Tempted: Luke 4.1-13

Good morning on this memorial day weekend that we're also celebrating graduates.  We are able to worship together today because of the sacrifice others made on our behalf.  We have religious freedom.  We can travel to places where we cannot do what we are doing right now.  We gather publicly and freely.

Our graduates are in a time of life where they will face new challenges.  In Luke 4 Jesus is at a place where he's about to begin His public ministry.  Jesus went through a time of temptation.  We've all faces temptations and challenges.  Jesus demonstrated for us how we can follow God and be victorious.  We are tempted to walk away from our trust in God.

To think God has abandoned us

 We think God has abandoned us.  It's a surprise to us that the Sprit of God leads us towards challenges.  We think God is supposed to keep us from challenges.  Last week we read about the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus like a dove,  The Holy Spirit fills Jesus and Luke refers to this many times.  Jesus is led into the wilderness.

                        ¹And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 

 The Holy Spirit of God leads Jesus, the Son, into the wilderness.  We think God should keep us away from these times but God leads us into challenging times.  Temptation happens in our brain, it's a mental battle that begins in our minds.  The strategy of Satan is to make it seem like God has abandoned us, that we're all alone and that nobody else could possibly understand us.  When temptation comes and we're alone we think nobody else will know.  We can look around this morning with everyone looking nice and think that nobody else is struggling.  Satan tells us that we are alone, you don't know what you're doing.  Reality is that most people here this morning are going through challenges or they will eventually go through them.  Jesus is telling us some things here.  The Holy Spirit of God leads Jesus into the wilderness.  God does not keep us from challenges.  The truth is that we are made for challenges!  We aren't meant to live in a protective bubble.  We are made to represent the power of Christ and to live in victory.  Sometimes God's will is to lead us through challenges.  God will give us what we need.  

We know how to prepare for the unusual times of life just like we know what to do when it rains.  In the last 24 hours we've had a lot of rain.  I stood on my porch and admired it for about 10 minutes yesterday.  We have raincoats and umbrellas and we know how to get through the rain.  In Christ, God wants to lead us through life's challenges.  Maybe this is what God has prepared us for.  

To choose comfort at any cost

This might be the greatest challenge for us.  Satan comes in a seemingly innocent way.  Jesus is hungry.
                        ³The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” 

 Jesus has not eaten in 40 days.  He is hungry!  This is a basic human need.  To turn a stone into bread is not a temptation for you and I.  We do not have these powers.  Jesus has a God-given need and the temptation is to fill it in an ungodly way.  Satan will try to get us to fill a need in a way that is destructive.  This is the same kind of temptation Eve faced in the Garden of Eden.  The question Satan is asking here is if God can really be trusted.  Satan undermines the relationship Jesus has with the Father.  If Jesus is the Son of God can't Jesus do anything He wants?  Satan questions Jesus' relationship with the Father.  Will God really take care of us?  We all wonder about this basic thing.  If God doesn't meet our needs we go out and meet our own needs.  This is what the world tells us to do.  It's Satan's basic lie: you cannot trust God, so take care of yourself.  There's something more important before us here: God always provides.  The goal of life isn't to be comfortable.  We have equated Christianity with comfort.  Comfort can become the greatest focus of our lives.  Our prayer requests should be about pushing back darkness.  God does want to meet our needs but comfort cannot be our greatest focus.  If our battle and goal is comfort Satan knows that and Satan will undermine your comfort.  We think the goal for our graduates this morning is to have a good life, to be comfortable.  We think if we have enough securities we will be ok.  If that's where you put your hope you'll never be satisfied.  The goal isn't comfort.  Money won't bring enough.  Other needs will come to the forefront.  God is enough. Jesus says man shall not live by bread alone.  Bread is a false sense of security.  As long as we have God we will be ok.  I still prepare but my security is not tied to my comfort.

                        ⁷If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” 

What will we do with our power?  Good things can even be used in a way to get us off base.  Satan tells Jesus if He worships him all this will be Jesus'.  

                        ⁹And 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, 

Jesus came to bring healing.  Jesus brought sight to the blind.  Satan says here's a shortcut on how Jesus can accomplish God's mission.  Satan knows our hearts.  He wants to give a crown without a cross.  Satan is promising Jesus what's not even Satan's to give!  Can Satan give the world?  This is not Satan's world.  It's God's world.  Every person here was made by God.  Satan is the Father of Lies.  He is not trustworthy.  Here's Jesus' response:

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

God is the only One worthy of our devotion.  God will never ask you to compromise your character and values to fulfill your purpose.  The world tells us the opposite, that we have to compromise our character.  Is someone who tells you to compromise your character trustworthy?  God never asks us to go against our own values.  Success is walking with God.

To want God to do our will

Jesus will establish Himself as the Messiah.  Satan takes Jesus to the pinnacle, the Temple.  It's a visible place.   Satan quotes scripture here.  Just because someone quotes scripture doesn't mean they're Godly.  Satan normally doesn't do anything; Satan just suggests things.  Augustine noticed this.  We choose whether or not we carry out the suggestions of Satan.  We are tempted to try to get God to do our will, to manipulate God.  Satan wants to tell us how we can get what we want from God.  I know a 6 year old girl who discovered Amazon's Echo.  She told Alexa she wanted a large dollhouse and 4 lbs. of cookies and they came to her house.  We learn early how to manipulate.  We want to know how to get God to do what we want.  Jesus says you shall not put God to the test.  Our prayer should not be to bend God's will to us but for God to change our hearts to do what God wants.  Jesus corrects Satan's faulty theology.  Satan says you cannot trust God.  You cannot trust the Father's will.  Do you trust God?

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

Sermon by Dr. Scotty Carpenter.  Sermon Notes by Jeni Martin Johnson.