More Than a Man.

2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written,

“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
    but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 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,
    lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,

“‘You shall worship the Lord your God
    and him only shall you serve.’”

11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him. – Matthew 4:2-11 ESV

Jesus has just received the anointing of the Holy Spirit and an audible and verbal testimony from God Himself confirming Him to be the Son of God. His long-awaited earthly ministry is about to begin and the very first thing we see Him doing is heading into the wilderness, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, to be tempted by Satan himself. God has just expressed His pleasure with Jesus and, yet, God’s immediate plan for Him was going to be a period of severe temptation at the hands of the enemy. There is a seeming dissonance in this narrative that should leave us feeling a bit uncomfortable and uncertain. Why was this the first major act of Jesus’ earthly administration as the Son of God and the King of the Jews? Why was there no grand announcement to the people of Israel concerning His arrival? His unique genealogical record and virgin birth established Him as the legitimate heir to the throne of David. His baptism illustrated His willingness to fulfill the righteous will of God and confirmed His status as God’s Son and His role as the promised Messiah. But instead of beginning His ministry with a speech or a gran entry into Jerusalem, Jesus was led by the Spirit of God into the vast emptiness and stark loneliness of the Judean wilderness. And there was a singular purpose behind this strange inaugural act of Jesus’ earthly ministry: To be tempted by the Devil. For a period of 40 days, Jesus went without food and water, while suffering a direct onslaught  from the enemy. And Matthew simply matter-of-factly states that, at the end of 40 days of fasting, Jesus was hungry. But Luke reminds us that Jesus was not alone. He had entered the wilderness “full of the Holy Spirit” (Luke 4:1 ESV). It had been the Holy Spirit who had led Jesus into the wilderness and He would be with Him throughout this long ordeal. 

The immediate temptation of Jesus, His battle with the spiritual forces of wickedness, reveal that His earthly ministry was going to be met with intense opposition. Satan, the prince of this world, was not going to stand back and allow Jesus to enter into his domain unopposed. It is important to remember how John the Baptist had described Jesus upon seeing Him: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29 ESV). John had recognized that Jesus was coming as more than just a physical, earthly king. He was the Messiah, the Savior of the world and because of His coming, “all flesh shall see the salvation of God” (Luke 3:6 ESV). Satan recognized the significance of Jesus’ arrival on the scene and was ready to do everything in his power to thwart God’s plan of redemption by eliminating His agent of redemption.

The apostle Paul knew well the spiritual battle that is waging on this planet because of the incarnation of Jesus Christ. He wrote, “we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12 NLT). The entrance of the Son of God into a world long dominated by Satan and his demonic forces was destined to result in a battle of epic proportions. And Satan tried to eliminate any potential threat by personally attacking the God-appointed means of man’s salvation. If he could dissuade Jesus from doing the will of God, Satan knew he could thwart the plan of God. 

Satan appears to question the validity of Jesus’ Sonship, saying, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread” (Matthew 4:3 ESV). But this was probably less an expression of doubt concerning Jesus’ deity than a vain attempt on Satan’s part to appeal to the pride of Jesus by tempting Him to flaunt His divine power as the Son of God. He was trying to get Jesus to use His divine attributes to satisfy self rather than submit to the will of God. Satan appealed to Jesus’ physical need of hunger by stressing His divine power to create. But Jesus responded, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4 ESV). For Jesus, obedience to the will of God took precedence over His own physical well-being. He found nourishment in doing what His Father commanded rather than in meeting His own needs. Which is why He would later tell His disciples, “My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work” (John 4:34 NLT). It is why He could say in His Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Mathew 5:6 ESV). Jesus had come to do the will of God, even when that will meant suffering pain and enduring an undeserved and unbearable death on the cross. In the garden on the night He was betrayed, Jesus pleaded with His Father, “if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine" (Luke 22:42 NLT). And Paul records that Jesus did the will of His Father and “humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8 ESV).

But Satan was not done. Again, he seems to question Jesus’ deity, stating, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down…” (Matthew 4:6 ESV). He was really trying to get Jesus to flaunt His power and position by testing His Father’s love for Him. In a classic case of showmanship, Satan took Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem and tried to get Him to leap from the highest point. What a great way to attract a crowd and make an impression. Surely, this kind of dramatic miracle would convince the people of Israel that He was their Messiah. But the problem with Satan’s scenario was that it was not God’s plan. Jesus saw Satan’s ploy for what it was: An attempt to get Him to test His own Father’s love for Him. Which is why Jesus simply responded, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test” (Matthew 4:7 ESV). Satan wanted Jesus to test the faithfulness of God. He wanted Jesus to question the Father’s love for Him by putting His life on the line. But Jesus knew that He had no reason to test God’s love. His relationship with His Father had never been in question. His confidence in His Father’s care and concern for Him had never been in doubt. Jesus had heard His Father say, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” and He had believed Him. No questions asked. No tests required.

Finally, Satan gave one final try to distract Jesus from His God-ordained mission. And this one was aimed at getting Jesus to circumvent God’s plan for His future exaltation by avoiding the crucifixion. Satan was offering Jesus “all the kingdoms of the world and their glory” but without any need for suffering on His part. And all Jesus had to do was worship Satan instead of God. He had to swear allegiance to the enemy and, in doing so, He could have glory without cost. But that was not God’s plan. That was not God’s will. And the apostle Paul made it perfectly clear that the exaltation and glorification of Jesus, which were rightfully His as the Son of God, would come only after Jesus had done the will of God.

8 …he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. – Philippians 2:8-11 ESV

There are no short-cuts to glorification. There would no salvation apart from the crucifixion. There would be no resurrection apart from Jesus willing obedience to suffer humiliation. Worship of Satan brings no one glory but himself. His tempting offer of self-glorification is a lie that benefits no one but himself. And Jesus saw through Satan’s lie, shouting, “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve” (Matthew 4:10 ESV). And at that, Satan left Him. The enemy had failed. He had met his match. In Jesus, Satan had met a man like no other man he had ever encountered. He was the God-man, filled with the Spirit of God and willing to live in perfect obedience to the will of God. He was not tempted by self-gratification, self-preservation or self-glorification. His will was subordinate to that of His heavenly Father. And Satan, out of tricks and out of his league, left Jesus alone. But as we will see, the battle was far from over.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Message (MSG)  Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

Self-gratification.

For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life —is not from the Father but is from the world. – 1 John 2:16 ESV

John has just issued a command: Do not love the world. Simple. Direct. Straight forward. But for most of us, it is easier said than done. Loving the world comes naturally to us. It is part of our nature – our sin nature. And the world is more than willing to accommodate and return our love. But at the end of the day, our love of or for the world is really self-love. It is motivated not by what we can give the world, but by what we can get from it. Yes, it is a reciprocal relationship. It is give-and-take. We give and we get. But for the most part, we give TO get. And John gives us three evidences of that give-to-get nature of our love affair with the world. The New Living Translation provides a very up-to-date and in-your-face interpretation of verse 16. “For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world.” I think this gives us a very clear idea of what John is attempting to say. He is providing us with three distinct characteristics that mark a love affair of the world or, better yet, a love of self. The first is “a craving for physical pleasure.” The NASB translates it as “the lust of the flesh.” The NIV reads, “the cravings of sinful man.” The ESV has “the desires of the flesh.” The word John uses that gives us any insight into what he is talking about is the Greek word sarx. It can refer to the human body, but in this case, John is using it to refer to “the earthly nature of man apart from divine influence, and therefore prone to sin and opposed to God.” It is our sin nature and even though we have been redeemed and renewed by Christ, it remains alive and well within us. Paul puts it this way: “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do” (Galatians 5:17 ESV). He goes on to describe the very dark side of our flesh or sin nature. “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these” (Galatians 5:19-21 ESV). So when John refers to the craving of sinful man, the desires of the flesh, this is what he is talking about. The real issue here is self-gratification. What I like to refer to is saying yes to what God has said no to. Self-gratification is the act of pleasing or satisfying oneself, especially the gratifying of one's own impulses, needs, or desires. If you look at the list given by Paul, it provides a comprehensive catalog of sinful actions and attitudes that have been forbidden by God. They are aptly summed up in the Ten Commandments. God has forbidden us to do these things. But self-gratification causes us to say yes to what God has said no to. Rather than obey him, we give in to our sinful desires. And the world is more than willing to accommodate us. It gives us exactly what we crave, but not because it loves us, but because it hates us. Jesus warned His disciples, “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:19 ESV). Self-gratification is ultimately self-destructive. Paul tells us the only way to protect ourselves from this dangerous human tendency is by living in the light, by listening to and obeying the wisdom of the indwelling Holy Spirit. “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16 ESV).

The Spirit gives us the strength to say no to what God has said no to. He provides us with the capacity to turn away from self-love and self-gratification so that we can love others. The problem with a life of self-gratification is that it not only destroys us, it damages all those around us. Every one of the characteristics listed by Paul has a negative relational aspect to it. Jealousy, anger, immorality, impurity, strife, envy, and rivalries – they all involve a form of hatred toward others. They use and abuse others. But we have been called to love one another – as Christ has loved us. Yet the enemy is out to get us to say yes to what God has said no to and to say no to what God has said yes to. God had told Adam and Eve that one tree in the garden was a “no” for them. But Satan caused them to doubt God's word. He tempted them to say yes to what God had said no to, and they gave in to their fleshly desires. What looked good to them ended up being highly destructive. The same is true for us today. Living a life of self-gratification appears to seductive and alluring. And the world whispers in our ear that what we desire is good and right. But God has said, “No!” He has something far greater in store for us. Whether we believe it or not, He is telling us that a life of selflessness is the key to fulfillment and satisfaction. A life of sacrifice is the path to joy and contentment. A life marked by a love for others will leave us feeling loved by God and more gratified than we could ever imagine.