The Temptations of the World Over the Kingdom
What happens when we listen to the World over God?
"Temptation of Man" by Lawrence OP is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Today’s Monday Morning with Jesus is delayed like last week because my son is back in school, and my wife’s birthday is today. We have a lot going on today. I also have a week before more writing assignments for the RPG game writing I do, which means I have to organize and plan out my personal writing now ahead of those potential assignments coming out Thursday.
Sunday’s sermon had one of the most creative scripture readings I’ve seen in a while. I’m not even going to try to recreate it here. One of the blessings of being in church is sometimes you get to see cool stuff like this. I’ll post all the scripture, but it was read by a man and woman from the congregation as a conversation. It began with the Genesis reading and then from the Matthew reading. It went back and forth until all of it was read. It sounded like a conversation. It was really inventive and impactful. I loved it.
15Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.
16The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely;
17but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”
Genesis 2:15–17 (NASB95)
1Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”
2The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;
3but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’ ”
4The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!
5“For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
7Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.
Genesis 3:1–7 (NASB95)
1Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
2And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry.
3And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
4But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’ ”
5Then the devil took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple,
6and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command His angels concerning You’; and ‘On their hands they will bear You up, So that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’ ”
7Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”
8Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory;
9and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.”
10Then Jesus said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’ ”
11Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him.
Matthew 4:1–11 (NASB95)
The title of the series is In the Face of Temptation by Reverend Joe Palmer. There are no coincidences. I did a Lent Substack entry on temptation and mentioned it in Sunday school class too. Pastor Palmer’s sermon dovetailed well with both of those. That wasn’t planned. I had no idea he was doing that. It was pretty nifty to me.
Today was the Tableau of Faith, and Pastor Palmer opened with a tale about Mark Wahlberg appearing on the Today Show with ashes on his forehead from Ash Wednesday. The banner on the image said, “Mark Wahlberg’s 40-day challenge.” The complete misunderstanding of what Wahlberg was talking about brought out a chuckle from the congregation.
Pastor Palmer asked, “What did you give up for Lent?” His point was that five days into it, many of us likely already had failed. Failed at what? Resisting the temptation of returning to whatever we should have given up for these next forty-odd days. So far, I haven’t failed to post a Lenten devotion except for Sunday, and I’m not posting them on Sundays this Lenten season.
He also followed up quickly with the statement, “keep trying! Don’t give up!” I echo that. If you do fail or fall down, don’t throw in the towel. Get back up and keep going.
Pastor Palmer moved to a perspective I’d never considered before. Eve’s conversation with the Serpent, Satan, was the first theological conversation and the first temptation. Adam and Eve, of course, failed that test, but the perspective of the “first theological conversation” is intriguing. Satan presented one perspective on scripture, and Eve presented an alternate understanding, but Pastor Palmer suggested Eve not only had a different perspective but she added something to God’s Word. Here, look at these.
16The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely;
17but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”
Genesis 2:16–17 (NASB95)
All God commanded was not to eat of it. Now, let’s look at what Eve said to Satan.
2The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;
3but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’ ”
Genesis 3:2–3 (NASB95)
I wonder why Eve added that bit about not even touching it? God didn’t say that to Adam. Did Adam misstate God’s rule to Eve, or did she just remember it wrong? I don’t think it really has a bearing on Eve’s disobedience, but Satan certainly took advantage of her with his “crafty language,” as Pastor Palmer stated. Oh, Satan clearly knew what the consequences of Adam and Eve’s actions would be. Adam and Eve didn’t fully understand, but that didn’t stop them from listening to Satan. Thus, God allowed the first man and woman to make the first bad decision. I wonder why an all-knowing God who clearly knew what would happen let this occur. I don’t know. It puzzles me.
I realized as the sermon went on that while God enforced His rules and cast Adam and Eve out, He was still with them in the midst of their disobedience. How do we know that? Because God made clothes for them even while He was casting them out of Eden.
21The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.
22Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—
23therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken.
24So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.
Genesis 3:21–24 (NASB95)
Adam and Eve still had to bear the burden of the consequences of their actions, but God still loved them and was still looking out for them. He never abandoned those first humans, and He won’t abandon us either. We are as much His children as Adam and Eve, especially when we claim His Son as our Lord and Savior.
Fast forward to Jesus’ time in the wilderness right before the beginning of His public ministry. Satan is back, tempting Christ in the wilderness. Once again, the Devil tries to twist scripture to get what he wants. In this case, he wants Jesus to turn on His humanity, creation, and God. Satan even knows that Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world but a spiritual one and tries to get him to accept an earthly kingdom rather than building up the one God plans for him.
Many people of Jesus’ time got it wrong. The Kingdom of Heaven isn’t one of flesh and bone, rock and stone, cell phone, and social media. The Kingdom of Heaven is a kingdom of heart-felt intentions toward our fellow man. The Kingdom of Heaven is one of doing the best we can to follow the directions God gives us through His Holy Spirit. The Kingdom of Heaven is the hope filling our hearts as we recognize we are God’s beloved. If we can keep our hearts centered on who we are, God’s Word, and what God thinks is right and wrong, we can keep our eyes centered on what truly matters.
19“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
20“But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;
21for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:19–21 (NASB95)