1st Corinthians 10:1-22
NO VIDEO FOR THIS SERMON
We have another thick theological passage in front of us this morning. Paul is going to continue to challenge the mature believers in their abuse of their newfound freedoms in Christ. He is going to use the example of Old Testament Israel to further illustrate the danger of their behavior. In essence what he is doing is holding their behavior as new believers up and against God’s chosen nation of Israel. Let them be an example to the dangers of presumptuous living. So I want to break it down, like we did last week, into clear sections, with subpoints in each one as we move along. So here’s what we’ll see this morning from Paul:
1. Israel’s Example (1-6)
2. Israel’s Sin (7-11)
3. Warning/Encouragement (12-13)
4. “Flee from Idolatry” (14-22)
Big Idea: We must always be on guard, so as not to provoke the Lord to jealousy.
Read 1st Corinthians 10:1-22
1. Israel’s Example (1-6)
In these first 6 verses, we see 5 different ways that the Lord showed up for Israel. Paul brings these up to draw parallel for the Corinthian church, and we can continue that parallel into our context today. All of these are seen in the exodus of Israel, as well as their wandering in the desert.
A. Cloud (Presence)
This takes us back to Exodus 13:21: “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.” This cloud came to be known as the “Shekinah,” which literally translated means “the dwelling.” This is where we get the term Shekinah Glory which refers to the presence of God.
In the same way, for the Corinthian believers and for us today, the presence of God is realized in the indwelling Holy Spirit. Paul just talked about this in 1st Corinthians 6, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?”
B. Sea (Protection)
This also would have taken the reader's mind back to the exodus out of Egypt. Exodus 14:21-22, “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. 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.” With the Egyptian army fresh on their heels, the Lord provided protection from destruction by opening the Red Sea.
Just read the psalms to see this promise for the believer today. Romans 8:31, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”
C. Baptized (Partnership/Participation)
This one is a little harder to grasp, as it has a bit more of an abstract nature to it. But, if we think about our baptism into the death, burial and resurrection of Christ by the Holy Spirit, and how that creates a unity between us and Christ, we can see that the deliverance of the Israelites by God through Moses created a unity between them. Exodus 14:31, “Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.” There was a spiritual connection that occurred between God and Moses, and Moses and Israel.
This created a partnership, a responsibility to participate in the mission that God set before them. In the same way, the Corinthian believers had been baptized into Christ, and had the responsibility of participating in His mission. And it’s the same for us today.
D. Manna / Water (Provision)
Manna, which literally means “what is it?” Paul calls it spiritual food because it was a supernatural provision from the Lord. Manna from heaven. It was food provided by the Lord for Israel in their wandering through the wilderness. The spiritual water that Paul mentions is the miracle of the water that came from the rock. The Israelites were thirsty, and they were angry, so the Lord told Moses to strike the rock at Horeb with his staff.
Paul says an interesting thing here. He mentions “the rock that followed them.” There was a common legend amongst the Jews that there was a literal rock that followed Israel through the wilderness, which we don’t see in Scripture. But it seems that Paul was alluding to this legend by saying, “yes! There was in fact a rock that followed them in the wilderness, and that rock was Christ.”
And just like God provided for the Israelites in their 40 years of wandering, so the Lord has promised to provide for us today.
And so while Paul is holding Israel up as a typology, as an example of God’s relationship with them, God’s chosen nation, even so, even they were susceptible to temptation and sin, and this is where he goes next. Even though they had God’s presence, protection, partnership and provision, they were still disqualified from the conditional promise of land as a result of their sin.
2. Israel’s Sin (7-11)
A. Idolatry (7)
This is one of the most prevalent sins in the life of Israel. Over and over again we see them falling into idol worship. Paul is most likely talking about when Moses went up onto Mt. Sinai, and the people grew impatient. Remember this story? So they go up to Aaron and demand that he make them a golden calf to worship. God deserves the primary seat in our heart. If anything else takes his place, if we prioritize anything above the Lord, that is considered idolatry. Chuck Swindoll said it like this, “An idol is anything that seizes the adoration that belongs to God. It can be a parent, a child, a spouse, a friend, a reputation, a goal…anything that takes Gods seat on the throne of our hearts!” Paul will expound more on this at the end of our section, but this is something we can be so guilty of ourselves today.
B. Sexual Immorality (8)
Paul is referring to a specific event in the life of Israel. In Numbers 25, we see Israelite men sleeping with Moabite women. It’s so bad, that while Moses is addressing the people of Israel about their sin, an Israelite man brings a Moabite woman into his tent, “in the sight of all Israel,” Scripture says, and while they are sleeping together, Eliazar takes a spear and kills them both. The punishment from the Lord was a plague that wiped out 24,000 people, 23,000 in one day.
C. Testing Christ (9)
Again, a very specific event that Paul is talking about. Numbers 21:5-6 says, “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.” Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.”
The idea of testing God in context to the Corinthians is them pushing the limits of their Christian liberties to see what they could get away with before God intervened. How much of my flesh can I indulge before God notices? How far can I stretch this behavior before it becomes sinful? In effect, we are playing the role of the Deceiver and planting the question in our minds, “did God really say? Let’s find out if He really meant what He said.”
D. Grumbling (10)
After Korah’s rebellion against Moses, which is talked about in Numbers 16, and the earth splitting open and consuming Korah and all those who sided with him, all the people of Israel grumbled. Verse 41 tells us that “on the next day all the congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and against Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of the Lord.” As a result of their grumbling, the Lord sent a plague that killed 14,700 people. It’s believed that the “Destroyer” that Paul mentions is the same angel who killed the firstborn in Egypt, and who wiped out 70,000 men in 2 Samuel 24 because of David’s census.
So here is Israel. God’s chosen nation. Even they were susceptible to sin; to idolatry, to sexual immorality, to testing the Lord, to grumbling and complaining against the Lord. In light of all this, Paul challenges the Corinthian believers thinking. (Re-read vs. 12-13)
3. Warning/Encouragement (12-13)
In other words, if you think you are good, you are probably not. If you think you are safe from temptation, you are lying to yourself. If you think you have reached a spiritual maturity that allows complacency, you are deceived. Nobody is exempt from temptation. Nobody is exempt from the attacks of the enemy. Take heed! Watch yourselves closely! There’s the warning. But here’s the encouragement!
There is nothing new under the sun. The same things that you face in your lives, someone else has faced. The same temptation to sin that you fight, others have been fighting for thousands of years. And it doesn’t surprise God! In fact, in every temptation that we face, God provides a way out. There’s the promise! God is faithful, and He will not allow you to be tempted beyond the ability to escape it. This doesn’t mean that we always CHOOSE to escape it. But God always provides a way out. And honestly, sometimes it may not be a way out, but a way through that God is providing. Now, before we tie a bow on this in our context, Paul circles back to the line of idolatry that the Corinthian believers were toeing.
Therefore, in light of the brief history lesson on Israel, and the connection to your current struggles…Therefore…Remember the initial problem that Paul addresses in chapter 8 is eating food offered to idols…Therefore…Flee Idolatry! Run, as fast as you can away from anything that would tempt you to directly or indirectly to worship anything but the Lord.
4. Flee from Idolatry (14-22)
Paul uses the elements of communion to drive home his point. This is an unbelievable, supernatural truth. Paul says when we take the elements, the bread and the cup, we are somehow sharing in the life and death of Jesus. We’ve talked about this at great length here at Family Church, but at the point of salvation, we become one with Jesus, and we share in His death, burial and resurrection. It’s beyond our comprehension. And when we take communion together, which Paul will address at greater length in chapter 11, and so will we, but when we take it, it is somehow a participation. It’s not just a symbol, but there is an actual, spiritual implication.
And here’s where Paul takes a dark turn. Remember that food that is offered to idols, the point of contention on which these last few chapters hinge? Well, behind that idol worship is demonic activity. So, when you partake of food offered to pagan idols, you participate with demons. And this is a whole sermon in and of itself; demonic activity and spiritual warfare. But for this morning, the focus is on idolatry. And so we look at these last few verses and it becomes clear what Paul is saying in the midst of the thickness. You cannot worship God “and.” You can only worship God “or.”
You cannot drink the cup of demons and take communion. It’s like oil and water. And when we do that, we provoke the Lord to jealousy. And if we think back on the history that Paul laid out of Israel, we’ll remember that the Lord prevented all the men of Israel that had been freed from Egypt, except Joshua and Caleb, from entering the promised land. The punishment for their continued idolatry was a removal of the blessing. And so, Paul asks the question, “you want to provoke the Lord to jealousy? Then keep on stretching your freedoms and engaging in things that border on idolatry.”
Application
Big Idea: We must always be on guard, so as not to provoke the Lord to jealousy.
The Lord deserves the primary seat of our heart. Anything that we prefer over Him is idolatry. And while the issue with the Corinthian church was the eating of food offered to idols, there are so many things today that can become idolatry in our lives. But the promise remains true. God is faithful, and any temptation to sin He provides a way out. Pray. Seek accountability from a brother or sister. And when all else fails, RUN!
Paul will end this section with the glory of God. In everything you do, do it to the glory of God. This will erase any question in our minds when faced with a decision, especially in terms of our Christian freedom. We’ll talk about that next week. But for this morning, let us be challenged in our pursuit of Jesus, and be open to the idea that maybe we have let something else take His seat in our lives. What is it?
