March 9, 2014 Rev. Teogenes Tawagon Facing Up To Temptation Psalm 32 The Joy of Forgiveness Of David. A Maskil 1 Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2 Happy are those to whom the LORD imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. 3 While I kept silence, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. 5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, I will confess my transgressions to the LORD, and you forgave the guilt of my sin. 6 Therefore let all who are faithful offer prayer to you; at a time of distress, the rush of mighty waters shall not reach them. 7 You are a hiding-place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with glad cries of deliverance. Matthew 4:1-11 The Temptation of Jesus 1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. 3 The tempter came and said to him, If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. 4 But he answered, It is written, One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 saying to him, If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, He will command his angels concerning you, and On their hands they will bear you up, March 9, 2014 Facing Up To Temptation Page 1
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone. 7 Jesus said to him, Again it is written, Do not put the Lord your God to the test. 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; 9 and he said to him, All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me. 10 Jesus said to him, Away with you, Satan! for it is written, Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him. 11 Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him. * * * * * * * A minister parked his car in a no-parking zone in a large city because he was short of time and couldn t find a space with a meter. Then he put a note under the windshield wiper that read: I have circled the block 10 times. If I don't park here, I ll miss my appointment. Forgive us our trespasses." When he returned, he found a citation from a police officer along with this note: I've circled this block for 10 years. If I don t give you a ticket I ll lose my job. Lead us not into temptation. Our lesson for today is about temptation. Each of us has been tempted. Even Jesus was tempted. Our scripture for the first Sunday in Lent begins, Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Jesus knew who was tempting him. When we are tempted, it is so important to realize the source of that temptation. God is not tempted to do wrong, Jesus is not enticing us to sin, and the Spirit is not guiding us into temptation. Temptation never comes from God. The reason I say this is because, I heard many times from my relatives, friends and some people around the community, that temptations, and some other bad things that happen in our lives, comes from God. I don t believe in this idea! Let us consider for a few moments the nature of the temptations that Jesus encountered, and see if they will apply in our lives. First of all, there was the temptation to turn the stones to bread. The devil knew Jesus was hungry after fasting for forty days. If you are the Son of God, the Devil said, command these stones to become loaves of bread. My Facebook friend, who is also a minister in the Philippines, traveled to Jerusalem and visited the desert where Jesus was tempted. He March 9, 2014 Facing Up To Temptation Page 2
described that there are small rocks covering the ground. So, we can understand that the small rocks might look like bread to someone who has gone forty days without food. There s no reason that Jesus could not turn the stones into bread. But Jesus knew who was tempting him and why. Jesus quoted the scripture in response to the devils challenge, One does not live by bread alone, but every word that comes from the mouth of God. Meaning, Jesus saying here, that there is more in life than having a full stomach. The second temptation, the devil took Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple. Again, the devil said to Jesus, If you are the Son of God It seems that the devil was questioning Jesus identity. The devil wanted Jesus to throw himself off of the temple. This temptation is more convincing, because the devil also knew how to quote the scripture, the devil said, : If you are the Son of God, He will command his angels concerning you, and On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not touch your foot against the stones. It s really very confusing. But, Jesus answered him, Do not put the Lord your God to the test. The third temptation, the devil showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the worlds and promised, All these will give, if you will fall down and worship me. All Jesus had to do at this point was to compromise his mission and his ministry. The devil was offering Jesus the whole world if only he would worship him. If Jesus would have given into this temptation, he could bypass his suffering and death on the cross. This would be a short cut for Jesus, and it would be much more pleasant since it involved no pain. Jesus could have the whole world without having to suffer and die for it. What a temptation? Isn t it? Jesus did not compromise and again he said, Get away from me Satan! For it is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him. I have a question for you this morning, did you experience temptation? If so, what is it? What is your temptation? My reflection from the story of temptation is, to be human, or being a Christian, is not an exemption from all kinds of temptation. We are always tempted to anger, tempted to lust, tempted to laziness, tempted to stubbornness, tempted to taking revenge, and there many other temptations that we cannot count that will lead us into the path of temptation. March 9, 2014 Facing Up To Temptation Page 3
I heard so many people sharing their life experiences on how they are tempted. I also read some story in the books where people encounter so many temptations in their lives. One of those books that I read is the life of a very well-known writer named Susan Nielsen. She wrote a wonderful article about temptation. Her temptation, according to this article, is materialism. She writes how she became jealous to her neighbor s swimming pool. She said it opened her mind to the idea of disposable income, of buying things you don t need and your neighbor cannot afford. She said, it was like meeting the devil himself, in a swimsuit and a smile. She added, I've been running from that devil ever since. After college, she says, she'd work on luxury yachts for a while and she adds, The devil worked beside me as a sailor. After many years in her job, she moved to Oregon, bought a house, and spent a year and expressing satisfaction on her new house, new washer and dryer. She said that owning a new washer and dryer was a significant improvement in her quality of life. Then, she writes, the devil stopped by with a welcome basket and a little gossip. The neighbors have central air, the devil said. The people down the street have a beautiful landscape. Their house has a very nice bathroom with beautiful tiles and decoration, and their wine collections are amazing. She said, I almost cried myself to sleep on the couch. Listen to what she said about the tempter. She said, the tempter loves selling the American dream as a scarce commodity. The tempter loves hinting that if I don't try harder to be rich, I ll end up poor. The devil always hits us where we are most vulnerable. He came to Jesus when he had been fasting for forty days. He came to him when he was doing his mission and service. Satan offered Jesus shortcuts: Throw yourself from the pinnacle of the temple and let the angels catch you. It's a lot easier than hanging on the cross. Bow down to me. Let me give you the Kingdom of the world. That's a lot quicker than working with the disciples and others who will follow them to build your kingdom. The tempter always approaches us where we are most vulnerable. But Jesus didn t give in. And I think neither should we. What can we learn about dealing with temptation from Jesus' experience in the wilderness? Let me give you a few suggestions on how to minimize our temptations. First, we need to stay as close as possible to our Christian friends or the church. In our experiences in life, we are always more vulnerable to temptation when we are March 9, 2014 Facing Up To Temptation Page 4
alone. Look at a few examples from the Bible, the tempter came to Jesus when he was alone in the wilderness. The tempter came to Simon Peter when he was alone beside the fire in the temple courtyard. The tempter came to Judas when he was away from the other disciples. When you think, that you need to get close to Christian friends or Church, our church offers so many opportunities to serve you. We have a lively men s and women s bible study every Thursday; our choir needs more people; if you are a mission minded person, you can participate by bringing food or clothes to Survival Ministry in Perris, you can ask Pastor Alicia about this. If you are good in Youth and Children's ministry, ask Diomy or Marie. If you are good in inviting people, I will encourage you to invite those living alone to come to our church. I believe that they need our ministry. We have so many activities in our church that you can share your talents. The bottom line is to stay close with your friend, and minimize our temptations. Secondly, we need to focus on Jesus Christ. Pastor and author David Jeremiah, in his sermon states, Over time, I believe I ve discovered that temptation isn t so much a matter of what we do but of whom we love. Knowing Christ, really knowing him, not simply knowing about Him, changes everything. More often than not, power in the time of temptation comes because we ve filled our minds with magnificence, and there's no room for the world s shabby offering. There's a power in the name of Christ, and there s power in His presence as well. Worship and fellowship with God in the morning actually makes it difficult to walk right out into the world and commit some transgression. Knowing that we ve just been in the presence of the Lord of creation, and that we re carrying Him with us, makes it very difficult to sink to our lowest levels. The best escape Jesus provides is His own embrace. David Jeremiah is right. The best escape from temptation is to turn your eyes toward Jesus Christ. There is a story about a man who shared that once he had a dog when he was a boy. This was an unusually obedient dog. Sometimes, his father would test the dog s obedience. He would place a tempting piece of food on the floor. Then he would turn toward the dog and give the command, No! The dog, which must have had a strong urge to go for the food, was placed in a most difficult situation to obey or disobey his master's command. March 9, 2014 Facing Up To Temptation Page 5
The man said, The dog never looked at the food. He seemed to feel that if he did, the temptation to disobey would be so great. So he looked steadily at my father s face. There is a spiritual lesson for us all. Always look up to the Master s face. That dog was smarter than most people I know. Temptation is universal, and some temptations are deadly if they are not controlled. But with God s help, and sometimes with the help of a close friend, temptations can be resistible. Let us continue to pray and turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face; then the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of his glory and grace. Amen. March 9, 2014 Facing Up To Temptation Page 6