Sunday, February 26th, 2023 - "Seeking: Who Will You Listen To?"

Watch the sermon here

First United Presbyterian Church

“Seeking: Who Will You Listen To?”

Rev. Amy Morgan

February 26, 2023

Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.’

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God say, “You shall not eat from any tree in the garden”?’ The woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.” ’ But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

Matthew 4:1-11

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.’ But he answered, ‘It is written,

“One does not live by bread alone,

   but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” ’

Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written,

“He will command his angels concerning you”,

   and “On their hands they will bear you up,

so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.” ’

Jesus said to him, ‘Again it is written, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” ’

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour; and he said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Away with you, Satan! for it is written,

“Worship the Lord your God,

   and serve only him.” ’

Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.

‘Did God say, “You shall not eat from any tree in the garden”?’

The serpent is crafty. It uses words so similar to God’s own that it takes a minute for the human to remember exactly what it was God did say. It makes an argument so convincing that it persuades humanity to ignore the voice of God and be transformed by anxiety and greed. The serpent is crafty. 

And the serpent has stayed busy. 

Did God say, “slaves, obey your masters?” 

Did God say, “I do not allow a woman to teach over a man?” 

Did God say, “homosexuality is an abomination?” 

Did God say, “utterly destroy your enemy and show them no mercy?” 

It takes a minute for us to remember exactly what God did say. And when and where and why God may have said it. But the serpent has twisted and used God’s words to convince humanity that we can justify chattel slavery, the subordination of women, the oppression of people in the LGBTQ community, and the perpetuation of violence. 

And once we begin listening to the serpent, it’s hard to stop. The serpent can make up new lies that sound so logical they must be true. Did God say, “the Lord helps those who help themselves?” Did God say, “those who please me will be healthy, wealthy and happy?” Did God say, “might makes right?”

The serpent is crafty. And the serpent has been busy. 

Listening to the serpent transforms the lives of the first humans. They become ashamed of their bodies, which were made in the image of God, and make clothing to cover them up. They become afraid of the God who made them and loves them, and they hide from God. The very good existence God intended for them is transformed into a life of fear and shame. 

Listening to the serpent continues to transform our lives today. We listen to those voices that sound almost like God’s: quotations from scripture, lifted out of context or just slightly mis-translated; the axioms of cultural Christianity or Christian nationalism that sound like they could be holy writ; and those messages that have become so prevalent in our society that they must be true because they’re true. And these voices, the voice of the serpent, transform our lives. They keep us anxious and unsatisfied. They convince us we’re not enough, and we don’t have enough. The serpent’s voice is the voice of scarcity, of fear, of shame. 

And that changes everything about the way we live. We struggle to take for ourselves and make for ourselves. We wander in a wilderness of need and fight over resources and oppress others to increase our power. Call it “the Fall” or “original sin,” or just call it listening to the voice of the serpent. 

The voice of the serpent takes many forms in our world today. It speaks through the news media we consume that feeds our confirmation bias and convinces us those who think differently than we do are evil. It speaks through the politicians who breed contempt. It speaks through the authority figure in our lives who convinces us we will never measure up, never be worthy, never be lovable. It speaks through the advertisements that convince us we are not enough and yet we deserve more and better. It speaks through the competitive co-worker and the mean girls and the bullies. It speaks through our self-doubt and regret and resentment. 

The serpent’s voice speaks loud and clear, and it transforms our lives. Instead of living into God’s good design for creation, we live in death-dealing ways, saturated with scarcity, fear, and shame. 

But Jesus shows us there is another way. Humans may be no match for this crafty creature, but Jesus certainly is. 

Now, just to be clear, the bible never conflates the serpent of Genesis with the devil of Matthew’s gospel. That is the work of later interpreters. In the scriptures, these are two distinct characters. But they operate in the same way. They both take the words of God and use them for purposes that are opposed to God’s good design for the creation. 

The first temptation of the devil is similar to the temptation of the serpent: use what power you have to take for yourself what you want or need. God helps those who help themselves, right? This honestly all sounds perfectly logical. If the fruit looks good, and I can reach out and grab it, why wouldn’t I? If I’ve been fasting for 40 days and I’m starving nearly to death, and I can turn stones into bread, why wouldn’t I? The serpent always makes so much sense. 

So how does Jesus counteract this powerful logic? How does he resist this strong temptation?

First, let’s remember that, yes, Jesus is fully human and fully God. He is the Son of God and the Messiah. He is a lot that we are not. So let’s remember that Jesus is Jesus and we are not. 

Second, though, let’s notice what Jesus was doing leading up to this episode of temptation. He was fasting in the wilderness. Both the number 40 and the location of the wilderness are Biblical code words for transformation. Before Jesus ever encounters the devil, he has spent the appropriate amount of time in the appropriate location to be transformed by God. The Spirit of God has led him here on purpose and given him this amount of time on purpose to prepare for this intentional temptation. 

Again, since we are not Jesus, God is not interested in tempting us on purpose to test our faith. But that doesn’t mean that we could not benefit from intentional preparation for the inevitable temptations that will confront us every day of our human lives. Jesus engaged in a spiritual discipline of fasting and withdrawal from everyday life that gave him the ability to discern the voice of the devil from the voice of God. 

And in doing this, Jesus reverses the transformation of Genesis. He listens to God’s Word and finds there the truths that transform scarcity into abundance, fear into trust, and shame into belovedness. He demonstrates what truly listening to the voice of God looks like. 

Jesus shows us that hunger is not only physical. If we feed our bodies but starve our souls, we will continue to live in a scarcity mindset that will never satisfy. He shows us that if we try to overcome fear with foolishness, we will never experience deep and lasting trust. He shows us that if we worship things that are not God so that we can elevate ourselves, we will never know how much God truly loves and cares for us. 

In the wilderness, Jesus’s life is transformed through these temptations. He goes from starving to being waited on by angels. I don’t know exactly what that would be like – to be waited on by angels. But I’m guessing they’re pretty good at their jobs. I’m guessing angels would not be bad at taking care of Jesus. He was probably pretty well set up. 

And what’s kind of ironic is that the devil tells Jesus to throw himself off the pinnacle of the temple because God will send angels to take care of him. Jesus refuses the devil’s temptation, but the angels come and take care of him anyway. 

This is all to say, Jesus is sustained, cared for, loved and tended to because he listens to the true voice of God. Through an intentional time of preparation, he is enabled to counter the voice of scarcity, fear, and shame with the truth of God’s abundance, faithfulness, and love. 

In this season of Lent, we have the opportunity to engage in an intentional time of preparation, and to practice spiritual disciplines, that will enable us to better discern the voice of God from the voice of the serpent in our lives. If you are ready to hear good news instead of despondency, possibility instead of apathy, blessing instead of blustering, then Lent is the season for you. In this season, we are invited to commit to spiritual disciplines such as fasting, prayer, study, and acts of kindness. 

If you haven’t thought about this, and you haven’t begun a Lenten discipline, it’s not too late to start. I’d encourage you to give it some prayerful consideration. These disciplines don’t make us more holy or show God that we are good Christians. These disciplines are meant to prepare us to hear God more clearly, to distinguish God’s voice from the voice of the serpent, to remember God’s words and discern what they really mean for us today. These disciplines enable us to listen to God’s life-giving Word. These disciplines allow our lives to be transformed by God’s voice. 

The Lenten season, this season of seeking, is an invitation to discern and to decide who we will listen to. Will we listen to the serpent, to those voices of scarcity, fear, and shame? Or will we listen to God, to the voice of abundance, trust, and love? May we observe a holy Lent, as we listen. 

To God be all glory forever and ever. Amen.