June 22, 2011

Prove Yourself!

I’m not a big television viewer, but for an entire season I watched The Biggest Loser faithfully each Tuesday evening. I cried every week.
 
The show features 22 morbidly obese individuals who have committed to losing weight and getting in shape—all in front of millions of viewers. Bob and Jillian, their personal trainers, are relentless. From day one they push these men and women to the point of tears—or anger. Yet, ironically, the individuals without fail end up loving Bob and Jillian for their role in their success, for they have helped them to shed not only excess physical weight but emotional weight as well. And I can’t help remembering an often-quoted phrase that Jillian told them: “You’re worth more than this.”
 
Why did I choose to sit each week and watch Bob and Jillian push these individuals beyond their perceived limits? One reason was that it served as a reminder to me that when God allows me to be pushed beyond my perceived limits, He does it not to weaken me for my spiritual battles because I must prove that I’m His child, but to strengthen me to succeed because I am His child. But Satan likes to make me think otherwise. I think it’s the same thing that happened when the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness.
 
He Did What?
“Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” (Matt. 4:1).
I find this to be one of the most thought-provoking texts in all of Scripture.
 
2011 1518 page14Jesus had just experienced His baptism. The Spirit of God had descended on Him in the form of a dove. A voice had come from heaven and pronounced the Father’s pleasure with Him: “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17). Then, as the Gospel writer Mark puts it, immediately the Spirit sent Jesus into the desert to be tempted by Satan, the accuser (see Mark 1:12, 13). And Satan decided that this job of tempting the Son of God was too important for his underlings; he was going to conduct the warfare himself. If you read this event in all four Gospels, you will understand that Satan tempted Jesus the entire 40 days; these three temptations were merely the culmination of his attacks.
 
Why would the Spirit lead Jesus into a barren desert to be tempted?
 
In English, the word tempt has a negative connotation. It typically means to entice a person to do wrong, to try to make them take a wrong course. But in Greek it has a different nuance. It means to test more than it does to tempt in our sense of the word.
 
Thus, the Father’s purpose in sending His Son into the wilderness alone to hang out with wild animals and to be tempted by Satan was more to test Him in preparation for His ministry that lay ahead than it was to tempt Him to do evil.
 
“Temptation is not meant to make us sin, it is meant to enable us to conquer sin. It is not meant to make us bad, it is meant to make us good. It is not meant to weaken us, it is meant to make us emerge stronger.”1
 
Of course, God cannot be tempted, because there is nothing within Him that sin appeals to. But Jesus took our human nature. So what was the nature of Satan’s attacks on Jesus?
 
Identity Fraud
“If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread” (Matt. 4:3).
 
Remember, Jesus had just come from His baptism. He had been assured of His Father’s love and affirmation. He knew who He was. Satan had been testing Him day and night for more than a month. At that point his attacks culminated in what I believe reveal their nature: Satan’s desire was to make Jesus distrust the heavenly vision that revealed His identity as the Son of God, and to use His spiritual powers to prove Himself.
 
Can you hear his taunts?
 
“Jesus, you were an illegitimate child born in a stable. What makes you think you are really the Son of God?”
 
“Would the God of the universe send His Son to earth to be a carpenter? Don’t you think the role of a prince would fit the Son of God more appropriately?”
 
“Nobody knows you, Jesus. You live in a little town nobody’s heard of. You lack prestige. Don’t you think if you were really God’s Son, you’d be a little more famous?”
 
Satan attacks our identity too, and tempts us to use our spiritual power to prove our identity.
 
“Johnny, you were born to an unwed mother. What makes you think you can be a child of God? You’re going to have to work hard to prove your worth.”
 
“Sandy, you’re an addict. Do you really think God is proud to call you His child?”
 
“Billy, you’re a ____________.” Fill in the blank.
 
Just as he did to Jesus, Satan finds whatever he can to shame us and make us feel as if we aren’t good enough to be God’s son or daughter. But Jesus was committed. He refused to use His spiritual powers to prove Himself to Satan to satisfy His physical needs. Even then, His test wasn’t complete.
 
“Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:14).
 
The discussion of our physical being is a spiritual conversation. The Spirit of God lives within these humble abodes, and what we do physically affects our life in this world and in the world to come. In all ages, Satan has attempted to destroy our mental and moral powers by our appetites and our passions.
 
Round Two
“If you are the Son of God . . .” (Matt. 4:6).
 
Satan again insinuated that Jesus may not be the Son of God. But you’ll also notice that he has changed his strategy. He’s now placed a Bible under his arm and some proof texts in his mouth. While Jesus secured Himself in God’s Word, Satan tried to secure Jesus with the misuse of God’s Word.
 
“. . . throw yourself down. For it is written . . .” (verse 6).
 
Satan again tried to get Jesus to use His spiritual power to prove His identity, and to lead Him into presumption—counterfeit faith.
 
True faith does not present petitions to God to prove whether He will fulfill His Word, but because He will fulfill it.2 If faith is dependent on sensational acts such as throwing oneself down off a roof, it is not really faith, but doubt looking for proof. 
 
True faith leads to obedience. Counterfeit faith excuses transgression.
 
True faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see (cf. Heb. 11:1). Jesus knew that His Father could take care of Him. But He would not presume on His Father’s power to prove His prestige with Satan.
 
Round Three
“ ‘All this I will give you,’ he said, ‘if you will bow down and worship me’ ” (Matt. 4:9).
2011 1518 page14Satan gave up trying to get Jesus to deny His identity. He also gave up trying to misuse God’s Word. His appeal to Jesus was blunt: “If I can’t get you to deny your identity, I’ll bribe you. I’ll give you anything you want if only you’ll worship me.
 
That’s it. That’s Satan’s ultimate goal: to have everyone worship him as their god.
 
Satan still uses this strategy with us. If he can’t get us by discouragement and denial of our godly identity, he’ll try to get us by compromise. 
 
Making the Grade
What happens when the Spirit drives me into the desert to be tested? What can I do to remain faithful to my vision of being God’s child? How can I pass the test in this spiritual battle and worship the true God of the universe?
 
Remember that being a child of God does not secure us from being tempted—nor does it show that we are weak. Actually, it’s pretty much guaranteed for God’s children—especially considering that the purpose of temptation is not to make us sin, but to help us resist sin. Temptation is not sin. So don’t buy into Satan’s shame-and-blame game. It’s how we deal with temptation that determines our character.
 
Remember that Jesus’ first defense against the accusations of Satan was God’s Word.
 
Many years ago in a Moscow theater Alexander Rostovzev was converted while playing the role of Jesus in a sacrilegious play entitled Christ in a Tuxedo. He was supposed to read two verses from the Sermon on the Mount, remove his gown, and cry out, “Give me my tuxedo and top hat!” But as he read the words “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matt. 5:3, 4), he began to tremble.
 
Instead of following the script, he kept reading from Matthew 5, ignoring the coughs, calls, and foot-stamping of his fellow actors. Finally, recalling a verse he had learned in his childhood in a Russian Orthodox church, he cried, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom!”(Luke 23:42, KJV). Before the curtain could be lowered, Rostovzev had trusted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior.3
 
Remember that Jesus shared His struggles in order to encourage us.
 
In order for the Gospel writers to share this story, Jesus had to have told them about His temptations in the desert. And I believe Jesus calls us to do the same. We need not share all the nitty-gritty details of our temptations; Jesus didn’t. He shared what would be beneficial for us.  
 
While an assistant editor of the Adventist Review, I wrote an article chronicling my struggle with eczema, a skin condition. I shared my physical as well as spiritual struggle of not even thinking to pray when my mind was so focused on surviving the pain. Of all the articles I’ve written over the past 20 years, I received the most responses to that article. It touched a chord. Through my sharing, our readers were reminded that they aren’t alone in their struggles.
 
The Finale
Some people erroneously believe that it’s God’s will that we suffer, so that we will love and obey Him. The long answer to that question will take another article! But the short answer is no. God is not the author of suffering or trials. He is not dependent on evil to accomplish His purposes. But because of the presence of sin in our world, often it takes our being tested in order to strengthen us for the battle against Satan. But be encouraged! When you are tested, remember that God cares for you much more than Bob and Jillian care for their clients. And He doesn’t allow you to be pushed beyond your limits in order for you to have to prove yourself or your worth to Him or anyone else. He allows it because He knows it will help you succeed to remain out of Satan’s control.
 
He allows you to be tested because you’re worth more than this.
 
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1 William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, The Daily Study Bible (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1975), vol. 1, p. 63.
2 Based on Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 126.
3 J. Kirk Johnston, Why Christians Sin (Grand Rapids: Discovery House, 1992), p. 121. Taken from www. sermonillustrations.com.
 
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Bonita Joyner Shields is editor of youth Bible study guides in the Sabbath School and Personal Ministries Department of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. This article was published June 23, 2011.
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