yesterday the scriptures came alive. i love when i get the space to discover the connections that are rampant throughout the text. i spent a good part of the morning just sitting with Matthew 4 where Jesus is tempted in the wilderness. the connections between the three temptations and israel's journey to the promised land is quite stunning. i'll share a couple of insights i came across...
with each of the temptations, Jesus responds with a quote from Deuteronomy, all of them commandments that Israel chose not to obey but that Jesus is determined to obey. also, these temptations were limited to the wilderness; but rather these three were a constant in Christ's 3 years of public ministry.
after forty days and forty nights of fasting, the tempter found Jesus and said to him, "if you are the Son of God (some believe the greek translation is better translated, since you are the Son of God) tell these stones to become bread. if the above parenthesis is a better translation, the devil begins the invitation for Jesus to deny his sonship and act more in unison with the worldly expectations of the Son of God. to use influence for his own good rather than have integrity to his calling.
now, one of the central issues that Jesus opponents had with him dealt with his power. they could not deny it; but chose to attribute it to satan rather than God. they saw jesus' power more of an act of sorcery where he could manipulate the spiritual realm. but Jesus knew how God was teaching the israelites while they were unemployed that he would provide their bread if they would just look to him (deut 8:1-5).
the second temptation is, "if you are the son of God, then throw yourself down..." Jesus responds with quoting Deuteronomy 6:16, where he stirs up memories of Israel's frustration in the wilderness. during this time, God supplied their needs; but they demanded more forgetting how God had liberated them from their oppressors. the Israelites perspective of their relationship with God had become distorted where they saw God as the one who serves them. when the devil tempts Christ here, he invites Jesus to define the relationship with God. will he be like Israel and have God serve him or will in be different? Religious leaders follow the devils temptation later on in Jesus' life when they say, if Jesus is God's son, let God rescue him from the cross (Matthew 27:40-43).
the last temptation, Jesus is taken to a very high mountain and is shown all the kingdoms of the world and all its splendor. the devil offers all these kingdoms to him minus the cross, a temptation that many of us wrestle with even to this day. even one of Jesus' closest disciples Peter echoes this same kind of thinking at Caesarea Philippi (Matthew 16:23) and Jesus responds to him like he does the devil by saying, "Away from me satan!" Jesus' mission involves cross and so does ours...
listened to your teaching yesterday and thought it was brilliant. nice job, bro! have a great week...
Posted by: robin ellingwood | May 20, 2008 at 06:06 AM
It's been two weeks since your last post Steve. Two weeks. We deserve better. We, your fans, deserve better. Remember your New Year's Resolution... don't forget to remember it Steve.
Oh hey by the way, your baptism sermon was killer. I wanted to get baptized two more times after hearing it.
Posted by: ryan guard | May 28, 2008 at 09:37 PM
Hey Steve, thanks for the encouragement... Now some for Mars Hill...
As I stumbled into a youth ministry pastor position when I was 22 (as a relatively new Christian) it became apparent quickly that I wasn't connecting with the vision of this church. This lead to feelings of burnout, isolation and a growing dissatisfaction for what I thought church was. Fortunately about that time I stumbled upon Mars Hill. And while that youth pastor job lasted only 3 years it has been a joy to continually see and hear what Mars Hill has been doing for the past 6 years. The gospel has become something that is much larger, wilder and inviting than I ever could have imagined when I first said yes to Jesus.
BTW, I podcast your guys sermons (along with 50,000 other people I'm sure), good job the other week with "Out of Egypt"
Posted by: Rob Merrill | May 29, 2008 at 08:16 AM
Good job with the Baptism sermon Steve, I enjoyed the podcast man. Good stuff. I hope all is well. Keep it real.
Posted by: Ben Kendrew | June 03, 2008 at 03:26 PM