02.17.2013 Journeys to the Cross - 1 - The Wilderness - Placing God First in our Lives

SermonAudio

Your love never fails. Lord, You demonstrated Your love – as we move toward this Easter season, help us to understand, to remember, to know how deeply You love us. May it be refreshed in our hearts – You love us and care about our circumstances – You are actively involved – giving grace and caring in every area. I ask that Your word would be opened to us in fresh ways – that we would understand what You are saying through Your Word.
Luke 4 – there are 3 gospel writers who share this story with us.
Luke 4: 1Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
Jesus has come to destroy the works of Satan – He will accomplish that at the cross. So there is this battle between Jesus and the enemy of darkness. The second – we can see how to respond to temptation. 3rd – it can be an explanation of the desert or wilderness experience.
Many things happen in 40s – 40 days of rain in Noah’s flood; 40 years in the desert – years of preparation and testing, and they failed in many ways. Jesus fulfills the role of Israel – spending 40 days in the wilderness – and He is victorious.
The idea of being tested – and the thought of being prepared for what is to come.
Their concept of wilderness/desert – to us, that is an area where they pump water in and build golf courses! But for them – it was a place of scarcity – lack of food, water, and inhospitable. It was also seen as an evil place – a place of demons and Satan – and it is the place where Jesus was led by the Spirit to engage in this battle.
There are 3 temptations – it may be a summary of it all – at the end of the 40 days.
First temptation -
3The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
4Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”
So the first temptation – you’re hungry – no harm in turning stone to bread, right? Bread was a staple that sustained their lives – it may have been all they had. Jesus is trying to show that God is the only one who can truly sustain life – and we really need nothing else. It doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t eat – but WHAT do you depend on? The enemy is trying to get Jesus to depend on something other than God – but Jesus recognized there was nothing else to rely on – He chose to enter that situation.
This Wednesday – a friend of mine – is taking a group, including John F. and Jason S. to Joshua Tree – out in the desert – and they go out for seven days – they fast for 5 days – 3 days of solitude and silence – just you and God. They have nothing else to rely on in that time – but that is temporary – God wants us in that situation all the time – even when we are working and bringing home a paycheck and our refrigerators are full of food – he still wants us to rely on Him. Many times He does that through circumstances and events – things come into our lives that we can do nothing about. It is in those situations that we have nothing else but to hope in God – all we can do is to trust Him. God wants us to do that – even when we are not in those circumstances.
What your relationship with God is like in that time – God wants us in that place all the time. We – being the good, independent Americans that we are – we always want to get to a place of independence – a place where we don’t need to trust wholly in someone else – but to trust in ourselves. That may be okay in the business world – but not okay when we talk about our relationship with God. It is not always the most comfortable place.
Second temptation – IF you are the son of God – he knows – but he is saying – if you are the son of God, you should not have to suffer. If anyone should have what he wants – it should be YOU! You have every right to turn rocks into bread – but what the devil is doing – trying to get Jesus to not go to the cross – to not have to suffer. This happens throughout Jesus’ life. Peter – when Jesus says He is going to have go to the cross – Peter says – NOT YOU! But Jesus replies – get thee behind me Satan! It comes back to this. The battle is won through suffering – through the cross.
This relates into our lives.
Paul said this – I count all as loss – that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection– isn’t that what we want – to know God and the power of His resurrection in our lives? To be transformed by Him – to be changed? – but look where it leads: and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
He said many times – if anyone wishes to come after me – what must he do? Take up His cross – daily – and follow me.
That was standard Jesus teaching – he was telling folks – and he was serious – take up your cross – it will be hard – it will require suffering and death – death to selfishness – giving my life fully to Him.
Francis Chan – wrote a book talking about this – really radical to us – but it shouldn’t be radical to us – it should be normal. Living a sacrificial life for Jesus is not just for Mother Teresa – not that we all end up in Calcutta – but every day we take up our cross to follow Jesus. We all have those opportunities in our circumstances and situations.
Second temptation -
5The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7If you worship me, it will all be yours.”
8Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”
The second temptation is this: he takes him to a high place – and shows him all the glory of this world – all that this world has to offer – it is YOURS! If you worship me.
Jesus had an eternal perspective and an eternal value system. All that this world can offer was not a temptation that He would yield to. As we think of journeying to the cross – it is critical for us then – to look at life through eternity – to learn to make decisions – to act each day in light of eternity – and not for the temporal – not for the here and now – that is what matters most. Thy will be done in our lives – on earth as in heaven – that I would live for heaven – that changes our perspective on what matters.
To be honest – if you were offered the entire world – wouldn’t that be tempting. Let’s make it smaller – you were offered to win the 200 million Powerball – but the kingdoms of this world are so much more than that – and Jesus is saying that there is something SO much greater than all of that. But Jesus knows the first commandment – you shall have no other gods before ME. When we live for this world – we have exchanged our worship of God for this world. We are worshiping whatever it is we are doing – there are so many gods we can worship – money – fame fortune, things, people – careers – relationships – but Jesus says to worship only one. What do you serve? You can’t serve God and money – our service – our worship – must only go to God. Our allegiance and devotion – our emotional energies need to be spent on God. In doing that – He cares for and gives the things that are needed in this life. There is a proper place for all of that.
Third:
9The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. 10For it is written:
“ ‘He will command his angels concerning you
to guard you carefully;
11they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
12Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

This may be a more difficult one – you might ask – why this temptation – it seems a little odd – testing God – The devil is trying to demand that God act and prove himself. We test God when we demand that God prove his power, faithfulness, and love – as opposed to trusting, relying on God. If he throws himself off the temple – he is testing God.
Mary did this at the wedding of Cana – there was no wine – it was a big deal – and she says – there is no wine – you know who you are – let’s get this things rolling – Woman – what do I have to do with you? It is this 'prove it' mentality.
John and James – let’s call fire down on these people – let’s show them who we are!
On the cross – how many people said – if you are the Messiah, prove it! Come down! Prove it! We are free to plead with Him – Oh God – be merciful in this area – to petition – but never to bargain and demand. A lot has to do with approach – with an attitude of surrender – surrender to His will –be fully surrendered – you can do both – Jesus did it in the garden – if this cup can pass, let it pass. Not whatever will be will be, but he was sweating blood – begging, petitioning, pleading – and yet surrendering.
In our approach – just because he wants surrender doesn’t mean he doesn’t want us expressing our full range of emotion – look at the 150 psalms, and the prophets, and Job – and there is this range of human emotion coming out as we approach God – My God, My God – why have you forsaken me?! He wasn’t quoting that to fulfill prophecy – but He had learned in his humanness to use the psalms as a way of approaching God and bringing all that we are to him in a proper way.
The devil is also trying to get Jesus to avoid a violent death – to claim a promise – the angels will guard you – he is trying to get Him to avoid the cross.
Luke 4: 13When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

This battle will continue to the cross – as we move toward Easter – preparation – and a journey – and a journey of transformation.
1) Where do you need to engage the battle? We are all engaged in the battle with sin and Satan – choose one area of engagement – discouragement, fear, self-control, pride, lust – for me, anxious thoughts multiply within me – focus on an area over the next forty days.
Psalm 37 – do not fret – Trust in the Lord and do good – dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture – take delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart – commit your way to the Lord, trust in Him and he will do it
This is my battle over the next 40 days – to learn to be victorious over that temptation – you choose yours.
Do one fast over the next forty days – set aside something – in order that you might have a greater focus on God – maybe a way to do that – you will only watch sports on Saturday – or something – to achieve a greater focus on your relationship with God.
Pick one day a week without electronics. On Monday – no social media – Tuesday – no email, Wednesday – no texting – save that for Sunday
Skip a meal once or twice a week to spend time with God. The purpose is to achieve greater focus on God.
Third – attachments – something in your life that has a tendency in your life to take God’s place – it might be a good thing – not sin – good stuff that becomes too important – it could be a career – it could be many things – but I encourage you to zero in on that one thing to make sure that it is not in God’s place – it is the bread – rely on God. Understand how it grabs you – it could be entertainment – money – something you possess that begins to possess you – something that controls your thinking – do it in grace – making God your priority.
The purpose of this is to practice a growing spiritual life. It does no good to fast for no reason – to skip food or to put technology or media and entertainment and assorted events down – to just do it – but if it is done to develop your relationship with God and be transformed spiritually - that is what really matters