Sermon Tone Analysis

I’m sure you’ve heard the expression: “History repeats itself.”

I tend to go along with the quote from Mark Twain (or whoever actually said it): “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes.”

I think that’s probably a little more accurate.

History can’t ever repeat itself exactly, but sometimes the events of the day sound like just something that happened in the past.

“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes.”

Whether or not history repeats itself, there are warnings to heed from times past, be it the recent- or distant-past.

You run that stop sign and get a ticket yesterday, you’re probably going to make sure you come to a full stop there today.

Put your hand on a hot stove-top as a kid, you probably won’t do it when you’re an adult.

Paul shares with the Corinthians some warnings from the history of Israel.

And boy howdy, does Israel have a history!

There are myriad stories and events from the life of this people that serve as really good examples of what not to do.

If there was an award ceremony category for “Best Cautionary Tale” it might just go to the Israelites.

The Israelites are our proverbial older sibling.

You watch your older brother or sister get in trouble over and over and make mistake after mistake and hopefully, when you’re their age, you won’t do the same (you’ll make plenty of mistakes and get into plenty of trouble, but hopefully not doing the same stuff).

My sister got me out of a lot of jams just by virtue of her being a little foolish.

I learned from her, for instance, you don’t write a check for an 89-cent burrito when you don’t have 89 cents in your checking account, because that 89-cent burrito quickly becomes a $25.89 burrito.

Oh, man, was Dad hot over that!

And I remember thinking: “Note to self: better not write a check for a burrito.

In fact, I think I’ll carry around a couple bucks for my Mexican junk food cravings.”

Israel is like a good older sibling, they really are.

They didn’t bounce a check for a burrito; they did far, far worse and the stuff they did serves as examples and warnings for us.

Israel had heard the words of the Lord and had seen the works of Lord and yet behaved as if they hadn’t.

We have done this very thing, I fear, time and again, haven’t we?

I know I’m familiar with what the Lord has said and I’ve seen Him work in ways big and small, and yet, here I am, often times disobedient, often times unfaithful to Him.

Paul uses the example of the Israelites to illustrate what can happen to people who hear God’s words and see God’s works but don’t come to true faith.

He wants us to see the faithfulness of God and consider what our right response to such should be.

>If you have your Bible (and I hope you do) please turn with me to 1 Corinthians 10.

We’re going to take our text for this morning in two chunks, so keep your seat and keep your Bible open in front of you.

Follow along with me in your Bible or on the screen:

Examples and warnings for us.

Paul tells the Corinthians (who are largely Gentile and not Jewish; that is, they are somewhat unfamiliar with Israel’s history, possibly) Paul tells the Corinthians the story of the Exodus from Egypt, or at least part of it.

Paul writes in such a way that he communicates a point without actually coming out and saying it (he’s an excellent writer and he’s inspired by the Holy Spirit, so there’s that).

Paul phrases things carefully as if to say, “And you, of course, are in more or less the same position now as they were then.

Will you learn the lesson?

You—Christians—you all are the true Passover-people, the true Exodus people.

Do you get it?

God was faithful, only ever faithful to the Israelites.

He rescued them from the hand of the Egyptians, led them from Egypt by pillar of cloud by day and fire by night (v. 1) and through the Red Sea (v. 1).

They were (baptized), shown to be God’s people by His protection and guidance.

God fed them (manna, quail).

He quenched their thirst (water from a rock.

Paul says this rock is Christ, accompanying the Israelites through the desert.

Figure that one out!).

Somehow, in some way we don’t have eyes to see, Jesus was present there with the Israelites in their desert-wandering.

The Rock that gave them water to drink was Jesus, present and providing.

I could spend a month worth of sermons (don’t tempt me) working out all the implications of this, but let’s just turn our attention to verse 5:

The people had been rescued by God, identified as God’s people, protected and guided by God, fed and watered by God, accompanied by God the Father and God the Son—bottom line:

God had been faithful to this people, but the people were not faithful to God.

God’s Faithfulness was Met with Unfaithfulness (10:1-11)

God’s faithfulness to these stinking Israelites was met, not with much thanksgiving or continued, long obedience, but with unfaithfulness.

As it often is.

Paul lists several examples of the peoples’ unfaithfulness—examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did (v.

6).

The Israelites were idolaters (v. 7).

They worshipped an idol they made only a few months after being rescued by the One True God.

This reference Paul makes to the Israelites worshipping a golden calf, aided in their idolatry by Aaron, the brother of Moses, while Moses was on the mountain receiving the Law from God.

The Israelites had this big worship-revival-festival, praising this man-made calf for bringing them out of Egypt, sacrificing burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to it, followed by eating and drinking and indulgent play.

Idolatry is how the Israelites repay their faithful God.

They don’t worship Him; they give worship to another.

Idolatry is an especially grievous and stupid sin.

We can sit back and think “how dumb!” for them to worship a golden calf, but then again, if they could read a book about us, they’d say:

“Look how dumb!

They worship a bunch of 20-year-olds who play a game!

Look at them worshipping their children, their family!

See how they promise their allegiance to that piece of red-, white-, and blue-colored cloth!

What in the world are they thinking?!?!?!”

God’s faithfulness was met (is met) with unfaithful idolatry—preferring, worshipping, giving one’s life to someone or something other than the One deserving.

“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes.”

We’re not bowing before a gold-plated cow statue, but we might as well be…our idolatry is tantamount to the same old, grievous, stupid sin.

The Israelites were sexually immoral (v.

8).

In the book of Numbers, we read about the sexual immorality of the Israelite men.

They found the Moabite woman enticing and began to hang around with them and worship their false gods.

They bowed down before them and yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor.

Somehow, as much things do, all of this led to sexual immorality.

Whether or not this would have happened aside from the idol worship, I don’t know.

Many pagan religions intertwine worship and sex, worship and prostitution.

For this, the punishment was sudden death, death, death…

One Israelite man apparently didn’t get the message (or didn’t care) and brought one of these women in amongst the assembly of Israel, right before the eyes of Moses.

Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron, followed the man and woman outside the camp into their tent, took a spear, and drove the spear right through the Israelite man and into the woman’s stomach (Numbers 25:6-8).

Talk about yoked.

Yikes.

God’s faithfulness was met with immorality.

Immorality (aka unfaithfulness) is how the Israelites repay their faithful God.

This is something common to the Corinthians.

Paul has already hit them pretty hard with the incongruity of sexual immorality and faith in Christ (chapters 5-6).

The two don’t go together.

“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes.”

We’re not sleeping around with Moabite women, but we routinely engage in sexual immorality; we encourage or excuse all manner of behavior unbecoming a Christian for the temporary pleasure of a tryst.

The Israelites tested Christ (v.9) and grumbled (v.

10).

Like impatient little children, the people grow tired and ask “Are we there yet?” about a million times and eventually turn on Moses and God.

To squelch their impatience and misplaced anger and frustration, what does the Lord do?

He sends venomous snakes among them; [the snakes] bit the people and many Israelites died.

The people, once bitten, can only live if they look to the One who saved them and brought them this far—an important lesson.

For their incessant and repeated grumbling, the Lord, in one instance strikes down everyone of them, twenty years old or older who complained, and that left Joshua and Caleb alive.

God’s faithfulness was met (is met) with unfaithful testing and grumbling.

To give to the Lord grumbling and complaint, to throw tantrums before the Lord of Life is a really brazen slap in the face.

“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes.”

We’re not bitten by snakes or kept from the Promised Land, but we, with our grumbles and complaints against God are guilty of the same.

He is faithful; His people are not.

Examples…warnings for us.

Let us not do as some of them did.