|
INTRODUCTION
Paul has been outlining a number of events in the life of the people of God in the Old Testament. The people
tested God on numerous occasions and God was not pleased with them (v 5). The reason why Paul reminds his readers of these events is because they were examples to us to stop us from setting our hearts on evil as the
people of Israel did (v 6).
In other words Paul wants us to learn from the mistakes, sins and failings of his people in the past (v 6).
Now in the verses that are under consideration, Paul is applying these lessons to the Corinthians. He does not want the Corinthians to make the same mistakes as their forefathers in the faith did.
1. BE WARNED FROM THE PAST (v 11-12).
Paul says that the punishments and judgements that came upon the disobedient Israelites of the Old Testament
were not only an example of God's ways to the Israelites at that time and in future times but they are also an example to every believer in every age (v 11). These Old Testament events are much more than examples to
us of God's dealings with his people but they were written down and recorded as warnings for us. These Old Testament events are for our benefit, therefore we must learn from them. The word translated "warning" in
the NIV means counsel given in order to persuade someone's to change his or her behaviour in the light of judgement.
Paul is telling the Corinthians to learn the lessons, to reform their lives in the light of this warning of
judgement otherwise God will have to act in similar ways. God deliberately made sure that what happen to Israel was written down and recorded and He did this so that those living in the New Testament age ("on whom
the fulfilment of the ages has come") will be warned. As a result they will examine and reform their lives appropriately.
We are obviously living in a different time and a different age from the people of God during the Old
Testament period. They were living in a period before Christ came they were looking forward to his coming. We are living in the period since Christ came we can look back and see all that that Christ did and said and
we are in a more privileged position than the Old Testament people of God.
But that does not mean that we cannot learn from the Old Testament believers. We can learn valuable lessons
from their experiences. Like the Old Testament people of God we can lose so many blessings if we like them allow ourselves to fall into sin and disobedience. Of course we can never lose our salvation because it is
not ours but God's but we can so easily lose touch with God and allow sin to enter and as a result lose our effectiveness in God's service.
The problem with those Old Testament believers was that they became self -confident and we too can become
self-confident and think that we could never do what those Old Testament people of God did. We have been Christians too long for that to happen. We are strong and mature now, that sort of behaviour is what you might
find in the immature and inexperienced.
But such attitudes smells of self confidence and if you have been a Christian for some time you will know of
so called older and mature Christians who have fallen into gross sin and as a consequence have made shipwreck of their faith. This is why Paul tells us all to be careful that we don't fall (v 12). If we think that
we will stand firm as Christians no matter what, if we think we are mature and will not fall into sin like those people in the Old Testament then we need to be very careful, for this principle is very well put in
the book of Proverbs "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall." (16:18). You see, my dear friends, it is so easy to substitute confidence in oneself for confidence in the Lord. It so easy to
accept the Lord's guidance and blessing in our lives and then take the credit for the work that God does through us.
It's so easy to be so caught up in our work for the Lord and our so called achievements that we almost
forget that we belong to the Lord that He has bought us with a price and we are called to obey and serve Him. Therefore anything that we think we have achieved as Christians is not our achievement at all but God's.
So when God adds to our church that is not our achievements but that is what God is doing.
He simply uses us as his instruments to achieve all that he has planned and purposed for this church. None
of us have any reason for self-confidence all that we are as Christian people we are because of Christ and the outworking of his Spirit in our hearts.
Now the bible is full of examples of the dangers of self-confidence. Peter is a good example of a man who
discovered that where he thought he was strong and dependable turned out to be his weakest point. He said he was prepared to die for Christ yet Christ predicted that he would deny him not one or twice but three
times (Luke 22:33-34 &52-62).
Can you believe that, a great Christian man like Peter who was full of passion for his Saviour and was
serious when he said he would die for Jesus yet soon afterwards he is found denying the very person that he said he was prepared to die for? That is what self-confidence can do for a Christian. It's so easy in the
Christian life to convince ourselves that we can handle all situations especially if we have been Christians for many years.
There will not be many new situations that you have not seen before. At such times we are in great danger
for every day we need to humble ourselves before Almighty God and seek his grace to live for him throughout the day no matter what that day brings along. We need to constantly be praying for grace to handle life's
various situations and to be servants of the Lord rather than thinking we can handle this trial or I can do this for the Lord.
The church at Sardis was very proud of her reputation for being a spiritually alive church, but the Lord
warned her that she was really dead and needed to repent (Revelation 3:1-3). You see Christians who become self-confident become less dependant upon God and His word and as a consequence they can become careless in
their living for the Lord.
As carelessness increases so to does openness to temptation and resistance to sin decreases as a
result. When we feel most secure in ourselves, when we think our spiritual life is strong, or we feel our doctrinal stance is right and balanced or when we think our morals are high we should be on our guard
and even more determined to be dependant upon the Lord.
In many ways this is a good sermon for the Sunday after our Thank Offering Sunday. We rightly were looking
back last week and saw how good God has been to us as a church but it is also so easy as a result to feel proud and to become self-confident and start depending upon ourselves as a church instead of the Lord. We are
where we are as a church not because we have a building or a pastor but because of the Lord.
We must resist the temptation to pat ourselves on the back for that leads to self- confidence and
complacency and both of those things are disastrous as the Old Testament people of God can testify.
2. BE ENCOURAGED ABOUT THE FUTURE (v 13)
After a strong warning about self-confidence and pride Paul gives an equally strong word of encouragement
about God's help in the future when they face temptation. We are assured that none of the temptations that we face as Christian people are unique. Then Paul assures us that we can resist and overcome every
temptation with God's help.
By this time the Corinthians where no doubt wondering how they could possibly avoid all the pitfalls that
Paul has just described and illustrated from the lives of the Israelites. How can we avoid falling into the same sins that Israel did? If they couldn't resist such temptations how are we going to resist them? Of
course this is made worst by the society that we live in.
We all know that it is difficult not to fall into the sin of idolatry when all our neighbours daily worship
at the throne of wealth and prosperity. We all know how difficult it is to live holy and godly lives in our society, which is so ungodly. How do we avoid testing God as the Israelites did when it is so hard to
simply trust his word? How can we avoid grumbling like the Israelites did when life can so often be so difficult? Paul's answer to all these questions and many more that are no doubt upon our minds is to realise
that giving in to temptation is by no means a foregone conclusion.
It is possible to be victorious over all the various temptations that we face daily. Paul tells us that
a believer never gets into a temptation that he cannot get out off for two reasons
i) No temptation is unique to us – Now the basic meaning of the word temptation means "to test" or
"prove", therefore, it does not have to have a negative connotation. Whether temptation becomes a test to prove our faith is genuine or whether it becomes an inducement to sin depends very much on our response to
it.
If we depend upon God and resist temptation by using the power of the Holy Spirit within us then temptation
becomes a test that proves our faithfulness to God. However if we do not resist temptation and try to overcome it in our own power then it becomes an inducement to sin. So Paul uses a word that can mean testing that
proves faith or temptation that leads to sin. It's the same word in the Greek it's our response to it that decides whether it is a testing or a temptation. I think Paul probably has both meanings in mind here as he
uses the word.
Do you remember when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness? It is clear that God intended to use it as a test
to prove his Son's righteousness but Satan intended to use it as an inducement to sin. Job was tested in order to prove his righteousness but that testing could so easy be used as an inducement to sin which is
exactly how his wife saw it as well as his so called friends.
So God tests us but he never tempts us and Satan tempts us but never tests us. The Lord never tempts anyone
to sin (James 1:13) but he does test us in order to prove to others and ourselves that we are genuine Christian people. Now a testing becomes an inducement to sin only when a person is enticed by his own sinful
nature and consequently gives in to it (James 1:14-15).
Testing is not bad for us in fact James encourages us to consider it joyful for through the testing certain
characteristics are developed within our lives (James 1:1-4). You see God often brings circumstances into our lives to test us. Like Job we usually do not recognise them as tests at the time, we certainty do not
think about them as coming from God. But our response to each test proves our faithfulness or our unfaithfulness. Our response exposes something about our hearts.
Either our hearts are found to be pure or perhaps we discover a mixture of good and bad and testing alone
exposes such things. How we respond to each circumstance and difficulty will either confirm our faith to us and others or it will expose sin in our hearts and we may even give into actual sin, so that the test
becomes a temptation that leads to sin. We face all sorts of difficulties in life.
Sometimes financial difficulties come into our lives through no fault of our own. That is a real test? How
do we respond? We can trust God and refuse to grumble because we know that God provides for all our needs. Or we can begin to think that God does not care for us and begin to grumble and even act in sinful ways in
order to try a resolve our financial dilemma.
Sometimes health problems come into our lives and again we can either respond by relying upon God for daily
grace to cope because we know that his grace is sufficient or we can grumble and feel that God is being unfair or unkind to us. As a result we might fall into sin by becoming bitter against God. Problems at school
can cause us real concern but if responded to correctly they can prove our faith to our classmates but if not responded to correctly they can lead us into sin.
In all these circumstances we ought to turn to God and rely upon him to give us grace but as I have
indicated the same circumstance can also lead us to be bitter, resentful and angry with God and others.
We all need to learn to consider the various tests in life as joyful things. O the actual tests are not
joyful and sometimes it is extremely painful but every one is joyful in the sense that it is an opportunity to prove the genuineness of our faith. So every circumstance that comes into our lives is neither good nor
bad in itself. Whether it results in good or evil depends very much on how we respond to it.
It could be an opportunity for spiritual growth or an opportunity for spiritual decline depending upon our reaction.
There is no temptation that is unique to us every one of God's people face tests every day and many
people face similar tests. The circumstances of the test might be unique but the test itself in not unique. Many of God's people have financial concerns and worries, many have health problems many have difficulties
at school, and they are common trials so we are not alone in these various testings.
God's people of every generation face them and sadly some have fallen into sin as a result but many have
stood firm relied upon God and proved their faith to be genuine. Therefore can I encourage us all to see every trial or test as an opportunity to prove God's faithfulness to us and to prove that our faith is genuine?
ii) There is a way of escape from every temptation (v 13) - Now not only are temptations common to every
Christian but when we are tempted, God is faithful and He will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able to withstand. Therefore a true believer cannot claim that he is overwhelmed by a temptation nor can
we blame the devil for our failure to resist temptation.
The Devil does not make us sin he can only tempt us and no temptation is inherently stronger than our
spiritual resources to resist it. The reason why we sin is because we do so willingly. But every Christian has the necessary resources to help him fight and resist temptation. God is faithful to his people he does
not abandon us no matter how powerful a temptation may be he proves his faithfulness by granting to us the spiritual resources we need to resist. Because God is faithful we can be absolutely certain that he will not
allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able to endure and resist.
In other words when we "pray lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil" we are asking God not to
allow us to be put in situations where we will be overcome by temptation. God is faithful He will only allow us to be tempted to a level that he knows we can resist. The reason we can resist is because we have God's
resources to resist.
God demonstrates his faithfulness by providing a way of escape or a way out so that we can
stand up under the temptation. Notice that it is "a way out" and that there are not many ways out but one-way. The way out from every test and every temptation is the same. That way is by passing through it or enduring it or as it is put here "standing up under it."
God does not take the temptation away from us instead he gives us a way out by enabling us to stand up under
it. In other words He gives us the resources so that we can endure it and resist it so that we do not fall into sin. Of course this way out involves turning to the Lord in the midst of temptation and praying for His
resources, his strength to help us to resist that is how Jesus instructed his disciples to resist temptation (Mark 14:38).
If we fail to pray then we will be overcome by the temptation and fall into sin. So many of us try to fight
temptation using our own resources and we fail, we must pray for his resources.
When we pray we must trust him and believe that he will answer us. God brings tests into our lives to prove
us and therefore even when we respond incorrectly and find that test becoming a temptation we must trust him when we pray that he will provide us with the spiritual resources to stand up under it.
Finally when tested or tempted let remember our Saviour. He endured much more than we will ever be called
upon to endure. Therefore he knows what it is like to face the various trials and temptations of life; he understands the difficulty in resisting temptation. But he did resist, therefore His resources are available
to us to help us endure the tests of life and to help us to resist temptations so that we are able to stand up under them.
Let us be men and woman who learn the lessons from the past and be encouraged about our futures. For
although testings and temptations will come our way we have a great God who provides a way out by giving us abundant grace to resist so that we may be able to endure it without faltering
Amen
|
