Crown of Life - Sermon for 10 February 2008

JESUS IS TRUE TO HIS NATURE -- February 10, 2008

Sermon Text: Matthew 4:1-11

He had everything his heart desired. He lived in paradise. He loved his work. He was blessed with a perfect loving and devoted wife. He himself was perfect, able to do what was good and right. He had no concern about death, sickness, going hungry. God himself would walk with him in the place where he lived. The last thing we would expect Adam to do, the only man to truly have it all, would be to do what we heard him do in our first lesson: to follow the lead of his wife instead of leading, to listen to himself instead of being led by God and eat the fruit from the tree.

When Adam sinned, he wasn’t being true to his nature. Adam was perfect, his nature was to be like God in true righteousness and holiness, he had the ability to not sin. Yes, he had the ability to sin, but his nature, what he was given the ability to do, was to be righteous and holy without sin.

When Adam sinned, he wasn’t true to his nature. Adam did what we didn’t expect. Because of Adam not being true to his nature, doing what we didn’t expect, we are true to our nature doing exactly what is expected: rebelling against God at every turn, unable to do good, selfishly serving ourselves, looking out for number one, full of hate, lies and filth pouring from our lips, every thought is evil. We are true to our nature. There are no surprises, and because we are true to our nature, another one needed to be true to His nature. Jesus. During the 40 days Jesus was tempted by the devil, He does exactly what we expect, He is true to His nature.

Immediately after Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan river, the Holy Spirit led Jesus out into a wilderness, a deserted place, you might say the polar opposite of the place of paradise Adam lived, to be tempted by the devil. The Holy Spirit didn’t led Jesus out into the wilderness as a test, trying to see if Jesus can hold up under pressure, or to see how He would react to temptation.

The Holy Spirit, led a willing Jesus out into the wilderness to show all the true nature of Jesus. That Jesus is the Son of God, and true to His nature did not sin, not once, even though He was tempted in every way that we are. True to His nature, Jesus trusted His Father in heaven to provide for His needs, and that His Father’s ways were the best ways for His life. True to his nature, He did not put the Lord to the test. True to his nature, He worshipped, He served one and one only -- not wealth or power or devil -- but the Lord His God.

Did you notice how the devil wanted Jesus to be true to His nature, showing everyone He was the Son of God? The devil wanted Jesus to prove it. “You say you are the Son of God.” “If you are what you say, then prove it.” “Tell this stone to become bread.” “Put your money where your mouth is.” “It would be no problem for the Son of God to turn stone into bread.” “What are you waiting for?” “Besides, your father isn’t looking out for yoy, you haven’t eaten in forty days, you need to rely on yourself.” “If God loves you so much, then why haven’t you eaten in forty days?” “Maybe God doesn’t love you.” “Maybe you can’t trust God.” “Become your own person.” “Show me you are whom you say.” “Tell this stone to become bread.”

But Jesus true to His nature shows He is the Son of God, not by proving but saying, "Man does not live on bread alone, but one every word that comes from the mouth of God." The thrust of Jesus' answer was that not all the bread in the world was going to keep Him alive if His father did not want Him to live. If His Father wanted him to live, He would live, even if He went without food for forty days. Jesus would continue to trust in His father’s promises to provide and trust that the Lord’s way was best.

True to our nature, we are like little devils wanting Jesus to prove he is the Son of God. “Jesus. if you're are the Son of God, save me.” “Prove to me that you are as powerful as you say. If only you would give me some sign, then I will believe that indeed you are God. Then I will be able to place my trust in you.”

Truth be told, Jesus has proved He is the Son of God with miracles. We are told of miracle after miracle in the Bible. He proved He is the Son of God by remaining on the cross when people were hurling insults, saying, "Come down from the cross if you are the Christ, the Son of God. Prove it to us."

Jesus, true to His nature, proved he is the Son of God by remaining on the cross, enduring the pain and suffering for us. Suffering hell for us. Dying for us. All this Jesus endured to pay for us being true to our nature. We want proof Jesus is the Son of God? Look no further than the cross that Jesus willingly traveled to and remained upon, so we would be forgiven for being true to our nature and insisting Jesus prove it.

Leaving the desolate wilderness, the devil brings Jesus to the holy city of Jerusalem and the highest pinnacle of the temple. Once again the devil says, “If you are the Son of God, if that is what you truly believe that you are the chosen one, the Savior of the world, then throw yourself down. For God has proclaimed that he will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” “Surely you believe God’s Word, Jesus, don’t you? Throw yourself down; nothing will happen to you. Or are you not willing to risk you life to see if what God says is true?”

Jesus, true to His nature, shows He is the Son of God, not by throwing himself down, but by saying, "Do not put the Lord your God to the test."
True to our nature, we put the Lord to the test. Does a day go by where we do not put to test the promises of our God asking ourselves, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

The Lord has promised, "never will I leave you or forsake you, do not worry about what you will eat, everything is under my control." Why do we put the Lord to the test asking, "Lord, where are you? Are you here? Are you watching out for me? Are you in control, because it sure doesn’t seem like it. Lord, why aren’t you making good on your promises?"

Jesus remained on top of the temple because true to His nature He is the Son of God and never put the Lord to the test. He never tested to see if what God’s Word said was true because He knew it was true. Because Jesus was true to his nature and remained on that pinnacle of the temple, we have been made right with God. We are people whom God sees as ones who have never doubted His word, not once; never once put the Lord to the test; never once questioned Lord, asking, “Where are you? Are you among us or not?” Jesus has made us perfect and holy before God by being true to his nature and never once putting God to the test.

Once again the devil goes on the move, taking Jesus to a very high mountain, showing Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. “All this I will give you if you worship me.” What a temptation! All Jesus needed to do to win for Himself all the kingdoms of the world was to worship the devil. That would certainly make things easier than winning all people and nations of the earth for Himself by His suffering and death.

The devil was offering him all the kingdoms of the world without having to suffering the agony of the cross. “Just bow down, serve me, it's yours.” Oh, of course this was one big lie. The world is not the devil’s to give. It just goes to show how big a liar the devil is. Jesus, true to his nature, shows He is the Son of God by continuing to take the way of the cross and suffering to win for Himself the nations of the world, saying, “Go away, Satan (my enemy). Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.”

Serve him only. That is not in our nature. Our nature is to serve him not. Our nature is to serve ourselves, be slaves to wealth, worship power, fall down before rest, relaxation and laziness, to listen to the lies of the slanderer, the devil, our enemy Satan, and be convinced that God cannot be trusted and shouldn’t be worshiped, to believe we have as much right to power and wealth and worship and divinity as the LORD.

But Jesus, true to His nature, worshipped and served only one -- His father in heaven. Jesus always did the will of His father in heaven. Jesus' perfect worship and service to His Lord and God has made us perfect followers, servants and worshipers of the Lord. Because of what the Son of God did here, being true to His nature, is why Paul said to the Romans, “Through the obedience of the one man, the many will be made righteous.” Even though we are true to our nature, we are right with our God. We have a perfect relationship with our God, because Jesus was true to His nature and was perfectly obedient and served only the Lord.

During those days in which the man, Adam, lived in perfect paradise, we see him not be true to his nature and fall into sin when tempted. During those forty days when Jesus was tempted in every way we are, we see Jesus be true to His nature and not sin.

What the first Adam did not do, the second Adam did. Jesus lived a life free from sin for us. He has made us right with God. By living a life free from sin, He has earned heaven for us so that one day we will not just read about Jesus being true to His nature, we will see for ourselves with our own eyes that Jesus is the Son of God.

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