“The strength to stand (isn’t yours)-- God is faithful” - Sermon
Text: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13; Luke 13:1-9
Theme: “The strength to stand (isn’t yours) - God is faithful”
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These “classical” temptations are still around us trying to push us away of the Word. But I would like to talk also about some other kind of temptation. I am talking about those temptations that sometimes become authorized, justified, or invisible. We do not perceive them anymore as temptations. They don’t show up as a visible golden calf. They get into peoples’ lives as they try to find good reasons to show how there’s nothing wrong in that. Sometimes, they may become even a way of life.
1 – The “invisible” temptations
Let me list some examples:
- The pursuit of constant happiness. Think of the digital world. When we go online, we think that everybody seem so overwhelmingly happy while our life is so full of problems! Friends are traveling, celebrating, smiling, having fun… Then those words ring in our ears: “You are meant to be happy. You deserve happiness!” The idea presented is that when it comes to your happiness there’s little forbidden. If things do not go right, just change your house, your spouse, your boss, your friends, your church…. “You were born to be happy”. And suddenly, we find ourselves trapped into this temptation thinking it is ok to live with this pressure of being happy all the time, with the resulting frustration to deal with. The reason why this is a temptation is: it drives us away from the Biblical definition of happiness.
A life of complaint. That is the opposite of the previous one. In this case, we are tempted to embrace victimhood, as if we were those whose lives are always the worst. We have not enough money, we get sick too often, our job is terrible, nobody calls us for coffee, and almost nobody notices we exist… We internally become that cartoon character who was always moaning “Oh, me, oh my, oh dear”, exercising a type of selfishness which someone called “the power of the victim”. By becoming the victim one can at the same time start to control everything around and gain power over them. The reason why this is a temptation is: it drives us away from acknowledging bot our vocation and all the blessings we have.
-Adapt God to the philosophical, pragmatical and social needs of our time. We are constantly tempted to make God to be in compliance with the Zeitgeist(spirit of the time). The social pressure to be not so narrow minded as to believe an old book of tales and ‘metaphors’ and to accept new ways of seeing things. Specially, to accept new concepts of life, faith and behaving that clash against God’s Word, creating our good reasons to justify them. The reason why this is a temptation is: it replaces the Word with the World’s aspirations and ideologies.
The Illusion of Control - One of the greatest temptations we face is the belief that we can control everything in our lives—our future, our success, our health, and even our faith. We plan, strategize, and organize, thinking that if we just try hard enough, we can guarantee the outcomes we desire. But when things don’t go our way, we grow anxious, frustrated, and even resentful toward God. The truth is, control is an illusion. As Proverbs 16:9 reminds us, "The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps." The reason why this is a temptation is: it puts us in the driver seat that belongs to Jesus.[1]
Measuring Worth by Productivity - In our fast-paced world, we are tempted to equate our worth with how much we accomplish. We live by to-do lists, judge our success by output, and even bring this mindset into our faith, thinking that the more we do for God, the more He must love us. The reason why this is a temptation is: it leads is to find worth in what we accomplish, instead of what Christ has done for us. Ephesians 2:8-9 reminds us, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast."
These temptations - and many other examples could be recalled - often are ones that go unnoticed. They just become part of life. Even inside the church we are sometimes tempted to adopt a way of life in which temptation becomes invisible and justified.
Ultimately, all these temptations they fall under what 1Corinthians 10 describes as idolatry.
“Wait a minute, pastor. I don’t bow before idols or pagan gods, so I’m not an idolater.” First of all, I know you don’t—and thanks be to God for that! But idolatry runs deeper than statues and rituals. An idol is anything that takes God’s rightful place as first in our lives. These temptations—and many others—fit that category. They represent lifestyles where God is still present but no longer at the centre.
Then here comes Paul to hit us like a brick preaching the law in its strictness. “Let anyone who thinks he stands take heed lest he falls”. Sin is sin, whether we recognize it or if we redefine it to fit our way of living. Sin is tied so tight to our human nature that outside of the God’s forgiveness and love we have no hope of escaping eternal condemnation. And we need that. We need the Law of God ringing in our ears to let us know about our imperfection and the danger of losing our salvation to temptation.
“You sure, pastor? You see, I know that sin is a biblical teaching and must be taught. But aren’t we sometimes too negative? Perhaps the way to help people is being more positive?” That reminds me of a story.
Paul was talking to a friend about
his last medical appointment.
-The doctor said that my eyes are
perfect. My lungs are correctly functioning, my kidneys work fine, and my heart
couldn’t be better. Ah, and about cholesterol and blood pressure... nothing
wrong with them!
-Oh, wow, said the friend. - But
Paul…didn’t you go to the doctor because of a backache?
-That’s right.
-So why did the doctor tell you
only what’s good? Didn’t he point out what’s wrong so you can cure it?
-Oh, yes, he tried to talk about
what is bad, but I wouldn’t listen. I like only to hear good news.
Sometimes we refuse to hear anything about what’s truly wrong and needs change. You cannot talk about sin, guilt, lack of responsibility, depression, death… Nor discuss any other thing showing the truth that we are imperfect. “Hey, let’s change the topic, man”. “Be positive!” “Talk about good stuff!” But do we go to the doctor to hear about what’s good or to know what needs healing?
2 – The mercy of our Savior
Now, the doctor tells us the truth. We are sinners. But is that the purpose of the doctor, to say the plain truth and that’s it? Not really. Jesus Christ points out our imperfection, yes, He does. But unlike many in our days who have delight in finding sins only to hammer the sinner, He forgives. He loves and recovers our hearts. He brings us the cure for our worst illness. The follow-through of the appointment with The Doctor is a new life where treatment and prevention walk together.
Jesus does not only provide a way of escape sin and temptation; he is the Way of escape. Luther nailed it when he said that Christ came to save us from ourselves. Our hope, our strength, our salvation is outside ourselves. And yet it comes inside to our hearts through faith, by Grace, to save us, to strengthen and to give us the assurance that only His Word can do.
1Corinthians 10 is inserted in the context of a warning against idolatry. Because in the end, all these temptations boil down to the first commandment. We are tempted to replace God by something else as the first place in life, as the source of our faith and trust. Therefore, we need to pay attention to what God says: God is faithful.
3 – God is faithful
Now, we know we continue to be sinners. We know temptations keep knocking at our door all the time. We know that is a nut hard to crack. Then, what do we do?
Our natural thinking would lead us to try to be better persons, to behave better, to please God. “If I only could be a little stronger, if I do obey a little better, then I’ll please God and have strength and power to overcome temptations. After all, there’s that bible verse in first Corinthians that says: “God won’t give you more than you can handle”.
This reminds me of a Brazilian saying: Cheap becomes expensive. It’s a saying used to define those situations when you buy something cheap to save some money only to find that the piece does not work well. Now you have spent your money in a useless piece and will have to spend more money to buy the one you should have bought at the beginning of the whole story.
Cheap becomes expensive when we think of tackling temptations with our own hands. Once we learn from different sides of society that ‘you were born to be happy’ by “doing it yourself’, then cheap ways to it overflow. Books, TV shows, “counsellors”... You deserve to be happy so never mind if you do ‘a little wrong’ here, another one there, if you step over other peoples back to upscale in life. “Do a little better and become a little better. No problem! You deserve it.” Cheap becomes expensive. Broken marriages, relationships full of resentment, pain… The spiritual price to pay often is so high that people eventually breakdown. And again, here we are being idolaters – substituting trust in God for trust in something else.
In first Corinthians Paul tells us something different. “God is faithful”. “God won’t let you be tempted”. Is not about us receiving a burden from God and trying to handle it, to carry along. The strength to stand isn’t yours. It’s His. This is about God being faithful, caring, and merciful by not allowing us to go beyond our strength. He is de one doing the action. He is the caring and loving One. Because the burden of sin was laid upon Christ, because He went to the cross in our place, we are made sure that even if temptations come, is not up to us, but up to Him. We need the expensive that became not cheap, but actually free!
We don’t need happiness as a feeling much as we need it as meaning. Our happiness flows for our meaningful life in Christ. We don’t need to play the victim; Christ was made the victim on the Cross in our place to give us a life of forgiveness and strength. We don’t need to adapt the Word of God to anything; it is Sufficient and True as it has always been. We can follow our hearts when our hearts follow Jesus. That’s when it is well oriented and going in the right direction.
Jesus is the source of all we need to face and overcome temptation. Also, when we fall, we have his forgiveness that lifts us up again and make us walk in His love every new day! Will we still be tempted? Of course, we will. Will we face temptation alone? Of course, we won't! As a fellow pastor wrote, "Our God gives us the way of Him who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, the way He gives us, His forgiveness, through His Word and Sacraments, our spiritual food and drink.” God is love. God is grace. God is Faithful!
Cc - A fellow pastor from Brazil told me this story that happened with him and his younger
daughter. He was returning home from the grocery store with the plastic bags in
his hands and having the toddler walking beside him. At some point of the way
the kid insisted in carrying one of those bags, even after he saying she
probably wouldn’t be able to carry it ‘till home.”-Are you sure you can do
this, sweetie?” “-Of course, daddy. I promise I’ll carry this bag home - was
her answer.”
As they moved some yards on the
girl started to show she was getting tired, as anticipated by the father.
Finally, she asked. “Daddy, would you please, carry me in your arms?” The
request was granted.
When the father stood in the front
door, he put the youngster back on the ground so he would be able to open it.
That’s when she proudly looked up and stated: “-See, daddy? I promised you I
would bring this bag home in my hands!”
Yes, temptations come. Whether ‘classical’ or ‘invisible’, they try to lead us astray. And yes, sometimes we think the merit of dealing with them is ours. But our father just looks down and smiles. He is the one acting. For the strength to stand, the strength to walk and carry on is not yours. It’s His. God is faithful. He always gives another day, another month, another year! He forgives us, takes us in His hands and sends us to bear fruit, praising Him, loving our neighbour, fleeing temptation. For the strength to stand and carry on come from his hands of love. In Him, we will be carried in safety all the way to our eternal home. Amen.
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[1] Prioritizing Comfort Over Faithfulness - Another subtle temptation is choosing comfort over faithfulness. We avoid difficult conversations about faith to keep the peace. We resist stepping out in service because it disrupts our routines. We stay in our spiritual comfort zones rather than seeking deeper growth in God's Word. We justify it by saying, "I’ll follow Jesus… as long as it’s convenient." But Jesus never called us to an easy life—He called us to take up our cross and follow Him (Luke 9:23).
-Follow your heart – That became almost an unquestionable must do of modern times. It seems that the heart has become one of the most powerful rulers of our present world. If you ‘follow your heart’, then you must be right. Not many people would take a minute to think what would happen if your heart is following the wrong person, the wrong reason - or following nothing at all.
-"Well, I may be wrong, BUT..." The first part, "I may be wrong," is immediately undone by the conjunction "but." It's becoming common uncommon to hear people—especially showbiz stars—using the catchphrase "I have no regrets" or "I don’t repent for anything I’ve done." The reasoning? "Even my mistakes made me grow into the better person I am today." But even when someone acknowledges they may have done something wrong, the moment they add a "however," it often serves to justify their actions and sidestep the need for true repentance.
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