If You Worship...Who? | Jesus Begins 7

In which John and David explore the second temptation Jesus faces in the desert. The call to worship someone other than God is a challenge that every human faces. So what do we learn by unpacking what's going on behind this text in Luke 4? And what can we learn as the church, and as church leaders, when so often the thing that we really want to worship... is ourselves?

Episode 48 of the Two Texts Podcast | Jesus Begins 7

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Music by Woodford Music (c) 2021

Transcript

 Transcript autogenerated by Descript.com

[00:00:00] John: Hey, David, it. is fantastic to connect with you again, and we are carrying on what I really am enjoying this series on the beginning of Jesus' ministry. And we have been leaning into what are sometimes referred to as these three temptations of Jesus in the wilderness. 

[00:00:18] We know that we're probably more Dr. Luke hints at the fact that, for 40 days Jesus was tested. So he was probably tested and a lot more. But we've been enjoying just leaning into that and we're going to carry on with that today and I'm, and you're going to kick us off into this fantastic reading and help us from Luke's gospel.  

[00:00:37] David: Yes, absolutely. John, it's a pretty intense start to life in Jesus's ministry. Isn't it? It's  

[00:00:43] John: Absolutely.  

[00:00:44] David: it it definitely many many minister of the gospel out there would happily have a quieter start to their life than the one that that Jesus had to go through. But, and of course, that's the fascinating thing about this story. 

[00:00:55] Isn't it? That what we're seeing. I think in terms of the ancient way of presenting is is these, these series of tests and statements about Jesus are setting up to. The ancient reader of Luke Jesus has credentials, really. At some level, the, the father has spoke good things about him. He comes from good genealogy that affirms what the father has said, and now he has to go through a test. 

[00:01:21] And it's almost like I, I had, I mean, this. Not to sound facetious, John, but you know, when you buy your car or you buy a new fridge or you buy your new digital camera, you'll often notice there's a quality control sticker on it somewhere. And that sticker tells you, Hey, somebody tested this, it's going to be okay to the ancient reader. 

[00:01:44] This early part of Luke's gospel in the beginning of Jesus's ministry. Now we might think, well, wait a minute. Isn't Jesus, son of God, surely he doesn't need to be tested, but of course, Luke is presenting this story to convince you of that. So this is a form of, and I mean, it, I hope this isn't offensive, but it's a, it's almost Luke's quality control sticker on Jesus. 

[00:02:05] Look, he's worthy in. So with that here we left, we left Jesus one of three temptations a couple of weeks ago. Now we move into temptation too. And I'm just going to read just the text of the second temptation, Luke chapter four and verse five. It says. Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant, all the kingdoms of the world. 

[00:02:34] And the devil said to him, to you, I will give their glory and all this authority for it has been given over to me. And I give it to anyone. I please, if you then will worship me. It will all be yours.  

[00:02:53] John: Wow.  
 

[00:02:53] David: Jesus answered him. It is written worship the Lord, your God, and serve only him. 

[00:03:03] John: Amazing amazing. I can't help here that particular temptation divot of, of the three that we will deal with this one almost immediately propels me back to the garden. That first encounter of the serpent with the woman and then the encounter with the woman and the man. And I cannot help, but just, just see the incredible parallels between these two ideas. 

[00:03:38] When you, when you look back at that Genesis account we we've already lent into this idea where the word of God is questioned. Challenged by the serpent. And, and then you get this, this incredible first five and six ID in Genesis. David. Now I'll lean back, enter into Luke. The serpent says for God, knows that when you eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil. 

[00:04:04] And then it says this first six Genesis three, when the woman saw. When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye and also desirable for gaining wisdom. She took some and ate it. And of course, in this temptation, we've got a sort of a scene moment. Haven't we we've got like, he takes Jesus up to this hype. And shows him. So, so w what struck me, what struck me in the parallel to Genesis and Luke in this respect? I don't know if I'm stretching as too far again, but of course the woman must have seen that tree, that fruit before, but nine, she seen. In a different way. She seen it in a could of said desiring way, is there there's something of desire has been opened up in her so that she knows, sees the cm fruit she saw before. 

[00:05:06] But sees it in this different way. And under is a sense of which when we think about Jesus, perhaps that, that actually he would have understood as a 30 year old man, the kingdoms of the world, he would have understood how the world worked. And in many ways, of course we believe he would have understood his call and his purpose at that stage too, as. When the world through a redemptive purpose, but here's, it, it feels to me like the adversary is doing to Jesus. Exactly. The same thing that he tried to do, that, that he did to the woman he's trying to do to Jesus. The thing that he did in that show Jesus. A different view, help, almost trying to move Jesus to see the same thing differently and therefore move towards it. 

[00:05:58] Is that, is that sort of a fair connection? Do you think.  

[00:06:00] David: I, I, I, you, you made me smirk when you started that, because I was sat thinking about Genesis and this text as well. So, if, if there's any agreement in just as both going to the same place in our mind, then, then take that as my, as my support. I think you're almost seeing there's, there's, there's lots of levels of parallels because there's almost a sense where you could see, the, the adversity, the Satan enters the garden, which is made the way God intended it and shows the human. 

[00:06:39] Another option. Now we come to Jesus. However many years later, the adversary, the Satan comes to another human. But this time, what they sure is the disordered world is the world, the world that has growing out of the brokenness that the Seton introduced to the story. And now it says, because there's this sense of, this is mine to give to you, write it like this. 

[00:07:05] So. And you're not going to be surprised at this, John, but I would want to jump very briefly. To, to Philippians two. And I, Luke as a student of Paul's this verse six of Luke of Philippians chapter two, just to remind, to remind us, let the same mind being used. It was in Christ. 

[00:07:28] Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not Ricart regard equality with God is something to be exploited. Right. The new international event version said. Did not consider equality with God, something to be used to his own advantage. The Greek word at heart PAG Moss, right? Which is the Greek word there kind of a dominant, if you actually look up a Greek dictionary, the dominant. 

[00:07:53] Translation of that word you get is something to be grasped at. So who being a very nature, God did not consider equality with God. Something to be grasped that I have this image of, of Adam and Eve grasping the fruit, grasping at equality with God, you can be like, God, yes, we want it to be light. 

[00:08:11] God, we want the power. We want the knowledge of good and evil. They grasp at it. And then Paul introduces us to this idea of Jesus who does not grasp after these. Right. So, so now, okay. W w we're deep in Pauline theology. Think about how does Paul talk about Jesus? Sometimes you talk about him as the second, Adam, the second human, the first human meets, the devil and is presented with. 

[00:08:37] The choice do you want to grasp after this? And they do. And so we've got this is a very long way of me agreeing with you, John. We've got this second Eden story here that the devil comes back and almost goes, will it work the first time here? Let's try it the second time here, grasp after all these things. 

[00:08:55] The stunning part of this story is that Jesus refuses to grasp after it. Now I think Paul would then say, well, of course he does because when he had equality with God before he was even born, he refused to grasp. After that, we're seeing this invasion of good and the authority of good into the world. 

[00:09:13] So I think there's, I think there is Adam and Eve echoes all the way through this, this sort of stuff. Yeah. So that was a very long way of missing. Yes,  

[00:09:24] John: I think that was brilliant, David and I really loved that connection to the, to the grasping or non grasping of Jesus in Philippines. So that was magnificent. And it does again, show that there is much more going on here. In these temptations and simply go, Hey, do you want a shortcut to success? So there there's a, there's sort of a surface level of, here's a quick, here's a quick route to and as someone once said, there's no shortcuts to anywhere worth going on the door. 

[00:09:53] That's not in the Bible. It sort of could be isn't it, it's, it's a, there's a real truth that, that the Lord very rarely engages shortcuts. But of course, this is not, we mustn't reduce this down to a sort of a. Cheap shortcut offer. There is something really that is fundamental at this. If you. 

[00:10:11] are the son of God. So if he has released that grasping mentality, that he doesn't need to grasp out who he is, but that's already been proved that then one of the tests is well, okay. Have this then, and seeks to lead Jesus into grasping for himself. Grasping for his own possession and his own. Well, let's use a 21st century word in the sense of grasping for his own success. And Jesus is resistant to that idea, but, but of course it's, it's fascinating divot the basis of that resistance. I think we, we reflect that last time. That the way of understanding these temptations is, is not just a little. The adversary says the devil says, but sort of look at the response of Jesus, how Jesus responds, which may be a deeper clue into what is really, really going on here. And it's interesting, isn't it? Hi, Jesus' response here. And in terms of the basis of his resistance, he's not just resist. Out of his identity, but he's resisting out of, again, the words of the Torah and untruth that, that leads the way on that is that, is that fair?  

[00:11:34] David: I think that's it. I think that's , exactly what's happening. And I, and I think there's there's a few things you'd almost want to. He's homeless. Want to get your, your pan out. And I don't know if you're the type of person that writes in your Bible or in, at you almost want to kind of draw circles in lines. 

[00:11:51] Don't you, there's a question being raised about worship that is the question on the table. Which is, which is fascinating because at some level, That's always the question that's on the table. I'm thinking, I'm trying to think of the author's name now, and it's totally escaping me, which is, which is terrible, John, but David Foster Wallace, there we go. 

[00:12:17] We can edit this down later and it looks like I totally instantly knew his name in, in a, in a commencement speech that David Foster Wallace gave who, and he died very young. And I think it's in a speech of his called this is water. You can you could Google it at some point and have a read of it, but he makes this point in the middle where he, he basically says, and, and as far as I'm aware, Wallace is not a Christian, but he, he basically says to this group of students, you are all going to worship something. 

[00:12:44] And, and he says, that is not. At question, the question is what are you going to worship? Right? And then he says this to them. I think about this as, like I say, as far as I'm aware, not a Christian gentlemen he says this to him, a compelling reason to choose someone like Jesus he says a compelling reason. The other things that you choose to worship will tear you apart. And now of course, I would want to push that a step further and say it actually a compelling reason to worship Jesus exclusively is that the many other things can, can tell you apart. And, and, and those many of the things. 

[00:13:21] Vast money sex power but church can be one of those things. We're living in a time period where we're seeing pastors who are being drawn to the appeal of successful church. You used the word success of an go and, and it's, and it's getting in the way of the worship of God only. 

[00:13:41] And it's like, how do we make this. Quote unquote successful and it tears them apart and it creates all sorts of problems. So anything that we put in our lives, in the way of worship, anything we put in our lives in the way of God, it is the, it is the original scent. At some level you can be like, God is the, the, the rabbis in some of the readings I've seen of the Genesis account. 

[00:14:05] It is essentially. It's all about idolatry. The devil offers Adam and Eve something else to worship.  

[00:14:14] John: Yes. Yes. 

[00:14:15] absolutely. Absolutely. And of course this sort of in its purest sense worship, true worship in, in the context we're talking about, true worship is the, is the displacing of self. And the placing of God at the center. Isn't it? So, so, so, everything else is about really usurping the position of the Lord in his rightful place. 

[00:14:39] Within that, of course, here as also echoed in the garden, you have a displacing of the Lord. And It's been replaced with something else. It, no matter how legitimate that looks or no matter how attractive that looks, it is it as a replacement of someone who should always set at the center. And, and that is really, I know that sounds maybe for some of our listeners almost overly simplistic, but that is really that's the pull and push of the whole biblical narrative. 

[00:15:11] Isn't it? It really is about. As a human am. I prepared on an everyday basis to consider what is seeking to usurp the centrality of the Lord in my life. what is seeking to use SERP? His position is that the position had only he alone can have. Now of course, we've got. You'll see it in here, like really audaciously saying worship me. 

[00:15:37] So there is. 

[00:15:38] a, a direct assault here on Jesus in a way that he doesn't directly assault our first parents in the garden sort of thing. So there is a direct assault of saying, right. Put me in the place of the Lord, which of course, when we track some of that nuance in the old Testament, that's all was where Lucifer wanted to be. 

[00:15:56] He wanted to be where God was, And that was ultimately the seeds of his own don't fall. But he's really blatantly saying displace the position. If you like of the father here displace the position of God's authority in your world and replace it with something else. And you'll get all this stuff anyway. 

[00:16:20] And I think again, for us in our 21st century world I think that's a fresh. Dynamic powerful message to us that as men and women who want to be serious about following Jesus, we need to keep asking the question. Is there anything that would threaten to usurp the position that only he can hold in our world, whether that be self or other expressions of. 

[00:16:46] David: And the irony of it is, and this is where you start to see the brokenness. I feel like, I feel like CS Lewis would explain this better than me. But that's probably true of any conversation we could have, but almost the proof of the pudding in the brokenness of it all I'm thinking. And yeah, I'm not being clear here till I'm thinking about Lucy's conversations in mere Christianity, where he talks about how do we know that good and evil are not just two options? 

[00:17:14] How do we know that evil is the bad one? And good is the good one. And Lewis talks about how, or because evil is a corruption of the. Right. So, so there is a good option of worship. It is the father, right? It is, is the son, it's the holy spirit. And then all other forms of worship are corruptions of that. 

[00:17:32] But you can still see within them the desire for the right thing that gets ill formed. So fascinating. Th th the Satan wants to be worshiped himself. So he disrupts in distortion breaks the worship of God in the garden by drawing the worship towards himself. Part of the proof of the brokenness of it, is that what you result in, is it humans don't actually directly worship Satan. 

[00:17:59] They just don't worship God. What we've actually done is we've started to worship ourselves. So sometimes we get involved in disordered worship. In fact, I'd be tempted to say that. Most of the time we get involved in disordered worship. It's not satanic. It's not that we're all sat here, worshiping the devil. 

[00:18:16] It's that we're not worshiping God. We're putting ourselves often at the center of the story.  

[00:18:22] John: so good.  

[00:18:23] David: And I think that I, I mean, I always think there's a great book. Have you read James Smith's you are what you love? I don't  

[00:18:29] John: No, no, I've seen it, but no.  

[00:18:31] David: yeah. Just like an amazing book. I would confidently say to pretty much anybody. 

[00:18:39] It's it's in my must reads of books in the last 10 years in, in, in, in popular Christianity, not an easy read, but, but not like an intense academic read it's worth reading. For many reasons, but one of the reasons of loan is Jamie Smith's description of what happens when you go to the mall. And he basically, he reads the mall as a temple, right. 

[00:19:02] But a temple to yourself where you are constantly told to worship yourself or shoot yourself. And he calls us as leaders and Christians to build churches as alternates to the mall so that we turn up in church and we're told. Actually stop thinking about yourself, worship Jesus. And that will actually be the right way if you like, which is, is directly what Jesus responds to the Satan, isn't it worship the Lord, your God and serve him only. 

[00:19:32] I mean, there's a, there's a little bit of a Shayma feel there. Israel only.  

[00:19:39] John: only. 
 

[00:19:39] absolutely. And before we lean into that, I, I think one of the challenges, and I've said this to some leaders, as I've reflected, I, I get a glorious privilege of traveling road as part of my translocal opportunities and, and speak in different contexts. 

[00:19:55] And I have noticed an emergence of worship that is more about Austin, about. And we've just got to watch that and a little, a little just nudge to any great songwriters out there, listening to us or people aspiring to worship or lead others. I challenged a group of, of people recently. I said, try and spend 10, 15 minutes in your devotional time with the Lord. 

[00:20:19] Not thinking about yourself, not asking for yourself, not praying for anything. Just, just. And I think, I think there is a discipline in our worship where we even as followers of Jesus, have to train ourselves to intentionally not think about ourselves, even when we're shipping. There, there has to come a Mo I, I love the moment than Isaiah and it's a tipping point moment than Isaiah. 

[00:20:48] When Isaiah standing in the Tampa, he's already been prophesying, and, and, and giving the word of the Lord in any stands in the temple. And he saw the Lord and his only reflection on himself in that moment was he was on Don. It, everything else is about. Isabella's glory. And I, I challenged a context recently where I said, we must be careful not to worship worship and, and make sure that we're not simply turning our worship times into MI centric moments. 

[00:21:19] I think one of the most. Phenomenal things we could offer people is having 20, 30 minutes in a week where they're not thinking about themselves, where they're actually thinking about the one greater than themselves and the line, his magnificence and transcendence to permeate our lives without even. 

[00:21:39] Directly thinking about it and just being in his presence and not thinking about my mortgage and thinking about my car and thinking about what, how much money a want, or what a need or about my health, but actually for a few amazing moments, forget about myself and think only of him, I think that's possible. 

[00:21:56] But I think especially in our modern context, I think we've got a tree in people almost to do that And, help them to deliberately and, intentionally. Not think about self, even when worshiping him, it is a, it's a discipline and maybe a challenge I would throw out to our listeners. Just, just think about him. 

[00:22:17] David: and, if, if we read the Genesis story of the week, we are doing. It's understandable why it's difficult. The original brokenness of humanity is the desire to be like, God. So when we talk about ourselves, even in a church worship setting there's a level where in, we're kind of trying to tweak the idolatry back in the, it feels like we're talking about God. 

[00:22:37] This is why I think you would love at Jamie Smith's book as well. Cause he, he literally talks about sitting in a worship service and taking the, the, the. The hymn sheet and circling all the times that I am talked about in the time of worship.  

[00:22:53] John: and data.  

[00:22:54] David: And I would just say, I would just say to anyone that was interested a really good model for how to do worship is the Psalms. 

[00:23:03] John: Yes.  
 

[00:23:04] David: And, and you'll notice you can talk about yourself, but notice how the Psalmist talks about themselves. It's eats in a very different way than often. How, how we talk about ourselves in contemporary songs and the Psalmist often say things to God that we would never be brave enough to say to God. So I often encourage people. 

[00:23:22] You. Get the Psalms into your worship because it will, it will guide you in and frame you up. John, I would almost interested to ask you. 'cause I think a little bit of acts of Jesus have the word worship in Greek is interesting. This word prosecutorial, right. We can literally to kiss towards, do you have any thoughts on that? 

[00:23:47] I mean, I do, but you've, you've reflected, you've written on worship and in books before, so. 

[00:23:53] John: Yeah, well, I mean, for me, I, for me, there is a magnificent imagery, right in, right in the garden where, when the Lord makes the first human. so. 

[00:24:02] If, if we just follow that, that beautiful imagery and picture that's created the first human Mon and it says in Genesis two, the Dolores breathed up his nostrils, a love that with. 

[00:24:13] With one with very blessed, blessed nostrils. It's a nice thought. And, and of course, if we take it, literally, the man's mouth is closed probably because he's a human form, but he's not alive the Lord breeze up his nostrils. And I, I reflected on this idea and I know I am stretching the text here, so, so, stretch alert, coming up for our, for our listeners. But if we just follow the imagery of that for the Lord to breathe up the man's nostrils, he has to get right in the fierce of the man.  

[00:24:47] David: Hm. 
 

[00:24:48] John: If the man comes to life, when the breath of the Lord goes up as nostrils and he opens his eyes, then in theory, in theory, the first thing he sees is the fierce. I'd ended that the very first commandment have no other gods before me literally could be translated before my face have nothing between the fierce of God and your face. Moses meets with the Lord face to face. There is this gorgeous. And of course, one of the pivotal moments in the life of Jacob with GeoGebra wrestles with the Lord in the garden is that he says, I saw. to face. And yet my life whispered Panim El Panim, it's this fierce to fierceness. The word became flesh and we have seen his glory. 

[00:25:38] There is this, I think there is a desire in worship where humans are drawn to the very fierce of God. And that idea of understand in the face of God is a place of intimacy and fever. And grease and blessing. And the fact that our first parents would have worshiped God naked. All right. Like literally make it,  

[00:26:01] David: Hmm. 
 

[00:26:02] John: there is literally nothing between them and God. 

[00:26:06] And the first thing that comes into the garden when they sin is, is they cover themselves before God, they, they hide there is something then coming between their feet. 

[00:26:19] David: Hm. 
 

[00:26:19] John: Lord's fierce. and so this, this idea of worshiping a kiss towards a, I think it is leaning for me. It leans back to the on adulterated image of, of nakedness fierce to fierceness before the Lord, there is nothing between us and. There is a calming to his fierce w with, with either a kiss or an expression of worship that allows us to truly engage with his heart. And I, I think, I think that golden thread runs through the text and is picked up in the nuance of prosecuting.  

[00:26:59] David: So there's a couple of things there I'd like to save it, press canal before it jumped to that, the way you phrased that, just there. This kind of nothing between us. This is fascinating to me because of how this temptation goes. Right. So, as I talked about in earlier episodes in this series, John, this there's dynamics of ancient culture working here as to how would an ancient person see this. 

[00:27:26] And there's a question and I'd love to come to this question before we finish this episode, but just for now, there's actually a, the devil is sort of playing the role of broker here. If you notice he is actually trying to get himself in between Jesus and God. So, so there's a way of what you're seeing there in that, that, that, that beautiful way of just kind of seeing what's going on in that story in Genesis is happening again here. 

[00:27:55] Because the question, and let's just leave this question out there and we'll come back to it, does the devil actually have this to offer to Jesus? Like, that's an interesting question. But he's definitely trying to pretend that he does. He's trying to be the salesman here. He's trying to say, Hey, I can, I can actually get in the midst of this here and I can I can, I can do a bit of something. 

[00:28:14] And Jesus, his response is to bypass him completely and say, no, no, I'm not going to worship anything through you. Going to. Only only my God and, and interestingly, interestingly as well. And serve him only that language. I, I posted something on social media this week that seemed to attract from my small world of social media, attracted a lot of attention. 

[00:28:36] And I I, I asked the question about why we always talk about leadership, essentially, not so much about servanthood and Jesus calls us to serve. And it's interesting that here, I'm going to give you authority. I'm going to give you glory. If you do this. And Jesus said, All I actually want to do is worship God and serve him. 

[00:28:55] I just think, the global church is not doing great in the public media right now. And I mean, we're literally, we're getting pushed. I don't know if it's like this in the UK, but you know, there's a, there's a big global church that, that leading network has done a documentary on recently. 

[00:29:10] Right. This is about glory. This is about authority. I think it's a great time for us as Christians to remember where should we go? Serve him only. And if we're talking about leadership and if we're talking about success, it should only be talked about within those overarching confines of worship. 

[00:29:27] God serve him. Does that make sense? 

[00:29:29] John: Oh, beautiful. I think, I think that takes us beautifully to Jesus' response. Jesus again, quoting Torah, a book of dove rim, the book of Deuteronomy, and it takes us back this time to chapter six and, and any of our listeners who have engaged in. Any significant level with, with the scriptures, the minute you hear Deuteronomy six, your mind immediately jumps to. Hear O Israel, the Lord, our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord, your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength. No, that's not the bit that Jesus quotes, but that is the gateway into the bit that Jesus quotes, Jesus quotes, technically verse 13 of Deuteronomy. Six, which would sort of read fear the Lord, your God. 

[00:30:20] It's it's that word? Fear is transmit worship in the context of Luke and serve him only. But I, I think David fear the Lord, your God worship the Lord, your God serve him only. It cannot be heard without reading Shamar and then, and then the bit that follows and it's interesting, the bit that follows. 

[00:30:45] So for example, the immediate pre-bid to verse 13 as, as there a boat to go into the line that says, when the Lord, your God brings you into the land, he swore to your fathers to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now listen to these words, to give you a large Alon with large flourishing. You did not build filled with all kinds of good things. 

[00:31:06] You did not provide Wells. You did not dig and vineyards and olive groves. You did not plant. Then when you eat and are satisfied, be careful not to forget the Lord who brought you out of Egypt and out of slavery. What struck me was the stuff you didn't build, the stuff you didn't plant, the stuff you did, I'll give it to you. 

[00:31:26] And that is exactly the opposite. To what has been brokered here by, by the enemies, he's offering something to Jesus in the cm spirit of Deuteronomy six, he's offering Jesus things that he did not build. I know we could argue, of course the Lord. The builder of the universe. But in terms of the kingdoms of this, he's offering Jesus, some stuff. 

[00:31:50] He is literally usurping the place of God and this text.  

[00:31:54] David: Yeah.  

[00:31:55] John: So here's, here's, Jaqui saying to Israel, is there a boat to enter the land of promise? Love me with all of your heart, because I am the Lord. Your God, I am the Lord and I am at heart. I am one. I am unrivaled. There is no one like me and love me with your whole being. 

[00:32:10] So that's that essence of worship that we've been talking about? This scent trolleys. All of the Lord who is one. And then he says, and if you do that, then I'll take you into lounge. I'll give you a whole bunch of stuff that actually you didn't earn. You didn't build, you didn't plant you didn't. So, but I'll do that. 

[00:32:28] And when I do that, don't forget, I did that.  

[00:32:32] David: Yes. 
 

[00:32:32] John: And then it says fear of the Lord and serve him only. So, so again, for our, for our listeners to think when Jesus is quoting the text of. He's not just quoting what we call the address of the verse. He he's quoting the nuance of the passage. He's quoting the deeper meanings of Shamar. 

[00:32:52] He's saying, he's saying actually for me to accept this is to allow you to preserve the place of God and to believe that you can give. Something that only Jaqui can give me.  

[00:33:06] David: Yes.  
 

[00:33:07] John: and it's just, it's when you put those ideas together, which you thread it beautifully for us. I think you end up with this is like Jesus to use a baseball or a cricket analogy. 

[00:33:18] This is like Jesus knocking the ball out of the park. I mean, this is a dynamic robot. To the adversary. I mean, there's no war, there's nowhere to go. And I think the way that, that see it and reacts, and the third temptation, even, even reaching to quote scripture I think shows the level at which the second temptation has absolutely floored him. 

[00:33:40] The second response to this temptation is Florida because it is a magnificent unequivocal response. So fair.  

[00:33:47] David: It's phenomenal. It's phenomenal. And this Jesus he's answering this goes back to constant repetition at two texts about reading the whole text, worship the Lord, your God, and serve him only is. Is this depth charge into the, into the argument because, because it silently eludes to, I know exactly what you're going on to here. 

[00:34:08] You're trying to imply that you have things to give me. I don't need them because the Lord, if I worship him and serve him, the Lord will give me these things. So you're at. You're offering me a promise that it's interesting, even at that point, the only other thing I wanted to add about this notion of process QA or this Greek word for worship, and I think it's doubled up with the fact that it's used in the Greek translation through place, the Hebrew word for fear. 

[00:34:37] Literally it is the language of brokerage again. So to kiss the feet of a patron, right? When somebody comes, you would see this in, we even still do it in contemporary world. We'll bow. Sometimes the, when, when you, if you go to be knighted by the queen, you kneel, there is throughout all sorts of, I say that because you and I highlight glued of us being knighted one day. 

[00:34:58] So we're well versed on, well versed on the tradition, but there's, there's. Longstanding tradition that when you come to somebody who. Above you, you lower yourself to indicate that I am inferior to this person. And it also offers some praise toward them. So this language of kissing towards kissing the feet of the person is all about understanding our place. 

[00:35:25] So, so when we say fear, it's not be afraid of God. It's the sense of I'm coming to one who is above me to one who is beyond me. So it is a, it's a really good. Parallel to the notion of worship properly understood which is right back to what you were saying about why worship services should be about us bringing ourselves before God and, and joining in on that. 

[00:35:46] So, so this, and of course now the Satan is coming in and saying well, actually, no, why didn't you. Me because it's almost like Satan saying, well, okay, maybe there's God out there, but then there's me and no, there's you. Jesus. And it's almost as if Jesus moves the devil down a notch or two says, no, no, no, no, actually you don't get to be there. 

[00:36:06] You, you, you go back down you back then, you are maybe in another way. Jesus is saying to the devil, you are not God's broker. Okay. You cannot give me what God can only give me.  

[00:36:19] John: Yeah.  

[00:36:19] David: Which is maybe a summary line of what, what you've done with connecting it to  

[00:36:23] John: Oh,  
 

[00:36:23] David: Deuteronomy. Do you think. 

[00:36:24] John: I absolutely phenomenal. And, and even the, the, the word used in Deuteronomy a yard, right? So it's, it's that idea exactly. The idea of reverential, fear and respect. It's not a terrorizing fear in this context. It's a, it's a knowing your place, fear, fear of the Lord and serve him only. And of course, if you follow them, the trajectory of Shamar, the, this is an obvious conclusion. 

[00:36:49] If your walkway is Lord God, Lord. If he isn't hard, if he is one, if he is alone, if there was no one like him, then fear him, worship him there. There was a natural connection here. So, so actually, if you are following this idea that, that in the Shamal, we are placing him at the center because there is no one like him. 

[00:37:17] He is alone. He is. Then the inevitable next decision is to fear, worship, and serve. And and of course it's that I think the enemy is trying to muscle in on and dislodge in this. So, so again, that, that the, the magnificence of the, of the Torah text that Jesus has probably memorized. Comes to the rescue again in pushing back against this very, very insidious, temptation and task that Jesus has been placed under.  

[00:37:52] David: Jeremiah. Can I see this? Like I know that a lot of listeners to two texts, our pastors and our people that are involved in Christian leadership, like, can we read this text then back into our own context and know, actually, even if you're not in Christian leadership, but I'm thinking about this shape of church here, both of you and me are heavily involved in, in church life. 

[00:38:17] You be careful. I almost want to say it like this, or can we say this, be careful of how you get what you want. Right. Th that Philippians two tells us that God is going to give all glory and honor and splendor, an authority and every knee will bow to Jesus. And, and you, you opened, this episode talking about there's no shortcuts, but is there also mechanisms that we can be involved in that look like. 

[00:38:44] They actually just don't look like the way of God. So this worship, the Lord and serve him only, like I want to just say it, maybe this is too too harsh, but you know, maybe we, as the church need to accept the latest CEO success manual, the latest business marketing tool might not be the way. Of the church and, and, and it might just be an ma might send sensational, but it might just be another form of Luke four verses five to eight that, oh, if we do X, Y, and Zed, we can, we can get, we can get what we want. 

[00:39:23] I mean, I might, I might be in too unkind to say it that  

[00:39:25] way.  
 

[00:39:26] John: no, no, I don't think so. I think anyone who, who loves Jesus loves the church on his live more than five minutes. That would be a reasonable observation and one that's worthy of consideration. And I think it's a constant challenge for all of us to, to examine, not just. What we get, but how we get it and why we want it. 

[00:39:46] And it's interesting to go back to, to your gorgeous Paul Lane reflection. Of course, it is interesting. We w we tend to jump in on that crystal logical section verse five. Don't diverse 11. We tend to see it almost as this magnificent piece of Christology, but of course, that piece of Funtastic Christology is based firmly in Paul's appeal to a Christian community on verse five, which says, let this attitude be in you, which was also in Christ. 

[00:40:15] Jesus has proceeded with things like, therefore, if there's any encouragement from being United with Christ, if any comfort from his law. Anything common and sharing and disparate, any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded having the same love of being in one spirit. 

[00:40:30] One mind do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, rather in your humility, value others above yourselves, not looking out for your own interests, but also for the interest of others. So it's interesting. Paul seems to be holding Jesus up as the non grasping savior of the world. As the template of how the Christian community should live and serve in a non grasping way. 

[00:40:55] that we should be self less, or at least not self centered.  

[00:41:02] David: Yes. 
 

[00:41:03] John: and our ambitions and our desires. And if we are not self-centered and our ambitions and desires, then we're not likely to hurt the world that we're actually trying to thrive in. I think it's when self is at the center, that's when I'm more likely to hurt you. That's what, I'm more likely to hurt the Lord. 

[00:41:23] And that's what I'm more likely to make up another pig's ear of it. So, so actually it's the challenge of self less ness. In the light of Jesus is selflessness, which is put under scrutiny by the devil. When he says, come on, grasp here, take this, and I'll give you this. And on all of that is an attempt to relocate us away from the central city of the Lord and the establishment of self in all things. 

[00:41:51] And I think that's the ultimate challenge for leaders and followers are like that. We've got to keep our eyes on not not become complacent.