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Matthew 3-4 (ESV) by Wordle*

Today’s reading is Matthew 3:1-4:25.

“Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Be gone, Satan! for it is written, ” ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve” ‘ ” (Matthew 4:8-10).

Don’t miss the real temptation. Satan is not tempting Jesus with kingship, rule, and power. According to Psalm 110:1-7, Jesus was already promised all this from His Father. He was going to rule all the kingdoms of the world anyway. The temptation was that God’s way to the throne was going to be hard. He had already had to leave heaven to accomplish it. He was going to spend 3 years wandering as an itinerant teacher. He was going to be rejected, mocked, ridiculed, and eventually crucified to get to rule. Satan essentially said, “Hey, why bother with all of that? Here is an easier, softer way. Just bow down and worship me once. Just once. You don’t have to do it for the rest of your life. If you just worship me here and now, you won’t have to take up that cross.” But Jesus refused. He chose God’s way, though it included the cross. And I’m so thankful, because God’s way allowed me to be saved. Satan’s way might have given Jesus rule of the world (though I’m convinced Satan is a liar and would have yanked it out from under Jesus instead of really giving Him the rule), but it would have kept me and you from being saved.

I’m so glad to see this. First, because it lets me know I’m not alone. Satan tempts me all the time. Sometimes I begin to think I’m the only one going through this pressure. But even Jesus went through it. Second, it lets me know how to defeat the temptation. Just rely on God, His Word, and His way. God’s way always works. Third, I’m glad to read it because it helps me really identify Satan’s temptations. I often overlook temptation and sin with a dismissive, “Oh, surely God wouldn’t have a problem with that.” What I need to look for is when my choices include God’s way and the easier softer way. Satan often promises me the very same thing God does. He simply says I don’t have pick up my cross to get the promise. I need to be able to say, “Not today, Satan. I’m going God’s way. It may be harder, but it works.”

Which way are you going today? God’s way or the easier softer way?

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading? Add your input by clicking the following link: Post a Comment.

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*Today’s illustration was generated by the creative tool at Wordle.net. You can find all my wordles here.

Today’s reading is Luke 3:1-4:44.

Back in Luke 1:35, Gabriel told Mary her son would be called the Son of God. In today’s reading, Luke 3:22 shows the Spirit of God descending on her son as He was baptized and proclaims the voice of God saying, “You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased.” Then Luke caps off the genealogy of Jesus saying, “Jesus…the son of God.”

However, out of the starting gate, Jesus goes into the wilderness and is tempted by the devil. In two of the temptations, Satan said, “If you are the Son of God” (Luke 4:3, 9). The question was, “Do you really believe what God said to you at your baptism? Prove it.” No doubt, Satan was tempting Jesus to test God and worship him, but another subtle temptation is going on behind this. Satan wanted Jesus to question God’s word and promise to Him. Satan wanted to produce an identity crisis in Jesus. “If you were really God’s Son, then…”

Satan does that to me to. “If you were really a child of God, then you would do such and such, you would be better at this and that, you would never have done thus and so.” I can get really messed up spiritually about that because, unlike Jesus, I really have messed some things up. I really do have some things about which I can think, “Man, maybe I’m not really God’s child.”

The point I need to remember is that being God’s child is about being in Christ, it is not about relying on my own righteousness. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying I’m in Christ if I’m going off and doing my own thing. However, what it means is my mess ups as I’m growing in Christ are not reason for me to question my adoption by God. The reason He sent Jesus is because I’m a sinner. The reason He adopted me was not because I am perfect but to perfect me in His time. Philippians 2:12-13 says God is working on me. Romans 8:28-30 says that I will be conformed to Christ’s image because God has predestined that those who love Him will be conformed to His image. 

Satan wants me to question my adoption as God’s child. I must not let him cause an identity crisis. I am God’s child. God loves me and sent my older brother Jesus to die for me. If God loved me so much to reconcile me by Jesus’ death, He will save me by Jesus’ life (Romans 5:10). I can have confidence in my identity as God’s child and I don’t have to prove it to me, to Satan or to anyone else. I can simply rest in that today.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Revelation 17:1-18:24.

Two things struck me in today’s reading. First, there is the whore of Babylon. In Revelation 17:3, John was carried away in the Spirit and “I saw a woman…” I can’t help but remember the last woman he saw in Revelation 12:1, “And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun…” The first woman was attacked by a dragon. The second woman sat on a beast. The first woman was pregnant and giving birth. The second woman was sexually immoral. I can’t help but notice how Satan’s side tries to copy and mirror God’s work.

Then again, I noticed the beast described as “it was and is not and is to come” (Revelation 17:8). Who does that remind you of? Alive, dead, and alive again? What a mockery. Of course, the difference is Jesus arose never to die again. The beast arose to go into destruction. Again, I can’t help but notice how Satan strives to copy and mirror God’s work.

Therein lies the warning. Satan doesn’t offer something completely different from God. In fact, it will often look very much like what God offers. The devil, as they say, is in the details. Those few differences that Satan offers lead to destruction. Satan will offer mediocre copies of God’s great blessings, but Satan’s copies will not provide God’s blessings. Satan’s copies lead to destruction. Just ask the whore of Babylon and the beast on which she rode. Neither of them got the great life they had been expecting.

Take care. Follow God’s truth, not Satan’s lies.

***Question: What do you do to stay in God’s truth and not be diverted by Satan’s lies?

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

Today’s reading is 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3:18.

2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 hit me as poignant in my life today. 

“The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

There are some shocking things about God in this passage.

First, He gives us free will. He doesn’t force anyone to believe His truth. We don’t have to believe His truth. However, if we refuse to love His truth, we become targets for Satan, ripe for the picking. 

Second, God lets those who refuse to love the truth be deluded. Of course, the sad thing is, those who are deluded do not realize it. In fact, they may think they are the wise ones. They build argument on top of argument, thinking they are laying a logical foundation. However, it is only a house of cards that will come crashing down in the end. Every delusion will be exposed in the judgment.

Third, when we tie these things together I think we see what others have said. God has given enough evidence for those who are willing to believe to find good reason to believe. But He has left enough unstated that those who wish to doubt can find reason to do so. Why? Because He is not spoon feeding us. He is encouraging us to grow in faith. For the worldly wise, this is foolishness. They simply cannot wrap their minds around a God who would do this. If God won’t fit in their box, they think He must not be there at all. This passage demonstrates God won’t be boxed. He acts as He sees fit.

There is a practical warning here. I must take care that I do not allow myself to be deluded by Satan and the only way to avoid that is to love the truth.

***Question: On a practical level, how do you love the truth?

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

I know this may seem odd, but the thing that stood out most to me in today’s reading was the little statement in I Thessalonians 2:18: “Because we wanted to come to you–I, Paul, again and again–but Satan hindered us” (ESV)

No doubt, it is nigh impossible in this earthly and finite realm to know when God is acting and when Satan is acting. However, this passage demonstrates that not every circumstance in our lives should be laid solely at God’s feet. Yes, I understand God could change things and everything that happens God allowed. I also understand that God can use everything that happened. 

However, Paul said he had wanted to come to Thessalonica again and again, but Satan hindered him. In our attempts to give God the glory, we often lay at His feet things that aren’t necessarily His direct doing. When something doesn’t go the way we plan, we often try to comfort ourselves by saying things like, “I don’t know why God did that, but He knows best.” I appreciate that attitude, but at the same time, it may well have been Satan trying to keep something from happening. 

Why does this matter at all? I think this demonstrates a flaw in the modern thinking that seems to suggest every day occurrences are close to a matter of revelation. We are looking for signs from God in what happens every day. When Paul was unable to go to Thessalonica, he knew it was not a sign from God, it was a hindrance from Satan.

Now, apart from miraculous revelation, there is no way of knowing which is which. We can’t hardly know when God was at work or Satan. Let us simply proceed with caution. Give thanks to God for the good things that happen. Rely on God through the bad things. Look at all things and strive to grow no matter what happens. But be careful trying to interpret what happens in your life as signs from God to direct you. It may well be a hindrance of Satan. Who knows, it may be a hindrance of Satan that God uses for good (cf. II Corinthians 12:7). 

The conclusion of the matter is that God is has revealed His will for us in His word. He is not expecting us to interpret the circumstances of life to figure out His will for us. Whether His providence leads us in a certain way or Satan’s hindrance, God wants us to obey His will from His word no matter what is happening to us. Let’s quit looking for signs hidden in life and start relying on His message revealed in the Word.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. What caught your eye, stood out to you or moved you in today’s reading?

We all know the parable of the Sower (Mark 4:3-9). He spread his seed everywhere and it fell on different kinds of soil. Granted, the point of this parable is from the perspective of the sower. We need to sow everywhere if we want any of it to fall on good ground. However, this passage helps me see the plans Satan has for us.

Plan A: Satan wants you to STAY OUT

The packed down path with its accompanying birds represents the heart the gospel does not penetrate. Satan doesn’t mind so much that we hear the word, as long as we don’t listen to it and allow it to sink in. I can’t help but think about Ezekiel 33:30-32:

As for you son of man, your people who talk together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, say to one another, each to his brother, ‘Come, and hear what the word is that comes from the Lord.’ And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for with lustful talk in their mouths they act; their heart is set on their gain. And behold, you are to them like one who sings lustful songs with a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument, for they hear what you say but they will not do it (ESV).

Satan will do what he can to keep you from accepting God’s word so you will stay out of covenant relationship with God and avoid the eternal salvation God is offering.

Plan B: Satan wants you to DROP OUT

To Satan’s chagrin, he can’t seem to steal the Word out of everyone’s heart before they believe it, accept it and act on it. He does not, however, accept defeat easily. He has a back-up plan. He capitalizes on the rocks in our heart. That is, he makes use of anything that will keep the soil of our heart from being well-suited to grow the plant. He lulls us into a sense of safety, letting us believe we do not have to work very much to be safe in the arms of Jesus. He lets us believe we have had our moment of salvation and now everything is good. 

Because of that, we do not grow in Christ. The roots of our faith do not dig deep and gain purchase that can withstand the attacks that will inevitably come. Because our faith is shallow, the moment Satan brings an attack, like the blistering heat of the sun, we are scorched and wither away. We drop out. We head back to our old ways. I can’t help but think of the Israelites, freed from Egyptian bondage. The first sign of trouble and they cried out

Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’” (Exodus 14:11-12, ESV).

Their faith in God was shallow. Even after God’s ten plagues, they simply did not believe God would really deliver them. They were ready to turn back to Egypt.

Plan C: Satan wants you to FIZZLE OUT

Once again, to Satan’s chagrin, his repeated attacks don’t always work. Some folks believe and hang in there even in the midst of real trials and full frontal assault. Satan, however, is not done yet. He has one more plan up his sleeve. If he can’t keep us out and can’t make us drop out quickly, he will make us fizzle out. To be honest, I think this is his main plan in our time. Instead of directly attacking, he allows that sense of safety to continue to grow. Then he allows little things to creep in like weeds and thorns to choke us out. He brings in the worries of the world and the deceitfulness of riches. He lets us get so worried about paying for our kids college or planning for our retirement. He lets us get so focused on our own personal pursuits that we forget to focus on God’s will.

This makes me think of the restored Israelites following the Babylonian captivity. They immediately returned to Jerusalem and got to work. They rebuilt the altar and restored the sacrifices. They reinitiated the feasts of the Lord. They laid the foundation of the temple. But then they got sidetracked. God explained what was going on in Haggai 1:2, 4, 9:

Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord…Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?…You looked for much, and behold, it came to little, And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declared the Lord of host. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house (ESV).

Satan is actually happy for us to think we are still in the safe arms of Jesus so long as we aren’t bearing any fruit. If he can get us more focused on earthly things but still think we are being spiritual, then he has accomplished his greatest coup.

God has plans for you too!

The final soil represents what God wants for you. In this final illustration, God explains that He wants you to COME IN, STAY IN, GROW UP and BEAR FRUIT. Whether you bear as much as someone else, doesn’t matter. What matters is that you find salvation in Jesus and let Him build you up and grow you into the fruit bearing child of God He planned for you to be.

As II Peter 1:5-11 says:

for this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (ESV).

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

I’m so excited about being able to take this trek through the New Testament with you. I hope you find it beneficial, not because you are hearing from me what I got out of it, but because it lifts you up to keep reading God’s Word.

I had a surprising, yet comforting, thought today as I read Luke 3:8–“Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham” (ESV)

My mind immediately jumped to Galatians 3:29–”And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (ESV).

Sometimes I struggle thinking that I can not possibly be a part of God’s family. I know too much about me and I know God knows it all also. However, it just struck me as comforting that if God could raise up offspring to Abraham from a rock, He can also make me an offspring of Abraham. He can make me an heir according to promise by the power of Christ’s blood and grace. He can do the same for you.

I was also impressed in this reading with how important what we are doing on this blog really is. Three times in Luke 4:1-13, Jesus said, “It is written.” Each was a response to Satan’s temptation. If anyone that ever lived in the world had the ability to respond to Satan with “I think…” or “I know…” or “I say…” or “I feel…” it was Jesus, God the Son in the flesh. However, that is not how He responded to Satan’s snares. Instead, He responded, “It is written.” 

If God in the flesh overcame Satan by His knowledge of God’s Word, how much more do I need to be in God’s Word constantly to overcome Satan. As Psalm 119:11 says, “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (ESV). 

That always gets me back to the armor of God in Ephesians 6:12-18. Have you ever noticed how many pieces of the armor are actually tied to God’s Word?

• Belt of truth–God’s word is truth-John 17:17
• Breastplate of righteousness–Scripture trains us in righteousness-II Timothy 3:16
• Feet shod with gospel of peace–The Word of truth is the gospel-Colossians 1:5
• Shield of faith–Faith comes by hearing the word of God-Romans 10:17
• Helmet of salvation–The Word builds us up and saves us-Acts 20:32
• Sword of the Spirit–Well, duh, the text we’re looking at says that is the Word of God

Keep the faith today and keep reading!