Matthew 4:1-11
Message Part 1: Belonging in the world affirmed in God’s Love
There are three parts to this message. Within some of the older liturgies of the church we are the phrase in him, with him, and through him or variations of these three ideas. The three segments of the sermon are:
- Belonging in him
- Belonging with him
- Belonging through him
So let us
begin with the idea of belonging in him.
Each one of us seeks a sense of belonging in the world. This yearning for belonging and finding our place is expressed throughout our lives. But just as Jesus encountered his temptation the word “if” plagues us. If I was a better person. If only people accepted me as I am. If only I had done more with my life.
In our
internal dialogue the word “if” can lead us to doubt our place of belonging in
the world, to doubt the identity that we have forged from childhood, through
our teenage years and into adulthood. In this way, at the heart of the story of
the temptation of Jesus is a question of belonging and identity in the world.
The story of Jesus resisting turning the stones to bread and focusing on what God is saying offers us hope when we combine Jesus’s resistance with God’s mercy that Paul wrote about. He says that “one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all” and “so through the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous”.
Because through the power of the Holy Spirit our lives are joined to Jesus life it is in him that we resist that temptation and it is in him that our belonging and place in the world are affirmed. This is means as good news “for all” people.
When we receive this message of the good news of the affirmation of our identity and our belonging in the world as we share in Jesus’s life this message should open us up to this truth for other people.
Sadly, rather than do this often we as people seek to define our belonging by excluding us.
Baptism is a sign of our belonging to God and to each other. In baptism we remember that we are drawn into Christ’s life, in him and with him and through him we belong.
Paul knew this, Paul was convinced of this, as he wrote to the Christians in Corinth. Before we move to part 2 of the sermon we are going to sing about the idea that nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ. I will sing it through and then I invite you to sing it with me.
- When you reflect on your own life, what “if” statements tend to shape your sense of belonging or identity?
- In what ways have you experienced God’s affirmation of your place in the world?
- How does the idea that your
belonging is “in him” (in Christ) change the way you see yourself and others?
- How might you open yourself to the
truth that others are also affirmed in their belonging through Christ?
Message Part 2: Belonging Through Testing and Retreat
In the first part of the sermon, we reflect on our belonging in him in part two we are thinking our belonging with him.
In the story of the temptation Jesus is driven out into the desert for 40 days and 40 nights. Last week I was speaking about thin spaces, places that we feel closer to God or sense God’s presence.
We did not have an Ash Wednesday service but for those who did participate they would have heard these words “from dust we come and to dust we return”. Lent invites us to go into the place of temptation with Jesus. It is a place not that we put God to the test, but we reflect on our place with God.
In the desert places in the thin space of our existence, we contemplate our shared mortality, God’s grace and our lives hidden in Christ’s life. We contemplate the gift of belonging that we have received and that we share with others.
Sometimes personal spiritual disciplines are portrayed negatively. Spiritual naval gazing. But there is validity in the solitary moments of faith which lead us deeper into the truth of our lives in Christ and with him. It is here that we discover our belonging in the world is not just about us as individuals but is about the way in which Christ is in all and has redeemed all.
These times of confrontation should not lead us into ourselves but lead us to a deeper recognition of the idea that we share our mortality with all other people. We are all flawed, we all have good within us, and we are all loved and drawn into Christ’s life. As we spend time with him in the desert we lean into our trust of God’s love and our unity with other people.
- Can you recall a “desert” or “thin space” experience in your life where you felt closer to God or wrestled with your sense of belonging?
- How do times of solitude or
spiritual discipline help you discover your place “with him”?
- In what ways does recognizing your
shared mortality with others deepen your compassion or sense of unity?
- How might you lean into God’s love and unity with others during times of personal testing?
Message Part 3: Belonging as a Communal Discovery
At the beginning of the service, we did an Acknowledgement of Country explaining that for people of First Nations heritage this was an important act in helping us as a nation move towards reconciliation and greater sense of shared belonging.
In this message I have then presented the idea because all our lives our in him in Christ, every person is given the gift of belonging in the world. Every person is in the image of God, in him and with him we experience the trials and testings of life on our journey to discover our sense of belonging.
In this section I want us to explore what it means to find our belonging through him. This belonging is in part discovered in the power of the Holy Spirit.
The challenge that is given to us is to work as people to make space for each other and affirm the belonging that every person has in this world.
As I said before humans like to create boundaries between communities. We like to say who is in and who is it. There is a delicate and at time difficult balance in seeking to make communities that have what I would say are porous walls.
In our call to worship, we affirmed the idea that people could belong regardless of things like culture, age, gender, wealth, and ethnicity. Saying this and living it are two different things. It is true to say that in organising our life together as a community we always create boundaries whether intentionally or unintentionally.
For example, as I reflect on our nation for those of us not of First Nations heritage the furthest that we would go back is 8 or 9 generations. In looking at the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the data tells us that nearly 1 in 3 Australian citizens were born overseas. We are diverse nation we are people from a great variety of backgrounds and as an aging population we rely on immigration for both skilled and unskilled workers.
It is interesting that Jesus’s last temptation involves the devil offering Jesus’s power over the nations, giving him authority. Jesus’s response is to move away from placing himself at the centre of power and authority and focussing on God, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”
In the first week of the “For the Life of the World” study the group was challenged with the notion that whilst we are in the world we are not of the world. We live in exile whilst at the same time belonging in the world because we belong to God. The study suggested to us, “Our salvation is a call to live as exiles as we bless the world.”
We belong in him, with him, and through him and we meet him in every other person that we encounter.
As I conclude it is helpful to recall what Jesus says in Matthew 25:
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
We belong in him, with him, and through him and so do all other people who live on the earth. This has implications for how we seek to accept welcome and include others into our church community, into our nation, and into the community of humanity to which we all belong.
- What boundaries (visible or invisible) exist in your community, and how might you help make them more “porous”?
- How does the idea that “we belong in him, with him, and through him” challenge or inspire your interactions with others?
- In what ways can you affirm the belonging of those who are different from you—culturally, socially, or otherwise?
- How does Jesus’s teaching in Matthew 25 shape your understanding of serving and welcoming others as an expression of belonging?
