Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / The Sermon On The Mount
Raising The Bar With Prayer (Part 7) 2/03/08
Message: ‘Raising the Bar with prayer ’ pt.7 Text: Matthew 6:13
Introduction: During the ‘Regan Era’, Nancy the first lady, popularized what has become a very familiar slogan. Do you remember what it was? ‘Just say no.’ Simple, straight forward…yet so difficult to do. And the reason is…temptation is enticing or we wouldn’t have a problem saying no right away…am I right?
Temptation…(answer phone)
· Hello….Robert, I am with United Financial and we wanted to tell you that you have qualified for one of our double platinum credit cards..) (listen for a few seconds) no thank you I’m not interested. (hang up)
Temptation is a cord of barbed wire that joins us together because we’re all susceptible to it’s attraction and are all equally devastated by it’s consequences.
Some of the biggest battles you’ll ever deal with in your life… will involve overcoming temptation.
Temptation is something we all must deal everyday….(answer phone)
· Good afternoon Mr. Miles, this call is to notify you that you have won a free, all expenses paid vacation holiday to Tranquil Resorts in Key West, Florida…(listen for a few seconds) no thanks…bye.
Anyway,
· greets us when we wake up
· it meets us as we begin our daily routine
· it finds us on our way to work or to school
· it follows us home each night
· and it even visits us before we go to sleep.
Temptation confronts us…everyday…(answer phone)
· Hello Mrs. Miller, I am with Consolidated Mortgage and Loan company…(hang up)
I hate sales calls. They’re annoying and they always come at the worst possible times. But, I and perhaps some of you, have found a way to effectively deal with them…Before they get their schpeel going I hang up on them.
You know, just as those annoying sales calls kept me from delivering my sermon, so temptation keeps us from living the full and abundant lives God want us to live.
The challenge today, and everyday, is to resist temptation with the same determination you have ignoring unwanted sales calls.
Transition: The sixth and final petition in the Lord’s Prayer encouragingly speaks of God’s protection. Open your Bibles to Matthew 6:13 (pg. 741 in the Bibles under the chair in front of you.) It’s here we’ll find that we continue to raise the bar of spiritual expectations and actions in our lives by prayer.
I. Temptation: The Problem
Read: Matthew 6:13a ‘lead us not into temptation’
· One of the biggest problems,
· one of the greatest challenges,
· one of the most reoccurring nightmares we face as Christians is temptation.
Before we can discuss what God has to say about it, let’s attempt to define it.
The Definition
Temptation is not sin. Acting upon the temptation is sin. Remember, even Jesus faced temptation when he was in the wilderness for 40 days and night…but he never gave in, he never sinned.
Temptation means ‘enticement to sin.’ SO we are asking God to keep us from attitudes and actions that would entice us to sin. Because once the process of temptation has begun, it is difficult to stop. And no place in God’s Word discusses the process of temptation in greater depth than the Book of James.
Transition: So, turn in your Bibles to James 1:13 (pg. 919 in the church Bibles) And lets examine the process of temptation.
The Process (James 1:13-18)
ILL: Famous British writer Oscar Wilde once said ‘I can resist anything…except temptation.’ (Scott Maze)
This is especially true once the ball of temptation starts rolling. Well, how does it get started?
1. We look to blame others.
Read: James 1:13
It’s interesting that from the very beginning we’ve tried to blame God for our enticements to sin…for our temptations.
Read: Genesis 3:9-12 ‘But the Lord God called to the man, Where are you? He answered, I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid. And he said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from? The man said, The woman you gave me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.’
Adam was quick to blame not only Eve…but if you can believe it, God… ‘the woman YOU gave me.’ But, know that God’s holiness, goodness and love would never allow him to lead anyone to a place or circumnstance where they would be enticed to sin. God leads no one into temptation, he entices no one to sin. But as we will see later, he will use temptation to help us grow.
So, if God;s not responsible, who is?
2. Temptation comes from within.
Read: James 1:14
Temptation is an inside job, in fact the entire sin problem is not an external matter. Notice that Satan is missing from verses 14-15. Not once is the devil mentioned. The problem is not that ‘the devil made me do it’ as Flip Wilson’s caharacter Geraldine used to say.
The problem with temptation is our own desires and that comes from ..here…(heart) and here (mind). We have met the enemy…and he is me.
Read: Mark 7:15 Jesus said ‘Nothing outside a man can make him ‘unclean’ by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him ‘unclean.’
ILL: Let’s say guys you’re married and work in an office with someone who just happens to be the most attractive woman there. You learn that she finds you attractive and youbegin to flirt with her …just a little bit. But she makes it clear that she wants more. You know you should end it…just hang up the phone, just say no
· but your desire for her is stronger than your desire to remain faithful to your vows
· your desire for her is stronger than your desire to be obedient to God
· you cross the line and the ball of temptation has begun it’s downward decent to sin.
Read: Mark 7:20-23 ‘Jesus went on: What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’ For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’
Perhaps unfaithfulness is not a strong desire in your heart. Maybe it’s something else Jesus mentioned, but the outcome, the consequences are the same…sin…open rebellion against your Heavenly Father.
Sometimes, the only thing standing between us and a destructive life altering decision is whether we can say no stopping the process of temptation.
Notice that James says ‘but each one is tempted when by his own evil desires…’ James makes it personal. No outside force is strong enough to make you give in to temptation. Lets all be honest, we don’t give in to temptation and sin because we’re forced to, we do it because we want to.
And notice that temptation for me may not be temptation for you. We each have our own evil desires that entice us to sin.
That’s why it’s important not to stand in judgment over others for a particular sin, just because we don’t have a problem with that one. We each have our own sinful desires that entice us to our own sinful actions. And those desires are powerful.
3. Temptation’s deception is powerful
Read: James 1:14-15
In the words of James we are ‘dragged away and enticed.’ Let me illustrate.
There’s a big ole fish deep down in a lake. You know he’s there. He has a favorite log that he loves to hide under. But you know this fish, and you know there’s a special worm he really loves. So you put that worm on a hook, throw it into the water.
Mr. Fish sees the worm, and the desire to have that worm overcomes any fear he may have of leaving the log. He approaches the worm; looking at the bait but not paying any attention to the hook.
Then, desire gives in to deception; excitement gives in to enticement, and he bites!
When he
bites, he’s hooked and the battle is on. All of a sudden the brain of that
fish communicates two things to him. It says, “I’ve got some good news and
some bad news. The good news is, you’ve got the worm--the bad news is, the
worm has you!” (Scott Maze)
Consider this…why do you think we say
· addicts are ‘hooked’ on drugs,
· alcoholics are ‘hooked’ on booze
· or prostitutes are called ‘hookers?’
The Greek word used for ‘dragged away’ actually means ‘hooked’ ‘caught in a trap.’ It refers to how hunters bait traps to catch wild animals.
And why do we go for the bait? Because it is tasty or attractive or something we really want and we forget about the hook…often we don’t even care about the hook…we want the bait!
ILL: Committing adultery, for example, may seem pleasurable at the time; but when your marriage is over, your reputation is ruined and you only see your children on weekends, you’ll realize that the pain outweighs the pleasure.
ILL: When you are in High School or college hanging out with friends and getting drunk may seem like a good time. But when you ses the flashing blue lights in your rear view mirror or when your car is wrapped around a tree, or when some one is killed because you were driving drunk, you’ll realize that the good time just wasn’t worth it.
Folks, the desire to give in to temptation is powerful and must be controlled…or the result is death…for Christian and non-Christian alike. Let me explain.
The process of temptation goes like this.
· Temptation begins with an evil desire in your heart
· It entices you to take a step closer
· It deceives you to think only about the pleasure, the bait
· You give in and it results in your disobedience
· Sin is disobedience to God.
· Continued disobedience to God results in death.
Read: James 1:15
· For the non-Christian continuing to give in to temptation and continuing to sin means the loss of life with God for all eternity and eternal death in the fiery furnace of hell.
· For the Christian continuing to give in to temptation and continuing to sin means the loss of life, abundant life, joyful life, that God wants his children to experience. But instead you sink deeper and deeper into guilt and despair, your heart is hardened and you become dead to the voice of the Holy Spirit in your life.
The enticement to sin and it’s deception is powerful.
Conclusion: So what can we do?
Read: James 1:16-18
The good news is that those born of God, those who have placed their faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior will find their heavenly Father as protector.
God gives us the good gifts of faith and truth to see beyond the bait. He gives us the wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit to help us stop before we get hooked.
Our Heavenly Father desires to give us life, abundant, joyful life and when we pray for his protection and walk in his power, we can have exactly that.
Remember the Lord’s Prayer has taught us that:
· The kingdom is where the King is.
· Those living in the Kingdom obey the King.
· The King provides for the needs of his people.
· The king grants forgiveness to his people.
Today we find that
· The king protects his people.
We raise the bar of spiritual expectations and actions in our lives by prayer.