Download People who fall into temptation

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People who fall into temptation
(3 John : 9-12)
2013. 9. 22.
Rev. Sang-Kun Park
Sacramento Korean Presbyterian Church
When an old abbot and a young monk reached a river, the log bridge had already
been swept away. They found a maiden who was pacing around not knowing what to
do. The abbot picked her up on his back and crossed the river. The young monk was
unhappy all day wondering how the abbot, a godly man, could commit such profanity as
carrying a young woman on his back. So he asked the abbot how he could do such a
thing. The abbot answered, "I dropped her off at the shore, but Brother, you still kept
her on your back." What does the fable teach us? Temptation is a matter of one's mind.
The Bible talks about many characters who gave in to temptation. Thus, Jesus
asks us not to yield to temptation and thus fall into sin.
When one man, Achan, yielded to temptation and hid away gold, the whole army
of Israel, once gloating over victory, was suddenly thrown into the fear of defeat and
death.
Gehazi had seen the numerous miracles Elisha performed. And yet, giving in to
temptation, he collected clothes and money from Naaman, and ended up with a life with
leprosy.
As his kingship became firmly established, David fell into temptation taking
another man's wife, fathering an illegitimate child, and in the end committing murder.
Motivated by pride, he also took a census over the objections from his advisers. This
resulted in the death of 70,000 of his people!
Samson was gifted an unmatched strength. Overpowered by his carnal desire,
however, he had his eyes plucked out in the end, lived like an animal and met a tragic
end along with his enemies.
Prophet Balaam, blinded by the desire for material wealth, disobeyed God and
went to bless Balak, king of Moab. His life ended in tragedy.
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Ananias and Sapphira, husband and wife, lied that they had given all they had
while setting aside for themselves part of their possessions. They were struck dead
back to back on the same day.
Jannes and Jambres went down in history as people who opposed Moses and
went against truth. Paul, the greatest apostle of the New Testament, also had many
enemies. Demas, having loved the present world, left Paul for the world. The Bible
records that Hymenaeus and Alexander, once part of a Christian community, were
handed over to Satan.
Today's bible verse by John the disciple is about the first generation church
leader “Diotrephes” who was led into temptation.
Diotrephes gossiped maliciously
about John and slandered him before the congregations. Not only did he refuse to serve
God's prophets but he also prevented other church members from serving them. The
Bible records his childish behaviors in detail. On the contrary, a faithful man of God,
Demetrius, was highly regarded among the congregations. I truly come to realize the
simple fact that no matter how dire the situation might be, it all depends on how you
respond. It depends on your capacity to distinguish yourself.
Former professor Ji Xianlin at Beijing University was a great scholar who was
fluent in 12 languages and cherished as a “National human treasure.’ However, during
the Cultural Revolution era, he suffered a great deal of hardship by the ignorant
followers of Mao-se-Tung. Yet, he expressed his feelings saying, "The sea will not get
wet by the rain". In other words, it means that if my heart is big, I will not be affected by
the rough waves of the world.
Even faithful people of God happen to fall into temptations. Sometimes, what
they firmly believed as the work for God betrays and tests them.
Elijah, a man of ability, reached heaven through his prayers, yet when he fell to
temptation, he begged God to kill him.
Peter had entreated emphatically to Jesus not to carry the Cross, which he
meant wholeheartedly. However, Jesus said to Peter "Leave the Satan from me, you
are the one obstructing God's work".
Even though there are temptations from the devil that intend to destroy us, at the
same time, there are tests from God that intend to educate and grow us. When humans
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pass God’s test, they receive God’s blessing, mature, and become disciplined.
There is also a destructive test by Satan. The meaning of ‘Lead us not into
temptation’ is that we pray for God’s protection from falling into destruction and
immorality. When we think about people who fall into temptation, we can summarize
the pattern of how temptation approaches them.
1. The test comes from this wicked world.
2. Internal temptation is tougher and more difficult to overcome than external
temptation.
3. History reveals that sexual temptation has greatly and broadly destroyed
humans.
4. Temptations come from those whom we love or who love us.
5. Temptation penetrates through our weakness; so we should always be
alerted.
6. The acquisitive instinct is a human’s basic instinct.
7. Satan seduces humans and tests them to show off their audaciousness.
8. People want to be recognized and honored by others.
Then, what shall we do to not be tempted?
First of all, we must know that this world is filled with temptation. Saint Augustine
said that his entire life was the continuation of testing and temptation.
We are facing
the test in the most technologically advanced way that our prior generation had never
imagined.
Smart phones and computer games are good examples.
All types of
temptation that destroy your body and soul are imbedded in these advanced
technologies.
Then, what should we do? First of all, we have to pray. We can win the devil’s
temptation only if the Holy Spirit is with us. If the Son of God had to pray to overcome
Satan’s temptation, how much more do we have to pray as sinful beings who were born
into sin, live in sin and become insensitive to the sin?
Please don’t be too confident in yourself. In other words, don’t be arrogant.
Eventually, arrogant people are tempted first. We should realize our weaknesses and
pray to the Holy Spirit for the protection of our souls.
I want you to avoid the opportunity and location where you can be tempted. If you
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are a person who enjoys such a situation, you must be a foolish and evil person.
Above all, I encourage you to be an internally mature person through proper
training. The distinct feature of a childish adult is vulnerability on temptation. The adult
child is always easily tested. Life would never be happy if they live with this attitude.
There is a sharp curve road with this signpost ‘Warning: frequent accidents area’.
The sign indicates you need to be careful since this area is dangerous from previous
accidents. However, accidents still happen. And the driver will take full responsibility for
the accident. In our faith life, the ‘warning’ sign can be found here and there. So if you
yield to temptation, you will be primarily responsible for that.
Oprah Winfrey stopped by a luxury bag store when she visited Switzerland to
attend her friend’s wedding ceremony last July. She asked a clerk to show an expensive
bag displayed on the high shelf. The clerk shook her head and said “that bag is too
expensive for a person like you to buy.” Oprah Winfrey did not reply and just walked out
the store in silence. Later, Switzerland found out what happened and the Minister of
Tourism personally visited her to apologize and the president of the bag company also
went to Oprah to apologize.
What I realized from this incident is that eventually people fall into temptation in
accordance to their capacity. Isn’t it a person’s ability to produce different outcomes
depending on how he/she reacts to a situation?
Here is an example. When a mother-in-law visited and meddled in everything,
the daughter-in-law was tempted to become angry. But, the daughter-in-law already
knew that if she is broad-minded, the problem might appear differently. One day, the
mother-in-law opened the refrigerator and complained “How could you still keep expired
food?” What would be a daughter-in-law’s normal reaction in this situation? She would
curse inwardly or complain to her mother-in-law. But, if she reacts to the same situation
differently, she might not be tempted to become angry. “Wow, you are awesome! How
did you find something that I couldn’t even see? Thank you!” Eventually, how you react
under the same situation depends on the broadness of your mind.
Being led into temptation is an evil thing. Because, it would turn your mind into
hell. Even though you are in heaven, heaven would turn into hell if your mind led to
temptation. Wherever humans live, there is temptation. So, it is important to keep your
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faith to overcome temptation. AIDS is very dangerous disease since it weakens the
human immune system and develops complication, which ultimately leads to death.
Likewise, if your spiritual immunity system weakens, you will be seriously tempted even
with minor words of others. It even leads to spiritual death.
The Lord’s Prayer “Lead us not into temptation” is the prayer we need to pray
until our life ends. Nobody is free from temptation and exempted from temptation. I
bless you all to pray with a clear mind and pass daily temptations with humble faith and
reverence for the Lord and soar high like an eagle.