Do you ever feel as if you are in a terrible tug of war? When we have a church picnic or when we are at camp and we have a tug of war, it is a lot of fun. We are on one side of the rope and we pull with all our might in order to win for our side. I particularly enjoy the ones where there is a puddle of mud and water in between and you get to drag the other team into that mud puddle. That is a lot of fun unless you are the one who gets dragged into the mud.
However, a tug of war is not so much fun when it is going on within yourself. When your heart is pulled in one direction and then in the opposite direction or when you desire two totally opposite things, it isn’t so much fun. I suspect all of us know about this terrible tug of war. It is the battle between holiness and sin in our lives, the battle to follow God and the temptation to disobey Him. If we do not belong to God nor desire to follow Him, there is no battle because we can do exactly as we please. When we are in heaven, we will have no battle because we will have changed hearts which will follow God completely. But now, the battle is fierce and constant and difficult.
This morning, I would like to describe the battle according to some of the things the Bible says. I would like to examine the meaning of the holiness to which we have been called and the way in which temptation works. Then next week, I would like to look at some of the practical things we can do in order to overcome temptation.
Why do we struggle with temptation? Where does it come from?
Omar Khayyam was a middle eastern philosopher from the 11th century who wrote, “O Thou who didst with pitfall and with gin, Beset the path I was to wander in.” Do you agree with that? It wouldn’t be the first time that someone blamed God for putting temptation in our path. After Adam and Eve had sinned, Adam blamed God when he said in Genesis 3:12, “The woman you put here with me…” Although he blamed Eve for the temptation, he blamed God for putting her in a place where she could tempt. In other words, he was blaming God for creating the conditions in which he was tempted.
I suspect many of us have thought in similar ways. For example, most of our temptations come from the good things of life – food, sex, relationships, which are all things which God has put in this world. If we have trouble with food, we may think of blaming God for creating food. If you have problems with lust, we may think about blaming God for creating our sexual drive. If we struggle to relate well to other people, we may want to blame God for creating us with the personality and background we have.
But we can’t blame God. The Bible is very clear that God does not ever tempt us. Although God may allow us to experience difficult challenges which are intended to strengthen our faith, God never tempts. James 1:13 says, “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God 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…”
Satan, on the other hand, does tempt. In 1 Chronicles 21:1 we read that, “Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel.” Even Jesus was tempted by Satan. In Luke 4:13 we have the record of the temptations which Jesus experienced in the wilderness and we read, “When the devil had finished all this tempting…” In several other passages Satan is identified as the one who tempts. We know that because Satan is the enemy of God it is his goal to lead us to do those things which would destroy our faith and break our relationship with God.
However, even though Satan may tempt us, we cannot blame Satan when we sin. Temptation comes from Satan, but sin does not come from Satan. We are responsible for the sins we commit because we are the ones who make the choice to obey the temptation. James 1:15 is very clear about the source of temptation and there we read, “…but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.”
If we blame God, we dishonor Him. If we blame Satan because we have yielded to temptation, we will never discover how to overcome temptation because the problem is not outside of ourselves, but within ourselves. Therefore, it is critical that we recognize that temptation works because of something within ourselves and that we are responsible for our own sin.
So how does temptation work? What is the process?
We need to begin by understanding that when we are tempted, we have not yet sinned. Even Jesus was tempted as we see in the stories of his specific temptations, as for example in Matthew 4:1. Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.
It is important to know this. Temptation is not sin, but it is a terrible danger. We should not despair because we have experienced temptation. If we do, we are ripe for defeat because we may think, “I have been tempted, there is no hope for me, I might as well yield because it is already too late.” That is a false line of reasoning that Satan will use to tempt us to yield to temptation. It is a lie. Because temptation is not sin we should not be afraid that we have fallen when we have been tempted. We should however be terrified when temptation comes. Temptation is a terrible danger. Instead of feeling defeated when temptation comes, it should be a call to arms, a call to recognize that now the battle is on. The presence of temptation not a time to lay down our weapons, but a time to fight. If we don’t raise our weapons at this point, we are in great danger and the process of temptation will follow its steps leading to destruction. What are those steps?
A moment ago we looked at James 1:14,15, which has a great description of the process by which we yield to sin.
The first step is that “each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.” What this tells us is that although Satan may be involved in the temptation, he always works on us in an area that is already a weakness in us. Temptation comes in the area of our desires. In Joshua 7 we have the story of Achan. When Jericho was destroyed, God had indicated that everything in the city should not be plundered, but should be destroyed. Achan, however, did not obey this command and when he was caught he explained in Joshua 7:21, “When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”
If temptation were shown for what it really was, we would never yield, but temptation always promises something that we believe will fulfill our desires. It always contains a promise that will meet a need in us to give us what we want. For example, if we are tempted to gossip, we need to think about why that represents a temptation to us. What is it that gossip promises that we want? Does it promise that someone will like us? Does it promise to make us look better than the other person? Temptation always promise something that we want.
There are many sources of temptation which relate to the desires in our heart. In II Samuel 11 tells the story of David’s sin when he committed adultery with Bathsheba. In verse 2 we read, “One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful…” He saw the woman and she “was very beautiful” and he wanted her.
Proverbs 30:8,9 presents an interesting reflection on desire and temptation. It says, “…give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.” Desire for things can raise up temptation whether we are poor or wealthy.
Sometimes we don’t understand one another. We observe how someone really struggles with a temptation and we don’t understand how such a thing can be a problem for them because it is no issue for us. It seems that temptation is individually tailored and will attack us at the area in which we desire something very much.
But that is only the first step and at that point we have not yet sinned. The next step is that “desire has conceived.” In the story of David and Bathsheba, I suspect that David did not go up on the roof of his house with the intention of finding a woman. The temptation presented itself to him and spoke to the desire in his heart. He was enticed by the sight of her. It is at that point that he made a decision and proceeded down the path towards sin. That moment of agreeing that he not only had the desire, but also wanted to fulfill the desire was the moment at which “desire conceived.” This is the point at which desire receives the assent of the will, the point at which we say “yes” to the desire. It is at this point that we sin.
When we yield to the temptation and act on the desire, the affirmation in our heart “gives birth to sin.” This is the point at which we have crossed the line of what is the appropriate use of God’s gift. If our temptation is in the area of eating, it is at this point that we take the good thing God has given – food – and misuse it to fulfill some desire within our selves. If our temptation is in the area of our sexuality, it is at this point that we misuse the good thing which God has given – intimacy in a marriage relationship – and abuse it in order to fulfill the evil desire within us.
This is the process of temptation. It begins with an opportunity, a temptation. The temptation speaks to a desire within our hearts. We agree that we want to fulfill the desire and when we act on it, we sin.
Whenever we yield to temptations, there are always consequences. James 1:15 says, “and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” The consequences of sin are well illustrated in Genesis 3, when Adam and Eve sinned.
The first consequences was shame. In Genesis 3:7 we read that Adam and Eve recognized that they were naked. What is interesting is that they had always been naked and it had never been an issue before. Why was it suddenly uncomfortable? It was an issue because they now knew the shame of yielding to temptation. Shame is closely related to guilt. It is appropriate that the feeling of shame is associated with nakedness. Shame is what we feel when our weakness is exposed, when we are shown for who we really are. It is humbling and uncomfortable to experience shame and is usually the first indication that we have yielded to temptation.
The second consequence which Genesis 3 recognizes is separation from God. They had met with God before, but now, for the first time, they were afraid of God. Adam and Eve heard God walking in the garden. One assumes that previously this had happened and they had walked with God and looked forward to the relationship, but now they hid from God. Although there are also consequences to other relationships, it is the relationship with God which is primarily destroyed when we sin, for all sin is against God. When David had committed his sin and later acknowledged it, we read in Psalm 51:4, “Against you, you only have I sinned.”
The third consequence was the refusal to take responsibility. They knew they had done wrong, but they were unwilling to admit it. Instead they blamed others – Adam blamed God and Eve, Eve blamed the serpent. I think it is because of shame and pride that we are often exactly the same way. We have a hard time admitting that we are responsible. We don’t want to acknowledge that we have been shamed. We continue, in pride, to hold on to the deceptive notion that we are good and that we have done nothing wrong. We hate to admit that we may be something other than what we appear and so we fight hard to maintain our innocence even though we are guilty.
As a punishment for their sin, the whole world entered into brokenness. Sin will always result in brokenness. In Genesis, the consequences to the physical world included difficulty in child birth and difficulty in daily work. Romans 8:22 acknowledges the brokenness of the world when it says, “…the whole creation has been groaning…right up to the present time…” I know of a woman who was sexually abused as a child. The psychological, spiritual, relational and even physical consequences of the sin done to her continue to have an impact on her life 20 years after it happened. This is not unusual. Every time we sin, the consequences are devastating.
The ultimate consequence is of course death itself. When God says that death will be the consequence of sin, He means death in the simplest sense of physical death. But He also means death in the spiritual sense of utter separation from God and He also means death in the metaphorical sense of destruction. When we sin, it always leads to death and leaves a trail of brokenness on the way.
As devastating as the consequences are, we nevertheless know the awful pull of temptation and recognize that we fight a major battle with it quite often. But there is another call in our life, a pull in another direction. For those who are in Christ, we are also called to holiness.
God has not created us to be destroyed by yielding to our desires. God has created us and called us to holiness. Oswald Chambers wrote, “The destined end of man is not happiness, nor health, but holiness. God is not an eternal blessing machine for men. He did not come to save men out of pity; He came to save men because He had created them to be holy.” This is what it says in Ephesians 1:4, “For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight.” God’s first desire for us, His eternal intention for us is to be holy.
It is because of His intention for holiness that He did not destroy the world when Adam and Eve sinned. It is because of His intention for holiness that He sent Jesus to die on the cross and it is because of His intention for our holiness that He has given us the Holy Spirit to make us holy.
Therefore, our life must be lived with the intention of being holy. II Corinthians 7:1 challenges us, “Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.”
But what do you think about when you think about being holy? Do you think about people who because of their reputation are recognized as holy people – people like Mother Theresa or Billy Graham? Do you think of people like Frank Burns in the MASH TV series who postured holiness, but was hated because he was a hypocrite and anything but holy. On the one hand he read his Bible and loudly proclaimed high moral standards, but on the other hand slept with one of the nurses and was filled with judgmental attitudes. We shudder at that kind of holiness. What does holiness mean? It is not something that is so far above us that we can’t attain to it and it is not the ugliness of being “holier than thou.”
When we look at what it is that God wants us to be like, the best place to look is at Jesus, who was loved by tax collectors and sinners and yet never sinned. That is the picture I put in my mind when I want to understand what it means to be holy – absence of sin, but gracious presence. Such holiness is attractive and attainable – not in the absolute sinlessness of Jesus, but as a way of living that is possible.
We know that God has called us to be holy and expects us to be holy, but we also need to know that holiness is the best way to live.
When Jesus had his last opportunity to speak to his disciples he said in John 14:15, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” When he said this, he was saying more than “obey my command.” He was saying that the power and the desire to obey God comes from love. It comes from the recognition that we are loved by God. It comes from the recognition that the call to holiness which God gives us is a call to follow the best way there is.
C. S. Lewis put it, “How little people know who think that holiness is dull. When one meets the real thing, it is irresistible.”
In a similar way, John Piper says, “I wonder how many believers today realize that faith is not merely believing that Christ died for our sins. Faith is also being confident that His way is better than sin. His will is more wise. His help is more sure. His promises more precious. And his reward more satisfying. Faith begins with a backward look at the cross, but it lives with a forward look at the promises…If my thirst for joy and-meaning and passion are satisfied by the presence and promises of Christ, the power of sin is broken. We do not yield to the offer of sandwich meat when we can see the steak sizzling on the grill…The challenge before us then is not merely to do what God says because He is God, but to desire what God says because he is good. The challenge is not merely to pursue righteousness, but to prefer righteousness.”
This is the great tug of war we are in. On the one hand the wonderful attractiveness of being holy and on the other the powerful pull of temptation. In a real tug of war, it might be possible to stack the odds in our favor. If we had Andre the Giant as our anchor and if we all wore cleats on our shoes and if we learned all the best strategies for winning, perhaps we could win easily. Are there things we can do to stack the odds in our favor in the tug of war with temptation? We can have someone stronger than Andre the Giant helping us and there are strategies which can help us win and next week I want to talk about these.
May the call to holiness and the recognition of the blessing of holiness give us courage to live in holiness.
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