“Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (Rm 6:3-5)
Introduction For the last few months, we talked about Jesus’ teachings about the last day. And today, I want to talk about one of the most important rituals in Christianity--℗baptism. Along with communion, baptism is considered one of the rituals that gives Christians a sense of belonging and identity. There are two weeks left until Easter and there will be a baptism ceremony the week after Easter—April 7th. So, if you haven’t been baptized yet, I think it’s a good chance to think more deeply about what baptism is. As you can see from the name of the denomination that our church belongs to, the Southern Baptist Convention, we consider baptism as one of the most important values in regard to one’s faith in Jesus. In our denomination, baptism is considered one of the strongest proofs of faith and the means of grace, which all who believe in Jesus should undergo. But it doesn’t mean that you don’t have faith in Jesus if you’re not baptized. However, if you really have faith in Jesus, I would say, there’s no reason not to be baptized because it was commanded by Jesus Himself and it gives you more confidence in your faith and identity as a Christian. Baptism is an important way to confess our faith in Jesus publicly. Even Jesus Himself was baptized by John the Baptist before He started his ministry in earnest. And, after finishing His work on the cross and being resurrected, Jesus commanded His disciples to ℗go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. That was the last command given to His followers before He ascended to heaven. We call it the Great Commission. So, we can say that even though it is a person who conducts a baptismal ceremony, it is actually God who works through it because He is the one who enacted baptism as an official way to confess our faith and receive His grace. The Meaning of Baptism So, then, what is baptism? How can we define it? Why is it important in Christian faith? These are the questions I want us to think about and answer in today’s sermon. The Baptist Faith and Message, which is the collection of beliefs of the Southern Baptist Convention, defines baptism this way. Let’s read it together. “Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus.” Here, we find some important aspects of baptism. Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water. It is conducted under the authority of the triune God—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. And, it represents believers’ faith in and union with Jesus Christ, who was crucified, buried, and risen from the dead. Now, let’s dig deeper into each of these aspects. 1. The Immersion of a Believer First of all, Christian baptism is the ℗immersion of a believer in water. This describes the biblical way to conduct a baptismal ceremony. There are different methods of baptism according to different denominations. For example, when I was baptized in Korea, I didn’t go into the water like we do in this church. The pastor simply sprinkled water on my head, saying, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” That was it. It was simple and quick. I’m not saying that that kind of baptism is wrong. Not all churches can have a baptismal font. And, what’s really important in baptism is the meaning behind it, not the way we do it. So, it’s understandable to use a simplified version of baptism, such as sprinkling. But we should at least know that the Bible clearly defines baptism as the immersion of believers in water. Whenever you read about baptism in the New Testament, it refers to full immersion in water. The Greek word used in the New Testament for baptism itself implies this method. The original Greek word for baptism, baptizo, is most clearly understood to mean the complete immersion of an object or a person in water. So, there’s no doubt that believers were fully immersed in water to be baptized in the New Testament. It was the way Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. Matthew 3:16 says, “As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water.” (Mt 3:16) That Jesus went up out of the water during His baptism implies that He was immersed in water. So then, we might ask, “Why is being fully immersed in water so important in Christian baptism?” It is actually very significant because of what the action represents. 2. Union with Christ’s Death, Burial, and Resurrection Full water immersion represents a believer’s ℗union with Jesus Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection, which are essential factors of the gospel. The Bible says that Jesus, the Son of God, came to the world in human form to save people from their sins. We call this the ℗incarnation, which means “The Word became flesh” (Jn 1:14). Then the question is, why did the Son of God have to become flesh like us? Was it necessary for Him to do so in order to save us from our sins? The answer is yes. Jesus chose to come to earth in human form because that was the only way to save us from our sins. God set an important principle in the Old Testament about the forgiveness of sin. Leviticus 17:11 says, “For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life” (Lev 17:11) Because God set the life of a creature in its blood, only blood can make atonement for sin. That was the reason many ℗animals without defect were killed to make atonement for people’s sins in the Old Testament. However, animal sacrifice couldn’t perfectly atone for people’s sins because they were not equal to human beings in terms of value. That’s why the Israelites had to make the same kind of sacrifice every year. So, to perfectly atone for people’s sins, we need a being who can satisfy three criteria. First, it has to be without blemish or defect. Second, it has to have a ℗body to bleed. Third, it has to be equal to all human beings in value. And, we know that there is only one person who can perfectly meet all three of these essential conditions for salvation—Jesus Christ. He came to the world as the “lamb without blemish or defect” (1Pt 1:19) who had no sin. Jesus Christ was just like us because He had the same kind of body we have. As Paul said, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus” (1Tm 2:5). And Jesus could atone for all people’s sins because He was the Son of God who could represent all human beings. Paul calls Him “the second Adam or the last Adam” (1Co 15:45), saying, “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.” (1Co 15:22) This is the purpose of the incarnation of Jesus Christ: to bear all our sins in His body along with their consequences and die on the cross, shedding His precious blood to make atonement for all people’s sins. But, that’s not the end. After being crucified, Jesus was buried in a tomb. But, His ministry didn’t end in the grave. The Bible says that God raised Him from the dead on the third day. By doing so, Jesus gives us true righteousness that we could all have and enjoy by faith. Paul said, “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification” (Rm 4:25), which is “for us, to whom God will credit righteousness - for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead” (Rm 4:24) That’s the good news given to all people. Paul said, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1Tm 1:15) So, the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ play a very important role in our salvation. That’s why we as Christians maintain that salvation is only found in the name of Jesus Christ because only He can save us from our sins. The apostle Peter said, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (Ac 4:12) So, to believe in Jesus means that we accept everything I just mentioned earlier, His incarnation, death, and resurrection, as truth and receive Him as our Savior and Lord. These three factors are to be clearly shown in baptism since the ceremony is to publicly proclaim one’s faith in Jesus. That’s what the full immersion in water represents. Today’s Bible passage says, “Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (Rm 6:3-5) This is the most important passage that explains the true meaning of baptism. Here, Paul clearly states that being baptized means being united with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection, which full immersion baptism symbolizes. A believer’s immersion in water symbolizes the death and burial of Christ. And the believer coming out of the water symbolizes Christ being raised from the dead. So, full immersion baptism is a beautiful picture of what Jesus did on the cross and in the empty grave for our salvation. Early churches thought of the meaning of water used in baptism in two ways. The first meaning of water is a tomb. Being completely immersed means that our old selves die and are buried with Jesus. And the second meaning of water is a womb which gives birth to life. The water also serves as the water of life which gives us a completely new life in Jesus Christ. So when we’re fully immersed in water, we experience death to sin with Jesus. But when we come out of the water, we also experience resurrection with Jesus. In other words, full immersion baptism represents believers dying to sin with Christ and being reborn in Christ. That’s what we publicly proclaim through baptism. Paul said, ℗ “[You] [have] been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.” (Col 2:12) This is what we declare through full immersion baptism. The Baptist Faith and Message states, ℗ “It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus.” So, through baptism, we show not only our faith in what Jesus did on the cross and in the empty grave but also our determination to be crucified with Him in our sins and live and walk with Him as His people. Again, to believe in Jesus is to be united with Him in His death and resurrection. Paul beautifully describes this truth by using the metaphor of clothes. He said, “In Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” (Gl 3:26-27) Baptism can be defined as a ceremony through which Christians officially clothe themselves with Christ. But, to put on Christ, we first need to put off our old clothes of sin. Only then can we put on the new clothes, the clothes of righteousness given to us by our faith. So, baptism gives us a strong identity as Christians. If we are clothed with Christ, what would we look like? How would other people see us? We will seem like Christ. It means that those around us can find the image of Christ in our lives. But, that’s not the end. What we also realize after being clothed with Him through baptism is that there are a lot of other people who wear the same clothes along with the same faith in Christ, which means that we are united with not only Christ but also other Christians through baptism. So, being baptized is like putting on a new uniform. As you may know, uniforms serve an important role in communities such as the military. The first thing I did when I joined the military in Korea was to take off the clothes I was wearing and put on a military uniform instead. Before we ℗changed our clothes, my military unit was just a group of different individuals. But as soon as we put on the ℗same uniform, we started to feel a sense of solidarity and belonging. Likewise, just as a common uniform unifies an army, so does baptism. By being baptized, we join the large, universal group of believers around the world as Christians. And an important characteristic of this new community in Christ is that there’s no discrimination at all. After saying that we clothe ourselves with Christ through baptism, Paul continued, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gl 3:28) In Christ, all the dividing walls of hostility and discrimination that have blocked our relationships with others are demolished. All Christians become the same in that we believe in the same Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. In other words, we become one body of Jesus Christ. Paul also said in another verse, “For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body - whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free - and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.” (1Co 12:13) So, today, we talked about the meaning of baptism. It is to publicly proclaim our faith in Jesus Christ, especially in His death, burial, and resurrection. It is also to show our determination to be united with Him in His death and resurrection. Through baptism, we die to sin and Satan and live to righteousness and God. Not only that, we clothe ourselves with Christ and join other believers who have the same faith. These are the things that we should be always reminded to truly live as Christians. We always need to remember who we were before we met Christ and who we have become in Him. We were dead in our sins, but out of His great love, God has saved us through His only Son’s precious blood shed on the cross. And God raised Him from the dead. God did all these things in order to give us new life and salvation. If we believe in Jesus Christ and accept all these things as truth, the power of His precious blood immediately starts to take effect in our lives. That’s what we proclaim through baptism—we die with Christ in our sins and we live with Him in the righteousness He freely gives us out of His love and grace. Then, the question left to us is, “How can we continue to live out this amazing truth that we once proclaimed through our baptism?” Even though you should only be baptized once, the endeavor to live out the truth we professed through baptism must be ongoing. Baptism is not the end—it marks the genuine start of our journey with Christ. So, what’s really important is not whether or not we were baptized in the past, but whether we’re living out our faith in Jesus and are united with His death, burial, and resurrection. I hope that all our minds and hearts are open to the truth of Jesus Christ and set on Him so that we may truly live out our union with Jesus Christ, and so that we may reflect who He is to the world through our lives. Let’s pray. [Closing Prayer] Heavenly Father, we thank You for everything You’ve done in our lives. We remember Jesus’ death and resurrection and profess that they were directly on our behalf. Lord, we don’t want to drift away from Your grace. We don’t want to lose sight of You. Please continue to remind us of Your grace and strengthen our faith so that we can surrender everything to You, including our lives and our wills. We believe that Jesus Christ, Your Son, died on the cross in our place. We also believe that He rose again from the dead to give us new life. Let us firmly believe in Your Son and not be ashamed of professing our faith openly to others. Again, we thank You for everything You’ve done and are doing in our lives. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. [Reflection Questions] 1. Have you been baptized? If so, what made you decide to be baptized? By which method were you baptized? How did you feel about it? 2. Why do you think baptism plays an important role in Christian life? What significance does baptism have? 3. Baptism is to be united with Jesus Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. What does that mean? What are some practical ways to show these unions through our lives? “And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” (Matthew 6:13, NKJV)
Review We’ve been talking about the Lord’s Prayer. For the last two weeks, we’ve talked about the prayer, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” It’s important not to fall into temptations as Christians because it has a significant consequence in our lives. We’re tempted when our evil desires or desires of the flesh meet a certain environment that could satisfy them, and if we don’t resist them but give ourselves over to them, the temptations give birth to sin which gives birth to death. Falling into temptations severs our relationship with God because it means that we put them over God’s will and we seek what pleases us and satisfies our desires more than what pleases and satisfies Him. The problem is that we can’t stop temptations from coming to us and we don’t have the power within us to resist them on our own because they are from our desires—what we like to do. So, the only thing we can do to overcome our temptations is to pray. Prayer plays an important role in resisting temptation because it helps us humble ourselves before God and rely on Him and His power. It’s also important because it changes what we desire, which is also a very efficient way not to fall into temptation. Temptations come from our evil desires, which means that if we have more good desires than evil desires, we will be less tempted. People who belong to this world seek worldly things and are easily tempted by them. But, true Christians won’t be tempted by worldly things very much because what they desire is to be with God, walk with Him, follow His will, and ultimately, inherit the eternal kingdom of God. For this reason, it’s important for us to pray when it comes to resisting temptations because prayer not only helps us rely on God and be strengthened by Him but also builds our relationship with Him. The more we have conversations with God through prayer, the closer we’ll be drawn to Him, and the closer we get to Him, the more we’ll be captured by holy desires to be with Him and live in His presence. That’s the desire David had. He professed, “One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.” (Ps 27:4) Last Sunday, we focused on the meaning of Jesus being tempted in every way just as we are. It doesn’t mean that He was tempted exactly the same way as we are because He was without sin and thus wasn’t tempted by evil desires like us. I said that Jesus identified with us to the greatest degree possible. This means that even though He identified with us by coming to the world in human form, He didn’t identify with us to the point of sharing our sinful nature. This was for our good since if He had had sin like us, it would have been impossible for Him to offer Himself as a sacrifice of atonement to pay the ransom for our sins. But still, even though Jesus didn’t have sinful desires like us, He did have natural desires which all human beings have and He was tempted in these areas. When He was tempted by the devil in the wilderness for forty days, His physiological, safety, belonging, esteem, and self-actualization needs were tempted, which consist of basic natural human desires. Jesus showed us the way to be victorious over temptations by putting God’s word first, seeking His will, and worshiping Him. And again, that’s all for our good. By being tempted, He showed that He could really understand us. Jesus Christ is indeed our eternal High Priest who is able to empathize with our weaknesses and help us when we’re tempted. Yours Is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory Forever Now, let’s move on to the last part of the Lord’s Prayer, which says, “For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” (Matthew 6:13, NKJV) The Lord’s Prayer ends like it begins, with praise to God. In the first line of the Lord’s Prayer, we call God “our Father in heaven” and praise Him by asking that His name be hallowed. And at the end of the Lord’s Prayer, we praise God again by stating that all things—the kingdom, power, and glory—belong to Him. However, careful readers will notice that the ending is different in different translations. Some versions like the KJV contain the ending while the ESV and NIV do not, which raises the question as to whether this part should be included in the Lord’s Prayer. The reason some English Bible versions exclude the phrase is because it’s absent from some early Greek manuscripts, which implies that the words were not originally in Matthew’s gospel. But there are still some other early references to the phrase, and it appears more often in later Greek manuscripts. So, many scholars assume that the phrase, “for yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory” was later added as a form of doxology, which means a short hymn of praises in Christian worship. But, whether or not this phrase must be included in the Lord’s Prayer is not what I want us to focus on today. Even though there’s a possibility that this phrase wasn’t written in the original version of the gospel of Matthew, I still think it is very suited to end the Lord’s Prayer because it contains essential elements about the kingdom of God, which is one of the foremost concepts in Christianity. The three elements—the kingdom, power, and glory—are found in other Bible passages. For example, King David prayed, “Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all” (1Ch 29:11) This is what David prayed after the people of Israel brought their offerings for the construction of the temple. Through what God had done in his life and for Israel, David realized that everything was under God’s sovereignty. He knew that it was only through God’s power that Israel defeated other kingdoms and became great among the nations. So David didn’t hesitate to give all glory and honor to God because he knew that God is the One who deserves it. The words kingdom, power, and glory are referred to by Daniel as well. One day, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon in Daniel’s time, had a troubling dream. So, he commanded all his sorcerers, astrologers, and others to tell him what his dream was and interpret it under threat of death But none of his advisors could do it. Then, Daniel, with heavenly wisdom from God, stood before Nebuchadnezzar and began to tell him what the dream was along with its interpretation. The dream was about a large statue consisting of five 5 different materials: its head was made of gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, and its feet of iron and baked clay. The statue was enormous, dazzling, and awesome in appearance. Then, a rock cut not by human hands came and struck the statue on its feet, and the entire statue was broken to pieces and blown away by the wind. Then the rock became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth. After telling the king about the dream, Daniel told him its meaning. “Your Majesty, you are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory… “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands - a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces. “The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy.” (Dn 2:37, 44-45) According to Daniel’s interpretation, the five different parts made of different materials represent five different kingdoms that would rise. But, no matter how strong or glorious they were, they would all ultimately disappear when the rock crushes them and fills the whole earth. Here, the rock refers to the everlasting kingdom of God. So, what God wanted Nebuchadnezzar to know through the dream was that Babylon’s kingdom, power, and glory that no other nations could beat at that time were ultimately from God and that even the kingdom, power, and glory that were considered best at that time would be like nothing compared to the power and glory of the kingdom of God that would ultimately be built above all other kingdoms. These three words appear again in Daniel 7. In this chapter, Daniel saw a vision during the reign of Belshazzar, son of Nebuchadnezzar. After seeing the vision, Daniel wrote, “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed… Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be handed over to the holy people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him.’” (Dn 7:13-14, 27) This vision is like Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in some ways. What God revealed to Daniel through both the dream and the vision was that there would come a day when all the kingdoms would collapse along with their power and glory, and the kingdom of God would fill the whole earth with its everlasting power and glory. In other words, God showed that all the kingdoms, the power, and the glory ultimately belong to Him and that His kingdom would last forever. That’s the eternal point of view we’re to have as God’s people. There are kingdoms, power, and glory that belong to this world. Because they have a huge impact on our lives, it’s natural for us to be tempted to seek them more than God’s power and His glory. But what the last sentence in the Lord’s Prayer reminds us is the truth that all kingdoms, power, and glory ultimately belong to God. There have been many countries throughout history, but only the kingdom of God will stand eternally. That’s the kingdom where our true citizenship belongs. So, here on earth, we live like travelers, looking forward to the day we return to our heavenly home. And, here in the world, we see many kinds of power: financial power, weapon power, political power, and so on. However, none of them are eternal—only the power of God is. If we really realize this truth, it becomes clear what we must run after as God’s people. If there’s power and glory that belongs to this world, there’s also power and glory that belongs to the kingdom of God. And as God’s people, we should focus on the latter and seek it. So, by praying the last part of the Lord’s Prayer, we recognize that God is sovereign and rules over all things. And knowing this allows us to attribute all glory and honor to God alone. That’s the proper way to worship Him. When we’re tempted to rely on worldly things more than on God, we should be reminded that only God is almighty and that only He has the power to save us. While everything passes away, God remains the same forever. Until Jesus comes back, it might seem that sovereignty, power, and glory belong to this world, but when He returns, everything will be clearly revealed and all things that belong to this world will come to an end. Kingdoms of the world will collapse, but God’s kingdom will be established forever. The authorities and power of the world will be gone, but God’s almighty power and authority will be perfectly revealed on earth. On that day, the glory that belongs to this world will disappear without a trace, and we will see the eternal glory of God being lifted up all around the world. As the prophet Habakkuk prophesied, “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” (Hab 2:14) Those who truly believe this put their hope not in worldly things but in God. And we’ll live as travelers in this world, looking forward to the day when the perfect kingdom of God comes down to earth from heaven. So, this prayer helps us to fix our eyes on eternal things. It gives us hope for the future based on God’s promises and it allows us to live our present lives with hope. Now, let’s read 2 Corinthians 4:18 before we wrap up. “We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Co 4:18). This is what the apostle Paul proclaimed when he underwent hard circumstances in his life because of his proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I think this verse does a great job defining who Christians are. True Christians are those who fix their spiritual eyes on things that are unseen. And those who seek the unseen and eternal won’t be moved by things that are seen and temporary. The apostle Paul boldly overcame his situations and followed Christ to the end of his life because his eyes were fixed on what’s unseen and eternal, the kingdom of God and its glory. It opened his eyes and gave him a new perspective. Paul interpreted what was ahead of him from this eternal perspective and found that the troubles before him were only light and momentary compared to the eternal glory that God will give to Him, which far outweighs them all. That was how he stood strong in all circumstances. His eyes were focused on God’s eternal kingdom and its glory, and he was filled with the power of God. That’s the perspective I want all of us here in this room to have. I believe that’s what the last part of the Lord’s Prayer does. The more we’re devoted to praying this prayer, the more we’ll be filled with hope for the kingdom of God, His power, and His glory. If we only see earthly things, we cannot help but be affected by them. But if we keep trying to fix our eyes on Jesus and eternal things in Him with faith, we’ll be victorious over everything that keeps us away from him. Those who fix their eyes on what’s unseen can distinguish what’s temporary and what’s eternal. We know that kingdoms, power, and glory that belong to this world will be like chaff that the wind blows away. These can’t be our true hope. So, we should try to focus on the perfect eternal hope that will never fade away according to God’s promises and sovereignty. Then, we will be able to keep moving toward God’s kingdom, relying on His almighty power, praising Him and giving Him our best glory. I think that’s what the last part of the Lord’s Prayer reminds us of. And, our response must be “Amen,” which means “it is so”. Then, we’ll experience the presence of the kingdom of God and His power working in us right now and praise Him and glorify Him with all our hearts. Amen! Let’s pray. [Closing prayer] Heavenly Father, thank you for teaching us how to pray and what to pray for as Your people through the prayer Jesus taught. We know that You hear all our prayers as our Father and we want to pray for things in line with Your will. Please continue to reveal Your truth in our hearts and help us fix our eyes on You so that we can truly pray to You using the prayer that pleases You. We proclaim that the kingdom, power, and glory are Yours forever. Allow us to see unseen, eternal things in You so that we won’t be moved by temporary things of the world but stand strong in our faith in You. We pray that our hearts may be enlightened by Your word of truth so that we know the hope to which You have called us, the riches of the glorious inheritance that You have prepared and kept in heaven, and the incomparably great power You give to those who believe so that we can only seek Your glory, not anything else. We thank you for giving us the privilege to pray to You and for hearing our prayers. In Jesus’ precious name, we pray. Amen. [Reflection Questions] 1. How do you think the kingdoms (authorities), power, and glory that belong to this world are different from the power and glory that belongs to the kingdom of God? Which one do you think you are seeking more nowadays? 2. It’s critical to fix our eyes on what’s unseen and eternal to live as God’s people in the world. What are some practical things you can do to keep an eternal perspective? “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” (Mt 6:13)
Review We’ve been talking about the Lord’s prayer. Last Sunday, we talked about the meaning of the prayer asking not to fall into temptation. While living in the world, we face all kinds of temptations. They don’t come from God because God doesn’t tempt anyone. We’re tempted when we’re dragged away by our own evil desires. What we’re tempted by is closely related to our desires because we’re moved to do things that we desire. The problem is that we don’t have only good desires. When we were first created in the image of God, He put good desires in our hearts. We were created to love God and other beings in our relationship with Him. But then Satan came to Eve and gave her another desire. Satan told her that she herself could be like God if she ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Then she looked at the tree and it looked different because now she had a desire that she hadn’t had before. With this desire, she was tempted to eat from the tree and she did so. That was the first sin. After that, sin spread all over the world. With their sinful nature, human beings came to desire more evil things. Now, we see a lot of evil desires working in the world. But, every evil desire comes from the same sinful root, the desire to be like God. As Paul said, “They did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.” (Rom 1:28-31) What’s worse, the result of falling into these temptations is death. God told Adam and Eve that they would die if they ate from the tree and it happened as He had said. Because of their sin, their relationship with God was severed and they could no longer have eternal life that only God had. And this result came to all human beings since “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23) The apostle James puts it this way: “Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death” (Jms 1:15) This is what happens when we give ourselves over to temptation. If we don’t resist temptations when they come to us but let them grow, we’ll end up falling into temptation and disobeying God, which will result in death. So, it’s very important to know how to resist temptations when they come to us. But it’s impossible for us to overcome temptations on our own because, like I said earlier, temptations come from our desires, which we like to follow. In many cases, we do certain things not because they are right but because we like to do them even though we know they are not right. So, it’s hard to resist temptation on our own. But the good news is that Jesus came to the world to set us free from our evil desires, temptations, and thus our sins and their result, death. We see the perfect example of how to resist and overcome temptation in Jesus’ life. He was tempted to teach us how to deal with temptations so that we may be victorious over them and follow in His footsteps. In fact, the Bible says that that’s one of the reasons for the incarnation of Jesus Christ, which refers to the Word becoming flesh. Hebrews 2 says, “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity… he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted” (Heb 2:14, 18) Even though He was God in His very nature, Jesus made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a human so that He could be tempted the way we are tempted, understand us, and help us in our times of need. Jesus is able to empathize with our weaknesses because He Himself experienced weakness when He was tempted in every way, just as we are. Yet, He did not sin, which means that He didn’t give Himself over to His temptations but overcame them. The Temptations of Jesus Christ Then, in what sense does the Bible say that He was tempted just as we are? First of all, it doesn’t necessarily mean that He was tempted exactly the same way as we are. As James clarifies, each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desires. We’re enticed to do certain things out of our sinful desires or desires of the flesh. But Jesus didn’t have such evil desires because He was sinless and innocent, which means that Jesus couldn’t be tempted by the things that tempt us. For example, sometimes, we’re tempted to hate others in our hearts or through our words and actions, but Jesus wasn’t tempted that way because He doesn’t have hatred in His heart. Only love motivated Jesus. Everything He did came out of His love for us. Likewise, it seems that Jesus didn’t undergo temptations that we often undergo in our daily lives such as cheating, indulgence, pride, corrupt sexuality, and more. So, some people might say that He can’t really understand us because He didn’t undergo such temptations. That’s reasonable. But, we can think about it this way. Jesus wants to identify with us to the greatest degree possible for our good. Jesus wants to be identified with us, so He came to the world in human form but He didn’t go beyond that. He didn’t want to be identified with us to the point of sharing our sinful nature. He was perfectly human, but He was different from us in that He was sinless. And that’s for our own good. If Jesus identified with us to the point of sharing our sinfulness, He couldn’t serve as our eternal High Priest who offered Himself for the sin of the world. He couldn’t bear our sins in His body as the lamb of God because in the Old Testament, only animals without any blemish or defect could be used as atonement sacrifices for sins. So, in order to make perfect atonement for our sins, Jesus had to be different from us. He had to have no sin at all. He couldn’t be our Savior if He shared in our sin. If Christ had joined us in our sinfulness, He might have undergone the exact same temptations as we do, but He could no longer save us from our sins through death. That can’t be good news at all. That’s why we can say that Jesus identified with us to the greatest degree possible. He was like us in the sense that He came to the world in human form so that He could understand us. But at the same time, He was different from us in the sense that He was sinless. And He had to be sinless to bear all our sins and pay the ransom for them on the cross. Then, how can we understand the meaning of the verse, “we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are?” (Heb 4:15). Again, it doesn’t mean that Jesus was tempted the exact same way we are tempted in our daily lives. But still, Jesus could understand us because He was tempted, I would say, in every area or category of our lives. That’s what we see from how Jesus was tempted in the wilderness. The Bible says that after being baptized by John the Baptist, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. The wilderness is a lonely and desolate place with no food or comfortable place to lie down. It’s very hot during the day and very cold at night. No one would want to live in the wilderness. But that was where Jesus stayed for 40 days. And, when Jesus fasted forty days and became very hungry, Satan came to Him and tempted Him, saying, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” (Mt 4:3). Of course, turning stones into bread is not sinful by itself. But, what Satan really tempted Jesus to do was to use His Messianic power given to Him to save people just to avoid suffering and meet His physical needs. And, Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Mt 4:4) Jesus refused to turn stones into bread because He knew that His fasting and pain was in accordance with God’s will. Even though He could have used His power to avoid His physical pain and satisfy His hunger, He chose not to. Instead, Jesus chose to be obedient to God’s will even though it would cause Him pain and suffering. By doing so, Jesus taught us a very important lesson that all God’s people must know. He taught us to rely on God’s word and His provision rather than worldly things. Jesus never denied the importance of eating food. What Jesus shows us here is that following God’s will must be the priority of our lives even when it requires us to be hungry, thirsty, or tired. This principle can be applied in our lives as well. Even though we don’t have the power to turn stones into bread, we can still decide where to use our time, money, and abilities. We can use them for our own satisfaction and pleasure or for God’s righteousness and kingdom according to His will. We’re often tempted to think that all the things we have are ours and forget the One who gave them to us. So we’re tempted to use them only to meet our needs, while neglecting God’s will for us to love and serve others with what we have. The reason we can’t give is because we don’t trust in God’s provision. So we need to learn to live on every word that comes from the mouth of God, not on what we have. That will allow us to overcome the temptation to prioritize our own wills over God’s will and what pleases us over what pleases God. After the first temptation, the devil took Jesus to the holy city and had Him stand on the highest point of the temple. Then, the devil challenged Jesus, saying, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: ‘‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone’” (Mt 4:6). What’s interesting about this second temptation is that the devil referred to Psalm chapter 91 to challenge Jesus. But the devil artfully changed the meaning of the passage. The basic meaning of Psalm 91 is that God protects His faithful people in all their ways. But, Satan distorted the meaning and tempted Jesus to use the passage to prove that He is the Son of God. Even though God can protect His people from all kinds of dangerous situations, we can’t use God’s word to prove who we are because it’s the same thing as testing God. Our attitude toward God’s word must be to obey it, not to test it. So, Jesus answered the devil, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” (Mt 4:7). Again, Jesus refused to use His power or authority to prove Himself. If Jesus had thrown Himself from the temple and other people had seen God miraculously rescue Jesus through His angels, Jesus would’ve received fame and great renown. But, Jesus wasn’t interested in proving Himself before others. He didn’t seek earthly glory or honor because His only interest was to follow God’s will. So, Jesus only used His power or authority when it was in accordance with God’s will. The devil used God’s word for his own purpose to test Jesus, but Jesus used it for God’s purpose. In other words, the devil put himself above God’s word, but Jesus always humbled Himself under the word of God and obeyed it. By doing so, Jesus lifted up God, rather than lifting up Himself. He wasn’t interested in proving Himself because He was captured by the desire to prove who God is and glorify Him through His life. That was the desire that the apostle Paul also had. He said, “I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Php 1:20-21) That’s the desire we need to have to avoid temptations from the world. A lot of people are moved by the desire to make their names in the world, to be famous, and to have more followers. They think the number of people who follow them on social media shows what kind of people they are. But we should be different as Christians. Rather than trying to prove who we are and lifting ourselves up in the world, we need to lift up God through our lives by humbling ourselves before Him and obeying His word. Then, He will lift us up. As James said, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” (Jms 4:10) After the second temptation, Satan took Jesus to a very tall mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in all their splendor. Then, Satan said to Jesus, “All this I will give you, if you will bow down and worship me.” (Mt 4:9). Satan’s third temptation was related to wealth and fame. He promised to give Jesus all the kingdoms and their splendor if He worshiped him. In this passage, we can find the key point of all of Satan’s temptations—whether we worship God and follow His will or worship Satan and follow the ways of the world. There are no other options. Our only two options are to worship God, obey Him, and walk in the light or to worship Satan and remain in sin and death. If we choose the latter, we might enjoy this life and be satisfied by earthly things while we live here on earth, but they will ultimately lead us to eternal death. But, if we choose to worship God alone, we may have to sacrifice what we have on earth to follow His will, but it will lead us to eternal life. And Jesus was able to easily overcome Satan’s temptation of fame, glory, and wealth in the world because He focused on eternal values in God, not on worldly things, which are temporary. So, Jesus answered, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” (Mt 4:10) Rather than worshiping Satan and enjoying the things of the world, Jesus chose to worship God alone, suffer for Him, and even lay down His life to follow God’s will because He knew how blessed it is to worship God and serve Him. And, as Jesus’ disciples, we should make our decisions the way Jesus did. There are many things to enjoy in the world. There are many worldly things that give us momentary satisfaction and pleasure. Those who belong to this world seek what the world offers—success, wealth, fame, power, influence, and so on. These are really tempting to us because we live in this world where those things are highly valued. But, if we run after them, we will end up losing eternal treasures in the kingdom of God. So, we’ve talked about how Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness and overcame the temptations by relying on God’s word. And what I’ve found from Jesus’ temptations is that they cover every area or category of our lives. Abraham Maslow, who was an American psychologist, said that human beings have five different needs or desires. They are physiological needs, safety needs, love and belonging needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs. He said that when these needs are not satisfied, we’re motivated to do things to meet them. We find these 5 different kinds of human needs in the temptations of Jesus. When Jesus lived in the wilderness and fasted for forty days, His physiological needs, safety needs, and belonging needs were tempted. He likely wasn’t able to sleep well in the wilderness. It’s very hot during the day and cold during the night in the desert, and with dangerous animals around, it wasn’t safe for Him to sleep deeply. Jesus was alone in the wilderness, so He couldn’t have had any relationships with others during that time. Nevertheless, Jesus wasn’t overcome by those strong physiological and emotional needs because He put God’s will first and trusted in Him. During the second temptation, Satan told Jesus to jump from the temple in order to prove who He is, and during the third temptation, Satan told Jesus that he would give Him everything in the world if He worshiped him. These two temptations are related to the fourth and fifth needs—esteem and self-actualization. As humans, it’s our natural desire to be respected by others and to prove ourselves to the world. But, Jesus refused to follow those desires and overcame the temptation to lift Himself up and prove Himself because He prioritized God’s will in His life. So, we can say Jesus was tempted in every way as we are because He was physically, emotionally, and spiritually tempted in the wilderness. He knows what we need and desire as human beings because He Himself was perfectly human like us. And, because He was tempted like us, He is able to understand us and help us in our times of need. Even though we can’t overcome temptation on our own, when we go to the throne of grace, where Jesus Christ sits as our eternal High Priest, we will receive mercy and find grace to help us overcome our temptations. That’s what we need to remember whenever we pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” (Mt 6:13) Let’s pray. [Closing prayer] Heavenly Father, thank you for teaching us the meaning of the Lord’s prayer and how we should pray today. While living on earth we face a lot of temptations but don’t have the power to overcome them. So we put our hope in You because we believe that You are able to empathize with our weaknesses, understand us, and help us when we’re overwhelmed by our temptations. Thank You for laying Yourself down and becoming like us. Thank You for being tempted so that You can understand our temptations and help us overcome them. We thank You for taking all our sins along with our weaknesses and deficiencies in Your body and giving us Your righteousness and holiness instead. And we thank You for showing us great examples of how to follow Your will in the midst of temptations. Please open our eyes, minds, and hearts to Your word of truth. Let us be strengthened by it and live by it so that we can please You, lift You up, and glorify You through our lives. We thank you, Lord. In Jesus’ precious name, we pray. Amen. [Reflection Questions] 1. What are some common features you see between Jesus’ temptations and your temptations? 2. Have you experienced Jesus helping you overcome temptations? Please share your experiences if you have any. 3. Not falling into temptations is critical in Christian life, but we can’t stop temptations from coming to us. What are some practical things you can do to overcome temptations? |