Greetings everyone and thanks for joining me for this edition of our Sunday School preview. This Sunday’s lesson is entitled “Single-minded Obedience” and is found in Matthew 4:1-11.
This lesson begins immediately after the baptism of Jesus. At this baptism, God gave two signs of Jesus’s unique relationship to Him in saying that He was His Son and in the Holy Ghost descending upon Him in a bodily form and remaining upon Him.
Following these events, Jesus was driven into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit and while there He fasted for 40 days. At the end of these 40 days, the enemy, adversary, Devil or Satan (all names for the same person) attempted to entice Jesus to sin. There may have been other temptations the enemy tried, but three are recorded in scripture.
First, it is important to understand that thinking about sinning does not constitute sin. This is what temptation is: a thought of disobedience. Giving in to the temptation or following up on the thought to fulfill it, is when and where sin comes in. So let’s look at the three temptations of Christ.
After 40 days, Jesus was hungry and Satan suggested to Him to turn some stones into bread. What could possibly be sinful about that? Physical need can be one of the most powerful human motivators to do anything. Without food our physical bodies will die.
Turning the stones into bread would be Jesus’s attempt to save Himself from physical death. But instead of saving Himself He trusted that God would save Him and therefore declined the temptation to use any special gift or power to save Himself when God wanted Him to trust Him with His life. People trust in their own ability to save themselves instead of God.
In the second temptation, Jesus found Himself on a very high place and was challenged to jump down to prove God would save Him. What could possibly be a motivation or temptation to jump to one’s death? Why do people turn to suicide? People who succumb to suicide don’t want to kill themselves or die. Yet, they are tempted to believe that it will somehow be better than facing another moment of life.
Jesus may have thought of what awaits Him if He completes His mission and all the agony and suffering it would require. If that wasn’t enough, the enemy quoted a scripture which implied that if He jumped, God would save Him and not allow Him to die.
In the dare was the proposition that He could end any speculation that He is extra special to God and really God’s Son. If He somehow wasn’t God’s Son, God would let Him die and He could put an end to all this before it begins.
Jesus resisted this temptation by trusting God with His future without definitive proof or assurance of the success of His mission or His relationship to God. In moments of temptation, we can be tempted to doubt our relationship with God and the end of our calling to be faithful to Him.
The last and final temptation was the temptation for Jesus to abandon the will of God and embrace the will of the flesh. Jesus was offered everything this world has to offer if He would serve Satan or sin. Why would Jesus want the world’s riches? I would suspect for the same reason Satan had them to give.
There is something satisfying about sin. Doing what God wants is not always in line with and at times contrary to what an individual wants. It may and does require delaying immediate gratification for a future promise of something just as rewarding or better.
Jesus resisted this temptation by deciding to wait upon God for any and all rewards He would forfeit now by seeking gratification in pursuing the riches of the world. We too are face with this same temptation of seeking reward and gratification now in this world or waiting on the promise of God to makeup and surpass all we denied ourselves in order to obey and worship God.
Jesus demonstrates a singleness of heart and mind to obey God and trust our happiness and future with Him is the only way to overcome temptation. Well, I hope you will attend SS this coming Sunday and share your thoughts with your class. If you have any comments or questions, be sure to place them in the comment section of this preview. So, until next time remember to fear God and keep His commandments.
