Luke 4:1-13

Luke 4:1-13

This passage could be reviewed and studied every day by both individual disciples and the church and never be exhausted. It is most often applied to individual believers. But it can have application for the collective body of believers. These applications should not be lost on the church. Jesus has two bodies, the one born in Bethlehem and the one called the Church.  We can be sure that the tempter will assail the body of Christ the church with these same kinds of temptations.

In the first temptation, Satan challenges the Lord to turn stones to bread. The language indicates this is not just for a single meal, but also for the whole of his ministry. Jesus could attract a crowd with a bribe. How often has the church tried to draw the masses to the Lord by means of a grand prize? One church even gave away a motorcycle to some lucky attender. Giveaways and parties can get a crowd, but they will never make disciples.

The second temptation is to suggest that a supposedly minor compromise is a shortcut to the masses. The world's centers of power were firmly in Satan's grasp. To wrestle them away would require long, house-to-house, street-by-street fighting. This shortcut would avoid the hard fighting. There can be no compromise with the enemy. It may be tempting to tell the person in sin a compromise message, but it is not good news. The advocates of a compromised kind of Christian morality tell us it is a lost hope to preach holiness. We can never worship and serve a holy God by compromising holiness. Note how Jesus closely links worship and service. Those two are never distant. We always worship the one we serve and we will always serve the one we worship.

The final temptation is the temptation of the spectacular. The grand show draws the crowds. The greater the show the greater the crowds will be. Using His special place before God Jesus could “wow” the crowds. The problem in doing this would be to try to put God on the spot. We do this when we put our expectations on God and insist that He do our bidding. We in effect try to become god over God. As with all temptations, this is fraught with problems. The spectacle if done in Jerusalem would have to be repeated in Rome and Corinth in London in New York and endlessly. Man has an insatiable appetite for the spectacular. Another problem is revealed in Jesus' answer. Emphatically, He says to Satan, “Remember your place. God is your God, I am your God.”

There are no shortcuts to accomplishing the will of the Father. It is the way of the cross; a message lived by Jesus and is for every believer and the church.

"Grant me and Your whole church, Lord, to resist the temptations of short cuts, no matter how subtle they are.  AMEN