Sunday 9th March – Earthy Faith – Pastor Adrian Kitson

09-03-2025, Earthy Faith, Living in the space carved out by Jesus Cross, luke 4:1-13, pastor adrian kitson

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, ²where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.

³The devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.’

⁴Jesus answered, ‘It is written: “Man shall not live on bread alone.”’

⁵The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. ⁶And he said to him, ‘I will give you all their authority and splendour; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. ⁷If you worship me, it will all be yours.’

⁸Jesus answered, ‘It is written: “Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.”’

⁹The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. ‘If you are the Son of God,’ he said, ‘throw yourself down from here. ¹⁰For it is written:

‘“He will command his angels concerning you
to guard you carefully;
¹¹they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”’

¹²Jesus answered, ‘It is said: “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”’

¹³When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

I don’t know what it would be like to win the top job in the organisation, reach the tight inner circle of privilege at the top of the industry, win the election to public office …

It must be amazing. You would probably be overwhelmed with the fact that “They chose ME! Out of all the others, they chose me”.

All your adult life you have been working at this – not to get the top job or be in the high echelons of power and privilege, but because you loved what you did and learned much along the way.

And now you are here. Now you can make a real difference for the good. Now you can influence how the organisation goes, how the industry goes, how the government governs now the church moves …

So, you begin this crescendo of your career with great ideals. But, you quickly find out there are temptations – things that will sideline the ideals and the mission but make your life a lot easier and more fun (you think).

There are other voices now whispering inside you.

‘Tell this stone to become bread.’

Now you are in this position of privilege and trust, there is money to be made. Lots of organisations and businesses will want you on their board. You could name your price …

‘Worship me, [and] it will all be yours.’

Temptation is there to get you off track as far as possible – hopefully far enough that you cannot find your way back on the path of the Good Shepherd leading you through green grass and clear water and safety from wolves at night.

The Tempter wants you locked up in self, turned in on your broken self and eventually dead. He wants this community dispersed and dead to.

But, we know this Jesus. We know what he will do to get us to a brighter day with a whole new outlook on who we are and what we are here for.

He will eventually enter his city to the cries of jubilant people sensing that hope has arrived in a person as they cannot help but sing and shout. And when the people with most to lose call Jesus out on pretending to be a new King from God Jesus says that even he silences all the people, the stones would still keep calling his name.

One out of ten guys who received miraculous healing from the deadly disease of leprosy came back from the Jerusalem temple to pour out his thanks to Jesus as he prostrate himself on the ground, thus declaring Jesus to be the temple – the place we ask for what we need and call blessing on others and are close to God as can be. Jesus is the the centre of worship – the new temple of God in the world.

Jesus would go on to do something more spectacular than some party trick – doing a jump off a skyscraper. That would be over in less than a minute and do nothing for a broken world.

Instead, Jesus, the ‘Bright Morning Star’, and the ‘fullness of God in a human body form’, would let them throw him on that cross of pain to be ‘lifted up’ into a public shame and breath his last only to then three days later breath again in a whole new creation; a whole new start for a broken world – and that is still going on!

He is still going on and he is speaking now. You can resist all temptation and find freedom because;

‘The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,’

What is that close word? It is, according to the Apostle Paul;

… the message concerning faith that we proclaim:

⁹if you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified [made right and at peace with God], and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith [in this Jesus] and are saved.

So, hear today friend, unlike Jesus, who willingly took on full-gas shame of all our worst behaviour and dark heart,

‘Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.’

(Romans 10:11

There is no shame in this place today, whether you believe yourself to be too good for God or too bad for God.

No. There is no difference between us all here today as far as God is concerned, whether you have known God’s favour and love all your life or whether today is the first time you sensed it;

… the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him.

(Romans 10:12)

And here is what we equal sinners equally loved do today:

¹³for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

(Romans 10:13)