Made For More: Week 3 (Matthew 4:1-11)
Matthew 4:1-11
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Made For Truth
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Matthew 4:1-11 〰️ Made For Truth 〰️
***The following is a devotional guide sent out to the whole church as a supplement for Sunday Gathering, as services were cancelled due to snow. This guide is a little longer, in an attempt to make it more contextually accessible to those maybe younger in their faith. There are a few differences in this version, as it is leader-focused and intended to help you guide our people through this passage. We encourage you and your Community Groups to dive deep this week (if you’re safely able to gather) and chat through the questions, as hopefully, your people have had time to reflect on them!
Welcome to week three of our series Made For More. Our prayer is that as we walk through these passages together, we can grow together in learning how to faithfully follow Jesus in the digital age. This week, we’re in Matthew 4, and our focus for this week is how we are made for truth. God created us to live in the truth of His word, not for the lies with which the world tries to sway us.
Quick Context:
We’re in the book of Matthew, one of the four Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry. Matthew is one of the three synoptic Gospels (the other two being Mark and Luke). Matthew, Mark, and Luke share many identical stories, with some nearly word-for-word matches, while the Gospel of John is unique, offering different stories and perspectives on Jesus’ life and ministry from the other three Gospels. Our story picks up this week in chapter 4, with the previous three chapters setting the stage. Chapter one gives the lineage of Jesus, showing the 42 generations from Abraham to David and from David to Jesus (1:1-17). It’s important to know that while it might not be as significant to us now, the original audience reading this Gospel account would have been very concerned with the lineage of this Jesus, in regard to his humanity (Rom 1:3). Prophecies foretold of the Messiah one day coming from the line of David (2 Sam 7:12-16). The people of Israel would have been waiting for this man. In chapter one, we also get the story of His miraculous birth, which reads like the prologue of a novel, giving the time and context for His arrival. It moves fast but provides the perfect setting for the rest of the story. For some of us who have read this before, this might not be anything new, but imagine reading this for the first time or hearing a narrator read 1:18-2:23. This is crazy! It’s fast-paced and really sets the stage for this man (the alleged Messiah, Savior of the world) to begin His ministry. After reading this part of Matthew, if anyone was going to be the Messiah, it’s got to be this guy. Matthew then brings us to the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. Here, Jesus is baptized, the sky rips open, the Spirit of God literally comes upon Jesus, and the voice of God is audibly heard, saying: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (3:17). That’s a lot, I know. So now, we reach chapter four.
Made For Truth:
After all of this, Jesus is led into the wilderness by the Spirit of God. What? Jesus, the Son of God, the One who’s supposed to conquer death and save God’s people, goes away? Why? There are several things Jesus came to accomplish during His life on earth, and one of them is clearly seen in this passage. 4:1 opens with us reading that Jesus is led into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil. Jesus began His ministry by taking His adversary head-on.
We’re no strangers to temptation, and literally as I write this, I have the temptation to pick up my phone and do today’s Wordle. Temptation comes in all forms, and we must know that being tempted is not a sin in and of itself, as we read in this passage. Rather, it’s the seed that the Enemy uses to ensnare us, and it’s how we respond or react to this that matters. God looks at the heart more than anything, and that’s what He was trying to teach Israel all throughout the Old Testament as they were in and out of wanderings, nightmarish kings, and exile. (Also, as a super cool side note, Israel wandered for forty years [Num 14:33] because of their unfaithfulness to God, whereas Jesus is wandering for forty days in this passage. We see a lot of this in the New Testament, but this is a cool detail that the Israelites would have instantly picked up on. Jesus is the better and perfect Israel, enduring what the nation couldn’t).
Jesus faced temptation just like we do, yet was sinless (1 Pet 2:22). I love how the author of Hebrews described it, “For we do not have a high priest [Jesus] who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin.” (Heb 4:15) How cool is that? This is one of the things we want to emphasize in this passage: Christ endured temptation, just as we do, yet He overcame it. Jesus accomplished what we could not!
Jesus’ response in this passage is what’s most unique for us this week. Each time the devil tempted and challenged Jesus, He responded with God’s Word.
“If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
He answered, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (v3b-4)
Jesus answers, “It is written,” and responds with Deuteronomy 8:3.
“If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written:
He will give his angels orders concerning you,
and they will support you with their hands
so that you will not strike
your foot against a stone.”
Jesus told him, “It is also written: Do not test the Lord your God.” (v6b-7)
Here, the devil tries to twist the words of God, as he always does (see also Gen 3:1 “did God really say...”). But again, Jesus responds only with God’s Word from Deuteronomy 6:16.
One last time, the devil tries to seduce Jesus:
I will give you all these things if you will fall down and worship me.”
Then Jesus told him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.” (v9b-10)
One last time, Jesus responds, citing God’s Word in Deuteronomy 6:13.
In all of this, Jesus answers the devil's attempts to twist God’s word and prey on His humanity by reciting Scripture. The devil offered lies and short-term relief, but they would have been empty. God’s Word is so cool because we can approach the same passage every week for a lifetime and still learn new things from it. There’s more than one thing we could learn from a single passage of God’s Word, and it’s by no means limited to our sermon series in 2026. But with that in mind, we can look at this passage and learn several things applicable to our context today. Those that we want to hone in on are three lies:
False futures
Meeting legitimate needs in illegitimate ways
Living for the temporary instead of the eternal
False Futures
One of the biggest lies and greatest tools of the devil is to promise something that we believe we want, need, or cannot be happy without. “Sin gains its power through promising a false future. The tempter is always promising, “The future with God is restricted and limited and will in no way give you the pleasant and satisfying future that I offer.””¹ The devil’s greatest lie is the one that makes God’s way look as if it’s depriving you of something you feel you need, want, or can’t live without. Have you ever bought something that you thought you really wanted, only later to regret it and realize it wasn’t worth the price? That’s what the devil wants for you and me. He tricks us into paying the price, buying his lies. But our Savior refutes this lie in v4. “It is written, “Man will not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes out of the mouth of God.” That’s what I’m talking about!
Meeting legitimate needs in illegitimate ways
The next lie we encounter in this passage (and in our world today) is the lie of meeting our genuine, legitimate needs in illegitimate ways. In short, how are we taking shortcuts to blessings and good things that God created? In Matthew 4, the enemy tempted Jesus in a very real way. Jesus was hungry. Imagine not eating for forty days, and then the devil shows up and suggests you abuse your power and carboload immediately. But Jesus resists.
“Interpreters disagree as to why it would have been wrong for Jesus to transform and eat the stones. Most suggest that he was tempted to exercise supernatural power rather than depend on God’s provision. Clues in the text suggest that the Spirit, who led Jesus into the wilderness, commanded this fast. Thus, breaking the fast prematurely would have been an act of disobedience, preventing Jesus from fulfilling every act of righteousness (3:15). Jesus aimed to end his fast when the test was over and no sooner. God would signal the end by providing food.”²
The same is true for us today, just as it has been for every generation before us. The enemy will continually offer you a shortcut to something good that God created. We make this exchange all the time, to the devil’s delight. We exchange intimacy in a monogamous heterosexual marriage between one man and one woman for pornography, extra-marital affairs, or same-sex relations. We exchange honesty and integrity for cheating on our exam or our tax report, or for finally selling that item on Facebook Marketplace by “not lying on the listing, just not telling the whole story.” The list is endless, because our wickedness without Christ is endless (Jer 17:9). But we serve a Savior who endured this same temptation, yet won. Christ did that which we could not so that (for those of us saved by Him) we would be redeemed!
Living for the temporary instead of the eternal
In this way, we find ourselves tripping up in the most sneaky and minuscule ways. This is not to say that life here on earth does not matter. It does. But when we exchange a life of eternal impact and meaning for one that is comfortable and satisfying now, we completely miss the purpose of life and calling as a child of God. Again, our Savior endured this temptation as well! The devil spoke to Jesus and said, “I will give you all these things if you will fall down and worship me.” (v9). The devil was trying to get Jesus to sell out for the temporary instead of waiting for the eternal. Satan wanted Jesus to choose the crown without having endured the cross, taking the glory without ever giving His life for us. That would have changed all of eternity! You and I are both here by God’s grace and Jesus’ faithfulness on the cross and the days and years leading up to the cross.
As we look at this passage, we might be asking, “What the heck does this have to do with technology for us today?” We want to learn together to apply God’s Word to every area of our lives, not just one venue. The questions below are not then-focused, but we encourage you to nudge your people in that direction, as the application for us today isn’t just how we respond to tech. That said, the most obvious application for us is to look at the three lies and ask of ourselves, “What lies are being fed to me today through technology that previous generations maybe didn’t?” What false future is the enemy tempting me with through technology, social media, or widespread news? Maybe we’re being sold and advertised to in ways that are preying on the desire to be happy. Maybe wanted something and secretly thought it would make us happy, but really it left us just as hollow and unhappy as before. Maybe we should ask ourselves “How am I trying to meet legitimate needs in illegitimate ways?” In the legitimate need for love, we exchange God’s good design for pornography. In the legitimate need for relationships, we exchange God’s good design for faux relationships and "followers” rather than deep connecting friendships. And maybe we should ask ourselves, “How am I living for the temporary instead of the eternal?” This most commonly is expressed in apathy or complacency. 1 Peter tells us to “Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour.” (5:8) Are we being devoured by the endless scrolling or binge-watching that’s so common among us and our peers? In Christ, we’re called to resist the pull of the world, the constant drift away from Christ. If we’re not being discipled by God and His Word, we’re certainly being discipled by the world.
So, for us, if Jesus was able to endure this temptation in the desert, then we certainly should seek to do the same. We’ve said this before, and for incredible clarity: we do not seek these things for performative salvation, where our standing before God hinges on our lives on earth. Rather, we respond to God’s mercy and kindness through Christ’s sacrifice, desiring to walk in obedience because God first loved us.
Discussion Questions
Could someone read Matthew 4:1-11 for us?
What stood out to you from the passage?
Does this passage remind you of another part of Scripture?
Do you have any questions?
Why do you think the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness? What’s the significance of Jesus wandering and facing temptation from the devil in this passage?
Which of the three lies in this passage do you think you see the most in your life?
What are some “false futures” that the enemy tries to sell us?
In what ways do we try to meet legitimate needs through illegitimate and sinful means?
How do you most often find yourself living for the temporary, rather than the eternal?
1. Kenneth Erisman, Grounded In Faith (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2013), 57.
2. Charles L. Quarles, CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 1503.