“Some things are worth the risk.” That’s what I told my wife after she tied into me one afternoon at the beach. My friend pastor Kratz had brought his family to visit us on the gulf coast. We had planned to spend the day at the beach. Unfortunately, there was a hurricane approaching. But since it was the 5th hurricane we had lived through, we were not overly concerned. Besides, the storm was still two days away so pastor Kratz and I convinced our wives that we should still go to the beach. We told our wives, ‘we don’t have to go in the water. We can just take a long walk on the beach.’ But when we got to the beach and saw how big the waves were, we couldn’t help ourselves. Leaving the smaller weaker children on the shore with the mommas, pastor Kratz and I plunged into the surf with our older children following behind.
The waves were at least 10 feet high. They crashed down on us with such force that we were pushed under and scrapped the ocean floor. After each wave we did a quick head count of our wide-eyed children. Their faces were a mixture of pure delight and absolute terror. But none of us had time to think about it because almost immediately the next wave would come and sweep us off our feet and dash us back down again. This went on and on for 45 minutes or so. Eventually we grew so weary we could barely make our way back to the shore.
When we finally made it back, we found our wives were waiting for us. They wanted to know what in the world we were thinking. They were curious about the thought process that caused us to lead their children into hurricane charged waters. They pointed out there were no lifeguards on duty and the nearest coast guard base was busy making preparations for the approaching storm. The spoke to us at length about rip tides and undertows. They questioned our decision-making abilities and fitness for fatherhood. They “spoke” to us about a great many things, but basically my dear wife wanted to know why I would do something so dangerous. Now, I could have debated with her about the level of danger we were actually in, but instead I looked at my boys covered in seaweed, coughing up crustaceans, and laying on the shore with the biggest smiles on their sand scrapped faces I had ever seen and I told my beautiful, intelligent, kind, caring, and very forgiving wife, “some things are worth the risk” … It was a quiet ride home from the beach that day.
I didn’t think of it at the time, but I could have pointed out to my dear wife that I am not the only one who takes risks. There are plenty of people who take much bigger risks than me, skydivers, lion tamers, and divorce attorneys come to mind. But, in my opinion, the one who has taken the biggest risk of all is God.
Hear me out on this. Take a look at our gospel lesson for today, specifically verses 1-2. There we read, “1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.” After His baptism in the Jordan River, we are told Jesus spends the first 40 days of His public ministry being tempted by the devil. I understand it was necessary for Jesus to be tempted in order to save us. He needed to be, as it says in Hebrews 4:15, “tempted in every way just as we are” not only so that He could sympathies with us in our weakness (understand what we are going through when we are tempted) but also so that He could be our perfect substitute; live a perfectly sinless life in our place. You see, If we boil God’s plan of salvation down to two elements the first element involves a man doing what no other man has ever done, namely, be perfect. (The second is sacrifice His life as payment for our sins, but more on that another time.)
I understand our salvation depended on Jesus overcoming temptation, but have you ever thought about what a risk God was taking in that desert? There was much more than our salvation at stake there. If Jesus sliped up just once, if there was just one moment of doubt, if there was the slightest hesitation of obedience, if He just thought about giving in to one of the devil’s temptations for just a fraction of a nanosecond, then not only is salvation lost, everything is lost.
Think about it, if Jesus had given in to one temptation, He would have become sinful; He would have fallen short of the glory of … well Himself. If Jesus were sinful, He could no longer be the promised Messiah. And since God the Father had repeatedly promised He would send a Messiah and had just identified Jesus as that Messiah at His baptism, saying, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”[1] Well then God would become a liar. But God can’t be a liar. In Numbers 23:19 we read, “God is not a man, that he should lie”. So now, God can no longer be God. And since it is God who not only created all things but also preserves all things, as it says in Acts 17:28, “in him we live and move and have our being.”, without God there is no …anything.
Now, thankfully this is all hypothetical. Thankfully Jesus did not give in to the devil’s temptations. I’m just presenting this hypothetical scenario to show you how much of a risk God took when He led Jesus out into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. I don’t believe it is too dramatic to say, God risked existence itself.
However, you might be thinking to yourself, “yeah but what were the chances that Jesus was actually going to fall for one of the devil’s temptations? How risky was this really?” Perhaps you are of the opinion that the temptations that Jesus faced were easy to resist, either because Jesus is Jesus or because the temptations were not that tempting? So, let’s take a look at three of the temptations Jesus faced. I say “three of” because I don’t want us to miss that Luke tells us Jesus faced more than three temptations. Luke tells us “for forty days He was tempted.” That’s a lot of temptation. We are not given the nature or number of these temptations so let’s just focus on the three Luke shares with us.
The first temptation is recorded in verse 3. There we read, “3 The devil said to him (that is Jesus), “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” On a human level --and remember that is the level that Jesus is on. He is true God, but He is also true man and as such He needs what we need, namely food— So again, on a human level the temptation to turn a stone into bread is a powerful temptation for someone who has not eaten for 40 days. But on a deeper level, the devil is tempting Jesus to want something that God in His wisdom has decided not to provide. Sound familiar? The devil often tempts us with the desire to have something that God in His wisdom has seen fit not to give us. Things like our classmate’s iPhone, our neighbor’s new Mercedes, or our brother-n-law’s beach house.
When you think about how often you and I give in to temptations of jealousy, I don’t think we can say this is an easy one for Jesus to resist. There was a real risk involved here. Thankfully, Jesus resisted this temptation. In verse 4 Luke tells us, “4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone.’” Jesus trusted in His Father to provide Him with all that he needed for body and for life. If God did not provide Him with a fresh loaf of bread (or you with a new Bentley) than Jesus trusted that God had a good and loving reason.
The second temptation is recorded in verses 5-7. There we read, “5 The devil led him (again Jesus) up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 So if you worship me, it will all be yours.” The devil is offering Jesus what appears to be an easy way out. Instead of all that suffering and death on a cross to win over humanity, the devil is offering to give humanity to Jesus. Again, this sounds familiar. Being a Christian is not always easy. It is not at all uncommon for us to be mocked, laughed at, or ridiculed because of our so-called old-fashioned faith and conservative values. The devil offers us an easier way. Simply compromise your values and be flexible with your faith so that you look, sound, and act like everybody else and you won’t be mocked, laughed at, or ridiculed.
Considering how many times the devil convinces us to set aside our cross and go with the flow, I don’t think we are in any position to say this temptation is an easier than the first. Again, there was a real risk involved here. Thankfully, again, Jesus resisted this temptation. In verse 8 Luke tells us “8 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’” Jesus understood that worship is not just done with your lips, worship is also done with your actions. By doing what God commands and not doing what God forbids we worship Him. Jesus would remain obedient to the will of His Father, even if that meant He had to carry a cross.
The third temptation is recorded in verses 9-11. There we read, “9 The devil led him (still Jesus) to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. 10 For it is written: “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; 11 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”” Though not a believer, the devil is a student of scripture. As such he has a masterful way of twisting scripture in an attempt to justify sinful actions. Here the devil acts like he is inviting Jesus to prove His trust in God, kind of like he does when he convinces us that because we are saved by grace, we can go out on a Saturday night and party like a pagan as long as we show up to church the next morning. “Don’t worry”, the devil tells us, “God will forgive you. You just go ahead and enjoy yourself.”
How often have we fallen for the devil’s perversion of Scripture? Too many times to count, right? So, it doesn’t look like we can claim that any of these temptations were easy to resist. Yet again, there is real risk involved here. Thankfully, yet again, Jesus resisted this temptation. In verse 12 Luke tells us “12 Jesus answered, “It says: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Jesus was able to see through the devil’s perversion of Scripture. He knows people don’t test somebody they trust, especially when that person is God. Rather, Jesus showed His trust in His Father by refusing to test His Father.
Having now taken a closer look at three of the temptations Jesus faced, I think you will agree, these are real temptations. You and I know very well how easy it is to give in to temptations like these. So, the question remains, why would God risk so much? The answer is, God was willing to risk so much because He is passionate about your salvation, so passionate that He allowed His Son to face the temptations of the devil.
Some things are worth the risk, but frankly, I am not sure you and I are one of those things. In fact, when you think about how many times we have given in to the devil’s temptations, I’m very certain we are not worth the risk. But because of His great love and rich mercy God took that risk. Our God is so passionate about your salvation that He was willing to risk everything so that sinners, like you and me, would have a perfect substitute. Today we thank and praise our passionate Messiah for taking that risk. Amen
[1] Luke 3:22