Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Temptation: What's the Sin in That? Scene 1.5...or maybe this is an interlude...IDK



After the first post, there were some offline comments/questions that I wish to address.

Comment 1: I don’t get how any of the items you listed were actual sin. How is turning a stone into bread sin/how does this appeal to Pride/Anger?

First off, I’m a behaviorist. Meaning, I believe that the thought process of a person can be determined based on an examination of what they do. Do you ever do something ridiculous, and then say: “WHY did I do that?” The why is very important to understanding why yielding to temptation is sin, rather than the temptation itself.

Second, know that yielding to temptation is the gateway drug to full-blown sin. That’s why it’s clever. On the onset, temptation can appear totally innocuous, but it leads somewhere.

So let’s revisit:
  1. “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” – We already determined in Part 1 that Christ had the power to do this. But if he had done it…WHY would it have happened?
    1. He would have yielded to the tempter (Satan), rather than resisting Him (see James 4:7)
    2. In so yielding, He would have allowed Himself to be tempted into seeing bread as more than bread. It would now be something he NEEDED to sustain Him, and he’d be willing to heed the voice of his enemy in order to gratify His hunger. Personal gratification goes by another name: “Lust of the flesh.” (I John 2:16)
  1. “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours.” – We’ve already pointed out that the Earth is the Lord’s; however, Satan has some sway in the earth. In many scriptures he is referred to as “the ruler of this world,” “the prince of the power of the air” etc. So let’s assume he has something of value to actually tempt Christ with. You can’t worship other Gods. That’s clearly a sin. If he had done it…WHY would he have done it?
    1. Again, yielding. Yielding is BAD.
    2. In so yielding, this would belie a desire for power and glory..in that instant. We know Christ will rule the world (Isaiah 9: 6 -7); it prophesied. Satan, however, was tempting Jesus to look out at the splendor of the world and desire it NOW. This personal aspiration for power/glory/control of what the devil was showing Him is called “the lust of the eye.” (I John 2:16)
  1. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” This is a real scripture (Psalms 91:11). However, the two scriptures before that (Psalms 91:9-10) make it clear that the we are to be passive in these situations. Harm befalls and disaster comes. You don’t throw yourself into harm's way, or approach disaster ON PURPOSE. In this way you tempt God (which per Jesus’ quote is a sin) AND you boast in His protection and in the power you wield (aka “the boastful pride of life”).

So, it's the yielding that is a problem. When your previous course of action is changed, based on the introduction of a temptation, then that yielding is representative of a desire, that desire results in action, action based on an evil desire stemming from a temptation is a sin. See James 1:14-15 .

Comment 2 - I think death was the aim of Satan asking Christ to jump.

Okay, could be. But I just want to know this:

In any case, all this leads to Satan’s purpose which was to render Christ an ineffective sacrifice. Which will actually be covered in Temptation: Scene 2. Blah, blah, blah.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Temptation: What's THAT All About? Scene 1


Everyone has hang-ups, things about them that are kinda messed up. For me, I sometimes think that everything is about me. Vain, arrogant…ultimately: foolish. But when it comes to spiritual warfare, I’m not off the mark. Things that happened directly affect me, and are indirectly about me.

I’ve heard the story of the Temptation of Christ numerous times. . And my perception of the story changed a lot from when I was kid, to when I was an adult, to just 2 mornings ago in the shower. That’s right…sometimes thoughts come to me, when my mind should be on body wash and exfoliation.

For purposes of this blog, please take 45 seconds and read it again (Luke 4:1-13).

Thank you for your time.

Evolution of Thought

I. This is Dumb

When I was a kid, my thoughts regarding this scripture were more along the lines of: “Silly devil, Trix are for kids.” I thought everything that happened in the wilderness was ridiculous on the part of Satan because, umm…Jesus is God! When I was a kid, the whole fully God/fully Man thing didn’t mean a hill of beans to me. I was so focused on the “fully God” part that I spent my childhood wondering why Christ didn’t simply blast the devil with the lightning that I was certain He could just shoot out of His hand at will.

As I grew up I realized that God had subjected and submitted Himself to the bounds and limitations of human flesh. And so, my thoughts evolved to:

II. Oh!!! This is an Example

This is what I call the Hebrews 4:15 ideology. The Word became flesh so that It could get where I’m coming from. Duh! Jesus actually let himself be vulnerable (just by nature of being in the flesh) to the attack of Satan. This whole thing is an example of how to withstand the wiles of the wicked one. Jesus answered with scripture, we should respond with scripture. We have to be strong in the Word, it is our only weapon. All that is true, but (and this is part of my shower thought) this is an example of something else as well: how Satan operates:

Per that last verse (Luke 4:13), Satan seeks opportune times to tempt us:

  1. When we’re alone – Jesus was by his lonesome in the wilderness.
  2. When we’re in a weakened state – Jesus hadn’t eaten ANYTHING in 40 days
And Satan isn’t dumb at all! He’s quite clever. He will tempt you, and attempt to trick you, based on WHO YOU ARE. In this instance, Satan structured this temptation to get at what he figured would be Jesus' weak points based on the fact that He was both fully God and fully Man.

Appealing to the Reality of Jesus' Power

  1. “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
    Satan couldn’t tempt ME with that one, because—tragically—I cannot turn stones into bread. I don’t have that power. But Jesus does! If Jesus is hungry, why wait? He could’ve turned those stones into bread tastier than the most awesome thing Panera has to offer, but He didn’t. Why?
Appealing to Anger and Pride
    1. “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours.” First off, per Psalms 24:1, this is a dirty lie. Jesus answers every temptation with scripture. Why didn’t He use this psalm? Because that's a Psalm of praise, and Jesus is all about humility. Satan was trying to provoke anger and pride by taking credit for Jesus' work (i.e. Creation).
    Appealing to the Divinity of Christ

    1. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” See how he tried to put Jesus on the spot? If you're the Son of God...jump! I won’t lie to you, up until 2 days ago in the shower I thought Satan was trying to trick Jesus into suicide. Genius!! But…it’s bigger than that. If I threw myself off of a cliff, I would die. If Jesus threw Himself off a cliff…what Satan said would happen would probably happen. But something else would happen as well. Something very terrible.
    Remember what I said about everything being about me? In the shower, thinking about the whole attempted-trick-suicide thing, I realized, this is all about ME! Well, not just me, but rather us. It was about rendering Christ an:

    III.“Ineffective Sacrifice”

    Jesus is the perfect sacrifice for our sin, and Satan was pulling all those shenanigans in order to render it ineffective.

    More on this in Temptation: Scene 2.

    P.S. In case you didn't get my image at the top...that's Jesus at the cliff.