Lead Us Not Into Temptation

We are at the penultimate sermon in our series on the Lord’s Prayer, just this week and next week left in this look at the prayer that Jesus gave to his disciples.

And as I said back in the first week, the Lord’s Prayer is not just about the words Jesus gave…it’s a model for prayer that we can use whether we use these specific words or not.

I find it helpful to think of the themes of the prayer as single words, then to use those single words as a guide for other prayers I offer to God…words like:

(SLIDE)

Prayers for…

RELATIONSHIP—Our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name

GUIDANCE—Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven

PROVISION—Give us this day our daily bread

MERCY—And forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us

And so today we come to

(ADD TO SLIDE)

“Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”

I wonder what single word you would use there to describe that?

Here’s the word I would use:

(ADD TO SLIDE)

PROTECTION—Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil

This morning’s prayer is all about protection…protection from temptation, and protection from evil.

One of those seems, on the surface, to be pretty simple. The other…not so much.

Protection from temptation seems pretty straightforward: we are asking God to keep us strong in the midst of all the temptations that surround us.

Because let’s be honest: there are lots of temptations we struggle with as Christians.

There are the obvious ones—sins of commission, those blatant sins that beckon to us and seek to pull us away from God’s best for our lives.

But there are also, as I mentioned last week, sins of omission…as we are often tempted to avoid the good work God would have us do in favour of an easier, less challenging path.

As Christians we seek to grow daily in our relationship with Jesus, but temptation keeps rearing its ugly head, enticing us to do certain things that can harm our relationship with God, and also to avoid certain things which would align us more with his purposes for our life.

Temptation is always there. And in this line of the prayer we’re praying for protection from temptation.

As I said, it’s pretty straightforward. But there are still a couple of deeper things worth noting about this line of the prayer.

The first is this:

This first phrase of today’s petition—“Lead us not into temptation”—has caused a lot of confusion for people through the centuries.

Because for some people it seems to imply the possibility that God could lead us into temptation

But in the book of James we find this important teaching:

(SLIDE)

“When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 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.”—James 1:13-15 (NIV)

Scripture is clear that God does not tempt us.

God is not the author of sin…by his very nature God could not entice us into sinful behaviour.

God only desires good things for us…he doesn’t sit up in heaven setting traps for his children in order to catch us out or prove us false.

God does not tempt.

So why the line, “Lead us not into temptation?”

Doesn’t it imply that he does?

And here we stumble into one of those language problems that can sometimes make the Bible confusing for folks.

It takes a deeper dive into understanding Ancient Near Eastern languages to really grasp what Jesus is inviting us to pray here.

In Hebrew and Aramaic, the main languages for Jews of Jesus’ time, the same tense that implies a command can also be used to imply permission.

In other words, the line, “Don’t lead me into temptation” can also be understood as “Don’t allow me to be led into temptation.”

Do you see the difference?

Again…it’s a prayer for protection.

It’s saying to God, “Let your voice…let your guidance…let your strength be so prevalent in my life that I don’t give in when temptation comes my way.”

Protect me.

That’s the first thing I wanted to note about this petition.

The second is this: the Greek word that’s translated here as “temptation” can also be translated a different way…as “trial.”

In that light, this prayer takes on a broader sense, because it’s asking God to save us from times of difficulty and struggle, not just temptation.

“Lead us…not into a time of trial.”

That may very well be what Jesus was getting at here, but in the end it doesn’t change the prayer that much for me.

Partly because it is in times of difficulty that I find I am most tempted…there’s a link between the two.

And ultimately in this line of prayer I am still asking God for protection.

Whether it is protection from difficulty or protection from temptation, in this line of prayer we are leaning on God for strength…acknowledging that when it comes to everything this world throws at us…

…on our own we are not able to deal with it all.

Which brings us to the second part of this petition:

Deliver us from evil.

And if there was ever a prayer for 2022…I can’t help but feel this is it.

More and more these days I’m reminded of a line from a Sherlock Holmes story, when Holmes turns to his closest friend and says, “Well, Watson, we seem to have fallen upon evil days.”

Do you feel it?

There’s a darkness that’s very real right now…a shadow that seems to have settled in during the pandemic and doesn’t want to let go.

Although if we’re honest…that shadow’s been around a long time.

Earlier this morning I asked you to think a bit about the battle between good and evil.

Truth is…you ask any generation in history and they will have specific moments they could point to where the reality of evil in this world became very evident.

The battlefields of World War I, the gas chambers of World War II…the abuse of children, the oppression of dictators…the list is endless.

For me…I think of September 11, 2001.

I think of Dunblane…I think of the Norway camp shootings in 2011…and I also think of this:

(SLIDE—PICTURE)

This is a picture of the memorial in Oklahoma City remembering the victims of the bombing there in 1995.

We had a chance to visit this memorial when we lived in Oklahoma…and it absolutely takes your breath away.

The imagery they used in its design is unbelievably powerful.

One on end of the space there’s a gate to enter the memorial, and above it is simply engraved “9:01 a.m.”

On the other side of the memorial, at the exit, is another huge gate, engraved “9:03 a.m.”

The actual memorial, between the two gates, represents what happened at 9:02 on that fateful day.

Events so tragic that they inspired a book, entitled simply:

“Where was God at 9:02 AM?”

“Where was God at 9:02 AM?”

But surely we can insert so many other world-shattering events into that title…

And not just worldwide events.

Many of us have smaller, more personal moments from our own lives that left us wondering, “Where was God?”

The shadow of evil is very real…and like I said it’s always been there.

Maybe we’re just more aware of it now than we used to be.

Maybe our experience of the last couple of years has simply made us more sensitive to the shadow’s presence.

Whatever it is…there are a lot of people struggling with it right now.

And Jesus doesn’t ignore it.

He doesn’t ignore it in his teaching ministry…in his healing ministry…and he encourages us to be mindful of it in our own experience of prayer.

Deliver us from evil.

Actually…the Greek text is more specific: deliver us from the evil one.

That kind of language bothers some people.

Recent polls of American Christians show that a majority think of evil as a sort of impersonal force…they don’t believe in an embodiment of evil some might call satan or the devil.

And I don’t blame them.

Based on how that figure has been portrayed in film and television through the years, plus the way some preachers spread all kinds of crazy teaching about forces of evil…based on all that I wouldn’t choose to believe in satan either.

But the Bible is pretty clear that evil is not just an impersonal force.

The Bible is very clear that there is an enemy that we face.

I’m not claiming to understand the origins or the nature of that enemy, but I can’t ignore it.

I think of C.S. Lewis, who said this in his classic book “Mere Christianity”:

(SLIDE)

“One of the things that surprised me when I first read the New Testament seriously was that it talked so much about a Dark Power in the universe—a mighty evil spirit who was held to be the Power behind death and disease, and sin. The difference is that Christianity thinks this Dark Power was created by God, and was good when he was created, and went wrong. Christianity agrees with Dualism that this universe is at war. But it does not think this is a war between independent powers. It thinks it is a civil war, a rebellion, and that we are living in a part of the universe occupied by the rebel.”—C.S. Lewis

That resonates with me…and I think with a lot of people.

We live in a universe at war.

And Lewis says you and I live in “enemy-occupied territory.”

Over and over again in the pages of Scripture we find a description of a universe in turmoil…but not just turmoil…

…rebellion.

And the consequences of that rebellion are staggering.

The Bible indicates that it not just the evil that human beings perpetrate against one another.

According to Scripture, the consequences of that rebellion have permeated the very nature of creation itself.

The Apostle Paul says all creation is groaning for redemption.

For me that gives context and understanding for things like disease and natural disasters and unexpected tragedies.

They all point to the fact that this world is not how it’s supposed to be.

The effects of evil and sin are so deep that the result is nothing less than chaos.

And here in the Lord’s Prayer Jesus invites us to pray in the midst of that painful reality.

He invites us to pray for deliverance.

Like the psalmist, who we heard earlier, we place our trust in the God who “guards the lives of his faithful ones and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.”

But here’s an important point: too many Christians think that praying for God’s deliverance from evil means that we will never have bad things happen to us.

How I wish that were true.

Deliverance does not automatically mean avoidance.

Jesus himself said, “In this world you will have tribulation.”

You can’t live in enemy-occupied territory and not experience the fallout of war.

But what did Jesus say next?

“Take courage…I have overcome the world.”

See…here’s the thing…

So many people I’ve talked to through the years have asked, “Why doesn’t God do anything about all the evil and suffering in the world?”

My response is…he has.

He has done something about it.

He sent his Son Jesus.

And in his death and resurrection he not only secured forgiveness for our sin…

…he also conquered the powers of evil and death.

So that even when we go through those times of trial…they do not defeat us.

Deliverance doesn’t mean we avoid the fire.

Deliverance means that even in the midst of the fire we are not consumed.

One of my favourite passages is from the Old Testament book of Lamentations, where it says:

(SLIDE)

“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.

They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”—Lamentations 3:22-23 (NIV)

And not only do we have that promise in the midst of our current trials, we also have the hope that one day Christ will return and put an end to pain and suffering once and for all.

History has a goal—and that goal is God’s ultimate expression of redemption, restoration, and justice.

But it's difficult for us to see as we live in a world where evil seems to have the upper hand. History seems to be spiralling out of control rather than heading towards something good and glorious.

We look at what Jesus accomplished on his death and resurrection, and we wonder how in the world we still find ourselves surrounded by so much chaos.

Perhaps the best parallel to our situation can be found in an example from the Second World War…something to ponder as we approach Remembrance Sunday.

A lot of historians would argue that for all intents and purposes the European conflict ended on June 6, 1944, the day Allied forces landed on the beaches of France in what we call “D-Day.”

It was the largest seaborn invasion in history, involving almost 3 million troops crossing the English Channel from Britain to Normandy.

On that day, as Allied forces took beachhead after beachhead, the tide turned in Europe.

Adolf Hitler's defeat was secured. In a very real sense, the war was already won.

But it didn't stop there.

The battle continued to rage for 11 months, as the last pockets of Nazi resistance were defeated and Allied troops marched towards Berlin.

And many who were there will tell you that some of those battles were the most intense of all, as desperation emerged in the face of certain defeat.

Finally, on May 8, 1945, the Allies could proclaim Victory in Europe following the fall of Berlin and the death of Hitler.

In a way, that's the situation we find ourselves in as Christians today.

In Christ's death and resurrection, the war was won. Sin was defeated.

I love how Lewis describes it:

(SLIDE)

“Enemy-occupied territory---that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us to take part in a great campaign of sabotage.”—C.S. Lewis

A great campaign of sabotage…announcing to the world that victory has been secured.

Evil's firm grip on humankind has been broken.

Even though the battle rages on as we move towards the day of ultimate victory, that day when Jesus himself will establish his eternal reign.

And until that day…we need God’s strength.

We need God’s help.

We need…God’s deliverance.

Deliver us from evil.

Lead us not into temptation…deliver us from evil.

It’s all about Protection.

God protecting us from temptation…from the enemy…sometimes protecting us from ourselves…

…and through it all God protecting us from anything…external or internal…that would cause us to doubt his strength and his hope.

Lord lead us…protect us…deliver us…

I wonder, as we turn to a time of prayer…what those words mean for you?

(TRANSITION TO PRAYER)

(SLIDE—JESUS PICTURE IN OK CTY)