Tempted: Deliver Us

We’re wrapping up our series on temptation today. Over the last couple of weeks we’ve looked at what scripture teaches us about temptation. The first week, we saw from James chapter 1 that temptation is really a result of our own desires or passions.  James 1:14 says, “Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away.” I shared with you that same verse from The Message, it says that we can only blame “the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust.”  We talked about the way to control these passions is to make sure that Jesus is Lord of your life. Then our desire is only God’s will.

Last week we looked at the story of Jesus being tempted in the wilderness. I said that the temptation Jesus faced there is the same temptation we face; to put our trust somewhere other than God – to let something else sit on that throne. Temptation is often a matter of trust. I trust in stuff, in money, in what I can see and feel. I trust me. Instead of trusting God’s will, trusting the way of Jesus. So instead of Jesus sitting on the throne of our heart, money is there or people or our stuff or ourselves.

Today, I’ve titled the sermon “Deliver Us”. That title probably sounds familiar to you. It’s from the Lord’s Prayer. When pray that prayer, we pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

I ran across a video this week that I want to share with you.

I love that. But not just because it’s funny. Look at their slogan,

“Once you shake ‘em you can’t shake ‘em.” Now that says a lot about temptation. Temptation is hard enough to resist, but once you give in it becomes that much harder. I saw an article from a couple of years ago on Psychology Today’s website. In that article, Dr. Rebecca Gladding says that when we give in to temptation we teach our brain that this is an important action and should be repeated, so the brain starts sending cravings. She uses the specific example of chocolate. She wrote, “As time goes on, my brain begins making eating chocolate a priority and I find that I am craving it day and night.” Once you shake it, you just can’t shake it.

We talked before about our desires leading to temptation and temptation leading to sin. Paul liked to talk about being a slave to sin. Dr. Gladding seems to be pointing to just such a thing. We give in to temptation which leads to sin and we start to crave it. We can’t live without it. We become a slave to sin. Once you shake it, you just can’t shake it. Once you start, you just can’t stop. Which brings us back to “deliver us from evil”.

Resisting temptation is not our natural human response. And once we’ve given in, it’s just that much easier to do it again and that much harder to resist. So we pray. As Jesus taught us to pray, “Deliver us.”

In the garden of Gethsemane, just before Jesus was arrested, he told his disciples to “pray so you won’t give in to temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” As we saw last week, this is something Jesus knew from experience. Jesus also knew that temptation would come.

In a letter to the church at Corinth, Paul told them that temptation is inevitable. He wrote this:  “¹³ The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.”

There are a couple of really important things this passage tells us about temptation. 1) We’re going to be tempted. There is not any notion here that we will not be tempted. 2) We can resist temptation! “You will not be tempted more than you can stand.” But we are human, we are flawed. 3) God will deliver us. God will show us a way out.

A couple of weeks ago I introduced the 5Rs of resisting temptation. Adam Hamilton, who is the pastor of Church of the Resurrection (a United Methodist church in KC), came up with these a few years ago. He used them again in a sermon a couple of months ago. I think they offer some wonderful advice for resisting temptation.

I gave you the first one a couple of weeks ago, but I’ll cover it again. These are things to do when you feel tempted.

1)    REMEMBER Who You Are – You are a child of God, a follower of Jesus Christ, a leader in the church, a leader in the community. You may be someone’s husband or wife, someone’s mother or father. Is the thing you are struggling with consistent with who you are?

2)    RECOGNIZE the consequences of your actions. Maybe you could ask yourself: will I feel better or worse after doing this? Will I be proud or ashamed? Will I be more free or will I be enslaved by doing this? Who will be hurt by my actions? If the thing becomes known, what will happen to the people who trusted me? What will they think of me?

3)    REDEDICATE yourself to God. In prayer ask for God’s strength. Maybe a really simple, easy to remember prayer like: “Lead me not into temptation, deliver me from evil!” It’s also a chance to remind yourself who is on the throne of your life.

I shared this tweet with you a couple of weeks ago:  “Temptation is coming today...and every day. The question is whether Christ is on the throne of your heart now? Will He be your Lord today?” Is Jesus on the throne of your heart? Or as I asked it last week: Do you trust in Jesus? 

4)    REVEAL your struggle to a trusted friend. Part of the power of temptation comes from its secretiveness. When you tell the secret to someone holding you accountable, it loses some of its power. This is why James tells us in 5:16, “Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you might be healed.” Maybe it’s not the healthiest or most effective motivator, but it also adds some guilt to the situation, and guilt is a great deterrent. If eating donuts is a sin…well we’re all in trouble… But just as an example… If eating donuts is a sin I struggle with and I tell Bill, and I know Bill isn’t going to judge me but will help me be accountable – he’s going to ask me if I’ve been eating donuts – those donuts lose a little of their power over me.

5)    REMOVE yourself from the situation. When Jesus speaks about sin in the Sermon on the Mount he tells us that if our eye causes us to sin, we’re to pluck it out, or if our hand causes us to sin, we’re to cut it off. He is using hyperbole but he’s seeking to make this same point—remove yourself from the situation. We saw this in the video of the “Marshmallow Test” two weeks ago. Those 4-5 year-old kids who really did not want to eat the marshmallow would just ignore it. Pretend it’s not there. Pretending won’t always help, but leaving a situation will. Keeping yourself out of tempting situations will. Back to our donut example, I should never go near the donut table. If I walk in and see donuts I should probably leave.

So those are the 5 Rs of resisting temptation, but what if we don’t resist? Because, let’s face it, we’re not always going to resist. I don’t mean that to be taken as a defeatist attitude. It’s just the truth. Sometimes we will try to resist and fail, sometimes we just fail. Luckily it’s not the end of the road.

There’s another part of the Lord’s Prayer I want to remind you of: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Forgive our missteps, our stumbles, our failings, our sins. We are reminded of this throughout the New Testament. 1 John 1:9 tells us if we confess our sins, God will forgive us and cleanse our wickedness. Colossians 1:13-14 says this  “For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.”

Now, that’s not a “get out of jail free” card. It doesn’t mean I can walk in and say to myself, “I can eat all of the donuts I want now, because I can just ask God to forgive me!” That attitude embraces sin. There’s no repentance there, confessing our sins means we repent. To repent means to turn the other way. I read Colossians 1:13-14, but look what leads up to that scripture about forgiveness: 

¹⁰ Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.

¹¹ We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, ¹² always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light.

We are called to live in the light, to live in a way that honors God – that pleases God. That doesn’t mean we won’t mess it up. It means we’ve got to try. It means we’ve got to do everything we can to resist temptation. Thank God, we have a savior who delivers us from temptation!

There are three things I want to stress as we talk about being “delivered from evil”.

Two of them come from the passage in Galatians that was read earlier. First, it says we should nail our desires and passions to the cross. In other words, we are to die to our old sinful self. Paul says we should live by the Spirit. As we live by the Spirit, we are renewed. We are changed into a new creation. As we trust and follow Jesus, through prayer, reading scripture, growing closer to God, the Holy Spirit works to change us. Sin loses its grip. Our desires and passions lessen, and God’s will becomes our desire.

Paul gives us another tip for how we are delivered from temptation. In verse 2 of chapter 6, Paul says we should share each other’s burdens. I love verse 3. “If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important.” Help one another! This goes back to our 4^th R – reveal your struggle. Be ready to help others and don’t be afraid to ask for help.

The third thing to remember about being delivered is that through the life, death, and resurrection we are delivered. We are delivered not just from temptation, but from the penalty of sin. Because of Jesus sin no longer binds those who believe, who call on him as their savior.

We are delivered in those 3 ways. Jesus delivers us from the penalty of sin. The Holy Spirit working in us delivers us from the power of sin so that it no longer holds us captive. And lastly, God works through each one of us to help one another, to love one another, to share our burdens. 

Tempted: Lead Us Not

Luke 4:1-13

New Living Translation (NLT)

4 Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River. He was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, ² where he was tempted by the devil for forty days. Jesus ate nothing all that time and became very hungry.

³ Then the devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become a loaf of bread.”

⁴ But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone.’”

⁵ Then the devil took him up and revealed to him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.⁶ “I will give you the glory of these kingdoms and authority over them,” the devil said, “because they are mine to give to anyone I please. ⁷ I will give it all to you if you will worship me.”

⁸ Jesus replied, “The Scriptures say,

‘You must worship the Lord your God
    and serve only him.’”

⁹ Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! ¹⁰ For the Scriptures say,

‘He will order his angels to protect and guard you.
¹¹ And they will hold you up with their hands
    so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’”

¹² Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’”

¹³ When the devil had finished tempting Jesus, he left him until the next opportunity came.

I saw this quote several places last week, but I could never find a source.  “Temptation will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.” There’s a lot of truth there. I think I might change one word, though. I would change “will” to “can.” I mentioned this last week, but I wanted to reiterate the point this week.  Temptation does not equal sin. Temptation can lead to sin, but it is not the same as sin. 

We are continuing our series of sermons on temptation. We are in the midst of Lent. Lent is a season of reflection, a season of repentance. Traditionally, it was a time when new Christians would prepare themselves for baptism. In the early church baptisms all took place on Easter. So Lent, the season leading up to Easter was spent preparing those new converts, spiritually and theologically. It was a time of learning, a time of fasting, and a time of prayer. But not just for those catechumens, as they were called. The early church, just as we do now, saw the baptismal covenant as a 3 party covenant. It is a covenant between the person being baptized, God, and the church. And each time someone is baptized, we renew our own baptismal covenant. So, Lent was a time of preparation for everyone, not just for the new converts.

Lent consists of the forty days leading to Easter, not counting Sundays. This number is not by coincidence. Those forty days of fasting, prayer, and reflection are meant to echo the forty days Jesus spent in the wilderness – fasting, praying, preparing for his coming ministry; and being tempted.

This scripture is traditionally read on the first Sunday of Lent. It’s used to begin Lent in order to remind us of those 40 days Jesus spent fasting and praying and preparing himself for his ministry as we begin a time of fasting, prayer, and preparation. It is also meant to remind us that, as we read in Hebrews 4:15, Jesus can relate to us, can sympathize with our weakness, because he endured every temptation we experience, except he did so without sin.

So, as we continue our series on temptation we look to the example of Jesus and this series of temptations to try to answer some of our questions about temptation. What is temptation? How do we resist temptation?

First, I want look at what this text teaches us about temptation. Then I’ll make some observations about this passage.

There are 3 things we learn about temptation from this passage.

1)    Temptation does not go away, even when we are at our most faithful. The opening verse of this passage tells us that Jesus is filled with the Holy Spirit. But still he faces temptation.

2)    Temptation doesn’t go away, even when we’ve conquered it. The last verse, after Jesus shoots down all of the Devil’s temptations tells us that the Devil “left until the next opportunity came.” He’ll be back.

3)    Temptation lies! Look at all the devil promises. He says he has power and can give it to Jesus. I saw an interesting observation about this passage. Look at the number of words the devil uses to tempt versus the words Jesus uses to turn him down. It’s almost 3 to 1. Misty and I watch a lot of detective shows. I’ve heard more than one of them say that when questioning a suspect, they know that the more words equals less truth.  

Here we have something that is actually unusual for the Bible. We have the personification of the Devil. The Old Testament typically talks about “satan,” which is a Hebrew word that means “opposer” or adversary. It is a noun used to refer to people and sometimes to divine beings. The book of Job and the third chapter of Zechariah talk about “ha-satan” or The Adversary. The notion of Satan as the personification of evil, doesn’t show up in the Old Testament Even when Satan is personified, he’s more a provoker than evil. In the New Testament, which is written mostly in Greek, we read about satanas, which is presented as more of a proper name. And we read about diabolos or the Devil. Diabolos means slanderer or false accuser.

This is closer to the modern conception of Satan. This personification of evil. This one evil guy who sort of runs the show trying to make us do evil things. Are you familiar with Flip Wilson? Flip Wilson was a comedian in the 70’s  he had a character named Geraldine. Her catchphrase was “The Devil made me do it.” She would do or say something questionable and when asked why, “The devil made me do it.” And that is the danger of our modern conception of Satan.

I’m not going to go into the reality or symbolism of Satan. Are there evil forces in the world working against us and against God? Yes. Does that mean we can make the Devil responsible for the bad things we do? I think that’s a cop out. I read this from a pastor in Minnesota, “People do evil things all the time for all kinds of tragic reasons. It hurts and it is hard. I don’t think it helps to blame the devil.” He wondered if “The Devil” serves as a hindrance to really understanding evil. The danger comes when we blame our wrongs on someone other than ourselves. We talked last week about temptation coming from our own desires, our own passions. That doesn’t mean that something external doesn’t ignite those desires. Maybe that is Satan, presenting us with tempting circumstances. But the true fight is with our own desires as Jesus demonstrates.

Which leads to the second observation I want to make. Jesus answers each temptation with scripture. But just like with the Devil, don’t think about this too simplistically. Knowing scripture verse for verse won’t lead you out of temptation. Notice in our passage, the devil himself quotes scripture. David Lose, a professor of preaching at Luther Seminary, wonders if Jesus “not so much quotes scripture to deflect temptation as it is that Jesus finds in scripture to words to give voice to his trust. Because at the heart of each reply is Jesus’ absolute trust in – and dependence on – God for his identity and future.” Which leads me to wonder, do I have that sort of trust? Is scripture something I use to prove my point or justify my actions, or is it something I use to see God in whom I place my trust? This passage comes down to that very word – Trust.

You may hear this story and feel completely unconnected. After all, this is Jesus being tempted in person by Satan. It’s not something many of us can relate to. And look at the temptations. “Turn these rocks into bread. I can put you in charge of all the world’s kingdoms. Jump, and prove God loves you.” Again, not exactly things we can relate to. Well, I disagree. I think these are the exact temptations we face day in and day out.

What tempts you? By what are you tempted? It’s Lent, a time of reflection, well, let’s reflect. What tempts you? You know how I’m tempted?

I’m tempted to write a sermon. I’m tempted to open my laptop and start typing. I trust in my mental capacity and my ability to write, so I can write a fine sermon. I’m tempted to panic when some unexpected need pops up. I trust in money. I trust stuff. “Turn these rocks into bread, then you won’t be hungry anymore. You can do it yourself.”

I’m tempted to do everything I can to make sure my world runs the way I want it. I want to be in control. I’m tempted to tell Bill what songs we should sing, I’m tempted to tell Sarah how the altar should look each week. I’m tempted to have control, to have power. I trust me, my instincts, my rule. “I can put you in charge of everything you see. It’ll be yours to rule and control.”

I’m tempted to wallow in my sorrow and pity. Sometimes people say hurtful things. Sometimes things don’t work out the way I want them to. Sometimes people I love die before I’m ready. Sometimes life is not as perfect as I think it should be. I trust in what I see and feel. “If you are a child of God, God will protect you. You’re hurting, are you sure God loves you?”

Aren’t those exactly the things Jesus is tempted to do and to feel? Trust in stuff. Trust in you. Trust in what you can see and feel. The temptation is to trust in me, to be in control, to do it myself. Instead of trusting God. The temptation is to forget who we are. Satan tells Jesus, “If you are the Son of God” trying to cause doubt about who he is. That is the temptation we face. We are tempted to forget our baptismal identity as a child of God.

Are there other temptations? Of course. We’re tempted to lie, to cheat, to steal, to kill. Name a commandment, and we’ve probably all been tempted to break it. But our call is not to adhere to a list of rules. Ours is a call to faithfulness – faithfulness to the purposes of God. We are called to trust in Jesus. I love that old song. “‘Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, and to take Him at His word; just to rest upon His promise, and to know, ‘Thus says the Lord!’ Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him! How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er. Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus! O for grace to trust Him more!” So, I ask, do you trust in Jesus? Or do you trust in stuff, or in you, or in the world? When temptation comes, none of those will do for long.

Last week I introduced the first of 5 Rs for resisting temptation. Remember who you are. You are a child of God. You are a follower of Christ. To remember that, and to trust in that identity as a child of God, a follower of Christ, that is what leads to eternal life. And it won’t matter what temptation comes your way; you’ll know and trust that Jesus, who endured temptation is with you and will help you through yours. Do you trust in Jesus? 

Tempted: Deceived

I'm going to post the sermons from a series I did on temptation during Lent. Here's the first from March 10th.
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*Sermon Title*

In the late 60s a psychologist at Stanford University named Walter Mischel conducted an experiment in delayed gratification. They placed 4-5 year-old kids in a room alone with a marshmallow. They told the child that they could eat the marshmallow or they could wait 15 minutes without eating it and then they would be given a second marshmallow. Since the 60s the Marshmallow Test has been conducted again and again. Here is some video of one of these tests.

Have you ever felt like one of these kids? There’s something there all you have to do is reach out and take it, but you know you shouldn’t you know there will be consequences. We’re going to spend the next few weeks talking about temptation.

Temptation is something that each and every one of us faces. Feeling tempted to do something you know is wrong does not make you bad. It’s a part of a life of faith. So we’re going to talk over the next few weeks about: What is temptation? How can we resist temptation? What if I don’t resist? Because, as you all know, you cannot and will not always resist every temptation that comes. And you all know that temptation will come. It’s not a question of if you will be tempted, but when will it happen. And knowing that temptation will come…well, as I learned from GI Joe cartoons in the 80s, “knowing is half the battle.” Maybe it’s not half the battle, but it at least prepares you for the battle so that life doesn’t catch you off guard.

I want to say a word about our background image for this series. Marianthe Snyder painted this specifically for this series. I love the imagery. It is a perfect image of our faith journey. As we walk through our life temptation is sometimes just over the next hill and sometimes it’s right in front of us, and if we don’t pay attention we may miss it. But it’s always there.

Let’s look to the scripture for today. To see what God’s word says about temptation.

James 1:9-18

New Living Translation (NLT)

⁹ Believers who are poor have something to boast about, for God has honored them. ¹⁰ And those who are rich should boast that God has humbled them. They will fade away like a little flower in the field. ¹¹ The hot sun rises and the grass withers; the little flower droops and falls, and its beauty fades away. In the same way, the rich will fade away with all of their achievements.

¹² God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. ¹³ And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong, and God never tempts anyone else. ¹⁴ Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. ¹⁵ These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.

¹⁶ So don’t be misled, my dear brothers and sisters. ¹⁷ Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. ¹⁸ He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession.

The Letter of James is an interesting book. There is lots of scholarly debate about its origin and its intended audience. Most attribute the letter to James, the brother of Jesus. James was not one of the 12 disciples during Jesus life. He is considered an apostle, though. He became the leader of the Christian church in Jerusalem and was martyred around 62 AD because of his faith. James’ letter is addressed to “the twelve tribes in the Dispersion.” What many scholars believe is that we have a letter written by James, the brother of Jesus, the leader of the Jerusalem church, and written to Jewish Christians throughout the known world.

The letter takes on a couple of styles. Some of the letter consists of what’s known as “wisdom literature”. Those parts seek to impart what James calls “wisdom from above,” as opposed to “wisdom from below.” In other words, if we are going to live by the Spirit, we cannot live by the wisdom of this world. We must look to God’s wisdom. Most of James’ letter is what is known as moral exhortation. This is writing that urges the reader to live in a right way or to live morally. Biblical scholar Luke Timothy Johnson said that the letter of James was written to “persuade the reader to live up to the profession to which they committed.” In other words, James wanted to remind Christians what it means to be a follower of Christ and how to live as a follower of Christ.

One of the things that James is trying to teach in this passage is that temptation ultimately does not only come from outside of us. In verse 14, James says, “Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away.” Think about those kids sitting staring at that marshmallow. Picking it up, smelling it, licking it. Does the temptation to eat the marshmallow come from the marshmallow itself? Or from the memory of how good a marshmallow tastes and the desire to taste that creamy, sugary goodness? It is these desires, or these passions as some call them, that breed sinful actions. The Message says it this way, “We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust.” It is our own lusts and desires that tempt us.

In other words, often temptation is a form of self-deception. We seduce ourselves with promises of how good something will taste or how good it will feel. Until eventually we convince ourselves that the wrong decision is the right decision.

James expands on this thought later in the letter. Let’s look at chapter 4.

James 4:1-8

New Living Translation (NLT)

4 What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? ² You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. ³ And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.

⁴ You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. ⁵ What do you think the Scriptures mean when they say that the spirit God has placed within us is filled with envy?⁶ But he gives us even more grace to stand against such evil desires. As the Scriptures say,

“God opposes the proud
    but favors the humble.”

⁷ So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. 

Our sins come from temptation, which come from our own desires. Or from the leering, seducing flare-ups of our lusts. I know lust typically has a sexual connotation, but that is just one type of lust. We can lust for power, we lust for money, we lust for people we don’t like to get what’s coming to them, we lust for our own selfish wants.

Maybe you can think about it this way – the sins of the hand begin with the desires of the heart. That being true tells us where our attention needs to be focused. If we simply wash our hands of sin, they’ll just get dirty again and again. Or if we simply ask to be forgiven of our sins, we’re not getting to the root of the problem. Instead, as James says, we have to purify our hearts.

I saw this on the twitter feed of another pastor in our conference. I don’t know if it is original to him or not, but I liked it. “Temptation is coming today...and every day. The question is whether Christ is on the throne of your heart now? Will He be your Lord today?”

That is one way we resist temptation. To make sure that Jesus is lord of our lives. That’s what James means when he says we should draw close to God. That’s what James means when he says “purify your hearts.

A few years ago Adam Hamilton, who is the pastor of Church of the Resurrection near Kansas City, spoke to a leadership conference for pastors about the 5 R’s of resisting temptation. I’m going to talk about them in a couple of weeks, but I wanted to give you the first one today.

Remember who you are! You are a child of God, a follower of Jesus Christ. That doesn’t mean that we are perfect, but it does mean that we try to be better. As followers of Jesus, we strive to be like Christ, and I hope I am more like him today than I was yesterday, and will be more like him tomorrow than I am today. Remember who you are. Pay attention to God. Keep God’s word close to your heart. Pray, stay in contact with God.

Draw close to Jesus, and Jesus will draw close to you. And when Jesus draws close to you, your heart’s desire will be only God’s will. Your heart’s desire will be nothing more or less than to love God and love others.