The Kingdom of Service: Moving Beyond Self

[00:14:33] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:14:33] Please stand. The Lord be with you. Let us pray.
[00:14:42] Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan, come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations. And, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and

[00:15:08] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:15:08] reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. You may be seated. Please join

[00:19:15] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:19:15] me as we go to God in our prayer of confession. Merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone.
[00:19:39] We have not loved you with our whole heart. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
[00:19:47] We are truly sorry, and we humbly repent. Through your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways to the glory of your name.
[00:21:10] Christ died for us while we were yet sinners. That proves God's love toward us. In the name

[00:21:18] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:21:18] of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven. Glory to God. Amen. And as you are able. The scripture reading

[00:24:20] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:24:20] is from the gospel according to matthew chapter 4 beginning with the first verse then jesus was led up by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil he fasted for 40 days and
[00:24:32] 40 nights and afterwards he was famished the tempter came to him and said to him if you are the son of god command these stones to become loaves of bread but he answered it is written
[00:24:46] one does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple saying to him if you are
[00:25:01] 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.
[00:25:16] Jesus said to him, again, it is written, do not put the Lord your God to test.
[00:25:22] Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.
[00:25:29] And he said to them, all these I will give you if you fall down and worship me.
[00:25:36] Jesus said to him, away with you, Satan, for it is written, worship the Lord your God and serve only him.
[00:25:45] Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited for him.
[00:25:49] This is the gospel of our Lord.

[00:25:52] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:25:52] Good morning, and welcome on this first Sunday in the season of Lent.
[00:26:12] Thank you, choir. That was wonderful. That was fantastic.
[00:26:15] Well, you know, whenever I have a difficult biblical question, some sort of deep theological quandary that I am struggling with, I will sometimes turn to one of the great philosophical minds of our day for some answers.
[00:26:39] Of course, I am referring to Jim Carrey.
[00:26:46] Now, I'm joking a little bit, but not entirely.
[00:26:50] Because for my money, a couple of the best films over the last 25 or so years, films that really do deal with some profound theological issues, were movies that starred Jim Carrey.
[00:27:06] Go figure.
[00:27:07] One of them was The Truman Show, which I'm not going to talk about today, but I hope if you haven't seen it, I hope you'll go watch it sometime.
[00:27:14] And the other one, of course, is Bruce Almighty, a wonderful comedy from 20-plus years ago.
[00:27:23] Bruce Almighty tells the story of a guy named Bruce Nolan.
[00:27:27] Bruce is a television reporter at a local TV station in Buffalo, New York.
[00:27:34] Not terribly successful in his job, not really happy at all in his job.
[00:27:39] What he wants to be is the anchorman of the show or of the news.
[00:27:45] But he's never achieved that.
[00:27:47] He just keeps getting overlooked by the company brass.
[00:27:52] Now one day, this unhappy Bruce actually has a face-to-face encounter with God, with God himself, Morgan Freeman to be exact.
[00:28:05] who makes a really good God. And God decides to give Bruce all of his powers, God's powers.
[00:28:16] And so what does Bruce do with these powers? Well, you know, of course, one of the first things he does is he turns his old beat-up car, his old jalopy, into a half-a-million-dollar sports car, and immediately, like Moses, parks the traffic so he didn't have to wait in line
[00:28:35] behind all the cars. And then he makes all kinds of miraculous events occur. He causes a meteorite to fall from the sky. He makes the Buffalo Sabres win the Stanley Cup. He even changes the orbit of
[00:28:51] the moon to impress his girlfriend. And of course, you knew he would do this. He ends up taking over as the anchorman of his TV station, the job he always wanted. Bruce used all of his powers,
[00:29:07] all of God's powers for himself, for selfish gain.
[00:29:12] And at the end of it all, chaos, absolute chaos ensued, not just in his life, but throughout Buffalo, New York, and actually chaos around the world, all because of his choices.
[00:29:29] Bruce's temptations, which essentially were feeding himself on earthly pleasures and sort of massaging his own ego and stroking his own pride and gaining as much power as he could possibly have over others.
[00:29:46] These temptations were essentially the same temptations that Jesus is facing in the wilderness in our Scripture today.
[00:29:56] And also, interestingly, these temptations aren't that different from the very first temptations we read about in the Bible All the way back in Genesis, the temptation of Adam and Eve in the garden.
[00:30:12] And Adam and Eve, very much like Bruce, chose self over God.
[00:30:20] They chose satisfying their own desires, their own wants, rather than obedience to God.
[00:30:27] And when they did, Adam and Eve, once again, chaos ensued.
[00:30:34] We might call it the original chaos.
[00:30:37] but but jesus doesn't do that jesus doesn't respond to temptation the same way adam and eve did or even the same way bruce did scripture tells us that after fasting for 40 days which we
[00:30:53] may or may not take literally the bible does use the number 40 a fair amount to uh to symbolize a long period of trial and and testing so whether it was literally 40 days or not probably not that
[00:31:07] important what is important is that jesus was famished as it says he was tired he was weak he was hungry after the fasting so the idea of of taking stones and turning stones into bread you
[00:31:26] know that doesn't seem that outrageous for someone who's that weak and hungry i mean he would later do something similar remember when 5 000 plus people were hungry he would feed the multitude miraculously and he would go on to do other miracles he would walk on water he would turn
[00:31:49] water into wine he would you know heal blind and lame people so it would have been understandable if he had turned all those stones into bread.
[00:32:04] It would have been understandable if he had thrown himself off the temple.
[00:32:09] But he didn't.
[00:32:13] He would also later in Matthew's Gospel say, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.
[00:32:22] And so again, I think it would have been understandable if he'd taken that power then.
[00:32:27] But he didn't.
[00:32:31] In every case, in every temptation, Jesus chose obedience to God rather than to Himself.
[00:32:38] Every time I read this story, every year pretty much when I read this story, I am reminded of an important truth.
[00:32:47] And that is that knowing the Bible, knowing the Word of God, being able to quote Scripture doesn't always equate with living the way God wants us to live.
[00:33:01] because when we hear the Scripture we just heard a moment ago, we see that the devil was very clearly able to quote Scripture to Jesus, but he was using God's Word in that case.
[00:33:16] He was using it to manipulate the situation.
[00:33:18] He was trying to manipulate Jesus.
[00:33:22] Now with that said, know the Bible.
[00:33:25] Get to know the Bible.
[00:33:26] I'm not saying don't do that.
[00:33:27] Of course we should get to know God's Word.
[00:33:31] But I'm always wary.
[00:33:33] This story reminds me all the time.
[00:33:35] I'm always wary of those people who like to quote Scripture at me as if it were a weapon in their arsenal.
[00:33:45] You know what I mean?
[00:33:48] That's a sermon for another day.
[00:33:52] I've got lots of sermons for other days if you're ever interested.
[00:33:55] The devil essentially wants Jesus to rule the kingdom, but he wants him to do so while accepting the status quo, just continuing to do things the way they've always been.
[00:34:15] And the way they've always been had been that the ultimate goal of human beings was to put ourselves first, was to obtain as much as we could, to have as much power over other people as we possibly can.
[00:34:30] In other words, the devil really doesn't want to change much at all.
[00:34:32] He just wants Jesus to be in charge.
[00:34:34] He wants Jesus to be the new Caesar, and he wants Jesus to report to him.
[00:34:39] And that's the scary part. He wants them to do that so that greed and self and power can continue to be what defines humanity. And clever and cunning as he is, the devil even found some Bible passages to support his argument, which is not that hard to do sometimes.
[00:35:05] But Jesus will have none of this, none of it. One does not live by bread alone, he tells them.
[00:35:12] Do not put the Lord your God to the test.
[00:35:14] Worship the Lord your God.
[00:35:16] Serve only Him.
[00:35:19] Jesus knows some Scripture too.
[00:35:21] He's not afraid to quote it every now and then.
[00:35:27] He knows the Word.
[00:35:27] He is the Word of God.
[00:35:30] The problem with this whole scenario is that the devil is trying to narrow our faith.
[00:35:38] He's making it small, way too small, so that we ask questions like, what can God do for me?
[00:35:46] What am I going to get out of this relationship with God?
[00:35:49] And making it only about that.
[00:35:52] When Jesus had come to establish something so much more comprehensive than that, much bigger than a kingdom that is self-centered and selfish, Jesus was building a kingdom that was nothing like what the devil wanted.
[00:36:09] he wanted the status quo jesus did not jesus was establishing a heavenly kingdom here on earth and so jesus says away with you satan away with you in other words he's saying away with this belief system that tells us that the ultimate goal of humanity is to accumulate
[00:36:33] more and more and that's where our happiness lies he's saying away with you away with this idea that wielding power is what makes us important or makes us worthy.
[00:36:46] Jesus says, I will rule a kingdom here on earth where people will put the needs of others ahead of themselves.
[00:36:54] In my kingdom, forgiveness and mercy will overrule vengeance and hatred.
[00:37:00] In my kingdom, he says, the stranger will be welcomed and loved and the poor will be fed and housed.
[00:37:08] And my kingdom, justice, and peace will overturn prejudice and violence.
[00:37:15] And Jesus isn't just talking about the afterlife here.
[00:37:19] He's not just talking about heaven after we die.
[00:37:22] He's talking about this life.
[00:37:23] He's talking about now.
[00:37:26] Jesus ushered in that kingdom on earth for us to begin living today.
[00:37:33] The challenge that we have, the biggest challenge in all this, is that these temptations that the devil has for Jesus are ours very often, too.
[00:37:46] In fact, I would say they're not just our temptations.
[00:37:50] Too often, we make them our goals.
[00:37:53] For instance, we teach ourselves, do we not?
[00:37:56] We teach ourselves as a culture, as a society.
[00:37:59] We send our kids off to college and business school and grad school precisely so that they can study and learn and hopefully perfect the devil's temptations.
[00:38:16] In other words, we want our kids to learn to want more and more.
[00:38:22] We want them to feed their fancies and their desires.
[00:38:25] And then, in fact, we tell them that the most successful of us are those who are able to feed their fancies and desires the most and do it the fastest.
[00:38:33] and sadly the church often falls in line with this way of thinking so in our society and our government and our leaders in the church we often take those temptations of the devil and we canonize them we ordain them almost as our holy grail as our ultimate objective
[00:38:59] when Jesus says to us clearly today, away with you, away with you, Satan, away with all your lies, away with all you stand for, because my kingdom does not look like that.
[00:39:17] The good news, and there is good news in this passage.
[00:39:22] It's not all as rough as I'm making it all sound.
[00:39:26] The good news is that we get to choose who we follow.
[00:39:30] This is not forced upon us.
[00:39:32] we can follow the temptations of the devil or we can follow the kingdom that jesus has established and each choice that we make has a consequence for instance i just read some of these stats
[00:39:48] this week did you know that roughly 34 million adults and 14 million children right here in the united states are living hungry they're living with food insecurity They're going to bed hungry tonight.
[00:40:05] Fourteen million children.
[00:40:09] That's about one out of every eight households in our country.
[00:40:14] And then the stats are going to be even worse in some other parts of the world.
[00:40:18] Meanwhile, most of us have enough.
[00:40:23] In fact, most of us have way more than enough, more than we probably will ever need.
[00:40:28] We live in a society with the consequences of our choices.
[00:40:34] Jesus ushered in this kingdom, this kingdom of God, so that it would look a certain way, that it would be a certain way.
[00:40:45] And as Rick Morley reminds us, that isn't it.
[00:40:49] That's not it.
[00:40:51] For some to have so much and others to have so little, that isn't the kingdom of God.
[00:41:00] In the kingdom of God, we all have enough.
[00:41:03] In the kingdom of God, we're all cared for, we're all loved.
[00:41:06] and to make, for us to help make the kingdom of God more visible here on earth, Jesus calls us in our times of temptation to put the needs of other people ahead of ourselves.
[00:41:18] To serve, not be served.
[00:41:23] To sacrifice so that others might live more abundantly.
[00:41:29] So that we can say ourselves, away with you, Satan.
[00:41:36] All right, back to Bruce Almighty.
[00:41:39] That's really what you want to hear about.
[00:41:41] I love the way Bruce Almighty ends.
[00:41:44] It's got a great ending.
[00:41:46] Finally, after just a long time of making really bad choices and decisions, Bruce eventually learns to put others before himself, to help people, to give to people, to serve people, rather than his own desires.
[00:42:03] And in doing so, he gets his life back.
[00:42:06] He finds joy again.
[00:42:08] He finds purpose in his life again.
[00:42:13] And on top of all that is his relationship with his girlfriend is restored.
[00:42:20] Remember the girlfriend who he lassoed the moon to impress her?
[00:42:23] It's restored.
[00:42:25] They're back good together again.
[00:42:26] And what he learns in the midst of it all is that even with his horrible choices, his girlfriend never stopped loving him.
[00:42:37] She loved him all along.
[00:42:41] And her name was Grace.
[00:42:48] God, in His grace, His infinite grace, will always welcome us into His kingdom.
[00:42:54] No matter what choices, bad choices we've made, no matter how far we've strayed, God will always welcome us in His grace.
[00:43:03] So in our temptations, we're going to see them.
[00:43:06] In our temptations, may we choose the kingdom of God in Jesus Christ and serve only Him.
[00:43:16] Amen.

[00:43:17] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:43:17] Please stand as we affirm our faith.
[00:43:34] I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. The third day he rose from the dead, he ascended
[00:44:03] into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion
[00:44:18] of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

[00:44:27] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:44:27] You may be seated. Please join me as we go to God in prayer together this morning.

[00:45:41] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:45:41] Gracious and loving God, we gather in this moment, bringing with us everything this week has held.
[00:45:51] The things that gave us joy, the things that drained our strength, the conversations that lifted us, and the worries that still sit heavy on our hearts. You meet us here exactly as we are, not polished not perfect but loved completely by you and we give you thanks
[00:46:18] for that Lord in your mercy slow us down God in a world that asks us to hurry and produce and prove ourselves remind us that our worth is not found in what we accomplish but in belonging to you help us release what we cannot control
[00:46:43] help us to trust that you are at work even when we cannot see the way forward lord in your mercy form us more deeply into the way of christ where we have been impatient give us gentleness
[00:47:05] where we have been discouraged give us hope where we have grown worried weary of doing good we ask for renewed strength. Teach us how to love our neighbors with compassion and with humility. Lord, in your mercy. We especially pray for those who are struggling
[00:47:30] today, for anyone facing illness, grief, uncertainty, loneliness, for those who are awaiting a diagnosis, for those who have anxiety around an upcoming appointment or meeting, for those who are waiting for a phone call in return, for any carrying
[00:47:58] private pain, and for those whose burdens feel too heavy to name aloud, surround them with your comfort and remind them that they are not alone. Lord, in your mercy. We lift up our children and youth, especially those searching for belonging
[00:48:18] and direction. Protect their hearts and guide their steps. And for the adults present with us, help us to be adults who listen well, who show patience, who reflect your steady love so that faith may take root and grow within our young. Lord, in your mercy, we pray for our community,
[00:48:45] for your world, for leaders making difficult decisions, for communities divided by fear or injustice, and for all places longing for peace. Give us courage not only to pray for change, but to live as people who bring healing, who bring mercy, and who bring reconciliation
[00:49:07] wherever they go. Lord, in your mercy. And God, knowing that you hear us when we pray, we take this opportunity in faith now to lift aloud to you those praises and those concerns we carry. Lord, we pray for. Lord, in your mercy. As a people who trust your grace and depend upon
[00:49:43] your mercy, we join our voices together in the prayer Jesus taught us, saying, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those
[00:50:08] 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. Amen. Well, good morning and welcome to worship at Davidson United Methodist. We're certainly glad that you are here with us. If it's
[00:50:31] your first time worshiping with us, we'd like to extend a special welcome to you and let you know that we have a gift for you out in our gathering space, which is just beyond these sanctuary doors.
[00:50:42] If you take a moment and you look through your worship bulletin, you'll see a lot of opportunities, whether it's to get involved in missions or to join a Lenten Bible study and go deeper in your
[00:50:53] faith or whether it's a time to get to know the people around you and come to an event that we're hosting at the church we hope that you'll take a moment to to browse through this worship bulletin
[00:51:04] maybe take it home so that you can stay connected and up to date with what it is that we have going on because we would love for you to be a part of it one thing i'd like to draw your attention to
[00:51:14] is that this afternoon at 3 30 i'm going to laugh whenever i talk about it because it's so cute we're having a teddy bear picnic. So anyone birthed through age five is invited to bring their
[00:51:26] favorite stuffy and come to a teddy bear picnic in our fellowship hall where they get to do a craft, have a snack, and have some books read to them and some songs. My nephew who's four is coming
[00:51:38] and I just all week I've been thinking about that little person walking in the doors with this little stuffed animal and I just think it's the cutest thing in the world. So if you have a
[00:51:47] neighbor or a loved one who fits that age, we would love for them to come and enjoy a special time with their church family this afternoon. We also have youth later on this afternoon.
[00:51:59] And then I'm asking for you to please keep us in prayer for next weekend. It's our confirmation retreat and our middle school retreat. And we're going to take a lot of really, really awesome young people away for the weekend to go a little bit deeper on what it means, what salvation means.
[00:52:17] And I'm looking forward to that conversation that we're going to have.
[00:52:20] So thank you all for the ways that you show up with your presence and for the ways that you give generously through your tithes and offerings.
[00:52:29] There's plenty of ways that you can give, whether that's by text message or placing your offering in the plate as it goes by or dropping it in the cabinets in the back.
[00:52:38] we're so grateful for the ways that you all live out your faith through partnering with god with your resources to make difference and change happen in our community in the name of and on

[00:52:50] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:52:50] behalf of jesus christ gracious god your generosity overflows accept these our gifts so that with your blessing we may use them to proclaim christ in our community and beyond amen we enter the season

[01:01:54] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[01:01:54] of Lent, 40 days in preparation for Easter. Forty days can feel like a long time, and I can give you a good example of that. I gave up ice cream for Lent, and I was thinking on Thursday morning this
[01:02:08] week, gosh, it's been forever since I've had any ice cream. It had been one day, one day, and I was already met. So pray for me. Be still my soul. Pray for me that I'm going to make it 40 days
[01:02:20] without ice cream. Lent is a word you would think that given what we are, the season we're in, that it's a word you would think it would mean self-denial or repentance, something like that.
[01:02:32] Actually, the word Lent comes from an old English word that means spring, like the season of the year, spring, a time of growth, a time of kind of new life. And so that's our hope for us during
[01:02:45] this season of Lent, that we will grow, grow toward God in the same way that a flower, a plant grows in the direction of the light. May we this season of Lent grow in the direction of God. And
[01:02:59] as we endeavor to do that, let's remember our mission together, that we will be the body of Christ in our community through worship, education, fellowship, and service. Go in peace.