Historical Pentecost 9
1 Cor 10:1-13 August 6, 2017
Dear Friends in Christ,
The text that we have before us for this morning’s consideration is one that God gave to us through the Apostle Paul as he addressed the Christians living in Corinth. Now for those of you whose understanding of ancient geography is a little weak, the ancient city of Corinth is located on a small narrow isthmus of land on the much larger peninsula of Greece. It became very important to the trade industry when it was discovered how to transport across the 5 mile wide isthmus of land instead of sailing around the larger peninsula. It was a sort of Panama Canal of its day. It provided a faster means of getting goods from point a to point b.
Along with this great innovation of moving goods from the Aegean Sea to the Ionian Sea came all the banes and blessings that come with something new and profitable. On the one hand, it meant that Corinth was now a place of world renown. They were considered a major shipping port which brought a great deal of wealth not only to those who dealt in the trading of goods, but also to all those that supported them. The shop keepers, the inn keepers, the farmers who supplied food, all of them also benefited from the wealth that come to Corinth.
And as wealth increased, so did the luxury. The standard of living rose and people had more money to spend on things other than day to day survival. It was an economic dream come true. The latest and greatest luxuries of the world were now a part of the everyday life of Corinth. They had the money to enjoy them as well as the benefit of more time to make use of these marvelous items brought in by ship from around the known world.
If you think about it, it sounds a lot like today’s society. Many of the great inventions that we have developed in the past 100 years were done so to give us more time, more productivity and more money. They were done to increase our standard of living and our leisure. In much the same way that Corinth benefited from the invention of moving ships across the land to save days and weeks of sailing, so our lives are made easier by all the amenities that we possess.
But even as the wealth of Corinth made some things better, some things were much worse. The things that were worse were the things that are always made worse with more time and more money, the morality of the human spirit. For not only was Corinth known for its great wealth and wonderfully advanced standard of living, they were also know for their gross debauchery and wildly abandoned sexual activities. To put it bluntly, Corinth was sin city and everybody in the world knew it. In fact, the phrase “to act like a Corinthian” meant either to be a prostitute or to live with no sexual restraint.
But it was into this situation that God sent Paul with the Good News of the forgiveness that is found in Christ alone. He sent Paul there armed with the only weapons to fight against such immorality, the Word in Law and Gospel. The Word was going to turn around the people of Corinth so that they might no longer live for themselves, but that all the blessings that God had given to them might be used for the glory of God’s Kingdom here on earth. It was a tough job. It was a task that most certainly only God could accomplish, but since He is God and with Him all things are possible, there were many in Corinth who were turned around. They were risen up from the death of sin and given a new life in Christ.
Now many will like to end the story right there because of the happy ending. The Word worked and all lived happily ever after. They may like to let you think that once God has done His thing, there is nothing left. But the truth of the matter is, the hard part for us has just begun. For once God raises to spiritual life someone like a Corinthian, there is the continuing struggle against Satan, the World and their own flesh to stay with God and not fall away. For falling is what the Corinthians, as well as all believers, do best. God calls us to life and sets us up to be His own, and Satan, the World and especially our own sinful flesh makes us fall right back into the death of sin. In our weakness we fail to stand with God but continually fall.
But Paul understood this. He understood the weaknesses that we all have due to sin and he gave the encouragement to watch out, to take heed, unless we fall once again into sin and the death that it brings. So it is this morning that we take the message of Paul and put it into a theme and parts that we can understand. We are encouraged with the theme, “TAKE HEED TO NOT FALL” part one being the reminder that I. WE HAVE EXAMPLES OF WHAT NOT TO DO. And secondly, II. WE HAVE GOD IN WORD AND SACRAMENT.
Now as we begin this look at the encouragement of Paul to take heed or to watch out so that we do not fall, there is, as we said, a very good example given to us in Scripture of those who did not watch out for their lives. They did not take care to walk with God but often chose their own paths. The example is Old Testament Israel.
Now all of us know a little something about Old Testament Israel. They were the people that God chose to be His people. He was going to use them to be the ones who let the entire world know of the coming Savior. They were to be the Priests of all mankind. Yet they did not take their work seriously. They did not hold fast to the doctrines and teaches that God laid before them. They just did not take the Word of God seriously enough.
Paul points this out to us by saying, “But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.” Even though this is an understatement, we see that God did not let their sins go by as something of just for them, but God uses everything for His purpose. Even the sins of Israel were made use of by God. For Paul goes on to say, “Now these became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.”
At this point, Paul gives us some very explicit examples to watch out for. They were things that were a problem for the luxury laden Corinthians and they are also a problem for us. They are the problems of sin that often arise in the lives of people who have many of the blessings this earth has to offer. Paul lists them as he talks first of idolatry. In Old Testament Israel, the people considered their play and their recreation more important than worshipping God. In Corinth as in our country, recreation is a big thing. People often cannot go to church because they need their time. They need their recreation. This caused them to fall.
Likewise, Paul continues with other sins that we often see in our society and even in our own lives. He speaks to us of sexual sins of complaining and murmuring against what God has given to us and even of tempting Christ as the only one who saves us. All these sins are not only seen in our society, they are commonplace as we find outright pornography on our computers and televisions, as we see discontent motivating everything and as we not how many church bodies offer something other than Christ as the means of life eternal.
The wisdom of Solomon truly applies when he said that there is nothing new under the sun. For the problems that plagued Israel, the problems that brought shame to Corinth, they are still the problems that each of us wrestle with today. They are the problems of sin and weakness. They are the problems of falling when God has clearly called us to walk and follow His commands.
But even as we have the examples of what not to do, God gives us the message of what He has done. And right there we note that there is going to be something far better. For it is not the encouragement of doing things on our own, but rather it is the encouragement of God doing it for us. It is the message of the Gospel. For the Law is the demand of walking as God has commanded us. The Gospel is the proclamation that God has given us freedom and forgiveness from our failure in the Law. It is that Gospel message that Paul relates to us when we are reminded that even Old Testament Israel was saved by the working of Christ. For Paul tells us, “Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.”
The message of salvation is not in how well they walked, but it was in that Christ walked for them. Christ, in the cloud, in the water, in the food and in the drink was for Israel salvation. He justified them to God. They only needed to remain in that Grace and live. Likewise for the Corinthians and most certainly it still applies to us. We are saved by Christ through the word and the Sacraments. The spiritual food and drink that gives us life. It is the rock on which we build. As we stay on that rock. As we continue in studies and understand the salvation that He alone gives, we will not fall.
But like Israel and Corinth, there are many things that work against us. There is the blessing of time and money. There is the gift of leisure and recreation. All these things can work against us and cause us to fall if we put them before God and the most important blessing in life, the rock of our Salvation, Jesus Christ.
Paul’s closing message on this topic to the Corinthians is something that all of us need to keep in mind as well. We often feel that our burdens are the worst. We often think that we have it harder than anyone else. It’s part of our sinful nature to think that. But the reminder is there that “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. Amen.