Loyal, OK

 
Pastor Leon Seaton

To Be Like Jesus

Imagine this scene: John the Baptist was living in the wilderness. His clothes were made of camel’s hair and he had a leather belt around his waist. He ate locusts and wild honey. His ministry was very popular. People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. (Matthew 3:4-6)

Obviously John was not a student of psychology; rather he was one of those old-fashioned preachers that told things exactly as the Lord revealed them to him.

“But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

"I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come One who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor, gathering His wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire." Matthew 3:7-13

John the Baptist and Jesus were cousins. However when Jesus entered His ministry, John was living in the wilderness, preaching repentance and turning from sin, while Jesus was busy in His carpenter shop.

Jesus’ ministry began with severe testing. If you did not already know the story you would be surprised at how things went.

John was baptizing people that day when Jesus joined him in the river. The Holy Spirit quickened John, telling him that this was the Messiah. As John was absorbing that information, Jesus asked to be baptized.

John was shocked. He said, “I have need to be baptized of You and You ask me to baptize You?”

Jesus responded “We need to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” It was a powerful moment.

After Jesus was baptized, He headed for the shore. As He did, the heaven opened, and the Spirit of God descended on Him like a dove. A voice from heaven said, “This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.

It is interesting that Jesus did not immediately begin His ministry by standing on a rock where everyone could see Him as He preached; rather, Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit out in the wilderness to be tempted!

How on earth do you explain that? The Son of God tested by temptation? This was no ordinary situation. After Jesus had fasted and prayed for 40 days, Satan shows up!

Why would God do that to Jesus?

Hebrews 2:18 “Because He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.”

Hebrews 4:15 “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have One who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin.”

        Luke 4:1-22 describes the temptation:

First of all, Satan jumped on Jesus when He was very tired. I have fasted and prayed on many occasions, but I can tell you, it was not a 40-day fast. The longest one was a week. Just when Jesus was at His weakest – when you fast hunger finally goes away for awhile – but when it comes back, it comes with a vengeance.

Bam! There was Satan trying to take advantage of Jesus. He will do the same to you and me. We have to prepare in advance. Jesus had spent His life learning scriptures. At age 12 He was able to confound the temple priests. He was ready!

The devil said to him, "If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread."

Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone.'"

The devil led Him up to a high place and showed Him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 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. So if You worship me, it will all be Yours."

Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.'"

The devil led Him 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. For it is written: "'He will command His angels concerning You to guard You carefully; they will lift You up in their hands, so that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.'"

Jesus answered, "It says: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"

Then Jesus said to him, "Away from Me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.'"

First, note that Satan challenged Jesus to prove His divinity the first two times. IF YOU ARE THE SON OF GOD.

Jesus answered each temptation with a scripture.

Do not argue with Satan. He has more experience than you and me. He has been in the tempting business for a long time. Rather, quote an appropriate scripture; then close the door to the temptation by refusing to think about it any more. If you are tempted to covet your neighbor’s wife, husband, property, quote the scripture, then turn your thoughts to something else. That closes the door to temptation.

If you are tempted to look at a man or woman with lust in your heart, quote a scripture. “Thou shall not covet thy neighbor’s wife.”

“Thou shall not steal… thou shall not covet” are handy scriptures to keep in mind.

Since Jesus did not write any of the scriptures, there is only one way the disciples knew about this situation – He told them – so they would understand what they should do in a similar situation.

The temptations fit three categories in our life.

1. Luke 4:1-4 Lust of the flesh/His physical need. He knew that He was the Son of God, but here was a chance to prove it… and to feed His hungry body at the same time. Turning a stone into bread just to satisfy His hunger. Jesus did not have a problem using miracles to feed the thousands, but that is not what this temptation was about.

2. Luke 4:5-8 Lust of the Eyes/priorities. It was a shortcut to power and authority. Most of us want power, but if we are to achieve it in a godly way then we must let God get us there! Jesus’ path to power and authority was through humility! God made Him powerful. Eventually “every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” In giving the great commission Jesus noted, “All power and authority is given unto Me.” Obviously Satan had the ability to give Jesus that power – or Jesus would have contradicted him. Satan got that power from Adam and Eve when they sinned.

3. Matthew 4:9-13 The pride of life. Pride will try to get us to do something that is not in God’s plan. “Lord, it You will, then I will…” It won’t work! God has a plan and He expects us to follow His will!

Over the next few weeks we will be looking at the life of Christ. To be a Christian means to be a believer in Christ. The dictionary definition of Christian:

ADJECTIVE:

1. Professing belief in Jesus as Christ or following the religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus.

   1. Relating to or derived from Jesus or Jesus' teachings.

   2. Manifesting the qualities or spirit of Jesus; Christlike.

   3. Relating to or characteristic of Christianity or its adherents.

   4. Showing a loving concern for others; humane.

NOUN:

2. One who professes belief in Jesus as Christ or follows the religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus.

   1. One who lives according to the teachings of Jesus.

Recently Roberta and I were counseling a young couple in our home. She is a born-again believer; he said that he asked God to forgive his sins, but that he did not believe in Christ as God’s Son. He stated that he thought Jesus was a good Man and a good Teacher, but not God’s Son.

When I defined “Christian” for him, then he stated, “I guess I’m not a Christian then.”

As Christians we are to model Christ in all we say and do. Granted, we fail at times, but I wonder, do I really expect to accomplish this or are my self-expectations too high?

James 3:1, 2 - Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.  We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.

My desire is to be like Jesus. St. Paul told his people to “Follow me as I follow Christ.” And I have tried to do that. However, it is time for this pastor to step up to the plate and make Christ my model! Are you ready to join me?

As we prepare our hearts for communion, let’s focus on the fact that we are disciples of Jesus Christ. Our goal is to imitate Him in every way possible. After all, we want our children to imitate us, don’t we?

    January 13, 2008