February 22, 2026

Indianola Presbyterian Church

"The Holy Ordinary"
Sermon by Rev. Trip Porch

February 22, 2026                                                                                                                                       Based on Luke 4: 1-13

How many of you have ever felt like your life should be... more?

More impressive. More successful. More spiritual. More... something.

We live in a world that's not so subtle in telling us that what we have isn't quite enough.
That Our jobs should be more prestigious.
That Our homes should be more beautiful.
That Our social media should have more followers. That Even our faith should be more spectacular.

And here's the thing: that hunger for MORE? It never actually satisfies. We get the promotion and want the next one. We achieve the goal and immediately set a bigger one. We feel like we're always reaching, always striving, always wondering if we're enough.

This is particularly true in America. We're a nation built on expansion—manifest destiny, the drive westward, the conviction that there's always new territory to conquer, new frontiers to claim. Our entire economy runs on the belief that we must always be growing, always consuming more, always reaching for the next thing. We've never really learned to settle, to be content with who we are and what we have. It's baked into our national DNA: if you're not expanding, you're failing. If you're not moving up, you're falling behind. Rest is weakness. Contentment is settling. Enough is never enough.

This Lent, we're exploring what it means to be "Good Enough"—and with this morning's gospel we begin with a story that shows us that even Jesus faced this exact temptation.

This story is early in Luke’s telling of his Gospel story. Jesus has just been baptized.
Maybe you remember that story. Jesus comes out of the water and God’s voice speaks from heaven and declares, "You are my beloved Son."
And immediately after, We turn to our story, where he’s led into the wilderness where he faces forty days of fasting and hunger, and three very specific temptations.

First temptation: "If you are the Son of God, turn these stones into bread."

Translation: You have these divine powers yes?—why not use them? You're hungry—fix it! Prove yourself! Why settle for ordinary hunger when you could have extraordinary provision?

It's the temptation for MORE RESOURCES. More money. More comfort. More control over our circumstances.

Jesus says no. "One does not live by bread alone.”

And then, The devil shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world. "I'll give you all this authority and glory. Just worship me."

Translation: You want to change the world? Here's the shortcut—political power, social influence, the ability to make things happen. Why wait? Why work through ordinary means when you could have extraordinary POWER?

This one's fascinating. Jesus came to establish God's kingdom on earth—and here's the devil offering him exactly that. The kingdoms. The authority. Everything he wants.

But it would require worshiping the wrong thing. It would mean believing that power and control are how God's kingdom comes, rather than how Jesus brings the kingdom… through love.

Jesus says no. "Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him."

And then the final temptation: "Throw yourself off the temple. God will send angels to catch you. Everyone will see. Everyone will believe."

Translation: Why be an ordinary teacher when you could go viral? Why tell quiet parables when you could perform spectacular stunts? Why settle for slow, faithful work when you could have instant SUPERIORITY, instant fame, instant proof that you're special?

Jesus says no. "Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”

Notice what these temptations have in common? They're all shortcuts. They're all about being spectacular instead of faithful. They're all saying: "Who you are right now, where you are right now—that's not enough."

And Jesus says no. To all of it.

Here’s the thing… I think we face these same three temptations every single day.

MORE RESOURCES: We exhaust ourselves trying to earn enough, achieve enough, fix enough. We think if we just had a little more money, a little more time, a little more control—then we'd finally be okay. Then our lives would finally be worthy. But it's never enough, is it? We get what we thought we needed and we're still hungry.

MORE POWER: We reach for influence, for the ability to make people listen, to make things happen our way. We think that's how change comes, how God's kingdom is built—through our platforms, our control, our ability to force outcomes. But Jesus is headed toward washing feet and riding a donkey, not seizing thrones.

MORE SUPERIORITY: We curate our lives for an audience. We wait for the spectacular moment, the big breakthrough, the undeniable proof that we matter. We think ordinary faithfulness doesn't count unless someone sees it, likes it, validates it. We're waiting for angels to catch us while missing the ground beneath our feet.

The pursuit of MORE doesn't ever satisfy. It just leaves us more exhausted, more anxious, more convinced we're not enough. 

But look at what Jesus choses instead.

He doesn't turn stones to bread to satiate his own hunger, instead he chooses to break ordinary bread with ordinary people, to feed their hunger.

He doesn't seize political kingdoms, his own power and glower, instead he washes feet and serves.

He doesn't jump off the temple into angel’s arms, instead he hangs on an ordinary cross, suffering the death of a common criminal. 

Jesus had every opportunity to be MORE. Instead, he chose to be exactly who God said he was at his baptism: Beloved.

He was content with who he was and where he was. Not resigned. Not giving up. But rooted in something deeper than achievement or spectacle 

You don’t have to reach for more, because here’s the radical claim of the gospel: God is already here. In the ordinary. In the wilderness. In the unglamorous, unspectacular stuff of everyday life.

There's a word for this: sacrament. It means God breaking into the ordinary and making it holy.

Think about communion: Bread. Wine. The most ordinary elements imaginable. God doesn't choose extraordinary things to convey grace. God chooses the stuff of everyday life and says, "This is enough. This is holy. This is where I meet you."

Your ordinary life—the carpools and the dishes, the unglamorous work and the quiet prayers, the Tuesday mornings and the struggles nobody sees—this is the material of sacrament.

God is already here. Not waiting for you to be MORE. Not waiting for your life to get impressive. Already here. Already present. Already calling you beloved.

We're so busy reaching for the spectacular that we're missing the sacred ordinary right in front of us.

This Lent, what if we stopped? What if we stopped exhausting ourselves trying to be MORE and started noticing where God already is? What if we stopped waiting for angels to catch us and started paying attention to the ground beneath our feet? What if the wilderness of this life—the waiting, the wondering, the ordinary wandering—isn't where we wait for real life to begin, but where we discover God has been present all along?

Jesus teaches us that ordinary lives can be holy. That we don't have to be MORE to be beloved. That faithfulness matters more than fame. That God's kingdom comes through servanthood, not superiority.

Friends, You are beloved. Right now, as you are, Not because of your potential, not because of what you might reach for, or what you can achieve or control or prove.
You are beloved because God says so.

And that?

That's good enough.

Amen.

WE GATHER IN AWE AND PRAISE

PRELUDE                                                          Improvisation                                                         The Columbus Cultural Orchestra

INTROIT                            "O Worship the Lord"                                      Robert McCutchan

WELCOME                                                                    Rev. Trip Porch

One: This is the day that the Lord has made

All: Let us rejoice and be glad in it. 

*OPENING PRAYER

Holy One, Our Refuge and Shelter, we call out to you,

sometimes in praise, sometimes in distress–as life goes.

Whether we perceive it or not, you are there.

Open us this day to your presence

in the smile of a friend, in the call of a bird–

in the simple and good enough moments that fill our days.

Amen.

*HYMN 414                            “Be Still and Know That I Am God”                                                PSALM 46

*PRAYER OF CONFESSION                                                            Marie Boozer

Gracious God, we confess that we’ve believed the lie that we are not enough. We have exhausted ourselves reaching for MORE…more success, more control, more proof that we matter. We have confused your kingdom with worldly power, thinking influence and authority are how change comes. We have waited for spectacular moments while missing your presence already in our ordinary. We have turned away from the quiet work of faithfulness, wanting instead to be impressive, to be seen, to be special. Forgive us for forgetting that you have already named us beloved. Forgive us for striving when you call us to rest. Remind us that our ordinary lives are already holy, that we are already yours, that your grace is already enough. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

*ASSURANCE OF PARDON                                                        Rev. Trip Porch

*RESPONSE OF PRAISE 583            “Gloria, Gloria” 2 times                                   GLORIA (TAIZE)

*PASSING OF THE PEACE                                                                  

One:   The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all,

All:      And also with you.  

WE LISTEN FOR GOD’S WORD

ANTHEM                                "Wondrous Love”                                     arr. Paul Christiansen           

GODLY PLAY 

Musical Response 175              “Seek Ye First”                                                               LAFERTY

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION                                                                  

Scripture      Luke 4: 1-13  The Message

 Now Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wild. For forty wilderness days and nights he was tested by the Devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when the time was up he was hungry.

The Devil, playing on his hunger, gave the first test: “Since you’re God’s Son, command this stone to turn into a loaf of bread.”

Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy: “It takes more than bread to really live.”

 For the second test he led him up and spread out all the kingdoms of the earth on display at once. Then the Devil said, “They’re yours in all their splendor to serve your pleasure. I’m in charge of them all and can turn them over to whomever I wish. Worship me and they’re yours, the whole works.”

Jesus refused, again backing his refusal with Deuteronomy: “Worship the Lord your God and only the Lord your God. Serve him with absolute single-heartedness.”

For the third test the Devil took him to Jerusalem and put him on top of the Temple. He said, “If you are God’s Son, jump. It’s written, isn’t it, that ‘he has placed you in the care of angels to protect you; they will catch you; you won’t so much as stub your toe on a stone’?”

 “Yes,” said Jesus, “and it’s also written, ‘Don’t you dare tempt the Lord your God.’”

That completed the testing. The Devil retreated temporarily, lying in wait for another opportunity.

One: Holy wisdom, Holy Word,
All: Thanks be to God                                                                       

SERMON                                                                                  Rev. Trip Porch

WE RESPOND TO GOD’S WORD

*HYMN 165                        “The Glory of These Forty Days”                          ERHALT UNS, HERR

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE  followed by the Lord’s Prayer 

TIME OF OFFERING  online giving is available at  www. indianolapres.org/give

On Sundays where uncredited African American Spirituals are sung, any loose offering will go to support the Columbus Cultural Orchestra, whose mission is to advance a collective of multi- generational musicians of color by performing high-quality jazz, classical, and hip-hop music.

OFFERTORY                                    “Adoration”                                                                     Florence Price

                                                                                                The Columbus Cultural Orchestra

*OFFERTORY RESPONSE 607       “Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow”       OLD HUNDREDTH         

*PRAYER OF DEDICATION 

God of abundance, we offer you these gifts; not to prove ourselves, not to earn your love, but in response to the love you've already given. Take these ordinary offerings and use them for your extraordinary purposes. Make us a people who give freely, love generously, and trust that in your hands, what we offer is always enough. Amen.

*HYMN insert                                “Jesus Is a Rock in a Weary Land”                                           WEARY LAND

TIME OF COMMUNITY SHARING

CHARGE & BENEDICTION

CHORAL RESPONSE        "The Lord Bless You and Keep You"                           James D. Wetzel 

POSTLUDE                             “Lift Every Voice and Sing”

The Columbus Cultural Orchestra

  Acknowledgments: Unless otherwise indicated, all texts and music are printed and broadcast under OneLicense.net license #A-702452