What Really Tempts Us? | Security, Approval, and Control

Martin Chairez: Good morning, buenos dias.

Please turn your Bibles to Matthew chapter 4, verse 1 through verse 11.

Matthew 4:1

For us in the Spanish ministry here for the year of 2026, we have been

studying out the Gospel of Matthew.

Amen?

Amen.

Uh, and it's been quite a journey.

We're all the way up to chapter 7.

And during Palm Sunday, uh, Good Friday, and Easter, we kind of

fast-forward into the story toward the later chapters there in Matthew.

And as I was given the opportunity to share God's Word, preach God's Word, try

and teach God's Word today, uh, there's only one thing I can teach at this time.

Uh, it's Matthew.

Uh, and so that's where, that's where we're at.

Amen?

Amen.

This is actually my first time preaching in this building.

Uh- It feels like it's not the first time, but, but it is, so that's-

that's cool.

I guess that's encouraging.

Um, anyway, I don't know why I shared that.

So we're in chapter 4.

One of the things that we have been trying to do, that I've been trying to

do and our ministry's been trying to do, is to dive deep into the world of a

gospel, and stay there, and live there, and not worry about other gospels,

the oth- any of the other three.

But just stay in that world and try to honor the gospel that we're in, in

this case Matthew, and try to listen to it, and not try to kinda add other

things to it, but just kinda walk with Jesus and see what stands out.

Amen.

And I've shared this before, and I'll share it again.

Um, but after almost 30 years of being a Christian, I will confess

that I got bored reading the Gospels.

I often felt like, "Okay, I already know what it says.

Okay, I already know that."

Yeah.

"I know what to say about that."

About that.

Because of my high school campus ministry experience.

You know what I mean?

Like...

Yeah.

And so I ended up feeling bored, and I'd try to find other

inspiration outside of the Gospel.

And so if in your Christianity you're looking for something else other than

the Gospel narrative, something is off.

Off.

Other resources are great, but to exclude the Gospel or to label it like

I had, I had, um, is really alarming.

And so in the last few years, trying to relearn how to read these

Gospel worlds, how to honor for what it says, stay there and read it.

And one of the things that has jumped out is the distinctions between- Each gospel.

And so as we read this very familiar passage about the temptation

narrative, it's also somewhat present in Mark, it's definitely

present in Luke, and here in Matthew.

And one of the things that Matthew does that's different from the

Gospel of Luke is he rearranges the order of the temptations.

And so he places the third temptation of the mountain as the

third temptation, whereas in Luke, I believe it's the second one.

And for our modern Western mind, that could be troubling.

It shouldn't be, because we're thinking chronologically, we're thinking order, or

we've used analogies like each four, each of the four Gospels is like one camera

recording the same thing from a different angle, and I guess that kind of works.

But if we try to honor the scripture, we have to think like Easterners.

Kind of we have to think about, oh, the context when it was written.

And so the, when, when the Bible, when the Gospels are rearranged,

it's not a contradiction.

It definitely is a distinction, but it's an invitation for you to note, "I

want to tell you something here that the other Gospel is not telling you."

Are you with me right here?

Yes.

And so in this case, why is the temptation of the mountain

third in the Gospel of Matthew?

What do mountains have to say in the Gospel of Matthew?

And if we remember our Old Testament, what happens in mountains?

God reveals God's self and speaks Torah, life, His covenant with His people.

And so distinctions are invitations for you to notice this Gospel's

pointing something very unique to us.

Are you with me right here?

Yeah.

Let's go ahead and read chapter 4:1.

"Luego el Espíritu..."

Ah, that's in Spanish right there.

"Then Jesus, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness

to be tempted by the devil.

After fasting for 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry.

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."

Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on

the highest point of the temple.

So they're in Jerusalem.

"If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down.

For it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift

you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'"

Emphasis added by the speaker.

Jesus answered to him, "It is also written, 'Do not put the

Lord your God to the test.'"

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the

kingdoms of the world and their splendor.

"All of 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.'"

Amen.

Then the devil left him, and the angels came and attended him.

Amen.

Up to this point in the narrative of the Gospel of Matthew,

one thing has been clear: the identity of Jesus.

And so the fact that the first two temptations are addressing his

identity, it's somewhat ironic.

And when we read this passage on its own, sometimes we can miss.

As a standalone passage, sometimes we can miss, so we need a little context here.

So the Gospel of Matthew begins with a genealogy account letting

us know that Jesus is a direct descendant of Abraham and of David.

And it names a lot of other people, people that you usually do not put in

a genealogy for a king who wants to look good and not have any skeletons

in their closet kind of thing.

But it places people, Gentile women who were faithful to God,

and yet they were treated in a very unjust, unfair way during the time.

And so from the very beginning we see the theme of God with us, and

it includes those who had a very difficult situation And then the

angel lets them know, "Hey, call him Immanuel," which means God with us.

And so we see the Magi who come from the East, kind of a foreshadow because the

end of the gospel, uh, Jesus is gonna command them to go into the Gentile world.

And so you kind of have this encounter there between two worlds, and

the God who's mediating and who's wanting to reach all, all nations.

The Magi vow and worship, and we are introduced to a king,

Herod, and then later his son.

And from the very beginning, the Gospel of Matthew's already letting us know

there's already a kingdom established, but there's a new kingdom that's breaking

in, and they are at odds with each other.

The values of the kingdom of heaven, that's the phrase Matthew is going to

use rather than the kingdom, uh, of God.

He uses the kingdom of heaven.

The original audience, it's a very Jewish audience and so in order

to honor that, you try to say...

Uh, you try to avoid to say the actual name of God in that

context 'cause it's so holy.

Are you with me right here?

And so in the Jewish context, he says the kingdom of heaven, whereas in Luke,

it was written to the Gentiles, and he says kingdom of heaven or kingdom of God.

Anyhow, so and then we see, uh, the, the family having to flee and take refuge, uh,

in Egypt and then be called, called back.

And along the way, there's more trouble because this earthly, worldly kingdom

does not go away, and it hasn't.

It's there.

It's aggressive.

It's ambitious.

It's everywhere.

It's in us.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's forming us.

Yeah.

It's encouraging us.

It's creating a vision of what the good life is because that kingdom needs us to

be consumers and think about ourselves.

And so if you get anything from our story today, our, our passage

today, I want you to consider which kingdom is forming you the most.

They both are.

Right.

Come on.

But which kingdom is forming us the most?

What kind of person are you striving to be?

A faithful participant in the Kingdom of God?

I'm sure it is because we're here.

But this other kingdom, Herod's kingdom- Yeah ... the kingdom

of the world, it's there.

You may call it empire, you may call it all different things.

It's there.

It's in us.

We're consuming it all the time, and it's forming us.

And the challenge is when it's forming us, then we read the scriptures from

that lens and that filter, and it ends up br- creating in us an entitled people.

Wow.

Who is...

And then we're assigned labels, and we're assigned enemies, and who

deserves and who doesn't deserve, and da, da, da, da, da, da, da.

And it goes on, and it goes on, and it goes on, but it's always present.

Yeah.

But thanks be to God, Emmanuel, God is also present.

God is also with us.

God is in mission right now, contrasting, combating this type of kingdom and forming

a new kind of people where He is king.

Yeah.

And so then Jesus participates in a baptism.

In some ways, Jesus is reenacting the entire life of the community

of Israel from the Old Testament.

And in every stage where Israel fails, God wins, which we can also personalize

that to our past, to our wounds, to our failures, to our regrets, that there

is a God who dives into our past, who walks with us to restore and to heal.

Amen?

Amen.

And that could be our personal past, our family's past, our church's past.

It's a God who is with us, who's in for restoration and healing.

And right after baptism, we see the description of the Holy Spirit hovering,

which is a sign of new creation.

Very similar language to the creation story in Genesis.

And what does the Spirit do right after?

The Spirit leads Jesus to the wilderness.

And so sometimes we can read this passage and only stay to learn the tactics

of the tempter, which is pretty good.

You want to know your enemy.

But this passage is more, it's less about learning our enemy's tactics, and

it's more about learning who our God is.

It's more about learning what kind of Messiah Jesus is, what kind of king and

what kind of kingdom He is bringing.

Amen.

Yeah.

And so it's not a test of let's see if you're worthy.

It's a test of confirmation to show us, the readers and the audience,

"Look- Look what God's about to do.

He's about to expose the enemy.

He's about to expose the values of this empire, of this kingdom that keeps

manipulating, controlling, and abusing people- Yeah ... and dividing them.

That's why Jesus comes later and says, "Love your enemies."

What?

That doesn't fit in this kingdom.

In this worldly kingdom, you have to have enemies.

That's right.

They're assigned to you, even now.

Yes.

And sometimes we embrace that.

But Jesus calls us to be a different kind of people.

Yeah.

Come on.

The challenge is there's suffering and vulnerability and permanent

weaknesses in the Kingdom of God.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And we don't like that a whole lot.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We want guaranteed wins, and so we try to control outcomes, and there's

that evil word of control which always leads to manipulation, and

it always becomes violent, whether physically, emotionally, or spiritually.

But that's not the Kingdom- Right ... of God.

And so the first temptation that Jesus receives is, "Hey, you're

hungry, and you are the Son of God.

Why don't you take these stones and turn them into pan dulce?"

The translation in English, banana loaf.

I don't know.

And so immediately you see the tempter trying to get Jesus to prove his worth.

To prove his value.

To prove that, hey, you can do s- you can do something.

You're worthy.

You can be productive.

Show them.

Show yourself.

Prove it.

Start thinking about you.

Yeah.

Which is the temptation that Israel had in the Old Testament as they

grumbled after leaving Pharaoh's empire because they couldn't

grasp a kingdom in the wilderness.

All they knew was the structure of Pharaoh, and what do they do?

"Oh, we got nothing here 'cause I've never been here before, so

let me go back to what I'm used to.

Didn't we have it good back then?

Didn't we have fish every now and then?

I mean, are you kidding me?"

But that's us.

Yeah.

Yeah 'Cause when we can't see the outcome, we want to try and

control it and go back- Yeah

and enslave ourselves again.

Yeah.

Right.

But quickly, God, surprise, shows up and provides water and

quail and food for his people.

And so this temptation, and first one is clearly overcome by god, but it's

also an echo of the past, as I just mentioned about what happened in Israel.

And where Israel failed, Jesus wins.

So it's an echo of the past, but it's also a foreshadow of what's about

to happen the rest of the gospel.

So a couple chapters later, what does Jesus teach us when we pray?

Ask God for your daily- Bread ... bread.

Because for Jesus, providing bread is not for self, but providing

bread is for the sake of his people.

Right.

In two different times, he will multiply bread and fish and m-

and feed the multitudes, showing us what kind of king he is.

Not one that produces bread for self-gain, but one who produces bread for the sake

of his community and those in need.

The tempter knows, "Hey, you can provide something that could really help people,

but why don't you provide it for yourself?

Think about yourself first."

Yeah.

And Jesus says, "That's not my kingdom.

In my kingdom, we provide for the sake of others.

We give to those that do not have.

That is my kingdom.

That is what is written.

It has always been written," and later he'll say, "I've not come to abolish

the law, but to fulfill it," to give his original intent and live it out,

and what the prophets said, because you can't separate law from prophets.

And so Jesus embodies this at all.

And so if you ever wonder, what is the law really about, look at the life of Jesus.

Generosity, giving.

In every example he uses about the law in chapter five, it's all relational-

Yeah ... for the sake of other, that God who's re- from the very

beginning has been wanting to restore all creation, all relationships.

But his Old Testament son, the people of Israel, what did they do?

They grumbled, complained, failed, and they bel- ended up believing that

this was about them being on top.

Like us.

Which can be just like us.

Thank you.

So we come to the second temptation.

Now he's taken to the temple, to Jerusalem, and out of all the

passages Satan could have used, he chose Psalm, and you heard the

emphasis there on you, you, you, you.

Read the scriptures like if it's about you.

And Jesus says, "No, I'm reading the scriptures because it's about God."

Yeah.

Which might be an invitation when we open the scriptures, it's less

about us and it's more about God.

In that, you will find what you need, because God gives us our daily bread.

But our first move in reading scripture should be, "Let me learn about God."

Yeah.

And sometimes it has nothing to do with you, yet.

Yet.

Amen.

But later, the Spirit will remind you, "Remember you read this?"

Oh, yeah.

God is always there.

Amen?

Amen.

And so the second temptation is organized to be at the temple.

And if we move forward in the story, what happens at the temple?

See, Satan says, "Hey, come up here.

Look at all this.

Throw yourself down and let the angels catch you."

Like this.

No, I'm just kidding.

And the temptation to be spectacular,

to see how great you are, to win people over by how spectacular you are.

And let's, so let's have this show of greatness, this wonder working, let's

have it at the temple so you can rule the temple as you know you are going

to, but do it with this kind of vibe.

Come on.

Yeah.

And I'm sure it was tempting, but Jesus quickly responds, directly

responds that, "It is written, do not put the Lord your God to the test."

So when we hear the echo constantly, the people of God kept testing God.

When things got difficult, they blamed God.

There is room for that, but i- there's no room when you stay there.

And they started wondering, "We need a king."

Everyone has a king except us.

That's how they said it.

The m- I was there in the reading.

I heard the notes.

And so what did they do?

They make themselves a king.

And that was the beginning of the end of so many, you know,

of the Kingdom of God there.

And yet God comes back, continually restores, and is faithful.

And so we see this temptation to be spectacular.

Now, that temptation is present in all of us and is being formed in all of us

personally, as a family, for sure in our careers in the workplace, 'cause

you kinda have to work in that work situation, but sometimes even in church.

We can desire a, a group that provides all of these things for us, where

I don't suffer, I don't struggle.

Just take care of me.

Because that entitlement just keeps coming back up.

Why?

Because we're being formed by it all the time.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

That's right.

But Jesus, we've heard the echo, now let's look at the foreshadow.

Palm Sunday, He rides into Jerusalem.

And the people are shouting and worshiping.

There's another reference to stones there.

Uh, Jesus says, "Yeah, even the stones will cry out."

And so this time they won't be bread.

This time they're gonna be worship leaders, you know?

In the Gospel of Matthew, it...

Jesus stays the day and enters the temple, whereas in Mark,

Jesus looks around and heads out.

So that's already a distinction, which is an invitation.

So what does Jesus do?

He flips the tables, then He enters a temple, and if you read there, I believe

it's chapter 21, what does He do?

He begins to heal.

And it mentions all the people that He is healing.

All the people, because after centuries and centuries of additions

of rules to the g- law of God, a lot of people started being excluded, no

longer having access to the temple.

And so what does Jesus do?

He avoids this temptation to be spectacular so that people can pay

attention to Him, and what does He do?

He flips over that table of being spectacular and prod- productive

and, and gaining all kinds of, uh, power and control, and He

begins to heal at the temple.

Because the temple is not for selfish gain, but in the temple of

God, it's a space for healing, for- Amen ... restoration, for inclusion.

Amen.

And we see the living present God do it the right way.

Yeah.

So a quick recap before we come to the close here for the third one.

Sometimes we can read this and only focus on the tactics of the enemy.

We should read this and look at the greatness and the goodness

of God- Amen ... as well.

Amen.

And so for the third one: 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."

And either that word bow down or worship me, I can't remember right

now, it's the same word that is used to describe when the Magi came to

Jesus and bowed down and worshiped.

It is also the same word used when the resurrected Lord encounters

the women to went to the tomb, and they see the resurrected Lord, and

they bow down and they worship.

It's that same word of reverence, of giving everything,

of giving your allegiance.

And the empires and the kingdom of this world, the main thing that they are

requiring from us is our allegiance, your consumption, your support.

Defend me and attack them.

Because without us...

And a- and so the narrative goes on, back and forth and back and forth and back and

forth, and we're hearing it all the time.

Yeah.

But we should also be hearing the gospel.

Amen.

Amen.

The King, the God with us, who doesn't use bread for selfish gain

but provides it for those who need it.

Who doesn't use his authority over his temple to be man- to manipulate

and draw the masses, but goes in there and heals those that have been

neglected and excluded from that place.

And now they are in a mountain.

So if we hear the echo, as we mentioned earlier, what is Jesus...

What does God do in the Old Testament?

He calls Moses to this mountain, and God appears and reveals God's

self and speaks and provides.

But what happens quickly after?

Those people t- quickly turn to worship and give their allegiance to idols,

and the story continues and continues and continues, and they keep falling

apart, and God comes back and restores them, and then they keep falling apart,

and God comes back and restores them.

I don't know if I'm still talking about us or the Old Testament, but maybe both.

But the point is, God is good.

Yeah.

Amen.

So foreshadow mountains.

What happens in mountains in the Gospel of Matthew?

Chapter five, he's gonna go up on a mountain and sit down and teach.

No longer...

It's, it's, it's God's self, Jesus, teaching.

And the fact that he sits down, it's a sign of his authority,

his throne, his kingdom.

He's sitting on this mountain like the Earth is his thron- throne,

and he begins to, to teach.

Later, he will also be in a mountain and there will be a tras- transfiguration of

Jesus, and that happens in a mountain.

Then he goes to the Mountain of Olives, and once again he

sits down and teaches some very complex things, chapter 24 and 25.

And what else happens in a mountain?

He is crucified in a mountain.

And then he rises from the dead, and where does he go?

To a mountain.

And what does he say?

"All authority on heaven and on Earth has been given to me."

What did Satan want to give him?

Authority.

Yeah.

But he didn't do the shortcut, manipulative, self-gaining,

self-preserving way.

Jesus shows us, unlike Israel, unlike us, God is good and faithful, and

Jesus embodies the true kingdom of heaven, and he is serving.

And so at a mountain, he doesn't gain power.

God gives of God's self for the sake of the world.

Amen.

And every single temptation that we have heard so far, he hears it again

and again, but no longer by this figure of the tester and the tempter.

It's now the disciples.

And just like he told Satan himself, "Away from me," when his faithful disciple

Peter has still not let go of this false mountain, of this false kingdom,

of this manipulative nature because he can't imagine any other way- He's never

seen it that way, and even though he's heard it from Jesus, he's seen all those

miracles, it's still in him to survive.

And he says, "Jesus, do not die."

Let's have power without suffering.

Let's have authority without being generous.

Amen.

Let's be at the top ourselves.

We'll be better than them.

And Jesus looked at him and said, "Get behind me, Satan."

The same thing.

And then when Jesus is hanging on the cross,

the first and second temptations show up again.

If you are the Son of God, why don't you bring yourself down?

If you are the Son of God, why don't you save yourself?

And then the chief priests, the elders, and the teachers of the law, same thing.

He s- he said he can destroy all this.

Why don't he s- why don't you save yourself if you're the Son of God?

That same temptation is present.

And guess what?

It's still present now.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Can you identify where the temptation is present in your life?

Yes.

To prove your worth, to be spectacular and adored without giving and providing,

to have entitlement because don't they know who I am and what I have done?

Right.

To have authority without suffering and generosity and pouring out

of self for the sake of others.

Right.

Yeah.

Is that, are those temptations not real for us- Yeah ... personally

and as a community of faith?

Absolutely.

And they're so subtle.

And for a temptation to work, it's for actually for you to buy in

without noticing you bought in.

Yes.

And so Jesus comes and he's disrupting all of those things,

bringing us to wilderness, because there's also life in the wilderness.

There's surprises in the wilderness.

There's encounters with God that we have not experienced before in the

wilderness, and it always leads to cross,

to suffering, to death, to the pouring of self for the sake of

others, and that always leads to resurrection and new hope- Amen

and new thoughts and new ideas and fresh practices of worship and

community and spiritual formations.

And so Matthew closes with the mountain,

because that's where- God reveals who God is.

Not to have control and manipulate, 'cause that always leads to

violence, as it happened to Jesus.

But in this mountain, he says, "Go.

Go make disciples."

But not disciples of this kingdom.

Not make disciples in this manipulative way,

but disciples Jesus' way.

Yeah.

Amen.

Teach them what I have taught you, which is not that, but it is this.

Yeah.

And I'm with you always.

One of the things that has been restored for me is this image that I

had, that I'll describe it this way.

God came, saved me, and you, but me.

And then God left.

And before he was leaving, he said, "Hey.

Go build a kingdom.

Do it for me.

And when I come back, I'm gonna reward you.

And you're doing all this for me."

So now I'm keep- being facetious a little bit, but, but I'm stuck with

this mindset of, I am the protagonist.

I am the savior of the story.

And where's God?

He's far away.

Yeah.

He actually left.

It's up to me, and so the savior complex sort of takes form, and now it's up to me.

Well, this doesn't work with ... If it's me, so what do I have to do?

I can't do the Michael Jackson, sorry.

That would be cool.

But then I start being a Christian,

but not in kingdom.

Yeah.

But in empire.

Yeah.

Empire.

Yeah.

And then critical and that.

You know what I'm saying?

It just, it's all there.

Yeah.

But what does the Gospel of Matthew teach us?

Emmanuel, God with us.

What does God say at the end?

"I'm with you to the very end."

So where is God?

God with us, among us.

Yeah.

God is in mission, and is present, is living and active now.

He's not a far away, distant God.

He's a living, present God.

And it's not up to us, it's up to God, but it is up to us to join God.

Yeah.

And to be told a few times, "Martin," 'cause God talks to me in Spanish.

"Get behind me, Satan.

That is not my way, Martinsito."

"Here's what I have taught.

Here's who I am.

Follow me my way."

Yes.

Amen.

Jesus is Lord.

Amen.

Let's come to a close.

I have a question before here we take communion.

It's a question for us to reflect, to think about, and we'll take

two or three minutes to share with our people nearby our thoughts.

Where in our lives are we still being tempted by the bread,

the temple, and the mountain?

To seek security, validation, or power apart from trusting the Father?

And how does the cross reveal a different way of faithfulness, surrender, and love?

Amen?

Amen.

So let's go ahead and take a few minutes to reflect, and then I'll come back.

I'll say a prayer for communion.

Go for it.

I hope this conversation and exploration of scripture continues.

Let's go ahead and pray.

We'll take communion.

We have a few announcements, and then our, our close, and then we'll

have, um, uh, conclude our service, but let's keep the fellowship going.

Amen?

This passage, again, reveals more of who God is than what Satan is.

It does expose those tactics.

And I've heard...

I hope that we hear this, and we are open and invited to be informed by the Kingdom

of God, by the King, Jesus Himself.

Let's pray.

God, we're so grateful for your sacred text that creates encounters with

us within the world, in scripture, but also our lives, our past, our

present, our hopes, our aches.

Thank you for your example.

Thank you for being a good, faithful king.

Help us to embrace you, to obey you, to follow you, to be like you.

Reveal to us where empire or the kingdoms of this world is being formed in us,

that we may let it go and embrace the way of the cross, your way of

life-giving, space-making, restorative, faithful, full of genuine love.

We take communion with gratitude and humility in our hearts,

desiring- to be formed by you.

It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen