According to George Gallop, most Americans believe in God. Also, according to George Gallop, far fewer Americans believe in Satan. Indeed when Americans were asked in a survey about whether or not they thought they were going to heaven, the majority, the vast majority of Americans said that they were. But when asked if they thought that their neighbors would be going to heaven a fewer number of them could be as certain about their neighbor. Some people suggest that Satan is irrelevant in our society, that we really do not need to spend too much time talking about Satan. They say he is a myth or that it is a name that was taken to help us put a handle on evil, and that Satan is nothing more than the personification of an abstract but yet real evil that affects us in our lives. Indeed most people would probably say that they have no inkling of any personal experience with Satan. Probably because we live in an age that is not marked for its spirituality. We live in an age where people aren’t especially being challenged to a life of holiness. We live in an age where people do not really expect to be made perfect through this life, even through the grace of God.
During a Bible study someone asked me about that question that Methodist clergy are required to take upon being ordained. They ask us before they ordain us, “Do you expect to be made perfect in this life?” Well you might think that the humble answer there might be, “Oh no, no way.” But if you say that, they won’t ordain you. The answer that they are looking for is, “Yes. I expect to be made perfect, by the grace of God.” But one thing about the grace of God, is that while it is freely given, too often it is not freely received. Part of the wonder of the gift of God is not only that it is given, but that we reach out to receive that gift given so wondrously by our Lord Christ.
Our lessons for the first Sunday of Lent speak on theme of sin and disobedience and on the theme of salvation: what it means to confront sin and temptation in our lives. We see how in the beginning God created Adam and Eve. They were in the garden. They were told they could eat the fruit of any tree but one, that grew in the center of the garden. Of course one day Adam and Eve were there when the serpent came and struck up a conversation with Eve. He said, “Look at that fruit. It looks mighty good. Oh yea it does. Nice and shiny, I bet it tastes good. Yea, I bet it does. God told you that you couldn’t eat of any fruit in this garden.” “Oh no, that’s not true. He just told us that we couldn’t eat of this tree. If we eat it we will die.” And the serpent said, “That’s not true. You eat it and your eyes will be opened and you will be like God.”
We’re told that both Adam and Eve ate of the fruit. You know what? Their eyes were opened and they saw their nakedness and they sewed together figs leaves to make loincloths for themselves. You may wonder by looking at the story, well wasn’t the serpent telling the truth? Didn’t the serpent say the truth to Adam and Eve in the garden? They weren’t struck dead in the garden. Indeed their eyes were opened and like God they recognized for themselves right and wrong, good and bad. They even saw their own nakedness for the first time, and sewed together fig leaves. But we have the advantage of hindsight when we look back at the story and we see that at that moment they surely did die. That at that moment it was a spiritual death and the physical death was to follow years later.
So we are told by the apostle Paul, in his letter that this one act of disobedience introduced sin unto all creation. It affected not just humanity and who we are but it is a sin that affected all creation. The apostle Paul talks of how all of creation longs for redemption, that it is in a state of decay. He says that this one act of disobedience brought sin into the world and even so one mans act of obedience can bring life and salvation. That turns our attention to the gospel lesson for the First Sunday of Lent (Year A). The story of Jesus being led out into the wilderness after his baptism. He’s about 30 years old when this takes place. We don’t know anything about what has been going on in his life, he just appears by the river Jordan when his cousin John is preaching a baptism of repentance. Jesus responds to his message and is baptized and the Holy Spirit descends upon him like a dove. People hear the voice of God saying, “This is my Beloved Son.” We are told that the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness. There he fasted for forty days and forty nights.
We are told at the end of the forty days Satan came to Jesus. It’s interesting to note that he didn’t come on the first day or the second day. He didn’t come during the first week or the second week. There’s Jesus in the wilderness, fasting and praying and preparing and all this time Satan doesn’t appear to him until the very end when he completes his fast. He’s ready to return and there he is. What does Satan say to him? “You see those stones? Why don’t you make them into bread, you’ve got to be hungry.” You know during this fast last Friday, I thought I heard Satan saying the same thing, except I knew I couldn’t make stones into bread so it wouldn’t do any good to try. “You see these stones, turn them into bread.” Now we might wonder at first, what’s the harm in that? He’s been fasting for forty days, he’s getting ready to go home, he’s going to be breaking his fast anyway. Why not go ahead and do it now? Because he had already committed to this act of obedience and to break it would be disobeying God. He couldn’t do that.
Notice, too, that Satan waited until Jesus would be at his weakest, when he was most likely to succumb to temptation. Perhaps why so many people do not have any awareness of the reality of Satan in this life is because they are already so easily coasting down a path to hell that Satan does not need to provide them any help at all. No, it’s when you turn your attention to your own life, it’s when you examine who you are, and what God desires for you. It’s when you take a look deep within yourself and know yourself as Jesus must have done during that forty days that Satan will begin to get worried. It’s when you earnestly and honestly commit yourself to growing in your spiritual life that Satan will take an interest in what your doing and seek to stop it.
During this time of Lent, I encourage you not to be satisfied with where you are. I encourage you to set aside time to be in communion with yourself. To get to know who you are. To listen to the spirit of God as he reveals to you those things in your life that you ought to change, those things in your life that you need to nourish. Spend time during this season of Lent listening, but also be warned that it is at a time of such earnest development in spirit that you will also be faced with the greatest temptation.
We take our lesson from Jesus today and the apostle Paul speaks of the weapons of the Spirit. The three that I want to mention just quickly to summarize are the power that we have in the word of God, the power that we have in the presence of God’s spirit and the power that we have as the gathering of his saints. These three great resources are ours to draw upon the word of God, to experience and to live in the power of the Holy Spirit and to be together for each other. To be a source of strength and comfort and accountability for the spiritual pilgrimage that we are all on. Focus on this during this season of Lent and may it be one that is holy and filled with blessings. This I lift up in my prayer in the name of Christ my Lord. Remember who you are.
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