Luke 4:1-13 * February 21, 2010 * Lent 1 * Pastor Leyrer

Dear Friends in Christ,

This is no time for freelancing or experimentation. This is a time for the tried and the true; for staying with what you do best. This is not a time to perfect or massage or tinker with technique; this is the time to perform the craft you’ve practiced all your life.

Maybe that’s what goes through the mind of one of the Winter Olympians we’ve been watching this past week in the moments before they line up for their events. Or, turning to our text, maybe that’s what Satan – that world champion tempter – was thinking when he confronted Jesus in the desert.

We aren’t told, of course. In fact, the very idea of trying to determine the thought process of Satan is an exercise in anthropomorphism – a big word for projecting human qualities on someone of something that is not human.

Nevertheless, that is exactly what he did.

He used his best material. This was no time for freelancing or experimentation. This was a time for the tried and true; the strategies that had brought him success before. So Satan trotted out

THREE AGE OLD TEMPTATIONS

in his attempt to derail Jesus from His divine mission. And we will find that he still uses them on us today.

Let’s work through our text and identify them along the way – both in the form he first presented them to Christ as well as their present day variations. From our Savior we’ll also learn the proper way to deal with them.

¹Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, ²where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.

This event took place immediately after Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. The fact that we are told Jesus was led by the Spirit indicates this confrontation with Satan was God’s will.

Why? We can surmise that as mankind’s substitute Jesus must succeed where the human race failed. The first perfect man, Adam, gave in to temptation and plunged the world into sin and death. The second perfect man, Jesus (referred to by the Apostle Paul as “the last Adam” in 1 Corinthians 15 and sometimes referred to as “the second Adam”), would make up for that defeat and by His perfect obedience undo what the first Adam had done.

So Jesus is subjected to forty days of temptation, the entire time of which he fasted.

Satan views this as an opportunity. As true man, Jesus needed nourishment. Prolonged hunger affects not only the body but also the mind and can make a person act irrationally. Besides, the first Adam fell on account of food; perhaps the Second would as well: ³The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread."

Satan first calls into question the fact that Jesus was the Son of God. If that were true, he implies it is ridiculous for such a one to be going hungry. At the same time he tries to undermine Jesus’ confidence in his Father’s will and power to sustain him, suggesting that God had somehow forgotten about him or wasn’t really all that concerned about him. Because if he was, he would have done something by now.

No pun intended; Jesus refuses to bite. ⁴Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone.'" He appeals to a passage from the Book of Deuteronomy where Moses reminded the Children of Israel how God had daily fed them with that miracle bread they called manna. Behind this act of kindness was a greater lesson. It was not just bread that kept them alive, but the merciful will of God that made the bread appear in the first place. And Jesus was confident that his merciful Father was well aware of his needs.

In other words, whereas Satan wanted him to distrust God, Jesus shows complete trust.

Defeated in round one, Satan tries a new approach in round two: ⁵The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. ⁶And 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. ⁷So if you worship me, it will all be yours."

Somehow or another Satan places all the kingdoms of the world before Jesus’ eyes and acts as if they were his to give (which they weren’t; then and now Satan operates in the world insofar as God allows him). He offers them all to Jesus with one provision: that Jesus side step the First Commandment and worship him.

However, the more subtle temptation Satan is peddling breaks somewhat along these lines: “Yes, Jesus, you are to rule as the all glorious King and Savior of the world. But before that you must face shame and agony and death as the substitutionary sacrifice for the sins of the world. I, on the other hand, can now offer you the gain without the pain. I can offer you the crown without having to endure the cross.”

Satan knows that a deep appeal to selfishness is often a winner. Not this time. Fully aware of the road that lay ahead of him and essentially quoting the First Commandment ⁸Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'" But all Satan heard was: “strike two.”

One final effort. ⁹The 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. ¹⁰For it is written: "'He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; ¹¹they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'"

The combination of a tall building and nearby valley at one point of the temple complex allowed a person to look down some 450 feet (which the Jewish historian Josephus described as being “a dizzy height”).

The third temptation was for Jesus to simply throw himself down. Satan’s reasoning was this: God promises to protect his children. You are His Son. You can prove your confidence in God in this way: jump and he will let no harm come your way. Taking a cue from Jesus’ previous responses, he even quotes a passage from the Book of Psalms.

But he purposely misapplied it. The passage he mentions does indeed talk about God’s protection for his people. And that is a promise God makes to his children. But in other portions of Scripture – which Satan does not mention – God also condemns rashness, false confidence, trifling with providence and rushing headlong into unnecessary danger.

So the Savior simultaneously set the record straight and withstood this final temptation when ¹²Jesus answered, "It says: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"

And Satan is done, at least for the time being. ¹³When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

Let’s draw some applications here. Does Satan still use these three devices on those he wishes to lead astray? He certainly does. If he used them on Jesus, we can be sure he’ll use them on his followers. So under the banner forewarned is forearmed, let’s talk about them in their modern day variations.

First is the temptation to distrust God: to believe that He may not always be reliable; that He may not always meet our needs. We would never say these things out loud. But the temptation is to think them – especially in times of personal pain, distress or uncertainty.

The truth is that God has promised that He will never leave us or forsake us. What is equally true is that God does not close doors on His children without opening others up. Satan would like us to think this isn’t true. But it is. And Scripture is full of examples of those for whom things looked bleak only to later discover the situation they found themselves in was all a part of God’s bigger plan.

Where we sometimes get hung up is when we focus on the closed doors instead of the open ones. In every situation God presents us with opportunities – for growth, for service, for relying on Him more and deepening our relationship with Him.

Consequently, let us beware of the age-old temptation to distrust God. Rather let us find comfort and strength in the knowledge that He loves and cares for us. And the greatest evidence of that, of course, is the cross of Christ. So if ever we feel God is silent, let us look to the cross and all it means. Because here his love is literally shouted out to us.

The second temptation is toward selfishness and the related idea that our faith in Christ somehow restricts us from really enjoying life. Ever heard that kind of talk? One of Satan’s biggest and most successful temptations is in spreading the idea that Christianity and “fun” cannot possibly coexist. Satan portrays Christianity as anti-fun.

Ever notice when someone says “Go ahead and live a little” it almost always means stepping outside of the word and will of God? “Fun” according to this definition is loose morals – until a marriage gets wrecked or an outside-of-marriage pregnancy occurs; then it’s not so fun. “Fun” is letting loose at the bar or a party – until you get a DUI or worse yet, hurt someone while under the influence; then it’s not so fun. “Fun” is getting everything our heart’s desire even if we have to borrow or extend our credit balances because, after all, we deserve it and we’re entitled to it – until the bills which we can’t pay come due; then it’s not so fun.

Satan tempted Jesus to think only of himself and not a part of the bigger plan of redemption he came to accomplish. Satan will tempt us to think only of ourselves and not of the high and privileged position we hold as God’s dearly loved Children. There is something far greater than that which the devil would have us define as “fun” – it’s called “the peace of God that passes all understanding.” And it comes to all who revolve their lives around their Lord rather than themselves.

The final temptation was for Jesus to put God to the test, to essentially make Him prove His power and love. The modern day rendition is the temptation to believe that we do not exist for God, but that God exists for us. And if He doesn’t come through on demand – for example, in answering our prayers or providing us with solutions to our problems the way we’d like Him too – somehow He is being unfaithful to us.

This is a great temptation. We might call it “The disappointment with God” syndrome. Or the “God-answers-to-me” syndrome. Or the “God-said-he-could-do-this, so why-doesn’t-he” syndrome.

We counteract this temptation with the understanding that God is not our personal genie or good luck charm or the cosmic antidote to whatever we feel is ailing us. He is our loving Maker and Redeemer, our Savior and the One who orchestrated all things so we might have life forever with him in heaven. That’s our eternal destination. As to the paths He chooses for us until we get there; those we leave up to his good and gracious will, confident that he knows what his best at all times for his children.

The bottom line message from our text: As he did with Jesus, Satan will use his best material on us. But as we learn from Jesus, the solution is to always redirect our thoughts to the Words and promises of God.

“Lord, keep us steadfast in Your Word.” Amen.