Into the Back 40

Message Transcription

This morning, we're launching into a Lenten series. Lent is that season of six weeks before Easter. It's the time that the church in history has taken to set aside, to consider, to think about, to be intentional, to prepare ourselves for the way of Christ, to come once again in our lives in the world. It's modeled after Jesus own experience in the wilderness. The words you heard Jennifer read for us just a few minutes ago. We're going to jump back into those here in just a second. If you have your Bible with you, I invite you to turn over to Matthew chapter four, as we hear once again some of those challenges. But the series is entitled Lament, Repent and Anticipate. A couple of words that I think may sound familiar to us, but I want to go back and capture again a couple of the definitions that I hope will be helpful to us as we think about this journey through the season of Lent. The first one is Lament, which by the Oxford Dictionary is defined This way a passionate expression of grief or sorrow. If you read much of Scripture, you're going to encounter lament. They're very common in our Bibles. A third of your Psalms, over 50 of the 150 Psalms are Psalms of lament. If you've had a chance to join us on Sundays these last several weeks, five or six weeks, we've been in the stories of the minor prophets.

And in many of those prophets you hear the voice of lament crying out to God on behalf of God's people or on behalf of the injustice and the wickedness, the unrighteousness that's found in the world. We even have a couple of books that are dedicated to this literary device called The Lament, This, this cry, this Prayer. One of them is the Book of Job. If you're familiar with Job's story. If not, I invite you to go check it out. But much of Job's story is story of lament, wondering why things are happening the way they are. God, Why is there injustice and wickedness in the world? How come I'm having to seemingly pay for things that that I didn't do? There's a book entitled Lamentations. It's specifically the laments. Some believe that's the lament of the Prophet Jeremiah as he's wrestling with trying to be faithful to God's call in his life when he's been carried off into Babylon, into exile, not of his own volition, but taken there in captivity. What does it mean to be God's person in the world? I'm afraid that too often and certainly in my life, I've felt it. But the church, we've lost our ability to lament. To recognize and see things in the world and to cry out to God on behalf of them. Sometimes we've been too churchy with the language. We think, Well, we can't question that. That would be unfaithfulness.

I'd submit to you. I think it takes a lot of faith to be honest with God about how you're feeling and what you're thinking and being willing to give those things over to God. Because whether or not we admit we have them, they're there and they're impacting us and they're challenging us and God is big enough to hear them. My hope is over the next six weeks, we'll start to recapture again that cry of lament as we wrestle together with the things that we are having to face in the world. Things lots of different things are lamented about in Scripture. Some of them are are pains and sorrows and griefs and losses. Some of those are things that have been done to us. But sometimes it's things we've done to ourself. Which leads us to the next word. This word repent. Some of you may have, like I did, grow up in the church and have a real clear definition of what this word means. The Oxford Dictionary again says it's to feel or express sincere regret or remorse about one's wrongdoing or sin to basically be sorry. That's kind of how I grew up with it.

When I went to school at this little, little country school down in Austin, Texas, there would be these street preachers who would come out at the beginning of the semester and they would cry out, repent, repent, or you're going to hell. That was kind of the picture I had of this word in my vocabulary is it was tied directly to your ability to go to heaven or not. But that didn't quite capture the fullness of the definition of repent. You see, repent means to change, to turn directions. We we missed part of that. In fact, we I hope we'll hear it again this morning. One of Jesus most famous proclamations at the beginning of his ministry in Mark chapter one. He said this After John was put in prison, Jesus went about in Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and this was his good news. He said, The time has come, the Kingdom of God has come near, repent and believe the good news. He's not just saying Be sorry for the mistakes that you've made. Instead, he's saying, Rethink your life. Repent means to change.

To change direction, to change our belief and our understanding. Dallas Willard would say Repent means to rethink your thinking, how you understand the world around you and how God is at work in it and calling you to partner with him in that work. Repent and believe the good news. Repent is this opportunity to reconsider our lives. So we're going to work on lamenting together, recapturing that voice. We're going to work on repenting together, confessing our sin and changing our thinking the way that our minds work. And we're asking the Holy Spirit to help us do that. But all of it is because of anticipating, we anticipate. Which, again, Oxford Dictionary defines as to regard as probable. To expect or predict.

Anticipation is about holding on to hope that something whereas believers we believe some one is coming. We anticipate that God's work in the world is not over yet, that even though we encounter things in our lives that require us to lament, to be sorry, to to feel the weight of injustice and evil at work in the world, or sometimes that cause us to stop and rethink the direction that we're going. We do so hoping and believing and trusting that God is still at work. There still work to be done that one day Jesus will come again. That promise that death is not the end of the story. And many of us, myself included, have felt the sting of death in this last year. But we anticipate God, you're a resurrection, God, that you're a third day God, that you bring new life to dead and weary things that once again in this season of Lent, we're going to take some time to anticipate again that God's work is happening in our world. And so this Lenten season, I invite you to journey with us as we walk through what it means to lament and repent and anticipate the season of Lent. As I said earlier, based on the 40 days that Jesus spent in the wilderness. And so we'll take these next 40 days to be together to anticipate again of God's resurrection work happening on Easter Sunday and every day. If you have your Bible again open to Matthew Chapter four, I want to jump in and look at Jesus own experience in the wilderness and then ask ourselves, what can we learn? What is God inviting us to consider, to lament, repent, or anticipate in our lives this day? Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.

We're told by Matthew to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry. He was famished. The tempter came to him and said, If you are the son of God, if you have a Bible that you can write in, let me just invite you to circle that word. If if we're going to come back to that word in a minute. The tempter says if you are the son of God. Then turn these stones into bread. The Jesus answered. It is written. Man shall 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 at the highest point of the temple. If there's that word again, circle, you are the son of God. 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. Jesus answered him. It is also written. Do not put your Lord the Lord, your God to the test. If if you are the Son of God, the Tempter would say twice here. Actually, he'll say it three times. If you are the Son of God, then. Then do this. It recalls those if them statements that we learned as little children. I was looking up this week how how young do kiddos pick up on this.

Two and three years of old? They understand that if then concept right? If you don't eat your pizza, then you don't get your ice cream. If you don't follow the rules, then you will have a punishment. This if then contingent scenario is playing out. If you're the Son of God. Then turn these stones into bread, then throw yourself down from this temple. You know, I grew up thinking that these temptations for Jesus were weren't that hard for him. Because his responses, at least in the Scripture story, come right then. I mean, immediately after, if you're the son of God, turn these stones into bread. Men does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Amen.

Oh, man. How did he do that? Let me find something. I had this image in my mind that this was not really very difficult for Jesus, but I forgotten what the Hebrew preacher tells us in Hebrews chapter four. He says, For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses. But we have one who's been tempted in every way, just as we are, just as you are. Yet he did not sin. And I also.

Forget what Matthew tells us in verse two, that Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. You know that early church would often fast from something. Some people during the Lenten season will fast from something in the model of Christ, hoping that each time I hunger for that thing, whether it's a food or whether it's my phone screen time, whether it's something else, it reminds me to to look to God, to find fulfillment. Matthew tells us Jesus fasted 40 days and 40 nights and he was hungry. He was famished. This idea of of desire and longing was a temptation for him. I used to think about it like in terms of he was being tempted to eat eggplant. I have never been tempted to eat eggplant.

If you're the son of God, Carl, then eat this eggplant. I'm like, No problem. Not interested. This was not that scenario. Jesus was tempted at this. I mean, there was some something compelling about that. He'd been given power. To take this physical object.

That at one level was just worthless and turn it into something that could bring nourishment. What an amazing thing. We see stories of this happening in the gospels of this huge crowd of people like in this auditorium. And they're starving, they're hungry, and Jesus has one little lunchable and he's able to create enough that everybody eats something. This is an unbelievable power. So it's not that he didn't have the power. He has the power. He's tempted to use it to satisfy his own desire, his own want. And Jesus says, No, that's not how this is going to go. In fact, these first two temptations come on the heels of this incredible blessing he's just received. If you turn one page back in your Bible to Matthew chapter three, look at the very end of Matthew. Chapter three. It's Jesus baptism story, and Jesus is baptized by John. And then we're told this. And with Jesus had been baptized. Just as he came up from the water. Suddenly the heavens were open to him and he saw God's spirit descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from the heavens said, This is my Son, the beloved with whom I am well pleased. And Matthew says immediately after that moment he sent into the wilderness. But this incredible blessing.

This is my son, my beloved, and whom I'm well pleased this this reminder, the spirit aligning on him that that Jesus has a call, a vocation, a job to do, and God loves him. And immediately afterwards, he's led into this wilderness to be tempted.

If that's really true. Jesus, if you are the son of God, why would the first thing be you led into the wilderness just to starve to death? Surely he wouldn't want you to starve. So just turn these stones into bread. If you are the son of God, Jesus, and he's just blessed you with this amazing blessing, he wouldn't want that to just go to you. He'd want people to hear about that, to know about that, to see you and experience you. To see this amazing power, throw yourself off this temple and let the people see the angels gather you up in their hands and sustain you. What an amazing gift that would be. See what Jesus experienced in the wilderness is what we will experience in the wilderness.

In fact, we experience it all the time. It's it's uniquely in the wilderness that we can speak truth back to it, that we can actually handle it, that we can face it and deal with it just as Jesus did. You see, he saw the traps that the evil one was setting for him. And each time he responds with a word of scripture. And with a reminder of who his father is. See, Jesus was committed to living out. To living off God's word. Committed to trusting him. Of believing that he is the beloved. And because of that, I. I view the world around me differently. Verse eight again. The devil took him to a very high mountain, and he showed them all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. All this I will give you. He said.

If.

There's that word a third time. If you will, bow down and worship me. And 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 angels came and attended him. Another if then statement only this time it's reversed. The the then comes first if you'll bow down. But Jesus refuses to follow any other lead than His Heavenly Father. He's committed to loving and serving him alone. You see, Jesus struggle in the wilderness is our struggle in the wilderness. We all face it. What does it mean to be human? What does it mean to be made in God's image for God to have a vocation for us, a job, a role that we play? What does that look like? How will it be empowered? How will it be expressed in the world and with the people and the relationships all around us? If we had time, we could dive deeper into Matthew, showing us how Jesus is the true Israel, that He comes through the waters of baptism, the way that Israel came through the waters at the Red Sea. Immediately Jesus goes into the wilderness for 40 days, symbolizing the travel of Israel through the wilderness. For 40 years. We'd see how the places where Israel failed to be God's people, Jesus succeeds. Deep waters. I wish we had time to swim in them a little more. But what we also see is Jesus refusal to go the way of the tempter means he embraced going the way of the cross.

The way of suffering. The way of serving his understanding of what it means to be human was expressed in his willingness to serve. To put others ahead of himself, ultimately leading one day to his death on a cross. He held on to this promise that he was God's beloved, his son, and whom God was well pleased. This blessing that was given to him at his baptism and coming through those waters, he knew my pathway will be the way of service, the way of putting others first. So church will we have the courage to follow Jesus into the wilderness this Lenten season? Will we face our own whispers of if and then? In our life. What are your if then challenges these days? What are those temptations that come to you in those conditional statements? If you'll do this, then this will happen. Maybe it's in your relational world. Maybe that if then comes in the sense a way that you react or respond to a relationship. How does that if then look to to put your trust in yourself or someone else rather than continuing to trust and God's provision? That you are his beloved, whether or not other people recognize it. And in doing so, you'll keep chasing after the vocation God has called you to. Maybe for you it's at work. Your if then comes at work. If you'll just.

Suck it up for a couple more. If you'll just cut a corner here, if you'll just, then.

You'll find what you've always been looking.

For. Success and opportunity.

What is the if then that you find? Maybe it's at school. And the relationships around you or trying to find your way in the world. What's your career going to be about?

If. If.

So what we learned about the temptations for Jesus, what I have learned again, is it's not just about him committing some particular sin. The temptations will come to you not just to get you to commit a sin. It's to distract you. It's to take your focus off what really matters. And Jesus understood that. That's why he continued to meet those temptations with God's Word, with his promises. In fact, those those words that Jesus meets the tempter with are those promises pulled right out of Israel's own story of life in the wilderness. So the temptations aren't there just to get us to commit a sin. They are there for that. But not just that, but to distract us. What are you being distracted from these days? What threatens to distract you from actually engaging in your life. Can I be real a second? For just a millisecond, my Hamilton friends. This journey of grief for me has been painful because it's.

It's shown me some ways that I've been distracted in my life. And what really matters. Let's talk with my therapist about this. What I learned was I. I started holding back a little bit. You know how you do when you're not sure how it's going to go.

And so you don't really give yourself you don't really speak honestly to one another.

So you just hold back a little bit. I've been doing that for years.

And for the most part, I would say it was to.

Keep me from from hurting.

From.

Experiencing bad things. You know, that stuff's bad. I don't want to experience that. So it was like this little protection mechanism. What I learned.

Was that actually was keeping me from experiencing.

Good. It's having these relationships, struggles come up in my life. And I'm like, God, why am I acting this way? Let's. Because I got distracted.

So I was tempted to think.

It's better to live without pain than it is to have a real relationship. It's better not to just lay it on the table.

Knowing man, my heart could get broke. Then to actually invest in another human being.

Why? Because they let you down. Or they die early. And I leave you wondering what is going on. I mean, this one has hit me hard because I didn't realize I'd gotten distracted. And it was cutting me off from relationships that really mattered to me. See, you're just way bigger than just tempting me not to give myself in this one area what it was. It was distracting me from going. No, no, no. It hurts when people pass away. It's supposed to because you love them.

But see, our hope, our anticipation is that.

Jesus is not in that tomb.

Anymore, that it's empty.

And so one day he will make all things new. That this story ending in death, that's not the end of the story. It's just the next chapter that actually my mom is more alive.

Today than she's.

Ever been. It's. She's waiting on me.

And I look forward to that. Right. That's a very different scenario than. Well, I'm just tempting, Karl, to to not really.

Give in this relationship.

And the way I knew I'm starting to get this lesson was I was thinking about my.

Relationship with my dad.

He's turning 80 this year. So I said, What do you think's going to happen when your dad passes? And I said, It's going to be so painful. She said, What are you going to do? Are you going to build another wall? Are you going to withhold from being in a relationship, from really being honest and talking with dad about how you feel and what's going on in your life? Are you going to be real?

I said it's worth it. Oh, it's going to hurt, man. It's going to hurt. That is worth it. Because that's not the end of the story.

See what starts here, Jesus says, carries on into eternity. He who believes in me will live even though they die. In fact, he who believes in me will never die. See, I've been distracted from that and said I was just trying to to leverage myself not to feel pain. And what I found was it it ripped me off. It sabotaged my ability to experience joy, because if you can't experience pain church, you won't experience joy.

Do you want to understand that?

See, Jesus says Man does not live by bread alone. And we don't put God to the test. And we don't worship anything other than him. Why?

Because he created it and he knows how it works. And in fact, he's imprinted in each of us a desire to know and follow after him.

So you don't get distracted, church. Don't get distracted this week, when you read those headlines in the newspaper that try to show the world it's all about us and them. And it's either you're a Republican or you're a Democrat. Otherwise they try to make this binary reality. It's not true. Church It's not.

True.

And maybe this Lenten journey for us this season will.

Be a chance to lament God, has our world gotten this way? And God, we're.

Sorry for the ways that we've we've contributed to it. We want to change. Would you help us to be people who live into the reality of the kingdom? And in doing so, God, we anticipate we celebrate that you were coming. You came. You are coming again. But between that day and this God, we're going to live as if people who believe you are still at work in the world. See this season of Lent. I hope it's not a wasted time for us. We don't have to pretend that we don't feel bad when we feel, but know we can be honest with God about that. And when things aren't making sense in our life and we lose people, we love her or we face health struggles that we don't understand, or challenges in relationships or the workplace, that we don't know what to do. We don't have to pretend.

We can be honest.

And be real with each other and with.

God about it. Knowing that God is still at work.

In the world. That may be true for us this Lenten season. That would not just be another journey we take. Another trip. But instead, Lord would be a chance for us to recalibrate. To see the way that the evil one has been distracting us. Been distracting us with these petty arguments about. About problems that. That are an ultimate. They distract us from. From being the men and women you've called us to be. The living out our vocation.

In the world. Oh, God. Would you help us to see more clearly?

Would you help us to respond in the way that Jesus did by by gathering up scriptures and hiding them in our hearts? A dwelling on your.

Stories of faithfulness.

By gathering in this place and and all the places in our small groups and Bible classes where we get to rehearse. The truth that.

The Kingdom of God has come near repent. Oh, God. Would you help us to repent this season? Maybe like you've never been before.

Help us to do a 180.

To make a change. To quit living in the way of the world, but instead live. The ways of your kingdom. The way that your baptism and our baptism has pointed us just like Jesus. And that baptismal moment that we've all shared. Or that hopefully.

One day we.

Will all share in. That we're yours. Your beloved children. Yeah, but you help us to live in the way of Jesus. Thank you that we.

Get to have this time together the spring. Thank you for the work that you're going to do in us these next six weeks. Would you strengthen and encourage us.

On the road ahead? Would you give us? Boldness?

Would you give us mercy and.

Oh, God. Would you give us lots and lots of grace as we navigate?

Thank you. That we don't go alone.

Thank you. That you've called us to go together.

Our father. Thank you. Most for Jesus. For the empty tomb. For knowing that life is possible.

In a way that it never had been before. Father, would you bless us? We pray in Jesus name. Amen.