Mark 1:12-13
The Testing of Jesus
Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness. And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him.
Introduction – Ornithology
A college student wanted to take an easy class to finish up his degree during his spring semester. He was told by his friends to take a course in ornithology by an old professor near retirement who made the class an easy A. However, during the holidays the professor died. The school hired a replacement professor (a Ph.D. candidate) who had a reputation for being extremely difficult. This student finds the class extremely difficult and spent an extraordinary amount of time in study to make a good grade. In fact, he really studies his brains out for the final. He comes the classroom feeling prepared, but instead of having normal test, there are 25 pictures on the wall of bird’s feet. When he finds out that he is supposed to identify the birds by their feet---- he goes nuts, and says to the prof, “This is crazy. Nobody could take this test. The professor says, “Nevertheless, you have to take it.” The kid says, “I am not going to take it.” The professor replied, “You will take it, or you’ll fail.” The student says, “Go ahead and fail me. I am not going to take this test.” The prof says, “All right. That’s it. You‘ve failed. Tell me your name.” The bright young man rolls up his pants to his knees and says to the professor, “I don’t know, you tell me.”
What Jesus went through for His test in the wilderness was far greater than any test you or I have ever taken! In two brief verses in Mark, we see a great spiritual test undertaken that is not seen again until Gethsemane and Calvary! Jesus passes the test! That’s the good news! Let’s examine what kind of place this was for a test. This test was a place for trauma, temptation and triumph!
It Was a Place of TRAUMA (12)
Why would we call it a place of trauma? It was a Place of Danger. Jesus leaves the Jordan River and appears here in the wilderness. The Greek word for drive is ekballô. It means to drive out with force or to be thrown and driven out. This was done by the Spirit. He was thrown into a dangerous arena with jackals, boars, hyenas, wolves, scorpions and snakes. It was a lonely and desolate place where He had to brave the fallen elements of cold nights, a scorching sun and the blistering sirocco winds. It was no place for the faint at heart. It was also a Place of Desolation. He was isolated until Satan arrives. He had no company or encouragement. This was no Garden of Eden. But He had the word of His Father! Even when things looked bleak for 40 days, He trusted His Father! Not only was it a place of danger and desolation, it was also a Place of Downfall. This was a place where a great test was about to begin.
Yet in all that it was nothing compared to what Jesus would go through three plus years later! He would contend against vipers that would put Him to death. He would heal the lame, make the blind to see and cause the deaf to hear. Yet He would not make one single Pharisee on Sadducee trust Him against his will.
Illustration - Lessons on Confession and Community
By Patrick Payton - Oct 24, 2007
I was fresh out of seminary and pastoring a church plant that within its first few months had outgrown our rented facility and was beginning to plan for two services.
At Stonegate Fellowship we were telling people the truth that Jesus Christ changes lives, and it seemed the message was getting across. We were telling people that Stonegate was a place they could bring the baggage of their past, and we would love them and walk with them into the journey of new life offered through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
We were telling people that all of us had a story, no matter how good or bad, but all that really mattered was personally knowing and loving Jesus and loving one another. For the most part, outside of the many struggles that come with starting a new church, we were excited and expectant about what God was doing in our city and church.
Then, as if God had planned for our church to take it up another notch, Mike and Stephanie Goeke visited my office, and a new day began not only for Stonegate Fellowship, but for me, the pastor.
Many people in our church and city (Midland, Texas) knew some of Mike and Stephanie Goeke’s story. Most knew of their separation a few years prior, the impending divorce, and the miraculous restoration. But what many did not know was the story this upper-middle class, white collar, “straight out of the preppy handbook” couple had never shared with anyone—especially anyone inside the church. But one afternoon meeting in the pastor’s office was about to change all of that.
The Goekes sat in my office and, with voices full of fear, began to take me at my word. They had heard what we believed as a church and what we said; now, they were going to test it and see if we meant it.
Mike and Stephanie sat across from me, and Mike calmly told me the well-known story of how he had left his wife. But this day the story went deeper. Mike began to share with me more of his life story, a story and struggle known by very few. Mike began to detail for me his almost lifelong struggle with homosexuality—the part of the story no one knew anything about.
He shared with me the first time someone called him “gay.” He described the struggles he had had all through high school and college—struggles that he eventually buried and carried into his marriage. Perhaps most discouraging, he told me about his loneliness and fear, especially in the local church. He shared the details of how, in the very place he should have been able to find help, he found mostly hate, indifference, fear, and foolishness.
Mike and Stephanie even shared their fear of telling me because they were almost certain that, with this new revelation, their days of service at Stonegate Fellowship were over. But quite the opposite occurred. Following several weeks of very intense and sometimes personal attack and struggle about the importance of sharing this real-life story with the Body of Christ, I had this precious couple share their story in front of our entire church family. It was a day I will never forget.
The auditorium was packed with Stonegate members and with Mike and Stephanie’s friends from throughout the community. Our church was filled with people who thought they were there to hear a “normal” story about how Jesus had saved a marriage. No one knew that they were about to experience a “marker day” for Stonegate Fellowship. From that Sunday morning on, everyone would know we were serious when we said, “We believe Jesus changes lives. And we want you, and all your baggage, so we can journey with you in the new life in Christ.” Not only was Stonegate Fellowship changed, but a pastor was changed as well.
To say the least, I was amazed at what happened that Sunday morning. After the service was over, people would not leave. Many stayed to talk with Mike and Stephanie about family members struggling with homosexuality and ask what they could do. Men whom I knew had been very upset about what the Goekes were going to share were in tears, asking for forgiveness from Mike and Stephanie. And the hope I saw on the faces of so many was astounding. I saw in the eyes of people something of a new hope that said “If Jesus could do this in Mike and Stephanie’s lives, then surely He can change my life.” But, as I said, things were changing in my heart as well.
First, I knew from the beginning that my characterization of homosexuality had been wrong. My ideas about homosexuality were formed from the harsh rhetoric of evangelical speakers and the images of mainstream media. I never once thought about white collar professionals like Mike Goeke suffering and struggling with this issue for decades and drowning in a sea of anonymity right under the nose of the church. Men and women, living two lives and desperate for help, but not finding it anywhere they looked.
After all, homosexuality was the “worst” sin and surely of a different sort than “normal” sins like taking one too many drinks, cheating on taxes, lusting after women, breaking the speed limit, or failing to tithe! I had bought into a way of thinking that set homosexuality apart as the leprosy of the twenty-first century rather than another destructive sin used by Satan to steal full and meaningful life from those who would follow Jesus. From this moment on, at least for this pastor, homosexuality would not be the serious sin of the worst sinners, but rather another sin destroying the lives of everyday people of all social classes.
I also learned that my words were hurting those most needing the healing touch of the Savior. On another Sunday, not long after the Goekes spoke, I was waxing eloquent about a well-known couple who were openly proud lesbians. I boldly referred to them as perverts and continued without skipping a beat. Within days, Mike stopped by my office to let me know that when I used words like pervert and queer, I further alienated those so desperately desiring help from the local church.
As much as I wanted to defend myself, I could not. I was damning the very ones Jesus died for by my harsh, “churchy” words. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that Jesus had never called anyone names either, except the religious elite of His day. He certainly never called the woman we read about in Luke 7 a whore! He just let her wash His holy feet and taught a humiliating lesson to Simon the Pharisee.
As much as I hated to do it, I stood in the pulpit the very next Sunday and issued an apology to our congregation for labeling sinners rather than just labeling sin. I vowed to never make this mistake again.
I was learning some new things about confession and community as well. Jesus changes a life in an instant, but it takes a lifetime of walking in the new, crucified life in a community of Christ-followers called the local church to really experience the transformed life Jesus came to offer. But many, like me, have grown accustomed to acting like transformed people should act, while deep down inside we are dying a slow death because we are afraid to talk about our struggles. We fear we will be perceived as spiritual losers.
After Mike and Stephanie shared their story, the gauntlet was thrown down in my life, and the life of our church. That gauntlet simply represented the fact that Stonegate would be no place for fakers. We would lean heavily on each other with our deepest struggles so that, as a community of Christ-followers, we could share the life of Christ with each other.
To this day, the greatest reward for myself and Stonegate Fellowship was the privilege of modeling restoration and transformation as we hired Mike Goeke to come on staff as our executive pastor just several months after our great Sunday. Mike has become one of my most treasured friends and partners in life and ministry, and none of this would have happened had we not decided that Stonegate would be the community of Jesus Christ it was called to be—a place where baggage can be dropped off and a new life can begin—for everyone.
Patrick Payton is senior pastor of Stonegate Fellowship in Midland, Texas.
Whether one is tested in the church or outside the church, the test will come. Should you fail the test, there will be a make-up test to retake. The good news is that He will be there with you to lean on and to trust!
So we find Jesus in a place of testing. Now we find that…
It Was a Place of TEMPTATION (13a)
A test and temptation are different. A test will reveal your character to yourself and build that character. Temptation is Satan’s way for you to sin against God. There are three main areas where we are tempted the most. First, there is the Lust of flesh. These are the desires we struggle with. There is also the Lust of eyes. Our eyes are the windows to our souls. And then there is the Pride of life. Satan knows where are weaknesses are and he will also attack your strengths. He is deceptive and sneaky. There are several passages of scripture which warn us regarding Satan’s craftiness. They include Matthew4:1-11, Luke 4:1-13 and I John2:16.
Illustration – Trouble
On the TV show Hee Haw, Doc Campbell is confronted by a patient who says he broke his arm in two places. The doc replies, "Well then, stay out of them places!" He may have something there. We cannot regularly put ourselves in the face of temptation and not be affected. When faced with the problem of temptation, we need to take the good doctor’s advice and "stay out of them places."
It Was a Place of TRIUMPH (13b)
Jesus passed the test! He was victorious at the beginning of His ministry and victorious at the cross at the end of His ministry! Truly, He was triumphant.
It was in a place of desolation that we see the…
…Preparation for His ministry. Jesus began His ministry in the wilderness and barrenness of Israel. This was a lesson regarding the character of Christ and His dependence upon the Father. He trusted the Father and passed the test where Adam had failed in the best of circumstances.
Second, we find it a place of triumph because it began the…
…Revelation of His ministry. The angels ministered to the Son after He finished the temptation experience. They had announced His birth and they would confirm His resurrection. We see Him by faith now but will behold His glory when we come into His presence.
Finally, we note the…
…Demonstration of His ministry. His ministry demonstrated His might, power and glory. There is no other name under heaven or in earth that men can be saved except through the name of Jesus Christ.
Jesus was to go under further trauma and temptations on our behalf to reveal to us who He is. But His triumphant resurrection gives us an anchor to hold on to. Glory, what a Savior!
