Mat 4:1-11; Worshiping God Is a Full Time Occupation.

Tuesday February 27, 2024

Idea: Christ’s temptations teach us how to seek and know God and get back to the source of our needs.

Man was made to live with God in fellowship and to have all of his needs met in God alone. The fall of man broke that fellowship and the result was the pursuit of needs in every other possible place except for God.

Needs: love, joy, peace, relationship, purpose, knowledge, success, home, expression, strength, faith, hope.

“You made us for Yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in You.” [Augustine]

Human desire is infinite because we were made to live with God forever and nothing less will satisfy us. So, our only hope is to put our desire back in its proper place in God alone.

In Christ alone is anyone reconciled to God, redeemed and sanctified. The cross of Christ and His resurrection removed the barrier between God and anyone who believes in His name. The new creation in Christ is fully established to be able to worship God. Joh 4:24

The new man can now seek the Lord, know the Lord, and be like the Lord (Joh 4:31-34).

Jesus says to the devil, “You must worship the Lord your God and serve Him only” (Mat 4:10). This quote from Deuteronomy leads us to see that in Deuteronomy, worship of God is associated with fear of God, love of God, and service of God.

Fear is manifested in fear, awe, and respect for God.

Love is manifested in faith towards His word in obedience.

Service is manifested in our service of others.

Satan, the very real, fallen adversary of every God and everything good, is actively trying to prevent all believers from realizing this simple truth.

Worship of God is a full-time, every day life of one who reveres and fears the Lord, has faith in all His Word, obedience in all matters, and is graciously grateful in service of others.

The temptations: doubt is the lever of temptation.

Temptation 1: God’s plan is not exactly right - make bread.

To us: give yourself that _____. God wouldn’t really want you to suffer and go without. Answer: man lives on every word (pursue Him); Deu 8. (Joh 6:35).

Temptation 2: God’s plan should be tested to confirm it.

To us: Wait and see Christianity. Joh 6:52-68; Many left. Peter’s motivation for staying is not proof, but that he has no other options.

Temptation 3: There is a shortcut to the goal of the plan.

To us: Joy, fulfillment, love, should be ours quickly, or at least in our preconceived timing. Joh 13:36-37 – why can’t we follow you now!?

Answer, worship God only. Find God and find everything else. (Joh 13:36-37).

Summary: live on every word from God, believe all of it, and worship Him.

The first two get us back to the altar of worship and then the third, we worship. “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

We return to the original fulfillment of our needs.

Hunger and thirst for righteousness - He is the bread and living water. God has allowed obstacles to remain. In the obstacles, God reveals His love. (Joh 13:35; 17:23). Love of Christ in Joh 17:19.

We had to be supernaturally changed so that we could return to the throne of God to worship Him.

The worship of God must be reinforced every day or it will slip away. “It is easier to unlearn spiritual truth than to learn it.”

Christ made you new and came to live in you. You worship with Him, in Him. Ought becomes want to. You want to do what you have to do.