In Common With Christ

Introduction

We are continuing our series called Jesus Changes Everything. We have been working our way through Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth, and Paul is trying to help them define what it means to be a Christian, a sold-out follower of Jesus, in a time and place where right and wrong, good and evil, were defined by human impulses and dark spiritual forces. For many in the church, this is a timely question.

When Jesus turns over your life, when he saves you and reorders your life and your loves, how do you navigate the wilderness between you and heaven? Because in this wilderness, things like power and influence, prosperity and happiness, sexual identity, science and technology, all these things keep trying to define things differently. And given your human tendencies and wirings, a lot of it makes sense.

The Cross of Christ is foolishness in the eyes of the world. But for those who have laid their lives at the foot of cross, it is the power of God. And so how can we live, day in and day out, pursuing the foolish, yet powerful way of Jesus?

PRAY

You are Not Immune (1 Cor 10:1-14)

1 Corinthians 10:1–14 CSB

Now I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless God was not pleased with most of them, since they were struck down in the wilderness. Now these things took place as examples for us, so that we will not desire evil things as they did. Don’t become idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to party. Let us not commit sexual immorality as some of them did, and in a single day twenty-three thousand people died. Let us not test Christ as some of them did and were destroyed by snakes. And don’t grumble as some of them did, and were killed by the destroyer. These things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages have come. So, whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall. No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to bear it. So then, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.

Here’s what Paul is getting at. There are those in the church who believe that, because they took part in the sacraments of baptism and communion, they were immune to sin. They could participate in the local pagan ceremonies—these were massive social status gatherings—and eat and drink and join their meals, and it wasn’t a problem because (a) they knew the idol was just a piece of wood and stone, not real, and (b) they were “covered” by Jesus.

So Paul gives them a quick history lesson and warns them not to let history repeat itself.

Right around 1300 years prior to this, The nation of Israel was still sort of in its infancy; they had grown from a family of 12 brothers to a large people group. But given that they had done all this growing while tenants of the Egyptian Empire, Israel was conscripted into slavery and oppressed and demeaned. Out of this enslaved people, God raised up a leader named Moses. He made a deal with the Pharaoh of Egypt to set the people free, and then he led them out of Egypt. Pharaoh goes back on the deal and tries to recapture Isreal, but the people escape by crossing the Red Sea—which, I looked this up, is 1400 miles around and 1600 feet deep. They don’t go around it, they go right down the middle. YWHW does this incredible thing: his Spirit pushes back the waters like a wall on both sides, and Israel is able to walk on dry ground. Israel is saved by going down into the depths of the waters, and they find life on the other side.

Paul says, this was the first baptism. Your spiritual ancestors experienced salvation through the waters long before you ever did.

Then while Israel was wandering in the desert, God provided bread from heaven when there was no food for them to eat. Some have likened it to Frosted Flakes, which they gathered up every morning. And God provided water for them to drink when there was no water available anywhere else. Moses strikes a rock and water just streams out of it.

The people eat and drink and find life, and Paul says that this life was provided to them by Christ—don’t ask me how that works, commentators have no idea why he says this. But the analogy is clear. What happened to Israel was a shadow of what was to come in Jesus Christ. Through him, we are baptised through death into life. Through him, we find our spiritual nourishment, we eat and drink in the presence of God as his community of rescued people, and as we walk through the wilderness of this world, we are a people on a path toward a promised land of abundant life, where God and man will dwell with one another, and sorrow and death will be no more, and the world will know the God who saves.

This is a reminder to Corinth and to us that the God we serve has consistently loved and walked with his covenant family and shown them, by this grace and forgiveness and justice, who he is, throughout all time. These identity-forming experiences are not new to God’s people.

This is a reminder. But it is also a warning.

Because Isreal had it all. They had the miraculous salvation of God. They had their hunger and thirst satisfied. But in the already/not yet of their journey, between their rescue and their final home, Israel lost sight of their relationship with their God.

They fashioned an idol, and then had a good old fashioned pagan party—kids, ask your parents what that means.

They tested their Savior.

They grumbled and complained.

Israel lost sight of their God. They thought they were special, that they were entitled to spiritual blessing. And they were destroyed.

Now Paul says, be careful: you could be next. Whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall.

Here’s what I’ve observed about Christian community. It is really easy to take religious rituals like medicine. Come to church, sing some songs, get baptized, take communion. Maybe hang out for the DNA groups if you feel up to it. That’s 2 hours of your week. For some of you, that may feel like a flu shot. It’s painful, you wince a lot, you feel bad for a little bit afterward, but then you can go about the rest of your week and do what you want because you and Jesus are square.

Dad’s story with Catholicism, prayers and then fights.

Here’s where I think we trip up along the way. We’ve fallen in to the belief that our interaction with God works like this: Jesus died for my sins, and when I pray a prayer at some time in my life, I am saved from sin and therefore Hell, a bad place that I could go if I’m bad. Later on I’ll go to heaven and meet up with God there, but in the meantime, I have to pay my dues and be a good person, and that’s mostly my effort, with a little bit of the Holy Spirit acting as my conscience, the little angel on my shoulder. Outside of that, I can really live my life however I want to, in a way that gets me ahead and makes me feel satisfied, content, righteous. And If I do a good enough job of balancing my dues and my other life things, God will say, that’s good enough, and reward me in heaven.

How soon do you think it takes you, on average, to fall into this pattern every week? God becomes the bookend of spiritual life, but in the end, he is reduced to a fire insurance and retirement package salesman. Get me my protection, secure my future, and then I hope to never hear from you again unless things go south.

Insurance: Moral Hazard; I take more risks because I am covered

Here’s the problem. God wants to be more than your State Farm Agent. He wants to be your Father. Your Creator, Your Sustainer, the object of your greatest devotion and concern. God wants you to do more than dabble with him on Sundays. He wants your whole life, every part of it, to be devoted to him. But when we bookend God in our lives, we allow for other devotions, other pursuits, other interests that we think will pay out more than what God is offering in the here and now. We pursue moral hazards, because we think we are squared away. Be careful. Flee from false images of comfort and power and glory.

Two Things:

Does God actually destroy? Yes. He is a just God, equally as just as he is kind and loving, and in order to make relationships pure and undefiled, there is a refining process that often means humility and yes, even destruction. But read deeper. God does not go around, actively rooting out idolators and burning them at the stake. Most of the time, when we choose to kneel at the feet of idols, God steps aside and allows us to be done in by our own pride and foolishness.

What about: God won’t allow me to be tempted? Paul puts this in there as a comfort to those who are faithfully seeking Jesus. In the wilderness, there will be temptations, trials that will sow seeds of doubt and uncertainty and cause you to look around and seek solace elsewhere. But if you are seeking after Jesus, these temptations will be momentary, and they will not overcome you; God is faithful, he will be with you the whole way. But if you are a moral hazard, if Jesus is simply fire insurance to you, and you put yourself into tempting situations, that’s a different story. That’s testing Christ. And He is as just and fair as he is good and loving.

More Than A Meal (1 Cor 10:15-22)

1 Corinthians 10:15–22 CSB

I am speaking as to sensible people. Judge for yourselves what I am saying. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, since all of us share the one bread. Consider the people of Israel. Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? What am I saying then? That food sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but I do say that what they sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons! You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot share in the Lord’s table and the table of demons. Or are we provoking the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

Pretty sure Paul is being sarcastic again here: I am speaking to sensible people, judge for yourselves!

Now, Paul first warned us against leaning on Jesus as a flu shot or insurance salesmen, and then he ends it with saying flee from idolatry. But wait, the people say, aren’t idols just wood and stone, completely powerless? Can’t I go to the festivals and enjoy myself and build up my social status a bit? I know that it doesn’t really mean anything or hurt anyone, so it’s fine!

Be wise. See the bigger picture. Biblical Wisdom is all about opening your eyes and seeing what’s really going on around you, who God is and what he is up to in the world, and how everything you do is connected to that.

When you come to church, and you take communion, the bread and the cup, this is more than a ritual, more than just remembrance. Paul says this is an act of sharing. Paul uses the word koinonia, meaning fellowship if you like the churchy words, or participation, have in common. It means when you come and worship, you eat and drink from the Table of God, you are effectively saying this is what I am all about. This is your family, this is your community. We are united by the sacrifice of Jesus, and together we commit to showing the world through our actions, every day, what Christ is all about. We have this in common with Christ and each other.

God is not interesting in your part-time spirituality. He wants your whole life, exclusively, to be his.

Sometimes, we are not wise; we lose sight of how everything is connected, and how God wants everything. We decide that what we give God, our nice packaged 2 hours on Sunday, plus maybe some quiet time a few minutes a day and a group Bible Study every so often, is good enough for him. And we fill the rest of the time with eating and drinking of different sorts.

We throw on our football jerseys, pull out the chips and beverages, and share in the glory of the god of physical beauty and skill and entertainment, played out in massive temples and fanfare.

We eat and drink in temples built to the god of comfort and wealth, with mortgages to match.

We join in the rallies of political combatants, donned in red or blue, in temples erected to the glory of the god of power and control.

We eat and drink to woo a desirable mate, in deference to the god of sexual fulfilment and gratification.

Hold up, you say. This is idol worship? I thought it was just an innocent pastime! Is it really wrong to do these things?

No. But also, yes. It depends on whose favor you are seeking, and whose glory your reflect.

See, idol in Greek is the word eidos, something that is seen. It is the image, a representative, of anything that you believe will give you happiness, health, power, or pleasure. A big house or nice can be an idol to the god of wealth and prosperity. A sports team can be an idol to the god of power and success. A spouse can be an idol to the god of sexual fulfillment. A college degree job can be an idol to the god of achievement and independence. A political leader can be an idol to the god of cultural influence.

In ancient times, favor from the gods meant fertility: rain for your crops, children for your legacy. These are not the favors we seek, but our fertility manifests itself it a multitude of ways. Do you feel like you can conquer the world when your favored sports team wins? Do you feel like the world is yours when a pretty girl or guy looks your way? Do you feel like the world is finally made right when your political candidate wins the election? Do you feel like you’ve arrived when you finally move into that dream home?

That’s idolatry, the believe that behind the image of wood and stone, there is a powerful force working to make your life fruitful and good. And when you partner with these forces, you are saying, in effect, that Jesus is not enough for you. You’ll be stronger without him. You make him jealous for you.

Paul ends this by saying you cannot eat and drink with Jesus in his life-giving work, and then go about and honor what other beings, fallen spiritual gods, are doing in the world. Flee from this, friends.

It’s All About Glory (1 Cor 10:23-11:1)

1 Corinthians 10:23–11:1 CSB

“Everything is permissible,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible,” but not everything builds up. No one is to seek his own good, but the good of the other person. Eat everything that is sold in the meat market, without raising questions for the sake of conscience, since the earth is the Lord’s, and all that is in it. If any of the unbelievers invites you over and you want to go, eat everything that is set before you, without raising questions for the sake of conscience. But if someone says to you, “This is food from a sacrifice,” do not eat it, out of consideration for the one who told you, and for the sake of conscience. I do not mean your own conscience, but the other person’s. For why is my freedom judged by another person’s conscience? If I partake with thanksgiving, why am I criticized because of something for which I give thanks? So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. Give no offense to Jews or Greeks or the church of God, just as I also try to please everyone in everything, not seeking my own benefit, but the benefit of many, so that they may be saved. Imitate me, as I also imitate Christ.

Now, you may be saying, can I not have a good job or a house? Can I not vote for president? Can I not root for a sports team? Can I not pursue a wife or husband? Do I need to shut down all my social media accounts?

Be sensible. Go ahead and do these things (maybe not social media). That’s not the point. The point is, why? Whose image are you reflecting? Whose image are you strengthening and validating—or, in biblical terms, what god are you glorifying?

Paul’s final word is about your conscience and the conscience of others. Conscience in Greek is more than just a moral code. The word here is suneidos, and it literally means to share in the image of something. In other words, to be an idol with others. Everyone has a conscience, where what they do and say is reflective of their hearts deepest desires and longings. That conscience can reflect God goodness and beauty, or it can reflect the world’s definitions of goodness and beauty. Ultimately, how you reflect God will determine who God is to the world, and their image will be impacted.

Your job as the image of God is to bless the world—to be fruitful and multiply. You were created to partner with God to bring about his rightly ordered ways, to cultivate and spread goodness, righteousness, and beauty throughout the world. You are a stand in for the King of Creation, representing everything that he is, his character, his nature, the embodiment of his lovingkindness.

Imitate me as I also imitate Christ.

PRAY