Call Me: Deliver us

Intro

As we sit here today, it is totally appropriate we find ourselves in a funeral home. The funeral homes a half a world away in Ukraine are busy today. On our TV screens and computer screens and mobile phones we have seen the images of tanks and missiles and people in misery. We’ve seen housewives making Molotov cocktails, preparing to use them against tanks and trucks and those carrying machine guns and grenades. Images of war in Europe. One of the most memorable lines in the last couple of days came from the Ukranian president, who, when offered a flight to safety, responded “please send me your ammo. I don’t need a ride.”

"Please send ammo.” If there’s one theme we heard over the past 72 hours, it’s this: please send help. We need saving. Many of the images we saw long lines of Ukrainians outside their military offices attempting to sign up. Salvation is the need. Effort and determination are the response. That kind of response in military conflict is commendable. We applaud their bravery. However, there is another warfare that we are all involved with. Not to minimize what the Ukranians face, but this warfare is war over our souls.

There is a war we cannot see. And the last big ask in the big prayer Jesus gave to the crowd on the side of the mountain is all about that war. War is the right word to use. We heard it used in the passages we read this morning. From the beginning, when Adam and Eve sinned, there’s been a war. The war between good and evil. The war between heaven and hell. The war between the serpent and God. That war is every bit as real as what we’ve seen on our phones in the past four days. It’s every bit as deadly. If anything, those stark images help us understand the war that rages in our own lives.

A different kind of salvation

We heard appeals for salvation this week. The salvation we are talking about here is of a different kind. This salvation is spiritual. It is supernatural. There’s nothing mythological about it. It involves real persons. Before we say anything more, because we live in a world in which there’s all sorts of misinformation, there are some statements to be made.

A word about Christian warfare fiction: It’s fiction.

The first is that all those books you can buy that are exciting fiction and drama about angels and spiritual warfare: it’s fiction. Very little, if any of the Christian fiction about spiritual warfare you read can be substantiated from the Bible. It’s not in there. Read the books. Enjoy them for the good fiction that they are. But the descriptions and accounts of how spiritual warfare all goes down… it’s as real as Wrestle Mania. I know, that comes as a shock to some of you wrestling fans.

A word about the prosperity gospel: God is not a vending machine.

There’s also a lot of fiction out there that’s not based on the Bible about spiritual warfare and prosperity. None of it is true. Again, based on a bad reading of the Bible. Getting a spiritual victory over Satan is never promised. And it’s certainly not the case that getting the upper hand on Satan is necessary to have a great bank account. You go down that road and you’ll either end up in despair and totally broke, or you’ll end up being totally self-righteous and not truthful about your sin. God is not a vending machine. You don’t give him a sacrifice today so that he will be nice to you tomorrow. God gives you and me grace in spite of the way you and I are.

A word about superstition: God is not karma.

Finally, God doesn’t operate like karma. God gives us grace when we deserve his punishment. Again, a quote -unquote spiritual victory doesn’t guarantee great financial or personal blessing. Nor does a supposed spiritual loss bring about a bankrupt bank account and personal loss. God doesn’t operate that way. If somebody is telling you that, ask them where they find that in the Bible.

Do not bring us into temptation

All that being said, spiritual warfare is very real. Temptation is at the heart of spiritual warfare. At the heart of every sin is unbelief. Not believing God’s way is the best way. Not having faith in Jesus to be our savior at any given time is a sin. And temptation is always about getting you to not trust Jesus. Unbelief. Acting as if God doesn’t exist. Acting as if God doesn’t matter. Functional atheism. Temptation, no matter where it comes from, is aimed at getting you to not believe Jesus. It’s been this way since the serpent showed up in the garden and said to Eve: Did God really say you couldn’t eat of that one tree? Temptation. It’s all around us. It’s always present. We live in it. We can’t get out of being around it. We live in a fallen world, and there are always forces in play attempting to get us to disbelieve Jesus.

Do not bring us into temptation. This may be the most controversial of the big asks, at least in our day. We’ve already said… the one that the original crowd that was there that day with Jesus was “forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors”. They had a tough time with that one. We have a tough time with this one. We don’t like the idea of a God who might lead us into temptation. Jesus says that, right? A couple of things need to be said.

First,

The word is temptation, not trial. Pick up any devotional on the sermon on the mount and almost all of them will say that this word temptation means trial. There’s a good reason why we would want to read it that way. There’s a verse in James that states what the rest of the Bible implies in many places:

James 1:13 “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.”

God does not tempt people. Since God doesn’t tempt people, we’re inclined to say that this word here in Matthew 6:13 is really “trial”. That it’s really about a difficult circumstance. Do not bring me into things that are hard or more than I can bear.

However, that’s not the word. The word really is temptation. The stakes are much, much higher than the kind of a trial where I lose my job, or I run up some doctor bills, or I get cut off in the line at Walmart. This is temptation to not believe Jesus. Temptation to sin. That’s hard to swallow. Does God really lead me to places where he knows I’m just going to fall flat on my face and stop believing Jesus? The answer is yes and no. Which is how the Bible deals with a lot of things.

Yes, God does lead me to places where there is going to be temptation to sin. After all, the Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Now, Jesus, that day was fighting for our salvation. We cannot save ourselves, so there are some differences. But we must note that it isn’t totally out of God’s character to lead us into temptation.

But that leads to the “no” part. Think about all the verses you’ve read along the way that talk about God being with us. All those verses that talk about Jesus being for us and not against us. All those verses that talk about how God always loves us and gives us grace. Will God ever abandon us? Answer with me: “no”. Never. We can’t do anything that would cause God to abandon us. Yet, we find many prayers throughout the Bible for God to be with us, to sustain us. You see, these prayers are real. They address our fears. They address our needs. God will never abandon us, yet we pray and we cry out, as we should, God don’t leave me. It’s the cry of the heart desperate for the Father to be near and be with, just as he has promised. This verse is in that same vein: Do not bring us into temptation. Yes, I know he’s promised to never tempt us, but we still have that need, we still have that fear, we still have that heart cry for God to not lead us into that which would destroy us. And he has promised he won’t.

This ask presumes that there will be temptation and that it’s always around. And so we pray, oh Father, have mercy and do not bring us into temptation. Be good on your promises.

3 kinds of temptation

What are the temptations we face? Very quickly...

1. We are tempted by our own desires. Ourselves. We are our own worst enemy. Temptation happens when we are left to our own decisions.

2. We are tempted by the world. Those things that would tempt us to begin believing and thinking that I’m the most important person in the universe and begin by living as if that were true. Those temptations are everywhere, looking to cause us to stop believing Jesus. Now those temptations are always finding touchpoints in our hearts’ wants and desires, but make no mistake, those temptations are coming from outside of us.

3. We are tempted by Satan or the evil one. Now, Satan is a fallen angel. Angels are not God, they can’t be everywhere at once. They can only be one place and one time. It’s a bit arrogant for me to think that Satan himself is preoccupied with what I do at any given moment, but make no mistake Satan’s minions are constantly present, attempting to thwart what God is doing through you and through me and through the Table. Not all temptation comes from the evil one, but it’s always a possibility.

Deliver us from evil/the evil one

Which bring us to the second part of the ask… and yes, these two statements are one ask. Here’s how we know that God will be good on his promises to not tempt us. In fact, we get all hung up on that first part of the ask, because we’ve lost the significance of the second. Ironically, that’s the work of the accuser. He doesn’t want us to pray this. This is the ultimate ask. Deliver us. Save us. Save us from evil. Save us from the evil one. Take your pick. What we need at any given moment at any given time is to be saved. And God wants to hear us ask for deliverance and salvation again and again and again. He wants to hear. He longs to hear because he’s a saving God.

What is he saving us from? Deliver us from anything that would threaten our relationship with Jesus.

Save us from ourselves

We are our own worst enemy.

Save us from God

God has promised that sinners who are not a part of him will be denied a relationship and future with him.

Save us from death

Death is eternal separation from God. That kind of death, the final death, is being totally lost. We need to be saved from that final death.

Save us from the evil one

The evil one is bent on our destruction. He is the accuser. He is the one who wants us to be by ourselves and alone without hope and without God. He wants us to stop believing that all we need is Jesus. He wants us to try and save ourselves.

Save us

So we pray save us. It’s the ultimate ask. All of the asks have been leading up to this one. Your name be honored as holy. Your kingdom come. Your will be done. Give us our daily bread. Forgive us our debts. All five asks find their goal and find their summary cry in this one final ask: save us. Just save us. Too often your name isn’t honored as holy. Too often it’s too hard to tell where your kingdom is at. Too often it’s quite obvious that your will isn’t being done. Too often there’s no real perceived need that we really need your for our daily lives, much less the spiritual food. And too often we don’t really see why we need forgiven. Given all of that… oh please help us. Please deliver us. Please save us. All of these things are impossible in and of themselves and on top of that there’s temptation all around that just wants to eat my soul… oh dear God please save us.

Our biggest problem is that we’re always trying to save ourselves. I can do this. I have this. Why do I sin? Why do I try to get my way? Why do I not put my neighbors needs ahead of my own? Because I’m too busy trying save myself.

That last night that Jesus was with his disciples, while his enemies are organizing the team that was going to arrest Jesus that night, Jesus made an interesting comment to Peter:

Luke 22:31-32 “Simon, Simon, look out. Satan has asked to sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.”

Satan has asked to sift. He’s out to destroy. Funny though… he has to ask permission. Don’t ever forget that. The amazing thing here is that Satan does sift Peter. But Jesus is praying for Peter. Peter falls. He falls terribly. what a betrayal. But at the end of it all, his faith did not fail. And the reason it did not fail, in the midst of complete failure, is that the Creator of the Universe was praying for Peter. Jesus always had Peter. Jesus wasn’t leaving Peter. There was no point, even when Peter was at his lowest, that Jesus’ let go of Peter. Jesus’ grace and mercy and love and forgiveness were right there for Peter, even in his mess. Jesus saved Peter. And that same Jesus always has you.

One of the oldest phrases in American Christianity can be seen in just about any city, especially if it has what has been known as a rescue mission. Jesus saves. Jesus rescues. Typically it’s for those who are in desperate need, either emotionally or financially. But Jesus saves is for all of us. Jesus is in the business of saving. Saving us from ourselves. Saving us from the world. Saving us from the evil one. Saving us from all kinds of evil. He died to save. He loves you. He cares.

It’s not an accident that the neon Jesus Saves signs are almost always in the form of a cross. In order to save us, Jesus had to not be saved. That night, for you and me, Jesus wasn’t saved. He cried out to the Father. There was no help coming. There was no rescue. Jesus saves, because Jesus wasn’t saved. For you and for me.

This is the ultimate cry for help. When you can’t pray anything else. When you’re at the end of your rope. When the voice can’t even rise above a whisper because you’re too exhausted. When you know you’ve been beaten by the temptation again… deliver us from the evil one.

Do not bring us into temptation. But deliver us from the evil one.

Let’s say this together:

Matthew 6:9-13 “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. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Let’s Pray.

Do not bring us into temptation. Spiritual warfare is real. The threat against you and I and our souls are real. Our faith is always being attacked. And that’s why Jesus gives us of himself in his broken body and his shed blood. You want to be delivered from temptation and sin? Come to this table. Find your salvation and deliverance here again. Today.