The Truth About Temptation
Temptation is one of those things that you just can't get away from. Anyone who has ever tried beginning a diet or giving something up can I'm sure attest to it. I remember a few years back, when I decided to give up sweets for a month. If you know me even a little bit, you would know that this sounds like an impossible task. Any time I am within 25 feet of sweets, it takes no time at all to sniff it out. There were times during that month, where I was completely content not eating sweets. Other times however, it was a much bigger challenge. One specific situation was when I was heading to a friend's birthday party. Of course, at this party, there was cake. I called another friend who was keeping me accountable and basically BEGGED him to say it would be okay for me to miss this once and eat the cake. His response was a resounding, "No".
Just like every human being ever born, Jesus too was tempted. In Matthew 4, it talks about what the temptation was like that Jesus went through. It starts off with Jesus having just fasted after 40 days in the wilderness. I read through all three of Jesus' temptations to try and better understand what his experience was like. For his first temptation, it says the tempter (the Devil) came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." To which Jesus responds, "Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." For his second temptation, he was taken to the highest point of the temple in Jerusalem. While up there, Satan says to him, "If you are the Son of God, 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." Jesus' response is "Do not put the Lord your God to the test." For his final temptation, Satan takes him to a very tall mountain, has him look at all of the kingdom's of the world, and says to him, "All this I will give you...if you will bow down and worship me." Jesus then commands him saying, "Away from me Satan...Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only."
As I read through each of these temptations, God showed and reminded me a few different things. There was a phrase that stuck out to me: "If you are the Son of God..." Satan is using the same technique I see Junior High students use. He is saying, I don't think you really are as great as you think you are, "PROVE IT". It is almost like Satan is daring Jesus to do it. The "reverse-psychology" idea. Satan is trying to convince Jesus that he isn't who he really is. Satan is attacking Jesus' identity.
During the final temptation, Satan takes him to a tall mountain. He has Jesus look around and enjoy the view. He offers Jesus something most people could only dream of. He says, worship me and I will give you all of this.
Satan realizes this last time that his tactic of attacking Jesus' identity isn't working. He begins going from a different angle. Let's stop for a moment and think through what Satan is offering Jesus in this last temptation. He says bow down, and I will give you all of these kingdoms. Satan is offering him everything this world has to offer. He is offering him dominion and power over the whole earth.
There are two things that I think are very noteworthy. First, Jesus already has dominion over the whole earth. Sure God has given Satan power to impact and run it as he chooses, but he still has to get permission from God. Satan can't do anything to it without the authority given by God. Many people have thought through this piece already. The piece that I had not thought through is the question of what the temptation really was that Satan was offering Jesus.
As we just discussed, Jesus already has dominion and power over the earth. He doesn't need Satan to grant him this right. Jesus is God. What I find more fascinating though is the human characteristic of Jesus. Satan wasn't just offering Jesus the earth and everything within it. I believe Satan had an idea of what was going to be coming. I strongly believe that Satan knew Jesus came to save the world from their sins, which would mean an end to his kingdom. Part of me wonders too, if Satan also knew that Jesus was going to have to die for the sake of our sins. Jesus certainly knew what he was going to have to do later on. Satan knew that he wasn't just offering Jesus the world. Satan was offering Jesus all of the Kingdoms of the earth, without having to suffer the fate he knew he would have to suffer. He would get everything God was going to give him, without the pain and sacrifice of the cross. Instead of Jesus dying for us and being offered dominion over everything after he suffered, Satan offered him dominion over some stuff now without having to go through the death and torture he would experience.
Our temptations are very similar to Jesus'. Satan tries two attack us in two different ways. He tries to attack our identities and our fears. He offers us what we already have without the pain and difficulties. Yet when the time comes to pay up after we follow through on our end (give into temptation), we are left with more pain than we would have gone through and without the result of receiving what Satan promised us. Satan also tries to get us to forget who we are, so we feel the need to prove who we are. Yet, when we try to prove it, we lose sight of who we really are and become someone we were never meant to be.
Like the cake, it is so easy to convince ourselves that only doing it once will be okay. Thankfully I had the courage and wisdom to call my friend this time. It is easy to say, "one time isn't that big of a deal." First, one time is still sin. And quite often, it takes only one time to get sucked into the vortex, wondering how we will get out. When we give into temptation once, we often feel the need to hide what we have done. We want others to think we still have it all together. We keep getting sucked in more and more. When we hide it, we continually act like the person we never wanted to be. We again cover the truth of who we are.
Temptations come in many different forms and through many different masks. When we look back in Matthew 4, Jesus didn't take the bait. He knew who he was. He knew he was the Son of God, which is why he replied to the second temptation, "Do not put the Lord your God to the test." He didn't try to justify why it might be okay. He didn't try to argue with Satan why he is God. Instead, he spoke the authority and truth of Scripture. He was armored up and ready to fight the spiritual battle.
We need to learn from Jesus and fight as he fought. We need to prepare ourselves by constantly spending time learning who we are in Christ and arming ourselves with the truth of His Word. We need to continually prepare and humble our hearts, praying for strength and courage to fight the spiritual battles. We need to stand side by side with our fellow soldiers, fighting with and for each other. When we do fall short, we need to repent and be known by fellow brothers/sisters in Christ whom we can count on reminding us of the truth.
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. - Ephesians 6:10-11
14 After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.” - Nehemiah 4:14
Just like every human being ever born, Jesus too was tempted. In Matthew 4, it talks about what the temptation was like that Jesus went through. It starts off with Jesus having just fasted after 40 days in the wilderness. I read through all three of Jesus' temptations to try and better understand what his experience was like. For his first temptation, it says the tempter (the Devil) came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." To which Jesus responds, "Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." For his second temptation, he was taken to the highest point of the temple in Jerusalem. While up there, Satan says to him, "If you are the Son of God, 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." Jesus' response is "Do not put the Lord your God to the test." For his final temptation, Satan takes him to a very tall mountain, has him look at all of the kingdom's of the world, and says to him, "All this I will give you...if you will bow down and worship me." Jesus then commands him saying, "Away from me Satan...Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only."
As I read through each of these temptations, God showed and reminded me a few different things. There was a phrase that stuck out to me: "If you are the Son of God..." Satan is using the same technique I see Junior High students use. He is saying, I don't think you really are as great as you think you are, "PROVE IT". It is almost like Satan is daring Jesus to do it. The "reverse-psychology" idea. Satan is trying to convince Jesus that he isn't who he really is. Satan is attacking Jesus' identity.
During the final temptation, Satan takes him to a tall mountain. He has Jesus look around and enjoy the view. He offers Jesus something most people could only dream of. He says, worship me and I will give you all of this.
Satan realizes this last time that his tactic of attacking Jesus' identity isn't working. He begins going from a different angle. Let's stop for a moment and think through what Satan is offering Jesus in this last temptation. He says bow down, and I will give you all of these kingdoms. Satan is offering him everything this world has to offer. He is offering him dominion and power over the whole earth.
There are two things that I think are very noteworthy. First, Jesus already has dominion over the whole earth. Sure God has given Satan power to impact and run it as he chooses, but he still has to get permission from God. Satan can't do anything to it without the authority given by God. Many people have thought through this piece already. The piece that I had not thought through is the question of what the temptation really was that Satan was offering Jesus.
As we just discussed, Jesus already has dominion and power over the earth. He doesn't need Satan to grant him this right. Jesus is God. What I find more fascinating though is the human characteristic of Jesus. Satan wasn't just offering Jesus the earth and everything within it. I believe Satan had an idea of what was going to be coming. I strongly believe that Satan knew Jesus came to save the world from their sins, which would mean an end to his kingdom. Part of me wonders too, if Satan also knew that Jesus was going to have to die for the sake of our sins. Jesus certainly knew what he was going to have to do later on. Satan knew that he wasn't just offering Jesus the world. Satan was offering Jesus all of the Kingdoms of the earth, without having to suffer the fate he knew he would have to suffer. He would get everything God was going to give him, without the pain and sacrifice of the cross. Instead of Jesus dying for us and being offered dominion over everything after he suffered, Satan offered him dominion over some stuff now without having to go through the death and torture he would experience.
Our temptations are very similar to Jesus'. Satan tries two attack us in two different ways. He tries to attack our identities and our fears. He offers us what we already have without the pain and difficulties. Yet when the time comes to pay up after we follow through on our end (give into temptation), we are left with more pain than we would have gone through and without the result of receiving what Satan promised us. Satan also tries to get us to forget who we are, so we feel the need to prove who we are. Yet, when we try to prove it, we lose sight of who we really are and become someone we were never meant to be.
Like the cake, it is so easy to convince ourselves that only doing it once will be okay. Thankfully I had the courage and wisdom to call my friend this time. It is easy to say, "one time isn't that big of a deal." First, one time is still sin. And quite often, it takes only one time to get sucked into the vortex, wondering how we will get out. When we give into temptation once, we often feel the need to hide what we have done. We want others to think we still have it all together. We keep getting sucked in more and more. When we hide it, we continually act like the person we never wanted to be. We again cover the truth of who we are.
Temptations come in many different forms and through many different masks. When we look back in Matthew 4, Jesus didn't take the bait. He knew who he was. He knew he was the Son of God, which is why he replied to the second temptation, "Do not put the Lord your God to the test." He didn't try to justify why it might be okay. He didn't try to argue with Satan why he is God. Instead, he spoke the authority and truth of Scripture. He was armored up and ready to fight the spiritual battle.
We need to learn from Jesus and fight as he fought. We need to prepare ourselves by constantly spending time learning who we are in Christ and arming ourselves with the truth of His Word. We need to continually prepare and humble our hearts, praying for strength and courage to fight the spiritual battles. We need to stand side by side with our fellow soldiers, fighting with and for each other. When we do fall short, we need to repent and be known by fellow brothers/sisters in Christ whom we can count on reminding us of the truth.
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. - Ephesians 6:10-11
14 After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.” - Nehemiah 4:14
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