Privilege Brings Responsibility

If You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread…

Matthew 4:3

The tempter sought to ensnare Christ through the age old method of embittering His spirit. He pointed out the indignity of the Son of God going without food. Hunger is not evil in itself; the evil is found in seeking to quench the hunger in the wrong way. The temptation was to claim the privileges of Sonship while ignoring its responsibilities.

This was similar to the trap he laid for Job centuries earlier. Satan asked of God, Does Job fear God for nothing? Haven’t You placed a hedge around him, his household, and everything he owns? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions are spread out in the land. But stretch out Your hand and strike everything he owns, and He will surely curse You to Your face. It was the assumption of Satan that man will only serve God to the degree that it brings some reward into his life. Perhaps the deepest question we may ever be asked is whether we are able to truly worship God, to sincerely serve Him, even if our personal needs go unmet. Can we through Christ circumvent Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and rejoice, praise, thank, serve, and follow despite our own situation?

The words, If You are the Son of God, sought to tempt Christ with a sense of entitlement, to lead Him to think that the Father had neglected Him, that He must take matters into His hands, to meet a legitimate need in an illegitimate way. Christ taught us to pray not only for our daily bread but also for the spirit of forgiveness: forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. During times of physical need we are wise not only to pray for the means to sustain physical life, but also to be free from a spirit of anger, envy, and bitterness. I have known missionaries to be tried in this area, that during their efforts to raise financial support so they may serve Christ on a foreign field they have witnessed people whom they have asked to support them use funds in seemingly selfish and frivolous ways.

Can’t we hear the subtlety of the tempter who comes to the missionary as He did to Christ? He comes to discourage, If you are a servant of God these things would not have happened, or to tempt with bitterness and envy, Look at the way they waste what the Lord has given them. For this very reason Christ has taught us to pray asking God that a spirit of grace and mercy, with which He deals with us, would be extended from our hearts to all others. It is of little use to world evangelism if the missionary arrives on the field filled with jealousy and anger. Calling brings not just privilege but also responsibility.

To worship God because He is our God, to serve Him even if we receive nothing from Him is the highest form of adoration. Francis Xavier’s prayer has moved believers through the centuries with its clear adoration of God.

My God, I love Thee;

Not because I hope for heaven thereby,

Nor yet because who love thee are not lost eternally.

Thou, O my Jesus,

Thou didst me upon the cross embrace;

For me didst bear the nails and spear,

And manifold disgrace.

And griefs and torments numberless and sweat and agony;

Even death itself,

And all for one who was Thine enemy.

Then why, O blessed Jesus Christ,

Should I not love Thee well?

Not for the hope of winning heaven,

Or of escaping hell,

Not for the hope of gaining aught,

Nor seeking a reward,

But as Thyself has loved me,

O ever-loving Lord!

Even so I love Thee, and will love

And in Thy praise will sing,

Solely because Thou art my God,

And my eternal King.

Prayer:

Lord, strengthen us in our innermost being that we may follow You in body and in soul. Amen.