OPENING PRAYER
Lord God, today is the first Sunday of Lent,
a season of repentance,
of self-examination,
of silence and waiting
for the leading of your Holy Spirit.
Through your Spirit,
you lead us into the temptations of Jesus,
forty days in the wilderness,
where our lives are laid bare,
and we come face to face with our desires for power
—power over our lives and the lives of our friends
and enemies and maybe even power over you.
Open us to your grace and mercy,
your love and provision,
as we confront the devil’s temptations,
the demons that try to run our world and our lives.
Give us the power of your Son
that we may also throw off the insidious powers of sin
—the forces of selfishness and pride,
the forces that keep us from confronting the truth
about our lives and the world.
During this season of Lent,
shatter our illusions,
save us from ourselves,
and open us to the new life of your Holy Spirit
—a life of faith, hope, and love.
As we let your Spirit lead us into repentance,
may we discover the goodness and fullness of life
in your kingdom of peace.
May we also resist the temptation to find our rest
in places that muffle the cries of injustice
—the desperation of the needy,
the anger of the wronged,
and the despair of the hopeless.
May those voices echo in our Lenten silence,
for the call of your Spirit also speaks through those voices.
As the apostle Paul says,
your word is near us,
on our lips and in our hearts.
May we use this season of Lent to empty ourselves
of all that makes us deaf to the Word of God, Jesus Christ,
who is already on our lips and in our hearts.
Amen.
SERMON
“The greatest temptations are not those that solicit our consent to obvious sin but those that offer us great evils masking as the greatest goods.” —Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island
POINT: Our job is the relentless
Matthew 4:1-11 NRSV
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights and was famished afterward.
The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written,
‘One does not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,
‘He will command his angels concerning you,’
and ‘On their hands, they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and he said to him, “All these I will give you if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written,
‘Worship the Lord your God,
and serve only him.’ ”
Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.
Some ways to resist temptation:
1. Practice self-
2.
3. Adopt an “
POINT: Have we ever considered that real temptation is a desire for a good, but not a good we are meant to have, as it may be inappropriate for what we