(Text and Audio)
Title: The Tempting of Jesus by Satan, Part Three
Now, let us turn our attention to the the matter at hand.
Today we will be concluding our three week study over the temptations of Jesus in the desert. So far we have looked at the first two temptations: Physical Drives and Pride. Today we will look at the final temptation: Possessions.
Let us read.
(read/pray)
The Third Temptation: Hypocrisy and Possessions
Today’s message will be a bit unorthodox because we will start by chasing the rabbit down the rabbit hole. This is something that our congregation is very good at, but it usually comes out at the end of the sermon or during our Q&A time. Today we are going to reverse that a bit, and we are going to chase the rabbit, so that I can then hopefully show you the theological importance of how Jesus handles Satan’s final temptation. So indulge me for a moment, and I promise, the text will be clearer for it.
Many of us have heard the phrase “He or She has sold her soul to the Devil.” Or perhaps, we’ve heard it said more nicely, “He or she is a sell-out.”
When we use these phrases, what do we mean? (take answers.)
We say we have allegiance to one ideal, but our actions show where our allegiance truly is.
And this type of sin is always related to possessions. It may not be a physical possession, but it usually is. These possessions are things that allow us to “get ahead” in life.
In other words, “Selling your soul” or “being a sell-out” is the worst form of sin that Jesus talks about a lot, especially in dealing with the Pharisees and Sadducees…anyone know what sin we’re talking about?
Hypocrisy.
Key: Hypocrisy is NOT saying you believe a certain way and then acting another way. Hypocrisy is claiming to believe something that you really don’t believe.
Example: As a Christian, when I willingly, knowingly sin, I’m not necessarily being a hypocrite, I’m just making a mistake. I still know that sin is wrong, I still believe that sin is wrong. A hypocrite would be someone who sits in church and agrees with everyone when they say, “Illegally copying or downloading music is wrong.” And they go home and have a vast collection of music they didn’t pay for, and they are fine with it because in their heart of hearts they really don’t believe it’s wrong.
Now that same person wouldn’t be a hypocrite if they said, “I’m not so sure all illegal downloading is wrong.” And they started a conversation with the others in their church. What makes them a hypocrite is the stating or agreeing with something that they themselves really don’t agree with.
And where is the proof in the pudding concerning hypocrisy? It is not in what you say, it is in what you do. When your actions conflict with your stated beliefs you become hypocritical.
So let’s go back to our example of the Christian. He or she is in church, and there is a discussion of illegally downloading music (because, let’s face it, that is an easy web to get entangled it, many of us, knowingly, or unknowingly, have done this.) Our fictional believer is in church and they agree that illegally downloading or copying music is wrong. That night a friend lends them a CD, that they copy, and then give the original CD back to it’s owner. The next day, they stop and think about their actions and immediately realize the conflict. So they repent, they destroy the copy of the CD, and buy it themselves online or from the store.
That person is not hypocrite because they never stopped believing that copying the music was wrong, they just made a mistake, and, here’s the key, they repented of that mistake, showing where their allegiance really was.
Originally it looked like their actions were in conflict of their stated beliefs, and they were, but they fixed their actions. The person who does not fix their actions, doesn’t really believe their actions are wrong.
Repenting is hard work. Most of us simply don’t work hard.
A note on addiction: I know that when I say, “The person who does not fix their actions doesn’t really believe their actions are wrong.” I run the great risk of offending many of you who have either fought against addiction personally, or are very close to someone who is in an addictive fight against sin.
As I wrote these words I, myself, was feeling very convicted of how often I would stage a fight against sin, but really, I was just going through the motions until sin found me again and I succumbed to it’s temptations.
Can a believer be an addict? Can a believer have an emotional, or physical, or chemical addiction to a particular sin?
Yes. Yes. Yes.
My thought is this: We (myself included) often will say, “I think God may just want me to struggle with this because I hate it, I see how self-destructive it is, and I’ve prayed against it, and I’ve seen very little in the way of deliverance.”
So we blame God for our sin. I don’t like this thing, I prayed, and it still remains.
What should we do?
We should start by looking at Matthew 5:30, which we will get to in just a few weeks. “If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off.”
And then we should look in the mirror, and realize that our right hand is still in tact. In other words, Jesus is commanding our ruthlessness against sin, and we are being pansies in our approach to fighting sin.
A friend of mine was in a fist fight with another kid from our block back in sixth grade and in the middle of the fight the other kid actually said, “Time out.”
What? This is fight! There is no time out!
When I was growing up my mother would often have me scrub out the pots in the sink when they had gotten burned on the bottom from remaining on the stove to long. I’d use a sponge. When my mother came to examine them she’s day, why didn’t you use the brillo pad? The steel wool? And my response was that I didn’t like the way it make my fingers feel.
To many us are calling “time out” in the middle of our fight and then when we do fight we are using sponges instead of steel wool. And we wonder why, through the grace of God, by the strength of our faith, we are still wrapped up in this particular sin.
Because we are not really fighting. We are not being ruthless as our Lord has commanded us to be.
And, we are not using the very capable gifts the lord has equipped us with, namely the armor of God! God gives us the brillo pad and the steel wool, but we use the sponge, lose the fight, and wonder why.
Simply put, and let me speak candidly here: When I lose a battle to a recurring sin, it is NOT because God did not arm me, teach me, how to fight the sin, it’s because I chose to fight it MY way, with armor instead of his, and my ways fail. His do not.
So Jesus is at the height of this mountain, being shown the whole world in its glory and being promised that it will be given unto him, if he just becomes a hypocrite. If Jesus just lets his actions remain in conflict with his beliefs, thus showing that he really doesn’t believe that his father is all powerful and that his father’s plan will come to pass.
But Jesus responds correctly. Jesus rebukes and commands Satan away. He quotes Deuteronomy 6:13 (again referencing Israel’s wandering through the desert and their learning to be depending upon God) and reminds Satan that only God is worthy of worship. Only God is worthy of worship.
What shows which things we worship? What we say, or how we act?
Are “things” wrong to have? No. But often our attitudes about these things can be very wrong. We need to remind ourselves that we don’t own anything. We are only stewards of God’s gifts. And if those gifts can’t, or don’t, or won’t honor God, we don’t need them in our life. Can you have a Ferrari? Sure, if it can honor God. Can a Honda Civic be sin. Sure, it can dishonor God.
Don’t be an immature, anecdotal Christian, who assigns guilt to possession that you view has too high a price tag. We often do this without even knowing how that possession came into a brother or sister’s house, we do this without knowing the backstory, we do this without knowing how much money they make in a year.
(Ben and the Green Mercedes)
It is so easy to judge from a distance, it is so very difficult to develop a relationship with someone where your are both holding each other to a biblical accountability. Which one of those two is commanded in scripture?
Close:
As we close this morning, let me ask an odd question: Why do I think this is stupid temptation from Satan? Of the three temptations that Satan solicits Jesus with, this is the most desperate, the most unlikely to sway Jesus, and the silliest. Why?
(take answers)
Satan was trying to sell something to Jesus, that Jesus already owned. All Jesus had to do was to have faith in his father, and patience in his father’s timing. It is the same with you and I. Satan can’t offer you anything that God can’t top. We just have to have faith in the Father, and the patience to wait on his timing.
You think Satan can sell you something more fulfilling than God? Of course not, but we often act like he can, and we buy it.
Pray.