“And he said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come!” Luke 17:1 ESV
Reflection: what is a “temptation” to sin?
Before trying to answer that question, let me ask – How do we define what is sin? Violating the Ten Commandments may quickly come to mind, such as worship of idols, taking God’s name in vain, lying, adultery, murder, etc., which of course is right. But while the Ten Commandments are really foundational for God’s creation, they don’t fully describe what is sin, right? Because focusing on these 10 rules only will quickly lead to a “legal” interpretation. What about other things not covered there? We remember for instance, Jesus was tempted in the desert to turn stones into bread. The Ten Commandments don’t cover such a situation directly, but Jesus response was “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”” Matthew 4:4 ESV
Looking at Jesus response, perhaps a simpler, more comprehensive way to think about sin is every act that is against the will of God, against His creation. Which of course means that we need to understand His will. And, of course we get a good sense just starting with the Ten Commandments. And by studying the Bible, spending time with God, observing God’s creation, we can get a better and better understanding for what is His will. But clearly this is a lifelong process.
It is important that we first talk about sin, before we can discuss temptation. Turns out that Luke used here a word for the phrase “temptation to sin” that means “a trap, a snare, a stumbling block”. A trap is an interesting analogy here for a temptation, because the best designed and set traps are sometimes hidden, but always a complete surprise to the pray. And they typically will have something that lures the pray in, until snap, the pray is caught in the trap, unable to get free or even worse. And we know who is behind these traps or snares, the devil himself, who works to destroy God’s creation. To cause man to go against the will of God; to sin. Question is, how can he get man to
willingly go against God?
In the focus verse today, we learn one of the devil’s methods. Jesus said “woe to the one through whom they [temptations] come!” Luke 17:1b ESV. The devil not only is behind the scheme, the clever trap design, but we see here that the devil gets people to set the traps for him! They become his trappers. And Jesus gives a stern warning to those who set traps for the devil, who lead people to sin, “It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should
cause one of these little ones to sin.” Luke 17:2 ESV.
Jesus tells us that there will be traps set for us, “And he said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come,”” Luke 17:1a ESV, as we are the pray in this case. So we must know God’s will in order not to be easily trapped. “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:7-9 ESV. Let’s walk close with God.
And, perhaps we also do some self reflection today, about our own behavior. That we never let the devil use us to set one of his traps, designed to cause someone to sin against God. To essentially become his trapper. Let it never be so.