Luke 4 The Temptation of Jesus

INTRODUCTION

So it seems clear to me that the comic book super-hero movie genre is here to stay. Have you seen this? Every time you turn around they are making a new superhero movie. At first it was the story of the individual superheros saving their little neck of the woods and now they are all banding together in teams to save the entire galaxy. It gets a little confusing as it seems that each one of these team member come from entirely different worlds. In some case very literally.

You have aliens from other planets,

Demi-gods from Mount Olypus

Scientist whose experiment went terrible wrong

Robotic engineer and former Arms dealer

Billionaires with secret lairs under their mansions

And my favorite: Teenage boys being bit by radioactive spiders on a school field trip

And now we are teaming up all these hero’s in an effort to fight off evils from other planets, other dimensions, or ancient mythology.

And if you look at many of their superhero names you notice a commonality:

Bat-man

Iron-man

Aqua-man

Ant-man

Spider-man

Super-man

They all carry in their name a descriptor or qualifier and then the word “man”. So it is as if the originators of these characters wanted us to first identify with them as a man and then the particular type of man that this super-hero was.

So “Bat-Man” is a MAN who comes out at night from his underground bunker in a cave (pointy ears)

“Iron-Man” is a MAN in an indestructible suit of metal full of technology, guns and explosive devices

‘Ant-Man’ is a -very tiny- MAN with the proportionate strength of an ant and the command of an army of them.

And so on, with the glaring exception on our list: Super-Man

Superman is not a man, nor was he ever a man. He is an alien from the planet Krypton and he roams the earth looking like a man. Taking the form of either the mild manored reporter Clark Kent or the faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings, caped crusader Super-Man.

The reason I bring this up is not to impress you with my comic book knowledge, it’s not that impressive, but to prime our thinking as we look to tackle the idea that one of the descriptors that we often use to describe Jesus is that he was the God-Man.

TENSION

Now I am not trying to say that understanding the idea of Jesus as both fully God and fully man is as simple to following as a comic book story. The truth is that this is one of the most difficult things to understand about Jesus. How can he be both fully God and fully Man? It just isn’t easy to understand, but that doesn’t mean that we cannot trust that it is true. Would we even want the nature of our God to be something that we could easily understand? Wouldn’t that make him small, predictable and seemingly controllable. God is none of those things.

But we do need language to talk about Jesus’ nature and one of the best things we have come up with is the “God Man”, but it does seem to give Jesus a bit of a superhero quality doesn’t it. And to a degree I think this is very appropriate. Superhero’s rescue people, and no one has rescued more people than Jesus. So in our house, we often us the language of superhero to describe Jesus. But that should only get our minds started in a certain direction, because Jesus is more than just a comic book creation of a superhero, He is God.

But If we were going to compare Jesus to a superhero then we would probably hit closest in comparing him to Superman. Even though I am a big Spiderman fan, and maybe there is a character that you prefer more, all the other “superheros” in our list were men first and then became something more.

Superman was something more and then became a man.

Jesus was something much more and then became a man.

The Bible says …he made himself nothing by taking the very nature[b] of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, Phil 2:7b-8a

But there is a danger in this comparison to Superman, one that our text today helps to reveal. This danger is to think that Jesus, like superman, was really only pretending to be a man. That at any moment Jesus could just split open his shirt to show the big “G” on his chest and then use his “Super God Power” to rescue any situation, calm any worry or eliminate any threat that came his way. That is how Superman did it. He stepped into a phone booth and used his superhero side whenever it was needed.

Jesus never did this.

Jesus never would have done this.

Jesus never could have done this and still be able to save us from our sin.

Jesus’ arch enemy Satan knew this. Satan knew that if he was going to get the “God-Man” to fail in his rescue mission he would have no hope in attacking the God-ness of Jesus. So Satan went after the Man in the God-Man. He tried to get Jesus to act beyond what was humanly possible. You see if Satan could get Jesus to operate beyond what any other human could ever do, then Jesus’ death and resurrection would not mean anything for us.

So Satan attacks the humanity in Jesus.

TRANSITIONAL STATEMENT

And as Jesus defends his humanity against the attacks of Satan we should take note, because he is defending our humanity. Satan is challenging the nature of the human being that God originally created to be “very good”. He claims that as a human, Jesus has nothing to offer. There is nothing that Jesus can really do to get us back to a right relationship with God.

Satan, using his favorite weapon as “The father of lies” comes up against the “God-Man” Jesus who responds in the power of the Holy Spirit using the Word of Truth.

So as we look at this probably familiar story today I encourage you to see yourself in the humanity that Jesus is defending, and I believe that it will encourage all of us toward living more in line with our true identity, as the image bearers of our creator God.

Turn with me if you will to Luke Chapter 3v23 (p. 859) and I will pray and we will get started.

TRUTH

Last week we actually ended half way through chapter 3 and I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to speak quickly about the importance of what we find at the second half of that chapter. I know if you are like me when you find a list of names like this in your reading you either skip them entirely or just skim a few lines to see if any of the names stick out, but there are some pretty significant things mentioned here besides just recognizable names:

23 Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli, 24 the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of… (so forth and so on)

So we learn that Jesus was 30 years old when he began his ministry and what was he doing up to this point?

He was growing in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man and then he left his home town of Nazareth and his occupation as a carpenter and met up with John the Baptist at the Jordan river. As we said last week Jesus was then baptized by John, anointed by the Holy Spirit and attested to by God the Father. This was the launching of Jesus’ time of ministry and you think that Luke would just flow us into our story for today, the Temptation in the Wilderness, but he doesn’t. He sticks this genealogy right in the middle of two stories.

Much like my gearing us up to look at the God-man through the familiar story of “super-man” Luke is gearing up his readers to understand the story of the Temptation of Jesus by grounding us in the genealogy of Jesus. He traces Jesus’ human bloodline through his “lawful” father Joseph. That was “supposed” means there it is not that people just guessed it, but that Jesus was Joseph’s lawful son even though he was not his biological son. His step-son if you will. And so Luke walks us through the human history of Jesus’ bloodline all the way back…

- through David, the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz;

- Through Judah, the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac the son of Abraham

- Through Shem the son of Noah, the son of Lamech the son of Methuselah

- All the way to Adam… the Son of God-?

Now that is interesting isn’t it. But really, Who else would Adam be a son of? Must be God’s Son, but when we think of the Son of God we don’t think of Adam do we? We think of Jesus. I believe this is Luke’s point.

He wanted to remind us that God created humans and that he always intended for us to be in a right relationship with him. His plan was all along that we would all be his children and that he would be our Father. Being right with God is not a new nature for us, it is our returning to the nature that we were originally designed to have. Of course as I use the term “we” I mean in our original parents, Adam and Eve. Every person since Adam and Eve has been born with a Sin Nature, we have never tasted what Adam tasted, except in the example of Jesus.

Jesus came down and demonstrated for us not a new way of being human, but the original way that we were designed to be human.

And so with that little nugget bouncing around in our heads, Luke leads us into the story of the Temptation of Jesus.

4 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry.

We should not just pass through this quickly as an introduction because there is much here for us to learn from.

First of Jesus did not get lost and end up in the wilderness trapped by the Devil. He was led by the Holy Spirit into this season of temptation. Does that square with most of our stories of temptation? If you are like me, it more feels like I was just minding my own business when all of the sudden I am ambushed by a thought of temptation. I can’t imagine ever saying something like, “I woke up this morning and I just knew that the Holy Spirit had some temptations for me today”. That wouldn’t even make sense!

And for most of Jesus’ life it would not have made sense either. For thirty years he had dealt with the same kind of temptation that you and I do every day. The kind of temptations that we ask God to deliver us from. Even Jesus taught us to pray that way, didn’t he..”lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”. This is a special experience though as we will see. One that will establish Jesus and his ministry in such a way that is able to complete his mission. And it is that establishment that the Holy Spirit is leading him into.

So for 40 days the devil tempted him, and he ate nothing. Presumably fasting and praying and communing with Father, asking Him to deliver him from these many temptations – and then we have three temptations highlighted for us. The first one focused in on his very real, very human experience of hunger.

And when they were ended, he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”

4 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’”

In one sense Satan is tempting Jesus to jump in the phone booth, tear open his shirt and use his God-ness and to resolve this hunger. But there is even more going on here than that.

Satan is saying, “Ok Jesus, if you really are a human then act like a human. Hunger is a natural state for humans and they will do whatever they have to in order to satisfy their stomachs. As the “Son of God” like Adam, there is no reason for you to suffer hunger. Don’t let anything get in the way of satisfying your appetite.

Satan is not so much calling Jesus’ divinity into question as he is calling into question the nature of this humanity that Jesus has taken on. His point is that humans are basically just animals. We are ruled by our instincts, desires and appetite.

If we have an itch we scratch it.

If we have a hunger, we feed it.

If we have a desire, we satisfy it.

We can’t control it, that is who we are and if Jesus is going to be human, then this is how he should act too.

1a. MAN IS SUBJECT TO HIS APPETITE

And for man in his sinful state, this is actually not too far off. The Apostle Paul said something along these lines about those who live without Christ.

18 For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.

Phil 3:19

And notice how Jesus answers with scripture that combats this thinking, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” Jesus does not defend himself by speaking of his role as the Messiah, but speaking the truth about all humanity. This is an abbreviated reference to Deuteronomy 8:3 where it says “…man (all mankind including myself as the God-man) does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

The Holy Spirit led him into the wilderness and he is depending on his heavenly Father to know and to meet all his needs according to his word. This is something that all of us, every human can hold onto.

1b. GOD WILL PROVIDE ALL OUR NEEDS

The second test:

5 And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time,6 and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.”

8 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’”

The setting of the first temptation is in the wilderness, for the second temptation Satan takes Jesus up to a mountain and showed him all the “kingdoms of the world.” It is interesting to compare Luke’s account of this story and Matthews. There are several differences. One of the most obvious is that Matthew uses a different order and puts this temptation at the end. A difference that maybe is not so obvious to us, reading the English Bible, is that when Mathew says, “Kingdoms of the World” he uses the Greek word “kosmos”, but for the same phrase Luke choses to use the word “oikomene”. It might seem like a small difference, but the word “oikumene” is where we get our word “economy” and it is more accurately translated “The inhabited world”. So Luke is focusing us in on the known world at the time.

Remembering what we have been learning about this time in World History, we know that Luke is talking about the Roman Empire. Satan is showing Jesus the “kingdoms” plural of the Roman Empire. This would include Greece, Pergamos, Bithynia, Bosphorus, Syria, Pontus, Egypt and Juduea. Many Kingdoms in one Empire or “oikumene”.

And we know that this Empire was sold out to the things of Satan. The absolute rule of the Caesar, even making him out to be a god, was all sitting under the rule of the enemy of God. They were about world domination through military strength, bloodshed and violent threats. So it was true that the known world at the time had been delivered to Satan. It is important to make the distinction that God did not give Satan the world, but men chose to yield themselves to the dominion of Satan. So there is some truth to what Satan is saying here as he claims that

2a. MAN IS BOUND TO SATAN’S RULE.

There is some truth, but Satan is the father of lies, and we all know that the best lies contain a little truth. While the known world was firmly in Satan’s grasp at the time, it was only a temporary situation. Satan cannot give, take or offer anything to anyone permanently. Satan knows his time is short, so he will promise anything that will cause death, destruction and detriment to those who love God.

And you notice how Jesus again defends against Satan’s attack with Scripture. The same Scripture that is available for you or me to use to combat the lies of Satan. “‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’”

Did you catch Jesus’ add on there? There is a glimpse of Jesus beginning to set Satan in his place as he bring more clarity to what Satan is actually asking Jesus to do. Jesus knows that worship is so much more than just bowing a knee. When you worship something, you become it’s servant. Satan didn’t happen to mention that whole servant part, but Jesus knows it goes hand in hand. When you worship something you become it’s servant.

If you worship money, you become its servant

If you worship sports, you become its servant

If you worship music, you become its servant

If you worship friendships, you become its servant

If you worship alcohol, you become its servant

If you worship entertainment and comfort you become it’s servant

If you worship Satan, you become his servant.

And Jesus combats Satan lies with something that is true for all humans, that we are designed to worship, and in that to serve God alone. Worship of anything else is idolatry and idolatry is one of Satan’s favorite traps. He lures us into thinking that if we live for these things they will serve us, when in the end we end up serving Satan’s plan. That is why God’s Word is so clear:

2b. GOD DESIGNED US TO WORSHIP AND SERVE HIM ALONE.

So Satan tries again a third time, this time he takes Jesus to the peak of the Temple

9 And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’ 11 and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

12 And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

We have talked about this before, because it was something I didn’t understand for a long time. What was the temptation in this interchange? What would there be to gain in Jesus jumping down from the Temple peak? To understand this, we have to understand the setting. While both the wilderness and the Mountain were isolated areas where Jesus and Satan were alone, the Temple would have been full of spectators. It was like standing on top of building in New York Cities Time Square. So Satan’s plan was that Jesus would base jump off this peak and all the people below would point and gasp and then see the spectacular rescue of Jesus by Angels swooping in to save him. Satan’s claim here was that this drama would prove to the people that Jesus was the Messiah.

This would be something that Jesus struggles with his entire ministry. Even Jesus’ own disciples took their sweet time in recognizing Jesus as the Messiah, but if the crowd of people in the temple could see Jesus softly landing on the Temple grounds aided by the help of angels, everyone would believe in an instant. In fact, Satan is suggesting, you probably would not even need to do that whole painful crucifixion thing.

3A. MAN CAN BE RESCUED IN EASIER WAYS

Now this is a temptation we all can recognize isn’t it. There is an easier way. Sure, we should be doing it that way, but if there was an easier way to accomplish what appears to be the same thing, what is the harm. We might even be able to justify it with some Bible verses, or at least a part of the Bible verse or two kind of smashed together creatively.

Jesus sees right through this. He sees how this is Man trying to manipulate God’s Word, not submitting to it. Still in his humanness Jesus would have been glad to have avoided the cross. The night before he would be crucified he cried out to God,

“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”

Luke 22:42

That is what it looks like for a Man to submit to God. God I would prefer an easier way, but not will but yours be done. You see the Father and the Son already knew that there was only one way that we could be rescued.

3b. GOD HAS RESCUED US THE ONLY WAY: THE CROSS

13 And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.

This short verse is the announcement of Jesus victory over temptation that the Holy Spirit led him into the wilderness to pursue. As we continue in the life of Jesus over the next several weeks we will see that from this moment forward up to the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus never addresses any demon except in complete authority. In some interactions before Jesus even says a word the demons are crying out to him not to hurt them. Why? Because they know how he handled their leader Satan. He bested the best of them and they knew that they could do nothing to oppose him. This is why the Holy Spirit led him through this dark experience, so that he would come out on the other side to minister freely without being encumbered by the distraction of Satan’s servants. Satan was beaten and he departed until an opportune time. That opportune time came the night before Jesus would be crucified. When Jesus was so physically weak he was sweating blood as he faced the pain of the cross.

Still up to that point, Jesus, the God-Man had successfully beaten his foe, his nemesis, his arch enemy. And how did he defeat him? Was it with the strength of his God-ness? He defeated Satan in his Humanity.

GOSPEL APPLICATION

So you might say, ok well, yes I mean Jesus was the God-Man but he wasn’t really like us, I mean he was still Jesus. True, but was his humanity really any different than ours?

Let me ask that this way,

If you are a Christian, Did Jesus use anything in his defeat of Satan that is not available to you?

Well lets take a look at what he did:

1. He was full of the Holy Spirit (verse?) Same Holy Spirit every believer is given at point of belief

2. He was led by the Holy Spirit (verse?) We have to choose to listen to him though

3. He used God’s Word to combat Satan’s lies (verse) We have to know his Word,

And God promises in his Word that if we resist the Devil, he will flee from us

These are all things that are available not just to the God-man but to every man, every woman, every child every human. When we submit our lives to Jesus Christ and his Lordship, then we have the power of the Holy Spirit and the wisdom to understand his Word and we too can conquer any temptation of Satan. Do you believe this? If not then I am telling you, you are believing a lie from Satan.

The Humanity that Jesus defended was your humanity and my humanity.

If Jesus was to avail himself of his God-ness while he was here on earth, then he would be like Superman – just pretending to be human. And if Jesus was just pretending to be human then why should we even aspire to be like him. We can’t, we are only human.

And worse than that, Jesus would then not be a sufficient sacrifice for us. His perfectly lived life, death and then resurrection would give us no hope – because he was only pretending to be human.

But he wasn’t pretending, he was fully Man even as he remained fully God. He was the God-Man.

LANDING

Some of us this morning might say, “Ok I get your argument Dan but look at all the things that Jesus did. Look at all his miracles, the healings, the controlling storms and bringing people back to life. It seems clear that Jesus did all kinds of things that we can’t do”

And honestly, I tend to agree with you. The problem is that Jesus doesn’t

12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

John 14:12-14

Jesus expects that not only will we be able to do the kind of things that he did while he was here on earth, but even greater things. Why? Because he not only won victory of Satan’s temptations in the Wilderness, but he won victory over all sin and death in his victory on the cross.

Let’s pray and we will enter into a time of celebrating that victory in communion.