What Did Jesus Do?:
Jesus Got Dunked and Tempted
Ron Fast
[email protected] Copyright 2007 by Ron Fast
Intro
Empathy
Imagine that you and your bestest, coolest friend in the whole wide world were out on a walk because you thought you needed some bonding time. As you were walking along and talking about guy or girl stuff, depending on if you were a guy or girl . . . Oops. . . I mean lady, you both spotted this really cool tree that looked really climbable. Since you and your friend were such close buds you both had the same thought at the same time, “YEAH. . . Let’s climb the tree. . .WA-HOO. The last one to the top is the world’s biggest dork.”
So you both shimmied up the tree and started climbing through the branches. Suddenly your friend decides that he wanted to make like Spideyman and see how far out on the limb he could get without killing himself and having to go to the hospital to get himself put back together. Can you imagine bones sticking out all over the place? Falling would probably rearrange your face, like putting your nose up on your forehead. Your nose would probably be upside down so that when you went out in a rain storm, your nose would fill up and you would drown. I can see the headlines now, “MAN DIES WHEN HE DROWNDED IN A RAIN STORM BECAUSE HIS NOSE WAS UPSIDE DOWN”.
Anyways, where was I going with this story. . . Um. . . . Oh yeah that’s right.
Your bestest friend decided to make like Spideyman and see how far he could climb out on the tree branch. It looked pretty hefty so you weren’t too worried. He moved out slowly on the branch, crawling farther and farther from the safety of the tree trunk. So far so good. He was getting pretty far out on the limb when suddenly . . .
There was your friend, lying on the ground makin’ like a lump of dirt. You were about to laugh because he looked funny the way he was laying on the ground in such a funny position. But you realized he was in pain.
You yelled down to him, “OOPS did you fall down and go BOOM? Did you have a nice flight?”.
Then you got serious and said, “I’ve got some good news and I’ve got some bad news. What do you want to hear first?”
“The good news”, your friend said.
“Okay. The good news is you’re alive”, you yelled to your friend.
“Hah, hah, very funny. Okay what’s the bad news?”
“Judging by the position of your leg, I’d say it’s busted.”
So you climb down and help your friend to the horsepistol (hospital).
Now unless you have fallen out of a tree, you can’t really empathize with your friend. You can see that he is in a lot of pain and you have been in pain before so you know that he is hurting. So in order for you to really empathize with your friend, the best thing to do is to climb back up that tree and do the same thing he did and break your leg just like his, but until you do that you can only sympathize with him.
God sort of did the same thing when He put skin on and came to earth. In order for Jesus to be able to be our High Priest in Heaven, He needed to be able to empathize with us as we live out our lives. So He basically climbed up the tree, went way out on the limb, fell and broke His leg just so that He could know what it was like to live in a fallen world.
Last week we talked about how important the Old Testament prophecies were to those who were going to be around when Jesus was alive. The prophecies were so important that without them the people would have had a hugely, mondo difficult time, probably impossible, in recognizing the Messiah when He finally came.
God knew that the people would need positive proof that Jesus was the Messiah. God just didn’t provide one or two prophecies to show the people that Jesus was the Messiah. There were literally thousands of prophecies that He had to fulfill and He did just that.
This week we are going to begin looking at the different things that Jesus did to fulfill prophecy, and to touch humanity in a way that no one else could. Since He was God, He was able to heal the sick and the lame. He was able to give sight to the blind. He had the power of life and death, so He could bring people back to life. He did some truly amazing things during His three-year ministry but still many of the people that saw Him do this stuff still did not believe that He was the Messiah.
They were so blinded by Satan that it was nearly impossible for some of them to ever believe in Jesus. Satan is very good at what he does. After all, he was the highest created being. That means he was the most powerful, the most beautiful and the smartest creature that ever existed. Satan is no dummy, he knows just how to keep people from seeing God the way He truly is.
Monday
Jesus Gets Dunked
To kick this study off, let’s look at the day that Jesus was baptized. Doesn’t it seem kinda weird that Jesus had to get baptized? Why would Jesus need to be baptized? Well there are actually three main reasons.
Read Matt 3:13-17 and then rearrange the tiles below to find the reason.
Reason #1
Reason #2
Reason #3
Tuesday
Why Was Jesus Tempted?
For the next couple of days we are going to look at the time when Jesus was tempted. Jesus' temptation is a very important part of why He came to earth.
Why did Jesus have to be tempted? Turn to Hebrews 4 and read verses 14-16, then solve the picture puzzle below to find the answer.
Answer: __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
Wednesday
The duty of a High Priest is to represent the people before God. In order for a High Priest to be able to really represent people, he must be one of them and totally understand the things that they go through on a daily basis. In order for Jesus to be our “perfect” High Priest and completely represent us, He had to experience temptation just as we do. So His Father allowed Him to be tempted just like we are tempted.
What kind of temptation didn’t Jesus experience?
Satan's Strategy to Bring Jesus Down (and us)
When Satan tempts us, he attacks us in one or more of three basic areas.
When Jesus was tempted, He was tempted in the same three areas. Just like Eve, you and I are also tempted in the same areas. The difference between the temptation of Eve and Jesus is how Jesus handled it. So let's focus on Jesus' strategy since He is Da Man.
Before we head into the temptation part, let's see why the temptations Jesus faced were a gazillion times more difficult than we will face.
Read Matt 4:1-4. Why were Jesus' temptations much more intense than ours?
Let’s relate this to us. Do you think that it’s easier to resist temptation when we are sick or hungry or sad OR when we are healthy and mentally alert? Why?
Based on your answer to the previous question, do you think that one thing we can do to help us resist temptation is to keep ourselves healthy (like exercising regularly and eating right and getting the sleep we need)?
Thursday
What Did Jesus Do?
Okay, let’s head into the meat of this G-TRAX. Let’s look at different ways that Jesus was tempted. Do you think that Satan thought that he could really tempt Jesus and succeed? What was he thinking? He was going up against God in the flesh and somehow he thought he had a chance to bring Jesus down. What was Satan’s problem (its starts with the letter ‘P’)?
Temptation #1
Read Matt 4:3-4
What was the temptation?
Why would this one have been more difficult for Jesus to resist?
What Did Jesus Do - How did Jesus respond to Satan?
Solve the puz
zle below to figure out the name of this kind of temptation.
Temptation #2
Read Matt 4:5-6
What was the temptation?
Why would this one have been more difficult for Jesus to resist?
What Did Jesus Do - How did Jesus respond to Satan?
Solve the puzzle below to figure out the name of this kind of temptation.
Friday
Temptation #3
Read Matt 4:8-9
What was the temptation?
Why would this one have been more difficult for Jesus to resist?
What Did Jesus Do - How did Jesus respond to Satan?
Solve the puzzle below to figure out the name of this kind of temptation.
Saturday
Jesus Enters His Ministry
Now that Jesus has been tested in every way, He is now ready to begin the ministry that His Father had prepared for Him. Imagine this as we study about Jesus and His life here on earth, Jesus didn’t have to do any of this. He didn’t have to come to earth. He didn’t have to be tempted by Satan. He didn’t have to fast for forty days and nights. Can you imagine how much His stomach was growling the whole time Satan was tempting Him?
Jesus came to earth because He could see through the veil of time, Jesus was infinite. He wasn’t bound by time (as God). He saw that you and I would be hopelessly lost for all eternity if He didn’t come and do what He did.
How many times do you thank God for Him coming down to earth and going through everything that He did, just for you and me? WOW!!!!!!! Talk about selfless. Talk about being a servant.
For today, I would like you to read Phil 2:1-18 and then think about what it took for Jesus to come to earth as a servant of all.
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Ron Fast is the author of G-TRAX Devo's, Biblical devotionals for youth. G-TRAX Devo’s are now available online at www.youthministrydevotionals.com in an interactive form. He has over 9 years of experience working with Junior High and Middle School students. His personal mission is “to make the Bible relevant to today’s youth”.