Many things come to mind when we think
of temptation. Often times we think of it as something we think to
be really, really good that we shouldn’t have because in actuality
it is not good for us; things like desserts or that third drink or a
voluptuous cartoon redhead from “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” A
temptation is something we think we can resist if we have enough will
power. The short of the long here is that we tend to be very stuff
oriented when it comes to temptation and usually the stuff is very
meaningless in the long run unless it is an addiction and in that
case we are not dealing with temptation but rather an illness of the
mind. Yet, when we look at temptation as far as the Bible is
concerned it is a matter of faith and character. Temptation tests us
to place our faith in something other than the Trinity and it tests
to see if we are of godly character. Temptation quite persuasively
asks us to put aside our self-identity as children of God and simply
serve ourselves with our God-given giftedness for our own benefit
rather than for serving faithfully. Such was the temptation Jesus
faced. Jesus being the Son of God Satan tempted him to use his
authority as such to serve himself rather than God the Father.
Matthew writes that the Spirit, the
Holy Spirit, led Jesus out into the wilderness to be tempted by the
devil. This happened immediately after his baptism in which Jesus
identified himself as a sinner just as we are sinners. We don’t
often like to think of Jesus as being a fallen human being just as we
are. But that is precisely what he was. He was able to sin. He was
able to turn his back on God, to serve himself as his own God, but he
did not. He rather kept himself rightly related to God the Father
all his life and this was only possible because he was himself God
the Son. Satan’s temptations of Jesus were a rather wicked effort
to get him to subject his divinity (his relationship to the Father in
the Holy Spirit) to his fallen human nature. They were indeed a test
of his character and faith. The first two temptations begin with
Satan trying to get Jesus to prove who he is and in so doing prove
his character. Is he godly or is he fallen? Satan states, “If you
are the Son of God, then turn these stones to bread.” And next,
“If you are the Son of God, then through yourself down” for
Scripture says the angels will protect you. The third temptation is
for Jesus to worship something other than his heavenly Father. All
of these temptations tempt Jesus to use his Son of God nature and
power in a way that is out of line with faith/faithfulness.
The first temptation begins with Jesus
having been out in the wilderness fasting for forty days and forty
nights. That incidentally was how long Noah was on the ark. The
Israelites wandered in the wilderness two periods of forty years.
Forty is a significant number and it symbolizes a period of truly
coming to rely on God. Having been fasting that long, Jesus was now
hungry. Satan comes to Jesus in that weakness and tempts him to turn
stones into bread which as God the Son he could do. Jesus responded
by quoting Scripture. This is significant for when we look at what
is at the heart of Jesus’ character we find a singular and deep
foundation of Scripture. Jesus says, “Man does not live by bread
alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” This
reply is deeper than it appears. Its intent is not simply to say
that life is more than food. Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 8:3 which is
at the beginning of a section where Moses was reminding the
Israelites of how God took care of them in the wilderness while
leading them to a land that was very fruitful. God’s purposes and
the way he disciplines us to mould our character with faith far
surpasses a momentary need for food. God will provide when it is
time. It forms our character to wait and rely on the fact that we
are beloved children of God.
Next Satan takes Jesus to the highest
part of the temple and tells Jesus to throw himself down for if he is
the Son of God, the angels will protect him. Satan also quotes some
Scripture to Jesus, Psalm 91:11-12. Psalm 91 is a rather beautiful
lyric stating that God will protect those who love and trust him.
Jesus’ refusal to turn the stones to bread and rather trust his
Father and wait on his provision put Jesus squarely in the camp of
those who love and trust the Lord. Yet, Satan misuses this passage
asking Jesus to be reckless with his status as the beloved of God and
take advantage of the fact that God protects those who love and trust
him. Jesus responds, “It is also written, ‘Do not put the Lord
your God to the test.’” We do will not to put God's love and
protection to the test by stepping out on broken limbs just to prove
it.
Jesus is there quoting from
Deuteronomy 6:16 which is in a section where Moses starts by stating
that the LORD is giving them a land. Therefore, “Hear, O Israel,
The LORD is your God, the LORD alone. Love the LORD with all your
heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” It goes
on to say that the way the Israelites were to obey and love the LORD
was to keep all the commandments, study them and discuss them with
their children and when they get into the land where they are going
to have things really good, they are not to forget the LORD and
worship other gods for that is what it is to put the LORD to the test
as they did at a place called Massah in the Wilderness when they
complained to Moses about the LORD for they had no water and wanted
to return to Egypt and the Egyptian gods.
This second temptation asked Jesus to
do something to prove that God is his Father for if he is God’s Son
then the Father would love him especially and certainly would not let
any harm come upon him. It’s like saying “God if you love me,
then do this for me for you have promised that you will do thus and
such for those who love you.” If Jesus had to test the Father’s
love to prove the Father's love, then Jesus’ was stepping outside
of his role of simply loving his Father with all his heart, soul, and
strength. We've no need to prove the love of God in this world of
doubt. We need only love him him back. We need only to develop our
relationship with him and be faithful. He'll prove himself in his
own time and his own way.
The final temptation is an icky one.
Satan shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and claims he can
give them to Jesus if Jesus will only fall down and worship him. You
may not realize it but with this temptation Satan is making the
ridiculous claim that he is God. One thing you notice in the Bible
is that it is God who establishes kingdoms and sets up kings. At no
point does Satan have that authority. Rather, what God establishes
Satan works to corrupt. Jesus calls his bluff, "Be
gone, Satan! For it is written, “You shall worship the Lord your
God and him only shall you serve.” Once again Jesus quotes from
Deuteronomy 6. It is because he loves his father with all his heart,
soul, and strength that he can see the ridiculousness of all of these
temptations, that Satan is asking him to prove who he is as the Son
of God and the Father's love for him for his own benefit.
Well, to close, looking back through
these temptations and they are all obviously ridiculous in nature
what is obvious is that at the center of Jesus’ character are the
characteristics of a profound faith in the Father and a profound love
for him rooted in a profound knowledge of Scripture. All three of
the temptations have in common that they ask Jesus to prove himself
by using his gifted abilities to serve something other than the
Father whether it be his own fallen nature or Satan himself as a
false god. So what does this mean for us? Well, we live in this
tension everyday torn between our faith in and our love for God and
using our gifted abilities to serve ourselves or some other false
god. To Jesus these temptations were ridiculously obvious, but to us
the temptations that we face are not so obvious. It does not come
natural for us to know when we are being asked to turn stones to
bread in an effort to feed ourselves rather than waiting on God to
provide or when we are testing God’s love for us or serving some
other false god. To us it may look like a promotion or a way to
upgrade ourselves and our lives and make things better for the family
and we can look around and say God has blessed me all the while not
asking how that promotion or upgrade might distract us from our
relationship with God.
Jesus gives us a subtle hint for
knowing when we are being tempted and how to resist by the Scriptures
he quotes: “Man does not live by bread alone but from every word
that comes from the mouth of God.” and “Hear, O Israel: The LORD
is our God, the LORD alone. You shall love the LORD your God with
all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And
these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You
shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them
when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when
you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on
your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You
shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
Faith comes as a free gift from God because he has chosen to get
himself involved with us, but we have responsibility to grow in it.
A prayerful and intense relationship with God steeped in knowing the
Scripture praying and meditating upon it is our life’s breath and
we need to fill our lives with them. Lent is a season where we
remove things that we think are temptations from our lives. Yet,
removal things is not enough. We need also to fill our lives with
godly things. God has given us the words of Scripture to help us.
Therefore read them, memorize them, discuss them with your families
and friends. Train your mind to meditate on them. The more we
imbibe and ingest Scripture, the more ridiculously obvious Satan and
his temptations will become, but more so the more we will hear God
clearly and know him more deeply. Apart from a sincere relationship
with God involving the Scriptures the God we know will only look like
ourselves. Satan will readily and easily twist that image. Amen.
