1 Corinthians 10:1-13, Called to Consider the Past
Theological Proposition/Focus: The call of a Christian is a call to reject idolatry, immorality, testing God, and complaining.
Homiletical Proposition/Application: Determine to learn from the past and look forward to eternity with Christ.
Note: For the sermon outline the three main points should probably come from verses 7-10 with the preceding verses as the intro and the ending verses as the conclusion. Lord’s Supper
Introduction:
Image: The power of a story for teaching.
Need: We need to determine to learn from the past and look forward to eternity with Christ.
Preview: Today we will consider Israel's history to be reminded that obedience is not a trivial matter but that does not mean it is impossible so long as we turn to our faithful God.
Text: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13.
Setting the Stage:
In 1 Cor. 9 Paul spoke about the need for Self-Discipline, now he moves to give a reason why. For Paul, one major reason to practice self- discipline is because of past history!
Read the text all at the beginning
Body
Despite their identity the Israelites failed to consistently obey God. (1-5)
Even after seeing, knowing, and identifying with God, fallen people still fail. (1-2)
The Israelites who left Egypt in the Exodus had three significant advantages.
Every Israelite had a definitive visual reminder that they were following God.
Every Israelite witnessed an undeniable display of God's power.
Every Israelite identified with Moses as their spiritual head thus identifying with Yahweh.
Later in the passage we are going to see that despite all these advantages Israel still fell into sin.
Sometimes I interact with Christians who cannot believe they fell into sin, I have to remind them that just being a Christian itself does not mean you will never sin again.
You can be fully a part of God's covenant community snd still sin!
Even if God provides for all a person's physical needs a fallen person will still fail. (3-4)
Those who wandered in the wilderness enjoyed food from Heaven called manna, and water supernaturally from a rock.
In Fact, Moses makes it clear in Deuteronomy 32:4 that God is the Rock the Savior
The rock that Moses struck was simply representative of God's provision.
And that same God who provided at Meribah continued to provide.
Those who identify with Christ must strive to obey God, not as a means of Salvation but rather in an act of humble dependence on God. (5)
The first five verses of 1 Corinthians 10 can be brought all together to make one major point.
You can be part of God's community and still fail in some pretty epic ways. By all accounts, the Israelites who left Egypt should have had it all together. They witnessed some of the most amazing miracles, had the abiding presence of God visibly present, followed one of God's greatest leaders, Moses, a man who had a personal relationship with Yahweh, and even partook of God's miraculous provisions in the wilderness. However, this community mostly failed. In fact, all but Joshua and Caleb died in the wilderness. Throughout Israel's history, a common theme arises. The people confidently assumed that their membership in God's community was the be-all, end-all. In fact, it should have only been the beginning.
Paul's concern for the Corinthians is that they will fall into the same pattern. The Corinthians have identified with God through the blood of Jesus, they have been baptized as a public identification with Christ, they have the indwelling abiding presence of God in the form of the Holy Spirit, and they even are partaking of God's blessings. But they are not done, they have just started, God is calling them to something more, an obedient life.
MTR: Consider your own past; have you made the mistake of depending on your identity for victory over sin instead of depending on the one with whom you identify?
Four historical examples highlight how easy it is to fall into sin. (6-10)
Verse 6 is profoundly important theologically, part of the purpose of the Old Testament for the Christian is to help us understand the human condition.
Specifically, the problem that we all face is we have within us the capacity-even tendency to desire evil
I will readily admit, sin sneaks up on me far less often than I admit, most of the time sin comes into my life after I desire sin!
Despite all the advantages that an Israelite had, and a Christian now has, Paul warns that the desire for evil can do great damage.
The first evil desire we have comes to us in verse seven.
Despite the presence of the God of the universe, idolatry is a real temptation. (7)
Within Paul's larger argument this is fitting, remember the Corinthians had asked about eating food offered to idols.
Idolatry was a real danger in Corinth. In fact, it was such a danger that the church had written to Paul to ask about food offered to idols.
Israel struggled with idolatry, even with God's very obvious presence at Sinai
The verse Paul quotes is Exodus 32:6 - the golden calf incident.
Moses is literally in the mountain talking with God and the people are already engaging in idolatry.
Idolatry is a real temptation today
We are tempted to worship ourselves, our heroes, our influences. We worship sports, we worship freedom, our country, our politicians.
Sexual immorality is an incredibly strong temptation but wields devastating consequences. (8)
Paul references Numbers 25:1-9 where the Israelites engage in sexual immorality with the Moabites.
Paul's point is that even though these individuals identified themselves as Israelites, part of the community, they fell into sin and died.
Covetously despising God's provision leads one to have contempt for God Himself. (9)
The Israelites thought they knew better what they needed and it led them to complain and show contempt for God as described in Numbers 21:4-6.
“Testing” God describes the sin of not trusting him for his provision or not trusting in his promises. Yet it is more than this. The Israelites did not trust the Lord to provide, but even then, when he did provide, they held his provision in contempt: “We detest this miserable food” (Num 21:5). It is this contempt for the Lord and his gifts and provision for the community that draws down immediate judgment in the form of the snakes (v. 6). Once again, the result is that many died. [1]
In Corinth the attitude of those who thought they had superior knowledge betrayed a problem, they thought they knew better than God and so could do whatever they wanted.
Grumbling against God's plans and methods provokes God's anger. (10)
If there was something that we see consistently in the wilderness it is Israel's propensity to grumble against Moses and God.
The Hebrew word תְּלֻנֹּות refers to murmuring/complaining it shows up 8 times in the Old Testament in three different narratives.
Exodus 16:7, Numbers 14:27, and Numbers 17:5.
If you read through 1 Corinthians you will notice Paul seems to be consistently fighting against a general attitude "why do we have to live differently just because we are Christians?"
Can't we just eat what we want?
Can't we get back to the factions and hierarchy of society?
This attitude is in fact very similar to the Israelite grumblings. They had a desire for the worldly living of Egypt. Remember, they were slaves in Egypt! Here is a very real danger, when we accept Christ we leave behind a awful life of slavery to sin,
but our memory is short and I think often we forget how awful slavery to sin was and we begin to desire to return.
MTR: Ask yourself, "where am I most often tempted to fall into sin?"
But we don't have to fall into sin, we can escape! (11-13)
We can learn from the past. (11)
The crucifixion and resurrection of Christ has inaugurated the New Covenant, the culmination of God's plan.
Everything before has pointed forward to Christ and we now live in the already not yet!
We can learn from what happened in the past as we strive to live in this present age. We have a huge advantage!
However, our advantage does not mean we can just sit back and relax.
None of us has this problem called sin licked! (12)
A certain arrogance permeated Corinth, people believed their knowledge gave them the right to do whatever they wanted.
The irony present here is that one is arrogantly standing before the God of the universe, causing others to stumble, and themselves liable to fall.
The proper response to our sinful nature, in light of the past, is to humbly depend on God.
We are commanded to stand before God, but this standing is only by the enabling of God himself. Hence we watch-out since it is not standing in our own power.
Romans 11:20 - Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble.
2 Corinthians 1:24 - Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, because it is by faith you stand firm.
Romans 14:4 - Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.
The problem is not standing - the problem is standing in anything less than faith, faith in God.
But we do serve a God who is bigger than our sin. (13)
Paul's logic comes all together in verse 13 as he reminds the people of God's faithfulness.
God allows his people to be tested so that they learn to rely on Him.
Trials, temptations, tests are hopeless until we realize the God of the universe is faithful.
The point here seems to be that sin is a very real problem, even for those who are part of God's community. If we try to do it on our own simply based on status we are going to fail. History teaches us that much. However, if we humbly turn to God, we can have victory because God is faithful.
MTR: Today as we celebrate the Lord's supper take some time to reflect on the victory that has been won over sin.
Conclusion: Celebrating the Lord's Supper is remembering the past, experiencing the present, and looking to the future! (11:23-26)
- ↑ Paul D. Gardner. 1 Corinthians (Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament) (Kindle Locations 11456-11457). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
