“Helping those who are far from God become committed followers of Jesus Christ from the Scenic City to the nations.” Life Group Leader Guide Sermon Text: Mark 1:2-13 | Complementary Text: Matt. 3:1-4:11 ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Opening/Community: Ideas for beginning your Life Group ​ ​ ● Icebreaker: Come up with a fun and fitting question to help people get to know one another. ​ ● Sing Together: BX Spotify Playlist ​ ​ ● Highs & Lows: What were the best and the most challenging parts of your week? ​ ● Follow up: How did you apply what you learned from last week’s discussion in your life this week. ​ ● God at work: How have you seen God at work this week? ​ ● Prayer: Thank God for his character and the ways you've seen his faithfulness this week. ​ Sermon Review: Review and discuss the sermon together ​ ​ ● Main Point: ● Sermon Outline: ● What challenged you in the sermon to deepen your commitment as a follower of Christ? Complementary Text: Additional material to help deepen your Life Group’s understanding of Scripture ​ ​ and become more committed followers of Christ. Text: Matt. 3:1-4:11 Author & Date: Matthew/c. A.D. 50s and 60s Audience: Jews Theme of the Book: Jesus Christ is the Promised Messiah Immediate Context: Baptism and Temptation of Christ Main Point: Jesus is our Example How does the sermon text complement this text? Mark has the tendency to leave out details in much of his account. We begin with the baptism of Jesus. As we have already learned from our previous study, the ministry of John the Baptist was predicted by the prophet Isaiah. Mark includes the detail, and then also outlines the ministry of John the Baptist. Matthew gives these details as well. It is when we come to the temptation of Christ that we notice the difference between the two accounts. As we can see, literally, the “devil is in the details.” The specific account of Christ’s temptation is found in greater detail in the other gospels, and Matthew, as the one who wrote to the Jews, provides his readers with more information. Matthew's account complements the Mark account by providing greater detail and revealing to us the specifics of Christ’s temptation experience. It also gives specific prophetic reference to point us to Christ’s identity as the Messiah of Israel. Mark’s account reminds us that God never promised that life would be easy. He allows circumstances to teach us lessons and to grow us into mature believers as He guides us through life with the presence of the Holy Spirit. Bruce Barton notes as follows: As we study the most condensed account of Jesus’ temptation (see the longer accounts in Matthew 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-13), we can better understand our own temptations and how to overcome them. With Jesus in the wilderness were the Spirit, Satan, wild animals, and angels. The episode began with the Spirit’s guidance. This shows that God’s leading does not always guarantee safe circumstances. God’s Spirit will lead us, as he led Jesus, into the places we need to go, even though they may be dangerous. As God’s Spirit leads us, we can fully expect to be tempted by Satan and to be exposed to the wilderness of the world with both its wonders and its dangers. (Life Application Bible Commentary) ​ ​ What does this passage teach us about God? Christ’s baptism set an example for His followers. -- Matt. 3:15. John the Baptist argued that Jesus should baptize him, not the other way around. But Jesus had a reason for baptism. Jesus said, “Allow it for now, because this is the way for us to fulfill all righteousness.” The first reason for Jesus’ baptism was to set an example for all believers. Christ’s baptism anointed Him for service. -- Matt. 3:16. Moreover, God the Father confirmed the ministry of Son with His baptism. The Bible says that ​ following Jesus’ baptism, the Spirit of God descended upon Jesus like a dove, and God the Father said, “This is My beloved Son. I take delight in Him!” David Platt adds these thoughts on God the Father’s confirmation of His Son’s ministry: Keep in mind, this was not the Spirit coming on Jesus for the first time, as if the Spirit had never been on Him before; the Holy Spirit was on Jesus even before He was born (Matt 1:18, 20). The picture in Matthew 3 is a public display of exactly what Isaiah prophesied—that the Spirit of the Lord would anoint the Messiah "to bring good news to the poor... to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners" (Isa 61:1). So while the Spirit was present with Jesus prior to Matthew 3, Jesus was set apart in a unique way by the Spirit for His public ministry at His baptism. (Christ-Centered Exposition, Matthew) ​ ​ Christ’s victory over Satan affirmed his messianic identity. -- Matt. 4:1-11. Jesus’ obedience in light of temptation affirmed his identity as the Promised Messiah of Israel. Jesus proved himself to be the pure sacrifice for sin. He was God, therefore, He could not go against his character, but he had to be tested, to show his humanity. Stuart Weber notes as follows: One practical implication we may draw from this passage is that temptation itself is not a sin. Jesus was "tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin" (Heb. 4:15; see also 2 Cor. 5:21). A misunderstanding of this defeats many people before they begin resisting temptation. A false (devilish) guilt grips them, and they begin to lose the battle before they begin to fight it. Jesus' temptation was a test not so much to see if he would fail (he could not!) but a "test" (much like the test drive of a new automobile) to demonstrate just how powerful the Son of God was, even in the face of the devil himself. (Holman New Testament Commentary) ​ ​ What does this passage teach us about mankind? Christ’s temptation reminds us that we are in a spiritual war. -- Matt. 4:1-11. When we realize that even Jesus was tempted, it should help us remember that we are all in a spiritual battle. We are always at war with the world, flesh, and the devil. But this battle is on a spiritual plane. Forces unseen are at war with us, but Jesus has won the war through the cross. Satan was doing his best to distract or derail Christ from fulfilling His mission. David Platt notes as follows: First, there is a spiritual world. When we see the Devil tempting Jesus, we don't know exactly how this actually played out, whether in some kind of physical form or just a spiritual form. We don't have all the answers, but what we do know is that the Devil is real, and he is active. And we know that there is an invisible, spiritual world that is just as real as the visible, natural world. Scripture teaches that there are vast numbers of angels, both good and bad, and that these spirits exist all around us. There are glorious beings that would take our breath away at this moment if we saw them, and there are evil beings that would horrify us if they were to appear before our eyes. We need to feel the weight of these supernatural realties. Second, followers of Christ need to be reminded that we are involved in a spiritual war. A battle is continually raging, and this battle is between conflicting kingdoms. The kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of Satan—a kingdom of light and a kingdom of darkness—are warring against one another. All of history is a story of spiritual warfare. This war begins with the first man and the first woman in Genesis 3, where the enemy, Satan, tempts man to sin and leads him into spiritual darkness and ultimate death. From that moment, the world and all its inhabitants are darkened with sin, under the rule of the prince of this world (Eph 2:1-3). For every one of us, these conflicting kingdoms of Christ and Satan create a continual struggle. In actuality, this continual struggle is not just between Christians and demons, but between all people and demons, which brings us face-to-face with two realities. First, the Devil is not omnipresent like God is. So when you are being tempted, remember that Satan is only a creature, and although he is behind every temptation to do evil, our battle is not only against him, but against what Paul calls "the rulers... the authorities... the world powers of this darkness... the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens" (Eph 6:12). These powers Paul refers to are demons. The second reality we need to come to terms with is the fact that temptation for the Christian is not simply about us and our own little kingdoms; it's about an all-out attack of the Devil and all his demons on the kingdom of Christ and every single person who associates with Christ. In attacking Christians, demons are attacking Christ. So trusting in Christ for salvation doesn't end the believer's battle against temptation. If anything, it takes the battle up a notch. The kingdom of darkness that sought to destroy the Messiah is absolutely committed to devouring the Messiah's followers. Therefore, when we talk about temptation, we're not simply talking about some psychological battle; we're talking about an intense spiritual war against cosmic powers of darkness who are dead set on destroying the kingdom of Christ and the children of God.