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“Satan’s Triple Play
Matthew 4:1-11

 

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas

First Sunday in Lent—March 5, 2017

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

There are two important messages from the Lord for you today in the traditional Gospel Reading for the First Sunday in Lent, the temptation of Jesus.  The first message for you in this story is the Good News of Jesus winning for you SALVATION.  The second message for you is the example of Jesus resisting TEMPTATION.  You are invited to follow the sermon outline on the last pages of the bulletin.

There is an interesting contrast between the original temptation and fall of humanity into sin, recorded in today’s Old Testament Reading, and the temptation of our Lord Jesus, recorded in today’s Gospel Reading.   The first temptation took place in paradise, a lush garden.  The second temptation takes place in a bleak, desolate wilderness.  This illustrates what the Lord proclaimed to Adam after the fall: “Cursed is the ground because of you. . . it will produce thorns and thistles for you.”  This contrast between the paradise of Eden and the barren wilderness also symbolizes the effects and results of sin on our world. 

Paul puts it this way in today’s Epistle Reading: “Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.”  The dead wilderness symbolizes the sentence of death we all deserve on account of our sins.  The original sin passed down to us from Adam, and the actual sins we as a consequence all commit in our lives.  As Paul writes in the next chapter of Romans, “For the wages of sin is death.”

“BUT the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  The Good News in the story of the temptation of our Lord is his triumph over sin and Satan.  As Paul continues in today’s Epistle Reading: “Just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.  For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.”

It was not for his own sake that Jesus fasted for 40 days in the wilderness and three times resisted the temptations of Satan.  As we just confessed in the Nicene Creed, it was “for us men and for our salvation” that he conquered sin and Satan.

You see, in ancient warfare there was a custom called a “strong man battle.”  A familiar example from the Bible is David versus Goliath.  Each side would pick its strongest warrior, and the two of them would fight each other on behalf of the opposing sides.  That’s what Jesus is doing for you in today’s Gospel Reading.  He fought and defeated Satan on your behalf, “for us men and for our salvation.”  Paul puts it this way in 1st Corinthians: “As in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. . .  Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Your sins are all forgiven because of Jesus’ triumph over sin and Satan.  For, his perfect, sinless life made him a worthy sacrifice to offer himself up for the sins of the world.  “Behold the Lamb of God,” John the Baptist proclaimed, “who takes away the sins of the world.”  “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins,” John the Apostle writes, “and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. . .  And the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from every sin.”  That is the first message for you in today’s Gospel Reading, the Good News of Jesus winning for you SALVATION.

The second message for you is the example of Jesus resisting TEMPTATION.  Peter writes, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking for someone to devour.  Resist him, standing firm in the faith.”  Jesus by his example shows us how to, “resist him, standing firm in the faith.”

Satan tries to use on Jesus his most potent strategy, his best weapon, which we could call, “Satan’s Triple Play.”  This is often summarized as “the devil, the world, and our flesh.”  But, the order in today’s Old Testament and Gospel Readings is actually reversed, “our flesh, the world, and the devil.”  This UNholy trinity worked on Adam and Eve, and too often it works on us, too.  But, Jesus by his example shows us how to thwart, “Satan’s Triple Play.” 

Satan first tempts both Adam and Eve and our Lord himself with the flesh: “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”; “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

In these accounts hunger and indulgence in forbidden food symbolizes all the sinful cravings and lusts and weaknesses of the flesh.  As Paul says in Galatians, “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. They are in conflict with each other.” 

Jesus by his example shows us how to triumph over the lusts of the sinful flesh: “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.”’

“It is written.”  That is the key to overcoming “the devil, the world, and the flesh.”  Paul puts it this way in Ephesians: “Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.  Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.  Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.  In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.”

The only way to defeat Satan is with God’s armor, God’s mighty power.  And the key weapon in that spiritual armor, the key channel for his spiritual power into your life, is, “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.”  One of the traditional prayers of the church puts it this way: “Blessed Lord, who hast caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning, grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience, and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life.”

Following this first temptation, intended to arouse the lusts of the flesh, Satan moves on, in both his temptation of Adam and Eve and our Lord, to the second phase of his triple play, the world: “The woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food, and pleasing to the eye.”; “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.’”

Adam and Eve succumbed to the allurements of the world and ate the forbidden fruit which was so “pleasing to the eye.”  If our Lord had yielded to Satan’s temptation and swooped down from the temple before the astonished crowds below who would witness this amazing feat, he would have received from the world what is really the greatest treasure the world has to offer: the recognition and honor of men. 

You see, that’s the prize that motivates us humans more than anything else.  Sports figures, politicians, television and movie stars, other celebrities, they’re in it for much more than money or power.  What they really crave, what they’re really seeking above all, is prestige, the recognition and honor of their fellow men.

That’s the allurement Satan is tempting our Lord with when he says, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down”:  Recognition and honor from the astonished crowds below who would witness this amazing feat.  “Jesus answered him, ‘It is also written: “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”’”  Once again, our Lord fights Satan’s temptation with “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.”

Finally, Satan tries the third gambit of his triple play.  A DIRECT challenge to God’s sovereignty.  A blatant temptation to reject the Almighty and his Word and follow the devil instead: “The woman said to the serpent . . . God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden . . . or you will die.’ ‘You will not surely die,’ the serpent said to the woman.  ‘For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’”;  “Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms 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.”’”

There are two important messages from the Lord for you in the temptation of Jesus.  The first message for you in this story is the Good News of Jesus winning for you SALVATION.  The second message for you is the example of Jesus resisting TEMPTATION.

Paul says in 1st Corinthians, “When you are tempted, God will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”  Jesus shows us by his example the way out for us from “Satan’s Triple Play.”  When you are tempted by the devil, the world, and the flesh, fight as our Lord himself did with, “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.”

Amen.

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