What is Temptation Mat 4

2-26-23 What is temptation?

Good morning One River,

I hope you all had a great week. I’m curious to hear where you’re at with Lent. If you’ve decided to give anything up or add to you daily experience with Jesus.

I want to talk a little about sin and temptation today. I want to see if we can frame the idea of Lent a little better in case some of you or others watching are having a difficult time wrapping our heads around this concept or idea.

I said last week “If lent had a tag line, this would be it, fasting, abstinence, prayer, and giving to better achieve love.” We live in an age where the main message of Christianity is “Jesus/God is love”. This is very much a true statement. But we need to see that statement through a Christian lens, not a worldly one.

I think we look at this lovely message and through it see the idea that pretty much everything is permissible for us as Christians. That Jesus is love, and if he truly loves me he’d want me to be happy and this thing or practice makes me happy. This is not Christianity it’s Hedonism. I’m not sure how many of you are familiar with this term, but hedonism dates back to the ancient Greek philosophers. Their basic belief was life should be lived to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. Preferably without inflicting undo pain on others.

Basically in modern parlance, I can do whatever I want as long as I don’t hurt anyone else. Sound familiar? It’s basically the modern western lifestyle plan.

This philosophy often gets juxtaposed against faith and reason. Christianity began as Judaism and points are often made to things like the ten commandments. In earlier messages I’ve spoken about the thoughts behind the ten commandments and how they were ultimately beneficial for a collective society and for the individual that was smart enough to practice them.

Too often I think we focus on the do nots, and skip past what’s not written in the text, or the bits that may be a bit more subtle.

Let’s start at the beginning.

Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.”

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.’“ But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

I think too often in this text we skip over the initial words and jump straight to the prohibitions. “You shall not eat from the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil.” But look at what’s actually said. “You may eat of all of the trees of the Garden except….The tree of Good and evil. This is exactly how the serpent tricks Eve. He flat out asks her. “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” No she says, just the one over there, just the one about Good and Evil.

He then focuses on the prohibition and not on the generous bounty of available fruits. He told us no, to one tree. But he said Yes to all the other ones. This is where the hedonism comes in. Surely you won’t die if you eat it.

Surely it won’t really harm anyone else, and you really want it don’t you? Look what that caused.

And look at the immediate ramifications of this choice. Adam and Eve suddenly knew they were naked and sowed leaves to make loincloths for themselves. Who told them that nakedness was bad? Who told them they needed to cover up? No one, right? See the text never tells us that it was God’s perspective of the knowledge of Good and Evil hanging on the tree. And what we immediately see is man’s interpretation of Good and Evil. If their nakedness was a problem, don’t you think God would have told them to “suit up”? But he didn’t, that was a choice that we make. Taking something that God made, probably for us at a later time. We twisted it and without proper understanding we made a decision about what Good and Evil is.

Temptation is about our attempt to reinterpret God’s will and God’s law through our own understanding of Good and Evil to ultimately get what we think we want.

Lent is about us recognizing that piece of our nature and making decisions to place ourselves in a position of deprivation so that we can connect with God where he truly meets us; in our pain, suffering and discomfort.

As we each read through scripture, I want you to really focus on where God meets people. Where is it that we see those greatest spiritual connections? Jacob gripped with fear in Genesis about the prospect of meeting the brother again he utterly betrayed. He meets with God on the plain and wrestles with him.

Elijah, fresh on the heals of his cosmic defeat of evil, flees in fear takes refuge under a broom bush in an apparent suicide attempt. God meets him. He sends his angels and gives him a nap and a snack.

This is a constant motif in scripture. God is always meeting his people in their deficit, not when they’re on top of the world.

We probably can meet with God in the happy times and we all know that we can often get that feeling of the Spirit when we pray in rejoice. But this time of year, is not about that. This is about our connection to God in the suffering. Knowing that our savior is about to suffer one of the worst trials of all time. We connect in the suffering.

I’ve pointed out before how Jesus 40 days in the desert was to un-ring the bell of the 40 years in the desert of the Jews in the Sinai Dessert. But it was also to confront him with our original temptation.

Matthew 4:1-11

Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written,

‘One does not live by bread alone,

but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written,

‘He will command his angels concerning you,’

and ‘On their hands they will bear you up,

so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus said to him, “Again it is 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; and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written,

‘Worship the Lord your God,

and serve only him.’”

Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.

Jesus effectively suffers 3 trials during this period in the desert. The first is that Satan tells Jesus to turn stones to bread. What’s the temptation here? Is bread bad? No of course not. After all, Jesus is starving after 40 days without food. So what is this?

This is Satan asking Jesus to be the arbiter of Good and Evil. This is a stand in for sensual desires. All earthly pleasure. He’s saying you Jesus, set aside God’s law, and use your own judgement to fulfil your earthly wants and desires.

What does Jesus do? This is a model for each of us. He stays in his physical suffering or discomfort and he points Satan back to God’s written word. “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every ward the comes from God.”

Jesus chooses not to satisfy his sensual earthly desire, but instead points Satan and us back to God.

Satan is playing the same games he played with Eve in the Garden. Surely you won’t die. You can turn that stone to bread and satisfy your hunger, God wouldn’t want you to starve, would he? This is why Jesus is LORD. Even in his weakened physical state he points us back to God.

There is more to “God is love”, than so “He wants me to be happy”. He meets us in the suffering.

What’s the second temptation? Satan took Jesus to the pinnacle of the Temple. The top, of the top. He says “jump off, God will send angels to get you.” What is this? It’s pride. Satan is telling Jesus, “Hey buddy, you’re a big shot. God loves you. He’ll send angels to come and catch you, you’re that special.”

Again, we go back to the Garden. God loves you, surely you won’t die. Eve fails, Adam fails but how does Jesus respond? He again points Satan back to God “do not put the LORD your God to the test.”

We see this throughout the Gospels. Jesus chooses not to honor himself. He chooses not to sing his own praises. His life’s work is to refocus humanity on the love of God.

See our interpretation of Good and Evil usually goes something like this; God loves me, he wants me to be happy, so God is proud of me. Therefore, I can do whatever I want. I’m a big shot.

What does God say? Proverbs 16:

Pride goes before destruction,

a haughty spirit before a fall.

What’s Jesus’ third trial? Jesus is shown the kingdoms of the world and asked to bow down and worship Satan. This is power. On the earthly plain this may be the greatest temptation. You can be powerful. You should do anything to become powerful. It’s interesting to me that 2k years later these three temptations of Jesus are still the main three temptations of our human lives. Satan promises Jesus an earthly headship. He can rule the nations. In an Ironic twist, this is what the Jews of the day were waiting for the messiah to come and do for them.

Power, we’re told knowledge is power.

Satan tells Eve, eat this, your eyes will be opened. You’ll be like God. You’ll be powerful. That’s got to be the ultimate power temptation. You’ll be like God.

How does Jesus respond? “Worship the lord your God and serve only him. Away from me Satan.”

See the interesting thing here is. If anyone was entitled to claim these positions, power, pride, and earthly desires. It was Jesus. But instead Jesus takes this time to show Satan, and us, the way back to God. He shows us the love of God.

Now, here’s the real head scratcher. Jesus, by divine right was entitled to all that Satan offered. Even though it’s not technically Satan’s to give. But would he have been Jesus if he took Satan up on these things?

Temptation is about our attempt to reinterpret God’s will and God’s law through our own understanding of Good and Evil to ultimately get what we think we want.

Lent is about us recognizing that piece of our nature and making decisions to place ourselves in a position of deprivation so that we can connect with God where he truly meets us; in our pain, suffering and discomfort.

Jesus showed us the way. He confronted that temptation and showed us the path to God. Pain, suffering, being uncomfortable are not Evil. They’re not manifestations of Evil or signs that God doesn’t love you.

They may be signs that you’re reading the landscape through your earthly understanding of Good and Evil, and not God’s understanding of Good and Evil. If pain and suffering was not a part of the Kingdom we live in, would God have sent Jesus to face them?

Just because the story starts and ends with perfection doesn’t mean that things like fasting, abstinence and giving out of deprivation are not part of God’s kingdom now.

We have to remember; we live in the upside-down kingdom. That doesn’t solely mean that we have to see class and race from God’s perspective of the first shall be last and the last first. We need to reinterpret everything we think from the perspective of the great Adoni.

Lent is a beautiful season on the Christian calendar. But one that needs to be embraced by much of the modern Christian Church.

Things like suffering and uncomfortableness are not the antithesis of Good. Nor are you in God’s graces on earth simply because you have abundance.

It was the Pharisees that told the people that if they were in pain, it was because they had done something to offend God. This is the entire message of the book of Job. Sometimes we must sit in an uncomfortable place to truly see the face of God.

This is probably the most uncomfortable message of the Kingdom worldwide. We all want better here on earth, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with striving for one’s personal, professional, or communal betterment.

But not having that position is not a lack of faith, or a lack of blessings. If that we’re true, then Jesus would not have been LORD as he was not at the top of an earthly station.

We need to divorce the idea of comfort and blessing as being synonymous. They are not. The kingdom of man and the Kingdom of God do not operate in the same ways. Part of the curse that came from eating the forbidden fruit was the belief that WE now know the difference between Good and Evil, aside and apart from God. We don’t.

We are not now and have never really understood the differences between Good and Evil. We only think we do.

I would challenge you during Lent this year. To find something in your life that allows you to increase your discomfort and draw nearer to Jesus. The man who lived them most uncomfortable life.

Join me in prayer.