Luke 4:1-13

February 21, 2010 

“USING THE HOLY SPIRIT TO DRIVE AN AWKWARD NAIL”

            “No Christian will suppose that Jesus in his carpentry shop ever laid aside the hammer and used the Holy Spirit to drive an awkward nail.”  So wrote Austin Ferrer. 

            Have you ever been tempted to use something at your disposal … your status, or your position, or your influence to obtain something the easier way?  Have you ever been tempted to use someone you know or someone who respects you, or someone who might owe you in order to get what you want?  Think about it now.

            Jesus was on a Spirit-roll.  He carried recounted stories by his mom of how his conception had come about … you know … the talk! … but instead of telling him about the birds and the bees, she told of how he had been conceived by the Holy Spirit.  And now, fresh from baptism when the Spirit descended upon him like the gentle landing of a dove on her nest, Jesus, as told by Luke the Gospel writer, was “full of the Holy Spirit”, and that Spirit led him as he retreated to the wilderness.  You see, he had just heard “You are my Son, the beloved; with you I am well pleased.”  Now he had to figure out what that meant.  He now knew who he was and Whose he was.  Now he had to figure out how that would be translated into a lifestyle, a ministry.  What would “God’s Son, the beloved” look like?  What would be the ways he would choose to make his way in the world?

            You know how it works, don’t you?  You decide to get off by yourself for a bit of silence and solitude.  You need to make a huge decision, and you seek God’s voice in it all.  More than just a list of pros and cons, you also seek God’s will.  You know how it works, don’t you?  You close your eyes and bow your head, and your intention is to just be quiet, silent, receptive, and then all the inner noise takes off.  All the inner voices clamor to be heard.  All the racing thoughts have become the Indianapolis 500 in your brain.

            You intend to be noble, faithful, obedient, but one of the voices suggests that you do something to get your name out there … market yourself.  It’s not as much about servanthood as it is selling yourself. It would certainly be a lot easier if they came to find you rather than you having to get their attention.  Another voice whispers, “Do something spectacular, you know, that one big success that you can ride for awhile while you figure out what to do and where to go next.  That one big success will get you into offices of some of the top executives.  They’ll want to see more of you.” 

            You told yourself before you even entered the silence that you would not compromise your core values in the midst of your decision-making.  You would not move forward for the wrong reasons.  And then you hear that inner voice …”you are better than the rest.  Take control of this situation and leave them in the dust.  Just think about where this could all lead…this could make you almost famous!…do you realize how the fortune you might make could be used to help others?…think of all that you could give back to God!!!”  And suddenly, the quest and desire to get to the top, win accolades and become powerful becomes a holy thing!  That is how it works, how Satan subtly works.

            Does it shock you that those same whispers, those same temptations attacked Jesus in the midst of the silence, in the midst of the fasting, in the midst of the praying?  He was considering the best ways he could live out his Sonship, how he could best serve God.  Like you and me, in order to do that, he had to listen to multiple voices and consider countless choices, ways to live his mission. 

            Let’s take an extra peek at Satan in this text.  Can we learn anything about discipleship by watching and listening to Satan from a distance?  Ah, he is a smoooooth operator!  He never argues with Jesus about the mission or about his relationship with God.  Subtly he plants the seed of doubt, “If you are the Son of God.”  He almost acts like Jesus’ agent, suggesting ways to get his name out there, offering him fame, fortune, and power, but also suggesting that Jesus might wish to use his God-powers to satisfy his own needs.  What can hurt?  What can hurt if he performs miracles in order to draw crowds?  After all, this is all for God, right?  Satan has even memorized Scripture to offer at opportune times, as if Jesus needs to be reminded of what it says in God’s Word. Taking his eyes off God for even a second allows Satan to take God’s place, all with the intention of “selling” Jesus while the result will actually be the “selling” of Jesus’ soul.

            Do you think what we’ve just mentioned was impossible for Jesus to think and feel?  Do you think that Jesus could not have experienced true temptation?  The writer of the New Testament book of Hebrews (4:14-15) makes it quite clear: “Since then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession.  For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

            Those temptations would haunt Jesus for the rest of his life.  Those voices would become loudest while in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before his death and while hanging on the cross.  Instead of Satan’s suggestion that he take a swan dive from the top of the Temple to be caught by angels, the voice whispering in his ear on the cross was begging him to yank his hands and feet from the wood and use the cross as a club to destroy all who sought to destroy him.  Have you realized that the longer and the more intense temptation becomes the more logical it seems?  It really starts to make sense!  If we have enough time, most of us can rationalize sin to the point where it begins to seem like God’s will.  Isn’t that scary?...but true?

            The temptations haven’t changed … wealth, success, popularity, and power.  We are so immersed in “it’s all about us” that we don’t even realize when those temptations constantly surround us … wealth, success, popularity, and power.  They even invade and infest the church.  Satan will put his arm around anyone if it might plant doubts, or plant illusions of grandeur, or promise some kind of false success.  Satan will whisper anything that will disrupt God’s mission, sabotage God’s plan.  Satan will whisper anything that will cause us to focus on cheering crowds, crowds cheering us.  Simple.  Subtle, and suddenly the attention is placed on ourselves and away from Christ.  Simple.  Subtle.  Just waiting to turn it into sin.  And what is sin?  Separation from God.  Missing the mark.