“Leaning on the Word”

Scripture: Matthew 4:1-11

Today’s text is about Satan’s temptations against Jesus, which, of course, is Satan’s task. Since the beginning of time, that is what Satan does. Eve was tempted, and fell for the devil’s lies, and that was the beginning of humanity’s downfall. We weren’t created to fail, but we were created to make choices! And as Jesus told us, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak!” (Matthew 26:40-41) Unfortunately, this life isn’t about our “good intentions”, our good spirit – it’s about trusting the Lord in “good faith”.

We will be considering how Jesus withstood Satan’s attempts to draw even him away from the Father’s will. Interestingly, Jewish tradition makes no reference to Messiah’s being tempted. But this exchange between the Son of God and the Source of Evil raises a question for us.
As Satan most certainly knows that Jesus is the Son of the Most High God (Mark 5:6-8 (1-20)), why would he even attempt to persuade the Christ to fail in faith? Was he so arrogant and conceited that he thought that he could defeat even the Lord? Or perhaps he thought that Jesus’ “flesh” was as weak as ours is! But he would soon discover that Jesus was perfectly strong in the Father - that he couldn’t be torn away, that he knew all the tricks that cause us to fail, and he stood strong in Who and Why he is.

So how did Jesus withstand the onslaught from evil? And what can we learn from his victory?

Read Matthew 4:1-4

Matthew’s Gospel is, for the most part, about conflict – the conflict that exists between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of earth. Joseph is conflicted regarding Mary’s unusual pregnancy, until the angel relieves his confusion. John the Baptist was reluctant to baptize Jesus, until the Lord told him that this was necessary to fulfill “all righteousness”. And now, as Jesus leaves the Jordan, the Spirit leads him into the wilderness to fast and experience temptation.
It would be, I believe, a time of strengthening for Jesus. His ministry would be made difficult by the disbelief of the Pharisees and scribes. Even his own disciples would try his patience at times, with their doubts and confusion and personal struggles. So it shouldn’t be surprising that this was a time of preparation for Jesus before he stepped into ministry to the world and offered them God’s word for their lives.

Jesus could have avoided this trying time, but he never shied away from conflict – not at the beginning, and not at the conclusion. This time is reminiscent of Israel’s journey out of Egypt, passing through the waters, and into the desert of “40”. Jesus’ time of temptation would came at the end of his 40 day fast, and while he had been strengthened and prepared spiritually for the task that lay ahead, he was also humanly hungry.

Satan attacks the humanity of Jesus, even though he recognizes the divine authority that the Lord has been given. Jesus could certainly change the stones into bread – after all he fed thousands of people from just 5 small loaves and 2 small fish! (Matthew 14:13-21) So it isn’t a matter of whether Jesus can do this thing or not – the point is where does our true sustenance come from! Is it from God, or is it from the things of earth? Satan wants the Lord to focus on his human condition, while Jesus is committed to keeping his spiritual condition first.

So what would Jesus have us learn from this? It is that throughout this life, we will experience suffering in an earthly style – we will be hungry, we will be lost and alone, we will be wounded and will feel pain, at times, we will feel like strangers to those around us, and we will certainly feel trapped and imprisoned in the life we lead. (Matthew 25:34-46) These human and earthly struggles may even last a while, but if we “feed on Christ”, if we look for nourishment of a spiritual nature, life will be fed for eternity. We need to satisfy our human needs, certainly, but we also must “.. feed on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Deuteronomy 8:1-3) And that is what must come first.

Read Matthew 4:5-7

Again, Satan plays on the human side of Jesus, or at least tries to. He knew that the words Jesus would offer to the world would be challenged and denied, so he tells the Christ to prove to the world that he is, indeed, the Son of the Most High God. After all, if the people could see the angels protecting the Lord, they just might put more trust in the words he will speak, and more people might be saved.

But Satan takes the reference to scripture out of context – he conveniently leaves out the first few verses from this reference to Psalm 91:9-13. The context is that if we live this life within the Lord’s way, we will be delivered from the sentence that evil brings and will live, protected and safe, in eternity with Him.

So the Lord resists this temptation, essentially, by responding that this isn’t the way that the Father wants it to go – that humanity must come to him, not because of the things he does, but by their desire to live the message of righteousness and eternal salvation that he brings to them. For Jesus, it must be God’s way, not the earth’s way.

It’s true that on several occasion, Jesus will offer his disciples more insight into his Godly nature than he does to the people in general, but even at that, they continue to struggle in faith until after Jesus’ resurrection occurs. (Matthew 14:22-33)

What is our lesson in this? The proof that Jesus is who he says he is isn’t given as the world would like it. We would all be far more comfortable if we were shown visible and physical proof. But it isn’t - it is given by the word of God. And the protection that comes to us is one that leads to life eternal, and not just to a comfortable life in a human sense.

Don’t put Almighty God to the test – instead, trust him and his ways!

Read Matthew 4:8-11

The third temptation is about authority. But Jesus life in the flesh is all about humility, and not a demonstration of authoritative might. Satan is trying to get Jesus to put himself first above humanity’s needs – to consider his own comfort instead of our salvation. The Lord is being offered absolute authority over the entire earth – he would be more powerful and more respected than any Roman emperor or any king that had ever lived or ever would. And all he had to do was surrender his eternal Kingship, his worship of God, and to place his life in Satan’s hands instead.

And he turns to scripture once again, and quotes a line from the Shema – Deuteronomy 6:4-15. Love God, serve God, fear God, worship God, and turn away from every other god that comes from the world, for their way will only lead to destruction.

If Jesus had accepted this offer, he could have avoided the pain and humiliation of the cross, but in doing so, he would have destroyed the relationship that he had in God, and would have given himself over to annihilation and eternal death. And if we give ourselves over to the heartless ways of the world, we, too, will lose out on all that God has put in place for our eternity.

And Satan leaves, planning to return at a later time.

The devil tries to trick us, just as he did with Jesus. He causes us to doubt the incredible and endless love of Almighty God. He tells us that we can ignore certain difficult and undesirable commandments in scripture, just as he perverted the word of God in the Garden of Eden and every day since then. He offers us immediate gratification in this life, in exchange for the blessings that faith in Christ will bring in the days to come. He lies to us, he tells us that there is plenty of time left, he makes us hesitate, he makes us procrastinate, and he convinces us that we should never trust in something that we can’t see.
Why would this “fallen angel” do this? What will he gain? Simply this - to bring hurt and harm to the God whom he refuses to honor. He couldn’t care less about us – he only wants to draw us away from our God.

But if we immerse ourselves in the word of God, if we place our hope and trust in all that he has given us, if we give our love and allegiance to Christ and Christ alone, then Satan will also leave us and will take his lies with him – at least for a while, until we find ourselves in a vulnerable situation once again. And that is the very time that we need the word of God to sustain us, the time when we need a relationship with Jesus to pull us through, the time when we need to be yoked with Christ. (Matthew 11:28-30)

Will you let him carry the heaviest part of your load today? Will you accept the incredible life that he offers you, by faith in him, today?