This is the ninth lesson in a series on 1 Corinthians. Please read
all about it in the Introduction. I’ve broken the post into sections with
journal prompts at the end of each part. These would be great stopping points.
I’ve also linked the Scripture references to biblegateway.com; click the blue
font references. I’d love to hear what you’re learning in the comments!
Week 8: Selfish
Attachments and Temptation (1
Corinthians 10)
I
laughed out loud when last week on the morning I was to teach about
chapter 9’s lessons on NOT demanding my rights, I had the opportunity to dig my
heels in with a brother at church. In the grand scheme of things it was a no
big deal minor issue….
-EXCEPT
in my own attitude.
-EXCEPT
in the way I heard God’s warning to seek Kingdom Growth FIRST in ALL
situations!
I
probably freaked him out a little, because I got kinda guilty-giddy-giggly as I
recognized the lesson. Studying 1 Corinthians is changing me. You too?
This
week we will see a famous verse on temptation in context, self-led pride before
and dangerous attachments after. It’s miraculous to see that when we let go of
pride and idolatry, temptation becomes much easier to handle….stay tuned.
In
one of my Bibles this next section is titled, “Warnings from Israel’s History” which will prove to tempt some to
snooze. But don’t do it! We haven’t just hit a random time warp. We’ve been
knee (sometimes neck) deep in the
messy nature of trying to get our ‘lil strong-willed natures tamed down from
self-seeking to Kingdom-seeking. Chapter 10 is taking all of us back down
Sunday School Lane to remember some stories and glean insight from the examples
of real people.
Spiritual Snubs
Now,
even though Paul is writing to a mostly Gentile church, he brings up Jewish
stories. These are God’s stories, and so they are our own. As you read the
examples does your mind wander back to Sunday School paintings of the parting
of the Red Sea? Can you see Moses’ white hair and beard flowing in the wind?
For many of us these stories have become so familiar that we highlight the
heroic parts and miss the dark places. Read these five verses again and see if
one word pops out to you.
Did
you see it? “spiritual” This word describes the supernatural way God led
and provided for His people. These verses connect the Bible-wide truth that Jesus is God’s provision. The
warning? Don’t snub God’s presence or His provision.
Journal
Prompt: How do you snub God’s presence or His provision?
Spiritual Examples
Now we are getting down and
dirty. Specific stories that really happened. They happened and were tragic,
but not wasted. We can study these people and their stories and learn! This is more than just learning
from another’s experience. This is seeing God’s intentional hand working in and
out of their experiences, leading and disciplining them and providing for them
AS HE HAS AND CONTINUES TO DO for us.
When I read these verses I
see another phrase repeated. “As some of
them did…” comes through five times. Here’s the list of what “some of them did…” that we are to
avoid.
- They desired evil.
- They became idolaters.
- They engaged in sexual
immorality.
- They put Christ to the test.
- They grumbled.
{Sarcasm Alert} Don’t you love these Bible lists? There’s always something in there
that snags even the most pristinely pure one of us {hello grumble}. Why? Because doing right isn’t really the point.
By the end of this chapter God will have confronted us with the Truth that the
secret and strong attachments of our heart and soul are where our life truly
gets its breath. So what will it be? Life or death? He will confront idolatry (our false attachments) and pride (our self-focus and unwillingness to submit to Him), just like He
did in these examples in verses 1-11. He doesn’t change.
And so we see pride take its
first blow in verse 12 with, “So if you
think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” Romans 11:20
and 2 Peter 3:17 share similar warnings. From everything we’ve studied in our
Introduction and through our journey into and through the last 9½ chapters, the
Corinthian church is struggling here on this issue. They want to control
their church and beliefs and interaction with their culture. They
want to understand and manage life. Some of that comes from a good place, but
much of it comes from pride. They are Us.
Journal
Prompt: From what you’ve studied so far, consider the struggle of the
Corinthian church to break free from pride. What personal connections can you
make to your own life and faith struggle?
Spiritual Temptation
I’ve linked it to different
translations, be sure and read them all.
The first thing that I MUST
point out, is that the context of this verse is temptation. This verse
cannot be applied to every single difficulty you face. When people use this
verse to tritely lay “God never gives us
more than we can handle” over ANY situation you face, it’s not wholly true.
God does allow more into your life than you can handle sometimes – but never
temptation to sin. If you feel crushed by the weight of difficult
circumstances, His purposes are always that you will lean into Him for strength
and provision and abandon your foolish notions that you ever have enough
spiritual resource in yourself to endure without Him. This is an important
lesson I’ve taught using texts in 2 Corinthians that are more appropriately
taught in another post. {Maybe someday we
will get there!} The point here in verse 13 is that a push to sin never
comes into your life without being met with the faithful Presence of God to overcome
it. You just have to choose which direction you will lean…into Jesus or into
sin.
Now, back to temptation in
verse 13. Brainstorm with me some of the excuses that we use to rationalize our
desire to give in to temptation. {Our excuses
are the italicized panicky ones! God’s
Words are the bold calm ones}.
I don’t know what happened, it just grabbed hold of
me so fast! –no temptation has seized you…
No one understands how hard this is! –except what
is common to man…
I asked You to help me, You’ve abandoned me in this
struggle! –I Am faithful…
It’s too much, I can’t say no! – I will
not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear…
I’m trapped, I can’t see any way out from this
temptation. –I will provide a way out…
I’m done, it’s crushed me.
Even when I say no it’s still right here torturing
me. –Stand up…
Do you see the progression
from confusion to panic? God wants us to understand the nature of temptation.
It’s always from the Enemy and it’s always for our destruction. John 10:10 and
James 1:13-15 come to mind on this subject.
I hope that you can break
free from the familiarity of 1 Corinthians 10:13 and see the hope there. He is
the solid, compassionate, calm answer to every wave of panic-stricken confusion
temptation blows over us. He doesn't always remove the temptation with some easy little "poof." He gives vision to see the way out and strength to stand up under the burden. You are never alone and you are never without resource. Please see with me the context of the two closest
surrounding verses. Verse 12 is a
warning against pride. Verse 14 is a warning against idolatry. Our
self-reliance and our secret attachments create a perfect atmosphere for
temptation to do its damage.
Before we move on to the
specific instructions Paul gives in this section let’s spend a few minutes on
verse 14, tying it in to what we’ve learned. So far in this chapter we’ve been
warned to consider the danger of snubbing God as He provides for us. We’ve been
warned not to think too highly of our ability to withstand temptation on our
own. Now, in verse 14 we are warned to
flee from idolatry. What is idolatry? It isn’t a contemporary concept, although
it is most definitely a contemporary practice. We do it all the time. When I
was studying and writing about the book of Hosea, I came upon this definition
of idolatry from the Holman Bible Dictionary, “a physical or material image or form representing a reality or being
considered divine and thus an object of worship.” (Fisher, 10). Idolatry
catches us when we buy a lie and begin to worship something that represents a
false reality. “To worship something
means I adore it, I am aware of its presence when it’s close and miss it when
its far way. I long to have it with me and spend time invested deeply in
understanding and knowing how it operates…..We worship people, things,
ourselves, achievements; both good and bad.” (Fisher, 12)
Any attachment in your life
that overtakes your attachment to God is idolatry.
Flee.
Run away.
If it’s a relationship or a
responsibility that you cannot or should not escape, get it back in its proper
place with the same “flee-like”
urgency. Do it as if your life depends on it.
Journal
Prompt: What fresh insight did you learn about the temptation verse? How does
the warning to flee idolatry in verse 14 connect to teaching on temptation in
verse 13?
Spiritual Living
So now we are back to the
list of questions Paul is answering. Remember the meat issue from chapter 8? He
starts right in on this topic declaring first the beauty of the church’s
celebration of the Lord’s Supper. It’s a celebration of Jesus. The pagan meat
sacrifice is not a celebration of Jesus. And as such it is actually a sacrifice
offered to demons. In verse 16, the bread and the wine is called a “participation.” Maybe you’ve heard this
word before. Koinonia. It means “fellowship
with or participation in anything.” (Zodhiates, 929). When I looked at this
in blueletterbible.org (here) I saw it’s used 19 times. The verses are all beautiful
examples of sharing and agreement.
When it comes to the actual walking out of this boundary (especially in light of the teaching of chapter 8 and 9) the
consideration of “koinonia” is the
key. Where am I sharing and giving agreement? In verses 27-29 the instruction
is clear….Don’t make the meat an issue, when you are invited into the home of
an unbeliever to eat, just eat. Say a silent prayer and eat; making the most of
any opportunity to share and find common ground so that you may have the chance
to share Jesus Truth with them.
How strange would it be for
me to accept an invitation into the home of a friend, then demand that we eat
our meal together the same way I would honor the Lord’s Supper at church? {Answer – super weird}. BUT, if that same person presents the meal to me as an intentional extension of the way it was first offered to an idol - that's where I draw the line.
The challenge for us to it lay the BUT down in the right place. {Yes, I realize that statement is pushing it, but it's memorable, right?} Don’t be
shackled by rules that alienate, BUT don’t live in a way that agrees, participates, or shows
brotherhood with an idol.
Journal
Prompt: Keeping the idea of agreement in mind. Where are some places that your
lifestyle “agrees” with the things of demons instead of the things of God? Are
there places where you are refusing fellowship where Kingdom opportunities
could be found?
I'm hopeful that studying a familiar verse in context this week was eye-opening for you. I know that I learned so much! I will post the rest of our lesson on chapter 10, and the very first verse of chapter 11 next week, as well as a summary review of what we've learned so far. THEN, we will be taking a big long break from 1 Corinthians while my college girls are home for Christmas Break and J-term.
Blessings as you learn,
Jamy
