The Temptation of Christ

The Temptations of Christ

This account follows immediately^[1] after His Baptism. Whereas in the baptism account, the divine voice says “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased." (Luk 3:22 NIV), during the three temptations, the Son of God was tempted twice with the phrase “If you are the Son of God….” in attempts to make Him doubt His Messiahship or identity. The word “tempt” in Luke 4:2 is translated from the Greek word peirazō, which also means “to test”, although no explanation was given in the accounts as to why the testing was necessary. But what is clear is that He was driven by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness.

The significance of these three temptations

1. "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread." (Luk 4:3 NIV)

In the first temptation the devil suggests Jesus will die if He does not eat^[2]. This temptation was not a temptation to immorality or sin in the traditional sense as there was nothing sinful in eating. Rather, it was a testing as to kind of Messiah that He would be. In other words, it was a testing whether Jesus would use His power and His privileges as the Son of God for selfish gains. Therefore, this was a test as to whether Jesus would trust His Father to provide for His basic needs or whether He would usurp the sovereignty of God the Father for His life.

2. "I will give you all their authority and splendor…if you worship me (Luk 4:6 NIV)

In this temptation, the devil promised Jesus success through a “cross-less” solution. He could have the world and rule it. With the kingdoms of the world given Him, he could meet the basic needs of the world - rid the world of hunger, war, injustice, poverty, etc. All He need do was worship the devil and His mission. The end justifies the means.

3. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here” (Luk 4:9 NIV)

The exact intention of this temptation is debatable. Some have suggested that it was a temptation to perform something spectacular. However, the problem with this view is that no one is mentioned as being present other than Jesus and Satan. The most likely interpretation of this temptation is that it involves a dare on Jesus’ part to make God rescue Him. Jesus recognized the fine line between trusting God for the needs of life and challenging him to rescue him from artificially created difficulties^[3].

---

[1] Mark connects the baptism account with the temptation account with his characteristics “And immediately…” (Mark 1:12), and Matthew with “Then…” (Matthew 4:12).

[2] The Bible said that Jesus did not eat for forty days. There was no comment in the Bible whether Jesus drank or not.

[3] This temptation is common among those who profess to follow Jesus. It is not always clear whether a “leap of faith” is an act of true faith or putting God to a test. That is true even if at times such a daring of God is called the “testing the promises of God.” The former would be an act of faith, whereas the latter is clearly an evil, presumptuous challenge. See Deut 6:16

7 Problematic Distractions

Distractions! Distractions! Distractions!

Perry Noble describes 7 distractions that a Christian must be careful of lest he falls into one of them.

This post reminds me of Andy Stanley's statements on the Principles of the Path, which goes something like this:

Anything that grabs our attention, influences our direction, which in turn determines our destination.

Direction, not intention, determines our destination.

So, if you do not want to end up in a destination that you never wanted to in the first place (for example, broken marriages, failed exams, become enslaved by sins, etc), then be very mindful of the things, the people, the issues, etc that capture your attention, as well as those that you decidedly pay or not pay attention to.

Because these things will in turn influence the direction you are heading (a path you are taking, a spiritual downhill, a growing addiction, etc)!

Beware of these 7 'P's, the 7 'p'roblematic distractions that can potentially capture your attention, and in turn, influence the direction you are heading:

1. Pleasure
2. Pride
3. Procrastination
4. People – Someone is always going to not like what you do, who you are and what you stand for…always! (Galatians 1:10)
5. Performance – One of the greatest problems with success is that leaders can actually begin to believe that they are the ones that caused success to happen
6. Problems - We can’t view problems as God’s punishment…but rather we must view them as God’s preparation! David didn’t see the lion and the bear as a problem but rather he viewed them as opportunities to prepare him for the greater problems in life (I Samuel 17:33-37)
7. Passion - Passion can be a distraction when we use it to run over people rather than lead them!

Read more.

I walked a mile with Pleasure

My comments:
Although I like this quote, I do not believe that all pleasures are bad. Some pleasures are legitimate. James 1:17-18 says: "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." It is the lustful, illegitimate pleasure that we should be careful of.

I walked a mile with Pleasure,
She chattered all the way;
But left me none the wiser,
For all she had to say.

I walked a mile with Sorrow
And ne'er a word said she;
But, oh, the things I learned from her
When Sorrow walked with me!

- Robert Browning Hamilton

When are you most likely going to face temptation?

When are you most likely going to face temptation?

Wayde Goodall answered in an article, that we are most likely to face temptation in the event:

· 81% - When you have not spent much time with God

· 57% - When you have not had enough rest

· 45% - When life is difficult

· 42% - During times of change

· 37% - After a significant spiritual victory

· 30% - When life is going smoothly


He draws the example of Job. Job's commitment stemmed from:

1. Job’s covenant:

“I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl.” Job 31:1

Job made up his mind that he was going to control lust in his life.

2. Job’s awareness:

“Does he not see my ways and count my every step?” Job 31:4

His awareness of God’s presence and God's knowledge of all his actions and thoughts motivated him to say, “I’d give up anything to keep God’s presence in my life.”

God counts your every step—minute by minute, day by day, year by year.

3. Job’s Commitment:

“If my heart has been led by my eyes, or if my hands have been defiled, then may others eat what I have sown, and may my crops be uprooted.” Job 31:7-8

Job was so committed in the area of lust-free living that he said to God; “If I blow it in this area, take everything away from me.”

Wayde further outlined six steps to control lust:

1. Be honest with yourself—own up to any problems you have and admit

2. Don’t feed your lust in any way, e.g. magazines, movies, television, telephone, “cyber-porn”.
Carnegie Mellion University found that 98.9% of cyber-porn (on-line) users are men.

3. Divert your attention when you are tempted (a hobby or activity that you can turn your thoughts to)

4. Don’t rationalize and say that lust is not a big deal—lust in your heart is wrong. You don’t have the right to take anyone to bed with you in your imagination.

5. Remember how others have failed—let it scare you.

6. Think about why you are struggling in this area - is it because you let yourself get involved in sexual conversations with other guys? Is it because you watch the wrong TV programs, look at the wrong videos, or go to the wrong movies? If you think about it, it will be easy to understand why you are struggling.