To begin my Lenten season I had the privilege of preaching at the church that I am employed at. I began our churches Lenten series on the Apostle's Creed by analyzing the why of what we believe. As someone who enjoys blogging I have decided during this Lenten season to post one blog a week about my experiences during Lent. I find this season to be a great time for reflection and drawing close to Jesus. As my church goes through our series on the Apostle's Creed and analyzing what we believe I too want to share my thoughts on the Creed via this blog.
To share my thoughts this week I would like to share an excerpt from my sermon I shared this pass Sunday. The Sermon lesson was on Luke 4:1-13 on Jesus in the Wilderness.
"We believe...what is it that we believe?
Throughout this Gospel passage we witness Jesus’ immediate actions after his baptism. He goes out and follows the guidance of the Holy Spirit into the Wilderness. This is pretty important because a lot has happened in the wilderness. One time that comes to mind is when the Israelite's fell in the wilderness and had to be there for 40 years. And now we have Jesus going to the wilderness for 40 days to fast. Jesus did this because he knew what He believed and who he was. The beloved child of God sent here on a mission to save humanity.
Jesus was tested and could overcome these temptations because he knew what he believed. He was tempted to give into doubt and not believe that God would care and provide for him, tempted to give into false worship in order to have control and do what he felt would be best, and tempted to test the trust that he had in God. These are some of the same temptations that so many of us face today, but he overcame them because he knew what he believed.
He knew what he believed...I’m saying that a lot, but that’s pretty important, to know what and why we believe what we believe. That’s the very reason why we have teenagers go through confirmation. To know what and why we believe what we believe.
Throughout the next couple weeks as we go through the time of Lent--the 40 days before Easter--we are going to be studying the Apostle’s Creed. This is a Creed, a Statement, of what we as a body agree that we believe. It is very fitting that we would take 40 days to study what we believe, to maybe even fast, in order that we could live a life of discipleship by pursuing the kingdom...when we live this life we will be able to overcome temptation because we trust in our Lord and know what we believe. There are some preachers out there who will say Christianity is easy and there is no temptation. They’re wrong. Temptation comes and we need to overcome it, in order to do that we need to know what we believe. If the SON OF GOD goes through temptation I am pretty sure a regular Christian Joe will too. So following in Jesus’ example we are learning and growing towards the Father for 40 days.
During this time there may be times of doubts and questions. Those are not inherently bad. That is why community is so vital and important. Community and relying on God. When we are alone temptation will come even harder then when we are with people. We are allowed to doubt, but what we want to avoid is giving into the doubt, giving into the temptation to say, “none of this makes sense so I give up and I am moving on.” We are studying, together as a body, what we believe in order to fully stand against temptation that the Accuser throws our way and in order to live out what we believe.
Creeds help us do this. They remark each week what we believe and remind us that we are in this together. This isn’t just some lone loon who happens to believe this ancient guy, but we are stating that we believe the same truths that people have believed for hundreds of years! It unites us in our belief and even Jesus, God made flesh, unites himself with us. He came down to be like us and just like we are often, he was tempted by the Accuser.
So this passage we read, it is perfect for beginning our series and beginning this season of Lent. Many people choose something to give up for Lent as a way of refocusing on God. They choose something to give up that may be holding them back from God and take time to grow closer to God. It is a time to show us, like Jesus stated, that man does not live on bread alone. We need God more than many of us are comfortable admitting in this world of independence and individualism.
We don’t like needing someone. It is in these times of individualism that temptation can most strike.
This is a time to say, “yes I need the Father. I need what I confess to be true. I don’t need food, I don’t need coffee, I need the Father. I need to seek the Kingdom and everything else will fall in line.”
*References from NT Wright's Luke For Everyone Commentary.
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