February 25, 2007
Preached by Reverend S. Matthews

I’m not quite sure how many of you are familiar with the movie, Robin Hood.  In one part of the movie, Robin Hood is teaching a young boy about the importance of firing an arrow, even when there are distractions around.  And the young boy, being tested by Robin, holds up his bow and arrow, lines up his sight to the target laying so many feet in front of him, and shoots - But just as he is about to let go of the arrow, Robin Hood pinches the back of his neck which, of course, makes the young man’s aim veer off greatly, and he misses his target.  Maid Marion then asks Robin if he can do better, and Robin smiles, “Of course.”  So, Robin Hood takes his bow and arrow, lines up the target before him, and readies himself to be pinched or poked or prodded.  When he is just about ready to let go of the arrow, however, the beautiful Maid Marion blows softly into his ear, which makes his arrow wander greatly off course, missing his mark! Penney F. Nichols in Fresh Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching (Baker) ... There are many things that make people miss their mark, and the greatest of those things is temptation.

In the story I just shared with you, both the master, Robin, and the young novice, both miss their mark, and they miss it because of the power of distractions. Yet, and I’m sure you’ll agree with me, when those two people set their mark on the target ahead of them, they both wanted to do their best. But something prevented them.

There’s not a person here in this sanctuary this morning who doesn’t want to do their best.  Each one of us strives to do our best.  When we make a mistake, when we do something wrong, when we make a choice that we’re not proud about, its not because we decided to sin today or do something wrong today.  No, something tempted us.

One writer said, “Why is it that sin comes in such beautiful packages?”  You just think of the sins that we face.  They don’t look ugly.  At the moment when we commit those sins, they look great.  Sin tries to dress itself up.  Things that hurt us are made to seem sexy, wonderful.  Young people, when it comes to cigarette ads - there is an allure there, of being mature, of being well-liked by others.  There’s not a cigarette company that wants to show you darkened lungs, yellow stains, the deaths caused by cancer.  Think of gambling - there’s the allure of “the good life,” having all your problems solved, your dreams fulfilled.  “Everybody’s got a dream.”  What’s your dream? Is your dream of the hundreds of gambling addicts that live right here in our province, of the effects of gambling that destroy families and, on several occasions have led to suicide.  You won’t see that on a poster.  And what about the choices we make when we go to the store, and we see an item, one for $10.00 which we know is made in a country which enforces slave labour under deplorable conditions.  Now, we could pay $20.00 for a similar item made in a place where people are given a fair wage, but - $10.00 verses $20.00?  Ah, we are tempted at every stage!

And its not easy, making the right choices.  I don’t want you thinking that I’m up here as the person who makes the right choices, telling you that you make the wrong ones.  No - WE make choices, and we often make the wrong ones.  But we can make the right choice here today!  We can ask for God’s strength and guidance, as a people, as we make each and every choice. Instead of us figuring out what’s the cheapest or what makes us feel good, we can struggle - and it is a struggle - we can struggle to figure out what is faithful, what is Christ-like.

Jesus faced temptations, you know.  Our reading talks about it today.  We’re told that Jesus, FULL of the Holy Spirit, went to the wilderness and fasted and prayed for 40 days, and after those 40 days, Satan arrived before him and Jesus was tempted.  Jesus was tempted by food - that is, things physical.  Jesus was tempted by power - tempted by Satan to forget God and worship the dark side.  That was the 2^nd temptation.  And the 3^rd temptation was that Jesus was faced with was popularity.  Jesus said, “Throw yourself down from the temple, so that all will believe in you.”

We can argue that we face, in some ways, some very similar temptations in that, yes, we are tempted by physical things, we are tempted by our appetites, and we are also tempted away from worshipping and relying on God. Finally, we’re tempted to do what’s popular.  To do what is “fashionable” instead of what is “Faithful.”

St. Paul acknowledged that very struggle when he said, “I do the things which I strive to not do.”

George Grey Barnard was one of America's great sculptors.  Much of his work is on display in the Metropolitan Museum in New York, including his most famous work.  It is a colossal piece entitled "The Struggle of the Two Natures in Man."  Paul would have liked to see such a statue.  He wrote of such a struggle of the two natures of man in Romans 7:18‑25.  We all experience the struggle.  Hopefully, we all experience the resolution of it, as Paul did, "through Jesus Christ our Lord."

It's interesting how Jesus faces the temptations.  We’re told that he was full of spirit.  He had a time of prayer and fasting, a time of trying to be close to God.  And when Jesus faces those temptations, he doesn’t rely on his own strength.  Jesus relies on scripture. In answering the temptations, Jesus answers back with insights provided by God’s Word.

Lent, the season which we are entering, is a time which, in the early church, was a time of fasting and prayer, a time to be about being drawn into ever-closer communion with God. It was a time of remembering the baptismal vows of the faithful and attempting to be drawn into an ever more faithful expression of those vows.

We are all going to be tempted. When we leave this church and today, even here in this sanctuary, before we leave today we are going to be tempted.  And not necessarily by this red-skinned figure with a pitchfork.  We’re going to be tempted in the choices we make.  The good news is that, in Christ, we have a source of strength which we can rely on.  When we face temptations, the choice that we’re called to make is to lean upon God, to see the example of Christ lived, and to take strength from those things.  When we see Jesus facing and conquering temptation, we have a hope - if Christ can overcome temptation, then by the power of the Holy Spirit, we too have a hope in facing all our temptations.

In a few moments, we are going to sing a hymn and in one of the verses of the hymn, we hear: If temptations, vexing sore, flesh or spirit should assail, you their vanquisher before, grant we may not faint nor fail

This is not about the should’s of life - that as a Christian, I have to do this or I should do that, but rather, because of Christ - because of Jesus conquering temptations, we can also conquer - we can make the choices that are not only right, but good - Choices that are not only good for us, but also good for others.  Choices that are not only ethical, but excellent - choices that make us proud and make God proud of us.  So, before you make your choices, ask yourself - is God glorified by this, is my neighbour hurt by this -and if you say yes, then God be praised.  For it is only by relying upon God, that we will not miss the mark - the mark that Christ has made for us and bid us to follow onward. LET US PRAY.