Watch Your Step

INTRODUCTION

Good morning and welcome again to First Christian Church of Clemmons. I am so glad that we could all gather today to worship our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Again, I want to say happy Father’s Day to our dads in the room.

We are continuing our study through the book of 1 Corinthians this morning, and we will be picking up in 1 Corinthians 10:6-13 today. I invite you to go ahead and turn there with me this morning. If you don’t have a bible with you, there is one in the pew in front of you, and the verses will also be on the screen. As a side note, from your pastor, I would encourage you to bring a physical bible with you to church. There is something about having the physical word of God in your hands, making notes, and seeing the words on the paper that I love. I am not against using a phone or tablet; I use them all the time for different things, but having a bible with you, I think, is important. It is important because you need to see what the word says, not just take my word for it. Ok, my little rant over.

Have you ever used the phrase, “that would never happen to me” before? Maybe you used it in a positive sense. Oh, I will never get in that accident, break that law, or get that diagnosis. Or maybe you have used it negatively, I would never be so lucky to win that or get that promotion.

There is actually an official term, optimism bias, when we think we are immune to things that happen to others actually happening to us. I would say that optimism bias can be very dangerous to us. And it can be especially dangerous to us as believers. This morning in 1 Corinthians, we will see a similar warning from Paul about our spiritual life.

Would you join me in prayer this morning?

PRAY

A Series Of Warnings

Let’s look at what Paul has to say this morning.

Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” 8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, 10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.

1 Corinthians 10:6–10.

Paul is telling the Corinthians that the examples that he will share are for our knowledge, to let us know what not to do. These stories, from the Old Testament, are warnings to us today. What we need to mark and avoid. What we must make sure we do not do.

Paul says it is a warning that “we might not desire evil as they did.” If we are honest, I don’t think any of us set out to desire evil. Sometimes we think we are ok. And as this passage comes in the wake of the talks on our liberty and freedom, if we are not ok, we can take that freedom and before we know it, we are into something evil.

That is why this warning is so important. There could be times when we unknowingly venture into evil, slowly, one decision at a time, we end up in a place we didn’t even intend to be. There may also be times when we wander into evil knowingly. I pray that this is never our case.

I think this is still a timely warning for us today. Even in the church today, there is evil that can take hold of us. This week alone, the news broke of a popular Christian singer whose secret sin has come to public light, just like sin will always do. And I watched a documentary about a large church in our state, east of here, that schemed and twisted their way to take over a completely separate church simply because they desired the building and land. The enemy still has his targets set on the church, still fires darts, still wants to divide and conquer in the church, and if we do not heed the warnings of Paul, we can fall victim to this evil.

IDOLATRY

The first warning is against idolatry. Paul warns that we should not be idolaters, such as some of them were. The story Paul is referring back to is found in Exodus 32. This passage tells us of the Israelites' decision to create a god out of their gold to worship. Exodus 32 tells the story this way:

When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” 2 So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” 6 And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.

Exodus 32:1–6.

The Israelites had not long been set free from Pharaoh and quickly had turned their back on God. Moses is on the mountain with God, and the people are clamoring for an idol to worship. They have seen 10 plagues, the death of the firstborn sons, the parting of the Red Sea, and instead of looking to God, they look back to the false worship they had seen for 400 years in Egypt. When they felt like God wasn’t doing what they wanted, they made a god in the image that they wanted.

There can be some explanation that the Israelites didn’t know how to worship God, they had lost some of their own identity in the 400 years of living in Egypt. While there is some truth in there, that is not an excuse for them to build a false idol and worship it.

Today we have to protect ourselves from idol worship just the same. The underlying issue was that they wanted a god that they could shape and make, and we can be the same. We can desire and crave the ability to shape god into what we like. That means we take away or add a little to scripture in order to make it appease me. When we make god into what we want, we no longer worship God but worship self.

This month, June, is now synonymous with Pride month. And while we expect a lost world to act like a lost world, when the Church does it, we need to pay attention. You can probably drive around town today and see churches with Pride flags, some will march in the Pride parade, and they will post signs that say “all are welcome.” When a group calls itself a church and openly praises what the word of God calls sin, they have lost the opportunity to call themselves a Christian church. They no longer worship Jesus, but worship a god that they have created for themselves. A god that likes what they like and hates what they hate is not an all-mighty, all-powerful, creator God. It is an imaginary friend in a cheap costume.

We must guard ourselves from creating false idols and calling them gods. As long as I am standing in this pulpit, I can promise there won’t be a pride flag, and if we are at the pride parade, it is because we are preaching the gospel.

SEXUAL IMMORALITY

The next warning we read was against sexual immorality. Paul gives the synopsis of a story from Numbers chapter 25. It says this:

While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. 2 These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. 3 So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. 4 And the Lord said to Moses, “Take all the chiefs of the people and hang them in the sun before the Lord, that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel.” 5 And Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you kill those of his men who have yoked themselves to Baal of Peor.” 6 And behold, one of the people of Israel came and brought a Midianite woman to his family, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the people of Israel, while they were weeping in the entrance of the tent of meeting. 7 When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose and left the congregation and took a spear in his hand 8 and went after the man of Israel into the chamber and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman through her belly. Thus the plague on the people of Israel was stopped. 9 Nevertheless, those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand.

Numbers 25:1–9.

Here, Paul is again warning the people of Corinth about the dangers of sexual immorality. The Israelites knew they were not to be with the women of other countries, for the very reason we read, and still went after them. Their sexual immorality led to their worship of a false god. This worship led to a plague killing 24,000 people.

Sin does not stop with one thing. It opens the door to more and more sin and more and more judgment. Just as the people at Corinth had to be on guard, because society around them was elevating sexual sin to a level of normalcy, so do we. All around us we have seen what God would call sexual immorality become “normal.” I can’t tell you how many kids shows we’ve had to stop watching in our house because someone suddenly has two moms or two dads.

Why does this happen? Because the enemy is not stupid. He comes for the young children. If he can attack the children, he can take the family. If he can make mom and dad unaware of the danger of placing a phone or tablet in their hands with no restriction, he can start to plant seeds in their mind. Suddenly, you have a generation of people who can no longer see the sin staring them right in the eyes.

But it is not just the kids. Even as adults, we must be on guard from the lies and perversion that culture puts right in our face. What we watch and listen to, the things we consume, the media we allow in, slowly will start to chip away at that wall of truth we have constructed.

DO NOT PUT GOD TO THE TEST

Paul next talks about the sin of putting Christ, or some translations may say God or Lord, to the test. He draws their mind back to the story of Moses and the bronze serpent in Numbers 21:

From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. 5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” 6 Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. 7 And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8 And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

Numbers 21: 4-9

If I am honest, this is one of my favorite Old Testament stories. The Israelites are complaining because they don’t like the food that God is providing. They spoke against God, and God judged them by sending snakes to attack. But God provides healing by having a bronze snake on a pole that they could look to, if bitten, and find healing.

Paul shares this story to show the church what could happen if they fall into the sin of complaining. This isn’t just complaining because you want it to be sunny and it is raining. This is the complaint against what God is doing. This is tempting God into judgment to see what He will do. I can tell you right now, He will act. We are not to willingly commit evil acts simply to see what God will do. You do not want to see what God will do in His judgment.

GRUMBLING

The final temptation that Paul talks about is the sin of grumbling, or some translations say murmuring. This is very much related to the previous sin of putting God to the test. In Numbers 16 and 17 we read about Korah’s rebellion. There was grumbling and complaining about what God was doing for the Israelites.

So, what about us? Well, Paul tells us in the next verses that these are an example for us so that we do not fall into this sin. If we are honest, how easy is it for us to let grumbling or murmuring rise up in our spirit? We allow a small amount of complaining to come out of our mouths. We start to harden our hearts to things. We lose focus on the provision and protection that God has given us and instead see only the negative things.

Murmuring does no good for the body of Christ. Grumbling doesn’t help our cause in the least bit. When we grumble and complain, we are removing our focus from what God has done. When is the response we should have to it? We shut it down. We are not called to follow Christ through our grumbling and complaining. We are called to go and do! So that is what we do!

TAKE HEED

The real warning from Paul is in the verses following the Old Testament examples.

Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

1 Corinthians 10:12–13.

Do you hear it? If you think you can withstand this, be careful that you don’t fall! You may be thinking, well, those sins aren’t my problem. I would never do that. I would never worship an idol, fall into immorality, test God, or complain. Wel,l let me warn you that there is a long line of people who said the same thing and committed the sins. And if we are honest, we have probably committed these sins!

Why do we need to take heed as well? No temptation is going to come that is not common to man. And because the temptation is common to man, God in His faithfulness has provided a way out of that temptation. The temptation does not come without the way to get out of that temptation. You are not stuck with no other choice than to give in to sin. Is this easy? No. But if we take this attitude and apply it to our lives, we start to see with the eyes of Jesus, then when these instances arise, we can see the temptation and the way out. We know we can reach out to someone. We can pick up the phone and call that person. We have the scripture in our heart to throw back in the face of the enemy.

Paul gives us this reminder of the warnings throughout scripture of what happens to those who take their eyes off Jesus and turn their gaze upon themselves. Those people fall. But the reminder for us is to take note of the warnings, watch for the signs of these sins, and recognize the route out of them. And we keep an eye out for our brothers and sisters.

Arrogance is not a fruit of the Spirit. We are not supposed to be full of optimism bias or spiritual pride. When we see a brother or sister fall into the snares of sin, we don’t look down on them in condemnation. We should be there to lift them and point them back to our savior.

Why?

Because in my sin, Jesus died for me. And in your sin, He died for you. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us to pay the debt of our sin and offer forgiveness. Today, that offer still stands. There is freedom in Jesus. There is forgiveness. There is hope. There is peace. There is new life in Christ. You simply have to repent and believe. Will you today?