“Passing the Paternity Test” February 21, 2010

Deuteronomy 26:1-11 & Luke 4:1-13 Stephens City UMC

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

I. Allyson MacLeod, a Presbyterian minister in Canada, makes an interesting observation in that one would think that with Jesus’ pedigree that he wouldn’t have had to worry about a little thing called temptation.

A. After all, Jesus’ genealogy was quite impressive.

1. Listed among his ancestors were significant names like: David, Jacob, Isaac, Abraham, Noah, Methuselah, Enoch, Seth and of course Adam the first male human being.

2. But Luke in the genealogy he provides in his Gospel after “son of Adam” adds this bit of information “son of God.”

3. That statement, that Jesus was the son of God, had been spoken by a voice from heaven during Jesus’ baptism.

4. Said the voice “You are my son, whom I love.”

5. So Jesus was affirmed on that day by his heavenly Father and that was the kind of information Jesus needed to know he could depend upon in the days ahead.

6. That was because during the next 40 days his claim to a royal pedigree would be severely challenged.

B. When we read this passage many of us assume that Jesus only faced three temptations.

1. For us pastors generally a sermon has three points and the three temptations lend themselves well to the formation of a sermon.

2. However, a careful reading of the text says that “Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert where for 40 days he was tempted by the devil.”

3. The barrage did not cease for 40 days and the assault against him was fierce and unrelenting.

4. It was after nearly six weeks of this torment, when Jesus was weak from hunger as well as being mentally and physically depleted that the devil comes on with “Now let’s see whose son you are? We’ll find out to whom you belong?”

II. The first taunt of the three is a blow to the gut.

A. It’s personal and personal stuff has a way of getting under your skin.

1. The devil, who is clever, appeals to Jesus’ human side in an attempt to undermine Jesus’ claim as the Son of God.

2. “If you are the Son of God tell this stone to become bread.”

3. Certainly after 40 days Jesus is hungry, maybe even in a state of delirium, and the devil challenges Jesus to assert his royal pedigree by ordering up some fresh homemade bread.

4. There’s nothing like the smell of homemade bread to make your mouth water.

5. After 40 days without food, the very word “bread” probably tasted good to Jesus.

B. Now to refer back to the material I read by Allyson MacLeod, we should note that the temptations Jesus faced are not the temptations that we face.

1. Even if we were to become delirious from hunger, we are not tempted to turn stone into bread because that is not something we can do.

2. You and I are not capable of turning stone into bread and the devil never tempts us to do that which is impossible for us.

3. The temptation to turn stone into bread was specifically tailored for Jesus.

4. Beware, the devil knows our weakness and will tailor temptation specifically for us.

5. For instance, there’s the story about a businessman who decided that it was time to lose some weight.

6. He took his new diet very seriously, even changing the route he took to work every day in order to avoid going past a bakery that tempted him.

7. One morning, however, he arrived at work carrying a huge coffee cake.

8. “This is a very special coffee cake,” he explained.

9. “I accidently drove by the bakery this morning and there in the window was a whole host of goodies. I felt that it was no accident that I accidently had gone by the bakery so I prayed, ‘Lord, if you want me to have one of those delicious coffee cakes, let me find a parking place directly in front of the bakery.’ And sure enough” he continued, “the eighth time I drove around the block, there it was.”

10. The devil knows our weaknesses and you can be sure that he’ll have no sympathy or compassion toward us.

11. Note that when he sought to tempt Jesus that our Lord defended himself only with the Scriptures and thus redirected the devil’s blow.

III. The second assault took a different form.

A. In just a blink of an eye, all the world’s splendor was dangled before Jesus.

1. Jesus knew this splendor for he had been present for the creation for as John says in his Gospel of Jesus “He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.”

2. But now the Son of God was in human form, dwelling in earthly flesh, and one obstacle stood in his way of claiming the crown and that was the cross.

3. The way of the cross would be the way of submission, submitting himself to the Father’s plan for salvation, submitting himself to the matters of suffering and death.

4. This way is in direct contrast with the way of the devil which involves the matter of instant gratification.

B. We live in the age of instant gratification – instant soup, instant coffee, instant pudding, instant tellers and instant credit and that’s just a partial list.

1. So many of us in so many ways live for and by instant gratification.

2. The way of the cross is submission but don’t be fooled because the way of the devil is also submission.

3. And when one submits to the devil one submits to a cunning, life-draining force that is accompanied with the promise that more stuff will make us happier and that that happiness will come instantly.

4. Again, Jesus relies on scripture in his situation and overcomes the temptation.

IV. The third and final temptation is perhaps the most deadly of them all.

A. By now the devil has figured out that Jesus will use scripture to deflect the devil’s temptations so this time the devil tries to turn the scriptures on Jesus.

1. The devil is not completely accurate in quoting scripture but he uses scripture to support his attack.

2. The word of God is deadly when handled by the wrong hands and a half-truth is usually more deadly than a blatant lie as it is alluring as it sounds so good.

3. We think, if it sounds good and right and if it’s from the Bible, and it sounds like it might be, then what can be wrong with it?

4. Often just before we fall into the trap the thought goes through our mind “Wait a minute. Something is not quite right here.”

5. Jesus was not so easily fooled and he sees right through the devil’s façade.

B. The devil’s final assault on Jesus returns us to where we started which is the issue of Jesus’ pedigree.

1. It’s like little kids on the playground at school “You think so, prove it.”

2. In this case “If you are the Son of God, prove it.”

3. But Jesus would not take the test.

4. Not because he was afraid of the results, but because he already knew them.

5. No paternity test was necessary.

6. “You are my son, whom I love.”

7. That was all Jesus needed to hear.

8. That was the proof he needed to resist anything and everything the devil would throw at him.

9. It was all he needed as he walked the road to Jerusalem, the road to the cross.

10. And it’s all we need as we walk with him.