The Temptations of Christ

Matthew 4: 1 - 11 (NIV): Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.' " Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written: " 'He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.' " Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do 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 splendor. "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me." Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.' " Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

This is a deep and important passage of Scripture. Whole books have been written on these few verses. But here is one overview: The temptations that Jesus faced are similar in nature to the temptations we face today. The first is to be our own god. Instead of trusting in God's provision, Satan tempted Jesus to take matters into his own hands. That is a major temptation we still face to this day. We only need to look at what happened to Abraham to see the danger in not waiting on God to fulfill his promises.
The second temptation was to test God. How often do we ask God to protect us, then behave foolishly, forcing God to intervene. Jesus showed from scripture that this is wrong. It's not fair, for instance, to ask God for a safe trip, then speed and run lights. We need to do our part. Jesus refused to jump off the temple roof to prove who he was. Satan took a good scripture from Psalm and tried to distort it. Jesus wouldn't allow it.
The third temptation was to worship another god. The first Commandment tells us plainly not to do this under any circumstance. If we get our fulfillment from the world instead of from God, we are giving in to this temptation. If we worship or create any idol, including materialism, we are giving in to this temptation. For Jesus, the temptation was to become the political leader his peers wanted him to become. He knew he had a higher purpose. He knew he was to become a suffering Messiah. He couldn't let Satan pull him off course. Jesus was determined to do God's will at any cost.
So how do we defeat these temptations? The same way Jesus did. First, we notice that he answered Satan with Scripture. The Word of God is our only offensive weapon against the devil. We must know the Scripture. Second, know how much God loves us. When we understand this, we can wait for his provision. We can walk by faith when we know how much God truly loves us. And third, understand that our purpose is to walk with God. Jesus could overcome these temptations because he understood his purpose and would not let anything detract him from it.

Joseph: A Man of Dreams

Genesis 45: 1 - 11 (NIV): Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, "Have everyone leave my presence!" So there was no one with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh's household heard about it. Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph! Is my father still living?" But his brothers were not able to answer him, because they were terrified at his presence. Then Joseph said to his brothers, "Come close to me." When they had done so, he said, "I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will not be plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. "So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt. Now hurry back to my father and say to him, 'This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; don't delay. You shall live in the region of Goshen and be near me--you, your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and all you have. I will provide for you there, because five years of famine are still to come. Otherwise you and your household and all who belong to you will become destitute.'

This passage is the climax of Joseph's story. It is told in the second half of the book Genesis. Most people are familiar with the basic plot: Joseph was his father's favorite and he didn't mind reminding his older brothers of that. So they sold him as a slave to an Egyptian caravan. He ends up a house slave to a man named Potiphar. You'll recall that Potiphar's wife lied about Joseph and he was thrown into prison. Through extraordinary circumstances, he was later released and became second only to Pharaoh in all of Egypt. This is when his brothers came to request food, not knowing of Joseph's rise to power.
This story is a great example of God using terrible circumstances for his ultimate purposes. Joseph was in a seemingly hopeless situation, but what happens to him is truly remarkable. He not only leaves slavery and prison to become a ruler over Egypt, he also saves his family -- and his people -- in the process.
One reason this story is so encouraging is that Joseph was treated horribly by his brothers, deceitfully by Potiphar's wife, unfairly by Potiphar, and God allowed it because he could see the big picture. He had a plan that there was no way Joseph could see. Joseph was forgotten by the cupbearer for two years while he was in prison, but God didn't forget about him. Paul says that God works all things for the good of those who love God and are in his will (Romans 8:28). Joseph's life is a stellar example of that.
It's good to put some perspective on Joseph's life. He suffered for about 15 years, but he ruled in Egypt for 80 years. When we find ourselves in absolutely hopeless circumstances, we don't have to despair, we can look at stories like this one and see that God is up to something good, even if it doesn't feel like at the time.

Don't Look Down on Others

Galatians 2: 11 - 16 (NIV): When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray. When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, "You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs? "We who are Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners' know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.

What an amazing passage! Imagine if you were the "new kid" in a brand-new religion, and you confronted the religion's leader right to his face in front of the group. But that was what Paul did. Peter had stopped eating with Gentile Christians because some Jews had arrived and scolded him for it. Paul, who was also a Jew, called him out on it. There are no classes of people in Christianity. We are all equal in God's eyes - and we should be in our own. It is a temptation to look down on others for whatever reason, but true Christianity makes no allowance for that. I think it makes us feel better about ourselves to think of others as sinners or wrong.
Legalism was a problem in Paul's day and it still is today. Yes, the church should stand against sin, but legalistic churches are those that look down on outsiders as sinners who aren't as good as them. Legalistic churches emphasize do's and don'ts instead of grace. Legalistic churches emphasize rules and regulations instead of having a relationship with God. Jesus died so you could be a child of God, not so you could toe the line laid down by some chicken-breath preacher.
In Antioch, Peter was looking down on Gentiles because someone said they weren't as good as him. Paul put a stop to it. Jesus ate with sinners and didn't look down on anyone. If anyone had the right to look down on others, it was Jesus, but he didn't. Yet, legalistic people tend to see themselves as more righteous than others.
Paul points out that following the Law cannot save us and never could. Only faith in Christ can do that. It was true in the Old Testament and it is true today. Before Christ, people were saved by faith that the Messiah would come. We are saved by faith that he did come.
If someone demands that you follow his rules to be righteous, tell him that you are already right with God because Jesus made you that way.

The Newness of Christ

Matthew 9:14 - 17 (NIV): Then John's disciples came and asked him, "How is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast. "No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."

These are John the Baptist's disciples questioning Jesus about fasting. Fasting means not eating to remind us to pray about something. We fast to show God we are serious and that we desperately need an answer. Jesus associated fasting with mourning in this passage. The time, then, for fasting and praying is now, while we await Jesus' return.
Jesus uses the illustrations of pouring new wine into an old wineskin, and sewing a new patch on an old garment to tell us that Christianity is not just a sect of Judaism, it is a whole new faith, open to all who believe. Jesus was saying that it was time for Judaism to morph into something completely new. He proved this by fulfilling some 350 Jewish prophecies. Remember, he said he didn't come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it.
These illustrations also tell us that Christianity is not just a band-aid when we need heart surgery. God is not interested in patching up your life - he wants to give you a whole new one!
C. S. Lewis tells a wonderful story of a man who calls a carpenter because the eaves of his house need fixing. The carpenter comes and takes a look, then takes a wrecking ball and smashes the house to the ground and builds a completely new one in its place. That's what Jesus does. He doesn't come along and try to fix up your life, he crucifies your old self and makes you a new person. Anything short of that doesn't work.
You can't pour un-fermented wine into a skin that has already been stretched out. It will burst it as the gases expand during fermentation. And an unshrunk cloth will shrink when you wash it, and tear away from an already-shrunk garment, and ruin it. So, trying everything else and throwing a little praying into the mix will leave you unsatisfied. Being partly committed to God will leave you unfulfilled. Give yourself completely to God and see if you don't discover a joy you never knew before. Pray believing and don't look back.
Paul says we are new creatures when we are in Christ. Jesus says we are born again. You might think of us as butterflies instead of caterpillars.

The Incredible Walk of Faith

Jesus had just received bad news. Someone told him that his cousin, John the Baptist, had been murdered by Herod. Jesus wanted to be alone to pray. But the crowds found him so he sacrificed his agenda to minister to them. He even miraculously fed them. Then, he sent his disciples on ahead and finally spent some time by himself. That's where our study begins, in Matthew 14: 22 - 33 (NIV):

Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."
"Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water." "Come," he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?" And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."

Often, we are frightened when Jesus comes walking into our storms. But we needn't be. When Jesus arrives, that's the best thing ever, but often we are afraid because of our lack of understanding. True, you don't expect to see a man walking across a lake in the middle of the night, but the more we get to know Jesus, the more we realize that anything is possible with him.
Peter's reaction shows us his personality. He wanted in on the action. He wanted to walk on the water, too, and he became only the second person in history to do so. Remember, there was a storm blowing winds and waves, but Peter realized that it was better to be out in the danger with Jesus than in a safe spot without him. In Peter's incredible walk of faith, he did fine at first, then he began to think about where he was and what he was doing. That caused him to doubt and he began to sink. You think, you sink! In life's storms, don't look around at your circumstances, keep your eyes focused on Jesus. Peter realized he was going under and cried out the shortest prayer in the Bible.
At least Peter gave it a try. You must commend him for that. The other disciples weren't interested in leaving the boat. They weren't interested in leaving their comfort zone. How often do we miss out on seeing God work in our lives because it's outside our comfort zones? Sometimes you have to step out of the safety of the boat to take a real walk of faith. And if you do and get in over your head, just cry out to Jesus like Peter did. He'll save you.
There's one more point to this story that I don't want us to miss: Jesus accepted worship from the disciples at the end of this story. He didn't rebuke or correct them. Only God should be worshiped and Jesus was showing that he is God when he allowed them to worship him. Now, get out of your comfort zone and show the world that life is full of miracles for those who have faith in God.