Building on the Past
©Copyright February 17, 2008 by Bruce Goettsche SERIES: Solving Problems in the
At the site of the
It is hard to believe that anything as horrible as the German death
camps could ever take place again.
However, mass genocide continues in various parts of the world. It underscores the truth that if we do not
learn from the past we will have to repeat the painful lessons in the present.
In 1 Corinthians 10 Paul gives the same message to the church at
I believe Paul moved from the discussion of discipline and training to
this exhortation to learn from history because he recognized that one of the
greatest hindrances to spiritual growth is the feeling of complacency that come
from thinking we are “good enough for now”.
Paul wants the church at
THE DANGER OF
EXPERIENCE
For I do not want you to be ignorant of the
fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all
passed through the sea. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the
cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food 4 and
drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that
accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, God was
not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert.
The key word in
this passage is the word “all”. Paul
went back to the time of the Exodus and drew an important lesson. He pointed out that everyone who was in that
group who left
Paul said these
people all “drank from the same spiritual rock that accompanied them and that
rock was Christ.” The term “Rock” was a
common description of God. Paul
contended that the blessings these people witnessed were actually typical of
those which come from Christ.
Nevertheless, we
are told, “God was not pleased with most of them and their bodies were
scattered around the desert.” As you
read the story in Exodus through Deuteronomy you see this same group of people
rebelling against God time and time again.
In the book of Numbers we see the pinnacle event. Moses sent twelve
spies into the Promised Land (what we know today as
As a result of the
lack of true faith, all the adults in the group (who had all witnessed God
working in astounding ways) died in the wilderness. Joshua and Caleb were the only two adults who
entered the Promised Land.
The lesson we are
supposed to learn is this: we must not put our confidence in our experiences;
we must keep building on those experiences as we continue to grow in our
discipleship. It is all too common that
Christians
and then become
complacent. We are like people who are
climbing a mountain and partway up the mountain we stop and enjoy the view and
then decide that the view is so good there is no need to go further.
There are many
believers who always talk about faith in the past tense. They had an experience once and seemed to
decide to go no further.
HOW TO GUARD
AGAINST SUCCUMBING TO A FALSE SECURITY
6 Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from
setting our hearts on evil things as they did. 7 Do not be
idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat
and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry.” 8 We
should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three
thousand of them died. 9 We should not test the Lord, as some of
them did—and were killed by snakes. 10 And do not grumble, as some
of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.
Paul looked at the history of
We are inclined to focus only on what we aren’t supposed to do. If we don’t do these things, we feel we have
achieved our goal. I want to take these
prohibitions and restate them in terms of what we should be doing – or in terms
of what we should be striving for.
Let me illustrate what I mean.
We may feel quite good about not smoking or drinking, but that doesn’t
mean we are taking care of our body. We
may feel good about the fact that we don’t take God’s name in vain, but that
doesn’t mean we are honoring the Lord. We
may actually kill someone but that doesn’t mean that we respect life. We may
never
Learn to desire what is good for you (v. 6). Paul said these people set their
hearts on what was evil. The positive
side of that is we must learn to set our hearts on what is good. In Philippians
4:8 Paul told the Philippians,
whatever is true, whatever is noble,
whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is
admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
To do this we need to monitor our thinking. We need to consciously feed our mind with
things that are good. Advertisers have learned that if they can put something
in front of you in a desirable manner before long you will begin to “need”
their product. What you focus on is what
you will desire. Why not take that
lesson and use it to build positive desires?
If we want to desire what is good we must turn away from feelings of
bitterness and focus on thoughts about mercy and forgiveness. Instead of daydreaming about earthly riches
let’s consciously spend time thinking about Heaven. Instead of spending all day
watching the news (and feeling the anxiety and despair that comes with the
news), let’s take some of that time to fill our minds with the Word of God.
Instead of listening to music lyrics that advocate godless attitudes, let’s
seek out lyrics that honor the Lord. Our goal must be to desire what is good
for us.
Keep God first in your life (v. 7) The Israelites
were guilty of Idolatry. We think of idolatry as bowing before some foreign
idol or following some earthly teacher. Idolatry is any time we allow something
else to have more influence on our life than God does (money, our job, our
family, our amusements, our politics).
Consequently, our challenge is to give God first place in our lives.
Our job is to constantly ask ourselves whether we are “seeking FIRST the
Develop wholesome and pure relationships (v. 8) The
Israelites were sexually promiscuous. They sold out to the pleasure driven
values of the society around them. That is easy to do. If we are going to
develop wholesome and pure relationships we must start by repenting of our
tendency to view people as objects. We
must stop seeing people as physical forms to exploit and begin seeing them as
human beings. We need to stop using
people as a means to an end. We need to
start asking, “How can I enrich this person?” instead of asking, “What can this
person do for me?” We need to respect others.
If we want pure relationships we must work at honoring our marriage
relationship and the marriages of others.
We must throw our energies into enjoying and cherishing our spouse
instead of toying with the spouses of someone else.
Trust the Lord even when life seems dark (v. 9). The Israelites put the Lord to the test by
growing impatient. Things weren’t going
well so they started to whine and complain.
Perhaps you have noticed how naturally we fall into the same pattern. Things are hard so we: look for someone to
blame; we pout; we strike out. We should
learn from the Israelites that the better course is to true.
Ed Dobson is a Pastor who had to leave his church because of ALS or Lou
Gerhig’s disease. Dobson’s body is
gradually ceasing to function. Pastor
Dobson has written an excellent book titled, “Prayers and Promises when facing
a life threatening illness”. He writes,
“It is easy to believe that God will take
care of you when you don’t need to be taken care of. But when you desperately need the care of God
for the ultimate issues of life, it is not so easy to stop worrying.” (p. 27)
In difficult times instead of testing God we need to trust Him. Our challenge is to learn to trust God’s character
more than we trust our circumstances. To
do this we need to repeat God’s promises until we begin to believe them. My simple theological construct is this: God
is in control; He loves me; and He never makes a mistake. If I can hold on to these truths I can stand
in difficult times.
Be positive and grateful in all
circumstances (v. 10) The most
challenging command may be this last one: we are to choose gratitude instead of
grumbling. John MacArthur writes,
Murmuring is dissatisfaction with God’s
sovereign will for our lives and the lives of others, and is a sin that He does
not take lightly, even in view of His grace. When God’s people question or
complain, they are challenging His wisdom, His grace, His goodness, His love,
and His righteousness. Our need for contentment is not merely for our own
well–being, which it is, but for God’s honor and glory. Complaining dishonors
our heavenly Father; contentment glorifies Him.[3]
Have you ever noticed that a person who is a grumbler is like the flu
virus during winter time? They make everyone around them sick! They have the
uncanny ability to suck the joy out of any circumstance. They act like all of life is trying to rip
them off.
Someone who is grateful and content is like the sunshine after the rain.
They focus on how much they have been given rather than on what others
have. They smile rather than pout. They are able to celebrate with others
because they don’t see life as a competition. John Ortberg has written,
Gratitude is the ability to experience life
as a gift. It opens us up to wonder,
delight and humility. It makes our
hearts generous. It liberates us from the prison of self-preoccupation.[4]
A FINAL WARNING
These things happened to them as examples and
were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has
come. 12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you
don’t fall!
Let me give you some final lessons we should be learning from the
Israelites.
First, to learn from the past we need to
study the past. Obviously, if the records of people in the Bible were written so that
we would learn from their example, it follows that we should read the
Bible. I know it is hard to read the
Bible sometimes. It feels like we are
just reading dry historical records.
Instead of simply trying to master the facts of Old Testament stories,
it is important that we ask, “What is God trying to teach me in this account?”
It will take some work but it is worth they effort.
Second, the sin of others can just as easily
happen to us if we let our guard down. I like the way Eugene Peterson paraphrases
this passage,
Don’t be so naive and self-confident. You’re
not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about
self-confidence; it’s useless. Cultivate God-confidence.[5]
We will never be diligent in our discipleship until we recognize our
own vulnerability to sin. We too can
drift away from God. In the right
circumstances we could be unfaithful to our spouse, or commit a criminal act,
or lose control in our anger, or become an idolater.
We too often look at people who fall into these sins with an air of
disbelief and disgust. Shame on us! Under the right circumstances, we could be
that person. Our job is to guard our
hearts and to help each other get up when we fall.
Third, we need to realize that each person
must make a personal decision about Christ.
You may have attended this church all your life, you may have served in
various capacities over the years, you may have been baptized, you may have
felt chills and cried tears. However, if you have never personally put your
trust and confidence in Jesus as your Savior and King, you are still outside of
God’s Kingdom . . . no matter what your experience has been. Please stop
relying on your experience and start relying upon Christ.
Finally, as significant as past experiences
are, they are past. All
around the country we erect monuments to remind us of significant events from
the past. As you walk through a cemetery you will see monuments that remind us
of people that have touched our lives.
Remembering the past is good. It
is valuable. It is appropriate. As long as we remember that it is the past.
Most jobs require some kind of continuing education. The reason for this is that employers know
that if you aren’t continuing to learn and grow, you are stagnating and falling
behind. It is the same way in your spiritual life. If you are living on your
past experience you are stagnating and drifting from God.
Sometimes employers will send you to a conference where a speaker
passes on what he/she has learned and give you information and guidelines that
will help you be more successful in your business. The best speakers will give lots of
illustrations to show you what happens if you do or don’t follow the
guidelines.
1 Corinthians 10 is designed to serve as continuing education. Paul is giving us valuable guidelines and
illustrating those guidelines through the history of
©Copyright February 17, 2008 by Bruce Goettsche SERIES: Solving Problems in the Church
[1]Green,
M. P. (1989). Illustrations for Biblical Preaching (Revised edition of:
The expositor's illustration file.).
[2] Numbers 11:4; Exodus 32; Numbers 25:1-9; Numbers 21:5; Numbers 14:2, 36; 16:1-35
[3]MacArthur,
J. (1996, c1984). 1 Corinthians. Includes indexes. (225).
[4]
John Ortberg, When the Game is Over It All Goes Back Into the Box (
[5]Peterson, E. H. (2002). The Message : The Bible in
contemporary language (1 Co 10:12).