On knowing where to find it

Scripture Lessons: Genesis 2: 15-17 and 3: 1-7; Matthew 4: 1-11 Sermon Title: On knowing where to find it Preached on March 5th, 2017 I’ll begin today’s sermon with a poem of sorts: When I’m drivin’ in my car and the man come on the radio He’s tellin’ me more and more about some useless information Supposed to fire my imagination When I’m watchin’ my TV and a man comes on and tell me How white my shirts can be When I’m ridin’ round the world and I’m doin’ this and I’m signin’ that If you know now the poem than sing the last part with me: I can’t get no satisfaction. Cause I try, and I try, and I try, and I try What is it that all of us – from Eve in the Garden to Mic Jagger of the Rolling Stones, what is it that we all long for? What is it that we desire? According to our brilliant speaker last weekend, Dr. Jaco Hammon, it is transformation, and according to Mic it is satisfaction, but really aren’t they both talking about the same thing? These elusive states: Joy. Enlightenment. Fulfilment. We’re talking about the pursuit of happiness - the motivation behind so much of what all of us do. No one here wants just life – we want abundant life. No one here goes into student debt so that they can work at Starbucks – we were implanted with dreams and desires – we shoot for the moon so that at least we’ll end up among the stars. That great poet Dylan Thomas got it right: Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. We were not put on earth to pass through quietly, not to settle but to live. So, within Eve as within us all, is a desire to know more than what she knows already. And that’s far from bad. If the Wright brothers had been satisfied with life on the ground, they never would have flown. Had Copernicus settled for his ages explanations and answers we would never have learned that the planets revolve around the sun. If Socrates had not reached for knowledge where would we be? What’s true is that we are all looking for satisfaction, and this desire pushes us to innovate, explore, think, feel, write, paint, and sing. This desire for satisfaction pushes us towards introspection and repentance. It can push us towards being more than who we are, better than we were before, but what’s also true is that so often we go looking for satisfaction in all the wrong places, convinced that what God keeps from us is the very thing that we should have. And that’s part of why some people are drowning in debt. That’s part of why drugs fill our streets. That’s part of why eyes wander – because we go searching for satisfaction in forbidden fruit – for we are as stubborn as Eve was, what we can’t have is what we want the most, and as we try and we try and we try, still “I can’t get no, satisfaction.” The great Mary Shelly wrote about Dr. Frankenstein who reached so far beyond the drawn line that he created a monster, and indeed, are not monsters all around? Drugs are attractive because they promise satisfaction, but instead, they turn people into monsters who will beg, steal, borrow, and sell even their own bodies. God puts a limit on wealth saying that one cannot worship both God and money – and this command is for good reason, for the desire for more turns executives into blood sucking vampires, more concerned with profit than the livelihood of their fellow man. We want satisfaction, and what’s so interesting is that the further we reach beyond God’s command, the more wayward our steps beyond God’s will, the more elusive satisfaction becomes. “I can’t get no satisfaction.” Isn’t it something that Mic Jagger sang those words? I mean, that guy’s rich. Today, his net worth is estimated to be between 305 and 360 million, so he’s not the richest rock star in the world but certainly he can afford to buy everything that you’ve ever dreamed would make you happy. He’s done all the things that many people imagine would make them happy too. People go to all these extreme measures to become famous as Mic Jagger is famous, but listen to the words of his song: “I can’t get no satisfaction.” And I believe that’s because he’s like most of us, like Eve in the garden, we human beings have a deep desire for satisfaction and transformation – for love and happiness – for completion and purpose, and the snake tells us where we can find it – that all we need do is reach out and take a bite - but the snake is a liar. We read in our First Scripture Lesson from the Book of Genesis: “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had make. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die; for God know that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” That’s what’s happened – we want to be like God, deciding for ourselves what is good and what is evil rather than trusting the one who created us to tell us. We’ve been provided a manual by our manufacturer, but like a stubborn father we threw the directions out with the box and now we’re stuck with four screws that have no place to go. We were born with these desires – the desire for connection and community – but where do we go looking for these things? We go to the internet, where intimacy is easy and accessible and “risk free”. We want friends, and listen, on Facebook I have a couple hundred, but how many would show up if I needed help moving a sofa? And the credit card companies promise to fulfill our grandest material dreams – the snake tells us that we can have that new washer today – we can have a gold tooth and new pair of shoes – a house and a car and ring on our finger – it’s risk free they say. But the only guarantee in this deal is debt, debt, and more debt – not the satisfaction that’s been promised, because satisfaction is not nearly so easy. So, while we are like Eve, the serpent whispers and too often we listen. We go seeking satisfaction just beyond God’s command in the forbidden fruit right within our grasp, but there is another way. We read in Matthew that 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.” 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.” 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.” All these – surely all these would bring satisfaction: food, self-preservation, and power. If we could turn stones to bread; if we could fall without dashing our foot against a stone; surely if we had the power to control, if we had dominion over the kingdom than we could straighten things out, then we would be satisfied we say. But Jesus shows us a different. Again, and again he shows us a different way, for while the devil offers us the things that we think will make us satisfied, the Lord chooses what will modeling this great Christian principle that it is not what we can have that will satisfy, but what we can give. The road to satisfaction, you see, is a road forged by sacrifice – not by bread, self-preservation, or power, but sacrifice. And to live, to truly live – is to live not for yourself. The snake tells us to eat the forbidden fruit. To buy our way to satisfaction. That love would come without vulnerability or risk. But the snake lies. We will only inherit the promised joy of our Lord and God by following in his footsteps of sacrificial love. Let us think of ourselves less and each other more – and satisfaction will be ours. Amen.