We are oft fortunate to get copies of Bishop Jerry’s sermon notes. Today is one of those Sundays. Today’s sermon starts off with the collect, and like always, it will give you a lot to consider in your heart.
The First Sunday in Lent.
The Collect.
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LORD who for our sake didst fast forty days and forty nights; Give us grace to use such abstinence, that, our flesh being subdued to the Spirit we may ever obey thy godly motions in righteousness, and true holiness, to thy honour and glory, who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.
The first day of Lent, commonly called
Ash Wednesday.
The Collect.
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LMIGHTY and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all those who are penitent; Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
¶ This Collect is to be said every day in Lent, after the Collect appointed for the day, until Palm Sunday.
The Collect
This Collect aptly points out the cardinal principle of Lent – a time to abstain from the material blessings to which we have become so accustomed in order to focus on that Passover sacrifice which Christ made of us on Good Friday. A staff officer to General Robert E. Lee once asked, “General, how oft ought a man to fast from eating?” to which General Lee responded, “If a man will but fast from his sins, he may eat what he pleases.” Simple enough, but who is able to keep that fast from sins? The Collect reveals not only that we should fast from time to time, but also it informs that our fast is personal and not public. Holiness is a personal quality and not one of which we should boast. Once we begin to boast to others of what we forego during fast, we have lost whatever blessing God would grant and have opted for the reward of a good opinion from our fellows. I urge each of us to read the Gospel for Morning Prayer today from Matthew 6:1-16 for a deeper understanding of Christ’s counsel on fasting and the means by which we are to keep our fast secret as we do our personal prayers. In this way, we will avoid the sin of the Pharisee in boasting of his better worth than the publican at the Temple.
The Holy Gospel
Matt 4:1-11
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HEN was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. 3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. 4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. 5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. 10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
The Sermon
In the last verses of the previous chapter, Christ had just been baptized by John in the Wilderness symbolizing a new birth and a separation – a new standing in the family of God, which sets us apart as a member of the Army of God.
This sacrament immediately reveals, if undertaken in earnest, the identity of the child of God.
In this case, it also was the instrument whereby God gave evidence of Christ being His Son in whom He was well pleased. The added testimony of the Holy Spirit confirmed all to the observers.
The one observer who was not well pleased was Satan. Satan became fully aware of the identity of Christ through this act. He often likewise assaults every child of God who stakes his claim in the Kingdom of God.
Light and darkness cannot exist in the same space.
A line was drawn in the sand much like that of Col William Travis at the Alamo.
A battle must ensue.
God never makes a truce with Satan. Immediately, the battle was joined by Christ. “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.” Much like the unmerited suffering of Job, Christ must be deprived of the pleasing elements of life until there is a victory.
Forty Days and Forty Nights: Sound familiar?
The rains gushed forth and the great fountains of the deep erupted for forty days and forty nights with poor Noah safely ensconced in the Ark.
Moses was upon Mount Sinai while the Law was being given for forty days and forty nights.
Elijah was forty days and forty nights sustained on Mount Horeb by the gifts of God.
And the Children of Israel wandered forty years in the Wilderness…..
We observe forty days and forty nights during Lenten Season (excepting Sundays) as a symbol of our fellowship of suffering with Christ: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death. (Phil 3:10)
Do we conscientiously fulfill this experience?
A number of principles for Christian learning are revealed in this text today:
1. Baptism: The Christian must be baptized in order to make a public testimony of his lot with Christ. He will not be ashamed of Christ. If Christ is baptized, so should we be.
2. Those who become One with Christ will have a hunger for the Bread of Life: He was afterward an hungred: When Jesus had suffered every deprivation of bread and water, He was intensely hungry. Satan bides his time until he perceives the most vulnerable moment in executing his vile temptations. It was at this moment that the Tempter came to Christ. Man shall not live by bread alone – we need the Bread of Heaven which is the Word, and that Word is Christ. It is this Bread that becomes our weapon against the wiles of Satan.
3. The child of God will be tempted and at the weakest of moments: “If thou be the Son of God”: Satan loves to question. His first temptation in the Garden was a question: “Hath God said?” He is not as concerned about total conviction of a lie as he is in simply creating doubt, for doubt makes faith null. “Command that these stones be made bread” The greatest physical need Christ feels at this moment is bread. How tempting to comply with Satan’s urgings!
4. The child of God uses Scripture as his weapon of Defense: (the hunger that the Christian suffers can only be satisfied in Christ)“It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God: Christ answers with Scripture, but that Word is also the Bread of Heaven! This Bread Satan cannot have.
5. We must not tempt God by our deal-making to sin: (though He loves us, He will not condone sin) Then Satan loosed a number of more temptings which Jesus rebuffed, again, with the written Word “It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” What a perfect lesson for us in confronting Satan. Just as darkness cannot abide the Light, Satan cannot abide the Word. Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God – We do not make deals of our righteousness with God. His demands unconditional surrender to Him. We reserve no secret sins or vices. We cannot cause God to condone any of our cherished sins, all must be on the table.
6. The devil will promise all that he has not the power to give, and take all that he has not right to take – your very soul!
Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;.9And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Satan will promise you all he does not have power to offer and demands all you do not have the power to keep from him.
7. We are to place no value above that of God in our lives:
Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. This last admonition was more than Satan could bear. “Then the devil leaveth him!” It is often the mystery of God that He allows our temptation under austere circumstances and with faint heavenly help. God watches and observes our overcoming strength through the power of our faith in Him. Then He sends succor: “and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him”. After He had born the battle and won the field, God sent the Angels to minister unto Him!
Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve - not the gods of fashion, of power, of wealth – but the God of Heaven in every avenue of our lives. Are you committed to Christ in all these three principles? It is Lenten Season! Now is the time to turn again with fresh resolve!
It should not be asking too much for us to seriously and deeply meditate upon the events of these forty days two thousand years ago. Our meager sacrifices of money and abstinence from certain foods will not satisfy the love of God. We would be wise this Lenten Season to remember the words of Hosea the prophet: For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. (Hosea 6:6)
It is true our sacrifices in resources for others who are in want are good evidence of our right hearts, however, the heart must be right first, if the gift is to be our true sacrifice. The motivation must spring from a deep and abiding love of God and for His Creatures.
Amen.
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