09/04/2025
Reflections from the Wake-Up Call on Matthew 4 this morning...
Matthew 4:1–4 NIV
"Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’"
So Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil . . . Jesus is hardly dried off from his baptism when the Holy Spirit leads him into the wilderness. Yes, the Holy Spirit will lead us, at times, into hard places where hard things happen, but that doesn’t mean he causes bad things to happen. Someone else does that job (a.k.a. the devil).
After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry . . . This wilderness reminds us of that earlier wilderness we know as Exodus. Jesus is getting right what they got wrong. Like Moses, he fasts for forty days and nights—one day for every year in that wasteland. Life often offers full circle moments. Pay attention to them. God often moves there.
The tempter came to him and said, . . . We have an enemy. It is rarely if ever another person. It is always Satan, a.k.a. the devil. He will come in for attack when you are at your lowest, weakest, tiredest, most vulnerable state. He knows how to get you. Jesus knows better how to keep you. See also 1 John 4:4.
“If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Satan will always try to connect your worth to your performance. His go-to tactic: attacking and undermining your God-given identity. His favorite lie: You are what you do. Receive the truth. Renounce the lies.
Jesus answered, “It is written: . . . Every Sunday I ask the children in my church this question: “How do you punch the devil?” They reply (with volume up): “By saying God’s Word!” The adults are starting to join in. Too often spiritual warfare is attempted by a spirituality of earnest sincerity. It’s taking a knife to a gunfight. Spiritual warfare must be wielded by the Word of God spoken in the power of the Spirit of God—Don’t believe me? See what was written: “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
Last question: What was the last word that came from the mouth of God before Jesus was led into the wilderness? Hint: It was in yesterday’s text.
And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
Nope, Jesus didn’t tell a stone to become bread. In the midst of fasting, he feasted on the bread of his belovedness—the Word of God in the wilderness.
To follow Jesus is to be baptized in his baptism and to live on every word that comes from the mouth of God—starting with the bread of our belovedness.
