Flee Idolatry - 1 Cor 10:1-22
Flee Idolatry • Sermon • Submitted
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· 7 viewsTrusting in the faithfulness of God, we, as the body of Christ, must flee idolatry.
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Pray
Trusting in the faithfulness of God, we, as the body of Christ, must flee idolatry.
1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
6 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. 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. 12 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.
14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. 15 I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16 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? 17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. 18 Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? 19 What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. 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. 22 Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
1 cor 120:1-22
180 weekend - Worldview - Think hard about our faith - how do we defend what we believe.
Three ways: With Scripture - BT - Apologetic tools in their tool box to engage their friends and family about what they believe.
1 Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up.
The point thus far: We should not cause those young in their faith to stumble.
Knowledge without love is dangerous
Freedoms are never used to lay a road block in some else’s spiritual growth.
Paul uses himself in Chpt 9 as an illustration
Now in Chapt. 10 he turns towards history to drive home a second point.
That “the mature” are in danger of falling into idolatry
Main idea: Trusting in the faithfulness of God, we, as the body of Christ, must flee idolatry.
1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
Pray
Intro:
Example: picture of The Starry Night, June 1889, Vincent Van Gogh
This is an authentic painting
What authenticates a community?
Is it merely a Knowledge of Christ and each other ?
Is it Communion with Christ and each other?
How do we know that our membership within the body of Christ is real and genuine?
By agreed information of genuine communion with Christ and each other.
What mark an authentic community whether pagan or Christian is not agreed information but communion
When we have more communion over our favorite football team or our child gymnastics team than we do the body of Jesus Christ we have either fallen into idolatry or we are on the precipice of danger and we don’t even know it.
Worship is simply what we ascribe ultimate value to in our actual lives. It is Where our passion and devotion lies.
If I stand on the precipice of idolatry where will my children stand?
The Bible knows nothing of a Christian who is not part of a local church.
For to be one with Christ is to be one with a people that you love personally and live in accountable community with those people.
The local church is the authentic community of the Redeemed of Christ.
To share knowledge of Christ but to live like idolaters is not authentic community.
Two reasons to abstain from eating food offered to idols:
This whole discussion arose out of the question whether it was permissible to eat the sacrifices offered to idols.
Paul, while admitting that there was nothing wrong in eating such food, exhorts the Corinthians to abstain for the sake of their weaker brothers.
There was another reason for this abstinence: they might be led into idolatry.
The supposed “mature” problem? they are in danger of being led into idolatry
Lord - example - derive lessons to apply in our lives - celebrate our being into this one body thru the body and and blood of Christ.
To this ends Paul tells the local church to remember that the Lord is:
The Lord of History: Israel- v.1-5
The Lord of History: Israel- v.1-5
Ex: Condemned to Repeat It
Who like histor
Some people find history interesting, but at least as many people think it is just plain boring. “Why do I have to learn all of these dates?” the teenager complains to her parents. “
This is just old stuff that nobody cares about any more,” another child says to his history teacher. “What’s it got to do with me today?”
The famous Harvard philosophy professor George Santayana wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
History can teach us where other people have made mistakes as they met the challenges of life.
If we fail to learn from their examples, we too may fall when circumstances present us with similar challenges.
All were part of the community
1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea,
The use of the word baptized points to an implicit analogy.
The Israelites had been baptized into Moses just as the Corinthians had been baptized into Christ.
The cloud was the means of divine guidance at the time of the Exodus (), when the people passed through the sea ().
21 And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. 22 The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.
21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. 22 And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
21 And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. 22 The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.
In Paul’s mind, sufficient continuity existed between the covenant people of God in the Old Testament (Israel) and in the New Testament (the church) that the Old Testament Israelites were the spiritual forefathers of all New Testament believers.
All received grace -
3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.
the point is not an OT sacraments but a picture of God’s provision & protection
One of the most common meanings of the word “spiritual” in Scripture is “derived from the Spirit.”
Spiritual gifts and spiritual blessings are gifts and blessings of which the Spirit is the author. Everything that God does in nature and in grace, he does by the Spirit
The manna therefore was spiritual food in the same sense in which the special gifts of God are called “spiritual gifts.”
That is, it was given by the Spirit. It was not natural food, but food miraculously provided.
He faithfully and consistently guided and provided. ;
12 In the sight of their fathers he performed wonders
in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.
13 He divided the sea and let them pass through it,
and made the waters stand like a heap.
14 In the daytime he led them with a cloud,
and all the night with a fiery light.
15 He split rocks in the wilderness
and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.
16 He made streams come out of the rock
and caused waters to flow down like rivers.
12 In the sight of their fathers he performed wonders
in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.
13 He divided the sea and let them pass through it,
and made the waters stand like a heap.
14 In the daytime he led them with a cloud,
and all the night with a fiery light.
15 He split rocks in the wilderness
and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.
16 He made streams come out of the rock
and caused waters to flow down like rivers.
25 Man ate of the bread of the angels;
he sent them food in abundance.
This guidance and provision was Grace and all received it.
Rock is a picture of God’s character: faithful and consistent in character
4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.
John explained that the manna foreshadowed Christ ().
31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” 32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
v.4b - The rock that followed them was Christ.
says that the Lord (Jesus) delivered his people out of Egypt
He faithfully and consistently guided and provided.
5 Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.
The Logos, the manifested Jehovah, who accompanied the Israelites in their journey, was the Son of God who took our nature and was the Christ.
Jesus was the source of all the support the Israelites enjoyed during their journey in the wilderness.
1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
All were judged -
5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
Nevertheless (the strong adversative alla), although God had given them such signal manifestations of his power and goodness, the majority failed to enter the Promised Land
29 And they ate and were well filled,
for he gave them what they craved.
30 But before they had satisfied their craving,
while the food was still in their mouths,
31 the anger of God rose against them,
and he killed the strongest of them
and laid low the young men of Israel.
Most of them is a masterly understatement.
Of all the hosts of Israel only two men entered Canaan; the rest perished in the wilderness.
Wilderness wandering: Only two survived.
Caleb and Joshua alone entered the promised land.” All the runners run, but only one gets the prize (9:24)
Oh Yes! It is Jesus Christ who is the Lord of history and so we must learn:
The Example of History : v. 6-13
The Example of History : v. 6-13
- “These things” - looks both backwards and forwards: To God’s grace in Christ from Israel and to present grace described v.6-11
6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.
All God’s work in history culminates in the person and work of Christ and his work thru His Church.
Paul wants the church to learn lesson from Israel: When self-confidence leads to sin, God will judge.
Even Moses was not allowed to enter the Promised Land ().
God had already killed some of the Corinthians for these things ().
Four (interconnected) sins that led to judgement
- Idolatry (key issue 8:1) thru presumption and overconfidence in their community status
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.”
To play - dances and games that were by nature erotic
When Moses went to Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments, Israel began to indulge in pagan revelry before the golden calf, which evidently included pagan cultic meals like those the Corinthians ate in pagan temples -
The Israelites did not consider themselves as idolaters when they made the golden calf; they claimed it was Jehovah whom they aimed to worship.
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.”
The clear command: Take no part of cultic idolatry. These things are not neutral
The past displays God’s perspective for the present
- Idolatry leads to sexual license:
8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day.
- v.2-3 sexual license & V.9 - judgement
1 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.
- Tests Christ - This testing was related to Israels desires & cravings - ;
1 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you my workmanship in the Lord? 2 If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
3 This is my defense to those who would examine me. 4 Do we not have the right to eat and drink? 5 Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? 6 Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? 7 Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk?
8 Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the Law say the same? 9 For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? 10 Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. 11 If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? 12 If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more?
Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. 13 Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? 14 In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.
15 But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing these things to secure any such provision. For I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of my ground for boasting. 16 For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 17 For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship. 18 What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.
19 For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.
24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents,
- snakes
6 Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.
The idea in ‘testing’ or ‘tempting’ God is that of seeing how far one can go
16 “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah.
2 Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?”
- Sends snakes due to grumbling - bronze serpent
1 When the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the Negeb, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel, and took some of them captive. 2 And Israel vowed a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will indeed give this people into my hand, then I will devote their cities to destruction.” 3 And the Lord heeded the voice of Israel and gave over the Canaanites, and they devoted them and their cities to destruction. So the name of the place was called Hormah.
4 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.
4 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.
- grumbling - Testing thru grumbling - grumbling leads to destruction
1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
6 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. 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. 12 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.
14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. 15 I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16 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? 17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. 18 Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? 19 What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. 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. 22 Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
23 “All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. 24 Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor. 25 Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. 26 For “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.” 27 If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience. 28 But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience— 29 I do not mean your conscience, but his. For why should my liberty be determined by someone else’s conscience? 30 If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks?
31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 32 Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, 33 just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.
10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.
To grumble is to complain in a rebellious spirit.
The reference is to ;, Grumbling - “The Lord said to Moses, ‘How long will these people treat me with contempt?
2 And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!
2 And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!
11 And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? 12 I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”
- The point: God has and will judge his people if they fail to heed the gospel.
11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.
Those ages are now completed and the lessons they teach are open to us.
Paul wants the church to learn lesson from Israel: When self-confidence leads to sin, God will judge.
These things happened to them. That is, they continued to happen.
As examples. Literally, they were “types” (see verse 6).
They were intended as historical pictures, to represent, the effects of idolatry, sexual immorality, grumbling, etc.
12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.
Therefore =centrality of this verse in this section
If you think you are standing firm. This may refer either to security of salvation or against the power of temptation.
Followers of Christ who are overly confident and think they are standing firm should be careful not to fall as the Israelites did in the desert.
Neither the members of the church nor the elect can be saved unless they persevere in holiness; and they cannot persevere in holiness without continual watchfulness and effort.
Again, Paul did not mean that one’s salvation can be lost.
Believers can fall in sin/idolatry - discipline
Those who profess to believers may prove themselves not to be
Rather, he meant that some who wrongly think they are saved might prove themselves not to be (see ).
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.
How does this verse on Temptation connect with the previous verses and those that follow?
First, all temptations that Christians experience, including that of idolatry, are common to man.
“You have been subjected to no superhuman or extraordinary temptations.
Your trials hitherto have been moderate; and God will not allow you to be unduly tried.”
-To “tempt” there, however, means to solicit or attempt to seduce into sin.
13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.
In that sense God tempts no one.
But he does often put believers devotion & character to the test, as in the case of Abraham.
“You have been subjected to no superhuman or extraordinary temptations.
Your trials hitherto have been moderate; and God will not allow you to be unduly tried.”
Second, God is faithful, and he will not desert his people (see ; ; ; ).
The faithfulness of God despite Israels rebellion is common to all the wilderness account in the OT.
v.13 - The faithfulness of God despite Israels rebellion is common to all the wilderness account in the OT.
God’s provision in Christ “the Rock” - providing even in the wilderness judgement
The temptation of Idolatry, sexual immorality, grumbling and testing are real, BUT
It is the Lord God’s kind faithfulness will enable the to bear up under the temptation
We have seen the Lord of history and the example of history so what are the:
The lessons from History: Flee Idolatry - v.14-22
The lessons from History: Flee Idolatry - v.14-22
- Flee idolatry!
14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
my beloved - tender - those loved by God
flee idolatry -present imperative
As the preceding verses make clear, idolatry is a serious matter. Christians should never flirt or toy with it.
Striking similarities how he dealt with sin in Chapter 6 - immorality
10:14 & 6:18 - Flee!
10:17 & 6:18-19 - One body partake of one bread - the body is the temple of holy spirit
10:21 & 6:15 No divided loyalties
Fleeing involves:
first, avoiding what is questionable—that is, everything that lies on the border of what is allowable or that approaches the confines of sin; and,
second, keeping at a distance from everything that excites evil passion or that tends to ensnare the soul.
- Covenant participation
16 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? 17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
The point of illustrating the Lords supper is to teach the danger of participating with pagan meals
The word participation (koinonia) may also be translated “sharing in” (NASB, NRSV) or “communion of” (NKJV).
The New Testament teaches that believers experience at least two types of communion.
3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
Believers experience fellowship with Christ (, ) and with one another ().
The cup blessing = passover -??
It is not the cup that possess a blessing that the people receive when they drink from it but a cup for which a blessing, a thanksgiving, is given to God by the people who then drink from it.
participation - sharing - fellowship association
Covenant participation remind us of the very heart of the gospel -
42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
-
17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
Paul could have said that believers partake of one loaf because they are one body, because this is also true—but he did not.
Rather, he said that believers are one body because they partake of the one loaf.
Break the bread - 11:25 Christ body for us.
Cup = participation/ thanksgiving in the blood of Christ
Bread = participation/ thanksgiving in the body of Christ
- covenant allegiance/devotion/ faithfulness
18 Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? 19 What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons.
food offered to idols and the food eaten is a thanksgiving offering: The act is in its nature an act of worship (verse 18).
V.19-20 -Cult meals results in worship of and allegiance to demons.
Clarity: Are “gods” present at the feast? No!
Pagans are greatly mistaken about sacrifices to their so-called gods, but something supernatural is involved: the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons.
“Just as one shows his master by whom he serves, so also one shows allegiance by the worship in which he participates.”
V.20 - allegiance to demons?! - Ref - song of Moses
17 They sacrificed to demons that were no gods,
to gods they had never known,
to new gods that had come recently,
whom your fathers had never dreaded.
A person cannot worship Christ and worship demons, or be in communion with one while in communion with the other.
’m not the Holy Spirit but I am your pastor. Take heed brothers and sisters.
The Lord cares who we have communion with. We have been bought with a price and have communion with Christ and his people alone.
Do you know where meditation stems from? It is the means of salvation in Eastern mysticism. It is a spiritual technique designed to bring one to worship; to make them One with an Impersonal “force.”
This is a wandering into enemy territory, take heed.
And yet idolatry is not always so easy to spot.
When we have more communion over our favorite football team or our child gymnastics team than we do the body of Jesus Christ we have either fallen into idolatry or we are on the precipice of danger and we don’t even know it.
Some of us are creating idolaters by baby sitting our own children with video games for hours, training them to devote themselves to vanity.
I can promise you this, everyone of us has something desiring worship status in our lives and many of them are good things even precious things
What mark an authentic community whether pagan or Christian is not agreed information but communion
Worship is simply what we ascribe ultimate value and meaning to in our actual lives. It is Where our passion and devotion lies.
If I stand on the precipice of idolatry where will my children stand?
The local church is the authentic community of the Redeemed of Christ that worships Christ and him alone.
And anything that fails to worship Christ alone worship demons.
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
- covenant jealousy
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. 22 Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
The warning is clear.
You cannot pull up to the Lord table in thanksgiving and allegiance to the person and work of Christ and at the same time pull up to an idol’s table without kindling the jealousy of God.
I don’t like this attribute of God! Do you desire your spouse to be faithful? How would you feel if they were not unfaithful?
God is often portrayed in Scripture as a jealous, possessive husband (;
1 Say to your brothers, “You are my people,” and to your sisters, “You have received mercy.”
2 “Plead with your mother, plead—
for she is not my wife,
and I am not her husband—
that she put away her whoring from her face,
and her adultery from between her breasts;
3 lest I strip her naked
and make her as in the day she was born,
and make her like a wilderness,
and make her like a parched land,
and kill her with thirst.
4 Upon her children also I will have no mercy,
because they are children of whoredom.
5 For their mother has played the whore;
she who conceived them has acted shamefully.
For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers,
who give me my bread and my water,
my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’
6 Therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns,
and I will build a wall against her,
so that she cannot find her paths.
7 She shall pursue her lovers
but not overtake them,
and she shall seek them
but shall not find them.
Then she shall say,
‘I will go and return to my first husband,
for it was better for me then than now.’
8 And she did not know
that it was I who gave her
the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and who lavished on her silver and gold,
which they used for Baal.
9 Therefore I will take back
my grain in its time,
and my wine in its season,
and I will take away my wool and my flax,
which were to cover her nakedness.
10 Now I will uncover her lewdness
in the sight of her lovers,
and no one shall rescue her out of my hand.
11 And I will put an end to all her mirth,
her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths,
and all her appointed feasts.
12 And I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees,
of which she said,
‘These are my wages,
which my lovers have given me.’
I will make them a forest,
and the beasts of the field shall devour them.
13 And I will punish her for the feast days of the Baals
when she burned offerings to them
and adorned herself with her ring and jewelry,
and went after her lovers
and forgot me, declares the Lord.
5 For your Maker is your husband,
the Lord of hosts is his name;
and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,
the God of the whole earth he is called.
32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord.
He is our husband, to whom our supreme affection is due; and he loves us as a husband loves his wife.
Two points: We live in community with each other and put nothing in each other way. We as a community must not make any good thing a bad thing by making it an ultimate thing.
So What?
So What?
Possible two so What points
Am I Trusting in God faithfulness or presuming on God’s grace?
19 Remember my affliction and my wanderings,
the wormwood and the gall!
20 My soul continually remembers it
and is bowed down within me.
21 But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”
4 “The Rock, his work is perfect,
for all his ways are justice.
A God of faithfulness and without iniquity,
just and upright is he.
Application taken out of our response music. three songs
How much value are you prescribing
As we respond in worship and communion:
Remind yourself daily of the cross - Jesus is Better than the world can give or take away
In all my sorrows
Jesus is better - Make my heart believe
be - lieve C In ev'ry vict'ry F Jesus is better Am7 Make my heart F be - lieve C Than any comfort, F Jesus is better Am7 Make my heart F be - lieve C More than all riches, F Jesus is better Am7 Make my heart F be - lieve, yeah
Make my heart be - lieve
In every victory Jesus is better - Make my heart believe
More than any comfort, Jesus is better - Make my heart believe
More than all riches, -Jesus is better - Make my heart believe
Remind ourselves daily of our Great God that promised to give us the grace we need to glorify His name through us and He is faithful to do it!
Help me now to live a life
That's dependent on Your grace
Keep my heart and guard my soul
From the evils that I face
You are worthy to be praised
With my every thought and deed
O great God of highest heaven
Glorify Your Name through me
Remind yourselves of our desperate need for the Lord not just for his grace, power, and his wisdom but remind ourselves that we need Him.
So teach my song to rise to You
When temptation comes my way
When I cannot stand I'll fall on You
Jesus, You're my hope and stay
Lord, I need You, oh, I need You
Every hour I need You
My one defense, my righteousness
Oh God, how I need You
Above all let us remind ourselves of who we are because of what Christ has done.
In the garden Jesus prayed Let this cup pass from me.
What was in the cup?
Was the author and finisher of our faith afraid of a roman cross, a beating.
For did not many come after him and suffer gruesome horrible death?
7 but it is God who executes judgment,
putting down one and lifting up another.
8 For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup
with foaming wine, well mixed,
and he pours out from it,
and all the wicked of the earth
shall drain it down to the dregs.
The wrath of God was in that cup! The wrath of God for our sins, so wide and so high that only the crushing of God’s only son would atone and brothers and sister It is finished!
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
4 “The Rock, his work is perfect,
for all his ways are justice.
A God of faithfulness and without iniquity,
just and upright is he.
Now we come to the table and what set here is a cup of blessing! Not for us, but we come to the table as the redeemed of Christ and with grateful hearts and devoted lives say to our Lord we remember, we give thanks and we devote ourselves an ew to you and you alone for you alone is worthy of our praise, yes our very lives.
Let’s stand and celebrate the cross as you respond by coming and getting both elements and take them as part of your worship
Lords supper provides a picture of a cup of thanksgiving provided for us in which we partipate together remembering we are one family in Christ because of the body and blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Let’s pray
Let’s stand and celebrate the cross as you respond by coming and getting both elements and take them as part of your worship to our Lord.
The Lord’s presence and the unity of God’s people are of critical importance as we come to the Lord’s table
We have lost the picture that passover provided to the church with one cup and one bread
Often we see the Lord’s supper as about ones individuals relationship with the Lord and it certainly is, but this passage is pointing us to a greater covenantal reality.
We are part of a greater community; an eternal family.
As we come to the table we are saying that we are Christ’s church united under the body and blood of Jesus Christ’s our Lord!
We have lost the picture that passover provided to the church with one cup and one bread
Let’s stand and celebrate the cross as you respond by coming and getting both elements and take them as part of your worship