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.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*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.