Danger, Will Robinson!
Okay, I’ll
confess. Knowing what I know about the
letter to the Corinthians – that it was a letter Paul wrote because he was
displeased with what was happening there – the opening verses read like a huge
warning. Paul reminds the Corinthians
that all the people that Moses led out of the Exodus passed through the “water.”
That water would be the Red Sea. They
all followed the pillar of cloud/fire.
They all got to see the Mount Sinai experience. So where is it that Paul ends up with
that? God was displeased with them. In other words, even after all this
experience with God they still rebelled!
Proximity to God’s work does not make one godly!
I feel
that is a huge warning to any church that seemingly takes their faith for
granted and tries to focus elsewhere than faith-related matters. Ever have an experience with a church that
only knows how to argue? Ever have
experience with a church that seems to manage to do anything and everything
under the sun except make disciples?
Ever have experience with a church that has sin in their midst – as we
all do – but has difficulty identifying that sin, repenting from it, talking
about it, and moving beyond it? These
are all things that characterized the Corinthian church and it is to them that
Paul gives this warning in the opening verses of 1 Corinthians 10. It is the churches that are like the
Corinthian church that should hear this warning loud and clear. It is the people of the world who are most
like the members of the Corinthian Church who need to hear this warning. From time to time, it is me who needs to hear
this warning.
Learn
In fact,
that very point is the thrust of Paul’s middle section in this chapter. We need to learn from their example. We need to see the mistakes of other people
and pay attention so that we don’t fall into the same pitfalls. Or – should we fall into those same pitfalls
– we need to pay attention to the mistakes of others so that we understand the
importance of repenting of those pitfalls.
It was one thing for the ancient Hebrew people to sin against the
Lord. It was entirely another thing for
them to harden their hearts and not repent of the error of their ways.
None of us
can endure every temptation successfully.
All of us have sin in our life.
We should not think we are powerful enough to endure everything. But we should think that with God’s help we
can overcome. We should think that with
God’s help we can escape the clutches of sin.
We should think that so long as we repent of our sins that we can avoid
the rebellion that emboldened the wicked generation of Hebrew people as they
came out of Egypt.
Glorifying God
Paul
concludes this chapter with a lesson on focus.
This is a great lesson to learn.
Whatever I do, give glory to the Lord.
The lesson here is simple: if my actions are centered on bringing glory
to God’s name, then I will be setting myself up for a good result. This makes sense. If I do something and God is clearly
glorified, then who can stand when they bring an argument against what I have
done? What Christian would for any
reason desire to draw into question that which genuinely glorifies God’s name?
Yet, there
is a danger here, too. I should not think that just because I think something
glorifies God’s name that it actually does.
I can convince myself of a great many things. The proof is not in how I think about the
pudding – to speak metaphorically – the proof is actually in the pudding. I can think the pudding to be
tremendous. But unless the pudding is
actually tremendous, I have not actually made tremendous pudding. The same thing is true with glorifying
God. I can think something to be so
great that God is glorified. But unless
it actually results in people giving glory to God, then it is just something
that I think glorifies God. We must not
allow ourselves to be convinced that something will happen just because we
think it will happen.
Christian Community
I also
like the way that Paul seems to bring hospitality and relationships into the
picture. If something might cause a
Christian brother or sister to stumble, I might not choose to do it because I
think of them. If I am invited to a
person’s house and they serve me something that is legitimately from the earth
but not something that I am accustomed to eating, I will choose to eat it
anyway out of respect for them and the Lord.
Christians are always concerned with following God first and thinking of
the other person second. This is why the
two greatest commandments are to love God and love your neighbor. Hospitality and our relationships with the
people around us are very closely tied to our relationship with God.
However,
we should note the balance. Choosing to
do something or not do it is not always where the issue of right or wrong
rests. I can choose to do something holy
or choose to not do something holy because of the people around me. Just because I choose not to do something
does not make it unholy. It just means
in that circumstance it wasn’t the right time because it might offend
someone. I think this is important. I can choose not to do right things because
of how it might impact other people.
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