INTRODUCTION:

Two old friends met one day after many years. One attended college, and now was very successful. The other had not attended college and never had much ambition. ⁽¹⁾

The successful one said, "How has everything been going with you?"

"Well, one day I opened the Bible at random, and dropped my finger on a word and it was 'oil.'

So, I invested in oil, and boy, did the oil wells gush.

Then another day I dropped my finger on another word and it was 'gold.'

So, I invested in gold and those mines really produced. Now, I'm as rich as Rockefeller."

The successful friend was so impressed that he rushed to his hotel, grabbed a Gideon Bible, flipped it open, and dropped his finger on a page.

He opened his eyes and his finger rested on the words, "Chapter Eleven."

MAIN BODY:

1. What's going on here?
1. It's a little like snake handling.
2. There are people in churches who as a part of worship handle poisonous snakes.
1. It is based on the Gospel Mark
1. Mark end with the discovery of the empty tomb.
2. There are two optional endings, the shorter and the longer.
3. At the end of the longer ending there is this passage from Mark 16:15-18: ¹⁵And he said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. ¹⁶The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned. ¹⁷And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; ¹⁸they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover."
2. So let us test God by seeing if God will protect the one who does this.
3. God will guide your finger to the right passage.
4. But again this is testing God in inappropriate ways.
5. In the Snake Handling churches, since 1920, 77 people have died

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2. The second temptation of Jesus is a temptation to use presumptive power.
1. The lesson for today makes that abundantly clear.
2. ⁵Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, ⁶saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'" ⁷Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"
3. Notice the passage from the Psalm quoted by the devil.
4. Psalm 91:11 through Psalm 91:12 (NRSVA)

¹¹For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
¹²On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.

1. What's missing is the end of the 11^th verse.
2. Angels will guard in all your ways.
3. That is if you let them.
5. Jesus responds the same way that he did with the first temptation: "It is written."
6. This time he quotes from Deuteronomy 6.16, Do not put the LORD your God to the test.
7. For Jesus to throw himself from the pinnacle of the temple would be putting the LORD God to the test.
8. This would be a presumptuous act on the part of Jesus.
9. It would be an assumption of the power of God.
10. In this experience Jesus teaches that we too should not presume on the grace, power or prerogatives of God.
11. We should not seek to assume the mantel of divine power for ourselves.
12. There are many ways in which humanity has done this.

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3. . Examine some of the images that people have of God and see how they relate to what we are talking about.
1. God is not a vending machine.
1. You put in your money and pull the lever or push the button.
2. You expect to get what you have paid for.
3. This is a quid quo pro.
1. Pay a tithe.
2. Reap the benefits.
4. It doesn't work with God.
5. There are benefits to be reaped.
6. God acts, God does not react.
2. God is not a lawyer.
1. In Luke 12:13-14 ¹³Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me."
2. ¹⁴But he (Jesus) said to him, "Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?"
3. Jesus is not here to settle disputes or make decisions for us.
4. Jesus does in Matthew 18 provide the means for resolving conflicts and disputes among his followers.
1. Its worth becoming informed of this process.
2. Its worth applying this process.
3. It is really the only one that works.
3. God is not an insurance salesman.
1. I was once asked to officiate at the funeral of a high school student.
1. She had been riding on the hood of a car surfing around the school parking lot.
2. Unfortunately she lost her balance and fell forward under the front wheels of the car.
3. I was asked "why?", but the answer was obvious.
2. We live in a dangerous world.
1. We are probably more deeply aware of this maxim than we were before September 11.
2. It is not only the accidents, it is the fire, floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, and more.
3. If we are in the path of the storm, we will be impacted.
4. If you put your hand in the fire, you will get burned.
5. God provides reassurance and life assurance, not insurance.

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4. God is not a law enforcer.
1. A friend of mine owns his own company.
1. When I first met him it was called Milwaukee Software.
2. Later he changed the company's name to Enforcer Technology.
3. I couldn't say it without laughing.
4. All I could think of was the mob enforcer.
2. I remember a conversation I had with a member of a church who was extremely angry.
1. A note had appeared in the church newsletter asking for book donations for a book sale sponsored by Planned Parenthood.
2. We talked about Planned Parenthood and abortion.
3. I agreed with her that abortion was wrong.
4. I also sought to persuade her that seeking to prevent abortion by law was the least effective method.
3. We are aware of the Ten Commandments.
1. We know the rules.
2. We know the principles involved.
3. We are also intimately aware of how these principles are disregarded or violated.
1. God says do not murder, but he does not prevent murder.
2. God says do not commit adultery, but he does not prevent adultery.
4. God has given us something vastly more important than rules.
1. He has from the beginning given us choice.
2. He has given us the power we need to become momentarily free from the guilt of the rules.
3. He has still given us freedom to choose.

CONCLUSION:

1. Jesus met the challenge that came to him with, "It is written."
1. The only way in which we may live with security is to take the same path.
1. To learn the Scriptures
2. To Use the Scriptures
3. To Live the Scriptures
2. It's the only way, otherwise you may find yourself jumping from the pinnacle of the temple.

   1. Jackie's Fortnightly Joke Bin, The Door Magazine Online, September 1999, www.flash.net/~thedoor.

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