Gospel of Luke 4:1-13
We are in a message series on the Gospel of Luke
The word “gospel” literally means “good news”
So, you could say that this series is about “The good news of Luke”
What exactly is this good news?
Simply put, it’s the life story of Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ is, without a shadow of a doubt, the most influential person who has ever existed
Even if you’re not a Christian, or even a particularly religious person, you cannot deny this fact
No one life has affected the whole of humanity more than Jesus Christ
Since He has affected the world so deeply you would think that all of us would know a lot about Him, but unfortunately that is not true
Many claim to know about Jesus, but in reality few people really do
The Gospel of Luke details the events of Jesus’ life from His birth to His death on the cross and subsequent resurrection
Luke is written by a Gentile to a Gentile audience
Since the vast majority of us listening to this message are Gentiles I think it’s very appropriate that we study this Gospel
As we jump into our passage today in Luke 4 we need to remember that Jesus had just been baptized by John the Baptist – that’s what our message was about last week – and was ready to fulfill His purpose
But before He began His ministry something else had to take place
Luke 4:1-13 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread." 4 Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone.'" 5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 So if you worship me, it will all be yours." 8 Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'" 9 The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here. 10 For it is written: "'He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; 11 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'" 12 Jesus answered, "It says: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" 13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
Wow, quite a story! Let’s go ahead and break it down a little bit
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
So immediately after being baptized Jesus goes on a 40 day fast in the desert where He is tempted by the Devil
Is there some significance to this?
Absolutely!
Jesus had just been baptized and had quite a Spiritual high
After all, the Holy Spirit came down upon Him and God the Father spoke from Heaven saying “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased”
I would think that emotionally Jesus was flying pretty high
He knew that He was about to fulfill His ultimate purpose, namely the redemption of the world, and must have been excited!
I can certainly relate to that – whenever I know that I’m fulfilling part of my purpose I tend to get excited too!
Example – Tioga church plant
Before Jesus begins His earthly ministry though He decides to go on a 40 day fast
There could be many reasons behind this fast, and Scripture doesn’t tell us why Jesus did it
I can easily speculate though that Jesus knew He had to prepare Himself for what lie ahead and a fast was a very good way to do it!
So Jesus goes into the desert and fasts – or goes without food – for 40 days
However Jesus wasn’t alone during this time – verse 2 tells us that He was tempted by the devil
Why would the devil want to tempt Jesus?
In order for Jesus to fulfill His mission of redemption He had to remain sinless – if the devil could get Jesus to sin, then Jesus could not fulfill His mission
In this passage of Scripture we read about three temptations that Jesus faced
I have no idea if there were more, but Scripture only records three
- Turn rocks into bread
- Worship Satan
- Jump off the temple roof
I must admit that when I first read about these temptations I thought that they were not really a big deal
With all the temptations that are in the world why in the world would the devil choose these three?
If you really look at these three temptations there is some serious significance behind them
Let’s take a look at them and how they relate to us
The first temptation
3 The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread."
As we look at the practical side of this temptation this is one that actually makes sense
Jesus had been fasting for 40 days – that’s 40 days without food – needless to say He was pretty hungry!
As a church we just finished a 21 day fast – although ours was quite different than Jesus’ fast
Our fast was a “Daniel fast” modeled after the Old Testament prophet Daniel
The fast was basically one where we were not allowed to eat meats or sweets along with other things like coffee and white breads
Those of you who participated know that this was sometimes very difficult
For me the difficulty wasn’t what I thought
Since I am a certified chocoholic I figured that my biggest temptation would be in the area of chocolate and other sweets
But believe it or not I was fine with that. Although there was some temptation it was minor and easily dealt with
What tempted me the most was meat!
This fast made me realize very quickly that I would be a lousy vegetarian!
This last week was pretty hard, especially Tuesday through Thursday when I was away for a seminar in Carlisle
All the way down on Tuesday I kept thinking “I could stop for a burger or some slim jims and nobody would know!”
Then when I got to the seminar they were serving things like crab stuffed tilapia, marinated chicken breast, and roast beef
I was a good boy and didn’t indulge, but it wasn’t easy
And this was with other good foods available – I couldn’t imagine how hard it would have been had I been on a total fast like Jesus was!
After 40 days Jesus was literally starving!
Research shows that humans can go about 8 weeks without food as long as they have water
That’s 56 days and your body starts getting permanent damage long before then
40 days is about as long as you would want to go without risking some serious health related side effects
So at 40 days without food the Devil says to Jesus "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread."
When the devil said “if you are the Son of God” he was not questioning Jesus’ deity – he very well knew that Jesus was the Son of God
What was happening was that the devil was issuing a challenge – “turn this stone into bread”
Could Jesus have done it? Without a doubt.
It would have taken no effort at all for the creator of the universe to turn rocks into bread
But there was more to this challenge than bread
Certainly Jesus was very hungry, but the significance of this temptation was not food, but flesh
Breaking His fast early by turning rocks into bread would have satisfied a physical craving but would have created spiritual damage
The problem with physical cravings is that they can only be temporarily satisfied
Here’s what I mean – I’m kind of hungry right now
After church we are having a fellowship meal in which I will be able to satisfy that physical craving (hopefully with MEAT!)
However, at some point this afternoon I’m going to be hungry again – the physical craving will return
The physical craving of food is natural and certainly not sinful
But we all know that there are physical cravings that are definitely sinful
You know what I mean –
The craving for more and more stuff
The craving for more money
The lustful cravings that we all experience at times
The craving to always do what we want to do
These cravings are never totally satisfied
If you give into them you may receive temporary satisfaction, but it won’t be long until you want more stuff, more money, more whatever
When you are focused on satisfying the physical you will starve the spiritual
Let me say that again – when you focus on satisfying the physical you will starve the spiritual
You cannot become what God desires you to become if you are focused on your fleshly desires
Satan knows this which is why he tried to get Jesus to lose sight of the Spiritual and focus on the physical
What was Jesus’ response?
4 Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone.'"
This is a quotation from Deuteronomy 8:3
For whatever reason the Gospel of Luke does not record the whole quotation while the same story in Matthew 4:4 does
We see the importance of this quote in Matthew 4:4
Matthew 4:4 Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"
Notice Jesus answered “Man does not live on bread alone”
In other words, yes we do need to take care of our physical needs – it would be stupid not to
However to be totally healthy we cannot focus on the physical alone
We also need to take care of our spiritual nature
If we ignore the physical we will not survive long
The same thing applies to our spiritual nature
We may live longer here on earth, but we will die spiritually
What do I mean by that?
Let’s look at this practically for a moment
What would happen to me physically if all I ate was junk food?
At first I wouldn’t notice much difference, but it wouldn’t take long before the physical effects started
Weight gain, diabetes, high cholesterol, & high blood pressure just to name a few
Then the serious diseases from lack of nutrition would start – like scurvy which results from a lack of vitamin C
Eventually I would starve to death
As odd as it sounds I could consume 10,000 calories a day of junk food and still starve because my body would not be getting the nutrients it needed
I wouldn’t be hungry, and I may even feel physically satisfied, but I would still die
The sad thing is that my death would be needless – it would be so easy to prevent
The same principle holds true in my spiritual life
If I ignore my spirituality completely I will spiritually starve myself
Spiritual death will result
The problem with Spiritual death is that it is eternal
Spiritual death means not getting into heaven – it means going to hell
All of us know that we will some day physically die – it’s inevitable
But we do not have to spiritually die
How would it affect your behavior if it were possible to physically live forever if we simply ate right?
If all you had to do to physically live forever was to eat balanced meals every day and avoid junk food only a total idiot would do anything else
You would no longer hear excuses of “I don’t like vegetables so I’m not going to eat them”
This principle applies directly to our spiritual lives
All we need to do to live spiritually is to have a spiritually balanced diet
This sounds good, but it’s just as difficult to avoid spiritual junk food as it is physical junk food
Physical junk food is hard to resist because it tastes so good
Spiritual junk food is hard to resist because it sounds so good
It may even be deceptively marketed like physical junk food
Here’s a perfect example –
[Image of Luck Charms box]
I don’t think there’s an educated person here that would think that lucky charms cereal is even close to a healthy choice for breakfast
It’s loaded with sugar and empty calories yet take a closer look at the box
“Whole grain” “Calcium and vitamin D”
It tastes good, but it’s not healthy
What does spiritual junk food look like?
It’s full of things that sound good, but they’re not healthy
They are full of empty promises and out of balance spiritual nutrition
What do I mean?
Here are some examples {elaborate each}
Focused only on grace
Focused only on judgment
Focused only on prosperity
Focused only on poverty
Focused only on social justice
The list goes on and on
We must take the Word of God as a whole – keep it in balance
How do we do that?
By studying it!
When Jesus was resisting the temptation to turn rocks into bread how did He do it?
By quoting Scripture
Notice that He didn’t pull out His concordance or look at the topical index in His Bible
He quoted it off the top of His head
He already knew it
If you ever hope to defeat the devil, if you ever hope to live a spiritually balanced life, you must know your Bible
Yes, it takes effort
Yes, it takes time
But it’s well worth it!
There are a million excuses as to why you do not get into the Word of God every day, but none of them are valid
Even if you are not much of a reader there are plenty of options when it comes to getting the Bible on CD
My challenge to you is to follow the example of Jesus – starve the flesh and build your spirit by devouring the Word of God.
