2022.09.18 Teach Us To Pray - A Light To My Feet

Teach Us To Pray - A Light To My Feet

Matthew 6:5-13 • Psalm 119:102-105

Flip Wilson was a comedian back in the 1960s and 70s. Like many other entertainers of his time, Wilson was given his own variety show, and on the show he did some pretty outrageous things. He would come out and do something completely unbelievable, and then he’d look into the camera … and do you remember what he’d say?

“THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT!”

Well, Flip Wilson could have benefited from praying this week’s line from the Lord’s Prayer:

Matthew 6:13 NASB 2020

13 ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’

Now we aren’t going to take the entire line today. We’ll save deliverance from evil for next week. For this week, temptation will keep us busy enough:

Matthew 6:13a (NASB 2020)

13 ‘And do not lead us into temptation...

Teach Us To Pray - A Light To My Feet

If we don’t exactly know what temptation is, we can stay in the Bible and learn what it is:

Daniel 1, King Nebuchadnezzar takes over Jerusalem and takes the Judean king and many of his officials off to another land. Daniel was one of those officials.

These officials were given the king’s choice food and wine, and a Babylonian education so they could become officials in Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom.

Daniel refused to eat the choice food and wine. The food and wine were not prepared properly according to Jewish customs, so he did not want to defile himself.

I’m sure it was tempting … as the King’s servants put a juicy steak and fried shrimp in front of Daniel. Okay, maybe that’s the meal I would like to have, but either way … the food offered was “choice food”, and Daniel chose instead to just eat vegetables, and he chose to just drink water … and he dragged three of his friends in with him. After 10 days, Nebuchadnezzar examined the Jewish transplants, these four were found to be fatter and more intelligent than the ones who took his choice food.

In the book of Genesis, Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers. His master, Potiphar goes away on a trip and Potiphar’s wife comes to Joseph to get him to sleep with her. He says he couldn’t possibly sin against his master in such a way, and when she insists and grabs him by his robe, he runs out of the house naked to escape the temptation.

What about you? What tempts you? [non-rhetorical]

Some temptations seem very small:

Driving home later than you were expected. I’m not sure what runs through your head, but my head rushes with ideas of excuses I could give to not be in trouble with Annette for being late. Mind you … I don’t USE those excuses, but it’s very tempting to tell what we call “a little white lie” sometimes isn’t it?

Surely we can all relate with the small temptations like that … like taking post-its or pens home from work without permission, or watching TV shows that take our minds places we shouldn’t let them go. But temptations don’t stay small do they?

We’re tempted by big stuff, too. Like websites we shouldn’t be perusing. People have been tempted by lewd depictions of scantily clad others for thousands of years. But today, you can have thousands of stories, pictures, and even videos right in your house at the click of a few buttons … or even in your pocket [hold up phone]. That may not be tempting to you … but I’ll confess to you, it IS tempting to me. Annette’s dad told me one time that 9 out of 10 men are tempted sexually and the other guy lied.

How many marriages have been destroyed by pornography? How many families have been ripped apart by elicit drug use? How many friendships have been destroyed by little white lies? How many people and organizations have been harmed by gossip?

We aren’t tempted by things that do no harm. The things that tempt us are dangerous and harmful, and the scale gets larger and larger the more you say “Yes” to the temptation.

Founding Father Alexander Hamilton is now famous again because of the musical written about his life. The child of dirt poor unwed parents on a Caribbean island, he made his way to New York after being orphaned. During the Revolution, he became George Washington’s right hand man.

As President, Washington named Hamilton the country’s first Secretary of the Treasury. Our financial system today still runs the same way Hamilton designed it to in the late 1700s. Going toe-to-toe with the likes of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, Hamilton was politically savvy, and well connected. His likely run for President never happened, though, because he was confronted by his yielding to temptation.

Not only did his political career die, but his first-born son also died in a duel defending his father’s honor.

Hamilton had a long affair that began while his wife and their children were on vacation without him. He had to stay home to work. Temptation came along … and as the musical says: he did not say “No.” If not for the 2015 musical, many of us wouldn’t know much at all about Alexander Hamilton, except that he’s the one on our $10 bills.

Temptation destroys. Well … that’s not entirely true. It’s not temptation that destroys. It’s yielding to temptation that destroys.

So, when is temptation more likely to strike us?

When we’re:

confident (overconfident)

alone

silent

tired

In Luke 8, Jesus tells the parable of the soils. The Word of God is spread like seed: some falls on fertile soil and grows up, but some on the path, some lands among thorns, and some falls on rocky soil. Of course the seed grows and produces on the good soil. The other three soils all sprout up, and then die. The seedlings are trampled on the path;choked out by the thorns; and dried up among the rocks.

Many disciples wither quickly. They believe the Word, and instantly start growing. But too often, we think we’re immune, and when temptation comes along, we yield too easily.

We make excuses for our desire to yield:

As a child - “I’m just taking bubble gum. Who’s that really hurting?”

I’m sure Alexander Hamilton thought, “Nobody has to know about this other woman.” And then it continued, and everyone eventually knew about her.

Tell story of me and Annette & Debbie.

My temptation did not come from God! The temptation came from Satan! Just like Jesus in the desert, Satan was tempting me at my weakest point. And I nearly gave in!

Instead, I called a friend - a Christian accountability partner. He sat and listened to my entire story. He told me to go home, wake up Annette and tell her everything I’d just told him. I thought he was an idiot … and I told him so.

He said, “In things like these, Satan is lord of the silence.”

Teach Us To Pray - A Light To My Feet

God was not the author of my temptation. He was the author of my deliverance!

I was weak because I was tired. I was stressed. My mind was running a thousand miles a minute. I wasn’t tending my relationship. And Satan knows sexual temptation is my weak point … and he came for me!

And God was my deliverance

Matthew 6:13a (NASB 2020)

13 ‘And do not lead us into temptation

Daniel, Joseph, Job, Jesus, Pastor Chris - people are tempted all the time! These people didn’t fall prey to the temptation because they centered around God’s Word and God’s direction. In our weakest moments, WE WILL YIELD.

But if we let Jesus grow strong in us, HE WILL NOT YIELD!

When Jesus was tempted by Satan in the desert, he answered Satan’s direct temptation three times. All three times, he quotes Scripture to Satan. And in the end, Satan flees from him.

read :

Psalm 119:102–105 NASB 2020

102 I have not turned aside from Your judgments, For You Yourself have taught me. 103 How sweet are Your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth! 104 From Your precepts I get understanding; Therefore I hate every false way. 105 Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.

In the darkness of temptation, we are desperate for light. God’s word provides that light, but it may not light the whole room. It may just light up the next step you’re supposed to take. God’s word lit up my friend’s phone number when I was being tempted … and my marriage was saved by it.

What is tempting you today?

What does God’s Word have to say about the next step you should take?

Teach Us To Pray - A Light To My Feet

Lord, speak to us! In our darkest moments, shine a light where we should place our foot. In our temptations, you know, we will yield … but give us courage that deep within us … you will not! When we are weak, stand firm for us. And use our temptations to grow us stronger for the next one. Amen.