JANUARY 11th, 2026 PASTOR DON PIEPER
A Gospel Of Grace LUKE 3:21-23a; 4:1-13; 4:14 – 21
“IT’S A JUBILEE!”
I read of an incident that occurred in Atlanta some years ago. Apparently there was some fric-tion between a Baptist Church and a Catholic Church that shared the same city block. The Baptists complained that the Catholics were parking illegally in their parking lot, so they put up a sign that read: “No Parking. Violators will be baptized - by immersion.” That reduced the violations dramatically and those who called their bluff received a new bumper sticker that read: “I’m proud to be a Baptist.”
Today we read of Jesus’ baptism. The event marks the beginning of Jesus' ministry and the climax of his cousin's ministry, John the Baptist. Remember him? He's the prophet who was always getting in trouble when he was growing up. His swimming instructor once took him aside one day and scolded him: “John, either quit dunking the other kids or get out of the water!”
On another occasion, his mom caught him in the bathroom, going at it again, and yelled: “Honey, for the last time – stop doing that to the pets!” Could've happened! Okay, maybe not.
But now, standing in the River Jordan, water dripping from his hair and nose, Jesus himself is baptized. Matthew records in his gospel that John asks Jesus, “Why are you coming to me? I ought to be baptized by you!” Jesus answer? “We must do all that God requires.” (Matthew 3:14-15)
Jesus later notes that he does nothing apart from the Father's will. That's good! We could learn a lot from this Jesus guy. And so it's there in the Jordan, that God publicly claims Jesus as his own: “This is my beloved son...!” and Jesus is anointed on the spot, not with oil but with the Holy Spirit.
(Luke 3:17)
Next thing we know, Jesus is being led by the Spirit into the wilderness. The mountain top experience of being filled with the Spirit and hearing how he's the pride and joy of His heavenly Father is about to plummet into the valley. The wilderness, after all, was a biblical metaphor for a season of hardship and soul searching. The Hebrews wandered there for forty years in isolation from God's presence/guidance. It's no coincidence that we're told Jesus is there for forty days. It's there that Jesus has what's been called 'the dark night of the soul'. And as so often happens there..., Jesus is tempted.
At first glance, it seems like Jesus got off pretty easy. I mean, admittedly, being tempted to eat some rocks, worship Satan or go jump off a cliff or a tower or whatever – doesn’t sound very tempting to me! But on closer examination, I noticed that there’s more going on here than meets the eye.
There's a fourth temptation more insidious than the rest. Everything Satan tries to throw at Jesus is based on this first temptation. It's Satan's attempt to get Jesus to question his identity, “if you are the Son of God” (4:3), Satan begins. It's a subtle suggestion. Are you sure you are who the Father says you are? In the same way, he tries to trick me into questioning or forgetting my identity in Christ, a trick I'm all too vulnerable to. My guess is he's had a go at you as well. More on that in a moment.
Second, by tempting Jesus to turn stones to bread, he's tempting him to end his fast, to respond to his carnal desires rather than continue his pursuit of God. The enemy aims at Jesus' jugular. Jesus grieved to see people physically hungry. He repeatedly fed the crowds. If he could turn stones to bread he could easily end world hunger. Don't think for a moment this didn't seriously tempt Jesus, but that was not the purpose for which he came. One day..., yes, but it was not yet. Besides: “Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
(Deuteronomy 8:3/Luke 4:4)
-2-
Third, Satan urges Jesus to seize power, to take a short cut to glory, to claim “authority over the kingdoms of the world”. (Luke 4:6) He was being tempted to bypass the cross, just as his friend, Peter would later tempt him to do, and to seek glory not through humbling himself but through earthly authority - thru power and wealth. I read recently that the number one motivation of the majority of Americans polled is the drive to get rich quick and be famous. It explains the popularity of buying lotto tickets and the legalistion of casinos across America. The American dream is badly escew!
Fourth, Satan tempts Jesus to prove himself, to exert his personal will and force God’s hand. “If you are the Son of God, Jump!” (Luke 4:9) Satan returns to the question of Jesus' identity because everything hinges on this, just as it does for his followers, past, present and future. These were tactics meant to veer Jesus off course and Satan is still using them even now to knock us off course as well!
Two things Jesus discovered – two things he probably already knew intellectually – but now he knew experientially! One, he experienced the power of God’s Word! Again and again he was able to repel Satan’s attacks standing solidly on the rock of God’s Word. “Man lives...on God's every word!”
(Deuteronomy 8:3)
And two, it was by way of this trial in the wilderness that Jesus came away focused and fired up with a vision of who he was, his purpose and the nature of his relationship with His Heavenly Father. His testing in the wilderness provided him a sense of clarity. God often allows difficult seasons in our lives to provide us an opportunity to go deeper in our relationship and identity in him.
In his book, Spiritual Authority, Dr. Rob Reimer talks about his own dark night of the soul: “It was a time in which I was deeply discouraged, but it led to a breakthru. As a result I learned that it is necessary for our identity to be tested. God doesn't test us so we will fail but so we will pass and grow. When we go through a trial it often feels like we are losing ground, but when we come out the other side we realize we've been strengthened in character and identity. That's what happened to me after that dark night of the soul. We must hold to who we are in Christ, to what God says about us. When darkness invades, never let go of what God has told you in the light.” (Dr. Rob Reimer)
Did you notice that it was immediately upon returning from the wilderness that Jesus, “filled anew with the Holy Spirit's power”, began to preach? His time in the wilderness, his dark night of the soul when he was tempted to doubt his identity, was the impetus for all that followed. Luke notes that Jesus began his ministry by identifying himself with the person the prophet Isaiah had foretold would come, a person Isaiah identified as 'the anointed one', or in Hebrew: the Messiah, in Greek, the Christ!
Dr. George Carey, Archbishop of Canterbury, wrote that “God has anointed all Christians with the same Spirit that anointed Jesus: in the same way and for the same purposes we see described here, that is to preach good news, heal broken hearts and lives, and to bring freedom from the darkness.”
(Dr. George Carey, Archbishop of Canterbury)
Jesus’ vision was for us to follow his lead. “Follow me and be my disciple (my student)”, he said. Learn from me and become more like mee, grow in your true identity. He didn't come, as some suppose, to simply insure our way to heaven, to offer us a kind of fire insurance as the joke goes, but leads us into a whole new way of living based on a growing clarity about who and whose we are, to be like him, anointed in the Spirit so that we may follow his lead “to bring good news to the poor, so that those in captivity may be released, that the blind may see, and so that those being oppressed by the enemy may be set free – to proclaim (in short) the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke5:27/4:18)
-3-
“The Year of the Lord’s Favor”, otherwise known as the Jubilee year, occurred every 50 years in Old Testament times, or at least it was supposed to. At a designated time the trumpet would sound and liberty would be proclaimed for all those in slavery or imprisoned. All were released to their homes and clans. King Cyrus of Persia basicly did this when he conquered Babylon and allowed the Jews in captivity there to return back home. The odd thing about that is that in 537 B.C. when Cyrus declared it a Jubilee year, only a small number of Israelites returned. Most had gotten used to life in bondage.
The Israelites were not the last ones slow to leave their bondage. So it was again following the Emancipation Proclamation. Many American slaves refused to leave their masters’ plantations. And again, today, many would concede that their current lifestyles are not bringing a sense of joy or fulfill-ment and yet are unable to break from the self-destructive patterns they’re in. As Christians we acknowledge that Jesus sets people free but many have not personally experienced that freedom them-selves. Many of us get so caught up in habitual sin, addictions, shame, and the bondage of unresolved anger and resentment that we lose hope...., and fall short of living out our new identity in Christ.
So it was for a young woman by the name of Joanie. Joanie grew up with a father who despised the church and its hosts of hypocrites and a mother who was very religious, quick to quote the Bible, yet equally quick to swear at Joanie and hit her when her father wasn’t around, which was often.
Joanie wound up medicating the pain, but eventually she returned to the faith of her childhood,
took the Alpha Course, and found herself being filled with the Spirit and embracing her new identity.
She found herself completely surprised at her new appetites. I’ll let her tell it: “I look forward and get excited to go to the Sunday services and the Bible studies. This is definitely a new experience for me. Every day I am blown away by the contrasts in my life. This commitment and new walk with God has just been amazing. The joy and peace I feel now is so awesome. It's like I was just released from a concentration camp and I suddenly have life. The contrast from feeling oppressed to suddenly having peace and joy is impossible to describe. It so....'supernatural' somehow!”
(from John Burke's book, No Perfect People Allowed)
Rob Reimer tells of a life-changing dream he had in a season in his life in which, in retrospect, he realized that shame was blocking his experience or awareness of the Father's love. “I spoke at a conference in which a certain man was critical of me. I sensed that he represented the critic within me. When you carry shame, you are often your own worst critic. Shame blames. He was the only man in the dream I didn't give a polite hug to because you can't make peace with shame, you must silence it.
Out in the parking lot there was one last man waiting for me. He was about my Dad's age and he, too, gave me a hug. The only problem was that he didn't know the man hug rules! He embraced me in an uncomfortably long hug. Everything inside of me wanted to break loose. Finally he released me, looked me in the eye, and said, 'I am your Father in heaven and I love you. You bring me great joy!' I instantly lost it. I collapsed in his arms and sobbed in great torrents of tears.
When I woke up, my pillow was drenched. It changed me. This encounter with the Father's love solidified my identity, broke through a wall of shame and increased my authority. I felt I had conquered my identity issues during my marriage crisis, but there was more. This dream led to another expansion of my identity, and authority, but I soon learned that there was still more.” As the characters in Narnia declare as they follow the Lion of Judah: “Further up and further in!”
(Dr. Rob Reiner/C.S. Lewis)
-4-
So what might that look like for you? How can you come to a place of greater clarity about your identity in Christ, where God might not only liberate you from what's keeping you stuck, but may begin to use you to powerfully help others do the same? Three things I suggest. 1st: Revisit last week's message about getting real. The crowds on Pentecost asked Peter, “What should we do?” (Acts 2:37) Peter’s response is telling: “Each of you must turn from your sins and turn to God, (get real!) and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins; then you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”. (Acts 2:38)
2nd, pursue greater intimacy with the Father, & his son and the Spirit. That's really at the heart of the Alpha Course. Clear your Monday nights and join us this winter, even if you've done so before!
Third, read Rob Reimer's book, Soul Care. The book I've quoted this morning is his sequel. I highly recommend reading Soul Care first. Tend to your soul. Know who and whose you are so that you may also resist the devil, grow your Christ given authority and experience his Jubilee more fully!
For “The Spirit of the Lord is upon us, for he has anointed us to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent usto proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord's favor, (the time of Jubilee), has come!”
(Luke 4:18-19)