Temptation is a Web

I’ve been thinking a lot about temptation this week. I’ve been thinking about how everything has a cause and effect relationship, and that sin falls into that as well. People don’t steal just because they felt like it , there is always a reason why behind it. If someone is stealing money from work then you would think that they are struggling financially and think that stealing is the only solution. As someone contemplates how to fix their financial issues, and they think about stealing from work, that is the temptation they are facing. Do they try another way to overcome their financial burdens, or do they fall to the temptation and succumb to the sin of stealing?

As someone contemplates how to fix their financial issues, and they think about stealing from work, that is the temptation they are facing. Do they try another way to overcome their financial burdens, or do they fall to the temptation and succumb to the sin of stealing?

As I’ve been thinking about temptation and how to approach this topic I began reminiscing on times where I have been tempted to sin. For some of those moments, with the help of God, I was able to overcome the temptation. Other times; however, I fell to the temptation.

Before the time I knew about my mother’s addiction I would often loan her money when she asked. If she needed an extra $50 to cover a bill I would loan it to her, if she needed a part fixed on her car I would loan her the money, if she needed the extra money for medicines I would loan it to her. I found myself becoming more and more like a loan agency, and I didn’t like where that was going. So, I started telling her no. But, instead of speaking the truth about it I would dance around my reasoning and eventually just say “well, I don’t think I have enough money right now to help out.” Almost always when I said that I was lying, and I was doing so because I didn’t want her to be upset with me.

Now you may hear this and think “well this really isn’t a big deal,” but anytime we lie we are using deception as a tool to overcome a difficult situation instead of using God. To me that is a pretty big deal.

So as I continued this pattern of lying and deception I would find myself in pickles where I would tell her “I don’t really have enough money to do that” and then I would go to a movie with some friends and she would see a post on social media and then call me saying “I thought you didn’t have any money?!” When her addiction came to light, and my trust in her lessened, I decided to make a rule for myself. I stopped loaning money completely, especially to friends and family. After making this rule for myself I was able to honestly answer my mother’s requests for loans with the statement, “I’m sorry but I stopped loaning money to people.”

At first she didn’t like this answer, but then she stopped asking me for loans. Now if she or someone else came to me with a legitimate financial need and I could help out I would GIVE them the money, but the Pastor Thad Credit Union officially closed.

Now I tell you this story to show that I am imperfect, I have fallen to temptation and sinned before, and I will again. But, I am hoping to lessen the frequency of this, of course with God’s help. The topic of temptation reminds me of two stories in the Bible. The first one surrounds Judas, one of Jesus’ disciples

Judas, How We Are Like Him

Judas was in charge of the money for the group. Scripture tells us, from that he did this because he was a thief, and he would actually steal money from the money bag that he carried for the group. His past of thievery helps us to understand that money was a motivator for Judas. So, it isn’t surprising to find out what tempted Judas the most. We read about Judas’ betrayal in . It says:

Matthew 26:14–16 NRSV

Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What will you give me if I betray him to you?” They paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he began to look for an opportunity to betray him.

You have to understand how incredible this event is. Judas was one of the apostles, one of the closest followers of Jesus. He followed Jesus around, listened to him teach, helped him when he was in need. Judas was one of Jesus’ closest friends, and even as a follower of Jesus he was overcome by the temptation to sin. He sold his friend and Lord to the chief priests for a mere thirty pieces of silver. He didn’t do this because he hated Jesus and wanted to see Him suffer, he did it because he loved money more.

We are all, too often like, Judas. We pick something to love more than Jesus, and typically that is the sin we are tempted to do. Sometimes it is just one, and sometimes it is many. The problem with temptation is just how entangling it is. It is almost as entangling as a spider’s web. I was sitting on my porch about two weeks ago and noticed this spider sitting on a web. I decided to record it, and as I recorded it something happened. Let’s watch.

Play Spider Web Video

I want to point out a few things from this video. The first is that a bug flies into the webbing and gets stuck, that’s when the web starts to shake a little bit. Roughly six seconds after the bug hits the web the spider is on the move, down to the bug, and getting ready for dinner. As I watched this happen before, and as I watch it right now, it reminds me so much of sin and temptation. You see, temptation is like the spider’s web, and we are the bug. Here we are in this world flying around, minding our own buggy business. Then we see this spider web and think “oh I can totally fly through that.” Sometimes we can, we break right through the web of temptation with no issues. But, at some point we try it and end up getting stuck.

This is what makes us just like Judas. We are tempted by our desires, by our own selfishness, and then we give in and end up being eaten by a spider. Judas got stuck in the web and ultimately was consumed by sin. The amazing thing is that we do not practice the religion of Judasism, but we are Christians, which means we follow Christ! So, how fitting is it to know that Christ too flew into a web.

Christ and His Temptation

We read about Christ’s battle with temptation in , and it says:

Luke 4:5–12 NRSV

Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’ ” Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’ ” Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”

Luke 4:1–12 NRSV

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’ ” Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’ ” Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’ ” Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”

Luke 4:5–8 ESV

And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’ ”

Luke 4:

Jesus’ response to the temptation is something that we need to be emulating. We can all agree that we all face various temptations, whether it is constant or every so often, temptation is still there. We fly around and try so hard to bust through these spider webs, instead of just flying around them.

I remember a time where my mom was over at the parsonage for the weekend. I came home from doing a hospital visit on a Saturday and saw that she was watching TV. Now at this point my mother had entered recovery for meth and was working the twelve steps. Well, to my surprise I found out she was watching the show called Breaking Bad. This show is about a science teacher who is diagnosed with cancer and he and his wife cannot afford their medical bills, so, since he was an excellent chemist, he decides to make methamphetamines and sell them. I looked at my mother when I realized what she was watching and I said, “mom, do you really think a recovery addict should be watching a show like Breaking Bad?” Her response to me was something that we all often say, “well it doesn’t effect me.”

Well, as you saw in the video, once the bug was stuck, the spider was quick to find it and eat it. Now we saw what happened to Judas when he met temptation. He got stuck in the web and ultimately was consumed by sin. But, there are also stories of conquering temptation

Now luckily this didn’t trigger my mother into relapse, but the same can’t be said for everyone. We are all tempted with something, something that we value. This could be things like money, gambling, pornography, sex, lying, stealing, food… the list goes on. These things are valuable to us, so when there is temptation there to obtain them or perform them we fly right into that web, get consumed by the sin and then say “wait, what just happened?”

I said we need to be emulating Christ, and to do so is to avoid those temptations and go to God when they arise. We need to step away from the things that tempt us to sin, pray to God and give it to Him. We are unable to conquer sin alone, we need each other and we need God.

On multiple occasions I have suggested finding yourself an accountability partner. Find another Christian who isn’t your spouse, someone who is your same gender, and give them a call when you face temptations. Call them when you have a desire to steal or lie and say “hey, I just felt really tempted to steal from work, can we pray together?”

If we take this seriously, and try to avoid temptation, we will fall to sin less. If we set our focus on God instead of temporary earthly pleasures, then we will avoid temptation and sin. So, since we are the bugs in our spider web analogy then we need to set our flight paths towards God. We need to make sure that nothing gets in between us and God. As we fly to him and a spider’s web gets in the way we need to do whatever fancy aerial maneuver is necessary to avoid those webs of temptation and focus on nothing but God.

Be Jesus, not a Judas.

Let us pray.

John 12:6 NIV

He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.

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