From now on you will be catching men (Luke 5:10).

Peter, the experienced fisherman, had caught nothing all that day. But somehow he chose to obey the Lord's word when Jesus asked him to try again. He expected to catch nothing. He had no faith that the Lord's word would accomplish anything. But then he caught more fish than he could have imagined, and it literally floored him. Clearly, Jesus was much more than he imagined Him to be. Suddenly this proud fisherman felt completely unworthy to be in Jesus' presence: "Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!" (Luke 5:8).

Jesus cared nothing about the great catch of fish, but He cared very much about Peter and the hearts of those people that would come to faith through Peter's witness. Peter and the other disciples also recognized the greater mission, for "they left everything and followed Him" (Luke 5:11).

Friends, are we still concerned about catching fish? Are we still proccupied with making our mark in this world? Are we still caught up in the temporal cycle of working and playing our lives away?

Do we recognize that it is easy for the Lord to fulfill our highest earthly desire with a word. What Satan offered Him, the wealth of the world (cf. Luke 4:5-6), was but a drop in the bucket to what was His and what is His and what would be His again. He made the world and could make it again. 

When Jesus called Peter to become a fisher of men, He was not depriving Peter of enjoying a successful fishing career. He was calling Him to something better and greater.

There's a saying, "Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime." Now, we could add, "Teach him to fish for men, you feed him and his whole catch forever!" 

Friends, let us be busy about our primary mission, namely, testifying to the glorious Gospel of our salvation in Christ Jesus. As we do so, let us pray that God would grant us a great catch of people into the kingdom. 

But He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose. So He kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea... the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God" (Luke 4:43-44; 5:1)

One of Jesus' primary ministries in keeping with the prophecy of Isaiah was to "preach the Gospel" (cf. Luke 4:18; Isaiah 61:1). This command applies to every disciple of Christ, for He said,

Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation (Mark 16:!5).

Every believer is called to be Christ's Ambassador to the world, to proclaim a message of reconciliation, that is, showing people how they might obtain peace with God:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!  All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us (2 Corinthians 5:17-20).

Just the other day God gave me a platform to preach the Gospel to a couple hundred people at a martial arts tournament. It was an amazing opportunity to honor God through the proclamation of His Word. What was just as amazing was the leaders of this division providing their prayers, their godly witness, and their heart-felt support to amplify the magnitude and effect of my words with the substantial example of their Christ-like love demonstrated each and every day.

Someone commented to one of our leaders of their suprise that a master of this martial arts organization would speak such bold spiritual truths. They asked, "Is he for real or is this just a speech for this event." The leader told them, "He's always this way." 

I thank God for this brother's testimony, for it has always been my ambition to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ in public, as well as in private, on the mountain top, as well as behind closed doors. And I hope that God will inspire some "closet" believers to have this same ambition. I know that my words may reach some people, but there are others, who, if God were to open their mouths, would reach many more. Jesus said,

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field” (Matthew 9:37-38).

In Jesus' day the harvest was large. I believe we have an even larger harvest today. Therefore, we need even more people to proclaim the Gospel. We need people to proclaim it in their homes. We need employers and employees to proclaim it in their businesses. We need kids to proclaim it to their friends at school and instructors to proclaim it to their students. We need to say it, write it, illustrate it, and live it. This was not simply the primary ministry of Jesus. It is our primary ministry.

Luke 4:3
3 The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread." 4 And Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone.'"

I made a comment in Mark 8 how Jesus has his kingdom agenda, but along the way has compassion on our needs. Yet here Jesus, hungry, did not address his own; it’s as if it would have been wrong for him to meet his own needs; wrong perhaps because this time's purpose was not for that. After all he chose by the spirit to be hungry. We chose this life, we choose to walk with God, and we can choose not to obey (I agree that we are elected but there is still an element that we comply or suffer sorrow and guilt among other repercussions). Choosing this we should at time be aware that we should forgo our rights and privileges, as we see often from Paul, such as, his lessons of eating meats, value of certain days, and asking for compensation for his ministerial work.

“6 and said to him, "To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours." 8 And Jesus answered him, "It is written...”

"We could impact more people if the church was bigger; we could serve more people if we had more money; we could get the culture more in line with our religion if we lobby for certain laws; knowing marketing and branding strategies is how to get engaged with the community;" all these are fine and good, but who are you leaning on? The secular world and its king, Satan, or the spiritual kingdom and his king, Jesus?

Jesus will accomplish all of these, but he will not do it by this king, but the King of Kings whose kingdoms is above all kingdoms. Jesus does not sit as the glorified king, the one who "all will bend the knee." In our own desires and plans we should work with no desperation to accomplish; accomplishment is in God's hand. Just be the faithful servant of the one king, king of kings.

9 And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written...

This next one is a little easier to see the devil's purpose. "Prove it" is a childish means to get someone to comply, or is it. Jesus will face this challenge several times and so do we! Christian's in the public light acting ungodly and caught cause the rest of us to answer the sometimes not so silent criticism of "prove it,” with a “so this is what Christians are like? Hypocrites.”

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Luke 4:23
23 And he said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, 'Physician, heal yourself.' What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well."

Matthew and Mark both report something like: he went to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, "Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary? And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief.

In Luke's account we get more detail. They each have the saying "A prophet is has no honor in his hometown." We get more detail from Luke such as the recognition of his work in Capernaum. What did he do in Capernaum?

After being tempted by the devil, after hearing John's arrest, Jesus moved to Capernaum to live and begin his ministry, and he: was called out by an unclean spirit, “Have you come to destroy us, Holy One of God!?”; heals Simon's mother-in-law; Later that evening the people of Capernaum brought those who were sick or oppressed by demons; he fed his disciples on the Sabbath, “went from there” to heal the withered hand on the Sabbath, tells some parables on the same day, and left for his home town.

Entering his home town, he preached to a house jammed with people. One was lowered through the roof, had his sins forgiven, and made to walk. This was on the same Sabbath as the feeding of disciples, the healing of the withered hand, the telling of the parables, that Jesus walked in on the Synagogue to preach from Isaiah.

By this time he had called Simon, Andrew, James, John, Philip and Nathanael

So after all this, Jesus stands up reads Isaiah, claims its fulfillment, and knows these people will have no heart for the gospel, saying to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, 'Physician, heal yourself.' What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well”

Furthermore, Luke’s account details the extent of their unbelief. Mathew and Mark only mention:

Matthew 13
58 And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.
Mark 6
5 And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And he marveled because of their unbelief.

This healing of a few sick people included the one lowered through the roof! But this was ‘no mighty work, but heal a few sick people – as if something of little importance (What could be more important to God?).

Matthew 13 says “he did not do many mighty works, because of their unbelief.” Sounds like a choice, for he ‘chose to not do many mighty works’ – implied in the “he did not do” (I don’t think this is a correct interpretation but offering as possible explanation). But in Mark 6, “he could not do works because of their unbelief.” This sounds like Jesus was limited by their faith; this sounds favorable to those who claim you have to have faith for God to do works (again I don’t think this is right since God is sovereign, and not limited by anything outside of himself)

So far we have, Jesus did do some works but the bible says they were not great just healing some people (what is greater than this?) He was limited by their unbelief, but his doesn't sound very sovereign, right? Luke wraps this up nicely.

Luke 4:28
28 When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. 29 And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. 30 But passing through their midst, he went away.

Mark 6:6 “Jesus marveled at their unbelief.” What is greater than some healing, belief to salvation! How was Jesus limited by their faith? Because they drove him out of the town by their wrath! In fact they were going to drive him out over a cliff! This sounds less of a case for "faith" as power or energy, but a response; a decision to be physically violent and resist God. God wasn’t so much limited by the lack of faith, but was limited by the lack of opportunity! They removed all options for a natural opportunity – God could have thundered in and said “listen to my son,” but a faithful person doesn’t require this.

Their lack of faith prevented Jesus from working, because they physically removed the option to “DO” and by their lack of faith Jesus “Could Not” do a work. It was truly an astounding rush of faithlessness – to kill him for revealing truth.

I was fascinated by how Jesus had been tempted by the devil for 40 days in the wilderness and how He overcame the temptations.  I assumed that Jesus' divine nature was completely set aside here. The devil attempts to make Jesus doubt his identity as Son of God by opening his sentence of temptation with the word, "if", and demands the sign that may prove Jesus' claim of who he is, which, as a result, would make Jesus sin against God by simply proving who He is by succubming to the devil's cunning demand and end up losing his credibility as sinless man to redeem God's people from their sins.  His demands seemed harmless but were traps to disqualify Jesus as a redeemer.  He overcame the temptations and proved that He is perfect, sinless man who has become the Savior of the world!  The first Adam failed, but Jesus never did.  To the glory and praise of God forever!

Friends, in Luke 5:17-26 we read the account of the healing of the paralytic. But it was not a simple healing of a man's body. Jesus pronounced a deeper healing of his soul, saying, "Man, your sins are forgiven you" (Luke 5:20). The Pharisees accused Jesus of speaking blasphemy, since Jesus, a mere man, was claiming to do what only what God could do. Jesus responded, "Which is easier, to say,  'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Rise up and walk'?" (Luke 5:23).

I used to think that Jesus simply meant there were fewer words to say in "Rise up and walk" than in "Your sins are forgiven you." While this may be true (even in the Greek text), I now understand that Jesus was not just trying to be funny and saracastic. He was not saying that one was "easier to say" (i.e. He was not emphasizing speech) but rather that the one thing was not any "easier" or harder than the other. The power that He had to say, "Rise up and walk" was evidence of His authority to say, "Your sins are forgiven you." The Pharisees perceived correctly that only God could forgive sins, but what they should have also noted was that only God could heal the paralytic's body. Therefore, the One, who healed the paralytic's body, could also forgive the paralytic's sins, and this One was God. Jesus was the Son of God! This understanding is confirmed by the parallel passage in Matthew 9:1-8, especially verse 6, where we read, "But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins..." Jesus, the Son of Man, had the authority to forgive sins.

Jesus gave them even more confirmation of His deity. When the scribes and Pharisees were accusing Jesus of blasphemy, they were doing so in private and in their own minds. Yet, "Jesus perceived their thoughts" (Luke 5:22). He read their minds. Only God could read the thoughts of men. Jesus was God!

Finally, the man was healed and went home glorifying God. The people, witnessing these things, were amazed, they glorified God, and were fearful because it defied their understanding. In Matthew 9:8 we read that the people were fearful and glorified God because God "had given such power to men." The people still did not make the connection that Jesus was no ordinary man. He was God in the flesh. And how much more amazed would they be when they come to realize what an awesome Presence was before them in the person of Jesus Christ:

Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.(Philippians 2:5-11).

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross (Colossians 1:15-20).

Today, I praise God for the Lord Jesus Christ, who is my Creator and my Redeemer. Whether people acknowledge Him or not, He will soon rule over everyone and everything as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And those who embrace Him in this life will enjoy His favor in eternal bliss, but everyone else will face eternal torment in the Lake of Fire.

My appeal to you, dear friends, whose names are written in the Book of Life, is that you stop living "life as usual," for life is like a vapor that will last but a moment and pass away (James 4:14). Stop concerning yourselves with making this life "work" for you, seeking comfort and prosperity. Wake up! Open your hearts and your mouths to understand and proclaim the truth of God's Word, whether people hear for their salvation or for their condemnation. And so live your lives to exalt God's highest glory.

Isn't it amazing that the Holy Spirit led Jesus to the place, where he would be tempted (Luke 4:1)? But how can this be when the Bible teaches clearly that God does not tempt anyone (cf. James 1:13)? Even more surprising, Jesus taught the disciples to pray, "Do not lead us into temptation..." (Matthew 6:13). If God does not tempt anyone, why would the disciples need to pray such a thing. This is one of those occasions, where an understanding of the original languages of the Bible is helpful. The word for "trial" and "temptation," for "to test" and "to tempt," is the same word. Translators must use the context to discern which term to use to translate the same Greek word. God "tests," but He does not "tempt." Satan tempts. People tempt. What makes the difference?

Looking back at the source of Jesus's words, "Man shall not live by bread alone..." will help us to understand the difference. Jesus cites Deuteronomy 8:3. In fact, Jesus answers every temptation by the devil from passages in Deuteronomy. In Deuteronomy 8:2-3 we read,

Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

Here we learn that God "tested" Israel in the wilderness with hunger and strange food in order to reveal the true condition of their hearts and to teach them to order their lives by God's Word rather than their appetites. So the bread of the wilderness in Moses' day was a "bread of testing." However, in Jesus' wilderness experience, Satan "tempted" Jesus to turn the stone into bread. So, there the bread was the "bread of temptation." Satan intended to make Jesus exercise His authority before the time appointed by God.

Could an event be both a temptation and a test/trial at the same time? In every account of Jesus in the wilderness, while it was the Spirit that led Jesus into the wilderness, we are told that it was the devil who "tempted" him (cf. Matthew 4:1; Mark 1:13; Luke 4:2). In the case of Job, Satan was the active agent tempting/testing Job, but it was God, who both instigated and permitted it. Again, consider the case of Joseph and his brothers. His brothers sold him into slavery. But later, when God made Joseph ruler over his brothers, Joseph said to them, "What you intended for evil God meant for good" (Genesis 50:20).

Some have suggested that the difference between trial and temptation is that trials improve character and lead to life while temptations degrade character and lead to death. But does this accurately reflect Scripture? What about the trials that God brought upon Israel in the wilderness? Did their character improve? Didn't they remain stubborn and rebellious, even refusing to take the Promised Land at Kadesh-Barnea? Didn't God put all of them to death in the wilderness because of it? And certainly temptations do not always degrade character nor do they lead to death, as we see from the example of Jesus and Job.

I suggest that the difference between temptations and trials is this: temptations are inherently evil whereas trials are inherently good. This is why the Bible says that God does not tempt anyone and in the same sentance teaches that "God cannot be tempted by evil" (James 1:13); thus, associating temptation with evil, recognizing that there is nothing evil in God. Yet, temptations can result in a good outcome as well as trials in a bad outcome. So in the case of Joseph, his brothers intended evil by selling him as a slave, but God used it for good to save Israel. But the outcomes are not what makes something evil or good. What is the critical part? I believe it is the heart. This is why we read in James 1:14-15,

But each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

Again, if you look again at the passage cited above from Deuteronomy 8:2, we read that God tested Israel in the wilderness "in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands."

Therefore, our concern should not be the source of a temptation except to know that it cannot be from God, for He is the "Father of lights" from whom only good things come (cf. James 1:17). But our concern should be on the response of our hearts. We will not always know the source, but we will know how to respond. That is why James writes,

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything... Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him (James 1:1-4, 12).

Again, he admonishes,

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up (James 4:7-10).

Finally, what did Jesus mean when He instructed the disciples to pray, "Lead us not into temptation..." (Matthew 6:13)? A few verses before, Jesus instructed them to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread." Jesus cites Proverbs 30:8. In that context, we read,

 “Two things I ask of you, LORD;
   do not refuse me before I die:
Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
   give me neither poverty nor riches,
   but give me only my daily bread.
Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
   and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’
Or I may become poor and steal,
   and so dishonor the name of my God(Proverbs 30:7-9).

The prophet Agur in Proverbs prays that God would neither make him rich nor poor, because either extreme may cause him to disobey or dishonor God. Instead, he asks, "Give me only my daily bread," neither too much nor too little. Agur's concern was not survivial but how he might resist the temptation to sin. Jesus intends the same thing in the Lord's prayer, not that our concern should be for our daily food but for our walk with God. We should pray so that we might have just what we need ("our daily bread") to honor and obey God best. And on the other side of this exhortation, we should pray so that we might not be placed in a situation to be overcome by evil (or as some translations read, "the evil one"), whereby the good "trial" that God brings may have the evil outcome of a "temptation" because our hearts respond wrongly to it. As Solomon wrote, "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it" (Proverbs 4:23). In the Lord's prayer, Jesus teaches us to pray that God might help us to guard our hearts. This is certainly in keeping with the message of Paul in Philippians 4:6-7:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Therefore, in the wilderness experience of Luke 4, God tested Jesus and Satan tempted Jesus, but Jesus guarded His heart and responded rightly by honoring and obeying God. Following His example, may we also do the same.