Matthew 4

Matthew 4:1:
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

God's Spirit led Jesus into the combat zone, rather than letting Satan make the first move. God and satan have a part and plan in every temptation that befalls us. Satans design in temptation is always to kill, steal and destroy. For those who love the Lord, and are called according to His purposes, God uses it for a more eternal purpose. Interestingly, this ocurred just after His baptism and before entering his full public ministry. Satan was aware of who Jesus was. But wanted to see if He was real. Was He riding the fence in both kingdoms? Just how devoted was He? There were apparently no human witnesses to this event. So for Matthew (and Luke) to write of this would have to be under divine inspiration. The temptations also undermine the theory that "temptation" plays only on our weaknesses. That would imply that Jesus had all these weaknesses. Not likely.

"Into the wilderness" is significantly suggestive. In the hour of bitter struggle and testing, the human heart is often conscious of peculiar loneliness and isolation.

Matthew 4:4:
But He answered and said It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

The New Testament is saturated with the Old. That is, the inspired writers of the New Testament quoted the inspired writers of the Old as a source of authority. Jesus Himself said, “It is written” (Matt. 4:4), meaning, “It is written in the Old Testament;” and He said that “ ‘the Scriptures must be fulfilled’ ” (Mark 14:49, NKJV)— meaning the Scriptures of the Old Testament. And when Jesus met two disciples on the road to Emmaus, instead of doing a miracle to show them who He was, “beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself ” (Luke 24:27, NKJV). -ELDER DR MASIMBA MAVAZA

By today’s new ‘Church Leadership’ standards Jesus was a clueless leader who obviously wasn't in tune with the 'worship experience' needs of His time and culture. Fact is, when you read the New Testament biographies you don’t read about Jesus discussing the latest leadership philosophies, church branding strategies, church marketing practices or the latest ideas for designing and creating holistic audio visual environments to help create the perfect mood for people to have an engaging worship experience.

Instead, when you read the New Testament you discover that Jesus often taught outside and Jesus’ teaching events were far from seeker-sensitive. When you compare Jesus' leadership practices to the new and improved leadership principles of Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, Leadership Network and others you'd have to conclude that Jesus was a complete failure as a leader and was in the dark when it came to meeting the felt needs of His target market.

A prime example of Jesus' utter cluelessness is found in the Gospel of Mark chapter 8. In the opening verses of that chapter we learn that Jesus held, for lack of a better term, a three day long “outdoor church conference” where He was the featured speaker. Here’s what Mark records about the event.
“In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away.” (Mark 8:1–3)
Yes, you read that correctly! Those who attended Jesus' three day long ‘outdoor church conference’ were outside, exposed to the sun, the wind and the elements. Oh and there was no food provided until the END of the event. What was Jesus thinking?!
Can you imagine the comments that Jesus and His disciples received in the customer satisfaction response surveys after the event? I’m sure they got responses like the ones listed below.
Question: Were you satisfied with the location for this conference? Answer: Are you kidding me?! The Judean countryside is no place to hold a three day long church conference. Not only did I get a sunburn and a windburn, but the stench from 5,000 sweaty men being baked alive for three days totally ruined my ‘worship experience’.
Question: What did you think of Jesus' teaching? Answer: First of all it’s difficult to listen to a man drone on and on and on for THREE DAYS without anything in your stomach. Why didn’t Jesus just keep His teaching down to 30 to 45 minutes? Seriously, how does Jesus expect us to remember all of that stuff? Laptops, the internet and Twitter haven’t even been invented yet and most of us are poor uneducated people and don’t have the resources to even take notes. It would have been way better if Jesus had passed around some handouts with fill in the blank sentences so that we could at least have some way of applying His relevant points to our lives and experience some ‘life change’. This was no way to motivate people to become world changers.
Question: What did you think of the food? Answer: We were baking and starving in the sun for three days before the the first and only meal was served. Jesus waited until we were all ready to pass out from hunger and exposure before He decided to throw us a bone and miraculously divide up some bread and some fishes. Why did Jesus wait until the end of the conference to feed us? Why didn’t Jesus do that neat little miracle two or three times a day during the conference so that we didn’t have to listen to him on an empty stomach?
Question: What were your overall impressions of the conference and what would you like to see done differently at our future conferences? Answer: Aside from the fact that I was hot, got sunburned, windburned, had to endure the smell of 5,000 sweaty Judean peasants while listening to a Bible teacher drone on for THREE DAYS without the ability to take notes or follow along on Powerpoint, with no porta potties and no food in an environment that is nearly impossible to have a descent worship experience...I thought the conference was a raging success (that was sarcasm). I’d rather be boiled in oil by the Romans than attend another outdoor teaching conference hosted by Jesus.
By the way today’s Church Leadership Gurus talk you’d think that the New Testament was just brimming with Leadership wisdom ready to be picked and applied by today’s innovative visionary leaders. Yet, when I read the Gospel accounts, the leadership that Jesus modeled doesn’t even remotely look like the ‘new leadership’ that today’s gurus are selling. The reason for these differences is that Jesus' Leadership Model NEVER had anything to do with customer satisfaction or positive customer experiences.
I know that I am running the risk of being branded as a "Leadership Heretic" but I think that there was obviously something FAR MORE IMPORTANT happening at Jesus' three day long 'outdoor church conference' than religious consumers having their felt needs met or customers having a 'life changing experience'. The key to understanding what that "more important thing" was can be found in Matthew 4:4 which states: “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” [c]2010 Chris Rosebrough

January 22, 2022:
Man Cannot Break Natural Law so he only has life through Jesus Christ
"But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”" --Matthew 4:4
Jesus was stating a fact. A truth. A reality. The body was created with the requirement that it be nourished and fed. Hence, the need for for bread and to drink. It was also through the mouth of God that all things came into existence during creation. Beginning from Genesis chapter one..."In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth..." He set the planet, the stars, the universe into motion all by his word. With it, the natural laws which rule over the earth...like gravity. Man cannot break these natural laws. Hence, it is through the words of God's creation that man can exist and live. Attempting to break those laws results in death, So man cannot live by bread alone....he also has to live with the natural laws God has placed upon the universe in which he resides. The first and foremost law which confronts man is death. Death is caused by sin. It is a natural law that God established at creation. Man must face his mortality. If there's a way around the "sin" problem man may not escape the physical death, but can escape the eternal one. The good news is that there is a way: through Jesus Christ.

So, Jesus, in the verse above, was not reminding Satan of any commandment. He was simply verbalizing a natural reality: Man cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God." Through the mouth of God came life at the beginning and it has never changed.
"For in him we live, and move, and have our being.." Acts 17:28

This is quite the contrast from the words of the serpent who had the upper hand in the Garden, and Jesus who had the upper hand in this initial temptation. The serpent spoke with no authority and misquoted, and Adam (with a little help from his "an helpmeet" Eve) went for his bait. The difference is the outcome in that one brought death, and the authority of Jesus brought life. Jesus had authority and rather than wait for the serpent (devil) to come to Him, He went to him (it, whatever). I presume Wonder Bread and Sara Lee might want to downplay this whole bread comment a bit, but I, and my body mass index, are somewhat thankful for a no-carb eternity! :-) But, in the meantime, praise the lord and pass the low carb bisquits! (I think if I read 5 verses for every carb, it will balance out:-)

Man does need bread to survive. "Bread" in this text means more than just bread as we commonly think it. It covers the whole visible economy of life: supplies, helps, and supports that men depend on to survive. It covers the economy of food, drink, and shelter, prestige, honor, power, among other things. The world theory is that it is by those things that we live. In fact, the man who pursues those things usually becomes enslaved to them. They become his reason for living and breathing and through all his efforts to pursue them, actually becomes a slave to them. The purpose being to pursue these things to live a life of comfort, but he must struggle to attain comfort. And spend his life struggling to be comfortable and kind of like a dog chasing his tail, it is just a futile excercise. But he cannot survive on that alone. He must have every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Not some words, not a few words, but every word. In fact, it is the word of God which brought man into existence. And he cannot just survive by tasting it, he needs to survive on it.

Every word of God contains a revelation and a commandment. Whenever God speaks by any of His voices, it is first to tell us some truth which we did not know before, and second to bid us something which we have not been doing. Every word of God includes these two. Truth and duty are always wedded. There is no truth which has not its corresponding duty. and there is no duty which has no corresponding truth. We often try and separate them. We want to learn truth as though there were not duties attached. Or we try and do duties as if there were no guidelines of truth to follow. When every truth is rounded into its duty, and every duty is depends on its truth, then we shall have a clearness and consistency and permanence of moral life which we can hardly dream of.

If man is to truly live he must satisfy his deeper cravings first.

It does not necessarily follow that because the temptations are described separately, that they took place separately, one ceasing before the other begann. Temptations may be simultaneous or interlaced and, in describing these temptations, Matthew and Luke are not in agreement about the order.

Matthew 4:6-7:
"And (Satan) said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’

There is far more here then just an improper challenge toward God. There is something here that flies in the face of any type of "name it-claim it" or prosperity messages. It is tempting God. Satan quoted a couple Bible verses. Psalm 91:11 and 12. He did not misinterpret them. But he did challenge God to fulfill them (at east verbally anyway). Jesus understood. Instead of saying "hey that's really out of context and not applicable here," he said "You shall not tempt the lord your God." (Duet 6:16) The Bible is not a book of spells and incantations even though many a prosperity teacher seems to apply th‏e selected verses that way. Using it in the way Satan did is an example of how manipulative people function--and those who desire to subvert the Bible to a book of spells and incantations. That's not how this works...that's not how any of this works. If we live or act carelessly and expect that God's grace will be there to cover our errors...we may be presuming upon Him something he has not promised. When God created the heavens and earth He established natural laws...like gravity. Gravity describes the inescapable affect that everything that goes up will come down. It is what keeps us on the ground and not floating recklessly into space. If you wish to quote a scripture to help you defy gravity....you would be making a big mistake. Gravity is like a host of other cause and affects (reap what you sow, etc), are an inescapable reality. That's why prosperity messages fail. They promise gain that if you do this and this will happen. It doesn't work that way. That's not how any of this works. It is an act of presumption. And very vain presumption. It presumes that if I say this verse...I will defy gravity. Or if I say this verse...then I will become rich. Or if I give you money, God is required to pay me back times ten. If your motivation is to "get" and using scripture to "get" it, you may be Tempting God.
---Zorek Richards; Two Bits Media; 6.20.21

Matthew 4:8-10:
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, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’

The tempter took Jesus to the peak of a high mountain; here, he showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and asked for a compromise……Evil has a way of taking what it can get. If it cannot get all of a man’s devotion, it will endeavor to get a little. Consider the man who has experienced the evils and heartaches of alcohol. With the help of God he stops drinking. The tempter does not urge him to get drunk; he knows this approach will not work. He simply says, “Just take one drink. What harm can that do? Just take one to be sociable.” This is the compromise.

You may not notice this at first but there is something missing between Satan’s “wonderful” plan for Jesus’ life and the Father’s plan. What is missing is the cross. Satan was offering Jesus a kingdom without a cross but Jesus would get a kingdom through the cross.
You realize of course what, or perhaps who is hanging in the balance here. It is people; sinners like you and me. If Jesus takes the offer, among other things he will not save sinners. Satan’s game was to avoid the cross because the cross is where Christ would tread upon his head (Gen. 3:15). It is the cross that is the great redemptive pivot upon the skull of the serpent. You better believe he wanted to give a crown without a cross. And you better believe Christ wanted a crown through a cross.

It should come as no surprise to us who are Christians to find that Satan’s chief temptation of us is to have us forget the cross. Satan is not so concerned with moral living as much as moral living apart from Jesus. Satan is not concerned with emptying churches of people as much as he is emptying the pulpit of the cross of Christ. Satan is not so concerned with busy church calendars as much as he is with busy churches that have assumed or forgotten the cross. Satan is not so concerned with people who pray as much as he is concerned with people who pray broken, grace-grasping, desperate prayers in the shadow of the cross.
--Ordinary Pastor

"But, God doesn't mind if I do this...." as long as I serve Him also. Maybe, but more than likely not. Jesus was offered everything in all of Creation and, in fact, creation itself. So there is no list of things that anyone can put before God and serve Him also. There is no also.
Jesus said: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself." (Matt 10:27). Jesus also said: "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." (Matt 6:24). It was not a command. He did not say "don't serve two masters." He said you can't. Man is not capable to have that kind of double attention. He can like do to multiple things..but He can only be devoted to one over all.
In the end, it's like trying to drive car with two front ends. You won't get anywhere at all.
I recollect once having a girl say she "loved me," but that she also loved someone else. She seemed OK with that. Actually, what she was saying was that she loved herself and wanted the best of both worlds. That is what people who call themselves Christians do who claim to serve God but also romance the ways of the world. It is only about them. Not Christ and not whatever part of the world they are claiming devotion to. Their allegiance will depend on whatever is expedient at the time. So there is nothing you can have before God---and as was the case when Jesus was tempted: nothing in all of Creation.

Contention Point: The tempter took Jesus to the peak of a high mountain and here he showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and asked for a compromise. It doesn't necessarily mean that there was a mountain peak high enough to see everything in the world. But that Jesus was taken to a remote place and Satan showed him all things possibly by way of a vision or something along those lines.

Matthew 4:10:
You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.

The primary obligation of man is to worship and serve His creator. What is the difference between worshiping God and serving God? The word for ‘serve’ here (LATREUO) is a special word used only in a religious context. The basic meaning is to serve religiously. A different word (DOULEUO) is used for serving man and God in the more general sense. The basic meaning of the word for ‘worship’ (PROSKUNEO) is to express, by words or by bowing down, profound and submissive respect or adoration. In some versions LATREUO, and the related noun LATREIA, have been translated as ‘worship’ rather than ‘serve’ in certain passages. The two concepts are different, yet worship (PROSKUNEO) is vain if it is not accompanied by a life of religious service to God (LATREIA). Paul says: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present you bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service (LATREIA)” (Romans 12:1). This was also true under the Old Covenant. “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deuteronomy 10:12). The word here for ‘serve’ in the Septuagint Greek translation of the Old Testament is LATREUO. See also Deuteronomy 11:13 “serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
Thus, serving God involves all that we do, walking in all His ways, whereas worship is an expression of adoration on specific occasions. And if that sounds time consuming, then you have heard it right. It takes everything.
Satan tempted Christ to idolatry. The glory of the world is the most charming temptation to the unthinking and unwary; by which they are most easily imposed upon and ensnared.

Matthew 4:11:
Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

Victory is possible, and after the conflict comes glad refreshment for all who fight with the sword of the spirit and trust in the Son of God.

Matt 4:19:
“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”

It is well known that Christ consistently used the expression “follower.” He never asks for admirers, worshippers, or adherents. No, he calls disciples. It is not adherents of a teaching but followers of a life Christ is looking for.
Christ understood that being a “disciple” was in innermost and deepest harmony with what he said about himself. Christ claimed to be the way and the truth and the life (Jn. 14:6). For this reason, he could never be satisfied with adherents who accepted his teaching – especially with those who in their lives ignored it or let things take their usual course. His whole life on earth, from beginning to end, was destined solely to have followers and to make admirers impossible.
Christ came into the world with the purpose of saving, not instructing it. At the same time – as is implied in his saving work – he came to be the pattern, to leave footprints for the person who would join him, who would become a follower. This is why Christ was born and lived and died in lowliness. It is absolutely impossible for anyone to sneak away from the Pattern with excuse and evasion on the basis that It, after all, possessed earthly and worldly advantages that he did not have. In that sense, to admire Christ is the false invention of a later age, aided by the presumption of “loftiness.” No, there is absolutely nothing to admire in Jesus, unless you want to admire poverty, misery, and contempt.
What then, is the difference between an admirer and a follower? A follower is or strives to be what he admires. An admirer, however, keeps himself personally detached. He fails to see that what is admired involves a claim upon him, and thus he fails to be or strive to be what he admires.
To want to admire instead of to follow Christ is not necessarily an invention by bad people. No, it is more an invention by those who spinelessly keep themselves detached, who keep themselves at a safe distance...
---Søren Kierkegaard