Bill Cosby once said, “I’m proud to be an American, because an American can eat anything on the face of this earth, as long as he has two pieces of bread.”
As Paul approaches eating meat offered to idols here in chapter 10, he gets a running start by pointing to ancient Israel’s history. For our lesson we will look at the first 13 verses of 1 Cor. 10.
In the first ten verses we see: five “all”s, a "most" and four “some”s.
Look at the word “all” in verses 1-4.
10:1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
3 and all ate the same spiritual food;
4 and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ.
What is the point? Every one of these Israelites received the same blessing of deliverance from God in a mighty way. He makes particular mention of baptism and what could be construed as the Lord’s Supper in spiritual food and drink.
Does that sound familiar to you and me as Christians? We are all baptized, and we all eat the bread, representing Christ’s body and take the cup, representing the blood of the Lord.
This passage is a clear attempt to make the connection between Israel and the church. But why is Paul making this connection? He is setting us up here. He wants us to see that we too were all baptized. We too all take the spiritual food and drink the spiritual drink of the Lord’s supper. We are like them! Okay? So what?
Well, just because you’ve been baptized and take the Lord’s supper, don’t think you can do as you please! Look now at the word “most” in verse 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness. Some translations say, “their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.” In other words, they became pavement for the road from Egypt to Canaan! Why? Because God was not pleased with most of them. And why was God not pleased with most of them? Look at the next five verses and see. What we have next are five things that "some" of Israel did that displeased God.
Look at them in order:
1. Craved evil things.
2. Practiced Idolatry
3. Acted sexually immoral
4. Tested the Lord
5. Grumbled or murmured
Now, every one of these things is also a danger for the Corinthian church. But they are not aware of the danger, as they should be. We’ve already read back in chapters 5-6 how sexual immorality was a problem among them, to a point that pagans would not practice, and they are proudly accepting the man who is doing this.
As we look at the Corinthians we see another problem: They are craving evil.
Do you ever do that? Do you ever just long for something that you know is wrong, but you just want it anyway? Be careful! Listen to James’ comment on this kind of thing: Chapter 1:12-16.
12 Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
13 Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.
14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.
15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.
16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.
Trials are an environment where evil cravings grow. Look at Israel. Where were they when they craved evil? The Wilderness! It was a desert where food and water were scarce. God supplied them with what they needed, but they were not satisfied! Numbers 11: 4 The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, "If only we had meat to eat!
Numbers 11:5 We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost--also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic.
6 But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!
In other words "We want the meat and melons we ate in Egypt! We miss the leek soups and sandwiches! Besides that, they missed the festivities of the calf worship they enjoyed before God told them, no more images! They wanted to party and play!
God’s way is no fun! It seems so hard and boring! What’s the old saying, “Everything I want is either illegal, immoral or fattening.”
Cravings of the flesh are powerful and dangerous. They turn our hearts away from the goodness and blessing of God’s presence. James says, don’t be deceived! The truth is the good and perfect gifts come from above, but the desires of the flesh take you down to hell. So what do you do with a sinful craving?
Paul told the Galatians: 5:16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.
18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.
19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality,
20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions,
21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Did you hear that? Did you catch the way that we as Christians are to handle the craving for evil that comes from the flesh? Crucify it. Kill it. Jesus death on the cross was for such sins and we are to run to the cross where he takes these sins away.
First of all, realize what you are dealing with. This is a heart matter. You are in a spiritual battle, and you must fight to win! Evil desires are nothing to be messed with, they will grow and take over unless you deal with them. Turn your attention from that which is evil and pay attention to that which will bring you eternal glory and joy. Col. 3: 3:1 If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.
3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.
6 For it is on account of these things that the wrath of God will come,
There’s a war going on. You must learn to put to death the desires of the flesh or they will grow and become a monster that will control your life!
The other things Israel faced that are mentioned:
Idolatry, sexual immorality, testing the Lord, and grumbling.
These are fruits from evil cravings. Notice that in each case God severely punished them for these.
Look back at Col 3:5. Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.
What does he equate greed with here? See it? He says greed amounts to idolatry.
I’m going to change gears here. I want to make an immediate application from what God is saying to us here. So let me talk about a practical application to evil cravings and greed. This November citizens of Tennessee will vote on whether this state will have a lottery. It seems that many Christians today may be like these Corinthians in Paul’s letter who were blinded by pride and so called “Freedom in Christ” from seeing the dangers of sexual sin, eating meat offered to idols, and several other matters. They thought they could participate in these matters and their slogan was: “All things are lawful for me!” 10:23. Paul says, “Yes, but not all things are profitable! And not all things edify.”
Let me tell you that a state lottery is founded on sinful foundations. First, it is based on greed. It is not an investment in our education system, it is an investment in idol worship.
A friend of mine in NH once told me about getting some gas at a station and seeing a family get into their car and all of them bowed their heads. He said that he thought that they were all praying together as they began a trip or something, but then he noticed that they were scratching tickets. They were praying all right, but it was not a cry of a hope in heaven. It was scratching the itch of craving to win. But this itch only grows the more you scratch it.
You’ve heard all the promises that are made for benefits of a lottery. Education will be improved. But who will be hurt in the process? People across the state who are poor will spend millions of dollars because they do not have the character to overcome the fleshly temptation to try to get something they can’t have. Tennessee has all the money it needs to improve education, but we don’t want to get it by any respectable methods, no, we want to take it from the pockets of those who will place their hopes on winning something only one in many million will ever win. They are not helped, but impoverished so that those who are better off than they are can take their money and send their kids to college. I tell you, that the foundation of this is greed which is idolatry. This is like shooting yourself in the foot to get over a head ache. We may need more money in education, but this is not the right way to get it.
For some people, playing the lottery is entertainment. But for many people, it is a false hope in a false god that will drain their already depleted incomes, and for what? Do you want to support their idolatry?
Churches that are proud and do not take a stand on this issue are failing to help the poor. We on Signal Mountain may not see the terrible impact of this, but those in the inner city will. We live in a wonderful environment here where poverty and gross immorality is not in our faces. We have been given much. What will we do with it?
Do not crave evil… I tell you that the lottery is just another step toward Sodom and not heaven. Which direction will you be walking in November?
Listen to 1 Tim. 6: 9 People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.
10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
11 But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.
17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.
18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.
19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
