Qualified Royalty and Easily Relatable

Can’t Relate

One of the big things in the news, not just for the last 2 weeks, but even in history is the death and funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.

The pageantry. The historical significance.

It’s been a long time since a queen died. She became queen in 1953 when her father, the King died, and she was 25 years old.

We may remember Prince Philip’s funeral. Just a few years ago. The queen was the heir to the throne, her husband was not.

You may remember Princess Diana’s funeral. She was beloved, not just in Great Britain, but all over the world.

I’m not sure Charles will get the same reception when he passes.

Diana was beloved b/c, even though she came from the upper crust, she got down and dirty w/ the down and dirtiest.

She was a mom who wrestled on the floor w/ her kids.

Her platform was protecting poverty-stricken African children from leftover landmines.

I can still see images of her in her muddy boots and face-protection out in old battlefields loving on dirty babies who had lost limbs.

She did things that allowed us to relate to her.

Mud does that. Elite Royals don’t get dirty.

Even their polo ponies don’t seem to create a stink.

One of the great things about Queen Elizabeth is her faith. She is a strong believer. Apparently, over the past 5 years or so, she wrote her own funeral, and wanted it to be dominated with passages from the bible.

Historical significance. European significance. And, biblical significance.

For us Yanks, I’m not sure we get it. I don’t. I can’t relate to whole package. Maybe pieces of it.

I’ve done plenty of funerals. Some for family. Nothing like that.

I’ve attended parades. Nothing like the processional for Royalty.

And, what’s w/ the guards and their fancy outfits. Does it strike fear in the heart of the fiercest enemy when confronted w/ a guard wearing tights?

I’m sure there is some significance to the tights, but I don’t know what it is. Our military has their dress unis.

When somebody important in the US dies, our soldiers dress unis are still somewhat intimidating.

If you follow the news, there are several members of the Royal Family who are on the outs w/ the rest.

A brother, Prince Andrew, hung out w/ Jeffrey Eptstein on his plane and on his island. No judgment here. Just looks bad.

Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, who married Megan Markle, and they have been vocal about their displeasure in how they’ve been treated by the rest of the Royals. They live in the US, now. No Royal roles or participation.

Their outfits, unis, postures and expressions all reflected their position on the outside of the Royal family.

The picture of King Charles, Prince Andrew, Prince Harry, and Prince William standing vigil by the Queen’s coffin is filled w/ drama and innuendo. Standing quietly, but the image screams loudly.

3 of the 4 are outcasts. Philip and Harry, even Charles.

The world loved Diana. He cheated on her, divorced her, and married his mistress, Camilla. She’s now Queen consort.

Let’s all be honest. Who in the Royal family can you most relate to?

Who can relate to a Queen? or a King?

Princess Diana. Her rep has only grown more pure.

Willian? He seems t/b the most qualified to sit on the throne next; but Charles is his father.

The outcasts? Not necessarily their lifestyles, but that they are outcasts.

Speaking for myself here, it’s the outcasts.

We can relate best to those who mess their lives up. But it is almost impossible to relate to Queens, Kings, Princesses, and Princes who are most qualified to sit on the throne and reign over a Kingdom.

I don’t know about you, but I just can’t relate to the elite. But to the error-prone? I get them. Welcome to my party.

Jesus is perfect. Obviously. And we’ll look at the best example in the bible in a minute.

I mean, he’s perfect, more than how he acts, but Who is.

Jesus is the most qualified to sit on the throne of God’s kingdom. And, He did things he didn’t need to do, He got muddy, down and dirty, w/ the down and dirtiest, in a way that allows us to relate to Him.

He is elite, royalty. He never made an error. But he hung out w/ the error-prone.

Jesus did things He didn’t need to do so we could relate to Him and He remained the only qualified candidate to be the heir to God’s throne.

Jesus gets us. We get Jesus. He is the only royal elite, who never made and error, that we error-prone can easily relate to and follow his example.

The story we are looking at today includes His baptism and His temptation. Why He did these and how He did them allows Him to remain royalty and allows us to relate.

It’s found in 3 passages; Matthew 3:13-4:11; Mark 1:9-13; Luke 3:21-4:13; and John 1:29-34

We’re going to spend our time in the Matthew passage.

Relatable

Matthew 3:13–17 NIV

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented. As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

Jesus came to be baptized by John.

John pushed back. I’m just a guy. You’re God. You should be baptizing me!

Why? Why did Jesus come t/b baptized. I spent time last week explaining repentance. Changing direction. Living up to a new standard. And the water was symbolic of washing away the old contamination.

Jesus was not contaminated. He hadn’t sinned. So, why?

Jesus did things he didn’t need to do to make it possible for us to be able to relate to him. Good leaders do this.

Princess Diana didn’t need to get muddy. Royals don’t get muddy. But, she did to help save innocent children. And, it made the rest of the world want to get muddy and do the same, too.

Jesus didn’t have to get baptized to do what baptism does. Later, He’ll pay the temple tax. He is God’s son. He is exempt from taxation.

He participated in the Passover celebrations. He didn’t need to kill a lamb, eat the lamb, or sacrifice the lamb. He is the Lamb.

He did all these things to ID w/ us. Everyone else had to do it. Even tho he was exempt, He did it, too. Now, it makes us want to do it, too, b/c He did it.

He got wet and muddy. He got down and dirty. He had no home. He had one set of clothes. One pair of sandals.

What does your closet look like?

He led by example and makes us want to follow Him b/c we can relate to Him.

The public baptism also gave John the chance to formally introduce Him. He announced the arrival of the Messiah, the Lamb of God in the John 1 passage.

Jesus came out into the wilderness and the River to ID w/ those who were already there. He didn’t come to the temple in Jerusalem and the religious elite. If he had, so many who were out w/ John could not relate. They couldn’t relate to the leadership as it was. Too many rules. Too exclusive. Too elite.

Jesus ID’d w/ sinners. He was their w/ the tax-collectors, soldiers, and outcasts.

He didn’t come to the priest who would slaughter the lamb, let the scapegoat go, and sac the young bull. He came to be the Lamb, the Scapegoat, and the young bull that paid for their sin.

Baptism is symbolic. Wash off the old. Put on the new. Then, the struggle begins. But we have access to abilities we didn’t have before. We have the power to be more successful.

Jesus didn’t need t/b more successful. He had the power and knowledge to be successful from the beginning. More on that later.

The ppl who were there that day saw the HS descend on Him and heard the voice of God confirm that He is Who John introduced Him as. John prepared them. God confirmed it. And fulfilled David’s prophecy in Psalm 2.

Psalm 2:6–7 NIV

“I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.” I will proclaim the Lord’s decree: He said to me, “You are my son; today I have become your father.

Jesus is the Messiah. He is the King of God’s kingdom. And He is about to prove his qualification to be both.

Jesus is elite. He is Royal. We error-prone can still relate because He gets down and dirty w/ us. But, He rises out of the mud to sit on God’s throne.

He proves his qualification by successfully standing up to Satan when tempted in the wilderness.

Qualified Royal

Matthew 4:1–11 NIV

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “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.’” 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 splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

God could not allow anyone contaminated by sin to sit on His throne. Anyone contaminated by sin who enters the presence of God will be smote immediately. Dead. Finito.

Anyone who had to account for their own sin could not be the Messiah, the Savior. Only someone who never sins can take on the contamination from those who do to get smote for them.

So, Jesus had to succeed in this experience to remain qualified to be Who He came to be and do what He came to do.

He did. He maintained His moral right t/b King and Savior.

The 1st Adam faced his temptation in an ideal place w/ everything in His favor but failed. The 2nd Adam faced His temptation in a barren place w/ nothing in his favor in the environment and succeeded.

Satan tried the same strategy w/ both.

1st He appealed to their appetite. Hungry? Eat the fruit. Turn the stones to bread.

2nd, He appealed to their fantasies. You’re so important God won’t let you die. You’re so important God and the angels won’t even let your foot get hurt.

3rd, He appealed to their reason. If you follow OUR plan, not God’s, you’ll be just like God. All the kingdoms will be yours.

Jesus fasted and faced Satan for 40 days in the wilderness. 40 is a common number in the bible associated with temptation and retribution.

Moses spent 40 days on Mt. Sinai receiving the law while the rest of Israel rebelled.

Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years b/c of their rebellion.

Noah watched it rain for 40 days b/c of the wickedness of the ppl.

It’s also important to note the difference between a trial and temptation.

A trial is a difficult situation. Maybe of our own doing, maybe the shrapnel of someone else’s poor decisions, or maybe just the result of living in a fallen world.

In these tough situations, Satan will tempt you to cheat. He will appeal to your pride and perceived ability to get around the problem.

Tough exam in school? Stumble on the teacher’s answer key? What do you do.

When I was in college, I watched my roommate struggle to write a big biology research paper. He had to leave school early that semester and gave his paper to another classmate to turn in for him.

Next thing you know, my roommate, that classmate and another were brought up on cheating charges. Their papers were too similar.

You know what happened. The paper was too tough for the other 2 guys so they just copied my roommate’s pater.

He got off. They were suspended and kicked off the football team.

Tough paper. Need a good grade. Holding a good paper. Enough time to copy it. Too tempting.

God never tempts. He provides a way thru the trial that always works out good for us. But it may be a hard road.

In His humanity, you know Jesus felt hungry. So it was fitting Satan hit him first in the gut b/c His gut was empty.

One big question. Can Jesus really be tempted? Yes. The temptation was real. But Jesus had the resources to beat it.

A rowboat can attack a battleship. Hit it w/ spears and arrows. The battleship just has to drop anchor on it. Don’t waste any ammo.

Satan is that rowboat. Jesus is the battle ship. No contest.

The word we use to describe Jesus is, impeccable. It is impossible for him to sin b/c of the resources he has as God.

He is omnipotent. That is, all powerful. He spoke the universe into existence. From Ex nihilo (nothing) to everything w/ a word.

He is omniscient. That is all knowing. He knows everything. He knows how. He knows why. He knows when. He knows what. He knows where. He knows history. He knows the future. He knows Who. There is nothing He doesn’t know.

You see the obvious reasons why Jesus can succeed against Satan and temptation and we can’t. Jesus has no weaknesses to exploit. We are just weak.

We face 2 sources of temptation. First, from w/in. We something inside of us that draws us to do wrong things.

The other comes from outside us. Ultimately, from Satan. But, ppl, and situations lure in directions that can go bad.

These 2 sources work together to tempt us and attempt to destroy us. Sometimes the first temptation comes from something we think up, sometimes it comes from something we see.

Jesus doesn’t have the first one. He only faced the 2nd. That is a huge advantage for him. But it is necessary for Him to be who He came to be.

There are 3 primary areas, or ways, Satan tempts us. He used these 3 on Jesus as mentioned earlier.

First, He appeals to our appetites, urges, feelings.

Jesus must have been hungry. He felt strong hunger pangs. And, He is perfectly capable of creating bread out stones.

Our strong feelings and urges can be problematic. If it feels good. Why would God give me these feelings if He didn’t expect me to act on them?

feel like I hate you. I feel like we should be intimate. I feel like I should buy that. But I don’t have the cash. That’s okay, that’s why God invented credit cards.

I feel like I should eat everything in sight.

I feel like I hate to exercise.

Satan plays on all these feelings and urges. Then, when we respond to them we get ourselves is a lot of trouble. He loves that. he’s not thinking of our best interest. He’s trying to destroy us, our marriages, families, churches, communities, and culture.

If it’s destructive, it’s from Satan. If it’s constructive, it’s from God. God prunes the tree, he doesn’t cut it down and burn it.

Jesus attacked it with the word of God.

Deuteronomy 8:3 NIV

He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

You see right away Satan’s influence in our culture and God’s response to it.

Just b/c you feel it, does not mean you should act on it.

In fact, it is better to do what’s right and not satisfy those feelings. We will be better off hungry. God caused the hunger so He can satisfy us. Not so we could cheat and satisfy ourselves.

2nd, He appeals to our fantasies and imagination. We are much too important for this.

You climb up to highest point on the temple. It was morning. The courtyard was full of worshipers. Jump off. You’re so important God and the angels won’t let you get hurt.

The ppl will see and worship you now. You don’t need t/b crux’d. Don’t go thru that.

Our fantasies usually center around our belief in our self-importance. I deserve better. I should go get better. If God really loved me, if He really knew me, He’d know I should have more.

I’ll spend a lot of money on lottery tickets. I deserve to win.

I deserve a better husband. I deserve a bigger house. I may not be able to afford it, but if God really knows me and how important I am, He won’t let me go broke. Right Satan?

Jesus attacked this one w/ the word of God again.

Deuteronomy 6:16 NIV

Do not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah.

He would have been testing God to see if He would really save His Son. It wasn’t time for Him to die yet.

We test God when we try to claim a heavenly lifestyle while we’re still on earth. Streets paved w/ gold, wealth. No tears no pain, health.

Yes, we are important. Not b/c of who we are, but b/c of Who bought and paid for us. We’ll get heaven. But in God’s time and God’s way.

3rd, He appeals to our reason. The plan is flawed. We can come up w/ a better plan that is more reasonable.

Satan showed Jesus all the kingdoms on the earth. Satan is the Prince of the earth. They were all his to give.

His plan, was to convince Jesus to that God’s plan is flawed. His plan is perfect. And if Jesus will go w/ Satan’s plan, all that would be his.

It would be all his anyway, in time. That’s God’s plan. But Satan was attempting to argue that his plan was more reasonable.

You and me, we can come up w/ a better plan. Don’t wait for God’s plan to play out. We can figure this out on our own.

Jesus attacked this w/ the Word of God, again.

Deuteronomy 6:13 NIV

Fear the Lord your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name.

We serve God, worship Him, when we submit to His plan and don’t try to reason out another plan that we think will work better.

Jesus successfully stood up to Satan so Satan left Him. Jesus actually invited the tests to prove the differences between the two.

We have no business inviting Satan’s test. in fact,

James 4:7 NIV

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Jesus succeeded where we struggle b/c He has so much more to draw on than we do.

He help us. The HS helps us. We can succeed much more often than we fail. But we have to access the power and knowledge He makes available to us.

Hebrews 4:15 NIV

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.

Jesus IDs w/ us and we can relate to Him b/c he faced every temptation we do. He gets it. He gets us.

He got down and dirty, muddy w/ the worst of us.

In the process, maintained His royal, elite status.

He did not DQ himself from being King or Savior. He kept His position w/ God while keeping His relationship w/ us.

He is qualified to be royalty, elite. At the same time He is easily relatable w/ us error-prone peons.

Jesus is perfect, not just in His behavior, but in how He lived His life to keep his royal position and still be relatable to us.

Applications

Where are you most being tempted today?

Appetite

Do you have an urge? Do you have strong feelings about something?

It is possible to fall in love w/ someone or something you have no business getting involved w/.

Just b/c you feel it, doesn’t mean you should act on it.

Squelch the feelings. It will work out better to be faithful and remain hungry, than eat and disobey God.

What urge do you need to surrender and leave unfilled?

Fantasy

Our fantasies are rooted in our beliefs of self-importance.

You are important. Jesus would not have died for you if you weren’t.

Don’t test God by jumping off the roof. You may think you’re getting away w/ it while you’re in the air.

But that sudden stop will reveal the foolishness of the test.

Don’t just into something, and investment or relationship just b/c you think you’re worth it.

Truth is, God may let you get hurt. But He will be there to comfort you and nurse you back to health.

What fantasy do you need to let go and live in reality?

Reason

God’s plan is perfect. We will be healthy, wealthy, and wise; in heaven.

Jesus didn’t die to bring heaven to earth. He died to get us to heaven.

God’s way, God’s time, always work out best for us.

Where are you getting ahead of God? Where have you left God’s plan b/c it seemed unreasonable?

Find your way back.

Jesus is perfect, not just in His behavior, but in how He lived His life to keep his royal position and still be relatable to us.

He got down and dirty, muddy w/ the worst of us.

In the process, maintained His royal, elite status.

He is qualified royalty and easily relatable.

He faced every temptation we face and stood up to it. In the process showed us how we can, too.

Jesus is the most qualified to sit on the throne of God’s kingdom. And, He did things he didn’t need to do, He got muddy, down and dirty, w/ the down and dirtiest, in a way that allows us to relate to Him.

Jesus gets us. We get Jesus. He is the only royal elite, who never made and error, that we error-prone can easily relate to and follow his example.