Authentic Jesus: Welcome to the Ministry

Today we will look at when Jesus was tempted. It is His temptations that we learn valuable lessons about facing our own tempations.

Matthew 4:1-2 (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.”

WHEN HE WAS TEMPTED

1. His first test was of a PERSONAL nature.

Matthew 4:3 (NIV) “The tempter came to Him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

Jesus certainly had the power to accept the dare and he WAS hungry...what would the harm be? What would it hurt? No one was watching. What would be wrong with a biscuit? EVERYTHING.

Hidden beneath Satan’s dare is a snare. The devil is testing to see if Jesus can be lured into using His power for selfish purposes. Instead of waiting on the Father to supply His needs, will Jesus take matters into His own hands? Satan wanted Jesus to use His divine powers to meet His own needs outside of the will of God. It was a question of putting immediate needs ahead of eternal purposes.

Matthew 4:4 (NIV) “Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Just becasue you can doesn’t mean you should!

2. His second test was of a PUBLIC nature.

In the second temptation, Satan dared Jesus to test the Father’s Word by jumping off the temple; and he backed up his dare with an “edited” quotation from Psalm 91:11–12.

Matthew 4:5-6 (NIV) “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.’”

From perch 45 stories high Satan tries to get Jesus to show off—display who He is. He deserved a big entrance...right? The jump would be spectacular—all the news networks would cover it. The jump would substantiate His Messiahship—after all this is what the people have been expecting!

Matthew 4:7 (NIV) “Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

3. His third test was of a POWER nature.

Matthew 4:8-9 (NIV) “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.”

Remember, Jesus is just coming off His baptism. He doesn’t even have disciples yet. He knows that the walk in front of Him will be very difficult. This is where Satan starts sounding like a car salesman to me. Why walk when you can ride? Boy do I have a deal for you. If you will simply accept my terms, just look at all the perks I’ll give you. You will immediately go from anonymous to famous. Sign on the dotted line and I will give you the ride of your dreams—no suffering, no struggling, no sacrifice. No cross.

That’s what this third temptation does—it bypasses the cross. God promises that His son will eventually rule the world (one day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord!)—YES God wants His Son to wear a crown—not the temporary crown of an earthy king—the eternal crown of the King of Kings. –BUT THAT WILL requite a crown of thorns first! So...

Matthew 4:10 (NIV) “Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’”

WHEN WE ARE TEMPTED

Hebrews 2:18 (NIV) “Because He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.”

1. Don’t be SURPRISED; EXPECT him. (Satan)

James 1:13 (NIV) “When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone;”

Luke 4:13 (NIV) “When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.”

1 Peter 5:8 (NIV) “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

2. Don’t be BLIND; DETECT him.

Ecc 1:9 (NIV) “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.”

Satan is a regifter—he repackages the same old temptations!

1 Cor 10:13 (NIV) “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”

Matthew 26:41 (NIV) “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

3. Don’t be ARROGANT; REJECT him.

Hebrews 4:15-16 (NIV) “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

James 4:7 (NIV) “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

1 Peter 5:9 (NIV) “Resist him, standing firm in the faith...”

Ephesians 6:10-18 (NIV) “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints."

Submit yourself to God. God is the One with the strength to win not you.

Authentic Jesus: When God Got Wet

Sunshine pierced the small space—casting its light on the tools he had learned to use so effectively. He smelled the sawdust and looked around the room—(so many memories).
• He had played over in that corner (on the days His daddy would let Him go to work with him).
• He rubbed His head as He remembered smacking it on that corner over there--(His mom never let Him forget that by the way—He still felt her concern when, even at 30, she would kiss the little scar on His forehead and whisper “Be careful today.”)
• He walked over to the table and softly ran His fingers over the tools of the trade—some new, but none older that He really was.
• His knee bumped His sawhorse—the one He had made with His dad. He sure missed that man.
• He looked at the old sign—“4 Js Carpentry Shop—nobody does it better.” Now there were only “3 Js” working there and today another one was leaving, He and his little brothers had already talked about it—Today His brothers would take over running the business--James would handle the books and Jude would handle customer service.

It was time. With a tear on His cheek and a determined look in His eye, He took off His apron and hung it up in the same nail He had for years—but today He really noticed the nail. The heavy door creaked when He opened it.

When Jesus gently closed the door to His carpentry shop for the last time, He knew exactly where to go. With firm footsteps and quiet determination He set off directly to see John. He made His way from the hill country of Nazareth into the burning heat of the desert. Edging His way through the crowd, Jesus silently slipped off His sandals and eased into the murky river. He came to be baptized.

Matthew 3:13-17 (NIV) “Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented. As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on Him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.”

There is a lot to learn from these 5 vereses!

HIS BAPTISM PUZZLED SOME

1. John tried to stop it.

Matthew 3:13-15 (NIV) “Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.”

Do you see the irony in this? Until this moment, John’s existence had been for the sole purpose of clearing the way for Jesus but now John is blocking the way.

Can you recall another incident in Scripture where an ardent disciple will stand in the way of Jesus?

Matthew 16:22-23 (NIV) “Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

But, don't you know, it will happen again and again AFTER Peter too? Who will later attempt to stand in God’s way? You and me! We stand in His way sometimes. We have an idea of how something should be done and when God’s way are is not our way—we cross our arms and pout. When He bypasses our plan we sit down!

One of the things we need to learn from the Authentic Jesus is that He is not predictable!

2. The crowd didn’t understand it.

Remember!--Isaiah 53:2b (NIV) “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him.”

The crowd didn’t know who Jesus was. To them John’s reluctance to baptize Him must have been confusing. You see, they had seen this man go toe-to-toe with the religious heavyweights of the day--but now this camel hair wearing prophet is trembling in reverence before an unknown carpenter?—It didn’t make sense.

John was not afraid to tell it like he saw it and when He saw Jesus he didn’t get it and the crowd didn’t get him.

HIS BAPTISM OPENED HEAVEN

Matthew 3:16a (NIV) “As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened…”

Luke describes the same scene but adds an element that Matt left out—as Jesus emerged from the water, He was talking to His Father. He saw the heavens open as His eyes were lifted up in prayer: Luke 3:21b (NIV) “...as He was praying, heaven was opened”

I wonder who else got to see into heaven! Did the crowd get a peek?

Others have gotten to see into heaven. I am reminded of Acts 7:55, ”But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.”

Paul tells us in 2 Cor 12:2-4 NIV) “I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell.”

It is important for us to understand something about the time in which the apostle wrote those words. Paul was a Jew. The Jews of the first century believed in three heavens.
1) The first heaven was where the birds fly and the clouds float.
2) The second heaven was where the sun and moon and the stars are.
3) The third heaven (Paul’s “paradise”) was where God is.

We see the first by day, the second by night, and the third by faith.

An elderly Christian woman was grief-stricken after the death of her daughter. To adjust, she boarded a ship from England to New York City to visit her other daughter. While at sea a severe storm struck. Passengers frantically raced for lifeboats. The elderly Christian lady showed no signs of panic. A young man excitedly said, “Lady, don’t you know we may sink and all die!” “Young man,” she quietly replied, “I have a daughter in heaven and a daughter in New York City, and it doesn’t make me any difference which one I go to see.”

HIS BAPTISM INTRODUCED HIM

Matthew 3:16-17 (NIV) “As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on Him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.”

Again, Luke gives us a little more than Matt does: Luke 3:22a (NIV) “...the Holy Spirit descended on Him in bodily form like a dove.”

The dove was not merely a symbol of the Holy Spirit but was actually the Holy Spirit in bodily form, a theophany! The Trinity had shown up!

I love how Beth Moore put it: “… they were confessing their sins because they weren’t being baptized unto salvation. John was baptizing them unto repentance, preparing them to encounter the Savior, the only One who could bring them salvation. In all likelihood they were crying out these confessions— weeping over their sins. Then came Christ.”

GOD JOINED IN THE FESTIVITIES OF REPENTANT HEARTS. (God likes doing that! He throws parties for people like that!)

God had shown up!
• The Holy Spirit showed up and landed on the Son!
• God the Father spoke up to validate the Son!—Words He would repeat later when He interupts Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration: Matthew 17:5 (NIV) “While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him!”

Again, Picture the scene as only Beth Moore can paint it: “Jesus was not coming to be baptized unto repentance. He was the spotless Lamb of God. Complete perfection. He had no confessing to do in those waters...God was baptizing His Son into ministry. The representation of the death, the burial, and the resurrection. BUT ...also see something else precious: “They had confessed their sins standing in those waters and then were baptized. Christ comes after they’ve made this confession. He is baptized—drenched in the same waters where they had confessed their sins....you almost see Him wearing the sins they had confessed in those waters!"

Their sins. Your sins. My sins. All of our sins were on Him!

2 Cor 5:21 (NIV) “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Authentic Jesus: Preparing For Him

Luke 3:2-6 (NIV) tells us that “during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert. He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: “A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all mankind will see God’s salvation.’”

In Biblical times, when a king traveled the desert, workmen preceded him to clear debris and smooth out the roads to make his trip easier. In Luke the leveling of the land was a figurative expression denoting the way of the Messiah would be made smooth because, through John, a large number of people were ready to receive Jesus’ message.

There were three things that needed to be done:

1) John needed to CLEAR THE WAY OF THE LORD which meant Chopping Down Tradition

Luke 3:7-9 (NIV) “John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

John had an axe to grind. He wanted people to understand that, with God, it was about relationship not religion. John’s image of an ax put to the roots of a tree is symbolic. The Jews relied on their descent from Abraham to establish relationship with God. John’s message is that God doesn’t have any Grandchildren. He is not concerned with the root, but with the moral fruit in each person’s life. As far as the root is concerned, an ax is about to be put to that, and then relationship with God will be a matter of faith entirely—a faith that produces the fruit of righteousness.

Later on, Jesus would say, (Matthew 15:3, 6-8) “Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? ...you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’”

What traditions are you holding onto that are holding you back?

2) John needed to PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD which meant Making Personal Application

Luke 3:10-14 (NIV) “What should we do then?” the crowd asked. John answered, “The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.” Tax collectors also came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?” “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them. Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?” He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.”

Do you see what John did? He applied the message to each person's unique situation. He got personal.

We would be wise to ask the same question that they asked John: "What should we do?" Wiser still would be our decision to do whatever God would have us do!

3) John needed to GET OUT OF THE WAY OF THE LORD which meant Shifting People’s Attention

John had plently of opportunities to grow a big head.

Listen to what the Angel Gabriel told John’s dad about him: (Luke 1:14-16) “He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord... he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God.”

Hear what Jesus said about John: (Matthew 11:11) “I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist...”

Luke 3:15 tells us that the people coming to Him “...were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ." However, "John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” (Luke 3:16)

I love John! John was saying...it’s not about me...it’s about Jesus. Look at Him! Shift your focus on Him! Don’t look at me...it isn’t about me! The one that comes after me is better than me.

John realized that “he himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.” (John 1:8-9)

John stuck to his convictions.

Later on people "...came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—well, He is baptizing, and everyone is going to Him.” To this John replied, “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of Him.’...He must become greater; I must become less.” (John 3:26-28, 30)

Is your heart prepared for Jesus?