Grace Presbyterian – 10 Mar 19
"Testing: One, Two, Three"
Donald Corbett

It’s interesting how words change over the centuries.  When the KJV was produced some 400 years ago, the word 
"temptation" meant a test of some sort.  In our study today we’re going to talk about temptation and the three tests
that Jesus faced as he prepared for his ministry.  Let’s hear God’s word.

Luke 4: 1-13, Jesus Is Tested in the Wilderness

vs1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 
vs2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was 
hungry.
vs3 The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread."
vs4 Jesus answered, "It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’"
vs5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.  
vs6 And 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. 
vs7 If you worship me, it will all be yours."
vs8 Jesus answered, "It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’"
vs9 The 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. 10 For it is written: "‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you
carefully; 
vs11 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone."  
vs12 Jesus answered, "It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’"  
vs13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

INTRODUCTION
Much of our Lenten tradition revolves around this passage.  Pastor Jonathan shared quite a bit of detail concerning Lent
in this month’s Good Gracious.  I commend that article to you.

Simply put, Lent is a season of forty days, not counting Sundays, which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy 
Saturday.  Lent comes from the Anglo Saxon word lencten, which means "spring."  The forty days represents the time Jesus
spent in the wilderness, enduring the temptation of Satan and preparing to begin his ministry.
  
So let’s go into the wilderness with Jesus.

WHAT THE SCRIPTURE SAYS
In the chapter preceding our reading, we find John the Baptist, busy "Preparing the Way" just as the prophet Isaiah had
foretold. In verse one of today’s scripture, we are told that,” Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was
led by the Spirit into the wilderness."
  
So Jesus had just come from Jordan where he had been baptized; where God had acknowledged him as his Son.   And just as
God had arranged the encounter between Jesus and John the Baptist, it was the Holy Spirit that that led him into the
wilderness, it was the Holy Spirit that set up of the encounter with Satan, and it was the Holy Spirit that provided
Jesus with the ability to deal with the temptations as they came.  

The Holy Spirit led him into the wilderness and onto the field of combat to fight and conquer all that which is 
represented by Satan – Sin and Death.  Being in the wilderness gave some advantage to the Devil as Jesus was now alone,
he had no one to “watch his six.”  That said, in undertaking a time of fasting and meditation, Jesus was so in tune with
his Father that he was more than prepared to withstand Satan’s assaults.

Jesus was hungry and probably tired.  Satan came to him and then the Tests began.

Test 1: Come on, declare your independence.

Now who doesn’t like a chunk of freshly baked bread spread with butter or honey?  In this test, the devil was tempting
Jesus to distrust his Father’s care and to provide for himself.  "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become
bread."  You know you’re hungry and I bet God has forgotten all about you.  Go ahead, you can do it.

If we begin to think of ourselves as the masters of our own fate, as the only one responsible for our success or failure, then we are falling for Satan’s urging to declare our independence from God.
Jesus answered, "It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.

Here, Jesus is quoting from Deuteronomy 8:3 and is telling the tempter quite clearly that there is no need for me to do
this as God can send manna for me just as he did for Israel.
    
How had Christ lived, lived comfortably, these last forty days?  Not by bread, but by the word of God, by meditation
upon that word.

Jesus refused to yield to the Devil’s temptation because:
•	It would have given the Devil credence he did not deserve;
•	The Devil was asking for a miracle and miracles were Jesus’ way of confirming faith – particularly that of his disciples – and the devil has no faith to confirm; and 
•	Jesus was not about to make himself the focus of a miracle.

Test 2:  Trust me; your Faith in your Father is misplaced.

Satan takes Jesus and shows him all the kingdoms of the world and says, "If you worship me, it will all be yours."
  
Here Satan is tempting Christ to accept something from him that would and should come only from God his Father.  All
Jesus would have to do is turn away from his Father – who had apparently abandoned him – and declare his allegiance to
Satan.  Do this my young friend and it will all be yours.

Satan is so bold in this; he is claiming that these things are his to give.  They are not.  Just as Satan tricked Adam
and Eve, he is attempting to deceive Jesus by offering him something he cannot give.  Yet something that is deceptively
attractive and pleasing to the senses.

Jesus’ response is to reject the offer outright; saying, "Worship the Lord your God and serve him only."  Or, if we look
at the King James Version, he responds with the well known phrase, "Get the behind me Satan!"

Test 3:  If you’re really that good, it’s time to move your show from Summer Stock to Broadway.

Finally Satan takes Jesus to the highest point of the temple in Jerusalem and urges him to take a dive.  

"If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here."
In essence he is tempting Jesus to prove that the words that God had spoken at Jordan was insufficient as there had only
been a few people there.  Now if he was to throw himself from the temple where so many of the more important people 
would see him – then for sure they would know he was the Son of God.

He even uses Scripture as part of his temptation and quotes from Psalm 91, "‘He will command his angels concerning you
to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone."

Christ then turns right back to Scripture and quotes from Deuteronomy 6 saying, "Do not put the Lord your God to the
test!"

But Satan had put God to the test.  He had done so three times and three times he failed.

He tried to get Jesus to declare his independence from God; to switch his loyalty from his father the Satan; and to put
God to the test.

Jesus proved that he could not be tempted, ad that he would remain loyal to his Father.  Can we say the same thing?

The season of Lent gives us the opportunity to prepare ourselves for the continuing battle "against the rulers, against
the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD 
Lent is a time of repentance, fasting and preparation for the coming of Easter. It is a time of self-examination and 
reflection. 

During this time, many people chose to give something up.

What are some of these?  Coffee, Alcohol, TV, snack foods, and the like

But why do people “give something up” in the first place?  Simply put, this is an alternative to the much more difficult
discipline of The Fast.

The prophet said, PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD.  Now we often see and hear this text in conjunction with Advent, but it 
fits equally well with Easter.  The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus is central to the Christian faith and Lent is
our preparation and training opportunity to get us into top spiritual shape for Easter. 

There are two basic things one must do to train for an activity.  One is to give up those things that are at odds with
the training and the second is to add or increase things that will give you a boost.

There is no question that Lent is a time of prayer and self-reflection and absolutely it’s a good time to address the
thoughts and habits you know dishonor God – and which, deep down, try to replace him.  It’s a time to say ‘Yup, I’ve
been slack and something ain’t right; time to turn it around.’  A time to "Straighten up and fly right."  So if giving
something up, helps you do that, by all means do so.

But this Lent, I’d like to suggest we also look at the second approach as we train for Easter and add to, or enhance,
our spiritual discipline.

Adding a Lenten Discipline

I have no doubt that each of you is already doing something to honour God and strengthen your faith.  But, if you’re
like me, you may sometimes be so busy that it’s become another daily task as opposed to the soul stimulant it is
supposed to be.  Those distracting thoughts are not coming from God.  Remember Test 2.

Like any type of training it should be something you can do on a regular, ideally daily basis. 
 
I suspect, for example, planning a daily sunrise Bible reading would not last too long for most of us.

If you have no idea what to do during Lent, may I offer some ideas you might consider on a trial, or test basis.

Test 1 – Pray.  Lent is a perfect time to develop or strengthen a discipline of regular prayer.  A good goal for Lent
would be to pray as soon as you wake up.  If you already do that, perhaps you could add noon or night-time prayer.
Contemplative prayer, based around the idea of silence or listening for God, is also well suited to Lent. Regardless,
set aside some time of quiet to ask the Lord what he wants you to do. See if the Spirit guides you towards something.

Test 2 – Give.  While Lent is most often considered to be about giving something up, it is also about putting something
positive in its place.  The best way to remove vice is to cultivate virtue.  Lent has been a traditional time of helping
the poor and doing acts of charity and mercy.  While as Christians this is a year round calling, Lent is a good time to
examine ways to get involved and to make resolutions to actually do them.  There are many ways you can do this – just
read the opportunities in our weekly bulletin or email.   If you find that the regularly scheduled Church Activities, or
Small Groups just don’t match your schedule – become a leader and start one that fits your schedule.

Test 3 – Study.  When facing temptation in the desert, Jesus relied on Scripture to counter the wiles of the devil.  It 
is a formidable weapon for us as well.  Many of us could use much more Bible time and Lent is an excellent time to
remedy this problem.  Start by reading a chapter of one of the Gospels every day – Mark or John are good places to start
– interestingly enough, there are forty chapters there so you have time to do them both.  For the longer term, go to the
PCC website and download the Lectionary.  This will get you through most of the Bible in two years.  If you’re finding 
your Scripture reading a bit stale, maybe you can increase your focus by taking notes or comparing two – or more – 
different translations.  

So, as we enter the season of Lent, let us take a lesson from those who have discovered the blessings of giving up
something in Lent, and also those who grew in their faith by adding a Lenten discipline.  PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD, 
Pray, Give and Study – and when Easter comes, maybe you’ll find that Jesus isn’t the only one who’s been resurrected.

Amen.