Temptation & Trust - Sermon for the First Sunday of Lent (March 9, 2025)

Scripture Readings: ​Deuteronomy 26:1–11 | Psalm 91 | Romans 10:8–13 | ​Luke 4:1–13

“Jesus answered him, ‘It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” (Luke 4:12).

Today’s reading from St. Luke’s Gospel tackles head on what I’m sure is everyone’s favourite topic: temptation. That familiar experience of being drawn away from what’s really best for us, by what seems better… but leads to disaster. 

We all face them, temptations. Big ones and small ones. Ones that we can easily excuse giving into, and others that can shake us to the core, and cause all sorts of chaos in our lives, if we aren’t careful to resist them. 

And as we begin the sacred season of Lent, and prepare to follow the story of our Lord Jesus to the cross, our first leg of the journey calls us to revisit this strange but pivotal moment when Jesus Himself was tempted… how He endured and overcame the trials before Him, and remained faithful to His Heavenly Father, and to His Kingdom’s mission.

But unfortunately, I think it can be easy for us to miss the point, not just of this episode in Christ’s life, but also of this entire sacred season… especially when we are tempted to look at this story, and the whole journey of Lent as primarily some sort of process of self-improvement. As a time when we mostly focus on making ourselves a bit more disciplined, generous, and spiritual… practicing self-control, in order to overcome our own temptations.

But thankfully, the Good News is not really about how we can become slightly better people. It’s about what Jesus Christ has done for us all… when we had completely failed.

And so, even though there is much we can learn from Christ’s three trials in our Gospel Reading today, we are actually being offered far more than mere examples of how to avoid sin and resist giving in to our own temptations. And we’re also being given far more than an inspiring story of just how awesome Jesus is.

Rather, we are being invited to see this strange story as an early but essential victory in God’s great rescue mission: how Jesus is reliving the story of God’s people… a particularly challenging part of their story… but this time, instead of failing the test, and giving in, He gets it right!

This story from Luke Chapter 4 calls us all the way back to a pivotal moment in Israel’s story: to the story of the Exodus, and Israel’s journey through the wilderness. After being freed from slavery in Egypt, and passing through the waters of the Red Sea, the people of Israel were led out into the barren desert by God’s own divine presence… into a new and challenging situation where they would have to learn to trust Him… or not.

But as the story goes, right away the people begin to doubt the goodness and trustworthiness of the God who saved them… because He led them into the wilderness, where there’s not enough food and water to go around.

Of course, this was a pretty legitimate problem to have! They really do need food. They really do need water. Their situation required some sort of a response! But what would it be? They could have turned to the LORD, and sought His help, trusting in His steadfast love. But instead, they turned on Him in their hearts, and assumed that they really knew what was best for them.

And they weren’t the first people to make this mistake. All throughout the Scriptures, we see this familiar challenge taking place. Think of Adam and Eve in the Garden, where they doubted God’s word about the forbidden fruit. And think about Abraham and Sarah, distrusting God’s solemn promise that He would provide them with a son. Again and again, throughout the Bible, we find that our ancestors in the faith keep on failing to trust in the LORD. Is it then so strange that we see Israel in the wilderness falling into these same temptations? 

But even so, that doesn’t mean there was no other choice.

Yes, they were in a tough spot. But remember, God had already rescued them! God had delivered them from slavery, and shown them His power and glory. God had claimed them as His own beloved children. And had promised to be with them! To dwell among them, through all of their times of trouble. And God was leading them to a new and bountiful land, promised long ago to Abraham and Sarah, for their descendants… offering them real hope for the future that they could have never dreamed of, never mind achieved on their own.

In their story we can see the clash between what the Living God had said… and the challenges of their circumstances. And this kind of conflict required them to make a choice: to trust the LORD, or not.

And when we find ourselves in similar situations, with serious, and totally legitimate problems before us that we need to deal with, the same choice lies before us too. 

Will we trust the LORD, and place our faith in His goodness and steadfast love, even when it’s hard to see? Or will we turn our hearts away from Him, and try to do things our own way?

This is an important question for us to consider, but the Good News is not actually about what we will do. The Gospel is about what Jesus Christ the Son of God has done for us!

Turning back to our Gospel reading, we find Jesus facing the same situation His ancestors did… reliving their crisis of faith in the desert, but with an entirely different result.

Like Israel passing through the Red Sea, Jesus goes through the waters of baptism in the Jordan River, where he is affirmed as God’s beloved Son by a voice from Heaven, and the Spirit’s anointing. And then, just like Israel, Jesus is led by God’s Spirit out into the wilderness, where He goes forty days without food, His very real hunger growing stronger day by day. 

Even though He really is God’s beloved Son, Jesus finds Himself facing a legitimate problem. His body needs food, and He feels it… and in that moment of great vulnerability, the Tempter arrives, and does his best to derail Jesus’ mission… just as the Tempter had done with Adam and Eve in the Garden… and behind the scenes, with Israel in the wilderness too… through the stomach.

But this tactic of the Tempter is not just about food. What he’s really seeking to do is to feed people doubt.

In the Garden, the Tempter asks: ‘did God really say that? Are you sure you can trust Him to give you what’s best? What about this amazing thing over here?’

And in the desert, the Tempter asks: ‘can the LORD really be relied on to give you what you need? You don’t seem to have enough, do you?’

And to Jesus, weakened with hunger, the Tempter asks: ‘if You really are God’s beloved Son, You can just take care of Yourself. There’s no need to lean on the LORD, or trust Him when things get really tough. Just use Your own power, and end Your needless suffering. That’s the most reasonable thing to do.’

But this temptation to doubt God doesn’t work with Jesus, who responds by quoting from Deuteronomy Chapter 8. Christ only says a few words in response, but I think having a bit more context makes things a bit clearer for us. 

Deuteronomy 8:2-3, “Remember the long way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments. He humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”

We do not live by bread alone… our life comes from the LORD. Jesus passes the test by trusting in His Father.

In the next test, Jesus is shown a vision of all the Kingdoms of the Earth… which is what God promised to His Messiah… that His Chosen One would one day reign as the eternal King of Kings. But then the Tempter asks: ‘Why wait? Why worry about all the struggles and the hard road ahead?  Just bow down to me, and it can all be Yours right now! No need to bother about patience and faithfulness, or just bow to me and it’s all free!’

It seems to me that many today are quite tempted by this kind of offer. Even those of us who claim to be devote Christians seem willing to trade faithfulness to the LORD and His holy ways for a taste of political power, a sense of security, and influence over the culture.

For those who tend to think that the ends justify the means, this temptation can be very strong. I mean, think of all the good we could do if we were in charge! Just bow down a bit to the Tempter, and all we want is within our grasp! No need to struggle to do the right thing. No need to stand up against injustice, or oppression, or lawlessness.  We can seize the kingdom for ourselves! Take the forbidden fruit, and become like God… without having to bother to learn to let God’s love rule in and over our hearts.

Again, Jesus refuses to listen to the Tempter’s words. Jesus replies: “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.” (Luke 4:8). He chooses again to trust His Father in Heaven, and to do His will alone.

For the third trial, the Tempter again seeks to drive a wedge between Father and Son: ‘If you are God’s Son’ he says, ‘prove to it now to Yourself, and to all of God’s people! Throw Yourself down off of the pinnacle of the Temple in a divine spectacle, so that everyone will see and believe that You really are who You think You are! If You do, surely the LORD will save You, and not allow You to come to harm. Remove all doubt, once and for all. Put Your life completely in God’s hands! If He really loves You… won’t He keep You from all harm?

This is another big temptation for many today too… and maybe even for some of us here this morning: the temptation to question God’s love for us, when we are faced with suffering. I mean, wouldn’t God spare those He loves from having to go through times of great anguish and pain? Why doesn’t He send His angels to catch us when we fall, like in Psalm 91?

Well, I believe that sometimes He really does! We can and do receive divine help and deliverance, probably far more often than we realize. But that doesn’t solve the problem here… because sometimes instead of being lifted up without a scratch, we find ourselves falling flat on our face. Sometimes we end up really hurt, and frightened, and humiliated… and wondering if we have done something wrong to turn God against us, or if He ever even cared. 

And Jesus faced this powerful temptation too… even having the Scriptures twisted to test Him, and try to get Him to draw a straight line between God’s love and being spared all suffering: ‘if You really believe that God loves You, that God can be trusted, prove it! Put Your life on the line, so that everyone can see God step in and save You!
And once again, Jesus refuses to give in. Recalling the story of Israel grumbling against God at Massah and Meribah, He quotes Deuteronomy 6:16 “Do not put the Lord your God to the test…”

Trusting God does not mean making Him prove Himself on our terms, but of placing our lives completely in His hands, come what may. And being beloved by God does not mean that we will not suffer. Far from it. And we know this first and foremost because of another moment when Jesus must face this test again… not from the top of the Temple in Jerusalem this time, but on a hill outside the city walls… crucified… hanging from a cross for all to see.

Here we find Jesus enduring unimaginable suffering: betrayed by His friends, beaten by cruel soldiers, humiliated and shamed, dying alongside criminals… all while God’s people mocked Him with these words: 

Matthew 27:39-43, “Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads  and saying, ‘You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.’ In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking him, saying, ‘He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he wants to; for he said, ‘I am God’s Son.’’  ”

If You really are the Son of God, come down from the cross… and we will believe in You!

If God really loves You, wouldn’t He want to save You? 

But in this moment of extreme physical, emotional, and spiritual anguish and pain… Jesus again passes the test.

He stays on the cross, suffering in body, mind, and soul… enduring it’s agony ‘til the end… and doing what no one in all of human history has done, before or since: Jesus entrusted His life completely into the hands of God His Father, giving up His own perfect life in order to save all of us sinners once and for all.

The conflict that began back in the wilderness, and that continued all throughout His life, came to a climax at the cross: where, in spite of every temptation to save Himself, and seek a way to spare Himself the horrors of what lay ahead… Jesus believed completely in His Father’s love and it seemed to cost Him everything.

But as we know, in the end, Jesus was not put to shame! His trust in God’s love was totally proved to be true! He was raised again and revealed to be the Chosen conqueror of hell and the grave… the firstborn from the dead, and the first fruits of God’s New Creation!

By trusting in God’s rescuing, resurrecting love, Jesus became our Saviour: braking the power of our sin and shame, and atoning for all our unfaithfulness… opening up the way for us to follow Him into God’s new and unending life, filled with the same Spirit that was at work in Him.

So in our own moments of testing and temptation… when we feel weak, and powerless, and begin to doubt God’s goodness and love, let us trust in Jesus, our crucified and Risen Saviour! Let us turn our eyes to Him, and remember His faithfulness. Let us remember His promise to be right here with us, sharing His Holy Spirit with us, and empowering us to follow Him into His Kingdom.

And as we make our way together over the coming weeks through the season of Lent, let us remember the Good News that Jesus our Saviour is the One who overcomes all of our failures. He remained true to the end, and He remains true even when we His people may stumble and fall. So let us trust in Him! Let us lean on His strength, and His saving love… following Him with all we are and have, and placing our lives completely in His hands. Amen.