Manuscript for 1st Sunday in Lent

 P In the name of the Father and of the T Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 425 WHEN I SURVEY THE WONDROUS CROSS

1 When I survey the wondrous cross
    On which the Prince of Glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss
    And pour contempt on all my pride.

2 Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast
    Save in the death of Christ, my God;
All the vain things that charm me most,
    I sacrifice them to His blood.

3 See, from His head, His hands, His feet
    Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet
    Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

4 Were the whole realm of nature mine,
    That were a tribute far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
    Demands my soul, my life, my all!

Text: Public domain

COLLECT OF THE DAY

P O Lord God, You led Your ancient people through the wilderness and brought them to the promised land. Guide the people of Your Church that following our Savior we may walk through the wilderness of this world toward the glory of the world to come; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

OLD TESTAMENT READING Genesis 3:1–21

¹Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” ²And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, ³but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” ⁴But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. ⁷Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

⁸And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” ¹⁰And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” ¹¹He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” ¹²The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” ¹³Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

¹⁴The Lord God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock
and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
¹⁵I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”

¹⁶To the woman he said,

“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children.
Your desire shall be for your husband,
and he shall rule over you.”

¹⁷And to Adam he said,

“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
¹⁸thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
¹⁹By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”

²⁰The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. ²¹And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

A This is the Word of the Lord.

EPISTLE Hebrews 4:14–16

¹⁴Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. ¹⁵For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

A This is the Word of the Lord.

HOLY GOSPEL

P The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, the fourth chapter.

¹Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ²And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. ³And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” ⁴But he answered, “It is written,

“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

⁵Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple ⁶and said 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,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

⁷Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” ⁸Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. ⁹And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” ¹⁰Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,

“‘You shall worship the Lord your God
and him only shall you serve.’”

¹¹Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

P This is the Gospel of the Lord.

Apostles’ CREED

Genesis 3:1-2

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.  He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

Matthew 4:3

And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”

These two passages fit well together.  

The temptations of Satan. One time it worked. One time it didn’t.

In each situation there was a temptation to doubt what God had said. “Eve,  God didn’t really say it’d be a bad thing to eat that fruit, did he?” God had just told Adam and Eve about that tree. It was really the only rule they had to follow. Don’t eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The devil would have Eve question those words, and doubt them.

And to Jesus the devil said, “God doesn’t really say you’re His Son, does he?”

Now, immediately before the temptation of Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel is the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan where God speaks from heaven, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” The devil would have Jesus  question those words, and doubt them.

And another thing about these temptations, they are each a temptation to take matters into your own hand.

“Go ahead and eat and then you’ll know good and evil. You’ll be like God.”

“Go ahead and make yourself some bread if you’re hungry. You can do it. Then you don’t have to rely on your Father in heaven to take care of your needs.”

We should recognize how many of the temptations are similar to this:

1. To doubt what God says

2. To take matters into our own hands

When we are tempted by the appetites of our bodies, lust, greed, gluttony, drunkenness or for sensual pleasures that our out of bounds in God’s good order for our lives, we will be tempted to doubt what God says. The devil will tempt us to take matters into our own hands and say, God’s not going to give you those nice things, you have to just take them. You deserve to have them.

When we feel bitter towards our neighbor, the tempter will tell us, “Yes, it is said that your supposed to love your neighbor as yourself, but that can’t mean everyone. You can’t include the jerks you’re surrounded with in that . You have to use your own judgement here. It’s just not reasonable to be nice to everyone, to want what’s best for everyone. It’s better if those people get what’s coming to them.

Little temptations like that lead to bigger temptations, and to bigger, more dangerous doubts. The devil would like to tempt you, “Is there anything after death? Are you’re sins really forgiven? All of them?

When Adam and Eve were tempted in this way, they took matters into their own hands. They thought about it, for a bit, and they chose for themselves what was good and what was evil, what was right and what was wrong.

Whereas, when Jesus was tempted, He trusted the promises of God. He put the word of God to use.

We can see every day how successful Satan has become in getting people to doubt God’s Word.  He whispers into unsuspecting, unprepared ears, “Did God really say?”

l Did he create the heavens and the earth from nothing?

l Were those old stories in the Bible true or made up?

l Is Jesus the only way, or just one of many ways to the same goal?

Once he starts to raise doubts in minds about what God has said, it is easy to take the next step, and push people to take matters into their own hands, and come up with their own definitions and criteria for what is to believed, what is to be held sacred, what is to be true, good, right, wise.

And when the devil gets people close to doubting God’s word, or changing God’s word, to make it say what they want it to say, then he goes a little further by making them big promises. To Eve, the promise of Satan was that their eyes would be open and they would be like God, knowing good and evil. To Jesus, the promise of Satan was the glory, the power, the splendor, as if it was Satan’s to give. Satan is the father of lies. He never lies more than when he promises good things to those who abandon what God says, “There will be clearer understanding,” he says. “There will be more pleasure and happiness.”

When we are tempted to reject the word of God, have the example of our Lord Jesus to follow. Trust the Lord and use His word. It is true. And it is powerful. It has power to make Satan fall, power to kill our sinful aspirations within, power to deliver us and keep us.

That’s what Jesus did. He kept God’s word perfectly. He was perfect because Adam and Eve could not be. He was tempted and endured, because Adam and Eve could not, nor can we. He has done it for us. Jesus endured temptations perfectly, the way we never could.

You have probably been tempted before, and you have probably failed a time or two at least. Where you have failed, Jesus Christ is your Victory.

The devil may have tricked you once or twice into disobedience and not keeping God’s word. Where you have disobeyed, Jesus Christ is your Obedience.

Doubt may seem at times to be beyond your ability to overcome. Where you have doubted, Jesus Christ is your Truth.

Amen.

 

PRAYER OF THE CHURCH

O almighty God, heavenly Father, we come to your throne of grace, humbly, yet confidently, because your Son Jesus Christ our Savior, who sits at your right hand, has graciously invited us to follow him. We thank you that you have given us a great high priest, Jesus Christ, who knows our infirmities, having carried them, who understands our temptations, having endured them, and who learned obedience by the things that he suffered. Lord, in your mercy,

O Lamb of God, the sacrifice slain for the sins of the world, you have become the Author of eternal salvation to all who follow you. Continually guide us in your way. Help us so to trust you, that hearing your voice we may find the true joy of conforming our ways to your way, our wills to your will. Lord, in your mercy,

O Holy Spirit, if we are ever led into the wilderness of temptation, deliver us by your power and save us from all evil. In our times of testing, don’t let us fall from your grace. Help us to wrestle daily against the powers of darkness in every circumstance or position in life. Overthrow the tempter, Satan, in all his assaults on our bodies, minds and souls. Help us to stand up against the world. Teach us to put to death the passions of our flesh, by the example of our Lord Jesus, and the power of your holy Word, Lord in your mercy,

Gracious Lord, You have so ordered things to permit us, your church, to be workers together with you in the saving of sinners. Grant that we may receive grace for our own sanctification before we seek it for others. If there be any in our midst who have not taken up your call to follow you, O Lord, by your power and grace, lead them by repentance, to believe the Gospel and receive your salvation, Lord, in your mercy,

As the angels ministered to Jesus, so we humbly ask you to send them to help all your people to bring them safely through this world to that eternal kingdom which you have prepared for all who love you, through Jesus Christ our Lord, in whose name we pray all these things. Amen.

LORD’S PRAYER

C Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

 BENEDICAMUS

A Bless we the Lord.

C Thanks be to God.

 

BENEDICTION

P The Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you.

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and T give you peace.

C Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Scripture quotations are from the ESV^® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version^®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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