Focus: Trials
Function: To help people see the purpose in trials
Form: Bible study
Intro:
For the fun of it, I have a test for you. I am using a huge amount of cross reference scriptures this morning. So, if you can, see if you can count how many scriptures other than the ones in Matthew 4:1-11 that I referenced during this sermon.
This is the beginning of Jesus trials and temptations.
There is a lot to be preached on in this passage. The story is filled with several meaning for several different occasions.
So today, I am going to share what God is leading me to at this time.
This first thing I want us to notice is that Matthew tells the story of Jesus' temptation as part of the story of Jesus' baptism.
There were no chapters and verses placed in the text when it was first written.
So the break between Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 is merely a convenience. 1
That is why verse 1 states “then.”
Immediately after Baptism there is a trial, a testing.
It is actually a fairly common thing in the lives of believers.
It is probably there that Satan tries his hardest to distract a new believer from his or her faith.
I remember a tragedy happened to a young man and he was killed. The family had no church home. Someone who knew someone else who knew me asked me to help out.
Soon after the funeral, the young man's wife, mother, father, cousin and cousin's in-laws started attending pretty regular.
The wife, the cousin, and her in-laws were all baptized.
I was amazed, it was like the whole family came to the Lord.
But then the cousins in-laws bought a camper and after a summer camping, didn't come back.
That time of testing occurred. And they didn't do as well as Jesus.
We can expect trials and tribulations in our faith.
Even Jesus went through this massive trial.
The second thing, in the introduction is that Jesus is lead by God into the dessert to be tempted by the Devil.
God permitted this as a necessary part of His preparation.
I don't understand all the theology behind this. Did God use the Devil? James 1:13 2 states that God doesn't use evil, but we do know He permits it.
And we learn this, as powerful as evil can become, God is still greater.
And the most important part about the introduction to this is what happens to Jesus physically.
Jesus fasted for 40 days in the desert before the test. Jesus needed spiritual strength.
We learn that in order to become strong spiritually, Jesus became weak physically.
What does that mean?
It means this: The battles that we have belong to God, not ourselves. Success isn't up to us. When we are the weakest, God is the strongest. (2 Corinthians 12:10-11) 3
Remember we keep talking about an upside down kingdom?
We keep talking about how God does things backwards compared to human plans.
God works well with those who are not the strong and powerful.
For example, Jesus said: Powerful people exercise their authority and lord their power over others, but the greatest among us is to become the servant of all. (Luke 22:25-26) 4
Having said that, let us look at the 3 tests:
1st test, vs 3,4. Starting in verse 2, Jesus was hungry. I imagine that if one hasn't eaten for 40 days, Hungry doesn't begin to describe it.
The devil says: “If you are the son of God...”
And the answer to the test comes from this: Man lives by Spiritual things, the Word of God.
Here is the question in the test: Where is the source of our life? Is it in physical things, or is it in Spiritual things?
We live in a materialistic society. It seems as if the more stuff we have, the better our lives are. As Christians, we reject this concept, but it still underlies how we live in many ways. The concept: “The person who dies with the most toys wins.”
We know better in our minds, but we are constantly bombarded with the idea that in order to be happy, we need more. In order to be secure, we need more. In order to be loved, we need more. In order to be respected, we need more.
And Jesus answers with a completely different perspective. Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from God.
Jesus tells the devil. Life isn't things, it is a relationship with God. It is being part of His family.
Jesus is quoting Deuteronomy 8:3: 5 “I humbled you by making you hungry, and I fed you this strange food, Manna, in order that you may know that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”
Jesus has just experienced this physical substainance from the mouth of God.
At times, God certainly permits us to be hungry, in order to see if we will still trust in Him.
Are you hungry right now? Do you wonder if tomorrow God will provide the daily bread?
Trust in God.
2nd test: Prove yourself. “If you are the Son of God...” Vs 5-7. Jesus is taken to the top of the Temple building, a tall structure and the Devil wants Him to throw Himself off the building, trust God to have angels catch Him and this prove that He is the Son of God.
Here is the problem: for the Messiah to rest on signs and wonders is to doubt that God's way to glory through suffering is somehow flawed.
Remember Jesus is suffering in the wilderness as a test from God. Hebrews 5:8 6 states that Jesus learned obedience through the things He suffered.
Why did Jesus need to learn to obey?
I don't know. But we do know this: God's way to glory is through suffering.
So here is the question. I read this from Rev. Brian Findlayson:
Is the Lord's mission self-authenticating, or does it need promoting? Other than Christ, Moses was probably the greatest of the Lord's men, but even Moses felt the need to authenticate both God's plan and his place in it. The sign of water from the rock was his downfall. Jesus faced a similar test, but did not fail. (Numbers 20:10-12) 7
The need to authenticate the church is with us today, as it was all those years ago. There are those who look to miraculous signs and there are those who look to a more subtle authentication - large successful congregations, social justice, spirituality, relevance..... We put the Lord to the test when we forget that his program is self-authenticating.
Ouch.
I used to think it was miraculous signs that would authenticate the church.
But then, I saw those ministries on TV claiming to have faith and begging for more and more money and realized that wasn't it.
Then there is the gimmick of using fear and pointing out the sins of others that seems to build a church. Again, preachers garner a following by creating fear of Muslims, fear of people with different sexual orientations, fear of other races, fear of other economic classes, fear of undocumented residents... And I see that in all of that fear, there is little faith, and more importantly, there is little mercy. I can't picture Jesus making us afraid of others.
I saw and thought, we need to do the opposite in order to be honest.
So for me, social justice, genuine spirituality, and relevance are my mechanisms for authenticating the church.
And Brother Brian says that this too, can be a gimmick.
Here is the thing that was brought out in this test of Jesus by Satan. The Kingdom of God is self-authenticating. It doesn't need tricks or devices to prove it. In this temptation, Jesus is tempted with doing something to prove Himself and if He had, then God would not be the one who gets the glory for His success.
So Jesus answers the Devil simply this: Don't put God to the test. I have nothing to prove to you, Devil. I will trust God to do it in His time.
3rd Test, the easy way out.
Verses 8-10. The Devil shows Him all the kingdoms of the World and offers them to Jesus for the easy task of bowing down to Satan.
This test, after the 40 days of preparation, in the desert, is just the beginning of Jesus' trials. Trials and temptations are the proving ground of life.
Jesus knows what is in store for Him. He knows that He will come to His own race, the Jewish people, the people of God, and they will reject Him. (John 1:11) 8
He knows that His childhood friend and cousin, John the Baptist, the man who has just baptized Him will be killed. He knows that in the grief of the moment, as He goes alone to pray, the crowd will follow Him still and He will not get the personal time He needs. (Matthew 14:11-13) 10
He knows the persecution against Him will get progressively worse.
He knows that He will be run out of town. He knows that on more than one occasion, He will have to supernaturally pass through an angry mob that is intent on killing Him. (Luke 4:29) 11
He knows that eventually He is going to a Roman cross to suffer and die.
So, when Satan offers all this to Jesus, Jesus knows what it will cost Him personally to inherit these Kingdoms.
The snake in the Dessert offers it to Him almost free of charge. Just bow down to me and I will make it easy for you.
Jesus fasted 40 days, the Israelites spent 40 years in the desert.
They too were tempted. And when Moses was on the mountain for 40 days, the people blew the same test that Jesus just passed.
Although they saw the 10 plagues against Egypt, although their children didn't die in the last plague, although they saw the Red Sea first open up for them, and then swallow the Egyptian army, although they had this pillar for fire and smoke still with them, in 40 days time, they gave up on Moses and asked Aaron to make an golden calf idol for them. (The beginning of the book of Exodus) 12
Aaron gave into their demands. They convinced Aaron to build a golden calf, the symbol of the nation that they just got free from and they choose to worship it. (Exodus 32:1-5)
There was this time when God didn't seem close to them, and quickly they abandoned Him for something else.
Have you had those times? Have you had times when it seems that it would just be easier to do it your way than to trust God?
Job suffered terribly. His wife, who lost her children, who lost her wealth, who lost her security, who lost her prestige, standing by her husband who is covered with sores looks at him and says “Curse God and die.” (Job 2:9) 13
She failed the test that Job succeeded in.
It happens to us as well. The young woman who gives in too much thinking that is the only way to keep the boy she loves. The man who fudges numbers on his income tax thinking that God cannot provide. The person who is wronged and takes revenge into their own hands. All of these are the easy way out.
Jesus is offered the same temptation, the temptation to take the easy way out and resists it, even though it cost Him a terrible painful death on the cross.
I wonder if this wilderness experience, this victory here. This victory won in human frailty after 40 days without food did indeed provide Jesus with the spiritual strength to endure the cross.
But here is the thing, we are not Jesus.
Job's wife failed the test, but she gave birth to 10 more children and Job's wealth and fame made it all the way into the bible. (Job 42:10-15) 14
Moses got mad and decided to prove himself by striking a rock for water to come out of it. The miracle happened, but because of that, he wasn't able to enter the promised land. (Numbers 20:10-12) doesn't count because it has already been used
However, as we saw last week, even though he failed, he was chosen to appear in a dazzling white aura with Elijah and Jesus in the transfiguration. (Matthew 17:3) 15
CONCL:
Jesus won the victory because we cannot. 1) But understand that the spiritual is indeed more important than the physical, 2). God's plan does prove itself in the end and we need to trust God to make it happen and 3). taking the easy way out prolongs our troubles, it never reduces them.
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