Slippery Road Ahead

We continued our U-Turns Allowed message series this past Sunday, discussing temptation with the road sign, Slippery Road Ahead (you can watch this message by clicking here). One of the key insights from the message is that temptation does not equal sin. Hebrews 4:15 tells us that Jesus was tempted in every way, but did not sin. Temptation comes to us from so many different sources and angles, and it is important to have some knowledge and wisdom about temptation. To do this, we explored Luke’s version of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness (Luke 4:1-13).

Jesus’ temptation came after a profound spiritual experience – his baptism. You might find it curious that temptation came right after such a profound spiritual experience, but I think this is true for most, if not all, of us. Significant spiritual encounters can leave us feeling invulnerable, which actually makes us more susceptible to attacks from the enemy. Using Jesus’ temptation as an example, we can see three areas where we are particularly vulnerable:

1. Our appetite and cravings for food, beverage, drugs, sex, and other items that can take on a god-like status in our lives
2. Our need to feel important, but we must guard again self-serving methods that are unethical and unholy 
3. Our tendency to take God’s grace for granted by thinking we can give in to our temptations, even knowing when we are wrong, because of God’s love, grace, and forgiveness.

You most likely know the areas in your life where you are vulnerable to temptation as it pertains to your appetites, need for significance, and propensity to take God’s forgiveness for granted. Looking back over your life and past mistakes is critically important to see what kind of slippery road might lie ahead in your journey of faith. As the old saying attributed to George Santayana goes, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” This is highly applicable in our spiritual life as well. Our past mistakes, failures, and sins reveal potential vulnerabilities that Satan will use to cause us to slip up in the future. After all, Luke 4:13 gives us the insight that Satan looks for opportune times when we are vulnerable to specific temptations.

In 1 Corinthians 10:1-13, the Apostle Paul had a great teaching on looking at our past to help us deal with future temptation. In this writing, Paul encourages his readers to be warned from their past, because they had the powerful presence of God right in their midst, yet still succumbed to their appetites, self-serving need for significance, and took God’s grace for granted. Within this section, we get the oft misunderstood idea that God never puts more on us than we can handle. Check out how The Message states this verse, “No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)

God is not a tempter, but that doesn’t mean we won’t be tempted. God promises to be present with us to help us through the temptations of life, and this is critically important! God cannot have any part of sin, but his grace is there to hold us up when we feel like falling. And in those times when we do slip up, we can humbly go to the Lord, repent of our sin, make the necessary u-turn, and get right back on Jesus Road.

I hope you will plan to join us this coming Sunday as we continue our U-Turns Allowed message series. This week’s topic is No Parking where we will explore staying on Jesus Road, inviting others along for the journey, and looking back to see just how far we have come!