1 John: Category Archive

Resist Temptation When You Find a Short Cut

Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Our last two devotionals looked at the first two temptations of Christ, and how He handled them. Through them, we learned how we can resist when we are weak and when we think we have everything under control. This brings us to the final temptation of the three He endured.

8Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9And he said to Him, “All these I will give You, if You will fall down and worship me.” 10Then Jesus said to him, "Be gone, Satan! For it is written,

'You shall worship the Lord your God
    and Him only shall you serve.'"

11Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to Him.

Matthew 4:8-11 (ESV)

Remember that Jesus's entire mission - His reason for being on earth at this point - is to redeem mankind, and restore them to Himself, so that He will one day rule over them in righteousness. The temptation here, then, is a huge short cut. Jesus knows what is to come; He knows how difficult it will be, and He knows the pain He will have to endure. Satan has been granted temporary power on the earth (called the “prince of the power of the air” by Paul in Ephesians 2:2), and is offering to transfer this control to Jesus.

Just reading this temptation, knowing what we know now, we might come away thinking “The temptation was to worship Satan? That one should be easy to resist!” As we think about it, though, this may be the most seductive of the three temptations. Turning stones into bread would have satisfied an acute physical need, and throwing Himself off the pinnacle of the temple would have been just another miracle story. But this - this is a way to take control of the world away from Satan without going through the pain and suffering. For Satan, there is the added benefit of distracting Jesus from His mission, which means an ultimate thwarting of God's plan to redeem mankind. He'd gladly cede some earthly power now to win the long game in the future.

However, Satan miscalculated in this temptation; Jesus's mission was not to come to earth to control it, but to redeem it. Power wasn't the goal; salvation was. Once again, Jesus uses Scripture from Deuteronomy to rebuff this temptation:

13It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by His name you shall swear.

Deuteronomy 6:13 (ESV)

The translation here isn't quite the same (Deuteronomy's original language is Hebrew, Matthew's original language is Greek), but the point is the same, particularly if you consider that this is the point immediately following the one in that famous speech from Moses that starts “Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” (Deuteronomy 6:4). Interestingly, the point after this one is the one about not testing the Lord, that Jesus used to refute Satan during the second temptation. Within this point, though, it is part of a charge from Moses to the Hebrew people that, when they arrive in the land that God has promised them, they are to serve Him alone, and not turn aside to other gods they will find there.

At this point, Satan is 0-3; three temptations have been refuted with three passages of Scripture. Jesus passed this temptation, and angels came and ministered to Him (v. 11). Showing that He still had power over Satan, even on earth and in His weakened state, when Jesus said "Be gone, Satan!", Satan had to scram.

John, in 1 John 2:15-17, puts everything wrong in the world into three categories: the “lust of the flesh,” the “lust of the eyes,” and the “pride of life.” It is not difficult to see that each of Jesus's temptations addressed primarily one of these categories. As the author of Hebrews said, “[He] was tempted as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15b) He withstood these temptations through the power of God's Word. As we've seen with the previous two temptations, we must know Scripture if we are going to able to recall it during times of temptation. We must follow Jesus's example if we are to find success resisting temptation.

How to Show Your Love

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

This week, we'll look at 1 John 3:16.

16This is how we have come to know love: He laid down His life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers.

1 John 3:16 (HCSB)

John is reminding the recipients of his letter that Jesus provided the ultimate example when it came to love. He gave everything for us. But one of the most amazing parts of His sacrifice is that it was just that - a sacrifice. No one took Jesus and killed Him against His will. In fact, Jesus mentioned in John 10:17-18 that He would lay His life down willingly.

17This is why the Father loves Me, because I am laying down My life so I may take it up again. 18No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down on My own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I have received this command from My Father.

John 10:17-18 (HCSB)

Jesus' sacrifice is truly our example. But, if we were saved, and then died for someone else, there wouldn't be very many Christians around! Giving up our lives is noble, and there are many who have done that for others - military people, police, and firefighters risk that and often make that ultimate sacrifice for their fellow man. But rather than put our lives on the line, this should remind us that anything God asks us to do less than that is really no trouble at all. Laying down our lives can just mean giving up something of ours for the benefit of someone else.

13No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends.

John 15:13 (HCSB)

These are Jesus' words. May we follow His example, and lay down our lives for others.