Did you know Jesus was tempted to sin?

What is temptation?

Temptation is a universal experience for every human being who lives long enough to be exposed to any kind of sin--er, um, I think we're calling them "guilty pleasures" now. 

"Temptation to sin" is another way of saying that we want to break God's laws. Though God's laws are designed for our thriving, from time to time we find ourselves in a situation where it actually becomes appealing to break them. Lacking any convincing reason not to do so, most of the time we go ahead and do exactly that. How about you? Have you broken any of God's laws? Are you a sinner?

How sinful are you?

Let's take the Ten Commandments for example: 

The first commandment is to "Have no other Gods before me" (this is the command Jesus refers to in Luke 4:8). Yet all day, every day, we are tempted to put other things ahead of God on our priorities list--career, family, pleasure. These things aren't necessarily bad, but they aren't God. 

The third commandment is to "not take God's name in vain." Ever said, "Oh my God"--and not as a prayer? Consider that one broken. 

And what about the better-known commandments? The ones prohibiting murder, adultery, theft, coveting, and fraud? Well Jesus says in his famed "Sermon on the Mount" that anyone who even looks at somebody with lust in their heart has already committed adultery. In other words, if you've broken a command in your mind, then you're just as guilty of breaking it in person. And it gets worse: these commands come as a set. If you've broken one commandment, then you're guilty of breaking them all.

Yes, my friend, you don't have to be a serial killer or rapist to be a sinner. You can be a run-of-the-mill liar. The verdict is in, and you and I are guilty. We are sinful. 

Jesus was tempted by sin too, but his story goes a little differently than ours.

So Jesus was tempted. So what?

Though Jesus was fully human, and he was tempted in every way that we are, he never sinned. When the devil had him out there in the wilderness, after a forty-day fast (!), Jesus did not take the easy way out. He resisted temptation, and he did it in an incredible way. 

Jesus quoted the Bible. That's right: the Son of God himself used the Bible to out-argue that master-deceiver, the devil. 

The Bible. God's word. The story of the world. In the Bible, God gives us more than nice, pithy sayings about how to live our lives. The Bible is where we find out about our biggest problem (sin) and its consequence (hell, separation from God). It is also where we learn about Jesus, and how he took our place by dying on our behalf. That's right. Jesus--the God who became human--died for you. And that's recorded in the Bible.

Do you read it? Do you study it? Have you discovered the Jesus it talks about? The Jesus who was tempted like you and me, but never gave in--even in the face of the devil himself? Because Jesus obeyed God's law perfectly, he can perfectly represent you before God. And because he is God's own Son--unlimited in nature--he can represent all of us. 

Jesus, the perfect human, resisted sin so he could die for you. I invite you to come along with me this year as we get into God's word and see just what all this means.

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Joel Settecase is the Associate Pastor for Evangelism and Student Ministries at Grace Pointe Plainfield, located at 143rd St. & Route 30. He can be reached at jsettecase@gracepointe.us.