Title: If Jesus Was Tempted
Matthew 4:1-11
Although he was young, his feelings for his father were not warm. He was cold-hearted and hiding his emotions. And he seems to have had that impression even more because he had been caught up in so many incidents. It was 1951 or when my father was 33 years old. Now that I think about it, I was really young. They evacuated to Jeju Island on 6.25. There was a time when I got a single room and lived in front of Samseonghyeol. Then my younger sister died of smallpox. I saw tears on my father's face reflected in the lamp at dawn.
Tears on my father's face
When it comes to Jesus, we think of you as being too far from us. Because of the titles of Son of God or Savior, we accept Jesus as a very different being from us. However, it is important to know that Jesus also had perfect humanity. If you are tired, you can sleep on a boat in a storm. When you are thirsty, ask for water. He feels the market, and he sheds tears with rising emotions. It is a very young age to say that you started your public life at the age of 30.
I came to Ewha Girls' High School in 1975 and I was 30 years old at the time. I had to continue to live in tension with the new environment and daunting work. The night before the first day of work, my wife reversed the collar and sleeves of the shirt's neck all night to give it a clean look. I remember the tension and trembling when leading praise and sermons in front of 1,200 people, and the carefulness of having to preach in front of teachers my father's age (57 years old at the time).
Why was there no temptation for the 30-year-old me? Why was there no desire? Why was there no ordeal?
The story of Jesus in the Bible today is a very natural process. When he was baptized and came up from the water, the Holy Spirit appeared and there was a proclamation of God.
Then everything would have ended, but these words were just the beginning. The Holy Spirit led Jesus out into the wilderness. And Jesus fasted for 40 days. At the age of 30, when he was full of blood, the place he took him to the most was the wilderness. There can be water and shade in the wilderness. There may also be comfort and relaxation. It can be made by the power of God. But it is a 40-day fast. The 40-day fast is a time to embrace death.
The place where he enlisted in the military in 1966, completed his training and received training at the Military Service Training Center, is the military service room of the Gimhae Engineering School. There was a small church based on Goryeo theology at the nearest distance from the military service hall. The church's deacon's wife fasted and prayed for 40 days. After it was over, he ate an apple or two and died.
A prayer with the risk of death is a 40-day fast. Even if you finish your prayers well, you must nurture well for about 80 days.
Why did he pray such a terrible 40-day fast? It is because without the prayer that risked your life, there would be no preparation, and there would be no more cross. It seems like angels will escort you from start to finish in prayer with your life, but that's not the case. As the 40 days were almost finished, Satan appeared. The tempter, you need to know why the devil appears. This is the free will contained within us. We are not machines that can only choose the good. He is a believer who chooses the good while arguing over good and evil.
It also means breaking free from the superstition that you never do anything wrong. If possible, I hope that I will not fall into temptation, and I hope that I will overcome hardships well. However, you should know in advance that there is no case of 100% success.
What is important here is the answer to the question of how Jesus overcame the temptation that comes to anyone. He was overcome by the word of God.
At the time of Jesus, it was not easy to find the words of the Bible. Copies of papyrus or parchment can be read, but they are very expensive. Because it wasn't common. Copiers usually memorized all the words of the Bible, so they went to write down what they remembered. So it is not common for Jesus to defeat the devil with the words of the Bible. He knew the word of God very well and was penetrating it.
Today we have more favorable conditions. How many places have the Bible? The important thing is to read it. It is not just reading, but the fact that you can read it under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
It is not a sin to be tempted or tempted. The question is how to overcome it. By being tempted, the Lord can fully understand and help us with the temptations and temptations we face in our lives. Hebrews 2:18
So, what kind of temptation did the Lord receive?
1. Is it spiritual or material? I can fully imagine the hungry, weary, and weary Lord. If you eat soft bread, you must have had the heart to live. What is the use of dying from such exhaustion and exhaustion without being able to get out of it? once you have to live Also, looking directly into the eyes of the hungry people, it is easy to think that the immediate urgent need is material. What life needs is salvation, not arrogance.
2. Will you gain popularity? If you have come to save the world, how will you work effectively, quickly, and with confidence? If I jump off the top of the temple and show a mysterious figure, won't the crowd turn to God? no. Each individual must face God and make a decision.
3. Wouldn't the path of compromise be much more efficient? God is a jealous God. The place where the road of uncompromising ends is the cross.
We too live under temptation and temptation. It is normal. The question is how to win. I have to get away from making my dreams come true regardless of the way to achieve success by gaining the popularity of many people at once, the desire to increase material wealth and the value of one's existence. Not achievements or merits, but truth and obedience to God.