Matthew 4:1-11 The Message (The Test)
4 1-3 Next Jesus was taken into the wild by the Spirit for the Test. The Devil was ready to give it. Jesus prepared for the Test by fasting forty days and forty nights. That left him, of course, in a state of extreme hunger, which the Devil took advantage of in the first test: “Since you are God’s Son, speak the word that will turn these stones into loaves of bread.”
4 Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy: “It takes more than bread to stay alive. It takes a steady stream of words from God’s mouth.”
Sermon: We’re on a journey. That’s how we describe the season of Lent. The Lenten Journey. The very concept implies at least two things: one, that we are moving. This isn’t a static, sit-and-contemplate event. We often think of Lent as a time of consideration, self-reflection, and introspection.
This journey isn’t random wandering in the wilderness, even though it often feels that way. We are on a path; we are moving toward the cross. That’s our destination. The culmination of our Lenten journey is not Easter Sunrise, as much as we wish it were. No, Easter is something completely different. Yes, We are going to the politically unjust evil motivated Cross.
1st Lent is a Journey through Hardships!
Lent is all about Hardship. Lent is also about struggling and fighting for the right to be who God has created you.
Is hardship not also the Black experience in America? Even in the Year 2023:
• Black Americans are less likely than other groups to feel confident about being treated respectfully in interactions with police in their area.
• One in four Black workers reported experiences of discrimination at their jobs in the past 12 months.
• A more recent survey, which asked respondents about their experiences in the past 30 days, found that more than a third of Black Americans had experienced unfair treatment in a store while shopping.
• More than one in five reported similar experiences in restaurants, bars, theaters, or other entertainment places.
• Black Americans are also less likely to report having leaders of their race or ethnicity at work. (GALLUP PANEL, MAY 18-23, 2021)
Yes, the Hardship is real, and they come before Easter. They are what I would call pre-resurrection issues. Today we still have to deal with Problems of Death, Poverty, and Violations as we Journey.
2nd The Devil is Always Ready
You can miss this; the devil is always ready to attack God's people. Though the Devil may attack at any time, he will always do it when he thinks it is to his advantage. We see this method, time and time again, in the Scriptures.
(a) We find that Jesus was attacked by Satan right after His baptism. This should teach us a lesson. After a great spiritual experience, we should be ready for spiritual attacks from the enemy.
(b) Satan also will attack when someone is beginning a new spiritual quest. Right after Jesus was attacked by the Devil, He began His public ministry.
(c) We also find Satan coming when believers are in a weak position - either physically or emotionally. Jesus was attacked after He had fasted for forty days.
This is also important for Black America because this is also when the Enemy attacks the church. When the Black church is coming out of a Spiritual experience, Like COVID-19, the Devil will tell you the church doesn’t need you, and you don’t need to get out and vote; they don’t need you to come out for that School program.
Yes, the Enemy attacks when the Church and the Black Community are trying to do something new and different than when the Devil when come directly at you. The Devil is fine with how you used to do church nobody got saved anyway but don’t let us start changing revival, and community Activists start changing politics, as usual; that’s when the devil will get at you.
Yes, and the Enemy will also come at you when you are weak; when you come out of your power position that’s when the devil will try his best to claim your glory. The devil never hunts the strong. They come out of you when you are down and out and without and can’t see the end; that’s when satin just right in.
3rd Be careful to grow the Inside Man
You have the learn to look for the inside man. The Book and later the Black Movie The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1969), by Sam Greenlee, is the fictional story of Dan Freeman, the first black CIA officer, and of the CIA's history of training persons and political groups who later used their specialized training in gathering intelligence, political subversion, and guerrilla warfare against the CIA. After his shaft mistreatment, This first Black Officer begins to train others to take down the organization from the inside.
This is also a lesson for Black America because sometimes you need to fight from the outside, But at other times you take on the hardship of going through the wilderness to fight the enemy face to face.
? Can I tell you about living on the inside out? Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune Live that way. The 19th Amendment, ratified in August 1920, paved the way for American women to vote. Still, the educator and activist Mary McLeod Bethune knew the work had only begun: The amendment alone would not guarantee political power to black women. Thanks to Bethune’s work that year to register and mobilize black voters in her hometown of Daytona, Florida, new black voters soon outnumbered new white voters in the city. But a reign of terror followed.
? That fall, the Ku Klux Klan marched on Bethune’s boarding school for black girls; two years later, ahead of the 1922 elections, the Klan paid another threatening visit, as over 100 robed figures carrying banners emblazoned with the words “white supremacy” marched on the school in retaliation against Bethune’s continued efforts to get black women to the polls.
? Informed of the incoming nightriders, Bethune took charge: “Get the students into the dormitory,” she told the teachers, “get them into bed, do not share what is happening right now.” The students safely tucked in, Bethune directed her faculty: “The Ku Klux Klan is marching on our campus, and they intend to burn some buildings.”
? The faculty fanned out across the campus; Bethune stood in the center of the quadrangle and held her head high as the parade entered the campus by one entrance—and promptly exited by another.
? The Klansmen were on campus for just a few minutes.
? Perhaps they knew an armed cadre of local black men had decided to lie in wait nearby, ready to fight back if the Klansmen turned violent.
? Perhaps they assumed the sight of a procession would be enough to keep black citizens from voting.
? If nightriders thought they could frighten Bethune, they were wrong: That week, she showed up at the Daytona polls and over 100 other black citizens who had come out to vote.
? That summer, pro-Jim Crow Democratic candidates swept the state, dashing the hopes of black voters who had battled to win a modicum of political influence.
Yet Bethune’s unshakable devotion to equality, her living inside out, would eventually outlast the mobs that stood in her way.
Jesus Shows us that We should be well aware of the various ways Satan works. He attacks believers when he thinks it will be to his advantage. This includes the time after a great spiritual experience or right before someone is going to begin a new spiritual venture.
He also attacks when believers are vulnerable either physically and/or mentally.
Satan also likes to attack believers when they are alone. Christians, therefore, must always be on guard.
Remember We Are Victorious
Though Satan does attack and sometimes entices believers to fall into sin, ultimately we are victorious through the power of our History and Christ. This is the promise of God! That Man/Woman can live by every Word of Jesus.
