We all know that life is filled with choices. In fact, Joel Hoomans, who is a professor at Roberts Wesley University, has famously theorized that every day we make about 35,000 different choices. And if you do the math, that means that we make about one choice for every two seconds that we are awake. And if that seems impossible to you, then just think about some of the decisions that you've already had to make today.
Like, you had to choose what time you were going to wake up this morning, and you had to choose how many times you were going to hit the snooze button before you finally got out of bed. You had to choose if you were going to come and worship with us in person today, or if you were going to join us online. If you decided that you were to come and join us in person today, then you had to choose if you were going to eat breakfast at home, or if you got to wait until you got to church to have a donut. And if you decided you wanted to donut at church, then you had to decide which variety of donut you wanted to eat.
And obviously, I could keep going, but I think you get the point. Life is filled with choices. But most of the choices that we make aren't really that important. Like when you're scrolling through Netflix or whatever other streaming services you may subscribe to, and you're trying to decide which TV show or movie you want to watch.
The show that you want to watch, the movie that you want to watch, that choice isn't really that important. But I can tell you from first-hand experience that I've spent more than one night scrolling through not just Netflix, but all of my other streaming services options trying to find something that I wanted to watch. And as I scroll through all of those options, I was acting like Netflix or Disney Plus or Amazon Prime where I canceled my subscription if I picked the wrong thing to watch. Or just about every single day, all of us spend at least a little bit of time thinking about what clothes we're going to wear.
So for me this morning, when I woke up after I shot it and shaved, I walked over to my closet and I started looking at all of my options and I had to pick out pair of pants that usually what I want to start with to make sure that they're not all wrinkled and have at least been recently ironed. Then I tried to find a shirt that's going to look good with it. Today, I decided I need to put on a sweater since it's a little bit colder outside. I do this every single Sunday because I want to make sure that I look at least kind of like a pastor when I'm standing up here.
I do it every single week. But even though I do that every single Sunday, the outfit that I choose to wear on Sunday mornings, it's not that important. Because if what I decided to wear to church was that important, then everybody that's worshiping with us right now would remember what color shirt I wore last week. I don't even remember what color shirt I wore last week.
And I'll go one step further here. If you are with your spouse or your kids or somebody that you spent time with yesterday, if you look at them right now and ask them what outfit you wore yesterday, they couldn't tell you. Because it doesn't matter that much. And that's the reality for a lot of choices that we make in life from deciding what time we're going to wake up in the morning, what TV show we want to watch.
What music we want to listen to, what clothes we want to wear, what food we want to eat, what route we want to take when we're going to work in the morning or what route we're going to take when we go home. Most of those choices aren't that important. They're just decisions we have to make. So we make our choice and then we forget about it.
But that's not always the case. There are times in life when we come to what we call crossroads, where we have to make important decisions that can change everything for us. And these are the kind of choices that really matter. Choices like, it's the time for me to start looking for a new job.
Choices like, am I going to stay in this relationship or is it time to walk away? Choices like, am I going to speak out about this problem that I see, even if it costs me something? Or am I going to keep my mouth shut instead? Choices like, am I going to let that person back into my life after everything that they've done to hurt me?
These are the kind of choices that really matter. And they're never easy decisions for us to make. But from time to time, we all come to these crossroad moments, where the choices that we make have the chance to change everything. And we don't just reach these crossroads when it comes to things like our job or our personal relationships.
We can also come to these crossroads when it comes to our faith and our relationship with God. And that's what we're going to be talking about over the next few weeks because today we're starting a series of servants that we're appropriately enough calling crossroads. And what we're going to do in this series is we're going to take a closer look at some of the encounters that different people have with Jesus during Jesus' time on this earth. And when we look at these encounters, we're going to see that when these people met Jesus, it brought them to a crossroads in their life.
And they had to make a choice. They had to choose if they were going to keep going down the same path they were already on, acting like they never met Jesus at all. Or they could choose to do something different. To walk down a new path where Jesus might change their life forever.
And I think it's appropriate that we start this conversation, this series today, because even though we can come to these crossroads at any point in our lives, today isn't just another day. We're not just another Sunday. I've already told you today is the first Sunday and the season of Lent. And Lent is a season that reminds us that our faith is a journey.
It's not a destination. It's a road that we're always traveling down where we're trying to get closer to God. And all of us want to get closer to God. I mean, you wouldn't be here in church right now if you didn't want to grow closer to God.
But in spite of our best intentions, we wander away from God. We get comfortable in our lives and we get distracted. So we fall back on old behaviors, old ways of thinking, old fears, old patterns that slowly pull us away from God. And most of the time, these things don't happen all at once.
They happen slowly, gradually, one choice at a time, one quiet compromise at a time, one time where we just fall back on those old familiar ways of behaving without even thinking about what we're doing. So Lent, this season, kind of becomes a spiritual crossroads for us. It's a time when the church asks us to take a look at the path that we're on in life and to be honest, if we're happy about the direction that we're going in. And this means that Lent is a time when we have to ask ourselves, is this the road I want to be on?
Is this the road I actually want to be on in my life? And I think this is a question that Jesus is asking throughout the passage of Scripture that I want us to take a closer look at today. So if you've got a Bible close to your Bible app on your phone, I'd encourage you to open it to Matthew chapter four. And as you're finding Matthew chapter four, when you find it and you see what the story is, many of you are going to think that this is a story that you're already pretty familiar with.
Because today we're going to be talking about Jesus' temptation. And even though you may have read this story countless times before, even though you have probably heard plenty of sermons about this story, even though you may have been involved in a lot of Bible studies where you've talked about this story, don't overlook it. Because this story can bring us to one of those crossroads moment, it's in our faith, where we have the chance to choose a new direction. So let's take a look at this story together.
We're going to start reading in Matthew chapter four, verse one, where Matthew writes this. Says, then the spirit led Jesus up into the wilderness so that the devil might tempt him. After Jesus had fasted for 40 days and 49ths, he was starving. Now Matthew tells us a lot of important things in just those couple of verses that we just read.
And these things that Matthew tells us at the beginning of this chapter are going to help us better understand what else is going to happen in the story. And the first important thing that Matthew tells us at the beginning of Matthew chapter four is where this story takes place. And where does this story take place? It takes place in the wilderness.
Now, when a lot of us here at that word wilderness, we may think about mountains or trees or rolling rivers or frolicking little animals. But that's not what Matthew's original audience would have thought of. Now, when Matthew's original audience heard the word wilderness, that word came with a lot of history. It was a loaded word for them.
So when Matthew's original audience heard him mention the wilderness, what they would have thought about is their ancestors history and the wilderness. They would have thought about the way that their ancestors had spent years wandering in the wilderness after the Exodus when they were freed from being slaves and Egypt. And they would have remembered the way that their ancestors struggled while they were in the wilderness. And that brings us to the second important thing that Matthew tells us at the beginning of this story.
Matthew gives us a timeline for this story. He tells us that Jesus was in the wilderness fasting for 40 days. And when Matthew's original audience heard that, they would have automatically made this connection. They would have realized that Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days and their ancestors had wandered in the wilderness for 40 years.
They would have started making the connection. They would have their ancestors had experienced during those 40 years in the wilderness was going to be very similar to what Jesus was going to experience at the end of his 40 days in the wilderness. They would have realized that just like their ancestors had been tempted to figure out if they were really trusting in God or not that Jesus was going to face temptations too. And that brings us to the third thing that Matthew tells us at the beginning of this story.
He tells us who it is that came and tempted Jesus. Now depending on your translation, that word may be translated as the devil, which was what we read earlier today, could also be translated as the tempter or could be translated as Satan. And when a lot of us hear words like the devil and Satan, it makes us think about a red guy with horns and a pointy beard and a pitchfork. But that's not what Matthew's original audience would have thought of when they heard this word.
Now when Matthew's original audience heard this word that we translate as the devil or tempter or Satan, they would have thought of something else entirely. They would have thought about the story of Job. Because in the story of Job, Job is going to be tested by the Hebrew word satan, which is a word that we transliterate to get the word Satan, but it actually means adversary or accuser. And in the story from the book of Job, the accuser, the adversary, the tempter of the satan has this core fundamental belief.
The tempter is going to have the same belief. The tempter is going to believe that when Jesus faces temptation, he'll fail too. Because that's what people have always done. And as we make our way through the story, we're going to see that the temptations that Jesus faces in the wilderness, they're not actually anything new.
Jesus is going to face these same kinds of temptations that the people of Israel face when they were wandering in the wilderness. And they made the wrong choices when they face these temptations. And Matthew tells all of this because he wants us to make this connection. Matthew mentions the wilderness.
He mentions that Jesus was there for 40 days. He talks about the tempter because he wants us to understand that Jesus is facing the same kinds of temptations that Israel had already faced before. And the satan, the tempter, believes that Jesus is going to fail. So let's keep reading in Matthew 4, and let's see what else is going to happen.
We're going to pick back up in Matthew 4, verse 3, where Matthew tells us this. He says, the tempter came to him, Jesus, and said, since you are God's son, command these stones to become bread. That's the first temptation. Now let's go down to verse 5.
And verse 5, we're told, after the devil brought him into the holy city and stood him at the highest point of the temple, he said to him, Since you are God's son, throw yourself down for his written. I will command my angels concerning you, and they will take you up in their hands so that you won't hit your foot on a stone. It's a second temptation. Now let's skip down to verse number 8, where Matthew tells us.
Then the devil brought him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said, I'll give you all these if you bow down and worship me. Now, when we read the story, it's pretty obvious that Jesus faces three separate temptations. He's tempted to turn stones into bread.
He's tempted to throw himself from the highest point in the temple. And he is tempted to bow down and worship the tempter so that he can gain all the kingdoms of the earth. But what isn't quite so obvious to us today is that the temptations that Jesus is facing in the story are things that people of Israel have been tempted with hundreds of years before when they were wandering in the wilderness. But when the people of Israel face these temptations, they always made the wrong choice.
So Jesus isn't just being tempted to turn stones into bread. He's not just being tempted to throw himself from the top of the temple. He's not just being tempted to bow down and worship someone besides God. Jesus is also being tempted to make the same mistakes that people have always made.
Like when people of Israel were wandering in the wilderness and they got hungry. When they got hungry when they were in the wilderness, they had a choice. They faced the crossroads. They could decide if they were going to trust that God would provide for them.
Or they could whine, they could complain, and they could demand that God provide them food. So which path do they take? Well, in Acts 16, we're told that the whole Israelite community complained against Moses and Aaron in the desert. And they said, if only we had died by the Lord's hand in the land of Egypt, where they were slaves, when we sat by the pots of meat and ate all the bread we wanted.
So the people would have rather been enslaved and have bread to eat than trust God. Or when the people of Israel were wandering through the wilderness and they started to get thirsty, they faced the crossroads. They could either trust that God would provide for them, or they could whine, and they could complain. And they could demand that God prove that God is who God says he is.
Which path did the people of Israel pick? Well, in Acts 17, we're told that the people argued with Moses and said to him, give us water to drink. And Moses responded, why are you arguing with me? Why are you testing the Lord?
So the people wanted proof of who God is more than they wanted to trust in God. And then as the people of Israel were waiting for Moses to come back down off of Mount Sinai after encountering God, so that he could tell the people of Israel all that God had told them about how to live their lives when they were able to return to the promised land, the people of Israel faced the crossroads. While they were waiting for Moses to come down, they could choose to trust God, or they could choose another path. And what did the people of Israel do?
Well, in Acts 32 we're told that Aaron fashioned the gold into a calf. Then the people declared, these are your gods Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. So the people of Israel wanted a God that they could see and control more than they wanted to worship a God who actually brought them out of slavery. So when a tender comes to Jesus, and the will there is, and he says to him, turn these stones into bread or jump off the temple and make God catch you, or bow down and worship me.
What he's really saying is, why don't you do what Israel's already done? Why don't you repeat the pattern that people have always been following? Why don't you just keep on making the same mistakes? And that's the question that's kind of lingering in the air in the story.
Is will Jesus make the same choices that have been made before? Or is Jesus going to choose a different path? You know what? Jesus isn't the only one who faces this temptation.
We all face this temptation. Sure, we may not face this temptation when we're out of the wilderness, and probably none of us are going to face this temptation after we've fastened for 40 days, because none of us are going to fast for 40 days. But we face this same temptation. We have to decide.
Will we trust God, or will we keep making the same mistakes? This is a crossroads we all come to. We have to decide, are we going to trust in God, or are we going to keep making the same mistakes we've always made? And if we're being honest with ourselves, that's probably not a question that we actually want to answer, because we know the way that we've answered that question in the past.
Yes, we want to trust God. Yes, we want to follow God, but we know that we always make the same mistakes that keep pulling us away from God. Now, maybe the mistake that you make that is pulling you away from God isn't about religious practices. Maybe it's not about the fact that you don't come to church regularly, that you're not spending time reading your Bible or praying, although those things can't pull you away from God.
Maybe there's some mistakes that you make that are pulling you away from God, or things like the way that you talk about other people behind the backs. Maybe the mistake that you keep making has to do with the way that you treat other people when no one is watching you. Maybe the mistakes that you make have to do with the way that you make decisions when money or a promotion at work is online. Maybe the mistakes that you make are the way that you act at home when you feel frustrated by something that's happened at work.
All of our choices, all of these things can pull us away from God, because yes, we want to trust God, but we also want to be in control of our lives. We want to follow Jesus, but we also want our lives to be as easy as possible. We want to worship God, but we also want to worship success and security and comfort and ourselves. So we keep making the same mistakes.
And these mistakes keep causing us to drift away from God. So here's the question that we have to ask ourselves as we start into the season of Olympus Year, will this year be any different for us? Are we going to keep walking down the same roads that we have always traveled? Are we going to keep making the same mistakes we've always made?
Are we finally going to choose a different path? Because that's what Jesus does. When the tempter tells Jesus to turn stones into bread, Jesus doesn't make the same mistake that Israel had always made. Instead, Matthew tells us, Jesus replied, it's written, people won't live only by bread, but by every word spoken by God.
And when the tempter tells Jesus to jump off the top of the temple so that God will prove that Jesus is His Son and rescue Him, Jesus doesn't make the same mistake that the people of Israel always made. Instead, Matthew tells us, Jesus replied, again, it's written, don't test the Lord your God. And when the tempter offers Jesus the whole world, if he'll just bow down and worship Him, Jesus doesn't make the same mistake that the people of Israel had made before. Instead, Matthew tells us, Jesus responded, go away Satan, because it's written, you will worship the Lord your God and serve only Him.
Now that we'll have left Him and the angels came and took care of Him. So when Jesus faced, when Jesus faced the same temptations that the people of Israel had faced before, he didn't make the same mistakes that Israel had made. When Jesus came to this crossroads, He chose to go in a new direction. Instead of giving into temptation, Jesus chose to trust God.
Instead of giving into temptation, Jesus chose to trust God. And that matters. That matters not just because Jesus shows us what choosing a different path looks like. Now that matters because Jesus does something that we as people couldn't do.
Jesus changes the story. He changes history. He makes a choice that we had never been able to make before. And He shows us that we are not always going to be trapped on the same road.
We can choose a different path. And if Jesus wasn't doomed to make the same mistakes that people have always made, then we're not doomed to make those same mistakes that we always make either. This is why the season of Lent matters to us. Because Lent isn't a season that's about proving how disciplined or faithful we can be by choosing to take on more religious practices or of standing from things in our lives.
No, what the season of Lent is really about is noticing where it is that we have been drifting away from God in our lives. And trusting that because of Jesus, a new way is actually possible. We don't have to keep going down the same path, making the same mistakes. We can go in a new direction.
So here's my challenge for you. This first week in the season of Lent. My challenge isn't for you to try to fix every mistake you've ever made. It's not to completely change your entire life.
No, I want to challenge you to do is to think about one mistake that you just keep on making. Maybe it's the way that you treat other people. Maybe it's the way that you talk about other people. Maybe it's the way that you deal with your family when you're feeling frustrated about something else in life.
Maybe it's something else altogether, but I want you to think about one mistake that you just keep making over and over again. And when you have the choice to make that same mistake again, and you're going to have that choice to make that same mistake again, choose a different path. Choose a different path because remember, that's what Jesus did, where Jesus chose a different path and you can too. So when you face that choice, take another step in a new direction.
Is that going to be easy for you to do? No, we have these habits, we have these behaviors that become things we fall back on, and that makes things easy. So going a new direction is not going to be easy for us. But always remember that whatever crossroads you come to in life, you can always choose to go in a new direction.
Let's pray together. God, as we come to you in this time of prayer, you know that we talked about something today that we just don't spend a whole lot of time talking about God. You know that in life, we all keep making the same kind of mistakes over and over again. We're trusting ourselves instead of trusting in you.
We'd rather worship, having more money or power or success than truly worship you. We'd rather our lives be easy and comfortable than actually follow you. So God, we keep making the same choices that lead us away from you. God, as we begin this season of Lent, let this truly be a time where we look at our lives, we look at the past that we've been walking down, and we ask ourselves, is this the road I actually want to be on?
Because God, I think everyone that is worshiping with us right now, whether they're here in person or worshiping with us online, deep down, we want to be moving closer to you. We want to grow closer to you. But sometimes we can't help but fall into our old behaviors. So God, show us the mistakes that we make.
Show us the things that we do that pull us away from you and help us to choose to go in a new direction. We pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen.