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Hope Held in Holy Hands

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Matthew 4

Lent 1 February 22, 2026

Pastor Horton

Are you familiar with Edward Martin Grylls, better known as Bear Grylls?  Born in northern Ireland he served in the British Special Forces and has made a name for himself as a tv reality show host and outdoor adventure enthusiast.  By that I mean he puts himself into crazy survival situations….often taking a famous person along with him.  You may remember him scaling a cliff with Shaquille O’Neil, hunting wild boar with Marshawn Lynch, or dodging bear while exploring a glacier with the then-sitting President Barak Obama.  Most times these famous people find themselves looking to Bear as a guide through all the dangers of the wild.  They have high hopes in his survivalist skills to get them safely out of the wilderness.  Admittedly, much of that show was made for tv with the danger perhaps more imagined than real.

When we find Jesus out in the wilderness, it is a very different scenario.  He is going alone.  In fact, the interaction he does have is only problematic.  It’s with the devil, described in unflattering words, “the diabolic one”, the “one who slanders God by slandering God’s truth”, and the one “who constantly tempts”.  This is who he is.  And his sights are set on Jesus.  Why?  Because of these exceptionally high stakes.  If Jesus, the chosen one of God, appointed to be our sacrificial substitute, and live under the law perfectly, and carry our sins to his cross for full payment, if this Jesus were to be tempted to sin just once, he would be disqualified as our needed Savior and we, along with every soul that’s ever lived, would be lost to hell forever.  The stakes were exceptionally high. 

And yet, did you notice that into the wilderness Jesus will go!  “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil.”  He wasn’t lost or in this situation by accident.  This is a divine strategy to guide him into battle.  Jesus is going to face and to overcome temptation.  The Second Adam is going to go into the arena of the First Adam…and win.  Jesus is more than a really good example.  He is our Substitute.  He has told us as much in the gospels that he is here to “Finish the work of his Father who sent him.”  During this battle our hope for heaven is held in his holy hands.

And here comes the temptor, “After he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.  The Tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread.”  But Jesus answered, “It is written: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God.”  It’s hard for me to wrap my head around exactly how weak, weary, and worn Jesus is during these 40 days of temptation – especially hearing that he had been fasting.  I know that I get hangry in the late afternoon if I’m not eating that day, add in a headache, and it doesn’t take long before I am in a miserable mindset.  Jesus is focused and determined in spite of the devil targeting his mission to be our perfect substitute.

What is at the heart of the first temptation we have listed?  “Prove that God is who he says he is: both you, Jesus, and your heavenly Father who provides for all your needs.”  Especially during this time when Jesus was operating without, the temptation was to take matters into his own hands and fix the problem.  This temptation is a call back to the Garden of Eden, to imply Jesus is not given enough from his Father, and to act out of line with the Father’s will.  

Jesus’ response?  He quotes Deuteronomy 8:3, proving that God’s Word fills more fully than any earthly bread.  And that he has complete trust in his Father to extend his earthly life – even if it meant a bit more suffering in the moment by way of human hunger.  His Father would see him through.  And the Father would make a far better wilderness companion than Bear Grylls.

The next temptation?  To the top of the temple they went – either to the tippy top of the main structure, or some have speculated to the southeastern corner with its 450 foot drop into the Kidron valley – we don’t know.  We do know the challenge,  “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down.  For it is written: He will command his angels concerning you.  And they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”  Jesus said to him, “Again, it is written: You shall not test the Lord your God.”  And so moving from the temptation of distrust, Satan twists God’s Word to the other extreme that he might incite false trust.  “Oh you have this wonderful relationship with your Father?  Let’s see it in action.  You want to quote the Scripture?  Here’s one from the psalms.”  Only if you know Psalm 91 by heart, you know that the devil purposely left out “concerning you…in all your ways.”  But again, our Savior properly responds using the great gift of God’s Word.  This temptation would not push him over the edge, so to speak, and he would continue to embrace, not exploit, his day of grace with God.  He would not test God, but be a caretaker of the blessings that were his –  including that gift of his life and breath.

Then the final temptation we have listed (out of the countless ones Jesus faced during these days of testing), verses 8-10, “Again the Devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.  He said to him, “I will give you all of these things, if you will bow down and worship me.”  Then Jesus said to him, “Go away, Satan!  For it is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.”  I don’t know how the devil did this, but God permitted him to present before Jesus all the kingdoms of the world.  And what would he have seen?   Those Chinese dynasties and their armies?  The grandeur of Rome?  The freedoms earned and found here in the United States?  “Look, Jesus, you came to win the world – here it is!”  And with an alluring shortcut!  Why go through all that suffering, agony, and death?  Here is a far easier way!  

And yet Jesus recognized that the devil’s promises – glimmering and shining as they so often do – are empty and on the inside reek of sin and death.  Ultimate glory, comfort, and control are not the devil’s to give.  Jesus returns again to God’s Word, that full of armour of God, (which is yours and mine as well!).  He goes to the top of the list and quotes the first commandment.  Jesus would remain faithful to his heavenly Father and committed to his heavenly Father’s plan for our salvation.  This Lent we find Jesus remaining on that gruesome path to fix the fall of Adam, to pay for all our sin, and to resolve that echoing chorus of death brought about by Adam in our lesson moments ago from Genesis.

And we needed such a Savior.  Think for a moment if our salvation was left up to us!  Imagine if it was you out there in the desert!  We so often act like we can walk in step with our perfect Savior – as if his work maybe isn’t all that important – as if we could do something too.  But what would that look like if your salvation was left in your hands?  How quickly would you fall into temptation?  There have been plenty of times when we face immediate challenges in the physical world and do what?  Despair, complain, worry, fear and doubt our Father in heaven.  Even if you are a life-long believer, how often do you stand at the edge and break to the temptations to play loose and free with sin?  Maybe jumping off the temple isn’t something you face, but being reckless with God’s grace and jumping headfirst into various evil wants – that is our regular problem!  And then I probably don’t have to ask how often, how constantly do our hearts bow to other things of this world and we find ourselves so often chasing the deep desire for glory, for comfort, and for control?  Sadly if our salvation was left in our hands we would quickly fumble it all away.

But this Lent, behold again the Lamb of God, once again in Christ Jesus!  He is out there in the wilderness for you and for me.  His holiness and his heart are on display.  He goes forward to cross and through the grave for you.  He holds us in his hands through Word and Sacrament.  There we are reassured of our personal forgiveness with God.  And Jesus remains committed to us, helping guide us through our many constant daily temptations.  Jesus is with you in the wilderness of this world and he will bring you home to heaven – he has made you that promise.  Because Jesus stands, we stand.  Because Jesus wins, we win.  Because Jesus holds our salvation in his holy hands, we have heaven forever with him.  Amen.

“The Gift of Empty Hands”

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Philemon 1,7-21

Sunday, September 7, 2025

Pastor Nate Walther

            When you think of a good gift, what comes to mind?  Maybe there’s that person in your life who is a gift-giving maestro – they always have the right thing picked out, and you just can’t wait to open their gifts!  Or, maybe you feel like nobody understands what you want – they never have the right thing picked out, and you always wish they got you something else instead.

            Regardless of what we think of as a good gift, I bet none of us pictures this: “the gift of empty hands”, of lacking something!  But that’s the gift God describes today in our sermon text from Philemon.  Here the Apostle Paul is writing to a man named Philemon about his servant, Onesmius, who had run away from him and come to Paul.  I’ll read the whole text since we didn’t hear it earlier with our readings, and I’ll add some commentary along the way.

Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, which was literally the case. Paul wrote this from house arrest in Rome, he was imprisoned for sharing the Gospel.  And (also) Timothy, our brother, who was with Paul at the time.  To Philemon, our dear friend and coworker…  That makes it sound like Philemon was a faithful man and a good Christian… and he was!  7 For I have received great joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you, brother. To put it in another way, Philemon was very much the last kind of person from whom you’d expect God to withhold a gift… but God had.  He had taken his servant from him, leaving him with empty hands!  Given how Paul describes Philemon, there’s no reason to think he had warranted that by mistreating Onesimus.  Being a slave or servant back in those days wasn’t necessarily what we may think of.  Still, Onesimus had run away.  So listen to what Paul says to Philemon:

8 For that reason, even though I have plenty of boldness in Christ to order you to do what is proper, 9 I am appealing to you, instead, on the basis of love, just as I, Paul, am an old man and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ…With these words, Paul hints at what a blessing Onesimus must have been to him while he was imprisoned.  He wouldn’t have wanted to give up Onesimus’s company!  And, if anything, Paul could have ordered Philemon what to do, including letting Onesimus stay!  As he will hint in a few verses, God had used Paul to bring Philemon to faith, which meant Philemon really owed Paul his soul!  However, 10 I am appealing to you on behalf of my child Onesimus. I became his father while I was in chains. 11 There was a time when he was useless to you, but now he is useful both to you and to me. 12 I have sent him (who is my very heart) back to you. Welcome him. 13 I wanted to keep him with me, so that he might serve me in your place while I am in chains for the gospel. 14 But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that your kindness would not be the result of compulsion, but of willingness… 

Notice that, as Paul talks about all these things he wants Philemon to do, he models them himself.  Paul willingly lets go of Onesimus himself.  Paul models genuinely, Christian love himself.  Later, Paul will even offer to take on Onesimus’s debts… Why?  15 Perhaps this is why he was separated from you for a while: so that you would have him back forever, 16 no longer as a slave, but as more than a slave, as a dear brother. He certainly is dear to me, but he is even more of a dear brother to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord…  Isn’t that interesting?  Before, it seems Onesimus had not been a believer, or a “brother”, as they called each other back then… now he was.  And that’s why Paul did this.  Paul was all about making more believers.     

17 So if you consider me your partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. 18 And if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge it to me. 19 I, Paul, have written this with my own hand: I will repay it—not to mention that you owe me your very self. 20 Yes, brother, I am asking for a favor from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ. 21 Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask… The Word of the Lord. 

The lesson in our sermon text is a simple one.  By losing Onesimus, Philemon would get more back – not just a servant, but a brother in Christ & a willing servant.  Likewise, by willingly letting go of Onesimus, Paul would get more back – he would be able to preach the Gospel message of Christ’s love in a more effective and powerful way.  Finally, could it be that God does the same thing when our hands are empty?  He’s freeing them up so we may receive even more back from him? 

It’s hard to see it like that.  Take the question we started with: did any one of us picture the gift of empty hands?  No, we picture gifts only in terms of what we possess or what others can give us.  Conversely, when we don’t have those things or they are taken away from us, it only seems bad.  That classic question of, “why Lord, why did you let this happen?”  It almost always involves loss or lacking something.  But do we need such loss?  Since we cling to whatever is in our hands – “you’d have to pry it from my cold, dead hands!” – is that why God must sometimes force the issue?  Not “killing” us, mind you, but gently prying back our fingers from whatever thing, whatever possession, whatever relationship we think we cannot live without – but which will only exist for this life?  Is that why God does this – not because he hates us, but because he loves us, and he wants to fill our hands with something better?

It’s kind of like a small child clutching something tightly in their hand with white-knuckles!  To them it’s the most valuable thing in the world: maybe it’s stone they found on the ground with specks of their favorite color, or it’s a candy wrapper from their favorite candy, or It’s a really cool and interesting (but, also dead) bug.  Of course, as their parent or grandparent you see something entirely different: a dumb rock that will just add to the clutter in their room, a worthless scrap of paper, an unsanitary bug – and you know that you have something better for them: a toy they’d much prefer, or their favorite treat, or a gentle hug and a safe nap… so firmly you peel back your child’s fingers from their prized possession – despite their cries, despite protests, despite inevitable explosion that occurs! – and you replace their loss with something that quickly lights up their face, something they could not have received without empty hands.

The lesson for us is simple, but before we apply it to ourselves, do we realize this is exactly what God the Father experienced on a cosmic scale… and, willingly.  He loosened his grip on the most precious thing he had, without anyone forcing his fingers.  And in his case, it was no worthless trinket.  God experienced the pain of the loss of the closest family – his only begotten Son, with whom he had a relationship for all eternity; Jesus was more a part of the Father than you and I are one even with our spouses in marriage! – yet the Father forsook his Son & let him go on the cross, leaving him with empty hands… He did this so that his hands may be filled with something more.  Not just receiving his own Son back in the resurrection, but you and me now as Jesus’ dear brothers and sisters – as God’s dearly loved children, bought back with the blood of Christ from our sins of whatever we desperately cling to (but which can never save us), claimed by the Holy Spirit through the washing waters of baptism! 

That’s why God also asks us to accept empty hands: maybe it’s that we let go of some time, or talent or treasure; maybe it’s even that we would let go of the close relationship of a friend or family member, but one which is leading us away from Christ.  It’s all so that he can fill them with more: things that last, relationships that last, a relationship with him that lasts.  That will lead to blessing for you, personally.  But it’s not just for you. When we start owning this truth in our faith life, it impacts others as well.  Take Paul.  Onesimus (evidently not a believer!) went to Paul (clearly a believer), perhaps only because of how well Paul had lived out his faith (after all, that was Onesimus’s point of contact with Paul through his master Philemon)… and after spending time with Paul, Onesimus is ready and willing to return to his master (as a believer!).  That’s stunning.  When we model the gift of empty hands, it leaves a strong impression on others.  It might even be the way God places something in their hands for all eternity.

So what’s a good gift?  That may look different for each of us. I’m sure that in a few months when Christmas approaches, you kids will have tons of ideas & long lists!… In all of this, don’t forget about the gift of empty hands.   When you let go of everything else you might grab, and you simply receive what God puts there, he’ll give you even more back. Amen.