Luke 4:1-13

We are in Luke 4 tonight. Paul read for us from verses 1 all the way down to verse 13 of the temptation of Jesus Christ.

! I'm probably going to pull off a nifty trick because I'll eventually preach on the whole Luke 4 just now, but I had Paul think that I'm only going to preach in the first 12 verses.

And you've got to be warned, I've had a nap this afternoon, and so it means it's going to be a long sermon. I hope you're strapped in quite comfortably.

And so, yeah, that's all good.

Luke 4, it follows, of course, what's happened at the beginning of the Gospel.

And we've all enjoyed Christmas, I hope, and we have reminded ourselves of the birth of Jesus Christ.

And we've most likely looked at various texts in the Gospels describing the birth of Jesus Christ.

And so we're at the beginning of the Gospel, and you can trace the story of God's Son, Jesus Christ, who is born.

And then as he is born, he is also eventually baptized, circumcised first, and then baptized later as an adult.

And he is then tempted in the desert.

That's what we've just read of.

Now, I want to help you do a number of things.

The first thing is a little bit harder to do, and that is to take your Christian faith out of the Victorian myth category.

And hopefully we are not there, but where you somehow treat your Christian faith as a great heartwarming story

that you pay attention to on a Sunday morning, a Sunday evening, and perhaps when you read the Bible at various stages.

But where you carry on with your visceral, physical, flesh-and-blood life, well, there it's doggy-dog.

There it is, a different set of rules that apply.

And it's there that, well, decisions that I make there, well, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

But in church, well, that world is apart.

So I live with a sort of dualism between the heavenly spiritual things and the earthly fleshy things.

There's a dichotomy there.

There's a separation there.

And I want to show you that the way to straddle this gap, to not live in this dualism, is the Word of God.

It is God's Word that straddles this gap between the reality of heaven and God and angels and Satan and demons

and the reality of this world and work and play and school and everything else.

What straddles the gap is the Word of God.

In other words, if you want to live a really rich life,

where you're not just moving superficially through this created world, through the city, on the train, on your bicycle, at home,

just dealing with immediate emotions, a desire for food, you're tired, you want to sleep,

just dealing with physical, fleshy things,

if you want to pursue, if you're not a Christian, you want to pursue a much richer, deeper experience of reality,

the way to do that is to pay attention to the Word.

It is the Word that can open up a world of richness to you with depth and with texture and with imagination

and with exhilarating truths and fantastic stories and just opens up a much richer reality to you.

If you want to straddle that gap, it's the Word of God that does it.

And this shouldn't be unfamiliar to you, that you can live in two realities.

Just yesterday, I was driving to the co-op down the road, and I was going to buy some milk,

and I could see a couple just standing.

It's raining.

I don't want to be outside.

That's why I'm driving to the store.

It's raining.

And there they stand with their raincoats on, just looking at their phones.

I had to think as I'm driving.

They are living in two worlds at that very moment.

I want to get out of the rain.

I want to move.

I want to get some, but they're completely sucked into whatever is on their phone.

So it's possible for you to be physically present in a certain circumstance whilst mentally in another place.

And I'm not talking about Facebook's metaverse just yet, but that's what they're selling.

It's sort of grabbing us and our attention out of this world, out of the physical realm,

and pushing it into another realm, one that they've made and created.

How do I straddle the gap between heaven and earth?

The Word of God.

The Word of God.

Where do I get it in this passage?

Well, that is for me also the million-dollar question.

Let's look at the passage, and I hope I can show you how it fits together.

Now, it is the temptation of Jesus Christ.

And right from the off, we learn that Jesus had just finished his time in the wilderness that lasted for 40 days.

40 days.

And after this time in the desert of 40 days, something strange happens.

Verse 3 tells us that the devil came and tempted him, asking,

if you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread.

Now, this is where it gets weird.

And if you're not a Christian, you think, hang on, the devil?

Are we, are you sure?

I mean, it feels like I've slipped down a rabbit hole, and it's a fantasy novel.

I'm expecting magicians on broomsticks to fly by any moment.

It feels like you've taken me from a very visceral story.

This whole story is based in history.

We're getting mentions of Tiberius Caesar and Pontius Pilate and Herod the Tetrarch.

You can date the things that's happened.

It happened in real time, in real history.

And whoa, all of a sudden, we're dealing with the devil.

We're dealing with temptation and this strange business where Jesus goes from the wilderness

to a mountaintop and then to the pinnacle of the temple.

It feels like everything has just gone off track a little bit.

And it's just suddenly spiritual, metaphysical, different reality all of a sudden.

Please don't shut off.

Don't take this passage that doesn't fit your neat, perhaps conservative, evangelical, rational world

where you can look at historical facts and evidence for Jesus and fit it all together.

It doesn't fit that neat world because it speaks of demons and devils and angels in a spiritual way

that you find a little bit uncomfortable.

Don't shut it down.

No, do the hard work of bringing the spiritual and the physical together through the Word of God.

It's Jesus that straddles this gap.

And the clue is in the 40 days.

You see, the 40 days mimics something or at least recapitulates something that happens in the Old Testament

in a very real sense.

It's the 40 years that God's first son, Israel, was in the wilderness.

And you'll soon see that everything that happens with Jesus in this temptation

is essentially a smaller, shorter, compacted version of everything that happened

in flesh and blood history to Israel in the whole Old Testament.

Yes, Israel was in the wilderness 40 years.

Yes, Jesus in the wilderness 40 days.

And then Israel, well, God met Moses on Mount Zion and there he gave him his Word.

And whilst God was meeting with his church, with his people, with his first son Israel

and making covenant with them from the mountaintop, well, the people were making a golden calf

and worshiping it.

But there's a mountaintop experience in Israel's history.

They go from the wilderness to the mountain and from the mountain they eventually end up

in the promised land and the temple.

And that's where Jesus' temptation takes him next, to the temple, to the pinnacle of the temple.

And so this is a clue that helps you to see that far from being simply spiritual, metaphysical,

this whole thing that happened to Jesus when he's being tempted,

it's actually something that's happened in flesh and blood real time

to God's first son Israel in the whole Old Testament.

And you've got to start seeing that there is a congruence between what happens in the physical realm

to that which happens in the spiritual realm.

There is a connection between these two things.

Strange.

It shouldn't surprise us, should it?

Ephesians 6 says, put on the full armor of God

so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers,

against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world,

and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

There is supposed to be a connection between the heavenly realms

and this physical experience that we live in this world.

And if you want to straddle the gap, you can finish that sentence by now.

You need the word of God.

That's exactly what Jesus came to do.

He is the word in the flesh.

And he's here to straddle that gap.

To show us that he is the way, the truth, and the life.

And if we want to have a fuller understanding of reality,

we need him to lead us in this way.

So the devil tempts Jesus.

And he tempts him on these three occasions.

In the wilderness, on the mountaintop, and in the temple.

He tempts Jesus.

But why is he tempting Jesus?

It's Hermann Barfing that said,

The essence of the Christian religion consists in this,

that the creation of the Father, ruined by sin,

is restored in the death of the Son of God,

is restored in the death of the Son of God,

and recreated by the grace of the Holy Spirit

into a kingdom of God.

It's this mission that the devil was trying to stop.

First in the first son, Israel.

Before that, in Adam and Eve.

And now in Jesus.

And then in the New Testament church,

the church that we live in now.

He wants to stop this mission where God's creation,

ruined by sin,

that has been restored in the death of the Son of God.

If Jesus did not die,

the restoration would not have been possible.

So the devil wants to stop this mission,

this project.

It would not have been possible,

so that it can then not just be restored,

but recreated by the grace of the Holy Spirit,

as we build the kingdom of God.

So the devil schemes as to interrupt this plan.

And he tempts Jesus after 40 days in the desert,

then on a mountaintop,

and then on the top of the temple.

And the heart of his temptation is a single question,

if you are the Son of God.

He asks this basic question about Jesus' identity.

If you are the Son of God, do this.

If you're not the Son of God, don't do this.

If you are the Son of God, do this.

But it's the Son of God,

the identity of him as Son of God,

that is where the real battle line lies.

If you continue to read Luke 4,

you'll see that Jesus then follows up this temptation

with miracles that proves that he is the Son of God.

He drives out demons,

he heals the ill, the unwell,

and he speaks with such authority

that people start to say,

hang on,

this man is the Son of God.

So the people start to recognize

what the devil wanted to suppress,

that which Jesus knew.

So God's Word,

God's Word,

is that which helps us to straddle the gap

between the spiritual and the physical,

the heavenly and the earthly.

But how does he do that?

We read Luke 4,

and the following thing happens.

Jesus is in the temple,

in the synagogue.

And it's on the Sabbath day

that he preaches.

And in verse 17 we read,

and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah

was given to him.

He unrolled the scroll,

he found the place where it's written.

And this is what's written.

But before I read what's written,

Jesus stands up,

he reads this.

When he's done reading this,

he will say this.

He will say,

everything you've just heard,

the prophet said,

is about me.

Everything I've just read

from the prophet,

it's me.

So let me read what he reads on Isaiah.

He reads in verse 18,

It's me.

That's what Jesus is saying.

He's reading this prophecy from Isaiah,

and he says,

I am the anointed one.

I am the son of God.

And can you imagine the scene

in that synagogue?

It's a bit silent.

Jesus has just read it.

He's received the scroll

from the synagogue assistant.

If I had one of my sons,

they would have brought me

the scroll.

I would unfurl it

and stand here,

then read,

and then with drama

and suspense,

slowly roll it up

and hand it,

and they take it,

and they put it away.

And then everyone

with suspense

wait to hear what Jesus

has to say about

what he's just read.

This is what he says.

He rolled up the scroll,

gave it back to the attendant,

and sat down.

And the eyes of all

in the synagogue

were fixed on him.

And he began to say,

Today,

this scripture

has been fulfilled

in your hearing.

Today.

So everyone sitting there

looking at Jesus

starts to make

the calculation

in their minds.

The anointed one,

today this has been fulfilled.

They know the reports

of Jesus healing people

and setting captives free.

They're starting to think,

well,

perhaps,

perhaps,

who knows,

but look what happens.

And all spoke well

of him

and marveled

at the gracious words

that were coming

from his mouth.

You see what happened?

Jesus said,

I am the one,

and people started

to calculate it,

and then as they sat there,

they said,

mind blown,

this is him.

This is the anointed one.

This is Jesus.

Now we said,

if we want to straddle the gap

between the spiritual

and the real,

we need the word of God.

And what Jesus was doing

at the very point,

he was saying to them,

I am the word of God.

Not,

here is the word of God

in a scroll

written up for you

to go and read,

but the word of God

is physically

in front of you

in three dimensions

right here in front of you.

If you want to straddle the gap,

don't just listen

to the teaching,

but eat me

through faith.

I'll explain that later,

but eat me through faith.

I want to say that

in a slightly jarring way

so that you don't

make the mistake

that the audience

made in the synagogue

at the time,

they were listening

to Jesus

as he was reading,

much like you might

listen to a sermon

when someone is preaching.

I agree with that.

That's fine.

Okay,

that makes sense to me.

But yet,

and this has happened

in our church,

yet your job is

you work for a gambling firm

and so tomorrow

you go back

and you write algorithms

for a firm

that essentially

makes the poor poorer

by stealing their money

through little phone apps

and you don't think

twice about that

because, you know,

I've been able

to separate two things.

I can think about Jesus

and about how interesting

the Bible

and the gospel

and all of these things,

but flesh and blood stuff

doesn't matter.

I can live it

the way I want to live.

These two things

don't need to come together.

But Jesus won't leave you there

and what you do

with Jesus,

what you do with Jesus

will reveal

how you view him.

Perhaps you've not read this,

but we've read it

in Canada Water Church

in Luke 2

where Simeon

picks up the baby

and says to Mary,

the sun is destined

for the fall

and rise of many

and essentially

he will provoke

a response

from everybody.

Well, Jesus provoked

a response here

in Luke 4.

The response was

that people listened

to him and loved him.

That was the first thing

they did.

The second thing

they did

is they said,

but hang on,

you're the son of Joseph.

You're one of the kids

of our town,

of our village.

And we've heard

you've done some great stuff

in other little villages.

Put us on the map.

Put us on the map.

You're one of us.

Come do some stuff

for us as well.

Why don't you come

and do a lot of miracles

over here

so people will flock in

and come to our little town

and we'll become famous

for having Jesus,

the miracle worker

around here.

They wanted to co-opt Jesus.

And listen to what they've done.

They've heard the word,

but instead of doing

the only thing

that you could do

when Jesus reveals himself

as the word of God,

that is to fall down

and worship him,

they wanted to co-opt him.

They wanted to get him

under their thumb.

They wanted to get him

as one of them.

They refused,

in other words,

to accept that Jesus

is speaking of

a different reality

that will require them

to relinquish the way

that they viewed

the world

until the very moment

and say,

here is the one

and we are to worship him.

It's not surprising

what they do next.

Continue reading Luke 4.

You see that

when Jesus finally says,

look,

you want me to perform

miracles for you.

Be your performing

miracle worker.

But God's prophets

like Elijah and Elisha

is beholden to no one.

We are in no one's pocket.

We work for God

and for God alone.

Elisha and Elijah

did it the same.

They yield foreigners

instead of Israelites.

Don't expect me

to work for you.

I'm not in your pocket.

I am from God

and I'm for God

and I will exist

to proclaim his gospel

fully and completely.

That is what he's saying.

And when he said that,

they rose up.

Well, first,

when they heard these things,

all in the synagogue

were filled with wrath

and they rose up

and drove him

out of the town

and brought him

to the brow of the hill

on which their town

was built

so that they could

throw him down the cliff.

But passing through

their midst,

he went away.

This is the same group

of people

that marveled

at him speaking

and then quietly resented

that he didn't want

to be co-opted by them

and then raged

with anger enough

to want to kill him

when he didn't fit

their agenda.

Is this so dissimilar

to what happens

in Jesus' temptation?

Just think about that

for a moment.

The devil comes three times

to tempt Jesus.

He tempts Jesus

in the wilderness,

make bread for yourself

out of these words.

Jesus rebukes him

with scripture.

He tries a second time.

He refuses to fall down

and worship Jesus.

He tries a second time.

He takes him

to the high top.

He says,

if you fall down

and worship me,

you'll get all the authority

with me

over all of these towns

and kingdoms.

And Jesus again

rebuts him

with scripture.

And then he ups

the ante a little bit

and he takes him

to the top

of the temple.

And there he quotes

scripture back at him

and he says,

if you throw yourself

off this high pinnacle,

he will command

these angels

that will scoop you

up in their hands

and you will not

strike your feet.

He warps scripture

and Jesus responds

with scripture.

And these three temptations

in my understanding

of this text

gets reenacted

in some way

in the way

that the Jews

in the synagogue

respond to Jesus.

and the reason

I want to put

these two next

to each other

and I'm pretty sure

my New Testament professor

isn't listening

to this at the moment.

He said,

once you've seen

three points

that make neat sense

and you want to fit

the rest of the passage

into your little model,

you're most likely

on the wrong path.

Could be.

But hear me on this

and see if you

see the correlation.

Is that

this

almost fantasy

novel-like

experience of Jesus

on being tempted

by the devil?

Wilderness,

mountaintop,

temple.

Is reenacted

in the physical realm

through

the people

in the synagogue

that refuses

to believe

that Jesus

is the word of God.

That refuses

to believe

that Jesus

is to be worshipped.

They want to

co-opt him.

And refuses

to believe

that Jesus

will not allow

scripture

to be warped

for nonsensical

purposes.

No,

he exists

only

to glorify God

and he will not

throw himself

down a cliff

or jump

off the tip

of a temple.

Jesus

straddles

this gap

between the spiritual

and the real

because he is

the word

of God.

Let's make this

practical for a minute.

if your faith

as a Christian

is currently

sustained

on fridge

magnets,

on tweets,

or on

Facebook posts,

you will use

the scriptures

in the same way

as Satan

used the scriptures

against the Lord Jesus.

If you sustain

your spiritual faith

with tidbits,

you will warp it

and misunderstand

that Jesus

came

as the

son of God

in the flesh

to straddle

the gap

between heaven

and earth

so that he

will one day

bring heaven

and earth

together

in the new

heavens

and new

earth.

And you

will have

such a low

view of what

Jesus came

to accomplish

that you'd

be likely

to do

not just

what the devil

did with Jesus

but do

what the synagogue

rulers

and those

listening to him

did the first

time.

You might as

well stop

with that

because where

that ends

is you

want to join

in the crowd

by throwing

Jesus off a

cliff because

he will not

be beholden

to a fridge

magnet or a

tweet or to

whatever your

particular agenda

is at the

moment.

He will reveal

through his

actions and

through his

words that

he is the

Lord of the

universe and

there's only

one right

response to

him and

that's to

fall down

and worship

him.

And so

if you

sustain your

spiritual walk

at the

moment with

tidbits,

be very

careful.

It's the

word of God

that straddles

the gap and

here we are

at the

beginning of

the year.

Would you

take up the

word and

read it this

year?

If you are

here tonight

and you

don't have

a regular

Bible reading

plan where

you immerse

yourself in

the scriptures,

where you

allow the

scriptures to

come at

you,

not just

this short

sayings,

not just

this little

teachings.

If you're

reading a

Bible devotional

at the

moment that

just has

two verses

at the

top and

a lot of

human speech

below it and

a little

summary prayer

at the

bottom,

you can't

sustain your

faith with

that.

You've got

to come

into the

Bible which

is a world.

The Bible

comes to you

not just as

little tidbits,

as little

sayings.

Of course

there's

sayings in

there.

There's

wisdom literature,

there's

psalms,

there's

songs,

there's

narrative

there's

history,

there's

prophecy,

there's

a whole

world in

the Bible.

And here

at the

beginning of

the year,

God is

enticing you

to come

into this

world so

that you

get to

know him

not just

as words

on a

page,

but you

get to

know him

as the

person that

can stand

up in the

midst of the

synagogue

and say,

man shall

not live

by bread

alone,

but by

every word

that proceeds

from my

mouth.

Hang on,

he didn't

say that.

Huh?

Did he?

Kids,

I'll do a

trick quickly.

What's

noticeable

about me

at the

moment?

What's

about me

moment?

what's

drawing your

attention

at the

moment?

Except for

my striking

good looks

and the

fact that

I wear

a jean.

I've

never

worn a

jean

in church,

but here

we go.

There's

something

missing,

isn't

there?

That's

what's

drawing

your

attention.

Now,

when Jesus

spoke to

the devil

the first

time,

and he

said to

the devil,

man cannot

live

by

bread

alone.

You know

a Jewish

reader,

when they

read Luke

and they

hear that

first

phrase,

they want

to finish

it.

Can anyone

finish it?

Let me

first ask

children,

can you

finish,

how does

that sentence

go?

Man cannot

live by

bread

alone,

but

by every

word that

proceeds from

my mouth.

That is a

quote from

Deuteronomy

8.

And when

Jesus said

to Satan,

man cannot

live by

bread

alone,

and the

reader of

Luke's

gospel read

that passage,

he wanted

to fill in

the dot

where it

says,

but by

the word

that proceeds

from God's

mouth.

That is how

we live.

And so

Jesus was

drawing attention

to that

which was

missing,

and that

he is

the word

of God

in the

flesh,

and that

you will

live,

not just

when you

tickle your

ears with

the gospel

where you

hear God's

word and

say,

that's good,

but you

live the

way that

you want

to live.

He is

the word

that proceeds

from God's

mouth.

He is

God's

word.

He is

the one

that as

we hear

him,

we shouldn't

just hear

him,

we should

eat him.

He should

become our

bread of

heaven.

In the

same way

as Israel

in Deuteronomy

are panting

for food

and God

gives them

food out

of heaven.

He is

the one

that we

are to

eat if

we want

to live.

He is

the rock

on whom

we should

build our

lives if

we want

to straddle

the gap

between

the heavenly

and the

earthly.

And so

the invitation

of this

passage is

that you

will come

and eat

the Lord

Jesus

through

faith.

Israel

failed in

the temptations

against

Satan.

Jesus

succeeded

fully.

You are

now the

new

Israel

as

God's

church.

You are

now the

new

Israel.

And so

these

temptations

will take

different

forms in

our lives

where the

question

will come

is Jesus

the son

of God

that is

to be

worshipped?

And the

scripture

says yes

he is.

And you

follow that

up with a

life of

conviction

as you

live in

that light.

And I

want to

close with

this.

If we

are the

new

Israel

and we

are,

then we

can go

back to

the word

of God

not just

the New

Testament

bits that

we enjoy

reading but

we can

read the

Old Testament

with a

new

understanding

to say

we are

the new

Israel.

The promises

of God

to his

people of

old has

been fulfilled

in Jesus

Christ and

we can

therefore stand

in confidence

and boldness

in the broken

world that we

live in that

God will do

what he has

promised to

do and

that is that

he will

fix this

world.

He will

come and

he will

redeem it all

and he will

finish his

mission for

which he

has come.

So let

me read

these words

in closing

from Zephaniah

Zephaniah 3:14

3 verse 14

and it's

Old Testament

written to

Israel at

the restoration

of Jerusalem.

Will you

believe that

this is true

of God's

church today?

Will you

believe that

this is true

of you

today?

And will

you start

to live

with a

richness

of experience

as you know

that the

world is not

just flesh

and blood

stuff in

front of us.

It's rich

with God's

promises and

he will

fulfill them.

Sing aloud

O daughter

of Zion

shout O

Israel

rejoice and

exult with

all your

heart.

O daughter

of Jerusalem

the Lord

has taken

away the

judgments

against you.

He has

cleared away

your enemies.

The King

of Israel

the Lord

is in your

midst.

You shall

never again

fear evil.

On that

day it

shall be

said to

Jerusalem

fear not

O

Zion

let not

your hands

grow weak.

The Lord

your God

is in your

midst.

The mighty

one who

will save.

He will

rejoice over

you with

gladness.

He will

quiet you

by his

love.

He will

exult over

you with

loud singing.

I will

gather those

of you who

mourn for

the festival

so that you

will no longer

suffer reproach.

Behold at

that time I

will deal

with all

your oppressors

and I will

save the

lame and

gather the

outcasts and

I will

change their

shame into

praise and

renown in

all the

earth.

At that

time I

will bring

you in.

At the

time when I

gather you

together for

I will make

you renowned

and praised

among

all the

peoples of

the earth

when I

restore your

fortunes before

your eyes

says the

Lord.

Let me

pray.

Let me

Thank you.