Matthew 4 - How to TEST YOUR NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS
Well it’s a NEW YEAR - 2010!
The new year is always a good opportunity to EVALUATE your spiritual life, to reflect on whether you’re being CARELESS or COMMITTED in YOUR SPIRITUAL LIFE
Everyone has the opportunity to think about the DIRECTION you are going.
The beginning of a new year is an IDEAL TIME to stop, LOOK UP and get our bearings and not just formulate some RESOLUTIONS for the new year but also to TEST THE VALUE OF YOUR RESOLUTIONS.
HAGGAI 1:5 says "Consider your ways!"
Don Whitney came up with 10 QUESTIONS to ask prayerfully in the presence of God.
I’d like to share them with you
1. What’s one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God?
2. What’s the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year?
3. What’s the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your family life this year?
4. In which spiritual discipline do you most want to make progress this year, and what will you do about it?
5. What is the single biggest time-waster in your life, and what will you do about it this year?
6. What is the most helpful new way you could strengthen your church?
7. For whose salvation will you pray most fervently this year?
8. What’s the most important way you will, by God’s grace, try to make this year different from last year?
9. What one thing could you do to improve your prayer life this year?
10. What single thing that you plan to do this year will matter most in 10 years? In eternity?
Great questions!
It is great to evaluate our lives, to make PLANS AND GOALS.
MAKING RESOLUTIONS is not the real problem. After all Proverbs 21:5 (NASB77) says "The plans of the diligent lead surely to advantage, ..."
It is TESTING THOSE RESOLUTIONS AGAINST THE YARDSTICK OF THE BIBLE that is often neglected.
At the beginning of Jesus ministry He had made A RESOLUTION TO HEAD TOWARDS THE CROSS.
He had been BAPTISED and God was WELL PLEASED WITH HIM but in the very next chapter He is TESTED AND TEMPTED in the wilderness.
Your SPIRITUAL RESOLUTIONS this year will be TESTED. They always are when you determine to live for God
HOW CAN I TEST MY NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS AND MY COMMITMENT TO CHRIST.
In Matthew 4, Jesus is LED BY THE SPIRIT to be tempted by Satan. Why would Jesus go into the wilderness to be tempted? Not only that but did you notice that it is THE SPIRIT who LEADS Jesus into the wilderness to be TEMPTED by the devil! You’d think the Holy Spirit would want Him to be LED AWAY from anything to do with temptation and the devil but no, Jesus is led to CONFRONT SATAN head on!
How strange that God would do this, and why?
And if that can happen to Jesus, WHAT ABOUT ME? Am I going to be LED INTO TEMPTATION like Jesus was? Is God going to PUT ME IN HARM’S WAY deliberately? It doesn’t make any sense.
The Lord’s prayer says "Lead us NOT into temptation". Why then is Jesus LED INTO THE WILDERNESS to be TEMPTED by Satan? It doesn’t seem to add up. How are we to understand this? I want to start this new year well. Does that mean God will put me in THE FIRING LINE.
Now those questions are IMPORTANT if we are going to start the new year well.
But let’s be clear, it’s always good to ask God to KEEP YOU FROM EVIL, nevertheless God DOES choose to PLACE US IN POSITIONS that will TEST OUR FAITH, NOT so that we will FAIL THE TEST, but so that we will WIN OVER TEMPTATION and be stronger in our faith.
That shouldn’t stop me from asking to be kept from evil. The good thing about it is that I know when God ALLOWS ME TO BE TESTED it will never be beyond what I am able to endure.
Now let’s get a handle on this passage.
Firstly I want to look at the word TEMPT. When we use that word it always has a BAD MEANING. It means TO ENTICE someone to do THE WRONG THING, to PERSUADE SOMEONE TO SIN. And that’s exactly what the devil has in mind.
But in the Greek language "to tempt" actually has A GOOD MEANING. It means to TEST SOMEONE, NOT SO THAT THEY’LL FAIL, BUT SO THEY WILL SUCCEED. And from God’s point of view that why Jesus was led by the Spirit of God to be tempted. In Genesis 22 God TEMPTED ABRAHAM. God didn’t tempt him to sin! He tempted him in the sense of TESTING HIM. TEMPTATION is always an opportunity TO DO THE RIGHT THING.
THAT’S WHAT HAPPENS TO JESUS in MATTHEW 4. HE DOES THE RIGHT THING.
Hebrews 2:17-18 (NLT) says "Therefore, it was necessary for Him to be made in every respect like us, His brothers and sisters, ...Since He himself has gone through suffering and TESTING, HE IS ABLE TO HELP US WHEN WE ARE BEING TESTED."
So you can expect your new years resolutions to be tested. If they are not tested they’re not worth much!
But you ask "How do Jesus’ temptations relate to me?" Just because He got through HIS TEST doesn’t automatically mean I will.
By the way, what about those temptations? They don’t seem such A BIG DEAL! THE DEVIL attacks with a 3 pronged fork, but when I first read them I thought that they WEREN’T ALL THAT TEMPTING -
turn stones into bread,
throw yourself off the pinnacle of the temple,
and worship Satan.
As if Jesus is going to say, "Sure, I’ll throw Myself off the temple and worship Satan!". It didn’t seem to me like these would tempt me if I were Jesus. I can think of BETTER TEMPTATIONS! I mean what about some kind of SEXUAL TEMPTATION! Jesus was 30 and not married. What better way to get at Him than by tempting Him with ILLICIT SEX. Or how about a GET RICH QUICK SCHEME, say by FINDING COINS IN EVERY FISH you catch. Jesus did this for tax purposes. Why not for a MAJOR INCOME SOURCE? Who would not want to go FISHING with Jesus and earn a FORTUNE on the side as well? Catch huge catches of fish on the other side of the boat and then get a coin in each one. Then sell the fish! Huge profit!
But somehow the temptations with which Satan challenges Jesus were the ones that Jesus found the MOST DIFFICULT of all. They may not seem much to me, but to Jesus they were huge! Now the question I’ve got to ask is why? And the only answer I seem to get is that somehow these temptations ENCAPSULATE the kinds of temptations WE ALL EXPERIENCE!
HOW DO THEY DO THIS? Let’s try to find out.
Satan wanted Jesus to turn stones into bread. In Matthew 4:3-4 (NLT) it says,
"During that time the devil came and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread."
The word for "IF" in Greek has the idea "IF AND IT IS TRUE". A better translation would probably be "SINCE You are the Son of God..." Satan knew who Jesus was! God the father had just said, "This is my beloved Son" in verse 17. He also knows Jesus is HUNGRY. He hasn’t eaten for 40 DAYS. It wasn’t sinful to be hungry and He could have turned these STONES TO BREAD easily.
The test GOD ALLOWS Jesus to experience is the SAME TEST He will take you through, as you seek to put your NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS into practice.
Here’s the test in summary. I call it...
1. THE PROVISION TEST or "the who am I trusting in?" test.
(Show Powerpoint with someone who is crosseyed). This guy has INGROWN EYEBALLS because he continually FOCUSES ON HIMSELF.
The question is "Will you USE YOUR GIFTS and ABILITIES for your OWN SELFISH PURPOSES? OR WILL YOU USE THEM FOR GOD AND OTHERS?
Will you TRUST IN YOUR OWN SELF SUFFICIENCY TO PROVIDE FOR YOUR NEEDS THIS YEAR? OR WILL YOU TRUST IN GOD TO PROVIDE FOR YOU? The moment Satan gets your eyes looking inward then you will never be fit for service.
Matthew 6:31-33 (NLT) goes on to say
"So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need."
So the first thing satan tries to do with Jesus is to get Him looking at HIS OWN NEEDS rather than looking at what God wants. He says in effect, "Use your miraculous powers to serve Your own purposes and forget about using them to serve God?"
He says to us "Use your strengths TO SERVE YOURSELF. Don’t worry about anybody else. Just serve your OWN APPETITES"
The first temptation is directed at PHYSICAL APPETITIES.
Now remember Jesus FED 5000 PEOPLE with BREAD AND FISH. That’s using His gifts for God.
God is saying to you this morning, "WILL YOU USE YOUR GIFTS YOUR ABILITIES, YOUR MOTIVATIONS, YOUR PERSONALITY AND YOUR EXPERIENCES TO ACHIEVE YOUR OWN SELFISH PURPOSES, OR WILL YOU USE THEM IN SUBMISSION TO ME AND MY PURPOSES FOR YOUR LIFE? THIS YEAR WILL YOU SEEK FIRST MY KINGDOM PURPOSES?"
Jesus made a clear choice. Hear what He says in MATTHEW 4:4-11 (NLT)
Jesus told him, "No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’"
Right answer!
Jesus used THE WORD OF GOD to focus on what God wanted for Him, rather than meeting His immediate physical appetites. What about you this year?
This year your new years resolutions will mean nothing unless you are READING GOD’S WORD and applying it to your life to get His perspective on things and giving you control over your physical appetites and selfish desires.
Getting God’s perspective from His Word will be one of the most UNSELFISH things you will do!
Jesus was tempted in 3 areas
1. THE PROVISION TEST
"Am I being selfish or am I submitting to God?"
2. THEN CAME THE PRESUMPTION TEST
"Am I testing God or taking a step of faith?"
You see Satan tries to get Jesus to BUNGY JUMP from the pinnacle of the temple WITHOUT A ROPE, 140 METRES UP, 45 STORIES ABOVE the base of the Kidron valley.
He says in Matthew 4:6 (NLT)
Since "you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, ‘He will order His angels to protect You. And they will hold You up with their hands so You won’t even hurt Your foot on a stone.’"
If Satan can’t tempt you with the APPETITES OF THE BODY, he will attempt to tempt you with APPETITES OF THE SOUL!
So firstly THE PROVISION TEST, "Am I being selfish or am I submitting to God?" and then the next TEST IS
2. THE PRESUMPTION TEST
"Am I testing God or taking a step of faith"
It wouldn’t tempt me to jump off a temple, but Jesus knew that HE WOULD BE PROTECTED. What harm would it have done? Nevertheless, Jesus sees right through this and Jesus simply says in Matthew 4:7 (NLT) "The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’" In other words "Don’t live on the EDGE OF PRESUMPTION with God!" What some of us pastors like to call the "CUTTING EDGE MINISTRY" is sometimes more appropriately called "THE CRUMBLING EDGE OF PRESUMPTION WITH GOD."
Don’t get me wrong, we are called to take the RISK OF FAITH, but NOT the RISK OF PRESUMPTION.
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE? THE RISK OF FAITH is daring to act on GOD’S WORD in GOD’S WAY. The RISK OF PRESUMPTION is often no more than trying to IMPRESS SOMEONE by THE SPECTACULAR use of my gifts. And GOD TESTS US not the other way round.
Ask "am I testing God or taking a step of faith"
1. So the test of PROVISION
2. The test of PRESUMPTION
3. And thirdly the test of POWER
Satan is persistent if nothing else. In MATTHEW 4:8-9 (NLT) it says,
"Next the devil took Him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed Him the kingdoms of the world and all their glory. "I will give it all to You," he said, "if You will kneel down and worship me.""
Satan appeals to Jesus by offering Him a shortcut to POWER. I’ll GIVE IT ALL to You, he says, and You won’t even have to GO TO THE CROSS. JUST WORSHIP ME!
So this temptation is directed TO THE APPETITIES OF THE SPIRIT.
JUST COMPROMISE AND YOU’LL GET WHAT YOU WANT. But the AUTHORITY OF RULE doesn’t come with a CROWN OF POWER from the enemy. It comes with a CROSS OF SUFFERING and humility.
Satan says "I’ll give you POWER WITHOUT THE PAIN, A CROWN WITHOUT THE CROSS"
Satan will always get you to COMPROMISE for SHORT TERM POWER, SUCCESS and APPLAUSE. So ask yourself this year "Am I compromising my faith for short term power or am I committed to God for His eternal purposes?"
Jesus once again chooses the right thing. In MATTHEW 4:10 (NLT) He says,
"Get out of here, Satan," Jesus told him. "For the Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only Him.’"
Here’s how to test your new years resolutions
1. THE PROVISION TEST
Who am I trusting in?
2. THE PRESUMPTION TEST?
Am I testing God or taking a step of faith?
3. THE POWER TEST
Am I compromising or am I committed?
Ask yourself
Am I being led by the Spirit
Will my faith in God be strengthened
Am I hearing from God as I read His Word.
Will I refuse to be intimidated and disheartened
Will it involve me having to compromise
And with those things in mind lets also
1. RECOGNISE YOUR AREAS OF WEAKNESS
Jesus was hungry but remained resolute
2. REALISE THAT YOU ARE VULNERABLE
Jesus was facing a test but He came through
3. BE EMPOWERED BY GOD
4. DREAM BIG DREAMS
5. EXPECT GOD TO PROVIDE FOR YOU
6. EXPECT GOD TO PROTECT YOU
7. EXPECT GOD TO INTERVENE INTO YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES
8. DON’T PUT LIMITS ON WHAT GOD CAN DO
9. EXPECT MIRACLES
10. ACCEPT OPPORTUNITIES TO SERVE THAT STRETCH YOUR FAITH
11. AND HAVE A WONDERFULLY BLESSED NEW YEAR
