Temptation (Matthew 4:1-11) - Calvary Baptist Cobourg

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When we talk about temptation, what are we talking about?  

This is a word that gets used differently in scripture than in most of our everyday lives, in our culture and popular media.  

The first way it gets used is as a kind of metaphysical Whack-a-Mole; something happens and you have to react. You try to knock it back down into the hole and not get in trouble. You're hoping to get a good score. To rack up as many points as you can so that you have better chances of getting into heaven when you die. You want the good to outweigh the bad. 

The other way that the world uses the word 'temptation' is to speak that word, but with a wink. Tempting chocolate cake. Tempting spicy wings. “Ohh, I'm tempted by those spicy wings. I'm going to be sorry in the morning... but it'll be worth it.”  

But in scripture the word ‘temptation’ is neither Whack-a-Mole nor chocolate cake. 

Temptation in scripture is the idea of being tested. It's the picture of standing on a threshold, standing in a doorway, and the door is open and there's somebody or something on the other side of the door calling you. You stand there. And you decide: Am I going to walk through that door? Or am I going to close it? That's the ‘temptation’ that we see in scripture: when we pause long enough to decide whether we should... or shouldn’t. It's that space between doing and not doing. Between A and B. 

Sometimes that moment goes on for ages. Sometimes it takes us forever to decide because we have to listen to and argue with all the voices that only we can hear in our hearts.  

And sometimes that decision comes in a snap: so fast we don't even know we were making a decision at all. We just reach out and take it. We just step through that door without being aware that we made a choice.  

What temptation is not... is sin. It is not wrong. It is not sinful to be tempted. It is not a failure to be tempted. In Hebrews 4:14-15 the writer talks about Jesus, who they call “our high priest.”  

“We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses. But we have one who was tempted in every way that we are, but was without sin.”  

Just think about that for a minute... Think about Jesus. 

Who comes to mind? For some people it's “gentle Jesus, meek and mild.” For some, it's the guy with the whip in the temple. For some, it's the guy who somehow manages to walk along dirt roads wearing spotless white, floor length robes. However you picture Jesus, he was the only perfect human being who ever lived. He was the only one who got through life without doing any of the things that we sometimes wish we hadn't. He's the only human being who never woke up in the morning going, “Oh, I shouldn’t have done that” or needing to ask forgiveness. He didn't have to experience that because he never got it wrong. Everything that you have ever struggled with, everything that I have ever struggled with, he struggled with as well and he came through, making the right choice every time. Look at the next verse in that passage, Hebrews 4:16: 

“Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence. So that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”  

He knows our reality. He knows our fallibility. He knows our hearts. He knows our weakness. He knows our internet history, but when we turn to him, he will provide grace to help us in our time of need.  

Temptation is not a sin. I would suggest that it is, in fact, an opportunity. When we're standing on that threshold, looking at the person or the thing that is inviting us through, we pause long enough to make a decision. We're not just choosing A or B. We're not choosing this or that. We are asking ourselves in that moment what is most important to us, what is most valuable to me, what is most precious. 

What am I going to most grieve and lament when I wake up tomorrow morning and remember what I threw away and what I held close?

1 Peter 1:6 is written to a church group, probably not super different from ours in the ways that matter:  

“...For a little while you may have had to suffer grief in various trials, temptations, testings so that the proven character of your faith, more precious than gold, may result in praise and glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”  

We go through trials and temptations and testing so that our faith can be refined, so that our character can be deepened, so that we can learn about who we are, learn about how we've grown, learn about how we've stagnated, and learn about how we need to turn to God regardless. Those moments of temptation are an opportunity. 

They are a challenge, like lament, as we’ve talked about in recent weeks. Like lament, temptation is hard. It's difficult, it's complicated.  

But it is an opportunity to grow: to grow in our faith and to grow closer to God.  

… 

Then, what is our response? How do we respond in a healthy way to temptation?  

The first option is not a healthy response; we can continue to play Whack-A-Mole. We can continue waiting for things to pop up, reacting reflexively, and making the best decisions we can in the moment, and then making excuses for our own failure. “Well, the game was fixed. I was tired. I had too much to drink. She made me mad. He deserved it. They owe me.” 

The second response, which is far healthier, is to pay better attention. Anticipate the moment when the machine pops up 2 moles instead of 1. Knowing that it's coming helps you to make those choices in advance. In 2 Corinthians 2, Paul is writing to the church in Corinth about a member of their church who had done something wrong. Paul is telling the church that they need to repair this relationship and forgive him. This has a lot to say to us on this question.  

“You ought to forgive and comfort him. If you forgive anyone, I also forgive him. And if I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven it in the presence of Christ for your sake, in order that Satan should not outwit us, for we are not unaware of his schemes.”  

Yeah, Satan is our greatest enemy. He is the greatest manipulator. He is the cleverest accuser. He is the smartest tempter. But in all of human history, he has not learned any new tricks. There are no new tricks for him to learn. 

He is the same as always. His schemes are the same as always, and if we're paying attention, we can learn to recognize that.  

Human nature is the same as it has ever been. We are the same as we have always been, and if we pay attention our own lives, pay attention to when and where we are our weakest... When and where we most often encounter our most difficult temptations... What website? What street? What time of day? In whose company? When you're tired? When you just got paid? When you need a drink? When you just had a drink? If we learn to identify those risk factors, we can learn to recognize and anticipate the situations so that we can avoid them to some extent, or so that we can, when those situations arise, be better prepared to make those decisions well.  

A third response that we can bring to temptation is to accept responsibility. When we are tempted, when we walk where we ought not to walk, we need to accept responsibility for our choices, for our failures. In 1 Corinthians 10:12 and following Paul writes,  

“The one who thinks they are standing firm should be careful not to fall. No temptation has seized you except what is common to humanity and God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted he will provide a way of escape so that you can stand up under it. Therefore, my beloved, escape...”  

There is always a way out. There is always a handle on your side of the door that you can use to pull that door shut. There is always space to back up and walk away. There is always an option to step back from the brink and to choose well.  

But we're human. And we don't always escape. We don't always choose well. And when we don’t, there is always, always, always forgiveness, and the opportunity to try again.  

The final response I would suggest is to get help. We're not designed to live this life entirely under our own steam, using our own brains and our own wits and our own personal strength to solve all of our problems. We are not intended or built for a life of isolation and rugged individualism. Be part of a faith family, be part of a faith community. Identify people in that community who you can trust. And talk to them. Because we are not meant to do this alone. Jesus went into the desert alone and faced down Satan—I’m not Jesus. I'm not going to try to do it alone and I shouldn't.  

Temptation is not just a game of Whack-a-Mole. It's not just reacting to things as they pop up one at a time and hoping for the highest score you can get and hoping that in the end the good numbers outweigh the bad. 

Temptation is an opportunity. It's an opportunity to learn. It's an opportunity to grow. It's an opportunity to get it right. It's an opportunity to fail.  

And then to be forgiven.  

And to forgive yourself.  

And to try and try and try again. 

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