Current scripture scope: Matthew 1-4

For Today:

1. Go around the room and have everyone share about their week.

2. Open up for prayer requests. Once everyone has shared, have class prayer in whatever manner you choose.

3. Read today’s scripture focus and background, found below.

4. Ask the following discussion questions, letting as many answer each one as would like.

• What was the most difficult temptation faced by Jesus in today’s story?
• What’s the best defense against temptation?
• How can we know our lives are successful?

Matthew 4

The Temptation of Jesus

¹Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. ²After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. ³The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

⁴Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’^[a]“

⁵Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. ⁶“If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:
” ‘He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’^[b]”

⁷Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’^[c]“

⁸Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. ⁹“All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

¹⁰Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’^[d]“

¹¹Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

Jesus Begins to Preach

¹²When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he returned to Galilee. ¹³Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali— ¹⁴to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:
¹⁵“Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
the way to the sea, along the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles—
¹⁶the people living in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned.”^[e]

¹⁷From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

The Calling of the First Disciples

¹⁸As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ¹⁹“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” ²⁰At once they left their nets and followed him.

²¹Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, ²²and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

Jesus Heals the Sick

²³Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. ²⁴News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them. ²⁵Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis,^[f] Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.

Background

This chapter is easily divided into two sections – the temptation of Jesus (1-11) and the beginning of Jesus’ ministry (12-25).  The phrase “led by the Spirit…to be tempted” (v1) is hard for us to interpret.  Does this mean that God tempts us to sin?  The word “then” at the beginning helps us out some.  The Spirit had just descended on Jesus at His baptism (chapter 3) and is immediately leading Jesus to the desert.  Jesus had to go through a period of testing for the same reason He was baptized – for God and for us.  If Jesus’ baptism could be viewed as Jesus’ call to ministry, then chapter 4 is His preparation for ministry.  Why forty days?  This is the scriptural number of testing.

A young man asked his grandmother, a holocaust survivor, what it was like to starve.  “Don’t eat for three days and you’ll see,” she replied.  Hopefully none of us will face starvation, but no life is without struggle.  How do we endure when times of testing come?  Jesus empowers us with His example.  He was 100% God, but He was also 100% human.  To follow Jesus means to follow Him into the wilderness.  It is also to know He’s been there before us, and overcame.

The second half of the chapter deals with Jesus’ early ministry.  Now that John has been imprisoned, Jesus continues his ministry.  He even preaches the same message at John preached – “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is near” (compare 3:2 and 4:17.)  Anytime a biblical writer mentions something twice it is especially important.  Two is the biblical number for emphasis.  Jesus ministered primarily in Galilee, considered the most troublesome of the Judean provinces, both politically and spiritually.  As He travels and preaches, He begins calling followers, and heals the sick.  Chapter four is an excellent introduction to the next six chapters of Matthew, in which Jesus preaches His most famous sermon, performs ten extraordinary miracles, and sends out His disciples.  We see the foundation of this ministry set in today’s reading.

Do you want to be successful?  Success isn’t defined by popularity, material possessions, or even personal satisfaction with life.  Success is simply discovering what it is God wants you to do, then doing it.  By this definition, Jesus was the most successful man who ever lived.  Since we are His followers, we are called to be successful as well.  Like Jesus, through the leading of the Spirit we can discover what God’s purpose for our life is, and be empowered to fulfill it.  Matthew 4 teaches us there are no shortcuts to success.  The principle still holds true for us today – if we endure the wilderness, God will send His angels to attend to us, and our lives will change our world.