4/3/01 6 p.m. Luke 4:1-13 Lent 1 ( Romans10:8b-13)
4 1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread." 4 Jesus answered, "It is written: `Man does not live on bread alone.’" 5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 So if you worship me, it will all be yours." 8 Jesus answered, "It is written: `Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’" 9 The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here. 10 For it is written: " `He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; 11 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’" 12 Jesus answered, "It says: `Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’" 13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
PRAY
Jesus had just been baptized by John and anointed with the Holy Spirit. This was the start of Jesus’ public ministry and the confirmation that he is God’s Son and the Messiah. We now come to the temptation of Jesus.
1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.
Why did God the Holy Spirit lead Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the devil ?
There are two factors to be born in mind here.
The people of Israel were supposed to be holy and to demonstrate the love of God to the world. They failed. One of the places that they failed was in the desert after they had been led out of Egypt by Moses. They were tested there for forty years and only two Israelites passed that test and entered the Promised Land.
So Jesus was led into the desert because it was a place of testing, and to show how it should be done in comparison to the Israelites.
Secondly, God does not send temptation or testing times but he does use them to build up our trust in him, and/or to see where our allegiance truly is. Job is an Old Testament example of this. Here the hostility of the devil to Jesus’ ministry is used by God to show not only who Jesus is, but also the kind of ministry that he had come to fulfil.
We should also be aware that temptation is not itself a sin. Giving in is. So we shouldn’t be discouraged when we face temptation but be determined to continue resisting it. The reformer Martin Luther once said, ’ I can’t stop the birds flying over my head, but I can stop them from nesting in my hair.’
He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
The people of Israel were in the desert for 40 years. Jesus was there for 40 days. We are now into Lent, a forty day period of reflection and self-denial in preparation for Easter. Jesus gave up food for 40 days before we have this climax of the testing by the devil recorded in verses 3 to 12. Jesus would have been tested by the devil for all of the 40 days, it’s just that we only have the record of the last 3 tests that he put to Jesus. Jesus would have been physically very weak after 40 days without food, and was probably spiritually battered after the devils attacks.
When we think of this we realize that the deprivations that we may take up for Lent, such as giving up chocolate or alcohol, are small in comparison. Jesus temptations were greater than ours. We give in too easily. Once you have given in once it is easier to give in on subsequent occasions.
Imagine your football team is near the bottom of their league. They face relegation for the second year running. They could for the first time in their history decide to bribe a referee or the opposing goalkeeper. It is a momentous step, but they win as a result of their bribe and are not detected. The next time it is easier, and more so the next time until they are out of the relegation zone...
3 The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread."
The devil precedes each of his temptations with the words ’If you are the Son of God...’ He is not really questioning whether Jesus is really God’s Son. He is actually trying to goad Jesus to act independently of God the Father.
Here he goads Jesus to satisfy his own immediate, physical needs with a miracle rather than trusting in God’s provision. Jesus quotes part of Deuteronomy 8:3 to illustrate this. 4 Jesus answered, "It is written: `Man does not live on bread alone.’"
Jesus quotes from the Old Testament to show that God will provide everything that his people need.
The context of the verse is Deuteronomy 8: 2 Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. 4 Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.
We saw earlier how all but two of the Israelites failed to trust God in the wilderness. Trusting God has to be the priority. This is why it is so important for us to know our Bible, because it is through knowing the Bible that we know God’s ways and we can resist the attacks of the devil.
Here, concern for Jesus’ own material comfort could jeopardize his unquestioning obedience to God’s plan. Jesus had both the power and the right to satisfy his own needs, yet this is inconsistent with his mission. Jesus life and mission involved him giving up the glory of heaven and living a life that involved humiliation and self-sacrifice. Rather than looking to his own personal needs and rights Jesus was more concerned with loving God and loving other people. This was all part of God’s plan for the salvation of the world.
The people of Israel sinned by grumbling against God when they were hungry in the desert. Jesus patiently waited for God to provide for his own needs.
5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 So if you worship me, it will all be yours." 8 Jesus answered, "It is written: `Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’"
The devil dominates the world, although it is not rightfully his. Jesus contests that domination. The devil offers to Jesus what appears to be an easy option, yet the consequences would be disastrous. Disastrous for Jesus’ relationship with God the Father. Disastrous for the salvation of the world whom Jesus had come to save. For if Jesus had accepted the offer of Satan, the word used here by Jesus for the first time means ’enemy’, this would have been a sin. Therefore. Jesus would have been unable to offer himself as a sinless substitute for us on the cross.
In contrast to Jesus the Israelites consistently followed other foreign gods. This brought judgment and shame on them.
As Christian today we need to beware that we do not look to other gods to provide for our physical needs and safety at the expense of our worship and service of the one and only God.
We need to remind ourselves that through his selfless life, death, and resurrection Jesus has shown that he is the true King. One day he will return to claim everything and to banish Satan for ever.
9 The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here. 10 For it is written: " `He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; 11 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’" 12 Jesus answered, "It says: `Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’"
The first test was about the provision of physical need. The second is about worshipping. This is about the provision of physical safety.
Seeing that Jesus used Scripture to answer the other tests the devil quotes, or rather misquotes Scripture. This shows that we should not automatically believe someone who quotes the Bible but test what they say. Test it by comparing it with other Scriptures. Test it by using our common sense.
Whilst the Bible does say that God will provide for us and protect us, it does not mean that we force God’s hand by creating an artificial crisis, such as throwing ourselves off a tall building.
Illustrate man marooned on a sand island by the incoming tide. He refused the offer of help from a passing boat and helicopter by saying that he knew God would save him. He drowned. Went to heaven asked God why he didn’t save him. God said ’I sent you a boat and a helicopter, what more did you want ? ’
Or, to use our church situation... We can pray for God to provide us with enough money to meet our needs, and to provide people to serve him on the P.C.C., Deanery Synod, as Churchwardens etc. But if we are not prepared to give our own time, effort and money why should we test God in this way ?
In Exodus 17 the Israelites put God to the test by demanding water rather than relying on his provision in His time.
13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
This was not the end of the temptations that Jesus had to endure. The devil continued his testing throughout Jesus’ ministry. One example of this is in Mark 8:31 "He ( Jesus ) then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
Peter had just confessed that Jesus was the Christ ( verse 29 ). Jesus might have been euphoric that the penny had started to drop, but instead he tells them what kind of Messiah he was going to be. Peter is transformed in seconds from saying words that are from God ( ’You are the Christ’ ), to words that are from Satan, intended to deflect Jesus from his mission.
Jesus establishes a pattern of obedience at the start of his public ministry that he was to continue to the cross. Even on the cross he was tested to misuse his power for his own comfort. Matthew 27:39f ’Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads 40 and saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!" ’
Already we see a picture of Jesus. The one who will follow God’s way. A way that will involve him in rejection suffering and self-sacrifice.
To conclude ;
His obedience led to our salvation. If Jesus had not resisted the devil’s temptations throughout all of his life he would not have been able to offer himself as a perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world on the cross.
The fact that Jesus went through temptation means that he can sympathise with us and help us when we are tempted. Hebrew 4: 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin. 16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
The way that Jesus met temptation with Scripture shows how we should fight temptation.
The way that God met Jesus’ needs shows that we can trust God. 1 Cor. 10:13 : ’No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. ’
Let us, therefore, thank God for Jesus and his obedience that led to our salvation. Let us thank God that Jesus can sympathise with our temptations, and that God will help us when we are tempted so that we need not be defeated by it. Indeed, it could lead to us growing in our trust in him who alone is to be trusted and served.
PRAY
