Matthew 4:1-11.                              Temptations of life                                                          9/3/14

 1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted 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.’”
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.’”
⁷ Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour. 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.’”
¹¹ Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

 Today we are confronted within this account of Jesus’ temptation with a very sad tale of our human existence; and of the hope that we have in the midst of it. If there was any real pride in our human abilities before we read this, then surely there shouldn’t be any after it. However, at same time, it highlights the one hope that we have – the one and only hope that we have.

 But I wonder how many of us want to really hear and know this whole point that God wants us to gain from it. Most of us, I am sure, want our pride left intact. We merely want to hear that which will make us feel good and allow us go on living the way that we want; and whenever it doesn’t work out too well we want to be able to complain to and blame God and others for our troubles. Not many at all want to face the reality and truth of our situation; and as a result they are denying themselves of the one source of hope and peace that there is for us.

 Yet again though, we need to take this seriously so that we can know him who does give true peace, contentment, happiness and eternal life.

 So let us have a look at this text that we have before us this morning. Here we have Jesus at the very beginning of his ministry here on earth, and the Spirit of God sends him out into the desert for 40days to be tempted by the devil: In other words, a short course in seeing if he can stand up against temptations that you and I face in our daily lives, but continually give in to. Here God is setting before Jesus the temptations that we face to show us the he is capable of carry out the ministry set before him and so be of help to us.

 And what do we find?

Well, the first test comes after Jesus has been out there for some time and has had nothing to eat – so by our standard he would have been extremely hungry. So here the devil seeks to get to him – after all he can get to us much easier than that.

 We only need go without food for a day and we will start doing strange things. We place so much store on having not just a full stomach, but also to have enough put away for the future as well. Our           whole effort is made in order to gain and have plenty; and to do it to the detriment of nearly everything else in life. The church and almost everything else comes second – a poor second. We will even lie and cheat – to twist and turn things to justify ourselves and our desires in this regard.

 So we all fall into this temptation to a greater or lesser degree – for every one of us this physical aspect of life is the be all and end all for us. We will do almost anything – give into any temptation in order to satisfy what we think we need in this area, or that we are told that we need. The devil can get to us almost every time in this area of our life.

 So here the devil says to Jesus in his severe hunger – merely turn this stone into a loaf of bread. After all if he is going to be able to do God’s work here on earth he needs to keep up his strength. What good is he going to be to anyone if he starves to death? Now this is no big deal – it is only a loaf of bread – he is God’s Son and no one else needs to know.

 But Jesus knows very well from Scripture that we cannot live on bread alone.

 We need much more for life than simply that. To give up all the rest for the sake of a loaf of bread would be disastrous.

 So then the devil takes Jesus to the temple at Jerusalem where the people are coming and going to worship and seeks to tempt Jesus to jump from the highest point. All so that God can then save him miraculously and all the people can look up to Jesus as someone special and he can then get the crowds in.

 Now, again, don’t we fall for this one time and time again? We constantly look for God to provide something special for us in our lives so that we can be looked up to. We go out on a limb and put ourselves in danger so that we can achieve something or other, so that we can be looked to as someone special. Then we hope to God that he will take care of us and keep us safe. If he doesn’t then we grizzle, complain and get angry. And there are many other ways that we fall for these temptations in this area.

 Jesus however knowing his Bible simply states:  Do not put the Lord your God to the test. He again simply places himself in submission to God and what he has to say – instead of listening to the devils lies and deceptions: instead of succumbing to his own desires and wishes.

 So the next time the devil takes him up on a mountain and shows him all the kingdoms of the world and all their splendour. He tells Jesus that he can have all the power and authority over them; he only needs to do one little thing – bow down to Satan - no big deal – but then he can have all power over all people.

 Boy wouldn’t we be in there like a shot. Too often we only need a hint of power over someone and we will do anything to get it. So what if we have to bend a little here and there. After all, we justify ourselves by reasoning that if we have got a little power and authority over others, we will off course use it for good. Imagine having power over the whole world; surely we could bring about peace and harmony: and we could even make them all Christians.

However history has shown us time and again that a little power corrupts in small ways, and great power corrupts greatly. Here also we all again to a greater or lesser degree fall to this temptation that is there if we have opportunity to have power over others. Yes, even if it means giving way to what we know is right.

 Jesus however again knows what God has to say to us in this regard and so tells the devil: It is written, Worship the Lord your God and serve him only. There again is what is important –there is what is needed.

Now where does that leave us here today? Well when we look to ourselves we see that we are pretty foolish, stupid, gullible, and I could go on. We fall a long, long way short of what God expects. None of us can hold our heads up – none of us. When we look to ourselves we are in big trouble. We   don’t come within cooee of measuring up - there is no hope for us – we deserve nothing but Hell.

 But that is the whole point of this reading – yes, to show the temptations that we so easily fall to and our failure to even come close to how God expects us to live and be in this regard.  So to point out that when we look to ourselves and what we do, we cannot help and save ourselves.

But most importantly, to show us one who has – the only one who has. So we now can have hope in the midst of our hopelessness. Hope not in ourselves and our achievements, but in our Lord Jesus Christ alone. Our only hope is in this one who was tempted in every way as we are, but was without sin: Who did not succumb to the temptations of the devil. In so doing he was then able to be the sacrifice which takes away the sin of the world. This perfect Jesus could now die in our place so that we might be forgiven.

  Even when he faced his final temptation from Satan at the garden of Gethsemane and the cross he did not let his Father down – or us. There he faced God’s punishment for all of the sin in the world, even though he himself had done nothing wrong. There also he did not succumb to the easy way out; but gave himself for us – so that we might be forgiven our rebellion and failures, and be assured of eternal life in heaven. So now we really do have hope. We have what we really need and what is truly important: but which is not in and from ourselves – but in and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

So let us this Lenten season put our selfish pride to death; recognising our weaknesses and failures to stand up to the many temptations that come our way: Acknowledging our inability to be the people that God would have us be; and as a result, our need for total reliance on Jesus Christ and the forgiveness he brings. Let our complete confidence and trust be in him and all that he has done for us, and all that he has to say to us in his Word, because there is our only hope –our only source of peace, happiness and eternal life. So to him alone then be all glory and honour now and always. AMEN.

 Pastor Roger Atze

Glandore/Underdale Lutheran Parish