First Sunday in Lent - Invocavit

St. Matthew 4:1–11

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but… against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil (Eph. 6:12). Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). This is the battle cry of Lent.

And so it was that our Lord did battle with the devil. Our Lord went into the wilderness for 40 days after His Baptism, after the Holy Spirit descended and remained upon Him, after His Father spoke from heaven: “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Then Jesus was led up by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil.

We are shown three of the Devil’s temptations for Jesus. And we could probably give many examples of how the Devil tempts us. But the truth is the Devil has only one temptation trick. It’s the same one he used against Adam and Eve. The Devil’s temptation for Adam and Eve was to get them to doubt God’s Word. He asked a question. He wanted them to discuss theology with him: “Did God really say you can’t eat from this tree? Do you think He really meant it? Why wouldn’t God want you to have the fruit from this tree? It’s so good looking and it will make you more like God! …Oh is that it? Maybe God is holding out on you. Maybe God just wants to keep you in your place. If God really is good, then He would want you to have this.”

And the Devil repeated his one temptation trick with Jesus too: “If you are the Son of God, then make some bread for Yourself. Jump off the Temple and show us how much God loves you. Did God really say that You are His Son and that He’s well pleased with You? Are You sure You heard Him right back at Your Baptism? It sure doesn’t seem like You’re God’s Son, Jesus. It sure doesn’t seem like He cares for you. You’re suffering here in the wilderness. God has left You here to die. Sounds like God is holding out on you. Come on, Jesus, show Your power. Make the bread. Command the angels. Get glory the easy way. Do it Your own way.”

The Devil tries to dress up his temptations. He tries to trick and lead astray along different paths. He tries to convince that he has something new, something we don’t have, something we really need or will really enjoy. But He only has the one trick: Get them to doubt God’s Word. 

And yet, through all the temptations, Jesus never doubted His Father. He knew that His Father was never holding–out on Him. Jesus trusted the Word that He heard from His Father at His Baptism: “You are My beloved Son. I am pleased with You.” And Jesus didn’t give the Devil the satisfaction of answering his questions or debating with him. Jesus simply quoted God’s Word. He kept faith that His Father is good and that He gives Him all things.

And so it is that a Christian goes into the wilderness of this life after his Baptism. After the Holy Spirit descends and remains upon him, after his Father speaks from heaven: “This is My beloved child, with whom I am well pleased.” Then the Christian is led by the Holy Spirit, and at the same time, is tempted by the Devil. Being made a child of God makes you an automatic enemy of the Devil. Once you’re baptized he will not ignore you. The Holy Spirit covers you in the armor of Your Lord, marks you with the cross, the banner of Your King, and puts you on the frontline of the battle against an army of demons. And so, as a Christian goes through the wilderness of this world he is constantly attacked by the temptations of the Devil. But remember, the Devil really has only one trick: he wants you to doubt God’s Word. He wants you to think God is holding out on you, that God is not pleased with you, that God is really not good. 

The thing is, the Devil is happy to let you have a Bible in your home, so long as it stays on the shelf, and you don’t read it or teach it to your children. The Devil is even fine with you going to church, so long as when there is a scheduling conflict you choose the other activities over hearing God’s Word. Or if you do make the effort to come to church, don’t make it because God’s Word is the most precious thing on earth, but come because they’re serving food after the service or there’s something fun for the kids to do. The Devil will even use Scripture to make you doubt God’s Word. Rather, he misuses it. He can quote the Bible as well as any pastor. And he will often use other Christian churches and teachers to smuggle his lies in with a little bit of the truth. He’ll let you think you’re hearing about Jesus because it’s coming from people who claim to be Christians. But if they deny any part of God’s Word, they’re really only talking about themselves, their own thoughts and feelings. 

The Devil is content to let you worship Jesus, so long as you worship some other stuff on the side. Because when Jesus is one among many idols, then you don’t really have Jesus either. “Don’t take God’s Word too seriously,” says the Devil. “There’s so many other things worth having. And besides if God really is good, then He would want you to have those other things. If God’s Word was true, then He would show that it makes a difference in your life.”

This is where we cannot rely on our thinking, our feelings, or our efforts. Christians must cling to God’s Word the way Jesus did. It is not enough to say you believe His Word in general. His Word must be heard. It must be preached. His Word must be confessed. Here’s an example of why learning by heart Bible verses, hymns, and the Catechism is essential. We need to use God’s Word. When the Devil tempts us, it does no good to argue with him. Instead just fall back on God’s Word and speak it out loud. It’s the only real weapon we have in this fight. Simply quote it. Pray it. Confess it: “God is good. He is my Father. He gives me all that is good for me. I trust what He says no matter what.”

However, although God’s Word is our sword and cannot be broken, on our own we do not have the power to wield it. Against the Devil’s power we are puny, helpless. We cannot meet the Devil in battle the way Jesus did. We do not keep perfect faith. All men fail. And yet there is one Man who did not. 

At Christmas we confess our God is a man. But He was not only born a man. Lent and Holy Week confess how our God lived and suffered as a man. He did not always use His divine power. He humbled Himself. He was weak and hungry and thirsty. Ultimately, His Father turned His gracious face away from Him. And the angels did not save Him from the soldiers’ lashes or nails. But this does not mean that God was bad to Him or did not love Him. It was God’s loving will for the Son to suffer in this way, and the Son bore this suffering willingly, gladly, lovingly, so that He can give us all good things. 

Our God, the true and perfect Man, Jesus Christ, is like us. He’s able to sympathize with your weaknesses. In every way that you are tempted, Jesus was tempted, yet He did not sin (Heb. 4:15). That means Jesus won! He beat the devil, and so He made satisfaction for the sins of the world. As a true man He never doubts His Father’s Word. As a true man He never loses faith. By His faithful death, Jesus was victorious over the Devil and all his temptations and doubts. And so after His death, Jesus was vindicated, proven right, declared righteous. And His Father kept His Word and raised Him up. 

So, your Lord Jesus declares to you, “You see, God is not holding–out on you. Your God has never kept back Himself or any good thing from you. He gives you everything that’s good for you. I give you everything good for you. I understand your weakness, and so I give Myself, the greatest good, for you. I am yours—your sacrifice for sin, your holiness, your victory. Now you must know that your God is always giving Himself to you. That is His love, that is My love. Your God loves you and is pleased with you. Your God is good and the Devil has lost.”

This Man—risen in glory and seated at the Father’s right hand—this Man now always uses His full divine power. He won, and He won for you. He uses His power for you and fights for you. The Lord Jesus has won the war by His death and resurrection. And although the Devil still tries to attack you, as you make your way across the battlefield in the wilderness, the Devil cannot harm any who are marked by the Lord Jesus and call upon His name. 

The Devil can be driven away with just One little word, the little Word your God speaks to you: the Word you hear and believe and confess, the Word you quote and sing and pray and carry in your heart and mind, the Word that gives you God Himself, as well as all good things. Your God is good and His Word is true. 

In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.


Preached at Trinity, Clinton, IA & Immanuel, Charlotte, IA

First Sunday in Lent - Invocavit

St. Matthew 4:1–11

Catechesis gives you Words for the fight

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Catechesis means hearing or learning God’s Word. Last Sunday with the blind man, we heard that catechesis gives sight and it is the Way on which our Teacher leads you. On Ash Wednesday with Jesus and His Christian disciplines of fasting, almsgiving, and prayer, we heard that catechesis lays up treasure for you in heaven. Today with Jesus enduring the devil’s temptations in the wilderness, we will hear how catechesis gives you Words for the fight.

Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith (1 Peter 5:8–9). The devil wants to devour you because he envies you. He is the hater and envier of all that is good. He rejected and forfeited goodness when he rebelled against God who is the Giver of all good. And the devil sees that you have it—the goodness of God’s creation and the goodness of faith in Christ. And it’s not even that he wants it for himself, because he can’t even appreciate what’s good anymore. He just can’t stand that you have anything good. That is envy. He just wants to smash everything so no one can have anything good. This is why he attacked Jesus, tempting Him to stop being the Christ. The devil wanted to stop salvation from happening. If he could get Jesus to turn away from God, to doubt God, to side–step God’s plan, if the devil could get Jesus to not suffer and die as the perfect sinless sacrifice for the sins of the world, then the devil would’ve won and there would be nothing good.

But the devil failed in devouring Christ, so the only thing he can do now is turn his attention on Christians. Remember, he is an envier. Even if he can’t destroy the goodness of salvation completely, he doesn’t want you to get any of it. So, the devil attacks us to stop us from receiving that salvation. He tries to devour us by tempting us away from the goodness of God our Savior. He twists all the good things that our Father gives us in this world, even twists the good things He gives us in the Church, so that we misuse God’s good gifts or take them for granted. If he can get us to deny God’s goodness and rely on our own version of goodness (which is just sin), then he wins, he devours us, so that God can’t have us and so that we can’t have God or anything else good either.

But fear not, the Lord of hosts, the Creator of the Universe, the Almighty, He is in your flesh and blood. He is on your side. Jesus, your Christ and Savior, is here for you so that you might endure the devil’s temptations and resist him, firm in your faith. This is why Jesus went through His temptations. He did it vicariously for us, in our place. In every respect, Jesus has been tempted as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15). He won the victory for us. He did not give in, He did not sin, so when you believe in Christ that victory is counted as yours. His resisting temptation counts and covers over all the times you have succumbed and given into temptation. Your sins are forgiven because they are canceled out by Jesus’ perfection. Your baptism and faith in Christ mean you are victorious.

However, there is still real danger from the devil, from this evil world, and from our own sinful flesh. Jesus won the battle, but it’s not completely over yet. As long as we remain this flesh, with this sinful mind and heart, as long as we remain in this life with the devil and all other enemies of God surrounding us, we will always be in danger. We are still weak when it comes to our own ability to resist temptation. And the devil is still seeking someone to devour. And if we don’t resist him, we can still be lost.

This is why we need catechesis. We still need training in God’s Word because as long as the fight rages on, as long as we are still in the sinful flesh, still in the sinful world, and still attacked by the devil, well then, we’re not yet perfect are we? Not until the resurrection. So, if we are not yet perfect, then we must still train, we must still hear and learn God’s Word. God knows we need this, which is why He commands it.

Did you know that all three of Jesus’ replies to the devil come from Deuteronomy? I don’t think this is an accident. Deuteronomy is a book particularly devoted to teaching God’s Word. It’s the second giving of God’s Law to Israel before they enter the promised land. You might say it was Moses’ last catechism lesson for them. And over and over again, he tells the people to remember and keep all the words that the Lord has given them. Listen to this from Moses in Deuteronomy, chapter 6 (right where Jesus is pulling His quotes): “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:4–9). This is what catechesis is all about: getting God’s Word in our hearts and keeping it there. Teaching it, talking about it, having it with us everywhere, in our minds, in front of our eyes, and in our hands. God commands that we continue to hear and learn His Word. Because only in this way will we be able to endure and resist the devil’s attacks.

Jesus used His written Word to defeat Satan. He resisted the devil by quoting Scripture. That means we can also defeat the devil by using the written Word of God. When we have the Word in our hearts and minds and use it to gain knowledge and direction and strength, then we wield the power of the victorious Christ. When we speak God’s Word to ourselves and to others in order to resist the devil’s attacks, then the crucified and living Christ speaks through us. And the devil cannot stand against that.

You need this Word, because you are daily in the devil’s kingdom. He ceases neither day nor night to sneak up on you and to kindle in your heart unbelief and wicked thoughts. That’s why you must always have God’s Word in your heart, upon your lips, and in your ears… And that Word is so effective that… it always awakens new understanding, pleasure, and devoutness and produces a pure heart and pure thoughts. For these Words of Godare not lazy or dead, but are creative and living Words. In this way, the devil is put to flight and driven away (Large Catechism I:100–2).

So, how do we do that? Paying attention to sermons and talking about them. Reading the Bible and talking about it at home. Remember from Deuteronomy, teaching and talking about God’s Word at home is commanded by God. And He promises to bless it. Beyond reading or hearing, we need to be memorizing it, rehearsing the truth of God as often as we can. Adam and Eve neglected their memory work, their commandments and creed and prayer, and they were led astray. The point of memorizing and re-memorizing God’s Word is so you have it with you when temptation comes, so you can spot the commandment you’re being tempted to break, so you can confess the creed against the devil’s lies, so you can pray to our Father and ask that He lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.

What’s more, your catechesis in the Word helps you make use of God’s gifts in the sacraments, which will also support you in your fight against the devil. All the things I’ve mentioned are ways to make use of your Baptism, because only a baptized believer can do these things. And if we are using God’s Word as His baptized children then we will also want to make use of the power we have in confession and absolution. The devil loves it when we don’t confess our sins and we keep them to ourselves, thinking they’ll just go away. He also loves it when we don’t use the absolution, the authority to actually forgive sins in our homes when members of the family sin against each other, and then also use it in private confession with our pastor. Finally, you can grasp the Word and impress it upon your heart and mind in the Lord’s Supper. His Word gives you what it says: His body and blood for the forgiveness of your sins. Trust that Word as you eat and drink, and the devil won’t be able to tear you away from the Lord who fills you with His own life and power.

But how easily we forget and how quickly we get tired. We let the devil twist our minds and talk us out of what God calls good. So, we must never cease to practice and train ourselves in the Lord’s Word. Catechesis gives you the Words you need for the fight, and it gives you the promise that the Lord Himself is with you.

In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.

First Sunday in Lent - Invocavit

St. Matthew 4:1–11

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The 40 days of Lent are meant to remind us of our Lord’s 40 days in the wilderness, where He fasted, prayed, and fought against the temptations of the Devil. This conflict between Jesus and the Devil is unique in the history of the world because it is the only time a man fought the Devil and won without succumbing to any sin. But the temptations themselves were not unique. Jesus suffered what is common to all men. So also Jesus’ Church experiences trials similar to the three recounted in our Gospel: First, physical temptations, like hunger and persecution. Second, the spiritual temptation of heresy. And third, temptations for glory and power with this world.

First, the Devil came and said to Jesus, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” This temptation is probably the most common and could really include all kinds of physical trials. In the Lord’s Prayer, daily bread includes everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body. So against God’s gracious providence, the Devil throws everything at us that can ruin our daily bread: Hunger, thirst, and poverty, immorality and greed, persecution and bloodshed. This is any kind of temptation where our livelihood is threatened, our sinful desires are given free reign, or our bodies are attacked.

For the first three hundred years of Church history, Christians were well-acquainted with these temptations. Christians throughout the Roman Empire had to endure not only hunger, thirst, and all kinds of physical hardships but were also driven away from their homes, robbed, and murdered. Thousands of Christians, pastors and laity, men and women, were killed in the arena for sport, burned at the stake, and crucified. And sadly, the devil’s attacks worked sometimes. Many Christians, when they were tempted with the choice to deny the faith or to stretch out their necks, they drew back, rejected their Baptism and recanted their faith. But many other Christians did remain steadfast, daring everything and suffering for the sake of their faith. These holy martyrs fought against these temptations with the Word of Christ: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. This means they were not worried about how to retain this transitory life. The army of martyrs answer the Devil and the persecutors in this way: “I have a food for eternal life, which you cannot take from me. Even if you deprive my body and cause it to die, even so the eternal food will remain.” This food is the Word of God. And where the Word remains, the Christian will also remain, because the Word is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Rom. 1:16).

The ranks of martyrs are still seen and heard throughout the world today. Christians are driven from their homes or killed, and churches are destroyed, in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, and Sudan, Libya, Nigeria, and North Korea, China, Indonesia. While here in the United States “real” persecution may be on its way also. Christian families are attacked, and deprived of their business and livelihood.

For the rest of us, the Devil is content for now in getting us to follow our bellies, our appetites for worldly things. He would like us to grumble against God when we get into a rough spot. He tempts us to care more about our family’s finances, education, job security, than their souls. But what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Our answer must echo the martyrs:

Take they our life, Goods, fame, child, and wife,

Let these all be gone,

They yet have nothing won;

The Kingdom ours remaineth. (TLH 262:4)

It is better for the body to perish than for it to be kept alive for the sake of earthly things, while the soul dies and is lost forever. This means the most important thing in this world is for you and your children to remain Christians, in this Church. God provides us with the heavenly bread of His Word. That is really all we need. And if we partake of that holy bread, if we listen and believe His Word, then we can be convinced that God will provide us with earthly daily bread as well.

Second, the devil took Jesus to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you.’” This is the spiritual temptation of false belief or heresy. Here the Devil turns into a theologian. He uses our only reliable weapon against us. He actually quotes Scripture. But he twists it, takes it out of context, ignores a bit here or adds a bit there. Still it can sound so right, even though it is so wrong. All heretics have fallen for this temptation and learned these tricks from the Devil. First, they have a thought that they like and seems good and true to them. Then they go to Scripture, searching and picking some verses that seem to approve their idea. They make Scripture mean what they want it to mean.

This was the way of the ancient heretics like the Arians, who taught that Jesus was not true God but instead a mere creature with godlike powers. Or the Pelagians, who taught that humans are not born in sin but are capable of being perfect without God’s salvation. They all used the name Christian. They all used the Holy Bible. But they twisted the Truth and taught falsehood. We still have heresies around today. Mormons also deny the Holy Trinity and instead teach the existence of many gods. The Shack, was an interesting novel and now it’s a movie, and it talks about God and Jesus, but it does not stay true to His Word. Heresies always have a little truth in them. The Devil quotes just enough Scripture, uses a few of the right words, to make it believable. But worshiping a god named Jesus Christ while ignoring His clear Word written in Holy Scripture, that is idolatry.

In the temptation of Jesus, the Devil quotes Psalm 91: He will command his angels concerning you… but he leaves out the most important part: to guard you in all your ways (Ps. 91:11). The way down from the pinnacle of the Temple was not to jump. That’s what stairs are for. To jump and expect a miracle when God has already provided a solution is to test God. We could fall for the same kind of false belief. If you’re hungry, it’s not right to starve and wait for God to send you manna when He has already provided you with farmers, grocery stores, and refrigerators. If you’re sick, it’s not necessary to wait for a miracle and ignore the sound advice of doctors or refuse all medical treatment. But, we especially get sucked into false belief regarding salvation. We are tempted to think that the way to reach God is by doing enough good deeds. And yet going that way is like jumping off the Temple, and you’ll get what you deserve. Because God has already provided a way for us to reach Him: the way through His Son our Savior: Faith in Christ, in His Word and Sacraments.

When keeping an eye out for heresy, we need to do what Jesus does. He confronts the Devil’s mangled Scripture passage with another Scripture passage. He shows that the Devil’s quote is incomplete and out of context. He adds an even clearer passage so we can be sure of Scripture’s meaning. God always preserves the one true faith through the gift of the Holy Spirit, through faithful preachers and devout hearers. His Word to be our sure foundation. God defends His Church from all heresy and will never let the Truth be utterly silenced.

Third, the devil took Jesus to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”  This kind of temptation lays before us all the glory and power of the world: popularity, success, a life of ease, respect, control. Here the Devil acts and speaks as if he were God Himself. This is the Devil’s most crass and obvious temptation, and yet it works well for him. If he cannot scare us with the cross and hardship, if he cannot trick us with false belief, he tries to lure us with the world.

In Luther’s day this temptation was promoted by the pope, who controlled kings and emperors and had them bow down to him. And if you honored the pope, then you would also succeed. For our churches today, we may not be tempted to obey the pope, but we are tempted to look for support and defense from the government. We think it will go easy for the Church and the Christian message will spread if only the government gives us its nod of approval. Even more likely, we are tempted to bow down to the prevailing attitudes of our day. We think perhaps we should give in to the demands of our culture, tell people what they want to hear, change how we do things or what we believe so we’re more appealing to the masses. We are jealous of those big churches who have somehow gained acceptance and praise from the culture. What’s worse, we tell ourselves that we would be doing God a service by giving in. We equate being popular and successful with pleasing and serving God. But Jesus could not bow to the Devil and serve God, and neither can we. We cannot bow to the opinions of society and worship God.

Jesus’ answer is immovable: “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God  and him only shall you serve.’” The fact is, you cannot serve God unless you have and obey His Word. If God’s Word is not there, you are not serving God’s will but your own will. Worse than that, whenever you reject God’s Word you are serving the Devil’s will. In some ways, this last temptation is the most frightening, because we all know that we have not served God with all our heart, soul, and mind. We have succumbed to the attraction and pressure of the world around us, given in, and bowed to the demonic prince of this world. Most of the time we don’t even realize we’re doing it because it comes so easy, so natural, to us, because it’s what everyone else is doing. We should be afraid of this temptation, and we should look for rescue.

Only Jesus Christ can rescue us. He is the sin-bearer. He took all our sin upon Himself. He is the Law-slayer. He met every demand of the Law. He is the death-destroyer. His death means we shall live. He is the devil-crusher. By His fasting and temptation, by His suffering and bleeding, by His dying and His rising, Jesus has trampled His enemies under His feet. He has crushed the serpent’s head. Sin, death, and the Devil all tried to throw their worst at Jesus. But they failed. They cannot have Him. And they cannot have you.

You, dear Christian, are a soldier of the Cross. You are dressed with the white robe of Christ’s righteousness, girded with the armor of God, armed with the Sword of the Spirit as you wield His Holy Word. And as you battle in Christ’s army you are nourished and strengthened with true Bread and drink from Heaven: His Word, His Body, His Blood. So fight on, because Jesus is victorious and He won His victory for you.

And in this dark and dangerous wilderness, amid the temptations and assaults of the Devil, God still preserves His faithful few. He will not let His Church be defeated. He will not let the light of His Word go out. Our Lord, the true King of this world will return. And to us who have believed in Him here, confessed His name now before the world, suffered here on account of our faith, to us, He will give rest. He will give splendid joy. He will give eternal life and salvation. The Kingdom ours remaineth.

In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Matin Luther’s Sermons: AE, Vol. 57, pp.253–276; and Baker, Vol. V, pp.312–320