Dear Christian friends:

We all will agree that we Christians are here on earth to serve God and not ourselves. Our conscience tells us that and all nature proves that. Everything in nature has a purpose. The cow gives milk and meat and leather for man's use. The bee gives honey. The sheep gives wool for clothes. Trees give fruit and shade and make places beautiful.

All nature serves God and so should man. Man is happy and satisfied when He obeys God's commandments and will and serves Him. But since Adam and Eve fell into sin man is not born with love and service to God. He wants to serve Himself and honor and please Himself rather than God. So He always breaks God's Commandments and is not really happy or satisfied. Even after we become Christians we still have our selfish hearts and Satan daily tempts us to serve him rather than God.

To teach us again how to serve Him, God sent His Son Jesus. Jesus became a man like us, but He did not sin; He always perfectly served God. Here in our text we see Jesus as the true Servant of God. Let's look at Him here again as He begins His ministry and see the things in Jesus which make one a servant of God. So I ask you:


That's one thing Jesus never forgot here in the text the devil tried to get Jesus to doubt that. He said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." (Matthew 4:3) Jesus had not eaten for forty days and was very weak and very hungry. But He refused to change the stones to bread which He had the power to do.

Jesus remembered that God was testing Him; not forsaking Him, so He did not doubt and suffered the hunger as God's plan and will for Him now. He knew that where God's Spirit led Him God was with him even if He must pass through a very hard time.

So you and I are servants of God if we remember that we are His dear children and He is our dear Father. Sometimes we doubt that when hard times come, sickness and losses, and Satan says, "Is God really your Father? Does He really love you, would He let such trouble happen to you? Maybe God is punishing you and forsakes you. Maybe there is no God. Maybe God is dead and can't see you or hear you."

When these temptations or tests come to us we must remember that we are God's dear children through faith in Jesus Christ. Here we see and remember that He was God's Son on earth to live for us and die for us on the cross. If we remember that Jesus is our Savior, we will not doubt that God is our Father and we our His dear children even in bad times or days. Then we will truly serve Him.

And even if we sometimes forget and doubt and go sin as the devil wants, when the Holy Spirit bothers us and our conscience bothers us let us be sorry and trust that our Father in heaven forgives us in Jesus. In this way we can improve little by little to be His servants.

Are you a servant of God? You are if you do not forget the purpose or goal of your life on earth to do God's will to praise, honor and worship Him. When Satan said to Jesus tell these stones to become bread, Jesus answered, "A man doesn't live on bread alone, but on every word that God speaks." (Matthew 4:4)

We must remember that we do live to eat but we eat to live and we live to serve and worship God. When the devil asked Jesus to bow down and worship him, Jesus answered, "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’" (Matthew 4:10)

Thank God Jesus did not forget the purpose and goal of His life to serve God and to die for our sins on the cross. Now because Jesus did not forget, we can have forgiveness of our sins when we forget. May Jesus' great love and service to God help us to remember the purpose and goal of our life to serve God and one day go home to Him in heaven. Our goal also is to help one another serve God and go to heaven too.

Are you a servant of God? Here Jesus shows us that we are if we know and use God's Word. Three times Jesus quoted God's Word to Satan when Satan tempted Him to give up serving God, "It is written." Like David, Jesus had learned and memorized God's Word, "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you." (Psalm 119:11) It is the weapon a Christian or servant of God uses to conquer in time of temptation and trouble. Without God's Word in our hearts and minds we are helpless and defenseless.

If someone says something wrong or against God and church we are trapped and don't know how to answer. The Bible says, "and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear." (1 Peter 3:15) If we don't know God's Word, we fail to defend Him and fail to win others for His Kingdom.

Here again we must think dear Jesus because He learned and memorized God's Word very well. He did not let the enemies conquer Him but He quoted and taught God's Word to them conquering them and winning many of them for God's heavenly Kingdom. Because Jesus did not fail to learn God's Word and use it He was a successful Savior.

Now we can have forgiveness when we fail to learn and use God's Word. But let Jesus' love and His example encourage us to learn and use God's Word better so that we may become good and useful servants in His Kingdom.

Amen.