Jesus answered...

Daniel 7, 8
Psalm 137
Luke 4

SOAP - Jesus answered...

Scripture
Luke 4:4,8,12
Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone.'"
Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'"
Jesus answered, "It says: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"

Observation
I'm cheating by getting the help of William Barclay. He says the first temptation is the temptation to bribe people with material gifts. And that Jesus' answer is the man will never find life in material things. The second temptation is to compromise, just compromise a little with evil and men will follow you. And Jesus' answer is that God is God, right is right, wrong is wrong and there can be no compromise in the war with evil. The third temptation is to give the people sensations. I'm really not sure what he means by that. Maybe he means the thrill of having God rescue you. I don't know. And Jesus' answer is that you must not make senseless experiments with the power of God. Thanks Barclay.

Application
It seems that Jesus was wrestling with all the ways he could convince man to follow him. Not sure where I'm going with this but I'm thinking of this today in terms of how we can convince people to come to our church. It really is tempting to try to win people over with the coolest building in town, having a place to hang out and come to church that is nicer and more appealing than anything else around. It's tempting to kinda overlook some of the characteristics we are called to have as Christians, so that we won't be hurting anyone's feelings or challenging them to make changes in their lives. It's tempting to make church full of excitement, fill the schedule with events and attract people by being the fun church. None of that really seems that bad to me. But even if they aren't bad, those things are not lasting. I think people will only stick with church if they are there because of God, not because of the cool leather couch, the best Sunday morning coffee in town, because they can come there and not feel convicted of their sins, or because we have the best cook outs. I think people will stay because they want their relationship with God to grow, because they see him working in their lives, because they are involved, learning and growing. We can still have a nice place to worship and hang out. We don't have to stand at the door and make sure people remember what terrible sinners they are. And we can still do fun stuff. We just can't let those things be the focus and let the important stuff get ignored. Hmm... so I have my guesses at what a church shouldn't look like. I'm not real clear on what it should look like. I know John has told us. And I think I kinda know, but don't know how to write it. Of course the greatest thing that comes to mind to me is love, we need to make sure everyone who comes to church feels accepted and loved. And I guess we need to equip them to grow their relationship with God. How?

Prayer
Dear Lord, awesome and powerful God of grace and mercy, help us all to see our part that we can be doing to build this church. I feel like there is more I can be doing. I'm not sure what it is, or maybe I do know and I'm trying to ignore it cause it's not easy. Lord please give me a willing spirit. Help us not get overwhelmed. Thank you Lord for so many blessings you've already given us. Thank you for the people that we've met. Show us how to use these blessings not only to grow our church, but to serve you in the community of Huntsville. Amen.