Lead us not into temptation (Matthew 6:5-13, James 1:1-18)
Matthew 6:5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
–Matthew 6:5-13 (KJV)
James 1:1
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion:
Greetings.
2 My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; 4 and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.
5 If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. 6 But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind; 7, 8 for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord.
9 Let the believer who is lowly boast in being raised up, 10 and the rich in being brought low, because the rich will disappear like a flower in the field. 11 For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the field; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. It is the same way with the rich; in the midst of a busy life, they will wither away.
12 Blessed is anyone who endures temptation. Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. 13 No one, when tempted, should say, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one. 14 But one is tempted by one’s own desire, being lured and enticed by it; 15 then, when that desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and that sin, when it is fully grown, gives birth to death. 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved.
17 Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18 In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
–James 1:1-18 (NRSV)
September 4, 2016 Sermon Summary
The final installment in the Lord’s Prayer sermon series began with a conversation on why the end of the prayer in the King James Version is so different from that which is contained in the New Revised Standard Version which serves as our pew Bibles. It was explained that the Greek language manuscripts that the King James translators had available to them differed slightly from the more ancient manuscripts that have been found by archaeologists in the meantime. However, the older version of the prayer has continued to survive in the liturgy of the church.
From there the sermon went on to talk about the final petition of the Lord’s Prayer: “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” To understand the concept of temptation and what it means to be delivered from temptation we looked at the first chapter of James. We talked about the fact that the Greek word we translate as “temptation” could probably be rendered as the modern English word, “test” or “trial.”
Tests and trials are an inevitable part of human life. We are all going to face difficulties, and one of the things that happens in those moments is that it is possible to see what our faith is really made of. Trials can strengthen us, or destroy us. They can build us up and teach us perseverance, or they can leave us fearful and broken. The question is really one of how we respond to what we are going through.
The Lord’s Prayer reminds us that we do not serve a vindictive God playing games with our lives. Instead, the prayer Jesus taught, and the words of James, remind us that we are the beloved children of a heavenly Father who will walk with us through all of our difficulties and through that help us grow into the people we have been called to be. In his book, The Power of Habit, business consultant Charles Duhigg says, “willpower isn’t just a skill, it is a muscle, like the muscles in your arms and legs, and it gets tired as it works harder, so there’s less power left over for other things.” The same thing applies to our faith. Tests, trials, and temptations can be used to train us in rigtheousness.
