“Jesus the Instigator”
By Dayle K. Barrett
Sunday, March 9, 2025
Reading: Matthew 4:1-11
A little bit of déjà vu, perhaps? If you've been here for a while, you know, we just did this story, didn't we? I mean, about a month ago. Reverend Jason Byassee preached a great sermon called The Devil's Hour, in which we talked about this same story, Jesus being tempted in the wilderness. So why are we here again?
Well, perhaps it's because this Sunday is the first Sunday of Lent. Lent, an ancient tradition in the church. Lent, a time of penitence, of repentance, of considering our own mortality, of spending more time before God and denying ourselves that we might become more like Christ.
Lent has an interesting history. It begins with the early church during a time of tension with the powers that were in Rome, in a time when being a Christian was a dangerous thing. So, when people were recruited into the community of faith, they weren't welcomed in as Christians right away. They were welcomed in as what we call catechumens. A catechumen was somebody who was thinking about becoming a Christian but wasn't quite one yet and the process was difficult. You had to study and spend time with the community of faith because if you took that dip into the water, if you made that decision to be a follower of Christ, this was no mere label you were wearing.
This wasn't some social club. You might very well be arrested for your faith. You may be tortured for your faith. You may be killed for your faith. So, before people were baptized on Easter Sunday, the community of faith wanted to make sure that those who were thinking of becoming Christians really knew what they were getting into.
Inspired by the passage we just read, the church came up with this time called Lent. The catechumens would spend the 40 days preceding their baptism in fasting and prayer and study and seeking God's face to determine whether or not they really wanted to take on this thing called the cross of Jesus Christ.
Lent's not really like that anymore, is it?
Sometimes I wonder if I ever got to speak to an early church Christian, what the conversation would be like. I mean, I'm really looking forward to going to heaven and meeting Jesus. I'm a little bit scared of meeting some of the apostles. Imagine what Paul would say if we met face to face. I'd say something like,
“Hey, Paul! Big fan! Read all your books… great stuff!” And he'd ask me,
“Dayle! What's Christianity like in 2025? How goes the gospel? How's your battle against the Romans?”
And I'd say, “We haven't got Romans anymore, Paul. We live in this free society. We can say what we like. We can worship God as we like. We can build churches. We can praise freely. We can live out Christ's gospel every single day and no one can do anything about it.”
And he'd go, “Wow! So, you've evangelized the whole place now, right? Canada's all Christian?”
“Well… not quite. There are a lot of Christians, most of them don't attend church, but you know, people generally believe… sort of.”
“Okay, well, you must be out there preaching the gospel all the time then, right? There's no one's gonna behead you or crucify you upside down or burn you somewhere. So, you must be everywhere: you go in schools, workplaces. You must be telling everyone about Jesus all the time because you're free.”
And I'd say, “Well… you know… you don't want to offend people because… they might leave mean comments on your TikTok or something like that.”
Then he'd say, “Well, if you're not preaching the gospel everywhere you go, then you must be fasting and praying all the time that God's going to bring revival, that God's going to change your whole nation so that they'd be people of God.”
And I'd say, “Well… we do have this thing called Lent… And, you know, one time I gave up chocolate for a few weeks… I didn't make it all the way through because my friends cousin's daughter had a birthday party… and I didn't want to be rude… but I tried my best, you know.”
Maybe compared to the shipwrecking, the imprisonments, the trials, the torturing and all the things that the early church went through, they might look at what we do today and think, that's Christianity in 2025? That's what it means to be a follower of Jesus? I wonder if they'd recognize us at all.
You see, at that time, Lent wasn't slightly reducing your dessert options so that you could look pious to your friends at the local restaurant. Ash Wednesday wasn't where you posted yourself on social media with a cross on your head, so everybody knew that you were doing something really Christian. It was a time of actual self-denial. Not just taking away luxuries that you don't need anyway but actually removing from yourself the food that you really need to live. Denying yourself, giving to others, so that you can submit your flesh and all its evil desires under your rational will and so that you can submit your rational will under the holy and perfect will of God. That's what fasting used to mean.
A bit different now, isn't it? You see, what the early church knew that we may have forgotten today is that Christianity is not just a journey of self denial, and it's not just reveling in the love and grace of God. Yes, it's all of that. But it's also a battle. Christianity is warfare.
We are fighting against real evil that exists in the world. And if you want to fight, you have to be strong enough to take on your enemy. This is why in Ephesians 6 Paul tells the church in Ephesus that they need to take on the whole armor of God: “a helmet of salvation, a breastplate of righteousness, your loins gird about with truth, your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, a shield of faith with which you will withstand all the fiery darts of the enemy, and holding in your hand the sword of the spirit which is the word of God.” The early church knew, ladies and gentlemen, that Christianity was warfare.
In this story, we see Jesus at war, but it begins with Jesus coming out of a high moment in his life. In the passage just before this one, Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. The Bible says that when he emerged from the Jordan River, the heavens opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Christ like a dove and alighted upon him. And a voice came from heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”
What a powerful moment in Jesus’ life.
If we're using our common sense, we might think that this would be the perfect moment for Jesus to go launch his ministry, right? After the dove thing and the booming voice thing, you're the Son of God. Everyone's seen it. There's a bit of a hubbub about you. This is when you go to the top of the mountain, and you preach the sermon on the mount. Or this is when you go to the synagogue and start teaching from the prophets. This is when you start healing the sick, raising the dead, casting out demons, and proclaiming the kingdom, right Jesus? Now, when you're at your high point. But Jesus does something a bit strange.
In Luke's Gospel, it says that Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, was led into the wilderness where he was tempted for 40 days and 40 nights. In Mark's Gospel, it describes Jesus as being driven by the Spirit into the wilderness. But Matthew lets us in on a little secret. He includes two words that I think change this entire story. Matthew says that Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
Did you catch that?
Jesus wasn't led into the wilderness and was tempted by the devil. It's not as if Jesus was hungry and tired and vulnerable and then the devil ambushed him when he was weak. But in Matthew's gospel, it seems as if Jesus woke up that day and chose violence. Jesus went into the wilderness looking for a fight. Jesus in this story is not a victim. He's the instigator. He went into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil because Jesus was starting a fight with the evil one.
Now we can get into the story.
The bell rings… Round one – Fight!
The devil comes out swinging. And what does he say to Jesus? He says, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread.”
Nothing wrong with bread, is there? He's been fasting for a while, he's rather hungry, I'm sure he deserves a loaf. But what interests me the most is the devil's line of attack. Because the devil challenges him on a question of his identity. He says, “If you are the Son of God...” Why is that important? Because just before Jesus went into the wilderness, what did God say? He said, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” This is what I want you to remember, friends, if you want to know your enemy's line of attack.
When the evil one wants to sow doubt and fear and temptation in your heart, one of the first strategies they will use is trying to convince you that you are not who God says you are. The way Satan does that is by trying to convince you that God hasn't said what God has said. Though Christ has said you are forgiven, Satan will whisper in your ear that you can never be forgiven. Though Christ said that you are free and free indeed, the devil will whisper in your ear, “You're always going to be in bondage to this or that.”
The scripture tells us that God wants to use us and build us up as a kingdom of God that can change this world. The devil will whisper in your ear, “but there's nothing you can do about that.” And if we listen to the voice of the enemy that tells us we are not who God says we are, and tells us that God has not said what he has said, we are vulnerable to deception.
This is the same trick that Satan used in the Garden of Eden. When the snake approaches the woman in the garden in Genesis chapter three, he doesn't walk up and say, “Hey! Fancy some forbidden fruit?” No. He says to Eve, “Has God indeed said, you shall not eat of every fruit of the garden?” What is he doing? He's asking the age-old question that gets us unstable in our faith. He wants to challenge the people of God to say, did God really say that? What’s written in God’s word, is that really true? Can you stand upon it and claim it as truth in your life and walk steadily in this faith? And how does Jesus reply? He doesn't get into an argument with the devil. He doesn't say, “I am so the son of God!” He says, “It is written. We will not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”
You want to be strong against deception? You want to be strong against doubt? You want to be strong against fear? You have to know what it is that God has said. The psalmist said, “Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I will not sin against thee.”
Here's a challenge for Lent: Read some scripture. Let's start with baby steps. One verse a day. If you have a smartphone, there's a great app called YouVersion. (They're not paying me for this, but they should be.) Download the app and it will send you one verse a day. Read one verse. If you have a little bit more time, they have a guided prayer and a guided reflection that will take you about five to seven minutes.
It's a time for you to be calm and to seek God. A time for you to learn what God says about you so that when fear, doubt, and temptation try to enter your life, you can be sure who you are and who the God is that you serve.
Round two – Fight!
The devil comes out swinging again, but this time he's got a new tactic. He knows that Jesus knows the word of God. He knows that Jesus isn't going to be deceived to hear that he's not who God says he is, so the devil does something different this time. The devil comes with a Bible in his hand then he quotes scripture, “He will give his angels charge over you, and in their hands, they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.”
First trick, the devil wants to convince you that God didn't say what he said. The second trick, the devil wants to convince you that God doesn't mean what he meant.
Satan takes a scripture completely out of context and uses it to try to deceive the Son of God. I'm sure we've all seen that done over and over again, haven't we? People taking the words of Spirit and life and using them to beat people down, or to oppress those they disagree with. People taking the word that God has given us and using it to fit their own political agenda. And if we don't know what God's word means, we are powerless to argue against it. We're powerless to know how to fight back when we hear lies and untruth.
The way to do that, friends – second challenge for Lent – is to read the word of God in community, to read with other people who know God's word and can help wrestle with you so you can find out what God means by what God has said. We have a great Bible study group on Tuesday afternoons at 1:30, where people gather and study the scripture that we're going to be preaching that Sunday.
We have another group at 7:00 in the evenings led by Fraser, so you can learn how to storytell through the book of Mark. One of the groups I'm proudest of is the men's group that meets on a Thursday morning at 7:00. These men get together bright and early every single week and they pray together, they study God's word, and they wrestle with what it means so that they can figure out how to live a faithful life together.
I've been praying for a mighty woman of God in this church who's gonna stand up and raise a similar group for the women in this congregation. So, if you think God's calling you to that, please let me know.
When we study God's word in community, when we wrestle with it together, we start to understand how it applies to our lives. So, if that fancy preacher on the TV that wants to tell you something completely wild, you're able to know that doesn't line up with the God I serve.
Third round – Fight!
After Satan tries to convince Jesus that God didn't say what he said, or mean what he meant, he tries to convince Jesus that God doesn't have what he has. He says, “Bow down and worship me and I will give you all the kingdoms of the world,” as if they belong to Satan.
Here's what you need to know, my friends. If you know who you are in Christ, if you know that God has called you out and forgiven you of your sins, is sanctifying you day by day, making you more like him, and if you have God's word in your heart, then nothing the world can offer you even compares to what God has in store for you.
Often, the way we are tempted is that we are convinced somehow that what Satan has to offer is going to make us happier or more fulfilled or more blessed than what God has to offer us. But when you understand that your Heavenly Father owns the cattle on a thousand hills, when you understand that your Heavenly Father is the one that created the heavens and the earth, when you understand that the same Heavenly Father who loves you so much he sent his own Son to die for you sits on a throne and rules and reigns over everything. Then the greatest temptation you face will lead you to say only this, “Away from me, Satan.” And as James tells us, when we resist the devil, he flees from us. He can't stand an ugly duckling who knows that they're a swan.
Fasting is a spiritual discipline we've all but lost today. But if we can resurrect it in our lives over these next 40 days, then it will strengthen our spirits against our flesh and incline our wills to God. Hear this word from the book of Romans chapter eight:
Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the children of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together.
You want to deepen your relationship with God? You want to be impervious to fear and temptation and doubt and evil in your life? I challenge you to take this opportunity to suffer with Christ, to put your flesh under the will of God, and strengthen your spirit, so that when evil comes, you can have victory just like Jesus did.
Thanks be to God. Amen.