Lent 1 - Temptation - Yes or No?

Sermon for the First Sunday in Lent

Text: Romans 5:18-19
Just as all people were made sinners as the result of the disobedience of one man, in the same way they will all be put right with God as the result of the obedience of the one man.

Temptation - yes or no?

A businessman became concerned about his waistline and how his clothes seemed to be shrinking, so he decided to do something about it. He loved his cakes for morning tea so decided to cut out these treats. He announced his bold plan to those in his office and asked them to help keep him on his no cake diet.

One morning he came into work with this most delicious looking mud cake. Everyone in the office just went off at him for giving into the temptation, but he continued to smile. “This is a special mud cake”, he said. “I was stopped at the traffic lights and right there on the corner just the width of a footpath away was the window of a bakery. There I saw the most delicious goodies. This was no accident, so I prayed, “Lord, if you want me to have one of those goodies in the bakery, let there be a parking spot just around the corner right in front of the bakery.” And God answered my prayer. There right in front of the bakery was a parking spot – after circling past it eight times.”

Temptation – that’s something we can all relate to. It comes down to a matter of choice –
when confronted with a choice, which path will I take.
For example, what is the right way to respond when I think that I need something really badly. Shall I get it even though I can’t afford it?
He has offended me so deeply, will I refuse to have anything to do with him to show how hurt I am?
I can see she is in pain and she needs someone to talk to; will I look the other way?
What is the way that God wants me to act in each of these cases?

I mention God at this point, because for us, it is God who made us in his image, to be like him, to love as he loves. In Christ he chose us to be his people, rescued and brought into his kingdom, and yet the choice between saying “yes” or “no” in any given situation provides us with a dilemma. Like the man sitting in his car in front of the bakery. He is faced with a choice. Will I stick with my diet or not – yes or no. He passes the choice on to God. But that’s only a cop out. He still must face the consequences of a bulging belly.

As we start our journey toward Good Friday, this first Sunday in Lent, we are hit right between the eyes by the unrelenting power of sin and temptation in our lives and the need for Jesus to suffer and die on Good Friday.

The book of Genesis tells us that God forms the first people from the dust of the ground, and places them in a good, rich garden with only one limitation – don't touch that tree over there. But they saw that the fruit of the tree was very appealing, it looked ripe and delicious. If that wasn’t enough the serpent comes on the scene and sows doubt into Eve’s mind how unreasonable God was forbidding them from eating from that tree. The serpent says, “God wouldn’t say anything nasty like, ‘You will die if you eat from this tree’”.

The first people are faced with a dilemma, “Shall we trust God and walk away from the tree?” or, “Trust the serpent. He makes a lot of sense. Yes, let’s do it.”

Here is where you and I come in. That first act of disobedience, says Genesis, is the genesis, the beginning of our condition as imperfect and flawed people. Paul says, “All people were made sinners as the result of the disobedience of one man” (Romans 5:19).

Adam says “yes” to the forbidden fruit, and we have been saying “yes” ever since. Every low flying temptation that comes our way, we struggle to respond with a definite “no”. More often than not, even without thinking, we say “yes” -
“yes” to anger,
“yes” to an unforgiving heart,
“yes” to overindulgence that is harmful – maybe food, drink, gossip, or technology,
“yes” to doing as we please and not giving one thought to how this will affect others,
“yes” to ignoring God and his ways.
We all have own ways of saying “yes” and making bad choices and “no” to what God has called us to be as his dear children.

Every time we say “yes” to temptation someone gets hurt.
Think about that for a moment.
Every time we say “yes” to temptation someone gets hurt.
If we say “yes” to an unforgiving attitude, the recipient of our unforgiveness is wounded.
If we say “yes” to being impatient and angry with someone, that person is hurt and becomes distant from us. That’s what sin does – it separates – it builds walls. In the Garden of Eden, sin separated Adam and Eve from God and from each other.

Every seemingly harmless “yes” to temptation, is not harmless at all. Someone is a victim. Most importantly God who loves us so dearly is the one who is hurt the most.

Let’s take an example from the Bible. David was looking from his rooftop at his neighbour, Bathsheba, taking a bath, saying “yes” to his lustful thoughts. He said “yes” to taking her into his bedchamber. This led to a “yes” to getting rid of her husband by putting him on the front lines of a battle, then another “yes” to taking her to be his own wife. Many people were hurt, including their first child. God was hurt and he let David know.

David heard the whisper. We hear it today. “If it feels good, do it, say “yes”. The trouble is this as David found out. Once we’ve said “yes” once, we lack the resources to stop saying “yes” in the future. So anything is possible. In fact, we become our worst enemies when we keep on saying “yes”.

While everyone was saying “yes” there was one who said “no”. Jesus met Satan in the wilderness (Matt 4:1-11).
“You’re hungry Jesus. You’ve been without food for 40 days. Turn these stones into bread. A “yes” to one small stone is all you will need”.
“Throw yourself down from the temple tower. God’s angels will protect you as you float down into the temple courtyard in front of all those people. “Yes” would mean instant celebrity status”.
“Bow down and worship me and I will give you all the power you need to prevent crime, help the poor, stop wars and provide just governments. Just say “yes”.

To all Satan's offers, Jesus said, “No! No! No!” Thundering over the wreckage that all our "yeses" have caused, and reversing our march toward death, he said “no”.
In his stunning act of obedience, he placed God’s Word and will over his
desire to say “yes” to each temptation to take an easy road to be the Saviour with instant fame and success.
Later he refused to say “no” to the temptation to avoid the suffering and pain of the cross when tested in the Garden of Gethsemane.
By his refusal to march to the beat of Satan's drum, he overcame the power of Satan who urges us to say "yes" to every temptation that flies our way.

Jesus said “no” to temptation, but he shouts a loud “yes” to all of us. Paul says that Jesus is God’s great “yes” to all humanity (2 Cor 1:20).

Even though we say “yes” to temptation and sin so often God does not reject us. He has given us his “yes” by giving us Jesus. He says,
“We have been put right with God through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. He has brought us by faith into this experience of God’s grace, in which we now live” (Romans 5:1-2).
The second reading today talks a lot about how Adam’s sin has infected us all. But overriding this is God’s gift of abundant grace that freely puts us right with him. It restores and renews our relationship with God and leads us to eternal life.

Paul says that the verdict of “Not guilty” is so undeserved. We say “yes” to temptation and sin so readily like our great great grandparents in the Garden of Eden. But God’s love for each of us is so mighty, so strong that he is willing to do anything to rescue us from the problems our “yes” to temptation causes. In the richness of his grace, he gave us his Son to take on himself our sin on the cross. Paul says, “All people will be put right with God as the result of the obedience of the one man.” (Romans 8:19).

So we come to the point now when we ask, “How can we handle temptation? How can we take better control when temptation comes flying our way sometimes under the disguise of being good for us? How can we learn to say “no” and not be so willing to say “yes”?

Let’s get a grip on reality first. When it comes to Satan, sin and temptation we are dwarves in a land of giants. Satan won’t give up trying to get us to say “yes” to his temptations. He will do his best to wear us down and give up on God, lose trust in his goodness, and feel that there is no hope. What does Peter say? Satan is like a roaring lion prowling around looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 4:7).

A young farmer said in an interview, “I want to share with you some of the things that have been happening in my life over the past few years. Last year I had an accident on my farm, and I was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery. My life was hanging in the balance. Even though my right leg causes me constant pain, I’m okay. How good is the Lord!

And then, this year our second child was born, a beautiful little thing, but with an arm and hand deformity. Of course we were shocked at first. But she is the light of our lives, and we are so thankful to God for our beautiful daughter. See how much God loves us!”

How easy it would have been for this young man to listen to the Tempter who would have been whispering in his ear that God had deserted him, that God didn't care for him. It would have been far easier for him to be depressed and upset over his daughter's handicap. It would have been easier to stop trusting God and say “yes” to blaming God.

How do we handle temptation?
Know in your mind and spirit how deeply our God loves us.
Knowing his grace and love and how powerfully he loves us will encourage us to not want to disappoint this grace by saying “yes” to temptation.
Know what it means to be embraced by God as his especially chosen and called child in the water of baptism.
Know what it means to be filled with God’s Spirit and let the Spirit of God direct every relationship and action. Let the Spirit control your “yes” and “no”.
Know God’s will for your life through reading the Scriptures and rely on his guidance and promises.
Know that even when you mess up and say “yes” and rebel against your heavenly Father’s will, he won’t give up on you. He is always waiting to embrace you and forgive you as his dearly loved child.

As we enter this Lenten season, we know we will say “yes” to temptation but let’s use temptation as
an opportunity to make us stronger in our faith,
refine our trust in the grace of God,
draw us closer to Jesus and his presence in our lives.
This will equip us better to say “no” to what is harmful
and focus on God’s big “yes” to us, the gift his grace in Jesus Christ.

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