SPB Sermons || Grace in the Wilderness || Matthew 4:1-11 || Rev Andrew

Proved in the Wilderness | Matthew 4:1–11

Sermon podcast from St Paul’s & St Barnabas, Belfast

Lent begins in a place most of us recognise: the wilderness. Not a dramatic, cinematic wilderness, but the real one. The season where life feels stripped back. The week where your strength feels thin. The moment where you are tired, hungry, stretched, and the pull toward the quick fix starts to feel reasonable.

In Matthew 4, Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness and tested by the devil. And what is striking is how the temptation lands. It is not first about “doing something obviously wicked”. It is about identity, trust, and the shape of obedience. “If you are the Son of God…” The aim is to destabilise who Jesus is, and to get him to grasp for control, prove himself, or take the shortcut around suffering.

Temptation that sounds sensible

The three temptations have a certain plausibility to them. Stones into bread: meet a real need now, on your own terms. Throw yourself down from the temple: turn faith into spectacle, make God perform, force certainty. Bow for the kingdoms of the world: take power without the cross, rule without suffering, gain without obedience.

That is often how temptation works. It rarely arrives with a warning label. It comes dressed as practicality. It presents itself as a small compromise “for a good reason”. And if we are honest, much of our drifting begins right there: the moment we stop trusting God and start managing life as if he is not trustworthy.

Jesus answers with the Word. Not once, not twice, but again and again: “It is written.” In the wilderness, Christ does not reach for tricks, charisma, or shortcuts. He reaches for Scripture. The Word is not decoration for the religious life; it is bread for endurance.

Word-saturated endurance

This is not a call to perform spiritual heroics. It is a call to steady faithfulness. In the face of real hunger and real pressure, Jesus remains himself, rooted in what the Father has said, and steadfast in the Spirit. He refuses to test God. He refuses to impress people. He refuses to seize power. He chooses the long road of obedience that leads to the cross, for our salvation and for God’s glory.

And that matters for us in Lent, because comfort can become danger. When life is easy, we drift. When life is hard, we grasp. The wilderness exposes what is in us, but it also shows us the One who stands for us and teaches us how to stand. The same Jesus who resisted temptation now meets us with mercy when we have not, and he strengthens us to endure with his Word in our hearts.

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Join us on Sunday

If you are looking for a church, returning to church, or simply curious, you would be very welcome to join us this Sunday at St Paul’s & St Barnabas. We meet at 10:30am and we stay afterwards for tea, coffee, and conversation.

St Paul’s & St Barnabas
208 York Street, Belfast
Website: www.spbbelfast.church

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