Matthew 4:1-11

The Real Jesus - His Temptations

Sermon preached Feb. 14, 2015
Opening
The comedian Carl Hurley tells this story:
I was going to a masquerade party at a friends house, lived out on a country road. Well,
I dressed up like the devil and put on a red devil outfit, horns and everything and began
walking down the road to my friends house at night and a storm came up and I needed a
place to get out of the weather.
I darted in a little building by the side of the road and it just so happened that it was a
little country church and they were right in the midst of a big revival meeting. You can
imagine what a commotion it caused when I jumped up in the door with my devil outfit
on. They went out doors, windows, anyplace they could get out.
One fellow right up front jumped up but got his coattail hung up on his seat, and couldnt
get away. He threw up his hands and yelled out, Ive been a member of this church for
twenty-five years but Ive been on your side all along!
Outline and thesis
In our reading, Jesus faced the devil - the real devil - and his temptations. And through
his victory over Satan, we can find victory too.
Heres what I want to do in this sermon: Identify what temptation really is and whos
really behind it, and give us the resources of Christ to resist. Thats a lot to cover, so
buckle up and lets go.
What temptation really is
Think to yourself for a moment - what is the temptation, that is most tempting to you?
The temptation that makes you go No, no, no, I shouldnt, be strong, dont do it - but
you almost always buckle?
For me, it is the irresistible power of cheese. Now, not just any cheese - cheddar, I can
resist. American, I spurn. Colby, bah! No...I am helpless before those soft, runny, stinky
French cheeses. Camembert and brie and St. Andre - room temperature, soft and a little
runny, on warm French bread - if you put some in front of me, I am going to eat it, and I
am going to eat too much of it, and I am going to feel guilty afterwards and vow to be
more moderate, and yet Ill do exactly the same thing next time.
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How about you?

But those kinds of temptations, are not the kind Jesus faced, and not the kind that do us
in. I mean, really - we can pretty easily resist those kinds of temptations.,
I read a story about a woman who was flying business class across the country and
was served a nice dinner on the plane - and you may have ancient, dim memories
of what that was like, getting a nice meal on an airline flight - and you know how
all of it is served on one tray - well, the flight attendant puts the tray down in front
of this woman and the first thing she does is open the salt and pepper packets and
shake the contents all over the nice piece of chocolate cake on her tray. The flight
attendant sees this and is horrified and says, You dont have to do that! and the
woman says, Oh yes I do if Im going to stop myself from eating it.
Cheese...chocolate...Cinnabon...I mean, keep them out of the house, keep walking when
theyre on display for sale. And those kinds of temptations really dont do the damage
that the kind Jesus faced can do.
The category of temptation that Jesus faced - the evil one brings before us, for a very
specific purpose. To divert us from the mission God has given us - and wreck our lives.
This is how that worked for Jesus. God sent his Son to become a human being - and
share our human limitations - and sent him on a mission to bring the Kingdom of God on
earth. Gods rule. Where we lost human beings are brought back into relationship to
God. Where we live under Gods loving rule and care for the poor and suffering, where
we discover that we are loved by the God of all things and share that love, where there is
peace. So - a two-part mission - to be a real human being with all those limitations, and
to bring Gods rule on earth through humility and service and sacrifice - the ultimate
sacrifice - of the cross
Satan attacks both parts of that mission with these temptations.
Are you hungry, Jesus? Well, youre the Son of God - you dont have to live within the
limitations of these puny humans - just change some of these stones into a hot-from-oven
loaf of bread.
Whats that, Jesus? Your Father wants you to tromp the dusty roads of these little
backwater country with twelve sweaty and smelly disciples preaching sermons to people
who dont pay attention, arguing with Pharisees who wont believe you? Ive got a
solution - go up to the top of the temple and jump off, and let the angels of heaven escort
you down in full view of Jerusalem - - that will validate who you are in one stroke.
A cross, Jesus? Your Father wills that you die on a cross to save the world? Why all
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that pain and suffering? Just bow the knee to me and Ill give you the whole world.
Do you see how these temptations would have wrecked Jesus mission - turn stones into
bread - you dont have to live within the limitations of your humanness - jump off the top
of the temple and be escorted down by angels for all to see - and everyone will acclaim
you as Messiah - worship me, Jesus - and you wont have to suffer, wont have to die and
Ill give you the whole earth.
And if the Lord had given in, wed still be lost and living in a world without hope.
How does this work for us?
William Willimon tells about leading a Sunday School class that was studying the
temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. After careful study and explanation of each
of the three temptations, Dr. Willimon asked, "How are we tempted today?" A
young salesman was the first to speak. "Temptation is when your boss calls you
in, as mine did yesterday, and says, `Im going to give you a real opportunity. Im
going to give you a bigger sales territory. We believe that you are going places,
young man.
"But I dont want a bigger sales territory," the young salesman told his boss. "Im
already away from home four nights a week. It wouldnt be fair to my wife and
daughter."
"Look," his boss replied, "were asking you to do this for your wife and daughter.
Dont you want to be a good father? It takes money to support a family these days.
Sure, your little girl doesnt take much money now, but think of the future. Think
of her future. Im only asking you to do this for them," the boss said.
The young man told the class, "Now, thats temptation."
Do you see how? That mans calling is to serve his family. And the temptation comes in
the guise of helping him serve his family by earning more money. But it really diverts
him from his mission of serving his family because you cant be a spouse, you cant be a
parent, unless youre actually present.
What we need to be on guard against, are those temptations that would wreck our lives by
preventing us from living out our missions in life. And seemingly small temptations can
actually do a lot of damage in this way:
Gossip, can destroy trust and wreck your mission to be a friend and support to
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Shading the truth, can destroy your reputation for integrity and wreck your
mission to be a leader
Dabbling in porn, can pollute your heart and mind and wreck your mission to be a
spouse.
Think about what God calls you to do and be - and be on guard against what would
destroy your identity and your mission in life. Like Paul says, We are not unaware of the
devil and his schemes. We know what hes up to, we can know temptation for what it is
when it comes our way.
Second thing we need to know - expect temptation
And come our way it will.
Christians need to hear this - because we often think were at fault, were doing wrong, if
they are tempted - that we shouldnt be having these kinds of thoughts - if my heart was
pure I wouldnt be having all these conflicts and all this wrestling.
The vanity of that is that we think we can be so filled with Holy Spirit and our hearts so
pure that we arent tempted - but look at Jesus here - hes filled with the Holy Spirit and
he was tempted.
Or people think if they just get away from people and obvious temptations and move out
to the country - Green Acres is the place for me, Farm living is the life for me - theyll get
away from temptation - but where was Jesus - in the wilderness! He went away but the
devil went with him.
Purity of heart or of place dont guarantee freedom from temptation. Bible doesnt teach
that you can be free from temptation by being more spiritual, more holy, or by living in
the right place - look at Jesus here!
Nowhere in scripture are we promised freedom from temptation - we are in fact warned
that it will always be with us in this life - but that we can fight and win with the weapons
of the Spirit
Third thing we need to know - there really is an adversary and he really is out to get us.
Years ago, when Id try to make this point, some people would roll their eyes. Since
9/11, not so much. I think weve woken up to the existence of real, malignant evil in the
world. But we often make a mistake in thinking to fight evil, we need to identify and kill
all the evil people who would harm us. The Bible says instead that our real battle isnt
against flesh-and-blood human beings, but against the spiritual forces of darkness that
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prowl around our world.

In his book Lucifer, the scholar Jeffrey Burton Russell writes this:
A real force is actively present in the cosmos urging to evil. This evil force...actively
hates good, the cosmos and every individual in the cosmos. It urges us too to hate good,
the cosmos, other individuals and ourselves....For Christians, then, the person of the Devil
may be a metaphor, but it is a metaphor for something real, that really brings horror to the
world every day and threatens to lay the entire earth waste.1
If youre going to be in a fight, youve got to know your enemy and youve got to know
what his battle plan is. A big reason we won World War 2 was we broke German and
Japanese codes and could figure out their plans. Well, we know the enemy is the evil one
and we know his plan is to divert us from our mission in life and wreck our lives, and that
helps us be on guard.
And there is great promise in the book of James - resist the devil and he will flee from
you. Like Jesus resisted and he fled.
Fourth thing we need to know - how to resist temptation
You have to know yourself. Just like you have to know your enemy, his capabilities and
his weaknesses, so we have to know ourselves, our capabilities and our weaknesses.
Why is this important? Because the things that really tempt us and are really dangerous
appeal to the empty and broken places within us.
We eat to the point of obesity because it provides comfort for an emotional
wound, and it perversely reinforces a negative self-image. We are tempted by a
flirtatious hot young thing because his or her attentions gives us a feeling of being
attractive and desirable that we crave because we dont think we really are. We
are tempted to cheat because it promises to provide a security that we dont think
we are capable of providing or that we dont trust God to provide.
And when those things come our way, you have to think, why does this tempt me?
Why does this appeal to me? You ask the Holy Spirit to shine Gods light on the
dark, mysterious places within us so we understand why. What is empty within
us, what need do we have, what will giving in to this temptation supposedly
provide us? You need time to reflect quietly on this, you may need a counselor or
pastor to help you figure it out.
And you fill those empty places with the truth and goodness of God.

You call on the same promises that Jesus did - Man does not live by bread
alone...meaning, we dont find the life we crave through the glittery toys promised
by temptation. Worship the Lord God and serve him only - meaning, dont kill
yourself and waste your life giving your all to a company that in the end doesnt
care about you.
But did you also notice that the devil used scripture too? He tempted Jesus by
using the scriptures to make his case! And the way the contrast between how the
devil and Jesus use the scriptures is so important. The devil is a biblical literalist.
You heard right. The devil is a biblical literalist. He finds a verse, quotes it out of
context, and applies it inappropriately.
Jesus recognized what the devil was doing, using the scriptures to get Jesus to
command God to do his will, rather than serve God. He knew the underlying
message behind the scriptures that enabled him to smell a rat when the devil
started throwing verses at him.
And what this tells us, is, that if we want to have the resources to withstand
temptation, wed better know the scriptures, not just literally, but know the heart
of Gods word. You and I need to be reading it, devotionally, need to be studying
it in Sunday School and small groups and other settings. Study to understand it.
Study so it becomes part of you. Im not kidding, friends, this is for the sake of
your soul, your church, your integrity as a follower of Jesus, your whole life. You
must know the Word of God to resist effectively the temptations we encounter.
And lastly - dont try to do this the way Jesus did.
Jesus faced down Satan alone, one-on-one. That is not supposed to be a model for
us. In the early centuries of the church there were monks, like St. Anthony of the
Desert, who thought they should imitate Christ and go into the wilderness to face
down Satan. I see no warrant for that here or anywhere in the Bible. I think that
is a really stupid idea.
Because, to resist and triumph, we need each other, we need the community of the
church. At the vision retreat last Saturday, one of the participants said, I need a
community of people where I can be myself, where I can admit Im not doing so
well. So do we all. We need companions in Christ with whom we can be real
and ask for help and accountability when were tempted and wavering. This
following Jesus thing is hard, and just like a lone infantryman is vulnerable to
being picked off, so are we if we try to go it alone. We need to come together as
companions in Christ.

The victory
After Jesus faced down Satan in the wilderness, the tempter left him.
But temptation did not. In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus was tempted again - to turn
away from the cross and death. And yet he set his face like flint and went to the cross and
on that cross won the victory for us over sin and evil and death. Because of Christ, we
can stand our ground when temptaiton comes, we can stand our ground, and chase Satan
away, we can stand our ground, and find victory. Amen.
Endnotes
1. Cited in Frederick Dale Bruner, Matthew, p. 102. Dallas: Word Publishing, 1987.