Thoughts of a Ragamuffin Part 8: Temptation, Sin,
Maturity
You realize that people are people are people
don’t you?
Though we all are unique, we also share many things in common.
One of those things we share in common is temptation.
Temptation is a choice to do what we know is wrong.
When people choose to give into temptation we call that
sin.
You know that sin is anything that deters,
damages or destroys right relationships.
When I sin, I have chosen not to love.
As Wesleyan’s we believe that God’s grace is so powerful that we can
always choose to be lovers.
Today we are continuing our series the “Thoughts
of a Ragamuffin”
and consider
temptation, sin and maturity.
When you leave today you will know that no one is exempt from
temptation,
that sin is not a necessity,
and spiritual maturity is in part about
overcoming
temptation.
Let’s start with temptation.
“A lot of times when we look at people we admire
spiritually,
we think they have
arrived at this place where they cease to be tempted.
The reality is, our faith may grow stronger over time,
but the temptation never goes away. “
(Mullins—James Bryan Smith, An
Arrow Pointing To Heaven, p. 145)
Or maybe we think that temptation will lessen as we mature spiritually;
But “even those who love God and long to be faithful can be lured by
[temptation.]”
(Smith, Arrow, p. 150)
Every person no matter how far along they are in
their spiritual journey has to deal
with the temptation not to love.
We’ve defined love as an action.
The action of love is obeying God,
meeting the needs of others,
being a good steward of God’s blessings,
and partnering with the Holy Spirit in His process of
sanctification, of becoming more like Jesus.
Temptation presents us with a choice not to love.
When we choose not to love, we sin.
We deter, or damage or can even destroy right relationships.
Everyone is tempted.
Even Jesus was tempted.
Hebrews 4:15 (NIV)
For we do not have a high priest who is
unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted
in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin.
Jesus battled with temptation but remained
faithful,
choosing love over
everything else.
Even though everyone is tempted its one of the
best kept secrets in the Church.
“Every human being
battles temptation,
yet seldom do we have permission to admit it.”
(Smith, Arrow, p. 146)
Now granted I don’t think I would be very
comfortable standing in the middle of
the congregation and telling everyone what had tempted me during the
week.
So public worship isn’t
the appropriate place to admit
that we are facing some specific temptation.
But your accountability
partner, that spiritual friend,
your confidant in Christ,
that person is the one that you need to tell about your battle.
John Wesley believed that small group fellowships
were essential to spiritual
maturity.
That’s one reason why home groups are so important.
As trust grows between members the folks grow more confident
in the love shared.
Wesley had some rules for small groups and one
was about temptations:
4. To speak each of us in order, freely and plainly,
the true state of our souls,
with the faults we have committed in thought, word, or deed,
and the temptations we have felt, since our last meeting.
(
http://www.housechurch.org/miscellaneous/wesley_band-societies.html )
For some reason when we confide our temptations,
We find additional strength to overcome them.
Maybe its that our secret is out in the open,
Maybe its because others pray for us,
Maybe its our acknowledgement that drives us to God.
For whatever reason, having a spiritual friend you can tell about your
temptations invites the grace you need to overcome your temptation.
Allow yourself to be accountable to people you
trust. (Smith, Arrow, p. 160)
Rich Mullins,
this Ragamuffin whose
thoughts on spirituality have guided our series,
“believed that being honest with a brother in Christ was a lifeline that
helped him remain pure before God.” (Smith, Arrow. p. 160)
One of the reasons I believe that we don’t like to talk about what is tempting
us is
that we are concerned about what people will think.
We fear that if they know what we are dealing with,
They will reject us, judge us, abandon us,
basically just stop loving us.
Yet when you really have a soul friend
confession strengthens
your bonds.” (Smith, Arrow, p.
160)
When you develop a relationship of trust and transparency ,
the honesty liberates because the love never stops.
You will always be tempted.
“The temptations never cease,
but more importantly, Jesus will never abandon us.”
(Smith, Arrow, 147)
One of the best ways to overcome temptation is that 3rd Spiritual
Discipline,
Fellowship.
I’m not talking pot luck after Church either.
I’m talking about the kind of confidentiality,
and care that is part of the communion of the saints.
So temptation is always something you will deal with.
Our task is not to give into temptation,
Our task is to remain lovers.
Now we need to consider sin.
Sin is what happens when you give into temptation.
I’ve taught you the best way to define sin is that: anything that deters,
damages of destroys right
relationships is sin.
Sin happens when we choose not to love.
“Sin is very appealing on the front end…
But the paradox is that
sin is actually deadly…
Sin is destructive by its very nature,
but it must mask itself in the beginning in order to lure us,
until we are caught by the bait of
present or promised
pleasures.” (Smith,
Arrow, p. 147)
Face it for sin to be tempting it has to be
appealing.
There must be a promise of some sort of pay day,
to get what you want that God doesn’t want you to have.
When we decide that God doesn’t know what is best
for us and actualize the sin,
there is damage that happens.
In Rich’s song “Growing Young” he writes:
I've
seen the world and I have known
So many secrets
I wish now I did not know
'Cause they have crept into my heart
They have left it cold and dark
And bleeding,
Bleeding and falling apart
Sin brings with it a destructive knowledge that
you can’t escape once you’ve been
exposed to it.
It stays with you.
There are things I wish I never knew, and there is stuff I am
now sure of that I don’t want to know.
Things I don’t want to see.
Stuff I don’t want to be desensitized to.
Sin taints.
It steals innocence.
It robs you of the good gifts that God gives you.
They say knowledge is
power,
but knowledge can also be destructive,
and knowledge gained through the path of sin is damaging.
It much better to live your life ignorant of sin
Rich thought of sin as aging a person.
A soul aging that had nothing to do with maturity,
Just a wearing out and tearing down.
He pictured becoming like Jesus as growing young.
As developing Child-like faith,
Becoming innocent.
When we think back to the Garden, the serpent
knew that disobedience would
bring a catastrophic separation between God and Humanity.
Satan’s plan has never changed.
Satan is always trying
to make you feel apart from God.
(Mullins,
Smith, Arrow. p.151)
“The devil tires to destroy our faith through our
sin.
He whispers, ‘See, you
are a failure.
God could never love you.
You have sinned your way out of His love.
You promised you would never sin again and you did.
You let God down, and he is angry with
you.
It is best if you just run away.’
The desire of the devil is to see us become estranged and
alienated from God.”
(Smith, Arrow, p. 152)
But the scripture instructs us that God’s
sanctifying power is so great that you do
not have to sin,
you can always be a lover,
you can always be faithful,
but that if you do sin,
you don’t have to run away and hide from God.
1 John 2:1-2 (NIV)
My dear children, I write this to you so
that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the
Father in our defense--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
2 He is the atoning
sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole
world.
1 John 1:9 (MSG)
if we admit our sins—make a clean breast
of them—he won't let us down; he'll be true to himself. He'll forgive our sins
and purge us of all wrongdoing.
“The goal of the enemy of
our souls is to destroy our relationship with God by
getting us to accept the lie that we are
not loved.” (Smith, Arrow, p.
151)
Satan wants to convince you that you cannot be forgiven,
That you cannot change,
That there is no hope;
so you will give up.
Sins can be forgiven.
If you find yourself having committed a sin,
Don’t run from the Cross, run to the Cross.
Sincere repentance and honest confession opens the path to
forgiveness and healing.
The reason to overcome temptation and sin is
because sin always has
consequences.
With God forgiveness can be found for our sins,
But sometimes we are stuck with the consequences of our sin
for a life time.
Friends, a life time of
consequences is not worth a moment of self
indulgence.
Here’s my recommendation: don’t sin. Overcome
your temptation.
Overcoming temptation,
overcoming sin is your born again birth right.
The scripture tells us:
James 4:7-8 (NIV)
Submit yourselves, then, to God.
Resist the
devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Come near to God and he will come near to you.
Resist the temptation, draw near to God by your
practice of the 7 habits of a
disciple, especially the 3rd --fellowship.
Then call out to Jesus for His help, that 2nd habit of prayer,
And you will find the power to escape temptation and sin.
1 Corinthians 10:13 (MSG)
No test or temptation that comes your
way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to
remember is that God will never let you down; he'll never let you be pushed past
your limit; he'll always be there to help you come through it.
Here’s what we have so far.
“The temptations never cease.”
(Smith, Arrow, 147)
Our task is to remain lovers.
The way to overcome temptation is practicing the spiritual habits of a
disciple, especially the fellowship that allows for transparency
and accountability.
When we choose not to love, we sin.
God’s sanctifying grace is so powerful that we do not have to sin.
But if we do give into temptation and sin,
Honest repentance and confession opens the path of forgiveness
to us.
We must remember that even though we can be forgiven of our sins,
we may still be stuck with the consequences of our actions.
Now we need to consider how temptation and sin
are handled by those growing in
their faith.
What does temptation and sin have to do with spiritual maturity.
When we
are living our lives to the full,
Temptation has a
greater difficulty convincing us to sin.
The more mature we become the less we give into temptation.
I also think the more mature we become the more temptations
we face.
The way to mature is simply to trust in God.
And set our hearts on being a lover
The scripture tells us Satan is always at work
1 Peter 5:8-9 (MSG)
Keep a cool head. Stay alert. The Devil
is poised to pounce, and would like nothing better than to catch you napping.
9 Keep your guard up.
One way we stay alert and keep in sync with the
heart of God is by the practice of
the seven habits of a disciple.
The Apostle Paul calls them the full armor of
God.
Ephesians 6:10-18 (MSG)
God is strong, and he wants you
strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of
the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to
everything the Devil throws your way. This is no afternoon athletic contest that
we'll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a
life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels. Be
prepared. You're up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all
the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it's all over
but the shouting you'll still be on your feet. Truth,
righteousness, peace, faith, and
salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You'll need them
throughout your life. God's Word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way,
prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long.
God’s grace, the desire to be and the power to
do, is strong, when you depend on it,
Strong enough for you to overcome temptation and avoid sinning,
by choosing to remain a lover instead.
Don’t focus on not sinning, focus instead on
being a lover.
Don’t concentrate on what to avoid , concentrate on what to do.
Don’t entertain temptation, entertain the thoughts of the righteous.
That’s exactly what the spiritually mature do and
as you do it you will mature
spiritually.
We are reaching a place of spiritual maturity
when we realize that
“…sin is simply not good,
and our lives would be immeasurable better without it.
As
we mature in the faith, we come to the point where we can say,
‘Although I could sin,
I am not planning on it,
And if I don’t indulge, I won’t miss it.’
That is spiritual maturity.”
(Smith, Arrow, p. 150)
Spiritual maturity is not trying to sin less,
rather its about being God’s more.
(Smith, Arrow, p. 158)
Its not about avoiding a list of don’ts,
And adhering to a list of do’s.
Its about walking with Jesus,
being in fellowship with him and one
another.
Here’s what I want you to walk away with today:
1. no one is exempt
from
temptation;
2. sin is not a
necessity nor even an inevitability, it is only a possibility;
You do not have to sin daily in thought, word or
deed, God’s grace is sufficient,
but if you do sin you
have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous,
who can forgive your sin but may not save you from the
consequences of it.
3. spiritual maturity
in part is about overcoming temptation.
You also know that the best way to overcome temptation is
having a trusted individual in your life that you can be
completely honest with and
your daily practice of the 7 habits of a disciple.
In John’s account of the ministry of Jesus,
The religious leaders brought a woman to him who they wanted to stone for
her sin.
Jesus tells them—Hey if you’ve never sinned go ahead and
throw your stone at her.
One by one, from the oldest to the youngest the stones fell to
the ground.
Jesus asked the woman where her accusers are.
She says that they have gone.
And Jesus tells her, neither do I condemn you.
John 8:11 (NLT)
“…Go and sin no more.”
Good advice.