A Call to Remember: Remember Our Past

This is really the fundamental idea behind the whole series. It is not just to recall some memory or some scripture for the purpose of a pick me up or to beat yourself up. Remembering is meant to stir us to action

As an action step for our small groups, they were actually tasked with doing some memory work. If you are not part of a small group, this is my favorite reason that you need to be a part of one. Each group took the assignment and did it their own way. They put their own spin on it, they are working accountability their own way. I love the diversity that came out of the assignment. The reason I think this is a great reason to be part of a small group is that you don’t have to worry about them being cookie cutter groups. Each group is growing together, they are growing in their own way, and it is exciting to watch. Our leaders love leading small group, and that is exciting. So again, you really need to be part of a small group if you’re not already.

Then last week we took some time to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of the freedoms we have today. We also remembered those who do not share the same freedoms and try to live out their faith in face of severe persecution. We pray for them, but we also live our lives in honor of them. Don’t take our rights and freedoms for granted, and don’t get hung up on minor inconveniences. Things could be a lot worse.

This week we are going to dive into the importance of reminders. No one in this room, to my knowledge, has perfect memory. We all forget things from time to time, and the easiest way to be reminded is to give yourself reminders. This is true whether we are talking about work, the honey do list, and it definitely applies to our faith.

This idea of reminders actually comes out of something the Apostle Paul said about the Old Testament. There has been this line of reasoning that suggests that we do not need the Old Testament anymore. Jesus has come, so lets just focus on everything written after Jesus. The truth is that the whole Bible is about Jesus, Old and New Testament, so that argument doesn’t work. On top of that, Paul actually encourages us to use the Old Testament stories as reminders for us. He says this:

1 Corinthians 10:6 CSB

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

I could really go off on just that verse alone. I won’t, I got lots more, but look at what Paul is saying. These stories and the history that was recorded for us, these are examples of what not to do.

So often we get hung up reading scripture and picking out all the encouraging things and the examples that we want to follow, and Paul isn’t discouraging that. But he’s also pointing out that God’s people made mistakes, and we need to learn from their mistakes so that we don’t repeat them.

Paul goes on to reference a few stories, and I will unpack them a little further for you in case you don’t know what he is making reference to

1 Corinthians 10:7 CSB

Don’t become idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to party.

Paul is actually taking this verse out of Exodus 32. In Exodus 32, Moses, who we just finished looking at, has been up on the mountain of God for forty days and nights. The people become restless and approach Aaron, the high priest and Moses’ brother, and tell him, Moses has died, make us a new god to lead us. Aaron some of their gold, throws it in the furnace and forms a golden calf. He then declares that this golden calf is the god that led them out of Egypt. As far as the commandment to not have any idols, this is clearly a violation of that commandment

But this line, the people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to party, is a direct quote from that story. It is a warning to be on guard against the idols that try to sneak into your life. For the Corinthians, their idols came in the form of marble statues and very human looking. What is similar is that they were found in huge temples designed for their worship.

We may not see stone statues everywhere, but we have huge temples built for our idols. We call some of them boxstores, others we call stadiums, some are called casinos. Your idol may not have a face but it certainly has a name, and pursuing it will take you places that are contrary to God’s teaching and direction for your life.

Don’t become idolaters, as they did

1 Corinthians 10:8 CSB

Let us not commit sexual immorality as some of them did, and in a single day twenty-three thousand people died.

In Numbers 25, we read a story of how the Israelites were coaxed into worshiping the god Baal. Baal was a fertility god, so you can imagine what was involved in the worship of him. The men were being led astray by Moabite women, and as a result a plague came upon the whole camp of Israel. If Aaron’s grandson hadn’t intervened the way that he did, the whole assembly would have died by the plague. However, because of the zeal of Phinehas, the plague was stopped, and only 24,000 died that day.

Again, Paul is talking to a congregation that saw sexual immorality in the name of their gods all around them. Nothing has really changed. Sex sells as they say. The definition of modesty slowly disappears and the pornongraphy consumption has never been higher thanks to the pandemic. The temptation is all around us, and Paul’s warning still stands. Do not be drawn into sexual immorality.

1 Corinthians 10:9–10 CSB

Let us not test Christ as some of them did and were destroyed by snakes. And don’t grumble as some of them did, and were killed by the destroyer.

Paul is referencing one of the many stories in Numbers where the people we complaining about their situation. This particular time, they were complaining about the lack of food and water, and how they detested the manna that God had been giving them. As a result of their complaining, God sent poisonous snakes among the people. The only solution was when Moses mounted a bronze snake on top of a pole. When someone who was bitten looked to the snake, they were healed. Allusion to Jesus on the cross, and how anyone who calls out to him and declares him Lord and Savior will be saved. I did say earlier that the whole bible really is all about Jesus, right? Ok good. Just wanted to reiterate that point.

Now before we start thinking that poisonous snakes seems extreme for complaining, consider this. When they complain about their situation, what are they saying about God? You could do better. In fact, what they are saying, and what we are saying, is that if we were in charge, we would do it differently and we would do it better. Because complaining is basically telling God that what we have isn’t enough or it’s not good enough. Despite the fact that all that we have is a gift from him, and he could just as easily take it all away. On top of that, in Israel’s case, they wondered around the desert for forty years, and their clothes and their sandals never wore out, and they were never without food. Manna continued to come until they had officially entered the promise land. When they needed water, God made it appear out of rocks. They were in the desert and never needed for anything. Yet they complained.

They had it coming, and yet God still has mercy on them and gives them a way out. He continues even to today. We complain, we forget God in pursuit of some other venture, we get distracted by the things of this world, and God always takes us back. In fact, he’s always there, protecting us in ways that we may not even be aware of. That’s not to say there isn’t consequences for our actions. Sometimes the consequences are instantaneous, sometimes they come later, but they always comes. Yet God has mercy on us, he always forgives us, and is the good father with open arms ready to embrace us.

On this note of complaining, this is why we don’t have to fear or complain about the gov’t or any other people of authority. Everyone in authority is accountable to God Almighty, and when we complain, we are actually putting more faith in man to make a mess of things, then we are in God to straighten things back out. God is good, even when nothing else seems to be going our way. I’ve read the book, God wins, everything works out to his glory exactly the way it is supposed to. We don’t have to worry about it. Trust God, trust his timing, and trust his methods.

What is Paul’s point in referencing these three stories? They were written as examples to us, that we would not desire the evil things as they did. Paul is wants us to remember these stories so that when we are tempted by the things of this world, these would be reminders to us to run away from temptation and cling to God.

Which brings me to my last OT story I want to reference. It kind of lines up with the whole complaining narrative, but I find it interesting what happens.

Numbers 11:4–6 CSB

The riffraff among them had a strong craving for other food. The Israelites wept again and said, “Who will feed us meat? We remember the free fish we ate in Egypt, along with the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic. But now our appetite is gone; there’s nothing to look at but this manna!”

first off, I wanted to reference this story because it uses the word riffraff. I’ve never seen that in scripture before, but it is awesome! Riffraff

Anyways, this is interesting because of how the Israelites remember Egypt. They remember the food. I actually have a hard time believing the food was actually as good as they are talking about it. But even if it was this good with all this variety, they seem to be forgetting a very important plot point, and the whole reason they left. They were slaves, living under injust situations, and Pharoah was having all the baby boys killed when they were born to slow the population growth. Those seem like fairly important details!! YET, they want to go back because the food was better, and offered more variety then just manna.

Manna was a miracle in and of itself. It showed up without fail every morning with the dew. The people would gather, shape it into cakes, and it tasted like pastry cooked with the finest oil. Every day the people of Israel expereinced a miracle, saw God’s reliable provision manifest before them, yet they complained and wanted to go back because they wanted a little variety.

I picked this story because its not just about remembering. If we only remember parts of the story, we tend to fantasize about the parts that were good, forget the parts that were bad, and really focus on the negative parts of our current situation.

When we have marital problems, we may call to recollection a previous relationship, remembering all the things we liked about the relationship, yet forgetting important details like why we didn’t marry them and why we did marry our spouse.

When we have problems at work, we remember all the things we liked, forgot the things that caused us to leave in the first place, and focus on the hardships of our current job.

Or, in some cases, we fabricate details to make the old situation better, just to justify the frustration of the here and now.

It is not just about remembering, it is remembering the whole story, in its totality so that we are not tempted to look back and see something that isn’t there.

Scripture tells us two things. Don’t look too far ahead, because God only knows what is going to happen tomorrow. Don’t look back and see something that isn’t there. Focus on today, because today has enough struggles in and of itself.

Remembering means to act on what you recall, and as we recall the stories of Scripture, may run from the things that are contrary to the heart of God, and may we run to the things that God has set before us.