The Way ~ The Mountains

I have a bumper sticker that says, Climb Mountains – Jesus Did, and it’s true.  Jesus climbed a lot of mountains.  In fact, according to James Ridgeway, the founder of Educational Opportunities, a non-profit group that takes people on tours of the Holy Land, you can tell the story of Jesus by looking at mountains.  After his baptism, Jesus went up to a mountain where he was tempted.  Before big decisions like choosing his disciples, Jesus would go into the mountains to pray.  He multiplied the loaves and fishes and fed thousands of people in the mountains.  Jesus stood in the presence of Moses and Elijah on a mountain, on Palm Sunday he entered Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives and on Good Friday he was crucified on Mt. Calvary.  His last words were given on the top of mountain and it was from that mountain Jesus was taken up into heaven.  So mountains played an important part in Jesus life, but it wasn’t just Jesus.  Mountains have always been special for God’s people.

In a test of faith, Abraham was told to go to Mt. Moriah and sacrifice his son.  

Mt. Moriah where Abraham went to sacrifice Isaac

When he got there, Abraham didn’t have to kill Isaac because on the mountain God provided a lamb.  Moses went to the top of Mt. Sinai to receive the 10 Commandments.  

Mt. Sinai where Moses received the law.

The prophet Elijah defeated all the false prophets on Mt. Carmel.  

Mt. Carmel where Elijah defeated the prophets of Baal

So mountains have always been special places for God to work and they seem to be the place where God loves to speak.  God spoke to Abraham, Moses, Elijah and Jesus on the mountain top and it’s on the top of a mountain that God clearly speaks to us, Mark 9:7. From the top of a mountain God tells us to listen to Jesus and so we need to pay careful attention to his teaching and message.

The most powerful message or sermon Jesus ever gave was from a mountain which is why we call it the sermon on the mount, 

The mountain where Jesus preached.

but before we look at that sermon it’s important to understand a few things about Jesus teaching in general.  When he taught, Jesus used a lot of stories called parables.  Parables helped people easily understand a truth about God’s character, activity or will for our lives.  For example, the parable of the lost sheep is a powerful story about the love of God.  The parable itself is a story about a shepherd who has 100 sheep and when one gets lost the shepherd leaves the 99 and goes to search for that one lost sheep.  When he finds it, the shepherd lifts the sheep in his arms, places it on his shoulder and returns home with joy.  The parable is simple and easy to understand, God is the good shepherd who rescues us when we are lost. 

So the parable is told to teach us about the love of God and the lengths that God is willing to go to save us, but we can’t push the parable too far.  For example, it would be foolish for us to hear this story and think that Jesus is telling us that we should eat grass, walk on all fours and have our bodies shaved once a year like sheep.  Parables usually just have one main truth to share and so we need to be careful not to push the analogy or comparison too far. 

Jesus also used bold and sometimes provocative statements to make a point and we call this prophetic hyperbole.  For example, in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus says that if our hand causes us to sin we should cut it off and throw it away.  Now let’s be clear – Jesus is not advocating cutting off our hands, but he does want us to take seriously the reality of our sin.  In another place Jesus tells a rich man to sell everything he has so that he will have treasure in heaven.  Again, we can’t sell everything we have and just become a burden on the church or society – but we need to take seriously the hold that our possessions and money have on us and find ways to free ourselves.  So as we can see, it’s important to know some of the figures of speech Jesus used so that we can rightly interpret what Jesus is saying. 

So now let’s turn and look at Jesus Sermon on the Mount.  

looking out from where Jesus gave his sermon on the mount

It is found in Matthew 5-7 and since we are not going to be able to read and discuss it all this morning, I want to encourage you to take time to read it through this week.  One of the first things Jesus tells us in the sermon is that our lives and our faith need to make a difference in this world.  Look at Matthew 5:13-16.  We don’t follow Jesus and walk in his way just so that our lives will be blessed and so we will experience the fullness of God – we walk in the footsteps of Jesus to be blessing to others.  We were created for good deeds that can be seen by others so that when people see them they might see the truth and power and love of God through us.    

This has always been God’s desire for his people.  In the Old Testament we read that the people of Israel were to be a light to the nations which means they were to live their lives with so much faith and trust in God that the people around them would turn toward God themselves.  My guess is that you have known someone whose passion for God and faithfulness to Jesus was so compelling that it made you think more about living for God yourself.  That’s what it means to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world and these are the kinds of lives we need to be living.    

The second thing Jesus does in his sermon is to remind us of the true intent of God’s law.  In Matthew 5:21-48, Jesus helps us see the true intent of God’s law given through Moses.  For example, Jesus said, you have heard that it was said you shall not murder, (that was the law given to Moses on Mt. Sinai to give to the people) but I tell you that you should not even by angry with your brothers and sisters (this is God’s real desire).  In other words, it’s not just our actions that God cares about it is our attitudes as well.  Again, Jesus said that God doesn’t just care about adultery as much as he cares about lust.  And while the law given through Moses allows us to seek justice, God really wants us to practice forgiveness.  The religious leaders had done a really good job defining in detail every law that God had given, but what they lost in all those details was the spirit of the law and God’s original intent.  Because of this, Jesus goes into the mountains and suddenly is seen as the new Moses giving the people a new law that helps people once again understand what it means to be the people of God. 

In Matthew 6 Jesus teaches us about the importance of practicing the spiritual disciples of prayer, fasting and giving to God.  All these things are important but we have to make sure that we are not doing them for show.  We don’t give and pray and fast to get recognized by others in hopes that people will think highly of us.  We do it to show our deep commitment and gratitude to God and we do it to grow closer to God.  When we pray Jesus tells us to pray in secret where only God can hear us.  And when Jesus tells us to give he says we are to do it so quietly that our right hand doesn’t even know what our left hand is doing (again, an example of prophetic hyperbole - we can’t actually have one hand not know what the other is doing, but that is how seriously we should strive to give without looking for recognition).  And when we fast we are not to do it in a way that makes us look miserable so people will think we are some kind of super Christian, we are to do it in a way that no one even knows we are doing it.  Spiritual disciples are important but again, we have to do them for the right reasons.

In Matthew 6:19-34, Jesus takes time to address the danger of money and worldly possessions.  Jesus tells us not store up treasure on earth, or look to the things of this world to take care of us and it is here that Jesus states clearly, you can’t serve both God and wealth.  I think Jesus takes time to address this clearly because he knows this is one of the most difficult areas of our life.  As we heard a few weeks ago, this was a temptation for Jesus and so he reminds us not to give in to the wealth of the world around us but to keep our faith and trust in God alone. 

Jesus ends his sermon with two important points.  The first is that as we consider all these teachings and how we are supposed to live them out – we can’t look at others to see how well they are doing it or not doing it – we can’t judge how well other people are living up to this teaching – we  have to look at ourselves.  Here again, Jesus uses a great illustration or story to teach this.  Matthew 7:1-5.  The image is powerful – we can’t be worrying about what is going in the eyes or the lives of others – we need to be worrying about what is sticking out of our own eye.  We need to examine our lives and our motives and our attitudes and actions and allow God to convict and challenge and call us to change where change and faithfulness are needed. 

So we have to examine our own lives and make sure we are living these words out and that is how Jesus ends this sermon.  If we don’t live out these words then in time our lives and our faith will fall apart.  Look at Matthew 7:24-27.  After hearing this sermon, if we don’t live it out, if we don’t use it as the foundation of our faith – it means nothing and it won’t support us when we need it.  We have to live it out because as we learned last fall – application is… (everything!)

It is not surprising that Jesus went into the mountains to give this sermon because this sermon lays out for us how God wants us to live.  This is the new law given to us by the new Moses on the mountaintop.  Like the original law given by God, this teaching is challenging, some might say impossible, but that’s ok, because it shows us that living the way of Jesus requires not more hard work but more grace and love and the power of God.  We can’t live out this sermon alone, we need Jesus.  We need Jesus for courage to step out and live this way.  We need Jesus to guide our hearts and lives as we walk in his footsteps.  We need Jesus to save us when we fall.  We just need Jesus. 

I hope you will take some time this week to go to the mountains, go someplace to read God’s word, maybe this very sermon, and ask God for the strength to live it out because according to Jesus, when we ask it will be given to us, when we seek we will find and when knock on God’s door – God will answer and give us all that we need. 

Next Steps

The Way ~ Mountains

Take time this week to study Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.  Every day find ways to live out this message of Jesus.

Monday:  Matthew 5:1-12

·   What does it mean to hunger and thirst for righteousness and how can you increase this  hunger?

·   How can you become a peacemaker? 

Tuesday:  Matthew 5:13-15

·   How can you be salt and light in our world?  What practical ways can you show the grace and love of God to others? 

Wednesday:  Matthew 5:17-48

·   Which one of Jesus’ teachings here most applies to your life?  What is God trying to say to you?

Thursday:  Matthew 6:1-18

·   How can you grow in faith this summer through prayer, fasting and giving? 

·   What one step can you take this week?

Friday:  Matthew 6:19-34

·   Has money and wealth become the focus of your life? 

·   Does worry consume you and derail your faith?

·   Pray this week for Jesus to open your eyes to all the ways God wants to provide for you and your family.

Saturday:  Matthew 7:1-27

·   Who is that you are quick to judge?  Why?  What would it look like for you judge yourself instead?  

The Way ~ Capernaum

Both the gospels of Matthew and Mark tell us that Jesus made the city of Capernaum his hometown, but they don’t tell us how he got there.  Jesus’ actually hometown was Nazareth so after his time in the wilderness that’s where he returned, but he didn’t stay there and it is the gospel of Luke that tells us why.  Once Jesus arrived in Nazareth he entered the Synagogue and read from a section of Isaiah that talked about the coming of the Messiah.  Luke 4:18-19  Jesus read these words and then sat down, which meant he was going to teach the people and what Jesus said was, Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.  In other words Jesus said the spirit of the Lord is upon ME.  I am the Messiah.  I am the one who has come to bring good news and to set people free.  This did not go over well with the people.  In fact, this hometown crowd drove Jesus out to a cliff with every intention of throwing him off it to his death.  But Jesus just walked through the people and left Nazareth.  It says he passed through the midst of them and went on his WAY. 

The way of Jesus took him north to the city of Capernaum and it was from here that Jesus engaged in ministry.  But why did Jesus pick Capernaum as his new hometown?  Why did Jesus choose this city and not, say, Jerusalem?  Matthew tells us why.  Matthew 4:13-16.  Capernaum was in the land of Zebulun and Naphtali, it was the on the road to the sea across the Jordan, and so Jesus went there to fulfill the words of Isaiah, but it wasn’t just to fill the scriptures, Capernaum was a good location for other reasons.  It was a hard working city with a strong fishing and farming industry so Jesus would find people who understood the simple things in life and faith.  It had a large Jewish population but unlike the Jewish community in Nazareth this community was open to new and fresh ideas.  So this was a great location for Jesus to begin his ministry.

Today in Capernaum there are 2 important sites that people visit.  

The first is the ruins of a synagogue that dates to the 3^rd century.  This synagogue was built on top of another one that would have been the place Jesus went for worship.  You can see the white stones are from the synagogue in the 3rd Century but the darker stones are the ones that would have been there when Jesus was around.  It’s amazing to think that Jesus could have walked on those very stones and sat on those walls.

The 2^nd important site is about 90 feet from the synagogue and it is the ruins of what is believed to be a Christian church also built in the third century.  

Today there is a very modern church built on top of the original church and the floor is glass so you can get the feel of worshipping in what might have been one of the first Christian Churches ever built.   

Now it is important to remember that many of the early Christian churches were built on locations connected to the life and ministry of Jesus.  Churches were built where they believed Jesus was born and where he died and last week we saw that in the 3^rd century they built a monastery over the cave where Jesus may have spent time in the wilderness.  So the question people began to ask was what was so special about this location in Capernaum?  In the 1960’s, archeological work found that below the church was a house and so people began to ask, what was so special about this house?  Whose house was this?  

Well, we heard the answer this morning from Mark 1:29. 

They left the synagogue and immediately entered the home of Simon Peter.  So it is believed that Peter lived close to the synagogue and so it is believed that this location, 90 feet from the synagogue where Jesus taught, is where Peter lived and where Jesus would have most likely made his home while he was in the city.  But these locations aren’t just where Jesus lived and worshipped, these were the locations of Jesus’ earliest miracles, miracles that became the foundation of his ministry.  In the synagogue Jesus drove out demons and in the house next door he healed the sick.  Healing and driving out demons was part of the ongoing work of Jesus and therefore they need to be part of the ongoing work of our lives as we follow in the footsteps of Jesus. 

So let’s talk about driving out demons.  There are several stories of Jesus driving out demonic or evil spirits and it raises the question if there are still demons active today?  This not an easy question to answer.  In Jesus day, there was none of the scientific and medical knowledge we have today so many things were simply seen as people being possessed by demons.  Take  epilepsy for example, when people suffered from what we would call an epileptic seizure those around them thought they were possessed by a demon and in fact there is a classic example of this found in Mark 9:17-18.  What the man describes here we might call a grand mal seizure, but in Jesus day the only way they could describe it was to talk about it in terms of demon possession.  Some psychiatric disorders and mental illnesses that we are able to diagnose might have been seen as demon possession.  Even things like fevers, blindness and paralysis were often seen as the work of demons.  When Jesus confronted these situations, it was not important for him to define what was going on in medical, emotional or spiritual terms – he just wanted to heal and deliver people so they could experience the fullness of life.  Jesus was working in the context of a first century worldview and so whether people saw sickness or demon possession, Jesus didn’t try to diagnose, he simply offered healing and wholeness.

Today we live in the context of a very different worldview.  Through scientific, medical and psychological advancements we diagnose things differently which means we can bring about healing and wholeness in different ways.  So some of the situations in the bible we read about as demon possession we may call something else, but let me be clear, there are still not demonic forces at work in our world and in the lives of people today.  They may look different but they are real.  

The summer I worked in Yellowstone National Park we would walk through the campground each Saturday night telling people about our worship services the next morning.  When I would enter a campsite I would always introduce myself by saying, “Hi, my name is Andy and I am working with the Christian Ministry in the National Park.” I will never forget walking into one site and when I got to the world “Christian” one of the women at the campsite became hysterical.  She screamed and yelled and told me to leave while everyone else just seemed to look at her.  I was stunned and honestly terrified.  I walked away and shared what happened with another member of the ministry team.  We believed that this woman was possessed.  We believed there were demonic forces working in her life that lashed out at the name of Christ and so we prayed for her.  That scene helped me understand that there are still forces of evil at work in people’s lives so we need to take this seriously and pray for situations where we see or feel the power of evil at work. 

What is important to remember as we sense demonic forces is that demons are always afraid of Jesus – not the other way around.  When demons saw Jesus coming they were terrified because they knew Jesus had power over them, that is what we heard in Mark 1:23-24.  The demons are afraid of Jesus because they know he has the power to destroy  them.  What this means for us is that if we experience something that seems evil and demonic, we don’t need to be terrified, we just need to stand strong in the name of Jesus.  Whether it is the tempting voice of the devil leading us astray or more powerful forces of evil we sense in our lives, the lives of others or the world around us, we need to claim the power of Jesus, pray in the name of Jesus and say to these forces of evil – be silent and be gone. 

Jesus cast out demons in the synagogue and then 90 feet away he healed people and so the second question we need to wrestle with is if God still heals people?  I believe he does and part of the reason I do is because I was blessed to be the pastor of Bob Crook.  Bob was a member of my church in Altoona and he was diagnosed with cancer.  The prognosis was not good and the doctors told him to go home and in a few weeks call hospice to come and help him get ready to die.  They went home but instead of calling hospice, they called on God.  They prayed, asked us to pray, and trusted God to lead them to different ways to treat the cancer and after several months they returned to the doctor who did all the tests again to see how far the cancer had spread.  When the doctor came into the room he said to them, “I don’t know how to tell you this, but we can’t find any sign of the cancer.  We can’t explain it, but you are cancer free.”  He told the doctor, I can explain it, God healed me.” 

We called Bob the miracle man, not just because of that situation but a few years earlier Bob had a brain tumor and they went to Pittsburgh for very delicate and extensive surgery to remove the tumor.  The doctors cut open Bob’s head and when they opened the skull the tumor popped out complete and in one piece.  The doctors  looked at themselves and said, “well, let’s close him up” and they did.  The tumor was out and there was no explanation except for the power of God.  So I do believe God heals – sometimes it is miraculous and instantaneous and sometimes it is through all the medical advances God gives us, but I do believe God heals – but I also know that true and eternal healing isn’t found in this world but in the kingdom of God to come. 

When I met Mary she was battling cancer and she had incredible faith that that God would heal her.  She believed this; her family believed it and so did the church. We held a healing service one night and after the service Mary said she felt so much better and she improved for many months.  Things really began to look good, and then they got the news that the cancer was spreading.  When I prayed with her again we prayed for God to heal her, but we both knew that the healing God would bring would come in heaven not in her home.  She accepted that and at her funeral we gave thanks that God finally and forever healed her.

As we look at the ruins of Capernaum and think about what Jesus did at the house of Peter and how he healed people, we need to understand God healing people is real.  If we are going to walk in the way of Jesus we need to help bring this healing to those around us, but what does that look like?  To answer this we need to look at another story that happened at the house of Peter.  At the beginning of Mark 2, Jesus has returned to Capernaum and it says he was at home – which we assume is the home of Peter.  When news of Jesus being there got out a huge crowd of people gathered to hear Jesus teach and preach and to watch him heal the sick and demon possessed.  Four men carried to Peter’s house a friend of theirs who had been paralyzed and they wanted Jesus to heal him, but they couldn’t get their friend  into the house, so they climbed up on the roof, which would have been made of mud, stones and straw and began to tear the roof apart. 

This is one of my favorite scenes in the Bible.  Picture Jesus sitting at a table, the room would have been noisy and chaotic with all those people crammed in there and no one may have noticed the little bits of dirt and dust coming down from the roof because dust and dirt would have been flying everywhere with all the people around.  And then all of a sudden a big chunk of mud falls on someone’s head and everyone looks up at sees the sky through the hole.  And somewhere in the house was Peter going ballistic scrambling over people to get to the roof and see what is going on.  And then four heads pop through the hole as the men look down to see where they are and if it is a good location to lower their friend.  And then the ropes drop down and a stretcher is lowered into the house.  What a scene, and all the while Jesus is sitting there thinking to himself, Wow, these men must really love their friend.

So the paralyzed man is lowered into the room and when he hits the ground I picture his four friends looking through the hole again and they aren’t looking at their friend, they are looking at Jesus and Jesus looks right at them and he sees their faith and trust in God and it is because of their faith that Jesus heals the paralyzed man.  That’s what it says, look at Mark 2:5.  It was their faith that moved the heart of Jesus and it was their faith that moved the hand of God. 

The way of Jesus was to heal people and set them free from spiritual, physical and emotional problems and if we are going to walk in the way of Jesus, if we are going to follow in his footsteps then we need to do the same thing.  For most of us this means that we live lives like these four friends and find ways to be part of the process of God’s healing power.  It’s not just doctors and nurses that God uses to heal people and it’s not just counselors and therapists who work to help people experience freedom and wholeness in life – God uses all of us.  God uses artists and teachers and scientists and business owners.  God uses people who pray and sing and visit and knit. 

The prayer shawl ministry of our church brings people healing.  A few weeks ago, Tina McKinley was in the hospital with several serious problems.  She told Larry to bring in her prayer shawl and the nurses said, you can’t bring in your own blankets.  Tina said it was not a blanket and she was going to have it with her.  The next day when Tina got her prayer shawl – her situation began to improve.  It wasn’t just the antibiotics she was getting, it was also the prayers and it was that shawl.  Her friends helped bring her God’s healing. 

Seeing the way Jesus lived in Capernaum shows us the way we need to live.  We need to walk in the footsteps of Jesus and allow God to use us as instruments of his grace and healing. 

Next Steps

The Way ~ Capernaum

In Capernaum, Jesus healed people spiritually, emotionally and physically and at Peter’s house we see four friends following in the footsteps of Jesus (Mark 2:1-12.).

1.  Identify some friends who have helped bring God’s healing into your life.  Take time this week to not only thank God for them, but thank them as well!

2.  Identify ways you can be a “stretcher-bearer” in the lives of others. 

·         Who needs your help today? 

·         What can you do to bring God’s healing into their lives? 

3.  What specific gift has God given you that you can use to help heal others spiritually, emotionally and physically?  How can you use this gift in the life of the church? 

For further reflection:

Jesus defined his work using the words of Isaiah 61.  Jesus was going to:

●     Bring good news to the poor

●     Release those held captive

●     Restore sight to the blind

●     Set the oppressed free

●     Proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor

Reflect on what each of these things meant for Jesus and examples of how he lived out this mission. 

How can we follow in the footsteps of Jesus and live out this same mission today?  (Be specific and identify missions and ministry you can engage in this summer.)

The Way ~ The Wilderness

So from the banks of the Jordan River and his baptism, Jesus immediately traveled to a very different location – the wilderness.  Here in the wilds of PA we think of wilderness as being wooded and wet. 

We have tree covered mountain ridges cut through by many streams and rivers, but this was not the kind of wilderness Jesus entered.  Wilderness for Jesus was an arid, barren, almost desert like mountainside.  In fact, many believe this is the mountain where Jesus spent his 40 days in the wilderness and it is called Mount Quarantal, which means 40.

Half way up the mountain there is a cave where Jesus could have spent his nights and today you can see there is a monastery built over the opening and visitors can go in and see where Jesus may have slept and prayed during this time.

Jesus was not led into the wilderness to just get away from the crowds so he could listen to God; time in the wilderness was always an important and formative time for God’s people.  The people of Israel travelled in this kind of wilderness for 40 years and it was during that time God led them from being slaves to free people.  It was a time of transformation, growth and development for God’s people.  When David was persecuted and felt alone he ran into the wilderness and lived in these kind of caves and it is from these kind of locations that he wrote psalms like this: Psalm 142:1-2, 5-6.  When the prophet Elijah ran from Queen Jezebel who wanted to kill him, he also ran into the wilderness where he cried out to God for help.  So the wilderness had special significance for God’s people.  It was a place of testing and struggle, it was a place of formation and growth and it was a place of refuge.  While all these wilderness stories may be different, there is one constant, when people traveled into the wilderness - God was there. 

I want us to take a look at one of the very first people in the Bible who ran into the wilderness and that was the maid servant to Abraham and Sarah, a woman named Hagar.  Abraham and Sarah had been told by God that they were going to have a child, but they were already old when they got this news and after waiting years without any signs of this promised child coming, they decided to take matters into their own hands.  They decided that Abraham should at least have a son, so Sarah gave him permission to have a child with her maidservant – Hagar.  Hagar got pregnant and just as you might imagine, jealousy arose between Sarah and Hagar.  In fear and frustration, Hagar ran into the wilderness.  Hagar was not just trying to run way from Abraham and Sarah but from God as well, but God found her in the wilderness.  Genesis 16:7-10, 13. 

This is an amazing story; first of all, it is the only time a woman gives God a name.  While so many people see the Judeo-Christian faith as just a patriarchal male dominated system (which at times it was), stories like this show us that God has always honored and lifted up and valued women.  Hagar calls God, El Roi, which means the God who sees, because God not only saw her hiding in the wilderness but he saw her problems and reached out to help her.  Hagar’s story shows us that when we run into the wilderness, when we are overcome with problems and just want to run away from it all God will always be there.  God was for Hagar and God was there for David and Elijah and God was there with His people as they travelled through the wilderness for 40 years.  God was there.

If nothing else, that is what we need to remember today, that God is with us during our own wilderness experience.  We all go through times of testing and turmoil and times of darkness and depression and it is important for us to remember that when we walk through these barren and dry times – God is there.  For about three years after college I struggled in my own kind of wilderness.  Because I worked many nights and every weekend, it was hard to get connected to a church so I didn’t attend worship on a regular basis and my faith felt dry and desolate and at times I wondered if God was still there.  Looking back I can see that God did not abandon me during that time, He was right there, and that is what we need to remember.  God is with us even when we don’t hear him or sense his presence.  God is here.

This was an important message that Jesus wanted to make sure his disciples understood which is why I think he shared this story with them.  Think about it, how do we even know this story of Jesus in the wilderness?  There was no one there to record what was being said and done which means that we only know this story because Jesus told it to his disciples and Jesus told his disciples because he wanted them to know that when we go through difficult or dry times – God is there – God is always there.    

So God was with Jesus when he was tempted by the devil and as we look at each of the three temptations Jesus faced, we see that these were not temptations that Jesus just faced in the wilderness; these were the ongoing temptations of His life.  Every day Jesus was faced with choices that would define his life and because he made faithful choices here in the wilderness, it gave him the strength to keep going when these temptations came up again.  So let’s look at these three temptations because the truth is, we face them in our own wilderness.  We find them in Matthew and the first temptation was for Jesus to turn stones to bread, Matthew 4:3-4. 

Remember, Jesus had been fasting for a long period of time so he was hungry when he faced this test.  In an instant, Jesus could have met his basic physical need with as much food as he wanted.  Think about all the stones Jesus saw in the wilderness – they were everywhere, so Jesus could have as much food as he wanted in an instant.  Instant gratification with food, it’s  one of the greatest temptations we face, in fact it was part of the very first temptation.  In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were told by God not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, but they didn’t trust that word of God, they wanted the instant gratification of knowing all things so they gave in to the devil who encouraged them eat. So think about it, Adam and Eve denied the word of God, listened to the devil gave into temptation and went for instant gratification and ate the fruit.  The exact opposite was true with Jesus.   Where Adam and Eve gave in and ate – Jesus did not.  Where Adam and Eve disregarded the word of God, Jesus trusted it.  Adam and Eve were faithless – Jesus remained faithful. 

It’s interesting that the very first thing that Jesus did after his baptism was to begin to reverse the failures of Adam and Eve and show us that there is a very different way we can live our lives.  We don’t have to continue to live out the failures of Adam and Eve.  We don’t have to live a life that is focused on instant gratification and living for ourselves first, last and always, we can turn things around and start listening to and living for God.  By standing strong in this temptation Jesus is showing us a different and better way to live our lives. 

The second temptation for Jesus was to jump off the pinnacle of the temple and allow the angels to catch him, Matthew 4:5-7.  I see this as the temptation Jesus faced to use his power and position to gain instant fame and glory.  If Jesus had jumped and the angels caught him before he hit the ground – even without a youtube video of it going viral – Jesus would have become an overnight sensation.  People would have flocked to him and not because they saw in him the grace and love of God but because of his spectacular ability.  But this was not the way Jesus was going to live his life.  Just as Jesus rejected instant gratification, he also rejected instant fame and popularity and chose a very different way.  Instead of worldwide fame coming from feats of daring, Jesus submitted to God and lived out a life of humility, service and sacrifice and in the end we see that the way of Jesus is the better way.  Fame is fleeting (after all, who can name the American Idol from season 4 or the winner of dancing with the stars season 2) but the legacy of Jesus life has changed our world. 

Today we face this same temptation.  People do all kinds of sensational stunts to post on youtube in hopes that it will go viral and make a name for themselves.  People are lining up to be on reality TV in order to experience instant fame in hopes that it will bring a sense of meaning and purpose to their lives.  Again, Jesus rejected this kind of fame and invested himself in a different way of living.  The way Jesus lived and the way Jesus calls us to live is a way of long term relationships which include service, sacrifice and love and it is this way, Jesus says, that will lead us to the kind of meaning and fulfillment that lasts more than an instant.  I think that’s what Jesus meant when he said, those who lose their life in this world will find it.  Those who don’t try to make a name for themselves in this world will find the true meaning of life both in this world and in the kingdom to come. 

The third temptation for Jesus was also one that we are familiar with, and that is the temptation of money.  Jesus was offered all the wealth of this world if he would worship Satan.  What’s interesting for us to see here is the response of Jesus.  Matthew 4:8-11  The first two times Jesus is tempted, he responds by saying, “it is written…”  and then he quotes a passage from Deuteronomy, but to this temptation Jesus begins his response by saying, “Away with you Satan!”  There is more emotion here, maybe even some anger and it could be that the anger is coming from Jesus’ knowing that this temptation is powerful and affects us all.   

Jesus talked a lot about the danger of money and in Matthew 6:24 Jesus said, you can’t serve both God and money.  If we are going to give in to this temptation and trust in our own wealth and resources then we are not living for, serving or trusting in God.  Jesus knew that this temptation was going to be difficult for us to overcome which is why he talked about it so much.  He warned us about this because it is a serious.  We look for our money to bring safety, security and significance but the truth is that it is not money that brings us any of these things.  Look at Jesus, he didn’t have any money – he had nothing and yet he felt secure about his future and he lived the most significant life anyone has ever lived and it was all because he trusted in and worshipped God alone.

So Jesus’ time in the wilderness was important because it helped define the way he was going to live.  Jesus was not going to choose the path of instant gratification, fame and fortune, he was going to walk in the way of sacrifice, service and faithfulness to God.  But let’s be clear – this was not an easy way.  Choosing to live this way, choosing to be faithful and trust God in all things was hard for Jesus and he knows it will be hard for us as well.  Jesus knows we will go through our own struggles in the wilderness which is why he shares with us this wilderness experience.     

So what does Jesus teach us about making it through our own times in the wilderness?  Well, the first thing we need to remember is that God is always with us, but beyond that he shows us that we need to draw upon the power God gives us.  Jesus draws from the power of God by using the word of God.  With each temptation Jesus used the word of God to help him fight off the devil, but let’s be clear – the word of God is magic – it’s not like we read it or quote it and our problems go away and the devil is defeated.  I would suggest that the scripture Jesus quoted he quoted for himself.  Jesus needed to hear the word of God give direction for his life.  When Jesus said, “man does not live by bread alone” it was to remind Jesus that there was more to life than meeting his own basic needs and when Jesus said “we should not put the Lord God to the test” it was to remind him to remain humble and when he said he needed to “worship God alone” it wasn’t for the devil to hear but to remind him that he didn’t the things of this world but the God who created this world.   

So what helps us make it through our times in the wilderness isn’t just quoting God’s word its hearing it ourselves and trusting God enough to live it out.  That was the real difference in the wilderness.  Jesus loved God and desired to live in a way that honored and pleased God so when he heard the word of God, he trusted what it said and followed it.  That’s the way to live.  It’s not enough to read the word or listen to it, we need to live it out – that’s where the power comes from.  That’s where life comes from.     

We will all experience times in the wilderness.  We will all go through times when our faith will be tested and we will struggle to remain faithful to God.  It is during those times we need to remember that God is not only with us, but through his word and through his love He gives us the power to overcome all things and stand strong.  If you are experiencing life in a dry place and a faith that is struggling – don’t give in to the devil who would want us to give up.  Stand strong and draw strength from the presence and power of God.  

Next Steps

The Way ~ The Wilderness

1.  Take some time to learn from others who walked through the wilderness:

• ·         Hagar: Genesis 16
• ·         Moses: Exodus 19
• ·         David: 1 Samuel 22-24, Psalm 57, 63, 142
• ·         Elijah: 1 Kings 19
• ·         Jesus: Matthew 4:1-11

2.  In the wilderness, Jesus faced three temptations.  In what ways do we face the same temptations today? 

• ·         Instant Gratification: Matthew 4:1-4. 
• ·         Instant Fame and Popularity: Matthew 4:5-7
• ·         Instant Wealth and Money: Matthew 4:8-11

3.  What temptations do you face today?  What resources has God given you to help you resist these temptations? 

4.  Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness.  What similarities do you see with Noah spending 40 days in the rain, Moses spending 40 days on Mt. Sinai and Elijah spending 40 days in prayer? 

5.  Commit to spending the next 40 days walking in the footsteps of Jesus? 

The Way ~ The Jordan River

Two of the most memorable summers of my life were spent travelling to new places and being in ministry once I got there. One summer I went to Yellowstone National Pak and during the week I worked as a short order cook in a restaurant and on Sunday’s helped lead worship in the campgrounds.

This was the restaurant - what a great location to work!

The next summer I worked in Rocky Mountain National Park and worked at the store on the top of Trail Ridge Road , elvation 12,000 feet.

Thanks Scott and Cassie for the picture of the store!

   

And this was the view we had at work every day!! Not bad!

and again on Sundays helped lead worship at the campgrounds.   They were both great summer experiences. My hope is that this summer we will all have a great experience as we see new places and engage in ministry.

We are going to spend the next 6 weeks travelling to the Holy Land and exploring the places where Jesus walked. We will not only have the opportunity to see these places, but we will also reflect on the things Jesus did when he was there. Each location and ministry of Jesus speaks to us in different ways, some locations call us to surrender fully to God, some call us to learn, some call us to reach out and help others and some call us to have strength and courage in times of need, but they all call us to be more like Jesus – and that is my hope. By the end of our journey I want all of us to be a little bit more like Jesus.

To really experience the places where Jesus travelled I want to invite you to join a small group where you can watch a short video and see the locations we will be talking about. While we will show some pictures of the locations on Sunday, the videos go into more detail and if you join a small group, the discussions can help us reflect on the ministry of Jesus in these places and how we can make these ministries part of our own lives – in other words really walk in the footsteps of Jesus. If you can’t join a small group, we would invite you to watch these short videos at a couple of different times. We will play the DVD during the Sunday School hour in the choir room and we will replay it Wednesday evenings at 6:30 pm. The videos are about 15 minutes and then we will have a few minutes of discussion and be done in a half hour. I hope you will join us. (These start next week.)

We are going to start our journey where Jesus started his, at the Jordan River.

The baptism of Jesus marks the beginning of his public ministry. Other than a few early stories about his childhood found in the gospel of Luke, we know very little about Jesus until he shows up at the Jordan River to be baptized by John. It is significant that Jesus chose this location to begin his ministry because the Jordan River was the place that marked the beginning of life in the Promised Land for Israel.

While Moses helped to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, he never got them into the Promised Land. When Moses died, the people were camped out on one side of the Jordan River with the Promised Land on the other. Then the day finally came when the people entered into the land God had promised them, Joshua 3:15-17.

So the Jordan River was a symbolic and holy place. It was a place of new beginnings and of new life for God’s people. Over time, the river also came to be known as a holy place. In 2 Kings 5 there is the story of a man called Naaman who was healed and cleansed when he washed in the Jordan River. Beyond healing and new life, many people believed the Jordan River would be the place where the Messiah would first be announced. The very last words of the Old Testament talk about the coming of the Messiah and it says that before he comes God was going to send the prophet Elijah to prepare the way. Do you know where Elijah was when he was taken up into heaven? That’s right, the Jordan River, so many believed that Elijah would return at the Jordan River and announce the coming of the Messiah.

So that Jesus chose to make the Jordan River the place to begin his ministry was no accident. The Jordan River was a place of cleansing, healing and new life and so it was the perfect place for Jesus to begin his journey. It was also the perfect place for the ministry of John the Baptist. John the Baptist was actually a cousin of Jesus’. John was the son of Elizabeth and Zechariah and Elizabeth was Jesus mother’s cousin, so that would make John and Jesus distant cousins – but cousins none the less. While we don’t know if John and Jesus knew each other growing up, I like to think that they did and that they understood the unique role each of them was going to play in God’s plan.

While we don’t know much about John the Baptist, what we do know is that he wore camel’s hair clothing and a leather belt around his waist. Now we don’t get this much detail about what Jesus wore so this must be significant – and it is. In 2 Kings 1:8 we find that the prophet Elijah wore the same exact clothing - which means that John was making a statement. John was aligning himself with the prophet Elijah and therefore he was working to prepare the people for the coming of the Messiah. That John chose the Jordan River also connects him with the prophet Elijah who people believed would return to the Jordan and usher in the reign of God. So John chose the Jordan River not because it was close to where he grew up (which it was), he chose it because it was a place of healing and cleansing, it was a place connected with the ministry of the prophet Elijah and the coming of the Messiah and it was a place that signified a new beginning for God’s people. And all of these things is what John preached. John called people to repent and be cleansed, he called people to live a new and life and while he didn’t claim to be the Messiah he did prepared people for the coming of the Messiah and the way John did this was through baptism.

Many people have ask where this ritual of baptism came from because we don’t find it in the Old Testament. Baptism as we know it was not a ritual of the Jewish people, but water purification was. There are many places in the OT where people were called to wash themselves with water to symbolize becoming clean spiritually. In fact, in the village of Qumran, not far from where John baptized people in the Jordan, there was a community of Essenes who were religious leaders devoted to voluntary poverty, simple living and abstaining from earthly pleasures and they practices a ritual of daily immersion in baths to make themselves clean, not clean outside but inside.

These baths were called mikva’ot and some had two sets of stairs so you would come in dirty and sinful but leave clean and pure. In other words, you would enter the water one way and then leave ready to face a new day and live a new way, which is very similar to our understanding of baptism.

Now we don’t know if John the Baptist lived in the Essene community of Qumran, but it was close to where he grew up in Ein Karem and it was close to where he began his ministry in the Jordan River so it seems likely that John’s use of baptism as a ritual of cleansing came from this Essene community. To me, it’s helpful to know that this ritual of baptism has its roots in the Old Testament and continues to flow from the work of God we see throughout history. God has always wanted us to cleanse ourselves from sin and rise up to live a faithful life and that is one of the meanings of baptism.

When we are baptized as an adult it is a ritual of spiritual cleansing, and seeking forgiveness for our sin. We come to and enter the waters of baptism as a sinner who wants to be washed clean and as someone who wants to live a new life and while we obviously don’t enter the actual Jordan River, this water symbolizes that river and all it stands for.

If we were to actually stand at the Jordan and think about our baptism, we might gain some new understanding because the Jordan River flows to the Dead Sea where nothing can survive. So picture it, we enter the waters of the Jordan and our sins are washed away and literally carried to place where they are forever destroyed and no longer have any power over us. And if we were to stand at the Jordan River and think about the people of Israel crossing over into the promised land we might think of our baptism as the gateway to a new life lived in the presence and the kingdom of God. So the Jordan River helps us think more deeply about our own baptism and adult baptism, but what about infant baptism?

We don’t normally think about infants needing to have their sin washed away and they certainly aren’t able to go forth from their baptism and intentionally live a new life – so what does the Jordan River have to teach us about infant baptism? One thing it teaches us that we are now part of the family of God. When the people crossed through the Jordan to enter into the promised land – everyone went over, young and old alike. They went as families and a community, children being carried on the arms of their mothers and fathers into a new life. In many ways that is what infant baptism is. Mothers and Fathers carry their children to the waters where we not only see ourselves as part of God’s family – but we make commitments together to enter into new life and live according to the values and principles of God’s kingdom. So whether it is young or old, the Jordan River can deepen our understanding of baptism and what it means to walk with Jesus.

So our journey begins where Jesus’ did, at the Jordan River. We start here because the Jordan River is a place of purification and cleansing and to be more like Jesus we need God’s grace and mercy to wash over us and cleanse us from sin. We start here because this is where the people of God started their new life in the Promised Land and my hope is that we all want to experience the blessing of a new life with God. Remembering our baptism is always a good place to start because it reminds us that we have been forgiven, our sins have been washed away and through Jesus we can enter into a new and eternal life.

If you have never been baptized and would like to be, I would love to talk to you more about it. If you have been baptized, then I want to invite you today to remember what that means. It means that through the grace of God we have been washed clean. It means that we have been forgiven and God has removed our sin and the power of sin from us. It also means we are committing ourselves to living a new and faithful life. In Qumran, the Essenes immersed themselves in the baths every morning to remind them of God’s grace and their commitment to live a faithful life. While we don’t baptize people over and over again, we need to ask God over and over again to forgive us, cleanse us and help us live a faithful life. May we do that today? Let us ask God to once again wash us clean as we remember our baptism and let us picture ourselves rising from the waters of the Jordan River to walk in the way of Jesus.


Next Steps
The Way ~ The Jordan River

1. Study the Old Testament stories that took place at the Jordan River. How might these stories help shape our understanding of baptism?
• Joshua 3: The people of Israel crossing into the Promised Land.
• 2 Kings 2: Elijah being taken up into heaven.
• 2 Kings 5:1-19: The healing of Naaman.

2. When we baptize a child we make this promise: With God’s help we will so order our lives after the example of Christ, that this child, surrounded by steadfast love, may be established in the faith and confirmed and strengthened in the way that leads to life eternal.
• How can you surround people in ways that encourage and strengthen their faith?
• How can you help establish the faith of children, youth, families, and seniors?
• In what ways to do you need others to help support and lead you in the way? Who can you ask for help?

3. If you have been baptized, reflect on what it means to you and share your thoughts with others. (Share in small groups or through our online small group on facebook)

4. If you have not been baptized, consider being baptized at the end of our study in July. Contact to Pastor Andy for more information about baptism: pastor.andy@bellefontefaith.com.