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BULLETIN

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Lent 1 2024
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Pastor Kevin Jud
February 18, 2024
Genesis 22:1-8, James 1:12-18, Mark 1:9-15

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      Drops of sweat fall from your face onto the dry grass.  You are bent over, hands on your knees desperately trying to catch your breath.  You have a side cramp and your legs are burning.  The hot August sun beats down and you feel like you are going to throw up. Then the whistle blows again, the coach barks again, another 50 yard sprint.  “Last one to finish does 20 push-ups.”  Despite your pain you take off at full speed to the 50 yard line.  You hate wind sprints, but the coach seems to love them.

      Why would the coach put his team through such a painful trial?  Is he a monster?  No.  He is a coach who wants to increase the endurance of his team so that they can persevere on Friday night through all four quarters until the final whistle. The coach wants his team to endure to the end.

      Like a coach making you run wind sprints, God sends trials into your life to increase your endurance and perseverance.  James 1:12 (ESV) 12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him”. 

As you know all too well, so many trials will come in life. Sickness, injury, accidents, financial hardship, death of a loved one.  Trials like these are difficult.  It hurts to go through them.  Trials are a constant reminder that life is hard. 

      Martin Luther says of this verse  “… trials keep a man alert, perfect him in humility and patience, and make him acceptable to God as his dearest child.” And also, “Thus it is good for us always to be oppressed with some trouble, lest in our weakness we succumb to the offenses of the world and fall into sin.”

      In this life you like to feel like you are in control of things and there are times when everything seems to be going smoothly, but it never lasts.  Trials and troubles come and they are God’s way of letting you know that you are not in charge.  You do not have everything altogether.  You need help.  You need Jesus.

      This is an intimidating Bible verse because it sounds like you need to pass the test.  You read this and think that it means, “If I am steadfast enough, I will receive the crown of life.”  If…that is a big if.  And you know this “if” is a problem.

      You will face trials and tests from God and you will also face temptation to sin.  Trials can come from God but God will not tempt you to sin.  In this life you will endure both. 

      James 1:12 (ESV) 12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.”

      This is an intimidating Bible verse because it sounds like you need to pass the test.  You read this and think that it means, “If I am steadfast enough, I will receive the crown of life.”  If…that is a big if.  And you know this “if” is a problem.

      As a baptized child of God with the Holy Spirit enlightening you to God’s law, you know that you are not good enough.  But your natural, sinful self in its pride thinks that it is strong enough to resist temptation.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes in his Bible Study on temptation, “Lead us not into temptation. Natural man and moral man cannot understand this prayer.  Natural man wants to prove his strength in adventure, in struggle, in encounter with the enemy.  That is life. …So moral man calls out evil, his daily prayer is—Lead me into temptation, that I may test out the power of the good in me.”

      You want to believe that you are good enough, strong enough, powerful enough, wise enough, all on your own.  You want to believe it -- but then you face trials and temptations and your true self is revealed.   

      During World War II, C.S. Lewis gave a series of radio lessons that became the book, “Mere Christianity.”  In this he wrote, “No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness — they have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means — the only complete realist.”

You want to believe that, like Jesus, you can stand up to the temptations of the evil one, but the reality of your failures show you, all too clearly, that this is not true.  You know you would fail the test. 

Thankfully, “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial,” is not conditional.  It does not mean, if you remain steadfast, it assumes you will remain steadfast.  Being blessed does not depend on your level of perseverance, but on the promise of Christ.  When you remain steadfast you will receive the crown of life that is the promised gift from the giver of all good gifts.  You have been saved and God has given you the promise of eternal life.  You persevere through trials and tests and temptations as a genuine Christian who knows the need for a savior.

      You have the promise of eternal life, but there is danger lurking and you need always to be on of taking sin too lightly or of not take responsibility for your sin and letting sin grow. 

      As a sinner it is easy to adopt the excuses of our first parents when God confronts them after their fall into sin.  Adam blames God, Genesis 3:12 (ESV)  12 … “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 

      Eve blames the devil, Genesis 3:13 (ESV)  13 ….“The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 

      It is easy to fall into the temptation to blame God for your sin.  “If God didn’t want me to act on them, why did he give me these desires?  I’m just hot headed, I can’t help it.  I’m German so I am naturally stubborn as a mule.  I am so good looking the girls just cannot resist me.  I can’t help it.  God made me this way. 

      James is clear that sin does not come from God.  God has nothing to do with evil.  James explains temptation, James 1:14–15 (ESV) 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” 

      James warns.  Sin is serious.  Sin leads to death.  James 1:16 (ESV) 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.”  Do not be deceived.  The devil, the world and your own sinful nature are lying to you trying to let your desire give birth to sin, and sin grow up into death.  Flee from sin.  Flee from temptation.  Resist the devil and he will flee from you.  Do not let the devil have a foothold in your life.  Do not embrace sin.  Do not let sin become your lifestyle. 

You find out how bad you are when you are trying to be good.  You know the struggle.  Stay in the fight.  Just because you are not good at it is not a reason to give up enduring trials and temptations.  You endure because you are God’s own child, you are baptized into Christ. 

      There are many who claim that God changes with the times and His teachings adjust to fit our desires and the ways of the culture.  Do not be deceived.  God does not change.  God is all good.  God has nothing to do with evil.  James 1:17 (ESV) 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”

      God has given you every good gift.  He has made you His own child and given you eternal life through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.  He knows you will struggle with trials and temptations.  He knows you cannot pass the test of being good enough.  He passed it for you and gives that gift to you.  And why does He give you that gift? 

      Why? Because He wants to.  James 1:18 (ESV) 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”  Because He wants to, He birthed you by the Word of truth.  Sin gives birth to death.  God gives birth to life everlasting.  God saves you because He wants to.  You are blessed for all eternity in Christ because He wants to bless you. 

In this life you face trials and temptations.  You will endure imperfectly but you will endure because you are God’s chosen child.  God will send trials to keep up your endurance so you keep going until the last breath.  Life is difficult.  Cling to Jesus.  You will receive the crown of eternal life.  Amen.