Listen here.
Welcome to
Devotions for Worship where we meditate on the appointed Scripture readings for
the upcoming Sunday. I am Pastor Eric Tritten from Gloria Dei Lutheran Church
in Hudson, OH.
Thank you for
being with me today.
Our Epistle
lesson for the 1st Sunday of Lent stands as a powerful addition to
our other readings this week. We remember that our Gospel lesson found Jesus
being driven into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. Our Old Testament
lesson found Abraham being tested by God when he was told to offer Isaac as a
burnt offering. Today we read from James that God tempts no one, so we find
that the source of temptation is our own sinful desire.
The Epistle
lesson for the 1st Sunday of Lent is James 1:12-18, and I will be
reading from the English Standard Version translation.
The Reading:
James 1:12-18
12 Blessed
is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he
will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. 13
Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God," for
God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14
But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15
Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully
grown brings forth death.
16 Do not be deceived, my beloved
brothers. 17 Every good gift and 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 Of his own will he brought us forth by the
word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. (Jas.
1:12-18 ESV)
Comments
Life is full of
trials, tests, and temptations. It is easy for us to blame God for putting
these things in our lives, but in reality God’s desire is that our hearts and
minds would be united in the mind of Christ, that we would not be tempted to
sin because our spirits are fully aligned with His Holy Spirit.
So where does
temptation come from? James says that the source of temptation is our sinful
desire. Verse 14 gives a powerful example using images from fishing and hunting
– we lure fish with bait, we entice animals with food or scents – and when the
lure and enticement match with the animals desires they are drawn in, and then
they are killed.
I think we need
to unpack Abraham’s situation a little in light of this passage. One way people
have explained the testing of Abraham is by saying that God wanted to see if
Abraham loved Him enough to give Him his own son. As I consider this passage
and the word in Hebrews 11:19 that says that Abraham considered that God was
able even to raise Isaac from the dead, I have come to think that this test had
more to do with whether or not Abraham fully trusted God to make him into a
great nation and to bless all peoples through Isaac, as God had promised.
Abraham had already been enticed to sleep with Hagar to help God give him
children instead of remaining faithful to Sarah, his wife. Would Abraham doubt
God’s promise again? He did not and the result was a powerful and prophetic
picture of what God, Himself, would do with His Son.
One of the
important aspects of recognizing our desires as the source of our temptations
is that it places us in the place of weakness and keeps God as true. If we
think God is always testing and tempting us we think He is weak and He somehow
needs to be shown that we trust Him, or worse, that we are worthy of Him. When
we recognize our temptations are rooted in our sinful desires, we see that God
is true and that our Creator is there to help us and support us in temptation.
He shines the light of His Word into our temptation so we can recognize if for
what it is: a trap that leads us into death! And we become all the more
confident of God’s desire to help us in temptation when we look to Jesus and
see His sacrifice on our behalf to make us into a new creation so that our
desires become like His – holy, good, and right.
Prayers
O God, the
temptations we face are from our sinful desires and they lead us to death.
Thank You for make us aware of that so that we can know that You are not trying
to trip us up. You are actually telling us the truth and helping us recognize
temptation so that we can avoid it! Forgive us for doubting You. Forgive us for
giving in to our sinful desires. Help us to overcome the temptations in our
lives. Shine Your word of truth into our hearts and help us see, understand,
and control our desires, and help us to trust You so that we follow You away
from things that would harm us physically and spiritually, leading us into
death. We pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Memory Verse:
Joel 2:13 - Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious
and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents
over disaster. (Joel 2:13 ESV)
Thank you so much
for using Devotions for Worship, I pray that our time together has blessed you
and given you something to meditate on – some reminder of God’s grace to rattle
around in your brain – for the rest of the day.
Would you do me a
favor? If you got something out of this devotional time, would you like and/or
share it on Facebook, Twitter, or wherever you do social media? That would help
me get the word out, and hopefully help these devotions be a blessing to
others.
Look this podcast
up on iTunes! https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/devotions-for-worship/id1295926846?mt=2
God bless you!
Comments