I Heard the Voice of the Tempter

Scripture Lessons: Genesis 2: 15-17 and 3: 1-7; Matthew 4: 1-11 Sermon Title: I Heard the Voice of the Tempter Preached on February 26, 2023 Yesterday, Chick Freund sent me a video of the Rev. Joyce Meyer preaching at a women’s conference. She said that there’s this new store in New York where women can shop for husbands. The store has six floors, but once you’ve gone up a floor you can’t go back down. One customer started on the first floor, which featured men who have jobs. “That’s pretty good, but let me keep shopping,” she said to herself. Second floor: men with jobs, who also love kids. Third floor: men with jobs, who love kids and have all their teeth. Fourth floor: men with jobs, who love kids, have all their teeth, and clean up the house. “Should I keep going?” the woman asked herself. She did. Fifth floor: men with jobs, who love kids, have all their teeth, clean up the house, and have a strong romantic streak. She kept going, now thinking, “How could this get any better?” It couldn’t. Sixth floor: You are customer 6,857,943, proving once again that women can’t be satisfied. Neither can men. You may know this song: When I’m drivin’ in my car And a man comes on the radio He’s tellin’ me more and more about some useless information Supposed to fire my imagination 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 the fictional woman in Rev. Joyce Meyers’ sermon to Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones, have in common? The search for satisfaction goes all the way back to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. However, while we go searching for satisfaction, we don’t know where to find it. We long for more and go searching for what we’re looking for in forbidden fruit, and still we sing, “I can’t get no satisfaction.” Isn’t it something that Mick Jagger sang those words? I mean, that guy’s rich. Today, his net worth is estimated to be 370 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 as famous as Mick Jagger is famous, and still the words of his song are, “I can’t get no satisfaction.” Now, enter the voice of the Tempter, who tells us where to find it. We read in our first Scripture lesson from the book of Genesis: Now the serpent was craftier 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.’” Then, the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die; for God knew that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” You know what happened next. By reaching for satisfaction in the place God told them not to go, the first man and first woman were exiled from Eden, that garden where all their needs were met if they would just trust God to show them how to live. This is the human condition: We want satisfaction. As we go looking for it, we listen to the voice of the Tempter rather than the words of our Creator. We’ve been provided with a manual by our Manufacturer. However, like a stubborn father on Christmas Eve trying to put a playhouse together, 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. We desire connection and community, but where do we go looking for these things? We go to the internet, where we are told that satisfaction is just one click away. Easy and accessible and risk-free. We go to the credit card companies who promise to fulfill our grandest material dreams. Again, easy, accessible, and risk free. We listen to the voice of the Tempter who calls us to want more, yet the more likely result of us listening to him is debt and shame rather than satisfaction. “I can’t get no satisfaction,” we sing. The voice of the Tempter tells us where to find it, but Jesus knew not to listen. 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.” Can you imagine how hungry He was after 40 days of fasting? I can’t. Even when I’m not starving, I still think that satisfaction might come from bread, or a donut, or a slice of cake. However, Jesus said, “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” because in the end, bread can fill our bellies, but it can’t satisfy our souls. For satisfaction, we must go to the Word of God, which might tell us where to find it, though it’s not so simple as just reading the Bible. I say that it’s not so simple as just being able to read the Bible because next, 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.’” That’s straight out of Psalm 91. Did you know the Devil can quote Scripture? He can. Plenty of evil people can quote Scripture, and they use it for their own gain. We go looking for answers in Scripture, but be careful because we don’t get to the heart of it unless we understand love, sacrifice, and humility, so Jesus says: “Again it is written, do not put the Lord your God to the test.” Not relenting, 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 only you fall down and worship me.” Now, this is the great temptation. How many believed they could put the world right if only they had the power to change things. Yet Jesus says, “Worship the Lord and serve only him” because power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. We all go looking for satisfaction. These days I believe we go looking for it in having more, not realizing we will only have satisfaction when we learn the meaning of enough. We go looking for satisfaction in power, not realizing we will only have satisfaction when we learn the meaning of humility. We go looking for satisfaction in safety, not realizing we will only have satisfaction when we learn the meaning of sacrifice. While the voice of the Tempter is all around us today, peddling satisfaction in the form of excess, comfort, power, and pleasure, hear instead the voice of Jesus who says, “Take up your cross and follow me.” My friends, the voice of the Tempter is all around us. He whispers to us, day in and day out. We’ve given him entrance to our homes through television commercials and the internet. We’re always being seduced into thinking that satisfaction will come with the next click or by ordering the right product. Celebrities tell us where to find it, but look at their lives and see that they don’t know where to find it either. Yet, the Savior of the World offers us another way, and this is what He says: It is better to give than it is to receive. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind and love your neighbor as yourself. Take up your cross and follow Me. This is the way. Follow Him and know satisfaction. The world may not understand because the world is convinced that satisfaction will come through having more: more food, more safety, more power. On the other hand, I call you to look to Jesus on the cross and to hear the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr: A man who doesn’t have something for which he is willing to die is not fit to live. Hear the words of Dr. William Sloane Coffin, “Up on a cross he breathed his last breath, and so ended the most complete life ever lived.” The voice of the Tempter sneaks into our lives to tell us where to find our satisfaction. If you haven’t found it, then try listening to the voice of Jesus. Amen.