Christians Face Daily Battle With Satan, Says Pope Francis

The Wired Word for the Week of January 29, 2017

In the News

If the statement had been made by any member of the clergy other than the pope, it likely wouldn't have been considered news. But when, on January 19, Pope Francis -- speaking at an early morning mass in Vatican City -- said that moving closer to Christ means facing daily struggles against temptation and battling Satan, it was duly reported in the Catholic press, and picked up by at least one ecumenical Christian news site (which is where The Wired Word saw it).

The reason the pontiff's statement was not more widely reported is likely because his many similar comments in the past have been thoroughly covered, including by the secular press. Most media outlets likely consider the pope's latest assertion about the persistence of temptation and the wiles of the devil as nothing new and thus not particularly newsworthy this time.

And, when you think about it, it's not a new discovery that temptation is a real threat to Christians -- and, in fact, a threat to humankind in general. There's a good chance yourpastor has said something along those lines sometime in the past year as well. And when he or she did, it likely didn't cause much of a stir in your congregation because the reality of temptation comes as no surprise to anyone who's been around the block of life a few times.

Initially, some observers viewed the pope's tendency to speak of Satan as an actual insidious enemy of humankind as newsworthy, as well as his refusal to reduce the devil to a metaphor for temptation. In 2015, for example, CNN ran an article titled "Why Is Pope Francis So Obsessed With the Devil?" (see links list below). But now, even that angle seems to have run its course in the media.

So Pope Francis' most recent pronouncement that Christians must resist the "evil one" (John 17:15) and battle temptation is, in one sense, no news at all. But in another sense, it's included in what it means to live in the light of the gospel, the Good News.

Still, battling temptation is not what makes the gospel Good News. The CNN article already mentioned concludes by saying "All of the temptations Francis speaks about so often are the realistic flip side to the heart of the ... pope's message about the world that is charged with the grandeur, mercy, presence and fidelity of God. Those powers are far greater than the devil's antics."

To which we say "Amen."

More on this story can be found at these links:

Pope Francis: Christians Face Daily Battle With Satan. Christian Today Christian Living Requires Constant Battle With Devil, Pope Says. CruxWhy Is Pope Francis So Obsessed With the Devil? CNN

The Big Questions

1. From your experience, is struggling against temptation a daily battle, only an occasional one or no battle at all? What do you think explains your answer?

2. What causes people who intend to be moral and ethical to yield to temptation and override those values?

3. How does rationalization help us to go astray? How can we know when we are rationalizing?

4. What measures can we take to help us live up to our highest ideals? What specifically does it mean to battle temptation? Give examples. When facing strong temptation, what help, if any, are external safeguards such as ethics codes and laws? What help, if any, are internal convictions? How can our Christian faith help us avoid yielding to enticements to do wrong?

5. When talking about temptation, there is an old saying to the effect that you can't keep a bird from flying over your head, but you can keep him from building a nest in your hair. What does that mean?

Confronting the News With Scripture and HopeHere are some Bible verses to guide your discussion:

Joshua 7:20-21
This is what I did: when I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shinar, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, then I coveted them and took them. (For context, read 7:1-26.)

This is part of the confession of Achan, a man of Israel. During Israel's conquest of Jericho, the Israelites had been instructed by God to not take as booty certain items that had been devoted by the people of Jericho to the worship of other gods. Instead, these things were to be destroyed. Achan, however, was tempted by their value, and took several of these restricted items and secreted them in his tent.

Later, when Israel failed in its attempt to rout the people of Ai, God revealed to Joshua that someone among his people was harboring devoted items. An investigation eventually revealed Achan's sin, and only when he was confronted with his wrongdoing did he confess.

Question: Joshua 7:1 begins the story of Achan's sin by saying that the Israelites (as a whole) "broke faith in regard to the devoted things." How and to what degree can personal sins diminish the community of which the tempted person is a part?

2 Samuel 11:3
David sent someone to inquire about the woman. (For context, read 11:1-5.)

The verse comes from the story of King David's adultery with Bathsheba. The Bible account uses four verbs to describe what happened.

• The first verb is "saw." From the vantage point of his palace roof, the king spotted a beautiful woman.
• The second is "inquired." David sent someone to find out who she was.
• The third is "get." On learning that Bathsheba was the wife of one of David's loyal warriors, David sent messengers to summon her to his palace.
• The final verb is "lay," referring to the actual adultery.

Note the intervals between the actions represented by those verbs. David's seeing of the woman was no sin. That was by accident, and the fact that she was bathing when David spotted her was nothing against David. But between his seeing her and his inquiring about her, David must have ignored an internal early warning system.

We could give David the benefit of the doubt until the results of his inquiry came back, because, for all David knew, Bathsheba might have been single and available for courting. But when David learned that she was married, his early warning system should have been screaming at him. But David chose to ignore it and gave in to temptation.

Questions: Does God give each one of us an "early warning system"? What sorts of things let you know that your early warning system is sounding?

Matthew 6:13 (KJV)And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. (For context, read 6:9-13.)

Most Christians use what is known as the Lord's Prayer in their worship services, and so pray this often. But, for most of us, we really don't think of God as the source of temptation.

The word translated as "temptation" also has the implication of undergoing a test or a trial. In his Small Catechism, Martin Luther writes "God, indeed, tempts no one, but we pray in this petition that God would guard and keep us, so that the devil, the world, and our flesh may not deceive us, nor seduce us into misbelief, despair, and other great shame and vice; and though we be assailed by them, that still we may finally overcome and gain the victory."

In effect, we ask God to help us overcome temptation. However, the prayer does not stop there, but concludes with "deliver us from evil." Even when we do yield to temptation -- or even actively seek it -- God has provided for forgiveness and deliverance.

Question: What are some ways in which God might help us overcome temptation? How does knowledge that Jesus has overcome temptation for us and provided a final deliverance and victory affect our resistance to temptation?

2 Corinthians 11:14Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. (For context, read 11:1-15.)

Here the apostle Paul is speaking of temptation of a different sort -- the allure of "a different gospel," that is, a teaching that leads one away from Christ. Paul is aware of the persuasive power of an intellectual argument that can sound so reasonable that the hearer is convinced to discard Christianity for the new idea.

Paul's comment about Satan disguising himself as an "angel of light," however, can apply to any kind of temptation. Sometimes, in the early stages of a temptation, there is a moment when we may be able to convince ourselves that the wrong thing we want to do is actually right. Examples: "Think of how much good I could do with this money if I took it." "Anything that feels this good can't be wrong." "I'll be a better spouse at home if only I can satisfy this other appetite."

Question: What defenses do we have against "angel of light" temptations?

James 1:12-14
Blessed is anyone who endures temptation. Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. No one, when tempted, should say, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one. But one is tempted by one's own desire, being lured and enticed by it … (For context, read 1:2-16.)

In this very practical letter to Christians, the church elder James acknowledges that Christians are as likely to be tempted as is anyone else. James argues that God does not tempt us, but that we are tempted by our own desires.

TWW editorial team member Mary Sells comments, "I am most moved, personally, by the James quote that temptation is so insidious that we conjure desires … maybe with or without realizing the slippery slope of sin. In major things we may sense the devil's obvious presence and desire to move us away from God in word and deed. In the garden variety little white lie, it is easier to make normal parts of life customary and overlook the sinfulness we exhibit -- and how those moments move us from God!"

Yet James sees another option besides yielding when temptation comes, and that option is "enduring" the temptation as a test of faith.

Enduring sounds like a grim, heavy, cheerless task that we must slog through, but in fact, it can be a time of great enriching spiritual growth. It may be that we decide it's best to keep our struggle a private matter, seeking Christ's help directly. Spending time in prayer and asking for Christ's help is good for our souls, even if we lose a particular battle against temptation.

The devotional writer Henri Nouwen says that our most significant encounters with Christ often come not before or after or beyond the struggle with our tempting demons, but in the midst of the struggle.

Part of enduring can also be seeking the help of fellow Christians and the prayers of the church. Going to the faith community and saying, "I am being strongly tempted to do something wrong" (it can be okay not to give the specifics) and then asking for their counsel and their prayers, can help us to take spiritual giant steps forward. When we do that, we then have people who become an accountability group for us. (Just imagine how much differently things might have turned out if David had shared his temptation about Bathsheba with spiritual counselors and they'd held him accountable.)

But whether we share our struggle or keep it private, we should remember that James put it, "... the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing" (vv. 3-4).

Questions: How might you decide when to tell others of your struggles and seek their help and when to keep your struggle private? When has the faith community helped you to endure temptation rather than yield to it? How might Nouwen's statement about significant encounters with Christ in the midst of temptation be true?

Romans 12:21
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (For context, read 12:9-21.)

Paul includes this statement along with several other brief summary remarks to encourage the Roman Christians to live their faith daily. While he refers to a number of aspects of Christian living in quick succession, the overall thrust of them is that Christianity ought to be lived in a positive, proactive way. This statement, coming at the end of that string of advice, is of the same tone. We can go beyond resisting temptation and even beyond enduring it, to using temptation as an indicator of a point at which we can take positive and helpful steps for someone else.

Question: Think of a temptation you have faced. What positive step could that tempting situation suggest?

For Further Discussion

1. "Don't worry about avoiding temptation -- as you grow older, it starts avoiding you," so someone has said. Is that really true or is it only that the nature of our temptations changes as we grow older?

2. Commentator J.R.P. Sclater said that most people do not start out going against the "red light" of life. But we are, he said, "constantly taking chances with the yellow light." When that happens, it gradually becomes a green light for our conscience, until at last, red and green are interchangeable in those areas where we are susceptible. What can we do to avoid such moral color blindness?

3. Comment on this cartoon we once saw: A man is praying, "And I want to thank you for finally delivering me from temptation." The man is shipwrecked alone on a tiny, barren island barely six feet in diameter.

4. Respond to this, from TWW team member Stan Purdum's sermon "The Maybe Moment": "David's sin began not when he happened to see Bathsheba, but when he ignored the alarm that sounded inside him and allowed the idea that occurred to him to take up residency in his head. As far as resisting temptation goes, that is a key moment, a point at which it is easier to say no than it is likely to be later. It is the 'maybe moment,' the point in time at which going down the wrong path is still only a possibility. That's the early warning moment, when the 'No, no, definitely not' bell is sounding. At that moment, we need to make a conscious decision to firmly close the door on that possibility. After that moment, we often have more invested in the idea, and closing the door becomes more difficult. ... The maybe moment is the time to think -- but even more, to pray. ...
            "We can thank God for the early warning systems he has placed within us, those internal sirens that alert us to danger, that tell us we are approaching a maybe moment with a dangerous undertow. And we can use those moments for fresh, meaningful encounters with our Lord, on whose strength we can call."

5. Discuss together 1 Peter 5:8-11, as worded in The Message: "Keep a cool head. Stay alert. The Devil is poised to pounce, and would like nothing better than to catch you napping. Keep your guard up. You're not the only ones plunged into these hard times. It's the same with Christians all over the world. So keep a firm grip on the faith. The suffering won't last forever. It won't be long before this generous God who has great plans for us in Christ -- eternal and glorious plans they are! -- will have you put together and on your feet for good. He gets the last word; yes, he does."

Responding to the News

If you are aware of susceptibility to a specific temptation, this is a good time to consider what helps you can put into place. For example, they might include avoiding certain companions, using your computer in only a shared area of the house, asking Christians friends to help you be accountable, praying for specific help in areas where we are weak, etc. The writer of Hebrews says, "Because [Jesus] himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested." (Hebrews 2:18)

Prayer

O God, deliver us from temptation. Be to us a bulwark and shield when temptations come. Help us to reach out to Christ and the community of faith for strength, guidance and endurance. And show us how to counter evil with good. In Jesus' name. Amen.