Sunday, February 21, 2021

First Sunday in Lent

First Sunday in Lent (B)

February 21, 2021

Text: Mark 1:9-15

            The minute you are baptized, you become a giant target for the devil and his deadly knives, darts, and arrows.  Because he can’t stand that you now belong to God.  And not only do you belong to Him, but you are God’s own child.  So the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking to someone devour (1 Peter 5:8).  Through false christs and false prophets who perform great signs, he seeks, if possible, to lead astray even the elect (Matt. 24:24).  He harnesses the unbelieving world against you, empty philosophy, the spirit of the times, the glitter of fame, the allure of money, the prestige of power, the seduction of sex, to turn your mind, to bend it away from God and toward yourself.  He harnesses your old sinful nature against you, appealing to Adam’s appetites.  It worked with food in the garden, as well as the desire for autonomy and secret knowledge, and so it works with you.  The comforts and pleasures of the flesh, a life of ease, and the ability to determine your own course, independent of the laws and rule of others, and of the Law and rule of God.  “Be true to yourself”… you hear that sermon everywhere, and in some sense, you believe it.  But it’s the same old lie the serpent told Eve!  Don’t fall for it.  Repent.  “Did God really say…?”  It’s a sinister question, intended to make you doubt God’s Word.  But when considered in sincerity, it’s a good one.  What did God really say?  Because that… that is our defense against the lies and accusations of the old evil foe.  “Thus saith the LORD!”  “It is written!”  God really says…!  And so I believe it.  Whether I like it, or not.  Whether I understand it, or not.  Even when Satan’s lies are more attractive.  In fact, especially then.  Because the Word of the Lord is the Word of life.  Because it imparts God’s gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation in Christ Jesus.

            In his Baptismal Booklet, Luther said, “Therefore, you have to realize that it is no joke at all to take action against the devil and not only to drive him away from the little child but also to hang around the child’s neck such a mighty, lifelong enemy.”[1]  There are, of course, the unsurpassing and eternal benefits of Baptism, which make it all worth it, but it is true for every one of us, that the devil becomes our mortal enemy when we are made God’s own in this way.  How comforting it is, then, that Jesus goes before us in this.  He is baptized.  Heaven is opened.  The Spirit descends upon Him.  And God declares that Jesus is His beloved Son, with whom He is well pleased.  And then all at once the Spirit drives Jesus out into the wilderness to be tempted and attacked by the devil.  So what is true for you, Baptism followed by satanic attack, is also true for Jesus, and He leads the way through.  This is comforting for two reasons.  First, Jesus knows what it is to endure such attacks.  He identifies with you.  He is with you, fully, in the flesh, and suffers all that you suffer, including the lies, temptations, and accusations of the evil one.  Second, He suffers this for you, in your place, as your Substitute.  Remember, He is baptized into you, and you are baptized into Him, so that all that is His now becomes yours, and all that is yours He takes into Himself to forgive and cleanse by His death on the cross.  So when He wins the victory against Satan’s temptations in the wilderness, that counts for you.  You get the credit.  His victory is your victory.  And your failures become His failures, to be atoned for in His suffering and sacrifice. 

            So this changes everything in your battle against the devil.  You wouldn’t be able to resist him for a second by your own power.  But Jesus is the One who goes into battle for you.  And this isn't confined only to the forty days in that particular wilderness.  Jesus is the One who fights the devil in you now.  By the Spirit He imparts to you in Baptism.  By the unfailing and unchangeable declaration of the Father at your Baptism that you are His beloved Son with whom He is well pleased; that is, that you are covered with Christ and His righteousness, and therefore you stand justified before God, and loved by Him as His own child.

            And the Lord Jesus leaves you tools, weapons, for the fight against the devil’s temptations and accusations.  Here it is particularly helpful to review the armor of God as St. Paul speaks of it in Ephesians 6.  Put on the whole armor of God,” Paul says (Eph. 6:11; ESV).  Actually, it could be translated passively: Have put upon you, be clothed, be outfitted, namely, by God, with His whole armor.  And that is better, because these aren’t gifts you give yourself.  This is the outfit God gives you in Holy Baptism.  He doesn’t send you out into the battle naked and alone.  What kind of God would He be if He did that?  No, He covers you in Christ and His armor.  And what is that armor?  The belt of truth, and that is the truth you know from the Holy Scriptures, so that when the devil asks, “Did God really say?” you can respond, “Yes, God really said!  Here it is, in the Bible! And you can rebuff the claims of false christs and false prophets.  Then, the breastplate of righteousness.  That is, God’s declaration that you are justified for Jesus’ sake.  That covers you, all your vitals, and the devil’s knives, darts, and arrows cannot strike through.  As shoes, the readiness given by the Gospel of peace.  That is, the preaching of the forgiveness of sins sets you on your feet, and it is the good news of Jesus’ victory over Satan that you herald.  And there is the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish the devil’s flaming darts.  This is the saving faith in Christ given you continually by the Spirit who is in you, with which you face down, not only temptations to sin, but besetting doubts.  Faith clings to the truth belted around you in Holy Scripture and proclaimed in preaching.  Which is to say, faith clings to Christ and His victory.  And there is the sword of the Spirit, your offensive weapon against our archenemy, and that is, again, the Word of God.  To be belted with the truth is to have and know the Word for yourself.  To use it as an offensive sword is to speak the Word, to confess it!  It is to confess Christ!  And so often neglected in this list is prayer.  You have been given to pray!  (P)raying at all times in the Spirit,” Paul says, “with all prayer and supplication” (v. 18).  Pray against Satan.  Pray for God’s help.  As I’ve told you before, never say “I guess all I can do is pray,” as though praying isn’t something extraordinary and effective.  You have the ear of Almighty God!  Think about that!  He promises to hear and to answer.  Always.  And it really burns Satan’s behind when you do it.  So do it.  Read and hear the Word.  Be clothed in Christ and His armor.  Confess the Word.  And pray!

            And of course, we would be remiss if we didn’t say a word about the Lord’s Supper when it comes to the tools and weapons the Lord has given us against the crafts and assaults of the evil one.  Though St. Paul does not include it explicitly in his listing of the armor of God, this is yet another way the Lord outfits us, as He places Himself into us, His true Body and Blood, given us to eat and to drink for our forgiveness, life, and salvation, so that the crucified and risen Christ becomes one with us and flows through our very veins.  This is why Luther says in the Large Catechism that the devil “is a liar, to lead the heart astray from God’s Word and to blind it, so that you cannot feel your distress or come to Christ.  He is a murderer, who cannot bear to see you live one single hour.  If you could see how many knives, darts, and arrows are every moment aimed at you [Ephesians 6:16], you would be glad to come to the Sacrament as often as possible.”[2]   

            Now, never think that you mobilize these weapons by your own strength and abilities as some sort of spiritual hero.  You use this armor and these weapons always within the reality that Jesus Christ, who died for you, is risen from the dead.  And it is really He, the risen Christ, who covers you and who fights for you.  That is the baptismal reality.  You are all wrapped up in Him, the One who strove with Satan in the wilderness, and who won!  The One who strove with him in the Garden of Gethsemane and all the way to Calvary, who, in being crushed, crushed the serpent’s head.  The One who is risen, and lives, and reigns even over the devil, and who is coming back to judge the devil and his demons, and cast them eternally into the lake of fire prepared for them (Matt. 25:41).

            And this Jesus sends His holy angels to minister to you, to fend off the demons, to protect you in body and soul, to encourage you in your faith, and to help you in your prayers.  And He sends His preachers who are given to proclaim what He Himself proclaimed in His earthly ministry: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).

            And because the Kingdom has come in the Person of the King, Jesus Christ, even the devil’s temptations and attacks God turns for your good.  Remember that in all suffering and temptation, the devil has his purposes, and God has His purposes.  And guess whose purposes prevail.  The orthodox Lutheran father Johann Gerhard wrote in his Sacred Meditations[3] that temptation offers three advantages to the Christian: “Temptation tests, purifies, and illuminates the soul.” Temptation tests the soul, he says, “because our faith assailed by storms of adversity strikes its roots more firmly down into the very bed-rock of our salvation; it spreads out its branches more widely in good works, and shoots up higher and higher in its hope of the glorious liberty of the children of God.” Secondly, temptation purifies our souls, in that “Our great Physician, Christ, employs many bitter remedies to expel the malignant spiritual diseases of love of self and love of the world… Worldly honor puffs up many with pride; and so God often sends reproach, and removes that which feeds worldly pride.” Finally, temptation illuminates the soul, in that “Affliction as a severe test of our faith serves to make our spirits humble and contrite, so that the souls of the afflicted may greatly rejoice in their afflictions. Through temptation we come to know God more truly and intimately, for the Lord Himself says, ‘I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him’ (Ps. xci. 15).”  God tempts no one. But He allows us to undergo temptation for our good, that He may accomplish His good and perfect will for us and in us.

            And so, beloved, baptized into Christ, you have become a target for the devil, it is true.  But more than that, you have become God’s dear child, covered with Christ and His righteousness, and so God is well pleased with you.  Christ is victorious over the devil and all his tricks.  And He clothes you in His victory, and in the whole armor of God.  Therefore guard against the devil and his temptations, but do not fear him.  Abide in God’s Word and in the gifts of Christ.  Confess His Word, and pray.  And know this for certain: The Kingdom of God has arrived in Jesus.  Satan cannot have you.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.             

 



[1] Baptismal Booklet, The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Robert Kolb, Timothy J. Wengert, et al. Trans. (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2000) p. 372.

[2] LC V:81-82, McCain.

[3] Johann Gerhard, Sacred Meditations (Malone, TX: Repristination Press, 2000) pp. 229-34.

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