Text: Exodus 32:1-4, Matthew 4:8-9<\/p>\n
Before we get started today, I want to invite you take just a minute of silent reflection.<\/p>\n
Somewhere, on your bulletin, I want you to write down the top five things that demand your time, attention, and responsibility. The top five things that you are called to focus on.
\nTake a minute\u2026 and if you can and have time, try to number them with 1-5 with 1 being the thing that is most important.<\/p>\n
Hang on to those\u2026 we\u2019ll come back to them<\/p>\n
Today on our journey through the wilderness, we come to the third temptation Jesus encounters.
\nThe devil takes Jesus up onto a high mountain and shows him all of the kingdoms of the world.<\/p>\n
I have to admit. Every time I read this passage, I can\u2019t help but think of Disney\u2019s \u201cThe Lion King.\u201d I imagine Mufasa strolling to the top of Pride Rock with little Simba at his side as they watch the sun come up over the savannah. \u201cEverything the light touches is our kingdom,\u201d Mufasa explains. \u201cOne day, Simba, the sun will set on my time here, and will rise with you as the new king.\u201d
\nThe young cub gets a glimmer in his eyes\u2026 \u201cand this\u2019ll all be mine?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis will all be yours,\u201d the devil says to Jesus.
\n\u201cJust bow down and worship me.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is a hidden question lurking just behind this offer from the devil. How and why does the devil have any authority whatsoever to be able to give these kingdoms to Jesus?
\nOur Lord and Creator made this world, and it all belongs to God, right?<\/p>\n
Well, maybe not.
\nYou see\u2026 from the very beginning, God has always entrusted this land, this creation, all the creatures to us.
\nAs we are told in Genesis 1 \u2013 God made those first humans in God\u2019s image and made them responsible for the fish, the birds, the cattle, and one another. God blessed them and gave them everything in all of creation.
\nAnd it was very good.<\/p>\n
But what did we do with that gift?
\nWe used it and abused it.
\nWe took advantage of the creatures and one another.
\nPiece by piece, we have handed over this responsibility to our baser impulses.
\nWith our actions and our inactions, through our impatience and fear, we have allowed the world to be controlled by the devil.<\/p>\n
Our scriptures are full of these kinds of stories and they are clearly found during our time of wandering in the wilderness.
\nExodus tells us about how the Israelites made their way to Mount Sinai after three months of travel and Moses went up the mountain to receive from God instructions about how the people should live. The very first declaration was this:
\n\u201cYou saw what I did to the Egyptians, and how I lifted you up on eagle\u2019s wings and brought you to me. So now, if you faithfully obey me and stay true to my covenant, you will be my most precious possession out of all the peoples, since the whole earth belongs to me. You will be a kingdom of priests for me and a holy nation.\u201d (Exodus 19:1-6)
\nAnd the people shout out a resounding \u201cYES!\u201d<\/p>\n
But there are more details to be fleshed out in this instruction and Moses goes up to the mountaintop to receive them.
\nTwelve chapters go by in the book of Exodus.
\nAnd the people start to get impatient.
\nSo by the time we get to our scripture for today, from Exodus 32, the people have had enough.
\nThey agreed to follow the one who rescued them from slavery\u2026 the one who made the heavens and the earth\u2026 the one who was going to create of them a holy and mighty nation\u2026
\nBut as soon as fear and impatience set in, they are ready to move on to something else.<\/p>\n
The people ask Aaron to make other gods for them.
\nThey want to turn their allegiance, their hearts, over to something besides this God who terrified them and Moses who seemed to have disappeared into the clouds above.
\nThey have needs.
\nThey have desires.
\nThey want to get going.
\nAnd they don\u2019t see it happening anytime soon, so they are moving on.<\/p>\n
It happens again after the people arrive and are settled in the promised land.
\nThey want to be like other nations and have kings and rulers like they do.
\nSo they turn away from God\u2019s personal leadership and demand that they get a ruler (1 Samuel 8).<\/p>\n
Over and over again, we take this precious gift of life, creation, and relationship that God has blessed us with and we say, \u201cno.\u201d
\nWe instead allow other people, powers, and values to guide our lives.
\nIn fact, if you were to look back at that list you created at the start of this time, what you will likely see are good important things that pull us in a million different directions.
\nThey compete for ownership of our lives.
\nThey compete with one another for a place of priority.
\nAnd every time we say yes to one of those things, we say no to something else.<\/p>\n
Let me cut straight to the point.
\nWhere is God on your list?
\nOr have we already decided to hand over this world and our lives and everything we do to something else?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s no wonder the devil has this world firmly in its grasp.
\nWe have been selling it off, piece by piece, action by action, priority by priority for a long time.<\/p>\n
So when Jesus finds himself standing on that mountaintop, he, too, has a choice.
\nJesus could play the age old game where he lets fear and impatience and competing values rule the day.
\nHe could take back this world by giving in to those baser desires to have it now and to have it your way and to have it be easy.
\nAnd\u2026 to be honest, once he had control of all the kingdoms of the world, he would have accomplished what he was there to do and he could kick the devil out!<\/p>\n
OR\u2026 he could wait.
\nHe could let God continue to rule.
\nHe could take the more difficult path through the cross and the tomb and all the way to the gates of hell to wrestle the keys to the world from the devil\u2019s grasp.
\n\u201cGet out of here, Satan\u201d Jesus responds. \u201cit is written that You will worship the Lord your God and serve only him.\u201d (Matthew 4:10)<\/p>\n
Even Jesus has to write down a list of priorities.
\nSave the world.
\nUsher in the Kingdom of God.
\nEat with sinners
\nLove the people.
\nServe God.<\/p>\n
Jesus has a choice that will shape every other item on that list.
\nIn the words of Bob Dylan, You\u2019re gonna have to serve somebody.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Text: Exodus 32:1-4, Matthew 4:8-9 Before we get started today, I want to invite you take just a minute of silent reflection. Somewhere, on your bulletin, I want you to write down the top five things that demand your time, attention, and responsibility. The top five things that you are called to focus on. Take…<\/span><\/p>\n