Thursday, June 18, 2009

Jesus as our demonstration

Matthew 4

The Temptation of Jesus
 1Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."

 4Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'a]" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; ">[a]"

 5Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6"If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written: 
   " '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.'b]" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; ">[b]"

 7Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'c]" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; ">[c]"

 8Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9"All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."

 10Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'d]" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; ">[d]"

 11Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.


So What?

Jesus was able to do this because he was in perfect union with God his father.  That does not mean that he did everything right but that he was in perfect connection and focus on his father which led him to live the life and resist the temptations he did.  Think about the words we pulled out on Wednesday night, and think of the definitions

Holy-pure-dedicated and devoted to service of God, specified and set apart

 Blameless-impossible to discredit, guiltless

Self controlled and disciplined-control of self- body, mind, emotions, soul

American Heritage disciplined-training and experience to produce a specific character or pattern of behavior

Upright-Moral excellence, respectable, just, honest

Leads to guidance and deliverance (proverbs 11)

Take each one this morning and write out how Jesus demonstrated these things during this ultimate trial and test of his connectedness to his father.


1 comment:

Unknown said...

Last night God really talked to me. He told me to give everything to Him. So I gave it all to Him. I'm now listening to Him. He also gave me something. He gave me this be a servant to all! So now I'm trying to do so. I'm continuing to remind myself to do everything for the glory of God and it's helping me so much.

Love,
Megan