1st Sunday in Lent (Invocabit)—March 9, 2025
Trinity Ev. Lutheran Church, Paola, Kansas
Rev. Joshua Woelmer
Text: Matthew 4:1–11
“Resisting Temptation”
Theme: Jesus teaches us how to resist temptation.
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
As a pastor, I need to have a basic knowledge about many of the world’s religions. It is possible, I suppose, that a Hindu or Buddhist shows up at our doors. But more often than not, I need to know about other religions in order to answer your questions that you might have about Buddhism and Islam and so forth. When most people think about a religion, they ask about its deity or ethics, which are good things to think about. But one thing that I find interesting about other religions is how they understand man. That is, where do we fit into the universe?
One way of viewing man is the overly pessimistic way. The pagan religions tend to do this. Man is the refuse or the offal of the gods. He was created to serve the gods and nothing more. Maybe, the king or brave warriors are elevated to god-status, but not the common people.
The opposite view is the overly optimistic way. It assumes that man is created basically good, or at least neutral. Most religions today assume this, that we can choose good or evil, and the deity judges us on our decisions. This is baked into our American religious consciousness. It’s common to hear that we can choose God, or that man is basically good. The problem is that neither of these is the biblical view of man.
The Bible first describes Adam and Eve as being created in the image of God. This means that they were perfect—physically, morally, and spiritually. They did not sin, but they did have the capability of sinning. That is, God gave them one command: don’t eat of the fruit in the garden. But otherwise, they could see God, talk with Him, and enjoy a perfect world.
The Bible also describes how everything went downhill. Satan tempted Eve, she ate the fruit, and she gave it to Adam who was right there, and he ate it too. As soon as he ate it, their eyes were opened, and they realized that they were naked. They tried to cover themselves up with fig leaves. This is not only a physical nakedness, but sin also affected them morally and spiritually. When God walked in the garden to approach them, they hid themselves and then blamed each other and God Himself for the fall into sin.
What this tells us is that man was created perfect but has been utterly corrupted by sin. We have the desire to do good, but not the ability. We want what is right, but we find ourselves doing things that we know we shouldn’t do. We can agree with the pessimistic religions that man doesn’t do what God requires, and we can agree with the optimistic religions that man desires the good. But the optimistic religions do not account for original sin. The pessimistic religions see no redemption for man. Because that is where we are going: we are sinful humans, but Jesus has died for that sin, and sent His Holy Spirit into our hearts to renew and restore us.
The reason to think about original sin is to emphasize this fact: when the devil tempts us to sin, he is not working with a blank slate. He has an ally. There is a part of us that wants what’s good for us, that makes us happy. We are like a child who says, “I can do whatever I want!” Whatever age you are, each of us wants to do whatever we want. Adults just tend to hide it better than little children. Another word for this tendency to do whatever we want is “pride.” Pride makes us think that we are the only ones who matter. Pride makes us disregard the needs of fellow humans and even the reality of God.
We see pride at work in the Garden of Eden, and we see the opposite of pride in Jesus. Adam and Eve fell not only because they ate of the fruit, but because they believed they could eat of the fruit and get what was promised. The devil had tricked them to believe that “you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (5). That’s really what they wanted out of all of this.
Jesus, on the other hand, even though he is God, showed true humility. He did not fall to the devil’s temptations because he aligned his will with his Father’s. He did not say, “My will be done,” but “Thy will be done.” Every time the devil tempted him, he responded with the Word of God from Deuteronomy.
This teaches us how to respond to temptation as well. We should recognize that we are fallen creatures. We should recognize that we have a prideful desire to do whatever we want to do. We should respond to temptations by saying, “God’s Word doesn’t want me to do that thing, and I want to do God’s will.” As Lutherans, you might be familiar with God’s law and gospel. God’s law is the thing that we turn to in times of temptation. Devil, you are telling me to do this thing, but God has told me not to.
The gospel certainly has a place as well, for if and when we fall to temptation, God is gracious and merciful to forgive us. He helps us strive again against temptation. It is good to note that there are two names for our enemy: “devil” and “Satan”. “Devil” means tempter, and the devil certainly tempts us to listen to our sinful nature and sin. However, “Satan” means accuser, for after you sin, Satan then accuses you before God. Do not listen to any of these lies. God does forgive you when you repent. He does love you. Satan wants to use temptation and sin to drive you away from him. God restored Adam and Eve by promising them the Savior. God restores you by giving you Jesus and all his benefits.
Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.
Return to Top | Return to Sermons | Home | Email Church Office