Negotiating

Negotiating – Matthew 4: 1 - 11

Intro: The shortest sermon ever preached, which you won’t be getting this morning, consisted of the pastor going into the pulpit and quoting Romans 6:3a – The wages of sin is death . . .” AND HE ADDED, “there has been no change in the wages paid!” Today, society doesn’t like to think about sin. This happens because the devil chips away at morals little by little. What was once thought to be a sin is now acceptable behavior. The French poet, Charles Baudelaire once wrote, “the greatest trick the devil played was to make the world believe he doesn’t exist.”

I The temptation of Jesus in the wilderness is a pivotal event in His life. In the gospel lesson for today we read of the devil trying to negotiate a deal with Jesus.

A Matthew 4: 3 “The tempter came to him and said, ‘IF you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.’” There is one word in this text that causes question for me. The word IF in GK is ei / e? and has several possible translations: whether / for as much as / if / and since. There is a very subtle difference between IF and SINCE.

B I believe the word IF conveys the thought that the devil really wasn’t sure if Jesus was the Son of God. But, since seems to convey the thought that the devil already knows Jesus is the Son of God

C The devil just wants Jesus to prove who he is by changing stones into bread. Doing so would indicate that Jesus could perform acts that are contrary to the natural order of things which God created. The answer given by Jesus in VS. 4 is a partial quote of Deuteronomy 8:3 “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

II I believe the devil was aware that Jesus was quoting God’s word. In the mind of the devil I assume the devil was thinking, Okay. You want to play that game. I can play along.

A VS. 6 – “Since you are the Son of God, he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

B The devil demonstrates that He knows God’s Word and is willing to use it to negotiate a settlement with Jesus. The devil says that God will help you whenever your fall.

C This is often our attitude. We are tempted to be irresponsible. We choose the things we know are wrong; but, we trust that because we are a child of God, God will pick up the pieces from our dumb decisions. We make bad decisions expecting God to save us.

III The final temptation is for Jesus to worship the devil in return for earthly power.

A VVS. 8 – 9 “Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. All this I will give you, he said if you will bow down and worship me.”

B I wanted to know exactly what the Devil was asking Jesus to do. The GK. the word is proskuneo / p??s?????. I looked for the meaning in Greek. The word can literally be translated as to kiss like a dog / licking the master’s hand / prostrating oneself in homage / to adore.

C This temptation is about gaining earthly power. The ministry of Jesus was to win the kingdoms of the world for God. The devil knows how easily humanity is lured into trying to seek our own short cuts to God’s goals. I believe as Jesus did, there is no shortcut to spiritual wisdom and maturity. The only pathway to God is patient and faithful discipleship.

Concl: The devil employs temptation as a way of negotiating with and convincing us that his way is the only way.

Temptation wins when we engage in the justification of little lies, small sins, a racist joke, questionable business practices convincing ourselves it is for the “greater good.” The devil chips away at our faith when we criticize our spouse or partner when they are not around.

Negotiating with the devil is never a good idea. We must remain faithful to the way of Christ Jesus by looking at His responses to the devil in this story from Matthew. Jesus will never misuse his power: for personal material gain, to make himself safe and secure, or to amass clout and esteem.

Those things are not wrong in themselves. What we must remember is this: do they come to us in a godly way where God and Christ Jesus are glorified. We cannot negotiate with the devil because we will never win HIS WAY. We must be faithful only to the way of Christ. If God is in it; we will win it.