Video of the Divine Service is here. The sermon begins around the 25:00 mark.

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

Sometimes people seem to think that becoming a Christian will mean that your problems, or most of them anyway, will go away. If you become a Christian, your life should get easier and better. And because Christians know that people will do all sorts of things to have a better or easier life, with technology or more money or whatever, sometimes Christians will try to “market” or “sell” Christianity to people: oh, you want to have a better or easier life? You want relief from your problems? Try Christianity!

But that’s not the way Jesus or the Scriptures describes the Christian life or faith. Jesus Himself, after He is baptized in the Jordan River and the Holy Spirit descends in the form of a dove, and the voice of the Father declares that He is the Son, is driven out into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit, and He is tempted by the devil. It is not the case that being baptized, becoming a Christian, will make things easier and better, at least not in the short term. Things may get worse, as far as the world is concerned. Because now, once you’ve been taken by Jesus out of the realm of the devil, sin, and death, now the devil is going to be after you. You’ve had a target painted on your back. Now the devil prowls around you like a roaring lion, seeking to devour you. Now he flings his fiery darts at you. And his goal is to drive you apart from Christ, your Lord. It’s what he tries to do with Jesus in the wilderness: drive the Son away from the Father, separate the Son and get Him to act independently of the Father, and outside of the divine will. And it’s what he tries to do with you. He’ll appeal to your pride, that you’re doing pretty well and you don’t really need Jesus, at least not all the time. Or he’ll point out your sin, and try to get you to let your sin keep you away from the only one who can remove your sin from you.

And you know as well as I do that we are often conquered by temptation. We fail, we fall, we give in. We are shown our weaknesses, and our faults, and our failures. That is not the goal, and we should pray every morning with Luther that God keep us this day from sin and every evil. But our sinful flesh welcomes every temptation, of every sort, and the devil is happy to take advantage of that. We, like, Israel in the wilderness, are all too prone to follow our own ways, our own desires, our own idolatries. And this is why Jesus is cast out into the wilderness after His baptism: to do battle with sin, doubt, the devil, and temptation, on your behalf, for your sake. What the Holy Spirit does with Jesus is the same word that Mark uses when Jesus “casts out” demons. This is the will of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that Jesus go into the wilderness in the weakness of human flesh, and be victorious over the devil. He goes where the wild animals are, to which the first Adam gave names in the Garden. Now Jesus, the second Adam, is with them in the wilderness that we have made of this world, and the angels serve Him as the Son of God.

This is also the word Jesus uses in the parable of the workers in the vineyard later, when the workers refuse to give to the servants the fruit that the Master desires. And then they kill the Son and cast Him out of the vineyard. Jesus, cast out into the wilderness by the Spirit in the weakness of human hunger and thirst; and cast out in death by sinners who refuse to give God what is His. It is all one action of the divine Son in flesh, to accomplish the victory for you.

This gives heart to our prayer. When we pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”—really, deliver us from the Evil One—we know exactly what God has done to embed His promise in that prayer. God will never lead you into temptation, because He already led His Son into temptation in the wilderness. God will certainly deliver you from the evil one, as well as, finally, from every evil of body and soul, because Jesus was victorious over the evil one. He has come to destroy the works of the devil; He is the truth, who comes to destroy the father of lies. Here is your refuge and your shelter in the midst of temptation! And here is your refuge and shelter from sin, when you fail. John says that he is writing so that you may not sin; but if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the only righteous one (1 John 2:1).

And more than that, He is not only your refuge when you are alone. He does not want you to be alone to face temptation, sin, and the devil. When the predators are circling the herds, which animal to they devour? The ones in the middle of the herd, with the rest of the zebras, or antelope, or sheep? No, it’s the one that gets separated from the herd. Which coals burn out and go cold? The ones in the middle of the fire, or the ones that get taken out of the fireplace? Which branches die? The ones that are connected to the vine, or the ones that are separated, away from the vine? To hear the words of our Lord, and are fed with the living body and blood of the Lord—these are not really optional things for Christians. Whether it happens here in the Lord’s house or when the pastor brings Christ to you if you are unable to be here, these are necessary things for us in the midst of the devil’s attacks. He does not stop, so we always need the armor of the Lord. We always sin, so we always need the medicine.

You have that refuge, here among the other holy ones of God, because here is where Jesus has promised to be for you. He is your Lord, and He has accomplished the victory in His own flesh, so that He can continually give that victory to you. You do not belong to the devil, but to Jesus. And He is the one who will bring you safely through the wilderness of this world to the eternal, new creation, land of promise. Lead us not into temptation, O Lord, but deliver us from the evil one. Amen. Yes, yes, it shall be so.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7, ESV). Amen.

– Pr. Timothy Winterstein, 2/16/24