For the past couple of weeks, we’ve been looking at how Satan tempted Jesus in the desert and how Jesus responded to those temptations. Now, we’ll look at the final temptation Jesus faced: the temptation to believe that enough stuff and a good lifestyle would lead to true happiness.
Read Matthew 4.8–11.
Sometimes, we can think of Jesus as superhuman, but Jesus was fully God and fully human. This means that He definitely was tempted to give into the devil to get all of the amazing things He was being offered. What made it even more confusing is that this kind of opulence and affluence is exactly what the Old Testament said the Messiah would have.
Read Psalm 71.1, 10–11.
Not only was the devil tempting Jesus with the greatest lifestyle He could imagine, he was tempting Jesus with the lifestyle He was actually destined for. We can see this a lot in how the devil tempts us. He not only tells us that we can have a great lifestyle here on earth, he tempts us with the thoughts of what we might be able to do with it. He tells us to think of how we could provide for our families, give money to great causes, and do great things with the lifestyle he promises us. These are all great things, but they come at much too high a cost.
The devil tells Jesus that all He needs to do to have this lifestyle is “bow down and worship me” (Matthew 4.9). This language can throw us sometimes because we can’t picture too many people who would be fine with bowing down to Satan and participating in devil-worship. But really, this language of bowing down and worshipping is simply language of allegiance. The devil is asking Jesus for His loyalty when it comes to His lifestyle. The devil does the same thing to us; he tells us that if we give him our loyalty, he’ll make sure we get the lifestyle we want and that our allegiance to him would be worth our while. The Bible gives us an example of someone who took the devil up on his offer.
Read Luke 12.15–21.
This man took the devil’s approach to lifestyle but, in the end, it was all for nothing. He was rich on earth but not rich toward God, so it got him nowhere in eternity. If we have any hope of beating the temptation to live with lifestyle loyalty to the devil, we need to know exactly what his approach to lifestyle is. It can be summed up in three main facets.
- Go to whatever lengths necessary to make good money. If this means sacrificing time with family or with God so you can work longer, so be it. If it means cutting ethical corners to make a bigger profit, that’s fine. It’s all worth it, according to the devil.
- Hoard your resources for yourself. According to the devil, if we earned the money we should be able to keep it all for ourselves. We’re tempted to believe that we can always give charitably later, when we have plenty for ourselves. The devil plagues us with “what ifs”: tithing is crazy, what if the economy crashes? Giving is crazy, what if there’s a health emergency?
- Buy whatever your heart desires. Again, the devil wants us to believe that we earned the money so we have the right to spend it on everything we want. Once we get everything, we can start thinking about the bigger, better, next thing.
Question: In what areas of your life do you see yourself subscribing to the devil’s approach to lifestyle?
All of these seem like they could lead to happiness for us, but the devil’s approach to lifestyle has one fatal flaw. In Luke 12.15, Jesus tells us that, “life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” We can all think of plenty of people who have incredible wealth but are miserable. Not only does the devil’s approach fail to satisfy in this life, it also fails to satisfy in eternity. Right after the rich man in Luke 12 built bigger barns, God says, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” The rich man worked so hard to store up for himself on earth but he was left without anything in eternity. The devil’s approach to lifestyle promises us everything, but in reality it leaves us poor, pitiful, and naked.
Question: Reflect on the last question. What are some of the negative effects you see in those areas of your life that are more aligned with the devil’s approach to lifestyle?
Jesus, however, takes a very different approach to lifestyle. Jesus’ response to the devil is to quote Deuteronomy 6.13: “Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.” Essentially, Jesus is telling the devil that His lifestyle loyalty and allegiance will remain with God. In many ways, God’s approach to lifestyle is the complete opposite of the devil’s.
1. While the devil tells us to do whatever is necessary to make good money, God says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord” (Colossians 3.23). If we’re working for the Lord, we’ll never be working so hard that we neglect the things that He calls us to care for. God is absolutely a fan of hard work, but if that causes us to neglect our families, the poor, or our relationships with Him, then we’ve stopped working for the Lord.
Question: Are there times when you have taken “working hard” too far and stopped working as if you’re working for the Lord? How did that affect your relationships, both with God and with others?
2. The devil tells us to hoard our wealth, but God says that we should strive for a different kind of wealth.
Read 1 Timothy 6.18–19.
According to God, true and satisfying wealth is being rich in good deeds and being generous.
3. The devil tells us to buy everything we want, because if we get it we’ll truly be happy. Hebrews 13.5, though, tells us to “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you’.” We already have all we could ever need because we have God on our side, and He truly satisfies.
Read Revelation 21.10, 22–24.
The language in this passage echoes the language of Jesus being tempted in the desert, but this time we know that it will come about as a result of Jesus’ allegiance and loyalty to God. Loyalty to God may be harder than loyalty to the devil in the short-term, but it actually satisfies for all of eternity.
Read Matthew 16.24.
Jesus tells us that a life of allegiance to Him will be hard and will come with sacrifice—His path of allegiance to God led him to the ultimate sacrifice at the cross—but ultimately it is the only path that satisfies. We know that everything that Jesus won on the cross, He intends to share with everyone who has been saved by the cross.
Question: In what ways have you had to sacrifice because you’re living a life of allegiance to God? How have you seen God work through that sacrifice?
Read 1 Peter 1.3–4.
Pursuing earthly wealth by giving lifestyle loyalty to the Devil will leave us empty, but giving our allegiance to God, and God alone, will leave us with an inheritance that will never perish, spoil, or fade.
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