Opening Remarks and Introduction
Last week we started a new sermon series on willpower and looked at how anger can enter our lives. Tonight, we’ll continue our sermon series with a topic that seems to be a problem for many. It’s probably a problem for everyone. But, before we get to that, let me ask you this question about willpower.
Has anyone here worked really, really hard to accomplish something that tested your willpower, something so hard, you weren’t sure if you wanted to continue? For me, I’ve struggled with losing weight. Anyone else have that problem? For the past few years, I’ve had to work really hard to keep my weight down. For me, the temptation of food, especially ice cream, has really gotten the better of me. My favorite is Rocky Road, but I’ll run to anything that has chocolate in it. Sometimes, my willpower is not as strong as it should be. Sometimes my self-control is lacking. Sometimes, I don’t do what I’m supposed to do, and I end up gaining a few unwanted pounds.
That’s kind-of what this sermon series is all about. How does our self-control affect the decisions that we make? How can we avoid the bad things, and cling to the good?
We’re going to continue our look at willpower tonight with a look at LUST.
1. What is lust?
2. Where does lust come from?
3. How can we fight the temptation of lust?
1. What is lust?
Before we can have a conversation on how willpower applies to lust, we probably should understand what this temptation is, and what it isn’t.
Related to lust, a discussion of a love might be helpful. One of the Greek words for love is ???? (éros). Eros is where we get the word erotic. In love, or éros, we can have God-given sexual desire for our spouse. Within the bounds of marriage, this is a blessing from God. Acts of intimacy can bring a couple together and allow them to express affection that can’t happen in any other way. Éros is not a bad word… until self-centered sin enters the conversation. Outside of a loving, committed relationship, when self-serving erotic feelings of pleasure take over, we enter a place where lust is a sin.
So what is lust? Webster defines lust as a pleasure, gratification, and sexual desire, especially of a violent
self-indulgent character. It’s strong sexual desire, without the component of love.
Society seems to neglect love while focusing on the selfish desires of the flesh. We continually see a push to show more skin and glorify lustful thoughts. The images are all around us. These temptations are not the cause of lust, but they certainly are a symptom of the disease of sin.
Lust focuses on pleasure without a relationship. It looks for satisfaction without a commitment. It really turns another person into an object of desire, rather than someone who should be treated with honor and respect.
Where the world around us seems to glorify lust with sexual imagery, God has a much different view. John wrote,
“For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world” (1 John 2:16, ESV)
Lust is an action centered on the love of the world, not the love of another person. It’s a focus on self, aiming to satisfy with physical pleasure.
John wasn’t the only one that spoke about lust. Jesus put lust equal to adultery. Jesus said:
“But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matt 5:28, ESV)
In these words, Jesus described lust as an offence against the 7th Commandment, not to commit adultery. But it’s also against the 10th Commandment where we are told to be content and not to covet someone who is not our spouse. Lust is breaking God’s law, not once, but twice. It’s important that we gain control of our willpower to follow God’s direction for us, rather than our sinful desires.
2. What is the source of LUST?
With a better understanding of what lust is, where does it come from? Understanding the source of lust will help us learn how to deal with temptation.
Where do you think lust comes from? Does it come from the movies, romance novels, songs on the radio or pornography? All of these can certainly temp us, but they don’t cause lust. They’re not the source of the problem.
It isn’t the senses that trigger lust. It’s the heart that allows temptation to take root. Jesus said,
“For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. 23 All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.” (Mark 7:21-23, NLT)
Take a close look at this list. Jesus puts lustful desires alongside theft and murder. Murder is not a small crime, and neither is lust. All of these thoughts come from the heart. They defile us and make us dirty.
The world doesn’t make it easy for us. Temptation is all around. Satan knows how to fuel the fire of lust by putting images in our eyes, thoughts in our minds, and sounds in our ears. But it’s the sinful heart that allows lust to take root and grow.
We saw an example of this tonight between two married people, David and Bathsheba. The temptation of lust is a problem for both men and women. Where men seem to be motivated by what they see with their eyes and perhaps on opportunity to take a second look, women might be more motivated by their emotions and romantic fantasies.
3. How can we combat the temptation of lust?
Now we know what lust is, and we know that lust comes from our heart… what can we do about it? It would be wonderful if our willpower could remove the lust from our lives forever. But our sinful state makes us weak. Many of us have fallen to temptation and we may do it again.
What can we do to combat the temptation that we experience? What can we do to strengthen our self-control? I’d like to show you 3 tools that we can we put in our toolboxes to help us stay strong and help us avoid lust.
Tool 1: Flee from temptation
The first tool that we can use is to run. Flee from temptations that might be sucking us in, and turn the other way! In Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth he wrote:
“Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. (1 Cor 6:18, ESV)
Run away the temptations in all their forms. If movies are the temptation, change the TV channel and watch something else. If music, turn to a different radio station, like K-love or Air1. if it’s a person, look the other way. We should avoid all situations that may feed a lustful habit.
Even responding to sinful conversation can lead to lust. Avoid the dirty jokes, the office gossip and the talk that might fuel sinful thoughts. Talk about honorable things and leave the dishonorable past behind. Paul wrote:
“Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.” (Eph 5:4, ESV)
Avoiding ungodly conversation is part of it, but avoiding ungodly people is another. Anyone who may encourage temptation, and place us in difficult situations, should be avoided, when we can. Stay away from those who are the bad influences in our lives and cling to those who inspire us to follow God:
“For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.” (2 Tim 3:2-5, ESV)
Tool 2: Hangout with people who strengthen you for the battleground
The second tool for our toolbox is to hang out with people who strengthen our faith, and prepare us for combat in the sinful battleground that is the world around us. Here at Concordia, we have accountability groups that help us stay on a Godly path giving support and guidance with love and kindness.
“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Heb 10:24-25, ESV)
Through meeting together, we can build each other up and help encourage each other to avoid the temptation of life. Having a source of strength when we are weak is a powerful tool to strengthen our willpower. In his letter to the church in Thessalonica, Paul wrote this regarding encouragement:
“Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” (1 Thes 5:11, ESV)
Christian men and women can form relationships that help us avoid temptation and sinful desires. By doing this, we will find that each of us will strengthen the other and make us all more confident in the Lord in the process. As proverbs says:
“Iron sharpens iron, and one man (or one woman) sharpens another.” (Prov 27:17, ESV)
Tool 3: Think about honorable things
Our final tool is to focus our thoughts and think only about honorable things.
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (Phil 4:8, ESV)
To help us think about these things, we can use prayer to focus our thoughts. We can use prayer to boost our willpower to continue in a God-fearing direction. We can also pray for those who pursue dishonorable purposes or those who struggle with temptation. When temptation shows its head, we can use prayer to turn a negative into a positive.
We can turn a situation around by praying for those things that tempt us. A friend of mine shared this story with me recently. He explained that lust was a difficult temptation for him. One temptation that he experienced was seeing an attractive jogger in the neighborhood, and thinking lustful thoughts. His solution was a beautiful way to turn a negative into a positive. He prayed a short prayer of protection over that jogger and turned a thought of lust into a thought of love.
Prayer used this way gets our heart moving in the right direction by focusing on a positive concern, and pulls us away from the negative feelings of selfish desire.
Regardless of how we approach a problem, God will provide an escape to temptation and won’t give us more than we can handle.
“God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” (1 Cor 10:13b, ESV)
When our willpower just isn’t enough, we can be comforted knowing that God’s grace is still there for us.
“But (Jesus) said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Cor 12:9, ESV)
Sometimes, we may be weak. We might not always be strong. When we stumble, God’s grace is there waiting for us to turn back to Him. On the cross, Jesus showed grace in its most powerful form. Jesus sacrificed Himself so that we can enjoy the grace of forgiveness. Jesus’ sacrifice is sufficient to forgive us, when our willpower is weak.
Summary
In the story of David and Bathsheba, we can see that lust is not the same as love. Yet, the world continues to embrace lust and encourages us to sin. The heart is where a simple look or thought can turn into sinful lust. But, there IS something we can do to avoid temptation and strengthen our willpower.
• Flee from the temptation whether it’s a TV show or a person.
• Look to those who encourage and strengthen us in our faith.
• And think about honorable things, relying on Prayer to talk to our creator and turn negative thoughts into positive
These tools can help guard our hearts, and keep us from making sinful, selfish mistakes. The world will continue to try and entice us. But God is always there, and He will continue to share His grace with us.
