Taking God at His Word
Matthew 3:13-4:11

Today we begin a new series on the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew's gospel calls us to radical, uncompromising discipleship. Jesus, as we meet Him in this book, makes no room for half-hearted, luke-warm religiosity; he insists that unless we throw our lot in with him completely we can have no part in his Kingdom. We are either for him or against him; there is no middle path. (need proof? See 7:21; 10:37-38; 12:30; 16:24-25).

But Jesus asks for radical, uncompromising commitment not as a slave-master or tyrant, but as a guide who has experienced all the perils of the trail. He knows that unless we follow Him without wavering we are sure to perish, and so He models discipleship for us. In today's passage we see His Sonship tested and proven: Would He take God at His word, or would he take matters into his own hands? He was faced with stark choices that we, his disciples, also face as we follow him:

1. trust in God or self-reliance?

2. simple obedience or spiritual thrills?

3. exaltation by God or success through compromise?

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Today we begin a new series on the Gospel of Matthew. To help you to follow along with the series, I have printed up a schedule on the back of the sermon outline.

You will notice that we will be moving through the book rather quickly. This will be terribly frustrating to some of you, since there is no way we will be able to cover everything that is important during our time together.

I thought I might begin with little preview of what's to come in the Gospel of Matthew --
So I have this flannelgraph here --

Here are some of the things we will read:

12:30 -- He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.

16:24-25 -- If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.

10:37-38 -- Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

19:24 -- I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter to kingdom of God. [and that by the way, includes everyone here]

6:15 -- If you do not forgive me their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

7:14 -- small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

5:48 -- Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly father is perfect.

Does it intimidate you? It should! Jesus, as we see him here, does not match the gentle figure with his arms wide open that we imagined from Sunday School. We want to picture Jesus saying come to me just the way you are -- you have nothing to fear -- I won't meddle. But instead we hear him saying -- you can't come to me unless you're willing to give yourself up completely to me. Jesus demands nothing less than complete commitment -- our whole lives. He makes no room for half-hearted religiosity or lukewarm commitment; he insists that unless we throw our lot in with him completely we can have no part in his Kingdom. He calls for radical, uncompromising discipleship.

It would be easy to get the wrong idea here -- to get the idea the Jesus is being harsh -- trying to bully us into following him. Instead I think we should think of him like an experienced guide, leading you on a very narrow mountain path, through thick fog, with a massive precipice to your left. Is it harsh for the guide to tell you that you need to stay right with him -- to obey his every word -- Is it bullying for him to warn you that if you wander off the path you will almost certainly fall off the precipice and perish? No! You see the whole point of discipleship is that you are following someone who has already made the trip.

But that is looking ahead to what is to come in Matthew. Before Jesus calls us to follow him, he first has to pass the test of discipleship himself. And that is why the story of Jesus temptation is so important -- it demonstrates why he is worthy of our discipleship.

Let's look at Matt. 3 & 4 -- I won't read it again, but you can look on while I retell the story. It is a simple story, but with profound lessons for who Jesus is and what it means to follow him.


Scene 1: Jesus comes to the Jordan river to be baptized.

We're on the banks of Stony Brook -- just below the College. [Let's make it summer so it won't be too cold] There are large crowds of people gathered around listening to someone down by the water. The preacher has a rather wild look about him. Gaunt looking -- as though he was living on bugs. Wild hair, wild clothes, wild eyes. The way he speaks is wild too -- especially when he sees pastors and theologians and stiffly dressed church-goers in the crowd.

You snakes! What do you think you're doing slithering down here to the river? Do you think a little water on your snakeskins is going to make any difference? It's your life that needs to change, not your skin! And don't think calling yourselves Christians is going to do any good. People who call themselves Christians are a dime a dozen -- what matters is how you live!

But for all his wild talk, people seem drawn to this man like a magnet -- they come from Boston and New York. Some are crowded along the banks, waiting their chance to clamber down into the water, to confess their sins and to be baptized. Others stay at a distance.

Suddenly the preaching stops -- the crowd is hushed. There's some commotion down in the water. An argument of some kind.





Then its over a man clambers out of the water-- He looks up with radiant face and begins to pray, and suddenly the sky is torn open, something that looks like a dove comes down and rests on him and a loud voice thunders,

"This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."

Close curtain.

Scene 2:

Next scene: We move away from the lush green coolness of the river to dry, barren wilderness. Barren, rocky hills as far as you can see. Murderously hot in the noon-day sun. Chillingly cold at night. The same man is there, but he looks different. The radiant look is gone. He's sitting in the shade of a large rock and he looks sick, exhausted, starving.

Suddenly a new character runs onto the scene. He looks professional and efficient. He kneels down beside Jesus, and begins to talk to him in an the even, reasonable tone of a trained psychologist:

"You know, I'm here to help you. I saw what happened down by the river. I heard the voice. But what I don't understand is why you're doing this to yourself. Will it do anyone any good if you die of hunger out here alone. You know as well as I do that All you'd have to do is tell these stones to become bread and you'd be able to feed an army.
You can't help anyone else if you don't take care of yourself.

He's interrupted by a hoarse reply, "Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God."

Close curtain

Scene 3:

Next Scene: The Tower of the Mount Holyoke Library. The view is spectacular. You can see students and professors, like little beetles scurrying about down below.

The same two men are on the tower -- standing precariously on the battlements and talking. The professional looking one begins:

"You know I'm sorry about that bread business. I don't know that it was a matter of principle, and of course I admit I don't know the Bible quite as well as you do. But I think I can still give you some good advice. Now clearly if you want to get some attention you'll want to go for something really dramatic. So how about bungee jumping -- without the bungee cord, of course. You won't get hurt -- it says so right here."

Let's see, where is that, -- how do I find the book of Psalms -- Oh yes . . . Psalm 91 "He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone."

The other replied, this time with a chuckle -- "You know it is tempting -- because its true that God will care for me -- and it would be rather a thrilling on the way down. But you really should have studied harder in seminary. Haven't you read Deut. 6:16 where God says, "Do not put the Lord your God to the test."

Scene 4:
Top of Mount Holyoke on a beautiful clear day -- you can see for miles. The same two men are standing beside each other looking over the rail of the summit house.

The psychologist one begins once again: "See down there, you can almost see New Haven -- and there in the North you can see New Hampshire and Vermont. Now close your eyes, and I want you to imagine that you can see all around the world -- You can see Boston, New York, Paris, Moscow, Beijing, Tokyo, Disney World -- Now if it was all yours, if you were in charge of the whole business, think of how much better off the world would be. Now what if I said, you can have it all if you just say I'm in charge."

The kingdoms of the world and their splendor. Think of what that meant -- all the wealth, all the art, all the music, all the beauty, all the resources, all the people, all the glory -- of Rome, of China, of India. He could have it all.

To have what was rightfully his -- but without struggle and without suffering.


Conclusions:

So what's the point of these temptations?