Tempted To Do Good

Luke 4:1-13

Pastor Melanie Hammond Clark

February 21, 2010

As you drive around Racine County you have probably seen a number of churches that have really pithy sign messages out front.  I think they are supposed to be encouraging you to want to be at that church and to welcome you in and all that kind of thing.  I’m a little slow to do some of those pithy things because I know that when I drive by some of those churches I get all tight inside when I’ve read what they’ve put on the outside.  There’s one that I read awhile back that said, “Live as though God is watching everything you say and do… because he is.” 

Now I don’t know about you but that sounds more like a threat than an invitation to me!  I am not too impressed with the concept of using God as a KGB spy or a high school dean of discipline.  I’m probably more in line with the little boy whose mother said to him:

“Did you know God was there when you stole that cookie from the kitchen?”  The boy says, “Yes.”  The mother says, “And he was looking at you all the time?”  The boy says, “Yes.”  The mother says, “Then what do you think he was saying to you?”  The boy says, “He was saying, ‘There’s no-one here but the two of us… So go ahead take two!’”

More seriously, there are, of course, bad behaviors from which we should refrain; unhealthy habits that need adjusting; temptations that work their way insidiously into our lives.  And there are plenty of sermons that we can devote to all of those.

But in these early days of Lent, as we reflect upon Jesus’ being tempted in the wilderness, I’m more struck how Satan, not God, behaves as a spy and tempts Jesus with what seems good – with what seems good – instead of with what seems inherently bad.  The temptations themselves and the desires to meet them are real: 1) Feed the hungry people of the world.  2)  Lay claim to the kingdoms of the world.  And 3) Reveal your true identity to the world.  Aren’t there scriptures different from the ones that Jesus used to reply to Satan that would make these temptations seem perfectly reasonable?  Yes!  Let’s feed the hungry.  Christians are trying to do it all the time.  Yes!  Let’s gather in the world for Christ.  Yes!  Let every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.  The sooner the better.  (Lectionary Homiletics, Jim Somerville).  But in each case, with each temptation to do what ultimately looks good, Jesus has to discern the motives and the means to the end.  In each case Jesus must distinguish between what might seem good for him to do and what is truly best.

As Fred Craddock, a preaching professor, wisely observed, “Jesus is approached and tested at the point of what is reasonable, what is helpful, what is good.  Fundamentally,” Craddock says, “temptation is not about the question, ‘Would you like to do something wrong?’  When Adam and Eve where in the garden, the voice of the tempter said, ‘Would you like to be as God?’  The voice did not say, ‘Hey, would you like to live as the devil?  I have a deck of cards and a fifth out here in my chariot.’  The voice said, ‘Would you like to be as God?’  What is wrong with that?  Isn’t that what we are about?  Temptation at its deepest level,” says Craddock, “really has nothing to do with key lime pie and chocolate fudge.  It has nothing to do with that piece of paper in the pocket that has the answers to the test.  It has nothing to do with the half pint in the tool chest.  Jesus’ temptation was this:  ‘What am I going to do with my life?’  Real temptation is when you do not know what is right from what is wrong.  It is not a matter of choosing the right and resisting the wrong, it is a matter of asking, ‘What in this situation, what in my life, is God’s will for me?’” (The Cherry Log Sermons, p. 17)

Now, you may not have noticed, but just about everything Victoria and I teach and preach centers on some version of that question.  Whether in Spiritual Practices class, Lectionary Bible Study, book nights, mini-retreats, or Mom’s Group, or even on the Deacon Board or the Session, the primary focus here is on discerning and distilling God’s leading in our lives individually and together.  As Jesus discovered in the wilderness, we are not just tempted or distracted by bad choices, we are often tempted by good choices, by seemingly positive possibilities and endless opportunities to be helpful.  Jesus had to listen carefully and distinguish between what he was capable of doing and what God actually wanted him to do.  Jesus had to listen carefully to distinguish between the offer that massaged his ego, which made him feel like a hero, and the truer voice of God that reminded him who he was and what his life was about.

If Jesus, if Jesus, had to listen carefully between the voices in his head, what makes us think that we can lead lives of real health and purpose without doing the same?

We get frustrated with God for not giving us guidance, for not clueing us in, but our lives are structured against quiet, against inactivity, against patience and waiting for God’s purposes to unfold.  Yes, we ask all the time, “What is God’s will for me?”  But it’s like we ask it rhetorically as we run, not really expecting an answer, not really wanting to adjust our life agenda to really make it possible to hear an answer.

Many of you have read Mark Yaconelli’s book “Contemplative Youth Ministry”.  It’s a wonderful book and if you haven’t read it I encourage you to read it.  But there’s also another book by his father, Mike Yaconelli, who was the youth guru when I was coming up the pike oh so many years ago.  And I have so enjoyed Michael Yaconelli’s book called “Messy Spirituality:  God’s Annoying Love for Imperfect People.”  Great title.  And he writes in this, pertaining to this concept about which I’m speaking:

“Most of us are going as a fast as we can, living life at a dizzying speed and God is nowhere to be found.  We’re not rejecting God, we just don’t have time for him.  We’ve lost him in the blurred landscape as we rush to church.  We don’t struggle with the Bible but with the clock.  It’s not that we’re too decadent, we’re just too busy.  We don’t feel guilty because of sin but because we have no time for our spouses, our parents, our children, our friends or our God.  It’s not sinning too much that’s killing our souls,” he writes, “it’s our schedule that’s annihilating us.  Most of us don’t come home at night staggering drunk.  Instead we come home staggering tired, worn out, exhausted and drained because we live too fast. 

“Speed is not neutral.  Fast living used to mean living a life of debauchery; now it just means fast, but the consequences are even more serious.  Speeding through life endangers our relationships and our souls. 

“Voices surround us, always telling us to move faster.  It may be our boss, our pastor, our parents, our wives, our husbands, our politicians or sadly even ourselves.  So we comply.  We increase the speed.  We live life in the fast lane because we have no slow lanes anymore.  Every lane is fast and the only comfort our culture can offer is more lanes and increased speed limits.  The result:  too many of us are running as fast as we can and an alarming number of us are running much faster than we can sustain.”

Yaconelli says, “Speed damages our souls because living fast consumes every ounce of our energy.  Speed has a deafening roar that drowns out the whispering voices of our souls and leaves Jesus as a diminished speck in our rear-view mirror.  Spiritual growth is not running faster as in more meetings, more Bible studies, and more church activities.  Spiritual growth happens when we slow our activity down for discernment.  If we want to meet Jesus we can’t do it on the run.  If we want to stay on the road of faith we have to hit the brakes now and then.  Pull over to a rest area and stop.  Christianity is not just about inviting Jesus to come aboard and speed through life with us.  It’s about noticing Jesus sitting there waiting for us at the rest stop.

“While the church earnestly warns Christians to watch for the devil,” Yaconelli warns that in truth “the devil is sitting in the congregation encouraging everyone to keep busy, keep doing ‘good things’.”

I realize that for some of us, it seems almost impossible, for good or for ill, to slow ourselves down.  In fact, thinking of Jesus getting to spend 40 days in the desert wilderness with no-one to bug us but the devil sounds like a good vacation, maybe an envied luxury!

But if we are honest, we are a little afraid of slowing down.  We are a little afraid of discerning between what is good and what is best.

Again, in Yaconelli’s words, “Rest is a decision we make.  Rest is choosing to do nothing when we have too much to do.  Slowing down when we feel pressure to go faster.  Stopping instead of mindlessly starting.  Rest is listening to our weariness and responding… We know we are ready for God to work in our lives when we’re tired.  When our lives with such good deeds and intentions begin to weigh us down, God is present in the heaviness…”

Jesus said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy-laden and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.  I am gentle and humble at heart and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). 

We need to rest in Christ instead of just our own capabilities and competence. When we do that counter-cultural thing and push the other way and rest and lean on Christ instead of our own capabilities and competence and egos, then we are free to determine more helpfully where in this season of our lives God really does need us, what good we are truly called to do and which voices reflect God’s choices in our souls.  People will get mad at you.  People will not understand you.  People will fight you every step of the way and key into every “responsible child” piece of DNA that you have.  But we are responsible to God to be the responsible people God made us to be, to do what God invites us to do.  Not even the church is above that, let alone everything else. 

So this Lent, this Lent, beginning this day, ask God to help you figure out how to slow a piece of your life down just enough so you can be tempted, actually invited to know God’s gracious love in the depth of your being, God’s deepest rest that will help you know how to use your life.  Only then, will your heart not be afraid to listen for what’s best, and not just for what’s good.  Only then, will you be prepared to discern what seems good for you and what is truly best for the one and only life God has given you to live.  Amen.