Do we abuse our spiritual grace?

I Corinthians 10:1-13

This morning I want to encourage you to open your Bible with me to 1 Corinthians 10. Paul’s epistle to the Corinthian church chapter 10.

This passage relates to us a historical setting and then ties it into the Corinthian scene and then pushes beyond that to speak to us today. It tells about a whole nation of people who were blessed by God, and who enjoyed exceedingly abundant privilege. This passage should hopefully make sense to us since we completed our series on Lord Change My Attitude before it's too late. A nation who received from God magnificent gifts of his love and grace but who were destroyed in judgment. They complained, had doubt were critical of everything and everyone. Especially those chosen to lead. They really forgot what God had done and complained about their Spiritual Privilege.” There are some dangers when we abuse, complain, and even take for granted our spiritual liberties of grace and mercy.

The key thought to this passage is Verse 12, “Let him that thinks he stands, take heed, lest he fall.” The point here is that the most privileged person or the most privileged group of people can end up in the greatest disaster.

Israelites were God’s chosen people and were told that on several occasions. Deuteronomy 7:6-7. For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. 7 The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; 8 but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

9 “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments

In fact, this whole thing in chapter 10 springs out of the thought in 9:27. Look at it. In 9:27, Paul speaking personally says,But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

The greek word for disqualified means disapproved after testing

He knows a very important thing. He is a man of great privilege. I mean he is a man who probably from the spiritual standpoint had the equal or superior privilege to any other believer that ever lived. He had three personal post-resurrection appearances of the Lord Jesus Christ to him. That’s pretty unique. He was stoned and left for dead and raised from that rubble miraculously by the power of God. He became blind and was made to see. He became the greatest apostle preacher and articulator of the Christian faith apart from Christ that ever lived. He was the founder of several churches, the discipler of leader after leader, and the builder of men. He was caught up in the third heaven ( 2 Corinthians 12:2-4) and saw things too marvelous, too incredible, too amazing, too supernatural to even be discussed he tells us. And in terms of being an apostle, nobody outranked him, he said. He was a man of amazing privileges.. He was given the revelation for 13 separate New Testament books. The Spirit of God flooded that man’s life with truth, privilege, opportunity, ministry, wisdom, and knowledge. He was profoundly enriched.

And yet, with all of that expanse of spiritual privilege, he had the fear that in the exercise of his ministry, by failing to control his own body, he could be disqualified from service to Christ. And every believer ought to have that same idea. We have to live with the reality, that none of us is invincible. And a massive amount of privilege does not guarantee that we can live any way we want without consequence. I think that some people have assumed that because they have experienced so many blessings from God, they can live any way they want without any kind of judgment. Classic illustration: Israel. So blessed, so privileged, so abundantly the recipients of God’s grace, mercy, and loving-kindness that they actually learned how to abuse His grace. They pushed to the limits of God’s tolerance and they lived on the danger edge until finally disaster came.

Show Picture of Duck and Cover

As the Cold War pervaded domestic as well as international spheres, Duck and Cover, an educational film produced by the Federal Civil Defense Administration and Archer Productions Inc., showed children how to react in case of a nuclear attack. The Soviet Union had tested its first nuclear bomb in 1949 and fear of an attack in the United States was high. As a result, Congress created the Federal Civil Defense Administration in 1950 to prepare America for emergencies. Two of the organization’s more visible contributions were public fallout shelters and the Emergency Broadcast System.

Educational films such as this one were popular in the 1950s. They were used to teach life skills to students across the country in a uniform way. Duck and Cover taught children to hide under a desk or against a wall and cover their neck and face for safety during a nuclear attack. It was first screened on January 7, 1952, as part of the Alert America civil defense exhibit convoy in Washington DC. Two weeks later, it was shown to school officials in New York City, and it debuted in the classroom on March 6, 1952. During this time over 97% believed in God and prayer was in schools. 2014 it had declined to 86% and declining.

In the months following the pandemic outbreak, there was an outpouring of scholarly work on religiosity and COVID-19. Bentzen (2020) noted a 50% increase in Google searches for topics related to prayer. Searches nearly doubling for every 80,000 newly registered cases of COVID-19. That was short lived.

Charles Spurgeon said these words:

624Think lightly of hell, and you will think lightly of the cross. Think little of the sufferings of lost souls, and you will soon think little of the Savior who delivers you from them.—12.174

Charles Spurgeon

I must look at my own life and say, “Shannon you have received great privilege.” I have; I have had the privilege not only of learning from great and gifted men but of having great opportunities. I have the privilege of having great people around me who pour their life into me, who minister alongside me, I have a marvelous congregation of people of whom God has poured out blessings. And that blessing spills back on me. I am privileged to be able to reach even beyond this church in ministry, and I need to be very much aware that because God has blessed me so much does not cause me to live loosely and abuse that, but to live all the more tightly so that I would never do anything to be disqualified.

And our church must too. This church has been singularly blessed by God. And it’s all by his sovereignty. It has nothing to do with anything really other than His sovereignty and we, wanting to work by the Scripture, have put ourselves in a place so that His sovereignty could be maximized to us. But it’s His choice. And we have been greatly privileged. But that does not remove the element of danger.

What a marvelous privilege that God so richly gives us His grace to enjoy!

Grace is no exception. The history of Christianity contains many waves of grace abuse. Yes, I’ve sometimes sinned by taking His grace for granted.

So the question I’ve been pondering is this. How can Christians abuse God’s grace, and what does that look like?

1) Christians abuse God’s grace by misunderstanding their own nature. But would you believe some Christians think they are so holy that they are beyond sinning? They’re deceived. Our Spiritual gift assessment and disc test helps to speak alot about who you are. Ask the people you live with. They know the truth about you. Grieving the Holy Spirit would violate their soul’s conviction as a child of God. But don’t be duped into abusing God’s grace. On this earth, you’ll never grow so sanctified that you’ve lost the ability to sin. You’ll always be a child of God who is dependent on God’s grace to help you live an emotionally mature Christian life.

2) Christians abuse God’s grace by practicing unforgiveness. Now we’re finding where the rubber meets the road. This subject could be the most under-taught doctrine of practical Christianity in many circles. But know this. You’re never more like God than when you practice forgiveness. You’re never more ungodly than when you walk in unforgiveness. 3) Christians abuse God’s grace by never truly getting to know Him.

You’re too smart to believe what other people want to pressure you into believing. You owe it to yourself to find out for yourself. Whatever you do, don’t abuse His grace by failing to get to know Him for yourself.

4) Christians abuse God’s grace by practicing a minimal form of Christianity. That is a sad reflection on the American Church. Too many people want to identify with Christ but do not want to follow Him. They want just enough of His grace to get them to Heaven, but not enough to change their lives and forsake their sinfulness. This nominal form of following Jesus is less practical and personal. It’s more ideological and intellectual. Just like some choose to become a fan of a specific sports team, they’ve added Jesus to the collection of stuff in life that they like. Fully surrender to His grace and let Christ become your all in all.

5) Finally, I believe Christians abuse God’s grace by ignoring the Holy Spirit. He wants to change you. But you resist Him. You look at others comparatively and think, “well, I’m better than they are.” Or, “at least I go to church.” We grieve the Holy Spirit when we insist on verbal comparisons. when you allow the Holy Spirit to use His Holy Scriptures to change you from the inside out. Your thinking must be changed by the renewing of your mind. That’s the grace-filled life He wants you to dive into.

Closing

Christian, the bottom line is that we misuse God’s grace when we live however we want to. God’s grace is greater than all our sin, but it also teaches us to stay away from sin. Grace is not a license to do whatever, but a teacher to live how we ought to.

Genealogies in the Old Testament are always working to communicate multiple layers of information to readers. Genealogies obviously trace family trees, but they also help us follow priestly and royal lines through Israel's story. God also wanted to show people how much they meant to him that He took the time to mention them by name. It was to show How much He wanted to be personal with them.

We had an elder at Memorial Road, where we had over 2,500 members and when people speak about him they always appreciate how he remembered their name. Church there is a song called He Knows My Name” here are some of the lyrics

I have a Maker,He formed my heart Before even time began My life was in His hands He knows my name He knows my every thought He sees each tear that falls And hears me when I call

Lets all sing, I have a Father I have a Father He calls me His own He'll never leave me No matter where I go

He knows my name I'm so glad I can say He knows my every thought He sees each tear that falls And hears me when I call. Why, Because He knows my name

David said these words in Psalms 139:13-14 “For it was You who created my inward parts; You knit me together in my mother's womb. I will praise You because I have been fearfully and wonderfully made”.

I’ll end with a final confession and a bonus for the list. My conviction is that if I sin against my Spirit-filled wife, I’ve abused God’s grace.

But Lord, “I don’t wanna abuse your grace. God I need it every day. It’s the only thing that ever really makes me wanna change.”

Nobody in life can make you change But God