Thank You Jesus! - Matthew 4:1-11 - First Sunday in Lent

 

Matthew 4:1-11 NIV

4 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted^[a] by the devil. ² After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. ³ The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

⁴ Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’^[b]”

⁵ Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. ⁶ “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
    and they will lift you up in their hands,
    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’^[c]”

⁷ Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’^[d]”

⁸ Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. ⁹ “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

¹⁰ Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’^[e]”

¹¹ Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

Thank You Jesus!

Jesus, having just been baptized by John the Baptist, is now led by the Spirit into the wilderness. Here again, we can sense the Trinity. Jesus and the Holy Spirit and the Father are all in on this plan of salvation. Jesus is obedient and the Holy Spirit is leading into the plan of the Father.

Jesus is now going into the wilderness. The wilderness is that place that the Israelites would recognize as to their wandering about, once again led by Jesus, the Holy Spirit into the plan of the Father for 40 years. The wilderness, even in our own lives, becomes a place to test our faith. But this test, here for Jesus, will be like, yet far different from our own tests of faith in the wilderness. The wilderness will move us to receive the gift of faith, where, here with Jesus, the wilderness will prove His faith, in the leading of the Holy Spirit and the plan of the Father, to save His people, from sin and death.

So, what’s the deal with Satan? Well like with Adam and Eve, he wants to upset the apple cart and tease Jesus away from the Holy Spirit’s leading and guiding, and to spoil the plan of the Father to save His children. Satan seems to want all of this for himself and he has always been willing to lie his way into tricking humankind, now here Jesus, into getting his own way, to pull us into his deceptive traps to be his and his alone.

Jesus, while in the wilderness, and in preparation for the test to come, fasted 40 days. Forty days pops up all over the place in the Bible. Moses fasted on Mount Sinai for 40 days. Elijah fasted 40 days on his way to Mount Horeb which is probably the same as Mount Sinai. And then like I mentioned, the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. The number 40 pops up all over the place in the Bible. Check it out for yourself.

Anyway, as could be imagined, which I can’t on my own, think of fasting for 40 days; Jesus was hungry. I suppose He would be weak as well. Kind of at the bottom of any energy He may have. Jesus was human too, so He would experience the pain of hunger just like any of us would as well. But this physical weakness, does not transfer over into His spiritual weakness.

Fasting leads Jesus and us as well, closer to God. It makes us know that we depend on God to carry us through. For me, fasting for 40 days, seems unhealthy and I can’t draw myself to that point. I know I need God, and I’m sure Jesus knew God far better and closely than I ever would or could. He IS God! But the point still is the same, Jesus was depending fully on the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the plan of the Father, even in his human weakness.

So, Satan speaks. Reminds me of the serpent speaking to Eve. Speaking is his way of deceiving and telling fibs to draw us away from God. Sneaky guy that he is. And Satan knows that Jesus is hungry, so he not only speaks, he tempts Jesus. He tempts Jesus to lose trust in God. He tempts Jesus away from following the paths that God the Father has given to Him to follow. Satan attempts to draw on Jesus human need to defeat Jesus’ authority. Satan attempts to trick Jesus into satisfying His human hunger with a divine miracle by turning stone into bread, to satisfy hunger at the expense of spiritual needs.

And this is how Satan works on you and me as well. He uses our weakness to pull us away from God, to satisfy our human needs. We leave God to take care of ourselves. Well, God is the One that provides all that we would ever need in life. Remember, in the Lord’s Prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread?” God gives us our daily bread. And that daily bread is all that we would ever need. It’s a gift, not a rock turned into bread to feed our hunger, provided by Satan. We depend on God, not on a lie from Satan.

True life, goes way beyond what I or you need to fill our guts with. That relief from hunger is only temporary. As Jesus points out, our hunger is really fed from the Word of God. It seems Jesus is speaking of Himself here as well, for Jesus is THE Word made flesh. So, we need to think and fall into God’s grace beyond what is here and now and feed off of the REAL Bread of Life. So, do it. Go to the Words of the Bible, day after day, and seek Jesus. After all, the entire Bible has Jesus all over it. The Word is present right here with us. And in the Word of the Bible, Jesus seeks you out and teaches you and speaks to you, both personally and into the Church.

So, Satan takes Jesus, some way, somehow, to the top of the Temple. It’s like Satan is given permission to continue his tests and his lies. Think of the view from the top of the Temple in Jerusalem. I’ll bet they could see over and beyond the ravine of the Kidron Valley. They could see the Mount of Olives, where Jesus would later do so much praying to His Father. Maybe Jesus was able to look out and see the Garden of Gethsemane, knowing what was to come. Anyway, from the top of the Temple, I wonder if Jesus was buying into this lie of Satan to test God with saving Him from what was to come?

Jesus had no need to test the Father’s allegiance to Himself. This was just a ploy of Satan to drive some doubt into the mind of Jesus. Who’s kidding who here? Satan is testing Jesus both physical and spiritual identity of being God.

Jesus knows full well that this temptation is of Satan. Satan even tries to use God’s Word as a weapon. Nope! Not here! Not now!

And this is how we get drawn into the lies of Satan as well. He makes it sound so good. He uses the very words that we look to, for guidance, to ease us into his trap. And, at least for me, I know I fall into that trap from time to time. And that’s how I know that I need a Savior to pull me out of the hole I fell into. But, here, Jesus knows better than all of that.

So, Satan goes back to the Garden of Eden, with Jesus, in a way. If you are the Son of God. Remember how Satan tempted Eve and making her believe that God was withholding power by the restriction against eating from the tree in the middle of the garden? Remember how Satan told Eve that she could be like God, knowing good and evil?

Well, here Satan wants Jesus to prove that He is God by demonstrating in a fantastic way His very own power of death, by throwing himself down from the top of the Temple and being saved miraculously by angels of God. Like, make a scene before all the people below and they will see, for sure, that you, Jesus, are God! Does this sound familiar to the cries of the people as Jesus hung on the cross?

Knock it off, Satan! Jesus doesn’t need proof for you, that’s for sure, or for anyone else, as far as that goes. At first it sounds like a good idea. Show the world how great You are, Jesus. But why? Why does God need to prove Himself? Especially now?

And it’s here that Jesus throws Scripture, as well, in the face of Satan. Don’t test God. God does not need to prove Himself with miracles. God may and does give miracles, but it’s not to prove anything to us. What they do prove, is that God loves us and cares for us. God’s gifts are God’s gifts. That’s His choice to give.

Satan is persistent with tempting Jesus. Again, he takes Jesus away to, probably not a physical place, but rather to a type of symbolic place where they both could see all the kingdoms of the world. This type of thinking is very worldly. Worldly in the sense of bragging or a display of power, riches, glory, and authorities, of a kind that exhibit things that the rulers of this world would desire and crave. It’s kind of like; look Jesus all of this could be yours!

But the battles Jesus will fight go way beyond earthly battles. Jesus has a spiritual and eternal perspective in His fight that His ministry is leading Him in, by doing the plan of God the Father.

Next Satan tempts Jesus to abandon this plan of God the Father, to worship Satan and gain all the power needed over this earthly realm. Satan shows to Jesus that he has control over this world. Boy, can we see evidence of that, even today? What a mess! So, Satan bids Jesus to fall down and worship him instead of God. There’s something here that strikes me of Satan being so presumptuous to believe that this world is his to rule over in eternity. It’s kind of like an earthly ruler’s arrogance that all that he sees and has power over, belongs to himself. A ruler that thinks all the world should come to him for permission or something. Today’s rulers fail to realize that earthly power and riches is only temporary things as compared to the everlasting Kingdom of God. So, in my mind, it’s like, get off of your high horse, there’s more to this than just what is before your eyes and what brings pleasure to you.

Even in the face of this temptation, Jesus remains faithful to God the Father’s plan.

And Jesus scolds Satan to get out!  Jesus displays His own authority and power over Satan with His command for Satan to leave. And Jesus does this with Scripture. Jesus returns to the Word and uses His own authority to repel Satan.

Learn this from Jesus. Study Scripture each and every day. Internalize Scripture, each and every day. Think about what God is teaching His people and turn to Scripture when, without a doubt, you will be tempted by Satan. Why? Because as a disciple of Jesus we need to listen to Him and respond to the evil powers of this world in an authoritative way, so that we can act out loving God and loving neighbor, no matter who that neighbor may be.

And look what happened next. Satan left Jesus and angels came and ministered to Jesus. I kind of picture Satan’s frustration and his leaving as a way to regroup for a later time. And I kind of picture angels coming to Jesus to wipe His brow, give Him something to eat and to take care of Jesus’ physical needs. This has been both a physical and spiritual battle for Jesus against Satan, in a stark wilderness of testing and temptation, to abandon God the Father’s plan of salvation for His people.

The serpent called God a liar!  Right from the get go, Satan is working his lies on mankind. And worse yet, we bought into that lie.

Genesis 3:1-5

3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

² The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, ³ but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

⁴ “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. ⁵ “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

We were duped from basically the start, by Satan, and we fell for it. And it’s still going on to this day. We fall for the lies. We believe the lies. Sometimes we base our lives and our living and what we think is truth, on lies. We, no doubt, need a Savior to come to us and dig us out of this hole we’ve dug.

We will fail and fall to the temptations of Satan. I hate that! But, as I and you confess our failure, God has a way with us. God has a way of turning us from the temptations of Satan, back towards His face. Let it happen. God turning you around is a gift. Let it happen and see His love.

Jesus, I know that only through You can forgiveness come to me. For it is by you, and up to you alone that I be forgiven. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

As I read of Your temptation in the wilderness with Satan, I can’t help but to acknowledge that it is by Your power and Your power alone that sin and death can be defeated. I fail in the face of Satan so many times. But as you fulfilled the plan of salvation from the Father, led by the Holy Spirit, you come to me and lead and guide me all along my sinful life to spin me around to you in your forgiveness of my sin. I need you!

I don’t know what to say sometimes. Off the get go, I think about how, in the face of Satan’s lies and temptations; how many times have I failed? Yet here, Jesus, You not only teach, but You show all of us, how to stand up to Satan, in Word, through the Word, and in action. Yet, when I attempt this very same thing, I fail, I weaken, I fall for the trick.

So, what now, for me and so many of us?

Well, it’s obvious to me that I need Jesus. I must have Jesus. It’s only through Jesus that I can come out of this wilderness of life. I depend on Jesus to fight the battle and lead me away from Satan’s tricks, his lies, and his scams. And with this in mind, I say over and over again, “Thank You, Jesus!”

You turn me to You and You lead and guide me to a place over the Jordan, where I will live with You in Your Kingdom, in a new place, a new earth, a new Jerusalem, a new Eden, in eternity, where the sin, the death, and Satan no longer exist.

Yes! Thank You, Jesus! Thank You, Jesus! Amen and amen! Yes! It shall be so!

May those who see Your actions and Your Words be spun around to face you and fall into your loving, forgiving arms… today… tomorrow… and forever. Thanks be to God!

I leave you with one of my favorites… I love the words “You stand in the fire beside me…” – Jesus knows how to lead us out of the wilderness… No doubt about it!

Jesus by Chris Tomlin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEbQswNB6Wc&list=RDcEbQswNB6Wc&start_radio=1

Jesus - by Chris Tomlin