Readings: Matthew 4.1-11; James 1.12-18
We live in days of tragic irony. On the one hand, science and technology seem to place so many possibilities within our grasp – we feel they are almost limitless! In the euphoria of achievement, our new psalms and hymns might proclaim –
“Science is my shepherd, I shall not want...”
“O Man, my god! When I in
awesome wonder
Consider all the things thy hands
have made...
Then sings my soul...
How great thou art!”
On the other hand, in the midst of all we can do, our fatal weakness is revealed. The daily papers chart the story, not only of corruption in high places, but the moral weakness of ordinary people. .
The human race is weak, morally weak. How easily they take the broad path which, Jesus said, leads to destruction! But those who are of the household of faith find themselves by no means exempt from the onslaughts of temptation. Indeed, we may even feel it more, since we are striving to obey the will of God.
Our Lord has sympathy for our weakness. He faced temptation in every way that we do – yet without sin (Heb. 4.l4-l5). We sometimes assume that “to err is human, to forgive, divine”, as if sin must be the inevitable conclusion of temptation. But the purpose for which we are redeemed is that we should no longer sin. Look at 1 John 2.1 – “I am writing this to you, my children, so that you will not sin; but if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one...” What is temptation, and how can we end up doing the right thing when we face temptation?
The Greek word for “tempt” is used in the New Testament in a variety of ways. It is sometimes a testing. So the Corinthians were to “examine themselves, to see whether you are holding to your faith” (2 Cor 13.5), or when Abraham was tested (by God) to offer up Isaac (Heb. 11.17). But in James 1.13 the reference is to temptation to sin. God may test us in a variety of ways, but He never tempts us to evil.
James points out that temptation has its source within ourselves, in “our own desire” – the desires of our earthly nature. Of themselves these should all be clean and pure, but they are warped and corrupted through the Fall.
When light strikes the eye of the moth, it instinctively turns, even though it will meet its fate in the flame of the candle. It is with equal irrationality that the desires of the flesh tug at us. “Come and enjoy me awhile,” they say, and though we reason that this ought not to be, we find ourselves beginning to entertain them. Of course, nothing assails us which the grace of God does not empower us to resist, but apart from that grace we fly around in circles until the flame catches us.
But we aren’t the same as moths really – we are not bound by instinct to follow our own desire. As creatures of reason we ought to know better, and as those dependent on the grace of God we ought to do better. Indeed, John was bold to declare, “No one born of God commits sin; for God’s nature abides in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God” (1 Jn 3.9).
Yet our own experiences indicate that temptation does have an effect on Christians – why? Because we are “lured”, “drawn away” – dragged out of God our Rock and Salvation. Temptations gain a foothold through some deficiency in our spiritual life.
Once “drawn away “, we are easily “enticed”. The fish does not know that this worm conceals a hook. It merely takes the bait and is caught.
The old hymn declares –
“Yield not to temptation,
For yielding is sin.”
Nowhere are we promised freedom from temptation – the servant is not greater than his Lord. It is when we yield that temptation leads to sin. Our wills agree with the solicitations of the desires of our flesh. Even when temptation seems to come from outside ourselves, it has no effect until our desires are aroused, and there is no sin until by an act of our will we identify ourselves with them. John Wesley once said, "Even the injections of the devil cannot hurt before we make them our own.”
The figure of birth, used elsewhere to describe the great positive transformation involved in conversion, is used here to describe the downward path from desire to sin to death. In each case two principles must be wedded together before the third comes into being. When will and desire agree, sin is born; and as we wilfully persist in sin, death issues forth.
The sin here described is a deepening principle rather than an individual sinful act, or even the sum of all sinful acts, In time the “preliminaries” are hardly necessary as the will – almost automatically, it seems – follows the dictates of the fleshly desires, until at last this child of lust reaches maturity, and is “full grown”.
Grim words follow in this seeming inevitable progression – “sin when it is full-grown brings forth death.” Modern people like to think of “life” – life on a high standard with all “mod cons”. The tragedy of modern humanity is that – apart from the grace of God – our destiny is death. We love freedom, but sin has us by a strangle-hold! We measure ourselves by anything but our relation to the Creator, but, being cut off from the Source of our true life, we are destined to death.
"The soul that sins shall die" (Ezek .18.20) – so the Lord spoke by the prophet. These words have a ring of aweful finality. Here is the end of the downward path. The enticements of the lusts seemed pleasant enough; even sin had its own wicked charm; the way was smooth enough to tread; but mark well these words – "Sin when it is full-grown brings forth death."
If that was all there was to tell, the picture would be a gloomy one. But there is good news and the possibility of an upward path through temptation and victory to life. Note what Paul writes in Romans 5.3-5 – "More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us."
By the grace of God and the enabling power of the Spirit, we are able to break through the chain of "necessity" so that even temptations "work together for good to those who love God." Our concern here is to discover practical ways that will help us through to victory. This was also Paul's concern, as we read in 1 Cor. 10.13 – "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you will be able to endure it." What do the words "way of escape" mean? Three principles seem to be involved.
First, there must be no compromise whatever in our break with sin.
There was a problem in the early church with people who accepted Christ as Saviour but did not settle in their minds,from the start that sin ought to have no place at all in thelr life – nor anything that would not stand the test of the white light of Christ. "Why! If we continue in sin, then grace will abound!" some of them were apt to say (Rom. 6.1).
It is reminiscent of the story of the Hindu offering his prize water-buffalo to his god. As the long knife is about to strike the neck, the executioner deftly turns it and cuts off the tip of an ear instead. The sacrifice is over, and everyone is satisfied -especially the owner of the beast!
In the same way, we reform some small corner of our life and leave the greater part of it untouched! Christ calls us to be "doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves" (Jas 1.22). If we understand clearly from the beginning that we are not to be "conformed to this world", but "transformed by the renewing of our mind", then, though we feel weak in ourselves, we are one step along the path that leads to victory.
Second, we must rely on the grace of God, enabled through the Spirit of God. This is implied in the words "able to endure it."
The gospel is more than a declaration of forgiveness for repentant sinners it is "the power of God for salvation" (Rom. l.16). God did not leave us to pay to the utmost for nur sin – he came and suffered for us. Nor has he left us to struggle on for victory – he comes and works his grace in us through the Holy Spirit.
Stokes, an American missionary to India, turned to Hinduism – he said he wanted his children brought up under the Hindu idea of Karma, in which the last jot of retributuion is exacted, rather than under redemption. I can understand this if redemption means constant forgiveness for constantly repeated sins. But besides offering forgiveness, the gospel offers power. God's grace is a vital and active force mediated by the Spirit and we must rely on it in all our life, not leaving the cry for help until we are almost overwhelmed by sin. Yet in a particular way we need to depend on God's grace when temptation comes. Then our special plea is "Deliver us from evil."
Third, there are positive steps for us to take which, in God's plan, are part of "the way of escape."
(a) Don't thrust youself deliberately into the way of temptation.
A young man once said in conversation to an evangelist, "But, sir, what, would you have done in my situation?" "Young man," he replied, "I would not have got myself into your situation."
We cannot sincerely pray, "Lead us not into temptation," if we deliberately place ourselves in temptation's way.
(b) Quite often when we are tempted, we can turn our thoughts to other things.
Paul said, "whatever is honourable… just… pure… lovely… gracious… if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things" (Phil.4.8). Jesus spoke vividly of the futility of trying to drive out an evil spirit if nothing was put in its place. "The last state of that man becomes worse than the first" (Mt.12.45). In any case, temptation is less likely to come on the one whose mind is filled with other things.
All of these principles are to be seen in relation to one another: our uncompromising attitude to sin, our wholesome habits of thought, but above all, the grace of God, apart from which we will inevitably fall.
Not one of us is immune to temptation – the Downward Path holds its warning for us all: "Let the one who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall." The words of James are grim, and close to the experience of all of us – "Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin; and sin when it is full-grown brings forth death."
But we need to know that God himself provides the way of escape – if we will but renounce sin, daily trust in his grace and the Spirit's presence and power, and fill our minds with wholesome thoughts of beauty, purity and truth.
We should not so glibly say, "To err is human; to forgive, divine." God's purpose for you is continuous victory – and we must not stop short of this goal. Rather, let us commit ourselves to "him who is able to keep us from falling and to present us without blemish before the presence of his glory with rejoicing," to whom be "glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and for evermore. Amen."
© Peter J Blackburn