Pastor Marty Monday, December 12, 2016 at 3:51PM John 2:1-11. This sermon was preached by visiting Evangelist Ernie Salinas at Abundant Life Christian Fellowship on Sunday, December 11, 2016. We do have permission to post the audio. Enjoy!
Pastor Marty Tuesday, December 6, 2016 at 1:31PM Matthew 4:5-7. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on December 04, 2016.
Today we continue our study of the temptation of Christ that we see in Matthew 4, and look at the second one presented to our Lord. If the first temptation was to satisfy and sustain yourself with material things, then the second temptation is to promote yourself and make things happen by your own wisdom. Another way to categorize these three temptation is to use the phrases that are given in 1 John 2:16, “For all that is in the world- the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life- is not of the Father, but is of the world.” The first temptation appealed to the lust of the flesh (make bread for your stomach). This second one seems to be more about the pride of life.
All of us deal with issues of significance and often desire situations in which we are exalted above our fellow man. Satan loves to play off of these desires and mislead us into a path of destruction. For some this path leads them towards religion, but twists it with human pride. For others the path may lead them away from religion out of a wounded pride. Either way he wins because there is no other solution for the hearts of mankind than the Creator Himself. So the first are walled off to Him by the self-delusion that they are acceptable, and the second wall themselves off to Him out of their pain. May we all learn to lay our pride at the foot of the cross of Jesus and thereby remove from Satan’s arsenal a very powerful, spiritual lever that he loves to employ against us.
It is often said that Satan fell through pride in his own wisdom and beauty. Thus it would stand to reason that he would seek to enamor us with his own prideful reasoning. The Bible does not make it completely clear whether Satan knows he was wrong and is operating out of sheer spite, or whether he still thinks there is a play here where he actually “proves his case” and wins. Regardless we must expect to be tempted in this area of pride.
We see in verse 5 that the devil takes Jesus up to the highest point of the temple. It is not really important the mode of this travel, though many can speculate. The setting is a place that no one may see immediately (while he is being tempted). But if he listens to the devil there will be a very public spectacle. How could jumping from of a height that was as much as several hundred feet be tempting?
It starts with being reminded of his relationship with the Father. The first temptation tries to paint the Father as not taking care of Jesus. “God doesn’t care about you as much as you think. Make your own bread.” However, this temptation does the opposite. It plays on the pride of such a close relationship with the Father. “Since you are the Son of God make a public show of God’s love for you. There is no way He would let you die.” Of course the devil makes no mention or shows no regard for what the Father’s plan might be. Jesus loves the Father and has been in a relationship of unity with Him since the beginning. So He is not only concerned with what the Father wants, but already knows that what Satan suggests is not the plan.
So what does Satan hope to accomplish? It is tough to say. Perhaps he hopes to try and thwart any spiritual help that would come with his own angels, so that Jesus would die. Clearly he seeks to kill Jesus because of the cross later. Let’s get one thing clear. Satan is not interested in promoting Jesus and he could care less about promoting you. In the end his only aim is to destroy your life. If he can do that by inflating your pride in your relationship with God, then he will.
Notice that this time Satan backs up his temptation by quoting Scripture. His first temptation was pushed aside by Jesus reminding him of Scripture. So he tries to reverse this tactic back on Jesus by quoting some Scripture himself. One thing is clear in the Bible; the devil always twists the meaning of God’s Word. He is only capable of abusing Scripture for his own ends, which are contrary to God’s. An illustration of this can be seen in politics. Every word of an opponent is generally twisted out of context and used against them by the other side. Finding a truly, objective treatment of the person is rare. As Christians we must flee this kind of activity in our own life. 2 Timothy 2:15 says that we must “rightly divide [handle] the word of truth.” We can see that the devil does not do such a thing but twists the meaning of Psalm 91 by skipping phrases and leaving out the context. So let’s look at this section of Psalm 91.
Satan quotes from verse 11, skips the second part of it, quotes verse 12, and leaves off verse 13. It is always important to pay attention to what is left out. Notice that God’s angels would be commanded to watch over the righteous “to keep you in all your ways.” The way of a person is a huge theme in the Bible. In fact the righteous are known by their determination to walk in the “way of the Lord.” Thus the passage is about a person who is in a trusting relationship with God and living as God has taught us. When God’s ways are our ways then the devil will find little within us that he can manipulate. Now verse 12 points out that God’s protection is upon the righteous. But verse 13 shows why. We are protected in order to tread upon the lion and the cobra. Now this is not a passage about handling literal lions and cobras, although God is more than capable of delivering the righteous from such. There is never a case of people “treading” on lions and cobras in the Bible so that should be your first clue that something deeper is going on here. The lion and cobra are metaphors for our spiritual enemy, the devil. 1 Peter 5:8 says, “Your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.” God doesn’t necessarily protect us from ever falling down literally. But He does offer constant protection so that we may never fall to the schemes of the devil and be devoured by Him. Similarly, in Revelation 12:9 it says, “So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world.” The “serpent of old” is an allusion to Genesis 3 and the Fall of Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve fell before the Serpent (Satan) because they were tricked into distrusting God. Clearly Satan doesn’t want to quote this part of the passage and highlight that angelic protection is so that we can tread on the devil, not cooperate with his plans.
However, Jesus does not go into Psalm 91 and point these things out to Satan because there is an even greater context to these verses. All Scripture is context to any one verse. A very powerful thing about Scripture is that its proper understanding will not contradict any other part. If it seems to then you know there is an error in your understanding. So, dig deeper. Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:16. Yes, God will protect you along your way. But we also, must not test Him in this. Now, God is gracious and many of us have been in times of weak faith and have asked God to give us a sign of his love. If we do so without the threat of walking away from Him then He sometimes graciously responds. But, if you lay down something as a test that God must pass or you are walking away, then beware. Such actions are not born out of a loving relationship with God, but out of selfish love for yourself. Beware of those who trumpet on Scripture to the detriment of the rest of Scripture. This is classic cult leader stuff.
So let’s develop that last point that Jesus makes to the devil. The Holy Spirit had not led Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple; the devil had. In our own lives it is not always so clear who is leading us. Thus we must be careful to recognize anything that smacks of trying to force God’s hand, or trying to speed up things. This is manipulation of the relationship that God wants with us. Now, a parent loves a child, but would be foolish to allow the child to fall into the habit of trying to manipulate them. Of course, kids are learning how to love. They don’t understand such deeper concepts. It takes a parent who loves them too much to let them get away with it, a parent who disciplines them in such times, in order to help a child grow in love. Just as your flesh desires material things, so it desires the pride of life: public success, and the accolades of those around us. Satan plays off of these things. Yet, Jesus did not operate in such a way as to lift himself up, or try to out think the plan of God. In fact, Jesus often did the opposite of what self-promoters would do. Jesus pointed us to the Father and for such a blessing he was crucified. That was to be his public moment of demonstrating the love of the Father.
But it goes deeper than just crass manipulation. We cannot force God to demonstrate His love as we dictate. When a person lays down an ultimatum to God, “either you do this or I walk,” we step out onto shaky ground. God in His grace does work with our weakness. Gideon was given a sign by God. Yet, we must always have as our foundation, “Nevertheless, Thy will be done.” In fact, God gave the greatest demonstration of love possible when He gave His One and Only Son to become a man and do for us what we could not do for ourselves. All this is so that whosoever would believe on Jesus would have everlasting life instead of perishing. It is easy for us to do this to one another. We can be angry and made that someone didn’t show their love in a particular way. We can even do the politician thing and twist everything that they do or say into “not love.” But when we act this way we actually destroy the very love that is being given to us. Too many people say, “If God would only do such and such, then I would know that He exists and that He cares about me.” The problem is that you are trying to control God and refusing to deal with the countless ways that He has demonstrated His love for you. So we can push aside 1,000 ways of love and complain that we did not receive a particular 1. This is folly and not the path of love. Love is a discovery of the uniqueness of another and how we can uniquely love them back. How can we demand more than that? Love doesn’t dictate how another person loves. Rather, it receives it freely and with Joy.
Email Article | Print Article | Share Article | tagged Devil, Holy Spirit, Pride, Scripture, Temptation, Testing Pastor Marty Monday, November 28, 2016 at 3:09PM Matthew 4:1-4. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on November 27, 2016.
The commercialization of all things good usually brings out the worst in humanity. Thus, after a day that is focused on being thankful, many go out and shout, fight, and wrestle over the best deals of the year, Black Friday. As Christians we must not lose sight of the reality behind Thanksgiving, or its reason for being. In fact we dare not lose sight of the reason for our lives themselves. Thanksgiving has nothing to do with getting the best deals on the latest electronic gadget. But, rather, it is about stopping in the midst of our often busy lives and showing appreciation for what we already have, despite what we may not have.
Today we are going to look at Jesus during a time in his life where we are allowed to see Satan trying to tempt Him. I believe these temptations are instructive and valuable to us so that we can know that we do not live by bread alone.
In Matthew 4 we are told that Jesus is “led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” It is clear that the Spirit had a purpose that involved this word “tempted.” In the passage the devil is also called the “Tempter,” (same word but as a noun). Now we know that the Spirit is not in league with the devil so what is going on here?
Part of the mystery lies in the word that is translated “tempted.” When this word is used in a situation that is for something good, say refining metal, it means something more like “to prove or test.” When the word is used in a bad situation, say blowing all your money on gambling and drinking, it means “to tempt.” We would never say that a teacher is tempting a child when they give them a test because our focus is on the intent. The Greek’s chose to use the same word because in both cases you are being tested. Here we know that it is the Spirit’s purpose to test Jesus in order to prove who He is. But it is Satan’s purpose to tempt Jesus, disqualify Him, and bring Him under control.
Perhaps you have struggled with understanding why God lets temptation or challenges exist in your life. It is because He knows that they can strengthen and prove our faith in Him. Even our past failures are used by God to make our faith stronger. Times of temptation can help us grow by revealing areas of weakness that we need to surrender to God. God can and will give you the victory over your spiritual enemy if you will trust Him. On the other hand, Satan actively tempts us in order to pull us away from God and bring into bondage under his dominion. He uses our past failures as chains to keep us from turning to God and believing Him.
One of the main things that Satan tempts us with is material things. This is on display in the first temptation. But let’s further explore the setting. We are told that Jesus fasted and prayed for 40 days in the wilderness. You see, the Spirit was leading Jesus towards spiritual purposes. Jesus was spiritually preparing to go to war against the evil spirits that had taken control of Israel, and then the whole world. Satan may have showed up throughout the 40 days and Matthew may only be recording three of many temptations. Regardless, the first we are told about involves breaking his fast by creating bread from the stones around him. It is here that we should recognize that we often lose the spiritual by pursuing the material. Even deeper, often letting go of the material is necessary to receive spiritual gain. Another thing to recognize is that most of what we have spiritually has come through combat with the Tempter.
Most translations quote the devil as saying to Jesus, “If you are the Son of God.” It sounds like Satan is questioning this fact. However, this Greek conditional does not necessarily bring the first part in question. It has the sense of this, “If you are the Son of God [and we both know you are, why don’t you] command that these stones become bread.” The temptation is to prove what you know to be true for fleshly reasons, rather than trusting God to demonstrate the truth at the proper time. If we boil it further down, the temptation is to follow your flesh rather than the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God had led Jesus to a hungry, weakened condition, where there was no food around. Why not use your power to get off such a loathsome path?
This doesn’t always have to be about something material like bread. The Corinthian Church members even used the spiritual gifts that God had given them of speaking in unknown languages to please their fleshly desire for pride and high standing with the other Church members. Thus the material is not so much the problem as the desires of our flesh. When we let our fleshly desires lead it always takes us away from what God wants to do in our life.
So God is not against the material things in your life. However, He knows that they cannot save you. Jesus responds to the Devil by quoting Deuteronomy 8:3. “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” The passage Jesus quotes is not about forbidding bread to people. In fact God had supernaturally provided bread (manna) for Israel while they were in the wilderness. The passage is pointing out that God had revealed to Israel that their life was not about the things we see around us, but about what God says. Thus a person can be surrounded by food and yet lack life, especially eternal life. Yet, a person can be in a wilderness where there is nothing and they will live because of what God commands. Up to 6 million Israelites survived in a barren wilderness because God commanded it. Can he not take care of you? God knows that you have physical needs, but He also knows that the desires of your flesh generally pull you away from Him and His ways. This temptation that the Devil brings to Jesus, he also brings to us. He wants to rob you of the greater treasure that God has for you, and trap you in a materialistic prison. If you have failed this test then quit trying to “make bread out of stones,” (a.k.a. trying to make it happen by your power). Yes, we don’t have the same power that Jesus had, but we are tempted in the same kind of way. Let it go!
Throughout history Christians have pointed to the tactic that Jesus employs here as the key for our own victory. Jesus used God’s Word (or The Truth) to counteract the twisted, false logic of the Devil. This doesn’t make it easy. Often the “lie” that Satan is offering us is something that our flesh wants to believe. Now Jesus had the power to attack Satan head on. Through His divine power He could have commanded Satan to be locked up in the Abyss, or Bottomless Pit (a spiritual prison for evil Spirits, 2 Peter 2:4; Jude 1:6; Revelation 9). But Jesus did not stand against Satan in this way. Instead, Jesus resisted Satan as a human can, or as you and I can. If we take time to familiarize ourselves with the Truth of God’s Word, then we are equipped to neutralize the lies of the enemy of our soul. Each of Satan’s lies and temptations are like a small chain that is used to tie us up into spiritual knots. Though you may be tied up in a pretzel and powerless, the Word of God through Jesus Christ is not. No matter how bound up a person is they can be set free through this same tactic: stop trusting the lies of Satan and start trusting Jesus, the Son of God. Don’t settle for others in your life to know the Bible. You need to know it for yourself. Your spiritual life depends upon it.
The Word of God not only counteracts the deceptions of Satan, but it also keeps us in connection with the Source of Life. Satan ultimately wants to sever any connection you have to the Spirit of God by getting to your trust. In Romans 8:14 Paul says, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.” One of God’s amazing truths is that He adopts into His family everyone who dares to believe Jesus and follow Him. As a believer in Jesus and a disciple of Jesus, the Spirit of God leads us to put to death the deeds that are inspired by our fleshly desires. However, Satan tempts us to give into satisfying those same fleshly desires. In fact Scriptures tells us that our flesh is hostile to the things of God even as a Christian (Romans 8:7). Rebellion against God’s revealed will, or ignoring His Spirit because we are so inebriated with our fleshly desires and materialism, both become a barrier between us and the Source of Eternal Life. Even though the world around you may say that you cannot live without such and such, it does so because it has given into the temptations of Satan. When we are trapped in materialistic lies, we become a part of a system that helps the Tempter by being a temptation ourselves. Why would you want to be like the devil and take on his image, when the Spirit of God is offering to make you into the image of Jesus? May we shine out as bright lights in this world of darkness. May we be the children of God who are being led by the Spirit of God to inherit all things along with the One and Only Unique Son of God, Jesus.
Email Article | Print Article | Share Article | tagged Connection, Life, Materialism, Temptation, Word of God Pastor Marty Monday, November 28, 2016 at 3:07PM Psalm 100:1-5. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on November 20, 2016.
After this year’s presidential election we see that there are some who are rejoicing and others who are mourning. Even Christians are divided on whether the results were good or bad. I am not going to stand here today and make the case that the election of Donald Trump is a reason for giving thanks. Rather, I am challenging each of us to understand that for the Christian, our reasons for rejoicing cannot be touched by an election, or the stroke of an executive pen, or the folly of a legislative session, or even the over-reach of a zealous judiciary. Throughout history the godly have had to learn how to have joy in God’s presence regardless of what the world around them was doing. So this Thanksgiving let’s have a thankful heart for the right reasons!
Psalm 100 is addressed as a psalm for thanksgiving (some versions translate it as “praise”). In fact the word that is translated as thanksgiving is the Modern Hebrew word for saying “thank you,” today. There is a structural note to make about this psalm. It is designed to have a 1-2 punch twice. That is, the psalmist exhorts us to give thanks (verses 1 & 2) and then tells us why (verse 3). He does this again with verses 4 and 5. Thus we are going to look at verses 1 and 2 along with verse 4 because they are focused on the exhortation to give thanks to God.
First we are told to “shout joyfully” to the Lord. This is a good translation, but it is informative to understand that this word is determined by the context. It can also mean “an urgent cry, or shout for help, or a cry of alarm.” However the context here is giving thanks to God. Notice that this is meant to be a passionate response from our heart. In fact, it is usually the times in our life where we cried out in alarm, and cried for help from God, that we find a reason for the joyful shout of victory. Thus the psalmist addresses both Israel and “all the earth.” Yes, the gentiles were separated from God at the time of this psalm. They were also suffering under the administration of those false gods that they wanted to serve. Yet, Psalms 96-99 have been underlining the coming reign of Messiah, or the Savior King that God would send. In fact Psalm 98:3 says, “All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.” Of course the psalmist is looking ahead and declaring what the Spirit is revealing, by faith. Can we shout the joyful shout before the victory has come? In Christ, believers have the joy of being able to shout a victorious shout before it happens, because God guarantees our victory. Sometimes we lack passion in our worship and thanksgiving to God because we have never given thought to all that God has done and all that He has promised to do. We can then become distracted by the things of this earth and live life without a deep-seated joy in Jesus.
Next we are told to “serve the Lord with gladness.” From this point on the psalmist gives a command along with a description of how we should do it. We are to serve with a heart of gladness. Serving can become a very tedious thing, even overbearing at times. But generally, it becomes so because we lose sight of what our service is accomplishing or bringing us. When we go through moments of difficulty, our heart is tested. Some grow weary and quit. Others continue to work, but it has become a sad tedium to them. Don’t settle for merely going through the motions. God wants you to have gladness of heart. So take time today, and each day, to ask God to give you faith to believe that He is accomplishing a good thing out of our lives and service for Him. May God help us to believe that He is working all things to our good.
In verse 2 we are told to come before the Lord with singing. Literally, it is to come before His face. The picture is not of some ethereal “presence” of the Lord, but actually stepping into the place of His attention. When we sing we connect with God from a very deep place. For the person in the midst of turmoil and sadness, singing can be the rebellion of faith against the darkness. For the person who has seen the victory of the Lord, it can be the dancing heart’s eloquent discourse.
We see this same idea in verse 4 when it says, “enter.” It is actually the same word as “come,” but the context of going through gates into a God’s courts give the sense of “enter.” We should not only be thankful among one another, but we need to take time to enter into the throne room of God by faith and rejoice before Him with the songs of joy on our lips. Thus verse 4 mentions thanksgiving and praise. Thanksgiving has to do with a heart that is grateful. It is one thing to be happy about something good. It is quite another to go and give thanks to the giver. Sometimes we can be overly intent on a particular good thing that we want to the expense of the good thing that we already have. Often relationship with God, and one another, can be sacrificed in the desire for something else. Pray for God’s wisdom to know when we need to let things go to follow Him and when we need to learn how to be content and rejoice in what we already have.
Praise is similar to thanksgiving. However, it is more of a recounting of those good things that God has done and the good character that He has displayed. This outward adoration of God can be in a physical house of worship. But it must always be from a heart that has spiritually become a place of worship. In our private moments we can enter into the presence of God at any moment because He is everywhere at all times. People like Saeed Abedini, who was imprisoned in an Iranian prison for his faith in Jesus, can give testimony to the truth that no prison can keep us from entering into the presence of God and giving Him thanks and praise.
Verses 3 and 5 give us the reasons why God is worthy of our thanksgiving. The first reason is because it is He who has created us. Of all the pretender gods among the nations, there is only One who is truly God. The One who brought all that exists into being. Yes, angels were considered divine in the sense that they dwelt with God and are immortal. But they are not of the same class as the God who created all things. Thus, in worshipping fallen angels in various forms, the Gentiles demonstrated the tendency of human beings to look to the creation and worship it rather than the Creator. This reason could be categorized as a legal reason. He created us and all that we have. It is only right that we give Him thanks. How could we not be thankful to Him or worse give our thanks to something that is created itself? Within modern thinking, we are attempting to “take control of our own evolution.” This has given rise to a progressive philosophy that believes we can make ourselves what we want in all areas (socially, physically, and spiritually). However, just as we did not make ourselves, we will not be able to remake ourselves as well. Mankind will always impale itself upon the sword of its own sinful nature. Try as we might, we cannot fix the fallen human condition, only the Creator can.
If He is our Creator then by rights we belong to Him. Thus the Psalmist says that we are his people. He also employs a metaphor of a shepherd with his sheep. We are sheep that belong to the Great Shepherd. Of course God will not force us to serve Him and praise Him. He is not raising us up as sheep to be slaughtered and eaten. The shepherd metaphor is meant to reference a good shepherd who cares for and nurtures the sheep. He defends them from the wolves that want to eat them. He leads them to water, food, shelter, and a safe place. This is our God.
Verse 5 tells us that He is good. This is not a legal reason. It is more of a moral argument. God is good and to reject His claims upon our life in order to go after other things that are not good is foolish. Not only is God good, but He has a good end in mind for us. The Bible says that, “He who has begun a good work in you will be faithful to complete it.” Similarly He is merciful or full of loving kindness. Each of these is a type of goodness, or a facet of it. In mercy and compassion God does not give us what we deserve, but instead, offers us kindness and love. Of course we can receive mercy and not be thankful for it. This too is folly.
Lastly, His truth or faithfulness endures to all generations. The things that God has revealed can be depended on by every generation. Some in the Church have waffled on this point. The Truth of God is applicable to every culture at all times. Yes, there are many things that God commanded Israel that are not intended for the other cultures and every generation. But, with a proper understanding of what God is saying and revealing to the whole earth, we can know what is actually true in our generation. Though many have cast off God, and any hope in what God can do, we must not do it. Though many may push to make their own hope by their own hands, we must not do it. Our hope is in the God who created us. He is good and merciful to us. He will be faithful to every generation. Amen! Don’t be fooled by the pied pipers of our day. Give your life over to Jesus and ask Him to cover your sins. Be a follower of Jesus and join with all the saints in giving up the Joyful Shout!
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