Prayer & Temptation
Notes
Transcript
This morning, we wrap up our series-in-a-series on prayer.
We have been spending most of our year in the Sermon on the Mount, which is found in Matthew 5-7.
This is a message Jesus gave where he sat down on a mountain with his disciples and a crowd of other people to talk about who his followers should become and how we should act.
We have talked about it in terms of being “citizens in the kingdom of God”, and this being a description of his expectations of kingdom citizens.
It began with the Beatitudes, which were a series of statements that outlined attitudes that characterize kingdom citizens.
We have seen that as we live out those attitudes, not only are we blessed, but we are able to impact the world around us.
The blessings we enjoy also challenge us to live lives where we obey God’s commandments from hearts that have been transformed. It isn’t enough for us to obey outwardly, but instead, our obedience comes from new hearts God has given us.
In chapter 6, Jesus has been continuing that idea by reminding us that our focus in doing good things isn’t so that others will see. Instead, we do the good things God calls us to do out of obedience to him, knowing that he sees, even if others don’t.
After looking briefly at giving, Jesus dives into the topic of prayer, which is what we have been looking at recently.
We have seen that prayer is the communication between me and God where I recognize and acknowledge both who he is and the needs in my life and in the lives of others.
Last week, we had to take a hard look at our own lives as we ask God to forgive us for when we sin and fall short.
This week, we wrap up this model prayer with two final requests that Jesus teaches us to make.
Let’s read the entire prayer again, starting in verse 9.
In light of all that we have seen and been taught, we find these final two statements.
Let’s break them apart and see the two final requests Jesus teaches us to make:
1) Help us avoid giving in to temptation.
1) Help us avoid giving in to temptation.
First, Jesus teaches us to ask God not to lead us into temptation.
This is a logical next request to make, isn’t it? If I am asking God to forgive me, wouldn’t it make sense that I should also pray for God to work so that I won’t sin in the first place?
Also, remember that sin isn’t just the big things we do wrong. It is all the little things we do that still don’t line up with what God expects. It isn’t just the wrong things we do, but the good things we should do but don’t.
As we have seen throughout the Sermon on the Mount, it actually starts within our own hearts, and our thoughts can be sin!
Jesus, then, is teaching us to pray that God would not lead us into temptation that would cause us to sin.
As with many other things in the Bible, there are a variety of opinions as to what exactly this means.
It may be best to start with what we know it doesn’t mean: We aren’t praying that God himself won’t tempt us, because James makes it clear God doesn’t do that:
No one undergoing a trial should say, “I am being tempted by God,” since God is not tempted by evil, and he himself doesn’t tempt anyone.
But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire.
Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.
So, if you are being tempted, know that it isn’t God who is doing the tempting.
There are times when God brings us into situations that will test and try us, but God himself will never tempt us to do sin.
In fact, we know that the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness so he would be tested, tempted, and tried by Satan before he began his public ministry.
As an aside, remember that being tempted is not the same thing as committing sin.
Satan tried at least three times to tempt Jesus to abandon the Father’s plan and follow Satan instead, and Jesus refused to do it. He was tempted, but he never sinned.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin.
Jesus faced temptations in every category, just like we do, but he didn’t allow those to become evil desires that led to sin.
You and I can face all kinds of temptations, but they are not sinful until we allow them to become a desire that isn’t God-honoring, which will eventually work out in our actions.
The prayer Jesus is teaching us to pray, then, is that God would help us avoid giving in to the temptations that we all face all the time.
He is not necessarily teaching us to pray for God to keep us out of tempting situations, although we can pray for God to work that way.
He is teaching us to pray for God to give us the strength to avoid falling in light of temptations, embracing those evil desires that work out in sinful actions.
Why should we pray this? After all, didn’t we see last week that God forgives us when we ask him?
It is true; God does forgive freely, but that misses the point.
Remember what James said about the outcome of our sin: death!
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Sin is what brought death into the world, and you and I are spiritually dead because of our sin.
Yet Jesus, the one who never sinned, was willing to take our death upon himself and die on the cross.
He paid the penalty for my sin, and he rose from the dead, which showed the debt had been paid in full.
Now, he extends that offer of forgiveness as a gift. We can’t earn it or deserve it; God simply gives it as a gift to anyone who calls out to him from a heart that is willing to put him in charge as their Lord, leader, and boss.
In light of the penalty Jesus paid for my sin, I should want to do anything I can to avoid sin in the future out of a deep love and admiration for him.
Everyone has sinned, and everyone continues to face temptation.
Pray, then, that God would help us see the temptations we face, and when we do, that we would have the strength to stand up to the temptation and not allow it to become sin.
With that as well, Jesus teaches us to pray that God will...
2) Help us escape the tempter.
2) Help us escape the tempter.
If we are going to avoid giving in to temptation, we need to get out of temptation as quickly as we can.
It is common sense: the longer you are confronted with a temptation, the more likely you are to give in.
We all get tired of saying “no”, especially when it is something our heart really wants.
Here is something critical for you to realize, though: if you are a Christian, then you are never going to be in a position where you have to sin.
You and I will still struggle with sin, and until we die or Jesus comes back, we will continue to fail at times.
However, God will always provide a way for you to escape every temptation:
No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to bear it.
You never have to sin!
There is always a way out. It may not be fun, it may not be easy, but there is always a way for you not to give into temptation.
Let’s dig into this idea for a minute.
James said that we are all enticed to sin by our own evil desires.
Part of what I take from that is that you and I may be tempted by very different things.
For example, I have never really been tempted to drink alcohol at all, much less to excess.
For some of you, though, putting alcohol in front of you would be a temptation that would be difficult for you to resist.
What are those desires for you? Is it lust or something like pornography, or is it pride? Is it wanting to be liked by everyone, so you will make up a little lie every now and then to keep people happy? Is it greed or laziness or racism or worry and excessive fear? What are those temptations that grab you?
Have an idea? If so, decide in advance what you are going to do when those temptations come up.
Look now for what will be those ways of escape, just like you look for the emergency exits on a plane before you take off.
Prayerfully plan so you aren’t blindsided when they come up.
As they do, though, get in the habit of asking God to give you a clear heart that can find the way out without giving in.
Jesus doesn’t teach us just to pray for God to deliver us from temptation, though. The best translation of this is that God would deliver us from the “evil one.”
Although this may be referring to an individual who is trying to get you to sin, it is wise to remember that we do have an actual adversary who is looking to stop the work of God’s kingdom:
Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour.
Resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same kind of sufferings are being experienced by your fellow believers throughout the world.
There is an actual devil, who we refer to as Satan, who is trying to stop God’s work in the world in any way he can.
Although your sin is always your choice, he and his demons will do what they can to disrupt your ability to honor God as your king.
Peter calls us to be sober-minded, or clear-headed, looking and watching for forces that would try to stop us from obeying God.
Paul tied these two requests together in his letter to the church at Ephesus:
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens.
For this reason take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand.
We are fighting a battle, and we need God to equip us to stand in the face of temptations.
Those temptations are at times brought by evil forces outside of us, and they play on the evil desires in our own hearts.
How are we supposed to fight that?
It is interesting—after outlining different aspects of what Paul describes as the armor of God, he gives us this key instruction:
Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints.
How do we avoid falling into temptation, and how do we escape the one who is tempting us?
By praying at all times, with every prayer and request as we stay alert.
How do we pray?
Not with a big show or with lots of repetitive words.
Instead, we pray something like this. In fact, as we read it together, let us pray it together:
“Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy.
Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
At some point, it appears that a scribe added a few words, based off a passage in 1 Chronicles, to the prayer Jesus taught us to pray, likely because it is how the early church prayed it out loud together:
‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’
It may not have been in the original text, but it is a great way for us to wrap up our study on this prayer.