Temptations We Face: Identity

Call to Worship

Good Morning Church! It is really good to be back after being away on vacation! We enjoyed being away, but its always nice to be “home”

Before we begin, Lets begin with a call to worship that prepares our hearts for the Lord. As a Call to worship I want us to shout out why we have come to worship God. We will then close with a collective reading on the screen.

Intro/Scripture

This Morning we are going to be looking at the Temptation of Jesus in the Wilderness. This is something we will be studying for the next few weeks together as we look at temptations we face.

Focus Points: Places we face temptation are Identity and Ability

Identity: What do we place our Identity in?

For Me: Ive found that My identity lies in titles I have and what I am doing. God has done alot of work in humbling me in how I think about these areas of my life. (emphasize this with sarcasm)

Pastor: I have this incredible role pastor of Diller Church that has the Best Chicken BBQ

Student: I am a seminary student with a 4.0 at the top of my class.

Cashier: Ive been told Im the best cashier at saylors, people come to saylors just to see me.

Borough Council Member: Youngest on council, Ive already helped change the community.

These are the things I can claim as my identity,

This is a difficult question to answer, but in all seriousness.

What things are you proud of yourself for? (accomplishment, a role you play, a title you have)

What moments in define you in your life? (When you got married, who you married, when you had kids)

What about you? What things shape your identity? (Share out loud)

Ability: is deeply connected to identity, but another temptation we face. Specifically, the temptation to rely on our own ability over God’s

This can take the form of feeling like we arent doing enough ministry, service, ect

This can also look like us constantly questioning if we are doing stuff when we dont see results

We can also be tempted to do too much and let ourselves get burned out.

As we read the scripture text this morning I want us to hone in on this two points: Identity and Ability. Take some time to think about how youre tempted in these areas.

Before we Read the scripture text: Would you pray with me?

Read: Matthew 4:1-11 ..

Context and Walking through the Text.

So before we get to the temptation we have to set the Stage here

Jesus was baptised, God sent spirit and said, this is my son whom I am well pleased.

Jesus has been in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights

He is hungry.

When we are hungry, its simple we just satisfy the need.

The only struggle we face isnt if we can or should eat, but figuring out what we want to eat.

Jesus hasnt been eating for a purpose, He was fasting. Now He is going to be put to the Test.

Note: Temptation means test or trial. God didnt allow the Devil to come against him in a gamble to see if His son would sin, but to prove that Jesus, wouldnt sin unlike Adam. A bridge is a good illustration of this,

As the Union Pacific Railroad was being constructed, an elaborate trestle bridge was built across a large canyon in the West. Wanting to test the bridge, the builder loaded a train with enough extra cars and equipment to double its normal payload. The train was then driven to the middle of the bridge, where it stayed an entire day. One worker asked, “Are you trying to break this bridge?”“No,” the builder replied, “I’m trying to prove that the bridge won’t break.” In the same way, the temptations Jesus faced weren’t designed by God to see if Christ would sin, but to prove that He wouldn’t.

Temptation: Identity

The Devil begins the temptation with a question, just like in the Garden, but instead of Did God really say, What does the Devil Say? “ if you are the son of God”

Jesus knew that He was God’s son, God just said it at his baptism, Satan certainly knew too, but Jesus was at his weakest and Satan wanted to strike him at his core.

This is a multifacited if-

If you are God’s son, then prove it!

If you are God’s son, Why are you out here starving. Youre the Messiah Save yourself. Feed Yourself.

Jesus not only knows that He doesnt have to prove it, and he Knows that He isnt a “Messiah” who came to be served or to serve himself, but to serve others.

Jesus fights with Scripture- He responds by quoting Deut 8:2.. (Someone read verse for us)

Man shall not live on bread alone but rely on God to provide and every word that comes from Him.

We- Like Jesus we are tempted with this Question of Identity too. Wether its to put stock in a lesser identity, like a title or a position.

We have to ask ourselves, Which of our positions, titles, or identities will save us apart from God?

going to church, being a member, being aligned with a certain party.

We cant rely on them. Listen to what Paul says about titles, positions and accolades:

If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him,

We are also tempted to Question our identity in Christ too

Are you really a Child of God, if

Youre struggling with sin

You wrestle with self of esteem issues

Fill in the Blank.

So how do we respond when we face these temptations with our identity: Just like Christ! With Scripture

Ephesians is the foundation of Identity

Im going to read a section from Eph 1. That Joanne shared with me years ago. The first time I want you just to listen to the words. Then we are going to walk through it together and pick out where we see identity in Christ (Slide)

Go through it together.

Application: My challenge you this week is to invite the Spirit reveal answers to the following:

What idenities do I cling to that arent of God?

What aspects of my identity in Christ do I need to embrace more fully?

Transition: If we look back at the Text, Satan doesnt just say, if you are the Son of God, He says turn those stones to bread. Satan is attacking Jesus’ ability here.

Temptation Ability: Jesus’ commitment to rely on God’s ability rather than his own to provide.

Satan is essentially saying: if you are God’s son, why should you go hungry? A god shouldnt be hungry!

Hes also saying: I know your hungry, why cant you do this? Just use your power to turn these rocks into bread.

Jesus’ response: Rely on the father’s provision and his plan, Jesus directly alludes to when Yahweh provided bread in the desert as a way to flip satan’s coax on its head.

We struggle with the same temptation to rely on our own ability and do things by our own power instead of God’s.

We can try to do this, and we might be able to get somewhere, but in the end if we rely on our own strength we will fail, we will be like an airplane out of Gas, you wouldnt know it the moment a plane ran out of Gas. if a plane runs out of Gas or even the engines fail, it can glide an upwards of 70 miles!

Thats farther than state College from here.

Often when We rely on our own ability instead of God, when things fail we start to wonder and ask questions.

We think we arent doing enough!

If we just do xyz then we can.. be sucessful in ministry… grow the church… start revival in newvile.

Problem is: When we think like this we are focusing on what we are doing rather than (Who we are doing it for)

Maybe we are doing the wrong thing… We just arent doing the right outreach, programs, or maybe we are just broken and God cant use us.

Jess’ story about moving here and Bri’s response.

(What if im messing up Gods plan?)

We are doing too much! We cant do it anymore, we are too old, too small or too burned out.

When we try to build the Kingdom on our own power, we will burn out.

When we try to overwork and do too much, its forcing fruit.

Have you ever seen a tree try to force an apple to grow overnight?

Farmers, has a crop ever gone from seed to harvest overnight?

Why do we try to produce our own fruit, when Jesus says apart from me you can do nothing.

or we think we can prove that we are truly Christian if we do enough - go back to idenity.

Transition: Yet, the point is Like Jesus said, its by God’s ability that we will live and thrive. Let’s take a look at Eph. 2:1-10 and see what God has done (Slides)

God’s Work in us, but also our work for God! Look at what God has done:

Loved us even in our sin

Made us alive together in Christ

by his grace we are saved

gave us the gift of salvation

made us and created us for good works.

Has a plan for us to walk in

I dont know about you but when I read that, Working on my own power seems pointless. Look at all God has done

Yet, that doesnt mean we can sit back and relax, put are feet up and say, God’s done all the work. Look at verse (10).

Kingdom doesnt come to us, it comes through us.

In matthew 28, He doesnt tell the disciples the Great mission Im going to do with out you, so just sit back get saved and relax,

He says go and make disciples baptizing them and teaching them all I have commanded you.

No its the great co- mission because God is commissioning with US!

He’s got stuff for us to do, We have to walk in it

Application and Summary

Know- Identity in Christ Alone, Must Rely on God’s ability not our own

Why- Identity is our core- everything we think say and do flows from our identity. Our ability will eventually break down, like a plane out of gas we will eventually crash on our own power.

Do- This week to Invite the Spirit to reflect on the identifies we cling to that are not in Christ. Think about the ones we must cling to.

We also have to be aware of what God is doing out there! Seek first the Kingdom! See what God’s doing!

- Imagine- What can God do with us, if we lived more like Jesus this week?

If we relied on the power of the Spirit

If we were so Spirit lead that when temptation came our way, it ran the other direction because it only saw Christ.

Take Away- When , our identity is in Christ alone, we are not measured by our ability, but our vulnerability to God’s spirt working in us! Amen? (Lets say that together!)

Now, as we go from here, we have just learned from Jesus’ example, now it is our turn, would you join me in singing “So will I”

In this song, we join Creation in praising God, We follow Christ’s example in Following Him, and Live in Christ, and Love like Christ by serving others.