Wednesday: If You Worship Me
Daily Lesson for Wednesday 26th of February 2025
Satan’s quest to usurp God’s throne is also revealed in the temptation narratives found in Matthew 4:1-25 and Luke 4:1-44. In the striking encounter between Jesus and the tempter, much is revealed about the nature of the conflict. Here we see the reality of the great controversy between Christ and Satan, but played out in stark and graphic terms.
Read Matthew 4:1-11. How is the reality of the great controversy between Christ and Satan revealed here?
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The Spirit had “led” Jesus into the wilderness for the express purpose that Jesus was “to be tempted by the devil” (Matthew 4:1, NKJV). And before facing this encounter, Jesus fasted for forty days. So when the devil came, he tempted Jesus to turn stones into bread, playing on Jesus’ extreme hunger. But Jesus countered this temptation with Scripture, and Satan’s ploy failed.
Then, in an attempt to get Jesus to act presumptuously, the devil tempted Jesus to throw Himself down from the pinnacle of the temple. Satan twisted Scripture to suggest that if Jesus were truly the Son of God, angels would protect Him. But with Scripture read rightly, Jesus again counters the temptation.
The third temptation clearly reveals just what the devil is trying to accomplish. He wants Jesus to worship him. Satan attempts to usurp the worship that is due to God alone.
And to do so, he shows Jesus “all the kingdoms of the world and their glory” and then claims: “ ‘All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me’ ” (Matthew 4:8-9, NKJV). Indeed, in Luke 4:6, a text that parallels Matthew, the devil claims: “ ‘All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish’ ” (Luke 4:6, NKJV).
Once again, Jesus counters the temptation with Scripture, and again Satan fails.
In all three cases, Jesus used Scripture to defend against the enemy’s attacks.
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Ephesians 6:12 reminds us that “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (NKJV). Though we shouldn’t live in fear, why must we always remember the reality of the struggle going on around us? |
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Each human being is a worshiper by nature, a true worshiper or a false worshiper. Worshiping someone or worshiping something. True Worship is a spiritual matter. To become a true worshiper, one has to eliminate idol worshiping (Wealth, possessions, status, Self, relationships, `technology, ideologies and religion.
"And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect" - Romans 12: 1-2 (NLT).
While the temptations of Jesus were very real, in many ways they are also symbolic of the temptations we face. There is an escalation of temptation from small and seemingly insignificant to the final outright offer of everything for something that seemed insignificant.
There is one of those quiz game shows on TV just before the news. I have never watched it but I see the climax. It goes like this, I think. People answer questions and as a reward for right answers get to play a game of chance on the machine. The bit I see is where they have won about $5000 and now have a chance to either win $20000 or lose the lot. It is amazing how many participants are greedy and end up with nothing.
Eve did not value what she had and thought she was going for the big one. She lost. It was the same as the TV game show, but with more disastrous consequences. Jesus was offered the big one by Satan too, but was smart enough to know that he had it all already.
The core of all these temptations is the desire to satisfy self. That is built into our sinful DNA.
Jesus stated the principle of winning:
... and that starts with the little temptations.