It Takes More Than Bread to Stay Alive

Matthew 4:1-11  The Message

^1-3 Next Jesus was taken into the wild by the Spirit for the Test. The Devil was ready to give it. Jesus prepared for the Test by fasting forty days and forty nights. 

That left him, of course, in a state of extreme hunger, which the Devil took advantage of in the first test: "Since you are God's Son, speak the word that will turn these stones into loaves of bread."

 ⁴Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy: "It takes more than bread to stay alive. It takes a steady stream of words from God's mouth."

^5-6For the second test the Devil took him to the Holy City. He sat him on top of the Temple and said, "Since you are God's Son, jump." The Devil goaded him by quoting Psalm 91: "He has placed you in the care of angels. They will catch you so that you won't so much as stub your toe on a stone."

 ⁷Jesus countered with another citation from Deuteronomy: "Don't you dare test the Lord your God."

  

^8-9For the third test, the Devil took him to the peak of a huge mountain. He gestured expansively, pointing out all the earth's kingdoms, how glorious they all were. Then he said, "They're yours—lock, stock, and barrel. Just go down on your knees and worship me, and they're yours."

¹⁰Jesus' refusal was curt: "Beat it, Satan!" He backed his rebuke with a third quotation from Deuteronomy: "Worship the Lord your God, and only him. Serve him with absolute single-heartedness."

¹¹The Test was over. The Devil left. And in his place, angels! Angels came and took care of Jesus' needs.

This week, we'll be thinking about Jesus as "Food for the Soul."  

And we already find him tempted to make food for the body. 

"If you really are who you say you are...you don't need to be hungry...turn these stones to delicious loaves of home made bread."  

The devil always knows just how to tempt.  He doesn't just work on our physical needs, but much more often on our spiritual weaknesses.

He tries this mind game with Jesus:  "who are you, really?"  Jesus knows that his identity is not to be displayed through acts of miraculous power (though those will also come along, in their time).  

His real power is spiritual.  The lesson he teaches us is the opposite of the Garden fall of Genesis.  

Rely on God for the real bread, the bread that lasts.  It sticks to the spiritual ribs.  

What are the spirit-weakness temptations we face this day? 

Grace & Peace,

Adam