Temptation - A Triad (2)

Continuing to contemplate a triad of Scripture passages that may help us to better understand temptation; 1 Corinthians 10:1 – 22; James 1:2 – 8; 2 Peter 2:4 – 10:

“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials [temptations], knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” James 1:2 – 3 NASB.

James begins his letter by addressing the dynamics of the trial of temptations; this introductory focus (1:2 – 1:18) is the setup for the balance of the epistle. He begins by pointing out that the Divine purpose in temptation is that we “may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing,” and later makes the point that on the other side of temptation is “the crown of life” (James 1:12).

The trial which temptation brings is the “testing” of our faith. This testing should produce “endurance” (steadfastness, perseverance). Consider Peter’s words (1 Peter 1:6 – 7 NASB):

“In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof [genuineness] of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ…”

Temptation is an opportunity for us to be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ, being made perfect and complete in Him, as our faith is tested to the glory and honor of Jesus Christ. We can either primarily view temptation as a struggle against potential sin, or we can view temptation primarily as an opportunity to be conformed into the image of Jesus Christ as our faith in Him is being purged of impurities and strengthened. Temptation and trials have a purpose¸ and when we understand that purpose to be our transformation into the image of Jesus Christ we have a Biblical context within which to negotiate the trials of life.

We’ve all heard that “all things work together for good to those who love God” (Romans 8:28), but most of us hear it and read it out of context. Paul is not writing of some nebulous indefinable “good”; consider what follows in 8:29:

“For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.” (NASB).

The ”good” of verse 28 is the transformation into the image of Jesus Christ in verse 29. This in turn means that during temptations that we ought to “fix our minds on things above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God” (Colossians 3:1) and that we should be “looking unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2).

Why then does James write that we are to “count it (consider it) all joy” when we face temptations? It is because Christ is working in us for His glory, to conform us to His very own image.

This suggests that our first response to temptation ought to be thanksgiving and rejoicing. At any rate, it should be part of the fabric of our attitude when we are in trials, and yes, it does have a sacrificial nature to it (Hebrews 13:15).

James teaches that we are to “let (allow) endurance have its perfect result.” The thought that we are to “allow” endurance to work in us means that we are to cooperate with it, and even submit to its working – for it is indeed the working of God “to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). We are to live in obedience to Jesus Christ and we are to submit to the Holy Spirit and God’s Word working in us and through us. We resist temptation as we submit to Jesus Christ.

Notice James 1:5, a verse often quoted but, much like Romans 8:28, usually quoted out of context:

“But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God…”

The context of this is temptation. When we are faced with trials and temptations and endurance is doing its work within us we need wisdom to traverse the treacherous landscape. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that when we are tempted, God will “make a way of escape so, so that you will be able to endure it.” We need wisdom, and often common sense, to identify and utilize the “way of escape”. We cannot endure temptation in our own strength or in our own wisdom – we need the life and strength and wisdom of Jesus Christ.

This brings us to a curious thought in James 1:6 - 8:

“But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” (NASB)

If we are to honor the context of these verses, then we must ask, “What does this have to do with temptation?”

I suggest that, at least in part, what we have here is the question of whether we really want to be delivered from temptation. Are we single-minded in our belief that God wants to deliver us, and do we really want to be delivered – or are we going back and forth in deciding what we really want? Are we singled-minded in our belief that God wants to deliver us, that giving into temptation results in sin, and that sin results in death – or are we attempting to justify giving into temptation? Do we believe that God is holy and hates sin, and that we are to be holy as He is holy (1 Peter 1:14 – 16), or do we think that somehow God will make an exception for us if we dance with temptation and consummate it with sin?

A promiscuous church is a double-minded church, teaching double-mindedness to its people; teaching its people to give into temptation, to accommodate sin, to live outside the holiness of the holy God of the Bible. A promiscuous church teaches people strategies and tactics to embrace temptation and sin, to rationalize it. Such a church, and such a people, ought not to think that it will receive anything of the Lord without repentance.

But, let us leave that thought and remind ourselves that God desires to use temptation to perfect us and complete us in our Lord Jesus Christ, that He desires that we be conformed to the image of His Son, so that Jesus will be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

No matter what our trials, Jesus says, “Come to me. I will perfect you through them. Allow Me to work within you, producing endurance, completeness, and giving you My wisdom.”

“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 NASB.

“For whoever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith.” 1 John 5:4 NASB.

Temptation - A Triad

There is a triad of Scripture passages that may help us to better understand temptation; 1 Corinthians 10:1 – 22 (note verses 12 -13); James 1:2 – 8 (note verse 4); 2 Peter 2:4 – 10 (note verse 9). We’ll consider these passages in the next few meditations.

In 2 Peter Chapter 2, Peter is warning his readers about false prophets and assuring them that God will judge false prophets and those in rebellion against Him. In 2 Peter 2:4 Peter reaches back into ancient times to write of an angelic rebellion that God judged and will judge. In 2:5 Peter writes of God judging Noah’s generation and preserving Noah and his family, note that Peter styles Noah “a preacher of righteousness.” If we will, by God’s grace, live and preach righteousness we will certainly be tempted, but we will also be equipped in Christ to endure temptation – for obedient and consistent living and speaking in Jesus Christ, by the grace of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, is a foundational element in the life that overcomes temptation, and the world, the flesh, and the devil.

In 2 Peter 2:6 – 8, Peter focuses on Sodom and Gomorrah and on God’s deliverance of Lot, who lived in Sodom. Peter tells us that Lot’s righteous soul was oppressed and tormented day after day by the sensual and rebellious conduct around him. Lot lived among a people who were in rebellion against the Holy God; in the midst of the trials and temptations that were a daily part of Lot’s life – God protected Lot and delivered him. This provides us with a link to 1 Corinthians Chapter 10 and to the point of this reflection.

1 Corinthians was written to a church which had significant sin and rebellion in its midst. 0In this context Paul turns to ancient Israel to illustrate the consequences of succumbing to temptation and rebelling against the Holy God. Consider 1 Corinthians 10:5:

“Nevertheless, with most of them [the Israelites in the Wilderness] God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the Wilderness.”

An entire generation perished in the Wilderness, with the exceptions of Joshua and Caleb, due to its rebellion against God and its failure to believe God’s Word and obey it. It was a generation which sold-out to temptation, which produced sin, which in turn produced death.

While there were disciples in the Corinthian church who were faithfully living for Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 16:15 – 18), considering the overall corrective nature of Paul’s letter and the number of areas of sin and disobedience that Paul addressed, we might not be too far off the mark to think that the ethos of the church in Corinth contained a broad and deep element of sin and rebellion – not unlike that of Israel in the Wilderness.

Looking at 2 Peter Chapter 2 and 1 Corinthians Chapter 10 we see the following: Noah was faithful in a wicked generation; Lot was faithful in the midst of a wicked people: and with “most” of the generation of Israelites that came out of Egypt “God was not well – pleased”; with the word “most” pointing us to Joshua and Caleb who were faithful.

God delivered Noah, He delivered Lot, and He delivered Joshua and Caleb; God delivered these men from the temptations and wickedness that surrounded them. Peter is telling his readers that God will also deliver them from the temptations surrounding them; Paul is telling his readers the very same thing. Noah and Lot lived in generations whose wickedness multiplied day after day. Caleb and Joshua lived in a generation that was called to be a holy people unto the True and Living God, and yet which was judged and died in the Wilderness. Whether we live in a hostile world, or in a hostile apostate church, God knows how to deliver us from temptation.

Our environments are hostile and opposed to obedience to the True and Living God and His Son Jesus Christ. If we are members of a local congregation which is betrothed in faithful holiness to Christ (2 Cor. 11:1-3) we have much to be thankful for – but let those congregations live in the awareness that they are living in the midst of the hostility of both the world and of Satan.

A failure to obey God’s holy and righteous Word leads to a failure to see the present age for what it is – hostile to God and under His judgment. John writes (1 John 5:19), “We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.”

If we are going to resist temptation then we are going to go against the grain of the world and often against the grain of the professing church. As John writes (1 John 2:15), “…If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father in not in him.” Consider what James writes (James 4:4), “You adulteresses [an unfaithful church is styled an adulteress], do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

If we are not willing to go against the grain of the world and an unfaithful church (when we encounter it) then we will succumb to temptation rather than resist it. We must be willing to go it alone with Christ if that is what is required to be obedient to God’s Word.

We cannot be chameleons, blending in with the world and thinking that we are being faithful to Jesus Christ; to blend in with the world is to deny Jesus Christ and therefore to succumb to the temptation to deny the Lord who purchased us with His blood.

The temptation to question the Word of God regarding the world around us, this present age, is akin to the temptation that Eve succumbed to – we don’t really think we’ll die if we eat its fruit, we’ll just eat the pretty fruit, not the ugly fruit. Once we buy into that temptation we quickly lose our discernment regarding the holy and the unclean, righteousness and unrighteousness, obedience and disobedience.

Noah was not a chameleon, nor was Lot; nor were Caleb and Joshua. What about me? What about you? What about our churches?

Temptation - The Great Reenactment (3)

But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”

“On the other hand, it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Then Jesus said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.” (From Matthew Chapter 4, NASB).

In the Garden of Eden, when tempted by the serpent Eve responds, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.”

In Genesis 3:1 – 7 the serpent questions God’s Word, Eve gives one response to the serpent, the serpent counters her argument, the woman succumbs to the deception (compare 2 Cor. 11:1 – 3), and the temptation is consummated in sin and death.

In Matthew Chapter 4, after forty days of temptation in the Wilderness, Satan attacks with a temptation and Jesus responds with God’s Word; Satan attacks with another temptation and Jesus responds with God’s Word; Satan attacks with another temptation and Jesus responds with God’s Word. Satan’s sustained attack is met with Jesus’ sustained response with God’s Word.

In each of His responses Jesus speaks from Deuteronomy (Dt. 8:3, 6:16, 6:13).[i] This raises the question, “How can we possibly resist temptation without a living (incarnational) knowledge of the Word of God to which we are living in obedience?”

Also, let us keep in mind that Jesus is driven into the Wilderness after His baptism, at which the Holy Spirit descended upon Him – it was the Holy Spirit who drove Jesus into the Wilderness to be tempted. Jesus resisted temptation by the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon the Word of God – we cannot separate the Spirit from the Word or the Word from the Spirit. The Bible must be illuminated by the Holy Spirit for us to understand it and see Christ in it. To withstand temptation and live in obedience to Christ we need the union of the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures in our lives. We must call on our Lord Jesus to work His will within us, to live His life within us – for in and of ourselves we are not sufficient to obey God and face temptation.

Should someone say, “What of young Christians who are just learning the Scriptures?” We have the promise that “…God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it” (1 Cor. 10:13). The critical point here is that “God is faithful.” We can trust the character of our Father.

Sadly, there are some today who disregard what we call the Old Testament; the Law and the Prophets and the Writings. Yet, it is from Deuteronomy that Jesus took all three of His responses to the enemy in the Wilderness. It was through the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms that the risen Christ revealed Himself to His disciples (Luke 24:27, 32, 44 – 47). How foolish to reject the revelation of Christ in Genesis through Malachi. How foolish to disregard the foundation and backdrop of the New Testament. I don’t use the word heresy lightly, but this is heresy as old and older than Marcion.

In the Great Reenactment in the Wilderness, Jesus is living by the Word of God; He is living in obedience to the Word of God and not tempting God by attempting to manipulate the Word (note that Satan traduces Psalm 91 in Matthew 4:6, we see this ploy in heretical teachers); He is worshiping and serving God and God alone.

Knowing God’s Word as our sustenance. Living in obedience to God’s Word. Worshiping and serving God and God alone. This is our daily calling. By God’s grace, faithfulness to this calling will see us through the Wilderness of temptation, trial, and testing as we participate with Jesus Christ in the Great Reenactment.

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[i] I write from a human perspective for I don’t understand the mystery of the Incarnation; certainly the Word of John 1:1 has always been the Word and therefore the Word of Deuteronomy which Jesus “quotes” in Matthew 4 is His own Word which Moses recorded in Deuteronomy. It is difficult, at least for me, to understand in most any measure the union of God and Man in the Incarnation. I “see” it more clearly at some times than at others – but it is ever a mystery.

Temptation - The Great Reenactment (2)

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him. (Mark 1:9 – 12 ESV).

In Genesis we’re told that after the creation of Adam that “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.” At some point after that declaration of the good work of God in creation, and in the forming of Adam, the tempter appears on the scene. We don’t know what the time sequence was, but we go from the beauty of creation and the peace of the Garden to the temptation, to the horror of sin, rebellion, and expulsion from the Garden.

In the Gospel we see that after the Father’s declaration of pleasure in the Son that the Son is immediately driven by the Spirit into the wilderness and the Son, the express image of God, is tempted by Satan – unlike in Genesis here in the Gospel we do see the time sequence: baptism, the descent of the Holy Spirit, the affirmation of the Father, and then immediately Jesus is driven by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the enemy.

Where do some people get the idea that God will not try His work? That God will not put the excellency of His work on display through fiery trials? Through sustained (40 days!) trial? Where do we get the idea that we can sow and receive the Word of God without encountering the enemy? Consider these words of Jesus:

And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. (Mark 4:13 – 17 ESV).

To receive the Word of God with “joy” is not the same as receiving the implanted Word which is able to save our souls (James 1:21). To be sure there is joy in our Lord and in His Word, but Jesus makes a particular point of telling us that we can receive the Word with joy and yet have no root in ourselves – we may endure for a while, but when difficulty comes we fall away. I want to suggest that this principle applies to sanctification, our growth in Christ and transformation into His image, as well as to what was, as I see it, the immediate context of the parable, our salvation. (We certainly see a focus on sanctification in the seed sown among thorns and in the seed sown on good soil).

Tribulation and persecution bring with them the temptation to abandon Jesus Christ and His Word and thereby “fall away” from Him. Adam and Eve received, in some measure, God’s Word concerning the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil; however, rather than abiding in that Word, and rather than submitting to that Word so it would abide in them, they succumbed to the temptation of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

The Word was made flesh and tabernacled among us (John 1:14), and when that Word was tried in the Wilderness for 40 days it did not fall away but remained faithful to Himself, to the Word of the Father (we cannot penetrate the mystery of the Trinity – we can experience the Trinity, we can receive the self-revelation of the Trinity, but we cannot “comprehend” the unfathomable). As Paul writes, “He cannot deny Himself” (2 Timothy 2:13). And yet, the temptation, the Great Reenactment, contained all the dynamics and possibilities of our temptations, for our High Priest was “tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).

“The words of the LORD are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times” (Psalm 12:6 ESV).

When God sends His Word into the earth, that Word is tested. When He sends His Word into our lives, into our earthly furnaces, His Word is tested. His Word will always come forth in purity, the question is whether we will submit to that Word and whether in our submission we will allow His Word to purify our lives; our hearts, our minds, our souls…our very beings. The Word of God is pure and it purifies those who submit to its working in their lives.

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:12 - 13 ESV).

The context of this Hebrews passage is the failure of Israel in the Wilderness to receive, believe, and obey the Word of God – Israel succumbed to temptation in the Wilderness and therefore failed to enter into the “rest” that God desired to give them. This is what precedes the passage; but what follows the passage should give us great hope:

“Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:14 – 16 ESV).

When we have a time of need, when we are tempted, we need not follow the way of Adam, we need not follow the way of Israel in the Wilderness, for we now have a Great High Priest who has also been in the Wilderness of temptation, and He has been tempted “in every respect” as we are, and yet He is without sin – for He never ever said “yes” to temptation. This is a great hope and it is a great decision – shall we join ourselves to Adam and deny the Word of God? Shall we join ourselves to Israel in the Wilderness and deny the Word of God? Shall we take our place in the rocky ground of the parable of the Sower and Seed and deny the Word of God?

Or shall we draw near to our Great High Priest at the Throne of Grace and receive His mercy and grace to help us in our time of need and temptation? Which reenactment will we choose to participate in? Adam in the Garden? Israel in the Wilderness?

Or shall we join ourselves to the Great Reenactor in the Great Reenactment as the sons and daughters of the Living God?

Temptation is always an attack on God’s Word. It is always an attack on God’s glory. It is always an attack on God’s Son and His Body, His Bride, His Temple, His Church.

Temptation - The Great Reenactment

           “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them…

“And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.” (Genesis 1:26, 27, 31)

“In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan.” (Mark 1:9 – 13a).

In Genesis we see God creating man in His own image. In the Gospel we see the express and coeternal Incarnate image of God on earth to recreate man. In Genesis we see that God’s creation was very good. In the Gospel we hear the Father proclaiming His delight in the Son. In Genesis we see that the woman gives the fruit to her husband and sin and death enter our race; in the Gospel we see our Divine Husband taking the curse upon Himself, thus giving life to His Bride. That is, as in Genesis the bride was, in a sense, the conduit of sin and death, so the Husband is now the conduit of justification and eternal life. In Genesis we see the first creation coming up out of the waters, in the Gospel the New Creation rises from the Jordan River. In Genesis mankind is removed from the Garden with the Tree of Life, in the Gospel the Tree of Life comes to mankind.

And so in the Gospel we see the Great Reenactment of the Temptation in Genesis culminating in not one onslaught of temptation, but of forty days of temptation (Luke 4:2) culminating in three hyper-temptations.

Jesus is driven by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan for forty days – this after the Father’s affirmation and the descent of the Holy Spirit! While we are not shown the particular temptations of the forty days (save the last three), Luke gives us just a glimpse when he writes, “When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time,” (Luke 4:13 italics mine).

Considering the nature of the final three temptations, and considering what the Scriptures teach us about temptation, we are on safe ground to think that the nature of the temptations that Jesus encountered for forty days has to do with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin,” (Hebrews 4:15 NASB).

As we will consider in a future meditation, temptations often come after times of victory and growth. In the life of our Lord Jesus, He was impelled by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted; in one sense the season of temptation did not come to Him, He came into it. Also note that the culminating temptations came when Jesus was hungry, having fasted for forty days; we are probably on safe ground in thinking that His body was crying out for relief.

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:1 – 4 ESV).

In Genesis the serpent tells Eve that if she eats from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil that she will be like God. Sadly she forgets that she and Adam are God’s children, made is His likeness and image – she denied who she already was in God.

In the Gospel the enemy again raises the issue of identity, this time by challenging the Son’s identity in the Father, “If you are the Son of God…” The enemy challenges the Son to vindicate His sonship by satisfying His hungry body that has been fasting for forty days, the enemy appeals to the desires of the flesh. However, the Son affirms His sonship not by gratifying His legitimate bodily needs, but by affirming that we are called to live according to “every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Yes, we need bread, but let us eat bread as we live in subjection to God’s Word, which is a higher bread, a more sustaining bread, the Bread of eternal life.

Suppose Eve had responded to the serpent as Jesus Christ responded to Satan? In the Garden the enemy called God’s Word into question. In the Wilderness the enemy misused God’s Word in an effort to appeal to the Son’s legitimate bodily needs.

When we are tempted, shall we reenact the scene in the Garden, reprising the roles of Adam and Eve? Or, shall we run to our Great Reenactor and hide ourselves in Him, allowing Him to live in us and through us, faithfully being the extension and outworking of His Incarnation?

Temptation - Dancing with Death

“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” (James 1:12 – 15 ESV).

This passage in James and the previous posting’s passage in 1 John inform one another – that is, each helps us understand the other and together they increase our understanding of temptation.

John makes it clear that if we follow our lusts (desires) in loving the world (this present evil age) that the love of the Father will not be in us (1 John 2:15). He also makes it clear that the world and its lusts are passing away, but that the one who does the will of God lives forever (not the one who thinks about doing the will of God!).

When Adam and Eve lusted after the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and acted on their desire the result was death; spiritual death working in the soul and body of humanity. James paints a picture of what this dance looks like, it is as if we are participating in a masquerade ball:

We see someone desirable to dance with, she (or he) looks attractive. As we dance to the music we are drawn ever more deeply into the embrace of our dancing partner. Before long we are unaware of our surroundings, our discernment abandons us, we lose our perspective and equilibrium. We are enveloped with and in sin. Do we realize that the fruit of our dance is death? To dance with death is to produce death. To dance with temptation is to dance with death. It may not look like death as we approach it; it may look desirable for food, it may be pleasing to the eyes, it may promise to make us wise if we will only dance with it – but it will kill us. It will deaden our souls, dull our minds, and harden our hearts.

Temptation will nearly always look like something better than what we have, and it will always entice us to disobey God’s Word and turn our eyes away from Jesus Christ.

James warns us not to be so foolish as to think, “This temptation is from God,” when he writes:

“Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.”

The stakes are high. How high?

“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.”

This has to do with our love for God when facing temptation, do we love God or do we love our lusts? Note that John also frames the issue of our desires in the context of love: “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15b).

Temptation challenges our hearts. To whom do our hearts belong?

Paul evokes Genesis when he writes (2 Corinthians 11:3 NASB), “But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.” Once again, we are all reenactors; shall we play the role of Adam and Eve, or shall we play the role of Jesus Christ? Shall we choose to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, or shall we eat from the Tree of Life, our Lord Jesus Christ? What is feeding our desires?

James writes:

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2 – 4 ESV).

The word “trials” can just as easily be translated “temptations”. God desires to use our temptations to mold us into the image of our Lord Jesus Christ. When we are tempted we can either submit to God and His Word, or give ourselves over to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. If we foolishly think that we can control temptation, or that we can moderate our downward spiral into sin and death and somehow go so far and then turnaround and go back to obedience…we are fools. We are either slaves to God and His Word, or we are slaves to sin (Romans Chapter 6); what we are not is autonomous – we will either serve God or the devil…which will it be?

Temptation - Real Reenactors

          We are all reenactors. The difference between our reenactments and those of actors and actresses who reenact history on a stage is that the reenactments of humanity carry eternal consequences while reenactments of those who dramatize history on a stage are in the moment, as the dew on the morning grass.

            There is a sense in which we reenact the Temptation in the Garden of Eden every day. Compare this passage from Genesis with the following passage from 1 John:

            “He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.” (Genesis 3:1a – 7, ESV)

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” (1 John 2:15 – 17).

            In Genesis Eve sees that the tree is good for food, in 1 John we read of the desires of the flesh. In Genesis Eve sees that the tree is a delight to the eyes, in 1 John we read of the desires of the eyes. In Genesis Eve sees that the tree is desired to make one wise, in 1 John we read of the pride of life.

            The warning that John gives in his letter is a warning that has its genesis in Genesis. The serpent is ever posing the question, “Has God said?” The enemy’s unrelenting attack is upon the Word of God, seeking to undermine our trust in, and obedience to, God’s Word.

            Temptation appeals to our egos, to our sensual and bodily desires, and to our desire to possess what we consider valuable. The word that the ESV translates as “desires” is often translated into English as “lusts” – when we lust for something we desire to possess it and consume it. Sadly, while we think we can posses and consume that which we lust for, the reality is that we are the ones who are possessed and consumed and destroyed.

            There is a story told of when the comedian W.C. Fields was nearing the last days of his life in a hospital. A friend walked into his room and saw him reading the Bible. When the friend asked Fields if he was searching for God, the comedian replied, “No, I’m looking for loopholes.” I don’t know whether this story is true, but I do know that it illustrates the way many of us approach temptation and the Bible, God’s Word. Rather than seeking grace to obey God’s Word in the midst of temptation and spiritual warfare, too often we look for loopholes. Are we thinking that maybe the serpent was right when he asked the question, “Has God said?”

            Every day of our lives we are reenacting the drama of the Garden of Eden. Shall we be the understudies of Adam of Eve, or will we be the understudies of our Lord Jesus Christ? As we will see in another meditation, our Lord Jesus engaged in His own reenactment when He was tempted by Satan in the wilderness after His baptism by John the Baptist. Jesus rewrote the script, and in rewriting the script He gave us an invitation to join Him in the New Script, the New Creation, the New Man.

            In 1 Corinthians 4:9 Paul writes about being a spectacle to angels and to men. In Ephesians 3:10 he writes of God’s many-faceted wisdom being known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. We are reenactors on a cosmic stage – which part are we choosing to play when we are faced with temptation?

            Are we reprising the roles of Adam and Eve, or are we on stage with our Lord Jesus Christ?

Temptation: A Transformative Battlefield

A friend asked me about "temptation" - here is the beginning of my response: 

Dear Friend,

You’ve asked me about temptation; a subject I wish someone had talked to me about when I was a young Christian.  A subject I wish someone had talked to me about when I was a middle-aged Christian. Come to think of it, a subject I wish brothers (and sisters) would talk about now that I am an older Christian.  You get the idea.

I think it was Oswald Chambers who said to the effect, “A Christian wakes up every morning on a battlefield.” This is not a bad thing when we consider that we are engaged in a war of liberation (Isaiah 42:1 – 7; Matthew 10:1 – 8). In this war we are being transformed into the image of our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29). We might say that we are on a transformative battlefield. On the one hand we wrestle with the enemy (Ephesians 6:10ff; 2 Corinthians 10:3 – 6), and on the other hand our heavenly Potter molds us into the image of His Son as we encounter pressures within and without (2 Corinthians 1:8ff; 7:5).

When professing-Christians say that they are seldom tempted, I wonder whether they have become desensitized to sin, especially the sin of “self” – the gravitational pull of who we are outside of Jesus Christ. To be sure I think I have known saints who live in the age to come more than they live in this present evil time, and I do not doubt that their lives are “hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3) in a wonderful fashion. However, let us remember the agony of our Lord Jesus in the Garden on the night of His betrayal – was He tempted to forego the Cup? I cannot understand that mystery, but I think it is wise to keep our Lord Jesus in Gethsemane before me.

I am also reminded of a Peanuts comic strip in which Charlie Brown is talking to Linus after playing another season of football. Charlie Brown says something like this:

“Just once I wish I was enough of a threat for the opposition to double-team me.”

What about us? If we are a threat to the enemy, then we can expect to be doubled-teamed. If the enemy sees us as threatening, by God’s grace, to liberate others with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, then we can anticipate opposition – we may be double-teamed or triple-teamed or worse. The enemy may use plays he has used before, but he may also devise snares which we cannot initially see and understand.

This brings us to a tension when thinking about temptation; we’ll call it the way of negation and the way of affirmation. This is a classical way of understanding the dynamic of saying “no” to temptation and sin and self while saying “yes” to Jesus Christ. Think of it as a bungee cord with one end hooked to reckoning ourselves “dead to sin” and the other end hooked to reckoning ourselves “alive unto God” (Romans 6:11).

I love meditating on Hebrews 12:1 – 3 (ESV):

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

“Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?”

Christ is the Founder and Perfecter of our faith. We can be confident that He will complete the work that He began in us (Philippians 1:6). He is our faithful High Priest who has been “tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).

We are on a transformative battlefield with Jesus Christ, He is with us always, never leaving us or forsaking us (Matthew 28:20), and greater is He who is in us, than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4).

Christ is with us in the temptations we encounter – let us cultivate lives of “looking to Jesus” – never forgetting who He is, and who we are in Him.