Sermon on 1 Corinthians 10:6-13, for the 9th Sunday after Trinity (1 Yr), "Wrestle with God's Word"

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. It’s good to be back with you after a restful vacation! A fascinating book I have been reading has a point that connects to our reading from 1 Corinthians 10. The book is “The Executioner’s Redemption” by Rev. Timothy Carter, and it’s the true story of how he went from being a nonpracticing Christian to a self-righteous and judgmental one, to finally a person who died to himself so that Christ could live through him. This happened under extreme circumstances, working in the Texas state prison where all of the worst and most violent criminals were locked up, and many awaiting execution. Many of his years he worked on death row, meeting both the families of the victims and the victimizers. Years later he became a Lutheran pastor. In that environment and by the Word of God working on him, he underwent a remarkable personal transformation, and witnessed God’s grace at work on countless other people. He saw how prayer and wrestling with God’s Word could teach people and shape their lives.

But the point that applies today to our reading, is some early advice he received. At the time he was struggling with his own anger and judgmentalism, and knew he was supposed to be a Christian every day of the week. He was trying to reflect Christ, even in the darkest of all places, among some of the worst victimizers and murderers on earth, but felt a constant awareness of his failings. A wise mentor reminded him that Christ said we should be as wise as serpents, but innocent as doves. He said that to represent Christ properly, we have to be both, and then added, that Timothy Carter was like most people—we want to follow Christ on our own terms by picking and choosing which Scripture passages support [our] personal views, while intentionally ignoring other passages that are critical and against [our] personal perspective.

Does that sound like you? I know that shoe fits, more often than I’d like. God’s Word, the Bible, is given to us as a whole—and we are told by Jesus that Scripture cannot be broken (John 10:35). The Proverbs says: “every Word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar” (Prov. 30:5-6). God clearly would have us believe the whole of His Word, and not add or subtract from it. It’s always easy to find passages we like, but when we accept Christ’s word that the Scripture cannot be broken, it leaves us with the challenge of facing and listening to some “tough passages” of Scripture, like today’s reading, where we read things that leave us puzzling and struggling, and maybe wanting to “pick and choose” for ourselves. But if we heed the advice of Rev. Carter’s wise mentor, and more importantly, the advice of Scripture that “all Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16), then we will try to listen to and wrestle with this Word from God, and see what it means for us.

So what challenges or questions might the serious reader of this passage face?

6Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. 7Do 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.” 8We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, 10nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. 11Now 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. 12Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 13No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

The challenge may be as simple as the recognition that some of those sins are our own. Maybe grumbling is your “pet sin”—always dissatisfied, never content or thankful. Maybe you prefer to ignore God’s Word on sexual purity; thinking if society approves of almost anything, who are we to judge? God’s Word calls us clearly to account in this passage, reminding us how many Israelites paid the price in death, for their idolatry and sexual sin. Or maybe idolatry is the sin we don’t realize we are committing. We build little idols in our hearts—little false gods that we worship and put our trust in—our status, our wealth, our power, our looks, our cleverness. We gladly pay tribute to these “gods”, but neglect to worship the True God. “You shall have no other gods before me” is  the first commandment. We may be challenged by the seeming harshness of God’s judgment, that 23,000 Israelites fell in a single day, because of their sexual immorality. But there it is, in the pages of Scripture, a warning to us, it says.

Or, if not these challenges, we may wonder about the closing verses about temptation. Does God really not let us be tempted beyond our ability? Haven’t there been many times when you felt completely overwhelmed by temptation, and never saw a way of escape? How do we make sense of these? How do we experience God’s rescue when facing temptation?

These are the kinds of questions we need to faithfully wrestle with, when we face Scripture. When we pick and choose, and ignore passages, we don’t hear what the more challenging Scriptures have to teach us. We may even miss a message that is directed to our own personal issues. Just like Jacob, who wrestled with God and received a blessing—so also we are blessed when we don’t turn away from the challenge of God’s Word, but let it search and examine our hearts. Just like Rev. Carter needed to learn to let his personal perspective submit to  and be shaped by God’s Word, when he was a prison guard. We all have different “rough edges”—and we might not like the feeling of having God prune away some branches, or smooth out a prickly part of our sinfulness that we would rather keep protected.

Paul tells us in the reading, that God gave these examples to keep us from desiring evil as they did, and that they are “written down for our instruction”. We don’t need to repeat their hard lessons in order to learn from their mistakes. They degraded themselves by hungering after evil. God had set out a high road for them, a path to rise above the wicked nations of that time, and God wanted them to become a light to the nations. An example of His mercy and the goodness of His Law. But they quickly went astray, and God brought terrible judgment down on them. We too are faced by the same problems of being degraded by evil desires, falling for the traps of sin—whether that be idolatry, grumbling, sexual immorality, or putting God to the test. Sin degrades us when we are ruled by our passions, rather than the higher wisdom of God.

Paul names 5 quick examples from the Old Testament in this reading. One of them is the Golden Calf incident. All of those sins were wrapped up in this one devastating event. It’s described in Exodus 32, just after the Israelites had received the 10 Commandments from God on Mt. Sinai, along with instructions about how they were to worship the One True God. Moses went back up on Mt. Sinai for further revelation from God, and while he was away, they “sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.”

That’s a polite way of saying, that they couldn’t wait for Moses to return and so they took matters into their own hands and made a golden idol of a cow to worship. Their “play” most likely included sexual sin as well, as idolatry and sexual immorality went hand in hand in the ancient pagan religions. God was furious that they so quickly abandoned Him and what He had told them, and had so corrupted themselves. He was ready to destroy them all, and start over with Moses. But Moses, in a Christ-like way, interceded for them, asking for God’s mercy and forgiveness for their sin. He reminded God of His promises. God did show mercy, and lessened the judgment. But still, 3,000 who worshipped the idols died that day. Then the next episode relates that 23,000 died in a single day, for the sin of sexual immorality. This was tied to an episode of Baal worship. Such numbers stagger us, just like we struggle with the mass fatalities of events like 9/11 or modern warfare or tragedies in the news. Mass fatalities often cause people to question God’s justice. But how often do we ignore the grave human responsibility for these evil acts, and turn it instead on God?

But what is Scripture teaching us here? It’s the simple lesson we so often forget—God alone is the One True Judge. We easily accept and embrace the Biblical idea that we are not the judge of others, lest we be judged, But we are mistaken if we think that this means there is no judgment at all. God is the only One with the proper authority and who possess the right measure of both justice and mercy to deal out judgment and punishment for sin. In our American democracy, we have a system of checks and balances, that prevents power from all being consolidated in one person. For example, no one person gets to play “judge, jury, and executioner.” We need to be protected against sinful humans consolidating too much power for themselves. But God alone has the true authority to act as Judge and Executioner. He knows men’s hearts, He shows no favoritism; He is not fooled or led astray.

But God is also the God of mercy. He allowed Moses to intercede for Israel time and again, as a foreshadowing of Jesus. And in Christ, God has secured mercy for all who turn to Him. God has staked His Name on the promise He has made to us, to forgive our sins for the sake of Jesus, His Son, and to give eternal life to all who believe in Him. If we cling to our sin, we won’t be able to see God’s mercy, but will instead view God’s judgment. But for those who believe in Jesus, and lay down our sins at the cross—we see the God of mercy. The Holy Spirit teaches us to repent and ask for God’s forgiveness. And it is ours, as surely as Jesus has died and risen from the dead. Even in a world of wickedness and rebellion against God, God is faithfully working hard to save every person. Even though many will scorn His love, He remains true to His promises for Jesus’ sake. Wrestling with hard passages of God’s judgment also reveals God’s heart of mercy, and how He is ever calling people to repentance and life.

We’ve run short of time to explore all this text has to teach. But I hope you can also commit to the faithful study of God’s Word, and not to turn away from a challenging text. Join a Bible study. Read a study Bible. Pray and live your life’s challenges with a Bible close at hand. The Holy Spirit will aid you in understanding. Don’t be afraid to wrestle with the hard lessons of God’s Word. When you grasp and find peace in a Bible verse, keep that truth close to your heart. When you read a verse you don’t understand, have reverence and respect for God’s Word, and pray that He may teach it’s meaning to you later. And always, faithful wrestling with God’s Word, will bring us God’s blessing. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Sermon Talking Points

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1. Read 1 Corinthians 10:6-13. It describes several events from Israel’s journey in the wilderness to the Promised Land. What specific sins does it name and warn us against? What troubling questions arise when you read a difficult passage like this, describing God’s judgment, or His deliverance from temptation?
2. The book I referenced in the sermon is “The Executioner’s Redemption: My Story of Violence, Death, and Saving Grace”, by Rev. Timothy R. Carter. It is an excellent read and I highly recommend it.
3. How does Scripture urge us to take the whole message of God’s Word as truth? John 10:35; Proverbs 30:5-6; 2 Timothy 3:16. What is the benefit of wrestling with challenging Scriptures that “are critical of our personal perspectives”?
4. We are reminded by 1 Cor. 10 of the simple truth that God has the proper authority and command of justice and mercy to be the Judge of all humanity. Why is that an uncomfortable truth for many?
5. Why has God given us these patterns and examples in the Old Testament? Why does He relate them again to us today?
6. How did Moses intercede for the people on numerous occasions? See Exodus 32:11-14. Who does this pattern or example point ahead to?
7. God promises a rescue route or escape from temptation. Why do we sometimes struggle with this truth also? How does God’s Word equip us against temptation? Matthew 4:1-11; 2 Peter 2:9; 1 Peter 5:8-9.