Matthew 4:3-11 Luke 4:3-13
Creativity is not Satan’s strong point. He has repeated the same kinds of temptations
over and over again throughout history.
In reality, he does not need to be creative because most men keep
falling into the same traps over and over again. Satan’s attempts to tempt Jesus followed his
normal patterns but this time he came against a resistance to his temptations
that was greater than he had ever seen before or since. Satan picked a time when he thought that
Jesus would be the most vulnerable but no matter how hard he tried; Jesus would
not give in to his temptations. The
apostle John states that the root causes behind all of our sins are the lust of
the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. It is interesting to note that Satan seems to
focus in on each of these three areas as he tries to get Jesus to give into
these temptations. As we look at these
areas of temptation and consider the response that Jesus had to them; there are
some areas that are difficult for us to understand. The relationship between the divine and human
natures of Jesus is a reality that is above our complete comprehension. Jesus is God and as such He cannot sin. However Jesus is also man so He was exposed
to the same temptations and weakened by the same limitations each of us
face. I think that it is most helpful
for us to consider these temptations from the perspective that Jesus is fully
man.
THE TEMPTATION OF PLEASURE: The first temptation that Jesus
faced was in the area of physical desires or pleasure. Eating is one of the greatest pleasures in
our lives. Most of us only need to look
at our midsections to confirm this fact.
There is nothing inherently wrong with eating; in fact it is a necessity
that we have in order to sustain life. I
think that it is interesting that Satan started with this temptation because he
started in an area that seems so innocent.
Jesus was hungry after forty days of fasting and there would have been
nothing wrong with Jesus eating some bread at this point in time. The problem was that Satan was the one who
was controlling the situation and challenging Jesus to turn the rocks into
bread so He could satisfy His hunger by divine means. Certainly there is more to this temptation
than meets the eye. The exact issues are
not readily visible to us but Jesus clearly understood that He should not obey
Satan’s suggestion or even consider it.
We have the tendency to rationalize about our circumstances when we face
temptation. This is always dangerous
territory. When Satan is tempting us in
the area of the lusts of our flesh which include food, drink, comfort, sex and
rest; it is not the time to rationalize or make pro con lists. It is the time to run. None of the things in this list are
sinful. All of them are a natural part
of our lives as blessing created by God for our survival and joy. However, all of them can easily become idols
in our lives. Satan seeks to take that
which God has created for our good and pervert it into that which leads us into
sin. God calls us to trust Him to
provide for all of our needs. If He has
not provided it; we don’t need it. When
we stop trusting God to supply our needs and begin lusting after these things
in order to satisfy our desires; we are sinning. Jesus was hungry and could have eaten any
bread that Father provided for Him; but to listen to the challenge of Satan and
satisfy His hunger by performing a miracle for His own benefit would have been
a faithless and sinful act. Jesus placed
the Father’s will above His own desires and quoted Scripture to demonstrate His
commitment to the Word of God over His own needs.
THE TEMPTATION OF PRIDE: The second temptation was in the
area of pride. It is interesting that
Satan picks up on the fact that Jesus fought off his first temptation with
Scripture so he decides to twist Scripture as a part of his second temptation. The challenge was for Jesus to throw Himself
from the pinnacle of the temple and see if the Father would fulfill the promise
of Scripture to send His angels to protect Him from being killed. Jesus again quotes Scripture to refute this
type of thinking. Satan quoted a promise
of Scripture in order to justify the violation of a command of Scripture. Jesus did not fall for it but we often
do. God’s promises will always be
fulfilled in a manner that is consistent with the commandments of His
Word. Just because God has promised to
meet all our needs doesn’t mean that we are authorized to commit robbery in
order to provide something we think we need.
If Jesus had turned the rocks into bread nobody would have seen it. But if He had jumped off of the temple and
had angels swoop down to keep Him from death it would have been a public
miracle that would have certainly increased His popularity. We must not forget that Jesus was a man and
that his life of poverty and rejection was not an easy one. A stunt like the one Satan was suggesting would
have certainly gained Him more notoriety and quite possibly would have brought
Him relief. Satan is always looking for
ways to distract us from the mission that God has called us to accomplish. One of these most common ways he is able to
distract us is through our own pride.
Before we know it, we are living our lives for our own glory and to
pursue our own pride as opposed to living for God’s glory and worshiping
Him. God did not call Jesus to join the
circus and entertain the crowd at the temple.
God called Jesus to pay the price for sin and reconcile mankind to
Himself. We must be careful not to be
distracted from the mission of God for our lives which is to spread the fame of
Jesus to the nations of the world.
Anytime our own fame becomes more important than the fame of Jesus we
are giving into the sin of pride.
THE TEMPTATION OF POWER: The third temptation was in the
area of power. John calls this the pride
of life, but it can also be understood as a desire for power. In reality all three areas of temptation have
to do with putting self above God which is always pride as well as
idolatry. Satan shows Jesus the kingdoms
of the earth and offers Him authority over all of them in exchange for Jesus
worshiping him. This is where the
idolatry of all sin really becomes evident.
There are several things about this temptation that can seem confusing
to us. We wonder about how Satan could
make such an offer; but Jesus does not question Satan’s authority over these
kingdoms. Satan is called the prince of
this world for a reason. When Adam fell
into sin all of mankind from that point forward became identified with the
kingdom of Satan. The story of
redemption is all about how God is working to restore the world and mankind to
Himself through Christ. God too has
promised to give authority over the entire world to Jesus but the means through
which He would accomplish that is the cross.
Satan offers Jesus a “shortcut” He could rule over all of the kingdoms
without facing the cross. Of course that
would have meant eternal condemnation for all of mankind and eternal separation
from the Father. Jesus was not about to
disobey the commandment to worship God alone in order to avoid the cross and
rule over a condemned kingdom under Satan’s authority. While Jesus was on this earth the Bible tells
us that He was made to be lower than the angels. This implies that as a man Jesus was less
powerful than Satan. Satan was offering
increased power and decreased suffering.
Many men have fallen into this trap but Jesus did not. Power is a huge motivator in all of our
lives. We don’t like to be told what to
do and want others to do what we want.
Jesus turned down the most powerful position on the planet because of
His love for us and the Father. God
entrusts us with positions of authority in the church, our jobs and
families. We must not view these
positions as a means to promote our own agendas and expand our own
kingdoms. All that we do must be
motivated by our love for God and a desire to serve others.
APPLICATION: Beware of rationalizations that you make when
you are tempted to satisfy your physical needs and desires in a sinful
way. Don’t take the promises of God into
your own hands. God never wants us to
break His commandments in order to “help” Him fulfill His promises. The mission of God to reconcile man to
Himself must be the priority of our lives.
All of our gifts, efforts and positions of authority must be focused on
promoting and accomplishing this mission.
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