"Dealing with Temptation"

Message preached February 17 , 2002
Long Green Valley Church of the Brethren
Glen Arm, Maryland USA
based upon  Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7, Matthew 4:1-11

Order of Worship

            Last week, when the junior youth entered their Sunday School classroom, there was no teacher. However, there was a sheet of instructions - one for each of them. At the top were these words: "We are in a brief meeting. We’ll be back in about five minutes. Please follow the instructions below. See you shortly! Thanks! Your teachers." ... Now, item #1 of the 10 on the list of things to do while they waited stated this: "Read only the odd numbered instructions. Do not read any of the evens."

            Perhaps you can guess the result. Apparently, many of them failed to really read that first instruction. The clincher came in the final two on the list, one of which instructed them to write their name and "Satan’s" on a piece of paper, and the other had them writing their name and "God’s." I think I heard that not many of them got it correct. We won’t ask who. If only dealing with temptation were simply a matter of reading the instructions right.

            Think back to the primary story in the Bible, the very first tale of a garden, and God, and Adam and Eve. The instructions God gave were pretty simple. Not 10 of them. Just two. #1 - "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden." #2 - "Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat." Simple enough. It even gave a reason. Why not eat of that one tree? Well, "in the day that you eat of it you shall die." (Genesis 2:16-17)    Makes sense. Not difficult to understand. Easy. A lot of room to dance.

            To dance? Hmmm! I wonder, what would it be like to envision this story as if it were one of the events in what many of us are paying a lot of attention to right now.

(two speakers at this point, one from the pulpit, the other from the lecturn:)

1 - Welcome to the first Winter Olympics, folks, and to the very first competition in these games

2 - Yes, welcome. And we do mean the first. The crowd here is ready for some fine skating.

1 - Between the heavenly host and the rest of Creation, I don’t know who is filled with more anticipation.

2 - Indeed. Many were wondering if this event was going to be "men’s singles" or "couples."

1 - Which would you have preferred, Scott?

2 - I don’t know. I’m pretty partial to the men’s solo work, Tom. But the addition of women makes this competition electric.

1 - It sure does. I can’t wait to see how our first couple does.

2 - How big a slate of skaters have we got for this event, Tom?

1 - Let’s me see (look at list), I believe we just have one couple.

2 - Well, then, it won’t be hard to guess who gets the gold.

1 - You never know though, Scott. One or two falls can take you right out of competition.

2 - I guess it all comes down to the judges’ call. Who are the judges, Tom?

1 - Uh, there’s just One, Scott - the Lord God.

2 - Okay! I’d say we won’t have any problems with impropriety on that end.

1 - No sir, though there has been some talk about trouble on the coaching staff.

2 - Yes, I heard there’s a chance a substitute may be brought in, a real crafty fellow.

1 - Some would call him a slimy character.

2 - A real "snake in the grass."

1 - You got it. Will Adam and Eve listen to this guy, or stick with their original coach?

2 - And who is their coach?

1 - That would be the Lord God.

2 - He’s the coach and the judge?

1 - Sounds unbeatable to me.

2 - I guess so. I think I’d stick with him if I were this couple.

1 - Well, Scott, it looks like it’s time for their program to begin.

2 - Yes, and they do look great in those outfits.

1 - Indeed, they seem to have not a care in the world.

2 - They skate so naturally, don’t they?

1 - They certainly do.

2 - It’s marvelous to see a fresh team like this.

1 - Some would say they’re a little wet behind the ears.

2 - There’s a lot to be said for youth and naivete!

1 - What energy!

2 - Wow! Did you see that triple salchow? Perfectly in synch with each other!

1 - The crowd is going wild.

2 - If they keep this up, the gold is theirs!

1 - The gold is theirs, anyway, Scott.

2 - Details! ... Wow! What a performance this is! There is real chemistry between these two.

1 - It’s like they are one person, perfectly in unison.

2 - Now comes the difficult part. They are separating at the middle of the rink and skating in separate directions, while still keeping their timing together.

1 - Can they do it? It’s never been done before.

2 - Of course it’s never been done before, Tom. This is the first competition ever!

1 - Right.

2 - Wait a minute, what’s happening on the other end of the rink?

1 - Eve looks like she’s talking with someone.

2 - I think it’s the other coach, if I’m not mistaken.

1 - Switching mid-routine is not a good move.

2 - Now she’s holding something in her hand.

1 - What is it?

2 - I believe it’s some kind of fruit.

1 - There’s nothing about this in their program.

2 - I’ll say. This is a big change. Look, she’s taking a bite out of that fruit as she returns to Adam.

1 - Now she’s handing the fruit to him, and he’s eating it also.

2 - I don’t know about this. Their most difficult jump is coming up.

1 - Will they make it?

2 - We’ll soon find out.

1 - There they go.

2 - Oh, no! They both fell!

1 - Ouch! That looks like it really hurt.

2 - But they’re getting up and trying again.

1 - That’s remarkable.

2 - Wow! They fell again.

1 - This is unprecedented.

2 - Of course it is! They’re not looking like medal contenders any more.

1 - There they go again. How many times can you fall in a program?

2 - I guess we’ll see.

1 - Wait a minute, they’ve stopped their routine and are headed to the edge.

2 - What are they doing?

1 - Is that what I think it is?

2 - Yes, they’ve grabbed some leaves and are covering themselves up.

1 - Why?

2 - I don’t know. For some reason their faces are all red, like they are embarrassed.

1 - I’d be embarrassed by all those falls, too.

2 - I don’t think that’s it, Tom.

1 - What, then?

2 - They’ve lost that innocense they had at the beginning. They seem so ... self-conscious.

1 - I believe you’re right, Scott. What are they doing now?

2 - They’ve left the rink. It looks like they are trying to hide.

1 - The judge isn’t going to like this.

2 - I’m wondering if they’ll ever be able to skate again.

1 - Maybe this is a good time to take a break for a word from our sponsor.

2 - We’ll be back for more about these shocking developments after this...

            There was a lot of room to "skate," to "dance" in that Bible story. And yet, that first couple managed to fall flat on their faces. In fact, if you read this book, that was a pretty common occurrence, from beginning to end. Still is. As for me, I know I’ve done my share of falling flat on my face, as I’ve tried to "skate" through life. We all have, and you know that I’m not just talking about what we do in an ice rink.

            It seems I fall all the time. Let’s be honest, folks, for this is a time for honesty. Honest to God. Honest to ourselves. Honest with one another. "If we say that we have no sin," the Bible says, "we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8). We fall a lot, don’t we? That initial story in the Bible, of Adam and Eve, what is it often called? The "Fall." It has to do with temptation, that within all of us which pulls us away from God. It’s not merely a matter of paying attention to God’s instructions, as important as that it. Sometimes those very instructions, which were intended to help us to "skate," to "dance" by faith; sometimes God’s commands are the very thing that trips us up. Though they were intended for our good, there is something within us that always pulls us away from the good. Call it "sin," not a terribly popular word nowadays.

            We are all "sinners." "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," the Bible says (Romans 3:23). Isn’t that the truth. The story of Adam and Eve is our story, not just theirs. Add a few fig leaves here and there and you’ve got us. And we face into temptation every day. I stood before the judge in traffic court on Friday, having given in to the temptation to go a little faster than I should have (actually, more than just "a little" faster - two points worth, to be exact). What’s worse is that I fell flat on my face with my son as a witness. When I was called before the judge, I pled guilty. He asked, how’s your record, to which I truthfully answered, "clean." The truth in a technical sense, that is. I actually had been before this same judge three years ago, receiving "probation before judgment," thus wiping my record clean.

            On Friday, the judge then asked if I had received any citations in the last three years. I suddenly felt very naked. Pass the fig leaves, please. The temptation I now faced was whether or not to tell the truth. It may not have made a difference one way or the other in the outcome, but I’m not a very good liar. Did I fall flat on my face yet again by admitting the truth? Some would say yes. Paying the hefty fine hurt, but my conscience didn’t.

            We all face temptation every day. And if the truth be told, the occasions when we fall may outweigh the times when we don’t. This story of Adam and Eve is your story and mine. Of course, we wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for another story. There was another "skater," the real "Lord of the dance," who - if you will - earned the "gold." Now, we won’t bring back "Scott" and "Tom" for an "Olympic" version of that competition. You heard it earlier according to Matthew. Scripture itself juxtaposes these two stories, the one about Adam and Eve and the one about Jesus, side by side.

            It’s sort of like how, on television this past week, we saw Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze on the left side of the screen, and Jamie Sale and David Pelletier on the right, doing similar jumps in their routines. In the Bible we have this fateful, beginning performance by the first couple almost side by side with Jesus. In fact, he is called the second "Adam." Whereas the "first" Adam royally messed up, thus paving the way for all sorts painful falls for the "children of Adam" and Eve - that is, all of us; the "second Adam" didn’t. Though as scripture says, Jesus "was tempted in every respect as we are," he didn’t give into it (Hebrews 4:15-16). He didn’t fall flat on his face.

            We’re not just talking about his 40 days in the wilderness when he faced down the devil, refusing to change coaches - if you will. The testing didn’t stop after that. In the garden of Gethsemane, before his arrest and trial, he was tempted to allow "the cup to pass" from him, to avoid doing what was right, what would lead to the salvation of the children of Adam and Eve (Matthew 26:36-46, Mark 14:32-42, Luke 22:40-46, see also Matthew 26:52-54 for a description of what his alternative might have been). Instead, he chose the right way. "Not what I want but what you want," he prayed. The apostle Paul put it like this, "Just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all" (Romans 5:18).

            Now, in dealing with temptation ourselves, as followers of Jesus we need to place our daily struggle in the context of Christ Jesus. Otherwise, we are condemned to a replay of the same old story. Face it, if "Scott" and "Tom" were to do a play by play on our lives, they’d be commenting on plenty of "flat on the ice time." Am I right? However, in the context of what Christ did for us - the wonder of his grace, his deep, deep love - when we fall, as we will, we are given the courage and the ability to stand back up and keep on keeping on.

            Listen! I hear the music playing. Are you ready to "skate?"

©2002 Peter L. Haynes

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