“Secret Battles”
…American Idols
(Luke 4:5-8)
Dr. Richard S. Koole
Chapel Pointe
September 20, 2009
I. Introduction
A. American Idol
1. Carolyn and the concert
2. Sitting in front of screaming girls
3. The American Idol getting the loudest screams???
a. Matt Giraud from Kalamazoo
b. Adam Lambert!
4. Worshiping “American Idols”
B. Today…Temptation and Worship
1. “Secret Battles” a three-part series on temptation
II. Review
A. Jesus about to begin his earthly ministry
1. Immediately after his baptism
2. Led to the “wilderness of temptation”
B. The dual purpose
1. Satan tempted Jesus in an attempt to destroy Him
2. God tested Jesus to prove His worthiness
C. Last week....test #1 (Luke 4:1-4)
1. After 40 days of fasting and temptation
a. Weak and hungry
2. “turn the stones into bread”
a. “since you are the son of God”
b. “you don’t need to be hungry”
3. Satan appealed to Jesus’ fleshly needs
a. Satan knows our weakness in these area
b. One of the most effective is sexual temptation
D. Key lessons last week
1. Jesus faced the same temptations you struggle with
a. (Hebrews 4:15) For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are…yet without sin.
b. Yet without sin
2. You’re not the only one struggling with temptation
a. (I Corinthians 10:13) No temptation has seized you except what is common to man.
b. No surprises in my counseling
3. God promised to provide a path of victory over every temptation
a. (I Corinthians 10:13) No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
b. “Fear Not”
4. Sexual temptation is every man’s “secret battle.”
5. The lust of the flesh is waged in your thought life
6. A little impurity will stain your life
7. You’ll never outgrow the reach of sexual temptation
8. Each person has a different set of “triggers”
9. Be especially cautious when you are alone in the wilderness
10. You’re never more than one bad choice away from disaster
III. Text
A. The second temptation….Luke 4:5-8
1. Viewing the kingdoms of the world
(5) The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.
a. The grand sweeping panorama
1. Was it the coming kingdom of Christ?
b. They both knew what it would cost Jesus
1. Payment in full for sin
2. The payment would be His brutal death
3. Jesus knew the agony that awaited him
2. Satan’s offer in verse 6
(6) And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to.
a. He is called the “ruler of this world” and the “god of this age”
b. But….it means he rules the system of evil that dominates the nations of the world
c. The kingdom was not Satan’s to give
3. Satan was tempting Jesus to take a shortcut
a. A kingdom without a cross
1. Avoid the agony and suffering
b. To spoil the plan of salvation
4. What Satan wanted in return
(7) So if you worship me, it will all be yours.”
a. Satan now shows what he is really after
b. He wants to be worshipped
1. To have Jesus “idolize him”
2. Even if just once
c. That’s what got him kicked out of heaven in the first place
Isaiah 14:12-15
(12) How you have fallen from heaven O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! (13) You said in your heart, “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. (14) I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” (15) But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit,
5. Satan’s ongoing war against God
a. You’re part of an unseen battle
Ephesians 6:11-12
(11) Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. (12) For your struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
6. Jesus answers him
(8) Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”
a. Will look at demon possession in Luke 4:31
b. Satan screams in anguish and slithers off
B. Let’s talk about “worship”
1. I was taught all about....
a. the Bible
b. serving
c. giving
d. evangelism
2. But I was not taught…
a. what worship was
b. why I needed to worship
c. how God wants me to worship Him
3. A.W. Tozer
“Worship is the missing jewel in modern evangelicalism. We’re organized, we work, we have our agencies. We have almost everything, but there’s one thing that the churches, even the gospel churches, do not have: that is the ability to worship. We are not cultivating the art of worship. It’s the one shining gem that is lost to the modern church, and I believe that we ought to search for this until we find it.”
B. What you need to know about worship
1. Worship is more than just singing
a. A proper definition of “worship”
1. Greek
a. “proskuneo”
b. “to prostrate oneself in homage”
2. Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible
a. From an old English word meaning “worthy”
b. The term is used for the reverent devotion, service, or honor paid to God, whether public or individual.”
b. Koole’s definition...
1. Acknowledgment
a. to acknowledge that God is worthy of praise
1. to acknowledge His power and holiness
2. To acknowledge what he did for you
b. The orphan and the fireman’s hands
1. He is worthy
c. The hands of Jesus
2. Appreciation
a. To thank Him for who He is and what He has done
b. To thank Him for loving us
c. Our “Worship Service”
1. Jesus must be the center
2. God is the spectator
a. You are the participant
3. Preparing for the Worship Service
3. Adoration
1. To love Him back
2. Because he first loved you
3. Though you were unlovable
4. Authority
a. To unconditionally submit to him
5. All the time
2. Worship must involve both spirit and truth
a. Jesus to the woman at the well.....John 4:23-24
(23)Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Fathers seeks. (24) God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.
b. Churches with too much truth…but no spirit
1. Others with lots of spirit…but no truth
c. Our quest to get it right…..vision
3. Worship is the natural expression of true love
a. Without love there is no true worship
1. Jesus was asked what was the greatest of all the commandments
Mark 12:30.... “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’’
2. Jack Nicholas on golf
a. Chapter one....keep your eye on the ball
b. If this is missing....go back to chapter one
3. Note the “all”....
4. If you are not head over heals in love with God....forget about tying to worship him
b. Remember when you first fell in love....
1. with her every hour
2. gave gifts
3. talked endlessly on the phone
4. would do anything to help her
*Carolyn’s phone call
5. bragged about her to your friends
6. waiting for a “love letter”
*my summer in Florida
c. But if you don’t love somebody......After a break up
1. don’t want to be around them
2. don’t want to give them gifts
3. don’t want to call them
4. don’t want to help them
5. don’t brag about them
6. love letters..... “return to sender!”
d. If you love God with all your heart, you’ll gladly.......
1. spend time with him
2. give gifts……….giving
3. want to talk to Him……….prayer
4. will do anything for Him………….service
5. will want to tell others about Him………evangelism
6. devour his love letters
e. But if you don’t......
4. Loving God is the “greatest commandment”
a. The greatest commandment...Matt. 22:36-38
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment”
b. If you miss this one....the wrong motivation
c. Equips us for the second greatest commandment…Matt. 22:39
And the second is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
5. Serving God may get in the way of loving God
a Mary and Martha....Luke 10:38-42
“As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. (NKJV... “Distracted by much serving”) She came to him and asked, ‘Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!’ ‘Martha, Martha,’ the Lord answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her.’”
b. What I...as a father...want from my children...
1. Service without love is slavery
c. “distracted with much serving”
d. “but one thing is needed”
e. Worship is more difficult than serving
Oswald Chambers.... “the severest discipline of a Christian’s life is to learn how to keep ‘beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord.’”
6. Worship requires unconditional surrender
(Luke 4:8) Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”
a. Unconditional surrender
a. Japan and W.W.II
b. On the deck of the USS Missouri
b. Raising your hands in surrender
1. Not holding on to anything
2. Giving God operational authority over your daily life
c. “Serve”
1. “latreuo”
2. Spiritual service regardless of the cost
d. Your mission… “Worship the Lord your God and serve him only”
7. Jesus alone is worthy of our worship
The vision of John in Revelation
(Revelation 5:1-14)
(1) Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. (2) And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” (3) But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. (4) I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. (5) Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.
(6) Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. (7) He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. (8) And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. (9) And they sang a new song:
“You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. (10) You have made them to be a kingdom and priest to serve our God, And they will reign on the earth.”
Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. (12) In a loud voice they sang:
“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”
(13) Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them singing:
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!”
(14) The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.