Word of Salvation – Vol.53 No.15 – April 2008

 

Prayerfully Resisting Temptation

A Sermon by Rev John Westendorp on Psalm 141

Scripture Reading: Hebrews 12:1-3

Suggested Singing: BoW 195; 73:1,6,7,8; 141; 23a

 

Introduction:

Brothers and Sisters in Christ.

Some people are quick to claim that the Bible is irrelevant for modern living.
They see a huge gap between the people of Bible times and us today.
They lived primitive and simple lives… in agricultural communities.
We live in fast-paced industrialised cities with all their complexity.
They lived thousands of years ago in times of ignorance and superstition.
We live in an age where science claims to answer all our questions.
So how can the Bible possibly help us in the twenty-first century?

People who say that have obviously never studied the Psalms.
This collection of songs faces us with the whole gamut of human emotions.
If you’re sad… you’ll find a song to match your mood.
If you’re happy… you’ll find some songwriter who shares your joy.
If you’re confident and assured… you’ll certainly find a psalm full of optimism.

The Lutheran writer, Marva Dawn, is a seriously handicapped lady.
She has struggled long with loneliness and depression.
But she found in the Psalms wonderful resources to help her with her difficulties.
She shared the help she found in those Psalms in a book, ‘I’m lonely, Lord – how long?’
The point is that when it comes to the human condition nothing much has changed.
So the message of the Bible is as relevant for us as it was for Israel at the time of David.
I want us to see that as we examine Psalm 141 and the subject of ‘temptation’.

 

A. THE REALITY OF TEMPTATIONS TO EVIL IS PORTRAYED

1.  Temptation is not only something you struggle with today… David struggled with it too.

David shows that the enticement to do the wrong thing was a stark reality for him.
So we have this song that was recorded for singing in worship.
But it also helps us to understand temptation…
so that we might deal with it in a God-honouring way and for our own well-being.

Temptation is real…! But David shows that temptation is also attractive.

The problem with temptation is exactly that it is so enticing to us.
If it were not enticing then it wouldn’t be a temptation, would it?
A dish full of potato peel and vegetable off-cuts is not tempting for me to eat.
But put a cheesecake on the dish and I’ll be tempted to take a piece before dinner.

Notice how David speaks of temptation in terms of enticement.
In verse 4 he speaks of his heart being drawn to what is evil.
So whatever evil he has in mind… has something attractive about it that draws him in.
He even speaks of these temptations in the language of eating the delicacies of evil men.
Delicacies are food items that taste lovely but that usually have little or no nutritional value.

There’s a great picture of this in C S Lewis’ “The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe”.
Edmund is enticed by the White Witch’s Turkish Delight. He eats it till it makes him sick.
And still he wants more of the stuff… and he’ll do anything to get it.

We need to face up to the fact that temptation is attractive to us… it’s like a delicacy.
The alcoholic finds his drink irresistibly appealing.
Angry people find it very attractive to just let their rage have full expression.
The glutton is drawn repeatedly to food. Temptation involves what is attractive.

2.  If temptation is attractive it is also subtle. That’s another feature of temptation.

It draws us in with great subtlety precisely because it comes dressed up as something attractive.
Temptations are not usually surrounded by lots of warning signs.
There is no big write-up that says: Danger – temptation… keep clear!
Instead all the sign say: Come get me! I’m available!

Actually, I should qualify this somewhat.
And if the smokers among us don’t mind… I’ll use them as an example.
Sometimes temptations are surrounded by warning signs.
But we have the uncanny ability to dismiss those warning signs.
We apply the warning to others but give ourselves an exemption.
Smokers are regularly tempted to light up yet another cigarette.
The packets have clear warning labels: Dangerous to your health.
And these days the packets are illustrated graphically by health disasters.
But if I’m a smoker I’m confident that I can beat the statistics.

Do you see how subtle temptation is?
It entices and draws us in because we don’t think of the consequences.
Or if we do, we kid ourselves that the consequences will be different for us.

Do you understand why David talks about temptation the way he does in verses 9 & 10?
“Keep me from the SNARES they have laid for me, from the TRAPS set by evildoers.”

Snares and traps entice… but they do so in subtle ways.
They don’t look dangerous… in fact there is something attractive about them.
But when the bait is taken the trap springs shut.
Temptations are attractive but they end up wrecking lives.
They are like an iron fist in a velvet glove… or like poison dressed up as candy.

3.  That brings us to a third feature about temptation that comes out in this song.

David also spells out the end result of temptation.
That’s already obvious when he speaks about temptations in terms of snares and traps.
In verse 10 he prays that the wicked will fall into their own net.
Nets and snares are for the purpose of making a catch.
When a trap springs shut the idea is that the victim is caught.
There are consequences to giving in to temptation.
And the consequences are not good.

In fact, the idea of being trapped is very appropriate.
I’m thinking of addictions… when we keep giving into temptation. Trapped!
In the Narnia Chronicles Edmund becomes addicted to his Turkish Delight.

It seems to me that David has another angle on the result of giving in to temptation.
Here I need to be careful. Verses 6 & 7 are notoriously difficult to translate from Hebrew.
It mentions people thrown from cliffs… and bones scattered at the mouth of graves.
One view is that these words are about the hardships David is suffering.
Times of cruelty and oppression… and the temptation therefore is for David to get even.

Our NIV translates it another way that seems to make a lot of sense.
It assumes those verses spell out the consequences of those who give in to evil.
Judgment and destruction are the ultimate result of being entrapped by evil.

So as we think about temptation we always need to think about where it will lead.
We need to look beyond the attraction of the temptation and think about the consequences.

 

B. THE REMEDIES AGAINST TEMPTATION ARE AVAILABLE

1. This psalm then gives us some wonderful help to work through issues of temptation.

Already – in the things we have mentioned – it has been most helpful.
If we understand the nature of temptation we’re off to a good start.
Realise that we give into temptation precisely because it gives us pleasure.
Remember that it is subtle… and be aware of the subtlety of your temptation
Think through the fact that it has consequences… that it ensnares and traps.
All of that will help us deal with temptation.

However David also mentions other helps too.

First of all there are other people who can be a great help to us.
Sometimes a fellow believer can see the dangers that we are blind to.
Or maybe someone else has been there and has experienced the sad result of giving in.
That’s one of the strengths of an organisation such as Alcoholics Anonymous.
Experiences are shared. People are held accountable to one another. Folk can learn from the sad mistakes that others make.

Marva Dawn – in the book mentioned earlier – highlights the advantage of other people.
She says that loneliness often makes it easier to give into temptation.
Some solve their loneliness and depression by giving into the temptation to eat.
Others solve their aloneness with inappropriate sexual behaviour.
Still others turn to the bottle or to drugs.

Here David not only mentions other people but also of the special role they play.
He imagines here someone rebuking him if he gives in to temptation.
And that rebuke is not easy to handle.
David speaks of it in terms of the man striking him.
The book of Proverbs puts it this way: “Faithful are the wounds of a friend.”

God helps us handle temptation by putting us into a believing community.
And in that community that belongs to Jesus we take responsibility for one another.

2.  A second remedy for resisting temptation is prayer.

In fact, that’s what this song really is: a prayer-song to the Lord.
David lays this whole issue of facing temptation open before his God.

It’s worth noting that in this prayer there is a stress on urgency.
Temptation is not something you linger over… to take time with.
No! There is this sense of urgency: “O Lord, I call to you; come quickly to me.”
He appeals for God to give speedy help: “Hear my voice… (not later, but now) when I call to you.”
So here in this crisis of facing severe temptation David asks for God’s help.
He has made this a matter of urgent prayer.

That’s an excellent model for us to follow when we feel the pressure of temptation.
To cry out in that instant with David.
“O Lord, I call to you; come quickly to me. Hear my voice when I call to you.”

When I consider this prayer in time of temptation then I think of Paul.
In his letter to the Ephesians he discusses our spiritual warfare.[And what is fighting temptation if it isn’t engaging in spiritual warfare…?] But Paul reminds us that for that battle we need the armour of God.
And then he concludes by telling us that each part is to be put on with prayer.

Prayerlessness is the surest way to succumb to temptation.

3.  A third remedy against temptation has to do with our focus.

Anyone who has ever seriously battled a temptation knows the importance of ‘focus’.
The more you think about the problem the stronger the temptation usually becomes.

The compulsive eater is fully focussed on the food.
Angry people are totally focussed on the source of their anger.
The sexually immoral are focussed on their lust.
Whatever the focus is becomes our all-consuming passion;
And the stronger the focus the more consuming the passion:
And the more consuming the passion the greater the chance of succumbing to temptation.

So the secret is to change the focus.
And the sooner the focus is changed the greater the ability to resist the temptation.

So what does David do?
Well, he not only prays… he makes sure his focus is healthy.
Verse 8: “But my eyes are fixed on you, O Sovereign Lord.”
David’s focus is on his Covenant Lord… Yahweh… who is in total control of life.
In fact, David is so strongly focussed there that he takes refuge in this God.
It’s as if this is his shelter from the storms of temptation that assail him.

In times of temptation where is your focus?… learn to make it your Lord and not your problem.

The writer to the Hebrews put this into perspective for us Christians.
Temptation is part of that hard struggle to run the Christian race.
And in that struggle we are told to fix our eyes on Jesus.
Our focus is to be Jesus: the Author and Finisher of our salvation.

 

C. THE CONTENTS OF PRAYER AGAINST TEMPTATION

1.  Because this is a prayer I want to conclude by looking at what David actually prays for.

As we ask about the content of his request let’s look at three things.

First David asks God to do what we are unable to do ourselves.

Look at some of the things David asks God to do for him.
He recognises that temptation can involve the words we say.
That’s a special temptation for some – we call it “foot ‘n mouth disease”.
The temptation to gossip… the temptation to use bad language.
Here’s a special prayer for God to do what you cannot do – to control your tongue.
“Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the doors of my lips.”

He also asks God to deal with his heart…
the core of his being where wrong attitudes arise:
the place where those impulses to sin come from.
And he asks God to not let his heart be drawn to what is evil.
In verse 9 he prays to be kept from those snares that tempters have laid for him.

What I find particularly beautiful is the emphasis on God’s grace in all this.
He compares his prayers to the incense offered in the temple that rises to God in heaven.
And in typical Jewish style he prays with hands lifted up to heaven to receive from God.
But he asks that those uplifted hands may be like the evening sacrifice.
This same language of incense sacrifice is also used for prayer in Revelations 5 and 8.

That seems intentional – we have no inherent right to come to God – it’s only by grace.
We approach God only on the basis of an acceptable offering.
Ultimately that offering is the work of Jesus who now brings our prayers before the Father.
It’s only on that basis that we may ask confidently for God to deliver us from temptation.

2.  A second thing David prays about is that man who rebukes him.

That too he talks about to God… and how necessary that is.
Here too grace must dominate.
God hears our prayers for help in temptation by His grace.
Only as our prayers arise like an acceptable evening sacrifice… for Jesus’ sake.

But that same grace of God also has to be there between people.
We receive their rebuke only by grace… as God enables us to do that.
If you doubt that just think it through a minute.
What’s the natural reaction when another Christian tells you a few home truths?
I’ve been told in no uncertain terms: “Why don’t you just mind your own bees wax!”
That’s our natural tendency

Most of us don’t handle criticism too well… not even if it’s true.
It’s only God’s grace that enables us to cop rebuke from others when we do go astray.
Then we realise that the Lord Himself is ministering to us through them.

Do you see why David includes this in his prayers?
It’s only by God’s grace that David can accept it.
In fact, then he can even regard it as a kind of healing oil poured out on his head. Then he will not refuse it.

In our prayers we need to pray for the grace to accept the rebuke of others.
And that’s particularly the case if we have an ongoing struggle with a certain temptation.

3.  Finally, David’s prayer is also a prayer against those who are leading him astray.

He says (in vs 5): “Yet my prayer is ever against the deeds of the evildoers.”
Notice that the focus is first on their evil practices… and that’s a good topic for prayer.
But it’s a topic that I’m sure we take up far too rarely in our prayers.

When did you last pray against the deeds of evildoers?
I confess that I don’t do that very often… perhaps only in certain extreme situations.
I don’t often pray against drugs or gluttony… against gossip and blasphemy.
Praying against irrational anger and hatred,
against prostitution or pornography isn’t a high priority for me.

But I’ll tell you something… If I did pray against those things regularly they would be far less likely to ever tempt me.
So by praying that way I’m not only asking God to deal with that wickedness…
I’m also keeping my own conscience more finely tuned about those things.

But David goes further – he prays not just against the deeds of evildoers.
He prays against the evildoers themselves.
In the closing line of his prayer he asks that the wicked might fall into their own nets.
“Lord, please let their temptations backfire on them.”

I’m not sure that David is asking (in vs 10) for the destruction of these people.
Perhaps he’s just asking that they might get a dose of their own medicine.
That they might see what it’s like to be ensnared… caught up in an addiction themselves.

If it seems harsh and unloving for David to pray that way then please keep in mind…
God is not glorified when His people are led into temptation and do what is wrong.
And the spiritual well-being of His people is compromised every time they succumb.
Let’s then fight temptation this week by focussing on Jesus, praying for victory in His power.

Amen.