Kingdom's Keys Fellowship
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Lent 6 Flatlands and Mountains, the third Temptation
Lent 6 Flatlands to Mountains, the Third Temptation
As I write this I am sitting in the midst of a mountain range and the Scripture comes to mind, “I will lift mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help? My help cometh from the Lord who hath made Heaven and earth.”
The third temptation finds Jesus being taken up on an ”exceedingly high mountain.” The devil’s subtle technique is to make us think that we can be on top of the world if we can find the highest place, the highest social position, the highest emotional binge, the highest educational achievement, the highest accomplishment, in short, being number one. I’ve always considered the mountains to be a kind of experience that carries you to the top of all you are in mind, body and spirit. You climb them so when you get to the top you not only accomplish something physically, but there is an emotional satisfaction and a sense of being at one with the surroundings, a parallel to reaching the real top, a relationship with the Lord God. What I have come to realize is that the mountains point to God who created them and that He created them for us as He did all the earth. He is above it all.
In Genesis you see Him saying to Adam and Eve, “…fill the earth and subdue it.” That is, to bring the understanding of the earth to His spiritual place in your mind and in your heart. Fill the earth with images of Him who see the earth as His gift to us to enjoy. Your bodies and minds are the receivers of the gift and the very fact of enjoyment is the interior perception He has created within us to sense and feel its qualities. That is what subduing the earth is all about. You don’t grab it like a present, rip off the string and paper, throw away the box and use it until you tire of it then look for something else to feel good with. Recognize it is a gift from God for our pleasure and enjoyment. See it in its spiritual context. It is something we are given to enjoy temporarily to prepare to enjoy Him eternally. Look at God first then manage it with respect for Him.
With that in mind what we have seen in the first two temptations is the devil’s strategy to lure Jesus away from His Father by getting Him to ponder, to rethink, to redefine who He is, where He is and why He is here. In this his third temptation, the devil wants Jesus to consider the top as being in control of the world, its people and its institutions. Instead of a vertical focus see everything in a horizontal focus. It’s being on top, having control of every political, economic and social institution, being number one over it all to do what He wanted with it. Isn’t that a temptation for us as well?
The devil wanted Jesus to keep from seeing above the world to the real top, His Father. Use physical, emotional, spiritual hunger as the focus of the moment, the de jour menu for thought and action. Make momentary needs the all-consuming personal object that requires immediate attention.
Think for a moment if you were Jesus. What would you like most to control? If you loved people and saw them suffering wouldn’t you want to rid the world of suffering, poverty, war, hate and all the plagues of human misery? Make what you want, what you think your needs are, what you think are the needs of others and get them met right now. Make the world, the present and their needs your focus. If you are the Son of God shouldn’t this be the way you think?
Weakened by hunger, alone in the wilderness, this is the moment the devil was sure he could get the human Jesus to give in, for the sake of people, Himself and getting His mission accomplished. “All this I will give you,” the devil said, “if you will fall down and worship me.” Never wavering for an instant Jesus replied, “Away with you satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.”
The wilderness of the world and its standards is where fallen humanity is because that is where satan is. He is “the prince of this world” which means of the now, the temporary, the false ego, ‘me first’, the shifting sands of trends, fashions and idolatry (whatever the world gets us to think is number one outside of God). What he was really fighting was what he knew about himself. He was going to be defeated and eliminated. His end was sure and Jesus was there to expose him to the world and to face him at the very point of human exhaustion because that is where we are. This is where Jesus chose to counter him through the Word and in the Spirit.
He came to show that real humanity is not about immediate personal satisfaction and being number one in the now but about a faithful relationship with God in the eternal present. It is not about getting what I think I need (perceived needs) but what God has revealed spiritually (our real needs), a relationship with Him that captures our minds and hearts. For Jesus this meant death on the Cross in our place. For us it means crucifixion of the world and freedom in Christ through His Resurrection. Our mission is now defined, bring the God above the mountains into the flatlands of the wilderness that hearts can look above where Christ sits at the right hand of the Father and reconcile the world of minds and hearts to Him.
More to come. Stay tuned.
As I write this I am sitting in the midst of a mountain range and the Scripture comes to mind, “I will lift mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help? My help cometh from the Lord who hath made Heaven and earth.”
The third temptation finds Jesus being taken up on an ”exceedingly high mountain.” The devil’s subtle technique is to make us think that we can be on top of the world if we can find the highest place, the highest social position, the highest emotional binge, the highest educational achievement, the highest accomplishment, in short, being number one. I’ve always considered the mountains to be a kind of experience that carries you to the top of all you are in mind, body and spirit. You climb them so when you get to the top you not only accomplish something physically, but there is an emotional satisfaction and a sense of being at one with the surroundings, a parallel to reaching the real top, a relationship with the Lord God. What I have come to realize is that the mountains point to God who created them and that He created them for us as He did all the earth. He is above it all.
In Genesis you see Him saying to Adam and Eve, “…fill the earth and subdue it.” That is, to bring the understanding of the earth to His spiritual place in your mind and in your heart. Fill the earth with images of Him who see the earth as His gift to us to enjoy. Your bodies and minds are the receivers of the gift and the very fact of enjoyment is the interior perception He has created within us to sense and feel its qualities. That is what subduing the earth is all about. You don’t grab it like a present, rip off the string and paper, throw away the box and use it until you tire of it then look for something else to feel good with. Recognize it is a gift from God for our pleasure and enjoyment. See it in its spiritual context. It is something we are given to enjoy temporarily to prepare to enjoy Him eternally. Look at God first then manage it with respect for Him.
With that in mind what we have seen in the first two temptations is the devil’s strategy to lure Jesus away from His Father by getting Him to ponder, to rethink, to redefine who He is, where He is and why He is here. In this his third temptation, the devil wants Jesus to consider the top as being in control of the world, its people and its institutions. Instead of a vertical focus see everything in a horizontal focus. It’s being on top, having control of every political, economic and social institution, being number one over it all to do what He wanted with it. Isn’t that a temptation for us as well?
The devil wanted Jesus to keep from seeing above the world to the real top, His Father. Use physical, emotional, spiritual hunger as the focus of the moment, the de jour menu for thought and action. Make momentary needs the all-consuming personal object that requires immediate attention.
Think for a moment if you were Jesus. What would you like most to control? If you loved people and saw them suffering wouldn’t you want to rid the world of suffering, poverty, war, hate and all the plagues of human misery? Make what you want, what you think your needs are, what you think are the needs of others and get them met right now. Make the world, the present and their needs your focus. If you are the Son of God shouldn’t this be the way you think?
Weakened by hunger, alone in the wilderness, this is the moment the devil was sure he could get the human Jesus to give in, for the sake of people, Himself and getting His mission accomplished. “All this I will give you,” the devil said, “if you will fall down and worship me.” Never wavering for an instant Jesus replied, “Away with you satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.”
The wilderness of the world and its standards is where fallen humanity is because that is where satan is. He is “the prince of this world” which means of the now, the temporary, the false ego, ‘me first’, the shifting sands of trends, fashions and idolatry (whatever the world gets us to think is number one outside of God). What he was really fighting was what he knew about himself. He was going to be defeated and eliminated. His end was sure and Jesus was there to expose him to the world and to face him at the very point of human exhaustion because that is where we are. This is where Jesus chose to counter him through the Word and in the Spirit.
He came to show that real humanity is not about immediate personal satisfaction and being number one in the now but about a faithful relationship with God in the eternal present. It is not about getting what I think I need (perceived needs) but what God has revealed spiritually (our real needs), a relationship with Him that captures our minds and hearts. For Jesus this meant death on the Cross in our place. For us it means crucifixion of the world and freedom in Christ through His Resurrection. Our mission is now defined, bring the God above the mountains into the flatlands of the wilderness that hearts can look above where Christ sits at the right hand of the Father and reconcile the world of minds and hearts to Him.
More to come. Stay tuned.
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Comment
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Comment by HKHaugan on March 11, 2009 at 7:42am
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Thanks, We are looking forward to this trip. ><>W
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Comment by joyce warner on March 10, 2009 at 1:06pm
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We are using your writings on the temptations in class while you are away, Whitey. They are so full of food for thought. Thanks for leaving us with so much. God bless and keep you and Mary on your travels, and God bless Kristen and her baby, and bring about a safe delivery.
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Addenda===Remember too, the devil is interested in diverting our eyes from God above the mountains to being absorbed on the flatlands below. He wants us to keep looking down and around us. The illusion he creates is that the top of a world mountain is the top. God has made us to look higher and that 'higher' is Him and when we are in Him we can see our heart is higher than the world. That is how God sees us, instructs us and moves us. The devil however, wants to put us into a state of frustration about the enormity of the problems of the world, my insignificance within it and the loneliness I feel as a result, that is his goal. He wants us to spend all our waking moments annoyed at the political scene, the economic crisis, family issues and on and on. We are God's, we are His family and our call is to share the truth as we go. Great isn't it?
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