Sermon on Matthew 4:1-11

Pastor Jennifer Garcia

The devil is all about easy answers and quick fixes in this story.

He finds a time when Jesus is weakened—he’s been alone in the wilderness for a long time. He’s hungry and probably uncomfortable and tired.

So, Jesus is tempted to provide for his needs—understandable, right?

“Turn these stones into bread! You’re powerful—why wait to be satisfied?”

Then, the devil suggests that Jesus should prove his identity and special relationship with God.

“If you’re really who you say you are, how cool would it be if you jumped from here? Everyone in Jerusalem would see angels catch you!No one would be able to doubt you then.”

Finally, the devil shows Jesus the glories of the whole world.

“Why wait? This could all be yours right now! Just submit to my authority and you can have everything you want.”

It would be so easy to do any of these things. All of his problems would be solved: he would never be hungry, doubted, or powerless again. All he had to do was take matters into his own hands.

Easy answers and quick fixes are so tempting! Even when you know in the back of your mind that there’s probably a catch, that it’s probably not that simple, it would be such a relief if it actually worked!

But at what cost?

For Jesus, it would be his whole identity and all of his values. He would be departing from his focus on his mission and his tender reliance on God.

Fortunately, this story comes right after Jesus’ baptism, when the voice of God and the dove-shaped Holy Spirit came down from the clouds and affirmed Jesus’ identity: “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

Even accounting for his time fasting in the wilderness, Jesus had just had this amazing affirmation of his identity. He was so grounded in his identity and relationship with God that he didn’t need to prove himself to anyone. He could withstand the temptations he was faced with, because he kept his focus on his values and on God.

That’s hard to do, though. There are a million things every day vying for our attention, telling us we’re incomplete and unworthy, trying to make us forget who we are and whose we are.

Advertisements try to get us to forget that we are sufficient and whole in our belovedness.

The news can make us forget that our acts of love are powerful even in the face of the terrible hurt in the world.

Busyness can make us forget that it is enough just to be, and that God’s time works differently than our sense of chronological time.

That’s one of the helpful things about Lent. It’s a time when so many of our ancestors in faith have set aside time to simplify and reorient toward God.

Unfortunately, it can be tempting to even use Lenten disciplines, practices, and traditions in ways that don’t do justice to our identities or orient us toward God.

As the Lazy Genius podcast reminded me last week, “external solutions will not fix inner problems.”[1]That episode was specifically talking about “kindly navigating a changing body” and so was talking about how a change on the scale or a new lotion does not help us feel better about ourselves if internally we’re shaming ourselves. No outside change is going to make us stop hating ourselves on the inside.

Quick fixes and easy answers don’t satisfy.

It’s so easy to make our spiritual lives into a checklist. As if giving up something for Lent, attending Bible study, and telling someone you’re praying for them is what proves that we’re Christians.

To a certain extent, outward actions can orient us toward mindsets we want to cultivate. For example, it’s a lot easier to live up to a value of service by making it a habit of regularly volunteering with Caring Hands instead of waiting until 7 a.m. on a Wednesday morning to decide whether to go that day. Habits are easier to keep than to start.

But even doing something as wonderful as helping out at the pantry doesn’t mean anything if we are doing it because we’re afraid of God’s judgment. That requires inner work, not a checklist.

Like Jesus, we need to start with our identity.

We are children of God. We are followers of Jesus. We are marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit.

Martin Luther was plagued by shame and guilt throughout his life, and when it got bad, he would remind himself, “I am baptized.” It was not about “I got baptized – check! Now I’m not going to Hell.” Instead, it was a way to remind himself of what God had done, not what he had done. He was baptized, so he was God’s forever—nothing he could do could take that away.

He rested in his identity in God, just like Jesus did. And we can, too.

Our baptisms remind us that we are part of God’s family and that we are children of God forever—no checklists required.

If you are not baptized, God still loves you, and you are welcome and valued here. If you would like to talk more about baptism, come talk to me after the service.

Whether you’re baptized or not, God loves you, and nothing can change that. We are not saved by anything we do or don’t do. There is one savior, and that’s Jesus. Our salvation was taken care of a long, long time ago.3w

Therefore, we can do spiritual practices, such as a Lenten discipline like 40 Days of Less, not so we can get a gold star on our heavenly report card, but for the ways they help us pay attention to what God is doing and figuring out what really matters to us.

Once Jesus was grounded in his identity in his baptism, he was able to spend time fasting in the wilderness, focusing on what mattered to him and what his mission was. He was able to resist the temptations to get sidetracked and take shortcuts. He knew his values and centered his life on God, so he turned down the offers of easy answers and quick fixes.

When we’re grounded in our identity as children of God, then we can participate in spiritual practices to focus and orient ourselves. Pastor Jaz’s 40 Days of Less devotional helps us discern what objects and mindsets are getting in the way of what truly matters to us.

If you’ve picked a different Lenten discipline, that’s great, too. I hope it’s a fruitful experience for you. I’d love to hear about it.

And if now is not the time to add another practice to your life, thank you for listening to what you need right now. You are still a beloved child of God, and God loves you exactly as you are.

Whatever this Lent brings you, may you find your grounding in your identity as a child of God. That is what will help you withstand the distractions, easy answers, and quick fixes in the world we live in.

Hold fast to your values,

support each other on our journey,

and whenever something is getting you down,

remember that you are a child of God.

[1]https://www.thelazygeniuscollective.com/lazy/bodychange Episode 301 “How to kindly navigate a changing body”