The Temptation of Jesus

Luke 4:1-13

Key Verse 4:4

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone.’”

In defeating the devil’s temptations, Jesus teaches us three cardinal principles of life. 

First, “Man does not live on bread alone.”

The first principle is to not put money above God but below God. In verses 1-4 we see the first round of a spiritual boxing match between Jesus and the devil. In the red corner of the boxing ring the devil is seated, flexing his muscles. In the blue corner is seated Jesus. The bell rings. From the red corner, the devil springs out. From the blue corner, Jesus springs out. Then the devil makes the first move. He lands a devastating blow to Jesus. But Jesus gently dodges it, and then gives him a counter punch. It is a knock out punch. The devil is dizzy. He loses consciousness. The bell rings. The first round is over. 

This is a brief scenario of the first round of the match. Let us see how it proceeds. Look at verses 1-4. 

“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. The devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.’ Jesus answered, ‘It is written: “Man does not live on bread alone.”’” 

As this passage indicates, the devil was no match for Jesus. The Bible, especially, the expression, “Worship the Lord your God,” (which Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy 6:13), and specifically in this expression the word “your” tells us that the devil is God’s creation. In addition, John 1:1-2 plainly tells us that Jesus is God. I love to create things. Particularly, I love Chinese calligraphy. A few days ago, I created two pieces of art work. I copied with a Chinese brush several of my favorite quotations from Sun Tsu’s book, The Art of War, on two separate pieces of paper. Then I put my writings in two different frames. Now can these frames compete with me? If they ever tried to fight against me, will they be a match for me? No way. In fact, of the two pieces of my creation, I got rid of one. Then the one I got rid of could not talk back to me, and it did not talk back. Likewise, the devil is a no match to Jesus, just as a piece of art I created is never a match to me. The only difference between the art work I got rid of and the devil is that for some reasons that are not fully known to us, Jesus chose not to get rid of the devil. In my opinion, the Lord Jesus keeps him alive and operating only to teach us that if we relied on Jesus and followed His principles of life, we can defeat literally any enemy, even an enemy as strong as the devil. 

Having said this, let us come back to what Jesus said to the devil and see what principle of life we should learn from it. Look again at verse 4. “Jesus answered, ‘It is written: “Man does not live on bread alone.”’” Here Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy 8:3. So let us open the Bible and read from 8:3. In order to fully understand the full import of this Bible passage, we better read the whole of chapter 8 of the book of Deuteronomy. This chapter is not that long: it has only 20 verses. Let us please read the whole chapter verse by verse, responsively. 

This passage, especially the last portion of the chapter, namely, verses 16-20, give us a clear understanding of the meaning of the statement, “Man does not live on bread alone.” Deuteronomy 8:16-20 reads, “He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you. You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’ But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today. If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. Like the nations the LORD destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God.” Notice the phrase, “in the end it might go well with you.” God’s ultimate purpose in saying, “Man does not live on bread alone,” is to let everything go well with you in the end. The end purpose of this statement, “Man does not live on bread alone,” is lasting prosperity for men. On what condition then will this lasting prosperity depend? It depends on man living on every living word of God, the word that comes from the mouth of God. So, here is the first cardinal principle of life that is prosperous from beginning to end: put God and his word above money. 

A few weeks ago, I was surprised by what Shepherd Neal said to me. Apparently in his French language classes he went through some stuff describing the wars France has gone through. In one of his conversations with me he said that the Europeans went through war after war all because of their “greed” for material possessions. He said many things, but that is the point I got. So Shepherd Neal described these wars as nothing but “dog fights.” Do you know dogs fighting over a piece of bone, growling at each other? 

“Man does not live on bread alone.” Here the emphasis is on the word “not.” Man does NOT live on bread alone. Remember that Jesus gave this word to the devil. We know what the devil is good at. What is he good at? He is good at twisting God’s word. And he twists God’s word by adding what is not necessary, or removing what should be there. In the immediate case, the devil tempted Jesus saying, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stone to become bread.” Here, Jesus saw through the devil’s philosophy: “Man lives on bread alone.” But Deuteronomy 8:3 says, “He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.” The devil removed the word “not.” 

The devil’s idea that man lives on bread alone is often dubbed as materialism, and materialism is to put money in God’s position. Materialism takes on different forms. But essentially it is to leave God out of man’s life, and let money dictate man’s life. But through Moses the Lord God taught the Israelites that God and His word are more important than bread. The point here is to distinguish what is absolute from what is relative. God and His word are absolute, whereas money is relative. And we must let money be subservient to God and his living word. When we keep this principle straight, then the Lord God ensures that everything goes well from first to last. 

Second, worship the Lord your God and serve him only

In the first round of the boxing match, Jesus landed the devil a knock out punch. The devil fell flat on his face. It seemed the devil was dead. But mysteriously before the referee finished the count down, the devil dusted himself off and went back to his red corner. Then the bell rang. The second round of match began. The devil sprang up from his corner. In fact, he went to Jesus’ corner, grabbed him and put him in a position where he can give Jesus a nice knock out punch. But this time again, even from the position of vulnerability, Jesus landed the devil a nice counter punch. Again, it was a clean knock out punch. Once again the devil fell flat on his face. Look at how the second round proceeded. Let us read verses 5-8. “The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, ‘I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. So if you worship me, it will all be yours.’ Jesus answered, ‘It is written: “Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.”’” 

The second round is rather dramatic. But again despite the devil’s hard efforts the match ended in a rather simple way, for Jesus simply said, “Hey, you. Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.” Here, two words are important: “your” and “only.” Worship the Lord “your” God. This means that the Lord God created the devil in order to let him serve God’s purpose. Like all other angels, the devil is one of the angels the Lord God created to serve him. The word “only” in, “serve him only,” says that the devil is not supposed to serve himself, but the Lord God alone. 

In reminding the devil of the need for a creation to worship the Lord God and serve Him alone, Jesus teaches us the second cardinal principle of life, that is, worshiping God and serving him alone is the key to having one’s life to the full. 

While on earth Jesus demonstrated this truth fully through his practical life that simply loved God the Father and served Him alone. Once upon a time there was a movie entitled Jesus Christ Superstar. As this movie title suggests, Jesus could have gone to Hollywood and become a movie star, and made lots of money like Brad Pitt. As Jesus performed many miracles his popularity soared through the roof. So everyone wanted to make Jesus a king. In fact, because Jesus did everything so well, Jesus’ disciples thought that it was a good idea for Jesus to go to Jerusalem and turn everything upside down, like setting aside the Roman empire by simply waving his hands over the city of Rome, building a messianic kingdom, and becoming a man of Numero Uno status like Caesar Augustus. But Jesus did not do that. Simply, he loved God the Father and served His will, even if it meant for him to die on a tree for the sins that he did not commit. 

Why then did he do this? Why did he simply love God the Father and served His will alone, even if it meant total sacrifice on his part? In view of the general context of verses 5-8, we find an answer: that is, Jesus knew that worshiping God and serving Him alone is the only way for lasting prosperity. Interestingly, as we compare what the devil says in verses 5-6 with what Jesus says in verse 8, Jesus does not refute what the devil says in verses 5-6. He rejects only what the devil says in verse 7. Why? The answer is quite obvious. Jesus knew that as he simply obeys God’s will, all the kingdoms will be put under His feet. He knew that God is the author of all that is good and perfect. So as one loves the Lord God and serves Him alone, the Lord God, whose only motive in creating the good world is to bestow upon his creation all that are good, including God himself. Let us then pray that we would remove all kinds of, or any hint of, idols from our hearts, so we would love the Lord God and serve Him alone. This is a very important truth, particularly for young folks, because in their youthful passion a lot of sisters lose their hearts to brothers and a lot of brothers to sisters. The same holds true even among married couples. When a sister marries a husband, it is so easy for her to lose her heart to her husband. By the same token it is so easy for the husband to lose his heart to his wife. But, we must listen to what Jesus says: “Worship the Lord God and serve him only.” A married couple must serve God and serve Him only. Then the Lord God in turn fills their hearts with God’s love, so the two can love each other better. 

Third, do not put the Lord your God to the test. 

Towards the end of the second round, because Jesus landed on the devil a knock out punch the devil fell flat on his face. Everyone thought that he died. But, it was a huge mistake. Again, before the referee finished his count down, this guy dusted himself off and get up! Wow! He then walked back to his corner. Thus the third round began. How did the third round go? Look at verses 9-12. 

“The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. ‘If you are the Son of God,’ he said, ‘throw yourself down from here. For it is written: “He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”’ Jesus answered, ‘It says: “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”’” 

Again the devil took Jesus to a point where he could gain momentum enough to give Jesus a knock out punch. Again, however, his tactic did not work. Jesus saw through his schemes. Quoting Deuteronomy 6:16, Jesus said, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” It worked as a knock out punch on the devil. In giving the devil the third knock out punch Jesus teaches us the third cardinal principle of life, that is, absolute faith in the Lord’s total goodness in and despite all circumstances. In good times and in bad times, particularly in bad times, we should never doubt the total goodness of God who loves us more than we can possibly imagine. 

Job, in the book of Job, demonstrates this truth. Although the devil landed on him all kinds of disastrous blows, Job did not deny the goodness of God. Of course, every once in a while he filed complaints with God. But still, at the bottom of his heart, he believed in God’s total goodness. Eventually, the Lord God blessed his life. After the trial was over, the Lord God blessed him twice as much as before. 

Of all the examples, however, Jesus set the perfect example. Even if God’s will for him was to die on a tree, Jesus still did not doubt God’s love. Then, as he obeyed God’s will with an unwavering faith, God honored his faith, and established him as the Lord of lords, King of kings. 

May the Lord bless us to follow through these three cardinal principles of life all the days of our lives here on earth. 

One word: man does not live on bread alone 

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