Living Manna

Temptation of Jesus 3 – You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only

Matthew 4:8-11, Luke 4:5-8

When we are tested, we say “We are darkened, tested and going through trials.” The tests that the devil gives to us is for the purpose that we stop worshipping God and forget the great promise God gave to us. When we know and understand the purpose of such tests, when we can understand the intention of the devil and it will help us to overcame.

In today’s scripture, Satan first plays on Jesus’ hunger. Jesus was fully human so He was very hungry after fasting for 40 days and 40 nights. Satan says, I have a solution for you, just turn the stone to bread! Satan plays on what we are hungering for and brings something that seems like an easy solution.

Satan secondly plays on Jesus’ pride, with honour and glory. When Satan comes to us, he brings the temptation of honour and glory, attacking our pride; and make us hopeful and have a false vision.

Satan thirdly played with the purpose of Jesus coming to this earth. Jesus came to this earth to redeem mankind and restore the dominion that God had given to Adam. Satan said dominion of the world has been handed over to him. This means this dominion has been surrendered over by Adam, and Satan is now the owner and he has control over this world.

However Jesus made it very clear. In His first temptation, He said food is not the main purpose of life. We too have to understand the purpose of creation, God’s covenant and the purpose why God put us in this church. All the things I am hungering and desperate for, is it more important than the Word of God? Secondly, Jesus said it is not for My glory. Are we able to give up my pride, and honour, for the glory of the Father?

Thirdly, Jesus takes Deuteronomy 6:13-14 and replied “I will not bow down before you”. Satan takes the most important purpose why Jesus came to this earth and uses that purpose as a bait, to cause Jesus to break the foremost important commandment in the Bible. Worshipping is putting my hope and honouring the one that can provide me with blessings. Today let us ask ourselves about our worship. Are we compromising our worship?

What are the things Jesus overcome?

1. Jesus came to this earth to find the people of the kingdom of God, not to find the kingdoms and glories of this earth.

Satan says “Everything belongs to me, I can give it to anyone I wish.” Satan is good at making an image, or representing things in a way that we will subconsciously be deceived. Satan has nothing to offer to us. Adam lost the sovereignty in his heart. The Tree of Life and the Garden of Eden still belongs to Jesus, Jesus is the Tree of Life. The reason why Jesus came to this earth is not to restore the physical kingdom and glory, but Jesus came to restore the people’s hearts and give the kingdom to us. Jesus says I came to save the world. The world is referring to the people living in this world (John 12:47, Like 19:10 , Mat 20:28).

2. Jesus came for the glory of the Father in heaven, not for His own glory or the glory of this world.

May we realise it is only God who will give us that glory, it is God who can bless us. Let us not be deceived. The devil has nothing to offer to us (John ‪12:39‬-43, John 12:28, John 8:54).

3. Jesus came to atone for His people through His sacrifice on the cross, Jesus was clear on what He was to do.

May we too be clear about what we are to do (John ‪12:31‬-33, John 14:30, Luke ‪10:17-18‬). May we also learn from Jesus and never bow down to the temptations of the devil. In Genesis 3:15, the first Messianic covenant, it says this seed will crush the head of the serpent. Jesus said “I am that Seed, I came to crush your head, why should I bow down to you?” May we have that confidence, for the Spirit is with you, our Father is with you. Jesus was not trying to avoid the cross. Now Jesus tells us to take up the cross. That cross is what gives us victory.

As conclusion, Jesus was able to defeat the devil and overcome His tests because He knew and understood the Father’s will and His covenant correctly (Matthew 16:26). Jesus’ answer was from the 10 Commandments, Deuteronomy 6, to focus on worshipping God and to keep the Sabbath. Isaiah 56 clearly tells us that those who keep My Sabbath and keep My covenant, you can say “I am a child of God.” That is how important God considered worship.

After all creation, God rested when He saw all is very good. God is asking us to join Him in this true peace. The time we are spending in worshipping God is the time when God is holding our hands. We are spending time in heaven, we are borrowing that heavenly Kairos time that is so meaningful that it will give us strength to last for eternity. Let us remember the time of worship is the most important time for us on this earth, because that is the only time we can spend with God in heaven. May this 1 hour of worship be the Kairos time that will bless us with the blessing of eternity. Let us overcome all our tests and trials by focusing on worship of God only. Amen.