Luke 4:1-13

04/02/09
Luke 4:1-13
BASIC

I’m a seminary student and I read an awful lot of theology and I really enjoy it. One of my professors is particularly interested in the Christian doctrine of the Trinity and how it is not just something we’re supposed to believe but really has a lot to say about who God is and how we live our lives. So, over the last two years, my mind has been blown by the fact that this doctrine, this belief that I have basically ignored for my whole Christian life, is really at the core of the Gospel and is far more important than I ever realized. So, for a couple weeks at the beginning of this school year, I was telling my wife that I really wanted to find out what the single most important doctrine of Christian faith is, the one that everything else is based on. So I spent a couple weeks thinking about it and, one day, as we were on our way home from Lampost Theatre, I said to her, “I’ve got it.” She said, “Got what?” “I know what the most important doctrine in Christian faith is!” “Really? What is it?” I said, very seriously, not realizing how silly it must have sounded, “The Incarnation!” You know, the idea that God became a human being and lived among us as the man Jesus? As soon as I said it, I realize that I hadn’t really said anything profound. She just looked at me and said, “Really, Travis? Jesus? Jesus is the most important part of Christianity?” I felt more than a little silly.

The fact of the matter is that any fourth grade Sunday School student could have told me that Jesus was the most important part of Christianity, but I had finally, after reading through the Bible over and over again, after a year and a half of Seminary work, after really learning to think theologically, begun to understand a little bit of what it really means that God became one of us.

I asked Jeff Mickey if I could speak about the Temptation narrative in Luke because I think that it has a lot to teach us and also that we tend to ignore it or just brush by it without thinking too hard about it. Join with me as I read you the story.

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He became hungry. And the devil said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, Man shall not live on bread alone.” And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, “I will give you all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore if you worship me, it shall all be yours.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’” And he led Him to Jerusalem and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here; for it is written, ‘He will command His angels concerning you to guard you,’ and, ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” And Jesus answered and said to him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time.

The reason why I wanted to talk about this passage is because I think that it shows us in such a beautiful way that Jesus is really a human being. There are some groups of Christians who focus so much on the fact that Jesus is fully human that they forget that He is also fully divine, both God and man. In response, a lot of Christians realized that this was ridiculous. If Jesus is not God, Christianity means nothing. In emphasizing the divinity of Christ, unfortunately, there is a tendency to forget that Jesus is really human. You might be thinking, “So what? Who cares? If Jesus is God, what does it matter if He is human?” It actually matters a lot. You see, if Jesus was not a human being, then He has absolutely nothing in common with us. He cannot sympathize with us in our weakness and He cannot pay the debt that humanity owes God. One the one hand, if we forget that Jesus is really, really God, we fundamentally destroy Christian faith; on the other hand, if we forget that Jesus is really, really, human, we hurt it just as much.

The idea that Jesus is a real deal human being is a theme that runs all through the New Testament, but if we want to find places where the Bible spells out what it means that Jesus is a human being, we turn to the book of Hebrews. Though we are looking at the story of the temptation of Christ, we will be looking at the book of Hebrews to help us understand what is going on here. The writer of Hebrews is trying to show how Jesus is the fulfillment of the priestly ministry of the Old Testament. We are told that the man Jesus is our high priest. Hebrews 4:14-16 reads: “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.”

The reason why I bring this up is because I think we tend to read the story of Jesus’ temptation as if it was no big deal. “Stones into bread? No thank you. All the kingdoms of the world? Pardon me, but I have a kingdom in heaven.” I don’t know about you, but that does not sound like He was tempted like I am. If you were to come up to me and offer to make me the most powerful person in the world, I might be able to resist by clinging to the promises of the Gospel, but there would be a real temptation that I would have to resist. If Jesus was tempted like I am, His flesh must have had some desire to give in to the promises of the devil that He overcame by submitting to the will of His Father. So, what this means is that, when Jesus had not eaten for forty days, He was actually hungry, but trusted in God to sustain Him. When He was offered tremendous political power, there was something inside of Him that wanted it, but He resisted, choosing instead to continue in the plan that God had for Him. When the devil tempted Him to throw Himself down from the Temple to prove how much God cared for Him, the humanity in Jesus wanted to do it, but the Spirit strengthened Him and He did not give in. He was tempted in every way just as we are but without sin.

The thing that blows my mind about this story, especially as we read it in Luke, is the very last sentence. “When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time.” It isn’t like the devil was going to give up after only three temptations. He wanted to win. He wanted to destroy Christ. We read, not “after he had finished these three temptations,” but, “When the devil had finished every temptation.” This is so important. If Jesus was only tempted in three ways, then He can be a source of strength if we are hungry or if power is offered to us or if we feel like being boastful, but what about other times? What if you are confronted with lust? What if you are tempted to choose between following the call that God has on your life or doing things your way? What if you feel abandoned by God? If Jesus only was tempted in these three ways, can he really relate to our temptations because, I don’t know about you, but I am tempted in all kinds of ways that don’t fit nicely into any of these three categories.

We are told, not just that Jesus endured temptation, but that He endured every temptation, on our behalf, in our place, to confront every temptation with the very power of God and to show us that the power that the Holy Spirit gives us is indeed strong enough to empower us in our battle against sin. Again, to go back to Hebrews, we read, in chapter two, verses 17 and 18, talking about Jesus, “Therefore, He had to be made like His brothers and sisters in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people. For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.” That is encouraging, isn’t it? Because Jesus submitted Himself to be made like us in all things, He is able to come to our aid when we are tempted. He does not simply command us, saying, “Just die to yourself a little more” or “I can’t believe you are so weak.” He says, “I am here to give you strength. I know exactly what you are going through because I have endured this very same temptation and I assure you that my grace is sufficient for you.”

Do you see how important it is that Jesus is not simply God but is also a human being with a nature like you and me? Christ does not simply understand our brokenness because He is God, He understands it because He has taken it upon Himself in order to redeem it. In fact, Jesus suffered temptation far worse than you and I usually do because you and I tend to give in to it before it gets really hard. Look at Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, face to face with death; what does He say? Luke 22:41-44: “And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and began to pray, saying, ‘Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not my will, but yours be done.’ Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him. And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.” Guess what, Jesus did not really want to die. Can you blame Him? There was part of Him that did not want to die so much that He pleaded with His Father to let there be another way; any other way. However, and this is key, He submits, saying, “Yet not my will, but yours be done.” The point is, Jesus was in such agony over His temptation, He was sweating blood. Have you ever been so burdened by temptation that you have sweat blood? Jesus endured temptation worse than we do.

So, we read in the temptation narrative that the devil finished every temptation. It means it. Not only did the devil tempt Jesus in every way at the time, we read that he left Him until an opportune time. Temptations came back throughout all of Jesus’ earthly ministry. Jesus ministered among the lowest of society. Particularly, He spent a lot of time around prostitutes. You want to talk about temptation to lust? Try hanging out with prostitutes…on second thought, don’t, but you get the idea. Have you ever struggled over not really wanting to do what God has called you to do? Jesus did, He struggled to the point of sweating blood. Have you ever felt like God has abandoned you? Have you ever felt that, because of tough times you’ve had or people stabbing you in the back or losing loved ones, God has forgotten you? Guess what, Jesus understands that feeling, too. When He was hanging on the cross, enduring some of the worst pain humans have ever inflicted on one another, we read that He cried out, “Eloi eloi, lama, sabachthani.” “My God My God, why have you forsaken me.” He has made that cry of dereliction, too. He took that cry of God-forsakenness that we all feel deep inside from time to time onto His own lips. Jesus, our elder brother, knows the depths of our sorrow, but before He died, what else does He say? “Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit.” He was tempted in every way just as we are, only without sin.

Jesus, this human being, has shown us the very heart of God. We had hints about who God is throughout the Old Testament, but in Jesus we see God in flesh, God with us. If we have given any thought to how we live in relation to God’s call, we realize that we are broken and sinful. How does God deal with our brokenness, our sin and temptation? He does not snap His fingers and make it go away. Instead, He takes our diseased human nature upon Himself, sending the second person of the Trinity to endure the broken world we live in, to endure our temptations and trials, and takes them to the cross to deal with them and pronounce both God’s judgment against our sin and also to declare our freedom in Christ. However, brothers and sisters, the story does not end there. The love and power of God does not end at the cross. The cross is of pivotal importance, but it is not the final word. Next week is holy week. Holy week does not end with the crucifixion on Good Friday, but pushes on to the joy and glory of Easter. On that blessed Sunday morning, God raised up Jesus, still united to our humanity, only now it is not broken and diseased, is it? No, It is resurrected to newness of life. In the resurrection, Christ has fully redeemed and reconciled our broken humanity to God and we see a foretaste of what we will one day be when we have been resurrected by the power of God.

Whether or not you’ve realized this, one of the overarching themes that the leadership of BASIC is trying to present as we go through Luke is the idea of the upside-down kingdom. The last are first, the first are last. Everything ends up being the reverse of what it seems. Those who are rich and powerful in this world end up being the least in the kingdom of heaven, while those who are poor and lowly and humble are the greatest. We see it in Jesus’ calls to radical discipleship. “Give up all you have,” He says, “and follow me.” This is not how the world works, but it how the kingdom of God works. What shows us the upside-down nature of God’s kingdom more than the fact that the God of the universe, the only one who can do whatever He wants and does not have to do anything He doesn’t want to do, taking our brokenness upon Himself. He did not have to do it, but He did. Jesus did not have to come, but He did. He did not have to be tempted, but He was. He could have let us fall into sin and death for all eternity, but He didn’t. The God who does not owe us anything, sent His only begotten Son to be born as a weeping, wailing baby, to endure the brokenness of human life, to be hated, mocked, and crucified on our behalf and in our place. The God who is immortal willingly took our death upon Himself to redeem us. See how much our God loves us. As we go into holy week and as we consider the tremendous price that has been paid, let us not forget to give God praise for what He has done for us.

Close your eyes for a moment as I leave you with one more thought from the book of Hebrews. “But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren.” Jesus, God who has become a human being, is not ashamed to call us, broken and sinful as we are, His brothers and sisters. Let us rejoice in the love of God. Let us pray.