Someone once said
Have you ever wondered why opportunity knocks once –
yet temptation bangs on the door constantly?
Do you find this true?
Supermarkets are aware that we are easily tempted.
Why do you think they place lollies, soft drinks and magazines at near the cash registers where we have to wait.
What are the things that tempt you?
To understand where our temptations may come from,
it is helpful to consider what drives us, what we have desires for.
What are your desires?
More money!!
A good career!!
Desire to be strong!!
Desire to be seen to be successful, environmentally friendly, wealthy, loving,
Fill in the gap, how do you want other people to see you?
Perhaps your desire is to have a comfortable retirement.
Or to be the one who has all the answers.
What do you desire?
One of my desires is to be a good dad.
I have this as one of my desires so my kids are loved.
Now many of our desires,
much of what drives us are not necessarily bad.
Many of them are in fact quiet good.
However they also are potentially dangerous
They are potentially our weak points that each of us need to be aware of.
Satan can use them to lead us away from God and his approach to life.
Let’s have a look how this works.
As I said one of my desire is to be a good dad.
Most people would say this is a good.
What do you reckon, being a good dad is something good?
In my desire to be a good dad however at times I get angry with my children.
I get angry and I fall for the temptation to yell at them.
I have unjustly punished them.
At times I expect them to be perfect little angels 100% of the time.
And other times I let them get away with too much.
My desire to be a good dad on some occasions becomes more about how I look,
than about loving my kids.
To my kids I say sorry, I have fallen for Satan’s temptations to be more concerned about my desire to be seen to be a good dad,
than the reason why I have this desire, so you are loved.
The reality is Satan will use what our desires are in life to distract us, from God.
And this is falling for temptation.
In today’s Gospel reading Satan tempted Jesus with three things that most of at some stage will be tempted with.
Now first of all if we go to Matthew chapter 4 verse 1 we see that the Spirit of God lead Jesus into the wilderness.
God himself had placed Jesus in a situation where he could be tempted by Satan.
And look how Satan attempts to tempt Jesus
Food…stomach
Now most of us are probably tempted by particular types of food.
Sometimes I wonder why my wife places the apples next to a block of chocolate.
Well Jesus was out in the wilderness fasting before he commenced his ministry.
So he could have been hungry.
So Satan says turn these stones into bread.
What an attractive proposition.
But he didn’t..
Satan also tempted Jesus by encouraging him to place himself at the centre of attention.
Imagine if Jesus had the turned the stones into bread.
Oh man I know some farmers at the moment looking out in their drought ridden paddocks who could use that miracle.
But Jesus was aware he was on his Father’s mission,
he didn’t need others to see him as someone spectacular.
And it wasn’t the time for him to be the centre of attention, nor the way.
Satan also tempted Jesus with a fraud.
He said to Jesus look you can have all the kingdoms of the world if you bow down and worship me.
That’s a bit like me saying to my daughter you can have all the money in your money box so long as you clean the bathroom.
She already owns the money.
And likewise Jesus already owns this world.
But thankfully Jesus responded
“You are to worship the Lord your God and serve only Him”
Are these not the same temptations the devil tempts us with?
Desire to provide for ourselves and our family.
Desire to have some power.
Desire to be seen to be good amongst others.
But these temptations are only part of the big temptation Satan places often in our lives
This is to stop focusing on God and God’s agenda,
and focus elsewhere.
And he does this by either
encouraging us to have as the number one priority in our life our own agenda,
society’s agenda
or Satan’s agenda.
Satan will put questions in our mind like,
“surely God doesn’t want you to miss out” like the snake did in Genesis chapter 3
Satan is always wanting us to have as priority ourselves, society or Satan himself.
And yet following God’s agenda means we will be cared for by God.
Remember what we heard in verse 11,
Then the devil left him, and angels came and began ministering to his needs.
The fact is although at times focusing on yourself,
or what the world thinks
or what Satan offers appears far more attractive what God offers is far better and will outlast anything that Satan can offer us.
God’s agenda is that He wants you to receive
and to share his forgiveness
through what you say and do 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
God wants you to be loved by him, to love him and to love everyone as much as you love yourself
Satan on the otherhand is quite happy in you simply loving yourself first.
And surprisingly Satan doesn’t always mind if you are listening to God,
provided you always put yourself or the world’s ideas first.
There is a story written by a man regarding temptation that goes like this
While my wife and I were shopping, a beautiful young woman in a short, skimpy dress strolls by.
Immediately my eyes follow her all the way down the aisle.
Without looking up from the item she was examining, my wife asks,
"Was it worth the trouble you are now in?"
And sometimes temptations can lead us into real trouble.
For me one of my other temptations is the smell and taste of freshly cooked bread.
And I will say to myself I will only have a little.
However I end up leaving a little.
Now I can really enjoy the temptation,
But a few days latter as I get on the scales I ask myself is it worth it.
When we succumb to being tempted by Satan away from God is it worth it?
Is it worth risking what God promises you?
Now some advice regarding dealing with temptations is very useful.
Like the advice given to Ben Cousins the West Coast Eagles Footballer who has admitted he has a drug problem.
The advice is to keep away from the people and the environment that encourage you to use drugs.
Now this is good advice in some instances.
However think about for a moment, it is not going to work in all occasions.
Why?
Because many of the things that tempt us, are constantly around us and if we were to hide ourselves from everything that could possibly tempt us.
There is no where we could go.
In fact the reality is that we will be surrounded by things that tempt us each day.
And at times we will fall for these temptations.
So staying away from everything that tempts you is not always possible.
However through Jesus Christ
God does offers us another approach to dealing with temptation.
The Good News is that God’s entire approach to life revolves around forgiveness.
If we have fallen for any temptation,
then we still have hope God will forgive.
Not only this God will help us change to be more like him,
to follow his agenda.
Remember the angels will minister to our needs to.
And this is possible because
Jesus did not give into temptation.
Because Jesus remembered his purpose was to serve God’s agenda of forgiveness for you.
It is because Jesus worshipped the Lord and served only Him.
Jesus followed God’s agenda perfectly.
An agenda which has saving you in mind.
So this week:
If have succumbed to temptation,
confess your sins,
allow God to forgive you.
Ask Him to help you overcome this temptation
And rather than use the gifts, talents, money, time for your agenda.
Ask God to help you see how you can use it for His agenda.
And remember that Jesus in not being tempted by Satan is able to deliver to you, what you have no hope of earning yourself, eternal life. Amen
