Believe 7 - Humanity
John 3:16-17
November 2, 2014
When I was in the first church I pastored, a young woman came back from a retreat which the church sponsored for her to attend. We asked her to talk about her experience and at the beginning of the worship she stood up and began to share. She started out talking about the same topic I was going to talk about that morning. Ah, that’s God at work! Cool!
BUT . . . She wasn’t saying what I was going to say. She was going in the opposite direction and I sat there thinking how do I say what I have to say without really contradicting her, embarrassing her and making her feel bad? My message was about temptation, and she started her talk saying — “I have never been tempted in my life!” Say what?! Maybe that was to get our attention, but it wasn’t, she believed it. She really believed she had never been tempted in her life.
The point of my message — we’ve all been tempted, but we can overcome them! In the end, all went well, I didn’t change what I had to say, and hopefully helped people see that YES, we are all tempted!
And that’s where we are in week 7 of Believe. This really isn’t a conversation on temptation, it’s a look at humanity. It’s like a typical soap opera. It all seems to start good, it started great in the garden, Adam and Eve had it all. Life was great, it couldn’t get any better. But they came to believe life could get better than it already was. You see, human nature tells us whatever we have, we always want more. We’re satisfied for a moment, but then it’s time to move on and move up. If we have one championship, we start thinking about a repeat, then a 3-peat and so on.
If we go way back, Adam and Eve knew their restrictions — and there was only one . . . don’t eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. But the evil neighbor knocked on the door and offered another idea. It was more than suggestive, it was seductive. Eat the fruit from the tree! It looks good and it’ll taste good. It’s from God, it’s got to be good. Besides, what’s God really going to do to you?! Go for it. And they do!! And sin entered the world. And that sin nature has been passed on to you and I. It’s part of who we are. It’s not good news. It’s seriously terrible news! Because left on our own, we will mess things up – big time.
Just look at the news. Look at what we see every day. It’s not good.
School shootings
bullying and hazing in high schools and colleges
beatings — murder — stealing — vandalism — adultery
gossip — hatred — riots
alcohol and drug problems
families at war — countries at war
And that list goes on and on . . .
In Romans 3, Paul wrote ~ 23 All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
That’s a sobering yet true statement from Paul! Note that first word, it’s not your neighbors, it’s not those other heathens, it’s not all those other people out there . . . it’s you! We can easily change that first word to I . . . and we can say I have sinned and I fall short of the glory of God.
That’s our nature! It’s not an excuse. I can’t stand when people make excuses for others, ‘well, that’s just the way they are.’ We end up justifying someone else’s sin. We’re really saying, that’s ok, God understands they’re a sinner, they can’t help it, and they’re not about to change that fact. NO WAY! We have to move away from that sin nature, from simply accepting temptation and assuming we can get out of it on our own.
I was talking to a high school football player and he was telling me about a sin issue, not his, but something we would call sin. And he said, it’s really none of his business, plus they can always just ask God to forgive them and all’s good.
I told him, if we hold to that belief, then I can do anything, I can gossip, I can commit adultery, I can do anything legal, but morally wrong, at least in my beliefs, and it would be OK to repeat that sin again and again . . . without eternal consequences. He thought about it, and agreed. But that’s a pervasive view of people, not just young folks, but so many believe, if there’s a God, then, He will forgive whatever and whenever.
So, we have to recognize all have sinned. You and I . . . ALL of us have sinned and fall short of bringing God the glory and honor due Him. We fall short of what God expects from us.
Now, God can leave us in that position. That’s a choice God can make. He does not have to bail us out of our debt, sin and misery!
As Paul was talking to the people in Corinth, he told them in 1 Corinthians 10 ~ 12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.
I love this passage! Especially love that first verse. Don’t think you’re invincible. Don’t think you can stand there and think you can withstand anything and you’ll never ever fall. Because when you think that way, when you think there’s no way I can lose, you lose. And you’re shocked! Don’t be so confident in yourself.
When we look around the world, we see so many others who have fallen, and we may be added to that list. And we’re most likely to fall when our confidence is placed in ourselves and our talents and strength. When we forget about God in our lives, and all effort is ours, then we’re in trouble. As Matthew Henry wrote, ‘we need to distrust ourselves and place our trust and confidence in God; and that becomes our best guard against sin.’
Understand, if you think you won’t slip. Just like when you’re walking on ice and you don’t think you’re going to fall, you will. If you don’t fear your fall, if you don’t guard against it, please understand, God has not promised to keep us from falling, when our eyes aren’t set upon Him. This doesn’t mean we won’t get sick or have bad things happen. But sometimes our own worst enemy is arrogance and over-belief in ourselves.
But, God also adds a word of comfort in the next verses, and this leads us to look at the good news. Paul tells us ~
13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability,
but with the temptation God will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. – 1 Corinthians 10:13
Paul is clear in telling us temptation is common, and whatever temptation you’re experiencing – you aren’t the first to be going through it. I don’t care what type of temptation it is, you’re not alone. In some ways that’s comforting. You know there are more people than you know who have been tempted and are being tempted and will be tempted with exactly what you are going through.
Temptation is never fun! It causes stress and anxiety, especially when we’re thinking about giving into it. Just like the young lady in Illinois, we don’t like to admit we’re being tempted. We would like to think we’re above that, but that’s when we fall, when we don’t think we can be tempted. We deal with temptation in private. And this makes it worse, because we struggle in isolation, not admitting it to anyone, not seeking help from anyone, not praying through it, thinking we can overcome it on our own.
But, there’s good news in the midst of our struggles. Paul tells us God is faithful! Ah, let’s just stop there and hold onto those words from Paul. GOD IS FAITHFUL. Even though satan and the push of the world will attempt to pull us away from God, God is true and God is faithful. Though the world is filled with deception, God is faithful, and our strength and security are found in Him.
Paul is telling us – God is faithful and has proven Himself to be faithful. It would be like having an employee you had 100% trust in. When you ask them to do something, they do it exactly as you wanted. You would consider that person to be your faithful employee.
Now, I’m not trying to relegate God to that level, as our faithful employee, but I want you to see that’s what Paul means when he says God is faithful. We can have total and perfect trust in God.
And part of God’s faithfulness is He will not let us be tempted beyond our ability. Whatever temptations come our way, we will either already have the inner spiritual strength to handle it, or God will supply the new spiritual strength to help us overcome that temptation. Of course all that is contingent upon placing our trust, hope and expectations on the power of God’s love and presence in our lives.
God is faithful! He will not let us be tempted beyond what we can handle AND God will provide the way of escape! . . . If we rely on Him.
Even when we face morally confusing situations, we should never think we have no options other than giving in to the sinful options. There will always be a solution that does not require disobedience to any of God’s moral laws. God will always provide the way out.
More often than not, when faced with temptation, the BEST answer is NO! Say NO to the temptation. Say NO to your friends who want to do something which sounds fun, but is wrong! Say NO to the gossip! Say NO to the bitterness! Say NO to the alcohol! Say NO!
BUT . . . don’t do it on your own power! Do it with the power and strength which God gives to us. We don’t have to do it alone. That’s where we mess up and give up to that temptation. Grab onto God! Follow the ways of God. Pray! Pray! Pray about what’s tempting you!
James is so practical and obvious in his words to us – James 4:7-8 ~
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 SLIDEDraw near to God, and He will draw near to you.
This is part of the escape plan. Submit yourself to God. Mmm, how hard is that one to do? We don’t like to submit to anyone or anything other than ourselves and our wants. But James gets us on the right track. If you’re serious about saying Christ is your Lord and Savior, then to call Him Lord means you are subject to Him. It means you’re obedient and are His subject. You follow the call of Jesus. And if He is your Lord and Savior, you trust His plan is the right and perfect plan. Whether you like it or not, it’s what you need to follow.
And as you submit yourself to God, at the same time you resist the devil. The word resist comes from an ancient Greek military word. It means to strongly resist an opponent or enemy. It means we hold our ground, we don’t back down, we don’t run from satan. We resist, not on our own power, but through the power and presence and strength we have through the Holy Spirit, given to us through our faith in Jesus. We put on the whole armor of God.
And when we resist satan, James reminds us, he will flee from us. He’ll run. Always remember, God is more powerful than satan. God’s promises and protection are always true. God is always faithful, satan is not. God will not abandon you, satan will. God will deliver on His promises, satan will not.
With that in mind, draw near to God. Approach God, turn to God! You won’t be disappointed. When you move toward God, He will not play a game with you and run and hide. God wants you to move toward Him, and God gives you this promise, when you step toward Me, when you show me you’re really serious and want to be in a relationship with Me, I will come to you.
Our memory verse was that old familiar most famous of all New Testament verses,
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ~ John 3:16-17
We, everyone of us, humanity, has fallen. It started with Adam and Eve and continues through today and into the future. But God is faithful. God loves us so much that He knew the only way to bring us into relationship with Him was through the life and death of His Son.
So, the Father was willing to see His only child, His perfect child, suffer and die, so you and I could approach the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The goal was not to condemn us, it was not to punish us, which God easily could have chosen to do. Instead, this is about love, grace, power, hope!
There is not one of us who does not need a relationship with Jesus. When we have the Christ, we have all we need. Simply put ~ do you know Jesus? Do you trust in Jesus? Have you placed your confidence in Jesus?
If not, let today be the day you say yes to Jesus!
