“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the gospel.” Brothers and sisters in Christ. This is the message for you here today.  This is the message of the church of God in Christ Jesus to the world. 

And on this, the first Sunday in Lent, we focus upon this very fact, this reality of our lives.  The time is fulfilled.  The promised Messiah has come. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, has come into the world, who offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins. And by that single offering, He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified (Hebrews 10:1-13).

This is the point of the Old Testament reading for today with Abraham and Isaac.  The Lord provided the sacrifice so that Isaac could be spared.  That Lamb is God’s own beloved Son.  As the substitute of all men, in our Gospel reading, we hear how Jesus is driven by the Spirit out into the wilderness after His baptism in the Jordan River by John the Baptist.  There He is tempted by Satan in order to endure and defeat all temptation.  What God did with Abraham foreshadows the cross of Christ.  The sacrifice of a Son. What Jesus does in the wilderness being tempted by the devil does the same. 

All too often we try to make the sacrifices ourselves, feeling as though God is demanding and unfair in what He asks us.  We don’t face temptation the same way that our Lord did.  We can’t.  The Lord can hear the temptation and not sin.  He doesn’t have the desire for evil, He doesn’t fall as our first parents, Adam and Eve, did.  Yet sin infects us. When we are tempted to sin, we consider it. And imagine what it would be like “if only.”  And we are dirtied by it. Our passions translate into sin in thought, word, and deed.  We are not in control. We do not resist. We are not strong.

Repent. Repent of your sin. Of trying to sacrifice to earn God’s favor. Of trying to stand up to temptation by yourself. Of yielding to temptation and falling into sin. Of trying to bring God’s kingdom down into this earth by your own actions.

Yes, repent and believe the gospel.  For all our temptations that lead into sin, for all our selfishness and perversions, we have a great strength in Christ.  All that Jesus did, He did for us.  He faced temptation and beat it back with His Word.  He serves an example, the most perfect example of a truly godly life.  But even more, He stands in our place.  We don’t have to overcome the devil. We don’t have to suffer for our sins. The Holy Spirit drives Jesus out into the desert on purpose.  To be the people of God personified.  Jesus replicates the experience of the people of God in the wilderness.  Here His “forty” corresponds to their “forty years” in the Exodus.  Unlike the children of Israel, Jesus does it right. He does it perfectly. He overcomes temptation acting as the people of God should act.

This is what pleases the Father about His beloved Son.  This is why He was anointed by John the Baptist in the Jordan.  To stand in our place. He was tempted for us even as He was crucified for us.  For He faced down the temptations and the sin, and then He offered Himself up as the once and for all sacrifice for our sin.  He died the death that we deserve.  He took the punishment that we deserve.  He bore the wrath of God that we deserve.  Our sin was served to Him, so that He may serve the world with eternal life. 

This is what pleases the Father about those who are His beloved children through faith in Christ.  Jesus brings with Him the kingdom of God.  God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly Father give us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity (SC explanation of the 2^nd petition). Redeemed through our Savior’s sacrificial service, out of pure grace, so we, whether at Zion Lutheran Church, our Daycare, or our School share that grace of God with others. Forgiven and restored through Jesus, the Suffering Servant, we hear His call, “But whoever would be great among you must be your servant” (Mark 10:44), which is the theme this year for National Lutheran Schools Week.

The focus of Lutheran churches and schools is upon this Servant of the Lord, the One who suffers, dies, and is risen in our place, for our justification. We confess Christ. We worship Christ. We teach Christ. We serve Christ by serving others, showing His grace to fellow members of the school and church family, to the community and into the world.  With that same saving good news of God, that in Christ, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the Gospel.”