a lie and a trick. And Jesus warred against the Devil's lies, which always have one idea in common: do it your own way. God has a plan for me, we think, and I am going to help Him do it my way.

We worry about our children being hungry, so we work hard to provide them good food and even more toys. But we make ourselves so busy earning bread, that we are too tired at the end of the day be with our children and wife and take a few moments to listen to Jesus and pray together. A Has a Sunday at church becomes a luxury because our busy bread-winning ways? Are we are working so hard and only filling our children's stomachs? What are we doing?

Luke 12:16-21

Jesus told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

III.

Jesus richly praises His Father in His combat with the old Evil Foe, even though through His time on earth, it must have seemed like His Father was the enemy! That is the way it always is, the Son talks as though the Father is the most important Person of the Trinity. (Last Sunday on the celebration of the Transfiguration, the Father talks as through the Son is the most important Person of the Trinity: “This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him!”)

Jesus rebuked the Devil's lie, “Humans do not live on food only, but only the revealed Word of God.” And He speaks of Himself, for He is the living Word of God in the flesh, “I AM Who I AM, Devil—I am all the Bread anyone will ever need.”

IV.

The Devil strangely doesn't give up. He tells Jesus to dazzle the crowds at the Temple by jumping and landing without a parachute. That would have would very helpful in gaining converts for His cause. We even might have come up with the glorious spectacle in short order, “Jesus, we really need to get Your name out there among the people. How about a little air show for Your enemies? That'll shut them up!”

Jesus said no: “Don't test My Father.”

Finally the Devil makes Jesus a real offer: “I'll stop terrorizing the people of the world if You bow down to me. That's the point of Your being here, right? To help people? Help them, Jesus. I'll leave them alone, You won't have to be forsaken by Your Father. It's a win-win. Bow down, and mission accomplished.”

Shortcuts to help our Father's will. Always appealing. Always attractive. Always deadly.

And Jesus said no: “Worship the Lord and serve Him only!”

We worship by listening to the Word of God. We bow to His will and receive His forgiveness. And that's what we are: receptacles of God's mercy. We are cracked empty jars, and the Word comes to us and fills us up. He is the Water that never stops pouring and good thing, too, for we spill much. But He just keeps pouring. And so we just keep coming back to Him on the Sabbath day, His day for our rest and refreshment. And we bring our children Sunday after Sunday to be filled up by Him.

V.

The Devil is always trying to get Jesus to be busy, “Jesus, do something. Don't just still there!” But Jesus says no, and at the of the fasting and temptation, He always His angels to serve Him. Everything is beautifully backwards. He came not to be served by us, but to serve us. But His angels delight to serve Him. And so Jesus rests and is passive.

His Church would do well to learn from her Bridegroom Jesus. Above all His Church is to be served, to receive, to be passive, above all to listen to every word that comes from the mouth of God.

In the name of the Father

and of the † Son

and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.