Sermon and Worship Resources

These Illustrations are based on Matthew 4:1-11
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Sermon Opener - The Temptation of His Life - Matthew 4:1-11

Robert Penn Warren wrote a novel called All The King's Men. It was the story of a governor of Louisiana and his rise to power. His name was Willie Stark.

At the end of his story he is shot down dead. Here was a man who gained a kingdom and lost all he ever had.

Two thousand years earlier a man from Galilee said, "What would it profit a man if he gained the whole world and lost his soul?" Perhaps when He made that statement He was not only addressing it to those who heard Him, but also was looking back to a time of decision in His own life.

There is something so very curious about the man from Galilee. He has captivated the imaginations of people throughout twenty centuries. He transcends time and place, culture and custom, race and language. Something there is in Him that always speaks clearly to us. We see it throughout the gospels, everywhere He went, in everything He said and did. Son of God and Son of Man, we know He became one of us.

While He is the answer to all our struggles, we see Him struggling with the things He faced. And, as He finds the way for Himself He finds the way for us as well. We see this truth at the very beginning of His ministry.

Let's take a look at what He faced at all that he was offered:

1. The First Temptation: Jesus was tempted by the wrong use of power.

2. The Second Temptation: Jesus was also tempted by the wrong way to popularity.

3. The Third Temptation: Jesus was tempted by the wrong kind of partnership.

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Would You Take the Crown Without the Cross? - Matthew 4:1-11

The local sheriff was looking for a deputy, and one of the applicants - who was not known to be the brightest academically, was called in for an interview. "Okay," began the sheriff, "What is 1 and 1?" "Eleven," came the reply. The sheriff thought to himself, "That's not what I meant, but he's right."

Then the sheriff asked, "What two days of the week start with the letter 'T'?" "Today & tomorrow." Replied the applicant. The sheriff was again surprised over the answer, one that he had never thought of himself.

"Now, listen carefully, who killed Abraham Lincoln?", asked the sheriff. The job seeker seemed a little surprised, then thought really hard for a minute and finally admitted, "I don't know." The sheriff replied, "Well, why don't you go home and work on that one for a while?" The applicant left and wandered over to his pals who were waiting to hear the results of the interview. He greeted them with a cheery smile, "The job is mine! The interview went great! First day on the job and I'm already working on a murder case!"

In our Gospel reading this morning in Matthew 4 it is Jesus' first day on the job. Immediately he is confronted with three major temptations. And he is confronted with this basic question: Would he take the crown without the cross?

These are the most basic temptations in life and they form the foundation for all other temptations. I would propose that when temptation comes our way; if we will pause and classify the temptation, we would be able to identify it with one of the three temptations Jesus faced….

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The Tempter Turns Our Strengths Against Us

One night a well-known and highly respected preacher was working on his sermon for the following Sunday. His little son came in and asked his daddy to come tuck him in. The father told him to get into bed and he would come in a few minutes to give him a goodnight kiss and tuck him in. But then, he became engrossed in his preparation, and much later, he remembered the promise. He went into his son’s bed room only to discover that the little fellow was already asleep. That story is heart-breaking because it has a familiar ring to it. His passion to be a good preacher - a good thing - had tempted him that night to be a bad father. Do you see what happened? The tempter even turns our strengths against us if we are not careful.

James McCormick, Selected Sermons, www.Sermons.com

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The Strong Timber Is Tested

A group of mountain hikers came across an old woodsman with an axe on his shoulder. "Where are you going?" they asked him.

"I'm headed up the mountain to get some wood to repair my cabin," replied the woodsman.

"But why are you going up the mountain?" they asked incredulously. "There are plenty of trees all around us here."

"I know," he said, "but I need strong timber and it grows only on the highest elevations, where the trees are tested and toughened by the weather around them. The higher up you go, the stronger the timber grows."

And that is what God desires for us — that through the winds of trial and the storms of temptation we would grow strong and live on a higher level — strong to resist the devil's urging, strong to serve God, and strong as we stand together in faith and service to one another.

Lee Griess, Return to The Lord, Your God, CSS Publishing Company, Inc.

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The Fast and Temptation of Christ

This Gospel is read today at the beginning of Lent in order to picture before Christians the example of Christ, that they may rightly observe Lent, which has become mere mockery: first, because no one can follow this example and fast forty days and nights as Christ did without eating any food. Christ rather followed the example of Moses, who fasted also forty days and nights, when He received the law of God on Mount Sinai. Thus Christ also wished to fast when He was about to bring to us, and give expression to, the new law. In the second place, Lent has become mere mockery because our fasting is a perversion and an institution of man. For although Christ did fast forty days, yet there is no word of his that He requires us to do the same and fast as He did. Indeed He did many other things, which He wishes us not to do; but whatever He calls us to do or leave undone, we should see to it that we have his Word to support our actions.

Martin Luther, The Fast and the Temptation of Christ

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We Want Freedom

Humans are always declaring their freedom, wishing for more "space," announcing that they belong only to "themselves." We want to be free from the enslavement of the kitchen, or from confinement of a job we don’t like.

Airplane companies claim to set us free, and medical companies says the same. There are deodorant companies which promise to set us free from the worry of underarm wetness and odor; a certain toothpaste declares we can be set free from dull teeth. Then we are promised freedom from pain by Tylenol, Excedrin, Bayer, and others. Other products play on our desperation for freedom by telling us we can be free from "ring-around-the-collar," and Lysol sets us free from germs. We want freedom to sleep at night with a clear conscience, freedom from fear of death, and above all, freedom from the terrors of the judgment day.

A teen-age boy told his parents he was going to run away from home. "Listen," he said, "I’m leaving home. There is nothing you can do to stop me. I want excitement, adventure, beautiful women, money, and fun. I’ll never find it here, so I’m leaving. Just don’t try to stop me!" As he headed for the door, his father leaped up and ran toward him. "Dad," the boy said firmly, "you heard what I said. Don’t try to stop me. I’m going!" "Who’s trying to stop you?" answered the father, "I’m going with you!"

Barbara Brokhoff, Bitter-sweet Recollections, CSS Publishing Company

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How Are We Tempted Today?

William Willimon, in his book What's Right with the Church (San Francisco: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1985), tells about leading a Sunday School class that was studying the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. After careful study and explanation of each of the three temptations, Dr. Willimon asked, "How are we tempted today?" A young salesman was the first to speak. "Temptation is when your boss calls you in, as mine did yesterday, and says, `I'm going to give you a real opportunity. I'm going to give you a bigger sales territory. We believe that you are going places, young man.'

"But I don't want a bigger sales territory," the young salesman told his boss. "I'm already away from home four nights a week. It wouldn't be fair to my wife and daughter."

"Look," his boss replied, "we're asking you to do this for your wife and daughter. Don't you want to be a good father? It takes money to support a family these days. Sure, your little girl doesn't take much money now, but think of the future. Think of her future. I'm only asking you to do this for them," the boss said.

The young man told the class, "Now, that's temptation."

Jesus overcame his first temptation by putting his complete trust in God. That's a good example for us. We're so concerned about "having it all." The wise person trusts that God will provide all that he or she needs.

William Willimon, adapted by King Duncan, www.sermons.com

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We’re Kind of Stupid That Way

In the very first Calvin and Hobbes comic strip, Calvin's dad is working on the car, when Calvin walks up in a safari hat and says, "So long, Pop! I'm off to check my tiger trap! I rigged a tuna fish sandwich yesterday, so I'm sure to have a tiger by now!" His dad replies, "They like tuna fish, huh?" As Calvin walks off, he says, "Tigers will do anything for a tuna fish sandwich!" The final frame shows Hobbes, hanging by his foot from a tree, munching on a tuna fish sandwich. He says to no one in particular, "We're kind of stupid that way."

Every day we are tempted to be less than we can be. Without giving it much thought, we choose what's easiest. We seldom consider how much more is possible. We take tuna fish when we could do better. We're kind of stupid that way.

Brett Younger, Disabling Temptations

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Forty Days for Recommitment

Lent was originally established for new Christians, those who experienced a call. They were to spend forty days and forty nights preparing for their baptism. If at the end they still wanted to follow Jesus, then on Easter Eve they would be baptized as the sun was rising in the east, signaling the new day, the new era, inaugurated because of the Resurrection.

I am sure it had a powerful significance for them, to have prepared for their vocation as Christians the same way that Jesus prepared for his vocation as the Messiah: forty days of introspection and self-examination.

But later the Church used the forty days as a time of renewal for those who were already Christians, because at a certain point everyone in the empire became a Christian, everyone was baptized as infants. So the time of Lent was used as a time of renewal and recommitment to the Christian life, examining our lives in light of the one we are supposed to follow.

Mark Trotter, Collected Sermons, ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc.

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A Better Influence

I remember a "Peanuts" strip in which Marcia telephones Charlie Brown:

"Guess what, Chuck...the first day of school, and I got sent to the principal's office. It was your fault, Chuck."

"My fault?" Charlie Brown replies surprised. "How could it be MY fault? Why do you always say everything is MY fault!"

"You're my friend, aren't you, Chuck? You should have been a better influence on me!"

David E. Leininger, Collected Sermons, ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc.

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The Really Big Sale

He had finally got his chance to make the Really Big Sale. He was going into the final interview on the biggest contract he had ever written. As he was ushered into the office of the executive buyer, an assistant brought her coffee and left. The atmosphere was cordial, and he knew he was giving his best presentation ever.

Then the assistant tapped on the door, re-entered the office and spoke briefly with the executive. She stood and said, "I apologize, but I have to tend to a matter. I'll just be a minute or two." And she followed her assistant out of the room.

The sales representative looked around the beautifully appointed office. He saw her family pictures on her desk. Then he noticed a contract on her desk. She had evidently been studying a bid from a competitor. Leaning forward, he could see the column of figures, but it was obscured by a diet soda can.

He was tempted to move the can and see the bottom line of his competitor's bid. What harm possibly could there be in reading her private information? After all, she had left it out in plain sight, almost. After wrestling with himself a while, he finally decided to take a peek.

As he lifted the soda can, he discovered that the can wasn't filled with soda at all. Instead it was a bottomless can filled with 1,000 BBs which gushed out, and ran all over the desk and cascaded onto the carpet. His attempt to short cut the competition was exposed.

Not every temptation is so obvious. Not every failure is so embarrassing. But every temptation is a challenge. Not even Jesus was spared the choosing.

Mickey Anders, Six Flags over Jesus

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ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS NOT IN OUR EMAIL
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Sermon Opener – "Like" - Romans 5:12-19

Happy Lent!

Oops! No such thing. Of course not. Lent is a solemn season, full of serious stuff. We run special educational courses during Lent. Baptismal candidates are on their “cram course” during Lent. Practicing Christians are supposed to be more intentionally focused on one’s prayer life during Lent. We “give up” things for Lent — chocolates, meat, sweets, smoking, bad TV shows.

Forty days is long enough to learn something new, miss something old, and change some habits. Unfortunately, it is not so long that we cannot get through it. Truth be told, even as the Easter eggs are turned into deviled eggs, so a lot of our good Lenten habits can get “deviled” as well.

Yet Lent should not be colored as an Ash Wednesday grey grind. What if instead of thinking about “getting through” Lent we look at these next forty days as a journey towards a miraculous destination — Easter Sunday. Doesn’t everybody “like” to go on a road trip now and then? What do you “like” about your annual journey to Jerusalem? What makes the Lenten trip to that empty tomb so awesome?

It might be difficult to come up with a “like list” at first. Our culture doesn’t normally do “like.” This is one of the great things about Facebook. There is seldom a day goes by that I am not asked to speak out against something, or take a stand against something, or support a cause that attacks something. But Facebook is against against. It only has a “like” tab. You can’t dislike something, only like it.

But the rest of this culture had not said “No” to negativity like Facebook has. All you have to do is listen to the news or surf a few websites to discover that commenting on what you “like” is not part of our twenty-first century communication culture. Instead it is all too easy to find thousands of “hate sites.” There are sites dedicated to hating political parties, to hating politicians, to hating religious preferences, to hating religious leaders, to hating racial groups, to hating the rich, to hating the poor. There are sites devoted to hating a certain individual, and sites devoted to hating whole countries.

Hate is an easy sell. Vitriol is a vital and sustainable substance. No wonder being told to “list your likes” sounds foreign to our ears and hearts. That is a great tragedy of our world….

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“Not Responsible for…”

Have you ever gone to a restaurant, hung up your coat, and noticed a sign warning that the management is not responsible if it gets lost or stolen?

Ever read the small print on your airplane ticket? The airline takes no responsibility for any delays or missed connections, and if your baggage is lost, they only have to pay an amount agreed upon at a convention they held in Warsaw in 1955. Park your car in some high-priced garage or lot, and a sign will tell you that management is not responsible for any items lost or stolen from your vehicle. Do those "Not responsible for..." disclaimers bother you? They do me. It seems no one takes responsibility for anything anymore.

I read about a man who was suing a hospital. A doctor had performed staple surgery on his stomach to help him lose weight. A couple of days after his operation, he raided the hospital refrigerator and stuffed himself with everything he could find. This tore open the staples and forced another surgery. He was suing the hospital for having a refrigerator near his room. He claimed the temptation was too great. Thus, his complications were not his own fault but the hospital's fault!

A little girl was sent to her room for misbehaving. Sometime later her mother happened to pass by her door and heard her praying. "God, I am stuck up here because of YOU, you know. Last night I prayed for you to help me be a good girl. Well, you didn't, so it's your fault!"

David E. Leininger, Collected Sermons, ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc.

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Sword of the Spirit

Out flashed the sword of the Spirit: our Lord will fight with no other weapon. He could have spoken new revelations, but he chose to say, “It is written.” There is a power in the Word of God which even the devil cannot deny.

Spurgeon, C.H., Spurgeon's Commentary on Matthew, Matthew 4:4

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There are several good protections against temptation, but the surest is cowardice.

Mark Twain

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Speaking the truth in a Lie

Temptations are never so dangerous as when they come to us in a religious garb.

D.L. Moody

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Deliver Us From...

A mother was teaching her 3-year old daughter the Lord's Prayer. At bedtime, she repeated after her mother the lines from the prayer. Finally, she decided to go solo. Mom listened with pride as she carefully enunciated each word, right up to the end of the prayer: Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us some E-mail. Amen.

Traditional

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God's Testing

As the Union Pacific Railroad was being constructed, an elaborate trestle bridge was built across a large canyon in the West. Wanting to test the bridge, the builder loaded a train with enough extra cars and equipment to double its normal payload. The train was then driven to the middle of the bridge, where it stayed an entire day. One worker asked, "Are you trying to break this bridge?" "No," the builder replied, "I'm trying to prove that the bridge won't break." In the same way, the temptations Jesus faced weren't designed to see if He would sin, but to prove that He couldn't.

Today in the Word

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The Price of Giving In to Sin

Ronald Meredith describes one quiet night in early spring: Suddenly out of the night came the sound of wild geese flying. I ran to the house and breathlessly announced the excitement I felt. What is to compare with wild geese across the moon? It might have ended there except for the sight of our tame mallards on the pond. They heard the wild call they had once known. The honking out of the night sent little arrows of prompting deep into their wild yesterdays. Their wings fluttered a feeble response. The urge to fly--to take their place in the sky for which God made them-- was sounding in their feathered breasts, but they never raised from the water. The matter had been settled long ago. The corn of the barnyard was too tempting! Now their desire to fly only made them uncomfortable. Temptation is always enjoyed at the price of losing the capacity for flight.

Ronald Meredith, Hurryin' Big For Little Reasons.

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Tutu's Tolerance

In the midst of South Africa's struggle against apartheid, one of the most respected voices for racial harmony and human dignity has been that of Bishop Desmond Tutu. But even the closest colleagues of Tutu are sometimes distressed by the bishop's tolerance and moderation. They wish he would be more aggressive with his opponents. One of them said, "At his age you'd think he would have learned to hate a little more. But there is this problem with Tutu: he believes literally in the gospel." What he was saying, in effect, is that Tutu knows who he is, remembers his baptism. He knows the gospel story, and he will not change the script.

Thomas G. Long, Whispering the Lyrics, CSS Publishing Company

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Sermon Closer - God Has Called Your Name

Harry Emerson Fosdick was one of the greatest American preachers of this century. He described his preaching as counseling on a large scale. Few people knew that as a young seminary student he reached the breaking point after working one summer in a New York Bowery mission. He went home and was overcome by deep depression. One day he stood in the bathroom with a straight razor to his throat. He thought about taking his own life. And then -- and then he heard his father in the other room calling his name, "Harry! Harry!" It called him back. He never forgot it. It was like the voice of God calling him.

So I want to remind you today that in those times when you are in the wilderness, trying to find your way through, and when temptation comes and offers you the wrong answer, the wrong choice -- the wrong use of power, the way to popularity, the wrong kind of partnership -- then you remember that God has called your name: "This is my beloved son, my beloved daughter, in whom I am well pleased." And, you remember that because God has called your name He will see you through.

Thomas A. Pilgrim, The Man From Galilee, CSS Publishing Company.

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The Problem of Evil

Frederick Buechner puts it this way: "God is all-powerful; God is all good; evil things happen. You can reconcile any two of these propositions with each other, but you cannot reconcile all three. The problem of evil is perhaps the greatest single problem for religious faith."

Johnny Dean, “Dealing with the Devil”

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Shouting Louder

Temptation is no less terrible for Christians today than it was for those of Peter’s time. We live in a pagan culture. There is a constant temptation for us to fall away from our faith toward the prevailing hedonism. There is a steady temptation to go after the great gods of pleasure and materialism. We have our choices to make! But do you know something? This fact should not discourage us. Instead, it should hearten us. It means not only that we are free to reject God, but that we also are free to choose God, even amidst those forces which prey upon life.

This is one meaning of a moving story related by Elie Wiesel. He tells of a teacher, a just man, who came to Sodom, determined to save its inhabitants from sin and punishment. Night and day he walked the streets and the markets protesting against greed and theft, falsehood and indifference. In the beginning, people listened and smiled ironically; then they stopped listening, and he no longer even amused them. The killers went on killing; the wise kept silent, as if there were no just men in their midst. One day a child, moved by compassion for the unfortunate teacher, approached him with these words: "You shout, you scream. Don’t you see that it is hopeless?" "Yes, I see," answered the just man. "Then why do you go on?"

"I’ll tell you why," said the just man. "In the beginning …I thought I could change them; today I know that I cannot. If I shout, if I still scream, it is not to change them. It is to prevent them from changing me."

Robert Bachelder, Between Dying and Birth, CSS Publishing Company

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Iron Eyes Cody

Iron Eyes Cody is a Native American actor who once did a TV spot for the Keep America Beautiful campaign. He was an Indian drifting alone in a canoe. As he saw how our waters are being polluted, a single tear rolled down his cheek, telling the whole story. This powerful public service commercial still shows up on TV screens after 17 (now 29) years.

In 1988 Cody repeated an old Indian legend in Guideposts magazine. Here it is: Many years ago, Indian youths would go away in solitude to prepare for manhood. One such youth hiked into a beautiful valley, green with trees, bright with flowers. There he fasted. But on the third day, as he looked up at the surrounding mountains, he noticed one tall rugged peak, capped with dazzling snow. I will test myself against that mountain, he thought. He put on his buffalo-hide shirt, threw his blanket over his shoulders and set off to climb the peak. When he reached the top he stood on the rim of the world.

He could see forever, and his heart swelled with pride. Then he heard a rustle at his feet, and looking down, he saw a snake. Before he could move, the snake spoke.

"I am about to die," said the snake. "It is too cold for me up here and I am freezing. There is no food and I am starving. Put me under your shirt and take me down to the valley."

"No," said the youth. "I am forewarned. I know your kind. You are a rattlesnake. If I pick you up, you will bite, and your bite will kill me."

"Not so," said the snake. "I will treat you differently. If you do this for me, you will be special. I will not harm you."

The youth resisted awhile, but this was a very persuasive snake with beautiful markings. At last the youth tucked it under his shirt and carried it down to the valley. There he laid it gently on the grass, when suddenly the snake coiled, rattled, and leapt, biting him on the leg.

"But you promised..." cried the youth.

"You knew what I was when you picked me up." said the snake as it slithered away.

Bits and Pieces, June, 1990, p. 5-7.

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Power: The Easy Substitute

What makes the temptation of power so seemingly irresistible? Maybe it is that power offers an easy substitute for the hard task of love. It seems easier to be God than to love God, easier to control people than to love people, easier to own life than to love life. Jesus asks, Do you love me? We ask, Can we sit at your right hand and your left hand in your Kingdom? (Mt. 20:21). ... We have been tempted to replace love with power.

Henri Nouwen in Mornings with Henri J.M. Nouwen, quoted in Christianity Today, February 8, 1999, 72.

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The Power of Temptation

We laugh when Professor Harold Hill in the musical Music Man warns that the boy who buckles his knickers below the knees is “on the road to degradation,” but despite the laughter there is a truth here. There’s no harm, directly, in most of life’s little misdemeanors, but they grow. An ancient rabbi said, “Sin begins as a spider’s web and becomes a ship’s rope.” You and I add those strands that change the spider’s web into a rope; but because we add just one strand at a time, and because each one is usually so small, we don’t realize what we’re constructing. Sometimes, on the other hand, the growth seems to happen almost of its own accord. It is as if we planted a seed in the soil of the soul by some small act of sin and, without our seeming to attend it or care for it, it develops into a full-grown tree. Sometimes, verily, a forest!

J. Ellesworth Kalas, If Experience Is Such A Good Teacher Why Do I Keep Repeating The Course?, Dimensions, p. 80.

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After the Mountaintop

Have you ever noticed that almost every mountaintop experience in life is followed by a valley experience? You graduate from school with the great expectation of making your mark in the world, but you find out that the world doesn't exactly welcome you with open arms. You get married with the full expectation that your new spouse will relieve your loneliness and solve your problems, but you find out you are still you. Life's high moments are often followed by low times -- depression and bewilderment.

If we knew our Bible a little better, these experiences would not surprise us because this happened to Jesus, too. He had gone to John the Baptist who immersed him in the Jordan River and baptized him into a way of life which was to change the world. The heavens opened and Jesus saw the form of a dove descend upon him and heard the voice of God say, You are my son; I am well pleased in you. What a grand and high moment! But looked what happened next: Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert where for 40 days he was tempted by the devil.

Don M. Aycock, God's Most Unmistakable, CSS Publishing Company

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It Is Your Choice

In Huxley’s Brave New World, Savage is contending with Mustapha Mond, the world controller. Savage’s sensibility has been shaped by the Bible and Shakespeare, readings no longer allowed to the public. He complains to Mond about the antiseptic quality of life in the new society. The controller says to him: "We prefer to do things comfortably." Savage rejoins: "But I don’t want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin."

Many people think of God as a kind of cosmic Mustapha Mond or world controller. They have in mind a certain picture of God. It is one which most of us share in some measure, and one to which much of Holy Scripture points. This is the God who calls the worlds into being. The almighty God who, in the words of a great hymn, "alone can create and alone can destroy." The God who, in the words of Paul, "accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will." The God who, as the popular song goes, "has the whole world in his hands." This is the God who on Easter morning brought life out of death; the God who is in control of our destiny and whose will is invincible.

But we must permit this picture of God to be qualified and enlarged by another. There is another picture of God which reveals that his preferences are like those of Savage himself, a picture which suggests that God does not want easy comfort for his creatures, but prefers freedom, goodness, and sin. This picture is drawn, for example, in the Revelation of St. John with his vision of the Christ who says: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice, I will come into him." The accent here is not on God’s power but on human freedom, freedom to accept or reject God, to choose goodness or sin. It is an accent we find also near the beginning of Scripture, in Deuteronomy, where we read:

"I am setting before you this day the ways of life and death." Life or death, happiness or misery it’s your choice.

Robert Bachelder, Between Dying and Birth, CSS Publishing Company

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Hymn Suggestion

A mighty fortress is our God,
A bulwark never failing;
Our helper He amid the flood
of mortal ills prevailing.
For still our ancient foe
Doth seek to work us woe,
His craft and power are great,
and armed with cruel hate.
On earth is not his equal.

And though this world with devils filled,
Should threaten to undo us.
We will not fear, for God hath willed
His truth to triumph through us.
The prince of darkness grim,
We tremble not for him.
His rage we can endure,
For lo his doom is sure.
One little word shall fell him.

Martin Luther, "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God"

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Life Will Not Be Easy

Back in the 80's there was a movie titled Saving Graces. In the film, Tom Conti played the leading role of the Pope. As leader of the Roman Catholic Church, he finds that he has little time for the real issues of the world, the issues which he was able to deal with as a parish priest. Even worse was the distance between him and his "flock." One day in the movie the Pope finds himself, by accident, locked out of the Vatican. He is wearing street clothes and to his surprise he discovers that nobody recognizes him without his ecclesiastical garb. The pope decides to use this newfound freedom to go to a village without a priest and to spend some time getting in touch with the people. In a plot similar to a western, the pope rides into town and saves the town from the bad guys. The pope returns to the Vatican in time for his annual Good Friday address in St. Peter's square. For the first time in years he is able to speak with power and conviction. The power with which he speaks does not come from his office, nor does it come from his garments.

The power of the pope as played by Tom Conti came from strength he found as he withstood temptations and fought evil in that village. To his surprise, he found life in the Vatican to be easy for he was protected from the real difficulties in people's lives. Friends, we need not be misled into thinking that because we have been called by Christ into his church, life will be easy. It will not be easy. Even Jesus was tempted when he tried to follow God's will...

Jeff Garrison

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Polycarp: He Never Did Me Wrong!

One of the leaders of the early church was Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna. He was brought to trial by the authorities and told he must renounce his Christian faith. He replied, "Fourscore and six years have I served Him, and He never did me wrong: how then can I revile my King, my Savior?" They took him out and put him to death. Later when the Christians wrote their history of that period they said, "Polycarp was martyred, Statius Quadratus being proconsul of Asia, and Jesus Christ being King forever!"

James S. Stewart, The Wind of the Spirit (Abingdon Press: Nashville and New York, 1968), p. 55.

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We Help Each Other

When Edmund Hillary, who passed away just a few weeks ago, was at the summit of Mount Everest in 1953, he had a partner in his success. He had climbed the mountain all the way to the top, the first man ever to do that. The thing that impressed me about the whole story was not that Edmund Hillary climbed the mountain, but that he had a companion who climbed the mountain with him. Nobody ever hears his name. His name was Tenzing Norgay. Tenzing, however, climbed the mountain with him and on the way back down the mountain, Hillary fell and was almost lost. He would have been lost without Tenzing Norgay. Tenzing Norgay literally pulled him back up the cable and saved his life and Edmund Hillary lived to tell a great story because of this help from an unknown man. When someone asked Norgay why he didn't make more of it, why he didn't brag about it, he said, "We mountain climbers help each other."

What a great model this would be for our church. We Christians have no need to be on television or make millions of dollars putting out a show. It is time we reversed the process and touched people and say very simply, "We Christians help each other. That's who we are."

Calvin Miller, Moving From Entertainment to Servanthood

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No Easy Buttons

Staple's, the huge office supply chain store, has a new commercial out that illustrates the power of the devil's various temptations. In their ad whenever an individual confronts a difficult situation, all they have to do is reach over and push a red, over-sized, glowing button that reads, "easy."

Got to pick up three kids, make dinner, finish that report at work, and be supportive to your spouse?

No problem, just push the big easy button.

Need to do a risky surgery never performed before?

Hey, just push the big easy button.

Faced with the need to balance economic growth and stability with environmental safety and the welfare of worldwide ecosystems?

No problem, just push the big easy button.

Big problem: there are no easy buttons. There's no easy button to free us from the trials and tests of diabolos. Jesus taught us to pray, not "save us from temptation," but "lead us not into temptation."

Leonard Sweet, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com

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Throw Out the Bird and the Nest

A Nigerian prayer talks about how we loose our direction to desires that seem small: "God in heaven, you have helped my life to grow like a tree. Now something has happened. Satan, like a bird, has carried in one twig of his own choosing after another. Before I knew it he had built a dwelling place and was living in it. Tonight, my Father, I am throwing out both the bird and the nest." Twig by twig we end up focused on our own desires for success.

Brett Younger, Disabling Temptations

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Swimming Is Forbidden

A man by the name of Richard Lederer collects funny signs. Some of these are simply the result of people in foreign countries having difficulty translating into English. He says that at the entrance to a hotel swimming pool on the French Riviera there is a sign that reads like this: "Swimming is forbidden in the absence of a saviour."

Maybe the person who put up that sign knew English better than we may suppose. Not only swimming but life itself should not be lived in the absence of a Saviour.

Richard J. Fairchild, Sin and Despair, Salvation and Hope

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Temptation: Just Don’t Look

A pastor once told his congregation, "I learned a great lesson from a dog." He said, "His master used to put a bit of meat or a biscuit or some kind of food on the ground, and he'd say to the dog, 'Don't eat that,' and the dog would run over and eat it, so he'd hit the dog. And he put another piece of meat on the ground. He'd say, 'Don't eat that.' The dog would go over and eat it, and he hit him again. Well, after awhile, the dog got the message: eat meat, get hit. So the dog decided he wouldn't eat the meat."

But the man telling the story related how that the dog never looked at the meat. The dog evidently felt that if he looked at the meat, the temptation to disobey would be too great, and so he looked steadfastly into his master's face and never took his eyes off him, and thus the temptation never caused a problem.

John Macarthur, How to Overcome Temptation

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The Whiskey Priest

He was a man of mystery and charm; he was a man of brokenness and faith. He was hunted down like a common criminal; his only crime was seeking God's glory. The "Whiskey Priest" lived in Southern Mexico. The time was the 1920s; the Cristero Rebellion was underway. The Whiskey Priest was not perfect - far from it. He drank too much; he had fathered a child. In those days, the Mexican government said that is was illegal to practice the priesthood, but that did not stop the Whiskey Priest. Everything he did; the Masses, baptisms, funerals, and weddings had to be conducted in secret, staying one step ahead of the authorities.

The Federales and their commanding lieutenant represented the government. This band of soldiers possessed the power. It was their job to find the Whiskey Priest, to stop his activity, and ultimately to eliminate him. The hunt went from town to town, village to village. In one village the lieutenant knew the Whiskey Priest had been present, yet the residents would say nothing. The lieutenant was more persuasive; he selected five villagers at random, lined them up in the town square and shot them in order to loosen the tongues of the others.

The Whiskey Priest was living on borrowed time; he knew this to be true. He continued to move from town to town. The winter rains helped him "disappear" in the mountain highlands for a few precious extra weeks of freedom. The Federales would win, however, it was just a matter of time. In the end he was found, tried, convicted, and executed - a common criminal to the government but a martyr and a hero to the people he served.

British novelist Graham Greene's epic tale, The Power and the Glory, describes the conflict between broken, sinful, and incomplete humanity, symbolized by the Whiskey Priest, that seeks the glory of God, and the power, wealth, and prestige of the world, characterized by the Federales. On this first Sunday in Lent, our gospel describes a similar struggle - the kingdom of God versus the kingdom of the world.

Richard E. Gribble, Sermons For Sundays: In Lent And Easter: Building Our Foundation On God, CSS Publishing Company, Inc.

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Even When We Know Better: Our Temptation

We are often tempted by material things, opportunities, and possibilities of contemporary life - items that we generally know will only lead us away from God. The choice to avoid such temptations is ours and, thus, we must be wary of their allure.

A Native American folk tale describes this problem: One day an Indian youth, in an effort to prepare for manhood, hiked into a beautiful valley, green with trees and decorated with many lovely flowers. There he fasted and prayed, but on the third day he looked up at the surrounding mountains and noticed one tall and rugged peak capped with snow. He decided that he would test himself by climbing this mountain. Thus, he put on his buckskin shirt, wrapped a blanket around his shoulders, and set out to climb the peak. When he reached the top he looked out from the rim to the world so far below.

Then he heard a rustling sound and, looking around, saw a snake slithering about. Before he could move, the snake spoke to him, "I am about to die. It's too cold for me up here; I am freezing. There is little food and I am starving. Please put me under your shirt where I will be warm and take me down the mountain." The young man protested, "No. I have been forewarned about your kind. You are a rattlesnake. If I pick you up you will bite me and I might die." But the snake answered, "Not so. I will treat you differently. If you do this for me, you will be special to me, I will not harm you, and you will receive whatever you want."

The young man resisted for some time, but this was a very persuasive snake with beautiful diamond markings. At last the young man tucked the snake under his shirt and carried it down the mountain. Once in the valley he gently placed the snake on the ground. Suddenly the snake coiled, rattled, and then bit the man on the leg. "You promised me!" cried the youth. "You knew what I was when you picked me up," said the snake, which then slithered away.

Richard E. Gribble, Sermons For Sundays: In Lent And Easter: Building Our Foundation On God, CSS Publishing Company, Inc.

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Being Tested

Brett Blair, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com