We are looking into this concept a little bit in our sermon/small group lesson series this Spring, but I want to really grab a holistic approach to this concept and spend some time digging into Jesus' character. One of the key places to turn, in my opinion, is Matthew 4. Right after Jesus was baptized, it says he was led into the desert by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil. Jesus fasted for forty days in the desert, of all places. I am positive that during this time Jesus was praying to God to be sustained while he fasted. Now during this time, Jesus was tempted by Satan. Matthew tells us of three specific temptations. This week I want to look at the first of those three, and save the other two for later.
The first temptation was when Satan came to Jesus and told him that if he was the Son of God, then he should turn the stones into bread. Clearly, Satan was hitting on Jesus' physical hunger to get him to use his power as God to satisfy that hunger. Now Jesus, obviously tempted to give in and provide food for himself, decided that it was better for him not to give in to Satan's game. Instead, he quoted Scripture to him, saying, "Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." He is actually quoting Deuteronomy 8:3, which in context is very interesting when compared to Jesus being hungry in the desert, but that is for another discussion. The main point is that Jesus knew that God's words were more important than food. His spiritual appetite exceeded his physical appetite.
Today we can see the results of economic disaster all around us. People who are close to us are losing jobs, and we hurt for them, and we want to help take care of them. We see people giving in to the temptation to "take care of themselves," rather than simply leaning on God and pursuing Him with everything they have. The fact is that we have physical needs. Food is one of them. But is God worried about what we are going to do to feed ourselves, or does He simply want us to focus on Him and let Him take care of food and a job? Jesus was famished in the desert, especially after forty days, but the time alone with God in prayer was so satisfying that his need for food took a backseat. How can we truly get to this point?
Can I just say that it is not going to happen the way we want it to happen. We want our food fast, our downloads in seconds, our mail immediately; but coming to a point where we are so satisfied with God and His words is not going to happen quickly. It will happen as we spend time with Him, in prayer and in studying His Word, in solitude and in community with others. It will happen as we see our needs being met by Him in ways that we never would have been able to do on our own. It will happen as we come to a point where we trust Him so much that it doesn't matter if we lose our job today because we know that God has never failed us and will not start now. That is one way to explain what it means to have a transformed character. That is how we learn to live the way Jesus lived. Our physical needs are very evident to us, even though we have more than almost any other culture in the world. We do not know what it is to be without, so when we are faced with the threat of losing an income, we can focus on our ability to provide, and we forget that God is THE Provider.
So what does it mean to have a transformed character? In my estimation, one piece of that answer is to allow our spiritual appetite to overshadow our physical appetite. When our need for God eclipses our need for anything this world can offer, we become reliant on Him, and that is one aspect of the way Jesus lived. Next week we will look at more of what it means to live like Jesus lived. Here are a couple of thoughts you may want to follow up on...
- Pointing out Jesus quoting Deut. 8:3 is very poignant. How does Jesus become the embodiment of what God hoped Israel would become through this one temptation?
- What are some worldly things that seem to tempt you from relying fully on God to meet your needs?
- Are you relying on God more now than you were a year ago, five years ago, or ten years ago? How?
This is good stuff!! But I want to comment more on an aspect (sort of) from last week's post. That is on perspective, or what the author is trying to convey. The same story can be told in more than one way, or from more than one perspective. An example is 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles. Both books tell about the same Kings. 2 Kings is from the point of how they walked in relation to how they ruled, and 2 Chronicles is how they walked in relation to the "temple". An example is King Manasseh. To pull from the footnotes of the ESV, "Kings presents Manasseh as the wortst of Judah's Kings whose sins make the exile inevitable, while Chronicles uses him to illustrate the possibility of forgiveness and restoration, even for the 'foremost of sinners." You have a different view of the same story, depending on the purpose of the authors.
ReplyDeleteExellent point, Roy! That is a perfect example. The Gospels are another example of the same thing. Lots of different folks telling the sme story with a different twist makes for interesting interpretation. Thanks for pointing that out!
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