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THE PLACES SATAN TEMPTS US

Hello friend, I’m so glad we can spend some time together on this Wednesday to open God’s Word together.

As I mentioned yesterday, Mathew seems always to be seeking to establish in the minds of his Jewish readers (and most of his original readers were Jews) that Jesus is the Son of King David, Jesus is a King. And as Mathew comes to the end of his Gospel, on three key occasions in just a few verses we read about the kingship of Jesus. Let’s take a look at all three.

Do you remember this poignant exchange when Jesus found Himself being questioned by Governor Pilate? Matthew records:

. . . the governor asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?"
"Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied (Matthew 27:11).

The way Pilate asked the question, it’s clear that the Governor found it virtually impossible to believe that the person standing before him could be any kind of revolutionary as the charges against him implied.
Throughout His trial, Jesus declined to answer any questions fired at Him—with one exception: questions about His Kingship and Messiahship.

The second occasion on which Matthew speaks about Jesus’ kingship, we find Pilate trying, unsuccessfully, to get the people to agree that Jesus had done nothing to warrant a death sentence. He asked the crowd:

What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?" . . .
They all answered, "Crucify him!" "Why? What crime has he committed?" asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him" (Matthew 27:22, 23 NIV)!

Hearing this reaction, Pilate washed his hands, literally, so every one could see, and announced:

"I am innocent of this man's blood," he said. "It is your responsibility” (Matthew 27:24, NIV)!

Pilates’ soldiers took Jesus away, stripped him of his simple clothes, dressed him up in a scarlet gown, a royal color, put a crown on His head, but of thorns not precious stones, a stick in His hand, in imitation of a royal scepter, then mockingly knelt, as if they were His subjects, and called out:

"Hail, king of the Jews" (Matthew 27:29)!

Oh, how tragic: they thought this was all very humorous.

But there was one final reference in Matthew’s account. After Jesus had been nailed to the cross, and lifted up between heaven and earth, the soldiers decided to hand write a little sign and tack it on the cross above Jesus’ head. It read:

“THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS”
(Matthew 27:37).

How ironic, that what was done in jest, became the one great truth of this whole mocking tragedy.

Yes, Matthew took every opportunity to emphasize the divine kingship of Jesus. In fact he used the word “king” nearly twice as much as the other three Gospel writers.

But we must now return to where we left off yesterday at the beginning of His public life, at His baptism, and the three great temptations that followed immediately after 40 days of fasting. First a story.

During the universal sharing of modest gifts at the Christmas just preceding this new millennium, came a gift of enormous proportions to the 700 members of St Mary’s United Methodist church in Georgia. They received a gift of $60 million! It came from Warren Bailey a member that had died, but had long supported the church with an annual gift of $100,000 even though he hadn’t been to church in 20 years.

Warren and his two brothers inherited Camden Telephone from their father who purchased it as a fledging company in the 1920s when Camden County was little more than a sleepy fishing village. A short time before his death, Warren called on his fellow church member, attorney Charlie Smith, to help him write a will. It took only a few seconds to rattle off the names of a few friends (none of them really close friends) to whom he willed about $45,000 each. But that left millions. What would he do with it? He casually told the astonished attorney, “Give the rest to the church.” What would this small congregation do with so much money? We’ll come back to the end of the story later.

In the three temptations Jesus endured, the first one came in a wilderness, a most private place, a prayer-filled place, a fasting place, a devotional place. That special place was the one Satan chose to strike first at Jesus.

We’re not immune from Satan’s temptation even in the quietness of our private devotions. In fact, there’ll always be major temptations associated with our private place for devotions. It may be not to go there, or it may be what happens when we get there because we’re preoccupied by the distractions we bring with us.

Next, we see these two antagonists in a second location, a place of worship, in the company of saints and priests surrounded by the atmosphere of prayer and praise, singing and studying. Yes, Satan accompanies us, even pursues us, into church! He doesn’t stand outside the church door he comes right in with us. He once conducted heaven’s church choir. He’s no stranger to the magic of the melodies of praise. He makes himself completely at home here. For the church is often the place where he can lead us to succumb to that most paradoxical and predictable of all sins, spiritual pride!

There’s an intriguing revelation in this fact, which we can easily overlook. We church folk usually develop something of a medieval fortress mentality when it comes to relating to the world. We tend to make brief forays to witness in the world, then quickly rush back into the fortress so we won’t become contaminated. We lift the draw bridge, so to speak, and keep ourselves as separate and pure as we can. So the last place we’d think Satan would reach us would be inside the castle of the church. And while not denying the obvious benefits of our church communities, it can make us forgetful or oblivious that we are far more susceptible to temptation when we’re “not on our guard.” I mean, who would of thought that the Garden of Eden would be a place ripe (as ripe as the forbidden fruit) for Satan’s successful temptation?

There’ll always be temptations associated with the place where we come for our regular worship services, either to be unfaithful in our attendance, or to let the good be marred by something as common as pride or gossip.

Have you read the book by C. S. Lewis titled, The Screwtape Letters? The subtitle says, “Letters from a senior to a junior devil.” In one place Lewis has the senior devil, Screwtape, write to his nephew that church is a wonderful place to get people distracted from their spiritual lives and lessons. It can be so simple, Screwtape enthuses, like noticing people singing hymns out of tune, or someone wearing squeaky shoes, or seeing parishioners with double chins, or wearing different kinds of clothes. Anything, this imaginary senior devil directs, to get attention away from God, and our complete dependence on Him.

So temptations come even in the most sacred of places.
The third location we discover in the temptations of Jesus is the far more predictable place we call the world, where most of us earn a living, where we hear secular thoughts and work with secular concepts, and associate with secular people. We often refer to it incorrectly as “the real world” as though our church community is an unreal world! And no one doubts that Satan is most active in this arena as well.

There’ll always be temptations associated with living in the world. But the answer is not to be separate, but to be integrated and carry our positive Christian influence with us as we journey through the world. How else will the world learn about the gospel? We’re called to be separate from the beliefs and practices of the world, a place the Bible often refers to by the symbolic name Babylon. But not the place itself, for there are millions living apart from God and we are called to befriend them and witness to them and share the Good News with them.

So the three places described in the three temptations of Jesus are not so much about specific locations, as about three basic situations that cover the “complete” territory of temptation in the world. First the place of our personal devotions. Second, the places where we fellowship with other Christians. And third in the world around us.

Which brings us back to St Mary’s Methodist church and their temptation to trust in money to advance the interests of the church, rather than to trust in God. After the church Board prayerfully considered this challenge, they put a little money in a trust fund to pay them $100,000 a year, the amount Warren Bailey had been giving them for several years. And they put a little aside for a modest building extension they needed. Then they formed a Foundation and placed all the rest, scores of millions of dollars, in the hands of the Foundation Board, directing it to give all the money away: to other churches, to institutions that had needs, and to people with great needs.

By giving it away, they would not be tempted to serve their material desires, nor their purely intellectual dreams, nor have anything to steal their affections away from God. Rather, they would trust God and believe His promises. And then whatever temptation came, to body, mind, or heart, they would meet it head on, trusting Jesus to lead them.

And so should we.