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How to Triumph Over Temptation
Rich Nathan
March 6, 2011
Lent: 40 Days of Drawing Near to Jesus Series
Luke 4
Have you ever noticed how often advertisers and marketers use the word
“temptation” to, well…tempt us? Here is an ad for Magnum Temptation
Chocolate:
Picture of Magnum Temptation Chocolate
Here is the description, “Street’s Magnum is taking indulgence to the next level
this November with the launch of Magnum Temptation – Chocolate.” Magnum
Temptation is the new super-premium platform for the brand bringing “the
ultimate indulgence” to pleasure-seeking consumers. Then it goes on and talks
about chunks of white chocolate and brownie pieces complementing the creamy
chocolate center, sumptuous chocolate sauce and thick Belgian chocolate shell.
Would any of you like me to read further? Here’s an ad for body spray. It is
called Dark Temptation:
Picture of Dark Temptation
Apparently, men spray themselves with the scent of chocolate. Single men, have
you ever considered this? Do you wonder why you can’t get a date? Have you
ever considered pouring Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup over you? Women love
chocolate.
We even use the word “temptation” regarding animal food. Here is a cat thinking
about his dinner:
Picture of Whiskas Temptations Cat Food
There was a Television (TV) show a few years titled “Temptation Island.”:
Picture of Fox TV’s Temptation Island
Here is how an entertainment magazine described Fox’s TV show.
Four couples – each with some strains in their relationship – are sent to a
Caribbean Island. They are separated by gender and left for two weeks in
the titillating company of a dozen members of the opposite sex, the gals
babe-aliciously comely, the boys hunk-arifically handsome.
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Will the couples remain true to each other? Or will island instincts take
over?
Talk about new lows for TV! We used to have shows like The Dating Game
which celebrated the creation of new relationships. Now we have shows like this
celebrating the destruction of relationships.
Temptation is a major theme in the Bible; this battle between good and evil and
how we human beings are going to choose, whether we choose to resist, or
whether we give in. Whether we will stay faithful to God, or whether we will go
along with the devil. Temptation is a major theme in the Bible. Of course, we
have the most famous temptation story in the Old Testament, one that involved
our first parents, Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden. It had all the classic
temptation elements – Satan’s subtlety, his asking of the wrong question, rather
than the right question, the opening of the door for conversation with the devil,
the seduction of living life without limits. It is all there in the original temptation in
the Garden.
But there are so many other stories of temptation in the Bible. In Genesis we
read of Potiphar’s wife attempting to seduce the patriarch Joseph to engage in
sexual sin. We have the story of Samson and Delilah in which Samson is
eventually seduced to give up his secret. Job’s wife tempts him to curse God
and die. King David is tempted to commit adultery with Bathsheba and then
tempted to commit murder to cover up his adultery. Lot is tempted to choose
material prosperity in the city of Sodom. The rich young ruler is tempted to walk
away from Jesus because of his greed. Judas is tempted by 30 pieces of silver.
Other Bible characters are tempted by ambition. Some are tempted by false
worship. Some are tempted by the desire for self-preservation.
Hanging on the wall in the lobby of our main campus in huge letters is our Vision
Statement as a church.
To be a R.E.L.E.V.A.N.T. church that does not exist for itself, but for Christ
and for the world.
How we as individuals, how we as a church, respond to temptation determines
whether we will fulfill our purpose as a church. See, God has called his people to
be different – to live by different standards, to reflect God, who is radically
different from all the gods and idols of the world. And the problem with the
church, the problem with followers of Jesus today is that we are not different from
the world, and in some respects we are worse. A fighting, divided, split church
has nothing to say or to give to a fighting, divided, split and violent world. A
racially segregated church has nothing to say to a racially segregated world. An
immoral church has nothing to say or to give to an immoral world. A church with
abusive leaders has nothing to say to a world with abusive dictators and tyrants.
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A church whose leaders are obsessed with materialism and prosperity has
nothing to say to a world obsessed with materialism and prosperity. A church
that is bad news cannot hope to share good news with the world.
How we handle temptation is the central issue regarding whether we’re going to
be able to fulfill our individual purpose as God’s children and whether we,
together, are going to be able to fulfill God’s purpose for our church. There is no
bigger issue facing followers of Jesus, in fact, there is no bigger issue facing
humanity than whether we are able to triumph over temptation.
I’ve called today’s talk, “How to Triumph Over Temptation.” Let’s pray.
Luke 4:1-13
1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into
the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate
nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. 3 The
devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become
bread.” 4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘People do not live on bread
alone.’” 5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an
instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, “I will give you
all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to
anyone I want to. 7 If you worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 Jesus
answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”
9 The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point
of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down
from here. 10 For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning
you to guard you carefully; 11 they will lift you up in their hands, so that
you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” 12 Jesus answered, “It is
said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 13 When the devil had
finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
We read these words in Luke 4: 1 – 2:
Luke 4:1-2
1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into
the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate
nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
Here is the question: when does temptation arise? I mean, for you, when do you
feel the most tempted to do something that you know is not God’s will for you to
do, or to not do something that you know is God’s will for you to do? When do
you feel most tempted to depart from God’s perfect plan for your life?
One answer that we could draw from this text is that temptation arises when we
experience great failure.
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When we experience great failure
Jesus is in the desert. And the desert is a place of dryness and emptiness.
When we find ourselves exhausted; when we feel burned out, depleted,
hopeless, wrung out, and especially when we find ourselves isolated and alone,
the desert is a place not only of exhaustion and weariness, the desert is a place
of aloneness and isolation. When I think about the desert, I think about a person
whose life is marked by too much giving out, too much activity, too much work,
too many days in a row without a Sabbath, too many weeks in a row caring for a
sick person, or an elderly person. When a person’s reserves are totally depleted,
when there is not enough input, not enough refreshment, not enough connection
with others who are caring, you can bet that the Tempter will be knocking at the
door.
Feeling tired, feeling burned out, feeling absolutely numb inside? Here is a little
pick-me-up. Here is a little escape so that you can feel something, anything.
Temptation often arises when we experience great failure, great disappointment,
on the heels of great grief, after suffering great loss. And temptation often arises
when we experience great success.
When we experience great success
We don’t expect this!
Now, right before Jesus is led into the desert to be tempted, he has this
incredible experience that occurs at his baptism. Flip back with me to Luke 3.2123:
Luke 3:21 - 23
21 When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And
as he was praying, heaven was opened 22 and the Holy Spirit descended
on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You
are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” 23 Now Jesus
himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the
son, so it was thought, of Joseph, the son of Heli,
Here Jesus experiences the affirmation of his Father speaking to him and saying,
“You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” Jesus has a
powerful experience of filling with the Holy Spirit. And after 30 years of obscurity
and hiddenness, after 30 years of waiting, working in a carpenter’s shop, the
Father says to Jesus, “Now, its time, Son. No more obscurity; no more
hiddenness. I’m launching you into your public ministry.” And then the
temptation comes.
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You see, temptation often immediately follows great success, a great
mountaintop experience of God, a great expansion of ministry, great visibility,
great success in your career, an amazing breakthrough in your family, a great
marriage encounter weekend.
Arnold Toynbee, the great historian, said:
It is clear that the most dangerous period for a civilization is when it thinks
it is safe and it faces no further challenges.
I think about Elijah, who had this extraordinary experienced on the top of Mt
Carmel. He defeated the prophets of Baal. He called fire down from heaven in 1
Kings 18. In the very next chapter there is this satanic backlash and you see
Elijah running for his life defeated, discouraged.
What is the problem with unbroken prosperity? What’s wrong with going from
one mountaintop to another with no valleys, no deserts, and no difficulties?
What’s so bad about always succeeding at your work, having no disappointing
relationships with people, no challenges with your marriage, no grief, no pain, no
loss no news that shakes your world? Here’s the problem: It is because
unbroken prosperity and success mixes together with the sinfulness of the
human heart. The result is stated in Deuteronomy 8.10-14:
Deuteronomy 8:10-14
10 When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for
the good land he has given you. 11 Be careful that you do not forget the
Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees
that I am giving you this day. 12 Otherwise, when you eat and are
satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, 13 and when your
herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you
have is multiplied, 14 then your heart will become proud and you will
forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of
slavery.
There is a temptation when we only experience success to forget God. We feel
inside, “You know, I really don’t need any outside help from heaven. I’m doing
fine on my own.” Have you ever had that feeling? Everything is going well; I
don’t need God right now. Haven’t you seen this in your life? You think
everything is going so well now; I can skip my devotions; I don’t need to pray; I
don’t need to really lean into God.
I think it is for this reason that Jesus said it is hard for a wealthy person to enter
the Kingdom of God. It is not because wealth, in itself is bad. It’s just that when
you mix together great wealth, health, fame and success with the sinful human
heart, we are tempted to self-dependence and independence from God.
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See, the best thing for we human beings is to come to the end of ourselves – to
recognize our limits and to rely on the untold resources of our infinite God. The
best thing for us spiritually is to come to the end of our ropes, to recognize that all
of our strategies, all of our smarts, all of our manipulations, all the ways that we
try to figure out how to make life work is not going to make this problem go away.
The healthiest place you can be as a human being is to say: “I have tried
everything that I know to do and its still not working.”
You’ve tried everything you can think of to get this other person to change.
You’ve nagged, you’ve pushed, you’ve confronted, you’ve screamed; you’ve
gotten counseling; you’ve done everything you know to do to get this other
person to change. You know every thing you know to do to get a problem in your
life resolved. The healthiest place we human beings can be is to say: “This
problem is bigger than me. I need God and God’s help.”
Now, God doesn’t allow us to come to the end of our ropes because he is one of
those controlling, neurotic, needy parents, who love to keep his children weak
and sick. You know, one of those dreadful parents who you read about in the
newspaper who deliberately makes their child ill by feeding them poison in their
food in order to gain sympathy for themselves, in order to keep the child weak.
God doesn’t want us to depend on him to weaken us. God wants us to depend
on him and look to him in order to snap us back to reality.
Again, looking at Deuteronomy 8, I want to read from verses 16-18:
Deuteronomy 8:16-18
16 He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors
had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go
well with you. 17 You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of
my hands have produced this wealth for me.”18 But remember the Lord
your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so
confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.
See, the reality, the truth of the matter is that whenever we experience great
success, it is not due to us. There is no self-made man, or self-made woman, no
matter how many times America celebrates the self-made person, who deserves
to keep everything that they’ve earned. No matter how many times this myth of
the self-made man or woman is pounded into our heads, scripture says that my
success in life and your success in life and everyone else’s that you’ve ever
heard of success in life is not due to your smarts, and your hard work because
even your ability to work is a gift given to you from God.
Listen again to Deuteronomy 8:18:
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Deuteronomy 8:18
But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to
produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your
ancestors, as it is today.
Everything that makes for success is the result of gifts given to us from God. A
combination of the good genes that you had nothing to do with, and fortunate
inputs from your parents, and your schooling, and your teachers, and your
churches, and your pastors that you had nothing to do with, and opportunities
that you had nothing to do with, and books that you did not write – every
successful person is standing literally on the shoulders of billions of other people
before them. And those billions of other people are being held up by the hand of
God.
The problem is that we don’t realize all of that during fat times. When we are
successful at work, when we’re generating clients, when the income is rolling in,
or when we are getting patted on the back, and celebrated by our colleagues,
when our families are doing really well, when romance is blossoming and
springtime is in the air, and all that we touch turns to gold, we are tempted to
believe that it is because of us and not because of God.
Let me ask you something: where are you at right now? On the mountaintop?
You say, “Everything is going amazingly well for me.” If you are succeeding
beyond your wildest dreams, watch out! You are in the spiritual danger zone.
Now is the time, while you are succeeding at really leaning into the Lord, to
watch and pray that you not fall into temptation.
Are you in the desert? Are you wrung out, dried out, depleted, exhausted, feeling
hopeless, and feeling isolated, feeling like you need a little pick-me-up by any
means, legitimate or illegitimate? Watch out! You are in the spiritual danger
zone. Now is the time to watch and pray that you not fall into temptation.
Let me make one simple point here, before I move on. This issue of how we
triumph over temptation does not depend upon our circumstances, but upon our
characters.
Not our circumstances, but our characters
It is really apparent from the gospel of Luke that the way Luke has structured the
text is that Luke is comparing Adam, our first father, with Jesus. Immediately
before we read of Jesus being tempted, Luke gives us a genealogy of Jesus that
goes all the way back to Adam, the father of the old creation.
Luke 3:38
the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
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And then we read about Jesus, who is the author of new creation. And Luke’s
very basic point here is that Jesus, the last Adam, succeeded where our first
father failed. Do you see? Succumbing to temptation is never a matter of what
is going on around us. It can be great success, or great failure. But that is not
the issue. Adam was in a perfect environment. He had perfect communion with
God. He had a perfect spouse – gorgeous in every way. He had all of his needs
met. And yet, he listened to the Tempter and he fell.
Jesus was in the worst environment. Almost none of his needs were met. And
yet he triumphed over temptation.
Never say about yourself or about anyone else, “Well, the reason I have given
into temptation was my circumstance.” The reason they gave into temptation was
their circumstances. Things were so tough at home; I was out of work; I was
unhappy; I was depressed; I was bored. Succumbing to temptation is never a
matter of what’s going on around us; it is always a matter of what’s going on
inside of us.
Well,
Why does God lead us into the desert?
Why the desert? Why does the Holy Spirit lead Jesus out into the desert? And
why does the Holy Spirit lead you and me and the entire people of God out into
the desert?
Throughout biblical history the desert is the place where God prepares his
children for the task that he has for them. You look back into the Old Testament
at Abraham, Moses, King David and the children of Israel and over and over
again God leads his children out into the desert for a period of preparation, for a
time of readying, training for something great that God wants to do through them.
What the desert does in our soul is that it strips us. The desert is a place of
stripping where we are stripped of all the things that we look to satisfy our souls,
instead of the riches that we have in Christ and the wealth that we have in each
other. The desert is a place of stripping away all of our secondary satisfactions.
The desert is the place of leanness where God begins to expose the
accumulated clutter in our lives. All the stupid entertainment and all the stupid
video games and social media, and the unnecessary purchases and the trivial
pursuits and home decorating and vacation plans. All the things that we say we
generally believe are of ultimate importance, the desert strips all of that away.
The desert prunes us of all the things we think we need, that we must have to
live happy, satisfied lives. The desert brings these things to the surface and
makes us aware of the lies and the idolatries that we live with and it strips it all
away. It says that all you need is God and what you have in each other.
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In the desert God exposes all the accumulated junk in your life. He takes you out
into the desert, into the wilderness, into difficulties, into trials, into pain and all the
junk you’ve accumulated over the years in your life – the junk thoughts, the
habits of your mind, the junk practices, what you give yourself to – your time and
your energy and your money that has nothing to do with anything significant or
meaningful; the junk that you buy. God takes it and he shows you how utterly
meaningless it is. The desert is God’s surgical operation of cutting away the fat.
God can and he does reduce the comfort level of our lives. He cleans us out so
that he can get us ready for something great, something that he wants to do to us
and through us. The desert is a place of stripping.
In the Bible the desert is also the place where people come back to their first
love. It’s the place where passion for God is renewed. It was in the wilderness
that the children of God first found God. It was in the wilderness that the children
of Israel first felt the love of God and the provision of God. And when the people
of God wander away from God, God brings them back into the wilderness, back
into the desert so that they can renew their first love. Listen to the words of
Hosea 2:14. God is talking to Israel as a man would talk to his wife and he says:
Hosea 2:14
“Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the wilderness
and speak tenderly to her.
The desert is the place where you come back to your first love. That you say,
“God, I’ve been away from you. I have all this accumulated garbage in my life,
but now that you’ve stripped me, I see so clearly that all I want and all I need is
you and what I have in your people.”
You know this Wednesday is the beginning of the season in the Christian
church’s calendar called “Lent.”
Lent begins on a holiday called Ash
Wednesday. Lent is a time for taking spiritual inventory, to slow down enough, to
ask ourselves: “Where am I being tempted? Where am I succumbing to
temptation? What is keeping me from my first love – Jesus? Where am I giving
ground and disqualifying myself from being useful to Christ?”
When the church has historically talked about giving something up for Lent, what
the church is really saying is there is a season each year where we voluntarily
choose to go into the desert. We’re not forced there by circumstance. We
choose to get rid of some of the clutter in our lives. We choose to engage in a
little bit of spring cleaning. We choose to allow ourselves for a period of time to
stop consuming massive quantities of entertainment, or stop spending massive
amounts of time online, to stop satisfying ourselves with what is not God and
what will never get us to God. In Lent we voluntarily strip away some of our
secondary satisfactions in order to make room for Jesus Christ.
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In your bulletins there is a card that I would like you to take out. What I would
like to ask you to do is very simply to pray and say, “Lord, what would be helpful
for me to eliminate from my life in order to make more room for you and renew
my love for you? Lord, if you were to do some spiritual spring cleaning in my life,
what bit of clutter would you want to throw out first?” And, as God speaks to your
heart, why not take this card and write it down on the card. Ask the Lord also,
“What activity would you want me to engage in?” Lent is not just stripping, Lent
is filling with something else. What activity would you want me to engage in,
Lord to draw closer to you and to be about your business in the next six weeks?
I’m going to ask you come back this Wednesday night with these cards to our
Ash Wednesday service. For many of you, this will be your first Ash Wednesday
service. I’m going to ask you to come to our main campus with your small group,
if you are part of one of our small groups, a women’s group or a men’s group, or
one of our coed groups, or recovery groups. If you are not part of a group, I’m
going to ask you to come out with your family, by yourself, or with a friend and
bring these cards with you. We’re going to have you come forward and put this
card up here on the stage and have you say: “Lord, here is the desert I’m going
to voluntarily enter; here are some things I’m going to voluntarily abstain from
and some things I’m going to voluntarily engage in.” I have a picture in my mind
of thousands and thousands of us coming to Easter Sunday renewed in our love
for God and able to perhaps for the first time in our life, truly celebrate the
resurrection of Jesus Christ.
So what are the particular temptations quickly that Jesus faced? As I read
through these three temptations, they’re all about needs. We’re always tempted
in the area of our needs, or our confusion about needs. Here is what we read in
Luke 4: 1 – 4:
Luke 4:1-4
1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into
the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate
nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. 3 The
devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become
bread.” 4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘People do not live on bread
alone.’”
What is the nature of the temptation Jesus face? The temptation was
I need something other than God
In this first temptation, the Tempter calls into question God’s provision and his
care. The tempter will come to you and say, “Surely God knows what you need
to lead a happy and secure life. We aren’t talking about much, we’re talking
about the basic level of need in Maslow’s hierarchy. We are talking about food.
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You’re dying out here in the desert. God’s not feeding you. You’d better take
control and do something. You can’t trust God. You better take control.”
Here’s the temptation – this whisper comes into your ear, “God knows what you
need. You’ve told him over and over again, a thousand times, you’ve told him
what you need to be happy. You need a healing. You need a husband. You
need him to intervene in your marriage. You need him to save your son or your
daughter or your spouse, or turn someone around in their tracks. You need a job.
God, you know what I need. I can’t go on. I can’t live unless you give me this
thing. And if you won’t give it to me, I guess I will have to take back control and
get it on my own terms.”
Have any of you ever felt this way? You thought, “I can’t be happy unless “ xevent ” happens, unless God answers this prayer. I can’t be happy, I can’t go
on.”
Jesus says to the tempter, “Don’t try to confuse me about what I need. The only
thing I need to live a happy and satisfied, whole and peaceful life in this world is
to be near to God, to do God’s will and to serve him.”
And you say the same thing, friend, when you face the temptation in the desert.
When there is this big hole and emptiness in your life and you are begging God
to fill that hole in a specific way, you can meet that temptation by saying the
same thing that Jesus said. “Satan, don’t try to confuse me with what I need. I
need one thing to live a whole, sane, satisfied, peaceful life in this world. I need
to be near to God and to do the will of God. To serve him and I’m going to have
to trust God for the food, for the job, for the turnaround of a loved one, for the
healing. But I need one thing. I need to do the will of God.”
What is the second temptation? Luke 4:5-8:
Luke 4:5-8
5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the
kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, “I will give you all their
authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to
anyone I want to. 7 If you worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 Jesus
answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”
I need more than what God is currently giving
Philippians 4:19 says:
Philippians 4:19
And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in
Christ Jesus.
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But the enemy comes along and says, “You can’t trust God to meet all of your
needs. God’s not meeting all of your needs. I mean, look at you. You have a
need to be married; you have a need for companionship; God knows that, but he
is not meeting that need in your life.”
Look at the ministry that you’ve always wanted to have. You are not succeeding
right now in ministry. You’re not flourishing. You’re not having the impact with
your life that you know you need to feel good about yourself. You can’t trust this
verse that says “God will meet all of your needs.” God knows you need to
succeed in work. You need to be able to succeed in business. The enemy
whispers, “Maybe this verse ought to read, ‘God will supply half of your needs
according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.’ God will supply some of your
needs. You can’t trust that God will meet all of your needs because he is clearly
not doing it.”
So Satan comes along with a temptation to compromise, to cut corners for
achieving what you think you need. He comes to Jesus and says, “Jesus,
wouldn’t it be great if you were the ruler of this whole world? I will give you the
whole world. Then you would be able to fix things. You would be able to end
suffering. That’s in your heart – you want to end suffering, don’t you? You hate
watching people starve to death. I will give you the whole world to rule and you
will be able to feed people and do good. Jesus, you hate watching mothers
weep because their children are dying. I will give you the whole world and you
will be able to fix all of that. This is not a bad thing that I’m offering you. This is a
good thing. This is what you already want to do. You want to make a difference,
Jesus. You want your life to count for something. You want to have an impact on
this world. Jesus, I will give you that impact. All you need to do is just bow the
knee to me. No big deal. Think of the difference you will be able to make if you
just cut this corner, compromise a little bit, bend the truth just a smidgeon. Bow
the knee to me.”
Of course, God had a plan for Jesus to be the Ruler of the world. But he had a
time for that to happen, and a way for that to happen. And the time and the way
were for Jesus to gain authority over the world through self-denial and suffering
and a cross. Satan said, “Here’s the short-cut; here’s the way around self-denial,
around suffering; and, around the cross.”
Satan is always going to offer you that deal. You know you are going to marry
this person; you love them and they love you. But because of finances and
circumstances, you have to wait and you have this sexual need that God is not
meeting. What is wrong with having sex now? You’re going to have sex with
them in the future. Why do you have to wait?
Bow the knee, Satan says, just bow to me just a little bit. Just bend a little bit
before me. Yes, Satan.
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God knows that you need a job. But he is not giving it to you. Don’t wait on
God’s time, don’t do it in God’s way. Just bow the knee a little bit to me. Yes,
Satan, I will bow to you and fudge my resume. I will lie in an interview. I will cut
corners.
God knows that you need to succeed at your job. Don’t succeed in God’s time
and in God’s way, if it means bending the truth to some clients, playing the game,
working the system, working the angles, kissing up to people that you have to
kiss up to, well, you know that’s just the way it is played. Yes, Satan, I will bow to
you.
Jesus wouldn’t bend the knee to Satan for the whole word; we bend the knee so
that a stranger in a coffee shop or on a plane will think well of us. We say: Yes,
Satan, I will worship you for some trifle because we can’t trust that God will do
what God promises to do to meet all of our needs, in his time and in his way.
What’s the third temptation?
Luke 4:9-12
9 The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point
of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down
from here. 10 For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning
you to guard you carefully; 11 they will lift you up in their hands, so that
you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” 12 Jesus answered, “It is
said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
The third temptation is again about needs.
I need proof that God will provide and protect
I need. I need. I need. What’s going on here? Here’s the deal. Every time some
tragedy occurs, after every school shooting, after every terrorist attack, after
every terrible murder in our city, people ask: Why did God allow this? Why didn’t
God do something to stop it? Why didn’t God intervene?
It is apparent that we human beings have the freedom to hurt other people. We
can strap a bomb around our chest and walk into a crowded marketplace and
blow ourselves up. We can choose to divorce each other. We can choose to
have affairs. We can choose to disappoint people who are relying on us. We
can choose to slander someone’s reputation. We have the freedom to betray
each other. We have the freedom to twist the truth. We even have the freedom
as human beings to treat God as if he didn’t exist. We have the freedom to make
plans for our lives without any reference to God at all.
So what was the third temptation that Jesus faced?
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At the heart of this temptation, you could say that Jesus was being enticed to
limit the freedom of men and women and to compel people’s belief.
In the 19th century, a Russian author named Dostoevsky wrote one of the
greatest novels ever written, The Brothers Karamazov. And in The Brothers
Karamazov, this agnostic brother Ivan writes a story of the grand inquisitor. The
grand inquisitor is set back in the sixteenth century during the Spanish Inquisition
in the city of Seville in Spain. In the poem a disguised Jesus visits the city where
daily people are being burned at the stake. And the grand inquisitor recognizes
Jesus and has him thrown into prison. And there the two, the grand inquisitor and
Jesus, meet in this scene that is right out of Matthew 4, Jesus’ meeting in the
desert.
The grand inquisitor says to him, “You turned down the three greatest powers at
your disposal. You turned down miracle, turning loaves into bread. You turned
down mystery, jumping off the pinnacle of the Temple and being caught in the
air. You turned down authority, ruling with a rod of iron over the kingdoms of the
world. Why did you not perform miracles on demand, Jesus? Why didn’t you
take up Satan’s offer of authority and power? Don’t you understand that what
people want is irrefutable proof of the existence of God, something that is
established beyond dispute?”
This is a line from The Brothers Karamazov:
Instead of taking possession of men’s freedom, you increased it and
burdened the spiritual kingdom of mankind with its sufferings forever. You
desired man’s free love that he should follow you freely, enticed and taken
captive by you.
All the alternative systems in the history of the world work by compulsion
(fascism, communism, totalitarianism, the Taliban.) World religions, at their
worst, will force people to follow or kill them.
In other words, what Satan was offering Jesus in the temptations in the desert
was the power to compel people to believe. Give people a 100% knock-out
punch. Give them something so evident, so solid, and so plain, that the whole
world would be forced to its knees. Why is everything so tinged with ambiguity?
The temptation facing Jesus his whole life, not just in the desert, but time and
time again all the way to the cross when they mocked him and said, “Get down
from the cross. Get down.” The temptation facing Jesus continually was to
forsake the way of lowliness, to forsake the way of hiddenness, to forsake the
way of suffering, to be more evident, to dazzle people, to make God more
obvious, to grab folks by the scruff of their neck and force their faces to the
ground and make them believe.
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People still want that of God. People still ask that of God. Do something so
obvious that I can’t help but believe. But Jesus rejected that life-long temptation.
He refused to dazzle or coerce belief or rule the nations with a rod of iron.
Instead, up until this very moment, Jesus gives us freedom. He presents us with
a choice, a stark choice in the desert, to freely, voluntarily throw our lot in with
him, to stand with him, to follow him, to love him as a completely uncompelled
free choice or to throw our lot in with the devil!
So, how do we triumph over temptation?
Let me suggest a few things in closing. The first is
Obey God right now
If you want to triumph over temptation, don’t worry about whether you will be able
to obey God next week, or for the rest of your life. That’s what Satan wants to get
you to think about. “You won’t be able to keep this going forever. You won’t be
able to follow Jesus in this area forever. You know you won’t. You’ve fallen
before.”
The question that God presents to you is never will you obey me for the rest of
your life. The question that the Holy Spirit asks of us is will you obey me right
now? Don’t worry about whether you can obey God next month. Can you obey
God right now?
You say, “Well, I’m a single person and I don’t think I can be sexually abstinent
for the rest of my life, if I don’t find a husband or a wife.”
That’s not a question that God is asking you. God is asking, “Can you be
sexually abstinent this morning? Can you be sexually abstinent for the next four
hours?” And when you get done with that, God will say, “Do you think you can
be sexually abstinent this afternoon? Can you keep yourself from tumbling into
bed right now?” That’s all.
You say, “I don’t think I can keep myself from watching pornography for the rest
of my life.”
Can you keep yourself from watching pornography in the next hour? It is always
like this: right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot…an hour from
now the question will be asked again: Can you obey God right now?
Here is the second thing in triumphing over temptation.
Slow down and think
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CS Lewis, my favorite Christian author, once said in his famous book on
temptation titled The Screwtape Letters
Picture of The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis
…that the devil’s tactic in temptation is primarily not to insert thoughts into your
mind, but rather to prevent thoughts from entering your mind. It is not so much
that Satan is whispering thoughts into your head that aren’t already there.
Rather, Satan keeps you from thinking about things you need to think about. If
you want to triumph over temptation in your life, slow down and think.
Ask yourself, “If I succumb to this temptation, will I feel better about myself
afterwards, after the temporary satisfaction, or worse? Will I feel closer to God
after I succumb, or farther away? Will I feel more whole after I succumb, or more
defeated?” After the satisfaction passes, after the cupcake is consumed, after I
have this affair – is there any possible way that this could end happy?
Here’s a third thing:
Fill yourself with God’s Word
Jesus responds to Satan with the Word of God. The Word of God is our
weapon. It clears up the confusion about what we need and when we need it and
how much we need and God’s willingness to meet our needs. We will have a
Bible Study posted online each of the 40 days of Lent beginning this Wednesday.
Finally,
Allow others to strengthen you
We don’t do well in isolation. That’s why I repeatedly tell you that you need to be
in a small group. If you are struggling with temptation, if you are struggling to
triumph and you keep succumbing, we have support and recovery groups
because God gives us each other.
Recovering in Grace II (substance abuse) Tuesday 7:00 pm
Substance (drug/alcohol) abuse recovery group.
Contact [email protected], 614.259.5289
AA Meeting Saturday 9:30-10:30 am
Sarah H, 614-891-7196 or [email protected]
Dealing with Anger Class Wednesday 7:00-9:00 pm
10-12 week co-ed class. Class is cyclical & open to attend at any point.
Next session runs 4/14 - 7/7/2010. No cost, no registration, just come &
ask
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your questions there. For more information, contact:
Support & Recovery, 614.259.5289 or
[email protected]
Celebrate Recovery Fridays 7:00 pm
Celebrate Recovery is a Christ-centered recovery fellowship for those
dealing with any addictive, compulsive or dysfunctional behavior. Meetings
include a time of worship, sharing and fellowship as we experience God’s
loving power to heal our hurts, hang-ups and habit.
For more information, contact Jeremy Wade, 614.259.541 or
[email protected].
Lay Counseling (one-on-one support) (available by appointment)
Vineyard Columbus has a team of lay counselors who desire to bring the
love of Christ to those who are hurting. If you are a member or regular
attender and would like to meet with a lay counselor, apply at the info
counter (on weekends), with our receptionists (during the week), or online
(on the Vineyard Columbus website).
For more information, contact Toni King, 614.259.5289 or
[email protected].
Integrity.women Monday 7:00 pm
Healing for sexual brokenness while finding freedom from addiction,
shame and rejection. For more information contact
Tiffany Baugher, 740.815.1621 or [email protected].
Men’s Sexual Wholeness
180 (Men’s Ministry) Monday 7:00 pm
Sexual Addictions Recovery.
John Doyel, [email protected]
Men Building Integrity (Men’s Ministry) Tuesday 7:00 pm
Redeeming sexual issues over 15 weeks, includes break-outs for young
men
(18-30 years old) and men over 30. Current cycle runs 1/5 – 4/13/2010
ands open to be joined at any time. Next cycle begins 5/3/2010.
Eric Johnson, [email protected]
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How to Triumph Over Temptation
Rich Nathan
March 6, 2011
Lent: 40 Days of Drawing Near to Jesus Series
Luke 4
I.
When does temptation arise?
A. When we experience great failure
B. When we experience great success
II.
How do we triumph over temptation?
A. Success depends not upon our circumstances
but upon our characters
III.
Why does God lead us into the desert?
IV.
What were the temptations?
A. I need something other than God
B. I need more than what God is currently giving
C. I need proof that God will protect and provide
V.
How do we triumph over temptation?
A. Obey God right now
B. Slow down and think
C. Fill yourself with God’s Word
D. Allow others to strengthen you
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