Turning Temptations into Trials

Last October, my wife Karlee and I traveled to Rome and throughout Greece with our family and some of best friends, the Krugs and the heads. Many of you know Justin and Kacey head. my wife also has very strict dietary restrictions but we found a place in Rome called, Mame Eats. Funny enough it's a place mama could eat, and it was incredible because they had 1 menu, but 2 kitchens, one completely gluten free dairy free etc, and the other for normal people and anything on their menu could be prepared either way. It was incredible food, so we and the heads went there for dinner one night and Karlee got all excited because there was this delicious loaf of bread that she wanted to try. Only thing is, we didn't read italian and the menu was in italian. So we called over to the waiter, and she pointed to the picture of the loaf of bread and she said, “What is that?” He looks down, looks back at her, looks down again, and when he looks up he says “Bread.”  We started laughing, she knew it was bread, but she was asking how she could order it. The meaning of the question got lost in the intent and or the context.

Context matters, everyone say, context matters. I don't know if you know this, but English is one of the hardest languages to learn, one reason for it is we have Homonyms. If you can recall back to english class Homonyms are words that are spelled the same and sound the same but have different meanings depending on the context. Let me give you a few examples, RIGHT. Take a right at the next light and we will be going in the right direction. TRAIN - The train is on the tracks. BRIGHT - Lilly is bright for her age. Context matters especially when it comes to homonyms, and the Greek language. When James is writing this book he uses the greek word Peirasmos. This word in the greek can mean two different things depending on the context, it either means TRIAL or TEMPTATION. So lets jump into James 1:12-18.

12 Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. 16 Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

James opens up by continuing a thought he had at the beginning of the chapter. When this was originally written this was a continual thought that over time we have separated into chapter and verses. Earlier he said find joy in trials, and now blessed is the one who perseveres under trials, or under Peirasmos. Why is this person blessed, they will receive their crown, they will receive their reward from God in eternity one day, but also the reward of living Godly on your mondays. The reward of overcoming sin, growing in the Holy Spirit and being a light in the dark world that we live in. But listen, blessed does not mean sinless, it eludes the fortunate, or moves towards holiness.

So the same word that is used for Trial is used for temptation. What is the difference? You can write this down 1: Trials - God uses our situations as trials for spiritual maturity. 2: Temptations: Satan uses our situations as temptations towards sin. Your response is the deciding factor of if its a Trial or a Temptation. If we resist its a test, if we indulge its a temptation. How do we know this? V.13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; Whenever we fall into temptation, and here is a big difference between temptation and sinfulness is your action. I do not believe that it is sinful to be tempted. I am tempted to overeat and be gluttonous, many times you are tempted to gossip but you hold your tongue, you want to respond in anger and say something to your boss, co-worker or spouse but you don't, many are tempted to look at porn, tempted to hoard your resources or steal, that's indications of sinfulness inside of us, but if you overcome those temptations and choose righteousness, you are not in sin. But oftentimes when we fall into temptation, when we sin, we blame God.

Human nature hasn't changed. James made these observations 2,000 years ago, we blame God and say, “Well if you didn't give me this feeling, if I wasn't created this way, God if you would have just answered my prayer then I wouldn't be in this situation.” As if God is the one who ordered you another drink, drove your uber to the club or made plans to hookup with someone that isnt your spouse. No, he didn’t do that. You may have been influenced by the devil, but the devil doesn't create anything new in you, he magnifies the sinfulness already there.  In fact James makes it clear in verse 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and entices that it is your own sinfulness, desires and wants that I find enticing that elicit my response and ultimately my sinfulness if I give into the temptation. I have never once in my entire life been tempted to eat another brussel sprout. But I have been tempted to have another drink, or to lust, lash out in anger. Why, because those are evil desires inside of me that I the enemy knows I am aware of. But that's me, what are yours?

You see temptations are like targeted ads, they are individualized but never unique. Solomon would say that there is nothing new under the sun, sure he didn't have amazon but that didn't stop him from having a spending habit or falling into the temptation of greed. Human nature has been this way from Adam and Eve, remember the fruit on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? What did it say in Genesis 3? 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. James says we trick ourselves into thinking that our evil desires are good, when God calls them sinful, pleasing when it only brings temporary pleasure and desirable because of our heightened emotions, because Temptations promise life but give death. Verse 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

Sometimes it's spiritual death, other times it could be physical death, death of a relationship, death of trust, death of a job. It brings death. That's why the Holy Spirit through James is saying “Don't be deceived” meaning don't be fooled and don’t fool yourself, don't belive a lie, your temptations if indulged will not fulfill you they will only lead you deeper into sinfulness and depravity, leaving you thinking this is what you want but neglecting to give you what you need. Righteousness that only comes from God. Every temptation is an opportunity to listen to the Holy Spirit and follow him. So how do we choose righteousness, how do we turn temptations into trials?

Remember Trials are used by God to lead us into spiritual maturity. Early in the book of James he talks about how we could not be lacking spiritually. One of the main ways James says we can turn temptations that the enemy would use for evil and turn them into trials for spiritual maturity is by having wisdom. Last week Pastor Carlyle spoke on how wisdom is the right information with the right application at the right time. You can be wise in trials when we know what tempts You. In order to begin to see temptations at trials you have to know what are the top 5, top 10 things if not more that when tempted can cause you to go into a sinful pattern or lifestyle. Wisdom is identifying them specifically and having an honest conversation with others about your temptations. But also wisdom would say dont ever think you are above being tempted. If you think you can’t be tempted you are prime for a downfall.

How do I know this, I’ve seen it, I've witnessed it. I’ve never met a christian who said they can't wait to blow up their marriage, I never met someone who said they can't wait to be 50K in shopping debt, i’ve never met someone who said they planned on being overweight. But in the same instance I have not met a lot of people who planned not to. It's just people living their lives and then one day what they thought would never happen to them does. And a temptation becomes their downfall. Why? Because the enemy is coming for you, and listen you are not as strong as you think. None of us are, even with the Holy Spirit in us, we have to have the mind of Christ and the wisdom to apply it. So here are 4 things to help us turn temptations into trials.

1: Pre-Decided your actions: This is how we pre-decied “When Faced With…I have pre-decided to….” This is being on your guard as it says in 1 Corinthians 16:13 Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Pre-deciding your actions ahead of time is a way that we do not deceive ourselves or allow our evil sinful desires to entice us into sin we will regret the next day, week, year or lifetime. Have any of you ever talked yourself into a temptation or been talked into temptation by someone else? Just another drink when you're already buzzed, sexual promiscuity, bad purchase, you've compromised on your values. When you decided in advance the decision is already made, you are saying, no matter who or what comes my way, I am going to choose God's way over my way. Why? James says it, Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. If it’s God's way it's going to be my way. Wisdom would tell us to pre-decide ahead of time, others may not understand it but you are not doing it for the world's applause, you're doing it to honor your King. We pre-decided.

2: Move the Line: In student ministry and ministry in general I get this question a lot, mostly from 14-16 year old guys. How close can I get to the line without crossing it? You know, what exactly can I do with my girlfriend, what drugs is God ok with, what does he mean by drunkenness, it’s just dinner with someone that isnt my spouse, what money do I actually have to report, what is gossip…fill in the blank. We know where the line is because as Jesus followers we have been re-birthed into his truth as James talks about. We have the truth of God but we desperately want to flirt with the line. We often think the line God has made is restrictive but it is for our good as we read all good things come from above, look at what David said Psalm 16:6, The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.

In order to move temptations into trials, we pre-decided to move the line back. For instance, in the business world it's not uncommon for people to consistently travel with, meet with or go to dinner 1:1 with someone who isn't their spouse. Overtime you know what happens, not all the time, but a lot of the time affairs spring from that view of premarital sex.

So Billy Graham years ago decided to not put himself in a position where it was ever questioned who he was loyal to, and to never have his integrity questioned or false allegations brought towards him. He moved the line, He never counseled, met with, had dinner with, was in a car with any woman themselves that wasn't his wife, mother or daughter or granddaughter. He was called all sorts of names, it disrupted travel and made it more difficult at times, but he moved the line so he never flirted with temptation and he has a testimony of Gods goodness in his life. So what does moving the line look like for you? I bet you know, move the line back so that in a moment of weakness if you cross it you are still far away from sin. Everyone says move the line.

3: Count the Cost: Having Godly wisdom is counting the cost of your action. What would be the cost of your sin if you fell into temptation? Now this isn't something I say often. I am normally an optimist, but if you were to be tempted, what is the worst that could happen? Loss of integrity, honor, character, business, marriage, kids, a shortened life span, count the cost, spiritually, what would happen in my faith, in my church or how would it impact your witness?

I know from experiencing others fall that 5 minutes of falling into temptation can destroy 20 years of ministry in pastor, hurt 1,000’s of people in the church and puts a bad taste in non-believers minds and souls because if that man of God or woman of God did that they are exactly what I always believed, hypocrites. When we count the cost we begin to understand that the temptation isn't worth the cost of the momentary joy and we can stand firm enduring the trial because it's much more worth it. We decided in advance, we move the live, we count the cost. But we then have to

4: Plan the Escape: We pre-decided our diecions,  we move the line, we count the costs, but how many of you know you can do all of that and still find yourself in temptation. You can still be alone with unrestricted internet access, you can have all the accountability but you are still tempted when it happens, so you plan your escape. I am reminded of joseph in Genesis with Potiphar's wife Hotiphar, when she came up to him and said, “sleep with me” he RAN AWAY. He didn't stay and think to himself, surely she will calm down and we can carry on like adults. No, he got out of the situation he ran away, he eliminated the temptation now, he didn't kick it down the road.THis is what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation (same word) has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted,he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.In other words, when satan has you cornered God has a passage for you r escape, he wants you to turn your temptation into trials for spiritual maturity.

Here is what I know, in the student ministry I have many rules for dating, but three main ones are this, no late nights, no dark rooms, alone time. Because you know what happens when you're alone, its late and you are in a dark room? BABIES. Now students roll their eyes at me and will say something like, Cam , that's old school, we don't think like that anymore, besides, if that were to happen, I was as alone with my boyfriend, my girlfriend, the line we are alone and the temptation arises, I will resist the temptation, I will resist the urge. And like me, you all know, no you won’t. When you cross the line, diminish the costs, you can still plan your escape.

It's interesting that the Apostle Paul will tell us to stand firm against all sin, we have the Holy Spirit, we can resit, we have that power, but the only sin he tells us to flee from is sexual sin. Why? Because of the emotions behind it. But as we said above, God will give you a way out of any and all temptation, which means, if we fall, as James said, When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; .

So what do we do, we pre-decided, we move the line, we count the costs and we plan our escape. In doing so we are using the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to change our temptations and turn them into trials. And over time, our trials become testimonies of Gods faithfulness in our life.

So lets be a people who understand our sinful inward nature, we don't ignore it we use it as a tool to help us know and understand how we operate, in donig so, we can be aware of our temptations, we can pre-decied, we can move the line, we will count the costs and we will plan our escape, not in our power, but in the power but in Gods power through the Holy Spirit.

So Journey, let's turn our temptations into trials so we can grow spiritually mature in Christ and have testimonies of Gods faithfulness in our life.