Lent 1 B
Who is the Blessed Man?
James 1:12-18
22 February 2015 – Redeemer
Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial. Blessed is the man who resists temptation. Blessed is the man who does let Satan into his office, his garage, his family room. Who is that blessed man? Are you that man? Are you that woman?
When the devil comes tempting do you stand fast? When you’re with your friends and gossip is being spewed do you stop it, correct it, or let it flow? When you are away from your wife do you let your eyes wander and your mind lust, or do you resist the temptation and fix your eyes on your bride alone? When you pull into the church parking lot next to that brand new vehicle or that couple with the seemingly perfect marriage, do you rejoice in their gifts or covet their goods?
Do you object to my line of questioning complaining, “It’s not fair.” If I wasn’t tempted I wouldn’t sin. It’s not my fault. If God would give me what I need, if He wouldn’t allow me to suffer then I would stand fast. My sin isn’t really my fault. With that excuse you’re really saying, “my sin is God’s fault.
Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. It’s not something outside of you that leads you to sin. It’s something within you. You’re enticed by your own desire. The Devil’s temptations work because he knows what you want. You want more. You want something God has not given you. If you didn’t the Sunday paper would be ¼ the size it is and your mailbox probably wouldn’t have much mail in it. You want the marriage you don’t have, the health you have lost, the long and vibrant life you see in others, the toys that your neighbor plays with.
When Satan came into the garden of Eden Adam had everything. He had the most beautiful woman in the world as his wife, created for him by God Himself. He had a job with no deadlines, no unhappy customers, no broken down equipment. He had every kind of food he needed within his reach. He ate fruit from the tree of life and that fruit would keep him alive forever. And all of this was given to Adam by God, his creator, his father.
Satan tempted Adam from the outside, but the temptation was aimed at Adam’s inside, at Adam’s faith and trust in God. Satan held that fruit before Adam and Eve’s eyes, but he really went after their heart. God’s holding out on you. It’s not about the fruit. It’s about God’s love for you. He’s keeping something for Himself that He doesn’t want for you. If you eat this fruit you’ll be like him. You’ll become as wise as God knowing good and evil.
Adam is not the blessed man that Saint James writes about. Satan’s lies created desire in Adam’s heart. That desire gave birth to sin. Adam listened to Satan. Eve ate the fruit. Adam ate the fruit. Sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden. No more tree of life. No more life, now there was only death for them.
The fall of Adam and Eve teaches us the saddest truth about ourselves. We are sinners. We aren’t sinners because we sin. We are sinners because we have inherited from Adam and Eve a sinfully corrupted human nature. The problem is not what we do or think. The problem is who we are. If you could eliminate every temptation from your life – ban the candy bars in the checkout line, remove the pornography from television, the book stores, and the internet, hang around with people who never gossip, you would still be a sinner and your desires would still give birth to sin and your sin when fully grown will kill you. Could there be any worse news? I am going to die. It’s my fault and I cannot do anything about it. Thanks a lot, Saint James!
But that’s the point. The point of God’s Word, the point of the Epistle of Saint James, is to despair of yourself, to stop looking in the mirror, looking in your heart, looking at your neighbor, looking at the unfairness and troubles of your life. Cursed is the man who looks to himself. James is preaching to us of the blessed man – who is that man? Who is that man who remains steadfast under trial? Who has stood the test and received the crown of life? Who is the man who loves the Father?
He is the man in today’s Gospel reading. He is the second Adam. Adam is God’s first created son. Jesus is God’s only begotten Son. Adam believed God was holding out on him and that isn’t faith, that’s unbelief. Satan tried the same thing on Jesus. He tried to create in Jesus the self-centered desires of sin. Saint Mark doesn’t give us the details of Jesus’ temptation, but we remember them. Jesus has gone without food for 40 days and Satan comes tempting. “Jesus, you’re god. You can change stones into bread. Use your godly powers to feed yourself.” Jesus says, “No. My father will give me my bread. I can live without bread, but I cannot live apart from my Father’s Word.” Satan brings Jesus to the temple. “Throw yourself down. If your Father loves you He will send His angels to save you.” Once again Jesus says, “No. I will not test my Father’s love. I will believe my Father’s love for that is what a true Son does.” Finally Satan offers Jesus all the power to rule the world. Once again Jesus says, “No. I will not set myself over my Father. Him alone will I worship – I am glad to live under Him. Be gone Satan.”
There is the blessed man of Saint James – the God-man Jesus Christ. And better than being merely the blessed man – He is your blessed man. Jesus is the good and perfect gift from heaven for you. Adam was not the blessed man. You are not the blessed man, but Jesus is the blessed man for you. He has entered this world to do what you could not do – He is born without sinful desire and Satan fails to tempt Jesus to sin. There is no desire giving birth to sin, no sin growing into death. In Jesus you have the Holy One of God giving birth to righteousness and righteousness when it is fully grown brings forth life – your life.
When you are baptized into Christ you are brought forth as God’s child by the righteousness of Christ. The blessed man’s life, death, and resurrection is made yours. A new man is raised to life in you – a believer, a child who loves your Father, a righteous son or daughter. When Adam sinned he brought death to all creation. When Christ died He brought death to sin and started a re-creation. You are the firstfruits of that creation – the new Adam, the little Christ, lives in you, so you love your Father, you trust His Word, you desire to obey Him. Oh, yes, you still struggle with your desires, your sin, and your death, but your hope is in that man – that blessed Man who remained steadfast under trial, who stood the test in the wilderness, who offered His flesh for your flesh at the cross. Your faith is in Jesus and in Jesus you are a blessed man, a blessed woman, a blessed child, who will receive the crown of life. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Pr. Bruce Timm
21 February 2015 anno Domini