Temptation is an opportunity

to show God you love him!

I would like to thank Andy Stanley and his Pause sermon series for most of the ideas in this blog entry.

 

What would someone, who is you, do if they were 100% confident God was with them?

When tempted- Pause and think: “what is at stake when we are tempted?”

1. Family and/or those you influence
2. Future/legacy
3. Faith
1. Faith that God is who He said He is and will do what He said He would do.
2. Faith that He is with you.
1. Faith that He won’t come through for you because of your performance with prior temptation.
3. How does temptation affect your faith?

Dealing with temptation- Three major temptations from Satan (Matthew 4:1-11):

1. Meet a legitimate need in an illegitimate way.   
1. “After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”  4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’[b]”
2. Jesus had confidence God would provide food when needed.  He knew this temptation was more about His faith that God was with Him, that God had a bigger plan, that God’s timing was perfect, and He valued a close relationship with God more than meeting the immediate need of hunger.
3. Man does not live on power alone, on sales alone, on money alone, on sex alone, on intimacy alone, on entertainment alone, on self gratification alone, on food alone, on status alone, etc.  
1. It’s not about Us.  It’s about trusting that God will meet our needs.  It’s about knowing God can be trusted with our basic needs. It’s not about having our needs met in our timing.  It’s about trusting God will come through at the right time.
4. Jesus did what anyone would have done who was 100% confident God was with Him.
5. Why is it difficult to wait on God to provide instead of taking matters into your own hands?
6. Name a temptation to meet a legitimate need in an illegitimate way.

2. Try to use God to accomplish His own ends.
1. 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’[c]” 7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’[d]”
2. Jesus didn’t need to manipulate God.  He didn’t need to presume that God would save Him.  He knew it was not God’s will for Him to throw Himself off the building so He wasn’t going to try to force God’s hand to do something He didn’t intend to do.
1. We may do the same thing with our life by saying or doing things like:
1. I am just going to step out on faith and trust that He will deliver me/us (when we have no evidence that our action is God’s will).
1. Go into debt and trust He will deliver, marry the last train leaving the station and trust God will change him/her, take a job we know we aren’t supposed to take and trust God will work it out.
2. Jesus knew the difference between manipulating God and acting out in faith.  Jesus knew the plan God had put into place for thousands of years.  This temptation was founded in trying to use God’s plan and the years of His orchestrating key elements for this moment.  Forcing Jesus' will on God would have been a form of manipulation at this point.  He knew this was not the time to prove God’s power to Satan or those who would have been watching.  
3. In the end, Jesus had confidence God would reveal His power in amazing ways at the right time.  He trusted it would happen in God’s time.
4. Jesus did what anyone else would have done who was 100% confident God was with Him.
5. Have you ever launched an idea that you knew was not God’s will and then prayed He would deliver you?
6. Do you ever try to use God to adopt your own agenda?
7. What do you miss out on when you try to manipulate God?
8. Cooperation with God matters most.  The opposite is manipulation.

3. Do the right thing at the wrong time the wrong way and take a short cut.
1. 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’[e]”11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
2. Jesus knew God was going to give Him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor in His way at the right time.  He had confidence that God would come through.  He didn’t need to give His allegiance to Satan.  To Jesus, unbroken fellowship with Christ was way more important than premature attainment of the ultimate outcome He knew God had in store.
3. What do you stand to lose when you take a shortcut?  Have you ever been faced with an opportunity to jump ahead, but it required you to temporarily abandon your values?  What was your response?  What were the results?
4. In this area, how can you remind yourself to choose what is important over what is immediate?
5. Jesus did what anyone else would have done who was 100% confident God was with them.

In summary:

Temptation is an opportunity to show God you love Him.  It is an opportunity to allow Him to meet your needs in a legitimate way.   Temptation is always a test of your faith that God is who He said He is and that He will do what He said He will do.   If you compromise, if you break, you may never know what God might have done on your behalf if you had trusted Him.  God can be trusted.  He wants to be a part of the details of your life.  Every temptation is a test of your confidence in Him not just your self control.  Don’t trade the important for the immediate.  Pause and remember what is at stake!

Offer your temptation, to feed your appetite, to God as a sacrifice of love.

Imagine if we all were able to live with 100% confidence that God was with us…without a doubt.  Imagine if everyone of us trained in a manner to allow Christ and His holy spirit to transform us.  What if we could pause when tempted?  What if we could remember what is at stake?  Imagine the impact Christ could have on those we influence, on our legacies and future, and on our faith!