"The Power to Say 'No!'"
How the power of the Holy Spirit helps us fight temptation
Sermon Preached by
The Rev. Dr. Andrew Stirling
Sunday, February 17, 2002
Text: Matthew 4:1-11
In a very touching moment in one of George MacDonald's stories, a man who has reached the point of exasperation with life says to one of the characters: "Why did God bother making me?"
To which the other replies: "Well, you haven't been made yet. You are being made by God and you just don't like it."
I think many people, when they face challenges and difficulties in their lives, or when they face temptations in their lives, cry out like that character did: "Why did you even bother making me, that I have to suffer such things?"
And yet the words of the respondent "but God hasn't finished making you yet and you don't like it" are a wonderful summary of what we should be thinking about on this the first day of Lent, because the fact is, as human beings we are people in the progress and the process of being made. Oh, we might have been born with a particular genetic make-up: We might have the limbs and the hands and the feet, the family, the social setting; we might have influences that have borne upon our lives over which we have no control and over which we have no say. But the fact is, there are many things we do and many decisions we make in this life that will ultimately determine the direction our lives take.
Not everything is so preordained and preplanned that we are left without any choices. The issue of temptation lets us know that we are people in the process of being made, for many of us have various temptations come our way in this life. How we respond to them, and the direction that we take when we are confronted by them can to a large extent determine how our lives are lived and can have an effect on many other people, even those unknown to us.
I have been thinking recently of the great political character in the United States, Gary Hart, who many years ago was being singled out as one of the most charismatic and capable leaders within the Democratic party. In fact, I think most people on the Hill really did feel that Gary Hart would become president some day. He had the charisma, he had the looks, he had the political backing and he had the savvy to become a great politician.
The only problem with Gary Hart was that he was confronted by something that seduced him. In that seduction he fell, in a sense, from the very position that he was going to move in. Having made that decision, he probably cost the Democratic party a president, most definitely altered the direction of American politics for at least four to eight years, demoralized many members within the Democratic party and caused many people to lose confidence and interest in political leaders in that country, and even in ours.
In other words, one single, solitary temptation came along to one solitary man and the direction of so many people's lives was altered. So, therefore, the temptations that come our way might seem minute when they are looked at simply in a microcosm, but in a macrocosm can have a huge effect. That is why the temptation of Jesus of Nazareth is so profound and speaks to the human soul with such clarity.
You might recall about three years ago I preached a series on the temptations of Jesus. In it, I looked at how they to a large extent set the tone for his ministry. Coming at the beginning of his ministry, rather than at the end, everything that Jesus said or did could in fact have been jeopardized.
There was a debate, for example, about whether or not Jesus was fully human and even within the early church there was a debate between the Monophysites and the Antiocheans: One side stressed the divinity of Jesus, the other the humanity of Jesus. There was a temptation to look at Jesus as just a high-god figure with no real human temptations or challenges.
The story of the temptation however, completely solves this issue: Jesus was fully tempted. In the Book of Hebrews it says: He was tempted as you and I are tempted. In other words, the temptation of Jesus was about his full humanity, about the fact that he was a forerunner, a precursor to every one of us in the way in which he handled it.
Some have said that the story of the three temptations was about whether Jesus was really the Son of God. When he was tempted to use his power, and abuse his power, the question was asked him: "If you are the Son of God …" And so, therefore, in some ways the very divine mission of Jesus was at stake. To be quite honest, if Jesus had succumbed to any one of those three, then his mission would have been jeopardized and everything that he was trying to do would have been pushed to one side. So in the life of Jesus, the temptations were important.
But the temptations of Jesus are not just about Jesus, they're about us. They're about you and me as human beings and how we live our lives. They're about the fact that in this life there are many things that come our way that can lead us astray and cause us to be disobedient to the will and the path of Almighty God. The temptations are about us.
I was reading a lovely story recently of a little boy who went into a grocery store where he was transfixed by some gorgeous, red apples. The storekeeper saw this little boy standing by the apple-cart and he realized that the boy desperately wanted to get his hands on one of these bright, red apples. He came up to the boy and said: "Now, are you having a hard time being tempted to steal one of these?"
The little boy said: "No, I'm not having a hard time being tempted to steal them. I'm having a hard time trying not to steal them; that's what I'm struggling with."
It's like that with our lives. The trouble with temptation is not to do it; it's how not to do it. How can we avoid being in that position? That's what each of us, I think, really struggles with. I think if most of us are absolutely honest, we don't want to do the wrong things; we don't go out of our way to be seduced by the things of life. Each one of us, if we are really honest, would truly rather be obedient to God. The problem is that when we are confronted by temptation, we are often caught off-guard.
That's why I want to look this morning, in a rather unorthodox way, at the story of the temptation of Jesus, by not necessarily looking just through his eyes, but through the very occasion when this event took place, because the occasion in the life of Jesus tells us so much about our own struggle with temptation as well.
The first part of this, I think, is very clear: It happened to him in two different states.
Now, I never like to psychoanalyze the biblical texts. I think people do that too much. There is nothing in the text to suggest that we know what Jesus was thinking or feeling. What we do know is what had happened before Jesus went up to the mountain.
The first thing we notice is that he was probably on a high. That's the first state: he was on a high. In Matthew's Gospel, the temptations immediately follow the baptism of Jesus. In the baptism, Jesus hears the words: You are My Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Jesus was ready, then, for his mission. He was ready for his ministry. He was buoyed by the fact that God, his Father, had confirmed that he was to do great and marvelous things. The problem is, my friends, that when we are sometimes at our highest, we are at our most vulnerable.
Jesus made this abundantly clear with a very simple story. He used the illustration: It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God.
Now what he is saying here is not that it is simply impossible for the rich to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. He is saying that the temptations of wealth and power are so great that we think that, somehow, when we have these things we are independent from God. When we are seduced, in a sense, by our own power, our own wealth, or our own ability to make things happen on our own, then we think, somehow, that we don't need God. That's one of the great dangers of being on a high. That's one of the great dangers of thinking that everything is fine; when we think that everything is fine and we are self-made people, then we are at our most vulnerable.
I don't want to go on and on about September 11th, but the fact is our culture has learned something since September 11th. That is that North America, at the point when the planes hit those buildings, was really quite arrogant. There was such a degree of peace and self-sufficiency that the rest of the world, with its poverty and the issues of age and homelessness and international migration, had little or no bearing or impact upon the lives of so many of us - we felt to some extent that we were invincible and invulnerable.
Well, it's at moments when as a society we really rely on our own wealth and power and peace that in fact we are at our most vulnerable. At the moments when we think that everything is going our way and we are on a high, we can be seduced into believing that we can't be tempted, or lured, or seduced by our own success.
Just very recently, a lady I know who had just been diagnosed with terminal cancer came to me and said: "You know, I know I don't have very long to live. I have terminal cancer."
She said: "It's very interesting, Andrew, that having been confronted by and being faced with this very problem, all of a sudden I am starting to ask myself, 'What are the things that really matter in my life?'. Up to now, I have cruised along on a crest of my own abilities, and health, and power and strength. I have made important the things that are not important and I have considered as unimportant the things that are."
She said: "I really have come face to face with the real meaning of life."
I shared with her some good news and I told her of a friend of mine in Nova Scotia (I've mentioned him before) who painted. He did paintings of when he was going through chemotherapy and when he was going through his illness. I asked him once: "What is it like to hear the news that you have a terminal disease?"
He laughed at me! He said: "But Andrew, all of us are terminal. I mean, just because I know approximately when I am about to leave this earth doesn't make me any more terminal than any of you."
He said: "In fact, I have an advantage over you. I now know that I have a limited time and I must make sure that the relationships that are important are built; that the issues that matter in the world should be addressed; that the things of God now matter more, not less; but I just have a window, an opportunity, a moment in time that I know I have to seize."
You see, the problem is, my friends, that even when we're healthy, even when we are well, and fit, and affluent, and in a free society, there is this temptation, a terrible temptation, to think that we have it all. At the moment when we are at our highest, the temptation is to not address the things that really matter in our lives.
There is a beautiful poem by Richard Watson Guilder with a stanza in which he describes this very issue. He put it this way:
Not alone in pain and gloom
Does the abhorred tempter come.
Not alone in light and pleasure
Proffers he the poisoned measure.
When the soul doth rise
Nearest to its native skies,
There the exalted spirit finds,
Borne upon the heavenly wings,
Satan in an angel's guise
With voice divine and innocent eyes.
At the moment when we are flying at our highest, we are often at our most vulnerable, as was Jesus.
But it also could be said that Jesus was at the same time at his very lowest. We read that for 40 days he had been in the wilderness and that he had been fasting.
I don't know about you, but I can't even contemplate that. Forty hours would send me into orbit. I don't know how weak I would be. Forty days of fasting in the wilderness! I am sure if someone came along to me with a Twinkie™ at that time, I would sell my car, my wife, my soul for a Twinkie™ at a moment like that.
Well, Jesus was given this chance: "If you want to turn these stones into bread, go ahead. All you have to do is give up your ministry." (I've got to be honest with you, if that was me [sic], you wouldn't find me in the ministry any more!) Jesus also had to struggle when he was at his most low and at his most vulnerable.
I don't know if, like me, you have followed the ebb and flow and the ups and downs of the Pelletier-Salé saga over this last week. At one moment they are the devil incarnate, at the other the sufferers of the greatest injustice the world has ever known. One extreme or the other, and we forget that it's just skating, but never mind.
Nevertheless, we as a nation have risen and fallen with these two sweet souls. I must admit, at the moment when they were really clearly robbed of that medal, I was incensed. I put myself in their position: Would I be so gracious to the other team? Would I be so relaxed on Larry King Live? No, I don't think so. I would be ripping and snorting and pulling everybody down that I could find.
There is a terrible temptation to resort to violence, to use excess power when you face an injustice or when you see a crime. As Jesus was tempted to use the power of all the angels in Heaven to come down to save himself, so also there is a terrible temptation for us. In fairness to Pelletier and Salé, what makes them greater than anything they did on the ice, in my opinion, was that they handled their situation with grace.
One of the great temptations of life that we all face is that temptation, when we are down, to lash out. When we are faced by the temptation of even resisting an injustice, we can overcome it by using the power of injustice itself. That is why the Apostle Paul says you do not repay evil for evil, you overcome evil with good. The temptation of Jesus when he was at his lowest is a clear example that we must do the same thing.
In an art gallery in my hometown of Manchester, England, there is a painting by Spencer Stanhope. It's a very moving painting that I remember seeing on a school trip, but I must admit only recently, when I saw something on the Web, did it really come back to my mind. It's a picture of Eve standing alone. Next to Eve there is this serpent whispering nice things into her ear and she's feeling really good about herself. I don't know what the serpent was saying, but there's a glow on her face of great joy as she is being seduced by the words of the serpent.
What the painting reveals, which she doesn't see, is a hand coming around her back. The more the serpent talks to her, the closer the branch bearing the bright apple is pulled towards her, so that at the moment when she feels the most seduced - Plop! - there is the apple dropped right into her hand from over her shoulder.
One of the great sources of temptation, my friends, is that it comes from behind, not always from the front. When we least expect it, when we don't think we are at our most vulnerable, the Tempter's power can grab us.
So what does this say? This says to me that the need to resist temptation is ongoing, not just a matter of a particular moment in time.
Lent is a great thing. I love Lent. It's a time for introspection, for some quiet hymns and anthems and prayers of meditation and confession. But the danger with Lent is that we think this is the only time when we really need to think about such things. The fact of the matter is that Jesus understood that our resistance to temptation is something that is life-long.
When Jesus was tempted, he gave many reasons to resist. One of them was saying: "The word of God says …"
Three different times he used Scripture to foil the Devil, but it's interesting that on one occasion, the Devil used Scripture to try to foil him. Nevertheless, Jesus understood, in quoting from Deuteronomy in particular, in the passage that I read to you a few moments ago, that there was a parallel in his life between what happened to Israel when they were in the wilderness and what was happening to himself. In both these circumstances, both the people of Israel and Jesus needed to rely on the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God was there for them and was being confirmed by the power of Scripture.
One of the great problems that we have in the church these days is that we have such a vague understanding of Scripture that many people almost avoid reading it at all. Then when we are faced by ethical and moral decisions, we often have little or no solid foundation on which to base our decisions and our resistance.
But knowing Scripture alone is not enough. Sometimes, we need to do something else. We need to make sure that we are not put in positions where we are tempted. One of the great challenges of life is that we put ourselves in positions of temptation and then wonder why we are tempted. This is one of the bizarre things of life.
I was reading recently the story of Mickey Mantle, the great New York Yankees baseball player. Both of his parents died at an early age, when he was young. Mantle felt that life was short and decided he was going to live it to the full, and he spent much of his time drinking and living a profligate life. So much so that, later on in life, he was diagnosed with liver disease and needed a transplant.
Many of you will remember the controversy. Mantle received a liver transplant when there were other people, mere mortals, simply waiting in line. He was interviewed after he had got this new liver. He was feeling somewhat guilty and someone came up to him and asked him what he had learned from all of this. He said: "If I had realized that I was going to live this long, there are many things that I would not have done." If I knew that I was going to live this long, there are many things that I would not have done.
Someone then said to him: "Are you then a role model now that you've come through all this?"
He said: "Yes, [and he shocked everybody] I am a role model of what not to do."
What he did was believe that life was short, therefore just blow it on whatever you do, kill whatever pain you might have, live life to the fullest, put yourselves in the path of temptation. The problem is Mickey Mantle did that so many times that it ended up taking his life and in some way destroying any respect that he had in the minds of people.
And so Mickey Mantle is an example of how we shouldn't put ourselves in positions where we are easily tempted.
The problem with both these things, the outward reading of the Bible and not putting ourselves into positions of temptation, is that they are external. They are out there. We might read the Bible. We can quote it all day long. I know people who quote the Scriptures infinitely better than I do, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they are ready when they are being tempted.
I know people who live an almost ascetic life, but I know that if they were to find themselves in a position of temptation, they would be just as likely to fall as I am. You can have all the external things going for you and you can have a religious approach to dealing with temptation all you want; the fact of the matter is, the story of Jesus going into the wilderness was about the Spirit.
The Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness. The Spirit didn't tempt Jesus. The Spirit allowed Jesus to be tempted, but it was the Spirit that so empowered Jesus in this moment of weakness that he was able to withstand the allure and the seductions that came his way.
In other words, he had and was prepared by, even at his baptism, a spiritual power within his life: the Spirit of God.
We never know when we are going to be tempted. We don't know whether it's when we are high or when we are low. It doesn't matter whether we are in positions of temptation or not in positions of temptation; we don't know if things are coming at us head-first or whether they are like that serpent, coming at us from behind our backs. None of us knows when temptation comes along, therefore we need to be prepared.
What Jesus was prepared by was the time of fasting that he had had in the wilderness. In that moment, although he was physically weak, although he was on an emotional high, the fact is what prepared Jesus was his reliance on the power of the Holy Spirit.
What every one of us needs, then, is not just external support but internal support. What we all need is our openness daily to the power and the strength of God's Holy Spirit, for that is the only way that we have the power to say "No!". The power to say "No!" Temptation is a spiritual thing, it always will be. And it is the power of the Spirit alone that enables us to say "No!"
May that same spirit that led Jesus into the wilderness, protected him and kept him, be in his disciples also. Amen.
This is a verbatim transcription of the original sermon.