WEBVTT 00:00.730 --> 00:01.790 Please be seated. 00:03.090 --> 00:05.838 Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our 00:05.844 --> 00:07.998 Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 00:08.164 --> 00:09.070 Amen. 00:10.290 --> 00:13.550 And lead us not into temptation. 00:15.170 --> 00:20.542 This word temptation seems to have become sort of a throwaway word 00:20.676 --> 00:25.398 I feel like in our world. I don't know how long this has been the case, 00:25.484 --> 00:28.662 but I feel like the majority of the time that I hear the word 00:28.716 --> 00:33.714 temptation or I hear tempted, it has to do with something fairly 00:33.762 --> 00:34.950 insignificant. 00:35.290 --> 00:40.246 Like that pie looks really tempting, even though we've just finished 00:40.278 --> 00:45.226 this big Thanksgiving meal. Or the invitation out to dinner with 00:45.248 --> 00:47.430 friends on Friday night is tempting. 00:47.590 --> 00:49.210 It's really been a busy week. 00:49.280 --> 00:52.140 I think I'd rather just stay home and rest. 00:53.230 --> 00:57.406 Or for a preacher, it's really tempting to get up here and just read 00:57.428 --> 01:00.826 to you the three pages out of the large catechism that Luther talks 01:00.858 --> 01:01.390 about. 01:01.540 --> 01:05.040 Lead us not into temptation and then sit back down again. 01:05.810 --> 01:09.506 There are lots of things that we say we're tempted to do or that are 01:09.608 --> 01:14.226 tempting before us, but the way this word gets used doesn't seem to be 01:14.248 --> 01:19.430 the way that Jesus uses it when he teaches us this prayer. 01:20.410 --> 01:23.650 Now, you might sit there and go, well, duh, that's not the way Jesus 01:23.730 --> 01:24.614 uses it. 01:24.732 --> 01:27.858 And you know that because we're sitting here in a church and you're 01:27.874 --> 01:31.382 listening to a sermon on lead us not into temptation. 01:31.446 --> 01:34.902 And Jesus is talking about serious temptation. 01:34.966 --> 01:38.346 He's not just talking about the flippant ways that we might throw this 01:38.368 --> 01:40.380 world or this word around. 01:41.390 --> 01:45.422 And I would say, of course, you're right, this is true. 01:45.556 --> 01:49.118 But I point out the flippant use of the word temptation because I 01:49.124 --> 01:54.066 think the way that we hear words used around us can influence the way 01:54.088 --> 01:58.546 we think about them and the way that we understand them sometimes 01:58.728 --> 02:00.980 without us even realizing it. 02:02.310 --> 02:07.494 As I was reflecting on this petition for this morning, I was thinking 02:07.532 --> 02:12.034 that this petition in the Lord's Prayer might be the most unexpected 02:12.082 --> 02:13.750 of all of the petitions. 02:14.250 --> 02:18.838 Certainly we want to pray for God's name to be kept holy. 02:19.014 --> 02:21.114 He's God, after all, right? 02:21.232 --> 02:23.900 As Christians, we want his kingdom to come. 02:24.670 --> 02:28.380 Some days we like it to come sooner rather than later. 02:30.350 --> 02:34.958 At least part of us, our redeemed side at least, wants God's will to 02:34.964 --> 02:35.760 be done. 02:36.530 --> 02:40.798 We love all the things that God gives us for our body and life, and 02:40.884 --> 02:44.506 there's still a part of us that knows that we need to be forgiven, 02:44.698 --> 02:48.400 even if we're not always so good at forgiving other people. 02:49.570 --> 02:55.634 And almost anybody can get behind deliver us from evil. And but nestled 02:55.682 --> 02:59.780 into this prayer, right towards the end, are these six words and lead 03:00.170 --> 03:02.190 us not into temptation. 03:04.130 --> 03:07.646 Our first response as Christians might be the same as Luther's, where 03:07.668 --> 03:10.960 he says God indeed tempts no one. 03:11.890 --> 03:16.350 And considering the flippant ways that temptation is used around us, 03:16.420 --> 03:21.040 we might start thinking, well, why does this even need to be in here? 03:22.530 --> 03:26.454 Why do we need to avoid temptation if it's just just eating that piece 03:26.492 --> 03:26.950 of pie? 03:27.020 --> 03:30.102 Or staying home to rest on a Friday night? 03:30.156 --> 03:33.560 Why does God even care about any of that stuff? 03:35.610 --> 03:38.694 But you know as well as I do that that's not the reason that this 03:38.732 --> 03:40.486 petition is included here. 03:40.588 --> 03:44.070 It's not for the flippant ways that we use the word temptation. 03:44.230 --> 03:48.841 It's because it's a very serious issue in the life of a Christian, one 03:48.896 --> 03:52.270 that we would say is a matter of life and death. 03:53.170 --> 03:56.350 Specifically spiritual life and death. 03:58.210 --> 04:01.646 Now, earlier, I mentioned to you my desire to just stand up here and 04:01.668 --> 04:04.802 read you the few pages out of the large catechism and sit back down. 04:04.856 --> 04:06.257 And I won't do that to you. 04:06.344 --> 04:10.338 But I will commend that section to you to read. 04:10.504 --> 04:13.810 And really the whole large catechism. 04:14.230 --> 04:18.519 It's one of those gems that sometimes is forgotten about. 04:19.290 --> 04:22.760 And students, when you leave here, teach it to your people. 04:23.850 --> 04:28.454 One of the first year or so that I was serving at my parish in Iowa. 04:28.502 --> 04:33.446 We picked the large catechism as our Sunday morning Bible study topic. 04:33.638 --> 04:38.874 And I had, from week to week, around 90 people in Bible study on 04:38.912 --> 04:41.494 Sunday morning learning about the large catechism. 04:41.542 --> 04:45.326 Because it's everything that the people in the pews are looking for in 04:45.348 --> 04:47.726 terms of guidance for the Christian life. 04:47.828 --> 04:53.682 And this desire to know more about what they learned in Catechesis was 04:53.736 --> 04:57.780 by far the best attended of all the studies we ever did. 04:59.430 --> 05:03.602 That's the end of my commercial for reading and teaching the large 05:03.656 --> 05:04.398 catechism. 05:04.494 --> 05:07.638 But I do want to walk through some of the highlights of this part. 05:07.804 --> 05:12.306 Luther starts by talking about all that we've learned in the Lord's 05:12.337 --> 05:16.086 Prayer up until this point what it takes for us to persevere in the 05:16.108 --> 05:17.457 Christian faith. 05:17.634 --> 05:20.634 And he says, although we have received forgiveness and a good 05:20.672 --> 05:25.226 conscience and are entirely acquitted, yet our life is of such a 05:25.248 --> 05:29.900 nature that we stand today and tomorrow we fall. 05:32.210 --> 05:33.789 Isn't that the truth? 05:34.690 --> 05:39.946 You think about your life since your baptism that day when God covered 05:39.978 --> 05:43.774 you in water and his word and gave you his name forgave all of your 05:43.812 --> 05:45.598 sins and made you his child. 05:45.764 --> 05:47.919 You were made right with him. 05:49.730 --> 05:53.198 Now, if temptation theoretically wasn't that big of a deal, you would 05:53.204 --> 05:56.070 assume that from that day forward, life would have been simple. 05:56.220 --> 05:57.062 It would have been easy. 05:57.116 --> 05:59.539 All the temptation would have been removed and we could just live 06:00.090 --> 06:02.880 in God's presence, waiting for him to return. 06:05.490 --> 06:07.726 But that's not how this works. 06:07.908 --> 06:11.150 Luther continues therefore, even though we're Godly now and stand 06:11.220 --> 06:14.926 before God with a good conscience, we must pray again that he would 06:14.948 --> 06:19.470 not allow us to fall and yield to trials and temptations. 06:20.450 --> 06:23.582 You see, rather than our baptism day being that day when we're set 06:23.636 --> 06:28.546 free completely from temptation, it's actually the day that temptation 06:28.658 --> 06:31.000 starts to intensify for us. 06:31.610 --> 06:33.750 Target is painted on our back. 06:33.900 --> 06:39.433 And these temptations come regularly to try to pull us away from that 06:39.472 --> 06:42.060 new relationship that God has given to us. 06:44.230 --> 06:49.682 Luther goes on to point out and describe the three sources of these 06:49.736 --> 06:52.690 temptations that we live with on a regular basis. 06:52.850 --> 06:57.750 The first being our own sinful flesh, that old Adam that every day 06:57.820 --> 07:01.794 tries to pop back to the surface, fighting against the baptismal 07:01.842 --> 07:06.474 waters that drowned him before and trying to pull us back down under 07:06.512 --> 07:07.260 the water. 07:09.390 --> 07:14.026 You know, these temptations the temptations to think more highly of 07:14.048 --> 07:15.690 ourselves than we ought. 07:17.010 --> 07:21.406 Temptation to think that I'm right and everybody else is just an 07:21.428 --> 07:22.270 idiot. 07:23.170 --> 07:27.885 Maybe it's the temptation to lie to protect yourself or to make you 07:27.908 --> 07:31.140 look better to other people than you actually are. 07:31.750 --> 07:36.914 There's a temptation to do just the bare minimum, to be lazy, to 07:37.032 --> 07:40.580 neglect the vocations that God has given to you. 07:41.430 --> 07:45.909 Just do enough to pass or just enough to make sure that nobody gets 07:45.980 --> 07:47.560 too angry with you. 07:48.570 --> 07:50.722 There are temptations of a sexual nature. 07:50.786 --> 07:55.754 The lustful look towards someone else or the activities that God has 07:55.792 --> 07:56.854 reserved for the marriage 07:56.902 --> 08:02.698 bed. Second source of that temptation is the world around us. 08:02.784 --> 08:06.882 And this one might be the easiest one for us to look and to blame. 08:07.046 --> 08:10.800 Oh, that terrible world always out to get us. 08:12.289 --> 08:14.960 Listen to the way Luther describes his own world. 08:15.409 --> 08:18.510 He says, next comes the world which offends us in word 08:18.580 --> 08:22.289 and deed, it drives us towards anger and impatience. 08:22.789 --> 08:27.746 In short, there's nothing but hatred and envy, hostility, violence and 08:27.768 --> 08:28.433 wrong. 08:28.632 --> 08:33.126 Unfaithfulness vengeance, cursing, railing, slander, pride and 08:33.148 --> 08:36.001 haughtiness. With useless finery 08:36.066 --> 08:37.702 honor, fame and power. 08:37.836 --> 08:39.973 No one is willing to be the least. 08:40.172 --> 08:44.310 Everyone desires to sit at the head of the group and be seen before 08:44.380 --> 08:45.000 all. 08:46.890 --> 08:48.520 Oh, the good old days. 08:49.210 --> 08:52.165 If only we could just go back to when the church was strong and the 08:52.188 --> 08:53.240 world was great. 08:54.490 --> 08:56.030 Not so much right. 08:56.220 --> 08:58.940 Sounds like it's something that could have been written this week. 09:01.210 --> 09:05.614 Luther s description is spot on with the way that we experience the 09:05.652 --> 09:06.510 world today. 09:06.660 --> 09:10.382 And in addition to those that he recognizes, I would add two more 09:10.436 --> 09:16.062 temptations that seem to weigh down heavily upon us the use of our 09:16.116 --> 09:16.720 time. 09:17.730 --> 09:21.390 The world tempts our time and our sense of urgency. 09:21.970 --> 09:25.942 There are hundreds of activities and events and responsibilities and 09:25.996 --> 09:29.880 things that you can fill your time with each and every week. 09:31.610 --> 09:35.494 There's also a sense of urgency that each one of those things is the 09:35.532 --> 09:39.450 most important thing that needs to be done in your time in that given 09:39.520 --> 09:40.140 week. 09:40.910 --> 09:44.122 And since some of these things are good and God pleasing, this can be 09:44.176 --> 09:45.930 especially burdensome. 09:47.390 --> 09:52.126 Having a near infinite way or infinite amount of ways to spend your 09:52.148 --> 09:58.222 time combined with a finite amount of time can make us have to make 09:58.276 --> 09:59.150 choices. 09:59.810 --> 10:04.674 When you combine that with urgency, we're constantly thinking about 10:04.712 --> 10:06.740 the choices that we're making. 10:07.110 --> 10:10.962 This school activity is most important or this work commitment is most 10:11.016 --> 10:11.620 important. 10:12.390 --> 10:17.766 This activity for my children, this club or family event, all of them 10:17.788 --> 10:21.000 are the most important way to spend our time. 10:22.090 --> 10:25.960 We don't want to miss out, we don't want our kids to miss out. 10:26.490 --> 10:28.006 So we start making choices. 10:28.038 --> 10:31.574 And when we start making choices, it's really easy to start violating 10:31.622 --> 10:33.494 the first and the third commandment. 10:33.622 --> 10:37.530 We start making idols and Gods for ourselves. 10:39.150 --> 10:44.560 We start running out of time to hear God's Word and to receive it. 10:47.220 --> 10:51.456 Third source of temptation that Luther gives to us might even be the 10:51.478 --> 10:55.300 most obvious, even for nonchristians, and that's the Devil. 10:55.960 --> 10:58.915 Now, the Devil is certainly working in these other sources of 10:58.938 --> 11:00.390 temptation that I've mentioned. 11:01.240 --> 11:04.630 He's got a very specific focus here. 11:05.319 --> 11:09.796 I think it's safe to say that when the Devil is focused on tempting 11:09.828 --> 11:14.644 you and other Christians, it's not simply just to break one of God's 11:14.692 --> 11:18.900 commandments, because the Devil knows as well as we do that there's 11:18.980 --> 11:22.140 forgiveness and hope and restoration in the blood of Jesus. 11:23.440 --> 11:27.100 God is slow to anger and abounding and steadfast love. 11:27.250 --> 11:29.592 His position is to forgive and to restore. 11:29.656 --> 11:33.808 And so it'd be far too small of a goal for the Devil to simply want to 11:33.814 --> 11:36.000 get you to break the commandments. 11:37.700 --> 11:41.104 The Devil's goal in his temptation is to destroy your relationship 11:41.222 --> 11:43.010 with God and to pull you away. 11:45.380 --> 11:49.452 Now, make no mistake about it, the Devil has been defeated. 11:49.516 --> 11:50.816 Jesus has won. 11:50.998 --> 11:54.050 His death and his resurrection are proof of this. 11:54.660 --> 11:58.980 We see that here in our windows and we wait for that day when Jesus 11:59.140 --> 11:59.350 returns. 12:01.690 --> 12:03.440 So the devil can't win. 12:05.490 --> 12:10.030 He certainly can cause a lot of collateral damage as he loses. 12:12.130 --> 12:15.166 The devil's temptation in our own lives go to the core of our 12:15.188 --> 12:16.574 relationship with God. 12:16.772 --> 12:20.334 He tempts us to think of ourselves as the ultimate authority in all 12:20.372 --> 12:21.600 things in our lives. 12:22.450 --> 12:25.640 I know better than my parents it. 12:26.010 --> 12:28.690 I know better than my pastor. 12:28.850 --> 12:30.594 I know better than my professor. 12:30.642 --> 12:31.686 I know better. 12:31.868 --> 12:34.920 I know better, I know better. 12:36.010 --> 12:40.454 Slowly and without us even realizing it, sometimes we elevate 12:40.502 --> 12:44.570 ourselves into that position of ultimate authority. 12:46.430 --> 12:49.930 Slowly is the way that the devil works in the lives of Christians. 12:50.530 --> 12:54.702 Even the most nominal Christian is unlikely to be tempted away from 12:54.756 --> 12:56.080 God quickly. 12:56.930 --> 13:00.160 If the devil is to, say, abandon God and walk away. 13:00.930 --> 13:04.738 Most people, Christians at least, have the sense to say, I don't know 13:04.824 --> 13:05.860 about that. 13:07.270 --> 13:11.620 But the question of what has God actually done in your life? 13:12.150 --> 13:14.020 Might be a good starting place. 13:15.510 --> 13:19.702 If God really loved you, why doesn't anything good seem to ever happen 13:19.756 --> 13:20.520 to you? 13:21.050 --> 13:24.134 Or if God really cared about you, why does it seem like everybody else 13:24.172 --> 13:26.870 has a great life and yours isn't? 13:29.130 --> 13:33.466 As we experience the trials and hardships of life, the death of a 13:33.488 --> 13:38.922 child or a parent, the tragedies around us, the loss of a job, maybe 13:38.976 --> 13:44.526 the loss of the dreams that we had before us, that soft whisper in our 13:44.548 --> 13:47.790 ear might be, does God really even know you exist? 13:48.770 --> 13:49.854 He did 13:50.052 --> 13:53.460 certainly these bad things wouldn't happen to you. 13:55.670 --> 14:01.986 Or and this could be a big or maybe nothing really bad has happened in 14:02.008 --> 14:02.690 your life. 14:02.840 --> 14:04.430 It hasn't been terrible. 14:04.590 --> 14:05.650 It hasn't been awesome. 14:05.720 --> 14:07.022 It just has been. 14:07.176 --> 14:08.434 God has been faithful. 14:08.482 --> 14:12.738 He's provided you've lived without significant tragedy and you've 14:12.754 --> 14:15.302 never really had to question whether God was there or not. 14:15.356 --> 14:16.920 He just has been there. 14:18.730 --> 14:24.266 In these cases, Satan might slither in and start throwing sins back in 14:24.288 --> 14:28.458 your face, those sins that have been long forgiven, or those sins that 14:28.464 --> 14:31.742 you continue to struggle with today, saying, if you were a real 14:31.796 --> 14:34.880 Christian, you wouldn't keep doing that stuff. 14:36.690 --> 14:39.802 You're a pastor, a deaconess. 14:39.866 --> 14:43.790 You're going to be a pastor or a deaconess, and you've done those 14:43.860 --> 14:44.480 things. 14:45.970 --> 14:47.360 How is that possible? 14:49.250 --> 14:49.946 Self doubt 14:49.978 --> 14:53.934 and our doubt about our standing before God quickly destroys any last 14:54.052 --> 14:59.890 shred of confidence or hope we might have had ever so slow. 15:00.000 --> 15:05.726 Slowly, the devil continues to chip away and chip away. Leading us to 15:05.828 --> 15:10.938 despair and unbelief, pulling us away from our loving Father. 15:11.034 --> 15:15.406 And the reality that through your baptism, you are a beloved child of 15:15.428 --> 15:16.000 God. 15:18.990 --> 15:22.090 Lead us not into temptation. 15:23.710 --> 15:26.300 God certainly tempts no one. 15:26.630 --> 15:30.034 And that's good news, because these three temptation sources our 15:30.072 --> 15:34.066 flesh, the world, and the devil around us are certainly more than we 15:34.088 --> 15:35.010 can bear. 15:37.770 --> 15:41.914 Now, it would be nice if there was a clear and happy pivot point for 15:41.952 --> 15:46.586 me right here in this sermon, one where I could turn from sort of the 15:46.608 --> 15:52.838 despair that we've been talking to, to this great news that if you're 15:52.854 --> 15:55.520 a Christian, all of this is going to go away. 15:56.290 --> 16:00.414 If you pray hard enough, if you read your Bible enough, if you become 16:00.452 --> 16:05.194 a church worker, life is going to be great, temptation will melt away 16:05.252 --> 16:08.100 to the side, and everything will be awesome. 16:10.150 --> 16:14.100 That would be a perfect pivot right in this moment. 16:16.390 --> 16:18.920 Fortunately, though, that's not the case. 16:20.410 --> 16:23.654 If you do all of those things, temptation is actually going to get 16:23.692 --> 16:24.390 worse. 16:25.050 --> 16:27.000 Kind of counterintuitive, right? 16:27.610 --> 16:32.170 The devil doesn't need to work on those who are already slaves to sin. 16:33.550 --> 16:36.614 Luther goes on in the large catechism to say, great and grievous 16:36.662 --> 16:40.474 indeed are these dangers and temptations which every Christian must 16:40.512 --> 16:41.142 bear. 16:41.286 --> 16:45.342 So every hour that we are in this vile life, we are attacked on all 16:45.476 --> 16:48.110 sides, chased and hunted down. 16:48.260 --> 16:52.142 We are moved to cry out and pray that God would not allow us to become 16:52.196 --> 16:57.794 weary and faint, to fall again into sin, shame and unbelief, for 16:57.832 --> 17:02.210 otherwise it is impossible to overcome even the least temptation. 17:04.550 --> 17:08.806 The good news for us today is not that all of our temptations are 17:08.828 --> 17:11.110 going to melt away and disappear. 17:12.170 --> 17:17.346 The good news is Jesus knows what it is like to be tempted. 17:17.538 --> 17:20.389 Jesus experienced that in the wilderness. 17:21.150 --> 17:23.260 He's walked where you walk. 17:23.869 --> 17:25.834 He knows what it's like. 17:25.872 --> 17:28.650 He can empathize with your experience of temptation. 17:29.870 --> 17:34.174 The good news also is that he has promised to be with us, to give us 17:34.212 --> 17:38.814 power and strength, and to be right there, to endure the trials even 17:38.852 --> 17:44.222 if we're engulfed in them, but to pray this prayer lead us not into 17:44.276 --> 17:49.200 temptation so that we're not drowned and fall away. 17:51.090 --> 17:54.334 We get to receive the whole armor of God 17:54.532 --> 17:59.606 by virtue of being members of the royal family. God continues to come 17:59.628 --> 17:59.860 to us 18:00.090 --> 18:03.950 regularly in his word and in his body and blood to forgive our sins, 18:04.290 --> 18:10.334 to strengthen our faith for battle and to be present with us 18:10.452 --> 18:14.080 throughout all of the trials and temptations of the world. 18:15.970 --> 18:20.174 So we must be on guard, ready for the temptations when they come at 18:20.212 --> 18:20.798 us. 18:20.964 --> 18:24.990 When one ends, another one is certainly hiding around the corner. 18:26.570 --> 18:29.154 Let me leave you with these words from Luther. 18:29.202 --> 18:32.770 He says if you try to help yourself by your own thoughts and counsels, 18:32.850 --> 18:36.440 you will only make the matter worse and give the devil more space. 18:37.050 --> 18:40.518 So there is no help or comfort except to run here. 18:40.684 --> 18:42.722 Take hold of the Lord's Prayer. 18:42.866 --> 18:46.806 Speak to God from the heart like this dear Father, you have asked me 18:46.828 --> 18:47.618 to pray. 18:47.794 --> 18:49.994 Don't let me fall because of temptation. 18:50.082 --> 18:55.550 And God has promised to hear that prayer for the sake of Jesus. 18:56.210 --> 18:57.760 You can count on it. 18:58.130 --> 18:59.146 Amen.