Matthew 6:13 “And Lead Us Not Into Temptation but Deliver Us From Evil.”
By Reverend A. LaMar Torrence, Pastor of Cross of Life Lutheran Church.
"Do not lead us into temptation...." For almost 2000 years Christians have prayed that phrase in the Lord’s Prayer. Unless you are new to Christianity, you have prayed for deliverance from temptation many times…Temptations...To sneak a chocolate sundae when you are dieting or fasting. To "hedge" a few line items on a tax return. To sleep with someone you know you are not supposed to. To gossip about another’s life--especially his or her problems. To engage in the telling of so called innocent "white lies." To take to drinking or drugging or eating when you know these habits can dominate your life and lead to grave consequences. To make a racial or ethnic or sexist comment. To claim busyness when family or loved ones need you. To sell out your personal values to meet the expectations of the "system." To hide behind "spirituality" as a way of avoiding earthly responsibilities. (list by H. K. Oehmig) What particular personal temptations would you pick out of this list...? Or perhaps add to the list? The possibilities are endless.
In order for us to begin to pray our deliverance from temptations, we need understand the biblical purposes of temptation.
First what is temptation? Contemporary society tends to think of temptation as seduction or a negative experience. However, the biblical saints viewed the term as ‘putting a person to the test”. Temptation was viewed as a form of boot camp to either show a person’s strengths or to expose his weakness. To go through temptation was to have the opportunity of becoming a stronger saint or to sink deeper in sin. Those who conquer temptation got closer to heaven while those that fail straddled the pits of hell. Temptation was to serve a positive purpose. It was to serve as a thermometer of one’s faith. By going through trials and being tested one’s inner core and limitations were established and understood.
Secondly, because we are caught between a cosmic warfare over the destiny of humanity’s souls, there is a difference in terminology used in the process of temptation dependent upon its source. God himself does not tempt us. He may test us but he does not tempt us. Satan or evil does the tempting. That’s why we call him the tempter or the accuser. When God tests us its for the purpose of toning our character, shaping our faith, refining our integrity, so that we can walk more closely with him and be more like him. When we are tempted either by our own internal desires or external lusts it is for our downfall.
God tested Abraham first when he told Abraham to cast his first born out into desert and secondly when he told him to offer his younger promised son as a sacrifice to him. His test was designed to disclose his faith in God’s provisional care. Because he passed both tests, he became a friend of God. He could name God – Jehovah Jireh, a God who provides. God began to disclose the secrets of his salvation plan to this mortal man.
God had offered Job to be tested by the evil one. Satan accused Job of only worshipping God because God had built and hedge around him. Job had houses, lands, good health, and prosperity. Surely if all was taken and destroyed, Job would curse God and die. God told Satan that he could destroy virtually everything in Job’s life but he could not take his life. And yet, job proved to be faithful on all counts. And Job gained insight into his own character. He learned that he didn’t have all the answers to God’s actions.
The Holy Spirit had driven Jesus in to the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. Three times Satan approached Jesus with the desire of spectacular Messiahship. And yet, Jesus who was himself tested on all points triumphed and then began to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God. In all those cases, temptation was to elevated humanity to sainthood. Brother James tells us, blessed is the man who endures trial for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.
And yet, we all know that everyone tested and tried did not successfully conquer temptations. Their temptations turned into sin and led them to destruction. Adam surrendered to the temptation to become more like God. An entire generation of Hebrews, except two, perished in the wilderness because they failed to depend and trust in God. King David yielded to his lustful passions to lie and killed for Bathsheba; as a result his entire household was cursed with the spirit of violence and lust because of his decision. Peter denied Christ. Thomas doubted him. Judas betrayed him.
So when we go through trials we can either come out as saints or as sinners. So Jesus teaches us to pray “lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil” so that we can come out victorious in our trials and tribulations. He teaches us to pray for God’s guidance through temptations. We are praying for a spirit of discernment. Let it not be our will that causes us to make that critical decision that will affect our destiny but let it be thy will. “Father let this cup pass from me, not by my will but by thy will.” That should be our prayer. We should never approach our trials with overconfidence because we all have the potential of falling short.
You see, we make the mistake of thinking that small things will only tempt us. Satan is not going to tempt someone who loves chocolate ice cream with strawberry. He’s going to package up your desire in a form that will knock you off your feet. He knows what body measurements will knock you off feet. He knows how much money will cause you think it over. He knows what line to say to you to get you have just one drink with him. Satan knows how to get your attention.
So we want to learn how we can withstand his snares. How can we come through this thing more sanctified and refined? How can we identified the test and pass? What’s does it mean to pray that last petition “and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil?”
Well, first we need to know that the key to overcoming temptation is in the last verse of our prayer – for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. In that last line, Christ reminds us to pattern our response to temptation after his responses to the tempter during his own temptation experience.
Jesus says to pray “thine is the kingdom”. We must recognize God’s sovereignty. The earth is the lord’s and fullness thereof. The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. Everything that is in the earth and above it belongs to God. The Lord owns everything and surely that which is owns is ours because we are his heirs. We don’t have to max out our credit cards to get it. We don’t have to get a second job to acquire it. It ours already, all we have to do is acknowledge God and it is ours. What Satan tries to do is to sell us that which is already ours. Think about it. When Satan tempted Jesus, Satan tried to sell Jesus that which was already his. Satan told him, if you bow down and worship me, all these earthly kingdoms should be yours. However, Christ already owned the kingdoms. Heaven is his throne and the earth is his footstool. And yet, Christ himself was tempted to accept an offer from Satan to rule the kingdoms of the world. Jesus was tempted to forgo his throne in heaven for wealth and riches of this world. And, if the truth should be told, we all desire to possess our own little kingdom. Every man wants to be king of his castle. Every woman wants to be treated like a queen. We all desire to have a kingdom of our own- a couple of dream houses, luxury cars, fine clothes, and jewelry. I would love to own one of those nice homes we visited yesterday during our crosswalk ministries. We may all have such desires. And our desires and passions influence our decisions to acquire more wealth. Daily we are tempted to bend our principals and compromise our beliefs in order to increase our bank accounts and enlarge our net wealth. We work our fingers to the bone just to save up for that one-week vacation. We’ll work on the Lord’s Day just to get that promotion that promises more money. We’ll brown nose the boss and rub elbows with the VIPs just to get a corner office and a key to the executive bathroom. We’ll break bread with folks we can’t stand and toss wine to people we don’t trust just to fit in and be considered a team player. We are tempted every day to bow down to the master of this world in order to get a little kingdom of own. We are tempted to compromise our beliefs and bend our principles just for a piece of the pie. We lower our standards to fit in and to get what we want. We do what we have to do to get the job done. So what’s the harm in having a few drinks during cocktail hour if it will get us that major contract? What’s another night of standing up the wife, if it means getting that promotion and earning enough money to take a family vacation next year? Everyone has to make sacrifices. And yet our sacrifices tend to occur so that we can acquire more things. It’s not that we love our jobs or that we love our bosses – we just love things. Like the drug dealers who sell drugs for gold jewelry and a Lexus, we too do a little insider trading for a couple more watches and company car. Like the cop on the take, we too like on our time sheets to get more pay for hours not work. Like the prostitute working the red light district, we are often bending over and bending abuse by those who pimp our talents for their own personal gains. We do what we have to do to get that bonus, to earn that commission, to keep that heavy paycheck coming. We bow down. Lower our standards. We lie. We cheat. And we steal just to have more things.
However, Jesus reminds us that man should worship the lord our God and him alone shall we serve. Don’t worship the created above the creator. In other words is God to primacy in our lives. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all it’s righteousness and these things shall be add to you. If we seek to uphold the principles of God, he will grant us those desires of our heart. God is not a God against having wealth and success. He is a God against worshipping idols. He’s against stressing ourselves out to get Fubu, Anne Klein II, and Versace rather than trying to clothe ourselves in his righteousness. He’s against sacrificing to acquire DVDs, 50” TV Screens, and Mercedes rather than sacrificing to get closer to the master.
Secondly, we must recognize God’s omnipotence. God’s has ownership not only of kingdom but all power is his and no one else’s. The second object attributed to God is power. “Thine is the kingdom and the power.” The strength to do all things is yours. He is the wind beneath our wings. He is the one willing to stand in the shadows while the world applauds for the successes and accomplishments in our lives. We all are tempted to believe that we have what we have because our own abilities and resources. We are all tempted to believe that it was us who turned the stones in our lives into bread. We are tempted to believe that it was us who pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and broke through glass ceilings and opened closed doors. Often we do claim to be self-made men and self-empowered women. And, yet like Christ we must recognize that we are who we are because God brought us this far faith. We are who we are because someone in our lives trusted in the word of God. While we were studying to become MBAs, CPAs, and Phd’s, someone was praying for our salvation. While we were pledging with the Kappa’s and stepping with the Omegas, someone was praying our strength in the lord. America has become a great nation; but not because of the sweat of African Americans, not because of the sacrifice of the American Indians, not because of the visions of immigrants But because the power of God to raise a nation out of religious persecution, racial slavery, and capitalistic greed. You are who you are because of the power of God.
Thus, not only is his the kingdom and the power but to him be all glory. That which we do, we do not do for our own fame and notoriety. WE do it for the glory of God. We seek not to become great of ourselves. We seek to serve a great God. It is not my prayer that this church grows in leaps and bounds to demonstrate my greatness and my power, but it is my prayer that God is glorified in all the we do. That’s why I try to shun people from saying that, “we’ll now turn worship service over to the Pastor.” You can not turn the worship service over to me. It’s not my worship service. This is God’s worship. This is not pastor’s church. This is God’s church. This is not pastor’s sermon. This is God’s word. I seek not to become a great preacher but I seek to be use by a great God. I seek not to draw people to myself but I hope to point all to Christ. I must decrease so that he may increase. That’s the problem with many churches today. They are increasing in size, but decreasing in salvation. They are increasing in leadership but decreasing in discipleship. They are increasing in self and pushing Christ to the side. But to God is the glory. That shall not be the story here. Here in this here church, Christ will be the head and we shall be his body. In this church, he shall get the glory and he shall receive the honor.
And I don’t know about you. But I made up my mind that when I am being tried and tested – I’m going to give him the glory. When Satan begins to throw his fiery darts my way, I’m going to glorify his name.
