LIFE’S HEALING CHOICES
“Help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!”
James 1:13-17
For the past seven weeks we have been looking at the hurts, habits and hang-ups that all of us deal with. In this process of RECOVERY we have walked through 6 choices we must make to see healing take place in these areas.
Realize I am not God. I am powerless
Earnestly believe that Go exists.
Choose to commit my life to Christ.
Openly examine and confess my faults.
Voluntarily submit to every change God wants to make.
Evaluate all of my relationships. Offer forgiveness.
Reserve a daily time for God.
One of the things that seems to happen when we are dealing with our hurts, habits and hang-ups is that just when we think we have dealt with them completely things come back up. And if you don’t keep your guard up you can easily fall back into your old habits.
• The alcoholic starts drinking again
• The overeater puts the weight back on
• The gambler goes back to the casino
• The workaholic fills up his schedule again
It’s called a relapse and this is how we believe that it happens.
1st phase. We become complacent. Relapse seems to start when we get too comfortable. We are dealing with these hurts and habits—we’re making progress and then we stop working at it; we stop praying about it.
2nd phase. We become confused. We begin to say things like “maybe my problem really wasn’t all that bad; I think I can handle it all by myself. We forget how bad it used to be.
3rd phase. We compromise. We start going back to those places that got us in trouble in the first place. The bar. The mall. Those internet sites. The casino. We go back to that unsafe place….like the gambler who says this year when I go to Vegas I am only going to see the shows. I’m going to the bar with my friends but I’m just going to talk. We compromise.
4th phase. Catastrophe strikes. This is when we actually give in to that old hurt, habit or hang-up. The bitterness comes back; the resentment returns. And we refer to this as a relapse. But this is what we need to understand. Phase 4 is not the relapse. The relapse started in phase one.
The apostle Paul said this….be careful if you are thinking “Oh I would never behave like that”---let this be a warning to you. For you too may fall into sin. LB. The NLT says if you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall.” Jesus said “watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing but the body is weak.
James the brother of Jesus gives a vivid picture of how this takes place. Listen. James 1:13-17.
I want to say before we dive into this passage of scripture that there is not a person here, including your pastor who does not have a hurt, habit or hang-up. All of us do. And as a result they can many times cause us to give in to temptation. Celebrate Recovery is a program that will help people in any of these areas: alcohol or drug addictions, eating disorders, compulsive shopping, sexual addiction, codependency, anger issues and also people who live with those who have any of these issues will benefit. CR is really an umbrella program under which a limitless number of issues can be dealt with. At Saddleback church in California they wrote and started this program 20 years ago. This is what they have seen:
• CR is a Biblical program
• It is based on the words of Jesus, not psychological theory
• Over 70% of those who attend have come from outside the church
• 85% of those who have gone through the program are now active members of the church
• 1 out of 3 deal with alcohol or drug addictions. 2 out of 3 have other issues.
Now a few things about temptation I want us to understand today.
1. All of us need to understand that temptation is universal. If you ever meet someone who is never tempted by anything there is only one conclusion you can draw about that person. They’re dead. From the time we enter this world we are in a battle with temptation.
2. Temptation is personal. There are things that tempt some of you that I couldn’t care less about. They just don’t bother me. And I am sure there are things that don’t bother you that are tempting to me. Satan knows how to craft a temptation that appeals specifically to each of us. And we often say I’ll just do this once or we say this won’t hurt and many times it ends up as an addiction.
Some as we said have developed an addiction to prescription drugs or alcohol. Huge problem in Pasco County. Others develop an addiction to pornography or other sexual activity that is sinful. God created sex…it was His idea and most of us think it was a pretty good idea but listen…Satan has twisted it and turned it into an addiction for many people. And marriages and relationships are torn apart as a result.
Some develop an addiction to material things. Spending money on thongs we don’t need to impress people who don’t care. And before we know it we have a mountain of debt and no way out in sight.
Look at vv. 13-15. To handle temptation we need to get an understanding of where it comes from. Some have even argued that God is the source of our temptation. From the beginning of time man has attempted to shift the blame for his sin. In the garden Adam shifted the blame…he said Lord it was that woman you gave me. Then Eve shifted the blame and said Lord it was that serpent you sent into the garden. And several thousand years later our excuses are the same. We say I did it because God made me this way. James tells us here that when we are tempted no one should blame God. It is clear that God does not tempt anyone. God is not to blame.
James points out something about temptation that we need to know that most of us don’t really think about.
Temptation is a process not an event.
We say that we were tempted at a certain time to do a certain thing but it really doesn’t happen that way. It happens over a period of time and there are things that happen that led up to it.
1. It starts with desire. James says that each of us are tempted by our own evil desires. The desire to sin is already in us. We are born with a sinful desire that is bent in the direction of sin. So the desire to sin is already there. That’s why sin is so attractive to us. It begins with desire.
2. It then leads to deception. James says that because of our desire we are dragged away and seduced…we are enticed. The word enticed comes from a Greek word that is a fishing term. It means to lure by bait. Sand the purpose of bait is deception. If you bait your hook we have two purposes. (1) The first is to lure the fish. (2) purpose is to hide the hook. We are enticed by sin for this simple reason…it is attractive and we become so focused on how it looks that we are then unable to see what the hook can do to us.
3. It leads to disobedience. Desire. Deception. Disobedience. James tells us, “after sin or desire has conceived it gives birth to sin. These two elements, the bait and the desire join together and they both give birth to sin. And then as James tells us it only gets worse. Desire. Deception. Disobedience.
4. It leads to spiritual death. James says and sin when it is fully formed, brings forth death. James is not referring to physical death although that is always a possibility with addictions. What he is saying is that we begin to die spiritually. We die inside. When we sin, when we become addicted and we don’t address it—a part of us begins to die.
In psalm 51 after David sinned with Bathsheba, he then prayed, Lord restore unto me the joy of my salvation. Sin will take the joy right out of your life. If you want to handle temptation take a good long look at someone whose life has already been ruined by their habits and addictions…look at some of the consequences. Look at where you could end up. And this is the conclusion I think you will come to…it’s just not worth it.
1st Corinthians 10:13.
I wonder how many of us today would say that someone in our close family has been affected by some sort of addiction. Mine has. And because so many of us have been affected we must find a way to not only understand this problem but also a way to stop it.
Here are 4 specific things we need to do.
1. Stay in the word. Set aside a time to Read the Bible daily.
2. Pray daily. Several times day in fact. Paul said pray without ceasing. When Jesus was led into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan, He had been fasting and praying for 40 Days. And he said no too every temptation.
3. Avoid compromising situations.
4. Make yourself accountable to someone
The story is told of a young man who was not a believer but one of his friends often shared his faith with him. The young man was training to be an Olympic diver. One night he went to the indoor pool at the college he attended. All the lights were off but the moon was bright and was shining through the windows so there was plenty of light
for him to practice his dives. He climbed up to the highest diving board and extended his arms and happened to look over when he noticed his own shadow. Standing straight with his arms extended the shadow looked like Jesus on the cross. Immediately he felt conviction in his heart and he knelt down right there on the diving board and gave his life to Christ. Amazing. But more amazing, after his prayer he stood up to get ready for his dive when the maintenance man came into the building. When the maintenance man turned the lights on, the diver was greatly surprised because the pool had been drained for repairs.
We never know what one fall might do to us. One misstep. One temptation.
