WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:27.000 Well, let's pray. And this time I'd like for you to read with me. Feel free to keep your eyes open. It's going to be on the screen and there it is there. And we're going to read through the Lord's Prayer one line at a time. And Craig is going to do that in Indonesian. Does that make sense? Here we go. Let's pray the Lord's Prayer together. Here we go. Our Father who art in heaven. 2 00:00:27.000 --> 00:00:32.000 Babakamiyang ada di suga 3 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:35.000 Hallowed be your name. 4 00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:39.000 Dhimulian kanla namamu 5 00:00:39.000 --> 00:00:42.000 your kingdom come 6 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:46.000 datang la karajaanmu 7 00:00:46.000 --> 00:00:51.000 your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 8 00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:58.000 Jadila kehendakmu diatas bumisperti di delam sugga 9 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:02.000 Give us this day our daily bread 10 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:05.000 Barila kami orajekipada harayini 11 00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:10.000 and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. 12 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:20.000 Dhanampunila kasalahan kami spurti kamipun mangampuni yang bhasala kaparakami 13 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:23.000 and lead us not into temptation. 14 00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:29.000 Dhanjana la masu khan kami kadalam pachobaan 15 00:01:29.000 --> 00:01:31.000 but deliver us from evil. 16 00:01:31.000 --> 00:01:37.000 Tatapi babaskan ia kamidarriyang jahat 17 00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:43.000 for yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory. 18 00:01:43.000 --> 00:01:49.000 Karana nkaula young mpunya karajan dan kawasa dan kumulia 19 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:55.000 forever and ever. Amen. 20 00:01:55.000 --> 00:01:58.000 Amen. 21 00:01:58.000 --> 00:37:38.000 Let me pray. Continue to pray anyway, Father, we thank you for who you are. We thank you for what you mean to us, each father this morning. We thank you for the teachings of Jesus. And we want to lean in, we want to listen well, we want to learn well, but we want to be transformed by only what you can say and what you can teach. I pray each person here would be encouraged and challenged and I think, filled with hope. Heavenly Father, and lead us deeper, we pray into the life that you long for each of us to have that abundant life. And so right now my prayer is that you would be the teacher and we would give you all the glory in Jesus name. Amen. And Amen. As mentioned before, this is part five of our series on the Lord's Prayer, a six part series where the context of this particular prayer is, is Matthew, chapter six. And it's on. Well, it's the Sermon on the Mount, this great sermon that Jesus spoke in and over the people of his day. And it's a prayer that's not necessarily, you might remember a prayer that's not necessarily to be memorised, but it's a prayer to guide us in our approach and our relationship with God, our Heavenly Father. And of course, the disciples were very attracted to, to the way that Jesus worked out his relationship with His Father. And so that's the question they ask him. Teach us to pray. Now, Jesus didn't want them to know how to pray. Think about it. He wanted them to know why they should pray. Because according to Jesus, the purpose of prayer is not just to inform God of our wish, want or need list, but it's in fact to align our wills with the will of God. To surrender our will, not to impose our will. For we are Jesus followers, not Jesus convincers, and certainly not Jesus users. And so in the Lord's Prayer, when it gets time to ask in our prayers, he's not in fact inviting requests, even though there's nothing wrong to ask for. We are encouraged to ask, seek and knock. Absolutely. But in this context here, he's not inviting requests, he's in fact issuing the requests himself for us. You think about it, he says, to make sure you ask for provision, pardon and protection. Provision, pardon and protection. Give us today our daily bread. We talked about this a few weeks ago. For he is our provider. Pardon, Forgive us our sins. Remember Dr. Phil talked to us about that. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Forgive me in the same way that I have forgiven those who have wronged me. It's a big ask. So we have provision, pardon. And thirdly, and this is where we're at today. Protection, protection to lead us not into temptation, and so to protect us from temptation. And so the Lord's Prayer isn't so much about receiving as it is to re, sink, to realign, and to remember who, who God is and who we are in relationship to Him. Your will be done. And so this is a call to surrender. It's an opportunity to recommit to the fact that we are the followers, that he, the leader, he's leading us as our rabbi. And so the Lord's Prayer is a pattern or a template, if you like, for prayer. It's not a formula and it's certainly not magic, but it represents the posture and the perspective that we are to adopt when we pray to get our hearts aligned with God's heart. Can I suggest also, before I go any further, of everything that is in the Lord's Prayer, if you think about this, this is probably the most neglected part of the prayer. Lead us not into temptation. First century poet Oscar Wilde cleverly once said, don't tempt me I can resist anything but temptation. And so these words, lead us not into temptation, are filled with tension. They're filled with the tension that we feel in the world around us, that we live in the tension of being in the world, but not of the world. And it's a reminder that, in fact, I was reading in my devotions this morning, Ephesians, chapter six, that we're in a spiritual battle and that we are to put on the armor of God. And I wonder if you've already done that this morning. It's just a reminder to us each, wherever, however you put that armor on, if you do not put that armor on as a follower of Jesus, all I can say is good luck. Good luck, because that's all you've got. But we're invited each and every day, morning, preferably as you awake, if you're not a shift worker, to put on that armor of God, because this is a reminder to lead us not into temptation, that we are in a war. And we fight this war each and every day. Your family, your children, in your singleness, in your marriage, you are in a war. Everything in society is war, warring against our desires to live for Christ. The moment we exit those doors here this morning, we go into battle. And so this part of this prayer here is to protect us from temptation. And so I bring back the hexagon idea here that we've been talking about. So we're into part five of six. There are six sides to a hexagon, correct? Yeah. And so we're up to protect her. As you can see, that we started off with God as father. Wow. We can really call God Almighty Father. But not only is he Father, he is king. He is King of kings. He is Lord of lords. Your kingdom come. A kingdom has to have a king, right? And then our provider, we talked about that, our daily bread, our daily provider. And of course, we talked about forgiveness. And we're up to that today of him being our protector. There are six movements in the law. And look, I won't invite your hands to be raised here this morning because I think I know what the answer is. But if I was to ask you a question this morning, how many of us have ever been tempted to do wrong? I know all of our hands would go up because we've all been tempted to do what's wrong. All been tempted from the top tier temptations to the chocolate cake, knowing you're on a diet. Oh, you got to go through that drive through, because I've got to have that 50 cent cone or Whatever it is, or even to running shoes. That may just be me. The temptation is very, very strong for me when it comes to buying new running shoes. We're getting to know each other and I love to run, love to exercise, and that's a big temptation for me. Here's just some of the things that lead us into temptation. Take a look at this list for a moment, if you could. I'm going to read it out for the sake of those who are listening online. Fear, isolation, insecurity, anger, resentment, jealousy, lust, greed, false assumptions, lies. We believe loneliness and revenge, just to name a few. By the way, feel free to add to that list. But what a list that is that lead us into temptation. But we have to ask the question here this morning. What did Jesus mean by temptation as he was teaching his disciples to pray? Lead us not into temptation. Now this, I've got to be honest. This is a tough word, and I mean a tough word to translate. It really is. The Greek word is parasmos, which means temptation. But the core idea is that of a test. And it means that there are real life tests that come our way, that reveal who we are on the inside. And life is full of tests, little tests, big tests. And according to Jesus, John 16:33, in this world you will have trouble, but be of good cheer. He goes on and says, cheer up, for I have overcome the world. What an incredible verse filled with hope. I know some of the things you must be going through here this morning. But the reason why do we have to go through tough things? Mainly, I put it down for our good and for our growth. For his glory. For our good and for our growth. But it's for his glory. I'll talk into that just a little bit, but you're stuck in traffic. It's a test. That supermarket line, bet you know I'm going to beat that person because I've got in this line first. It's a test. And you never do. You never do. Somebody rips you off, It's a test. Somebody insults you, It's a test. Somebody lies behind your back. It's a test. How we do our tax. It's a test. You're on a business trip, no one will find out. It's a test. You're offside at work. They were the ones who got the promotion, not you. It's a test. Someone points out your flaws. It's a test. Suffering, hardship, persecution, sense of loss, It's a test. By the way, the Bible, I don't know if you know this. The Bible Normalizes hardship. So when hardship comes, it doesn't surprise us. So expect it in this world. Jesus said, did he not, John 16:33, you will have trouble, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world. And so these tests, by the way, are not designed to take us down. They are to grow us up. And so it's about once again, our highest good and our growth as followers for God's glory. So the test is how we respond. How is it that we in fact respond? Do we respond as followers of Jesus in the way of kindness and integrity, with forgiveness and trust, or do we respond with selfishness and anger and rage that you and I know leads to sin? And so as we face these tests, Jesus is teaching us to pray for protection through the tests to the other side. Temptation, tests, trials. Let's talk about the difference, just for a moment between that of a temptation and a test. Because I think this is important to differentiate. Tests are to make us stronger, more Christ, like what he's forming in us, you know. So I'll be honest with you. When somebody comes to me and says, I'm going through this, I'm going through a really bad time, I'm going good, good. What is God? Because it happens to me as well, right? What is God doing in this season for you at the moment? What is God sharpening, saying, sending you into it's for your good, for your growth and for his glory. So tests make us stronger. Temptations are there to make us stumble. Let me support this scripturally because you might remember the story. This is why when the Israelites were in the wilderness and they were being tested, tested by God, remember that story? Tested by God in the wilderness. Yet while they were in the wilderness, when they created that golden calf, you might be familiar with the story, if not, that's your homework. They had been tempted, tested and tempted into evil. And so these trials are trying to make you either stronger and unfortunately some of us get bitter before we get better. Yet temptations are trying to make you stumble and to help you get in fact worse. But let's press pause here for a moment because we have to ask the question, do we not? Let's ask the question, why would Jesus pray this in the midst of this world renowned prayer that they pray in school assemblies somewhere, some places, parliament, some places, and all across the globe. Lead us not into temptation. On face value, it's almost as if God might lead people into wrongdoing if we don't read it correctly. Lead us not into temptation. It's an interesting part of the prayer we must say so lead us not into temptation. Is God leading us into wrongdoing? Isn't that how the phrase sounds? Please don't draw me into sin. Well, I'm delighted to inform you this morning that's not in fact its intended meaning. I like to break it up first of all to lead. Lead us, lead us, Lead, lead. You be the leader, I be the follower. God will. Let's, let's put this to rest once and for all. God will never ever, ever, ever, ever lead you into temptation. Ever. Let me support that once again. By scripture. And blessed is the one, James writes Jesus, half brother here. Blessed is the one who perseveres under because having stood the parasmos, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. When tempted. Here it is. When tempted. No one should say God is tempting me. For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone. Put to rest. Right, put to rest. Let's put the. Keep reading. But each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desires and enticed. James is saying here it's your own heart that's dragged into the temptation. Don't blame God. But he goes on then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth great words here to sin. And sin, when it's full grown, gives birth to death. So let's be very clear before we move any further in relation to this sentence, this last phrase of the Lord's Prayer, that God is not dragging you or I into temptation. We are asking God to lead us, lead us away from temptation. Why? Because I found it all by myself. I'm good at that. And so brings me to the point that God doesn't have a leading problem at all. Here's the problem. We have a following problem. And so when I say, God, lead me, lead us. I'm saying, help me follow you, cooks. God will never tempt you. But God will absolutely, absolutely, absolutely test people for their good. Once again, let's go to scripture. What I mean by that. Who did God test? As we go way back, you remember that story of Abraham with his son? His son's name was Isaac. Very good. Remember that test, that test of faith? It's a bit like a school setting. It just puts that aside for a moment. As school setting teachers, for those of teachers around us, you only test students hoping that the student's going to pass the test, right? Absolutely. That's what tests are in place. Well, yes, we have to do our homework and so the devil who tempts you wants you to fail. And that's the difference. And so this prayer says, father, lead us not into the tests of life, but if the test must come. And when I'm going through that test of life and they're going to come, Jesus said it himself, I'm not going to be surprised. And we pray for protection to lead us. When was the last time you actually prayed that, by the way? When you're going into a time that was going to be pretty testing for you. God, lead me not into temptation through the test to the other side. Jesus is not praying, of course, to get me out of the test, because there are things in our lives, is there not, that he wants to refine and to work out and to work on to become more and more like him into the image of Christ. He's praying to keep us from evil in the test, by the way, that's next week, I'm going to talk about that. But Deliver Us from Evil is the final in this series. He's praying to keep us from evil in the test. Because the greatest enemy is not pain, it's evil. You see, the pain of the test is not what, what can really hurt us. It's evil that can in fact destroy us. That, that is our greatest enemy. I like this definition. I like this definition. Temptation is the desire of short term pleasure over long term objectives or goals. However you'd like to put that. The temptation is the desire of short term pleasure over long term objectives. And so temptation is when you have that long term objective that you want to accomplish something in your life. But there's that short term pleasure and that desire to engage in that short term pleasure in the detriment of that long term goal or objective. And you can think of the scenario, you can think of the scenario yourself. Dieting is probably one thing you can think of. But when you look through Scripture, there are many instances throughout where people attempted. Let's think of those people. Let's go way back to Cain, Cain, Joseph, David, Job, Peter, Judas. Judas had his own agenda. Well, look what happened to him. Israel. The list goes on. And many instances where people were tempted. But I'm just going to focus to finish off here this morning. Two major instances, two major occasions. And we go right back to the very beginning of the bible, Genesis chapter 31 7. Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, and this is where temptation begins, the test of God's word. Testing God's word, is it really wrong? Did God really say that you must not eat from any tree in the garden? The woman said to the serpent, we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, you must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden and you must not touch it or you will die. You will not certainly die. The serpent said to the woman, for God knows that when you eat from it, your eyes will be open and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. I'm going to speak about this a little bit more next week about deliver us from evil. And the idea here is that temptation, once stepped across that line, it always has that selfish motive connected to us. It always touches something that is so self centered. When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they realized that they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. This is such a powerful, powerful and deep story describing the very beginning of what human beings are like. What are we like? We are susceptible, are we not, to short term pleasure over long term objectives. What's the long term objective as a follower of Jesus? It's to be in communion with God, to be in fellowship with the Father, to live at peace with him and with others. And temptation comes along and says that you can, you can have this immediate pleasure, but it will be to the detriment to the long term relationship that you desire with the Father and possibly with others. And so it teaches that we are susceptible to temptation, all of us. And I don't care what age you are, in fact, I would in fact say the older you get, the older you get, the more temptation comes knocking at your door. It also teaches us that if in fact that we accept a temptation as we experience in this story from Genesis, that we are filled with shame immediately we know the story, they covered themselves. And ultimately we've heard that sin leads to death and that death has to be paid for, has to be covered. The Apostle Paul wrote about this in Romans 7 and I think Lurleen did a mighty job. This is not easy, it's not easy to read, but I'll just focus. I do not understand what I do. Paul says, let's just press pause, I'm not going to read the rest of it. Lurleen Read this to us before. But what's happening here in Paul's life? This verse, this first line, full stop. I do not understand what I do. I love the Apostle Paul's wrestle here. I don't know. Do you wake up sometimes? I do not understand. Do you go to bed? I do not understand what I do. And he uses a lot of do's in this, doesn't he? Lurleen, you did very well. But you know what Paul's saying? How I can summarize this? He's saying the struggle is real. Temptations are real. And so from the beginning of humanity, throughout all of humanity to this day, everybody that says I am here to follow Jesus is faced with temptations. But we have a choice whether to resist or whether to engage. And Paul himself, the apostle, the great apostle, he puts his hands up and he says, I need help. I need help. I don't understand what I do. I know where I'm likely to lead myself. I know what my vulnerabilities are. I know how shall I shallow my spirituality can be. So, God, I need you to lead me, lead me not into temptation. So the question becomes, as we bring this plane into a landing here this morning, is this, how do I follow him out of temptation? How do I follow him out of evil? As I said, it will continue next week. And I've just got one big point for us here this morning. And it's pretty simple for us to take away this morning. And it's this. To be spiritually prepared, you have to be spiritually prepared. If not, good luck, because that's all you've got. The year was 2009. The date was January 15th when US Airways Flight 1549 took off from LaGuardia Airport. Shortly after the takeoff, the plane struck a flock of geese, shutting down both engines. Who remembers the story? The plane was unable to fly. It had no power. And in moments, Captain Chesley Sully Sullenberg landed the plane on the Hudson river in New York City, often called, referred to the Miracle on the Hudson. Emergency responders were quickly rescued. All 155 people, all 155 people stepping from the wings into the life rafts. Now, we think of this as a miracle, and absolutely we should think of it as a miracle. But when you start to understand, if you read the story, and he's got a book about as well, it's a great movie, by the way, starring Tom Hanks, called Sully. When you start to understand the background of this pilot, Captain Sullenberg, you start to See, there's a little bit more to it than probably we realized at the time. You see, here's the deal. Here's the background. Sully. Captain Sullenberg had 40 years of flying experience. He got his pilot's license at the age of 14. He'd been a flight instructor, a safety specialist, a certified glider pilot, an unpowered airplane. And so when that power went out, Sully says that I've done this before now. I've never landed on a river before. I've landed on fields without motors. But what's happening, what happened here is that he was in fact prepared for the event that he didn't expect. That's the lesson. That's the lesson. We must be spiritually prepared before the geese of life fly in to our plans for the geese are coming. You can't always avoid the geese, but you can be prepared for the landing. So when we go into our world where things can and will happen, we can be spiritually prepared for whatever happens. Our captain here, Captain Sullenberg, didn't wake up that morning thinking that a flock of geese were going to fly into his aeroplane, but he was prepared for the flock of geese. For faith is not built in an emergency. Faith is revealed in an emergency, and that the geese are coming. Matthew 26:41. Watch and pray. Jesus said, watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. What Jesus is saying here is, don't spend all your time in the flesh. Spend time in the spirit and be spiritually prepared for the geese are coming. Second major instance, and be very quick for temptation here is that Adam and Eve, of course, in the garden and the beginning of Jesus ministry. Jesus was taken out into the desert to be tempted by the devil. This is the only time in scripture that that we see God leading someone into temptation. But this is where we bring it home. Let's bring it home here for a moment. Every text in Scripture, remember, never forget this, has context. What's the context of the Lord's Prayer? Yeah, we've already said the Sermon on the Mount. Let's go back a couple of chapters. What's happening in Matthew, chapter four, Matthew, chapter three. Every text has a context. The context of the Lord's Prayer is the Sermon on the Mount. Absolutely. Matthew, chapter six, Matthew, chapter three, Matthew, chapter four, Matthew, chapter three. Jesus is getting baptized. Matthew, chapter four. Jesus is taken to the desert to be tempted by the devil. Jesus knows all about temptation. That's the context of the Lord's Prayer. This is what I want you to pray. Lead me not into temptation. That's the context For Matthew chapter 3, chapter 4, and chapter 6, Matthew 4. One says, Then Jesus was led by the Spirit in the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. The question is, why would God the Father lead Jesus the Son into temptation like this? The reality is, is that Jesus knows you, God knows me, and God knows we weren't able to get ourselves out of this in our own strength. God knew that he had to send his one and only Son to who could resist temptation to stand in our place. What's happening here is he's in fact reversing the cycle that happened in the garden, to the desert. The garden, the desert. He's reversing the cycle. Adam and Eve, where were they? They were in the garden. Jesus is in the desert. Adam and Eve ate of the fruit. Jesus fasted for 40 days. Both were tempted by the serpent, one by the devil. Same thing. One listened to the serpent. The. The other resisted. One was tempted by the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Jesus turned the tree into the cross. He's reversing the cycle. And he said, I'm going to sacrifice myself. So when you fail, when you are tempted, that I'm there spreading out my arms, ready to forgive you and ready to protect you. But this is a prayer that you need to pray. You need to pray. Lead me now not into temptation, for we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weakness. But we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are. Yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Life is full of tests. Welcome to life. The exam is in session. It is called life. And thanks be to God that we can pray to our protector. Lead us not into temptation. Let me pray. Let's just take a moment to allow the Spirit's work in your heart and your life. Maybe there's something that's been triggered, highlighted in your life this morning through whatever has been shared. Maybe you just want to bring that before the Lord right now. Confess it, bring it out. Where there's life, there's hope. Father, I pray for my brothers and sisters in Christ. I pray for whoever might be here this morning who has been struggling constantly with that specific thing that they know exactly about. Thank you. That you're intimately acquainted with all of their ways, that you love and you give and you forgive. Your arms are stretched out this morning to bring life and hope into what was the desert. To bring that garden back to life. Thank you, great gardener. Those beautiful colours of life are coming back. Those beautiful smells are coming back. So Father, thank you that you're teaching us. Thank you that you're guiding us in our dependence on you. We're grateful that you didn't leave us on our own. You'll never leave us nor forsake us. That you defeated sin on our behalf. That we'd embrace the power of Christ and his resurrection. The same spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives in us. We thank you in Jesus name. Amen and amen.