Matthew 4

“As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”  Matthew 3:16-17

It’s what happened after Jesus’ baptism by John that was an act for us all to reflect upon this week when we say to God or ourselves, “I can’t” or “I won’t.” He left His seemingly ok, everyday life behind and entered the wilderness. He went as a fully human man and fully God. Don’t miss that first point. For 40 days Jesus the man fasted. And when He became hungry – which a human suffers from, not a god – that’s when the devil stepped forward. I’m amazed He wasn’t tempted by the third or fourth day! Imagine the self-control, the obedience to the directive of His Father!

“The tempter came to him and said, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.’ Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Matthew 4:3-4

Jesus, the man, didn’t fall back on His strengths as God each time the devil tempted Him. No, he grabbed hold of God the Father as we humans are urged to do. He looked to the Father in His weakness and continued to obey Him. You notice Jesus didn’t pray and ask God to give Him bread. He was told to fast and He used amazing self-discipline in obeying. I’m certain that during His 40 days and nights His human self prayed for strength and wisdom.

“Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.‘All this I will give you,’ he said, ‘if you will bow down and worship me.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only. Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.’”   Matthew 4:8-11

My friends, this week, as we look at our last fruit of the Spirit: self-control, let’s remember that Jesus was a perfect picture of self-control and obedience to God while as a man. I highlighted in our Gentleness week Jesus never once lost control of His fully God part. He never caused pain and suffering among those who would destroy Him. The one instance Jesus, as God, seemed to lash out in anger was to shrivel up a tree because it falsely appeared to have fruit. And His fully human side cleared out sinners in anger from the temple because they were dishonoring God. I for one, consider that a pretty good track record of self-control over 3 year’s time!

He had come to do His Father’s will and He would do it to the bitter end.”
B.B. Warfield, On the Emotional Life of Our Lord

The Lord has called every one of us, who say we believe that Jesus is our Christ and Lord, to accomplish hard tasks. To turn our old selves over to Him for cleansing and rebirth. And while we are not saved by our outward work of loving others, being gentle and kind, serving those in need, eschewing all sinful ways, when we ask God to guide us in controlling our thoughts and behaviors the fruit proves to Him and the world that we are justified as righteous.

Coming up: The Wobbly Rock

"Save us, Lord our God, and gather us from the nations, that we may give thanks to our holy name and glory in your praise."  Psalms 106:47

Holy God, the heavens are your battleground! You fight against the cosmic forces over darkness. Your power and majesty are at work all around me through the unseen world of the spirit. And through my earthly worship I take up your sword each day to withstand any evil, in your Son’s name. Amen

One of my favorite lines by Jesus in the Bible is, “Get behind me, Satan!” as He rebukes Peter for having the wrong mindset about Jesus’ work. His exact words are repeated in Matthew 16 and Mark 8. Jesus also uses similar words in speaking directly to Satan in Matthew 4:10 with “Be gone, Satan!” I jokingly use these phrases when donuts appear in front me. Recently, however I heard teaching about spiritual warfare and I realized I had the completely wrong approach to it.

"The Lord is my strength and my shield;
    my heart trusts in him, and he helps me.
My heart leaps for joy,
    and with my song I praise him." Psalm 28:7

We so often talk about rebuking Satan or fighting our “Goliaths” when in reality we shouldn’t be speaking to the devil at all. It’s dangerous work that I would venture to say most of us are not prepared to withstand. Even the archangel Michael used God as his shield rather than his own words. Instead, we should be relying on the incredible power of the Trinity to fight our spiritual battles.

Along this same line I once told a friend we shouldn’t be asking, “What would Jesus do?” but rather what would Jesus want me to do? We are not fully man and fully God. We are just man. And we need to acknowledge that alone we only have the power given to us through the Spirit. God, through His great love for us, will take care of the rest. Isn’t that beautiful and amazing?

So what do we do? We enact the famous lines from Ephesians 6 and put on our armor of God. We stand firm in God’s truth. We fit our feet with Jesus’ gospel of peace. We arm ourselves with the shield of faith and the sword of God’s Word. In other words, we allow God to fight His glorious fight with the devil while we do the seemingly mundane acts of worship, studying our Bibles, praying for intercession, baptizing in His name, and spreading His Word of peace and salvation.

Friends, we need to start saying, “Get behind my Lord and Savior Jesus, Satan.” He is the blinding shield, the kryptonite against evil. He is the most powerful weapon we could ever imagine to ward off the arrows lobbed at us. Each time we open our Bibles, go to church, show love to a stranger, speak the Gospel truth into a friend we place that shield firmly in place for God to enter into battle.

Tag: Matthew 4

Fruit of the Spirit: Self-Control

Beauty In The Battle