Luke 4:1-13<\/p>\n
4Jesus, <\/em>full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in<\/em> <\/p>\n I believe that it is a joy to reenter this Lenten Moreover, this season helps us to remember that God For the coming 40 days, we will, first of all, For the first sermon in the Lenten season, I would like to bring a lesson, a great lesson for <\/p>\n Dogs are considered man\u2019s best friends. They are <\/p>\n In today\u2019s Scripture, we also can see Jesus that The first temptation was to end Jesus\u2019 hunger by <\/p>\n Those three temptations have to do <\/p>\n However, Jesus responded to the temptations by <\/p>\n The word \u201ctemptation\u201d has so many connotations. <\/p>\n As a response to God\u2019s faithfulness to us, let us be <\/p>\n Let us pray,<\/p>\n Faithful God, we give thanks to you for the <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Luke 4:1-13 4Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, 2where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. 3The devil said to him, \u201cIf you are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-worship-and-teaching"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3399"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4014,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3399\/revisions\/4014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nthe wilderness, 2<\/sup>where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing<\/em>
\nat all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. 3<\/sup>The<\/em>
\ndevil said to him, \u201cIf you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a<\/em>
\nloaf of bread.\u201d 4<\/sup>Jesus answered him, \u201cIt is written, \u2018One does not live by bread<\/em>
\nalone.\u2019\u201d 5<\/sup>Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the<\/em>
\nkingdoms of the world. 6<\/sup>And the devil said<\/em>
\nto him, \u201cTo you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been<\/em>
\ngiven over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. 7<\/sup>If<\/em>
\nyou, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.\u201d 8<\/sup>Jesus<\/em>
\nanswered him, \u201cIt is written, \u2018Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.\u2019\u201d<\/em>
\n9<\/sup>Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the<\/em>
\npinnacle of the temple, saying to him, \u201cIf you are the Son of God, throw<\/em>
\nyourself down from here, 10<\/sup>for it is written,<\/em>
\n\u2018He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,\u2019 11<\/sup>and<\/em>
\n\u2018On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot<\/em>
\nagainst a stone.\u2019\u201d 12<\/sup>Jesus answered him, \u201cIt is said, \u2018Do not put the Lord your God<\/em>
\nto the test.\u2019\u201d 13<\/sup>When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him<\/em>
\nuntil an opportune time.<\/em>
\nToday is the first Sunday of Lent. One of the purposes of Lent is for the
\ncommunity to reflect on the depth of its discipleship and faith in God. Also,
\nit is time to reflect on God\u2019s abundant grace for all of us.<\/p>\n
\nseason. These days, many think that Lent is a dreary season of restriction or
\nself-denial. However, for the early church, Lent was just the opposite of a
\ndreary season of restriction and self-denial. It was understood as an
\nopportunity to return to a life of natural communion with God, neighbors, and
\nall of God\u2019s creation.<\/p>\n
\nis the center of our lives and source of all grace. Therefore, for this season,
\nI invite you to explore what it might look like to live within God\u2019s grace,
\ntrusting in its sufficiency to meet your needs. Then, you will see that this season
\nwill help us, here at the Chilmark Community Church, to restore a right and
\nfaithful relationship with God and increase our sense of joy coming from that relationship.<\/p>\n
\nengage in restoring our relationship with God through our worship, preaching,
\npraise, prayer, the Bible readings and so on. And then, we will have a
\ndiscerning process to reflect on the depth of our discipleship and faith in
\nGod. I pray that the Holy Spirit will guide us so that we can humbly engage in
\nthis process.<\/p>\n
\nChristians, from a dog. I now invite you to pay attention to this lesson.<\/p>\n
\nvery cute and friendly and love people. Moreover, dogs are faithful. Anyone who
\nhas trained a dog to obey knows this scene. A bit of meat or bread is placed on
\nthe floor near the dog and the master says, \u201cNo!\u201d The dog knows that she must
\nnot touch it. The treat looks and smells so delicious that the dog starts to
\nsalavate. However, the dog does not touch the food because the master said,
\n\u201cNo!\u201d The dog will usually take her eyes off the food, because the temptation
\nto disobey would be too great, and will instead fix her eyes on the master\u2019s
\nface. Do you catch the point? Even though the dog is tempted by the food, the
\ndog intentionally takes her eyes off the food and intentionally fixes her eyes
\non the master\u2019s face. We know that the dog sometimes glances at the food and
\nmakes a groan. But the point is the dog tries to fix her eyes on the master.
\nHow about that? Isn\u2019t it great? That is the lesson from the dog. For Lent,
\nplease keep this in your mind whenever you are tempted. \u201cAlways faithfully look
\nto the Master\u2019s face.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nfixes his eyes on God, resisting the temptations from evil. After Jesus was
\nbaptized, he went into the wilderness. He was filled with the Holy Spirit and
\nprayed to God for 40 days without any food. After 40 days, the devil came to
\nJesus and tempted him.<\/p>\n
\nturning stones into bread. The devil tempted Jesus to rely on the values of
\nmaterial security. Secondly, the devil led Jesus up
\nand showed him all the kingdoms of the world. And the evil one said, \u201cIf you
\nworship me, all this will be yours.\u201d Finally, the devil took Jesus to
\nJerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, \u201cIf you
\nare the Son of God, throw yourself down from here. God will command God\u2019s angels
\nto protect you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nwith earthly power and glory. For many people as well as us, those temptations
\nare too great to resist. Today, many Christians and churches try to seek more
\nmaterial wealth than they need. Sometimes, we find ourselves testing God. We often
\npray to God, \u201cIf You do this for me, then I will do this for you.\u201d Sometimes,
\nwe find ourselves seeking more and more power as if we would rule the world.<\/p>\n
\nquoting from Deuteronomy. He responded for the first temptation, \u201cIt is written,
\n\u2018One does not live by bread alone (Deuteronomy 8:3).\u2019\u201d For the second
\ntemptation, \u201cIt is written, \u2018Worship the Lord your God, and serve only God (D.
\n6:13).\u2019\u201d For the last one, \u201cIt is said, \u2018Do not put the Lord your God to the
\ntest (D. 6:16).\u2019\u201d By refusing to follow the temptations of the devil, Jesus
\nremained faithful to God.<\/p>\n
\nAccording to a New Testament scholar, Arland Hultgren, it is helpful to think
\nof the temptation of Jesus as the testing of God\u2019s Son. \u00a0Jesus was tested by God concerning his
\nbaptismal vocation as the Son of God. He was obedient to his calling by being
\nfaithful to God. Jesus just fixed his eyes on God\u2019s face, not on the
\ntemptations. Likewise, those who are his followers are tested concerning their
\nbaptismal vocation. Trough baptism, we are called to obedience and to serve God.
\nBut our faith is tested throughout the course of our lives. We often fail to be
\nobedient to God as the Israelites failed to be obedient in the wilderness. Nevertheless,
\nthere is good news. That is, God remains faithful always, even if we fail to
\nremain faithful. Yes, God is always faithful to us. That is the good news.<\/p>\n
\nfaithful to God for this Lenten season. Even though there are so many
\ntemptations from the world, let us try not to look at them. Rather, try to fix
\nour eyes on God instead. Try to fix our hearts on God\u2019s word in the Bible. This
\nis what Jesus did in the wilderness.
\nRemember the lesson of the dog. We love dogs because
\nthey are not only cute and friendly, but also extremely faithful. In Korea,
\nthere is a native dog called Jindo dog. These dogs are beloved by most Koreans.
\nDo you know why? Jindo dogs are regarded as one of the most faithful dogs. Masters
\nlove these dogs because of their faithfulness. Likewise, God will shower us
\nwith love when we are faithful to God. There is no doubt about that.
\nIn today\u2019s story, we see the temptations to abuse
\nour relationship to God. The devil tried to abuse the relationship of Jesus
\nwith God. However, to all the temptations, Jesus responded with the lines from
\nDeuteronomy. One of the central concerns of Deuteronomy is full-fledged
\nfaithfulness to God despite all adversities. In Jesus we see how to be faithful
\nto God. We see what Jesus did in the desert.
\nLet me wrap up today\u2019s sermon. Being faithful to God
\nis a key practice for this Lenten season. For the 40 days, let us together
\npractice our faith to the fullest. Whenever we face temptations, let us keep
\nour faith in God, the faith that God will help and protect us. Let us fix our
\neyes and our hearts on the master\u2019s face. When we do this, then God, who always
\nremains faithful to us, will guide and protect us by giving us God\u2019s grace and
\nlove.<\/p>\n
\nopportunity to grow closer to you this season. Due to your love and grace, we
\ncome together to worship and pray. Help us fix our eyes and our hearts on Your
\nface and to keep praying You every day. Enable us to be faithful to you. In
\nyour name, we pray. Amen.<\/p>\n