Temptation

Is being tempted the same thing as giving into temptation?

Matthew 4:1-11 is the story about, Jesus being led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the Devil. Jesus fasted 40 days and nights before the tempter came to Him. So, Jesus was hunnnGry! I know when I don't eat or drink for a minimum of 24 hours, I get a little cranky or okay maybe a lot! As Jesus was hungry and weak he now had some dude, whom one could only assume had bad breath, speaking to Him while challenging Him to take action and rise to the occasion to show He is the Son of God!

How would we react in this situation? Would we go to battle? Would we fight with our bare hand? Would we fight with a weapon? Would we even put up a good fight? How would we fight evil?

One of the many things I love about Jesus here is; confidence and patients in the victory that was and is already won. He denied his flesh that was hungry and weak and stayed strong and focused. To deny your flesh for the glory of God isn’t as easy a people think.

The tempter requested 3 things for our Lord:

1:"If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."

2:"If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. (off the highest part of the temple) 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."

3:"All this I will give you (all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor)," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."

Umm…excuse me! Who do you think you are? Satan really tried his best to make Jesus stumble. But the Lord is God! Don’t mess with the best!

What did Jesus do? Did he rise to the occasion and show the Devil, that he could turn stones into bread, because He is the Son of God? No. Did Jesus throw Himself off the building without fear of dying to prove a point? No. Lastly, the tempter offered Jesus what looked like to be everything. Did Jesus want it for himself? No.

If Jesus didn’t fight Satan by showing him He was the Son of God by all the miracles that He could do, how did He fight and win?

Ephesians 6:17b states, the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Jesus used scripture to fight Satan off and resist temptation.

How Jesus answered:

1: "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God."

2: "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test."

3: "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only."

So the Lord fought with the word (sword) of God and Satan fled? Well Satan knows the word of God too, why didn’t it work for him? Well, interestingly enough Jesus obeyed the Word and Satan a fallen angel didn’t.

God wants us to live my faith and not magic. We shouldn’t challenge God for sign’s. We can call God out on His Word because it is the truth, but to challenge the highest of highs, ummm…no! I wouldn’t want to take on that battle. The third answer Jesus gave Satan speaks the strongest to me and I go straight to the first two 10 Commandments. 1st Commandment is, Exodus 20:3 “You shall have not other god before me.” And the 2nd Commandment 20:4 “You shall not make yourself an Idol.”

Being tempted in not sinning, but giving into the temptation is. As I was teaching Sunday school today, I had kids ranging from 4 years to 7 years old. One of the exercises the Lord gave me was to tape a piece of candy to a worksheet that the kids were going to do during story time. When we handed out the worksheets, we told the children they couldn’t eat the candy until we said they could. Going through this story about Jesus and temptation we asked the kids how many of them were tempted to eat the candy before we said they could. Most all of them in 2 different classes raised their hand and said they were tempted but didn’t eat their candy. Then we proceeded to analogize how the Lord didn’t give into temptation and neither did they. They obeyed just like Jesus did!

1 Corinthians 10:13 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 BARE. So whether you are tempted by TV, Internet, challenges, money, gossip, relationships, popularity, food (especially Pillsbury doughboy’s gooey yummy hot orange rolls or Ben and Jerry’s), material things or just plain giving into addiction, it is just like 1 Corinthians says, God doesn’t give us more than we can handle. So is being tempted the same thing as giving into temptation? No! Just remember to use your sword (Word of God) and OBEY the Lord.

Just for fun, here are the questions we asked the kids on their worksheet see how many you could get right.


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