Trustworthy (8.14.16) 1

Sermon Title: Trustworthy

First Reading, Deuteronomy 6:10-19

10When theLordyour God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build,11houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig,and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied,12be careful that you do not forgettheLord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

13Fear theLordyour God, serve him onlyand take your oathsin his name.14Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you;15for theLordyour God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land.16Do not put theLordyour God to the testas you did at Massah.17Be sure to keepthe commands of theLordyour God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you.18Do what is right and good in theLord’s sight,so that it may go wellwith you and you may go in and take over the good land theLordpromised on oath to your ancestors,19thrusting out all your enemiesbefore you, as theLord said.

Second Reading, Matthew 4:5-7

5Then the devil took him to the holy cityand had him stand on the highest point of the temple.6“If you are the Son of God,”he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’[c]”

7Jesus answered him,“It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’[d]”

  1. Who remembers 'the church lady' from SNL? This was a recurring character played by Dana Carvey. This character was based off of actual church ladies Dana knew from his church growing up.
  2. These were the kind of ladies that would track other people's attendance, very judgmental. The character hosted a show called "Church Chat" where the church lady would comment on pop culture, and have guests. Using her now popular catch phrases like "isn't that special," and "well could it be....SATAN" she used religious language to show that she was just a little bit superior to the heathens around her. In case anyone missed the obvious satire, the skit normally ended with the superior dance. Don't worry I'm not going to do it, I might hurt myself. It was a dance she did to show everyone how superior she was.
  3. Is that religion's purpose? To show how special, and superior we are? To fit God into our box and use that for our ends? This was the temptation Jesus faced in our reading this morning. Satan takes Jesus to a very religious place, the top of the temple, and even quotes the most religious, and holy book, the Holy Scripture. He basically tells Jesus, "If you are the Son of God, if you are really that special, if God really loves you, make Him prove it!"
  4. While some may not be tempted to use ultra religious language or a superior dance,all of us have been tempted to test rather than trust God. We have been tempted to say, "if you really loved me, you would do this!" We are continuing our series on the temptations of Christ by considering how Satan tempted Jesus, and tempts us all, to trust our own religious performance rather than trusting in God. Last week, we dealt with temptations that come from within. The temptation to take control of filling our own spiritual hungers. Instead, we find satisfaction in being filled by the Holy Spirit with the love of our Heavenly Father in adoption through Jesus Christ as sons and daughters of the King of the Universe.
  5. Moving from inward to upward Satan now tempts Jesus in His relationship with His heavenly Father. Satan tempts Jesus by suggesting that He put the Lord to the test. God the Father had spoken in the previous chapter saying, of Jesus, "This is my Son, the beloved, in whom I am well pleased." Here Satan is testing Jesus by saying, "Make Him prove His love. Throw yourself off this temple. Show God that Your mission is on Your terms!" This temptation boils down to trust. For the rest of our time this morning we will consider the lie Satan tempts us to believe about God's trustworthiness, the truth Jesus combats the lie with and how this truth about trust can apply to our lives.
  6. The frightening part about the lie the Devil suggests to Jesus is that it comes in such religious looking clothing. Satan takes Jesus to the holiest place in the holiest city and quotes the holiest book.
  7. This seems to be the epitome of a wolf in sheep's clothing. He takes a passage from Psalm 91 saying "He will command his angels concerning you,and they will lift you up in their hands,so that you will not strike your foot against a stone," and tries to use it to question God's trustworthiness. In essence, Satan tells Jesus to make God prove Himself. This, however, betrays the entire context of scripture, and that particular Psalm. If you have your bibles with you, I would like to encourage you to open them to Psalm 91. Verses 1 and 2 say this, "1Whoever dwells in the shelterof the Most Highwill rest in the shadowof the Almighty. 2I will say of theLord, “He is my refugeand my fortress,my God, in whom I trust.”
  8. It is God in whom we trust not our religious behavior! This lie suggests that our religious behavior, or even good works that we may not label 'religious,' earn us the right to test God's trustworthiness. Jesus, You're a good person, the best person ever, You have never sinned, don't you think God owes you one? The lie is that our job is to go to religious places, and do religious things so God will owe us one and we can test Him. This stems from a perversion of the purpose of religious behavior. We do not come to church, say prayers, read scripture, do acts of mercy, sing hymns, extra, to earn brownie points with God.
  9. Religion, and religious activities, are very important, but they are not an end in and of themselves. Instead they are 'so that' kind of activities. Think of our religious behavior or spiritual disciplines like a cup holding water. When we are thirsty, the cup is important but the point is the water. In the same way, our religion is important because it is the vessel to bring us living water, reconciled relationship to God through Jesus Christ. In the same way we do not want a cup with holes, or a lead cup,our religion cannot be whatever we want. It may not hold water or even poison our relationship with God.One of the most poisonous things for our relationship with God is a moderated religion. One where we go to service, bible studies, serve, whenever it is easy and convent, and give "ahem" amount to the church so we can have fire insurance for hell. Even worse, a religion where we go through the motions so that God will owe us some favors.
  10. C.S. Lewis wrote a book called the Screwtape letters. This book is a compilation of letters from a fictional senior demon named Uncle Screwtape to his junior demon nephew Wormwood. In these letters Screwtape gives Wormwood advice on how to best distract and destroy human souls, how to win them for the Devil. In one of the letters Screwtape encourages Wormwood by telling not to worry if his patient, that's what the call humans, starts going to church. After the fervor of conversion cools you have a great opportunity. Screwtape writes this, "In a week or two you will be making him doubt whether the first days of his Christianity were not, perhaps, a little excessive. Talk to him about ‘moderation in all things’. If you can get him to the point of thinking that ‘religion is all very well up to a point’, you can feel quite happy about his soul. A moderated religion is as good for us as no religion at all—and more amusing." The devil takes Jesus to a religious place, speaks religious words to Him and says, "Why do you trust your Father? You have done so many religious things, doesn't He owe you? Why trust when you can test?"
  11. The lie that our enemy tells us is that if have a moderated religion we can check off our religious duties, our souls will be safe, and God may even owe us a little bit! The truth Jesus responds with is a quote from Deuteronomy, "Do not put the Lord your God to the test."
  12. When we dig back to the context of that passage out of Deuteronomy we find something fascinating. This command is in verse 16 and before and after it, something is mentioned. Introducing the commandment, verse 12 says "be careful that you do not forgettheLord (why should we not forget Him), who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery." After the command, the Holy Spirit inspires Moses to encourage the Israelites to teach this to their children. Why, he explains by writing, starting in verse 20, "In the future, when your son asks you,“What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws theLordour God has commanded you?”tell him: “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but theLordbrought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand."
  13. They were nothing more than a rabble of slaves. But the Lord of the universe, with His mighty power, love and compassion brought them out of the land of slavery so that they might be His precious people. Brothers and sisters, we too were once a rabble of slaves. Enslaved by pride, doubt, lust, greed, fear, we were enslaved by sin. But God, out of His infinite love and mercy, did not think it too great a cost to send His Son to die for us. Not because we deserve it, or we have earned it. Instead, as Paul reminds us, Christ died for us while we where yet sinners, that proves God's love for us.
  14. Why do we not need to test God? Why is He trustworthy? We sang it this morning, "How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word! What more can He say than to you He hath said,You, who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?" Christ not only died for us while we were sinners but He resurrected from the dead so that we can live new life in Him. We trust Him for who He is and what He has done for us! The question we have to answer is do we trust Him or our own religious performance?
  15. The lie is that we need to test God's trustworthiness. The truth is He is trustworthy. True religion is that which enables us to trust more and more in Him!So what difference does that make? How does that apply to our lives here and now?
  16. I am so glad that you asked! It does not cause us to condescendingly say "Isn't that special" then do a superior dance. Instead, it causes us to, more and more, trust in Him in everycircumstance. The song Blessed be your name reminds us "Blessed be your name In the land that is plentiful Where your streams of abundance flow, Blessed be your name, And blessed be your name, When I'm found in the desert place, Though I walk through the wilderness, Blessed be your name, Every blessing you pour out I'll, Turn back to praise, And when the darkness closes in, lord, Still I will say Blessed be the name of the lord... Blessed be your name When the sun's shining down on me, When the world's "all as it should be", Blessed be your name, And blessed be your name, On the road marked with suffering, Though there's pain in the offering, Blessed be your name."
  17. By calling out to God to resist this temptation, we walk, day by day, in trust. Trust, not in the lie that our religious performance, or self righteousness, brings us fire insurance for hell or favors from God. Instead, trust that in Christ's righteousness. Trust that He has forgiven our past sins, is calling us to be His kingdom people in the present, and we will spend eternity with Him. Trust that in Christ, and Christ alone, our past is forgiven, our present makes since, and our future is secure.
  18. Let us pray. Lord, by the power of Your, Holy Spirit, help us to trust in Christ's grace so we might grow, more and more, as beloved sons and daughters of our loving Father and King!
  19. Receive this blessing and benediction: Let us go forth, trusting and obeying! Trusting in our Savior Jesus Christ and obeying His Lordship as citizens of the kingdom of heaven here on earth!