Tag: Victory in Christ

A Question of Temptation

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Biblical Text: Luke 4:1-13

It’s the first Sunday in Lent, so the text is the temptation of Jesus. This is one of those places where Jesus is demonstrated to experience everything that we do, except that he defeats Satan. Each of the three temptations are common to us. Temptations of the flesh, of the world and of Satan himself. And Jesus answers each one with the Word of God. So what you get is the rhythm of Word of God, followed by action (in this case the life of Jesus) that lives out that Word, which reveals the type of God that we have. The Word is the promise. And we all live by faith in that promise. Faith that Jesus has given to us his victory.

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The Devil’s Playbook

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Biblical Text: Luke 4:1-13

The lesson for the first sunday of lent is an ancient choice, the temptation or testing of Jesus. For a long time it was taken as an excuse for preaching fasting. Jesus fasted, so should you. The problem with that is we aren’t Jesus and we are probably not lead by the Spirit into such a fast. It is not that there isn’t a “Jesus as our example” in this text. Jesus sustains the testing of Satan. In his example we have the full devil’s playbook. This sermon spends some time on that. But the gospel message of the sermon is Jesus won. Satan had never lost a testing until that day. He’s never really won one since. Christ sustained the test and remained faithful. And we can hide ourselves in him. Everyone who calls on Christ is victorious. The victory over Satan is given to them by faith in the work of Jesus. This sermon proclaims that victory.

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