How many of you have used a GPS? We got one last fall for our trip to visit our friends in Fredrick Maryland. I have to say that it takes getting used to. We had to do a bit tweaking to it. We changed the voice to a British accent and we named it Jeeves. We did this because a British accent is easier to ignore. We tried using the voice of a Hungarian grandmother but she just made me feel guilty.
GPS’s really don’t have a bunch of value when you are in an area that you know well because chances are that you can pick a better route than Jeeves. Where Jeeves shines is in unknown territory. Jeeves did a great job getting us around Maryland and West Virginia in the fall and Phoenix in the spring and Cleveland a couple of weeks ago.
What Jeeves enables us to do is go to places we would never find without his help. GPS’s are great for finding local areas of interest, stores and restaurants. In fact, I have all the Tim’s and Starbuck’s locations in North America keyed in to Jeeves so we can always find a coffee! Ultimately a GPS just gives you added confidence to get out into the world of the unknown and be more adventurous.
One of the things I have noticed about myself is that there have been times when Jeeves would say one thing and I would begin to question whether he actually knew what he was talking about. There have been several times when I have had to make a decision—either trust Jeeves or trust my instincts and in those times I have consciously thought to myself—Jeeves hasn’t lead me astray so far so I should trust him. Still, sometimes I listen to Jeeves and sometimes I listen to myself, get lost, and then listen to Jeeves.
Now I realize that GPS’s are not fool proof. You also have the responsibility of being aware of your surroundings. A GPS doesn’t replace your eyes or common sense. Every once in a while you hear of people like the woman who recently drove her car into the water, or the truck driver who cut off the top of his trailer going under a bridge because his GPS didn’t know he was driving a truck, silly GPS, or this poor guy in Milan Italy who took a “wrong turn” and ended up on train tracks holding up the train for hours. But still, I have learned to trust and obey Jeeves, particularly in unknown territory, because he has a proven track record.
Please turn with me to Matthew 4:1-11, p. 815
Today we’re going to look at the “Mountain Of Trust.” Now, as we turn there and you realize that we are actually looking at the wilderness temptation of Jesus, you might think that this sermon should be about temptation and not trust. Well, you’d be wrong, so there!
Actually, I would agree with you since my sermon was entitled “The Mountain of Temptation” until Friday. But as I studied Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness, I noticed that Jesus’ temptation was really all about His relationship with, and His trust of, the Father.
Beginning with verse 1 we read: “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.” Let’s stop there for a moment.
Notice the ‘Then’ that begins verse 1. The ‘then’ shows a connection between what has just happened and what is about to happen. You will remember that Jesus’ baptism was just prior to this time of testing. In Jesus baptism’ we have the acceptance of Jesus to begin what would become three and a half years of focused, driven ministry that would end in His sacrifice. From this moment on He would be about doing the will of the Father by building the kingdom He came to establish. But, He would do it by being a servant—not a ruler. And His ministry would be characterized by sacrifice—not privilege; suffering—not ease. Ultimately the cross casts a shadow across the waters of Jesus’ baptism.
Matthew 3 ends with these words: As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. 17And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." (Matthew 3:16-17)
At Jesus’ baptism, Jesus was officially identified by God as His Son and the Spirit came upon Him. Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. You got to love this. One moment we have this amazing transcendent celebration as God in the fullness of His nature testifies to Jesus’ anointing and ministry, but then the Spirit leads Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the devil—so much for the celebration.
Notice that it is the Spirit that leads Jesus into the desert. Actually the Greek literally says that the Spirit “cast” Jesus out into the desert. There is a sense in which Jesus is compelled to go into the desert to be tempted by the devil. Of course Jesus has a choice. He is following God’s leading. He is doing what He came to do. He willingly goes off into the desert. He willingly fasts. He willingly removes Himself from all help and all hindrance. He is alone with His thoughts. It is Him and His Father and the Spirit and His enemy. He is about to do battle with the one He came to destroy and He can’t wait! He came for a fight and this is where the fight begins.
Now, what about the Spirit leading Jesus into a place where He is going to be tempted? The Greek word translated as “tempted” can also be translated as tested. In fact it is almost always translated as testing rather than being tempted to do evil. The question is: was this a time of testing or a time of temptation?
The answer is “Yes”. It was both.
This may be a time of temptation from the devil, but in reality it is a time of testing from God. What is the difference between testing and temptation? It’s all about motivation. The devil was tempting Jesus to do evil, but God was testing Jesus to strengthen Him. Or we could put it another way: Temptation desires to weaken our relationship with God and testing seeks to strengthen it. So it is true that the devil was trying to weaken Jesus relationship with God, but the Spirit’s intention was to strengthen Jesus’ resolve and trust.
I also want you to understand that whenever we are tested, it is an indication that we are ready for that test. God never sets us up for failure. There is always a way of escape (1 Corinthians 10:13). He always wants us to pass the test. If you can’t past the test, God’s isn’t about to throw you into it, but there is a catch: Testing is always about trusting. We pass the test through trusting in and depending on God. We never pass the test on our own. If we fail, it is because we haven’t trusted. It is all about trusting God. There is no other way to past the test.
With Abraham, his test was to trust in the character and promise of God when God calls him to sacrifice Isaac. God put Abraham in a situation where He had to trust God and not his own understanding. Abraham had to trust His established relationship with God in order to obey God’s immediate request. He had to hold onto the truth of what He knew about God when what He was asked to do seemed to contradict that knowledge. Jesus’ testing would also be about trusting the Father—knowing that trusting the father would also include choosing sacrifice. Let’s continue.
After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." 4 Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6"If 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.'" 7Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" 8Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me." 10Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'" 11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.”
There is so much to say about the significance of what is happening in this passage. We are merely going to scratch the surface today.
The first thing I want you to see is that the test is all about relationship. The question is: will Jesus trust the Father? Will He trust the Father’s love? Will He trust the Father’s goodness? Will He trust the Father’s provision, protection, and plan?
All three of Satan’s temptations have an overriding theme. It is really the same theme that Satan’s temptations always have. When you get right down to it, at the root of every one of Satan’s temptations is the same question: “Can God really be trusted?” “Is trusting God really the best way to live our lives?” That was the question placed before Eve and it is the very same question placed before everyone else ever since—including Jesus in today’s passage.
First, Satan says: “If you are the Son of God. . . feed yourself?” When Satan says: “If you are the Son of God . . .” He isn’t questioning Jesus' identity. The construction of the question tells us that this is a statement—not a question.
Notice that as far as Satan is concerned being God is about using your power to satisfy yourself, but that isn’t what God is really like.
Satan is tempting Jesus to use His power to satisfy Himself instead of trusting the Father. Jesus could have done that. Jesus was going to feed 5,000. He was going to use His powers to miraculously feed others. What is wrong with making Himself a little sandwich to keep up His strength?
The point is that Jesus' ministry would be all about denying Himself and trusting the Father. If He didn’t get that straight from the beginning, He would fail. Jesus’ reply to Satan comes from Deuteronomy, as do all of His replies. He quotes Deuteronomy 8:3: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"
Jesus was saying, “Trusting God and obeying Him is much more satisfying than trying to satisfy yourself.” In this first temptation Satan was trying to cause Jesus to doubt God’s provision.
Then Satan takes Him to the heights of the Temple and he quotes from Psalm 91. Basically the challenge is: “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from this temple and God will protect you. He won’t let you hit the ground.”
Many people think this temptation is about Jesus declaring His identity. After all, how are the Sadducees or Pharisees going to argue with Jesus if He jumped off the Temple and was miraculously rescued? Jesus’ ministry would have been a whole lot easier if He started it off this way. Well, this might be part of the draw of this temptation—but this really isn’t the point of it. The challenge that Satan places before Jesus is to prove God’s protection.
Now, let me ask you a question: If you are in a relationship with someone who is always requiring you to prove their love or their devotion, is that a relationship based on trust? Of course not! Acting in ways that tests someone’s trust shows a lack of trust! Jesus understands this and counters with another Scripture from Deuteronomy 6:16. "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" Jesus says: “The Father doesn’t have to prove anything to me. I don’t have to test Him, I trust Him.” Again, it is all about relationship.
And then we have the last temptation, verses 8, 9, which state that, “. . . the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour. "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."
Look at what Satan is offering Jesus on that mountaintop: All the kingdoms of the world, in all their splendour. Notice, that just like a good used car salesmen, Satan shows Jesus the world through a new paint job. He shows the splendour, but doesn’t allow Jesus to kick the tires or look under the hood, because then he would see all the rust and dust of sin that filled every corner of every kingdom on the earth.
But what Satan is really offering Jesus is a short-cut. You see, Jesus came to establish His kingdom. Eventually, the mission and work of Christ will infiltrate all the kingdoms of the earth and people from every tribe and every nation will enter the kingdom by responding in faith to the free gift of salvation made possible through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Paul tells us in Philippians that one day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord! (Philippians 2:10-11)
So, Satan is only offering Jesus what would be his anyway, but it was offered to him without the cross, without the road of suffering. Satan is offering a no pain, no cross short-cut to the Kingdom. He is offering Him a kingdom dominated by power, a kingdom won through politics—not submission to the Will of God. A kingdom taken, not won. But, even in this, we see that the issue is about relationship and trust. Jesus has to trust that the Father’s way of suffering was the only way to establish the kingdom.
Notice that the easy way was, in reality, idolatry. Whenever we choose our own comfort and our own short-cut over our relationship with God we are, in some way, being idolatrous. We are really saying that we have figured out a better way. But the question is: Is it really possible to figure out a better way than the way God has given us? How presumptuous and arrogant is that? Again, it all comes down to trust. It all comes down to whether we are going to trust God. It all comes down to what we value more: our relationship with God or our own little kingdom of comfort.
Now, before we go any further, let me just take a quick side-trip to make a comment about the importance of knowing God’s Word. There is a growing sense in the church that all we need is Jesus. God’s Word points to Jesus and once we have Jesus, God’s Word is good and helpful, but it is only a stepping stone to bigger and better things. Some would even say that God’s Word can get in the way of knowing God, and there is a certain truth in that statement. If we are more concerned about knowing God’s Word than following it, we are going to get ourselves in trouble. Transformation comes from trusting in God and living out the Word. But, what we have before us today is Jesus, the Word of God, using God’s Word to remain in relationship with the Father. We have the Word made flesh using the God’s Word to combat the devil’s lies.
I want you to think about this for a moment. Why do we have this detailed exchange of how Jesus did battle with the enemy? It is obviously for our own benefit. It is an example to follow, a tool to use, a tactic to win our own battle against the enemy. How do we keep ourselves in relationship with God? How do we resist the devil’s attacks? We do it by correctly handling and knowing and following the Word of God!
Jesus could have just told Satan, “Get lost, I’m not interested with your offer.” He still would have honoured His relationship with the Father by doing that. It wasn’t necessary for Jesus to have this exchanged with the devil, but He does it for our benefit. Jesus models for us how we keep close to God. We do it through knowing the Truth. More to the point, we are told that Satan’s tactics are to make us doubt God. God’s Word keeps us in the place of knowing that God can be trusted. One thing is very clear: Satan knows how to misuse the Word, so how can you remain true to God if you don’t know how to use the Word?
OK, now let’s return to the main point of what I want you to understand. Jesus chooses His relationship with the Father over His own self-interest. He trusts God. He trusts God’s provision, protection and plan. He surrenders His will to the Father. He does it knowing that He is choosing the cross over comfort. Jesus refuses the short-cut. He refuses to abuse His position, His power, or His authority to benefit Himself. Jesus chooses the Father and refuses everything else. Jesus passes the test by trusting God—even when trusting God led to a path of suffering, surrender and pain.
This is how the kingdom was established and it is on this basis that the kingdom continues. Jesus invites us into the very same choice. He asks us the very same question. He says, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)
The question is: Do we trust God enough to surrender our will to His care? You see, the challenge to us today is about more than whether we can trust God. It is about believing that living a life of sacrifice and service is actually better than any other life we might chose for ourselves. We may trust God with our salvation, but do we trust Him enough to believe that putting Him first is the way to fulfilment and joy? Is life really about finding our lives by losing them (Matthew 10:39)? That is the question that Jesus wrestled with and it is the question we must wrestle with as well.
Jeff Walling tells the story of Darrel. Darrel was a forty year-old youth worker. One service a month the youth in his church went to Hokem Manor, which was an old age home. The old people would be wheeled in for the service. Some of them were aware and others of them weren’t. Darrell never wanted to have anything to do with the youth service at Hokem Manor. Old people creeped Him out! He was oldaphobic.
One day the only other two people in the church that could drive the bus to Hokem Manor were not available. Either Darrel would drive the youth or there would be no service.
Darrel didn’t want to do it, but he grudgingly agreed to drive the bus. He sat at the back and tried to blend in with the wallpaper. He felt uncomfortable. He felt alone. He got through the service, barely. He had told the youth: “As soon as the service is over I am out of here. I will be on the bus.”
Unfortunately Darrel’s plan didn’t work out the way he wanted because as soon as he turned around to head for the bus the hand of an elderly man grabbed him. The man was in a wheel chair and he didn’t seem to be aware. His eyes were glazed over and his head hung to one side, but he had a strong enough grip on Darrel’s hand.
Darrel tried to pull away, but the old man wouldn’t let him go. Finally, Darrel said, “Sir, I have to go.” Then something prompted him to say, “But I’ll be back.” The man squeezed Darrel’s hand and then from somewhere even deeper in Darrel’s heart came the words, “Jesus loves you and so do I!” Walking out he thought, “Where did that come from? What’s with this ‘I’ll be back?’ I’m not Schwarzenegger!”
Next month Darrel signed up to drive the bus again, and once again there was Mr. Lee grabbing Darrel’s hand at the end of the service. (Darrel now knew the man’s name.) This time Darrel actually enjoyed saying to Mr. Lee, “You know I have to go now, but I will be back. Jesus loves you and so do I” and Mr. Lee squeezed his hand again.
Darrel signed on every month and on the sixth month he was excited to see Oliver. He and Mr. Lee were now on a first-name-basis and he was always praying for Oliver. Seeing Oliver was the highlight of his month, but when he got to Hokem Manor, Oliver wasn’t there.
Darrel waited until everyone was wheeled into the service and then he asked one of the nurses about Mr. Lee. “Oh,” the nurse said, “Follow me.” And she took him to room 27. Now Darrel had never seen anyone die before but he knew when he saw Mr. Lee that Oliver was near the end.
Darrel began to weep. He sat down and took both of Oliver’s hands and he prayed and he said, “I love you.” And he stayed that way the longest time until one of the youth leaders came in and said, “Darrel, we really have to go.” Darrel said one more quick prayer and then he said those familiar words, “I have to go now, but Jesus loves you and I love you.” Oliver had been unresponsive the entire time, but as soon as Darrel said those words, Darrel felt Mr. Lee squeeze his hand. And then he let go.
Darrel lost it. He began to back out of the room when he bumped into a teenage girl. Darrel said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were here.” The girl said, “Before you go, I want you to know that I am his granddaughter and I wanted to meet you.” “Meet me?” Darrel said. “Yes, when we came last night the doctor said granddad wouldn’t talk any more but last night he sat up and said so clearly, ‘Julie, tell Jesus goodbye for me.’ And then he lay down. I said, ‘Grandpa, you’re going to be with Jesus, you can tell Him yourself!’ And he opened his eyes and he looked at me with this funny smile and he told me, ‘Tell Jesus when he comes next Sunday that I am gone. I just don’t want him to miss me.’ He hasn’t said a thing since.”
Then she said, “You know, I never envisioned Jesus quite as chubby and bald as you, but I think Jesus would be happy to be mistaken for you” and then she hugged him.
Here is what I want you to think about today as we close. Darrel almost missed out on what would be one of the most treasured, priceless, joyful, meaningful moments in his life if he had done what he wanted to do, rather than doing what God wanted him to do. If Darrel had had his way, his fear and his desire to stay in his comfort zone would have prevented him being Jesus to Oliver. What a tragedy that would have been! When you lose your life you find it! When you trust God and surrender your will to His, life becomes something so much better.
When you follow the GPS: God’s call to Purposely Surrender to His will, there will be times when you might not want to listen, but resist that temptation.
Follow God. Trust God’s directions. Surrender to His purpose and you will find yourself travelling into unknown territory that is guaranteed to take you on the most wonderful of life’s adventures.
What point-of-interest have you have been avoiding? What sacrifice have you failed to make? Maybe you have thought to yourself: “So and so is better at doing that! I’ll leave it to them.” Maybe you just aren’t comfortable handing over control. Maybe you are saying, “Someday soon”? The thing is that God wants to lead you into the unknown right now. He wants you to put Him first right now. He wants to prove to you that sacrificing for Him is really so much better than living for yourself.
Are you willing to listen to His direction and head out on an adventure? Oh the things you can see and do if you would just trust and obey.
