Sermon Tone Analysis

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.