St. Paul Lutheran Church, Minden, Nebraska

Sunday sermon – First Sunday in Lent – Feb. 21, 2010

“A Right Spirit To Be Full Of!”  

Text: Luke 4:1,2

   The question is not when will winter end, the question is how well are we holding up?  How well is our spirit doing?

   With the winter Olympics on TV, State Wrestling Tournament over, State Basketball Tournaments coming, “March Madness” on the horizon, and not to be forgotten Jr. High Quiz Bowls, High School Speech Com-petitions, and Scholarship Committees carefully reading over student applications for scholarships to be awarded later this spring; with all this going on, it is for those playing, competing, test-taking, pushing themselves toward hoped-for awards, it is a time to excel, a time to do the best one can do in the hopes of finishing first, winding up on top, being chosen over others, fulfilling one’s goals . . . without cheating, without stepping on others, without taking advantage of others.

   In other words competition time, tournament time, test-taking time is for students, athletes, teams & individuals - not a time for the faint of heart or weak of spirit. 

   So also, fulfilling one’s commitment to lead a God-pleasing Christian life is not a time for the faint of heart or weak of spirit.

   In light of this Sunday’s Gospel reading from Luke 4, for followers of Jesus Christ not being faint of heart or weak of spirit means responding daily to familiar, reasonable, seemingly helpful temptations with an uncompromising, uninhibited “no” to God’s enemy, the devil. “No thank you! Not for me!”  Not this time! This is not what God in His Holy word directs me to do!”

   It’s not that we Christians are “under the gun” to live, work, and be first, be the best, be champions, be No.1 at being Christians. 

   But rather, wherever we live, work, and have our being as Christians; the end & aim of being Christians is to be faithful, to be fruitful. The end & aim of being Christ’s followers is to be able to give an uncompromising, uninhibited “no” to whatever goes against the example & encouragement of Jesus Christ.

   Three times in the Gospel reading for this Sunday, Jesus says an “uncompromising, uninhibited no” to the devil; no to changing stones to bread; no to the power of politics at any price; and no to throwing himself off a high pinnacle of the temple in Jerusalem that He might draw attention to Himself.

   Jesus knew His life & ministry, His power & authority as the Son of God, Son of Man, was not about winning anything for Himself or proving who He was. Jesus life & ministry, His power & authority was all about faithfulness, obedience, being full of the power of the Holy Spirit saying “Yes” to God’s Will and “No” to the devil.

   Today in the world of academics; in the world of sports, or whenever it comes to success at what one thinks & says & does, people say intelligence is intelligence, strength is strength, experience is experi-ence. But the Word of God says, don’t underestimate the importance & power of having & being full of the right spirit, which for Christians is the Holy Spirit.  It wasn’t intelligence, it wasn’t strength, and it wasn’t experience that enabled Jesus to say no to the devil, it was that Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit.

   For entering, enduring, running, excelling, finishing the course of one’s life & faith as a follower of Jesus, the right spirit, the ever-available, ever-present spirit to be full of is the Holy Spirit.

   That’s the first thing to take note of in the life of Jesus. How full of the Holy Spirit He was as a human being! 

   Jesus was born of the Spirit.  The angel said to Mary, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most high will over-shadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy -  the Son of God. (Luke 1:35)

   Jesus received the Spirit at His baptism (3:22) when the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him like a dove.

   Following Jesus baptism at age 30, Luke tells us Jesus returned from the Jordan full of the Holy Spirit” (Luke 4:1); and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness for 40 days, being tempted by the devil (4:1).  And following this time of temptation, Jesus went into Galilee to minister in the power of the Holy Spirit (4:18).

   Second, look at our need for the Holy Spirit.

   I know it’s only poetry, rhyming verses, words to sing, but the words of the hymn we sang a few minutes ago are right on when it comes to what followers of Jesus today face in the post-modern, post-Christian world we live in.

   Lo, the hosts of evil round us  Scorn the Christ, assail His ways!

   From the fears that long have bound us, Free our hearts to faith and praise.

   Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, for the living of these days, For the living of these days. 

   Save us from weak resignation  To the evils we deplore;

   Let the gift of Your salvation Be our glory evermore.

   Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, Serving You whom we adore, Serving You whom we adore. (LSB, #850)

   To not be so vulnerable to temptations from the devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh; to not be seduced by obvious & not so obvious evil round us; to not be guilty of weak resignation --- to be full of resolve, to come up with uncompromising, uninhibited no’s to the devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh calls for a wisdom & courage that comes from God’s Holy Spirit working in us; working in our hearts & minds through Christ’s Word and Promise of forgiveness, life, and salvation to all, for all.

   We can be thankful for intelligence, for physical strength, for learning from our mistakes.  But first & foremost to deal with temptations large & small we need God’s Holy Spirit. Jesus did not expect super-smart, super-strong, super-amazing works of charity & faith from his first disciples, nor does He expect that from any of us today.  Jesus knows our strengths & weakness! He knows our limitations, our lack of experience.  Let there be no doubt, no second guessing how vulnerable we are to the subtle, reasonable, appealing temptations of the devil, the world, our culture, and our own sinful flesh.

   Most of us may not remember it, may have completely forgotten it, but that day of our Confirmation long ago when at age 13, 14 we sat up front in church and nervously looked around not knowing for sure what we were getting into. When we then came forward at knelt before the altar of God, a pastor laid his hand on our head, spoke our name and said God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, give you his Holy Spirit, the Spirit of wisdom and knowledge, of grace & prayer, of power and strength, of sanctification and the fear of God.  How we need that Holy Spirit in our lives every day.

   It’s amazing what the Holy Spirit can accomplish in us & thru us when we face honestly & with true repentance the places in us where the Holy Spirit needs to work the most.

   The late Bishop Fulton J. Sheen who liked to sing the praises of Jesus’ disciple John for his love & great acts of charity, also said it was probably John who may have induced his mother to approach Jesus about the matter of Jesus giving places of honor & leadership to both her sons, James & John. On another occasion when a Samaritan city rejected a visit from Jesus & his disciples, John & his brother, James, asked Jesus to rain down fire from heaven & destroy the city.  

   This was not charity.  In fact, there must have been a tendency in John to hate, to seek revenge, which could explain why Jesus nick-named John who wanted to send down lighting, a son of thunder.

   But some time or other in his life as Jesus disciple, John recognized this weak spot in his character, lacking kindness & patience toward outsiders, and with the power of the Holy Spirit at work in his heart & life through God’s unconditional grace in Christ, John became the great apostle of charity, the apostle of love.

   Writes Bishop Sheen: “The temptations of the saints were for them opportunities of self-discovery.”  Temptations revealed the breaches in the fortress of their souls that needed to be fortified, until they became the strongest points. 

   This explains the curious fact about many saintly people, like St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Augustine, Martin Luther, C.S. Lewis, Billy Graham that they often become the opposite of what they seemed to be.   

   It’s like when we see the change; when we hear of the goodness or patience or thoughtfulness or self-control or generosity or humility of certain persons, our first reaction is: “I knew him when . . .” 

   Between the “then” and the “now” has intervened a battle, a struggle, a journey into the wilderness in which selfishness lost and faith won, the devil lost and the Holy Spirit won. 

   When it comes to games, competitions, challenging moments, intense confrontations, winners, losers, champions, runners-up, we say may the best person, best team win.

   But when it comes to trials & temptations, may we not play games with the devil but say an uncompromising, uninhibited no as Jesus said no and do so in the power of the Holy Spirit and with the Word of God to strengthen & direct us.