Surely this does not suggest that God will lead us into temptation? This would be against God’s very nature, right? James says, “ 13Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. Why then do we need to pray this?
We find an interesting statement in Hebrew 2:18, “For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.”Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am tempted by God'; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.”
Jesus was tempted. WHAT? Yup! Jesus was tempted. TEMPTED TO DO WHAT? To sin. Now you may be tempted to take up shovels and axes and yell, ‘Heresy! we say – burn him. Burn him - he’s a witch.’ However, just before you tie me to a post and light the sticks, consider these verses!
"In all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted" (Hebrews 2:17,18). .
"For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin (Heb 4:15)
Did you catch that? “In all points tempted as we are…” Wow! I don’t know what you think but this is huge. And what is more “…yet without sin”. Man, when I think about that I’m blown away. Looking no further than myself, and seeing what I am and how I can be tempted - and thinking that perhaps Jesus was tempted in same as the rest of us? – now that’s messed up.
We encounter a couple of points in scripture where we see Jesus being tempted. I’m sure there were more, but these are the insights we have. Jesus was 30 before he was baptized. Now this next statement might come as a shock, and I’m sorry if it does – but I had sinned once or twice before I was 30. But not Jesus! He had a clear awareness of who He was in His relationship with the Father e.g. at age 12: “did you not know that I had to be about my Father’s business?” We don’t know a lot about Jesus’ early years, but this we do know – from a very early age, He immersed himself in the Scripture. So much so that he was able to hold an advanced debate on the law with the Pharisees even as a boy. This would be like you or I walking into a PhD program, at Harvard let’s say, and challenging them in a theological discourse on whether a didactical rhetoric in the synoptic gospels advances an immanent Kairos or post-Chronos eschaton inauguration. Yah, so what you say - but hopefully you get the point. I’m just saying that at 12, my arguments were essentially based around facts such as “My dad is stronger than your dad!” and “Mommy! He hit me!”
The first record we have of the Christ being tempted is right after His baptism. The Holy Spirit leads Him into the wilderness for 40 days. There we see three temptations: 1. to use his power to satisfy his own flesh (make and eat his own bread), 2. all this can be yours if you just bow down to me (take the easy short cut), and 3. manipulate God rather than following God’s will (throw yourself down from here).
Although we could spend a whole lot more time here, we’ll continue to examine some of this in our next post.
The primary point here is this. As we are praying the Lord’s Prayer, we need to recognize that our temptations all revolve around these same three points that Jesus was tested in: 1. fulfilling our fleshly desires through immediate gratification (making and eating our own bread). 2. Short cutting or seeking to avoid making and walking through those tough patches in our life and doing these things God’s way and 3. Testing God – stepping out side of God’s purpose and design and expecting Him to catch us.
When we pray, lead us not into temptation we are not suggesting that God brings sin into our life in order to test us to see if we really are of the faith or to demonstrate that we are miserable failures. Here’s the deal. Since we are already surrounded and drawn by temptation, we are praying that in the midst of these temptations we will seek and grasp onto God’s grace and mercy – the only remedy for a sin sick soul. We must, like Christ, immerse ourselves in His Word – letting it become our life giving and sustaining daily bread. We must hold out before us the three primary things we have already prayed in this prayer, that we would: a) live our lives and bring our decisions and choices and purposes in accordance to His Will, b) share our bread liberally with others and c) live lives of forgiveness. These are the big three! If I can, in praying the pattern of the Lord’s prayer, walk in these things, then I’m closer to discovering and being in God’s Will.
Anyway, I was just thinking,
Neil
We find an interesting statement in Hebrew 2:18, “For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.”Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am tempted by God'; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.”
Jesus was tempted. WHAT? Yup! Jesus was tempted. TEMPTED TO DO WHAT? To sin. Now you may be tempted to take up shovels and axes and yell, ‘Heresy! we say – burn him. Burn him - he’s a witch.’ However, just before you tie me to a post and light the sticks, consider these verses!
"In all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted" (Hebrews 2:17,18). .
"For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin (Heb 4:15)
Did you catch that? “In all points tempted as we are…” Wow! I don’t know what you think but this is huge. And what is more “…yet without sin”. Man, when I think about that I’m blown away. Looking no further than myself, and seeing what I am and how I can be tempted - and thinking that perhaps Jesus was tempted in same as the rest of us? – now that’s messed up.
We encounter a couple of points in scripture where we see Jesus being tempted. I’m sure there were more, but these are the insights we have. Jesus was 30 before he was baptized. Now this next statement might come as a shock, and I’m sorry if it does – but I had sinned once or twice before I was 30. But not Jesus! He had a clear awareness of who He was in His relationship with the Father e.g. at age 12: “did you not know that I had to be about my Father’s business?” We don’t know a lot about Jesus’ early years, but this we do know – from a very early age, He immersed himself in the Scripture. So much so that he was able to hold an advanced debate on the law with the Pharisees even as a boy. This would be like you or I walking into a PhD program, at Harvard let’s say, and challenging them in a theological discourse on whether a didactical rhetoric in the synoptic gospels advances an immanent Kairos or post-Chronos eschaton inauguration. Yah, so what you say - but hopefully you get the point. I’m just saying that at 12, my arguments were essentially based around facts such as “My dad is stronger than your dad!” and “Mommy! He hit me!”
The first record we have of the Christ being tempted is right after His baptism. The Holy Spirit leads Him into the wilderness for 40 days. There we see three temptations: 1. to use his power to satisfy his own flesh (make and eat his own bread), 2. all this can be yours if you just bow down to me (take the easy short cut), and 3. manipulate God rather than following God’s will (throw yourself down from here).
Although we could spend a whole lot more time here, we’ll continue to examine some of this in our next post.
The primary point here is this. As we are praying the Lord’s Prayer, we need to recognize that our temptations all revolve around these same three points that Jesus was tested in: 1. fulfilling our fleshly desires through immediate gratification (making and eating our own bread). 2. Short cutting or seeking to avoid making and walking through those tough patches in our life and doing these things God’s way and 3. Testing God – stepping out side of God’s purpose and design and expecting Him to catch us.
When we pray, lead us not into temptation we are not suggesting that God brings sin into our life in order to test us to see if we really are of the faith or to demonstrate that we are miserable failures. Here’s the deal. Since we are already surrounded and drawn by temptation, we are praying that in the midst of these temptations we will seek and grasp onto God’s grace and mercy – the only remedy for a sin sick soul. We must, like Christ, immerse ourselves in His Word – letting it become our life giving and sustaining daily bread. We must hold out before us the three primary things we have already prayed in this prayer, that we would: a) live our lives and bring our decisions and choices and purposes in accordance to His Will, b) share our bread liberally with others and c) live lives of forgiveness. These are the big three! If I can, in praying the pattern of the Lord’s prayer, walk in these things, then I’m closer to discovering and being in God’s Will.
Anyway, I was just thinking,
Neil
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