FREEDOM FROM TEMPTATION IN CHRIST
The Rev. John Donnelly Christ Church Quaker Farms, Feb. 24, 2013
Jesus is in the wilderness—and of course,
because he is Jesus, the gentle and good,
He would never consider doing something wrong, right?
ENNNN! Wrong answer. The Bible tells us that he was tempted in
every way that we are. He was tempted by
wine, women, food, fame, power, and tempted to turn against God. You see, there is a difference between being
tempted, and actually sinning, and doing something wrong. Being is tempted is
where you think about it, you entertain
the idea. Sin is the action. The
doing. No, Jesus was tempted
alright. And did He just naturally turn
away from the temptations. No. He didn’t . There was a struggle, and then,
as we heard in today’s Gospel, He remembered
some teaching from the Word of God.
And the Word of God gave him inner strength to reject the bad and to do
the good. The Word of God freed him
from temptation.
Earlier in our service, we
recited the 10 commandments. I know that
many people think that the 10 commandments are largely irrelevant to modern life. Others of
us may look at them with an inner sense
of guilt and discomfort. How
differently did the ancient Jews view these words from God. They rejoiced in the 10 commandments, because
they understood them to be like “danger sings”
on the highway of life. Indeed, today’s psalm praises God for his word
and commandments ,because they give guidance, encouragement, and strength, and
freedom. We all know that there are
physical laws that govern the universe, like for every action there is a
proportionate reaction. Well. That’s not
just a law of physics. That is also a
law of the universe. Disregard of God’s
Word & commandments can lead to disaster.
And most of us know that, but sometime we are tempted to disregard,
disobey, and to discard a commandment or two, or three, or more.
One commandment that all of
us tempted to violate is the commandment to tell the truth. Dishonesty is a
huge problem in all aspects of our society.
Of course, we are enraged when prominent people are caught in lie. However, it’s not just politicians and
celebrities who lie. Some social
scientists report that the average person tells anywhere from 4 lies a day.
Others report that number to be as high as 280 times per day. Now they also have done studies on which sex
tells the most lies. Can anyone guess
which gender is the culprit?? (My
defense is that this propensity to lie is probably a genetic male attribute,
over which we men have no control. Or, we were traumatized by our mothers, from
whom we heard our first lie as a babe in arms.)
So, both sexes are tempted to lie for many reasons: to save
face; to protect someone we care about; to seek revenge, as in gossip, or to
advance our own goals and agenda. However, God ‘s word commands us not to lie
to protect us from the dangerous consequences of lying. Broken relationships, embarrassment, hurt
feelings, guilt, suspicion, undue anxiety and stress are all consequences of
lying. Sometimes, we may never
experience the consequences ourselves , but we unintentionally hurt others; or we may be publicly exposed for the liars
that we are. Also, each lie pushes God
farther and farther away from us.
This is just one
example. But this true for violations of
all 10 commandments. So, what we learn
from Jesus’ example, is our need to resist temptation to do the bad. How do we do that?
There’s
a current TV advertisement, which actually quotes noted author George Bernard
Shaw, which sheds light on this. Shaw wrote, and I quote, "Inside of me there are two
dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog
fights the good dog all the time. When asked which dog wins?...'whichever dog I
feed'." Unquote.
Does
anybody remember the inner voice of conscience? That inner sense of knowing
what is right and wrong? Unfortunately,
we live in a time where the inner voice of
conscience is not taught, nurtured, or even known about
by many people. I don’t think that the
inner voice of conscience is ever heard by many people. It seems to me that
many people are deaf to that inner voice. Growing up,
my Daddy told me that every time I did something bad, that it would become easier and
easier to do that bad thing over and over in the future. Then, at some point my conscience would be silenced.
Too many people are feeding the bad dogs
within them. And too many of us are not
sufficiently feeding the good dog. We
may know that the good dog is there, but too often the bad dog wins. So, our goal should be to feed the
good. And God’s word tells us about feeding the good dog. The Bible
tells us that men and women do not live by bread alone, but by every word that
comes from the mouth of the Lord.” We
need to feed our conscience with the Word of God
to resist temptation.
Now,
I know that many people find it hard to read the Bible. I also know that many of us do not choose to sign up for a small group bible
study. So, what if you could feed your
good dog with God’s word, by not doing any of that. Just sit in your recliner
and let the Word of God fill your heart?
Well,
your good dog can start feasting next Sunday night at 8pm, when the History
Channel presents a new dramatic miniseries of the 10 ten stories of the
Bible. I sincerely believe that this
will be an epic event for many of us, because if you watch this series, your
conscience will be fed to find greater freedom from temptation. You will see the ordinary stories of regular
people, people who gave into temptation, and suffered the consequences as well
as people who resisted temptation and then found the freedom to become strong
and happy women and men of faith. In short, many of us will be inspired.
So, I want to
show you the 2 ½ minute trailer, which captures some high points from the
miniseries.
Now,
I know some of you are excited about this. So, I hope that you will invite
friends and family, who do not get the History Channel, to come and watch it
with you. Also, we have preordered the DVD edition, which we will make available
as soon as it arrives. However, even if
you do not watch it on TV, we have something which will bless everybody.
In combination with this miniseries, CCQF will concurrently offer a new program based on the Bible & based on
the series. Would you please take out the
white flier in your bulletin, and turn to page 4.
So,
looking at the top of the page,
the miniseries will run on the 5 Sundays in March, from 8 to 10 pm, showing e
hour long episodes each night.
Moving
down—earlier in the day, back here at church, I will be preaching about selected bible
stories featured in the miniseries, to give you some interpretation and
commentary, which will be scintillating as always.
Finally,
two new Small Groups begin next Thursday and Friday at 7pm. Both groups will
view video clips from the series, which will serve as the basis for discussion
that night. So, if you don’t watch TV miniseries, you can come to the small
groups, and be on the same page with everyone else, so that you can enter in the excitement.
· Thursday
night’s small group will be similar to the Small groups we had last fall.
· On Friday,
however, we are doing something different.
Friday’s program will be open to anybody to come to all 5 meetings, or
to come to one, or anything in between.
It us totally open, so that you can bring friends and family without
pressuring them into a commitment. Actually, Friday’s program will feature
several sub groupings, so that we can share in the benefits of be inviting to
all, and yet have that small group flavor.
Free child care will be provided, where the Kids will watch Bible action
cartoons, so that they can feed their good dogs as well. If you wish to attend Fridays on a semi-regular
basis, please sign up today--downstairs
in the parish hall, to help us in
planning.
So,
this all begins next Sunday, when God’s Word will feed us and set us free to be
the people we are meant to be in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
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