Experiencing Temptation

Luke 4:1-4:13
Last week we saw that the previous chapter of Luke dealt with Jesus’ baptism. During this baptism we saw Jesus anointed by the Holy Spirit in the appearance of a dove, and we heard God the Father affirm Jesus by saying, “You are my Son, whom I love. With You I am well pleased.” With such glowing words, one might expect God’s tasks for Jesus to be easy. But as we shall see that with God, “love” does not mean the same thing as “easy.”

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days He was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them He was hungry. – Luke 4:1-2

Why does Luke reiterate that Jesus is “full of the Holy Spirit”? In other locations in Luke we have seen that when he uses this wording he is saying that the person is being led by the Holy Spirit. In fact, in the parallel passage in the gospel of Mark, we see a much stronger wording:

Preparing the Way

Luke 3:1-3:38
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene—during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert. He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. – Luke 3:1-3

As we have seen in previous weeks in this series, Luke establishes the factual nature of his account with details about the leadership and the time of the events. He is telling his audience that the things they have heard about Jesus are not just stories but fact.

Here he comes back to talking about John, the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth. Recall what the angel Gabriel had said of John before his birth:

He will be a joy and delight to you [Zechariah], and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. – Luke 1:14-17

Signs and Wonders

Luke 2:1-2:52

Those of you who are fans of the Lord of the Rings trilogy know that the huge epic story is really about the end of an age in the universe of Middle Earth. By the end of the story, after the “one ring” has been destroyed, one age has come to an end, and another has begun, the “Age of Men.”

What about our universe, the real one? Is our history one than can be separated into ages? Yes, I think so. There is certainly more than one way to do it. Matthew, in the first chapter of his gospel, provides a genealogy that is divided into three groups: from Abraham to David, from David to the exile in Babylon, and from the exile to the birth of Christ. This is certainly a valid (and Biblical) way to do it, although it doesn’t go back to the very beginning, but instead begins with Abraham.

Foretelling

Luke 1:1-1:80

Today we begin a new series on the Gospel of Luke. Last year we went through the Book of Acts, also written by Luke. So we are doing these in “reverse order.” I figure if it worked out for Star Wars, and apparently, will work out for The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings, it should work out OK for us.

I want to briefly mention some of the things we learned about Luke from the book of Acts. There we saw that Luke was painstakingly careful with accuracy and, often, but not always, detail. He did not sugar-coat things, and he did not make the Apostle Paul out to be a superhero – in fact, he was careful to lay out the good as well as the bad. He never tried to defend the early church, but simply to say what had happened.

The Overcoming Christian: Conclusion

As we reach the end of the year, it is a good time to look back on the past year and look forward to the year to come. In our culture, people are much more likely to look forward than to look back. But there is a place for both. Today I want to spend a little time doing both.

This message completes our series entitled The Overcoming Christian. Here is a brief summary of the messages of this series. As I go through this summary, if particular topics prick your heart, if it seems as if you are weak in this particular area or topic, write it down.

The Overcoming Christian. Our main passage was portions of the first three chapters of Revelations, as well as Romans 8:37. We summarized the messages to the seven churches of Revelation as the following: 1. Do not forsake your first love. 2. Remain faithful in suffering. 3. Turn from all idols. 4. Turn from immorality. 5. Embrace the gospel. 6. Hold on. 7. Enter into relationship with Jesus. I mentioned the Nike symbol and said we are to be hupernikeo, more than overcomers, more than conquerors. Has your relationship with Christ grown superficial or weak?

The Expectant Christian

It is always interesting to listen to what foreigners think about Americans. One observation I have heard several times is that we are shallow. By this they mean that we are so rich and content in our “stuff” that we care little about things that really matter to the rest of the world – things involving relationships. I think there is some truth to this. In most of the rest of the world, when you become friends with someone, you become friends for life. This is true whether you remain living in the same area or not.

My grandmother, who lived her first 37 years in Germany, wrote letters to about a dozen people until her health began to fail in her late 80s. And letter writing for her doesn’t even begin to compare to what we call letter writing. For many Americans, letter writing means you send a Christmas card or perhaps a photocopied letter once a year. If it is personalized at all, the personalization consists of signing your name. We are guilty of this, ourselves. We have some “professional” contacts we send letters to every year, and we have some former friends that we only hear from once a year with the letter. But my grandmother wrote out full letters to each of her friends, and they wrote back. She sent at least one to each person every month, often twice a month. And these were long letters, giving details of what was going on in their lives.

The Fortunate Christian

My message today is entitled “The Fortunate Christian.” Do you feel fortunate? Do you feel fortunate when you get a flat tire and have to pull over to the side of the road? Do you feel fortunate when your roof starts to leak? Do you feel fortunate when you can tell you are coming down with a cold? Do you feel fortunate when you almost pass your class, but not quite? I can assure you that some of my students at Clemson right now do not feel fortunate.

We are so far talking about little inconveniences. What about the really big things? Do you feel fortunate when you lose your job? Do you feel fortunate when your spouse leaves you? Do you feel fortunate when you are told you have cancer? There are very few of us that would feel fortunate at moments like that.

The Boasting Christian

This week I started with a clip from the children’s video Frog and Toad. I played a portion of a story entitled “The Dream.” Here is a transcript:

Toad was asleep, and he was having a dream. He was on a stage, and he was wearing a costume. Toad looked out into the dark. Frog was sitting in the theater. A strange voice from far away said, “PRESENTING THE GREATEST TOAD IN ALL THE WORLD!” Toad took a deep bow. Frog looked smaller as he shouted, “Hooray for Toad!”

“TOAD WILL NOW PLAY THE PIANO VERY WELL,” said the strange voice. Toad played the piano, and he did not miss a note. “Frog,” cried Toad, “can you play the piano like this?” “No,” said Frog. It seemed to Toad that Frog looked even smaller.

“TOAD WILL NOW WALK ON A HIGH WIRE, AND HE WILL NOT FALL DOWN,” said the voice. Toad walked on the high wire. “Frog,” cried Toad, “can you do tricks like this?” “No,” peeped Frog, who looked very, very small.

The Humbled Christian

I began by showing a video clip from the Christian movie Flywheel. The scene features a used-car salesman who used to enjoy ripping people off while selling them used cars, but who has recently rededicated his life to Christ. Feeling conviction over his former ways, he decides to go give refunds to those he had ripped off. Initially, the people he meets are very appreciative, even overjoyed, and are so happy to see the money they don’t really care about the fact that he had ripped them off in the past. He talks to his wife about how easy this is, and says that he was worried about eating crow, but instead is eating cake. His wife warns him about being prideful, and he denies it. The next lady he visits, however, really takes him to task. Here is their conversation:

“You what? You cheated me?!”

“Well, I mean I just wasn’t very honest about it…”

The Thankful Christian

I want to start today with a familiar passage from Romans Chapter 1.

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. – Romans 1:18-20

This passage came to me as I was thinking about a hike we took on Tuesday with Mimi’s family. We took the hike to Oconee Station Falls, off of Highway 11. It was an absolutely perfect day for a hike, with mild weather, hardly a cloud in the sky, and gorgeous fall scenery. There was a breeze, and at times, so many leaves would come down at once that you could make a game of trying to catch them as they fell. Although the water levels were low, the falls were still quite impressive. Oconee Station Falls have moderate height but impressive width, and even with the low water, the water fell at full width.