Sin and Despair; Salvation and Hope

​1-16-23
Jesus' temptation Series A
SERMON:  Sin and Despair, Salvation and Hope
 
Our texts today deal with sin and temptation and with grace and faith. The Old Testament reading tells us how Adam and Eve were tempted and sinned against God in the Garden of Eden. The Gospel reading shows Christ living blamelessly in the face of evil by the power of faith.
Temptation and sin, grace and faith are the great themes of our lives as we live our lives - the axis around which everything else revolves. As Christians, we believe that sin has a deadly power from Satan's lips. But we also believe that faith has power - a live-giving power that comes from God.
In our lives, we experience a struggle between these two powers, and even when we are on the side of life, even when we have faith in the God of life, we experience temptation, we feel desires, and live through events that test our faith and seek to lure us away from God and have us serve evil instead.
I believe that most of us feel when it comes to the sin that is in the world, and maybe within ourselves, we are tempted to give in to despair - the despair that nothing we can do will make a difference, the despair that says that there is no help or hope for us or our world. Indeed I believe that this is the greatest temptation of our age.
But my friends, we have within us one who is stronger than the world, one who is greater than the tempter, one who has triumphed over evil both in life - as we see in the story of Jesus' temptations in the wilderness and in death - as we see in the cross - and again three days later - in the resurrection.
Some people - most people perhaps - dwell too much on the negative side of things. Like the game shows Jeopardy - all their answers to life's problems are expressed as questions. They see the problems that exist all around us - but do not lay hold of the solutions - of the good news that also exists all around us - of the salvation that is offered to us all - without condition or qualification.
They despair on account of the giants -forgetting perhaps the story of David -and of how one small stone in his hands ended the Goliath that threatened his nation and caused even Saul and his mighty army to despair of ever being victorious.
 
A man by the name of Richard Lederer collects funny signs. Some of these are simply the result of people in foreign countries having difficulty translating into English. He says that at the entrance to a river swimming spot, there is a sign: "Swimming is forbidden in the absence of a savior."
Maybe the person who put up that sign knew our needs better than we may suppose. Not only swimming but life itself should not be lived in the absence of a Saviour. We have a Savior - one who remembers who we are.
Our Savior has ventured into the same waters we swim in daily. He has battled the currents - fought the foes - and shown that he is able and show that we - when we swim with him - are able as well.
Our Savior remembers who we are - loves us - and seeks the best for us. He knows that we are weak swimmers -that we, occasionally, will flounder and thrash and sink. He knows the waters we are in -and that is why he has been appointed the judge of the living and the dead.
He does not judge us for the sake of condemning us -as some believe. He takes no delight in catching us in our sin. He has no joy when we hurt ourselves or hurt others. Instead, he reaches out to us, calls us, and seeks to guide and help us. And like any good parent - he forgives us and does all he can to make sure that we start each day new and fresh and bathed in his love and mercy.
Or maybe it would be better if we consider our need for a savior to pull us out of the pits we find ourselves in as we do our own thing. Kenneth Filkins has caught this beautifully in a poem entitled "The Pit."  Please take a look at the handout in the service folder. Visualize, if you will, a pit - a pit perhaps of your own devising – or one that you fell into because you were not paying attention - or perhaps one devised for you by others - visualize a pit into which you have fallen and cannot escape on your own. 
 
Filkins writes:  A man fell into a pit and he couldn't get out.
   BUDDHA said: "Your pit is only a state of mind."
   A HINDU said: "This pit is for purging you and making you more
   perfect."
   CONFUCIUS said: "If you would have listened to me, you would
   never have fallen into that pit."
   A NEW AGER said: "Maybe you should network with some other pit
   dwellers."
   A SELF-PITYING PERSON said: "You haven't seen anything until
   you've seen my pit."
   A NEWS REPORTER said: "Could I have the exclusive story on your
   pit?"
   A FEDERAL BUREAUCRAT said: "Have you paid your taxes on that
   pit?"
   A COUNTY INSPECTOR said: "Do you have a permit for that pit?"
   A REALIST said: "That's a pit."
   An IDEALIST said: "The world shouldn't have pits."
   An OPTIMIST said: "Things could be worse."
   A PESSIMIST said: "Things will get worse."
BUT, then comes along Jesus, who, on SEEING THE MAN, TOOK HIM BY THE HAND AND LIFTED HIM OUT OF THE PIT.
A pit is an awful place to be -particularly the pit created by sin and temptation. But there is One who will help. There is one who did not succumb to the pit and who seeks to help us out of our pit. His name is Jesus - and he is willing. And not only is he willing - he has already acted - acted to save us -acted to bring to the world a new day. Who acted to bring to each of us a new life. All praise to him.
Do not dwell in whatever pit you are in. Do not accept the pit. Do not, as a video I watched not long ago, do as a sheep did after it was pulled out of a pit, run right back into another pit where it became hopelessly stuck.
Instead, look up from your pit so you can see Jesus reach down and hold you as he pulls you out, dusts you off, and sets you back on the straight path, the better life that is given freely to all who desire it. Amen.