By Pastor Kyle Smith
“Lead us not into temptation.” This is the Sixth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer, but what does it mean? After all, we see in James 1:13 that God “himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.” When we pray, “Lead us not into temptation,” we are asking God to guard and keep us, so that we are not led into temptation by the devil, the world, or our own sinful nature, but rather that we would overcome our temptations.
There is a constant attempt of our spiritual enemies to tempt us, to bring us into the captivity of sin, and ultimately destroy our faith. Because of this constant barrage of attacks, we pray that God would keep us strong, and that he would strengthen us to fight against all temptation and hold on to His Word and the faith He has given to us. It starts off small, yes, a small temptation here, giving in to a sin that no one needs to know about over there, but it grows and grows, until at last, as we see in James 1:15, “Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”
As we pray the Sixth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer, we pray that, rather than sliding into sin and unbelief, we pray that our faith in Jesus would not grow cold, that we would stand our ground against all threats to our faith, and that God the Father would continue to guard us. Let us consider the disciple who betrayed Jesus, Judas Iscarriot. Judas would have been intimately aware of Jesus’ teaching and the difference between right and wrong. Judas followed Jesus day in and day out for three years straight, so you would think he of all people would hold fast to Jesus.
But we know that was not the case. We know from Scripture that Judas was in charge of carrying the money bag for the disciples and yet was a thief, helping himself to the money bag to enrich himself (John 12:6). If one of Jesus’ disciples faced temptation to the point where he literally stole money from Jesus and the disciples and eventually betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, even though he literally walked with Jesus for years, why would we think we aren’t susceptible to temptation as well? The truth is, we are just as susceptible to temptation as Judas was.
This is why we spend time in God’s Word on our own, but also why we gather as a church to be strengthened in our faith by the hearing of God’s Word and encouragement from fellow saints, receive and witness Holy Baptism, receive Absolution, and partake in Holy Communion to receive the forgiveness of sins and the strengthening of our faith. Too often we as Christians act like we’re islands; we prefer to be isolated from the body of Christ and stay away from the weekly gathering of the saints. After all, we reason, “going to church doesn’t save me.”
While yes, that is a true statement, attending a church service doesn’t save us, and yet the local church is where God has promised to work. It is in the local church where God has promised His grace and forgiveness to be delivered through fellow image bearers. This is why the author of the Book of Hebrews says, “not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near (Hebrews 10:25).
So when we pray “and lead us not into temptation,” we are asking God to guard and keep us and to sustain our faith. God does indeed sustain our faith, not through our work and our striving, but through His grace and goodness. God strengthens us through the weekly gathering of the body of Christ, through Holy Baptism, Absolution, the Lord’s Supper, and ultimately through His Word, for “faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”