The Illusion of Worldly Success Preached at Wollaston Congregational Church On March 5th, 2017 Scripture: Matthew 4:1-11 Three years ago, on the first Sunday of Lent, at Stoughton United Church of Christ, I preached a sermon based on today’s gospel story. I thought it went over pretty well. But this year I returned to the story we heard today and saw things in a different light. And so, to recap: this story takes place right at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, just after he has been baptized by John the Baptist in the River Jordan. Jesus is led into the dessert by the Spirit. He is not led there to pray or to go on retreat, as we might expect. He is led specifically to be tempted, or more accurately tested, by the devil! We join this trial forty days in. Jesus has been fasting the whole time, and is famished. We might imagine he’s mentally, physically and spiritually exhausted. This is a state in which many of us would be susceptible to temptation. At this point the devil finally shows up and challenges Jesus with three temptations or tests. The devil prefixes each test to Jesus with the words “If you are the Son of God…” He echoes the expression heard booming from heaven at Jesus’ baptism … “this is my son, the beloved with whom I am well pleased.” The first challenge the devil poses, is to suggest that Jesus, weak and famished as he is, turns stones to bread so that he can eat his fill. The second test is to suggest a mighty stunt, in which Jesus throws himself from the pinnacle of the temple, only to be rescued by God’s angels. And the third temptation involves handing over all power to the devil, bowing down and worshiping him, in exchange for the rights of power and control over all the nations of the earth. This seems like a shady deal, because the devil would then actually be the one in control, yes? Having reviewed the story I pulled out the sermon from three years ago. The premise I had used at that time was that the devil completely misunderstood what it meant for Jesus to be the Son of God. The challenges involve the manipulation of power and control, winning people over with miraculous feats and stunts. This was something that Jesus would never do. The devil had no idea! Hmm .. now I was not so sure. I realized that this is just one perspective on the text. In fact, I began to think I had made a grave mistake with that previous sermon - I had seriously underestimated the opponent. And the opponent is the devil. I began to look from the other side. What if the devil is only too aware of what the meaning of Jesus’ Sonship is? What if he totally gets that Jesus is all about the power of love, putting aside worldly success and power? What if the devil absolutely understands that Jesus relationship with God the Father a relationship of trust? What if the devil knows, better than any of us, that if he tests Jesus by tempting him to trust in worldly power and success, instead of the love of God, Jesus’ Sonship will be blown away? Looking at things this way, I believe that the devil seeks to mislead Jesus into choosing the route of worldly power and success. I think he does this because he knows this would make Jesus not Son of God. Jesus will just be another demagogue. If the devil’s plan works out, he will rob Jesus of his actual power: the power of God’s love in the world. As the story tells us, the devil does not convince Jesus that what the actions he suggests are the actions of the Son of God. But the tragedy of the story is that the devil had better luck with the followers of Christ. The Christian Church, also known as the body of Christ, has fallen prey to these temptations throughout history. It’s easy to see how the some churches have gone along. We mainline protestants often critique the quick-fix spirituality of churches who promote the Prosperity Gospel with their promises of great riches. But the wealth that is promised is based largely on members making substantial donations to the church. These churches function suspiciously like spiritual pyramid schemes. But the devil is sneaky, and it isn’t just the phony churches that are susceptible to temptation. In fact, almost from the beginning, the Church – uppercase ‘C’ – has fallen prey to the temptation to deal in political power. Today we’ll begin our study of James Carroll’s book, “Christ Actually”, a book that examines the damage caused as a result of the Church getting too close to worldly power and success. In the end, though, today’s gospel story tells of Jesus resistance of the devil’s temptation to worldly success. This is something that we humanity, we the Church, we individuals, are always tempted to trust over the way of Jesus. It is the temptation to prove ourselves worthy. The temptation to believe that God has not equipped us with what we need to do the work entrusted to us. I’ve discovered that the temptation to succeed preys on me a lot. It disguises itself as the temptation to think I am not good enough. I fall prey to this temptation most often when I stop trusting God, and start trusting in worldly success. A couple of years ago, I had just completed a rewarding year of field education with the First Congregational Church in Stoughton MA. I thought I was done with internships. But then I discovered that the committee guiding my process required that students did a second year of field education. I was a little frustrated, but I decided that if I was going to do one more year I may as well make it count. I had always been attracted by the very diverse city churches, and approached some of these places for an internship. Although I did my best to put forward a confident, upbeat manner at the interview, I did not expect that the flagship UCC church in downtown Boston would take me. I imagined that with their attraction to the young LGBTQ community and their commitment to racial diversity, I would be seen as too old, too straight, too white. And so I was surprised to be accepted as their ministerial intern for the year. I began to wonder if God was playing a joke on me. Having wondered if I would be accepted, though, I got quite excited about the idea of being associated with this successful church. I secretly hoped to accumulate a portfolio of photos and videos of myself in ministry in this hip, cool city church. I thought of how great it would look on my resume. Now, I must say that I learned that their reputation as the UCC success story was not the guiding principle in this church. Rather, the ministers and leaders were focused on serving their people in all their wonderfully diverse presentations. They were always intentional about giving equal care and attention to the homeless and those with addictions on the streets, the wealthy elders of Beacon Hill, the young professionals and of Back Bay, the new families from Southie, college students from the area schools, and the LGBTQ folks of all ages and income brackets. God must have laughed at my delusions of fame by association. Although I hoped for pictures and videos, I always seemed to be skillfully avoided by the camera. The one picture that made it onto the church website shows me lighting the Advent candles like an acolyte. Appropriate, I suppose, as I actually was a junior intern. The one week I asked to have my sermon videoed, the student who was to do it suffered from the stress of final exams and forgot to show up. He begged my forgiveness and I was glad to give it. I am convinced that God was saving me from the temptation and the illusion of worldly success. Meanwhile, God was putting me in the way of people I would never otherwise meet. They gave me the opportunity:
But, what are your temptations? In your relationships: do you trust that you are loved, or do you doubt it, seeking to prove yourself through success at work or school? In your work: do you trust that you are capable of what you need to do or do you feel the need to prove yourself through self-promotion and putting other colleagues down? In your faith: is you service to the church and community done in response to God’s love and mercy for you, or are you still anxiously trying to earn God’s approval and love? And is this church are we, also, being tempted to look wistfully in the direction of worldly success? Some churches tout large congregations and budgets beyond our wildest dreams. Do we allow that to make is feel hopeless? Some churches have flashy websites promoting a vast array of programs and social activities. Do we feel as though we have to aspire to the same, or are we content to glorify God with the resources we have? Some churches have a full staff, administrators, Christian Education directors, Youth leaders, Senior Pastor and Associate Pastors. Do we let ourselves believe that we are not equipped for the work in this community that God has called us to do? Friends, Jesus did not allow the devil’s schemes to move him from his calling to be servant of all. He did not waver in his trust in his relationship with God, his Father, and how that would provide him with all the power he would need. Perhaps that is what made him the Son of God. We are frailer humans that Jesus, of course, and so we do falter and fail. We often veer in the direction of the bright and gaudy lights of human success, away from the grace and mercy of God. But this is the power of our Lenten journey: that God, in Jesus, is always calling us back, to a relationship of trust in the power of love. Let all the people say Amen
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