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“Prayer Lessons from Jesus,” Part Six
Matthew 6:13

I recently had a couple of loads of rock delivered to my house to be used in a couple of projects on which I was working. One load of rock was fairly expensive decorative rock and the other was some fairly inexpensive rock to be used in a dog run. When I saw the two piles of rock in my driveway…right next to each other…I immediately realized a potential problem—living in each of the 3 houses that surround our house is a 6-year-old boy and I knew that this was way too much temptation. I realized that if I didn’t move quickly, my two distinct piles of rock would soon become one blended mess. My fears were confirmed when, just a couple of hours later I saw little footprints running throughout the rock piles.

I decided it was time for a preemptive strike. I went to my 6 year old neighbor who seems to be the ringleader of this little crew and I said, “Kevin, how’d you like to help me out with something?” Since Kevin is my “bud,” I knew he’d jump all over an invitation like that and he did. He said, “Sure, what do you want me to do?” I said, “Kevin, I want to deputize you. You’re going to be my Rock Deputy.” Kevin said, “Rock Deputy? What’s that?” I said, “Your job is to make sure that nobody touches these rocks. If you see anybody playing with them, walking on them or messing with them in any way, I want you to run them off because you’re the Rock Deputy.” I said, “So, what do you think? Can you handle that? Do you want to be my Rock Deputy?” Kevin was thrilled. He said, “Yeah! I can do that!” I said, “Great. Starting right now you’re my Rock Deputy and I’m counting on you.”

I turned, satisfied that I’d outsmarted a 6 year old, and started walking back to my house but before I got there Kevin called, “Uh, Tom?” I turned around and asked, “What is it buddy?” Kevin kind of stammered and stuttered for a few moments and then sheepishly said, “Uh, I kinda already took one walk in the rocks myself.” I said, “That’s alright, buddy. You can still be my Rock Deputy.”

I don’t know about you, but I find myself confronted with “rock piles” on a daily basis. It seems that they can pop up anywhere and at any time. Tempting scenarios and situations that invite me to do things that I know I shouldn’t do, say things that I know I shouldn’t say and go places that I know that I shouldn’t go. And it’s not like I’m looking for trouble. I’m not. Temptation just seems to be everywhere.

Now, I’m pleased to say that most of the time I recognize it for what it is and take evasive action. But not always. I am all too familiar with that sense of humiliation and frustration and regret that comes from failure. Does this ring true for anybody else?

This is the sixth week of our summertime journey through The Lord’s Prayer and we come, today, to that part of the prayer that deals with the subject of temptation. It is, without a doubt, the most challenging portion of the prayer. It’s challenging because it forces us to wrestle with some fairly complex theological issues. It’s also challenging because of the difficulty of translating some of these words out of the Greek language into English. Even scholars of biblical languages struggle with this portion of the prayer. Even so, I think we can certainly identify the essential spiritual truths that Jesus is teaching us here.

The prayer is found in Matthew 6 and our key verse, today, is verse 13, which says, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”

Let’s begin with the first part of the verse: “And lead us not into temptation.” Right off the bat, we’re faced with one of those complex theological issues that I mentioned earlier because, at least at face value this petition seems to suggest that if we fail to pray this prayer that God is going to purposely lead us into situations where we will be tempted to sin. So, to prevent Him from doing that we need to pray: “Dear God, please don’t lead me into temptation. God, I don’t have any trouble in finding temptation all by myself. It’s one of the things that I do best. God, please don’t make my life any harder than it already is by leading me into even more tempting situations.”

The theological problem here is pretty clear. This picture of our Heavenly Father purposely leading us into situations where we are going to be tempted to sin is totally contrary to everything that we know about God’s character. I mean, I would never do that to my own daughter. I would never intentionally put her into a situation that would set her up for failure. Even with all of my weaknesses and shortcomings as a father, I know better than to do that to my child. It’s inconceivable to imagine that our Heavenly Father would do that to us. And He wouldn’t. In fact, the Bible clearly tells us that God would never do that. James 1:13 says, “When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone…”

So, God is not in the temptation business. We can take that idea off the table. But once we do so, we’ve still got to come back to this petition, “Lead us not into temptation,” and figure out what it means. Some people have tried to resolve this problem by noting that the very same Greek word that is translated here as, “temptation” is translated in other places in the Bible as “test.”

For instance, in John’s account of Jesus’ miraculous feeding of the 5,000 people, Jesus turns to Philip and asks, “Where are we going to find enough food to feed all these people?” And John 6:6, says that Jesus asked this, “only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.” The Greek word translated as, “test” in John 6 is identical to the word translated as “temptation” in The Lord’s Prayer. So, some people have removed the word, “temptation” from The Lord’s Prayer and translated verse 13 as, “And do not put us to the test.” Unfortunately, in resolving one problem they end up creating a couple more.

The first of those problems is this—while the Bible clearly says that that God is not in the temptation business, it also clearly says that God is very much in the testing business. The passage in John 6 that I mentioned a few moments ago says that Jesus asked Philip a question, “to test him.” The purpose of the test was to lead Philip to a greater level of spiritual understanding. Jesus wasn’t testing Philip to knock him down. He was testing him to help him grow.

In fact, in the first chapter of the book of James we’re told that these kinds of tests are a normal part of the Christian experience and that we should face our tests with joy knowing that the end result of successful testing is a mature and complete faith.
All of which means that if we translate verse 13 in The Lords’ Prayer as, “And do not put us to the test,” we are, in effect, asking God not to use in our lives one of the most effective means to lead us toward spiritual maturity. “Lord, I’d like to grow deeper spiritually, but only if it’s easy. If it’s going to involve testing then, I’ll just stay shallow.” Obviously, that can’t be what Jesus intended for us to pray.

The second problem created by those who substitute the word “test” for the word “temptation” is that it doesn’t fit the context of the prayer. A few moments ago I told you that the very same Greek word is sometimes translated in the scriptures as “temptation” and other times as “test.” The reason for that is that that particular Greek word is neutral, meaning that by itself it’s neither positive nor negative. It becomes either positive or negative depending upon the context in which it’s used.
It’s translated as “test” when the desired outcome is good and positive. Testing produces good and positive results in us. That’s why God puts us to the test. It’s for our own good.

Not so with “temptation.” Every time the word “temptation” is used in the scriptures it is always associated with evil, never with good.

So, the context in which this Greek word is used determines its meaning. If it’s used in a positive way it’s a “test.” If it’s used for evil, it’s a “temptation.” And clearly the context in this portion of the prayer is evil. This part of the prayer is about facing temptation, not passing a test. Which means that our struggle to understand this petition is still not yet over.

So, let’s move on to look at the second half of the verse and see if that will help. I think it will. “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” While some translations, including the King James, translate this part of the verse as, “deliver us from evil,” the weight of modern scholarship supports those translations, like The New International, that say, “deliver us from the evil one.”

Does evil exist in our world as an impersonal, destructive force that is opposed to all that is good and right and holy? Absolutely.

--A justice system that systematically denies justice to the weakest members of a society is an evil force.

--A government that promotes or allows genocide against certain groups within its’ borders is an evil force.

Evil is definitely present in our world today in the form of generalized forces that exert a destructive influence on our lives. In this part of The Lord’s Prayer, however, Jesus is reminding us that evil exists not only as a force, but also as a person. And the Bible identifies that person as the devil or Satan. He’s real, He’s powerful and He’s constantly working to undermine the good that God desires for you. 1 Peter 5:8 says, “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

So, Jesus is telling us, here, that evil is real, it’s powerful, it’s personal and it poses a genuine threat to all of us. But He’s also telling us here, that Satan is no match for God. He’s powerful, but his power is limited. Satan has no more power than God allows him to have.

--As children of God, do we need to be alert to Satan’s influence? Absolutely.

--As children of God, do we need to live in fear of Satan’s influence? Absolutely not. The Bible is absolutely clear about that.

1 John 4:4 says, “Greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world.”
James 4:7, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

If Satan were equal in power to God, then we couldn’t look to God for protection and this would be an empty petition. But Satan is no match for God and God can protect us. So Jesus tells us to pray, “Father, deliver us from the evil one.”

And one of the most important ways that God protects and delivers us from the influence of “the evil one” is to faithfully provide us a way out every time we ask Him to do so when are being tempted. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says this, “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”

You see, what we need to realize is that behind every temptation there is a tempter, and that tempter is “the evil one.” Matthew specifically calls Satan, “the tempter.” You may not see his face but you are feeling his influence every time you are tempted to step outside of what God desires for you. And that would be a frightening reality apart from the promise of the even greater influence and faithfulness of God. So, when we face temptation, Jesus tells us to pray like this--

“Father, he’s trying to tempt me again, but he’s wasting his time because I’m not trusting in my own strength, I’m trusting in Yours. I know I’m weak. I know I’m prone to wander. And I know he’s real and that he would love to see me fail. But I also know that You’re real and You’re powerful and You’re faithful to protect Your children and He’s no match for You. Father, I only want to be what You want me to be and I only want to go where You want me to go. So, Father, guide me past this temptation. Don’t let me be tempted beyond what I can bear. Deliver me from the evil one and keep me on the right path.”

Have we answered every question about this difficult petition? No. But the big picture clear. Jesus is telling us that we will face temptation in this life, that those temptations are fueled by the influence of Satan, that if we try to face those temptations in our own strength that we destined to fail. But our Father doesn’t want us to face temptation in our own strength. He wants to be our strength. He wants us to receive every temptation as an invitation to trust Him completely. And He wants us to know that He is faithful. He always protects His children.