Sermon Tone Analysis

Flee Idolatry

Chair Bible p. 956

Prayer:

Conference was profitable…Great team from Parkwood serving a wonderful group of people giving their lives for the sake of the gospel.

Word was proclaimed, children and students were loved and cared for, workers were served.

Ammons family and Exodus Church.

Growth Groups.

Growth, community, mission, multiplication.

Provision financially.

Connect to Ch. 10

Read text and pray.

Idolatry: idol is something that you cannot live without.

Read Keller p. xiii

Main Idea: Trusting in the faithfulness of God, we, as the body of Christ, flee idolatry.

Core question…Am I trusting God or someone/something else? Someone or something is always vying to take God’s place in our lives.

What must we do?

Trusting in the faithfulness of God, we recognize His salvation and provision.

1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink.

For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.

Corinthians were primarily Gentile background believers.

Yet, Paul says “our fathers” v. 1. “Mishanic(Jewishj) tradition held that the convert to not pray “Our God and God of our fathers” but “Our God and God of their fathers”... Yet Paul addresses them “as if they were Israelites, the covenanted and holy people of God, (Garland 448-449) as those who are in Christ and are a part of the continuity of God’s people fulfilling his promise to the nations.

cloud and passing through the sea are works of God in redeeming his people.

What do the images of baptism and eating spiritual food and drinking spiritual drink mean?

Baptism—passing from bondage to freedom.

“passed through the sea” interesting that they stayed dry...

Why the phrase “baptized into Moses”?

Just as Christ is identified as the founder of the new covenant established through his death and resurrection, Moses was understood to be the (human) founder of the covenant established at the time of the great redemption.

(Ciampa 447-448)

Just as Christ is identified as the founder of the new covenant established through his death and resurrection, Moses was understood to be the (human) founder of the covenant established at the time of the great redemption.

(Ciampa 447-448)

spiritual food and drink— Manna, quail, and water from the rock.

God’s provision for his people.

For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.

The redeeming and sustaining provision of Gd should have lead to thanksgiving and faithfulness…hear Psalm 62

What happens when we ignore his salvation and provision?

spiritual food and drink--

refresh v. 1 1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers,

5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

nearly all Israel perished () despite receiving continual tokens of God’s care.

(Garland 448)

All receive God’s gifts, and all will find they can be judged by God.

(Gardner 427)

Transition…Paul is not saying that the Corinthians have arrived at the place of Israel…he is warning them before they get to that point.

There is a way out...

Trusting in the faithfulness of God, we look to Him for escape in the face of temptation.

6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.

Illustration/Incident #1

7 Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.”

8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day.

Israel and the daughters of Moab, people ate in pagan ceremonies and worshipped and bowed down to Baal.

God sent a plague to kill those who participated.

Illustration/Incident #2

9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, 10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.

grumbled…comfort is their God.

The LORD is gracious and provides salvation.

Who is the Destroyer in v. 9?

, destroyer, angel of the Lord, bringing the judgement of God.

11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.

12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.

We should all examine our hearts and recognize the places our hearts are prone to wander.

13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.

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.

Contextually, what is the temptation?

Idolatry

Idolatry: idol is something that you cannot live without.

Lose your job or get laid off—tempted to despair

Read Keller p. xiii

We look to Him for escape in the face of temptation.

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.

His faithful and gracious provision is the way of escape and the way of endurance.

Trusting in the faithfulness of God, we flee idolatry.

14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

The Lord reveals the idol and provides the way out, so we flee.

15 I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say.

16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?

The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?

Obvious allusion to communion.

Hinges on the word “participation.”

What does participation in the blood and body of Christ mean?

In taking the bread and wine, therefore, Christians proclaim “Christ’s death,” that is, they proclaim the event that established the new covenant and demonstrate that they are participating in this “new covenant.”

(Gardner 451)

Proclamation of our allegiance to Christ in receivng from the Lord’s table.

17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.

18 Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar?

19 What do I imply then?

That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?

20 No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God.

I do not want you to be participants with demons.

21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons.

You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.

“Paul argues on the basis of the potential significance of the act of eating it.

(Ciampa 482) “The answer to the problem of how Israel participated in heathen sacrifices lay not in the specific nature of the sacrificial food nor in the existence of the idol at the meal.

Rather, “participation” lay in taking part in alien worship.

... Just as one shows his master by whom he serves (.), so also one shows allegiance by the worship in which he participates.

(Gardner 454)