Tempted, but Clean - 2/21/2021
Call to worship:
L: We have come together to praise our Maker.
P: But we have betrayed the purpose of the Lord.
L: The Lord is God of the Second Chance and the Lord grants us redemption from sin.
P: But our transgressions have estranged us from the Lord.
L: The Lord is God of the Second Chance, and the Lord offers us reconciliation through Christ.
A: We stand in awe of you, O Lord, who creates, redeems, and reconciles. Let us praise you with our lips and our lives.
Opening Hymn: Thy Word Is a Lamp #601
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path.
When I feel afraid,
Think I’ve lost my way,
Still you’re there right beside me,
And nothing will I fear
As long as you are near.
Please be near me to the end.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path.
Now I will not forget
Your love for me and yet
My heart forever is wandering.
Jesus, be my guide
And hold me to your side,
And I will love you to the end.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path.
Opening Prayer:
O God, who in creation fashions us in your image, who in Christ reveals to us your love, who through the Holy Spirit welcomes us into the fellowship of believers, we bow in gratitude before you. We constantly distort your image, but still you restore it. We daily betray your love, but still you extend it. We often disrupt the fellowship, but you still bless it.
Come unto us at this time and in this place, O Lord, that your image in us might be revealed, your love for us returned, and our fellowship in Christ renewed.
Epistle Reading: 1 Peter 3: 18-22
18 For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, 20 who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. 21 And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.
Children's Message (link)
Hymn: O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go #480
1. O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
that in thine ocean depths
its flow may richer, fuller be.
2. O Light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
my heart restores its borrowed ray,
that in thy sunshine's blaze
its day may brighter, fairer be.
3. O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow thru the rain,
and feel the promise is not vain,
that morn shall tearless be.
4. O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life's glory dead,
and from the ground there blossoms
red life that shall endless be.
Prayer of Dedication:
O Lord and lover of us all, by whose power we stand and before whose goodness we bow, we praise you for your matchless patience. We have given you ample reason to turn away from us, but your face is turned ever toward us. Try as we may to make it on our own, you do not abandon us to our own devices. You come to us as a caring mother, wooing us home with open arms and challenging us with a love as persistent as it is pure. Even though we spurn you, you do not spurn us. And though our loyalty often wavers, your patience never wears thin.
We thank you, God, for your patience, for your care, and especially for your love. May we spread the good news to others as well. Amen.
Gospel Reading: Mark 1: 9-15
9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. 11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
12 And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13 He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.
14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”
Sermon Title: Tempted, but Clean (link)
With a show of hands, how many here have ever been tempted by something or someone to do something that you knew you shouldn’t do? Hopefully, we are all raising our hands because all of us have been tempted at some point in our life. None of us are exempt from temptation.
And as we read from Mark this morning, we are made aware that even Jesus was tempted by Satan during his forty day of testing in the wilderness. We know that Jesus did not succumb to the temptations that Satan offered, but we are not told what lures he used in Mark. For a list of some of them, we can go to Matthew 4: 1-11 NRSV
“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted 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 splendor; 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.”
It is much the same in Luke 4: 1-13, adding only at the end, that when the devil was done tempting Jesus, he went away until a more opportune time.
It doesn’t say if this was the extent of Jesus’ testing or if He was tested in this way every day of the forty days He was out in the wilderness; but what it does say is encouragement to us in our times of testing. It doesn’t matter what the test may be, all testing is difficult, but with Jesus’ example, we know that we can somehow break through and defy all temptation.
But wait, we are merely human. How can we, not being divine like Jesus, turn away from temptation?
I have a friend in North Dakota that is a self-described recovering drug addict. For years, he couldn’t or wouldn’t think enough of himself to get away from the temptation that the drugs provided. And even when he did decide to walk away from them, it was a day to day (sometimes even moment to moment) struggle to battle the temptations of the drugs and the affects they had on him. The difference was made when he included God in the endeavor. When he gave his life to Jesus Christ and asked for Jesus’ help as he became clean, he was finally able to see a light at the end of the tunnel that wasn’t an oncoming freight train. He still struggled, but when Jesus is on your side, you find strength that you didn’t know you had and peace like you never felt before. My friend is over twenty years sober now and he is a pastor who not only knows how to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ; but also knows how Jesus can lift any of us and all of us out of the pit we seem to be stuck in. That pit of despair that is filled with temptation.
So if you have fallen for the temptation and feel that you are not good enough or strong enough to walk away from it, call upon the saving power of Jesus to help you out of that pit. I don’t promise that it will be easy, but I will promise that it will be worth it.
And we, too, can be tempted, but Clean, when we call upon the name of the Lord and we worship His Holy name above everything else.
Amen.
Closing Hymn: Come, Sinners, to the Gospel Feast #6161. Come, sinners, to the gospel feast,
let every soul be Jesus' guest.
Ye need not one be left behind,
for God hath bid all humankind.
2. Do not begin to make excuse;
ah! do not you his grace refuse;
your worldly cares and pleasures
leave, and take what Jesus hath to give.
3. Come and partake the gospel feast,
be saved from sin, in Jesus rest;
O taste the goodness of our God,
and eat his flesh and drink his blood.
4. See him set forth before your eyes;
behold the bleeding sacrifice;
his offered love make haste to embrace,
and freely now be saved by grace.
5. Ye who believe his record true
shall sup with him and he with you;
come to the feast, be saved from sin,
for Jesus waits to take you in.
