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Sermon for Trinity 9
1 Corinthians 10:6-13 + Luke 16:1-9
A haughty spirit had invaded the Christian church in Corinth. It was tempting believers to think, with pride, “I’m a Christian. I’m part of God’s church. I’ve been baptized into Christ. I partake of the Lord’s Supper. Therefore, nothing can move me. Nothing can harm me. I’m free to do anything. Once saved, always saved.”
Jesus was actually addressing a similar problem in today’s Gospel, which is why He told the parable of the unjust steward. Some of the “sons of light,” the citizens of God’s kingdom, didn’t think it mattered how careful they were in their stewardship or management of the wealth God had placed into their hands. Some were beginning to take their salvation, and their place in God’s service, for granted, like the unjust steward in the parable, becoming lazy and indifferent in their service to God, squandering the very things they were supposed to be managing, ignoring the good they could have been doing for their fellow Christians with the wealth God had entrusted to their care.
Could anything similar happen among God’s people today? Among God’s people here? Of course it could! You and I are just as human, and, therefore, just as susceptible to the influence of the sinful flesh as all believers have ever been, including those whose lives are on display for us in the Old and New Testaments. So let’s focus today on God’s inspired words to the Corinthian Christians, so that, by His Holy Spirit, He may keep us from falling when we begin to imagine, with sinful indifference and pride, that we’re standing firm on our own.
In the first five verses of 1 Corinthians 10, Paul reminds the stumbling Corinthians how much they had in common with the Old Testament Israelites who were led out of Egypt by Moses. Without any works on their part, without any worthiness or merit, those Israelites were counted among God’s holy people. They were redeemed from slavery in Egypt, rescued by God’s mighty hand. They were led safely on dry ground through the parted waters of the Red Sea, where Paul says that they were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. In other words, just as Christians pass through baptismal waters into the kingdom of Christ, who leads us through the wilderness of this world into our heavenly home, so those Israelites passed through the watery mist of the Red Sea to become joined to Moses as their leader through the wilderness into the Promised Land.
And, Paul says, those Israelites all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. In other words, just as Christians partake of Christ in a special, spiritual way, through faith, and through the actual eating of His body and blood in the Lord’s Supper, so the Israelites also had Christ with them in a special, miraculous way, long before He was born as a man, giving them miraculous water to drink and food to eat in the desert. The same Christ was with them, following them and sustaining them. The ancient Israelites and the Christians at the time of Paul were all, outwardly speaking, on equal footing.
But, what happened with those ancient Israelites who had the same Christ, and a similar “baptism,” and a similar meal that God miraculously provided for them? Paul says in v. 5, But with most of them God was not pleased, for they were struck down in the wilderness. Paul’s point is obvious. If God was not pleased with most of them, although they were, outwardly speaking, part of His redeemed people, then you can’t just assume He’s pleased with all of you, although you are, outwardly speaking, part of His redeemed people.
This is where today’s Epistle begins. Paul writes, Now these things took place as examples for us, so that we might not lust after evil things, 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.” He’s referring to what happened about 40 days after God thundered down the Ten Commandments to the Israelites at Mt. Sinai. You shall have no other gods, He said. You shall not make a graven image to bow down to it, He said. And yet, there they were, the people who had all been miraculously redeemed from Egypt, and baptized into Moses, and were fed by Christ—there they were, demanding that Aaron craft for them a golden calf, which he did, and which they then bowed down to and worshiped as their god. And as a punishment for their idolatry, at least three thousand people died that day. Being, outwardly, among the people of God, does not inoculate a person from committing idolatry, or from its deadly consequences. So, Paul says, flee from idolatry in all its forms! It is not harmless to the Christian, and if God did not spare His people of Israel, He won’t spare modern church members, either, who refuse to repent of their idolatry.
And let us not engage in sexual immorality, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day. He’s referring to an incident, recorded in the book of Numbers, toward the end of the Israelites’ 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, as they were finally coming up to enter the Promised Land. The people of Moab sought to defeat the Israelite armies, not by military force, but by having their women seduce the Israelite men. And, in a sense, it worked! The men engaged in sexual immorality with the women, and, as a result, God struck down over 23,000 of them. So, Paul says, flee from sexual immorality in all its forms. It is not harmless to the Christian, and if God did not spare His people of Israel, He won’t spare modern church members, either, who refuse to repent of their adultery.
And let us not test Christ, as some of them did, and perished by serpents. And do not grumble, as some of them did and perished by the destroyer. Time and time again, the Israelites grumbled and complained against Moses and against God. They tested God repeatedly and relied on their status as church members to keep them safe. But time and time again, God made it clear to them, through these severe punishments, that true membership in His Church is not only an outward matter, but also an inward one—one that involves a penitent and believing heart. And where such a heart exists, there will also be a willingness—a zeal, even!—to serve God by avoiding sin and by keeping His commandments.
Now, Paul concludes, all these things happened to them as an example, and they are written as a warning for us, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. If Christians at the time of Paul, or Christians still today, have any advantage over Old Testament Israel, in addition to knowing Christ Jesus in the flesh, it’s this: God has graciously provided them to us, in these last days, as an example for us to learn from. They had to learn by painful experience. We have the benefit of getting to learn from their experience, from their often-negative example, so that we don’t have to make the same mistakes, so that history doesn’t have to repeat itself in our lives. Where they doubted, let us trust. Where they grew haughty, let us remain humble. Where they were negligent, let us be diligent. Where they faltered, let us stand firm.
But standing is not something we can do by ourselves, and it’s especially dangerous to do as the Israelites did: to imagine that we stand automatically, because of who we are, because of our past, because of any number of external things, apart from repentance and a living faith in Christ Jesus. So then, Paul writes, if anyone thinks he stands, let him take care not to fall. You think you stand in God’s favor? You think you stand in safety from the wrath and judgment of God that are coming on the world? Well, there’s only one way to stand, only one way to be safe. Turn from your sins and flee to Christ for refuge! Trust in the Lord Jesus, who suffered and died for all the sins of all men, and who invites and calls you to find free forgiveness in Him. But don’t only do that once, or once in a while. Let that be your daily, continual exercise of repentance and faith. And as you do that, then also take into account the warnings God has given to His people, often in the form of examples from the Holy Scriptures of people who thought they stood, but, in reality, they were standing, not on God and His promises, not on God and His strength, but on the assumption that all was well, no matter what they did, no matter how much they disobeyed.
Paul goes on, No temptation has come upon you except for those that are common to mankind. When you’re tempted, or “tested” or “tried” (it’s the same word in Greek), it often feels like this temptation is unique to you. “Nobody else struggles with this. Only me. Nobody else is bothered by this, or attracted by this, or prone to give in to this like I am. Nobody else has ever faced the challenges that I’m facing.” Not true, Paul assures us. If you struggle with some burden, with some temptation, with some kind of sin, you can be assured that you are not alone. Maybe not everyone experiences the exact same temptations, but the things you’re tempted with are common-enough temptations, things that believers everywhere have struggled with since mankind first fell into sin. On the one hand, that’s comforting, knowing that your struggles are not unique. On the other hand, it’s a reminder that you have no unique excuse for giving into sin, either.
What’s the solution to temptation? What’s the secret to standing firm against it? Paul gives it in the final verse of our text. God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able to bear, but with the temptation he will also make a way out, so that you are able to bear up under it. God’s faithfulness is our hope, is our strength, is our comfort—His faithfulness to those who are bound to Him through Holy Baptism, who are called by His name, who have been made children of God and heirs of eternal life. God is faithful to His people. And in His faithfulness, He does not remove trials and temptations from our earthly lives. Instead, He governs and restrains the temptations so that they’re allowed to test or to tempt only so far, never beyond what you can bear. And even then, you aren’t expected to bear it alone. He promises to make a way out for you, so that you are able to bear up under it without being crushed or overwhelmed by it.
Cling to that promise, when you are tempted or tried! God is faithful. He won’t give you up. He won’t let you go. You want some proof? You want some examples? Paul gave the Corinthians some negative examples from the Bible as a warning. But look at all the times when believers in the Bible did rely on God in their times of trouble, when they refused to sin, like Joseph, when they turned to God’s Word for strength, like David, when they called out to Him in faith for help when they were sinking, like Peter. Every single time, God delivered them, in just the right way, at just the right time. He will do the same for you. Because He is faithful to all who rely on His faithfulness, to save and deliver them from every evil. If it’s His Word and His faithfulness that you’re relying on instead of yourself, if your spirit is humble before God instead of haughty, then you can truly claim, in humility, what the Corinthians were falsely claiming, in pride: “I’m a Christian. I’m part of God’s church. I’ve been baptized into Christ. I partake of the Lord’s Supper. Therefore, nothing can move me. Nothing can harm me.” Not because Christians are free to live in sin, not because Christians are “once saved, always saved,” but because no one can fall while he is relying on Christ, the faithful God, for strength. Amen.
