Last week I talked about the genealogy that is found in Luke chapter 3.  We toyed with several ideas about why Luke went to the trouble of compiling and recording those 77 names.  But then we discovered a phrase that tied it to the entire context of Luke 3.  We read Luke 3

Luke 3:21-22  When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."

When Jesus was baptized God told him from heaven, “You are my Son.  I am
Pleased!” Then Luke moves from the baptism into the genealogy and concludes with Adam, son of God.  The point we made last week was in baptism we step into the genealogy of God.  By being human we are already sons of God, but in baptism we step into our heritage. We recognize who we are in the big picture of history.  Baptism proclaims we are sons of God.  If there were no other reason than this, baptism would be a marvelous act of commitment to being who God created us to be.  But that is not all baptism does. It opens our hearts to the Spirit, and accepts our responsibility as ministers.

Well, this morning I have good news and bad news about those of us who have been baptized.  Let’s do the bad news first.  I like the bad news first so I can get over it with the good news.  So, the bad news; baptism is not the end of it.  It would really be great if as soon as we were baptized God would step in and wipe away all the bad things, take away all the “consequences.”  Don’t you hate the “consequences?”  It would be really nice if God would take the baptized believer and just make like easy and wonderful and pleasant and rosy and foo fooy and we could all live happily ever after.  But the bad news is that is not how it works.  In fact listen to the very next sentence in Luke.  Jesus pleased God by being baptized and is announced as the Son of God and then we have the 77 names ending with Jesus as the Son of God; the very next verse, well actually 2 verses.

Luke 4:1-2 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert,  where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.

Right after his baptism Jesus is led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted.  Isn’t that hard?  Wouldn’t it have been a better story if right after his baptism Jesus was filled with the Spirit in rejoicing and the disciples had a party and it was good? But that is not the reality of it.  That is the bad news of baptism.  It is the beginning of a struggle.  It is the start of something tough.  It is like enlisting into the army.  What is the first thing they do to you once you join?  Shave your head and send you to boot camp.  Wow.  That makes me want to sign up.  The reality of the Christian life is it is about being tempted.
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So, how did Jesus do?  He went from baptism to the desert, how did it work out for Jesus?  Let’s keep reading in chapter 4.

Luke 4:3-13  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.'"  When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

Wow, that must have been fun.  Satan hammered him.  But what was all this about?  Stone to bread and worshipping Satan and jumping off temples, what was going on?  Did you notice a key phrase here that is used twice?  The same key phrase that helped us to understand last week?  The Son of God.  The Temptation in the desert is all about what kind of Son Jesus was going to be.  

Satan knew who Jesus was.  His demons knew. Surely he knew.  I think Satan had caught a glimpse of the plan.  That is the plan for Jesus to die on the cross to bring salvation to the world.  Satan knew the stakes.  If Jesus was able to accomplish his goal of being God’s Christ, all was lost.  Satan would do anything to divert Jesus’ mission. The Temptation of Jesus is all about what kind of Messiah/Christ/Son Jesus was going to be. 

So, Satan, being the master manipulator, gave Jesus three attractive options. Jesus came to save the world. But how was he going to do it? Satan had some easier ways to save the world.

-Turn the stones to bread. 

Luke 4:3  The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread."

If you take care of the people they will follow you.  If you feed them and heal them and make their lives pleasant and easy, they will follow you and you could save the world. You could make it a better place and create heaven on earth by making everyone happy.  Wow, that’s not a bad idea. 

That’s not a bad idea.  Let’s just all get along and Jesus will feed everyone and he will save the world.  That was the temptation.  And it was real.  There is some good in it.  Helping people is a good thing.  What king of Messiah are you going to be?  How about one who takes care of people, one who turns stones to bread?

®Satan didn’t stop there.  Well if you aren’t going to save the world by meeting their needs what about politically? I will give you all their authority.

Luke 4:5-7  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."

Satan is the power broker of the world.  “We get together and rule the world and then we can make it fair. We can make it just.  We can save the world by political means.” Satan says, “I will step aside and let you rule the world.  No more Romans.  No more crucifixions. No more injustice. No more cruelty.  No more brutes running the world.”  Jesus you will be in charge of the world and it will be great.  Jesus saving the world by ruling it.  Not a bad idea. What kind of Messiah?  How about a just one who rules the world?

-But there is yet another option about how to be the Messiah.  Do it Religiously.  Throw yourself down from here.

Luke 4:9-11  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.'"

“Jump off the Temple and amaze everyone.  They will see you float to the ground and it will be awe-some. Then everyone will know that you are the Son of God and they will all become religious.  You can start this new religion based upon your charisma and the world will be saved,” taunts Satan.  What kind of Messiah? How about one who by his amazing deeds does it religiously?

All three of these alternative Messiah options would have worked.  Jesus could have saved the world by feeding the world.  He could have saved the world by being the Supreme Ruler of the world and stopped all injustice.  He could have saved the world by turning it all religious.  He could have been the Pope of the world.  All were viable, desirable alternatives to how Jesus could have been the Messiah.  But that was not the kind of Messiah he was called to be.

God had a different plan.  God’s son was called to be a different kind of Messiah.  The Christ was to die on a cross. The Temptation in the desert was really all about the cross.  Would Jesus be the suffering servant or choose one of Satan’s desirable options? 
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As I said the bad news is that baptism leads to temptation. It did for Jesus. It does for us.  And the interesting thing about it is that the question is the same.  What kind of son are you going to be?  The choices are the same as Jesus’.

-We can be concerned about the things of this world; about eating and being healthy and social welfare and making sure that everything in our lives and the lives of others is nice.  We can choose to be sons who are focused on turning stones to bread; meeting our own needs and the needs of others. We can save the world if we can make it a better place.   What kind of son are you going to be?  How about one who saves the world by taking care of the world?

-Or we can be focused on the political answers.  If we elect the right people.  If we have the right laws.  If we have the biggest army.  If we have the politics we can save the world. Let’s have justice for all.  We can save the world if we can fix the world.  What kind of son are you going to be?  What about one who saves the world through justice? 

-Or we can focus on church. We make sure we go to the right church.  We can focus on the getting everyone to believe the right doctrines.  If we can build bigger churches and have superior programs and do church right we can save the world.  The answer is in religion.  We can save the world with the church.  What kind of son are you?  What about one who does church right?   That has to be the right answer!

God had a different plan for his oldest son.  He has a different plan for all of his sons.  His plan is for us to sacrifice our lives.  It is not about us helping others or ourselves.  It is not about justice in the world.  It is not even about doing church right. It is about you offering your complete life in sacrifice to God.  That is what will save the world. 
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I said I had good news and bad news this morning.  The bad news was baptism is not the end of it.  The baptized believer is going to be led into the desert to be tempted.  The good news is baptism is not the end of it.  The baptized believer is going to be led into the desert to be tempted.  Listen to Jesus as he answers each of the temptations.

The temptation to turn stones to bread – Social Option:

Luke 4:4  "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone.’”

There is more to this life than eating, drinking and being happy. This life is all about being who God has designed us to be.  That is Good News.  It is in the temptations of this life for stuff that we can say no and be more than someone who eats bread.  We can live on being that sacrifice to God.  Wow. Life is exciting!

The temptation to worship Satan – Political Option: 

Luke 4:8  "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'"

Wow. More Good News.  We are more than people who are confined to the politics of this world.  We are designed to be worshippers.  We are called to praise God.  We are sons who worship and serve him only.  That is such a higher calling than politics.  Life is good we can worship!

The temptation to show off religiously – Church Option:

Luke 4:12   "It says: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"

We are God-servants, not God-manipulators.  We allow him to be in control of us.  We don’t attempt to control him.  Church is not about getting God to do our will.  It is about learning to do his will.  He is in control and that is good news.

All this is good news.  God has a plan for your life.  As his son, whether male or female, God’s sons are called to the highest calling; a calling above the stuff of the world, a calling above the politics of the world, a calling above even his church.  We are called to give it all up for him.  In doing that, the same thing is going to happen to us that happened to Jesus.  Read the next few verses:

Luke 4:14-15  Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside.  He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.

The road to glory is the way of the cross.  The irony of the whole thing is amazing.  Do you like irony?  God likes irony.  Here is some irony.   
-Being God’s sacrificial sons leads us to help others, to turn stones into bread.
-Being God’s sacrificial sons leads us to fight for justice in the world.
-Being God’s sacrificial sons leads us to do church right.

The good news is that when we are God’s sacrificial sons we do it all.  That is ironic. It is through sacrifice that we save the world.  The road to glory is the way of the cross. 

What do we see from the temptation?  What is our prayer this morning?

“Thank you, Lord, for temptation because when we say, “No,” to Satan’s options and, “Yes,” to being sacrificial sons, we bring glory to you in all we do.”