First Sunday in Lent February 18, 2018

Lent 1
Matthew 4:1-11
February 18, 2018

“Jesus: Not Too Proud to Obey”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

The word obey has almost become a bad four-letter-word. We hesitate to use it. We’re scared of it. Talking about people obeying someone else sounds like sound kind of oppression or slavery or torture.  Listen to these sentences and see if they make you even just a little nervous, like I shouldn’t be saying them:

Children should obey their parents.

Employees should obey their boss.

Citizens should obey the government.

Students should obey their teachers.

Is the word obey a bad word? An oppressive word? The reason we think it’s a bad word is because we’re proud. And we live in a proud culture. And we’ve taken our individualism to such a high degree that we think we shouldn’t have to obey anyone. We live in a culture of “no one tells me what to do.”

But obey is not a bad word. Obedience is good. Are there times we shouldn’t obey? Of course. But those are the exception to the rule. The rule is that obeying is good.  And praise God that He has given us Someone to obey for us. We are prone to disobey. But Jesus obeyed. He wasn’t too proud to obey. And it’s by His obedience that we are saved. We call it His active obedience. He didn’t have to obey the Law. He made the Law, after all. But He obeyed for us and for our sake. He kept the Law perfectly for us.

Right after Jesus is baptized He goes out into the wilderness for 40 days. That 40 days is why our season of Lent is 40 days. He goes out and He’s tempted by the devil. What’s the devil tempting Him to do? Disobey. He wants Jesus to disobey. He wants Jesus to be proud.

So the devil says, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread.” In other words…”Come on, Jesus, let’s see what you got. Are you some kind of wimp that just does whatever His Daddy tells Him to do? How great can you possibly be if you can’t even find food?! Come on, are you really the Son of God? Prove it. Prove it, Jesus. Turn these stones into bread. Do it! Do it!”

But Jesus is not too proud to obey. Even though he hasn’t eaten for a great many days and He is hungry as hungry can be—He won’t disobey. He says, “No, devil, you can’t fool Me. I’m not too proud to obey. My Father has said, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ And my Father is good. I trust Him.” For all the times that you and I have given into temptation and said, “I need this. I need that. I must have it. No one is going to tell me ‘no’,” Jesus stands in our place and says, “I don’t need it. God gives me all I need.”

Then the devil makes his second attack. He wants Jesus to test God. That’s what proud people do. They test God. They say, “God, You better do this, that, and the other thing for me or You don’t really love me.” So the devil takes Jesus up to the very top of the temple and says, “If you are the Son of God, then jump off.” In other words, “Come on, Jesus, let’s see what you got. Let’s see if Your Daddy really loves You. If You’re really His Son then He’ll do whatever You tell Him, right? Are you really His Son? Prove it! Jump off and let’s see what happens!”

But Jesus is not too proud to obey. He says, “Ha, you can’t trick Me. I don’t have to prove anything to you. My Father loves Me. And He has said that I shall not put Him to the test. My Father is good and I trust Him.”  For all the times that you and I have tried to test God by our standards, “God, if you really love me You’ll catch me when I jump off from here…,” Jesus stands in our place and says, “I don’t need to test Him. I trust Him.”

Finally, the devil tries his last tact which is to flat out lie and say that he can give Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if Jesus will only fall down and worship him. Once again he appeals to pride. If Jesus is the Son of God, then He should have everything He wants right now! The devil will give him everything he wants right now! But Jesus again is not too proud to obey. “No,” He says, “I trust My Father. Him only will I serve. He is good and I will obey.”

Adam and Eve didn’t do so well when the devil came to them. They were too proud to obey. They puffed out their chests and said, “Yeah, why can’t we eat from this one tree?! Why can’t we know good and evil like God?!” They didn’t trust God. And so they disobeyed. They decided that they must know better than God knows.

That’s deadly pride. Our pride gets us to say, “Why should I have to obey? I don’t have to listen to anyone. I know what’s best for me.” You know that at the root of all atheism is pride. An atheist is proud. Too proud to obey. “I know better than any God of the Bible. I don’t need anyone to tell me what I can and can’t do.” Pride is the root of all sin. So Jesus had to come and humbly obey for us. And He did.

Paul says in Romans 5, “For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners [that’s Adam’s disobedience], so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. [that’s the obedience of Jesus].” Through Jesus’ obedience, you are made righteous. Right with God.

Now I started out saying that obedience is a bad word today. Well, to our prideful nature it is. We don’t want to obey. And until we die we will struggle with that pride of not wanting to trust and obey. But obedience is not a bad word. By obedience we are saved. So Paul uses a term that he may very well have coined himself, the “obedience of faith”. He opens and closes the book of Romans with it. He says that God gave us Jesus Christ to bring about the obedience of faith.

So what is this obedience of faith? It is simply believing in Christ. Trusting in Christ, who obeyed for us and gave His life for us on the cross. This obedience is good. It saves us. The obedience of faith is standing with Jesus and saying, “No, devil, you can’t fool me. I’m not too proud to obey. I don’t have to test God. My Father in heaven loves me. I trust Him. He has given me His only Son Jesus Christ. He gives me all that I need. He has promised me life eternal in heaven. I will believe in Him. Obey Him. Trust Him. As it is written, “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”

You also might be interested to know that the word obey in both Hebrew and Greek simply comes from the word for “listen”. Obeying is simply listening. That’s why when the devil tries to get Jesus to disobey, Jesus uses the Word of God to get rid of him. Jesus listens. He listens to His Father and believes His Word and trusts Him.

So too for us. Obeying is simply listening and trusting. The more we fill our ears with the Word of God, the easier it is to listen, trust, and obey. We can say with Jesus, “No, I don’t live by bread alone. No, I don’t have to test God. No, God only will I serve.” Why? Because I have God’s Word and promise. I’ve heard what He says to me. And I believe it.

Finally, one more word about the obedience of faith. Paul praises it so highly because obeying Christ brings us everything good. It brings peace. It brings joy. It brings true happiness and blessedness. To trust God, to listen to Him, and to obey is the happiest and best way of life.

Do you think people who constantly disobey the law are happy? Are men and women sitting in prison happy they disobeyed? Maybe there’s a couple that are. But not the reasonable ones. Is it peaceful to disobey those in authority? Does it bring much joy? Of course note. Disobedience brings pain and heartache.

Obedience brings joy. We cast all our cares upon Him and know that He cares for us. We listen to His promises and trust Him to keep His Word. We take all the good and bad of this life and know that God will work all things for our good. And we look forward with great anticipation to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.

Obey is not a bad word. Jesus obeyed for us. And by His obedience we are saved. And through our life in Him, we learn the joy of the obedience of faith. “I trust you, Lord.” In Jesus’ name. Amen.