The Temptation, the Road to the Cross, and the Deity of Christ

“Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil” Mt. 4:1

The temptation of Jesus in the final preparation for his public ministry has for us important and beautiful lessons.  Jesus’ temptation here says something to us about who He was.  When we think of Jesus as both God and man, there is a confusion that arises in our minds.  How is that possible?  How could God possibly become a man, and how could a man possibly be divine?  The two do not ‘fit’ in our perspective.  Our experience of human personality is so limited and narrow, we have difficulty getting our minds around it.  We can only think of a “half-man, half-God” person, and we have trouble with that.

But the Bible says something quite interesting here about this - that Jesus was led by the Spirit (Mark says “the Spirit drove Him”) into the wilderness “to be tempted of the devil”.  It suggests for us the truth that Jesus is walking as a man, identifying with us in our spiritual struggle, facing our temptations, and that the Spirit is leading him to do that very thing.  Jesus was sinless, so in that respect he was not like a man.  We might be led to think that disqualifies him from truly sharing our human nature.   But clearly he WAS tempted as a man.  Sin is no part of our human nature – it is rather a corruption or perversion of it.   In contrast, temptation to sin IS a part of our God-given makeup, as made in his image.  (Remember the garden?).  So Jesus DID partake of our human nature, emptying himself (Phil. 2) to become like us, and so he was tempted “like as we are”.

The temptation of Jesus was not with barefaced “evil”, but with “good things”, with the seeking of inferior forms of good, seeking good by easier paths than the cross, of taking shortcuts to accomplish “good” things.  Rather than go hungry, he should use his powers toward meeting his own needs.  Rather than patiently walking in obedience to his Father’s will, he could put God to the test – “How will he react if I jump?” Rather than go to the cross in the battle for souls of the world, he could just bow down to Satan and have it all so easily.   He came to set up a spiritual kingdom, a kingdom “not of this world”.   But Satan tested him – right here at the outset of his work - toward a worldly approach, toward one that appealed to human nature and worldly values.  These same temptations are the ones that plague us: to choose the easy way, to walk by worldly principles, to take the shortcuts to worldly power and freedom. Jesus could not give in.  He was beginning to build his church by a life and death given to the will of the Father.

The temptation of Jesus was the opening up of his public ministry.  He could speak to men with authority about the issues of the soul and the conscience and the reign of God [kingdom of God], because he knew both sides.  He knew the redemption initiated by the Holy Father – indeed he was [is] the redemption – and he also knew the limitation, the weakness, the discouragement, the temptation, the sadness and sorrow of men/women.  And he resisted, endured, obeyed, triumphed, honored God!  Not just in the Judean wilderness for 40 days.  But during all of his self-emptied life, all of his opposition, all of his growth, all of his learning, all of his self-discipline, all of his focused surrender, even unto death – He endured, He overcame, He redeemed, He birthed a new creation, He honored the Holy Father, even to the death of the cross!

It was not so much the joining of two natures in Christ – half God and half man.  That is too difficult for most of us to reconcile.  But rather think of the holy love of God displayed in this way, with the Son emptying himself, humbling himself to become like his brethren, taking a place in human form at the right point in history.  Then through his walking in the world, facing temptation, teaching, trials, obedience, suffering, culminating in his death, so as to accomplish the divine scheme of redemption, and to realize again his own deity (“the glory that I had with thee before the world began”), to reunite himself with his own divinity, in a grand tribute of honor to the Holiness of the Father. 

In this view of things, the Eternal Son - the lamb slain before the foundation of the world - renounced his own divinity, withdrew from certain divine privileges and knowledge, consented to take the form of a man, walked in humility beginning as a peasant and a servant, facing temptation (the most real of our temptations – to take our own way rather than God’s), hardship, poverty, rejection, persecution and even the death on the cross.  On this path he retraced as a man the steps to his divinity, living in homage to the Holiness from which he came, reuniting himself with his Father who rejoiced to raise him up again, having seen the travail of his soul and been satisfied (Is. 53).

But what is all that to you and me?  How does his life and death – his humility and his majesty, the action of his humanity turned again to meet the action of his own deity – meet the need of my conscience, my guilt and failure?  I can only watch with gaping mouth and foggy eyes.  I cannot hope to accomplish the same.  I cannot draw near to it.  He faced my temptations and he overcame; I faced them and gave in to them so many times.

But from the haze of that very bright cloud rises the message of the gospel, ringing through the pages of the Book.  Ringing through ages of time.  By faith! By faith in Christ as the Son of God I can be joined with him!  By faith I can die with him and I can dwell in Him!  By faith I can surrender to him, and let my will be conformed to His will!  By faith I can know the love of the Father and the Son… and they will come and make their abode with me!                                    Larry Walker, June 2013

Walking Alone

In the Bible, men and women of God often had to walk alone.  Though it is certainly true that God will not leave or forsake his people (Joshua 1:5), and his children can in all confidence say with Paul, “…but the Lord stood by me,” this does not mean that their loneliness in this world is not real and painful.  Think of Noah, Job, Moses, Ruth, David, Abigail, Jeremiah, Jesus’ mother, Paul, and so many others.  And think of the Savior himself, who took the form of a man, identified with us completely, walked and talked among men, and yet he had to face so much of his work in loneliness.  Even in the face of teeming crowds of people he was really very much alone - because his mission set him apart, his consciousness of sin and righteousness weighed heavily on him, and NO MAN COULD REALLY SENSE THAT AS WELL AS HE COULD!

If you follow our Lord, it will at times be so with you.  Hopefully you will have some brothers and sisters with whom you can enjoy fellowship in the congregation, and that is so important and can be so precious.  But IF you really battle in the depths of our own spiritual struggles in Christ, trying sincerely to grow to what he wants you to be, you will at times be all alone.  It will be just you and your conscience before God, and you will have to sort through things in a way that others do not understand and may not support.  You will have to think in solitude in your heart, and will have to find your consolation in Him alone and in His word.  But when it is just you and Him, then you will GROW in spirit, strengthened in your trial.

“The truly spiritual man is indeed something of an oddity.  He lives not for himself but to promote the interests of Another.  He seeks to persuade people to give all to His Lord and asks no portion or share for himself.  He delights not to be honored but to see his Savior glorified in the eyes of men.  His joy is to see His Lord promoted and himself neglected.  He finds few who care to talk about that which is the supreme object of his interest, so he is often silent and preoccupied in the midst of noisy religious shoptalk.   For this he earns the reputation of being dull and over-serious, and the gulf between him and society widens.  He searches for friends upon whose garments he can detect the smell of myrrh and aloes and cassias out of the ivory palaces (Ps. 45:8), and finding few or none, he, like Mary of old, keeps these things in his heart.” [A.W. Tozer, The Radical Cross]

The lonely saint is not a proud, “holier-than-thou” snob, as portrayed often in the popular media.  He is humble, compassionate, and attuned to the needs of those around him, especially their spiritual plight.  He is sensitive to others and wants to share his heart with like-minded souls, but the climate around him may not be very receptive, so often he must be silent and commune with God.   He is IN the world, but not really OF the world. 

But so many Christians today simply feel at home as part of the world.  They have lost their sense of being strangers and pilgrims.  They are not really lonely.  They fit well in the community, respectable good neighbors.  They have a comfortable church-life – brothers and sisters who reinforce their spiritual contentment. They will let you know they are doing very well, thank you.  Just so the preacher is not too fanatical and the elders are not too nosy about their personal lives.  They are not lonely, but neither are they the saints of God!

So if you find in some ways you are walking alone in trying to serve Him, take heart.  It is a mark of maturing in Christ.  Don’t grow weary and quit. Stand up like a man or woman of God and keep walking.  If all others are faithless, HE is faithful.  By His providence He will guard your way.

Larry Walker  Dec 2011

The Authority of the Cross and Fellowship (Part 2)

We spoke last time about the authority of the cross as the ground of our standing in right relationship to God.  This fellowship with God does NOT depend on moral perfection, doctrinal conformity on every point, or on choosing to affiliate with the right church.

But what does this mean to us in making applications to our fellowship with men? We saw how Paul appealed to the cross as the basis for unity among the Corinthians.  How does it apply to church divisions and church fellowship today?  In order to address our doctrinal differences, we have developed and relied on a lawyerly approach to “establishing authority”.  It leads us to wrangle over generic vs. specific authority, and over command, example and “necessary inference”.   Now I do not wish to dispute that there can be value in these concepts.  I agree, as many have expressed, that they are simply the basic ways one can communicate, teach, or indicate approval.   And as such, they are great helps for brethren who love each other and want to study the Scriptures together.  But they are just tools that help us illustrate and communicate.  And unfortunately, too often they are used as tools for scoring points, “boxing in”, and winning debates between two men whose aim is to defeat each other.   And this type of approach grows from the assumption that a man’s fellowship with God depends on his degree of doctrinal correctness.  And the consequence is rampant division.

Where does the true authority lie?  [We don't need to “establish it”, we need to ALL submit to it!]  From where do we have a scriptural basis to call ourselves children of God?  From where do we have a “right to act” as the people of God?  On what basis can we challenge our brother and discuss doctrinal differences with him?  [I am not saying we shouldn’t do so, rather asking on what basis we should do it.]  Is it on the basis of our being correct and being able to PROVE we are right by command, example or inference?  Will that save us?  Will it save my brother with whom I disagree?   Or is it on the basis of the cross of Christ, the fact that we both walk as part of the new creation, and that we are both committed to that, and to showing that commitment to our brethren, even those with whom we disagree?  Should we not teach, exhort, reprove, and debate from that basis? from that authority, the authority of the cross?  “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I unto the world.” (Gal. 6:14)         

There are two powerful and complementary (though at first glance they seem in contradiction) scriptural concepts about fellowship to be directly drawn from the authority of Jesus’ cross.   The first is that unity among Christians is demanded by it.  In Rom 14 and in 1 Cor. 8-10, Paul’s pleas for unity among brethren are based squarely in the demands of the cross.  “Destroy not for meat’s sake, the brother for whom Christ died.”  And “the cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ…”.  In dealing with these issues, personal conviction (Paul is NOT treating “matters of opinion” vs. “matters of faith”) is not to become a matter for judgment of another brother, looking down on him or on the congregation because they don't share your conviction.  And likewise personal liberties are not to be used carelessly, without regard to their impact on the souls of others.   So the cross calls for our unity, and provides a strong working basis for it.

But the second concept drawn from the cross is that there are behaviors on the part of members that betray our calling in Christ, and these DO require the severing of those congregational ties.   It is possible to turn one’s back on the new life in Christ, to throw it away and turn back to the world.  That is what Satan works for.  And it is possible to undermine the faith of tender young souls in Christ and to work against the unity of God’s people.   For such flagrant disregard for our own souls, and for the souls of our brothers and sisters, the authority of the cross demands separation, withdrawing of the fellowship of the faithful family. 

Explicit examples of instructions about these are found in Paul’s writings.  First, in 1 Cor. 5, there is the case of the man flagrantly living in incest with his father’s wife, while the congregation is smugly proud of it.  Paul calls on the Christians there – smack in the middle of all of his pleas for unity and tolerance – to “deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus”.   In 2 Thess 3, he urges them to confront the man who walks (continues to live) irresponsibly, expecting others to take care of him.  They are to withdraw from him if he will not repent.  Finally, to the Romans he writes that they should “mark those who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine…” – those who “serve their own bellies” – and avoid them (Rom. 16:17).

Note this paradox.  On the one hand, the cross demands tolerance – no, not just tolerance, but welcome - among brethren who differ regarding their private liberties and convictions over doctrinal issues (these are often based on our traditions).  We are not to destroy one another over such things.  We are not to “defile the temple of God” (1 Cor 3) with factions over such issues, following this man or that one.   We are forbidden to let our perceived liberties be the congregational wedge of division and strife.  Nor are we to allow our deeply held private convictions to cause us to look down our noses or shun our brother who doesn't share them.  But on the other hand, the cross demands that when necessary we purge from our midst those who impenitently live in contradiction to the values of holiness and honesty and self-control and accountability, as well as those who destroy the precious unity of the saints and who undermine the faithfulness of Christ’s little ones, causing them to stumble.   These cannot be allowed among the Lord’s congregations.

Brothers and sisters, if all across our brotherhood in the last century we had preached the message of the cross that Paul did, if we understood it as he understood it, and if we had knelt down there as he did, we wouldn't be in the mess we are in.  There our religious authority lies and nowhere else! The Bible teaches us so. 

The Authority of the Cross and Fellowship (Part 1)

What is the basis of our fellowship with God – our right standing with Him?  In what is our conviction grounded:

1. Because we are good enough morally?
2. Because we have the right grasp of all points of doctrine? Or at least, all the important ones?
3. Because we are affiliated with the right type of congregation?
4. Because we are purchased with Christ’s blood to be part of the new creation, His new covenant people, the new humanity?

For any sincere Christian and honest student of his word, to ask this question is to answer it.  We DO want to be doctrinally correct, and morally upright, and it IS an important consideration what type of congregation we affiliate with in the working out of our calling in our worship and mission.  But none of these things form the basis of our fellowship with the Father.  Rather, they are the result of it.  For the man/woman whose confidence lies in one or more of the first three, we are doomed to be torn between two poles:  on the one end, we might be arrogant beyond all decency, seeing ourselves as having “arrived” at moral excellence, doctrinal correctness, selection of the right church, etc.; on the other end, we might despair in hopelessness of ever achieving any such.  And in between there is mostly uncertainty – wavering between some wishful thinking that we are generally right on most points or morally decent, but in our moments of honesty, there is the growing realization that often we just do not measure up.  “Wretched man that I am!  Who shall deliver me out of the body of this death?” 

Now it is important to realize that in “Church of Christ” circles, a great many have been led pall-mall toward an almost exclusive practical emphasis on #2 or #3 as the key determinants of our “soundness” or faithfulness to God.   There have been at least three devastating consequences:

1. By and large, we are individuals concerned about religion but lacking in spiritual joy and peace and confidence in God.  Too many have raging – or at least smoldering - conflicts within: shame, guilt, fear, or at least serious doubt.
2. We are plagued with doctrinal disputes and divisions over every conceivable issue.  It is a natural consequence.  If we believe that our own fellowship with God depends on being right on all major doctrinal issues, then we must believe that the ones who disagree with us on those issues are NOT in fellowship with God.  This leads to division and the unending search to find a “sound” congregation that agrees with me.
3. As a result of one or both of the above, many churches have seen discouragement, distraction, despair, spiritual decay, and a slow and certain death.

[I am thinking of churches who see striving for doctrinal purity as desirable, and leave out of consideration altogether those progressive churches who have “matured” to the point where doctrinal issues are no longer important to them.  Such churches, by and large, see themselves as just another choice among denominations, and division in those churches will generally come because of money and politics, not over doctrinal disagreements.]

But the glorious news of the gospel is that the ground of our reconciliation to God is the cross of Christ! It is the power of God and the wisdom of God (I Cor. 1:18, 23, 24).  HE is the propitiation, through faith, by his blood (Rom. 3:25).  This is our “righteousness” squarely based on faith in Christ.  By Him, through him, by his blood, we are joined to him by faith, we are born again into the new creation (II Cor. 5:17).  This is not just “belief” and not “faith plus” obedience in the sense of achievement, but rather humble, trusting submission to the will of God.  In baptism we are born of water and the Spirit (Jn. 3), and we are united with him in his death so we can be raised to walk in newness of life (Rom. 6). 

If we are asked the basis of our confidence in our relationship to God, the ground of certainty we carry in our hearts, we must point to the authority of the cross!  There is none other.  This is what the scriptures teach.  Our fellowship with God is not grounded in our doctrinal correctness, moral excellence, or right standing with the right congregation or the right network of congregations.  On the conviction that we are sinners, we submit to Him as Lord and to the washing of his blood!  If we don't, we are without hope. We belong to Him by His purchase and we have no other authority on which to relate to each other in the spiritual realm.   When Paul was beginning his discussion in 1 Corinthians, aimed at healing the underlying problems of that fractured fellowship, he said something that we can easily overlook.  It is striking in its simplicity, and yet shocking in its power:  “For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified.” (1 Cor. 2:2).  Of course, Paul did not mean that he didn't speak about any other topic.  But he DID mean that the crucified Christ was the fundamental point on which his gospel was hinged.  The cross and its implications formed the central point on which everything else must be interpreted, the basis on which all religious problems must be solved!  This principle formed the basis of his appeal to them for unity, stretching over the first four or five chapters of the letter, perhaps more.  More on this in the next article.