Saint James UCC of Hamburg, NY

Daniel 6:6-24; Mathew 4:1-11

Preached by Rev. Bob Matlack
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Temptations are by their very nature tempting. They're hard to resist. They challenge us. They test us. They often take us in directions that we'd rather not go, but it's just too hard, at times even impossible for us to resist.

Now what's tempting to me might not be at all tempting to you, and vice versa, but it's not a temptation unless it's genuinely tempting to us. There's something about it that appeals to us, that makes us want to partake, to have, to do whatever it is that tempts us.

When we pray, "lead us not into temptation", we are praying an interesting prayer. Think about it, many times we don't mind being tempted. We like to come into contact with opportunities that have an appeal, an allure for us. Lead us not into temptation sounds like someone who has decided to go on a diet, and is saying: "no, don't even show me the desserts, because if I see them I might not be able to resist."

But that's not what the Lord's Prayer is saying. Lead us not into temptation is not a request that our will power be increased so that we can lose weight or quit smoking. Rather, the Greek word that is translated here as temptation is more accurately translated "final test" - referring to a time of trial and testing for God's people that was to come just before the end of the present age and the dawning of God's Kingdom.

Lead us not to the Final Test, the one to which we might succumb, that we won't be able to resist. Keep us from that final test and give us strength, give us courage in the struggle for justice and peace.

The Lord's Prayer is not asking God to promise that our road through life will be an easy one, and that we will avoid all temptation. Rather, we are asking that God be with us and give us the strength we need to remain faithful. Keep us from the Final Test - the one that is more than we are ready to handle, and help us to face all those other temptations that occur each day.

Temptation. Each generation feels like they've invented it. Obviously their parents could never have felt what they're feeling now, could never have faced the kind of dilemma that they face, could never have been tempted in the same ways that they are tempted. But we know that temptation has been around as long as people have.

Remember Adam and Eve, and the Garden of Eden. Temptation. That's what that passage from Genesis is all about.

Temptation. That's what Daniel faced as well. Israel has been conquered, and many of it's people sent into exile in the city of Babylonia. God has worked through Daniel, showing him the meaning of a dream that the King of Babylon had had. As a result, Daniel has become a powerful man in the Kingdom. With two others he was chosen to supervise the governors of the Kingdom and to look after the king's interests. Now the king is considering putting him in charge of the whole empire, but the other supervisors and the governors are jealous, so they come up with a plan...

They go to the king and play on his vanity to get him to agree to a proposal that they know Daniel will violate. Their proposal has the effect of elevating the king to the status of a god. For 30 days all of the people in the kingdom must pray to the king and only to the king.

Daniel was dismayed by the edict, but following it was never an option for him. As he had always done, he prayed three times a day to God and only to God. As we hear in our text, his enemies are watching him, for they know that that is exactly what he will do. When they discover him in prayer they reported this to the king. As a result Daniel is thrown into a pit filled with lions, but God protects him, and Daniel comes out of the pit safely, while the plotters are then thrown in to their death.

It seems like Daniel should have been tempted. His life was at stake, and all he had to do was to go through the motions of following the new law, of praying publicly to the king and privately to God. After all, when we pray silently, only God knows what we're praying anyway. But Daniel was not even tempted. He continued to pray openly to God, kneeling down at an open window, instead of hiding in a corner. Daniel was not tempted by the threat of danger and death, for following God was so much a part of who he was, that there was no other option for him. Daniel would not even consider sacrificing what he believed in order to save his life, for if he sacrificed what he believed, then what he lived for would have died anyway.

Daniel wasn't the only one who was tempted to give up what he believed in. Remember the temptation of Jesus: Jesus was out in the wilderness after fasting for forty days and nights. There the devil comes up to Him and says, "If you are God's Son, order these stones to turn into bread". Jesus was tempted to turn stones into bread, not only to feed His own hunger, for Jesus in fasting has expressed a unity with all who are hungry. Imagine the popularity that would have been His if he had turned those stones into bread so that all who hunger might have food to eat. But He didn't!

Jesus did not succumb to the temptation, not because it is evil to feed the hungry, for that is indeed a good and compassionate action. Jesus did not succumb to the temptation not because it was irrelevant, for what could be more relevant to someone who is hungry than getting enough to eat. Rather Jesus did not succumb to the temptation because what the devil was really tempting Him to do was to set aside His complete obedience to the will and the purpose of God.

"Then the Devil took Jesus to Jerusalem, the Holy City, set him on the highest point of the Temple and said to him, 'If you are God's Son, throw yourself down, for the scripture says, God will give orders to his angels about you; they will hold you up with their hands, so that not even your feet will be hurt on the stones.'"

Jesus was tempted to do something spectacular. The unspoken appeal of that temptation was that it would get everybody's attention. The devil's temptation is one that really says, "You want to minister to people, calling them to turn their lives around and to follow God, well then, why don't you throw yourself down from the highest point of the Temple, a public place where everyone will see what's going on. In fact you can put on quite a show here from the top of the Temple to make sure that you have everybody's attention before you actually jump. By doing this, and demonstrating that God will save you, you will gain everybody's attention. They will hang on your every word, and that will give you your opportunity to change their lives."

If Jesus had thrown Himself down from the top of the Temple. He would have gained everyone's attention - for the moment. The curiosity seekers would gather, wanting Him to do it again and again so that everyone who had missed it the first time could see it. Someone would probably even have found a way to make money off of the spectacle. But Jesus knew that people's lives wouldn't really change. They would listen to Him, but it would be for the wrong reasons. They would hear only what they wanted to hear. They would be coming to see a spectacle, not hoping to encounter God and to be changed by that encounter.

"Then the Devil took Jesus to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in all their greatness. 'All this I will give you,' the Devil said, 'if you kneel down and worship me.'" Oh, the temptation of power. At one time or another we all have wanted to change something about the world, and bemoaned our own powerlessness. Here it was all offered to Jesus on a platter, if only He would bow down and worship the devil.

The temptations are there for all of us - to be relevant, to be spectacular, to be powerful. Jesus rejected them all for something for greater. He rejected each of those temptations by living His obedience to the will and the purpose of God.

We face the same temptations in our own lives, and we too must decide what our response will be. Where do we resist and say that what we believe, the kind of people that we are, that our faith in God is more important than whatever we are being tempted with?

When we pray those familiar words of the Lord's Prayer - "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil" we are seeking God's help and God's strength. Lead us not into temptation - lead us not to the final test - the one that is too strong for us to resist, but deliver us from evil. O God, be with us in our times of temptation, and help us to turn aside the temptation to worship false gods, to do spectacular things to impress people, and to satisfy the needs of the body at the cost of ignoring the needs of the soul. Help us to be like Daniel, not fearing for our own safety, while quietly, confidently, openly, worshiping You.

Amen