Strength in the Deserts of Temptation

Thoughts on Mark 1:12-13

“The Spirit immediately drove Him out into the wilderness. And He was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And He was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to Him.”

Today’s Gospel lesson is about Jesus’ temptation. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record this important event where Jesus was tempted by the devil. After a 40 day fast, Satan tempted Him with three severe temptations: bread, all the kingdoms in the world, and prove that God the Father will save You.

Without food for 40 days, Jesus would have been hungry. What a temptation! Here Satan offered Him all the kingdoms of the world. Jesus would not have to suffer and die. What a temptation! “You say God will help You,” Satan began. “Prove it.” Implied: then I’ll believe it. What a temptation to prove it. “Put up or shut up” we call it.

Yet in all these temptations Jesus stood firm. He did not sucumb to temptation. He did not fail His test. He remained firm in His conviction. He remained true to who He was and what He was all about. That’s what drew me to this part of the text.

I was drawn by Jesus’ ability to stay firm to who He was and what He was all about. Why? Because I can’t do that. No matter how hard I try I seem to fail my temptations. I’m like Paul:

So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God-through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Do you identify with me in this? Do you find temptations overtaking you? The problem seems heightened during Lent. Here we’re to take an extra-special look at our sinfulness. All too often I find this approach heightens my awareness of sin in the wrong way: I end up sinning more. That brings me greater grief. I again “get serious” about sin and I end up sinning yet again. The cycle goes on and on in my life.

I suppose I’m not much different than the average person. We all sin; we all fail when we’re tempted. And Satan sure seems to have temptation down pat! I want to stand firm against him, like Jesus did. I want to break the cycle of sin in my life. Yet, like Paul, the harder I try the worse I do.

So what’s the answer? I decided I needed to look to Jesus’ experience. How was Jesus able to overcome the temptation that came upon Him?

Well, He was God. That must be a real help in temptation. Yet He was human, too. The Bible makes it clear that Jesus was tempted just as we are. With the weakness of His human nature alongside His Godly nature, Jesus surely struggled with temptation. Since we’re not God, anyway, I didn’t find too much help here.

I saw that Jesus quoted Scripture to Satan. Here seems to be a good reason to know the Scriptures. We can quote them against Satan as we’re being tempted. But I’ve tried that one, too. Even when I use Scripture, all too often that which tempts me appears stronger than Scripture. I stumble and fall. I sin.

I thought about the angels. But they came “too late.” They came and ministered to Jesus after the fact. The hope of help after the fact didn’t seem too helpful, either.

And then it hit me. The pieces started to fall into place.

Number one: Jesus knew God’s Word. Yes, the Word of God is vital in the mix. The more we know God’s Word, and apply it to the situations we face in life, the better. I’m not talking about a mechanical this passage fits this situation. We don’t always apply passage “A” to situation “A” and that takes care of the problem. I’m talking about something else.

I’m talking about the change that God brings about in us through His Word. The better we know it, the more it says to us. The more it says to us, the more strength we can have in overcoming temptation. Yet there’s even more.

Number two: Jesus trusted in God’s promises. Because He knew God’s Word, He knew God was trustworthy. He could trust God to help give Him the strength He needed in the midst of terrible times.

Abraham is a good example of this. Look at what he was willing to do in our Old Testament lesson. God told him to sacrifice his only son. This was the same son he’d waited so many years to get in the first place. What do you think went through Abraham’s mind as they took the three-day journey to Mount Moriah? Yet do he did. And the text indicates he was willing to carry through with God’s command.

How could he do it? He trusted God. He knew God would somehow make it all right. He didn’t know how, but he knew whom: God. Do you remember the children’s rhyme that goes like this?

“Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty together again.”

Listen to this version from the Christian Mother Goose Nursery Rhyme book.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
Humpty Dumpty shouted “Amen”
God can put me together again!

What a difference it makes to know God! With the “Christian” Humpty Dumpty we can shout “Amen” since we know that a trustworthy God is there to put us together again when we fall and shatter into a million pieces. This truth helps give us strength in the deserts of our temptations.

That leads me to my third and final point: Jesus had a vision, a “dream.” He knew where He was going. And He would let nothing come between His vision of reality and reality as it played out in His life. He knew who He was and where He was going. Nothing would get in His way.

I thought of Luke chapter 9 in connection with this point. Here in Luke 9 many important events occur. First, Jesus sent out His twelve disciples in one of their first “missionary” journeys. Second, He feeds the five thousand. Third, Peter confesses that Jesus is “The Christ of God.”  Jesus is then Transfigured, heals a boy with an evil spirit, and dealt with His disciples’ mistaken thoughts about greatness. That’s a lot in one chapter. And then comes what might, at first, appear to be an unimportant passage. From Luke 9:51: “When the days drew near for Him to be taken up, He set His face to go to Jerusalem” (ESV).

Jesus set His face toward Jerusalem. Nothing would get in His way. No one would deter Him from going there, not His disciples, fear of the Jewish religious leaders, even Satan himself. Firm in His convictions, trusting in His Father, Jesus went all the way to the cross! He followed His vision, His dream, to His death!

I have a saying that I have up from time to time in my office. It’s a quote from Joel Barker. It says this: “Vision without action is merely a dream; action without vision passes time; vision, with action, changes the world.” Jesus acted on His vision. It was not merely a dream. He worked to bring it to reality. And, in so doing, He changed the world. He freed us from sin and death. We can have life with God simply because of what Jesus did for us.

Let’s look at these three points again. This time let’s apply them to our situation and us. First, we need to know God’s Word. The more we learn it, the better we can correctly apply it to our life situations. We may not be able to quote chapter and verse against Satan, but we can develop something even better: that Word can change us. When we put it into practice in our life it can change us. Then we’ll have the strength we need in the desert of our temptations.

Second, by knowing God’s Word, we can come to trust in His promises. Like other people of faith throughout history, we can place our lives in God’s hands-even when there doesn’t seem to be any reason to do so. Abraham did. Look at the results in his life. Even Isaac did-in the face of a certain death. Yet God literally provided a way out of death for him! As we learn to truth in God more and more this, too, can be our strength to face the temptations we face in life.

Third, we need to focus in on where we’re going. We need to know who we are and where we’re going. We must do this as a church.

Here’s where we as a church need to agree on and live a vision. Most recently we’ve agreed that we’re to be “Welcoming God’s people; faithful to His Word.” Yet for many that’s merely a phrase we use. It’s not who we are.

As a church we need to all agree on a vision and then apply it in everything we do and are.

As church we need to make it a priority. If we don’t all pull in the same direction, we’re like the rowboat where everybody has an oar and everybody’s rowing in different directions. Lot’s of water gets splashed over everyone. But we don’t get very far.

As individuals it also needs to be our priority. We need the “Jesus look” in our eyes. We need to know where we’re going and that nothing can stop us from our eternal destination. We get that as we study His Word and learn to trust in God’s promises to act for us. Then we can stand firm even when all hell breaks loose in our lives. For,

Vision without action is merely a dream;
action without vision passes time;
vision, with action, changes the world.

Personal. It needs to be personal. A personal vision. Vision that leads to action. Action that changes our world. One person at a time. You and you and you. Together, as individuals, moving ahead with a firm conviction. Knowing where we’re going and not letting anything get in our way.

Knowing God’s Word. Trusting in God’s promises. Knowing where you’re going and going there, no matter what. That’s what gives strength in the deserts of temptation. That’s what gave it to Jesus.

And that’s what can give it to us, too.

Regards, in Christ,
PJKreft