Monday: Worship and Serve
“And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve” (Luke 4:5–8).
Imagine Jesus, after 40 full days of hunger, weariness, self-denial, and privation, now facing the open and blatant temptations of the devil. It is not hard to imagine just how beautiful all “the kingdoms of the world” in their “power” and their “glory” must have appeared to Jesus in this temptation. Satan has been a master at making the things of this world always look so charming, so pleasant, so fulfilling, which is why people so readily fall for the deception this world presents.
Read the above verses carefully, especially Jesus’ response. What does Jesus mean by linking together the verbs “worship” and “serve?” How are they related?
All through the Old Testament, the concept of worshiping false gods and serving them is linked. “And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven” (Deut. 4:19; see also Deut. 11:16, Ps. 97:7, Dan. 3:12). Basically you serve what you worship; hence, how important it is that you worship only the Lord.
Thus, we see a crucial point about worship. It is hard to imagine someone who worships the Lord in faith, in surrender, in humility and love and fear, at the same time serving other “gods,” whatever form they may come in. Worship, then, can be a protection for us against idolatry. The more we worship the Lord, even in our private devotion, the better protected we are against serving self, sin, and all the other forces vying for our service.
Think about this idea more: what we worship is what we serve. How have you seen that principle manifested in your own life? How can your worship experience help you stay focused on serving only the Lord?
**Posted with permission from the School/Personal Ministries Department. View current and past issues here. Pictures may be added for effect**
(1)
When Jesus was exhausted after 40 days of fasting, the devil first came to him as an angel of light -- representing himself as an angel sent from heaven.
But now, when he offers Him the kingdoms of the world, he drops this pretense, claiming these were his to give.
The lesson author merely refers to the "beauty" of the kingdoms of this world -- perhaps the temptations of materialism and power. But I strongly doubt that these were temptations to Him.
The devil knew perfectly well why Jesus had come to this world. He had come to redeem human beings who had sold themselves to the devil by obeying his voice. In that way, Satan could claim them as his rightful subjects. Now he presented to Jesus to give him these subjects -- bypassing the painful experience of a life of suffering and death on the cross -- if He would only bow down to Satan and acknowledge him as rightful god of this planet.
But Jesus refused the easy way out. Humanity was His by creation, and it would be His by redemption, without doing obeisance to Satan. In this Jesus took a terrible risk -- the risk of failure and eternal loss, which we cannot truly comprehend, because we have no experience with divinity or the glories of heaven.
Jesus refused the easy way out.
How often do we choose what appears to be "the easy way"?
I like your comment,that Satan simply wanted Jesus to bow and worship him hence avoiding the tumultuous and painful experience at the cross. How easily most of us would bend at some point to satisfy some pressing issues of our lives at the expense of our Lord and what we believe in
WITH JESUS ANSWERING THE DEVIL HE SAID "IT IS WRITTEN:WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD AND SERVE ONLY HIM!'" THIS ANSWER IS TELLING ALL THE WORLD TO WORSHIP OUR CREATOR.BUT WORSHIPING idols DOES NOT COME IF ONLY WE BOW TO MOON,SUN,STARS IMAGE OR ANYTHING.IT CAN ALSO COME BY DOING ANYTHING THAT BLOCKS OUR WAY OF WORSHIPING GOD IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH.IT CAN BE SPORTS,ENTERTAINMENT,MONEY,WORK.etc.
The most important thing I learned in today's Sabbath Lesson is we all need to memorize this verse from above and say it daily! And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve” (Luke 4:5–8). The Lord is so good.
It seems rather interesting that Satan was willing to give Jesus the kingdoms of the world when everything was created by Jesus himself. Christ could have just let the enemy know who was in charge but He was humble in all His interactions at that weakest point of His life.
So I ask myself; what would I have done if faced with what Christ faced. This spoke to me for it is easy sometimes to act arrogant when faced with similar circumstances. Christ indeed is our example.