Sidney UMC - First Sunday In Lent - 02/26/23 - Sermon - “Jesus’ Basic Training!” (“The Journey to the Empty Tomb” Series: Part 1 of 7)

                                 Sunday 02/26/23 - Sidney UMC

Sermon Title:               “Jesus’ Basic Training!”                                             (“The Journey to the Empty Tomb” Series: Part 1 of 7)                                                                                                      

Old Testament Scripture: Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7                                          

New Testament Scripture: Romans 5:12-19     

Gospel Lesson: Matthew 4:1-11     

          For some of you, or for some of the people you know, you joined the military or were drafted. You signed the papers, you were sworn in, and then you went to basic training. From my understanding, once you finish your basic training this is when you are fully in the military. You do get paid during basic training, you have signed the papers, and you were sworn in, but it’s not really official until you complete basic training. From my understanding basic training in the military has different requirements. The soldier must complete certain tasks, pass certain tests, and achieve certain goals to successfully graduate from basic training. Some of us have attended a basic training graduation, of if you were in the military participated in a basic training graduation. Military officers also go through a basic training specially designed for officers.

          I tell you all this, because you sign the papers, you are sworn in, but you are not official until you graduate from basic training. Different branches of the military have different lengths of basic training, from I believe about 8-weeks to 12-weeks in the US Marine Corps. Some basic trainings involved life fire simulations, being exposed to tear gas, etc.

          Now, I don’t tell you all of this to give you a sermon on enlisting or being drafted into the military, and what that entails, instead I tell you all of this to compare it to our gospel of Matthew 4:1-11 reading for this morning. This morning, Jesus has already been baptized by his cousin John Baptist, and in coming out of the baptism waters in the Jordan River, God speaks, and the Holy Spirit descends upon Christ like a dove. All three person of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are present. In the gospel of John, John the Baptist says this in 1:29:

²⁹ The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! (Jn. 1:29, NRSV).

          Jesus is now 30-years old; he had just been baptized, and already John the Baptist is pointing out that Jesus is indeed the Messiah, the savior. Yet, even though Jesus’ ministry on earth was only three years, from when he was thirty until he was crucified and died on Good Friday at the age of thirty-three, Jesus does not go forth today to preach, love, heal, and forgive until after his trial and temptation in the wilderness in the gospel of Matthew 4:1-11 for this morning.

          Today I am starting a seven-part sermon series for Lent called “The Journey To The Empty Tomb,” as Lent will turn into Easter with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Today, as my sermon title says, is “Jesus’s Basic Training!” Jesus is already the Messiah, born of his mother Mary, check. Jesus was sworn in to officially shift to his three-year earthly ministry as our Lord and Savior, after his baptism, check. Remember though, in the military, generally speaking, you are not official until you graduate basic training. Today in our gospel of Matthew 4:1-11 reading for this morning, is “Jesus’ Basic Training!” Obviously, Jesus was against war, and as such, I am just using this as a comparative example.

          Jesus goes into the wilderness and for 40-days and 40-nights on this day, Jesus is tempted by the devil. Now basic training can be rough, but I hope for those of you that have served that your basic training was a least a little better than 40-days and 40-nights in the wilderness being tempted by the devil! In a way, it is sort of a testing ground for Jesus. A question to ask though, is do we believe that Jesus was fully God and fully human, and was our Lord Savior even before going to the wilderness this morning, and even before his baptism? Further according to the gospel of John is Jesus our Lord and Savior, even before his even birth? Yes of course he is for both, but it is interesting to me that before Jesus goes forth with his gospel and all that he did, that he first goes through a time of great trial. I mean he didn’t have to, but he did. Maybe this was a way to put the devil in check right away, or maybe Jesus just wanted to be fully prepared. He was already the savior of the world. The papers were signed. He was baptized. He was sworn in. Today he graduates from his own “Basic Training”.

          In looking at our lectionary scriptures for this morning, there is strong interconnection between them all. I chose for our three of the four lectionary scriptures for this morning, Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7, Romans 5:12-19, and Matthew 4:1-11. Why did I choose these three? I chose these three because of theme of being faithful and staying the course.

          For example, in our Book of Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7 reading for this morning, the first human God creates is Adam. The name Adam can be translated to “man” “soil” or “light brown” (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Adam#:~:text=Borrowed%20from%20Latin%20Adam%2C%20from,soil%2C%20light%20brown%E2%80%9D). Adam is a creation from God, and so Eve will be, as well. Adam and Eve were created to work and maintain the garden that God put them into. All they had to do was refrain from as it says in Genesis 2:17, once again:

¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die” (Gen. 2:17, NRSV).

          The serpent, the devil talks Adam and Eve into eating from this tree, and sin enters the world. They do the one thing that God asked them not to do. Adam failed God, because he disobeyed God, and Adam and Eve are expelled from the garden.

          So, with reviewing our Old Testament reading for this morning, let’s now review our New Testament reading from Romans 5:12-19. The Apostle Paul, once again, speaking of Adam in the Garden of Eden says starting in Romans 5:12:

¹² Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned— ¹³ for sin was indeed in the world before the law, but sin is not reckoned when there is no law. ¹⁴ Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin in the likeness of Adam, who is a pattern of the one who was to come                     (Rom. 5:12-14, NRSV).

          Paul tells us, as the Book of Genesis tells us that humanity fell in the Garden of Eden through Adam. The Apostle Paul said that the world has been fallen since that time. The Apostle Paul continues in Romans 5:15 saying, however:

¹⁵ But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died through the one man’s trespass, much more surely have the grace of God and the gift in the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for the many (Rom. 5:15, NRSV).

          The Apostle Paul is saying, that where Adam failed in the Garden of Eden, Jesus succeeded. Jesus then is the second Adam. In fact, the Apostle Paul completes this reading for this morning, ending with Romans 5:18-19 saying:

¹⁸ Therefore just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all. ¹⁹ For just as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so through the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous (Rom. 5:18-19, NRSV).

          So, as the Apostle Paul said, Adam failed in the Garden of Eden, but Jesus succeeded on the cross.

          This then leads us to our gospel of Matthew 4:1-11 lesson for this morning. Jesus is the savior, he’s been baptized, and now he goes into the wilderness for 40-days and 40-nights. It’s a time of trial and temptation for him, and the 40-day and 40-night season of Lent that we now find ourselves in is a season of spiritual preparation for us as we make the journey to the cross and the empty tomb. In the season of Lent, we are invited to give up, give away, pray, fast, and refrain to humble ourselves, to focus more on Christ. The season of Lent is not Jesus in the wilderness, but hopefully it is us praying more, refraining more, giving up, giving away, to be more like Jesus. Jesus goes through a time of trial in the gospel of Matthew reading for this morning, and the season of Lent we are invited to reflect, pray, humble ourselves, and grow closer to Christ.

          In looking at the gospel of Matthew 4:1-11 reading for this morning, it says starting in 4:1, once again:

4 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested by the devil. ² He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was famished      (Mt. 4:1-2, NRSV).

          After Jesus fasted for forty day and forty nights, the devil then came to tempt Jesus. The devil tempts him food, the ability to save his own life, and with riches and power.

          Picking up in Matthew 4:3 it says, once again:

³ The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” ⁴ But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ” ⁵ Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, ⁶ 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.’ ” ⁷ Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” ⁸ Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, ⁹ and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” ¹⁰ Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’ ” ¹¹ Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him (Mt. 4:3-11, NRSV).

          So, Jesus is tempted with food, as he was hungry, saving his own life, and he was offered all the riches, kingdoms of the world, and all the power in the world. After passing of these tests, like basic training, Jesus resists the devil and the temptations of the devil. Where Adam failed in the Garden of Eden, Jesus succeeded in his time of trial and temptation in the wilderness. Further, Jesus succeeded in every way, never sinned, and therefore is the only one qualified to die for us.

          In this season of Lent that will take us to Good Friday, and then to Easter, we are invited to enter into Lenten disciplines. We are not invited into this to suffer and to be cruel to ourselves, but instead to give up and give away. We are called to do this to be humble, to be more holy, and to be more like Jesus. After all, where Adam failed, Jesus succeeds, and today Jesus graduated from his “Basic Training”. After the 40-days and 40-nights in the wilderness, Jesus goes forth calling his first disciples, and he starts his public ministry on earth. In this season of Holy Lent let us strive to more like Jesus, to love each other more, and to grow closer to Christ! Happy Lent, and Amen.