Lent 1 March 1, 2020 The Sunday of Jesus’ Temptation

Lent 1
Matthew 4:1-11
March 1, 2020

“Losers and Winners”

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

The devil is the supreme loser. He’s been a loser from the beginning. He thought he could beat God and God flicked him away like the pest that he is. But because he’s such a loser, he’s always trying to recruit more people to his losing team. He’s always tempting us, tempting us, tempting us to join him in his evil. And sadly, we often believe his lies and fall for his temptations. But praise God that Jesus has called us to His own winning team. We’ve been baptized into Jesus! So we’re winners!

And today we’re going to talk about what it means to win against the devil. To beat him. So we’ll look at some losers. See what they did wrong. See how we also very often get it wrong. But then we’ll look at the Winner, Jesus, and how we can win with Him against temptation.

The first losers today—Adam and Eve. Not surprising. Satan tempted them and they consented and joined his losing team. Notice that it wasn’t some major sin like we would think of as major. He didn’t tempt them to murder each other. He didn’t tempt them to curse God. This wasn’t a big sin in the way we think of big sins. But it was simply to eat some food. Now that doesn’t seem like anything too bad, right?

But that’s the first thing you should realize about the devil. He doesn’t need big sins. Every sin is, by nature, a big sin because it’s not believing and trusting and loving God. The devil is perfectly content to get us with so-called “little sins” all day long because then he can still easily convince us that we’ve done nothing wrong except a few small, minor sins.

Sure, Adam and Eve only ate a piece of fruit. But it was fruit that God specifically told them not to eat. They should’ve trusted God. Loved God. Believed God’s Word. But they didn’t. They believed the devil’s lie instead.

Same is true for us a hundred times a day. The devil says this food will make you happy, this drink will make you happy, this sinful thought will make you happy, this new thing on Amazon will make you happy. All lies. All big sins in the big sense that we’re not trusting God and loving Him above all things. That’s how the devil works. A hundred tiny little pin pricks all day long and at the end of the day he has you thoroughly away from God’s team.

Now enter the winner, Jesus. The devil tries the same food trick on Him. Only much worse. Because Jesus hasn’t eaten in 40 days. Adam and Eve had probably just finished their meal. They probably weren’t even hungry. Just like us when the waiter comes and asks, “Would you like dessert?”. “No, I’m not even hungry but yes, I’ll have some.”

He gives Jesus the same “small sin” treatment. Just eat some food, the devil says. I’m sure Jesus is hungry. I’m sure some bread would taste mighty good by now. But no. Jesus sees what’s going on. This is devil bread. And He doesn’t want any. He trusts His Father in heaven. “No,” He says, “Man shall not live by bread alone.”

It really is that simple. All you have to do is say “no” to the devil’s lies. No, I don’t need whatever you’re selling, Satan. No, I don’t need to think those bad thoughts. No, I don’t need to buy that. No, I don’t need to look at that. No, I don’t need to eat that or drink that. No, I don’t need to do that. Because I have Jesus. I have all I need.

The second loser is Cain. It’s a very interesting one because we forget part of the story. Remember that Cain and Abel both give their offerings to God and God accepts Abel’s but not Cain’s. Then the part we forget is that God talks to Cain about it. He says, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”

So God tells him exactly how to win. Here was the devil prowling around Cain like a roaring lion ready to pounce and devour. The losing team is crouching at the door. Lying there, waiting for Cain to open the door. And Cain simply has to say no. Not give him an inch. Rule over him.

But the very next verse Cain kills his brother Abel. The very next verse. It’s another point that we should consider. You don’t want to give the devil an inch. You want to keep the door shut on him.  Luther says the devil really is like a snake. All he needs to do is get his nasty, slimy head into a small hole and then his whole body comes slithering through. The devil’s always crouching at our door. But we must rule over him.

And how? We go to the winner, Jesus. We pray to Him. We arm ourselves with His Word. Jesus is the winner. The devil tried desperately to get Jesus to hate his brothers. To hate us. We mocked Him, spit on Him, and nailed Him to the cross. But Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” He didn’t open the door to the devil’s lie.

Then our last losers, the Israelites. They were 40 years in the wilderness. Jesus was 40 days in the wilderness. That’s not a coincidence. Jesus did what the Israelites weren’t able to do. He trusted God. They didn’t. They listened to the devil.

The big story I wanted to remind you of here is when Moses went up on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights to receive God’s Word. So here again is the same as Jesus—40 days. But unlike Jesus, after the 40 days they didn’t trust God anymore. Instead, they told Aaron to make them a new god. They gave him all their gold and he fashioned this golden calf for them and they worshipped it.

Now enter the winner, Jesus. Devil tries the same lie on him. “Fall down and worship me,” he says, “and I’ll give you everything you want, all the kingdoms of the world.” But it’s a lie. And Jesus knows it. “No,” Jesus says, “You shall worship the Lord Your God and Him only shall you serve.”

You know, the devil lies to you and me all the time that he can give us something better than what God has given. In truth, there’s actually nothing better in the whole world than what God has given you. Even if you won the Powerball lottery for billions of dollars—it wouldn’t be better than what God has already given you. He’s given you the kingdom of heaven worth more than all the money in the world.

He’s given you Jesus. A priceless treasure. You’re a winner already. Don’t listen to the devil’s lies. He wants you to think God is holding out on you. That God isn’t treating you like He should be treating you. It’s all lies. Don’t believe him. God is good. He loves you. He’s given you the best. Tell the devil to take a hike. You’re with Jesus. You’re a winner.

Now then we come to us. You are both a loser and a winner at the same time. Because you’re descended from Adam and Eve your nature is sinful. And you have fallen for the devil’s temptations countless times. But you’re more than a loser. Because you’re also baptized into Jesus Christ. You have the Holy Spirit. You receive the body and blood of Jesus for your forgiveness. So you’re a winner. In Christ you’re a winner. And your goal as a Christian is to win more and more and more every day. To live in Jesus and to grow up into Jesus more and more and more every day.  To say no to the devil’s losing lies more and more and more every day.

The picture of David and Goliath is a helpful one. The devil looks like Goliath. He looks impossible for us to beat. That’s probably the way you feel about some of your sins—like they’re impossible to beat. Like you’ll never get rid of them. But as the old saying goes, “The devil’s bark is worse than his bite.” Goliath may have looked big but he was weak. David knew that God was much bigger than Goliath. So David went for the head of the beast. He took out five smooths stones and sling-shot one of them right at the giant’s forehead. And Goliath went down in a heap.

Jesus went for the head of the Beast also. He went to the grave and He crushed the head of the beast on Easter morning when He rose from the dead. The five smooth stones of Jesus are his five holy wounds. The nail wounds in each hand, the nail wounds in each foot, and the wound from the sword in His side. By His five holy wounds (which by the way are represented on most altars by five crosses, one on every corner and one in the middle) the roaring lion has been slayed and we’ve been made winners. So the devil may look like a Goliath—but he’s nothing because you have Jesus. You just step on his throat with the Word of Jesus.

So to end today I’ll ask, “What does it look like to be a winner?” Say no to lies and say yes to everything God gives. Say yes to the good stuff of life. Say yes to God’s Word. Say yes to Church every Sunday morning. Say yes to prayer. Say yes to God’s beautiful creation. Say yes to family. To loving your family. Say yes to loving your neighbor. Say yes to caring for those in need. Say yes to giving to the poor. To visiting the sick. To forgiving your enemies. God wants the best for you. Not the devil. He’s a loser. Don’t hang around with losers. He’s the supreme loser. Always will be. You side with the winner, Jesus. In Jesus’ name. Amen.