Today, we continue with our teaching in 1 Corinthians 10. We will begin with verse 8. But before we begin, I want to briefly set it up by giving you a quick overview of the entire chapter.
God had set the Israelites free from their bondage in Egypt and they were now headed to the Promised Land. What would have normally taken them just a few weeks to travel ended up taking them forty years because of their quarreling and ungodly thoughts.
The length of time it took had nothing to do, however, with Moses’ ability to lead, but it had everything to do with where the hearts of the Israelites were in relation to God. And God would not allow them to enter the land He promised to them as long as their hearts were focused on what they wanted instead of on what God wanted for them.
We will find that even after they had been set free from bondage, their hearts were not fully given to God and therefore, sin led them astray. They failed to understand that it was not just about having the freedom to do as you please, but about having the freedom to live for the One who saves our souls. It is about a love that shows appreciation with every step we take.
And what happened to them is a perfect lesson for us today. We also have been set free. We have been freed from the bondage of sin, but if we aren’t ever-faithful and vigilant, we will also be led back into sin by our unfocused minds and inattentive hearts.
Their problem stemmed from lust. They lusted after other things than what God had already proved for them. They were never satisfied, always wanting more. And they did not take care to make sure the things they lusted after were Godly things. In fact, most of the things they wanted were things that would have satisfied their selfish flesh.
And, if we are honest with ourselves, those same things plague us today, too. The reason is that, while we are alive on this planet, we will be under the influence and sway of our enemy, Satan. Instructions on how to combat that influence is found in –
EPHESIANS 6:11
“Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.”
Since their focus was not on God in any way, He kept them from entering the Promised Land and He even let many die as a consequence of their sin. And now, the Apostle Paul is addressing the church and teaching fellow believers about the danger of sin and the dire consequences sin causes to God’s people.
So let us start reading in 1 CORINTHIANS 10:8-10:
“8 - And we must not engage in sexual immorality as some of them did, causing 23,000 of them to die in one day. 9 - Nor should we put Christ to the test, as some of them did and then died from snakebites. 10 - And don't grumble as some did, and were then killed for doing so.”
As we read through this passage, I cannot help but see similarities between them and us today. There many who worshiped the Goddess of fertility by practicing sexual immorality. There were others who tempted Christ by worshiping idols rather than worshiping Him. And while they did these ungodly things, they murmured and disputed, quarreled and argued, and were just plain spiteful in nature. All of which we find ourselves doing today, too!
And now, Paul is going to take them to task over their sin and set them straight. But how is he going to do that? How would we do that? Would our first instinct be to just flatly tell them that they were wrong and they had better stop or they would go to hell? Wouldn’t we be inclined to jump all over them? Sadly, I think so.
But if we did it that way, what would happen? We would irritate some and alienate others altogether. Some would even leave the church and never return. In any case, by acting in a harsh and unloving way, we would not do anything that glorified God in any way.
Paul acted out of love. He showed them the same love that God had shown Paul. Paul used the plight of their ancestors to warn them of their own sin. That way, he pointed a finger of blame at the ancestors, not at those who had gathered to listen to him. That made them that much more willing to hear what he had to say.
Paul practiced the same method used by Jesus in JOHN 3:17, when He said, “I did not come into the world to condemn it, but to save it.”
Paul is more interested in changing their hearts than in condemning their actions. He encourages them because he truly cares about them.
Let me change course here for a moment and ask you to think about how today’s Christians treat other people in general.
When someone aggravates us, are we respond quickly and eagerly with forgiveness? Remember, Jesus told Peter to forgive 7 x 70, or basically to “never stop forgiving.” Oh, we might turn the other cheek, but if we do, it is generally for just an instant. And if that isn’t quickly met with repentance, don’t we take off the gloves and really go after them? Is that how God wants us to treat others?
Paul acted in true Godly fashion. He showed love. He provided an example that they could understand without being personally alienated with, and then he encouraged them to not repeat the sins of their ancestors so they could avoid the punishment those ancestors received. He talked TO them and not DOWN to them.
And when we are faced with the personal failings of other believers, we must also show them a great amount of love, too. We must be willing and have a heart to do everything we can to bring them back into alignment with the will of God. After all, we are just as guilty of the same things that we are trying to blame others for!
We spend our time arguing with one another even though God has told us not to do that. How do we stop feeling that way when others offend us? We train ourselves to be disciplined. And then we use that discipline to rely on the things we learned in our Bibles.
God’s Word is full of powerful, and sometimes shocking, examples of how to teach important lessons. Paul tells others to pay attention to them and learn from them.
As the Israelites wandered the desert for forty years, we see what happened to them. They griped; they worshiped idols; and they were forever complaining. And because of that, none of them would find the blessing of entering into the land that God had given them.
Oh, they never actually hated God, but they were obsessed with only doing what they wanted to do, even if they had to ignore God when He said, “Don’t do it!” And the lesson for us today is to realize that the same sins that kept them from their blessing will prevent us from our blessing of abundant spiritual living today.
Many people do not realize they are hating God by the way in which they live their lives today, and others truly believe that they are being good Christians based on the fact that they are good people. But these people deceive themselves. They live how they want to live, and reject the way God wants them to live. Let us learn from them that when a person refuses to conform to God’s plan for them, that is the same thing as hating God.
Let me ask you a personal question.
If you know somebody who refuses to acknowledge you in their life, or maybe they say bad things about you and go out of their way to hurt your friends, would you be inclined to invite them into your home to live? Certainly not!
And when we deny Christ in our lives, or when we refuse to live the way He wants us to live, do you really think He will invite us into His home (Heaven) to live for eternity? Do you think Jesus will invite people into Heaven if they are not His friends?
In JOHN 15:14, Jesus tells us very clearly, “You are my friends if you do as I command.”
But people are stubborn in their pride. They convince themselves that they will go to Heaven no matter what they do in this life.
HEBREWS 3:16-19 explains it this way:
“16 And who was it who rebelled against God, even though they knew his voice? It was the people Moses led out of Egypt. 17 And who made God angry for 40 years? It was the same people who sinned and died in the wilderness because of their sin. 18 And who was God speaking to when he took said they would never enter into His rest? It was those same people who disobeyed him. 19 And because of their unbelief, they were not able to enter his rest.”
They may have believed in God, but not enough to surrender their wills to Him. Again, we do the very same thing in our lives today, too.
Maybe it is because we do not fully understand that the word “believe” really means. The English language is not always the most descriptive language. Other languages often go into great details describing the meaning of a particular word. For instance, the Greek word for “belief” is “pisteuo”. Listen to their definition of this word:
1 – to be fully persuaded by
2 – to know something as indisputable truth which guides one’s life
3 – to submit one’s total trust to
4 – to take in and measure one’s entire life by
Wow! Compare that to the English definition of “belief.”
1 – an acceptance that something exists
2 – to have confidence in
Can you see the difference in detail? When we say we believe in something, are we saying we just accept that it exists, or are we saying we are totally persuaded by it so much that we will let is actually change our lives?
When we say we believe in Jesus, are we saying we have confidence in Him, or are we saying we take Him in and try to live by His Word? So the question remains; What do we really mean when we say we believe in Jesus?”
In 1 CORINTHIANS 10:19-21, Paul used the observance of Communion as a way to teach purity of belief.
“ 19 Does the food offered to idols really mean anything, or are those idols real gods? 20 No. These idols are demons, and the food offered to them is meaningless. I do not want you to participate with these demons. 21 You cannot drink both from the cup of the Lord and from the cup of demons. You cannot eat the bread representing His broken body and then eat the food that has been sacrificed to demons, too.”
Paul is saying that there is only one real and true God. That God is described in the Bible. Any other form of worship is demonic and forbidden – including praying to and sacrificing to them.
Today, each of us is personally responsible to make sure our spiritual diets are not a mixture of true and false doctrines. It is our personal responsibility to insure that we know the difference and we accept the truth and reject the false.
We must be forever vigilant in what we receive, and what we stay away from.
In 1 TIMOTHY 4:1, Paul tells Peter,
“The Holy Spirit tells us clearly that, in the last times, some will turn away from the truth of God and will begin to follow lying teachings that come from demons.”
In 2 TIMOTHY 2:15, we are reminded of this individual responsibility today –
“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”
It will only be through a personal and focused love of God that enables us to study His Word to determine what is true and what is false. And then it is our personal duty to make sure we follow the truth and only the truth.
We get the English word “planet” from the Greek work “planos”. In the Greek, that word means to “wander around aimlessly with no purpose”. The ancient Greeks though the planets just wandered around the heavens on a journey that was happenstance and that led to nowhere.
In the same way, demons seduce us into following their teachings. Those teaching may make us feel all nice and cozy, but they make us wander away from God and they lead us nowhere – or at least nowhere good.
Now it is not always easy to detect these lies from God’s truth because Satan mixes enough truth in with his lies to make them seem like the truth. He appeals to our carnal nature to have more, be more, and know more. He entices us to exalt ourselves … and we fall for it.
I think the biggest problem we have is that we have an ongoing love affair with … ourselves! Taking our focus off “ME” and putting it on “THEE” is one of the hardest things we can do, because our very carnal nature is at odds with the holy nature of God.
In 1 CORINTHIANS 10:31, it simply tells us: “Whatever you do, do it for the glory of God.”
That takes a concerted effort, though, and most Christians do not want to put that much effort into being a devoted disciple of Christ. We seem to want it given to us without much work on our parts.
We need to remember that just because we might want something does not mean God wants it for us, and just because we might be okay with what we do, doesn’t mean God is okay with it.
Paul was not talking to the world, he was talking to believers. He knew the church had all kinds of people in it, including Jews, Greeks, and Romans. He did not want to offend any of them, so in VERSE 32, he warns all of them to not cause any of the others offense that would hurt their walks with Christ.
We are called to love one another, just as Christ loves us, and help others, not hinder them.
PROVERBS 18:19 explains it this way –
“An offended friend is harder to win back than a fortified city. Arguments separate friends like a gate locked with bars.”
We do not have to agree with another, but in our disagreement we are told to love them and not offend them. We are told to treat them with Godly kindness.
Paul tells us that even though he is free to do many things, he chooses to forego some of them so he can help others towards Christ.
In 1 CORINTHIANS 9:19-22, he tells how he becomes all things to all men so he might be able to lead them to Christ. That means he understood that before a person will listen to you, he must feel comfortable in doing so. If you act hateful, or offensive to someone, that person will not be willing to listen to you talk about anything.
And in treating them civilly, he is following Jesus’ last command to us to go and make disciples. You cannot make disciples who will listen to you and follow you if you are busy condemning them and acting offensive to them.
He verifies this in 1 CORINTHIANS 10:33, when he says;
“I try to please everyone in every way. I am not seeking my own good but the good of others,
so they might be saved.”
Why is Paul so consumed with putting so much focus on others instead of on himself?
He explains that to us in PHILIPPEANS 4:1 –
“Don't be selfish & try to impress others. Be humble, think of others as better than yourself.”
Too many people look down their noses at others who might have less than they do, or live in lesser circumstances. What they do not understand is that by doing so, they are condemning others and that is a sin of pride. Our goal is to help others live a Christian life, and we cannot do that if we are busy alienating them or making them feel as if they are not worthy.
We must heed God’s Word. We must literally live our lives as a testimony of what God can do for others if they will but let Him. As we do these things for His glory, we will find that we will deal with others in Godly love – even when it might be hard to do so. All we have to do is remember that God thinks others are just as wonderful and deserving as He thinks we are.
We must live our lives in such a way that when others look in our direction, they see Christ.
In closing, let me relay a quick story to you.
A man was newly promoted to be the new manager of an entire department. He wanted to impress everyone in that department with how good he was, so his first action was to cut down on what he considered “slackers”.
And so as he stood in his office, looking out over the department, he saw one man standing there leaning against a wall and staring out the window. He went over to the man and asked him how much he made per week. The man said he made $200.00.
The boss gave the man $800.00 and said, “Here is a month’s pay. Get out and never come back, you slacker!”
After the man left, the boss asked one of his employees who the slacker was. The employee said he was the pizza delivery man. He went on to say that they had ordered lunch in so they could finish the project they were working on.
As Christians, we must learn how to live by right (or righteous) standards. The new boss was too busy trying to impress others with his authority and he lost $800.
The Israelites never lived by these standards and it cost them the Promised Land.
If we do not learn to live by God’s standards, what will it cost us?
Are you a Christian? Do you really believe in Jesus, or do you just acknowledge Him? Do you strive to view others as more important than you are, or do you get aggravated at them and end up looking down on them instead of praying for them?
Lastly, do you live up to your responsibility to study God’s Word for yourself, and do you strive to win others for the Lord?
LET US CLOSE IN PRAYER
