1 Corinthians 10:1-10

July 15, 2018

Lord’s Day Worship

Sean Higgins

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The sermon starts at 19:45 in the audio file.

Or, Dangerous Lusts of the Blessed

There is a common human craving not only to satisfy ourselves, but to self-satisfy using religious reasons. Men are not only idolators, they are often idolators using God’s name. We want our worldly cake and communion with the Lord, or, we want the cake for communion.

The Corinthians Christian had a lot of problems. Based on Paul’s first letter to them, they had more self-esteem than humility, more self-interest than discipline, more self-serving than sacrifice. What’s more, they justified their petty divisions according to their favorite preachers, they justified their sexual immorality according to their “spirituality,” and in some cases they justified their association with idols based on their belief in the one, true, sovereign God (see 1 Corinthians 8:1-6).

Since the beginning of chapter 8 Paul has been challenging them to apply not just their knowledge of God but also the love of God in their actions and interactions with fellow believers, especially the weak ones. Paul himself lived as an illustration on how to treat others as more important than one’s own self-gratification (1 Corinthians 9:1-23). This is the way of the cross, and this is the Christian race. Run to win. Be self-controlled and disciplined lest you lose the prize and get kicked out of the race (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).

Many of the Corinthians apparently acted as if their shoes could never come untied. They thought they were above stumbling, let alone losing. They knew they had God’s blessings, which is true, but they didn’t realize that having God’s blessings is a goad to run, not a guarantee of having won.

Paul continues his point from chapter 8 into chapter 10, and will return explicitly to the subject of food offered to idols throughout the chapter. He demonstrates from history that we must keep running. As God’s people, we cannot allow ourselves to quit self-control, and we cannot allow ourselves to crave self-indulgence, especially in God’s name.

Verses 1-13 belong together, but there is a lot to work through, so we’ll take it in two sermons. For today we’ll consider the Divine Blessings (verses 1-5) and the Dangerous Cravings (verses 6-10).

Five Divine Blessings and a “But” (verses 1-5)

It is a new chapter, but the argument for running continues: For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers. Paul urged them to run with self-control and said that he himself was concerned about the possibility of being “disqualified” (9:27). Disqualification from, and so losing, the race is a real risk. The Corinthians seemed to think themselves above such a temptation, so Paul reminds them about the stories of some previous runners who didn’t finish well.

Gains for All (verses 1-4)

In order to make the comparisons most relevant, Paul chooses from runners who were clearly blessed. He doesn’t select losers, he selects God’s select. He remembers five blessings of God’s sovereign grace and shows how all of the Israelites knew them.

First, all the Israelites were protected: our fathers were all under the cloud. All of these blessings came to them during the Exodus from Egypt and during their time wandering in the wilderness. Paul calls these fathers because Gentiles are saved into the same root as the Jews (see Romans 11). Not everything is the same between Israel and the church, and yet both “belong to a single history of God’s activity and self-disclosure” (Thiselton). God’s people were all under the cloud meaning that all of them were lead by and covered by God’s care.

Second, all the Israelites were delivered: and all passed through the sea. Not one of them was left behind in Egypt, not one of them was drowned[...]