The First Sunday in Lent – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: St. Matthew 4:1-11

In Christ Jesus, who promises to protect you and everyone who trusts in Him from “all the flaming darts of the evil one” (Eph. 6:16), dear fellow redeemed:

The devil started with a temptation about food. He followed that up with a temptation about making God prove Himself. He concluded with a temptation to seek glory, instead of faithfulness to God’s will. This describes his temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, and it also describes his temptation of Eve in the Garden of Eden.

What was the first thing he said to Eve? “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” (Gen. 3:1). He started with food, with the stomach. We have to admit that the stomach is a difficult thing to manage. We are often torn between what we enjoy eating, and eating what we know is good for us. We do not live in a time of lack or of rationing, when certain goods are not available to us. Sometimes the price of something skyrockets, like eggs and beef in recent months, but they are still available. If we have money to spend, we can buy whatever we like.

When something is not limited or moderated by factors outside of us, we need to exercise self-control. Part of the reason for this self-control is what St. Paul talks about: “I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified” (1Co. 9:27). He did not want to let the devil tempt him through the weakness of his flesh, so he practiced self-discipline.

One way to do this is by periodic fasting. Fasting is telling the stomach that it does not have all the power over us. It shows us that there is something more important than food. Our physical hunger reminds us of our need for spiritual nourishment. Fasting is one of the old spiritual disciplines of Lent, along with prayer and almsgiving, or charitable giving. If we limit our food intake or withhold for a time certain foods that we like, we have more time for prayer, and we have extra money that we can share with others in need.

Jesus fasted for forty days and forty nights. We might think that was easy for Him since He is God. But remember that in His state of humiliation, He was not making full use of His divine powers. The Holy Gospel for today tells us plainly that “He was hungry.” As a true human being, He felt true hunger. That made it a real temptation by the devil.

But what made the devil think he could possibly overcome the Son of God in the flesh? Well, he had done it before with the perfect crown of God’s creation, man and woman. If he could defeat them in a perfect world, why couldn’t he succeed against Jesus in a sinful world? “Humankind is weak,” thought the devil. “Why should Jesus be any different?”

The devil tempted Eve to eat whatever she wanted, particularly from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It looked good, didn’t it? It would not harm her; it would make her even better, like God. So he said to Jesus, “If You are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. You’re hungry, aren’t You? If You are God, why should You have to feel pain? Why suffer? You can have it. Take it!” The temptation worked on Eve, but not on Jesus. He answered the devil by quoting from Deuteronomy, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

The devil did not stop at the stomach. He continued his temptation of Eve by urging her to make God prove Himself. “Eat this fruit,” he said, “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened” (Gen. 3:5). “God knows it, so why shouldn’t you know it? Why should you be left in the dark? Make God show you.” We feel the same temptation when we can’t see a clear way forward. Maybe we are struggling with a health issue, or we have gotten caught up in a sin that we can’t get free from. And we tell God that He needs to give us a special sign or take away our pain. If He doesn’t, then we might conclude that He does not love us, that He does not care.

With this temptation in mind, the devil took Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple and told Him to throw Himself down. “If God loves You, if He cares, won’t He send His angels to catch You? Isn’t that what the Scriptures say He will do? And just imagine the impact it will have on the people of Jerusalem, when they see how God saved You from any harm!” But Jesus said again quoting the Scriptures, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.”

The devil had one more. He said to Eve, “you will be like God, knowing good and evil. You can have what God has! You can experience His glory!” We are surrounded by people who promise they can make our life better. If we take this supplement, exercise in this way, invest like this, follow these five easy steps, our life will completely change. We can have what we’ve always wanted!

As we have already heard, it is good to practice discipline for our health, just as it is good to practice discipline in the stewardship of our money and possessions. But to what end? If this is for selfish reasons, to gain power and glory on earth, then we haven’t made any progress at all. Then things might get better for us in the world, but they will be getting worse with God. In Romans 12:1-2, St. Paul writes, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

The devil tempted Jesus to bypass His suffering and His death on the cross to save sinners. “You can have all the kingdoms of the world and their glory,” he said. “All You have to do is fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus, whom the devil thought was so weak, told him to take a hike. “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.’”

This is where Adam and Eve failed. Eve was the first to eat of the fruit, but she “gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate” (Gen. 3:6). Adam had heard the command directly from God’s mouth: “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (2:16-17). Adam knew what God said, he heard what the devil was saying to his wife, and he did not put a stop to it. That is why the first sin is pinned on Adam.

Romans 5:12 says, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” Adam was perfect. So was Eve. They already were “like God,” since they had been made in His image. But they threw away these tremendous gifts of God because they wanted to have more.

We have inherited their sin, all of us have. No matter what excellent gifts God gives us, we also want to have more. And that is how the devil so often succeeds at tempting us. “Don’t hold back,” he says. “Take what you deserve. Eat that fruit. You won’t be disappointed. Stop worrying about what you think God wants, and do what you want.” How many times have we given in? How often did it make our life better?

There is a reason that the Son of God took on human flesh. There is a reason He was anointed by the Spirit at His Baptism. There is a reason He was “led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” It was for Adam and Eve and you and me and all sinners. He came to succeed where we had all failed. He came to win the victory over sin, death, and devil by perfectly following His Father’s will all the way to His death on the cross.

Where you succumbed to the devil’s temptations by putting your stomach first, by insisting that God prove His love for you on your terms, by seeking the world’s glory instead of God’s will, Jesus did not give in. He was certainly tempted just like Adam and Eve were and like we are. “[I]n every respect [He] has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). That perfect life of following the Father’s will counts for you and me. God does not see your sins and failings. Jesus’ blood has washed them all away, and His righteousness covers you in a much better garment than Adam and Eve’s fig leaves.

Romans 5 states the beautiful truth: “Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous” (vv. 18-19). The Bible refers to Jesus as the “second man” or “second Adam” (1Co. 15:45,47). He came to undo and deliver all that the first Adam destroyed.

The devil thought Jesus was an easy mark. He thought he could do to Him what he did to the first Adam. He learned otherwise. Jesus, the second Adam, stayed strong for you. He did not eat from the forbidden tree. He did not turn stones into bread. He did not throw Himself off the temple. He did not bow down to the devil. Instead, He suffered willingly. He took up His cross. He died in your place, so that His perfect life would be accepted by the Father as the sufficient sacrifice for your sins.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.

+  +  +

(picture from woodcut by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1794-1872)