WEBVTT 00:00:01.739 --> 00:00:04.419 God does not test you to find out who you are. 00:00:06.459 --> 00:00:12.740 He tests you after he's already told you who 00:00:12.740 --> 00:00:23.600 you are. Hey, grab your imagination and come 00:00:23.600 --> 00:00:26.800 with me for a moment. You are standing on the 00:00:26.800 --> 00:00:28.960 banks of the Jordan River and the water still 00:00:28.960 --> 00:00:31.960 moving where he has now come up out of it. And 00:00:31.960 --> 00:00:35.740 the sky, it didn't open politely. It tore apart. 00:00:36.500 --> 00:00:39.359 And the voice said what nobody expected to hear 00:00:39.359 --> 00:00:42.740 out loud. This is my beloved son and whom I am 00:00:42.740 --> 00:00:45.859 well pleased. And you'd think the next step is 00:00:45.859 --> 00:00:49.060 crowds and miracles and movement. But the spirit 00:00:49.060 --> 00:00:52.320 turns not towards applause, but towards the desert. 00:00:52.969 --> 00:00:58.909 40 days, hunger, silence, testing, beloved first, 00:00:59.270 --> 00:01:04.310 wilderness next. And now it's Sunday morning 00:01:04.310 --> 00:01:07.909 in a small brick church in Cushing. The coffee's 00:01:07.909 --> 00:01:10.909 percolating in the foyer. Someone's flipping 00:01:10.909 --> 00:01:13.670 through a Bible that they have owned since 1987. 00:01:14.709 --> 00:01:17.549 You walked in carrying something, maybe hunger, 00:01:17.709 --> 00:01:20.750 maybe fatigue, maybe a question you can't name 00:01:20.750 --> 00:01:25.280 yet. We are beginning Lent today, not as spectators, 00:01:25.379 --> 00:01:28.879 but as people willing to be formed. So settle 00:01:28.879 --> 00:01:32.180 in, breathe. The Spirit still leads even here. 00:01:32.760 --> 00:01:36.060 And friend, I will see you on the other side. 00:01:41.379 --> 00:01:45.379 Hey, before we get into the deep water this morning, 00:01:45.459 --> 00:01:48.579 I want to say something to the folks that are 00:01:48.579 --> 00:01:54.010 new with us. If you've just kind of been joining 00:01:54.010 --> 00:01:57.730 us recently and you find that we're now in a 00:01:57.730 --> 00:02:01.349 new season and what we're doing is we're walking 00:02:01.349 --> 00:02:07.569 together through the church year or the liturgical 00:02:07.569 --> 00:02:10.469 year. That's why we have the different colored 00:02:10.469 --> 00:02:14.289 banners, pyramids, souls, because it's marking 00:02:14.289 --> 00:02:17.810 time. The way that the church sees the year, 00:02:17.949 --> 00:02:21.810 not the way the world sees the year. The liturgy, 00:02:21.969 --> 00:02:26.229 the liturgical year is the church's way of living 00:02:26.229 --> 00:02:31.310 inside the story that's in the Bible. Not just 00:02:31.310 --> 00:02:34.449 reading about it. Not just studying it from a 00:02:34.449 --> 00:02:38.469 distance like a museum exhibit under glass. We 00:02:38.469 --> 00:02:45.900 actually move through it. Season by season. We 00:02:45.900 --> 00:02:52.259 mark time the way people who believe something 00:02:52.259 --> 00:02:58.919 move through time. Intentionally. With our whole 00:02:58.919 --> 00:03:03.580 bodies. And with this week, we have started that 00:03:03.580 --> 00:03:07.520 new season, Lent. 40 days, not counting Sundays, 00:03:07.759 --> 00:03:11.780 40 days of something the church calls preparation. 00:03:13.000 --> 00:03:17.300 And if that word doesn't feel thick yet, give 00:03:17.300 --> 00:03:21.819 it a few Sundays and it will. This morning, I 00:03:21.819 --> 00:03:26.080 want to show you where we get those 40 days because 00:03:26.080 --> 00:03:29.740 it didn't come from some church committee. It 00:03:29.740 --> 00:03:33.060 didn't come from a denominational calendar in 00:03:33.060 --> 00:03:36.379 somebody's office somewhere. It actually came 00:03:36.379 --> 00:03:42.680 to us from a riverbank in Judea. And the wilderness? 00:03:43.280 --> 00:03:49.020 The man who was hungry. So, let me set the scene. 00:03:50.419 --> 00:03:54.800 You are standing on the banks of the Jordan River. 00:03:55.060 --> 00:03:59.539 The water... Is still dripping off of his shoulders. 00:03:59.680 --> 00:04:03.020 You can see the surface of the river. Starting 00:04:03.020 --> 00:04:08.020 to settle back to calm. Like the river itself 00:04:08.020 --> 00:04:11.719 is catching its breath. After what just happened. 00:04:11.840 --> 00:04:17.180 And you know what? You are too. Because you heard 00:04:17.180 --> 00:04:26.970 it. The sky tore. Not parted. Not. gently opened, 00:04:27.129 --> 00:04:31.990 tore, like something on the other side had been 00:04:31.990 --> 00:04:35.389 waiting a long time and finally couldn't wait 00:04:35.389 --> 00:04:38.949 anymore. And the voice that came through the 00:04:38.949 --> 00:04:43.089 tear said something you didn't know that anybody 00:04:43.089 --> 00:04:47.689 needed to hear said out loud. This is my beloved 00:04:47.689 --> 00:04:54.509 son, whom I am well pleased. And you think this 00:04:54.509 --> 00:05:01.189 is it. Jesus' ministry starts now. Crowds are 00:05:01.189 --> 00:05:04.649 about to gather. This is the moment where the 00:05:04.649 --> 00:05:10.069 world changes. You start doing the math. Galilee 00:05:10.069 --> 00:05:13.529 in the north, Jerusalem in the south. There are 00:05:13.529 --> 00:05:16.209 synagogues. There are sick people. There are 00:05:16.209 --> 00:05:19.370 fishing villages full of regular old ordinary 00:05:19.370 --> 00:05:23.550 folks who've never once been told that God thinks 00:05:23.550 --> 00:05:26.750 they're worth something. The work is right there. 00:05:26.750 --> 00:05:32.430 The work is now everywhere. The voice already 00:05:32.430 --> 00:05:37.660 spoke. The beloved already got named. What else 00:05:37.660 --> 00:05:43.399 is there to wait for? And you stand there on 00:05:43.399 --> 00:05:48.300 the edge of the river with water still squishing 00:05:48.300 --> 00:05:53.220 cold in your sandals. And you wait for that movement 00:05:53.220 --> 00:06:01.389 to start moving. And the spirit does move. But 00:06:01.389 --> 00:06:04.230 it doesn't move towards Jerusalem. It doesn't 00:06:04.230 --> 00:06:07.629 move towards all of those synagogues or the hillsides 00:06:07.629 --> 00:06:13.029 full of hungry people. It turns and it walks 00:06:13.029 --> 00:06:20.050 straight into the desert. And he follows. This 00:06:20.050 --> 00:06:25.810 is where we get lent. Not from a committee, from 00:06:25.810 --> 00:06:31.040 a riverbank and a wilderness. And a man who was 00:06:31.040 --> 00:06:35.100 hungry for 40 days because the spirit led him 00:06:35.100 --> 00:06:41.040 there on purpose. I want you for a second to 00:06:41.040 --> 00:06:46.740 feel what 40 days does to a body. Day one is 00:06:46.740 --> 00:06:52.360 hard, but sharp. There's a kind of resolve comes 00:06:52.360 --> 00:06:56.939 with beginning something hard. You know what 00:06:56.939 --> 00:07:01.399 you're doing and why. But by day five, the body 00:07:01.399 --> 00:07:07.579 starts sending polite memos. By day 10, those 00:07:07.579 --> 00:07:13.800 memos start to have a sharp edge. By day 30, 00:07:13.939 --> 00:07:16.519 you're not quoting scripture for inspiration. 00:07:16.740 --> 00:07:19.800 You're quoting it because it is the only thing 00:07:19.800 --> 00:07:26.129 left in the room with you. And by day 40, Matthew 00:07:26.129 --> 00:07:29.470 doesn't give us some poetic line. He doesn't 00:07:29.470 --> 00:07:37.089 dress it up for us. He says he was hungry. Of 00:07:37.089 --> 00:07:45.250 course he was. And that, that is when the tempter 00:07:45.250 --> 00:07:49.689 comes. Because that's when the tempter always 00:07:49.689 --> 00:07:55.279 comes. Not when you're rested and certain. But 00:07:55.279 --> 00:07:58.879 when your resolve is worn thin and the simplest 00:07:58.879 --> 00:08:04.300 solution looks less now like temptation and more 00:08:04.300 --> 00:08:08.759 like a plan that makes plain sense. Friends, 00:08:08.779 --> 00:08:12.839 tune your ears to the reading of the Holy Scripture. 00:08:13.480 --> 00:08:16.720 Scripture this morning comes to us from the Gospel 00:08:16.720 --> 00:08:19.839 account according to Levi, later Matthew, beginning 00:08:19.839 --> 00:08:23.579 in the fourth chapter of his Gospel account. 00:08:25.550 --> 00:08:28.430 Then Jesus was led up by the spirit into the 00:08:28.430 --> 00:08:33.090 wilderness to be tempted by the devil. When he 00:08:33.090 --> 00:08:36.610 had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, scripture says, 00:08:36.690 --> 00:08:42.090 he was hungry. The tempter came and said to him, 00:08:42.149 --> 00:08:45.789 if you are the son of God, command these stones 00:08:45.789 --> 00:08:50.789 to become bread. But he answered, it is written. 00:08:51.740 --> 00:08:56.679 Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every 00:08:56.679 --> 00:09:01.759 word that proceeds out of God's mouth. Then the 00:09:01.759 --> 00:09:06.059 devil took him into the holy city. He sat him 00:09:06.059 --> 00:09:08.940 on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, 00:09:09.159 --> 00:09:14.399 If you are the son of God, throw yourself down. 00:09:18.440 --> 00:09:21.299 For it is written, he will command his angels 00:09:21.299 --> 00:09:26.580 concerning you. And on their hands, they will 00:09:26.580 --> 00:09:29.120 bear you up so that you don't dash your foot 00:09:29.120 --> 00:09:33.059 against the stone. And Jesus said to him again, 00:09:33.279 --> 00:09:39.379 it is written, you shall not test the Lord your 00:09:39.379 --> 00:09:43.639 God. And the devil took him to an exceedingly 00:09:43.639 --> 00:09:47.970 high mountain. and showed him all of the kingdoms 00:09:47.970 --> 00:09:52.129 of the world and their glory. He said to him, 00:09:52.190 --> 00:09:56.669 I will give you all of these things if you will 00:09:56.669 --> 00:10:01.529 fall down and worship me. Then Jesus said to 00:10:01.529 --> 00:10:07.409 him, get behind me, Satan, for it is written, 00:10:07.490 --> 00:10:11.909 you shall worship the Lord your God and him only. 00:10:12.399 --> 00:10:15.899 Shall you serve? Then the devil left him and 00:10:15.899 --> 00:10:20.340 behold, angels came and served him. Thus ends 00:10:20.340 --> 00:10:26.440 reading God's word this morning. Angels come 00:10:26.440 --> 00:10:33.600 after obedience, not before. Relief follows endurance, 00:10:33.820 --> 00:10:44.639 not avoidance. And that is the rhythm. And here's 00:10:44.639 --> 00:10:47.960 what I want some of the folks who are new with 00:10:47.960 --> 00:10:53.299 us to know. The ones walking through the liturgical 00:10:53.299 --> 00:10:56.399 year with us maybe for the first time, the church 00:10:56.399 --> 00:11:02.000 didn't invent Lent to make February harder. The 00:11:02.000 --> 00:11:08.029 church looked at this story and said, If the 00:11:08.029 --> 00:11:12.350 son of God needed 40 days of formation before 00:11:12.350 --> 00:11:17.169 he could do what he had been sent to do. If the 00:11:17.169 --> 00:11:22.070 beloved needed wilderness before the ministry, 00:11:22.429 --> 00:11:30.509 then maybe we do too. Maybe 40 days of intentional 00:11:30.509 --> 00:11:35.919 practice is worth something. Maybe rehearsal 00:11:35.919 --> 00:11:42.259 is holy. Lent is not punishment for the human. 00:11:43.399 --> 00:11:49.940 Lent is rehearsal for the beloved. And here is 00:11:49.940 --> 00:11:52.840 what the counterfeit version looks like, the 00:11:52.840 --> 00:11:57.139 one we all carry around without knowing it. We 00:11:57.139 --> 00:12:02.399 want resurrection without wilderness. We want 00:12:02.399 --> 00:12:05.500 Easter Sunday without the 40 -day walk that makes 00:12:05.500 --> 00:12:08.899 Easter mean something more than just a nice dress 00:12:08.899 --> 00:12:13.840 and a ham dinner. We want the authority without 00:12:13.840 --> 00:12:16.659 the formation that makes the authority a thing 00:12:16.659 --> 00:12:20.860 in the first place. We want to skip from beloved 00:12:20.860 --> 00:12:24.820 to victorious because that part in the middle 00:12:24.820 --> 00:12:30.259 makes us uncomfortable. We are a people who have 00:12:30.259 --> 00:12:34.639 been taught that discomfort means something must 00:12:34.639 --> 00:12:40.500 be wrong. But the spirit doesn't skip over things. 00:12:42.000 --> 00:12:46.259 The same spirit that descended at the Jordan 00:12:46.259 --> 00:12:49.919 turned and walked straight into the hard place. 00:12:50.299 --> 00:12:58.019 Not a detour. And on purpose. And here's the 00:12:58.019 --> 00:13:03.919 thing most of us won't say out loud. We have 00:13:03.919 --> 00:13:07.620 been moving so fast for so long that slow feels 00:13:07.620 --> 00:13:14.059 like failure. We have confused velocity for faithfulness. 00:13:15.299 --> 00:13:18.419 We don't even know we are sprinting until we're 00:13:18.419 --> 00:13:21.779 winded. And by then we have already convinced 00:13:21.779 --> 00:13:26.399 ourselves. That the breathlessness is just what 00:13:26.399 --> 00:13:32.799 devotion feels like. You know what good barbecued 00:13:32.799 --> 00:13:35.820 cooks know. That impatient cooks never truly 00:13:35.820 --> 00:13:41.080 get right. You cannot rush the braise. Low heat, 00:13:41.220 --> 00:13:44.940 long time. That's where the tough cut becomes 00:13:44.940 --> 00:13:47.919 the thing everybody is asking the recipe for. 00:13:48.879 --> 00:13:53.000 The spirit brazes 40 days, not to break him, 00:13:53.059 --> 00:13:59.379 to clarify him and not to break you either. In 00:13:59.379 --> 00:14:04.559 scripture, 40 is never just some random number. 00:14:05.899 --> 00:14:10.679 It's a covenant number. 40 days of flood, cleansing 00:14:10.679 --> 00:14:15.279 and renewal. 40 years in the wilderness, a whole 00:14:15.279 --> 00:14:20.000 generation formed into a people, Who could finally, 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:23.519 after those 40 years, actually enter into the 00:14:23.519 --> 00:14:28.039 promised land. 40 days on Sinai. Moses receiving 00:14:28.039 --> 00:14:30.639 the word that will hold everything together. 00:14:30.759 --> 00:14:35.159 40 is not arbitrary suffering. It is a number 00:14:35.159 --> 00:14:39.840 that means something. It means something is real 00:14:39.840 --> 00:14:44.179 and it's happening right in front of us. Something 00:14:44.179 --> 00:14:49.500 that takes time. Something that can't be microwaved. 00:14:50.419 --> 00:14:56.000 And what Jesus does in this desert is something 00:14:56.000 --> 00:15:03.039 that Matthew wants us to see clearly. Because 00:15:03.039 --> 00:15:07.960 what is happening here is he is walking back 00:15:07.960 --> 00:15:15.090 through Israel's failures. He reenacts the story 00:15:15.090 --> 00:15:18.470 with the devil, only he gets it right each time. 00:15:19.649 --> 00:15:23.049 Israel was hungry in the wilderness and lost 00:15:23.049 --> 00:15:28.029 faithfulness and demanded bread. Jesus is in 00:15:28.029 --> 00:15:33.870 the wilderness and trusts. Israel tested God 00:15:33.870 --> 00:15:37.110 at Meribah, demanding proof again and again. 00:15:37.149 --> 00:15:44.649 Jesus refuses to test God. Unfortunately, Israel 00:15:44.649 --> 00:15:49.809 bowed to lesser gods at Sinai, at Baal Peor, 00:15:50.009 --> 00:15:55.450 in the hills of Canaan. Jesus draws a line and 00:15:55.450 --> 00:16:00.610 does not negotiate it. This is faithful Israel, 00:16:00.990 --> 00:16:06.610 summed up in one body, succeeding where the nation 00:16:06.610 --> 00:16:12.029 had stumbled. This is recapitulation. The do 00:16:12.029 --> 00:16:16.570 -over that makes all the difference. That's why 00:16:16.570 --> 00:16:20.610 the temptations come in three. Bread, proof, 00:16:20.950 --> 00:16:28.529 power. Body, identity, dominion. The whole sweep 00:16:28.529 --> 00:16:34.570 of what makes us human and what we actually reach 00:16:34.570 --> 00:16:39.899 for when we're depleted. And he answers every 00:16:39.899 --> 00:16:43.159 single one of those questions with the word. 00:16:44.179 --> 00:16:49.899 Not with argument. Not with theology. With scripture. 00:16:51.700 --> 00:16:57.700 Because 40 days in the desert teaches you that 00:16:57.700 --> 00:17:00.879 what's left when everything else gets stripped 00:17:00.879 --> 00:17:07.299 down is still enough. Some of you wore ashes 00:17:07.299 --> 00:17:12.160 this week. Some of you heard those words out 00:17:12.160 --> 00:17:15.740 loud, maybe for the first time. Remember that 00:17:15.740 --> 00:17:21.039 you are dust and to dust you shall return. It's 00:17:21.039 --> 00:17:26.519 not an insult. It's a gift. Because knowing you 00:17:26.519 --> 00:17:31.299 are dust, finite, dependent, not holding the 00:17:31.299 --> 00:17:35.539 world up on your own. That is what makes trust 00:17:35.539 --> 00:17:40.380 possible. You can't hand over something if you 00:17:40.380 --> 00:17:44.779 first have to admit you're holding it. But I 00:17:44.779 --> 00:17:47.940 want to add something to those ashes this morning. 00:17:48.640 --> 00:17:53.539 You're also beloved. The voice spoke before the 00:17:53.539 --> 00:17:56.680 wilderness, before the testing, before the 40 00:17:56.680 --> 00:18:01.359 days. This is my beloved son in whom I am well 00:18:01.359 --> 00:18:04.519 pleased. Before he had earned a single thing, 00:18:04.720 --> 00:18:09.039 before he healed anybody or fed anybody or raised 00:18:09.039 --> 00:18:15.240 anybody, he was beloved first. Beloved people 00:18:15.240 --> 00:18:20.609 still go into the wilderness. The wilderness 00:18:20.609 --> 00:18:25.230 of our lives does not revoke the belovedness. 00:18:26.150 --> 00:18:31.049 If the spirit is leading you into 40 days of 00:18:31.049 --> 00:18:34.549 restraint or silence or hunger, something you 00:18:34.549 --> 00:18:38.089 didn't choose and wouldn't have, that's not abandonment. 00:18:39.029 --> 00:18:43.069 That's formation. That's the same spirit that 00:18:43.069 --> 00:18:46.329 was in the water at that Jordan River and in 00:18:46.329 --> 00:18:50.049 the desert at the temptation. The question of 00:18:50.049 --> 00:18:55.190 Lent is not, can I escape the wilderness? Question 00:18:55.190 --> 00:19:04.809 is, can I trust God in it? And we don't aim for 00:19:04.809 --> 00:19:08.630 drama. We shouldn't perform Lent for an audience. 00:19:09.170 --> 00:19:16.559 But, but, pick one place. Think about your life. 00:19:16.680 --> 00:19:21.000 Pick. There are plenty. Pick one place where 00:19:21.000 --> 00:19:24.660 efficiency in your life has replaced trust in 00:19:24.660 --> 00:19:29.819 God. One place in your life where you've been 00:19:29.819 --> 00:19:32.779 performing your identity for other people instead 00:19:32.779 --> 00:19:37.819 of resting in who you say and who God says you 00:19:37.819 --> 00:19:44.430 are. And square your feet in that. And then, 00:19:44.569 --> 00:19:50.589 just stay with it for a minute. Don't rush to 00:19:50.589 --> 00:19:54.490 fix it yet. Don't make a plan for it. Lent doesn't 00:19:54.490 --> 00:19:59.890 ask you to fix anything today. It just asks you 00:19:59.890 --> 00:20:02.769 to stop pretending that that place isn't there 00:20:02.769 --> 00:20:07.049 in the first place. And let the 40 days do what 00:20:07.049 --> 00:20:10.150 the 40 days do. You don't have to understand 00:20:10.150 --> 00:20:14.450 it yet. You don't have to theologize yourself 00:20:14.450 --> 00:20:17.009 through it. You just have to be willing to be 00:20:17.009 --> 00:20:23.849 in it. And when Easter comes, and it will come, 00:20:23.849 --> 00:20:28.990 it always comes. It won't feel like a spectacle. 00:20:29.549 --> 00:20:34.160 It'll feel like resurrection. Which is the only 00:20:34.160 --> 00:20:36.480 thing it was ever supposed to feel like in the 00:20:36.480 --> 00:20:42.819 first place. So, go now into whatever wilderness 00:20:42.819 --> 00:20:45.079 is already waiting for you. You didn't choose 00:20:45.079 --> 00:20:49.420 it. You don't have to love it. But you go into 00:20:49.420 --> 00:20:52.880 it as the beloved. And the spirit goes ahead 00:20:52.880 --> 00:20:57.680 of you. And the voice spoke over the river. Jordan 00:20:57.680 --> 00:21:00.200 that day will speak over whatever comes next 00:21:00.200 --> 00:21:03.170 in your life. And you're not being punished. 00:21:03.230 --> 00:21:07.470 You're being formed. Forty days from now, my 00:21:07.470 --> 00:21:11.309 dear friends, Easter will mean something it has 00:21:11.309 --> 00:21:16.049 never quite meant before. So go in peace and 00:21:16.049 --> 00:21:19.630 let the Spirit lead even when it leads to the 00:21:19.630 --> 00:21:29.849 hard places. Amen. Amen. If the wilderness feels 00:21:29.849 --> 00:21:32.230 closer than you'd like right now, hear this again. 00:21:33.089 --> 00:21:35.309 You're not being punished. You're being formed. 00:21:36.269 --> 00:21:39.210 The voice spoke, beloved, before the desert ever 00:21:39.210 --> 00:21:42.349 showed up, before the hunger, before the testing, 00:21:42.549 --> 00:21:45.549 before you got it right or wrong, beloved, first. 00:21:46.609 --> 00:21:49.809 Spirit may lead towards hard places. It should 00:21:49.809 --> 00:21:53.869 never lead you alone. Same God who allowed the 00:21:53.869 --> 00:21:57.190 hunger is the God who sends the angels. Same 00:21:57.190 --> 00:22:00.859 word. Steady Jesus in the wilderness is steadying 00:22:00.859 --> 00:22:04.900 you right now. So don't rush the 40 days. Don't 00:22:04.900 --> 00:22:08.599 sprint past the slow work. Stay where your feet 00:22:08.599 --> 00:22:12.559 are. Trust the forming. Easter will come, not 00:22:12.559 --> 00:22:17.039 as spectacle, but as resurrection. And if something 00:22:17.039 --> 00:22:20.160 landed today, if you heard something new, or 00:22:20.160 --> 00:22:25.140 maybe an old truth sounded different, or the 00:22:25.140 --> 00:22:28.180 wilderness suddenly made more sense to you, Go 00:22:28.180 --> 00:22:29.799 ahead and throw that old like in the offering 00:22:29.799 --> 00:22:32.180 plate. That little click helps this digital church 00:22:32.180 --> 00:22:34.680 bell keep ringing. And if you'd like to keep 00:22:34.680 --> 00:22:36.759 walking with us towards Jerusalem through these 00:22:36.759 --> 00:22:40.259 40 days, tie your subscribe. That way you'll 00:22:40.259 --> 00:22:42.119 know when we're meeting for church again. We'll 00:22:42.119 --> 00:22:44.480 keep the door open, the word steady, and the 00:22:44.480 --> 00:22:47.700 caveat. And as always, friend, be blessed.