Temptation and Evil,
W. Gregory Pope, preaching

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Series: The Lord’s Prayer

James 1:2-5, 12-15; Ephesians 6:10-18

A minister in a large city parked his car in a “No Parking” zone. He was short of time and couldn’t find a space with a meter. So he put a note underneath the windshield wiper which read: “Dear Officer, I’ve circled this block ten times looking for a parking place. If I don’t park here, I’ll miss my appointment. ‘Forgive us our trespasses.’”

When he returned, he found a parking ticket underneath the windshield wiper along with a note that read: “I’ve circled this block for ten years. If I don’t give you a ticket, I’ll lose my job. ‘Lead us not into temptation.’”

Deliver Us From Evil

We conclude the Lord’s Prayer today with the final petition: LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL

I want to take the second half of the petition first: DELIVER US FROM EVIL

Though it may be difficult to define, we know evil when we see it.

In his book on evil, People of the Lie, Scott Peck tells how his eight year old boy once brought to his attention the fact that evil is “live” spelled backward.

Evil may best be described as those things, forces, people that seek to destroy life: Cancer, AIDS, Columbine, 9/11, Auschwitz, slavery, genocide, terrorism, torture. There is also a type of evil that kills us emotionally and spiritually, which can be worse than death itself.

The Various Forms of Evil

Evil can come in various forms. Scripture reminds us that evil is something more than the horrendous acts of certain individuals. Paul says this is more than war against flesh and blood, but of spiritual powers and principalities.

We often find this in group evil. Something takes over a group larger than the sum of its individuals. We will do things as a group we would not dream of doing alone. The dangerous and seductive power of group evil is that the individual can hide in the midst of the group.

Racism and bigotry is a demonic evil that often takes hold of groups. There are systems - economic and political - that discriminate and oppress. Industrialized nations like the United States exploit Third World nations for economic gain, using them for cheap labor.

And the nature of group evil makes individuals afraid to speak out against it for fear the group’s evil will turn against us.

Sometimes the people involved in evil actions feel they are acting in obedience to God. We call this religious evil. Terrorists who act out of hatred in the name of God. Racists who back up their bigotry with scripture. Pascal declared, “[People] never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.”

The Capability of Evil Within Us All

Perhaps the most crucial awareness we can possess regarding evil is to never forget the capability of evil within us all. Jesus spoke of the potential for evil in the human heart. “For it is from within,” Jesus said, “from the human heart, that evil intentions come.”

Modern psychology has also brought to our awareness the possibility of the evil within. Psychiatrist Carl Jung ascribed human evil to our refusal to meet our shadow. He said our shadow is that part of our personality that we like to deny, that we like not to think about. Most of us like to portray ourselves as nice and good and moral. Our shadow side is that part of ourselves capable of meanness and cruelty and immorality.

Evil, Jung said, comes not from the Shadow itself. But rather from the refusal to acknowledge and meet the Shadow. Evil is often made manifest in those people who try to hide almost all, if not all, fault in themselves, offering justification for whatever they do.

The problem is always outside themselves. They always seek a scapegoat. Individuals, groups, communities, and nations all do this, even religious ones. The problem are the immigrants, the homosexuals, the Republicans, the Democrats, anyone other than ourselves. Scott Peck calls them “people of the lie.”

They will condemn something in someone else without realizing that they are capable of the same thing. “Oh I would never do something like that,” they say. The truth is we have no idea what we would do given certain circumstances. Believing we are self-righteously beyond certain evils will lead us into all sorts of evil.

Most of the time most of us, when we recognize we’ve done something wrong we try to make some type of self-correction.

Those Scott Peck call “people of the lie” do not do this. If their wrongdoing is brought before them, rather than using it to make some kind of self-correction they will instead cover up the evidence or lie about it. They will do anything to protect their own sick selves. Scott Peck says that evil is most present in the attempt to cover up or place blame for their wrong on anyone but themselves.

Mother Teresa, who lived and died among the poor and starving, said she engaged in that ministry of love because she knew there was a Hitler inside of her. The great saints of history and today are not shocked by anything the human heart can connive, for they know its potential deep within themselves.

The shadow side of ourselves cannot be denied. We have to come to terms with the fact that we are all capable of great evil, take responsibility for our own sins, and learn to pray FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES before we pray DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

Evil is a reality in our world and within ourselves from which no one is immune.

Evil Demands a Response

And evil demands a response from God’s people. Stand firm, scripture says.

Our text from Ephesians is a militant text. It reminds us that the battle against evil is always greater than flesh and blood, but that we are waging war against principalities and powers in high places.

But notice how the text teaches us to wage war against these enemies: “As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace.” Peace is the end we are called to seek and the means by which we do so.

We cannot do it apart from God’s help. Only with the power of God’s Spirit can we be delivered from evil. And we find that power in prayer: DELIVER US FROM EVIL

We can be delivered from the evil within partly by living the prayer Jesus is teaching us to pray: by seeing all people as children of a loving Abba-God, and by seeking to honor God’s name in all that we do. The rest of the prayer tells us how to honor God’s name: embodying the justice and compassion of God’s kingdom in the world, doing the will of God, making sure all people have enough to eat, confessing our sin when we fail, forgiving others when they harm us, and praying for God’s help against temptation

Lead Us Not Into Temptation

So we pray: LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION.

Oscar Wilde said, “I can resist anything but temptation.” You ever feel that way?

The words of this petition from the Lord’s Prayer resound with thoughts of Gethsemane and Jesus’ words to his disciples: Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation.

Of all the things that we can and do pray for, surely we must heed this sobering call to spiritual watchfulness, because temptation is real and dangerous, and because evil is always a human possibility, even for you and me.

We are tempted to abuse our power, to bring harm to ourselves and others through our words and actions. In his words to the disciples and to us, Jesus is issuing a call for us not to fall asleep morally or spiritually or mentally, or to be blind to temptation’s power.

Temptation as Seduction or Trial

This petition initially brings a question to our minds: Does God lead us into temptation?

Part of the trouble is with the word “temptation” itself. Sometimes it means “testing to prove our metal.” And sometimes it refers to “seduction, entrapment, and evil.”

In the book of James we read: Let no one say when he or she is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted by evil, and God tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he or she is lured or enticed by his or her OWN desires.

This is an unremitting call to be a responsible self. You can’t blame temptation on God. God is not a seducer. You can’t blame it on another person. Men have for centuries blamed women for temptation, so much so that the word “seduction” itself has been identified almost exclusively with women.

When writing those words James was speaking of “temptation” as “seduction to evil.”

But a few verses earlier James says, Count it all joy, brothers and sisters, when you meet various trials and temptations, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. There the word means “test.” And we must not shrink from those tests that seek to prove our character. In fact, we need to be tested in order not to become lazy or sluggish.

George Buttrick said that we all need temptation, that we need to be confronted with choices between good and evil, choices that force us to grow in character and integrity. William Barclay offers a way to look at temptation as something not designed to make us fall, but to make us stronger and better human beings.

Yes, temptation can make us stronger when we resist, but that is no reason to go looking for temptation or to be a temptation to others. Playing with temptation is playing with fire and it can take us places we do not want to go.

The Bible is full of examples. For King David, a simple look at a bathing Bathsheeba led him down a trail of adultery and murder - a path he had no intention of traveling. And it brought irreversible consequences.

Lead

So we pray: LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION. And we ask again, “Would God ever lead us into temptation?” Well, the verb “lead” carries a spatial imagery about it: It is telling us to pray, “God, let us not be caught in the sphere of temptation. Save us in the midst of temptation from the power of temptation.”

Temptation Is Not a Sin

We pray this prayer because temptation is going to come. It is not a sin to be tempted. To be tempted is to be human. That is why the writer of Hebrews wanted to underline that Jesus himself was tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin. Sometimes we condemn ourselves for the very presence of temptation in our lives and never give ourselves the chance to respond with God’s help.

As a child, Harry Emerson Fosdick felt he was going to hell with no hope because of impure thoughts that continued to creep into his mind. His father wisely comforted him by telling him that everybody had impure thoughts that float through their mind; but he added, “While you cannot prevent crows from flying over your head, you can prevent them from making nests in your hair.”

Or as Martin Luther put it: “If your head is made of butter, then stay out of the kitchen.” That is, stay away from those places where temptation becomes strongest, where you’re likely to melt.

We cannot help being exposed to temptation, but we do not have to give in. The apostle Paul said that, No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to everyone, even to Jesus, Hebrews would add later. For God is faithful and will not let you be tempted beyond your strength. But with the temptation [God] will provide a way of escape so that you will be able to endure it.

With the help of God we can resist. And so our prayer is that with God’s help we will not fall victim to temptation, but emerge from temptation stronger and wiser.

Help and Encouragement In Life's Temptations

How do we do that?

We do it by heeding the words of Jesus to watch and pray. To be alert. To be on guard. To be prepared. To keep our eyes open to the path of escape, and to want it and take it. And to keep praying everyday LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION. Paul said to pray without ceasing. To live in the constant awareness of God’s presence.

One rendering of this petition says, “O God, tempt us not to part from You.” Our deliverance from sin and temptation is based on relationship. No preaching or moral law will keep us from giving into temptation. Our relationship to God and the devotion we give to that relationship in many ways determines whether or not we succumb to the lure of temptation.

Unless we arm ourselves in advance for that moral, mental, and spiritual struggle with temptation, we will have little chance of survival when it comes. Sin is conquered not in the moment of temptation but in the long, prayerful discipleship that precedes it.

When we do fall and yield to temptation, it is important to realize that to make one bad choice, or two or three, does not doom you to a lifetime of bad choices. You’re not doomed to the darkness because of past mistakes. There is nothing you’ve done that has doomed you.

Because when God looks upon you in your temptation, what God sees most of all is a burden. God sees you with a burden. A terrible heavy load to carry. God sees your weariness, sees inner conflict wearing you out, wearing you down, and God says through Christ, Come unto me, you who are weary and carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest.

The writer of Hebrews adds: Let us, therefore, come boldly before the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help us in time of need.

When we succumb to temptation - and we all have and we all will - Jesus comes with forgiveness, restoration, and renewing strength. You are, and will always be, a forgiven child of God, given a new start to live the life you were born to live.

That means you can come out of hiding, and you can join in the communion of sinners becoming saints who cry out week by week, day by day, FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES, AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

Doxology

FOR THINE IS THE KINGDOM AND THE POWER AND THE GLORY FOREVER. AMEN.

The church, some centuries after Jesus, added this doxology to the prayer. It is not found in the earliest biblical manuscripts. But it is a fitting addition. For all prayer concludes in praise. That’s the case with many of the psalms no matter how dark the rest of the psalm.

This doxology has roots in the Old Testament. One of the great Old Testament prayers is found in 1 Chronicles where David prays: “Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all.”

Kingdom

FOR THINE IS THE KINGDOM. Not our kingdom. Not the church’s kingdom. But God’s kingdom. Shaping this world into a place of peace and justice, freedom and love. FOR THINE IS THE KINGDOM.

Power

AND THE POWER. This doxology gives us confidence in our praying as Jesus calls us to the awesome responsibility of helping God change the world.

If only Jesus had taught us to simply put everything in God’s hands. “Let go and let God.” But he didn’t. Instead, he reminds us that from the beginning God has put things in our hands. We have the responsibility of caring for the earth and making sure all the people of the earth have what they need to live. We have the responsibility of making this world a better place. A place where God’s will is done. A place characterized by peace and justice and freedom and love. And in the face of that task we can feel quite weak.

But this closing doxology reminds us we are not called to live this prayer in our own strength. It is in God’s power, God’s strength that we go out into the world as agents of change and hope. FOR THINE IS THE KINGDOM AND THE POWER . . .

Glory

AND THE GLORY. The living out of this prayer, is all for the praise and glory of God. It is so that God can be seen in this world.

Forever

FOREVER. The kingdoms of this world sometimes seem unconquerable. This world’s way of wielding power through force and manipulation seems to be the only way to survive in this world.

But this little word FOREVER stands out as an affirmation that ultimately all kingdoms will crumble in the face of God’s Kingdom. And all power will self-destruct in the face of God’s redeeming power of love. And all glory will pale in comparison when “the kingdoms of this world become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ.” And he shall reign forever and ever in God’s shining glory.

Amen

AMEN. It is a word of emphasis, an expression of faith, meaning “So let it be!” “O God, let it come to be.” The AMEN signifies a strengthened hope that the world can be changed. It is a confession of assurance that God will be faithful to sustain us and empower us, guiding us and going with us into the world to bring forth the Kingdom of God.

Conclusion

Because we believe that beyond all kingdoms is God’s Kingdom, we do not have to hesitate to speak out and act against this world’s kingdoms of tyrants and oppressors.

Because we believe that ultimately God’s power is the only true, life-giving power we do not have to bow down to the powers that be.

And because we believe that all glory and praise belong to God and God alone we are free to name the bogus glories of war and fame and fortune.

With faith we can look this world in the face with all its evil and refuse to accept its ultimate victory.

FOR THINE IS THE KINGDOM AND THE POWER AND THE GLORY FOREVER AMEN

Temptation and Evil, W. Gregory Pope, preaching

Temptation and Evil,
W. Gregory Pope, preaching