1 Corinthians 10:14-22

Speaker 2: Take your rivals if you have them and turn to the book of First Corinthians First Corinthians Chapter 10.

Speaker 1: Is where we're going to be tonight. I I'm not going to get into another Sunday night series just yet. Last two years, we've had a practice of having brother Matt preach on the

Speaker 2: wins, the Sunday nights in

Speaker 1: February. And so starting the first Sunday February, brother Matt will be preaching every Sunday night for that whole month and looking forward to that and glad that we can give him time to do that. Brother Matt surrendered to preach not just to lead singing or help an assistant, but to preach God's word, and we want to give him an outlet for that. Brother Clarence, we have to figure out a good month for you to do that. But excited to see what God's going to lay on his heart. First Corinthians 10 verse number 14 is We're going to BS. You don't mind standing in honor of reading God's word. Verse number 14 is where we're going to start. We're going to preach tonight on the some things surrounding the

Speaker 2: Lord's Supper, but I think we're to take perhaps a different approach to it than what you might be expecting.

Speaker 1: So hopefully this will be something that'll be helpful to you this evening as we prepare our hearts and minds to partake of the Lord's table here in a few moments.

Speaker 2: The Bible says in verse 14, where for my dearly beloved flea from idolatry, I speak as two wise men judge what I say the cup of blessing, which we bless. Is it not the communion of the blood of Christ, the bread which we break? Is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread and one body for we are all part takers of that one bread. Behold, Israel after the flesh are not they which eat of the sacrifices part takers of the altar. What they are then that the idol is anything or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is anything. But I say the things which the gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils and not to God. And I would not that you should have fellowship with devils. You cannot drink the Cup of the Lord and the Cup of Devils. You cannot be part takers of the Lord's table and of the Table of devils. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy?

Speaker 1: Are we stronger than he? Let's pray the only father.

Speaker 2: We thank you for this this time that we can get together and look into your word. Lord, I pray that you would give me the words you have me to say tonight,

Speaker 1: folks that are here

Speaker 2: to listen out, to hear their lives

Speaker 1: in Jesus name. I pray. Amen. Thank you. Made you see that

Speaker 2: it probably comes as no surprise to

Speaker 1: most of you, but I love food. So this before some

Speaker 2: people eat just

Speaker 1: enough to live, some people live so they can eat. I'm in that second category. I love to eat barbecues, great barbecues. Probably one of my most favorite things.

Speaker 2: You can tell a lot about a person based on the type of barbecue that they eat.

Speaker 1: There's Carolina Barbecue. There's then there's Texas barbecue. I don't know what you guys serve up here, but you know, whatever.

Speaker 2: But based on what kind of barbecue like you like, it tells a story about you and your preferences and perhaps where you come from. Mexican food is amazing. I could probably eat Mexican food most days out of the week. Tex-Mex or authentic. I don't

Speaker 1: care. I like them both.

Speaker 2: Chinese food is also a favorite,

Speaker 1: although I'm I'm broadening

Speaker 2: to enjoy

Speaker 1: all Asian food. I really like that seafood.

Speaker 2: I mean, I like seafood. A lot of you, OK? No wonder we get along. Seafood identities, though, differ based on what region you're from. Maybe you're more of a Cajun seafood

Speaker 1: kind of person. For that, I would recommend going down the Gibbs's South in your mouth in Collinsville. It's a good Cajun food jambalaya. Maybe a po'boy.

Speaker 2: Maybe you prefer more of a Caribbean style of seafood.

Speaker 1: Or maybe you're from up north and you like Maine style seafood.

Speaker 2: Many times food is an expression of identity. Food can define us. In fact, we have a popular phrase to kind of illustrate that you've probably heard it. You are what you.

Speaker 1: Yeah. Anybody ever watch the Magic School Bus when they're kids? All right. You remember the do you remember the one where Arnold? So many of that one orange snack that the skin turned orange. Now you haven't seen our schooled OK? It was I always think of that when I hear you are what you eat.

Speaker 2: Well, tonight's passage has to do with food, and it has to do with our identity and what we identify with what we are connected to. And it all centers around this idea of the Lord's Supper. And so if you'll start with me in verse number 14, what we're reading, just read here is actually Paul wrapping up an argument that he's been making. Not really an argument like a debate, but just a case that he's been building regarding the issue of food offered to idols. If you've done any kind of study in the Book of Corinthians, you know that there wasn't a problem that they had with some people eating the food that was offered to idols. Some people would not eat the food that was offered to idols. Those of you that are familiar with it, you know that they would take the food that was offered to the idols and surprise, surprise, the idols didn't eat it. And so they would then sell it in the shambles for a steep discount. I mean, some of you probably go and shop at Aldi because you like the discount there, but this puts all of you to shame. I mean, this is like the thrift

Speaker 1: store of food.

Speaker 2: So they'd go and they'd get a good deal on food. They take it home and they'd eat it. But that was causing a little bit of a problem. And so this is the closing argument that he is making here, and he's got two points that he's going to make to wrap up his argument. We're only looking at one of them tonight. But if you wanted, you could finish up reading the rest of the chapter and study the other

Speaker 1: point for

Speaker 2: yourself. But when it came to this issue of idolatry, Corinth had been taking the same approach that a lot of Christians take in our modern day. You see, when it comes to socially acceptable sin, we have a tendency to try and get as close to that sin as possible without stepping over the proverbial line. It's like, you know, how close to the cliff do you have to get? No, I want to stay as far away from the cliff as possible. But for them, they wanted to see how far they could push the envelope without stepping over into sin. In our society, we have a lot of different things that would be considered socially acceptable. But what we would say our sin for a Christian to engage in, for example, alcohol is socially acceptable in our society. There really is less and less of a stigma connected to alcohol than there has ever been in the history of our culture. Drinking alcohol could be one. Pornography is largely accepted by our society. In fact, you can find magazine and news articles promoting the safety of pornography as a safe alternative to some of the other vices that are out there. We can go a little less extreme and talk about taking God's name in vain. How common is that? Pretty common, even replacing it by adding S-H and making it sound less, you know, less

Speaker 1: offensive to those Christian people. I don't know how it happened, but for a while there probably a video they had seen. But, you know, maybe one or two of my kids

Speaker 2: started saying

Speaker 1: that the house perked my ears. It was like, Excuse me. We will not be saying that my house. So taking God's name in vain or even trying to supplement or substitute gush instead.

Speaker 2: Smoking is socially acceptable in common, and we could go on and on and on about other vices that carry very little social stigma in the day that we live in. And if we consider what they had in the form of idolatry and then apply it to us, we see this connection of something that is perhaps not just socially accepted but expected. Those of you that have to work out in the real world, not in the bubble of a church, like like I get to, you know what it's like if you're working, perhaps in the warehouse or in the office and everybody else is going out for their smoke break and you're

Speaker 1: sitting in the break room alone, everybody else, you can see him on the other side of the window. They're looking at you like the weirdo.

Speaker 2: You know what it's like to be in a in a in a context where swearing in God's name and being taken in vain on a regular basis? And you stand out because you're trying not to engage in that. And so all of us are familiar with what it would have felt like to be a Corinthian Christian dealing with sin that is not only accepted but expected from their society, rather than trying to get as close to sin as possible without compromising oneself. Paul is directing the Corinthians to not just, you know, like tiptoe around idolatry, you know, football going on. You see these running backs tiptoeing through the line. You know, they're really light on their feet and they're high stepping. You say, No, no, no, don't don't try to get as close to the defender as possible and spin away, though you need to flee from idolatry, run the complete opposite direction. But that's not what was going on.

Speaker 1: And so he's going to try and help them here in First Corinthians 10 now

Speaker 2: to show them that their participation in these idol feasts is not as innocent as they think it is. Paul is going to get deep with them.

Speaker 1: One one preacher told us when we were studying on how to preach

Speaker 2: is that you've got to keep the cookies on the bottom shelf. You know, don't try to talk over people's heads. Don't try to use big words just to prove how smart you are. Just keep it simple. You know that kiss method. Keep it simple. I don't usually say that word.

Speaker 1: I'm preaching. I am going to say it later. So just heads up.

Speaker 2: But Paul, he says to them this in first 15, I love it. Is as I speak, as two wise men. And he doesn't say, I speak to wise men, is I as I speak as two wise men remember the Corinthians, they were always beating their chest and pumping themselves up like, Oh yeah, look how good we are.

Speaker 1: Look how gifted we are. We're the best. We're the greatest. You know, I pity the fool. That ain't in court.

Speaker 2: So, OK, you think you're the best? You think you're the greatest. You think you're so super smart. I'm going to talk to you like you

Speaker 1: are super smart, which is cool that he does that. I mean, to have the kind

Speaker 2: of guts to write that down, to be preserved for all of history. Says you present yourselves as being wise. You present yourselves as being knowledgeable. It was their pride in their wisdom and their knowledge, which made them feel like they could engage in these idle feasts without committing sin. They thought they were. They were. They were sly enough to be able to go right to the edge of idolatry without going over the line into idolatry. Paul tells them, Since you think you're so advanced, I will speak to you as if you are as advanced as you think you are. And so to make his point, he starts in verse number 16 by directing their thoughts. The Lord's Supper So hopefully that we're all thinking about tonight, something that we're focused on as we prepare for this. But Paul has a point in bringing up the Lord's Supper, and the point here is not solely to address the practice of observing the Lord's Supper, but instead he is using the Lord's Supper to make an argument against idolatry. And since we probably don't have a problem with bowing down the idols, can we make this available to us and just say he's making an argument against sin? Again, sing the Lord's Supper is an argument against sin. And he starts with the car when it comes to the cup. Paul says we understand that the cup is symbolic of the blood of Christ. Communion. Oh, I'm sorry. Likewise, the bread is symbolic of the body of Christ, so that's not anything new for us. The blood, though, the cup and the wafer symbolic of Christ body and his blood. Now, with both of these elements, Paul reminds the Corinthians that when they partake of them, they do. So what is the word that he says there at the universal number 16? He says the bread which we break, is it not the communion where he talks about the blood? He says we we take of the when we the cup of blessing, which we bless. Is it not the communion? All right. That's where we get that. That word from communion should be a pretty easy word for us to get behind. I actually used it in the message this morning. Communion is translated from the Greek word Quintanilla. No, I said Coin a Greek was common. We all had it in common. They identified with each other by their common language. Their language connected them together. And anyone that wasn't connected with that language was a barbarian. Well, same basic word here. Quintanilla communicates the idea of partnership, participation, fellowship and intimacy. The Lord's Supper, you see, is a picture of our unity with Christ and our identification with his death this morning on the way home. Jackson was riding with me,

Speaker 1: and Jackson said as we were crossing under one 69 and heading

Speaker 2: down Highway 20, he said, Dad,

Speaker 1: I love it when we have baptisms. I was like, Me too.

Speaker 2: I love it. When we have baptisms, it's it's so special, isn't it? He said yes. I said, What's your favorite part?

Speaker 1: I like it when you don't come under the water. It's like, Oh yeah, do you wish you could dunk some people under the water? Oh yeah. Thankfully, we bring them back up out

Speaker 2: of the water, right? But what is baptism? It is a symbolic picture saying that I identify with what Jesus did for me on the cross. He died, he was buried and he rose again the third day. And because of my identification with him, I then share in the blessings of the crucifixion and the resurrection. Lord's Supper is the same. We are saying that we are unified with Christ and that we identify with the price he paid for our salvation. And so by partaking of this, we are showing everyone that's watching or saying, even reminding ourselves as to what our identity is now. In verse number 17, Paul makes this statement. He says, for we being many our one bread and one body for, we are all part takers of that one bread. Now we could tonight get very bogged down in this one verse and trying to parse out the specifics of all that he is saying here. But as we have already said, Paul is making this statement for a reason, and the reason for this statement is not difficult for us to ascertain. Verse number 17 is making the point that those who partake in the Lord's Supper are not only symbolizing a communion with Christ. They are also symbolizing their unity to one another. If a person spoke coin a Greek to another person that spoke coinage in Greek when they heard those familiar sounds, they knew that you and me, we have something in common. We have a shared language. For those of you who've traveled out of the country and you're sitting there in a McDonald's or whatever in some foreign country and everyone around you is speaking a different language, you know how sweet it sounds when you hear somebody say, Hi,

Speaker 1: how are you?

Speaker 2: And you hear those words in English and you're like, Oh, someone that I can have something in common with. Well, that's that's what we're going to do tonight with the Lord's Supper. I know Lord's Supper oftentimes is viewed as a

Speaker 1: private matter, very hushed and secretive. But as you look around at your fellow church members and you see is that wafer is taken in that cup is drank. There is a

Speaker 2: unity and a fellowship that exists among the members of this church, regardless of what our differences may be. There's a unity that exists because of the shared identity with Christ. It's an identity that overrules everything else. But the Clarence, your skin may

Speaker 1: be a different color than mine. I still like fried chicken.

Speaker 2: So we got that. But great thing that we have a

Speaker 1: connection through Jesus Christ

Speaker 2: and our language may not be the same, but through Jesus Christ, we have a connection.

Speaker 1: So the Corinthians, if you remember from our study

Speaker 2: of this book, you know, they're a very diverse bunch. But when they partook of the bread together and they took the cup together, they are demonstrating their unity with Christ, but also with one another. And so this statement this idea is key to Paul's argument because Christians express their communion by the meals they participate in, just like the Israelites did in verse number 18, verse 18, he talks about how the the the Israelites partook of the sacrifices of the altar, those that eight of the sacrifices had communion with the altar upon which those sacrifices were altar. Israel demonstrated this in their faithful offerings and their idolatrous offerings. You see, the priests and the Levites partook of the sacrifices of the Lord and thus had fellowship with the altar. But there were also times when Israel was worshiping veil or asterisks and other pagan gods, and the people who partook in those sacrifices were aligning themselves with those false deities. And so depending on which altar you were communing with, it said a lot about who you were loyal to. Christians symbolically participate in Jesus sacrifice by communing with his altar through the observance of the Lord's Supper.

Speaker 1: So the question then needs to be asked

Speaker 2: whose altar were the Corinthians communing with by partaking in the sacrifices of the false gods of Corinth? This this food that had been all offered unto the altars of these false gods. It it wasn't just meaningless. Verse number 19 Paul asked them a question. Does this line of thought, let's say it, then? Idol is anything that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is anything. Does this line of thought legitimize the pagan altars of Corinth? Does it mean that these deities that they're offering sacrifices to are somehow legitimate,

Speaker 1: as Paul concerned with the

Speaker 2: Corinthians aligning themselves with a real deity besides God? Is there a real duty besides God? No. Or is he trying to say that the food that has been offered to idols is somehow

Speaker 1: transformed

Speaker 2: into something other than food? Who would believe that the food after you eat it would be transformed into something else? There are people.

Speaker 1: Let me ask you this.

Speaker 2: Does the Christian's observance of the Lord's Supper add legitimacy to God's deity? Does God become more God? Because you and I observe the Lord's Supper? No. Do we believe that the elements we partake in have any sort of spiritual nutrition that nourishes our spiritual being? No, they're not sacraments. A sacrament is a means of grace. No one receives more grace tonight because they Portugal Lord's Supper Corinthians participation in the idol feasts doesn't legitimize the deity, and the food that they consume has no spiritual effect on them. And why is Paul concerned about them eating food offered idols? Well, Paul closes. Yes, I said he closes by reminding them that all of this boils down to the issues of fellowship, communion and identity. It's the idolatry robs god of glory, robs him of service, and it robs him of the worship of his creation. The gods of the gentiles are not real, so they cannot quote compete with God. But they do steal from God. And there are spiritual beings that seek to oppose the work and plan of God. Aren't there idolatry as a tool of Satan? It perverts man's inherent desire to know God by offering a fake and replacement.

Speaker 1: Version number 20, Paul says this

Speaker 2: is the things which the gentiles sacrifice. They sacrifice to devils and not to God. The gentiles make sacrifices on these altars, they're actually sacrificing to demons. They are in communion, in fellowship, they're identifying with Satan's desire to withhold man's worship from the one true God and redirect it to himself and the false gods. And so the food that is offered then becomes a sacrifice that is made in fellowship with or identifying with in partnership with Satan. Is anybody here want to have anything that any part with Satan? Oh, neither did the Corinthians. Pauline's verse 20 with what seems like an obvious statement. He says I would not. You should have fellowship with Devil's. It's pretty obvious.

Speaker 1: If you say it this way,

Speaker 2: you know, I just I just really hope that you guys will avoid fellowship

Speaker 1: with devils

Speaker 2: if you could not touch the red hot burner. That'd be great if you could not stick the butter knife into the power outlet. That'd be awesome. And these these are like the obvious statements of the world. If you could not have fellowship with devils, that would be ideal. Can you imagine like me

Speaker 1: saying that you guys like for real?

Speaker 2: Based on everything he has covered, they ought to understand by now that partaking of the sacrifices unites the person with the altar as believers. It could not be on both sides. You either identify with the Lord or you identify with his enemies. In this case, you identify with demons.

Speaker 1: You cannot do both. No man can serve two masters.

Speaker 2: Christian, that identifies with those forces that seek to rob God of his glory and worship ought to think twice. Do you really want to provoke the Lord to jealousy? He is a jealous God. For the Corinthians, it might have been something like this Sunday. You're identifying with him. You're meeting with the church

Speaker 1: at Bartholomew's

Speaker 2: House, praising the Lord, praying, thanking God, reading the scriptures. Then Monday, you go down to the shambles to find some cheap meat that was offered to Diana the day before.

Speaker 1: How do you think God will respond to that?

Speaker 2: Do you think God responds when his children try to express loyalty to him and identify with his enemies at the same time?

Speaker 1: Those of you that are married, how would you respond if your spouse pulled something like that

Speaker 2: one day they're identifying as your husband or your wife? The next day you show up at their work and they're holding hands with their work spouse. How would you feel, how would things go in your house that night?

Speaker 1: Are we stronger than he is?

Speaker 2: Twenty one, he cannot drink the cup of the Lord in the Cup of Devils. You cannot be a part takers of the Lord's table and the table of devils. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy?

Speaker 1: Are we stronger than he is?

Speaker 2: Why does he say that? I understand the jealousy part. Yeah, he wants. Our loyalty is jealous. God, he wants our worship. That's what we were created for, was to bring him glory. Nobody else. Why does he say this whole thing? Are we stronger than he?

Speaker 1: It, Titus. I see you picking over that computer screen, look up, you can see I was not telling him. Hey. Let me see your muscles. Man needs binoculars, we see him throw up the guns now, OK, he's embarrassed. Aspen, oh, yeah. Aspens got some muscles. Very strong. I'm impressed. You've been fighting your dad wrestling. I bet you, Aspen, as strong as you are. I could probably beat you in an arm wrestling match. What do you think? Do you wanna try it? Sure, after church. Are we stronger than here? The answer is an obvious no.

Speaker 2: There is no way that we can.

Speaker 1: What's the word I'm looking for?

Speaker 2: Flaunt our sin before God, identify with his enemies and expect to get away with it. I struggled when I was writing this to find the words to describe this. And so then I read this from one of the commentators that I was reading, and he says it's so much better than I could. And so here's what he said. He says to give in to idolatrous practices is to proclaim and enter into a war against God. And what madness must this be? Who can be so stylish and stupid as to think of succeeding?

Speaker 1: I didn't say it, the commentator said it. I don't write those words in my sermons because that is not appropriate. But some

Speaker 2: really old guy said it, so it's got

Speaker 1: to be OK. I look forward to the day where I can be old enough that I can say whatever I want. Everyone's just like, Oh, it's just brother Gary.

Speaker 2: He's old. His filter isn't as strong as it used to be. Paul's desire here is that the Corinthians would avoid idolatry in all of its forms because it is a practice that identifies the believer with God's enemies.

Speaker 1: Dollar Tree in

Speaker 2: any form identifies us as existing in opposition

Speaker 1: to our creator and our savior.

Speaker 2: So tonight, as we prepare to

Speaker 1: take the Lord's Supper, I want all of us to spend

Speaker 2: time these next few moments thinking, what does my life identify with? Where does my identity lie?

Speaker 1: Is it with God

Speaker 2: or is it with his enemies? We need to be careful about what we allow ourselves to be identified by. Don't we? Actions have consequences. That's what we teach our children. How many times do we fail to embrace that truth for ourselves? You see what we do on a daily basis. Shapes who we are. Shapes our identity on a daily basis. You are either identifying with God on a consistent moment by moment basis or you are identifying with his enemies on a consistent moment by moment basis. We claim to be Christians. But what does God think of our lives? Does what we portray at church meshed with the way we live the rest of the week?

Speaker 1: Are we trying to

Speaker 2: drink the Cup of the Lord and the Cup of Devils simultaneously?

Speaker 1: Oh, Pastor,

Speaker 2: I would never drink the Cup of devils if someone gave me a cup with a pentagram and horns on it. I would not drink it.

Speaker 1: That's probably good. Remember, Paul

Speaker 2: wants them to avoid idolatry and

Speaker 1: all of its forms,

Speaker 2: and anything that sets itself above God is an idol in our life. Anything that sets itself above God is an idol to us. I know God doesn't want me to do that, but

Speaker 1: it sounds like you have an idol.

Speaker 2: I know God probably isn't too happy with the fact that I didn't do this, but.

Speaker 7: It's an idol.

Speaker 1: What are you more loyal to your idols or your savior?

Speaker 2: Who do you identify with

Speaker 1: your idols or Jesus? The Corinthians, they were willing to

Speaker 2: identify with idols

Speaker 1: in order to live a more comfortable life.

Speaker 2: They escaped the social pressure to partake in this and they got a good deal on a high quality piece of meat.

Speaker 1: I mean, who wouldn't rather have steaks for dinner as opposed to spam? What are you willing to identify with tonight? Like I said before, I would bet on not a whole lot of people going home and bowing down to an idol.

Speaker 2: There's no meets offered idol stores that we can go and get food at. There are still idols today.

Speaker 1: We have to contend with more loyal to them. Do you identify with them or do you identify with your savior? Let's bring the Heavenly Father. We thank for the state for the opportunity we've had to be together. Time to consider these, these things. And what I asked you would help us tonight as we spend some time preparing to commune with you and to identify with your sacrifice, or that you would help us, to be honest, real honest with ourselves and with you about the idols that are in our life tonight that we would reject them. We would repent of our own faithfulness to you when we get these things right or when asked, you would use your Holy Spirit to work during this time of invitation. It's in Jesus name that I pray. Amen. You just stay seated and bowed your heads and close your eyes. You know, we'll make this as easy for everybody as possible. We are not

Speaker 2: perfect to sit here tonight and try to pretend

Speaker 1: like we are is is deceitful and wicked and hypocritical. There are almost certainly things in every single one of our lives that we need to get right with God. If we're going to be in clear, conscious conscience, participate tonight. Lord's Supper.

Speaker 2: There's something you've been identifying with a sin and idol in

Speaker 1: your life tonight. Right now. Reject it, repent of it. Ask the Lord to forgive you for your unfaithfulness. Make a commitment to him that you are going to walk and follow him starting tonight. Maybe you need to come to his altar and pray whatever you need to do. Take a few moments. Pair your heart with the Lord. Some. The only father we thank you for this day, think for the time that we've been able to be together or thank you for the privilege that we have to be able to observe this memorial to your sacrifice for us. Lord, I thank you for my salvation, for giving me of my sins several years your many years ago. Very personal here that has placed our faith and trust in you. The forgiveness and the freedom that we have because of what you paid for on the cross. What? I pray that during this time, we would give attention to our spiritual lives that we would be. We'd come before you and come into your presence. Lord Lord with Thanksgiving humility, appreciation for all that you've done for us. Or please may this time be a special time for our church in Jesus name. I ask these things. Amen

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