Text: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Date: March 20, 2022
Event: The Third Sunday in Lent, Year C
1 Corinthians 10:1-13 (EHV)
For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, 2and they were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3They all ate the same spiritual food 4and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them—and that rock was Christ! 5Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them. He had them die in the wilderness.
6Now these things took place as examples to warn us not to desire evil things the way they did. 7Do not become idolaters like some of them—as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to celebrate wildly.” 8And let us not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell. 9Let us not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and so were being destroyed by the serpents. 10And do not grumble, as some of them grumbled, and were destroyed by the destroyer. 11All these things that were happening to them had meaning as examples, and they were written down to warn us, to whom the end of the ages has come.
12So let him who thinks he stands be careful that he does not fall. 13No testing has overtaken you except ordinary testing. But God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tested beyond your ability, but when he tests you, he will also bring about the outcome that you are able to bear it.
Are You Standing?
Do you have a piece of technology in your life that you have only a very basic understanding about? If something goes wrong with your phone, your computer, your TV—do you know how to fix it? What about the pieces of your home you probably rarely think about like your electrical outlets or your plumbing?
When you have a surface level understanding of how something works, that's fine most of the time—until something breaks. Then you’re headed to the phone store or calling the handyman, someone who deeply understands the system, what’s wrong, and how to fix it to get it back up and running. Sometimes knowing your limits is a really good thing, because thinking you know more than you actually do may lead you to make things worse thinking you’re making it better.
The implications of all of this could be dire. You might miss that important email because the computer isn’t working, or that crucial text message because the phone is on the fritz, or risk damage in your home because of that water leak. But there’s something else in our life that we do well to monitor, because an issue with it would be disastrous not just in the short term but in the longest term. How is your faith, your spiritual life? Are you standing on firm, solid ground? Are you sure? If not, do you know how to fix it?
As Paul was writing to the Christians in Corinth, he had to address a lot of problems within their congregation. One of the issues they faced was this distorted idea of Christian liberty. They thought that their connection to Christ meant that they could pretty much do whatever they wanted. After all, they were forgiven, right? Why not just do whatever feels best?
Paul takes them to the Old Testament for some examples of how this thinking can go so awry. He takes us back to the Exodus, as God brought the Israelites out of their slavery in Egypt. He rescued them from the hands of Pharaoh through the leadership and direction of Moses. They were united to Moses and to each other in all of this. And God worked miracle after miracle, from the plagues, to the parting of the Red Sea, to even providing water from a rock and miracle manna-bread and quail for them to eat in the wilderness. It was clear just how much God loved them and wanted what was best for them.
And what was Israel’s reaction? Were they overwhelmed with gratitude to God to the point of seek special ways to thank him? Were they just awestruck by his love and compassion for them? Hardly. Moses was gone for a little bit of time, so they jettisoned everything God had done for them and they built a golden calf statue to worship—“The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to celebrate wildly.” They were ensnared by the sex-filled worship of Baal and dedicated themselves to this immorality, and God put more than 20,000 of them to death in one day by the hand of his still-faithful followers. They grumbled against God, Moses, and the daily bread they were given and so snakes came and devastated the community until God directed Moses to build a snake out of bronze and put it on pole, promising to save those who trusted in him.
What seems to be the connective tissue in all of these events? Like the Corinthians, it seems that the Israelites felt they were untouchable. Rather than seeing God’s goodness to them as a reason to devote themselves all the more to him, they saw his goodness and love as something to be abused. It rings of the same false belief that Paul lambasted when he wrote to the Romans: “What shall we say then? Shall we keep on sinning so that grace may increase? … Should we continue to sin, because we are not under law but under grace? Absolutely not!” (Romans 6:1,15).
Both the Corinthians and Israelites serve as models for us, just as Paul said in our reading, “Now these things took place as examples to warn us not to desire evil things the way they did… All these things that were happening to them had meaning as examples, and they were written down to warn us, to whom the end of the ages has come.” Why warnings? Because it’s easy for us to do exactly the same thing, right? Take a step back and consider not your relationship with God, but your relationship with other people. Who is the person you’re most likely to lose your temper at, speak unkindly towards, take advantage of, or burn with resentment at? Often, it’s not going to be the people we have no relationship with; it’s the people we’re the closest with. We often treat our families and dearest other people in our lives as if we don’t owe them respect or need to show our love to them. After all, they’re always going to be there, right? God forbid we treat the dearest people that he has given to us in that way!
Our relationship with God can be the same way. He’s going to always be there for me, so I’ll just do whatever I want and then come back and ask for forgiveness later. God forbid we treat him in that way! And so this is why Paul blasts this behavior and attitude. It’s horrid and awful and, most of all, it’s eternally disastrous.
You and I are living at the “end of the ages.” Every moment from the beginning of our lives to this moment is a possible end of the world. The qualifications that God set in place for the end coming have all been met long ago, and each generation has seen disaster upon disaster, wars, plagues, and natural disasters. These ongoing troubles and knowing that everything that we can see and understand has been fulfilled, has led many different generations to wonder if the end might come very soon. As we talked about last week in Bible Class, it’s no wonder that people from Paul’s day, to Martin Luther’s day, to our day have all wondered if we might be the generation to not face death but to see Jesus return.
Knowing that all of this is imminent, should we test God with our sin like the Israelites did in the wilderness? Should we see how close we can get to the edge without falling off the cliff? Should we find any harbor for sin in our lives at all? God forbid! Dancing with sin in such a way can lead to eternal disaster!
Thankfully, the reality of what God has done for us smashes those kinds attitudes on the rocks. The end is coming, but we need not fear. We have sinned, but we need not be afraid. Why? Because of that one little phrase that’s easy to skip past as we read this section: God is faithful.
If we are cavalier with our spiritual life, if we assume we are standing fast because we are so good or have known the truths of God’s forgiveness for so long, it is to us that Paul issues that warning: Let him who thinks he stands be careful that he does not fall. If we think we are standing on our own power, spiritually, we are totally misguided. We don’t stand by our power; we stand by God’s power.
But if we then begin to be fearful or doubtful about what the future holds, wondering if our sins really are forgiven, if we really will be in heaven at the end of all things, that’s why Paul brings that reminder: God is faithful.
God doesn’t make promises and not keep them. So when he promised you that in Jesus’ life and death your sins are forgiven, you know with absolute certainty the your sins are forgiven! No matter how negligent to your faith you may have been in the past, God continues to be there, continues to be faithful to you. So let us live like it. Let us be the tree that bears good fruit, not bad. Let us live our lives not in a dismissive way toward God, nor in a fearful way toward God, but in a thankful way toward God. Let us thank him with lives of good works. Let us thank him by doing what he wants us to do. Let us thank him in the way we speak, the way treat the people around us, even the way that we think.
And part of that means digging into the nitty-gritty of our faith, not letting it be just a “status quo” kind of thing, but feeding it, exploring it, maintaining it. And the way we do that is by bringing ourselves into contact with his means of grace, God’s Word spoken and read, and his Word specially paired with earthly elements in the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. We might readily think of Bible classes, home devotions during the week, or even our worship service we are in right now.
There our faith is strengthened. There we find the ability to take our stand against testing and temptation. We have God’s promise to us: He will not allow you to be tested beyond your ability, but when he tests you, he will also bring about the outcome that you are able to bear it. That bearing it might mean a strength of faith that can just say no to the sins that come tempting. That bearing it might mean being able to see the eternal-silver-lining in the dark clouds of this life and clinging to that. That bearing it might mean recognizing that you cannot do this on your own, and seeing in your brothers and sisters in Christ a refuge and a support for you to help bear those crosses that God allows to be laid on you.
Are you standing? The more we understand our own weaknesses and failures, the more we have to say, “On my own, no.” But the more we understand our faithful God who loves us and gave his life to save us, the more we delight to say, “With my God? Yes!” Stand with him as he stands with you, now and forever. Amen.
