Christianity For Dummies: How To Understand & Defeat Temptation
James 1:13-18
I. Introduction
A. Well, we've just started our series "Christianity for Dummies" based on the Book of James. We talked about the fact that this series title is not meant to insult but is rather a term of endearment that we all can relate to and identify with. The reason for this is that the Book of James, like the "For Dummies" series, is a book full of practical wisdom and simple "How To"s. As such, it wonderfully instructs us on how to live out our faith, how to be a doer and not just a hearer of the Word. We're in the process of breaking this gem down, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. Last Sunday AM we examined "How to Respond to Trials" and so this AM we come to Chapter 2 - "How to Understand & Defeat Temptation."
B. To get us thinking about this, let me ask you, What are some creative "excuses" you have heard people give for doing something that is clearly wrong? The devil made me do it reminds me of a pastor who was struggling to make ends meet on a first-call salary. He was livid when he confronted his wife with the receipt for a $250 dress she had bought. "How could you do this?!""I was outside the store looking at the dress in the window, and then I found myself trying it on," she explained. "It was like Satan was whispering in my ear, 'You look fabulous in that dress. Buy it!'""Well," the pastor replied, "You know how I deal with that kind of temptation. I say, 'Get behind me, Satan!'""I did," replied his wife,"but then he said, 'It looks fabulous from back here, too!"
C. That pretty much sums up our temptation when it comes to temptations. To deflect responsibility and to play "The Blame Game." We obviously need some instruction on "How to Understand & Defeat Temptation." One of the characteristics of the "For Dummies" books is the Part of Tens at the end of each book. So in the spirit of the "For Dummies" books, I've broken down James' instruction on "How to Understand & Defeat Temptation" into 10 P's.
II. Scripture Reading & Prayer
A. Read James 1:13-18.
B. Pray - Father, help us to understand your Word and apply it to our lives that we might know how to understand and defeat temptation.
III. How To Understand & Defeat Temptation: 10 P's
#1 Particulars
- We first have to understand the particulars or details of this single Greek root that James uses, "peira." It can mean either test or tempt; context alone determines the sense:
+ sense = James 1:2,12 Greek "peirasmos" (noun) Trials OUTWARD,produce spiritual perfection, strengthen faith. As we discussed last time, God tests His children - Abraham & Isaac (Gen. 22:1-2), Israel's 40 years in the wilderness (Deut. 8:2), Philip at feeding of 5000 (John 6).
- sense = James 1:13,14 Greek "peirazo" (verb) Temptation INWARD, seek to induce sin and destroy faith. As we'll see next, God NEVER tempts! Why? He hates sin (Psalm 5:4), and it's against His holy nature (Isaiah 6:3).
- So, despite the fact that James uses the same Greek root (peira-) for both the outer trial and the inner temptation, it is CRUCIAL to know the particulars and distinguish them. One we should rejoice over and praise God for allowing, the other we should despise and NEVER lay at God's feet!
#2 Pervasiveness
- "Let no one say WHEN" Just as we said with trials, temptations are a matter of when, NOT if! You say, "Not me, I'm a Christian." Discuss people saying "I'm strong never me" or "Why me am I weak?". Hebrews 4:15 says Jesus was tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sin. Christian doesn't make us immune to temptation and in fact, the temptations will increase not decrease! Did you know that? Many people think that if you're a Christian, and especially if you're a good Christian, you're not going to have any temptations. WRONG! Jesus had them, so will you and I. And if we don't understand that fact, we will NEVER understand temptation. Finally, just as with trials, temptations are many colored...like Skittles...rainbow of colors. Your's are not mine & vice versa.
#3 Permanents
- Read James 1:13. We see here three what I'm calling permanents, three eternal truths about temptation: 1) "Let no one say...I am being tempted by God" This is an imperative with a negative particle literally "stop saying." As I've already pointed out, we should NEVER lay the blame for our temptations at God's feet. Why? 2) "God cannot be tempted with evil" Because He hates sin and because of His holy nature, God would never entice humans to sin or seek to harm their faith! Thus... 3) "he himself tempts no one" This goes back to our discussion on particulars - God does not tempt so as to destroy, but He does test so as to strengthen.
- Illustration: Philip Yancey, in "Reaching for the Invisible God" describes the way God get’s blamed for things in this way. "When Princess Diana died in an automobile accident, a minister was interviewed and was asked the question “How can God allow such a terrible tragedy?” And I loved his response. He said, “Could it have had something to do with a drunk driver going ninety miles an hour in a narrow tunnel? Just How, exactly, was God involved.” Years ago, boxer, Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini, killed a Korean opponent with a hard right hand to the head. At the press conference after the Korean’s death, Mancini said, “sometimes I wonder why God does the things he does.” In a letter to Dr. Dobson, a young woman asked this anguished question, “Four years ago, I was dating a man and became pregnant. I was devastated. I asked God, “Why have you allowed this to happen to me?” Susan Smith, the south Carolina mother a couple years ago who pushed her two sons into a lake to drown and then blamed a fictional car-jacker for the deed, wrote in her confession: “I dropped to the lowest point when I allowed my children to go down that ramp into the water without me. I took off running and screaming, ‘Oh God! Oh God, no! What have I done? Why did you let this happen?” Now the question remains, exactly what role did God play in the drunk driving that lead to Princess Diana's death, a boxer beating his opponent to death, a teenage couple giving into temptation in the back seat of a car, or a mother drowning her children?
#4 Provenance
- So what leads us to blame God for our temptations? In part, because we refuse to acknowledge the provenance, or source, of temptation.
- Read James 1:14. Recall the creative excuses people give for their own sin we discussed earlier. Scripture speaks of three enemies of humanity: the world, the flesh, the devil. Notice that James only mentions what? US!!! He doesn't include any "the devil made me do it" discussion. Why? Bengel = "Even the suggestions of the devil do not occasion danger, before they are made 'our own'". James wants us to acknowledge the TRUE provenance, or source, of temptation. Me, Buffy Cook. As Brother Charles is found of saying, "we have met the enemy and he is us"! Discuss Charger locker room - "Take FULL responsibility".
- Our own desires are the problem. "Lust, desire" Greek = "epithumia" "epi" (focused on) + "thumos" (passionate desire) Passion built on strong feelings. It does not always have a negative meaning (Jesus in Luke 22:15 = I have desired to eat this Passover with you, Paul in Phil. 1:23 = Desire to depart and be with Christ). Here, as most often in the NT, it refers to fleshly, selfish, illicit desire.
- Look at the vivid imagery that James uses here to describe the effect our desires have on us as they lure and entice us give into temptation and sin. Both are hunting/fishing metaphors:
Lured = Greek "exelko"; Lit. "to drag forth" as game is lured from it's hiding place.
Enticed = Greek "deleazo"; "to entrap" as one baits a hook or sets a trap with bait.
- Illustration: First time in 47 years, the tuna were running only 30 miles off Cape Cod. And they were biting. All you needed was a sharp hook and some bait. And Japanese buyers were paying $50,000 a bluefin. Many inexperienced fishermen ignored coast guard warnings and headed out to sea in small boats. What the didn't realize was that the problem wasn't catching the fish; it was reeling in the giant tuna and pulling it aboard. The Christi Anne, a 19ft boat, capsized while doing battle with a tuna. That same day the 27ft boat Basic Instinct suffered the same fate, while Official Business, a 28 ft boat, was swamped after it hooked a 600# tuna. These fishermen underestimated the power of the fish they were trying to catch. That is what temptation does to us. It looks great on the surface. Only when we hook into it do we discover its strength.
"'Desire' is like the hook with its bait, that first entices its prey and then drags it away. If the superficial attractiveness of 'desire' is not strenuously resisted, a person can become 'hooked' on it, unable to escape from its all-powerful lure." (Douglas Moo)
- "So you must live as God's obedient children. Don't slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn't know any better back then." (1 Peter 1:14, NLT)
#5 Pattern #6 Product
- Read James 1:15. If we have any hope of defeating temptation in our lives, we MUST understand it's pattern & respect its product. Desire in itself is not sin. It is only when a person, by an act of the will, assents that sin results.
- James moves from hunting and fishing metaphors to a vivid illustration of the childbearing process that graphically describes the cause and effect relationship of lust, sin and death. Desire is pictured as the mother (epithymia is feminine), giving birth to sin, her child. And this child, if it is allowed to become fully grown, gives birth in turn to death.
- "Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer." (MSG)
- Stulac = "This attention-getting imagery is designed to stop sinners in their tracks, seeing that death is the natural and terrible end of a life of sin, not just an occasional result for some sinners."
#7 Provisory
- Temptation is provisory, in other words conditional. Conditional to what? Our giving in to it! Illustration: The Huntington River Gorge, near Richmond, Vermont, is beautiful but deadly. In the last 40 years, twenty people (mainly in 20s and 30s) have lost their lives in the gorge. Hundreds more have been injured. Public safety officials have designated the gorge "the single most deadly place in the state." Warning signs have been posted. Yet, swimmers continue to be attracted to the scene. No reason for people to jump headlong into such dangerous waters! Their doing so is simply provisory on their own desires.
- So it is with us and temptation. We don't have to jump headlong into its dangerous waters. We know the warning signs Scripture has posted about it. Our doing so is provisory, conditional, on our own desires. Then desire WHEN it has Look at what Paul wrote about the provisory nature of temptation - read 1 Cor. 10:13. So how do we defeat temptation. How do we kill it's provisory nature? Discuss "Personal Holiness in Times of Temptation."
#8 Potential
- Despite the fact that God not only doesn't tempt anyone but also can't tempt anyone; despite the fact that additionally He always provides us an escape from temptation; there always is the potential for us to be deceived and place the blame back on God and not accept it ourselves.
- Read James 1:16. This word deceived = Greek, "planao" from which we get the English "planet" and means to roam, stray, wander from the truth. What truth? Grammatically do not be deceived links to verse 13. Therefore, the truth that God does not and cannot tempt.
- One minute we praise God for his goodness and the next blame Him for our own miscomings. Read James 3:10.
- We must as Galatians 6:1 says watch ourselves and never give into the potential of temptation to blame God and thus be driven away from him, like a planet, out in orbit. Difficulties in life should always drive us back to God which is exactly what James does. Discuss Mike Lenagar's death and Heath's response. Having began with an assertion about God's character, he know ends with a vindication of God's character.
#9 Perfection
- Read James 1:17. The general meaning of this verse is clear - God whose benevolent character is unchanging and unchangeable, is the source of everything good. By implication He is NOT the source of temptations which entice us to sin and destroy our faith. There is nothing in this world that is truly good that has any other origin than from above, namely heaven, descending from the Father of lights, which refers to God as Creator of the heavenly "lights" - a prime example of his good gifts. God is unchanging in his character and therefore in his giving of good, unlike the variation of the night changing to day or the shifting shadow caused by the sun or moon.
# 10 Plan
- Read James 1:18. As an outstanding example of God's good gifts, James cites the fact that God has brought us forth by the word of truth. This word brought, KJV begat, is the Greek word "apokueo" meaning "to give birth to." It's the same word James uses in verse 15 to picture sin giving birth to death. Here James uses it to contrast the new birth that God gives to believers when we respond to the word of truth, the gospel, and receive instead of death the promise of eternal life.
- Further, the purpose of this birth is that Christians should stand as the "first installment," first fruits, in the universal redemptive plan of God - "good gifts" that he has yet to give. In the final stage of that redemptive plan, God will make a new heaven and a new earth, one in which temptation will be defeated forever thanks to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!!!
IV. Conclusion
- Bryan Chapell tells the story when, several years ago, his wife Kathy and a friend took their kids to the St. Louis Zoo. Big Cat Country had just opened. Visitors could observe the cats by walking on elevated skyways above the habitats. As his wife and her friend took the kids up one of the skyway ramps, a blanket got tangled in a stroller wheel. Kathy knelt to help untangle the wheel while their preschool boys went ahead. When Kathy looked up, she discovered that the boys had walked through a small gap in the fencing and climbed up on the rocks 25 feet from the lion pen.
Pointing to the lions below, they called back to their mom, "Hey mom, we can see them!" They had no idea of how much danger they were in. What could Kathy do? If she screamed, she might startle the boys perched precariously above the lions. The gap in the fence was too small for her to get through. So she knelt down, spread out her arms, and said "Boys, come get a hug." They came running for the love that saved them from danger greater than they could perceive. With similar love, our Savior, Jesus Christ, beckons us from temptation that would devour us.
V. Invitation and Benediction
