Identity: Delivered

Jan 8, 2017 by: Sam Hestorff| Series: Identity
Scripture: Luke 4:1–13

Last week, we began a new sermon series entitled "Identity" because there's just something about this time of year that causes us to reflect on our lives and ask . . . "Is this what I’m supposed to be doing?"
And so we make resolutions that essentially say . . . I want to be a better version of me.
But I think that the only way to be a better version of you . . . is to know who you are. To understand your identity. Because if you don’t know who you are then life becomes a series of broken resolutions.
I can't help but think that Jesus struggled with this too.
You see, one of the things that makes Christianity unique is that at we declare that God is with us . . . that God stepped in to human skin and lived a human life.
And no matter how we try to hang words around it, we long for a God who knows what it's like to be us, because human life is hard and we struggle to know who we really are and really meant to be.
And in today's text, we find ourselves meeting a God who, in every way, identifies with us. he's been there. He's not a God who stands back and is immune from temptation and suffering. He's a God who enters in to it, to identify with us in it and to deliver us from it.
Video
It was an amazing scene . . . Jesus has just been baptized and as he came up out of the water, the skies opened and the spirit of God descends upon Jesus like a dove and a voice from heaven spoke saying, “This is my son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Jesus is not only being blessed by God . . . he is proclaiming Jesus to be the Son of God.
This is a public inauguration, a declaration of identity and ministry . . . He had been filled with the Spirit and it seems like it is go time . . . but the Spirit isn’t finished with him yet.
Instead of opening up ministry opportunities right there on the banks of the Jordan River where people are already gathered and seemingly primed to hear whatever it is that Jesus might say or do after seeing what just happened . . . that same Spirit leads him into the wilderness all by himself for forty days.
And for 40 days, Jesus is tempted. Luke records 3 of these temptations but there were more. This was ongoing temptation for forty days and forty nights. And Jesus got to that place of constant temptation by being spirit filled, spirit led . . . hmm.
You see, this isn’t just a spiritual expedition here, a little time for quiet reflection and contemplation. It’s the spirit of God throwing Jesus into the wilderness of his own soul, his own call, and his own identity.
The first temptation begins at the end of verse two, chapter four: “He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. The devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.’”
Jesus hasn’t eaten for 40 days and dude is hungry and Satan tells him to make bread.
If you’re hungry, is it a sin to eat bread? No. Could Jesus have turned stones into bread? Sure. He’s going to make water into wine. If he can make water into wine, he can make stones into bread.
Then what’s the temptation here?
If you listen closely you’ll hear that this is an attack on Jesus’ identity. Hear Satan’s line: “if you are the Son of God.” Remember, Jesus was baptized, comes up out of the water, skies open, spirit comes down like a dove and God the Father says, “This is my Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
And Satan says, “Really? Are you really the Son of God?”
You see, your life comes out of your identity. What you think you are will determine what decisions you make and how you live your life.
Jesus has just been told that he is the Son of God; a proclamation that will set the course of his life and his ministry and Satan comes and says, “Are you sure?”
You see, if Satan can get you to forget your identity then the decisions about how you live your life and your calling will be drastically altered.
Jesus responds by quoting scripture . . . Here it is Deut. 8:3, “it is written man does not live on bread alone” The rest of that verse says this, “but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD”
In the face of temptation, Jesus doesn’t say, “I’m sorry, I’ve got to do some homework and I’ll get back to you with a response”. But instead he’s ready and he quotes scripture . . . from memory. Ephesians and Hebrews both say that the Word of God is living and active, sharper than a double-edged sword.
And as temptation rages in your life, Scripture is your only hope, and to know it well. And like Jesus, don't read it asking the question "what works?" but rather "what is true?"
Now, you would think that Satan would back off – just quote a verse at him, and he’ll leave you alone - but that’s not how Satan operates. He doesn’t always go. He doesn’t just leave Jesus. It’s not like, “Oh, I heard Deuteronomy, now I got to go.” Instead, he keeps coming.
Luke 4:5–8, “And the devil took him up, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time,” a miracle—we don’t know how it happened, “and said to him, ‘To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, ‘“You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.”’”
Satan comes preaching prosperity to Jesus – a tactic Satan still uses in the church - but what’s at issue here is worship.
Satan says to Jesus, “You want glory, you want fame, and you want power . . . we can do that without the cross . . . no need to suffer . . . Just one thing, you’ll need to worship me.”
What’s interesting is that he’s not asking Jesus to become an atheist and deny the father. “Just take the father down a notch from his position of glory. Don’t do everything that honors him. Do some things that I want you to do, or even things that you want to do. And if you do, I’ll make you comfortable, successful, and powerful. I’ll give you all the pleasures that your mind could ever think of.
How does Jesus respond? He turns to scripture. This time he quotes Deuteronomy 6:13 . . . “It is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.”
Does Satan leave him alone, thinking “man, this guy is good, I’m never gonna get him to crack? No, he re-baits the hook and comes to Jesus one last time.
Jesus is exhausted. He has been without food for 40 days and 40 nights and the devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple and he says,
“If” . . . there it is again, challenging his identity . . . “If you are the Son of God 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 is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.
Satan comes to Jesus and says, “I notice you like the Scriptures. I study them myself. You’ve been quoting Deuteronomy a few times, but I’ve been getting my devotionals from the Psalms and it says that God will protect those who are his faithful servants . . . Test him.”
But Jesus knows the Word of God, very, very well and he goes back to Deuteronomy. This time it’s chapter six. “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.”
What he is telling him is, “you have quoted the verse, but you have misapplied it - you’ve tried to make God’s word fit into your argument.”
God’s point in Psalm 91 is not, test God and make him prove to you who he is . . . it says if you faithfully serve him, he will lovingly help you in your time of need.”
And with that Satan leaves Jesus; forty days of constant, ongoing, painful battle and temptation. Satan leaves Jesus but not forever . . . it says that he left him until an opportune time.
But the story doesn’t end there.
Next week we'll see that Jesus returns to his hometown with clarity about his mission and purpose. Jesus attends the synagogue there, opens the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and reads these words,
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me. He has sent me to announce good news to the poor, to proclaim release for the captives and recovery of sight for the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the Lord's favor." Then Jesus rolls up the scroll and says to the assembled worshippers, "Today, today, in your very hearing this text has come true."
Jesus comes out of the wilderness, out of his temptations, filled and armed with the Spirit. He claims his identity as the son of God and embraces his mission; to proclaim the good news, to bring restoration and release, reconciliation and renewal.
In his experience in the wilderness, Jesus does not become distracted by the things that the tempter tries to offer him. No, he keeps his eyes on the prize. He rests in the Spirit of God and refuses the power and security that could keep him temporarily satisfied while deterring him from his real purpose in life.
The Spirit of God gets hold of him, guides him, directs him, fortifies and strengthens him, and Jesus embarks on his mission of life and love from that moment on.
Jesus chooses God. Jesus chooses his mission and call. And because of what he did, he offers to those who call upon his name and believe that he is the son of God a new identity.
In Christ, we have a new identity. You’re a new creation and the tempter would come to you and say,
• “Are you really forgiven? Don’t you remember the horrible things you did? Are you sure God forgives you of that?
• God loves you? Are you sure that he loves you? You’re suffering right now. It doesn’t look like he loves you.
• Are you sure you’re saved and loved and redeemed and cleansed and forgiven? All those big promises the Bible makes, if that was true, wouldn’t your life look a little better than it does right now?
Some of you come here, and even hearing this, all you hear is, “Your temptation is so strong and your faith is so weak. Your life course is already set. Your past is unforgivable. Your future is unhopeful. You’re beyond the grace of God”
That would be your enemy whispering in your ear, trying to take away from you the freedom and the joy and the newness of life offered in Jesus Christ.
He’s a liar. He’s a liar and the truth will set you free!
And Jesus will give you a new identity as one who is changed, loved, healed, forgiven, and granted his perfect righteousness.

Latest Sermon

Bad Boys of Easter: Caiaphas

Mar 10

Next Upcoming Event

Mar 31