The Shortcut to Glory
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Introduction
Introduction
It may be hard to believe, but I am a bit competitive. If Katie and the kids leave in the van at the same time I get to leave in my car, we all know it’s a race to get home first. I am always looking for the shortest way home. Of course, sometimes the shortest way home can become the longer of the two ways depending on traffic and lights and construction.
People who know shortcuts like to brag about their little secrets. “That’s the long way, but I know a shortcut.” Shortcuts are fun. They’re time-savers. They may even keep us from headaches such as traffic or having to get chewed out by someone because we came in late. Everyone loves a good shortcut. But when it comes to God’s will, there are no shortcuts.
As we get into the text this morning, we find the devil trying to circumvent God’s will by tempting Jesus with a shortcut. He was promised power if he’d get in the right position. We could say, he’d gain power if he’d take the right posture. As part of this temptation we find the devil taking Jesus up to a place, giving him a promise, and charging him a price. And in return Jesus gives him a prescript.
Place
Promise
Price
Prescript
And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time,
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.’ ”
The Devil Took Jesus to a Place
The Devil Took Jesus to a Place
This may not seem to be the most important point in the text, but it does give us some insight as to the devil’s workings and mindset. Every time the devil tempted Jesus, he took him somewhere new. He changed the scenery and it wasn’t for no reason. Each time, he took Jesus to a place that would enhance the temptation. Each time he took Jesus to a place that made the temptation feel real or at least feel possible.
The first time around, the devil had Jesus in front of a rock. And he pointed to (or maybe even held) that rock and said, “If you are the Son of God, turn this stone into bread.” He didn’t have to go look for a rock. He didn’t even have to choose one rock out of many. This one right here. You have the power. I have the rock. All ready to go. It’s possible. . .
In this case, the devil took Jesus up. We aren’t told exactly where, but we know they went up. They went higher than they were before. Can you hear the conversation that went on as they walked?
“Let’s go for a walk.”
“Where are we going?”
“Just up the hill a little ways.”
As they walk, Jesus asks, “Where are we going again?”
“We’re almost there, don’t worry.”
“Why are we going?”
“I just want to show you something.”
Have you stopped to wonder why the devil couldn’t have shown Jesus where they were? If he could make the kingdoms appear up high, would he not be able to make them appear down low? There had to be a reason. . . We’ll come back to that in a moment.
Until then, where does the devil like to take you? He took King David up onto his roof when he should have been in battle. He took the young man down Fool’s Alley instead of Wisdom Way. Where does he like to take you? In other words, what will enhance his temptation against you? One who struggles with lust, does he take you to a dark room? Or maybe it is a certain way home from work with billboard signs providing eye-candy? For those who struggle with despair in this world, perhaps it is social media or 24-hour news. Those who are angry, is it YouTube and TikTok political videos? What place (or places) does the devil take you? Those who abuse alcohol, it may be an “innocent stroll” by a bar or liquor store. The abuser of drugs, near an alley or a club. Those who want to get rich, he takes to the stock market ticker.
The Devil Made Jesus a Promise
The Devil Made Jesus a Promise
The first part of the devil’s temptation was to take Jesus to a place. The second part of the temptation was to make Jesus a promise. He showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. In other words, the devil flashed the kingdoms of the world before Jesus quickly. Perhaps, do you think, because he didn’t want Jesus to take a closer look to see how messed up the kingdoms were? Perhaps he didn’t want to remind him how badly the people were in need of redemption.
But he flashes through the kingdoms and tells him that all the inhabited world belongs to himself and he can give it to whomever he desires. And he was willing to give it to Jesus.
“To you, I will give, all this authority and their glory.” The emphasis is on “to you” and “all.” The word “To you” begins the sentence, showing it’s importance. No one else gets what I’m willing to give to you. You, Jesus are special. You deserve this. You are unique. You’re different than all the others. To you, I will give all this authority and their glory. All of it. This is actually an emphatic version of the word “all” in Greek. This is the Maxwell House of authority. It’s all yours, down to the last drop.
Isn’t this what Jesus would one day have. Later, in Matthew, he told his disciples, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.” But that authority was given only by way of suffering. He had to go to the cross, suffer and die in the most excruciating way imaginable. Heaven wasn’t the devil’s to give, but he was the god of this world, was he not? He was the prince of the power of the air on earth, wasn’t he? He couldn’t promise heaven, but he could promise the world.
After the sermon last week, John Cornett came up to me and pointed out how the devil can only offer second best if that. He cannot offer what only God can give. But here is Jesus being tempted with authority—power! and all the glory of this world! And there would be no cross. No suffering and shame. No pain. No death. A shortcut to power and glory!
But that’s not true, is it? No cross maybe. But everyone of us knows the suffering and shame that comes with giving in to temptation. Everyone of us know that sin comes with pain. We know that the wages of sin is death.
Beloved, the devil will put before you promise after promise trying to get you to take shortcuts to God’s promises. He will tell you half-truths and full-lies. He will do whatever it takes. And most of us are not keen enough to see the flaws in the devil’s arguments. We have what’s called situation blindness, also known as, inattentional blindness. It’s that thing that happens when we’re asked to watch something closely and a dancing bear goes across the stage in the background. Or when the clerk that was waiting on us ducks behind the counter and someone else pops up and we never notice. It’s what pick-pockets do to steal from us. It’s simply misdirection, situational blindness. We’re too busy concentrating on the shiny object that the devil has placed before us, never realizing he has pick-pocketed God’s best from us.
I heard John MacArthur once give some advice to someone struggling against lust. He told him to write out a list of all the consequences that would come upon him if he continued down that road and have it ready at a moment’s notice. Ask himself which of those consequences is he willing to have happen? The loss of a job? The loss of a spouse? The loss of respect from his children?
Satan promises shortcuts, leaves out the suffering and shame, so that we can have the pleasure that we are promised in glory.
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
The Devil Charged Jesus a Price
The Devil Charged Jesus a Price
Of course the devil doesn’t do anything out of the kindness of his heart. There is always a price to pay. You’ve probably heard it said, “Sin will promise more than it can deliver and cost more than you want to give.” This went for Jesus too. Jesus was taken to a place, given a promise, and now charged a price. It would only cost him a moment of worship. All he need do was bow the knee. The Greek word for worship could also be translated as bow down before. It literally means “to kiss at.” If you’re old enough, you may remember all eyes were on President Kennedy when he met with Pope Paul VI. Since President Kennedy was of the Church of Rome, everyone wondered if he would do what would be traditional when a Catholic met the Pope. Would he kneel and kiss the fisherman ring? Would he submit not only himself, but the American presidency to the Pope? The answer was he would not. Instead he shook the pope’s hand.
This was what the devil asked of Jesus. Bow down and kiss the ring. Bow before him. Just one moment in time.
Back in Deuteronomy Moses preached a sermon to the people of Israel; it was his last word to his congregation before going up the mountain to look upon the Promised Land and die. And in it, he told them:
“These are the statutes and rules that you shall be careful to do in the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth.
You shall surely destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree.
You shall tear down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and burn their Asherim with fire. You shall chop down the carved images of their gods and destroy their name out of that place.
You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way.
We see that this is what the people did when they entered the Promised Land. But eventually they replaced these idolatrous high places with their own places of worship of Yahweh.
The people were sacrificing at the high places, however, because no house had yet been built for the name of the Lord.
And then we see King Solomon build a beautiful, majestic temple on Mt. Zion. You see, it was believed that the higher you can get, the closer to God you are. We still kind of say that kind of thing today. We have to remind ourselves that the God on the mountain is still God in the valley—both literally and figuratively. So, the people of Israel worshiped God on the high places and then finally a temple was built on Mt. Zion—the high place.
But what we find is a tragic turn of events. The wisest man in the world, King Solomon, who built the greatest temple in the world, married the daughters of the world. And they turned his heart and he worshipped their gods; it seemed in private at first, but then we see
Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem.
And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods.
And as a result, the promise of God’s kingdom promise was stripped from him.
Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant.
I told you we’d come back to the idea of place. Because the place is not just about background. It’s about bowing the knee. It’s not just scenery; its about service. It’s not just about prospective; its about prostration. The devil took Jesus up because they devil wanted Jesus’s worship. He took Jesus higher to bring Jesus lower.
He promised Jesus the kingdoms of the world. Solomon who already had one kingdom, gave into a similar temptation and lost the one had. Sin promises more than it can deliver and costs more than we want to pay. Would the one who is greater than Solomon fall for such a con? Never!
But we fall for it over and over again, don’t we? We pay the price as if its on a spiritual credit card and when its time to pay up we try and do a balance transfer onto another spiritual credit card; sure there’s a nominal fee, but the interest rate is fantastic. Just a little more time.
Bowing the knee is not easy for the Christian. At least not the first time. But each time gets a bit easier until, finally, you get used to it. Before long, our souls have bowed the knee so much that they become frail and elderly. Suddenly bowing the knee isn’t as hard has trying to stand back up.
This is not just a temptation for individuals either. This is a temptation for churches and denominations. We’re promised more attendees and members and prestige in the community. But the price is this small doctrine. That small dogma. And so the knee is bowed begrudgingly. Then the promise comes again, and the cost is another doctrine, another dogma. Suddenly—before we know it—there are no more doctrines and no more dogmas. We’ve handed them all over as the price for relevancy. And guess what, no one wants to attend a place that stands for nothing and teaches zilch. So we don’t get the promise and we’ve paid with our souls.
Jesus Gives the Devil a Prescript
Jesus Gives the Devil a Prescript
Instead of paying the price the devil demanded, Jesus gave him a prescript. A prescript is an established rule—something that has been prescribed—script (writing), pre (beforehand).
And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’ ”
Every time you see the words in the New Testament, “It is written,” understand what is really being said. These words are really just one word in the Greek. It is written in the perfect tense, which means that it is something that has been done and completed in the past with lasting consequences. This is why the writers continuously say “It is written” in an effort to show why it is to still be obeyed. I like the way certain Greek teachers explain it. Rather than saying “It is written,” we should say, “It stands written,” because what was written in the past still stands to be followed today.
And so, Jesus gives a prescript—it stands written. And he quotes Deuteronomy 6:13, except he switches a word.
It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear.
Did you catch the word that was switched out? He put in worship/bow down in place of fear. Many want to why the Bible tells us to fear God so often. Jesus gives us the answer. He equates worship with fear. Understanding who we are in relation to who God is; we are small and he is great. We are worshipers and he is to be worshiped.
Most of us don’t see this, at least not completely, and probably all of us who do see it forget that it’s true, but every act in our lives is an act of worship in some way. It is an act of service. We worship and serve someone: either the Lord or ourselves. Certainly, when our motive is to worship the Lord, we end up serving our own end. But if serving ourselves is our goal, we never worship the Lord. Jesus would not bow his knee to the devil for his own short-term self-interest.
Conclusion
Conclusion
At this point, you may be feeling like a failure. You’ve been taken to that place time and again. You’ve been promised that promise more times than you can count. You’ve bowed the knee, kissed the ring; heck! by now, you may have kissed the feet; the price has been paid and paid again. You know it’s all a Ponzi scheme, but you fall for it anyway. Welcome to the club. I like to call it, “The Constant Screwer Uppers Club.” And guess what. We have an honorary member to the club.
In seminary, we have honorary doctorates that are given out to men and women who have made great contributionss for the church or the faith. It’s the Doctorate of Divinity. If you see someone, with a D.D. after their name, understand that they did not do the hard work of earning a doctorate. It was just honorarily given to them. Thus, us more cynical people call a D.D. a “didn’t do it.”
But like that honorary doctor who didn’t do the hard work and didn’t even go to school at the seminary he received the degree from, so we have an honorary member in our “Constant Screwer Uppers Club.” He hasn’t done the hard work of screwing up his life. But he relishes in being a part of the lives of those of us who have. Not so he can condemn or mock or kick us while we’re down. But so that he can shower us with grace. Paul said it this way:
Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,
John put it this way:
For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
Upon the cross, Jesus died for screw-ups—especially those of us who constantly screw up. He rose so that we screw-ups can receive grace and forgiveness, strength and hope.
Katie and I are reading The Imperfect Disciple: Grace for People who Can’t Get Their Act Together by Jared Wilson. I love what he says in the third chapter:
“More central to our discipleship is the news that actually makes Christianity Christianity: we are holy not because of what we’ve done but because of what Jesus has done.
This is why the good news is so good! The essential message of Christianity isn’t, ‘do’ but ‘done.’ The good news is news, not instruction, and it announces to us not ‘get to work’ but ‘it is finished.’”
Do we continue in sin so that grace may abound? Absolutely not, but when we sin, we at least know that grace abounds much more.
Brothers and sisters, rest in grace. Be aware of the places the devil takes you. Be on guard when he makes you promises he can’t keep. Think long and hard about the price he demands. And in return, resist the devil with God’s prescribed word. But if or when you or I fail, let us rest on the grace of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.