The Church - Protected - 9/14
Sermon Series: The Church ________________
Sermon Title: The Church – Protected
Sermon Text: 1 Corinthians 10:12-14
“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. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.”
Theme: The idea of this passage is that we, like the Corinthians, are living in culture which is not built to keep us in a faithful relationship with the Lord. This means that part of our striving will be to keep ourselves in a position where we are listening to the right voices and watching for the right signals in order for us to be faithful and authentic.
Introduction: The Movie where the girl is searching in the dark office building and comes face to face with the bad guy - imagine that!
Transition: This passage is the climax of a section where Paul has been using the lessons from the Old Testament to convince the Corinthian Christians that even to those of us who God has saved and poured out His special grace onto, there is great danger in living a life which floats in a mud puddle of idolatry and immorality. This is
I. There is real spiritual danger
a. There existed at the church in Corinth those who were walking on the razor edge of spiritual danger. They had heard and received the message of salvation and become convinced of its truthfulness. These folk had made confessions of faith and been baptized. They had joined the community of faith and were in relationship with other Christians. But they were still surrounded by great danger, it was the danger that exists when the culture which we live in creeps in and pries our grip on God’s standards loose so that we become more and more like the lost world which exists around us.
b. In the section just prior to this climax Paul has given a sermon from the Old Testament Exodus. This lesson demonstrated that the Jews who had been saved from slavery and then formed into a powerful nation were still in danger from their own lack of trust in God’s faithfulness and providential care for them. Basically they lost sight of the fact that the God who saved them intends us to depend upon Him.
i. Paul gives them four warnings about their own behavior under the heading of -Do not desire evil – 6
1. Do not be idolaters – 7
a. Guard God’s place in our heart – keep Him first above all of your other desires.
2. Don’t be involved in sexual immorality – 8
a. For the Corinthians, as well as us, this would have been connected to the previous warning. The difference is that the ancient culture used sex as a worship practice to pagan deities and we worship sex as a practice.
3. Don’t put Christ (the Lord in the NIV) to the test – 9
a. (Numbers 21:5 – “And the people spoke against God and against Moses, [saying] why have you us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water and we loathe this worthless food.”) The idea here is that we are surveying the power of God’s providence to us and complaining that He is simply not treating us correctly. It is the sin of
4. Don’t grumble about the sufficiency of God – 10
a. This refers to a time in the history of Israel when the people were listening to the wrong leaders. Those who try to control people with the negative are usually people who are tuned into the heart of God.
II. We are not alone
a. One of the biggest dangers to the spiritual life of a person is the belief that we are not a part of the larger community to which God has called us.
b. A faith walk which begins and ends with us is one that is destined to be littered with all kinds of problems.
i. We think too much of ourselves – Our focus is wrong.
ii. We don’t share in the bigger kingdom work which we are called to do.
1. (Sandbagging)
iii. We are not sensitive to the needs of others.
iv. And maybe most importantly the community is not a part of keeping us accountable and doctrinal.
III. God is Faithful
a. (Illustration of camper corners – where it is sometimes difficult to find something strong enough to take the strain of lifting the camper)
b. The incredible thing about the covenant that is between God and man is that it is not based upon something as flimsy as our own dependability. It is instead based on God’s infallibility.
Romans 8:31-35 “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.”
IV. Our Danger is limited
a. Finally God gives us a promise here that we dare not overlook. He knows our personalities, strengths, weaknesses and abilities and He knows exactly what we are able to bear.
i. The term which Paul turns to in order to explain God’s sovereign care over our lives is a nautical term. It literally means that there is a safe place for your boat to rest upon.
b. But the danger of temptation is only mitigated by our ability to see the opportunities for escape which God has deliberately placed in our lives.
Conclusion:
It was Christmas Eve 1875 and Ira Sankey was traveling on a Delaware River steamboat when he was recognized by some of the passengers. His picture had been in the newspaper because he was the song leader for the famous evangelist D.L. Moody. They asked him to sing one of his own hymns, but Sankey demurred, saying that he preferred to sing William B. Bradbury’s humn, “Savior Like a Shepherd Lead Us.” As he sang, one of the stanzas began, “We are Thine; do Thou befriend us. Be the Guardian of our way.”
When he finished, a man stepped from the shadows and asked, “Did you ever serve in the Union Army?”
“Yes,” Mr. Sankey answered, “in the spring of 1860.”
“Can you remember if you were doing picket duty on a bright, moonlit night in 1862?”
“Yes,” Mr. Sankey answered, very much surprised.
“So did I, but I was serving in the Confederate army. When I saw you standing at your post, I thought to myself, ‘That fellow will never get away alive.’ I raised my musket and took aim. I was standing in the shadow, completely concealed, while the full light of the moon was falling upon you. At that instant, just as a moment ago, you raised your eyes to heaven and began to sing…’Let him sing his song to the end,’ I said to myself, ‘I can shot him afterwards. He’s my victim at all events, and my bullet cannot miss him.’ But the song you sang then was the song you sang just now. I heard the words perfectly: ‘We are Thine; do Thou befriend us. Be the Guardian of our way.’ Those words stirred up many memories. I began to think of my childhood and my God-fearing mother. She had many times sung that song to me. When you had finished your song, it was impossible for me to take aim again. I thought, ‘The Lord who is able to save that man from certain death must surely be great and mighty.’ And my arm of its own accord dropped limp at my side.”
K. Hughes, Liberating Ministry From The Success Syndrome, Tyndale, 1988, p. 69.
