1 Corinthians 10:1-22

MAP

Mr X: A warning from the apostle...

Jesus:

TAKE HEED! That you do not fall (v1-13)

They were like us (v1-5)

Don’t be like them (v6-11)

Therefore, take heed! (v12-13)

FLEE! Spiritual adultery (v14-22)

We share in Christ (v15-17)

They share with demons (v18-20)

Do not provoke the LORD (v21-22)

Joel:

PREAMBLE

(A) Powermeter.

Anyone know what this is?

Last week. Disciple of athlete. Pro-cyclist. Watts/Kg. ^watts. vKg.

Sach said I should have. So here it is.

Powermeter. Strain gauge. measure the actual wattage you’re putting out.

Strain. Effort. Discipline body. Tracking every single watt.

1 Corinthians 9:27 “But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”

Wannabe serious cyclist? Would know.

Thought I’d bring it along.

(L) enough cycling chat. pray.

Pray

Hebrews 3:7–8 “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing,”

Help us to take care of our hearts. Want to hear you address us. Please examine us.

INTRODUCTION (Relevance Persuasion | Resonate)

(A) Imagine package holiday. Desert safari. Camping trip in the desert.

Terrible? imagine a glamping trip.

Edge of desert. about to start your adventure.

Endless sand as you stare out.

Sun beating down on the plain.

Hear wind moving across the dunes.

Enter, on foot if you’re on budget trip. or Luxury 4x4 Range Rover if you’re glamping.

After some hours.. strange sight.

(A) black lumps in the sand. many lumps strewn across the ground.

(A) Then it hits your nose. Stench of rotting flesh. decaying bodies.

Black lumps.. dead bodies spread out across the desert.

23,000 bodies

(L) That’s the image we have in our text.

1 Corinthians 10:5 “Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.”

1 Corinthians 10:8 “We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day.”

Warning passage

The word from God today is a warning.

A kind warning to keep us from falling. to keep us safe. to keep us from being like one of the dead bodies in the desert

(L) Because we can be at risk of believing a lie

A lie that wholehearted devotion to Jesus… Doesn’t really matter.

“It’s fine to love the world and love Jesus. It’s not that bad.”

“It’s fine to indulge in secret sin. Everyone does it anyway.”

“It’s fine to obey God in same areas, but in other areas.. it’s fine. I'm sure he’ll understand.”

CONTEXT (Orientate | Situate)

For presenting issue in our passage today is idolatry

Maybe for some of us, because of family backgrounds, parental pressures, forms of ancestral worship

The pressure to engage in idolatrous practices is real.

Come back next week as we think more practically about these issues.

But for most of us.

We don’t really spend our time thinking about the visiting the buddhist or hindu temple to bow down to a wooden idol.

But of course, the thing to realise is the attraction of idolatry back then and today, is never primarily the wooden statue. It is not primarily the physical idol.

But everything that it seemed to offer.

The promise of securing your future. you offer gifts, the idol protects you.

The promise of comfort. You bow down, the idol keeps your healthy and wealthy.

The promise of enabling us to fulfil our own desires. You worship it, the idol gives you what you want.

And the cost of reputation when we reject what others are following.

So the attract is no different for us today, once we remove the wooden statue.

We can search elsewhere for future security, comfort, reputation.

Lie? wholehearted devotion to Jesus… Doesn’t really matter.

Apostle warns us today… God is warning us today. Two warnings!

Take heed! - that you do not fall

Flee! - spiritual adultery

ARGUMENT (Texture | Unity | Coherence | Development)

TAKE HEED! That you do not fall (v1-13)

Paul goes on to tell of of story of people who fell

Retells the story of Israel after the Exodus who fell.

Point? They were like us

Read 1 Corinthians 10:1–4 “For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.”

Paul recounts their story. But he makes the emphasis that they were just like us

Salvation? Saved out of Egypt. God’s sustaining presence - Sustained on the journey.

(L) but Paul uses language to link them with us.

Salvation - Their red sea experience - described like a baptism.

God’s sustaining presence - Their manna, water from the rock, described like partaking in the Lord’s supper. Spiritual food and drink.

And the Rock was Christ

(L) Point?

We aren’t mean to read that to think they had an actual baptism in the NT sense.

But rather, by analogy, they were like us.

They were saved like us. They were sustained like us.

They were like us.

Moreover, like us they had the privileges

Saw the 10 plagues. Frogs, blood, hail.

Heard the wails. First born son. Passover

Saw the Red sea part. Dry ground. Water cover Egyptians.

Ate Miracle bread. Quail

Drank Miracle water from a rock.

Saw the visible glory of the Lord. Cloud. Fire.

They had ALL the privileges

Yet...

1 Corinthians 10:5 “Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.”

All experienced. Most fell.

How many made it into the promise land....? Two. Joshua and Caleb.

How many came out of Egypt? 600,000 men? Include women? 1M.

A million bodies fell. Two made it in.

1 Corinthians 10:5 “Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.”

They were like us, they were saved, sustained, all the privileges… Yet they fell in the wilderness.

(L) And so.. Paul says, “Do not be like them”

1 Corinthians 10:6–7 “Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. 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.””

(A) When you hear eat, drink, rose to play - don’t think board games night at “The Brotherhood Games cafe” at bermondsey

It is a polite way of saying, a euphemism, that they engaged in idolatrous feast and idolatrous sex

Paul alludes to Exodus 32. And the scene is like a wedding night.

(A) The bride and the groom have just exchanged their vows.

But the moment the groom turns his back.

The wife, finds another man to sleep with.

(A) God and his people have just entered into a marriage covenant.

But the moment God turns to address Moses up the mountain

Israel, finds another god to commit adultery with, - two golden calves. And the people sat down, to eat, drink and rose to “play”

Do not be like them

(L) three more examples

1 Corinthians 10:8 “We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day.”

Here Paul recounts Num 25. People engaged in idolatrous worship of the Baal and immoral sex with foreign women

(A) Worship of idols, orgy along side it.

Creator God who designed sex and marriage is ignored.

Idols are worship, disordered desires are rampant.

(V) Just an aside, it’s worth emphasising that it’s always the case, whenever the God of the bible is ignored, sexual immorality follows closely behind.

The Creator God designs and defines marriage and sex.

But what happens when you remove him? Or you refashion him into your own making?

Because sexual desires are such strong, powerful desires.

They easily dominate. and our rationality follows after.

(V) No surprise in a society that wants nothing to do with the God of the bible.

Society’s self-determination of sexual ethics follows closely behind.

Sex is no longer reserved for marriage.

Marriage is no longer between one man and one woman.

And so, Paul say, Do not be like them

(Pause)

1 Corinthians 10:9–10 “We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.”

What does it mean to put Christ to the test?

(A) Attitude towards God that is always demanding for God to “do better”

God reveals himself to us, through his Son, his scriptures, through the lives of other believers

But we ask “Why isn’t there more evidence”

“Prove yourself God, prove yourself”

It is an attitude towards God demanding for him to “do better”

“Prove yourself!” prove yourself that you are worth my time.

Do not be like them and put Christ to the test.

How about to grumble?

(A) it is an attitude towards God that is never satisfied of all the privileges God gives you

“wouldn’t it be better if life were different”

God provides our daily bread

But we ask “why have you given me so little?”

God offers eternal life, abundant life forever!

But we ask “Why isn’t my life better now”

“the christian life is terrible”

So Paul warns us and says...

They were like us. Saved. Sustained. Privileges. They had it all!

Yet 1M bodies in the wilderness. Idolators. Sexually immoral. Grumblers.

(Pause)

Reinforce

Mulling.. very striking. Why did the wilderness generation fall away? They really did have all the privileges.

(L) so why did they fall?

1 Corinthians 10:6 “Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.”

So striking. Reason? Their desire. evil desires.

Often we think people fall away, or deconstruct because of lack of evidence. not rational enough.

But often the bible identifies the issue as our desires. Our desires lead us astray, knowingly or unknowingly

Love of money

Love for a secret sin

Love of the world

Love of an easy life.

Disorder desires overrides our rationality.

Do not desire evil as they did.

(A) Older you get. Hear more stories of friends. Once keen… fall away.

Friend. All the privileges

Christian family. Good bible teaching. Good church. Evidence of the goodness of the gospel everywhere

Response? “Prove yourself God! Show more more evidence, that you are worth my while.”

Walks away. Life unravel.

Another friend. All the privileges

Good church. Good bible teaching. Christian spouse.

Response? “Why isn’t my life better”

Leaves her. Marries another. Falls away.

V - Do you think you’d never fall away? Do you think you’d never stumble

Take heed. Be careful. Watch yourself.

Do you enjoy Christian privileges? Do you have the blessing of Christian friends and family? Do you enjoy God’s provisions?

Don’t be like them. Be careful. Take heed, that you do not fall.

Paul says.. “Take heed!

1 Corinthians 10:12–13 “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 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.”

The devil loves for us to believe is that every time we face temptation is that it is impossible to resist.

“you are going to sin anyway so you might as well give in”

But Paul says no. that is a lie.

Any temptation or problem you face, there would have been another person who has experienced that before

God was faithful to his people, to Joshua, to Caleb. Those who were faith to him.

God is faithful, he makes it possible to endure every test.

Remove temptation

Give strength to resist

You can resist.

(L) First warning: take heed.

Paul progresses his argument..

Not just be careful..

But Flee!

2. FLEE! Spiritual adultery (v14-22)

1 Corinthians 10:14–17 “Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.”

Paul addresses the Lord supper, and wants us to consider the significance of what is happening.

When we partake of the Lord’s supper, we visibly express the spiritual reality of our participation with Christ and each other

Drink from the cup - we participate in his blood.

“This is my blood that is poured out for you”

Break bread and eat - we participate in his body.

“This is my body, that is broken for you”

And because we all share in his body, we express our participation with one another.

(^) worth nothing that this is a visible expression of a spiritual reality.

Not that the wine becomes the actual blood of Jesus.

Nor that the bread becomes the actual body of Jesus.

But it is a visible, physical expression of something that is very true, very real, our spiritual reality.

We share in Christ

(L) and that is also true of other rituals

1 Corinthians 10:18–20 “Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God.

He alludes to two other rituals

v18 probably refers to Jewish sacrificial rituals done in the Jerusalem temple in the 1st C.

v20, pagan idolatrous rituals

And the point he is making is that eating and drinking in the context of worship is to participate in the act of worship itself

If it is true of us when we share in the Lord’s supper

and if it true in Jewish worship at the temple altar

Then it is true in pagan worship as well.

eat and drink in pagan temple - we participate in the worship of demons.

(Pause)

He does clarify,

it’s not that the actual food sacrifice to idols suddenly becomes magically powerful

nor does the wood used to build the idol suddenly becomes something more than wood.

But that visible expression of eating food sacrificed to idols in the context of worship is expressing a very true and spiritual reality.

That of worshipping demons.

We share in Christ, they share in demons.

(A) We are going to partake in the Lord’s supper later on. We will celebrate and remember our Lord’s death for us ask we break bread and drink together.

But what is something unthinkable to do along side that?

(pause)

Here’s is an “idol” that I bought from Amazon.

Can you imagine setting this idol next to the Lord’s table?

One hand, hold bread and wine.

Other hand, hold incense sticks to offer to the idol.

1 Corinthians 10:21 “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.”

It is unthinkable.

The idol belongs to the rubbish bin. (Don’t worry it was the cheapest on Amazon. That is where it belongs.)

We share in Christ, they share in Demons. Both cannot come together

(Pause)

(V) It’s true that what Paul says is something specific to idolatrous worship and the physical expression of it.

And we most of us may not feel that temptation to visit our local buddhist temple.

But remember it’s the underlying spiritual reality that matters..

Do we have a divided loyalty when we come to the Lord’s table?

Do we straddle the love of God and the love of the world?

Do we harbour a secret love for sin and think it’ll be okay?

Do we flirt with fire and pretend that the Lord doesn’t care?

1 Corinthians 10:22 “Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? Are we wiser than he?

(Pause)

Reinforce

Last week, topic: freedom.

We have a lot of freedom within the boundaries. Paul, helping us to think through how to use our freedom rightly.

But this week, topic: no freedom. Boundary lines.

Idolatry? Divided loyalty to the Lord?

Take heed! that you don’t fall.

But also much more.. Flee! Run away! from sin

Ultimately it is a call to wholehearted devotion:

Hear O church, You shall love the Lord your God, with all our heart, soul and mind.

LAND (Worldview | Us)

V - Speak to those who are teetering on the edge. Who are at risk today.

“Do not presume that you are safe”

“Do not think you know better than God or are stronger then him”

Flee from sin.

Flee from sin, like the athlete who disciplines his body.

(A) measures every single watt with the powermeter. counts every calorie.

Break off a sinful relationship if you have to

Turn on your website controls to guard you from temptation

Take action today to flee

Do not provoke the Lord to jealously.

Remember, the LORD is faithful.

His word to you today is his way of providing you an escape.

Listen to his warning. Resist the devil.

V - Speak to those who are drifting or perhaps have already drifted from the LORD

Please hear the LORD’s warning to you today

The Destroyer came

There are bodies rotting in the desert

“Don’t be one of those bodies, rotting and decaying in the desert”

“Come back to the LORD today.”

(PAUSE)

Conscious that today’s passage is quite strong. Not comfortable. maybe a bit unsettling. I feel it too.

But it is a kind warning from the LORD because it is too late.

And whenever sin abounds grace abounds all the more

In a short while, we will remember the LORD’s supper.

It is an offer of grace.

An open invitation to those who are willing to humble themselves, come to him broken and ask forgiveness

Do not come with divided loyalties, chuck it in the bin first.

His blood, shed for you.

His body, broken for you.

Let’s pray.

Hebrews 4:12–13 “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”