3. Testing Jesus in the Wilderness [Matthew] - Tim Mackie (The Bible Project)

Matthew for chapters or verses 1 through 11 then Jesus was led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil and after fasting forty days and forty nights he was hungry and the tempter came and said to him if he were the Son of God command these stones to become loaves of bread but he answered it is written man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him if you were 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 jesus said to him again it is written you shall 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 glory and he said to him all these I will give you if you will fall down and worship Me then jesus said to him begone Satan for it is written you shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve then the devil left him and behold angels came and were ministering to him should be in radio Duke ha ha ha amazing anyway hey everybody welcome good to have you guys here welcome to dork oh all right well that's quite a story that's quite a story isn't it you know not every day in in the Bible I don't know how much you read the Bible and maybe you think the Bible is full of stories of people in the desert talking to demons but it's not it's not it's actually quiet a unique a unique story there is nothing else like this story in any of the four accounts of the life of Jesus no excuse me but miss Bea there are there isn't there's nothing like this in any of the accounts three of the four in the New Testament have some kind of version of this story right here strange story if Jesus and he's out alone and he's not interacting with any other people that's unique there's no other story like that in the New Testament account and that he's interacting in this verbal kungfu battle with with the spiritual people right with with Satan the devil what on earth is a story about I think for many of us the oddity right of how kind of odd or strange this story is it we do a few things we just like weird I'm just going to move on it's kind of strange story some of us might find real interest in this I find at least and I think in American settings modern American settings belief in or recognition of some kind of invisible spiritual evil divides the room in half about the same way that whether you like or hate cilantro divides the room in half which is to just do the experiments always about 1/2 1/2 1/2 I'd love it and I find that in our setting about half have no problem whatsoever recognizing the reality of some kind of spiritual evil and that the other half of the room just finds all of this really quite difficult to swallow just going to weird superstition and so on and so this story about Jesus the devil in the wilderness is kind of iconic in the Christian imagination at least and I think there's a lot of layers of misunderstanding on on top of late on top of this story and so this is a very powerful story and it's crucially placed at the transition from Jesus going into private into his kind of public announcing the kingdom mode as Israel's Messiah and the fact that Matthew Mark and Luke all placed this story at precisely this point tells us that this is to understand Jesus is to understand this experience that that he went through and so I kind of want to help us clear away some of the debris to really hear what this story is is saying right here helpful way to do that and I'll end this while I was kind of reading and reflecting learning learning about this story is to look at how this story has been read and interpreted and depicted throughout a Christian art history there's actually fascinating you can do it was many many biblical stories is traced the way that how they've been depicted by Christian artists has changed throughout history and this story is a really really interesting example of that the earliest depictions in terms of like church walls or mosaics or paintings about this story right here the temptation of Christ in the wilderness for as far as we can tell the first thousand years which was dominated by a certain art form called the Romanesque style it was the ancient Canon tile mosaics style from the Greek and Roman cultures and the Christians adopted that style and they look a lot like this so see image here so mostly you know actually very few paintings exist from the first you know five centuries or so of early Christianity it's mostly in the form of architecture or like floor or wall mosaics and churches and so here you have in the Romanesque style you have Jesus three times encountering the devil and notice how the devil is depicted in this scene he's a he's a scaly horned reptilian figure with wings that's quite odd I've never seen a creature like that and so the but that for the first thousand years or so of church history this is how the story was depicted what's fascinating is that in the early Renaissance period in in Europe as a visual realism picked up steam more as a part of you know art and realism and so on and I'm not art history expert by any means so some of you are and you're like this guy doesn't know anything and that's true that's true because of this so but here's what I do now because I read somebody who doesn't know about it the shift took place in how this story got depicted towards more of a realist mode and the way that the devil was depicted changed as you can see in the next image here if you look at churches or paintings from these centuries about the 1200 through the 1500s you notice that the devil gets depicted no longer or not as often at least in the scaley this really grotesque you know reptilian type deal and he's most often depicted as a monk so interesting as a monk now so there's a there's a mental shift happening here that evil as it presents itself in the Bible is not this easy to spot grotesque reality it's actually a masked reality that that can appear even in the form of good in this case you know a oil faithful monk you can see however the monk especially in this motif in the Renaissance period the monk will always have the cloth reptilian feet to remind you of who this figure is and maybe wings as you can see in this but for those of you can see there's a shift happening and how the devil is imagined and then as you move from the last phase into the early modern late Renaissance early modern period it changes yet again and the devil is depicted and actually not any kind of grotesque way at all but as as a way that angels were depicted fully as a fully angelic the angel is picture no horns the claws no scales or anything like that now here's something that's totally interesting about the way the Angels have come to be depicted in European art history I mean did so did you know and if you didn't you should know this but there is actually no winged human figure anywhere in the Bible there's there is no angel whatsoever that has wings anywhere in the Bible where that idea came from is where most of this imagery came from is Greek mythology and I got filtered into art history Christian art history through through Milton Wright Paradise Lost Paradise Regained Dante's Inferno and so on your imagination is filled with images of angels and demons that are found nowhere in the Bible they're found in Milton and in Dante and the from Greek and Roman mythology and this is my point is that it's actually the fact that every generation remakes these creatures in their own imagination that should alert us to something first of all that we're missing the point we're missing the point in trying to visually depict these creatures we're we're missing the profound reality that the Bible is trying to tell us that these are not physical creatures and that the way the evil works is that is way more mysterious and am being ambiguous than is simply like making a picture of Gorp gargoyle or something like that and so the both there's that we remake these creatures in our own imagination and then I think in the modern period it's what makes what made this reality so easy for many of us to dismiss hocus pocus medieval you know superstition mumbo-jumbo and we think that that's what the Bible is saying and then we just ditch the whole thing all together and so let's just clear all that away there's no winged humans and there's no gargoyles in the Bible but there is this Clinton the reality is we know it is is pervaded with some form of evil that's more than just stupid human choices that evil is a reality there's a mysterious personal reality working in and behind and through human selfishness and and sin and the way that that figure is presented in the Bible is in this figure called the devil or the state dinners we'll see in this story and and apparently Jesus saw his identity and his vocation first and foremost to deal with that and this this is the first conflict or battle that Jesus Jesus enters into in the stories about him and so we do well so just to dismiss the silliness but pay attention to the reality and try and here with with fresh ears what the story is trying to get out here so what I want to focus on is first we're just going to dive into the story we're going to look at who who is Jesus who is this figure this mysterious figure and what's the battle this is the story of a battle and there is a victor that emerges from this battle and it probably I won't won't be like a buzzkill to tell you who the victor is this Jesus he's the victim so but the question is what is this conflict who are the players what is the conflict and what then the outcome of this battle was huge hugely significant story and I've learned a ton in in kind of reading and reflecting on this story to help us think about it together let's just dive right in and let's see where the rabbit hole leads us here so we're told the Jesus rides beginning chapter four he was led by the spirit into the wilderness for what purpose to be tempted by this figure don't think gargoyles just don't think anything in your head so what and and then Jesus will talk about this in a minute you fast he's hungry and then this figure comes to him and starts asking questions if and what's the first first statement or first question made if you really are the son of God now we'll stop right there this Matthew reads and this is going to be a challenge for us as we go week by week because there's a clear narrative flow to how all of the stories fit together so look just at the end of the last story that comes right before this one it's at the end of chapter 3 it was the baptism of Jesus which is also a hugely significant story in the flow of Matthew's presentation of Jesus so you have you have we have the genesis of Jesus and we have John the Baptist he's the Prophet Hebrew prophets figure saying that the Messiah is coming and who should appear Jesus of Nazareth from stick town if you remember that whole deal so Jesus of Nazareth arrives and then there's this very public dramatic movement as he's baptized Jesus is identified with this renewal movement of what God's doing among his people and then all of a sudden were told the heavens open that's remarkable and and the father's voice speaks from heaven publicly declaring Jesus's identity and look look at chapter 3 you know verse 16 we're told what the voice says excuse me verse 17 this is my son whom I love with him I am well pleased so Jesus is publicly declared to be the Son of God whom God loves whom God is pleased with and the spirit goes from the father and communicates that message in that love to the son it's very public and it's sort in the drama of a story it's or like whoa our hero here is this is who is the Son of God and then the Spirit does another thing the spirit communicates that message in that love and then what does the spirit do lead them into the wilderness to be tested we're tempted and what's the first struggle that Jesus goes through it's this questioning at his identity as the son you see this here so these stories flow exactly together what is the story about this story well actually see where did a story like this even come from so all of the stories in the Gospels say Matthew every story has some other people around who would have seen or heard what Jesus said this is what Jewish disciples did with a rabbi they would follow them everywhere they would learn their teachings watch this watch things happen as they did it commit all of that to memory and pass that along as disciples and so there's eyewitnesses accounts behind every story that we see in the Gospels except for this one because no one else was there where did the story come from and so I think we have to assume that this story came from Jesus at some point Jesus had an experience that represented a moment of him wrestling and struggling with his identity and maybe he wanted this before like at what point did it dawn on Jesus who he was and what he was called to do and this story is the only story I think that gives us a window into what that was like whatever it was like for Jesus it wasn't like white robes floating six inches above the ground and like I'm the son of God and he wasn't doing that at age three so things like that you know at some point there was some dramatic events in his life were this all dawned on him who he was and what he was called to do and this testing in the wilderness was an experience that he went through and he did he share it with his disciples the only reason we have it is of course because at some point he passed it on to his disciples to memorize and so Jesus evidently saw some kind of value that his disciples know that he went through this experience and as we're going to see I think it's because he assumed that if we're disciples following this Jesus that he assumes that we also will go through this same kind of testing but that's getting ahead of myself here so that's where this story must have come from and Jesus wants us to learn something vital here about the test the test that he went through now if you look at verse 1 Jesus is led by the spirit into the wilderness and what for what purpose what do you see there to be tempted now some of you might have an older English translations it's not really that common anymore some of you might have the word test right there but my guess is that we all have the English word tempt it verse one you with me we got vlog out tamped ok so here's here's what's going on this is fascinating so the Greek word used right here is the word pay rods Oh class raza trained you trained you well so pay rods oh so here's here's what the idea is at least it's rendered in most very English translations to temp and that's fine I think like gets us part of the way there but here's the problem with there's not a problem with the Bible this is the problem with our English word attempt is that it's too limited I think it's too small to really get across what's happening here so would you ever tempt someone to do good if you're like sitting with a co-worker and they were really down and you you know you wanted to give them some encouraging words you would never say like you know I'm just feeling tempted to say some nice things to you right now oh you never you're never tempted to do good in English you're tempted to do evil that's what the word means in modern English now here's the problem is that you could read this store oh yeah Jesus is tempted to do to do bad things but you're going to come across another story where Jesus Jesus undergoes another pay robs oh and then to the nouns called pay Roz moss but that's the verb anyway sorry I'm sorry I said that so I always hate it when well nevermind okay nevermind so Jesus will be will undergo this experience again only this time it'll be the religious leaders the Pharisees are going to come to him and do this to him asking him questions about the interpretation of the Torah and so on now are they trying to get Jesus to do evil no no they're doing something that really is captured by our English word test and I think actually test gets to gets us to the heart of what this experience is about your school teacher and your guiding these students through learning the history of the American Revolution something like that and you finish that module and then you want to find out the truth about what they have absorbed over the course of the three weeks or whatever what do you give them at least in some educational models if you give them you give them a test our tests fun for some of us more than others more or less than others right but for the most of us we'll see how are they challenging they're difficult the stressful so what we're talking about a test is a set of difficult circumstances and here's I think a simple way to say it test route reveal the truth of who you are have you actually been doing homework whatever have you been staying up all night playing video games or something like that the test the difficult circumstance that tells the truth about who you are so God tests Abraham in a famous story in the Hebrew Scriptures and the God is not trying to get an Abraham to do evil God has confidence in Abraham's character and the test reveals that truth about Abraham's character the Pharisees later on in the gospel they want to reveal the truth about Jesus and they try and trap him with his words so that everybody will know exactly who he thinks he is and what he says he is all about and so on and so here's what I would submit to you is that this is actually a much more helpful way to help us make sense of this story so here you have the son of God who's come the one who's the the divine and human Messiah son of God and so on and the tester comes to him we'll talk about the tester more in a second the tester comes to him and does the tester know about humans has tester been working on humans ever before so the tester knows all about humans and so and so the truth about Jesus is going to be revealed but yet at the same time we're told that Jesus this isn't just like the devil luring Jesus into his trap Jesus is led by whom by the spirit sent from the father and so what what you have is Jesus being led into a battle intentionally to reveal the truth about who Jesus is and that truth will come as a great I think surprise to the tester and that's what's going on this isn't a story about innocent Jesus being tempted to do evil this is a story about the Messiah and Savior of the world showing the truth about who he is by undergoing the test and that this was a very personal experience that Jesus has that that marked him so much that he was certain that it would also mark the journey of his followers and so he's given this story to us to learn from both learned who Jesus is but also to learn what's ahead for you and I as his as his disciples so that's what's going on that's what's going on here there's - there's this story's like an onion telling you guys this story is you peel one layer and you're like okay now I understand what the story is and then you're like dang it more layers what and so yes there are more layers of the story that I think will help us get what's going on here the next another layer to pull back can you think of another story in Israel scriptures in the Old Testament Scriptures that tell a story about a son of God who came up out of Egypt passed through the waters and went into the wilderness for 40 right exactly right so we talked about this a couple weeks ago that Matthew has arranged the stories of the genesis of Jesus to correspond to the story of Israel in its infancy as a people in a nation coming out of Egypt has redeemed slave passing through the waters wandering in the wilderness for forty years so Jesus came up out of Egypt baptized in the waters right into the wilderness for forty days in other words and and who is Jesus we've already been told he's the Messiah he's the king who represents the people of Israel and so we could we could depict it this way we could say here's Jesus right being tested in the wilderness but his test is meant to remind us or correspond to the test of his people the people of Israel who also were in the desert for forty years being quote that was awesome being tested being tested and this is an explicit connection that's vital for understanding the story here's here's an example of why if you look at descriptions of Israel's forty years in the Old Testament Scriptures you'll come across a paragraph in the Torah where Moses is recalling this test of Israel in the wilderness it's in Deuteronomy chapter 8 and I would like to read it to you and you will just see all kinds of connections leaping leaping off the screen leaping off the page but that's not really a page is it at the screen Deuteronomy 8 there's Moses and he's talking to Israel and he says remember how the Lord your God led you all the way all the way in the wilderness these 40 years to Humble and to test you so not to do evil he's testing to reveal the truth about his people to humble and test you in order to know what's in your heart to reveal the truth whether or not you would keep his commands he humbled you causing you to hunger feeding you with manna which neither you know your ancestors has none to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord I feel like I heard that already this morning your clothes did not wear out your feet did not swell during these 40 years so no then in your heart as a man disciplines his son so the Lord your God disciplines you and your discipline it's all I don't think spanked something like that it's it's the Lord leading his people into an experience that will reveal the truth about who they are and how did the people of Israel do in the test of the wilderness if you know the stories pass or fail fail fail big-time big-time fail alright and and so here's what Matthews trying to tell us right Israel was called to be the family of Abraham through whom God would bring his blessing to the nation's who would become a kingdom of priests who would represent the Creator and Redeemer God to all of the nations and they failed they failed they experienced God's generosity and His grace redeeming them from slavery they get out in the wilderness and they say we want to go back we hate it here we don't like why did you even bring us out of here in the first place give us something to eat give us something to drink who do you think like that stuff that's how they went through the test and so Matthews trying to say Jesus is now he's rias restarting the story of Israel he has come to be what the people of Israel failed to be and he does so not as their replacement but as their king as their Messiah and representative he is going to succeed were they failed okay that's the second layer of the onion he pulled that one back and you're like oh my there's another layer holy cow and and think about this is a way to get it at this onion has Jesus come just to save you know his own tribe the people of it people of Israel Jewish people did Jesus just come for Jewish people so no the whole point of the story of the Bible is that this is all framed in the story of what God is doing for all all humanity enough space for my wife there yes so so can you think of another story where the representative of humanity was given a vocation and a vocation from God and then all of a sudden a tester appeared and began to undermine and twist God's words and get the human representative to doubt God's character and goodness and tried to live them astray can you think of a story like that oh oh right select page 3 of your Bible yeah page 3 and so this is Matthew knows exactly what he's doing right here Jesus is not just coming to be what Israel was called to be and do but failed he's calling to actually be human who is the first human who actually succeeds at being a human Pig he's coming as the one who is the image of God and the paradox at the heart of the Christian good news is that it's God becoming human to be the kind of human towards God that you and I are incapable of at least have proved ourselves as incapable of being so that we can actually finally become that in the first place that's what's happening here Jesus is in the garden all over again and he's doing it for us and the question is will he pass will he fail how are you going to succeed how is he going to succeed on our behalf this is a story about Jesus being Israel's Messiah being the truly human one for us and on our behalf it's the showdown with evil that's what the story is about so this is at the core of Jesus's mission his identity and his representation of us doesn't just happen on the cross it begins right here at the beginning at the beginning of the story now there's actually more layers to the onion but I'd have to stop now because we have to we have to move on it forward into the story how you guys done so let's keep going so Jesus is led by the spirit to be tested by this figure oh yeah I'm sorry okay I'm sorry I forgot this who's who's the tester it's called the tester in verse 3 is also called the devil he's also called the Satan Satan is not a proper name in the Bible it's a title that means adversary or the opponent who is this figure where did this figure come from to this the Bible says all right so this there you go yeah it doesn't say it doesn't say on this maddening for many Christians throughout history it's so maddening in fact that it's made Christians go bumbling through different biblical passages and making them into a story about the origins of this figure one in Isaiah one in Ezekiel it's clear that I don't agree with that view I don't think the biblical story gives us any origin story of evil and and that's frustrating for some of us but fits with the Bible's purpose the purpose of the Bible is not to give us all of the answers to our intellectual questions right about the world and here's one where did people come what on earth is it doing in God's a good world messing everything up and the Bible doesn't tell us the answer to that question what the bible does tell us and its purpose is to tell us what God is doing about evil in the story of his actions through history that lead up to Jesus and his showdown with with evil and so whatever we say about evil doesn't say where it comes from it's a creature from how evil is represented it's a creature it's not some God equal to the creator Redeemer God it's a creature in rebellion we don't know that story but it's the creature in rebellion it hates life it takes what is good it hates humans made in God's image and it wants to get us to doubt who we are as creatures made in God's image it wants us to doubt the creator's goodness towards us and lead us on a path towards death that's the portrait you can put together of this being if you even want to call it a personal being or whatever I call it an it because I kind of think he gives it too much dignity it's it's evil and it's mysterious and Jesus is here to deal with that so this this figure comes to Jesus and begins to test and how does it test these voices these voices that come asking questions and let's get into these questions because they get us into the heart of what what this is all about verse 3 the tester the tester came to him and said is to two pieces of this if you are the son of God tell these stones to become bread now right off the bat there is a technique here there's a method of the tester so as you the reader of the story is Jesus the Son of ah okay the whether or not you personally accept that or believe that it's not the question does the story present Jesus as the claims to be the Son of God and and does God love does the father love the son pleased with him that Kay that all went down but now comes this voice like really if you really are the son of God tell these stones to become bread I think there's two things going on here first of all what Jesus is now out here starving what 40 days who's starving that can't have been a fun test right and experience but so the tester comes and tries to undermine Jesus's identity by pointing out Jesus's circumstances you're the Son of God and you're out here going through hell and hunger and thirst huh do you see the disconnect there Jesus if you really are the beloved son of God and and you're the object of the Father's love what on earth are you doing out here starving in the desert you can that's right there underneath the question here if you are the son of God what are you doing out here and so he's trying to undermine the sons trust in in the father but then also this this test of of Jesus's loyalty to the father so if you are the son of God what on earth are you doing in these difficult circumstances clearly he must not have your best interest in mind because look at what's happening to you and by the way this is happening to you and if you are the son of God then you can surely do something about this so why don't you just solve your problem make the solution make bread out of rocks like you're the son of God you can do this kind of kind of thing just see what's happening here it's son is an undermining of Jesus's trust and an undermining of Jesus's loyalty to the father that says he trusts the father to lead him he trusts the father to guide him in his will and so for Jesus this is a test of does he trust the father with his life the as does the Sun trust that regardless of the circumstances my circumstances do not define who God is to me this is what's that root here and so look how Jesus responds he answered and says it is written and he just quotes from that paragraph from Deuteronomy 8 that we just read here's Israel that failed its test in the wilderness and the whole point of this is to show us what we say here that man does not live by bread alone humans don't live on bread alone now I think what many people hear Jesus say sometimes is people don't live on bread but what matters is God's Word and of course that's ridiculous alright so do people need bread to live yeah that's fairly obvious I think that was there so that and Jesus doesn't say people don't live on bread he said people don't only live by bread so there's you can exist as a human and have food and shelter and clothing even but yet still truly not live as a fully flourishing healthy human right so humans can scrape by on subsistence living but that you're you're all you're doing is getting the same level as like raccoons and ants or something like that who just survive right but there's this whole reality and the complexities of human psychology and so on about who what kind of beings we are that we're beings that need more than just to survive we need purpose we we need thing we need to know that our thrives fits somewhere into some bigger thing that's significant or that has meaning we need a story humans need a loving community of relationships to both know and be known and to love and be loved in order to fully flourish as human beings this is not rocket science this is true to every one of our experience and it's true also true that when humans are denied those types of things we just absolutely wither as human beings and so what Jesus is saying is yes human beings of course live on bread but to truly live we need some kind of word from the Creator some kind of word about who we are are and what we're here for and that tells us the truth about ourselves and that will somehow bind us together as we journey into that story of what God has called us to as human beings and so in this case Jesus is saying I might live I might die my mere physical survival that actually isn't the sum of what my life is about my life has meaning because of the word spoken to me by the father that I trust more than my circumstances this is so profound this is so profound Jesus looks at the hell of hunger and thirst and says that doesn't define the meaning of my lives my love for my loyalty and Trust in the father's word to me as he guides me is more real than the circumstances that I find myself in however difficult this is not a trite story this is about what it means to be human and what it means to to be a disciple of Jesus second test verse five we're told that the devil then took Jesus to the whole holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple now don't again don't get the little movie in your mind of like Jesus walking along with a gargoyle like through the streets of Jerusalem up to the so obviously ridiculous okay or walking with some invisible figure talking with them so that's also ridiculous so what's happening here and what's happening here is something that happens quite a number of times in the Hebrew Scriptures I said what is what is this experience that Jesus was happening I think this gives us a clue that Jesus is having what the prophets call a vision some kind of visionary experience that's connected to the Spirit of God coming over you and you're being able to see and perceive realities that are at the heart of existence in the human story so about the only analogy I can think to this it's like when Frodo puts on the ring I think we all were kind of familiar with what's going on he goes into this in-between world in between world and then he can see things and have experiences and encounter realities and even people but there he's still like sitting in a cave putting on the ring or something like that but no this is Bilbo isn't it I'm sorry soda of whatever you get the point here so whenever the Spirit of God comes on someone and lead someone and then they're taken places this is these are experiences that Zechariah the Prophet had Isaiah Ezekiel Ezekiel the Prophet sitting in Babylon but he has the Spirit of God comes on him he has this vision and then all of a sudden he's like cruising around the Temple in Jerusalem a thousand miles away and then the vision is over and he finds himself in his house again all he's actually really disoriented by the whole experience and so that's what's going on here I think he he's in the wilderness but he's taken to Jerusalem so to speak and he stands as a high point of the temple big tall building and here's here's the test if you are the son of God same tactic all right so this undermining if if you really are beloved of the father throw yourself down for it is written new technique quote Bible okay use Bible verses alright to mess up a mess up everything he will command his angels concerning you lift you up in your hands you won't strike your foot against a stone now Bible geek look at your footnotes what's what where's he quoting from in the Bible I am NOT the only Bible geek here I know it I can know what the song Psalm what what number Psalm 91 yes Psalm 91 and if you go look up Psalm 91 just like you should go look up Deuteronomy 8 when Jesus quotes it go look up Psalm 91 so it's this beautiful poem of trust and faith it begins for the one who makes the Lord his refuge he'll protect him his presence will be with him for the one who looks to Yahweh and cries out to him he will deliver him and so on this beautiful poem that's meant to bring us to a place of prayer and trust independence when we're in very difficult circumstances and we're told that he will protect us with his angels that don't have wings I don't wings anyway sorry and they will lift you up and they'll protect you okay so here's here's what happens if if you really are the son of God because that's that question Jesus look at your circumstances so if you really are the son of God let's let's go to the place that's like the hot spot of the father's presence temple big tall building endless it's like a dare how like a double dog dare so big like this you know it's kind of I throw yourself down because listen look at look at the scriptures your own Bible Jesus will tell you that if you have made the father your refuge and if he really loves you then of course he'll protect you of course he'll protect you so let's prove the Father's love for you let's prove that the father's committed to you you are the son of God the beloved and so let's just let's make that clear so that you can know I can know and we can move on here and and so what's he done here's another technique this is the technique that happened way back at Genesis 3 it's a quotation of God's own words but just a slight twisting a slight massaging and so these words that were originally this prayer of confidence and trust to bring us to a place of prayer the tester comes and he twists the purpose and he turns it into this formulaic prediction of health and wealth and promise to you if you make God your refuge well of course you'll always rescue you and make your life turn out great yeah so it's this deal right here and all the sudden it's it's the genie in the bottle you know if the father loves you pull him out make him rescue and solve your problems and then everybody will know and I will you know this kind of thing and so what does Jesus do he doesn't bite he doesn't take the bait jesus answered him this is good right so the tester says for it's written he quotes the Bible Jesus says it's also written oh yeah right back at him with Psalm 91 Deuteronomy 90 Deuteronomy 6 right here so don't put the Lord your God to the test that's his counter Miz and his counter move is to go right back here he's quoting from Deuteronomy 6 again that's talking about Israel failing the test because they came out of Egypt he always saved them and he's asking them to trust him and they're barking back at him take us back to Egypt we hate it out here you're going to kill us out here or whatever and and what Israel tried to do is put the foot Yahweh to the test prove to us that you're committed to us at your people and you're like the ten plagues and the whole Egypt thing like what was that not proof enough or whatever you want more and they put God to the test and Jesus says to do that puts God in my service and that's not how this relationship works between the father and the son the son trusts the father and doesn't make the father perform tricks and if the father is going to ask the son to lay down his life he will do that in whatever time the father determines he's not going to test God and as this God's his little dog to perform tricks or something like that second test look at the 3rd verse 8 again they get the devil's took him and I think here in some kind of vision to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their and their splendor this is kind of an aside but there I mean there isn't any hill around Jerusalem or Galilee that's taller than like Mount Tabor here in Portland you know so a mountain here is not there's no mount Hood's anywhere in that part of the world so we're talking about a big hill and I think here clearly is in a vision what point is he's brought in this vision won't the kingdoms of the world and the tester says all this I'll give you if you bow down and worship me this is really well first of all let's notice this as he has a tester changed tactics how does he not open what does he not open with so he doesn't open with if you are the son of God that's not working change tactics he tried it twice didn't work so this is just this bold offer of power and a sword he's a he's a peeling to Jesus's destiny and and trying to get Jesus to wrestle with how he's going to get there is Jesus a king so he's the anointed from the line of David he's the Messiah he's the king is Jesus destined to bring God's kingdom over all creation so that's where the stuff so the question is how how is Jesus going to get there what kind of king is he and how is he what kind of Kingdom is he ruling over or bringing over the nations of the world and so we're asked to to think consider this reality that is shot through all the New Testament that the kingdoms of our world as we know them the social structures the power structures by which humans organize themselves are utterly compromised and infiltrated with evil so we're going to have lots of portraits of individuals in the gospel who are being terrorized by evil and spiritual evil but for most part actually how the New Testament least describes evil is to appeal to the powers and principalities meaning the ruling governing structures of human societies and so on and so the tests are claims that he has major influence over how this world runs and maybe you find that difficult to believe I would just at this point man I just I would just appeal to the twentieth century if you're over 14 you were born you were born into the bloodiest century in human history in the name of utopian society and goodness somehow humans organize ourselves and and justify the expendability of human life on a scale that was never known in previous human history we're talking about millions and millions and tens and tens and tens of millions of human lives extinguished in the name of some utopian vision of the good human society call it whatever you want right whatever it was called by the various regimes that were doing it it was the most it was the bloodiest century the human human race has ever known what's going on here what's going on it's evil and the Bible is trying to tell us that there is a reality of evil that's behind and working in and through not just individuals but the structures that we make that are utterly compromised and it's about the strong eating the weak right it's about might makes right it's about whatever makes the Machine run more efficiently and smoothly no matter what people get crushed in the weight of those decisions there you go there we go and so there this is a claim that runs right through the New Testament and and Jesus is here to deal with evil on a very personal level but also at the root of this of the kingdoms of this world and so the question is what kind of king is Jesus and what kind of Kingdom is he coming to bring now notice what Jesus does here does Jesus take the bait he doesn't and he doesn't but notice what he does every time he had countered with Scripture it is written but notice what did he say to this tester before that what does he say verse 10 you get out of here you get out of here now what's that about so this is a bit of emotion from Jesus right in other words Jesus recognizes here something that is utterly demonic and is compromising the very heart of who he is and what he came to do and this is not the only time that he was faced with this test and this is not the only time that he said these very words can you think of the other time do you know the other time put your thumb here and turn forward with me Matthew 16 and then will of will conclude is very powerful Matthew chapter 16 verse 13 I guess then when Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples who are people saying the Son of Man is what are the tabloids say about me this week they replied some say you're John the Baptist others say Elijah there's Jeremiah or the Prophet what about you guys right here he asked who do you say that I am Simon Peter me me me me right Simon Peter answered later the Messiah you're the son of the Living God so does he pass the test right hey the Peter get who Jesus is so he has a vocabulary right go down to verse 21 at that time Jesus began to explain to his disciples he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders the chief priests the teachers of the law that he must be killed and on the third day raised to life Peter took him aside and started to rebuke him he had no way oh yeah so that's very nice Jesus you're the Messiah so you don't die right it's not gonna ever going to happen to Messiah don't die Messiah conquered they kicked but that's what messiahs do when you read your Bible Jesus go read Psalm 2 go read Isaiah 11 right this is uh sure peace and justice of the nations destroy evil and so on that's what you're supposed to do you're not going to die a dead Messiah failed Messiah and what is Jesus's response to him Reed's words what does he say does he respond to Peter Jesus turned and said to Peter these same words that he said in the wilderness you get out of here Satan this is very emotional visceral response from Jesus you don't have you have no clue what this is about so you think that the kingdom of God and that I would have come here to do is to do what humans have always been doing which is failing the test and Jesus comes is this King this what is the wilderness test about it's about Jesus's decision and his loyalty to the father to become an utterly different kind of human being than all you and I have become which is which is an utter loyalty and oneness in connection to the Father to to our Creator and who he reveals to us and a revelation of the heart of God and what human existence is all about and it's about self giving love that's that's Jesus's way of the kingdom he will gain influence of others precisely by giving up his power and by giving up his life for others and as he invites his disciples into that upside down Kingdom he's going to ask us to consider this completely different vision of human existence where the people who are usually neglected are actually the most important people and we're how you like gained victory over enemies is by loving them constantly and forgiving them and and by generously giving what you have so that people who normally don't have can actually have things and this is the the counterintuitive way of the kingdom of Jesus and and right from the beginning it was a vocation and a calling that was tested was tested for Jesus and he passed the test the story's good news yes he passed the test he says to the tester you get out of here and he discerns in Peters voice that same test again to compromise the ethic of the kingdom and he says you get out of here Satan and then what happens like right after this he quotes scripture again worship the Lord your God serve him only and what does the devil do just over we've gone he's over and this is one of my favorite scholars at Matthews he has such a great way of putting this he says every time spiritual evil appears again throughout the story of Matthew these these forces of evil we're the faces of defeat this is Jesus's victory you guys it says it's his victory over evil now does evil still have influence and is still a force to be reckoned with but you know read the Gospels play or read your lives right so read the newspaper but but we're being asked to consider the fact that Jesus has power over evil and that regardless of whatever circumstances happen in your life or in our world Jesus is lieth and his death and his resurrection tell the truth about the meaning of human existence and about the meaning of your life and my life and why did he tell us the story he told us a story because he knew that just as he faced this test so his disciples would face this test in the prayer that he taught us to pray every single day right what's the last line of the prayer that he taught us to pray in single day lead us not into into the test but deliver us from the evil one so it's this prayer that God not take us into the wilderness and that if he does it's this request for strengthening and deliverance because he knows that if you're trying to follow this Jesus and the upside-down way of the kingdom you will be tested and these same voices that attacked him will attack his disciple and so here's let's land the plane and let's just let's think through what this means for us what this means for us is that being a disciple of Jesus is like going into the wilderness and if you become a disciple of Jesus please please do not expect your life to become more easy right so there might be some things that get resolved but I guarantee that it will actually introduce more tension into your life because all of a sudden you're going to be struggling against flex following Jesus and that every force and value and ethic of your family and society is trying to teach you this other way of living as a human being and that's just the beginning of it right because then you have these relationships that are going to be tested you're going to have these these voices in your head and call them whatever you want but do you know these voices do you recognize the voices when you hear them these voices that come and say to you you know if if you're really the daughter of the king look at your life like Jesus loves you look at your lives like you're the son of God through Jesus like look at who you are look at the kinds of decisions that you've made look at what's happening in your life and the disappointments you can honestly tell me that God loves you when your lies has been that do you know that do you recognize that voice for what it is when you hear it because what the store is warning us about what's coming for us and you know what to do when that voice come into your mind into your heart do you know where to go and and I don't know where else to go except right here and appeal to the words of scripture and and say to those voices pardon my french get the hell out of here those voices do not define who you are as a human being who you are as a human being made in God's image is defined first and foremost by Jesus who loves us and gave himself for us that's who you are that's your value and don't ever ever doubt it the voices that would dehumanize your value as a human being the voices of shame that would try to degrade Jesus's love for you they're evil and they'll destroy you if you listen to them and you know what I'm talking about and this story's good news you guys this story is that there is one human who went through the test for us and we can point to him we can stake our lives on him and it might end up taking our lives right it's taking it's the commitment to Jesus is taking the lives of our brothers and sisters in Syria and Iraq right now it doesn't mean that God doesn't love them it means that they're going through the tests and they're going through the ordeal and even their own physical death doesn't define whether or not God loves them because people don't live by just food and physical survival we live by the by the words of God that became human to us and communicate God's love to us in Jesus that's what this is about and you know how to counter those voices in your head and you guys I know there are so there's so many people man just even in our community too going through such difficult circumstances and the voices will come and we'll try and tell you that gee this is all a farce it's all an illusion and you need to know what to do with those voices tell them to leave and tell them that they're defeated and that Jesus has done away with them and they have no right to speak into your life do you believe that and you may find it hard to believe and sometimes I find it hard to believe but this is this is discipleship Jesus 101 right this is how you survive as a follower of Jesus because there are forces at work that that are against us and so I kind of got passionate so I had it happened to be reopened but um there you go um I want to close us in prayer and you know we're going to come to the table to the bread and the cup and we're going to retell this moment of where Jesus demonstrated his love for us in an act that took place in in history of his death and resurrection for us and so let's come to the table and allow this to define who we are as we worship Jesus together let me close in a word of Prayer you

Channel: Tim Mackie Archives

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Length: 58min 5sec (3485 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 19 2017