Psalm 8; Luke 4:1-12; Matthew 4:12-17; Psalm 9:1-6

Several years ago, a pastor was working in the Midwest and found that his family was in a tough spot financially. The church was small, and his family was growing faster than his salary could keep up. Then, like many pastors then and now, he went and found himself a little extra work to help make ends meet at the local feed mill. Now, if you have ever worked with grain of any type—even flour in your kitchen—you know that powdered grain is at the least an annoyance if it gets into the air, but if it gets onto your clothing, it can make you look white as a sheet. And that happened to our faithful but underpaid pastor. He came home from the mill every day covered in grain dust, much the amusement of his children who called him “Dusty Daddy.” At first, it was a cute joke. After a while, however, the pastor took that little title as a criticism. He thought his children were not proud of him or appreciated his efforts to provide for the family. This all changed in an instant one day when the pastor came home from the mill to find his children standing near the edge of the gravel road that they were living on consciously taking handfuls of road dust and rubbing it into their jeans and t-shirts. Confused as to the reason or motive for this behavior, the pastor questions his children what they were up to. The children simply replies that “they wanted to be dusty like you, Dad.” The pastor could hardly contain his emotions in that moment as he realized that far from being ashamed of their father for his moonlighting, in fact, the children were bursting with pride and wanted to be just like their father.

My friends, that is the life that God calls us to as Christians. God, who we can rightly address as Abba Father, desires that we be in a relationship with the Trinity in such a way that our lives demonstrate, imitate, and radiate the character, goodness, and generosity of God to all we meet. In doing this, we follow Jesus into the world and take part in the reign of God as disciples. Like children who are eager to please their parents, we live as little copy-cats, following our Father at his every move. Our character becomes changed, our temperament becomes changed, our actions become transformed, and most importantly, our motives become purified as we no longer seek to earn a place in God’s kingdom through our own efforts but joyfully take part in the reign of God as a work of love and gratitude, always being thankful for God’s work in Jesus and living the life of abundance and peace that God intends.

Now, all I have just described is what preachers call the “application section” of the message. The application is the “so what” or “how do I live out what you are teaching” section of a sermon. It tells us how the message, the scriptures, and the theme of the day apply to our daily living. Sometimes it even gives us concrete examples of actions we might take to live out the teaching of the week.

To start with the application is unusual for a sermon. It gives away the punchline to a very important joke. It gives away the secret ingredient to a recipe that makes or breaks the dish. The reason I did so, though, was because that most of us, at least intellectually, know that we are supposed to live as imitators of God. We’ve read enough of the Bible and heard enough sermons to grasp that. But I know in my own Christian life that I find it challenging on my best days to live as a person of virtue and character. There is always temptation and trial that stands in my way of living out the good things I want to do and speak. There is always a nagging at the back of mind telling me that if I do a certain good action, it will cost me something I shouldn’t give up. From private conversations and Bible Studies, I know that I’m not alone in grappling with this mindset. If that is the case, to whom or to what can we turn to gain aid in our time of trial, our time of need?

It is precisely at this point that a detailed look at the life of Jesus can be helpful, even instructive. Studying the life of Christ offers us insights into how we can face temptation and trial, how we can face our ego and selfish ambition, and how we can transform temptations into triumphs for the Kingdom of God.

The temptation of Jesus joins the Old Testament and the New in another way. As St. Irenaeus of Lyons pointed out in the first Christian centuries, in the life and ministry of Jesus we see the story and vocation of Israel being renewed or recapitulated. That’s a fancy word “recapitulation” but it simply means that in the life of Christ we see Jesus re-living the story of Israel. But where Israel failed in her vocation to be the people of God, Jesus succeeded. The parallels are quite easy to see if you are familiar with the Old Testament. Right before the temptation story in the Gospels, Jesus emerges from the water after being baptized, as the Son of God in whom God is well pleased. At the Red Sea crossing, Israel became God’s Son specially (Hosea 11:1 makes the connection when it says, “Out of Israel I called my Son.”). John the Baptist immerses Jesus just as God immersed Israel in the Red Sea. Just as that Red Sea baptism called Israel to a called-out ministry, so too did John’s baptism prepare Jesus for his public ministry. Finally, similar to how Israel experienced testing in the desert for forty years, Jesus faced a forty-day temptation by Satan and successfully overcame it.

One important thing to note too about Jesus’ temptation is how he handled the three genuine options presented to him by the Accuser. Each time the Devil offered illicit power to Jesus, Jesus quoted Scripture (from Deuteronomy) to refute the claim and point out that corruption always leads to a distorted relationship with God. Satan really had power to give Jesus what he offered, but Jesus knew that if he availed himself of these, he would operate outside of the Divine will and thus short-circuit the redemption of humanity.

For each of us, temptation looks different. We all have areas in our life to which we feel drawn to things that would take us further away from God rather than closer to Him. For some people, this is power. For others It is name, reputation, and fame. However, we can take comfort in the fact that Jesus has faced every temptation that we face as well, no matter how we are tempted. What we can learn from Jesus is that when we are tempted, we can turn to God’s revealed word to sidestep that temptation. When faced with a temptation for power, we can refer to the word of God and understand that true greatness in the Kingdom of God comes from embracing weakness, humility, and serving others. If we are called to make a great name for ourselves, we look to the story of Abraham and find that it was not god’s will for Abraham to make a glorious name for himself but for God to make Abraham’s name great.

So, this week as you live your life following Jesus into the world, know that you will face temptation. Know that there are things that are good in themselves that might call for you to be used in inappropriate ways. But know also that Jesus has been there before you. Know that your temptation is not unique but part of the human condition since Eden. Finally, know that Jesus came into the world to experience temptation and show to us how to resist it. Turning to the word of God, the power of God through the Holy Spirit, end to prayer and discipline, we can overcome temptation and live into Our Calling to be the images of God shining the glory of God to the rest of the world making his glory known and preaching the gospel. Amen.