Ephesians 6:17; Sword of the Spirit: The temptation to change God’s course and get His blessing.

Class Outline:

Tuesday July 5, 2022

 

MAT 4:5-11

Then the devil took Him into the holy city; and he had Him stand on the pinnacle [Greek: “little wing” - impossible to tell which part of the temple this means] of the temple, 6 and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God throw Yourself down; for it is written,

 

'He will give His angels charge concerning You';

 

and

 

'On their hands they will bear You up,

Lest You strike Your foot against a stone.'"

 

7 Jesus said to him, "On the other hand, it is written, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'"

 

Temptation 1 - natural appetite. Temptation 2 + 3 - presumption and ambition.

 

While the first temptation urged Him to use divine powers for the satisfaction of a natural appetite common to all men, the other two were concerned directly with His unique position and destiny. Temptation is always trying to bring down to the dark recesses of the earth the very height of who we are and what we’re called to do, and in so doing, degrade and poison our extraordinary lives and ministries. Jesus said that His disciples are extraordinary. Sin is not aiming too high, but far too low.

 

The tempter perceives that on his first attack against Jesus he has made a mistake in choosing too low a ground on which to approach One so completely powerful over the dictates of His physical body. Satan may revel in the confirmation that Jesus is fully human, but would realize that Jesus is no ordinary, sinful, weak human. Therefore he now proceeds to ply him with more elaborate motives.

 

The second temptation: presumption - you can force God’s hand to work for you when you wish (testing God).

 

The presumption is that we can force or at least motivate God to change His plans and timing for us by our own doing. The foundation of this temptation or test is that our minds are infiltrated in some way with the idea that our current life is not good enough, that it is lacking something, and that perhaps a change in some parts of it, or all of it, is the ticket to fulfillment and joyous, fruitful life. I think it would be rare for any person not to fall into this temptation, but our passage is dealing with believers who possess the full armor of God. In their case, they should know that fulfillment comes from God alone, and by falling into this temptation they are presuming that God will bless and fulfill them even though they have wished for and chosen a path that is not in harmony with God’s will for them. That is testing God. In Jesus’ case, the path that the devil suggests is from somewhere atop the temple to the ground.

 

The sword of the Spirit (the word of God) cuts the power out of this common and very dangerous temptation. “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test” (DEU 6:16).

 

Say this to yourself every time you get frustrated with that person in your life or that circumstance or that thing or that situation. Nothing is in our lives that God hasn’t put there or allowed to be put there. We are commanded to be extraordinary in them and actually have joy in them, love in them, the fruit of the Holy Spirit in all of it, and when we fail to or are tempted to go down that road of complaining and despair, take out the sword of the Spirit and use the word of God just as Jesus did in the wilderness.

 

Even if it is a trial, we are not seek another way, but simply pray:

 

PSA 25:15

My eyes are continually toward the Lord,

For He will pluck my feet out of the net.

 

PSA 25:20-22

Guard my soul and deliver me;

Do not let me be ashamed, for I take refuge in Thee.

21 Let integrity and uprightness preserve me,

For I wait for Thee.

22 Redeem Israel [add your name], O God,

Out of all his troubles.

 

If we take one of (not the only one) the common interpretations of this temptation of Christ, that He was tempted to reveal His identity as Messiah to any onlookers, then it makes our identification with it much more difficult, plus, we are not told at all that there is anyone there to see Him if He does leap, making that interpretation dubious.

 

So, if we choose another way that God’s directed way, will God overlook and bless us, in essence, catch us before our foot hits a stone?

 

God did not overlook and bless king Saul when he failed to carry out the fullness of the commandment from God to destroy every Amalekite and put under the ban all of their things.

 

1SA 15:22, 23

“Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices

As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, … Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has also rejected you from being king.”

 

God did not overlook and bless David when he took Bathsheba and had her husband murdered.

 

2SA 12:9

“Why have you despised the word of the Lord by doing evil in His sight?”

 

Everyone in the Scriptures who attempted a way other than the way God told them to go reaped what they had sown.

 

Let’s apply this in a significance that applies today.

 

"I cannot be happy or rejoice in what I currently have. I need a change of circumstance, a different combination of people and things."

 

How often does a spouse leave a marriage because they want someone different, or they want to be alone? How often do people take medications or excessive alcohol because they cannot be happy in their everyday environment? How many imagine a different life and long for it, not currently living well in their own? "When I retire ... When I get that promotion at work ... When I go on vacation ... When ... " They justify all kinds of self-made pursuits just because the circumstances to their life is not to their liking. As Solomon relates in Ecclesiastes, even the best of personal situations will end up in vanity and chasing after the wind [Hebrew: shepherding the wind, implying that we can bend it to our own will]. If we think happiness is in people and circumstances, God is trying in His word to save us from finding that out the hard way; by experimentation.

 

Fulfillment and satisfaction come directly from God. When Christians seek fulfillment in their own pursuits, outside of the will of God, they test Him.

 

They go through with an illegitimate divorce, they shack up with someone outside of marriage, they pursue ways of sexual gratification other than marriage (not that we are to marry for that reason), they anesthetize themselves with alcohol or drugs, they go through with a change of scenery (vacation, buy a house, buy a bunch of things they don’t need on-line) thinking it will bring fulfillment and joy, or create a different version of themselves on social-media in the same hope. They do all these things and more we could think of (more wealth, more recognition, more physical beauty) expecting God to “catch them, lest they strike their foot against a stone.” But God clearly tells us that if we sow to the flesh, we will reap corruption. God will certainly let those feet strike the stone, and sometimes, God will hit them over the head with another stone at the same time.

 

PSA 73:1-3

Surely God is good to Israel,

To those who are pure in heart!

2 But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling;

My steps had almost slipped.

3 For I was envious of the arrogant,

As I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

 

He contemplated taking the path of the wicked. But he was delivered when he entered the house of the Lord and heard what eventually God had in store for the wicked.

 

Consider the song of deliverance in Psa 116.

 

PSA 116:1-11

I love the Lord, because He hears

My voice and my supplications.

2 Because He has inclined His ear to me,

Therefore I shall call upon Him as long as I live.

3 The cords of death encompassed me,

And the terrors of Sheol came upon me;

I found distress and sorrow.

4 Then I called upon the name of the Lord:

"O Lord, I beseech Thee, save my life!"

 

5 Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;

Yes, our God is compassionate.

6 The Lord preserves the simple;

I was brought low, and He saved me.

7 Return to your rest, O my soul,

For the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.

8 For Thou hast rescued my soul from death,

My eyes from tears,

My feet from stumbling.

9 I shall walk before the Lord

In the land of the living.

10 I believed when I said,

"I am greatly afflicted."

11 I said in my alarm,

"All men are liars."

 

The writer is not testing the Lord but calling out to the Lord to be delivered and waiting to be dealt with bountifully and to be rescued.

 

Perfect to our principle is the prophet Jeremiah: JER 6:16, 17 “We will not walk in it … We will not listen.”

 

JER 6:16-21

Thus says the Lord,

"Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths,

Where the good way is, and walk in it;

And you shall find rest for your souls.

But they said, 'We will not walk in it.'

17 "And I set watchmen over you, saying,

'Listen to the sound of the trumpet!'

But they said, 'We will not listen.'

18 "Therefore hear, O nations,

And know, O congregation, what is among them.

19 "Hear, O earth: behold, I am bringing disaster on this people,

The fruit of their plans,

Because they have not listened to My words,

And as for My law, they have rejected it also.

20 "For what purpose does frankincense come to Me from Sheba,

And the sweet cane from a distant land?

Your burnt offerings are not acceptable,

And your sacrifices are not pleasing to Me."

21 Therefore, thus says the Lord,

"Behold, I am laying stumbling blocks before this people.

And they will stumble against them,

Fathers and sons together;

Neighbor and friend will perish."

 

Their foot would strike the stone.