A Sermon by Pastor Tom Lacey . . .

MY WAY OR THE HIGHWAY

Matthew 4:1-11, Preached at Congregational Church of Boca Raton, February 10, 2008

 A forester named Sam used to chop a lot of trees. And every time he’d hit a tree, he'd say, "Oh, Adam." One day the owner of the company came by and asked him, "How come every time you hit the tree, you say, `Oh, Adam?’" Sam said, "Because Adam, my forefather, sinned against God. God cursed him and said that he would have to work from that time on. So every time I hit this ax against the tree, it reminds me that if Adam hadn't sinned, I wouldn't have to work." The next day the owner came back, "Come with me, Sam." He took him to his big, plush, palatial ten-thousand-square-foot mansion. He said, "It's all yours. You can live in it; you can do whatever you want. You've got a swimming pool, tennis court, and servants—everything. Everything in this house is yours. I ask only one thing: Don't lift up the box on the dining room table. Enjoy everything else in the house, be what you want to be, do your own thing, but that box on the dining room table, don’t touch."  Sam said, "No problem. I can handle it." So Sam played tennis every day, went swimming, ate three meals a day. But after about five months, the box started to bother him. He wanted to know why, if he could have everything, that box was so important. But he said, "No, I'm not going to touch it; I'm not going to jeopardize my time here." After a year he had tried everything. He had gotten used to everything. There was nothing new anymore. There was only one thing new in that house, and that was that box. And so one day, when nobody was looking, he lifted up the box just a little bit. Out of that box ran a little, teeny mouse that hid, and Sam couldn't catch it and couldn't find it. The owner came home and saw that the box had been lifted. He went to Sam, "Now Sam I warned you. Go back out into the forest, pick up your ax and chop again." The next time the owner came by he heard Sam saying, "Oh, Sam. Oh, Sam."

Our text is about our temptations, the ones that you face, the ones that you fail at, the one or ones against which you have prevailed. Do you need me to describe what these are? Or the consequences of falling to them? If you do, let this little anecdote remind you: While Ron and Jane were shopping at a mall, a shapely young woman in a short, form-fitting dress strolled by. Ron’s eyes followed her. Without looking up from the item she was examining, Jane asked, “Was it worth the trouble you’re in?” As Jesus said, “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” Instead of yielding to the temptation, “yield yourselves to God.” Romans 6:13 Endure the temptation and you will find yourself blessed in new ways. Resist and you will find a new strength.

What we want to see this morning is that there is a way forward, a way up, after falling and failing.

First of all, not all temptations are the same. Some of them are self-made, and basically bad tools of our own making. They are not really very spiritual in nature, as they have more to do with character. It's like a man that Pastor Bill Hybels tells about. Hybels was stranded in an airport waiting for a delayed flight when he struck up a conversation with another waiting passenger. This gentleman poured out his life story to Hybels. The world was against him. His wife had left him. He had lost his job. He was deeply in debt. Life just wasn't fair, he complained. A guy like him couldn't get any breaks. After the man finished his story, Pastor Hybels began asking him some questions. Had he been a good and loving husband to his wife? Not really, the man admitted. Had he been an outstanding employee at his job? Well, no. In fact, the man confessed that he had lost his temper and cursed his former boss. Hybels continued with the questions: had the man spent any of his money frivolously? Well, yes. He had tried to live a lifestyle he couldn't afford. This man had been blaming God, the universe, and those around him for making his life so hard, yet he couldn't see that his own actions had led him to this place in life. Perhaps in one of these areas, he was tempted in a spiritual way to break with God and take sides with the devil. But when it is all of these, added up, this is a self-made self-destruction. We do reap what we sow. For every action there is an often unequal and oversized reaction, for which we have little control. So be careful. Stay prudent. Take care of your conscience. Think about the consequences. Care for those who will also be affected by your actions. 

We read in our passage that at the end of Jesus' fast he was hungry. You will notice that the temptations come as simple suggestions. That's what temptations are—suggestions. No one can make us yield. We have to do that ourselves. And what did the devil suggest? The tempter simply suggested that Jesus make some of those little rocks that looked like loaves of bread into real loaves. What could be the harm in that? Jesus was in the desert coming to grips with the kind of Messiah he was to be. He was settling in his own mind what he needed to do and how he needed to go about his work. The concept became clearer to him as the days and prayers mounted. He was to be a Messiah who pointed to the deeper hunger in people, a hunger beyond bread and wine, a hunger for God. And that is the point of danger in the first temptation: concentrate on the physical necessities; focus on bread; feed the people; be a welfare reformer. These are good things, important things. You have been asked to contribute money so we could do a little to help hungry people. We care about the poor, and this is right and good. Had he allowed himself to be drawn into it, Jesus could have been a marvelous provider of basic human needs. He could have given bread and drawn great crowds to himself. Jesus could have gone into the bread distribution business had he wanted to. It was a necessary job, and it was his temptation. But look at his answer: It is written: “Man does not live by bread alone.” There is a deeper hunger in people, a hunger that a cool beer under the shade tree won't ultimately satisfy; a hunger that weekends in the Bahamas can't fill; a thirst that new cars and nice houses and great neighbors just will not quench. Life cannot be built on a crust or counted by the loaf. For Jesus, the issue of bread was at one and the same time spiritual and material. He was hungry, but the temptation was wrapped in crucial spiritual tones.

For some this is also how it is, with their temptations, perhaps food. Baseball manager Tommy Lasorda was being interviewed by Paul Harvey and was talking about his diet. It was not going well. "I am a strong man," said Lasorda, "but linguini is stronger." And there was a Weight Watchers member who proudly announced at the meeting just after Easter that her diet was finally working. This was the first year her children knew that chocolate Easter bunnies had ears.

There are two damning lies Satan wants us to believe: Just once won’t hurt. The second is that now that you have ruined your life, you are beyond God’s use, and might as well continue sinning. Neither one is true. Doing something just once can and will change our lives forever. People die from doing something just once. People are changed immeasurably after doing something just once. Whole lives are torn apart because someone did something just once.

This is like the two mountain boys who spotted a bobcat up a tree and decided to have some fun. One said, "I'll shinny up that tree and chase him down, and you put him in a sack." The other agreed, and the first fellow climbed up the tree. When he reached the right limb, he started shaking it and the cat came tumbling down. The other fellow grabbed it by the back of the neck and tried to put him into a sack. There was a terrible commotion. Dust and fur and skin were flying in all directions. "What's the matter,” the fellow in the tree called down, “You need help catching one little ol' bobcat?" "No, I don't need help catchin' him,” the friend shouted back. “I need help turnin' him a-loose." Do something once and we often end up having a tough time turning it a-loose. The effect and the consequence clings to us.

Too many of us expect to be tempted and defeated by temptation. The remedy for this is found in Romans 13:14, “…Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” When we are tempted we can ask ourselves a series of questions: Does this bring me genuine power? Will this make me more loving? Will this make me more whole? How will effect the people I love. Each time you challenge temptation successfully, you empower yourself and you love others.

Temptation is real. There is no doubt. In fact, to this day, you can see the ink stain on the wall of Martin Luther’s study. Almost 500 years ago, Luther caused that ink stain by throwing his ink jar at the devil as he tempted him in his own innermost thoughts and desires. The devil hasn’t ceased either. So if we will be wrestling with this all our lives, we should get ourselves an example of how to win, other than by throwing ink jars. Let’s look at how Jesus did it. There, in the wilderness, every time he was tempted, he quoted scripture. And, don’t miss the fact that all of the scriptures he quoted were from the Exodus. When facing his own struggles in the wilderness, he looked back and remembered Israel’s struggles in their wilderness. That should give us a clue as to what scripture is. To quote scripture is not like rubbing Aladdin’s lamp to produce a miracle. It’s not like holding a cross out in front of a threatening vampire. To quote scripture is to remember. It is to recall how God has been faithful and dependable in times past. It is to recall how God’s grace and strength has always been sufficient for our every need. And, as we remember, we receive the grace we need to resist temptation. The Holy Spirit uses this experience to dig a deeper channel of strength in our soul, to make us stronger and more faithful followers of Christ Jesus. Scripture is not just the record of what God said and did long ago. It is the means by which we open ourselves to Him so that He can do it again!

Now if you can’t think of any appropriate scripture, you may want to remember Mark Twain’s profound insight: “There are several good protections against temptation, but the surest is cowardice.” Whatever it takes.

Sometimes, in this life, it has to be your way or the highway. Be strong enough to tell temptation to take a hike. Take your walk with the Lord to the next level. Resist the urge to return to paths on which you have walked before and lost before. From now on, you take the high road, the highway. Your victory is assured, for here is where the angels will tend to you.  

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