He Gets Us
Notes
Transcript
There is an ad campaign that gained instant popularity and criticism in about three seconds during the Superbowl. It is the He Gets Us ad campaign. The organization behind the ad campaign aired two ads during the Superbowl. One claimed Jesus didn’t want us to act like adults. The other claimed Jesus loved the people we hate. The ads are short and simple, and one of the good things it does is present how Jesus was the model for how we should treat one another. While I think the ad campaign has good intentions, I believe their videos miss the mark. The whole point is to draw awareness to Jesus, what he taught, and how that should change our behavior. The central claim is that he gets us. He understands us. He is not a God who cannot sympathize with us. But is he?
The short answer is yes and we are going to look at that today.
Last week we looked at the baptism of Jesus in which he was declared to be the Son of God by God himself. This is the starting point for Jesus’ public ministry. He does not have any followers yet. In fact, only now is John starting to point people to him. The very next moment in Jesus’ life, we see him led by the Spirit into the Judean wilderness to fast for forty days and be tempted by the devil himself. He goes from a mountaintop experience to the valley in what seems like a flash. Have you ever gone from a mountaintop experience just to feel like you are falling down the mountain the next moment? So does Jesus.
Every gospel but John records the temptation of Christ. As is typical of Mark, his is the shortest, only taking two verses. He presents it as the cruising at 30,000 feet version. It is the temptation of Christ in its simplest form:
Immediately the Spirit impelled Him to go out into the wilderness.
And He was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by Satan; and He was with the wild beasts, and the angels were ministering to Him.
Luke and Matthew present the account in almost the same way, but Luke’s order of temptations differ than that of Mathew’s. The reasons for this seem to match with different emphases the two authors are making, and for our purposes, we should not get hung up on chronology as much as we fix our attention on the fact that all three occured regardless of what order they occured in.
While I encourage you to carefully read both and compare the two accounts, we will be turning our attention again to the book of Matthew.
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry.
And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’ ”
Then the devil took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple,
and said 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 strike Your foot against a stone.’ ”
Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written, ‘You shall 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 glory;
and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.”
Then Jesus said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’ ”
Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him.
As we examine this passage today, I want to make note of a few things.
The devil is always coming at you, even on your best day.
The devil is always coming at you, even on your best day.
Jesus was fasting in the wilderness for forty days. Luke adds that he ate nothing during this fast. Fasting is an intentional abstinence from food for a period of time. In Jesus’ case, this lasted for forty days. Fasting places a person in a generally weakened state for the purposes of channeling the hunger for food into a spiritual hunger for the Lord. This is an exercise that is meant to further one’s dependence on God. As Jesus went through this, we are given three examples of how Jesus was tempted.
For forty days, Jesus faced temptation by the devil. We are only given the last three. The Matthew account makes it seem like the devil waited until the forty days were over, making it seem like the devil will try to get us when we’re down, but Luke tells us:
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness
for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He became hungry.
That sure makes it seem like Jesus faced temptations for the whole of forty days. Day by day the devil was there tempting Jesus as his physical strength weakened. The devil does the same to us. Day by day, he will chip at your armor until he can expose vulnerabilities he can exploit. He doesn’t wait for it to just happen. He looks for life circumstances, poor decisions, previous mistakes, anything he can get his hands on to gain a foothold and sway you to act contrary to the will of God. He is not waiting for you to have a bad day. His assault on Jesus began on day one, not day forty. This is why it is so essential to have our guard up.
The temptations of Jesus represent types of temptations we face every day.
The temptations of Jesus represent types of temptations we face every day.
Hebrews 4:15 says,
For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.
It would have been impossible for Jesus to face every situation anybody has ever faced in the history of the world. But Jesus did face every category of temptation, though he may have faced them in a different way than we do now.
John categorizes sin into three categories in 1 John 2:15-17
Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.
The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.
Let’s look at the first temptation in Matthew. Jesus was at the end of his forty day fast. He is understandably very hungry. Satan shows up and says, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” If Jesus is the Son of God, does he possess the power to do this? Yes. The temptation here is to satisfy a physical need by abusing his power to satisfy his need outside of his dependence on God in that moment. Jesus has the power to perform miracles, but this does not mean he can use this power however he pleases. He is still responsible for submitting himself to the will of the Father. Acting on his own would take him outside the will of God. His need for food was a legitimate need. The method Satan was proposing to meet that need was illegitimate. Did Jesus need to eat? Yes. Was God’s will for him to produce bread for himself by reducing his miracle working power to a magic trick? No.
This is what John refers to as lust of the flesh. I have a physical need. I need to depend on God for that physical need, but it’s right there. I can just reach out and take it. Have you ever been tempted to meet a physical need in an illegitimate way? Have you ever been so desperate for something like food or clothing that you would steal it? Have you ever lusted after sexual satisfaction that it drove you to pornography, masturbation, or an illicit relationship? Have you ever chased after something to make your body feel a certain way? That is the lust of the flesh. In Jesus’ case, it was legitimate hunger. How have you seen this manifest itself in your life?
The second temptation comes when the devil takes Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple and tells him to throw himself down. By doing so, God will act and save him because Psalm 91:11 says He will command his angels concerning you. Satan is challenging Jesus’ identity. By throwing himself from the temple, God would be forced to act and save the Son of God from hitting the pavement below. What was the temptation for Jesus here? It is a temptation to boast in himself. God is not one who can be manipulated or controlled. But suppose for a second Jesus would actually go through with this. He would be forcing the hand of God to act in his life. But he could not actually do this. To place oneself in a position that would force God to intervene is not within the will of God for your life. It is foolishness.
Often times, we live our life asking God to bless our plans without ever consulting him on his plans for us. Then we try to compel him to act because if he doesn’t, well then he either doesn’t care or doesn’t exist. But God is not obligated to protect us when we step outside of his will. He will allow us to suffer the consequences of disobedience. Satan quoted Psalm 91:11 here, but let’s take a look at it more closely.
For He will give His angels charge concerning you,
To guard you in all your ways.
They will bear you up in their hands,
That you do not strike your foot against a stone.
The context of this psalm is about safety for the one who trusts in the Lord. We come under the Lord’s protection when we listen to and follow his commands. We remove ourselves from his protection when we place ourselves in dangerous situations and think God will act to save us because he loves us. When we think we can manipulate God into doing what we want, we are committing a sin of the pride of life. It has become about me rather than what God wants from me.
Finally, Jesus is taken on a high mountain, shown all the kingdoms of the world, and is told that if he just worships Satan, all of it will be his. This is what we would call lust of the eyes. Isn’t there at least a small part of you that thinks the world might run better if everybody did it your way? Jesus had to trust the Father for his destiny. The kingdoms of the world would already belong to Christ, but by way of the cross. It was Christ’s mission to first purchase pardon from sin through his own sacrifice, and second to establish his kingdom. The kingdom of heaven is a right now reality with a future realization when he establishes his rule physically upon his return. No sacrifice, no kingdom. This would be a very tempting offer.
Don’t we see this all the time with our instant gratification culture? You can have it now and I’ll pay for it. But you will become my slave. It seems there are fewer and fewer people willing to work hard for the things they want. In the process of obtaining whatever it is, we often will look for the quickest route to obtaining it, even if it means going into debt, making a deal with someone we shouldn’t make, or put ourselves in a compromising position where someone else gains more control over us than they ought to have. This is the sin of the lust of the eyes.
So does Jesus get us? He does, but not in the way this new ad campaign seems to suggest. He gets us on a much deeper level.
But the last thing I want you to see is how Jesus dealt with these temptations.
The truth of God’s Word is the only weapon we have against Satan’s schemes.
The truth of God’s Word is the only weapon we have against Satan’s schemes.
Jesus responded with scripture in every instance. When he was tempted to make bread out of stones, he quoted Deut 8:3.
But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’ ”
When he was tempted to test God and throw himself from the top of the temple, he quoted Deut. 6:16.
Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”
When he was tempted to shortcut God’s plan for his life by worshipping Satan, Jesus quoted a saying found in both Deut 6:13 and Deut 10:20.
Then Jesus said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’ ”
If scripture was the only weapon Jesus had when he went toe to toe with the devil, what greater weapon do you think you have? There are two things you take with you into the battle against the devil: The Holy Spirit of God and his Word. Notice Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit. This comes from consistent obedience to the commands of scripture. This comes from walking with God.
Jesus did not have a smartphone in the wilderness he could use to look up verses. He didn’t even have a copy of the book of Deuteronomy from which he was quoting. He was doing this from memory. If you walk into battle with only the scriptures you can recite from memory, how prepared would you say you are?
Memorization of scripture is a lost art in today’s world. That’s why I included in every bulletin 100 verses everyone should know by heart. This came from a book by the same name. I want to challenge us as a church to work on memorizing all 100 of these verses over the course of the next year. We will recite the verses for the week in service every week. Will you join me in challenging ourselves to memorize more of scripture so we can be ready for the enemy’s attacks when they come?