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Lead Us Not Into Temptation!

8/30/2018

Job 1: 1-12, Luke: 4: 1-13
Freeport/Merrick

        There was a man named Bob, who we might describe as “fluffy,” –the comedian Gabriel Iglesias’ favorite word to describe being overweight. Now fluffy Bob had a penchant for doughnuts. Despite trying to avoid sweets, one day he walks into the office with a box of two dozen doughnuts. “Bob!” his co-workers say, this is nice of you, but aren’t you trying to give up doughnuts for your health?” Bob replied, “Yes, but I came up to a Dunkin’ Donuts shop, and I said, “Lord, if you want me to get some doughnuts today, let there be a parking spot in the lot. On my eight time around the block, a spot opened up. So, I knew it was the Lord’s will that I bring in doughnuts!”

      Since the story of the Fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, temptation has been a constant, unrelenting part of human life. People have tried to avoid, resist or ignore it. But no person has ever found a place or a circumstance that can make him safe from temptation. Not even hermits. Everyone is tempted.

Temptation is so commonplace that Jesus talks about it in the prayer he has taught us to say, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” We’ve been reflecting on the Lord’s prayer for the past several weeks. How we are to relate to God as a loving parent, and to each other as brothers and sisters. There’s no “I” in the Lord’s prayer, just “us, our, and we.” We’ve explored we are called to live in such a way to emulate the Kingdom of God on earth. We’ve discussed how we are instructed to pray for our daily bread, that physical and spiritual sustenance that we need every day. We were reminded to ask for the forgiveness of our sins, just as we forgive those who have sinned against us. Today we ask God to not lead us into temptation but deliver us from evil. All the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer remind us what we face daily: opportunities to live the kingdom of heaven, the need for nourishment for our bodies and spirit, the need to forgive and be forgiven and to face with success the trials and temptations of the evil one.   It is a powerful primer, a complete prayer of living that when we offer it up faithfully, thoughtfully, sincerely, we engage the life of faith with total devotion.

        The phrase we are reflecting on today, “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil,” is confusing to some. Is Jesus saying that God leads us to temptation?   This doesn’t sound like what a loving Father would do.   Even Pope Francis suggests a revision, “Do not let us fall into temptation.” The book of James spells this out clearly: “When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. (James 1:13-14). Yet Paul reminds us: “temptation is common to all.” 1 Corinthians 10:13

In our phrase, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,” the word for “temptation “or enticement to sin, can also be translated trial or test. It depends entirely on the context to how it is used.   Bible scholars concur that God permits us to be tested and to endure trials to strengthen our faith, or because we bear the results of living in a fallen world. We daily face temptations, usually by the Evil One, because we have free choice. Will we choose the narrow path of righteousness or the path that leads to perdition? We see Job encountering the attacks of Satan, with God’s knowledge, in order to prove his holiness and faithfulness. We see Jesus tempted by the devil in the wilderness. Who will Jesus obey, God or Satan? We also see Jesus praying in the garden of gethsemane begging the Father to let the trial pass from him. The psalmist David inspired Jesus as he himself prayed: “O LORD, do not incline my heart to any evil thing, to practice deeds of wickedness with those who do iniquity” (Ps 141:4).

Temptation leads to deceive us from our goals, Like poor Bob and his donuts. Testing seeks to strengthen our commitment to our goals. If only Bob had passed that Dunkin Donuts by! Temptation comes from Satan and the world. Testing comes from God. Temptation seeks to lead us away from Christ. Testing seeks to lead us toward Christ. Temptation tends to be internal, rooted in our thoughts, imagination. Trials tend to come from outside us, an unexpected bill, unwanted gossip or criticism, a purchase that is beyond our budget, an unexpected illness or rupture in a relationship. Hardships like illness, death, job losses, family problems and persecutions can be “fiery trials” that test our character (1 Peter 4:12–13). Trials, once the devil gets a hold of them, can turn to temptations and ultimately sin.

        After fasting for 40 days Jesus encounters the Tempter. It’s telling for us that Satan came across sympathetic to Jesus’ plight. He wants to appease Jesus’ hunger by turning stone into bread. Who’s going to miss one measly stone? Wouldn’t Jesus function better if he weren’t hungry? Satan promises the kingdoms of the world and all earthly power and glory if Jesus would just worship him. Just one time. He knows Jesus is messiah and offers him power over all the kingdoms on earth. Wouldn’t that make Jesus’ work go more smoothly? Finally, Satan tries to get Jesus to spread his wings – to leap from the pinnacle in the Temple in Jerusalem. Wouldn’t that be a grand entrance for the leadership and faithful to see? They’d be talking about it for months. How could they dispute God’s Chosen One with this feat? Just one time, Jesus, just one time.

Satan is so suave and convincing. He knows his scripture well, better than any human being. He is able to twist it to his advantage. He just wants to get between us and God. Just like he got between God and Adam and Eve. So, temptation seeks through half truths to separate us from the love of God. That’s why “Lead us not into temptation. Deliver us from evil “ is such an important prayer. Because we do not have the strength from our own abilities to overcome Satan. We need God’s power to be triumphant.
Temptation, and trials and tests, expose our true self. We are nowhere near as strong as we thought. Our common humanity has an unattractive side. We humans have developed an almost unlimited capacity to deceive and allow ourselves to be deceived. When we want something badly – when we want to get our way -- we easily fall into self-deception. We make excuses. We go in denial. We pile one lie onto another. And we pay the price. The loss of peace of mind. Our relationships suffer. We become ill – in body, mind and spirit.

        The tempter’s plan is to get us to give in and break our promises or do something wrong – but that’s not the real goal. The Tempter’s true goal is for us to feel badly about ourselves, about others, so our relationships will be strained and hopefully severed, and in our shame we will turn away from God. I had a professor once who was a consultant on the movie, “The Exorcist.”   He was the Devil expert, we called him. His insight on Satan and Evil is that actually, the devil prefers to tempt us subtly, raising doubt quietly, almost without us even realizing. Why? Satin’s desire is to destroy relationship, to weaken and tear apart community. Satan’s longs to isolate us. To kill us, spiritually if not physically, and to smash the image of God within our soul, to force us to flee from the presence of God out of despair, convincing us that God does not love us or will forgive us.

The devil knows us better than we know ourselves. As the Father of Lies, and half-truths, he knows how to lead us away from what is true and right. He knows how to plant fear, worry and self-righteousness in our hearts – and have it seem like caring, concern and competence. The tempter knows what buttons to push, what triggers our weakness.   We learn through struggle and prayer that we have a choice. Will we stay in the Tempter’s snare or will we break free? That’s why Job was tested. That’s why Jesus was sent to the wilderness. That’s why Jesus embraced the cross – so we are not finished when we fall. Jesus is there, helping us up again. That’s why he teaches us to pray, “let us not fall into temptation, deliver us from evil.” Peter, a veteran of temptation and trials, assures us: “ In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. (1 Peter 1: 6-7). Do not let trials dissuade us, do not let trials turn to temptations and turn our backs to God’s will.

Whatever is in our past, whatever we have done, whatever the devil keeps throwing it up in your face you need to know that God was standing at the window and He saw the whole thing. He has seen our whole life. He wants us to know that He loves us and that we are forgiven.
When we learn to pray this portion of the Lord’s prayer, we are saying God’s sovereignty extends even over Satan’s plans. We’re saying we believe 1 John 4:4 that, “God’s Spirit who is in you, is greater than the one (ie, devil) who is in the world.”

No matter how many forbidden doughnuts you eat, or ice cream scoops you sneak, or other temptations you face, how many times we fail and have start over, God is there. We can pick ourselves up, because as the old gospel song, goes, a saint is just a sinner, who fell down – and got up.

So Saints of God -- get up again. And through the grace of God, be triumphant over any temptation, any trial or test or evil that comes your way. Amen

http://www.redlandbaptist.org/sermon/lead-us-not-into-temptation/
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/the-lord-s-prayer-lead-me-not-into-temptation-dr-george-calhoun-sermon-on-sin-general-128280

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Bread of Life, August 5, 2018

8/9/2018

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Ephesians 4:1-16; John 6:24-35

        As World War II was drawing to a close, the Allied armies gathered up many hungry orphans. They were placed in camps where they were well-fed. Despite excellent care, they slept poorly. They seemed nervous and afraid, unable to settle down.   Finally, a psychologist solved the problem. Each child was given a piece of bread, to hold after he was put to bed. This particular piece of bread was just to be held—not eaten. The piece of bread produced wonderful results. The children went to be bed knowing they would have food to eat the next day. That knowledge gave the children a restful sleep.
Bread. You can get it anywhere.   Our options here in the 21st century are endless. On our most grocery shopping trip we discovered that the row of bread in our local store is six shelves high and forty-five feet long, this forty-five-foot row of bread is divided as follows: at the far right are all the very sweet cakes such as Ding Dongs, Twinkies, Zingers, and brownies.   The next set of breads are the bagels that come in many different flavors and tastes. The next set of breads are the buns, numerous hamburger and hotdog buns. Then there are rolls: hard rolls, French rolls, sourdough rolls and a host of other rolls that often appear at our dinner table when we are serving a more formal dinner. Then, after thirty feet of these breads, come the actual loaves of bread.   There are the 12 grain breads, nine grain breads, eight grain breads, until we got down to the ryes and pumpernickels, French, corn, tortilla bread, pita bread, gluten free until finally we hit wonder bread and all its cousins which must have next to no grain at all in them.

        Bread has been a staple food in many countries for of years. Tragically bread has even become a weapon in parts of the world where forces that control grain warehouses prohibit access in order to keep enemies at bay and manipulate civilians to comply – to the point of starvation --caught in between combatants while the grain goes bad.

        Bread played a significant role in Jesus’ life.   He was born in Bethlehem, which means “House of Bread”. At the very beginning of his ministry Jesus was tempted by the devil to turn rocks into bread to appease his hunger.   Jesus taught his followers a standard prayer, the Lord’s Prayer, to include this basic material request: “Give us this day, our daily bread.” Jesus states it is God’s will to give us what we need every day to sustain our bodies. Jesus doesn’t say, give us bread for the rest of our lives. We are not hungry for bread we will need in a week’s time. We are hungry for bread now. So, it’s give us our daily bread, so that we can learn to depend on God, trust God, believe in God’s promises, as we face them in the present, day by day. And God cares about the food we need to physically survive, this day, now in the present, not in some abstract future.

  It is not surprising that only one miracle is told in all four gospels (actually recorded 5 times) – the multiplication of the loaves and fishes to feed the crowd of 5000.
Of course, then there is the most significant account of all to do with bread – the last Supper. It is not surprising that Jesus gives us the Lord’s Supper. Of all the amazing miracles he did, of all the teachings he uttered, of all the work he did, Jesus forged a new way. Jesus chose the bread of the Passover. Jesus blessed bread and broke it. As he prepared to die he wanted to give people something to remember him by. Something that would bring them together. Something nourishing. Something simple. A basic meal. Bread. The Cup.   Somethings we could receive over and over, month after month, even weekly. Jesus chose to identify with the broken bread.
Jesus identified with the hunger of people. He commanded his disciples to do this act of blessing and sharing bread in memory of him. In the taking, in the eating, something deep could awaken. We are loved. Our needs are met. And what was one of Jesus’ first acts upon being risen from the grave? Breaking bread in Emmaus with disciples. So, at communion millions, not just a few thousands are drawn into God’s embrace, we remember we are precious children of God and we too become bread for the world.
So, bread is close to Jesus’ heart. Bread speaks the language of the crowds. It is a potent image to help them understand Jesus, Bread of Life. Jesus wanted to be completely accessible to ordinary people, like us. There is nothing more ordinary than a piece of peasant’s bread, a loaf of bread we can get from an ordinary food store. For the last two week’s we’ve heard different gospel versions of the feeding of the five thousand.   Now we hear how Jesus wants us to make that leap of understanding. Jesus boldly proclaims to the crowd that he is, in fact, the bread of life. The crowds don’t understand. They want more of that delicious barley bread Jesus gave away the day before. They want signs, like their ancestors had with the manna from heaven, the food that God feed the people of Israel every day as they traveled through the wilderness to the promised land.

But Jesus wants to talk about the hunger that is buried deeper in our hearts, underneath the hardship, the fears, the pain of our lives.   That hunger for love, the hunger for acceptance. That hunger we have for a meaning, a purpose to our lives. That Hunger for connection. That hunger for friendship. That hunger that only God can fill.

Ghandi reminds us, “there are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.” Jesus bread of Life teaches us to pray for our daily bread and to not turn away from the hungry in the world.

    There is another story of an orphaned boy at the end of world war II. It could be any war, any conflict, any natural famine really where food is scarce or used as a weapon. So, this young boy scrounged around the ruined city as best as he could to find food, clothes and shelter. But everyone was living in desperate times and he found that people either ignored him or could find nothing to give him.
He had heard the priest in the church, long before the war had broken out, talk about God and Jesus and living the Christian life. But with he hell on earth that the war had brought he had lost hope of any sense of heaven.

One cold morning, he was wandering down the street, starting into the windows of shops and cafes. He stepped outside the window o a small bakery. The smell of the fresh bread made his stomach ache with pain. He was so held by the smell and sights of the bakery he didn’t notice a soldier had stopped in the street and was watching him with interest. The boy hardly noticed the soldier walk past him into the store. He did however notice the soldier’s bag the baker was filling with rolls, breads pastries and other foods. The boy could hardly breathe when the soldier exited the shop knelt own and handed him the bag,

The boy looked at the soldier with astonishment. As he began to c, hew on a fresh warm roll, he looks at the soldier, tears running down his face, a question running through his head: “Mister, are you Jesus?” To the hungry Jesus is bread. To those hungry for love, Jesus is bread. To those hungry for hope, Jesus is bread.

Dorothy Day, the Catholic Social Activist reminds us that St. Teresa says that Jesus is disguised as bread so that we will not fear to approach him, so that we can go to him in confidence, daily needing him daily as we need physical bread. Christ has taken the form of bread that we may readily approach him, without fear, in all confidence as a child trusts their mother or father. In bread Christ becomes so simple, that even a child can understand and eat the sacred food with love and gratitude.

The word Companion literally means “with bread.” Let us be Jesus’ companions, and be that bread bring nourishment in body and soul to a hungry world. So, we pray, Bread of Life, Give us this day, our daily bread, and may it fill our hearts and bodies, for our companion is the one who gives life to the world. Amen.

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Lead Us Not Into Temptation!

Bread of Life, August 5, 2018

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