1 Corinthians 10:1-22 Flee Idolatry

Jeff Long

Christ the wisdom and power of God • Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago

1 Corinthians 10:1–22

0 ratings

· 6 views

Trusting in the faithfulness of God, we, as the body of Christ, flee idolatry.

Notes

Transcript

Sermon Tone Analysis

Emotion

Language

Social

View more →

Flee Idolatry

Chair Bible p. 956

Prayer:

Conference was profitable…Great team from Parkwood serving a wonderful group of people giving their lives for the sake of the gospel.

Word was proclaimed, children and students were loved and cared for, workers were served.

Ammons family and Exodus Church.

Growth Groups. Growth, community, mission, multiplication.

Provision financially.

Connect to Ch. 10

Read text and pray.

Idolatry: idol is something that you cannot live without.

Read Keller p. xiii

Main Idea: Trusting in the faithfulness of God, we, as the body of Christ, flee idolatry.

Core question…Am I trusting God or someone/something else? Someone or something is always vying to take God’s place in our lives.

What must we do?

Trusting in the faithfulness of God, we recognize His salvation and provision.

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.

Corinthians were primarily Gentile background believers. Yet, Paul says “our fathers” v. 1. “Mishanic(Jewishj) tradition held that the convert to not pray “Our God and God of our fathers” but “Our God and God of their fathers”... Yet Paul addresses them “as if they were Israelites, the covenanted and holy people of God, (Garland 448-449) as those who are in Christ and are a part of the continuity of God’s people fulfilling his promise to the nations.

cloud and passing through the sea are works of God in redeeming his people.

What do the images of baptism and eating spiritual food and drinking spiritual drink mean?

Baptism—passing from bondage to freedom. “passed through the sea” interesting that they stayed dry...

Why the phrase “baptized into Moses”?

Just as Christ is identified as the founder of the new covenant established through his death and resurrection, Moses was understood to be the (human) founder of the covenant established at the time of the great redemption. (Ciampa 447-448)

spiritual food and drink— Manna, quail, and water from the rock. God’s provision for his people.

For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.

The redeeming and sustaining provision of Gd should have lead to thanksgiving and faithfulness…hear Psalm 62

Psalm 62:1–8 ESV

1 For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. 2 He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken. 3 How long will all of you attack a man to batter him, like a leaning wall, a tottering fence? 4 They only plan to thrust him down from his high position. They take pleasure in falsehood. They bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse. Selah 5 For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. 6 He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. 7 On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. 8 Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah

What happens when we ignore his salvation and provision?

spiritual food and drink--

Psalm 62:1–8 ESV

refresh v. 1 1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers,

5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

nearly all Israel perished () despite receiving continual tokens of God’s care. (Garland 448)

All receive God’s gifts, and all will find they can be judged by God. (Gardner 427)

Transition…Paul is not saying that the Corinthians have arrived at the place of Israel…he is warning them before they get to that point. There is a way out...

Trusting in the faithfulness of God, we look to Him for escape in the face of temptation.

6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.

Illustration/Incident #1

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.

Israel and the daughters of Moab, people ate in pagan ceremonies and worshipped and bowed down to Baal. God sent a plague to kill those who participated.

Illustration/Incident #2

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.

Numbers 21:5–9 ESV

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.

grumbled…comfort is their God.

The LORD is gracious and provides salvation.

John 3:14–15 ESV

14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

Who is the Destroyer in v. 9?

, destroyer, angel of the Lord, bringing the judgement of God.

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.

We should all examine our hearts and recognize the places our hearts are prone to wander.

13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.

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.

Contextually, what is the temptation? Idolatry

Idolatry: idol is something that you cannot live without.

Lose your job or get laid off—tempted to despair

Read Keller p. xiii

We look to Him for escape in the face of temptation.

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 1:9 ESV

9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

His faithful and gracious provision is the way of escape and the way of endurance.

Trusting in the faithfulness of God, we flee idolatry.

14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

The Lord reveals the idol and provides the way out, so we flee.

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?

Obvious allusion to communion. Hinges on the word “participation.” What does participation in the blood and body of Christ mean?

In taking the bread and wine, therefore, Christians proclaim “Christ’s death,” that is, they proclaim the event that established the new covenant and demonstrate that they are participating in this “new covenant.” (Gardner 451)

Proclamation of our allegiance to Christ in receivng from the Lord’s table.

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.

“Paul argues on the basis of the potential significance of the act of eating it. (Ciampa 482) “The answer to the problem of how Israel participated in heathen sacrifices lay not in the specific nature of the sacrificial food nor in the existence of the idol at the meal. Rather, “participation” lay in taking part in alien worship. ... Just as one shows his master by whom he serves (.), so also one shows allegiance by the worship in which he participates. (Gardner 454)

“The answer to the problem of how Israel participated in heathen sacrifices lay not in the specific nature of the sacrificial food nor in the existence of the idol at the meal. Rather, “participation” lay in taking part in alien worship. Willis phrased it thus: Just as one shows his master by whom he serves (.), so also one shows allegiance by the worship in which he participates. (Gardner 454)

The food is not the issue. The idol is not real. The participation is the issue. The issues is a spiritual matter involving demons.

“Believers cannot have fellowship with demons and escape unscathed. Paul does not imply that eating idol food is permissible if one eats with the right motives or if one has the right knowledge. Eating idol food, if it is known to be idol food, is objectively wrong. By eating it, one joins with demonic powers and comes under their influence. (Schreiner 212)

You may be saying “no big deal…this is too much…I am not an idol worshipper”

Hear the final warning of the text...

22 Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

Deuteronomy 32:18–21 ESV

18 You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you, and you forgot the God who gave you birth. 19 “The Lord saw it and spurned them, because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters. 20 And he said, ‘I will hide my face from them; I will see what their end will be, for they are a perverse generation, children in whom is no faithfulness. 21 They have made me jealous with what is no god; they have provoked me to anger with their idols. So I will make them jealous with those who are no people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.

You may say, well that just Old Testament stuff…well how about the NT...

Hebrews 12:25–29 ESV

25 See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.

Bible is concerned withe reverence and awe…moderns are concerned authentic and sincere....Sincere worship can be sincerely wrong.

So What?

Are we(Am I) trusting in the faithfulness of the One True God and fleeing idolatry?

Idol is something that you cannot live without.

Am I trusting idols? Are we teaching our children to trust idols?

Identity Idols:

I only have worth if (you) like me, accept me, respect me, and approve of me.

I only have worth if I have influence and power over others.

I only have worth when I achieve.

I find my worth and peace in my job.

Relational idols

I find my worth and peace in my spouse, kids, friends.

I find my worth and peace in sexual expression.

Comfort idols

I only have peace when my life is free of conflict and pressure.

I only have peace when I experience pleasure and quality of life.

Material idols

I only have peace when I have plenty of _____________ or a new ____________.

I find peace and happiness on my device.

1 Thessalonians 1:9–10 ESV

9 For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

distinct nature of followers of Christ…conversion. Conversion resulting in turning from serving idols(dead and false) to serve the living and true God.

1 John 5:20–21 ESV

20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. 21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

How are we influencing our children? Why are so many walking away from the faith? Are we leading them into idol worship?

Illus: Famous singer, father a pastor...

flee idolatry!

More than one occassion, the Lord has revealed the idols of my life…painful conviction, difficult separation, and joyful overcoming.