Living the Lord’s Prayer, Part-6, Mathew 6:6-13
“Evil Has a Name”
Introduction
“Often, when traveling among the Alps [The highways of the United States], one sees a small black [white] cross planted on a rock or on the brink of a stream or on the verge of the highway to mark the spot where men have met with sudden death by accident. These are solemn reminders of our mortality, but they lead our minds still further. For if the places where men seal themselves for the second death could be thus manifestly indicated, what a scene this world would present! Here the memorial of a soul undone by yielding to a foul temptation, there a conscience seared by the rejection of a final warning, and yonder a heart forever turned into stone by resisting the last tender appeal of love. Our places of worship would hardly hold the sorrowing monuments that might be erected over spots where spirits were forever lost—spirits that date their ruin from sinning against the gospel while under the sound of it.” (Spurgeon)
We are in all ways tempted. We are at times surrounded by temptation to sin actively, by negligence, or by passivity; blind inaction. How many souls have perished not by radical disobedience but simply by loving this world and its much temptation more than they loved Christ?
Exposition
“Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.” A discussion about temptation begs a discussion about that most evil of worlds in a world which calls evil good and good evil: sin. Evil has a name: sin.
In the world our enemy, the Devil seeks to devour us. In our lives we are led astray into the temptation that is offered, of our own accord, into sin, which is an offense to God. Sin is an affront to God’s holiness.
Sin is the corrupt fruit of human arrogance. Sin assaults His perfect love for us.
Sin does not originate with God. There are instances where God uses temptation to test and purify believers as well as to draw men to Christ love initially. The Scriptures bear witness to this and our experience of reality attests to this.
Sin does not originate with God. He did not create us to sin. Our fallenness is a reality that God, in His sovereignty foreknew and allowed; not caused. God is not the author of evil. He is righteous in judging mankind according to His sins but praise the God of all mercy and sovereign grace, in Christ He has judged sin and offered redemption.
Praise God that He judges His children not in accordance with their works but in accordance with Christ alone! By faith alone! By grace alone! As it is been revealed in the Scriptures alone! To His glory alone!
Sin does not originate with God. We are tempted from without, in or day, by a culture which has murdered common decency and traded truth for a great trove of lies. Our ears and eyes are bombarded and our minds are assaulted with profanity, pornography, and all manner of indecency in the name of free speech, simple advertising, and free speech. We are tempted from without.
That temptation triggers the sinful nature which lives inside of all of us and we sin. The temptation comes from an outside source but the choice to sin or not to sin is solely with us. We know what is right and we deny it.
We know innately that what are about to do dishonors God, in many cases someone else, and always, ourselves as well.
Sin dishonors God because He is worthy of our obedience and yet we do not give it to Him. He has poured out the most radical grace, the most exuberant mercy, and yet we mock it in our near constant abandonment of His will in our lives.
It is not enough simply to deny ourselves of the most carnal of sins. The Bible knows nothing of the carnal and the venial sins. Sin is sin because by its very nature it obscures the beauty, worth, and glory of God!
Sin is not defined by its comparison with other sins. Sin is evil not because its action inherently but because any action which emanates from our corrupt hearts which is contrary to God’s will and perfect love robs our loving Heavenly Father of the dignity, honor, and praise which is due to His holy name.
In other words, this matter of temptation and sin is not a legalistic matter of keeping a rigidly ordered moral and ethical life. While morals and ethics matter greatly, the greater matter is demeaning the glory and worth of God!
Why do I strive to grow in the depth of honor which I give to Christina? It is because I love her of course?
God has loved us in a manner so reckless, in a fashion so unrelenting, His glory extends from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows, He is worthy of adoration and obedience! Sin emanates from our evil desires. They are stronger than our ability to withstand them because we have fed them more than our love for God!
Fall in love with Jesus and watch the evil things of this life fade away into the mist of insignificance. Allow Christ to so fill your vision that you see everything through the lens of His beauty, redeeming the world for His glory!
Be so consumed by the mercy of God that His glory becomes the central motivation in your life and watch your power to resist temptation grow exponentially. It is not our strength but His which empowers!
The Life Application Study Bible says it this way, “Some people think that worldliness is limited to external behavior—the people we associate with, the places we go, the activities we enjoy. Worldliness is also internal because it begins in the heart and is characterized by three attitudes: (1) craving for physical pleasure—preoccupation with gratifying physical desires; (2) craving for everything we see—coveting and accumulating things, bowing to the god of materialism; and (3) pride in our achievements and possessions—obsession with one's status or importance.
When the serpent tempted Eve he tempted her in these areas. Also, when the devil tempted Jesus in the wilderness, these were his three areas of attack. By contrast, God values self-control, a spirit of generosity, and a commitment to humble service. It is possible to give the impression of avoiding worldly pleasures while still harboring worldly attitudes in one's heart. It is also possible, like Jesus, to love sinners and spend time with them while maintaining a commitment to the values of God's Kingdom. What values are most important to you? Do your actions reflect the world's values or God's values?”
“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (1 John 2:15 NIV)
Our calling is to be in this world as a radical expression of the grace of God; a holy nation; a chosen people; a covenant people whose lives reflect not the vain and empty chanting of religion but the beauty and power of Christ!
We are the fragrance of life in a world sickened by the stench of its own decay.
Will we be tempted beyond What We Can Bare? I feel as though it is quite easy to be tempted beyond what I can bare every time the bakery down the street offers double chocolate chip muffins! Is there a temptation the power of which far exceeds the Spirit’s power within us to deny it?
“So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” (1 Corinthians 10:12-13 NIV)
“Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (James 1:12-17 NIV)
We are best motivated not by fear of judgment but cleansed by the raging torrent of the love of God! We are transformed by intimate contact with the grace and mercy of God! Avoidance of temptation is not about compliance to law or righteous standards. It is the natural consequence of allowing Christ to reside at the very center, the very heart, the very core of our affections.
What resides in our heart will determine what is produced by lips and hands.
Conclusion
Have you ever wondered why you do what you do? One former Navy pilot tells how he was living a wilder life than he knew he should live. He decided his problem was that he was being led astray by his friends in flight training. So he arranged to finish his work in the program early and be transferred to another field nearby. Yet, it wasn’t long, he said, before he was back in the same old bars, with the same girls, just with different friends. One night out-on-the-town he wondered, “Why do I do this?” And he realized, “Because I like to.”
Before a person becomes a Christian— I mean a real Christian, not just someone who says he is—his “want-to” is broken. He is not interested in God. He is bored by church and by reading his Bible. He cannot “make” himself “want to” do right and he cannot “make” himself “want not” to do wrong. When a person is born again, God repairs his “want-to.” Even though he still feels the pull of temptation, he will have a new set of desires. He will love God and want to talk to God in prayer and see what God has to say to him in His Word, the Bible. He wants to be around other people who love God; church attendance becomes meaningful. There is a new desire to obey God.
Why do we do what we do? The answer is simple: we do what we do because of what we are. It’s like fruit trees. Apple trees bear apples, pear trees produce pears, peach trees grow peaches. The fruit is the natural result of the nature of the tree. I suppose you could tie apples to a peach tree, but that would not make it an apple tree. In the same way, adding religious activities to one’s schedule doesn’t make one a Christian. Just as the fruit of the tree naturally flows from the nature of the tree, even so the attitudes, words, and actions of our lives reveal the true nature of ourselves.
Jesus said, “Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit…. Therefore, by their fruits you will know them” (Matt. 7:17, 20).
We will never be holy in our own power in this life. We can though be wholly given over to the love of God and to the extent that we are, we will experience victory over sin’s dominion in our life. Amen.
