Avoid Israel's Mistakes
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(Seminarian Zachary Semmann) 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 Theme:Follow God’s Guide to History! Part 1: Avoid Israel’s mistakes. Part 2: Follow God’s way out. Introduction: You’ve probably all heard the saying: “Those who know not history are doomed to repeat it.” And it’s no surprise—because it makes a lot of sense. We know we live in a sinful world, and we know people make mistakes. We also know that we can learn from mistakes and failures. We can even see that on a civilizational scale. It doesn’t take a very long glance at history to see repeated mistakes. Whether it’s military blunders, not preparing for pandemics, we can see how many people do not learn from their mistakes. In the text for our consideration today, Paul urges the Corinthians to learn from history—to learn from Israel’s history. He goes down the list of mistakes that Israel made on their journey from Egypt to the Promised Land—and tells them to not repeat Israel’s mistakes, lest they also perish on the journey to their Promised Land. But Paul reminds them that they are not left alone. God is with them, and he has provided them with ways out of temptation, so they can avoid Israel’s mistakes. And Paul is speaking this to us as well. FOLLOW GOD’S GUIDE TO HISTORY. Avoid Israel’s mistakes, and Follow God’s way out. 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. 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. 11 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! 13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. Part One: Avoid Israel’s mistakes. Paul had just spoken about how believers run the race in a way to get the prize—pressing on towards the goal. In this part of the letter, Paul is portraying this image of us, moving forward through our journey to the promised land of heaven. Paul’s warning for the Corinthians is in the form a desire he has for them—he doesn’t want them to be ignorant. As any teacher, be it a pastor, a parent, or a school teacher would want. Paul specifically wants them to not be ignorant of the fact that all of the forefathers of Israel were under that cloud of God’s presence, they all passed through the Red Sea, a wall of water on each side, and they were all baptized into Moses. He also points out that they ate spiritual food and drank spiritual drink from a spiritual rock—and that rock was Christ—even back then. Even before Christ was incarnated and born of the Virgin Mary, Jesus was still the God that led Israel through the desert to the promised land. But God was not pleased with most of them. Not just a few—but most. When Jesus was teaching his disciples, he spoke this as well. “Narrow is the gate that leads to salvation, and wide is the path that leads to destruction.” Paul then lists a few events that he doesn’t want the Corinthians to repeat: The Golden Calf incident, where the Israelites disobeyed God and worshipped an idol. The Intermingling with Moabites, where Israelite men took Moabite women as wives and were led astray and worshipped false gods. The Rebellion of Korah, where Korah and his followers were jealous of Aaron and the Levites’ roles as the Priests of Israel and sought to take a privilege and a responsibility that God had not given them. And The Bronze Snake incident, when the Israelites once more grumbled and complained against Moses and God, and were punished with venomous snakes—and those who repented and looked to the Bronze Snake which Moses had fashioned were healed of the venom. And Paul says—these are examples for you. So Paul urges them to know these examples, and how they can learn from them and not repeat them. He’s urging them to avoid Israel’s mistakes. When we look at the sins of Israel on their journey to the promised land, do we give in to the same temptations? Do we fall in the same way? We look at the Golden Calf—how do we fall to idolatry? Do we value God as the highest thing in our lives? Above our money and possessions? Above our Spouses? Sexual Immorality— Do we take God’s command to lead a chaste and decent life seriously? What do we allow into our homes? Through our screens? Through our thoughts and our words? Korah’s rebellion—do we itch for power and authority not given to us? Do we become jealous of the privileges given by others and covet them? The Bronze Snake—do we grumble and complain even when God is preserving us? Are we not satisfied with the blessings God has showered upon us? Of course, when we see all of these criteria to avoid Israel’s mistakes, we wonder, “gee, Paul, how are we supposed to not repeat all these mistakes?” As we see the many ways that we might mirror Israel’s sin, we are reminded that we are plagued by sin. It’s not just that we mess up from time to time—we are thoroughly corrupted by our sin. Our sinful nature is a disease that we cannot cure on our own. As we saw in our Old Testament Reading, God raised up Moses to lead the Israelites on their journey to the promised land. We are also on a journey to the promised land. We are wanderers just like Israel on our journey to heaven. But yet, will we be like the Israelites? Will God not be pleased with most of us? Thanks be to God that he has raised up a greater leader than Moses. He raised up for us Jesus Christ, his only Son. He sent his son to be the atoning sacrifice that was greater than any of the sacrifices offered by Israel in the wilderness. His blood atones for all of our sins, and all of our rebellions against God. And faith in him directs us away from the wandering ways of ancient Israel, and away from their mistakes. Christ has promised to be with us and guide us. We saw that in our Gospel Reading how Jesus gave a warning and a lesson to guide his disciples and those listening to him. Jesus is our greater Moses who leads us through the wilderness to the promised land. He will keep us from sin and guard us; he is a greater shepherd than Moses. Moses gave the Law, but Christ fulfilled it. God was not well-pleased with most of the Israelites, but God has said of Jesus, “This is my Son, whom I love, in him I am well- pleased.” And by faith, we are covered in Jesus’ perfect righteousness—and God is well-pleased with us. Part Two: Follow God’s way out. Paul closes this section with a warning and a promise. Paul warns them that if you think you are standing firm—be careful that you don’t fall. But then he promises that no temptation will overtake us that we cannot bear. Do we think we’re standing firm? Do we let ourselves become careless or flippant? Do we think, “I go to church, I do good deeds now and then, I’m covered, I’m good.”? We must not be ignorant, as Paul warns against. And trusting in our own deeds or our own righteousness is the epitome of ignorance. And isn’t that so prevalent in the world? We see that in the world today, and in the past as well, so many think that they can, by their own power, be righteous before God. But is there any way we can do that? Think about God’s Holiness. Think about the various ways God has revealed his presence and his glory. Think about Moses hiding his face in a rock as God passed by. Think about the men incinerated by his glorious presence when they entered the Most Holy Place in the Tabernacle without God’s permission.