Westwood Presbyterian Church

      Today is the First Sunday in Lent - historically in Christian Practice people gave things up for Lent - made a sacrifice - it was a way to identify with the sacrifice that Jesus made in dying on the cross. Over time that practice became just a routine thing ­and so people gave up chocolate for Lent or peanut butter - or some other food. And the sense of identify with the sacrifice that Jesus made became muted. But in more recent years there has been a rise in interest in Lent as an opportunity to take on a spiritual discipline.

      Taking on a spiritual discipline may mean giving something up - if the discipline is to spend time in silence listening for God - that means turning off the TV, radio, iPod ­ giving up something. But a spiritual discipline may also be something that gets added ­for example if the spiritual discipline is to pray 10 minutes a day then that is not so much a giving up - but a taking on.

      In thinking about this I have become interested in the idea of "discipline" - Discipline is an interesting word - we have a negative reaction to it because we think of discipline as punishment for having done something wrong - but that it is only one meaning of word. We may ask a university or college student what discipline they are in - we don't mean how are they being punished at school - although in the middle of mid-terms or final exams some students may think they are being punished. What we mean when we ask about what discipline they are in - what is the primary subject they are studying.

      Why do we talk about that as a discipline - because someone who is taking engineering is being taught to think like an engineer - their way of looking at the world is being formed - shaped - developed to be that of an engineer. This then is their training - their discipline - in many ways a way of life. And the same could be said of historians, lawyers, scientists, investment advisors, mechanics and so on and so on - they have been formed by their discipline to see the world in a particular way.

      In the account of the temptation of Jesus we catch a glimpse of how Jesus was formed - disciplined.

      Each time Jesus was tempted he had a choice - a decision was put before him. He could turn the stones into bread - or he could choose not to do that. He could jump from the pinnacle of the temple - or he could choose not to do that. He could win the world by worshipping Satan - or he could choose not to do that. Two paths were laid out for him. And in fact each temptation the issues were really the same. The choice was between the easy way and the hard way - the wide way or the narrow way.

      Let me explain what I mean. Jesus was hungry after 40 days of not eating - He could have taken the easy road a served His needs - instead He chose the hard road of waiting to be served by God. Jumping off the temple and being rescued by God would have drawn a crowd of followers and people would have flocked to follow Him - but Jesus chose the hard road of not creating followers drawn to spectacle but rather drawn by a desire to follow the way of God. Bowing down and worshipping Satan was a lot less painful than dying on the cross - and would have won Him the world - but Jesus chose the hard road of the cross rather than the easy road of serving Satan.

      When we were still living in Flin Flon, Debbie came to Winnipeg for a weekend to learn about the Young Children and Worship approach to forming children in the faith. On the Sunday morning she was able to observe a Worship Center in the city. During the response time, one of the children took out the story of the temptation of Jesus and told himself the story - but he told the story so that Jesus said "yes" to turning the stones into bread - and then the boy buried the Jesus figure in the sand of the desert box. Then Jesus said "yes" to jumping off the temple and again was buried in the sand. Then Jesus bowed down to Satan and was again buried. The child then told the story with Jesus saying "no" to each of the temptations and coming through the temptation without being buried. This child understood what was at stake - the child would have understood exactly what Jesus meant by, "Wide is the way and easy the path that leads to destruction and many are those who find it; narrow the way and hard that path that leads to life and few are they who find it."

      Now it would be easy to say, "Well, Jesus was the Son of God and so of course He was going to say 'no' to the temptations." But if we look carefully at the text we will see that Jesus does not say just "no" - He quotes the Bible each time as a reason for saying "no". "Human beings do not live by bread alone" - we read that in the Old Testament reading this morning. "Do not put the Lord your God to the test." "Love the Lord your God and serve only Him." Jesus was formed by Scripture, He was disciplined by it. His way of seeing the world, His way of understanding what was happening was formed by Scripture, His understanding of His purpose was formed by Scripture.

      In Lent we are invited to take on spiritual practices which will form us, which shape our lives - for as we practice our discipline we are changed we are made more into people who love and serve the Lord - more into people who are committed to serving Jesus. So that means we read our Bibles daily not so that we can say we read our Bibles daily - but as part of the discipline of being formed into the people God created us to be. We pray not so that we can say we pray, but as part of our discipline of being formed into people who trust God. We give not so that we can say we give, but as part of the discipline of being formed into generous people. The spiritual disciplines we take on have a deeper purpose - forming us into the people of God - forming us into people who can say "no" to temptation - forming us into people who see the world through God's eyes ­forming us into people who understand that we have been given a purpose by God.

      This Lent may we be people who take on spiritual disciplines so that we might be formed as the children of God.