May
the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in Your
sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. AMEN.
Having
moved here to Western KS in October 2010 there have been many experiences that
Michele, Sarah and myself have had which are not as easily partaken of back
East. Not only the typical of ‘no or few
trees’, little moisture, but also the ‘bitter cold’ for extended periods of
time, followed by an all to brief time of warmth. We have also had the joy of experiencing new
things with Sarah, whether the Rocky Mountains and Estes Park or even
experiences closer to home. One of the
fondest was when Sarah was able to take her first horse ride. You know how big Sarah is and how any animal
can dwarf her from a large dog to a cow and especially a horse. Well, Sarah was so excited about getting to
ride a horse that it was one of the most memorable experiences for her in her
short lifetime. Unlike some youth and
adults who either daily ride a horse or have grown up around animals on the
farm, Sarah was very excited, but also very timid. Surprisingly, Sarah was able to ride the
horse on her own, but she was being led by a halter rope like the one we have
here this morning. This morning as we
continue in the Petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, the lead rope is a perfect connection
as we pray for our not being led into temptation.
Let’s
pull out our bulletin insert for this morning and read responsively as a
congregation the “What does this mean?” section. “The Sixth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer, And lead us not into temptation. What does this mean? God
tempts no one. We pray in this petition
that God would guard and keep us so that the devil, the world, and our sinful
nature may not deceive us or mislead us into false belief, despair, and other
great shame and vice. Although we are
attacked by these things, we pray that we may finally overcome them and win the
victory. Let us pray for God to
guard us in our lives.
Gracious
God, thank you for guarding our hearts and not tempting us to sin against
You. For daily temptation comes our way
from the devil that not only tries to get us to doubt You God, but lead us away
from the truth of our freedom in Jesus Christ.
Please continue to remind us of our freedom found in Your Son that is
offered for all of mankind, including all of us saints gathered here at
Emmanuel this morning. AMEN.
Clearly
living on a farm, many generations of kids and adults had the daily chore of
feeding the animals, whether chickens, pigs, cattle or horses. One of the other tasks was to make sure the
animals had plenty to drink. Here in
Western KS it is understandable that water was a more precious commodity, but none
the less, still important that the animals daily were cared for and tended
properly. When it came to horses in the
early 1800’s every cowboy knew that the horse was the means of transportation
that meant life or death on the prairie and always the horse was picketed or
haltered so they wouldn’t wander off or be chased off, whether by Indians or
something that scared them while grazing or at night when let out to pasture. But clearly every horse that was properly
cared for had a halter and a lead rope.
We
Christians today are not that dissimilar to horses, in that we are easily
scared off, easily wander and easily become distracted by all that is occurring
around us. But we Christians do not have
a lead rope or a halter. We are daily
tempted by the Devil to be chased, pulled or even led into a temptation that
removes us from God’s Holy presence. And
here in Goodland our town seems to be oppressed and controlled by Satan to a
greater degree, from the negativity in our schools, our neighborhoods and at
times it even affects us here in the church.
Not only is this our sinful nature, but it is our desire and belief that
we know what is best for us, even more so than God knows. Whether it is how money should be spent by
the Government, how the coaches that lead the teams our children play on could
do a better job, to even here in the church how we see things that need done
and put others down because they are not doing ‘their job’ to our own standards
or personal beliefs. We are guilty of
pointing out our neighbors short comings.
This is clearly a temptation that we fall into easily and led to do on
many occasions.
But,
when we pray this petition of the Lord’s Prayer, “And lead us not into temptation”,
we should remember that Jesus Christ Himself not only experienced temptation,
but being led by Satan to places where He could have easily have sinned and chose
a different path. Like the halter here
before us, Jesus Christ was led to the desert by His Father and fasted forty
days and nights, Jesus was tempted by Satan to make bread from stones. Jesus was taken to the top of the temple by
Satan to possibly be thrown down so the angels would catch Him and He would not
dash His foot. As well Jesus was taken
where He could view the entirety of the world and Satan offered the earth as Jesus
own. But Jesus Christ overcame the
temptation of sin by Satan at each turn with God’s Word and exposing the lie
that Satan clearly was trying to entice Jesus with. And we here today are not any different from
Jesus in our being tempted and tested by Satan.
But with our being God’s children we can through God’s promises and His
Word overcome the temptation by Satan that we are led to on a daily basis.
For
our temptation that we experience is different than Jesus’s, but not that
dissimilar, we are tempted to say something to someone that has wronged us, we are
tempted to look at our neighbors possessions and greedily wish they were ours
or we are tempted to be a backseat driver or Monday morning quarterback for
situations, from the school, to the family to even the church. But God is here and promised each of us in
our baptism to be with us to speak against our being led into temptation.
When
we pray this petition of the Lord’s Prayer we pray for God to take the lead
rope in our lives and to guard us and keep us so that evil may not come upon
nor overcome us. Not only do we ask God
to protect us, but also strengthen and preserve us when temptation does come
our way. Because you know as well as I
do we live in a world of temptation, whether from television, society and even
in our own thoughts Satan uses every means to lead us away from God and be led
down the path that leads to sin. But God
promises us grace and every blessing and the blessing to be with us and prevent
our being led away from Him by Satan. We
only have to call on God and pray His prayer that He taught us and trust God to
keep us not only in His Word, but witness to how His Son Jesus Christ calls,
gathers and keeps us in the one true faith through the Work of the Holy Spirit
in each of our lives.
Recently,
while in a meeting with other Pastors from Canada, we discussed how we Pastors
are led into temptation and we all agreed that Satan tries to lead us away
every day. As we discussed this, one
pastor talked of how every time he visited someone in the hospital he could
visit for 15 or 20 minutes without being interrupted by the nursing staff or
alarms, but when he would want to share a word of scripture or a spiritual
song, the alarms and staff would immediately begin to sound and become a
distraction to sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This was clearly Satan using any means
necessary to prevent the Word of God from being shared that pointed to
salvation through Jesus Christ. It was
clearly an attempt to lead them away from the truth of the Gospel found in
Jesus Christ that was trying to be shared with the person.
Our
sure defense for each of us today is found in our praying this petition of the
Lord’s Prayer. “And lead us not into temptation”. All of us clearly experience the temptation
to be led away from God. May we as we pray
this prayer be led to the truth of God’s Word that not only sets us free from
the bonds of Satan and our World, but remind us of how God’s promises are
fulfilled through His Son Jesus Christ.
And these promises are for all mankind, including all of us saints
gathered here at Emmanuel this morning praying, “and lead us not into temptation.”
AMEN.
No comments:
Post a Comment