Lead Us Not into Temptation, Deliver Us from Evil
Grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Savoir Jesus Christ.
Today we are continuing our series on the Lord's Prayer with the sixth and seventh petitions.
In the Small Catechism Luther wrote:
And lead us not into temptation.
What does this mean?
God tempts no one. We pray in this petition that God would guard and keep us so that the devil, the world, and our sinful nature may not deceive us or mislead us into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice. Although we are attacked by these things, we pray that we may finally overcome them and win the victory.
But deliver us from evil.
What does this mean?
We pray in this petition, in summary, that our Father in heaven would rescue us from every evil of body and soul, possessions and reputation, and finally, when our last hour comes, give us a blessed end, and graciously take us from this valley of sorrow to Himself in heaven.
These two petitions are the same but different. Temptation leads us to sin and sin is evil. Help us Lord to avoid the trap of the Tempter, and keep us safe from his evil.
In many ways are lives are very sheltered from much of what we would consider the evil of this world. We don't live in a dictatorship or totalitarian state were family members disappear if they voice disapproval of the government. We aren't forced to accept a state religion or under the threat of death if we convert to a religion other than the state religion. There are definitely many evils in the world.
Our temptations seem to be rather benign as well. Should I eat that donut, I really can't afford that jacket but, I really like that car but it isn't practical. Of course we are also aware of the problems of drugs, alcohol, and guns living so close to the city.
Perhaps we are not as sheltered as we may think. Let's think about these petitions in the context of our gospel reading.
Jesus said, "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." Then He goes on to talk about divisions in the family. What does He mean by that? We all have divisions and jealousies in our families.
If we add the context of the first century Jews following Jesus the true meaning of the petitions come to light.
If we think about the many encounters Jesus had with the Jewish leaders, especially the Pharisees, we find a deep contempt for Jesus. On many if not all of their interactions Jesus has implied if not said they do not truly believe in God. Jesus is constantly undermining their authority with His teachings.
That contempt for Jesus transfers easily to His followers. It's not hard for us to see the family divisions that would occur in a society where excommunication and brutality was a common reaction to dissent. Parents' disowned children and vise versa to avoid retribution of the religious authorities. We may never have experienced that kind of retribution but closer in history to us we know of the Nazis, Communist Russia and China, Taliban rule in Afghanistan, the Sudan. We could go on to mention all 27 regional conflicts over religion and we are still just scratching the surface.
The temptation Jesus speaks of in the Lord's Prayer is the temptation to see other things as more important than our relationship with Him. The sword separates us from the things that separate us from Him.
As we look back to Jeremiah's situation we find that separation from God had delivered Israel and Judah to destruction. That separation was idolatry. Evil kings that turned from God had lead the great Kingdom of David to separate into Israel and Judah and ultimately to the destruction of both. Separation is the evil we ask to be protected from.
An interesting parallel to modern day events is that God abandoned the Temple and allowed it to be destroyed by the Babylonians. When the people turned away the building became meaningless. The year before last 350 churches in our Synod closed. I'm sure there were more closings last year. The buildings became meaningless because the people had other priorities than doing the work of God.
Idolatry is alive and well in the United States and the rest of the world.
You may be shocked that I would say idolatry is alive and well and unfortunately growing. It may not be idols people are bowing to but it is the things we have, stuff, or rather the love of accumulating stuff. Idolatry is not limited to material things. What about our activities? Can activities be idols? The answer is easy do activities separate us from God, yes they do.
Does our job separate us from God either in terms of limiting your time for God or in the ethics employed to do business? I can stand here and admit that I had succumbed to work idolatry with disastrous results. Does our schedule cause us to tire so that we rather sleep in than spend time in worship? Do our activities translate to the idolatry of people in our life and thus make it more important to keep their schedule than to worship God?
In the United States I think the middle class has succumbed to child idolatry. We want our children to be involved in everything. Their schedule becomes our life to the exclusion of everything except perhaps making a living. Where is time for God in our life when we idolize our children?
The Sabbath Day is not meant for us to just rest. The Sabbath Day is meant for us to worship our Lord and to be idle so we can listen for His words. If we are constantly busy we are separating ourselves from God as surely as the atheist and agnostic.
The devil delights in each new opportunity that we have to fill our schedule so that we further separate ourselves from our Lord and His work in this world. The devil's goal is for everyone to succumb to idolatry or be agnostic. I'm curious what He thinks of people who hear the Good News regularly but don't act on it. I'm thinking the devil feels that it is as good as if not better than the idolater and agnostic. If we claim to be Christians but take no action in essence we tell others there is nothing special about Jesus.
So when we join in the Lord's Prayer this morning lets really understand the petitions for what they really mean.
We are asking that we don't fall into temptations that separate us from our savoir. We are asking that we don't walk in the shadows of idolatry.
Let's show others there is something special about Jesus. Let's let them see the joy of forgiveness purchased in His blood in our every deed.
In the name our Risen Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
