WHATEVER IT IS, LET IT GO AND FOLLOW JESUS

FATHER JIM FOSDICK

ST. MARY OF THE SNOWS ANGLICAN CHURCH

JANUARY 27,2008

Lord of light - shine upon us. God of love fill our hearts with your wisdom. Holy Spirit, bring yourself closer to us in my words and how we hear them, in our thoughts and how we think them. Use this time - and use us to accomplish your good will. Amen.

You don’t see them quite as much any more, but there used to be bracelets everywhere that had the letters WWJD on them. What would Jesus Do? One thing the Holy Scriptures do for us is answer the question, What would Jesus do? The Bible in fact doesn’t just tell us what Jesus would do; it tells us what he did do. This morning I want to look at our Gospel lesson from Matthew and look at some things Jesus did and see if they don’t suggest what Jesus calls us to do.

First let me set the context for today’s reading. Two weeks ago we read Matthew’s account of Jesus’ baptism. God declared this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Last week we read from John and John was still talking about Jesus’ baptism and confirmed that he had seen the Holy Spirit descend on Jesus. He also said he himself had seen and could testify that Jesus is the Son of God. Those are really spiritual high points in the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Although we haven’t read it yet in our readings, do you remember what happened immediately after Jesus baptism and his receiving the Holy Spirit? That same Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness where he was tempted by the devil. He was tempted in three different ways, physically, emotionally, and mentally.  After fasting for forty days the devil tempted Him with hunger. The devil said, “If you are the Son of God command these stones to become loaves of bread. Notice he said, If you are the Son of God? The devil was trying to raise doubt. That’s what he does. He was also trying to get Jesus to somehow give up on this plan of taking on human flesh and to become God again and turn stones into bread. If he could’ve gotten Jesus to stop being man then God’s plan of salvation would’ve failed. Jesus couldn’t have died for our sins. The temptation was twofold…One, Maybe you’re not really the son of God and Two, Are you really going to depend on God to provide your physical needs? Do you really believe he’ll provide your daily bread? Jesus answered temptation with a reference to Holy Scripture…Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Now remember that because we’re going to come back to it but I want to move on to the second temptation.

The devil next tempted Jesus with an emotional temptation…the need for security… the need we all have to feel safe. He took him to the pinnacle of the temple and said, If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down… and then the devil quoted scripture and said, for it is written, “He will command his angels concerning you,” and, “On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.” That was a threat to Jesus’ security; could he really trust God to protect him from harm?

Finally the devil tried a mental temptation—a psychological one. The temptation has to do with power. He took Jesus to a high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and said they could all be his…he could have the power if he would just do one little thing, worship the devil. If the devil could’ve succeeded with this temptation it would’ve accomplished a couple things from his point of view. First of all, Jesus would have been denying his Father’s authority. Instead of doing what God told him to do, what God sent him to do, he would’ve taken things into his own hands and done what he wanted to do. That’s the same error Adam and Eve made in the Garden. Secondly, this too would’ve thwarted God’s plan of salvation. It is a sin to worship someone other than God so Jesus would’ve committed a sin. As a sinner he couldn’t have died for mankind’s sins as one who was without sin, so his sacrifice would mean nothing.

But look at what happens. First Jesus says with authority Be gone satan! And then he quotes from the authority…God’s word…For it is written, “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.” The temptation was about who’s in charge and Jesus says God is, now you take a hike Satan. Then  Matthew’s text says,  ‘the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.” Jesus said Be gone Satan and Satan left.   

What happens next? My English Standard Version has a heading Jesus Begins His Ministry. Jesus survived Satan’s attack and his ministry began immediately. There is so much here…I hope I can lay this out for you in a way that makes it clear…that pulls it all together. Pay attention to how fast these things happen. Matthew Chapter 1 presents the genealogy-- the family tree of Jesus, he’s born, the wise men visit and the world knows a savior has come, Jesus grows up and John the Baptist proclaims that the Messiah is coming. Jesus is baptized and God announces this is my Son, the Holy Spirit descends on Jesus and remains with him, Jesus is tempted by satan and passes the test and Jesus begins his ministry by preaching and then enlisting disciples. And now Jesus does four things-- he goes to the people and he teaches…that’s one. He proclaims the gospel… that is, the good news that Jesus died to save sinners and bring them eternal life. That’s two. He prays at key points throughout his ministry. Matthew’s gospel recounts two times when he prayed. Luke presents 9 different times when Jesus prays. That’s three. And Jesus heals every disease and every affliction. That’s four. Matthew 4 verse 24 says, “So his fame spread throughout all Syria and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics and he healed them. Four little words…and he healed them. It didn’t matter what was wrong, polio, leprosy, possessed by a demon, blind…he healed them. 

Brothers and sisters I want to suggest to you, no it’s stronger than that…I want to tell you and I want you to understand that what happened to Jesus is exactly what is supposed to happen to each and every one of us. That’s why he came and lived as one of us so he could show us how it’s supposed to work. Let’s go back and walk through it from our point of view.

Each of us has our own genealogy… our own family tree. We are born into this sinful world, a world that sadly is much the same and just as sinful as the one that Jesus was born into. We grow up we are baptized and we become followers of Jesus. We are children of God.  We may not know it yet but we were saved for a reason and we are part of God’s plan of salvation. The devil can’t just sit there and let this happen so we will be tempted, we will come under attack just like Jesus did.

Now the story can go one of two ways as it could’ve with Jesus. We can fall for the devil’s temptations or we can try to fight by ourselves and in either case we will be lost. Or we can do what Jesus did and resist the devil and rely on God’s word and we can survive the temptation. Now since Jesus did in fact die for our sins and did in fact conquer evil and death, we have an option open to us that Jesus didn’t have. Even if we fail and give in to sin, there is a way back for us. We can confess our sins to God and ask forgiveness for Jesus’ sake and because of Jesus’ atoning death on the cross, we will be forgiven and still beat the devil and be saved. It’s never too late for us to repent and turn to God and accept the gift of salvation.

Now to keep this analogy going I want to point out that because of original sin, because Adam and Eve sinned, we are all born sinners. We are separated from God. Our future is physical death followed by eternal life in hell. So the devil doesn’t need to do anything with us because he already has us. Let me share a story I read that makes this point well.

It seems that a certain monk in a monastery had a special gift to see demons attacking people. And so one day the abbot of the monastery sent him to the nearby city to see how many demons were there. So the monk ventured down the road from the monastery towards the city. It was a large city, filled with all kinds of people doing all kinds of things. And as he journeyed through the city he looked and he looked and he saw no demons.

He was very puzzled by this.   All these people, and yet no demons attacking them. Finally he saw one demon laying under the shade of a tree in the city park, and the demon was sleeping. The monk headed back toward the monastery. And as he approached the monastery he saw legions and legions of demons, climbing up the monastery walls, tearing at the gates, sitting in the bell tower of the church, and pounding at  the windows of the cells where the monks lived looking for a way to get in.

The monk reported to the abbot and said, “I went to the city where there are many people and I saw only one demon and he was sleeping. Why at this monastery where we are but a few monks, why are there so many demons all around us” The abbot answered, “My son, you see in the city people are so busy, their lives are so filled with things, they succumb to temptations constantly, they have squeezed God out of their lives, and as a result there is no work for the demons to do. So they leave the people alone. But here in the monastery where we try to pray constantly, where we try to rejoice in the things of God constantly, this is where the demons are at work constantly trying to bring one of us down.

So my point is the devil will leave you alone if he already has you but you can expect a struggle if you are following Christ. So let me get back to my analogy of how our lives can follow Matthew’s account of Christ. Paul says in Romans 10:9 that, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved.” Many times from this pulpit I’ve called on you to do so. Let’s assume you have. Bear with me here and I think you’ll see what I’m getting at. So you have your family tree and you’re born and you’re baptized and you confess with your mouth and become a follower of Jesus. Just like Jesus you can expect to be tempted or attacked by the devil and his demons and the attacks will be similar to those Jesus went through. First the devil will question and try to get you to question if you are in fact a son or daughter of God. Remember he asked Jesus, “If you are the son of God then…” The accuser, the questioner will do the same thing with you. Are you sure you are a child of God? How do you know? Prove it to me. Let me introduce some worry into your life and I’ll prove you aren’t.

So what are the worries? Physical. Are you going to have enough to buy groceries? Are you going to be able to pay the rent or the mortgage? Sure you’ve got bread today and you pray give us this day our daily bread, but what if you don’t have any bread tomorrow? Or next week or next year? What then? Or maybe the attack will be emotional and threaten your security. What if I get sick? What if I have an accident? What if I die? Will God really protect me from harm? Can anything make me really safe? And then maybe there’s the mental/psychological attack, the temptation of our mind. This is one of the ones I see the most. Our culture puts a premium on self reliance, the self made man or woman. I can handle things. We even have a phrase for these people. They’re control freaks. The question is who’s in control of your life…you or God?

When we have a decision to make do we pray and wait for God’s response or do we just do what we want to do and in fact try to keep from thinking about what God would want us to do? How do we defeat the devil when he asks how do you know you’re saved? If you’re a child of God prove it to me. The first and most obvious answer is make sure in your heart that you are saved. Make sure that you believe in your heart that Jesus is God’s Son who died for your sins and was raised from the dead and that today Jesus is alive and sits at the right hand of God. Secondly as Paul said make sure you have confessed with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. That means that at some point in your life you thought about it and you told Jesus, Jesus I want to follow you. Be the Lord of my life. Now if you were brought up in the church you may have been baptized as an infant but then you should have gone through confirmation. Depending on the church and who led confirmation you may or may not have understood what was going on and made a conscious decision to follow Jesus. If the combination of your parents and the church caused you to understand what you were doing then this is what took place if you were confirmed in a Roman Catholic or Episcopal Church, you were asked “Do you reaffirm your renunciation of evil? You responded I do. Do you renew your commitment to Jesus Christ? You said I do and with God’s grace I will follow him as my Savior and Lord.” There you have it. If you knew what you were saying and you meant it you are saved. If you have any doubt come talk to me and we can easily erase the doubt.

OK so now it actually starts to be fun I think. From our Gospel verse 17 Jesus says Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. That means it’s right here around us. So if we have repented and we have declared ourselves as followers of Christ, if the accuser questions us and says, How do you know you are saved? We can say Be Gone Satan and he’ll go. James 4:7 says, “Submit yourselves therefore to God.” This is where it has to begin. We have to have made Jesus the Lord of our lives. That’s submitting ourselves to God. James 4:7 continues, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” As a follower of Christ, Jesus abides in you. It’s not just you the devil flees… it’s you and Jesus. James 4:8 reads Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. With God near you and Jesus in your heart you have nothing to fear from the devil and his schemes.

Again from our gospel, “the people in darkness have seen a great light.” What light? The light of Christ. As a follower of Jesus Christ you have seen the great light and the light now lives in you. The quote from Isaiah goes on, “and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.” You were living in the region and shadow of death. Death was your future. But now on you a light has dawned. Death isn’t in your future any more, eternal life with Jesus and the saints is your future. So when the devil taunts you by questioning whether you are saved you can say be gone Satan and he will go. You can assure yourself that you are a child of God with the knowledge that you confessed Jesus as the Lord of your life.

As for the temptations the devil may throw at you I can’t list them all. In fact I can’t even imagine them all but the response is always the same, Believe in God and believe also in Jesus. Immerse yourself in God’s Word and spend time each day in prayer. Remember that you are not alone. Jesus said abide in me and I will abide in you. When the devil attacks on a physical level by making you worry about having food or mortgage money respond with the Lord’s prayer give us this day our daily bread and then trust God to keep his promise. Respond to the devil’s attacks with scripture Matthew 10:31, “Fear not therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. So everyone who acknowledges me before men I will also acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven.”

When the devil attacks you emotionally by threatening your security…will God really protect you from harm? Pray I fear no evil for thou art with me. Fight back by resting in scripture. Read Romans 8:38 and say this for yourself… “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Now there’s a whole sermon just in that short quote, but I want to focus on a couple things. Paul says nothing that’s happening now and nothing that may happen in the future can separate us from the love of God. That means we don’t have to worry about today and we don’t have to worry about tomorrow because God will be there loving us and caring for us. Second, notice that it says, “nor powers.” Powers… or in other verses principalities are references to the devil. Paul says the devil can’t separate you from the love of God. So when the devil taunts you with how can you be safe…how do you know God will protect you…talk back to him and say nothing not even you can separate me from the love of God and with God at my side you can do nothing to me.

As a third example, if the devil tempts you psychologically with the power thing, respond as Jesus did. I don’t want your offer to run my life myself. I worship the Lord God and him only will I serve. I like Jesus running my life. He’s doing a great job and I wouldn’t think of trying to take over myself again. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt, seen the end of the movie and it’s a dead end. And here’s another parallel you can count on. When your time of trial is done and you have resisted, angels will come and minister to you. You will be built up and your strength will be renewed and as it says in Isaiah, “…they who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint.”

Let me repeat and reinforce the parallels we have been examining between what we know of our Savior’s life and what we can expect in our own lives. We all come from a family tree. We were all born and we grew and somewhere along the line we became followers of Christ or we need to become followers of Christ. When we are baptized the Holy Spirit descends on us and God says to each of us this is my beloved son or daughter in whom I am well pleased. As followers of Christ we can expect struggles and we should be encouraged if the devil comes after us… it means we are on God’s side and the devil wants us back. If we resist as Jesus did and rely on prayer and Holy Scripture as He taught us the devil will flee. Then just as Jesus did our ministry begins. God saved you because He loves you but he saved you for something. He saved you to carry out His mission which is to save the world. Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is at hand. That means it starts here and now for believers.

So what do we do now? Jesus showed us the way and he told us what to do. When he called the first disciples he said Follow me and I will make you fishers of men. That’s what we are meant to do. We’re to follow him and he will make us fishers of men. We are to teach others about Jesus Christ. We are to preach the gospel of the kingdom. That means sharing our faith and telling others how Jesus forgave our sins and freed us to share eternal life with Him. We need to tell people that whatever they’re going through Jesus is there to forgive them to love them and to transform them beyond their wildest dreams. We need to take God’s healing to those who so desperately need it. Our culture is desperate for healing of body mind and spirit. There are a lot of hurting people out there and we are meant to take Jesus to them so that they can be healed.

I want to leave you with this. When Jesus called Peter and Andrew our gospel says, “Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.” And going on from there he called James and John the sons of Zebedee, and our Gospel says “Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed Him. Immediately. Whatever you’re doing, whatever you’re hanging on to that’s holding you back from following Jesus or holding you back from taking on the ministry that Jesus has for you …Whatever it is, stop, let it go and follow him. Jesus wants to save your life. Jesus wants to use you to build up his kingdom. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Don’t you want to be a part of it? Jesus said I stand at the door and knock. Let him in. Then let him take control of your life. Then you will be fulfilling God’s plan for you and for the first time you will really have a future. On you a light will dawn. Amen.