Sermon 2-10-08

First Reading – Ephesians 1:15-17 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

Second Reading – Philippians 3:7-11 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Gospel – Matthew 4:1-11 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “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 life you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdom of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan!” For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” Then the devil left him, and the angels came and attended him.

Sermon –

You may have noticed that several months ago we started talking about our Mission Statement in our prayers, in our literature and in our worship services. Our congregation has recently made our mission “TO KNOW JESUS AS ‘THE WAY’, SO OTHERS MAY KNOW THE WAY TO JESUS”. It’s a nice, clever little saying, we read it, say “Isn’t that nice!”, and put it aside. But we can’t lay it aside. We don’t want to be dysfunctional in this world, we want to be over-comers, we want to be victorious. Jesus wasn’t dysfunctional. Despite all the stress, all the worries, all the problems, and all the difficulties He faced, He wasn’t dysfunctional. He didn’t allow His personal problems, difficulties, and sufferings affect His judgment. He didn’t fly off the handle and go berserk at the smallest thing, he was a person that could handle life, handle stress and you know what? God says you can do the same thing – if you know Jesus.

We did a series of sermons a year ago on the concept of “Follow me”, the statement Jesus made to his disciples. We learned that when a rabbi said to his student “Follow me”, in Jesus’ time it meant “You can become like me, you can do those things that I do”; it was a great honor because that meant the rabbi would teach his student to be like himself. And when Jesus said “Follow me” He is saying that He will teach you to be like Him! He will teach you so that you will not be a dysfunctional person like the rest of this world, you will be able to handle the stress, the problems, and the difficulties in life to God’s praise, honor, and glory! That’s why we want to get to know Jesus. It’s important to really know him. Too often we read the Bible passages about knowing Jesus over and over again and say, “I know He died for my sins, I know He rose from the dead, I know He’s God; I know all that stuff – OK on to the next concept!” but we have to go back and think about what know really means? That’s why we’re doing a series on our Mission Statement – getting to know Jesus.

So how do we get to know Jesus? By doing the same things he did!!!! The Bible, in many places, tells us to be imitators of Christ, do the same things He did! Why do we have so many problems in our life? So that we can do the same things He did! We have talked about doing the same things Jesus did in the past in regard to forgiveness. People say, “I’ll never be able to forgive!” you can forgive because we are called to do the same things He did! Jesus forgives, not because people deserve it, but because He went to the cross and paid for their sins. We forgive for the same reason; not because people deserve it, but because Jesus went to the cross and paid for not only your sins but their sins also.

How well do you know your local neighborhood skateboarder? You may say “Well, there’s a skateboarder down the street and I kinda know him. In our congregation, Colby and Jimmy are skateboarders, I know who they are.” If you really want to get to know your local neighborhood skateboarders you should get on a skateboard and actually start doing the same things they do. Then you might start to really get to know what these skateboarders are all about. You have to start doing tricks. A basic trick is a “kick flip”. You do a kick flip by flipping the board into the air without getting off, the board flips over, lands right side up, and you continue skating. If you can do this trick, you might begin to know your local skateboarder. How much practice do you think it’s going to take before you can do a kick flip? Probably years! Hour after hour, day after day, before you can do a kick flip! Then you can get a little bit more advanced and do a “three flip” where you flip the board into the air, it turns around 360 degrees, flips over, lands right-side up, you land right-side up on top of it, and continue skating. These skateboarders can do those tricks! And if you’re going to get to know them, you have to start working on those tricks too! Then you will be able to understand your local neighborhood skateboarders better and will see that they are not just a bunch of sloppily-dressed, long-haired hoodlums! To get to “know” you have to “do”! If we’re going to get to know Jesus, we are going to have to do the same things He did!

What are some of the things that Jesus did that we can start doing? One of the first things that we can start doing is Emptying Ourselves. That classic passage in Philippians 2:5-8 says “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking on the very nature of a servant…”, The gospel lesson tells us that Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. Shouldn’t Jesus just know He’s supposed to go into the wilderness? After all, He’s God and God knows everything! The Philippians passage tells us that Jesus emptied himself of his God power, his God knowledge, and his God nature; put it aside so that he could face life and temptation in the wilderness just as you and I face life and temptation in this wilderness. He emptied himself of his God nature so that He would face life just as you and I face it. That’s why He needed to be led by the Spirit, that’s why He needed to pray, that’s why He needed to be baptized - because He faced life just as you and I face it and we are to do the same thing.

We empty ourselves - not of our God nature because don’t have a God nature; we do the great switcheroo - we empty ourselves of our humanity, our sinful human nature, put it aside, and replace it with God. That’s God New Year’s Resolution # 3 “Drop the I”. Empty yourself of your sinful human nature and fill it with God. When we fill ourselves with Christ, we’re doing the same things that Jesus did and we’re getting to know Him. We fill ourselves with Jesus through God’s Word and the Sacraments of baptism and Holy Communion. When you fill yourself with Jesus, you begin thinking and functioning like God. If you fill your life with skateboarding, you begin thinking like a skateboarder.

When you fill your life with Christ you begin thinking like Christ and are being Led by the Holy Spirit, the next way we can get to know Jesus. Fill yourself with Christ and you will begin thinking like Him. You will begin seeing answers to prayer, because your prayers are now “in Jesus’ Name”. Being filled with Jesus, you begin thinking like Jesus and you start asking for those things that Jesus would ask for. What does God promise when you start asking for those things that Jesus would ask for? He says He will do it, He will, He will, He will!!! No ifs, ands, or buts, He will do it!!! (1 John 5:14) So as we’re filled with Jesus, we begin thinking like Him and we see the answer to prayer. All of a sudden we’re praying in Jesus’ Name, according to His will, and we see the answers! We are being led by the Spirit; know what we are to be doing because we’re thinking like Jesus.

Other times, though, there are situations where Plan A could be acceptable, plan B could be acceptable, and plan C could be acceptable. We pray, “Lord, what do you want me to do?” In those situation we need to be led by God’s Word, through prayer, though advice from other Christians, and through circumstances in life. Think back to the big question we had one year ago. We were looking for the guidance of the Holy Spirit because we didn’t know what to do and God answered. We wondered if we should go to a second worship service on Sunday. The first reason we started thinking about it is that traditionally we have about 180 people here on Sunday morning requiring 90 parking spaces and we only have 75 parking spaces, less when there’s snow all around. Consequently, we don’t have enough parking for people. We had a week of prayer on it, we prayed, “OK God, do you want us to do a second service?” Remember how we were led by the Spirit? It seemed clear, almost like a no-brainer but we wanted to make sure. The next big obstacle was finding music for the second service and God provided. We never had an 8:00 service without music! He provided. Then we prayed, “OK God, if you want us to do this second service, provide the people to help.” And people to do the sound system, the altar people, and ushers volunteered. God provided! And when we went to two services attendance increased and people who work various shifts now can make it to church. That’s God’s Spirit leading us. Put stuff out there and see if God is opening the door or closing the door – then you know.

Why, then, didn’t God fill all these empty seats? That’s the objection I’ve heard from about a million people! We prayed in accordance with God’s will that He would work on those people who had stopped worshiping. And since we prayed in accordance with God’s will, He has answered. So then, where are the people? Maybe God didn’t answer! If He answered, these seats would be filled, right? I can’t tell you all the people since we have prayed that have said to me “Oh, Pastor, I know I should be in church on Sunday.” When they say that, I know the Holy Spirit is working on them. God has answered our prayers! God did not create robots. You can get up on Sunday and even though God is moving you to worship you can still stay home. If people stay home, that doesn’t mean that God isn’t faithful, that God isn’t working, that God didn’t answer our prayer. He did. Remember, God didn’t create robots, we have a free will. We have been faithful to God in doing a second service. And remember, if God turns people into robots and they all show up on Sunday, we’ll have to go to five services! That’s how we are led by the Spirit.

Jesus had emptied Himself of His God power and was functioning as a human being when He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. Jesus was led by the Spirit because He knew God’s plan would be revealed by the Holy Spirit. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were tempted by the devil and gave in. In the wilderness, Jesus, functioning as a human being, faced temptation from the devil and did not give in. Some human being had to do it and Jesus did it. He had to go to the wilderness, be tempted by the devil and not give in; that was necessary to earn our salvation. You’re led through things and you know exactly what you’re supposed to do when you know God and his plan.

Another way to get to know Jesus is to Use the Power of God’s Word. As you read the Gospel lesson, keep in mind the Bible passages that Jesus used to defeat the devil. You want to really take advantage of this and really do them; really do what Jesus did. Jot those passages down on a card and carry them with you all week and actually use them as Jesus did: “Worship the Lord God and serve Him only; Do not tempt the Lord your God; Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” – use these verses as Jesus did. Jesus resisted temptation by quoting a Bible verse; the devil cannot stand up to God’s Word! Do the same thing Jesus did. When you’re tempted, quote a Bible verse. When you’re tempted to worry, remember that worry is worshiping something other than God. So when you’re tempted to worry say, “I’m going to worship the Lord my God and serve Him only.” Simple! That’s how you deal with temptation.

Imagine this as your life. The President of the United States, the CIA, and the FBI are hunting you down wrongly. They’re accusing you of something you never did. You’re not safe in the United States; you’re safer in Iraq than you are in the United States so that’s where you’re hiding out. But the people in Iraq aren’t happy with you either, they would love to kill you because you represent their enemy. Imagine yourself in that situation. Unreal situation? King David was in that situation, read I Samuel Chapters 20 and 21. How do you think he felt in that situation? How would you feel, what would you pray about, what would be going on in your mind? Oddly enough we know, because when we look at Psalm 34 we can see what David wrote as he was being hunted down. You would think if he was being hunted down the first thing he would pray is “God, protect me, let it end, get me through this.” That would be my prayer. But what is the first thing on David’s mind? He writes in Psalm 34, “I will extol the Lord at all times. His praise will always be on my lips. My soul will boast in the Lord. Let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the Lord with me, let us exalt his name together.” David is not asking for help, he’s praising God. That’s using the power of God’s Word. David, in this situation, started praising God. He is using the power of God’s word to get him through this ordeal. By knowing Jesus, we can do the same thing. Praise God in those difficult situations.

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