Matthew 4:1-11
February 17, 2002
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church of San Francisco.
In ancient Greece and Rome, there were the Olympic games and gladiator spectacles to entertain the masses. In our more modern times of television, we have sport specials such as the Super Bowl and quiz games like Jeopardy to entertain us. However, now even these shows are not enough to satisfy our increasing thirst for watching other people put to the test in various ways.
With sophisticated technology, we now have “Reality TV.” It started off with NBC’s Survivor series that was quickly followed by FOX’s Temptation Island. Now I have been tempted to watch this new series, but honestly, I haven’t had the time to actually see it yet. According to the commercials, people like us (or perhaps our younger selves) indulge in lust. The basic setup of this show is a group of unmarried couples who have been “together” for some time go to an isolated, exotic area where they are split up and seduced, one at a time, by “dream dates.” The point of the show is to see if long-termed commitments can be broken by manipulation.
It is without saying that this kind of reality television with its contrived contests mocks Christian values as old fashioned. Not only do we leave with a message that fidelity to your partner is unimportant but it’s a rejection of our Lord’s instruction when we pray, “lead us not into temptation.” But the Temptation Island series is a huge success with a new season on its way.
God’s Tests
Immediately after Jesus’ baptism when the Spirit of God descended upon him and a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son…” Matthew’s next scene is “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” Today is the first Sunday in Lent. Giving in to temptations shows our weaknesses and our need to know the power of Jesus to save and to forgive.
Before we go on, let’s describe Satan or the devil as a figure representing the power of evil, all that opposes the will of God. We should not allow ourselves to be distracted by Halloween images of fiendish devil or newspaper accounts of bloodthirsty Satanists or even “The Family” in Marinwood. Satan personifies all adversaries of God, all those who obstruct and resist what God intends for human life.
God’s purpose is to test his newly anointed and empowered Son, just as God tested Abraham at Mt. Moriah when Abraham was commanded to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Testing Jesus is like when God tested the people of Israel in the wilderness for 40 years. They learned that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
God used the devil to test Jesus. But the devil had his agenda too. The devil wanted to tempt Jesus, the Son of God, to use God’s power for Jesus’ own purposes and benefits. But the crucial question is since Jesus is the Son of God, how will Jesus exercise his Sonship? Will he pursue his own purpose or follow God’s purpose for him.
Adam/Eve & Jesus
Before we look at that question, we know that at the beginning of creation, temptation was a part of humankind. For the first human beings, Adam and Eve faced severe temptations. One can say that Adam and Eve were the first couple on Temptation Island.
God had a purpose for the first human beings. God had created them for a vocation—to till and keep the Garden of Eden, to name and have dominion over all the rest of God’s creatures. God gave them gifts for that vocation—food for their physical nourishment, and pleasure in their work. And God empowered them for the task—with freedom to carry it out and with authority over the rest of creation.
But there was a limit to their freedom and authority. For God said, “of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.”
God had a purpose for Jesus also—to save people from their sins, to be Emmanuel, “God with us.” And God empowered Jesus for this vocation. At Jesus’ baptism, the Spirit of God descended upon him and a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
But we will see that even with all the power given to Jesus, there was a limit imposed on Jesus’ freedom and authority as well.
Both Adam and Eve, and Jesus were set apart by God for a purpose and empowered with freedom and authority for their respective tasks. But no sooner had this happened than they were tempted—both Adam and Eve, and Jesus.
At the core of Adam and Eve’s and Jesus’ temptations was the same—to be like God. For the first human beings, the form of that temptation was a simple act: eating the forbidden fruit that would give them knowledge of good and evil. They sought to gain God’s wisdom, to perceive them selves as God and to see the world the way God saw it.
Jesus’ temptations were no less the temptation to be like God. The devil said, “If you are the Son of God, then act like it. Use your power. Be like God, creating bread out of stone like you did with manna in the wilderness. Be like God, orchestrating a miracle by a death-defying jump. Be like God, ruling over all the kingdoms of the world.”
To Be Like God
To be like God is at the heart of all our temptations too.
We like to be like God so that we can make our own rules. God’s rule for Adam and Eve was not to eat of that tree, but they wanted to make their own rules. One of the reasons why the ENRON collapse is so grievous and tragic is the way the CEO and the company’s top managers made up their own rules. Rules that violated proper accounting procedures. Rules that were used to lie about the company’s financial health. Rules that violated the trust of millions of workers and other investors. They use their own rules to hide and avoid prosecution. For these business executives, no limits were placed on their freedom and authority until now.
To be like God can be seen when we as a nation claim to know God’s wisdom about how our lives and our world ought to be. Not denying or excusing the tragedies of September 11th committed to the United States and the loss of thousands of lives, but I do wonder when our government and military act in an unbridled manner. Judging nations as the “axis of evil” creates an escalation of mistrust and perhaps forging enemies that were not there before. Acting independently without the necessary cooperation and understanding of other nations shows that there’s no limit to our willingness to exercise authority around the world.
To be like God happens in each one of us too. We want to live forever—if not physically, then through our children, or our influence in the community, through our good name, or some other monument we set up for our selves. Wouldn’t it be nice to remember that “This church was retrofitted when Pastor Don Ng was here!” How about putting up a little brass plaque out in the vestibule with that on it?
The tempter for Adam and Eve was the serpent. The tempter for Jesus was the devil. For us, sometimes the tempter is a voice within ourselves, calling for our attention, urging us on to get ahead of the other guy. Sometimes, the tempter takes the form of another person, pressuring us to give in, enticing us with “dream dates” on Temptation Island. Sometimes the tempter is just the ways of the world. “Everybody else cheats a bit on his income tax, why shouldn’t I? Nobody else cares much about fidelity in marriage—why should I?”
Jesus Resisted Temptation
In Adam and Eve, and Jesus, we see the same temptation—to be like God. Their tempters were not too different from those we see in our reality world today. But the outcome of each was drastically different.
Adam and Eve gave in. They ate the forbidden fruit. They trusted the tempter’s word and rejected God’s word. Although they gained the knowledge of good and evil, they lost out at the end.
In contrast, Jesus resisted temptation to be like God. He countered every word of the tempter with the word of God. He proved himself to be the Son of God by knowing and fulfilling his role and purpose as the Son of God. Although he was tempted to do and be like God, he didn’t give in. He accepted his vocation to be the Son of God—to save us from our sins by being “God with us.”
To do this, Jesus had to accept the limitations of power and authority imposed on him. To be “God with us,” Jesus had to be human before God. Paul wrote to the Philippians,
“though Jesus was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a
slave, being born in human likeness. (2:6-7)
Resisting Temptation
Jesus’ victory over temptation provides us with hope that we too, can resist. Although Jesus was the Son of God, he was also no different from any of us. He was fully human, like us. Temptation was as strong and as real for him as it is for any human being. And his power to resist was no greater than ours.
Jesus resists the devil’s temptations and in the process passes God’s test. You see, as the Son of God, he had the power to feed himself and others. He could have proven God’s word to be true and many would have believed. He could have ruled the kingdoms and set the world right. Jesus could have given in to any of these temptations and if he did, it could have led to doing a lot of good. Each could well have been means for accomplishing God’s purpose. But if Jesus gave in, what would have been the price?
Jesus can “be God” on his own or on the tempter’s terms, but only by rejecting God’s terms. Jesus would have needed to reject God’s way of relating to humankind. And that would have been a price too costly to bear!
Unlike Adam and Eve who gave into temptation, Jesus did not. Jesus exercised his Sonship and used his power only in obedience to God’s own purposes and plans. If Jesus gave in to be like God, he would not have fulfilled his purpose of being Emmanuel—“God with us.”
Being with us, Jesus taught us that we, too, can resist temptations. Adam and Eve’s downfall was trusting the tempter’s word and disbelieving God’s word. We must only rely on the truth of God, the faithfulness of the word of God—no matter what other voices declare God’s word to be absurd or invalid, no matter what experience urges us to doubt it or to presume it to be false.
Sometimes when we are in the wilderness times of our lives, we think that God is absent from us. We grab onto and claw into anything to put our trust in and we soon forget to put our trust wholly in God and his plan for our lives.
In recent months, it just seems like there has been too many times when God has tested our faith. In our wilderness, we have seen loved ones die. In our wilderness, we have felt the suffering of people’s health and well being. In our wilderness, we have struggled with unexpected disappointments and unfortunate circumstances. Any one of these events could have tempted us to give in to the devil and turn away from God.
But because Jesus obeyed and fulfilled his vocation as the Son of God and resisted the temptation to go beyond his freedom and authority, we too are able to remain faithful and trusting in God’s plan for us. Against the temptation to go and be like God and rely on our own power, we lived “by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
We must continue to trust in God.
Jesus’ victory over temptation has provided us with life beyond our bondage to sin and death. Because the Son of God resisted temptation to be like God, because he accepted the vocation of servant, taking on himself our full humanity, salvation is available to us—you and me.
We will still experience temptation. Shows like Temptation Island will remind us that the world is still full of tempters who want us to forget about obedience and for us to think that we can be like God. The Adams and Eves are alive in us still. But through Christ we have strength and courage to resist. And in Christ, we are assured victory.
When we worship the Lord, our God and serve only him, the tempters in our lives will eventually leave us as he left Jesus. And the angels of God will come and wait on us too.
Let us pray.
Almighty God, your Son, fasted 40 days in the wilderness, and was tempted as we are but did not sin. Give us grace to direct our lives in obedience to your Spirit, that as you know our weakness, so we may know your power to save; through Jesus Christ our Redeemer, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.