Leave the Bait ALONE!!!!!
Scripture: Matthew 22:15-22; 1 Corinthians 10:13; James 1:13-16
Introduction
I was riding in my car this past Monday on my way to Wichita when I happened to think about a situation that had happened to me. I had been in a meeting with some co-workers and my director when one of them made a comment that was targeted towards me. The comment was intended to make me look bad. Oh I wanted so badly to set the record straight, but thinking through it all and primarily through the grace of God, I held my tongue and did not say a word – but inside I was fuming. A short time after that meeting I had a meeting with my director. During that meeting we eventually got to the comment that the other individual had made and I shared with him the truth behind the situation. He thanked me for not saying anything and slamming the other person. As I was thinking on that incident this week, I thought about everything I “wanted” to say and the potential consequences (both positive and negative) that would have been the result. You see, sometimes we need to know when to walk away from the bait. My message this morning to you is simple, “Leave the bait ALONE!!!”
I am not sure how many of you have ever fished, but to do it correctly, you must have something to attract the fish, namely bait. Bait is anything that can be used to attract prey. For fish, your bait could be worms, night crawlers, insects or a number of other lures. Now if you were not fishing and were trying to capture a lion, then you would need bait that was more substantial than a few worms. My point is that the bait you choose will depend directly on the prey that you are going after. The bait must be something that will get your prey’s attention and attract it to the trap you have set for it. Likewise, the bait that is used to tempt you is something that would specifically get your attention.
Although we do not always thinks about it, there are people out in the world right now thinking of ways to “bait” us. For example – whenever you get a credit card offer in the mail with a very low interest rate, that’s bait. Whenever you get “free checks” in the mail from the company that you have a credit card through, that’s bait. You see, in both cases they are trying to get you to go out and spend money you do not have so they can charge you more money in return. Whenever you get a bill with the option to pay the “minimum amount” that’s bait. The longer it takes you to pay off something the more money the credit card company makes off you. When you see the ads in the newspaper from a car dealership offering zero percent financing and offering a huge rebate, its bait. They are trying to get you on the lot so they can get your mouth watering so bad for a new car that you will be willing to pay more money at a higher percentage rate with no rebate. A 13 year old flirting with a 25 year-old, JAILBAIT! Enough said on that one. When you walk into the “All You Can Eat” buffet place, its bait. Remember, you should never eat all you can eat, you body cannot utilize that many calories and what is not used is turned to fat. When you go to the fast food restaurant and see the “super size fries”, that’s bait. We must recognize what the bait is and then we must learn to leave it alone.
My daughters have a yellow lab named Elijah who thinks he belongs to me, but he is really my daughters. Elijah loves playing in the snow, the rain and subsequently the mud. However, when it is time to bring him back into the house, he hates getting his feet wiped off. He’d much rather come in and track mud all through the basement. When he is ready to come in, he will jump on the door (his way of knocking.) But when I go to let him in and he realizes that he needs to have his feet wiped off, he changes his mind and refuses to come in. So enters the bait of honey roasted cashews. Elijah loves honey roasted cashews so I always keep some on my desk for him (yeah I know he’s my daughters’ dog.) I use the cashews to lure him to the door. When he sees them, he starts to drool and gets very excited. When I open the door you can see the panic look on his face. If he wants the cashews and he does want them, he must come in. But to come in, he knows he will get his feet wiped off – which he hates. He will literally stand there thinking about how badly he wants those cashews versus coming in and getting his feet wiped off. Sometimes he gives in to his stomach and in and gets his feet wiped off and sometimes he does not. My point is watching him battle with the temptation reminds me of what we go through when we are weighing the benefits versus the danger of going after the bait.
I. Jesus Was Baited (Tempted) Often By His Enemies
Sometimes the baiting comes across as teasing, but there are times when the baiting takes on a more sinister connotation. When you have someone who may not have your good at heart begin to bait you to see what your responses would be “or more likely to get you in trouble” you need to stay away. Jesus was often faced with this same type of situations when his enemies “baited” Him. For example, in Matthew 22:15-22:
“Then the Pharisees went and counseled together how they might trap Him in what He said. And they sent their disciples to Him, along with the Herodians, saying ‘Teacher, we know that You are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any. Tell us therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to give a poll-tax to Caesar or not?’ But Jesus perceived their malice, and said “Why are you testing Me, you hypocrites? Show Me the coin used for the poll-tax.’ And they brought Him a denarius. And He said to them, ‘Whose likeness and inscription is this?’ They said to Him, ‘Caesar’s.’ Then He said to them, ‘Then Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.’ And hearing this, they marveled and leaving Him, they went away.” Matthew 22:15-22
When you read this passage of Scripture you must have an understanding of who the Herodians were in order to understand the impact as to what they were trying to do to Jesus. The Herodians were a political party who favored the house of Herod and looked to those of that house to deliver them from Roman oppression. They were men of standing, influence and power. They preferred the rule of Herod versus the rule of the Romans which leads us to the question at hand. They asked Jesus “Is it lawful to give a poll-tax to Caesar or not?’ The question was a trick question and a no win for Jesus regardless of how He answered. If Jesus said “No, you are not to pay tribute to Caesar,” He could be accused of being a traitor of Rome. Since Rome was ruling over Israel at that time you know what would have happened next – He would have been brought before a Roman court. If He had said, “Yes, you are to pay tribute to Caesar,” then He could not be the true Messiah. They believed that the true Messiah would deliver them from their Roman “oppressors”. They thought they had Jesus trapped. But when Jesus answered them, they marveled at His answer, it was the one answer they had not considered. In His answer to them, he let them know that they did owe something to Caesar. They were using his coins (his likeness was on the coins); they walked down Roman roads; and Rome did provide them with a measure of peace so they did owe something to Rome. So He told them to give to Caesar what belonged to Caesar and to God what belonged to God. He did not take their bait.
If you have not put it together yet, let me make this clear. Bait is used to tempt the prey into taking some action which would lead them into a trap and ultimately their death. So my question to you this morning is “Do you have to take the bait?” Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 10:13:
II. You Can Escape Temptation
When we read 1 Corinthians 10:13 we find that we have a promise from God that when we are tempted, we have a way out. I will be reading from the Amplified version so mine will read a little different from yours. Look at what Paul shares with us about handling temptation:
“For no temptation, no trial regarded as enticing to sin, no matter how it comes or where it leads, has overtaken you and laid hold on you that is not common to man, that is, no temptation or trial has come to you that is beyond human resistance and that is not adjusted and adapted and belonging to human experience, and such as man can bear. But God is faithful to His Word and to his compassionate nature, and He can be trusted not to let you be tempted and tried and assayed beyond your ability and strength of resistance and power to endure, but with the temptation He will always also provide the way out, the means of escape to a landing place, that you may be capable and strong and powerful to bear up under it patiently. 1 Corinthians 10:13 (AMP)
It is a given fact that at some point in our lives, more often than not, we will be faced with situations where we must chose to take the bait or walk away from it. Paul tells us in 1st Corinthians 10:13 that the bait (temptation) that we will face is such that is common to man. And any temptation that we face, regardless of its source, a way of escape will be provided by God for us. Based on this, we do not have to take the bait. We do not have to fall into temptation. Anytime that we are being baited, God will give us an escape route so that we do not have to sin against Him. Sometimes that will mean walking away from the bait while other times it could mean just keeping your mouth closed. Regardless of the situation, God has promised that whatever you are baited with you do not have to take the bait. He is constantly providing a way out for us – we just need to look for and accept that way out.
III. The Results Of Taking The Bait
Let me discuss briefly the results of us actually taking the bait. I know that many of you know what the consequences are for taking the bait. Whether you can reflect back on your own experiences or on the examples that I have mentioned you know that whenever you take the bait the outcome is generally not good. People do not tend to bait you in order to be a blessing to you. I am not saying that it could not happen, I am just saying generally whenever you are baited into a response or action, the desired outcome is not for your good. If you look in our natural world, we do not use bait to feed the prey (give it something to eat). We use bait in order to snag our prey, whether that is fish, mousetraps, or other large animals. Bait is used to draw a prey into a situation that the prey – if given the choice – would never choose to be in if it knew the outcome. In the book of James we have a very good demonstration of the process of being baited and the results of taking the bait. Look at James 1:13-16.
“Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived my beloved brethren.” James 1:13-16
Were you able to see the process? First we must understand that God does not tempt us with evil to see what our responses will be – that is not how He operates. His job is to provide us a way out when we are tempted (baited). Examine what happens when we are tempted. First, the bait is presented and we must decide if we will entertain taking the bait. This is the point where we should run away. If we decide however, to entertain taking the bait, we begin to process the potential benefits we will receive once we take it. For example, if we are very hungry, our hunger may override the danger associated with our taking the bait. Once we begin to entertain the idea of taking the bait, the battle is over. James said when the lust is conceived it gives birth to sin and when sin is accomplished, it leads to death.
Conclusion
In conclusion, let me share this example with you. When an Eskimo is out hunting wolves, he has a unique method of setting the bait. Wolves are very smart and perceptive. They can literally smell scents that signal danger to them. To over come this “advantage” of the wolf, the Eskimo takes a very sharp knife and dips it in the blood of an animal that will attract the wolf. He allows the blood to dry and dips it again and again to make sure he has a thick layer of blood on the knife. Once he has the layer just right, he freezes the knife with the blood. After the knife is frozen, he takes the knife and buries it blade up in the ground. The wolf smells the blood and seeks it out. When it finds the blood covered knife, it begins to lick the blood off enjoying its taste. What the wolf does not realize (and neither do we) is that the enjoyment is temporary and it will cost him its life. The wolf continues to lick the blood covered knife not realizing it is actually drinking its own blood. You see, because the knife is slowing cutting into its tongue and mouth as he continues licking, the blood he is drinking is his own. The Eskimo later comes along and picks up the dead wolf. Not knowing it was a trap, the wolf bled to death while drinking its own blood. The bait leads the wolf to its death just as sin can lead us to death.
We must become aware of any bait that people or our chief enemy Satan sets before us. When we recognize that we are being baited (tempted), we must not entertain any thought of value that we could possibly receive from taking the bait. We must recognize the bait as being very dangerous to our well being. With this realization, we must choose to run away so that it does not get us off track as to where God is taking us in our spiritual walk.
If you find yourself being baited by someone this week, do not give in to the bait. If you are baited spiritually or emotionally this week, walk away, seeking God’s escape route that He has already provided for you. Have a very blessed week this week.
