1 Corinthians 10:6-12

                                                     1 Corinthians 10:6-12

Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. 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.” We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. 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. 

 

The experience of the children of Israel in the desert is supposed to be instructive to us.  They are an example of how God deals with different sins.  His treatment of the children of Israel should help us understand how He views sin in our lives.  There are consequences to sin and we must be careful not to tolerate sin in our lives, or we will be very likely to face these consequences.  It is instructive to note the areas of sin that are mentioned.

 

IDOLATRY: This is likely the most common and misunderstood sin.  I say it is misunderstood because when we think of idolatry, we immediately picture some image, statue, or golden calf to which people bow down.  Most people wrongly presume that because they don’t practice this form of idolatry, they don’t have a problem with this sin.  Tozer defined idolatry as any wrong idea about God.  Another common definition is anyone or anything that we put above God.  By these definitions, we all struggle with idolatry.  Since all men are created as worshipers, we all must worship all the time.  Whenever we are not worshiping God, we are worshiping idols.  These are not “calf” shaped idols.  Rather, they are idols of comfort, fame, pleasure, prosperity, power, entertainment, food, influence, self, marriage, children, security, and the list could go on and on.  Calvin said that the heart of man is an idol factory.  We all struggle with this sin every moment of every day.

 

IMMORALITY: God has created us as sexual beings.  He designed us as male and female to complete one another both physically and spiritually.  He created the commitment of the marriage relationship to be the context in which a man and a woman become on flesh, form a family, and reflect the glory of the Trinity.  Any sexual activity outside the marriage relationship is immorality.  The children of Israel became involved in all kinds of sexual perversions and as a result many of them were killed.  As today’s culture ventures into basically unbridled sexual perversion, we are inviting the wrath of God.  As people begin to identify themselves according to their sexual passions instead of identifying themselves as image bearers of God, immorality continues to escalate.  We must guard our hearts and warn our culture of the dangers of immorality for now and eternity.

 

INSUBORDINATION: When Paul speaks of putting God to the test, we are not immediately sure what he means by this expression.  However, when we look at the context of why God sent serpents amongst the people, it was due to the people rebelling against and questioning the leadership of both God and Moses.  God is the Sovereign of the universe, and He establishes leaders on earth.  His authority is not up for debate and is not established by human votes.  Those He places in authority are His representatives and are to be respected as such.  In a fallen world there will be authorities that are disobedient and rebellious against God.  However, we must recognize that all authority on every level is established by God.  When we rebel against that authority we are rebelling against God.  Unless an early authority requires what God prohibits or prohibits what God requires, we are to be submissive to our leaders.  Complaining about, dishonoring, and rebellion against authority is an afront to God Himself.

 

INGRATITUDE: Complaining is one of those sins that we tend to think of as not that big of a deal.  It is instructive that it is included in this list of the sins of Israel for which they were punished.  Too often we tolerate the sin of ingratitude or complaining in our own lives and the lives of the people around us.  When we complain, we are saying that we deserve better than what God has decided to give us.  We complain when we don’t have what we want or when we have what we don’t want.  The reality is that all complaining is against God.  He is the One who has decided what we have and what we don’t have according to His wisdom and sovereign plan for this world.  We may not understand why He does what He does, but we must trust Him instead of complaining about what he chooses to do or not to do.

 

APPLICATION: Recognize that all of these sins are related and contribute to one another.  Ingratitude will lead to insubordination which will facilitate immorality which will foster idolatry in our hearts.  Prepare to do battle with these sins all day every day.  Do not become tolerant of these sins.  Trust in Christ alone to forgive and free us from them.