THE LORD'S PRAYER: TEMPTATION

Preached By Gregory W. Lee
25 September 2005

I. Introduction

-- turn in Bibles to Matthew 6 [read vs. 9-13]
-- one of the current fads right now in America is text messenging with cell phones -- everywhere you look, you see people sending short messages to each other -- my two nieces both have cellphones, and it seems like all they ever do with them is text message their friends -- you even see it on tv -- there are commercials telling you to text message to this number to get entered into a contest -- and if you watch American Idol, they tell you to vote for your choice by text messaging them
-- it appears pretty easy to use, but from what I've heard, you've got to be careful when you send your message, because if you make a mistake typing it in, you might just send your message to the wrong person
-- reminds me of a story I heard about this couple from the midwest who were going to take a vacation down in Florida last winter -- well, things happened and the wife got called away on business, so the husband went on down to Florida and arranged for his wife to meet him down there the next day
-- when he landed in Miami, he was rushing through the airport and trying to get his luggage, so he punched in a short text message to his wife and hit send and went on to the hotel -- but, when he entered her number, he entered it wrong and it got delivered by mistake to a pastor's widow whose husband had just passed away the day before
-- this pastor's widow was sitting in the church after the funeral, when her cellphone beeped and she saw that someone had sent a text message -- she took one look at the message, screamed and fainted dead away -- everyone rushed over and someone picked up the cell phone and this is what the message said:
-- "Wife -- just wanted to let you know that I have arrived safely -- everyone is looking foward to your arrival...tomorrow -- p.s. it sure is hot down here!"
-- you can understand why she fainted dead away -- but it does make us aware that we need to be careful when we're communicating with others -- especially if we use these modern devices -- because if we're not careful, our message might get garbled or misunderstood or sent to the wrong person

-- it's kind of like that old children's game, "Telephone" -- remember that? -- when you used to have a phrase written on a piece of paper and you'd whisper it to the first child and then they'd repeat it to the next and so on all the way around the circle -- when you got to the end and the last child said the message out loud, it was a lot different from the original message

-- another way we can have problems in communication is when we either don't listen or don't pay attention to what we are reading or saying -- I see this in church a lot -- when we start to sing, we stand up, turn to the right page in the hymnal and sing the words that are printed on there
-- a lot of the times, we aren't even paying attention to what we are saying -- we're merely singing the words as we read them -- we do that in the Apostle's Creed and in the doxology and in the Lord's Prayer as well -- we just recite them back without giving any thought to what we are actually saying
-- that is one reason why I started this series on the Lord's Prayer -- I wanted you to take a fresh look at the Lord's Prayer and to start to consider again the importance of what we are saying when we pray this prayer every Sunday or when we pray it on other occasions -- we have a tendency to just pray this prayer and to not even think about what we are saying when we pray it

II. Lead me not into temptation
-- let me show you what I mean as we look at our final petition in the Lord's Prayer -- in this petition, Jesus tells us to pray "Lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil" or "from the evil one" depending on your translation
--now, we've been going over this prayer now for several weeks, but have you really considered what you are saying in this line -- think about that phrase, "Lead me not into temptation" -- what exactly are we are saying when we pray this line? -- are we are saying that it is God who leads us into temptation? -- are we actually saying that God is the author of temptation? -- are we really saying that a loving, holy God would consider leading us into a situation where we will be enticed to sin?
-- that's sure what it sounds like, isn't it? -- that's the way Tertullian, the great theologian from the second century, understood it -- in his writing on this prayer he refuted this concept when he said, "Far be the thought that the Lord should seem to tempt, as if He were either ignorant of the limits of someone's faith or else eager to overthrow that faith"
-- of course, Tertullian was merely echoing what James wrote in his epistle on this subject -- flip over to James 1 -- if you were at the revival at Naylor this week, you know from Louis Chester's message that James was the half-brother of Jesus -- half-brother because he was the true son of Joseph while Jesus was the Son of God -- James wrote this passage to the Jews who were scattered throughout the land -- look with me at verse 13

13. When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;
14. but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.

-- James tells us quite clearly in this passage that God cannot be tempted and that He does not tempt anyone -- but Jesus told us in Matthew 6 to pray, "God, lead me not into temptation" -- I don't know about you, but that sounds a lot like they're saying different things here, doesn't it? -- Jesus is saying that God can lead us into temptation but James is saying that God cannot tempt -- is this one of those contradictions that we hear about in the Bible all the time?
-- are James and Jesus at odds with each other? -- or are they saying the same thing?

III. What is Temptation?
-- in order to get a better idea of what is meant in this passage, we need to understand that the Greek word for temptation in James 1:13-14 is the verb form of peirasmos -- and it can be translated in one of two ways, depending on the context of the passage
-- in verses 13-14, James intended for his readers to read the term peirasmos as "temptation" -- meaning, "to be enticed into sin" -- this is what we usually think of when we read the word "temptation" in the Bible
-- but, the Greek word peirasmos can also be translated as "trial" -- look over at verses 2-4

2. Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,
3. because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.
4. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything

-- James uses the same word here, but we know that it has a different meaning because of the context -- here, we read, "Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you face peirasmos -- when you face trials of many kinds" -- in this case, James is telling us that peirasmos is a good thing -- just like Louis told us during the revival, because God uses these trials to test our faith, to develop our perseverance and our character so that we may become whole and complete and mature in Christ
-- so, looking back at the Lord's Prayer and Jesus' words here -- when He tells us to pray, "Lead us not into temptation" -- "Lead us not into peirasmos" -- which form of the word does He mean?
-- well, based on James, I think it's pretty obvious that Jesus is not telling us to pray to be kept from trials -- it would be against God's will for us to pray to avoid these trials -- to pray to God to not lead us into trials -- even though we may not like them -- even though they may be painful to go through -- trials are allowed into our lives because God uses these trials to mold us and shape us and form us into the person He has called us to be -- without these trials, we cannot become mature Christians
-- look back at Matthew 6:13 again -- it says "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one" -- it links the word "peirasmos" with evil -- with the evil one, who is Satan
-- that would seem to be a strong indication that the translators got it right -- Jesus is intending for us to pray to God, "Lead us not into temptation" -- when Jesus gives us the term "temptation" in this passage, He means being enticed into sin -- being swayed by evil desires
-- so, that brings us back to the question, "what exactly is Jesus telling us to pray in this passage?"

IV. What Does This Petition Mean?
-- when I started this series, I pointed out that the Lord's Prayer was given to us by Jesus as a model prayer -- it was not intended to be prayed word-for-word as we usually do in church -- it was to be a guide for us -- and as we look through scripture, we can find other model prayers throughout the Old and New Testament
-- there are also model prayers that have been developed by men and women of God through the years -- one of the popular models that we see is the ACTS prayer -- A: Adoration -- praising God for who He is -- C: Confession -- confessing our weakness and our dependence on God -- T: Thanksgiving -- thanking God for all that He has done in our lives -- and S: Supplication -- presenting our needs to God and asking Him to meet our needs and the needs of others -- A-C-T-S
-- now, as we have studied the Lord's Prayer over the past several weeks, I assume that you can readily pick out the Adoration portions and the Thanksgiving portions and the Supplication portions -- but let me ask you, where is Confession in this prayer?
-- and there's the key to understanding this last petition from Christ -- this last petition is our cry of confession to God -- when we pray, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil" -- we are literally saying, "God, you are omnipotent -- all powerful -- all knowing -- ever present -- there is nothing going on in our lives that you haven't allowed to happen and that you don't control
-- Lord God, since we are powerless on our own -- since we do not have the strength to stand apart from you -- we are asking you to lead us not into a place where we might be tempted and enticed to sin against You but to lead us away from that place"
-- the petition goes on to say, "deliver us from the evil one" -- this literally means to rescue us from the clutches of evil desires -- it calls to mind a person who falls overboard into the ocean -- he is drowning in the waves and needs to be rescued -- to be delivered -- to be brought out of the place of temptation and into the place of security
-- when we pray this prayer, we are asking God to be our strength and our shield and to keep us from the place of evil desires that lead to temptation and to sin

V. Closing
-- therefore, when we pray, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one" -- we are praying that God would lead us away from the three sources of temptation
-- the first source of temptation is ourself -- our flesh -- James says that temptation comes about because of our evil desires -- we can be our own worst enemy at times
-- the second source of temptation is the world -- the world is against God and will do everything in it's power to entice us to sin
-- a good way to remember these two sources is to think about taking a trip on the interstate -- let's say it's about 12:00 pm and you haven't had anything to eat since breakfast and you start to get hungry -- that is your flesh telling you that you're hungry
-- now, let's say that you just ate and you're driving down the highway and you see a huge billboard with a picture of a pecan pie on it and you start getting hungry and want a piece of that pie -- that would be the world giving you a desire
-- desires from within are from the flesh -- desires from without are from the world -- now, keep in mind that temptations are nothing but God-given desires that have been corrupted by our flesh, or the world, or Satan -- there's nothing wrong with eating when you're hungry -- but gluttony is a sin -- it is taking a God-given desire to eat and twisting it into something God didn't intend
-- the third source of temptation is Satan -- Satan and his demons work like the world, only in less obvious ways -- they whisper temptations and ideas and suggestions to you to entice you to sin
-- but, the good news is that when we pray this prayer -- when we pray "lead us not into temptation" -- God gives us His strength and His power to turn away from the temptation that is before us -- He doesn't allow us to be led into temptation but leads us away from temptation -- as it says in 1 Corinthians 10:13, "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. "
-- if you pray this prayer and trust in God's power to take care of you, He will deliver you from temptation in your life and will deliver you from any evil that may come your way
-- may this prayer encourage you as you seek to do His will in the days to come
-- let us pray