Weekly Reflection
February 22nd to 28th
Lent 1
Temptation and Sin
Readings: Matthew 4.1–11; Romans 5:15-19
1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting for forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.’
4 Jesus answered, ‘It is written: “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”’
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the highest point of the temple. 6 ‘If you are the Son of God,’ he said, ‘throw yourself down. For it is written:
‘“He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”
7 Jesus answered him, ‘It is also written: “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.
8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour. 9 ‘All this I will give you,’ he said, ‘if you will bow down and worship me.’
10 Jesus said to him, ‘Away from me, Satan! For it is written: “Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.”
11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! 16 Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: the judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. 17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!
18 Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
The message here is to resist temptation, but as fallen men and women this is not possible on our own without help; our own will power is doomed to failure before we start, so we need to look beyond ourselves for help from God the Holy Spirit.
As members of the Body of Christ we have the Holy Spirit working in us all the time; if you do not experience this, or perhaps don’t know what I mean by that statement, then I suggest you might like to talk to a spiritual leader about it, whether that be your Vicar or other church or Homegroup leader, or another Christian that you trust; talk openly and ask that person to pray with you. This can be face-to-face, or by phone or email if that is most convenient for you.
In Matthew 4 we see the detail of Jesus being tempted by Satan. To show that He was fully human He needed to be tempted just as we are (Hebrews 4:15); He was then able to relate fully to ordinary people during His earthly ministry; later He could truly He say that He was a man and suffered all the trials and temotations of each one of us. Then in Hebrews 4:15 we read, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin”. The crux of the matter is in those last five words – yet He did not sin. We praise you Jesus, that you went through the same that your people subsequently had to undergo but you remained pure and sinless.
Given that we can ask the Spirit for help, we then need to work out prayerfully where our own responsibility lies; it is not quite as simple as asking Him to take from us the responsibility for our actions. Although we always have the Spirit available to guide us, He works with us and with our personal will, and not instead of us. God gave each of us the gift of Free Will, and our task is to mould that will so that it aligns with God’s Will for us; to do this we need to pray regularly.
If we now look at our reading from Romans, we can see that, although we sin, we have the totally free gift of God’s Spirit available to us 24/7. Again, if you think you do not have this Gift then ask God to give it to you (Luke 11:13); above all, ask someone to pray about it with you. Always remember that we were not meant to fight our battles alone, which is why we are part of the Body of Christ (the Church) – Jesus always intended us to work together in groups; this can either be in Church, or in a small group within a church Fellowship.
So this week let us focus more on prayer; prayer for the Spirit to come closer each day, and prayer for His guidance as we live our life and work through our struggles.
Lord Jesus, we know that we so often fall into sin; but Lord, in what we now know as The Lord’s Prayer, you told us to pray, Lead us not into temptation. Preserve us this Lent and strengthen us to follow your Will by the guidance of your Holy Spirit. For yuour Name’s sake. Amen.
Peter Sebborn
Christian.Footsoldier@gmail.com