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Mostly peaceful week. Sheila came by with her aide and they gave me a beautiful card with a Gift Card in it as a thank-you for taking care of her cat during the transition (see pic below). Someone still needs to clear the apartment, but all in good time. Meanwhile, continued prayers for her successful transition into a family home in a quieter part of town, and getting the proper care. Rob's been here at moments due in part to offering to share some food, but at the same time he's needed help due to straining his back. Not an easy location to apply Icy/Hot to oneself. So healing prayers for him. Two bits of praise on Mike's situation. 1) He's been approved for another month at the hotel. 2) His friend's car should be fixed well enough for him to come visit me in the next couple of weeks!! It will be the first time we'll have seen each other in person in 30 yrs.!! Definitely grateful for face-time, but real-time is far more reliable on connectivity. (the weather and WiFi don't always cooperate on Messenger) ;p So exciting times ahead!! :D
Raise your hands if you've ever fallen into temptation!! If you don't all have both hands raised, you're lying to the rest of us as well as to yourself. LOL We've all been there. You know it and I know it. We've even been there multiple times. Hopefully, we've learned from those experiences and grown stronger against them. Some temptations may need to be experienced more than once before the lessons are learned. My personal history bears that out all too well. There have been 2 men in my life at different times who have been closer to me than they should have done. The first was during my marriage, the second later; but each taught me different lessons as well as repeated ones. We've all either experienced those times or seen others go through them, so I'll move on to the main body of our message today.
We actually had a Guest Speaker for today's sermon, and he was one I hadn't seen before in my 4 1/2 yrs. of attendance. His name is Andy Needham. He and his wife minister with an organization called Church of New England. He also mentioned a 2nd group, but I missed the name of it. Although this was my first time seeing him preach, I have occasionally seen them on our Worship Team, and they became official members of our Church a couple of weeks ago. I enjoyed his presentation of God's Word equally to that of Pastor Matt's, and I trust you will too.
In presenting the ideas encompassed by the phrase, "lead us not into temptation", Andy took us on a journey with Jesus through His temptation. Turn with me to Luke 4, verses 1-13
Luke 4:1-13
New International Version
Jesus Is Tested in the Wilderness 4 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[a] 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: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’[b]” 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.’[c]” 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.’[d]” 12 Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’[e]” 13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time
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The first thing it's important for us to understand in this message is that our Salvation in Christ is not just a matter of Eternal Security, but an invitation to live in harmony with Him on a daily basis. We've seen this in other recent messages, how God desires not only companionship or fellowship with us, but also to provide guidance and wisdom in our lives. As we even looked at last week, "give us this day our daily bread". This indicates His desire not only to spend time with us every day, but to provide for our every need daily. Those who read last week's post may remember the meme I featured at the bottom about how the person was doing okay since waking up, but was going to need help once leaving their bed... That meme would be equally appropriate for today's message. (maybe even more, but since I just used it last week, I'll look for something different today) :)
"Lead us not into temptation." Right, so a good place to start* would be to define the word, "temptation." What exactly is, "temptation"?? As an all-encompassing example, Andy used the "ever-infamous" Midnight Snack. You're standing in your kitchen in the middle of the night. What do you reach for, savory/salty* or sweet?? Some of us may be in one camp or the other on this; others may be in both. (I'm more often in the Sweet camp, myself)* Andy was talking about doing the majority of the grocery shopping for his family and he's learned not to shop hungry and become the proud owner of aisle 4, or what have you. LOL So he generally does pretty well. The operative word here being, "generally"... This time of year, there are "devils" waiting outside the stores. These "devils" come in the guise of young girls selling cookies. For our foreign friends who may be reading, these youngsters are more commonly known of as Girl Scouts. They have been famous for their 6 varieties or so of cookies for about 100 yrs +/-. Anyway, Andy's particular weakness (and mine) in their direction are Thin Mints. Once that box is open, all bets are off!! LOL Clearly no contest when compared to the edible packing peanuts from Communion this morning*!! LOL
So considering the point that temptations may look different to any one of us, we need to look beneath the surface. We need to "turn the stones over" and see what lurks under them. (In my experience, it's nothing particularly inviting. At least when it comes to nature) But with people, it's different, isn't it?? There are both principles and principalities at work. The principalities make it their mission to have temptations look incredibly inviting*. Left unchecked, however, those temptations can trap us into the lie for a time.
But that's where Jesus comes in. He invites us all into the freedom of resisting temptations or overcoming them after the fact. Two passages of scripture that speak directly about this are as follows --
1 Cor. 10:12-13 -- "So if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! No temptation has overtaken you but what is common to mankind. 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 you can endure it." -- The point here lies in the fact that temptation is going to come. It's not something we can just avoid or pray away. What matters is how we respond. Will we bend to our human weakness and make the bad decisions, or will we be strong in the Lord and the power of HIs might??* He provides a way out of temptation, not the elimination of it. Some of you may recall in another recent message how this verse came up in the question of whether God gives us more than we handle. And you may also recall the answer, which is yes, but He doesn't give us more than He can handle!!*
James 1:12-13 -- "Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love Him. When tempted, no one should say, 'God is tempting me.' For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone." -- The major thing to realize here is that God doesn't tempt anyone. There are some groups or individuals who think that God tests us with trials in our lives. Both of these verses unequivocally refute this. The book of Job refutes this line of thinking, as does the story of Adam and Eve, as does today's passage and any number of others. The fact is that God allows for us to be tempted. He is NOT the source of the temptation, only the Sovereign Authority* that permits it in order to prove our faith or lack thereof.
Okay, so now that we have all of that out of they way, we can "heft our backpacks" and wander into the wilderness with Jesus...
For starters, we need to look at the key elements of the story as a whole. The fact is, Spiritual Warfare* may be a "taboo" subject in a lot of places, including the Church; but it's very real. There are enemies to be fought, and weapons with which to fight them. We cannot stay silent about it and expect people to just "muddle through". This passage gives important information on both the "set up" and on the battle itself --
Setting -- The wilderness is where we are the most vulnerable in life. We feel isolated from all help. For Jesus, the wilderness and the temptations were literal. Some areas of Israel are desert and this is where The Holy Spirit led Jesus to go following His baptism.* For us, the wilderness is more likely to be a metaphor for our current position in life. We have fallen away from God in some way (or every way) and have a hard time being sure that He even still hears our prayers. We may even still show up at Church every Sunday during these times, thinking that if we just keep "going through the motions"*, some point of a message will bring us back around. Maybe it will and maybe it won't. The real question is whether our hearts are ready to receive it.
Arena -- The arena in which we fight is our minds*. God created us to be creative. He gave us the gifts of imagination and invention. It's been suggested, and accurately, I believe; that it's only through the use of our imagination that we can even think about, and actually believe in God. I mean, how else can we, as finite beings, even begin to fathom an Eternal God?? Only through imagination and invention do we have things like the computer I'm typing this on and also sharing it with all of you. Only through imagination do we have movies to entertain us, or cars to drive, etc... God gave us the ability to not only make Himself known to us, but to make our lives on Earth increasingly better as our needs have changed over time. It's also only through imagination that we are able to process information and discern truth from it, or not in the case of Optical Illusions. (see image below) Our minds have a need to "fill in the gaps" in whatever information we are receiving. Point being, we cannot always trust what we see. Sometimes temptations can look really amazing, but there's "dirty truth" lying beneath.
The Enemy -- For Christians, or really, for everyone; the one true enemy we have is The Devil. Satan. Beelzebub. Pick a name, any name... They all point to the same Fallen Angel, Lucifer. I don't think it was a mistake that God gave him that name either. "Light Bringer"... pretty interesting name for the "Father of Darkness", isn't it?? But I think that's just God's point. After all, what is the other major title he has, "Father of Lies"*, right?? And those of you who've been around for a bit know that I recently watched the TV show, Lucifer. I honestly think that Neil Gaiman was onto something when he wrote/created the show. For those of you who haven't seen it, part of the premise is that The Devil doesn't lie, he simply plays on our deepest desires. I see that played out in today's story.* The problem actually lies in the fact that we sometimes minimize the role of the Devil in our lives. (Which is exactly what he wants) Obviously apart from the times we say, "The Devil made me do it!!" But the fact is, The Devil never actually "makes" us do anything. He simply presents something that he knows we have a weakness for and sits back to see what happens. As mentioned above, none of this is about God testing us, it's about the fact that The Devil customizes his attacks according to the individual. As Andy said, "customized cyber attacks on our cognitive operating system."
Once we understand the "set up", we can move on to the temptations themselves --
Appetite -- The first temptation concerned Jesus' appetite because He was working through 40 days of fasting and prayer. Clearly, the number one priority would be food, right?? This shows Jesus' humanity. Having set aside His Divine body to become human was a huge sacrifice. It meant suffering everything that we do. Although we were created perfectly, Free Will was an inherent element and when The Devil was allowed to tempt Adam and Eve, they fell and basically ruined things for the rest of us. (although the rest of us wouldn't be here if they hadn't) But we humans don't just hunger for food, do we?? We hunger for belonging, for intimacy, we hunger for peace and fulfillment. The danger lies in how we fill those needs. Junk food, people-pleasing, sex, drugs/alcohol, entertainment, fulfillment, etc... None of that will be truly satisfying in the long run. Junk food will make us overweight and sick. People-pleasing will harm our sense of self-esteem if not our morals. Sex will almost certainly challenge our morals. Drugs/alcohol will harm our bodies and lower our inhibitions which may have the potential for compromising our morals. Entertainment can be like a placebo or panacea to cover emptiness in our lives. Even the fulfillment we seek in our work may not be effective to fill the void. Satan used an attractive lie when he presented the opportunity/idea for Jesus to make bread out of rocks. He said, "If you are the Son of God..." He was preying on Jesus' human weakness by suggesting that He could solve the problem of hunger on His own since He had the power of God available to Him*. And while He very well could have, He knew that it wasn't the right time to display that ability. Sometimes discernment and patience are needed to endure temptations in life.
Applause -- The second temptation was based on recognition. Jesus was "almighty" based on the fact that He was God's Son, right?? But He was living as a human, so why would He not want the applause, the approval of the masses?? Doesn't everybody?? The problem with "us humans" is that we have a tendency to over-value the opinions of the wrong people in our lives. Rather than looking for God's approval, we seek it from others. Andy shared a story about how he would always watch Patriots games and provide a running commentary of them in the form of "dad jokes". (Ex. "more turnovers than a bakery") LOL He would post these on Facebook. At one point, he happened to notice that the numbers on his friend list went down by like, 4 or 5 people. His immediate thought was, "people don't like what I'm doing, I'd better stop". Now the truth was, that he still had the entire rest of his friend list in tact and reacting according to the workings of the algorithms. But it just took a few people un-friending him to have a devastating effect on his imagination and resulting decisions. How many of us put undue importance on the opinions of 1 or 2 people in our lives, or the wrong people?? And rest assured, this is not a new temptation based specifically in the realms of Social Media. Those of you with memories that reach far enough into the past remember the competitions of neighborhoods to have the best lawns, best behaved children, best cars, etc... This can lead in one of two directions. Self-aggrandizement/importance or low self-esteem if our perceived requirements are not met. And I say, "perceived" because our perceptions of what we truly require may or may not be accurate at different moments. All of this lends itself to the fact that our Christianity is not based on blind obedience, but on true dependence on God. Only He can truly fulfill all our needs.
Authority -- The third, and final* temptation of Jesus was that of power. During His time on Earth, Jesus was living out God's Master Plan of redemption. In the presentation of this temptation, Satan was luring Jesus with the idea of taking a "short-cut" to the power that would later be displayed on the Cross and from the Grave*. It was the temptation of control that humanity is always reaching for but never truly grasping. We love the idea of Easter, when Jesus arose victorious from the Grave, but we don't like the torturous agony of Good Friday that was required first. We like the promise of Eternal Life, but not the command that we "take up our cross and follow..." We look for short cuts of control so that we can arrange things the way we want them. Jesus lived His life in full dependence on, and submission to God. He did not seek self-sufficiency at any point. How many of us have struggled with control over the circumstances of the past 2 yrs. in the continuing saga of Covid?? How many of you are still struggling?? I personally struggled with the idea of trying to control how others viewed the whole scenario by debating on Social Media and presenting fact after fact to "lovingly lead them to the truth". The problem was, I wasn't always the most gracious about it... For others, the dangers of Covid lie in anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues due to the extended isolation that was recommended and that some people obeyed. If these issues are a reality for any of you, please don't be afraid to seek help. Don't continue to isolate yourself or think that you can handle things on your own. Embrace the help of friends, family, or even medical or other professionals who can provide the services you need. God put those agencies in place to help us. Prayer always helps, but sometimes we need something more concrete to solve the problem. People will say, "God helps those who help themselves." Well, doctors and mental health professionals are His Earthly provision for that. Don't reject them due to the fear of stigma. That only emphasizes the point made earlier about placing too much importance on the opinions of others. If you need help, reach out for it!!
Now that we've taken such a detailed look at the temptations of Jesus, let's take a quick look at how He responded --
In each case, we see Jesus replying with Scripture; but we tend to miss the deeper purpose of this. (I'm not sure I've actually heard it this way before myself) We generally think about Jesus' responses as an example to us that we should always just quote Scripture and The Devil will leave us alone. But that's not all that's really going on here. The piece we're missing is that Jesus was human. Therefore, His mind and His thoughts were just as vulnerable to misdirection as any of ours.
There are 3 key points to be observed in this --
He wasn't simply quoting Scripture to "send The Devil packing". He was quoting it to focus HIs mind on God's truth!! Think about how many places The Bible admonishes us to, "have the mind of Christ." 2 Cor. 10:4-5 talk about "taking every thought captive"*. Romans 12 speaks of conforming our minds to Christ. Those are just 2 of many...
Scripture is not just a weapon against the Enemy. The verses are not "arrows" to be shot. The Scriptures are a reservoir of Truth we can access so that we can follow the words of Heb. 4:14 and, "approach the Throne of Grace with confidence" in our time of need.
Verses such as Jn. 15:4 and Heb. 13:5 assure us that God will never leave us or forsake us. He is in the "arena" with us and will help in any way we ask.
"...Lead us not into temptation..." don't just hide in your prayer closet, pray in community with others. -- God Bless!!
Footnotes --
"Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start..." Music is always floating through my head at random moments... Gotta love The Sound of Music!! LOL
Savory/salty -- not questioning personalities, but food preferences... LOL
Sweet Camp -- I've said it before, and I'll say it again, "I'm a 'non-recovering' chocoholic!!" :D
"Edible packing peanuts", i.e. Communion Wafers -- I've always been curious on the recipe for those, how about anyone else?? ;p
Temptations look incredibly inviting... enter the guy from a few years ago. A literal "dream come true" for me. Minus, of course, the fact that he's married... *sigh* But now there's Mike, so it's all good. :D
"Be strong in the Lord and the power of His might." Eph. 6:10. The passage goes on to illuminate the Armor of God.
If God only gave us what we could handle, there would be no room for faith, nor would there be a need.
Sovereign Authority -- This means only that God is in charge of the "end game", not of the players. He gave us Free Will because the essence of His nature is love. If love is not a choice of Free Will, then it is nothing but coercion, and therefore inherently insincere. It may not be His will that any should perish (2 Pet. 3:9), but the very concept of Salvation indicates that some will not accept it. Look at all the verses that read, "whosoever will". That is a clear sign that there will be those who don't. God's sovereignty doesn't guarantee that everyone will be saved, it only guarantees that He's in charge of the results. Think about a King. The fact that the country has a king doesn't guarantee the complete and utter obedience to his laws. It only guarantees that he's in charge of the consequences when someone breaks them.
I have 2 things to say here. 1) My ex-husband has an extensive personal knowledge of Spiritual Warfare, having fought numerous battles in the spirit realm. 2) I have yet to watch the movie "War Room", but may watch it tonight since I saw it listed either on Netflix or Prime.
Jesus' baptism -- I know I've covered this before, but it bears repeating. Baptism is NOT required for Salvation. If it were, every single Salvation verse would mention it. I realize the Great Commission mentions it, but combining that with the context of the book of Acts and James' determination that Gentiles joining the ranks of The Way need not be circumcised to prove their faith; along with the fact that Jesus' emphasis was on the heart, it is logical to conclude that the only "circumcision" or "baptism" needed takes place in our hearts. There is no further need for a public display or ceremony beyond the living out of our faith before others.
"going through the motions" -- I did this for about a year and a half, including the time of the second guy that was married... I felt like my prayers, when I bothered, were just "hitting the ceiling." It was actually the combination of conversations with a couple of friends and the book I was reading that brought me around. The book was, "A Prayer for Owen Meany", by John Irving. There is a part toward the end where the main character is talking with the Priest and the Priest is warning him against the dangers of praying for his own will as opposed to God's. That was my "wake up call" to question my own prayers at the time. I was actually praying that this guy would have the wisdom to divorce his wife and be available to me... *yikes* ;p Last I knew, they are trying to work things out. And the thing was, we both knew we were doing wrong, we just didn't care for a time because everything else seemed so good.
The arena is our minds -- I highly recommend Joyce Meyer's "Battlefield of the Mind". Also, Priscilla Shirer has an excellent Bible Study on the Armor of God. I just thought of it now bc she mentions neuroplasticity.
Father of Lies -- Jn. 8:44. See also 1 Cor. 14:33, "...God is not the author of confusion, but of peace."
Lucifer TV show premise of The Devil not lying, etc... -- That being said, it's not there are no lies involved in the ploys, just that it's not lies that begin them. Our deepest desires are true in their reality. It's just that the solutions are not always what we may think they are.
Power of God available -- There are theories that Jesus performed miracles as a child, and that this is why Mary trusted His instincts during the Marriage Feast at Cana. However, I have 2 cases in evidence against this - 1) If true, some of these would be included in The Bible. 2) Jesus' public ministry didn't begin until He was blessed by the Father and touched upon by the Holy Spirit. He needed the power from the Holy Spirit in order to perform even one miracle since He was living a human existence. It also bears out in the words of Jesus to His Disciples that they were to wait in Jerusalem for the "power from on high" before they would be capable of miracles themselves. Although they were capable of some things before Pentecost, it is suggested by some that Jesus was simply sharing a portion of the power that had been given to Him by the Holy Spirit. It wouldn't be until later that they would receive the full measure. There is also the thought about the difference of the Spirit being in us, as with Salvation, as opposed to be on us as with a specific Anointing.
"Final" temptation -- Some think there was another temptation of Christ in Mary Magdalene, but there is absolutely no solid evidence for this. We see Jesus being kind and compassionate to other women during the course of His Ministry. Two examples are the Samaritan Woman at the Well and the woman who was set to be stoned. Jesus respected all women as equals to men and there is nothing to suggest favoritism toward any specific one.
"Short cut" to power -- Satan would have no other reason to desire Jesus' victory sooner than possible outside the parameters of tempting Him with Divine Power in the presence of human weakness.
2 Cor. 10:4-5 is on a magnet I made to go on my range hood. I need to redo it again though...
Music -- Never any rights...
What color is the Coke can REALLY??
The first song on here is called "The Wilderness" -- I had the privilege of seeing Ami 2x back in the mid-90's. She writes all her own stuff. It's amazing!! :D
I almost forgot about Sheila's card --
Hozzászólások