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First Sunday in Lent

02/21/2021

Mark 1:9-15

“No one is exempted from being tempted”

LET US PRAY:

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my strength and my
redeemer."

INTRODUCTION:

A little girl was totally engrossed in drawing a picture, one Sunday after
Church and Sunday School. Dad walked up and sat down with her to
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look at the picture, when the little girl said: "There. All finished."

On one edge of the drawing, there was a group of people standing next
to some water. A couple of the people were actually in the water. One
guy had his hands held up in the air. On the other edge of the picture
there was what appeared to be a very large bird driving a chariot. And
riding in the chariot with the bird, was a character who looked a whole
lot like Jesus. So, Dad asked: "That's pretty honey, but what is it?".

The little girl gave Dad one of those looks. You know the one I'm
talking about. The one that says: "Don't you know anything?" And then
she said, "It's our Sunday School lesson. That's John the Baptist in the
Jordan River baptizing people." Dad pointed to the bird and the chariot
on the other edge of the page and asked, "OK, but then, who is this?"
Again the look. And in a tone that conveyed just how out of touch Dad
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really was, she answered, "Well, that's the Holy Spirit driving Jesus into

the wilderness so he could be tempted."

This morning is the First Sunday in Lent. Lent begins on Ash

Wednesday and lasts for 40 days (not counting Sundays because they are
considered little Easters). It ends with Easter. Lent represents the 40
days Jesus spent being tempted in the wilderness. For us it is a time of
introspection and challenge, a time to look at our personal lives and
maintain our focus on Jesus.

This begins a period of focusing on Jesus' life and ministry on the Road

to the Cross.

I. TEMPTATION:

One of the first things we notice in this passage is that it's brief. Jesus is
baptized by John, God confirms it and then Jesus is tempted in the
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wilderness. Mark doesn't ever give us as much information as any of the

other Gospels do. He's brief and to the point, almost as if he thinks he's
got to tell it and tell it quick before it's too late. There's an urgency about
his way of telling the story. From the story, we know that Jesus was
tempted for forty days. Forty days is a Biblical way of saying "for a very
long time." The length of time isn't important. But the important point is
that Jesus was tempted, just like you and I are everyday. And we are.

Sometimes we're tempted to think that we and our kids will learn
everything they need to know about faith in Sunday School.

One Sunday after church, Rev. Don Maddox noticed his five-year-old
son writing something in his take-home Sunday School paper. While
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writing, the boy asked, "Dad, how do you spell God?" Well, Dad was
pleased that the boy was still thinking about his Sunday School lesson,
so and spelled God for him. The boy wrote "God" and then asked, "Dad,
how do you spell 'Zilla'?" (1)

We're tempted to bring our kids to Sunday School and leave their
spiritual formation to the Sunday School teachers when they learn best
by our example. If you talk about Sunday School and Worship together
and if you attend Sunday School and Worship with your children, it
shows how important faith is to you. If you drop them off and don't
attend, then they know how important faith is to you. You've shown
them by example.

C. Sometimes we're tempted to believe that we know all the answers.

That we have everyone else completely figured out, and they won't
change. A physician tells the story of how she and her four year old
daughter were on the way to preschool. The doctor had left her
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stethoscope on the seat of the car and her daughter had picked it up,
stuck it in her ears and started playing with it. The doctor thought to
herself, "Wow, my daughter wants to follow in my footsteps and become
a doctor, too."

And then her daughter spoke into stethoscope. "Welcome to

McDonald's. May I take your order." (2)

We don't know all the answers but sometimes we're tempted to believe
that we do. And that can get in the way of our relationship with God and
with others.

Sometimes we're tempted to let our priorities get out of whack.

Our priorities should be God, others and self, in that order. Whenever
we think of God, we should also think of others.

A certain man's career kept requiring him to travel more and more. After
a long trip away from home, his wife and kid's met him at the airport.
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On the way home, Dad asked his son what he thought he wanted to be
when he grew up. And without hesitation, the boy answered, "A pilot."

Dad asked, "Why do you want to be a pilot."

The boy answered, "So I can spend more time with you." (3)

You know, we can trick ourselves into thinking that all the time we
spend on the job is for the family. Don't get me wrong, don't
misunderstand, I know that sometimes it is. Longer hours allow us to
give our kids more of what they want. But giving them more of what
they need is even more important. Our kids won't look back and say
with remorse that they didn't have enough stuff, they didn't have all the
things that money could buy. But believe me, they WILL look back and
say "Mom or Dad was always there when I needed them." Or "Mom or
Dad was Never there."

Sometimes we're tempted to think that our actions don't really

matter. But they do.
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Two gas company servicemen, a senior

training supervisor and a young trainee, were out checking gas meters in
a subdivision. They parked their truck at one end of the street and then
worked their way to the other end, checking meters along the way. At
the last house, a woman was looking out her kitchen window, watching
the two men as they checked her gas meter.

As they finished checking the meters, the senior supervisor challenged

the young trainee to a race back to the truck, just to show the younger
guy what kind of shape he was in. So off they took. As they came
running up to the truck, they realized the lady from the last house was
huffing and puffing right behind them. They asked her what was wrong.
And gasping for breath, she replied, "Well, when I see to gas men
running as hard as you two were, I figure I'd better run, too!" (4)

You may not think of yourself as a leader. You may not think of yourself
as important. But you are. You are somebody's role model. You are
somebody's hero. There are others: children, youth, your spouse, family,
friends, coworkers and the like, who are watching you. And will follow
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in your footsteps. What you do and how you live your life is very
important.

F. I've used lots of humor to talk about a very serious subject.

Temptation. And we know there are

many kinds of temptation. I haven't even begun to list all the temptations
that we face. But you see, the point is, we're all tempted in various ways.
We don't have to be driven into the wilderness like Jesus to be tempted.
Everyday life is filled with temptations. Some of them are small and
some are large. But they are all temptations. And they can all lead us
away from the path Christ Jesus has set before us.

So, how do we face temptation? What do we do when we're tempted?

And how do we say "NO" to temptation?
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A. We're called to focus on Jesus. Jesus focused on God. And we're

called to focus on Jesus in the midst of temptation. Jesus Preempted
Temptation. That is Jesus was able to turn away temptation because He
kept His focus on the will of God. And He did it through obedience.

He didn't go into the wilderness with His own agenda. He didn't argue
with God's purpose for His life. He didn't try to be more than God called
and created Him to be. Instead, Jesus subjected Himself completely to
the will of God.

Now it wasn't easy. He wrestled with it a long time. That's the whole
point of the forty days. But the Good News for us is that Jesus NEVER
Surrendered to temptation. Not once. He may have struggled with it. But
he NEVER surrendered to anything or anyone but God.
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Unfortunately, you and I are more like the guy who gave up sweets for

Lent. He loved doughnuts, brownies, cake, pies,

etc., and decided that he needed the spiritual discipline of giving
something up for Lent. So he chose his favorite thing, Sweets. He told
everyone in the office in which he worked. But then one day he came in
with a bag of doughnuts. Everyone immediately asked him about it.

He told them. "Well, I was driving past my favorite doughnut shop and I
smelled those fresh pastries and so I prayed, 'Lord, if it's Your will that I
have a doughnut this morning, show me by having an empty parking
place right in front of the door.' And God did. It took me 12 times
around the block before one opened up, but God provided."

That's how most of us face temptation. But Jesus Subjected Himself to

God and Rejected the temptation.
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And in Rejecting the temptation, Jesus Reflected the love and grace

of God. In other words, He kept His focus and

in keeping His focus, He reflected the love and grace of the One who
sent Him. And that's what we do when we say "NO" to temptation.

Not only do we reflect the love and grace of God, but we feel good
about ourselves and we are made stronger for the next time we're
tempted. And we need that extra strength because no one is exempted
from being tempted.

But because Jesus has been through all that we go through, without
giving in to temptation. He can strengthen us. Because He didn't give in,
He can equip us not to give in.
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Peter writes: "For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the
righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God." (1 Peter

3:18)

This is the fullness of the Good News. If the Good News is that we don't
have to face temptation alone, then the Great News is that if we fail, if
we blow it, if we give in, if we stumble and fall, if we sin, however you
want to say it, sin doesn't get the last laugh. Instead, Jesus, the Son of
God, offers us forgiveness. And if we will repent of our sin, then He will
pick us up, make us whole and bring us back into the family where we
can begin to live a life of obedience again. When we truly repent, then
the answer is always forgiveness. We are given new life. We are
redeemed. We are made whole and brought back into the presence of
God. And it's easy to obey and do what's right when you're in the
presence of God, knowing full well you can call upon Jesus for help.

This is the Word of the Lord for this day.