December 8, 1999
FAMILY BIBLE SERIES:
Jesus chose to do God's
will over fame, power
___Matthew 4:1-17
___By Stacy Conner
___First Baptist Church, Muleshoe
___What type of Messiah would Jesus become?
___Would he take the route of instant fame, dazzle the crowd or dominate the political landscape?
___Or, would Jesus be the suffering Messiah?
___"Of all the various dimensions of leadership that must be mastered by those who strive to be great leaders, integrity is the most important," wrote General Perry Smith. The wilderness temptations were defining moments of integrity for Jesus.
___The first temptation was to become the Messiah of comfort. By turning the stones into bread, Jesus could have been the Savior that would meet the immediate needs of humanity. Simply feeding hungry people would have drawn thousands. However, what would happen when the people were tired of eating the same nutritious food day after day, week after week and month after month, year after year? (Moses had a little experience with people bored of heavenly food, Numbers 11:4). The temptation of bread was nothing more than the allure of becoming a messiah of the famished moment. But that does not leave people eternally satisfied.
___The second temptation was to gather a following by becoming a showman.
___Anyone who could jump off the 200-foot pinnacle of the temple and land as soft as a feather would create quite a spectacle. People would travel at great expense to watch someone do the impossible. But repetition of the spectacular often becomes quite boring. It was never enough for Evel Knievel to jump 10 buses on his motorcycle again and again. To keep the people coming back, he had to try to jump a canyon. The messiah of the spectacular would have been forced to continually increase the risk in order to leave the people awestruck.
___The third temptation was the promise of great earthly power. Satan's final temptation of Jesus appealed to the human desire to accept the power inherent in the present political structures. Jesus simply could have traded places with the Roman emperor if he prefered. All the trappings of governmental sovereignty could be his, if he would simply bow before Satan. Political leadership seldom solved or solves the greatest problems of society, but it does appeal to the baser nature of wanting power.
___In each of Satan's temptations, Jesus had to make a choice, a choice between the path of least resistance and the will of God. God's will for the Messiah did not conform to creating bread, raising circus tents or wielding political power. These were decisions of integrity to the will of God.
___The divine path set out before Jesus would be one of suffering and sacrifice. Early in his ministry, Jesus established the tone. He would not be a Messiah who would simply feed, but fill. He would not be a Messiah who would just entertain, but inspire. He would not be a Messiah who would only lead, but one that would save.
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