Keep Us from Temptation
“You can’t stop birds from flying overhead, but you can keep them from making a nest in your hair.”
Just yesterday morning, I counted 19 magpies between the parsonage and the church. I thought I was in an Alfred Hitchcock movie. Most of the time I don’t mind magpies. They do their thing; I do mine. But, as I sat down at my desk to get some work done, I kept hearing a noise: “Bang! Bang! Bang!” The magpies kept flying into the windows.
At first I thought I could just wait them out. They would figure it out eventually, right? Wrong. Maybe it was the repeated concussive force on their tiny bird skulls, or their pea-sized brains to begin with, but it just kept happening. “Bang! Bang! Bang!” What would you do in a situation like that?
I just opened the front door. As soon as they saw me outside they flew away, never to bang their silly bird heads on the glass again – at least, not yesterday. This morning they were back out there. If I had to guess, I would assume they’ll be out there again tomorrow.
Temptations are kind of like those magpies. There are so many of them, and they are everywhere. Just about at any moment of your life you could look out the window and count 1 or 2 or 19 of them. You might successfully scare them off one day, but they’ll be back the next, and the day after that, and the day after that.
“You can’t stop birds from flying overhead, but you can keep them from making a nest in your hair.”
The Sixth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer is all about temptation: “And lead us not into temptation.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, temptation is a major theme in the Bible. God has a lot to say about temptation – what it is, what it looks like, how he dealt with it and how we should.
Let’s start at the beginning: What is temptation? Our catechism proposes this definition:
Temptation – any situation in which someone may be led into sin, false belief or despair.
There are a lot of situations that could lead someone into sin, false belief or despair. We don’t have time today to identify each and every situation, but we do have time to identify temptation’s origin. In other words, where does temptation come from? The Bible has some answers:
The great dragon was hurled down – that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray.[1]
According to Revelation, where does temptation come from? The devil. In fact, you could say that temptation is the devil’s main occupation. He spends all his time trying to lead you astray, trying to lead you to sin or to some false belief or even to despair.
Are any of you boxing fans? Even if you’re not, do you know what a “1-2 punch” is? It’s a combination of punches. That first punch is not meant to be the knockout blow. It’s just setting you up so that the second punch is even more devastating, catches you off guard, at a place and time where and when you are most vulnerable.
The devil has a devastating 1-2 punch, and I think a great example of it is the very first sin we read about in the whole Bible. You might remember this from Genesis 3:
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’”[2]
Long before he ever points out the forbidden fruit, what is the devil tempting Eve to do? He is tempting her to doubt God, and specifically, to doubt that a certain action would be sinful.
Eve, to her credit, gives a great answer:
The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”[3]
So far, so good. But the devil’s not done:
“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.[4]
What did the devil convince Eve to think about the fruit that God had forbidden them to eat? He convinced her – and Adam, who was with her – that eating it wouldn’t be so bad. In fact, eating it would actually be really good.
The first part of the devil’s devastating 1-2 punch is to convince us that sin isn’t so bad, or convincing us that doing something that God forbids would actually be good for me. The first part of the devil’s devasting 1-2 punch is to convince us that sin is no big deal. Then he throws the haymaker:
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 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.”[5]
In the moment of temptation, the devil convinced Adam and Eve that their sin would be no big deal. How did he make them feel about their sin after they committed it? They felt horrible about it – so much so that they tried to cover themselves with leaves and hide from their God.
First, the devil convinces us that sin is no big deal. Then, once we’ve committed that sin, he convinces us that it was such a big deal and that God will be so mad at us for doing it that he’ll never love us again. Temptation is the devil’s way to drive a wedge between us and our God, and sadly, all too often, he succeeds.
Which of the devil’s lies do you believe? Which sinful desires drag you away and entice you to sin? It’s different for each of us. It’s different within each of us at different times of our lives. When we’re quite young – between the crib and college – what is a common temptation? Disobedience and disrespect.
How about when we’re a little older – between puberty and parenthood? What is a common temptation at that time of life? The lusts of the flesh – adultery, overindulgence.
What about when we’re in the middle of our lives, busy with careers or children? What is a common temptation then? Security, stability, safety.
Or what about when we’re mature – when the kids are moved out of the house or after we’ve retired? What is a common temptation then? Pride and despair, which are really just two sides of the same coin.
Temptations are like magpies - there are so many of them, and they are everywhere. Just about at any moment of your life you could count 1 or 2 or 19 of them. You might successfully scare them off one day, but they’ll be back the next, and the day after that, and the day after that.
When you put it that way, it sounds rather hopeless. But God did something about our temptations. He sent his Son to face them too. And where we have failed, Jesus prevailed. In stark contrast to the account of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3, we have the account of Jesus in Luke 4:
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 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.
The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”
The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 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. If you worship me, it will all be yours.”
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”
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. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus answered him, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.[6]
The devil came to Jesus at a vulnerable moment in his life and kept throwing temptation after temptation at him. But how did Jesus respond? Flawlessly. He never once gave in. He remained sinless and perfect – and not just here or for this moment, but again and again and again. No matter how many temptations and no matter how many times they flew overhead, he never once allowed them to make a nest in his hair or a home in his heart. Jesus was perfect.
And that’s important for you. This is the way the writer to the Hebrews puts it:
Such a high priest truly meets our need – one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.[7]
What did Jesus’ blamelessness enable him to do for you? It enabled him to offer himself as the sacrifice for our sins.
When Jesus died on a cross, it wasn’t for any crime he had committed, but for every sin you have committed. He suffered the punishment that you deserve for every temptation you give into, and then he gave you the credit for his perfect life, so that now, when God looks at you, he doesn’t see a sinner; he sees the sinlessness of his Son credited to you.
God did something about temptation. He sent his Son to face it and to be victorious over it. He sent Jesus to resist it and to save you from it.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that you will never face temptation in this life. Temptations are like magpies. They’re everywhere, all the time. Even when we scare one away, they come back in full force the next day. But your situation is not hopeless.
“You can’t stop birds from flying overhead, but you can keep them from making a nest in your hair.”
Not only has God given you salvation through his Son’s perfection, but he even gives you promises to help strengthen and protect you from the temptations that you will continue to face day after day.
No temptation has overtaken you except 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 that you can endure it.[8]
What promises does God give you about when temptation confronts you? First, you’re not alone. Chances are that there is at least one other person in this room who faces the exact same temptation that you do. Second, he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. In other words, God will never put you in a situation where sin is your only option. And this second promise ties in well with the third – God will always give you a way out.
Think back on the temptation of Jesus. What was his way out of every one of the devil’s temptations? It was the Word of God. The Bible cuts through every one of the devil’s lies and empty promises. You have that same Word, and it is your greatest weapon against temptation.
Is the devil trying to sow the seed of doubt in your heart? “Does God love me?” “Will God provide for and protect me?” “Is God holding out on me?” The answer to each of those doubts is in the Bible.
It might be difficult to remember what the Bible has to say in the moment, but how can we help ourselves recite God’s Word the same way Jesus did to the devil? We have to be in God’s Word, whether that means going to church on Sunday morning, reading your personal devotion throughout the week, sitting down to memorize verses and passages of the Bible, or all the above. Your single greatest weapon against temptation is the Word of God. Use it.
But amazingly, as effective as God’s Word is at fighting temptation, it is not the only weapon God gives you. The writer to the Hebrews puts it this way:
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.[9]
What other weapon does God give us to fight temptation? He gives us each other.
Martin Luther once said, “When you are tempted by sadness or despair or some other pang of conscience, then eat, drink, and seek to converse with people.”
That’s true because of what Paul wrote to the Corinthians: No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind.[10] You are not the only person to face whatever temptation overtakes you. There are some who have already faced it and others who are still struggling with it. You can work together to “spur one another on” and to “encourage one another.”
God gives us his Word as the greatest weapon against temptation, but he gives us each other too. God builds in escape hatches to every temptation and will never put you in a situation where sin is your only option.
We won’t win every battle, or fend off every magpie from making a nest in our hair. But the key to victory does not lie in our strength or skill in wielding the weapons God gives us. The victory is ours through Jesus, who faced the same temptations we do but overcame them; who lived a sinless life, but sacrificed himself on a cross for you; whose innocent blood cleanses you of all your sin, and gives you the sure and certain hope of heaven.
That’s what Jesus wants us to remember when he teaches us to pray, “Lead us not into temptation.” Amen.
[1] Revelation 12:9
[2] Genesis 3:1
[3] Genesis 3:2,3
[4] Genesis 3:4-6
[5] Genesis 3:7-10
[6] Luke 4:1-13
[7] Hebrews 7:26,27
[8] 1 Corinthians 10:13
[9] Hebrews 10:24,25
[10] 1 Corinthians 10:13