back to index2015-09-24 Study of 1 Corinthians Part 2 - Week 8
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We're actually studying today in depth until verse 22. 00:00:20.520 |
I had notes up until 31 but it's just kind of too much to cover at one time. 00:00:27.400 |
So I want to, there's a bunch of announcements happening but a couple ones I want to highlight 00:00:34.320 |
is that this coming Saturday we have the Sisters Fellowship and then the weekend after is our 00:00:42.940 |
So if you guys know that you can't make it to the membership meeting, please make sure 00:00:48.720 |
Also that week happens to be communion and I want to just mention today's passage has 00:00:55.640 |
It's important time for the entire church to just kind of reflect, to focus, to remember 00:01:01.240 |
more than anything and then to celebrate God's return, Christ's return. 00:01:08.400 |
Also again in the month of October we have lots of stuff, bigger events happening. 00:01:14.240 |
Sports day is happening, we have couples retreat and then we have Reformation Night. 00:01:18.680 |
If you guys want to volunteer for any of this stuff, please make sure just to email me and 00:01:26.360 |
Alright, well that being said, let's open up our Bibles to 1 Corinthians 10. 00:01:39.480 |
And we've already been in the book of 1 Corinthians for some time and again I've loved it because 00:01:45.440 |
there's a sense in which by hitting some of the major things that the church struggles 00:01:55.480 |
Can you believe we're already into week 19 of studying 1 Corinthians? 00:02:01.080 |
Let's take a look starting from verse 14, I'm just going to read it since the paragraph 00:02:07.280 |
And it says, "Therefore my beloved, flee from idolatry. 00:02:11.960 |
I speak as to wise men, you judge what I say. 00:02:15.440 |
Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? 00:02:21.280 |
Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? 00:02:26.160 |
Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body. 00:02:33.880 |
Are not those who eat the sacrifices a share in the altar? 00:02:39.080 |
That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything? 00:02:45.240 |
But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not 00:02:50.640 |
And I want you to become, I do not want you to become sharers in demons. 00:02:55.760 |
You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. 00:02:59.200 |
You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. 00:03:08.320 |
All right, let's take a moment to pray that God will bless the study of his word. 00:03:16.400 |
Lord, each time we open up, we pray that there would be a spiritual work done. 00:03:22.240 |
God, I pray that this, it would not simply be an accumulation of knowledge, but God, 00:03:27.800 |
that there would be true fruit of the spirit, which leads to conviction of righteousness, 00:03:33.200 |
of holiness, of sin, which leads to greater love and dedication to you. 00:03:38.440 |
And I pray God that again, your spirit would go before us tonight as we study. 00:03:43.000 |
And I pray God that our hearts would be attentive. 00:03:48.760 |
Okay, well, jumping straight into the lesson for today, we take a look at verse 14 through 00:03:57.640 |
And I want to ask you guys, in taking a look at that, what do you see as Apostle Paul's 00:04:23.000 |
So Apostle Paul expects that the people he is talking to, that they be wise enough. 00:04:31.840 |
And it's been quite interesting because he's been frustrated with their wisdom and discernment. 00:04:37.640 |
And he says, I expect you to be discerning enough. 00:04:45.760 |
Okay, to follow his argument and his train of reasoning, it kind of comes out as like, 00:04:55.240 |
so I'm speaking to you in this way, you need to judge what I'm saying. 00:04:59.560 |
Like follow what I'm saying, like get it, you know? 00:05:03.040 |
And I find that quite interesting as he's talking to them. 00:05:05.400 |
And let me take a moment to think about that with you guys for a moment is, you know, he's 00:05:13.440 |
making an argument now, but realize that his argument has been building since the beginning 00:05:21.360 |
His argument has been building from the beginning of the letter where he began saying, look, 00:05:25.280 |
you guys are believers and I thank God for you, every single one of you. 00:05:30.800 |
And I, and he essentially has a warm fatherly attitude towards everybody in the church. 00:05:37.360 |
But then as he's writing to them, he starts building this argument about how they need 00:05:41.440 |
to be humble, how they need to be united and essentially mature in every single way you 00:05:46.600 |
can think of and purity and everything, you know? 00:05:50.380 |
But he comes back to this point as he's talking to them is, I want you to be wise enough and 00:05:58.680 |
If you are Christian, you need to get what I'm saying. 00:06:02.360 |
And earlier I mentioned that I love this book because it really is a call to maturity. 00:06:10.120 |
I find that perhaps there is a frustration in him saying like, you guys don't get it, 00:06:19.960 |
But perhaps it's because there is this gap here where the people are still arguing on 00:06:25.800 |
the level of like what's right and wrong, right? 00:06:29.200 |
But Apostle Paul is arguing on the level of be discerning and wise. 00:06:35.760 |
So you can imagine when there's somebody who is a Christian and he's learning, and he's 00:06:41.680 |
learning principles and truth, he could be pointing at a very specific passage and saying, 00:06:51.040 |
But the whole time Apostle Paul is saying, look here. 00:06:55.600 |
I see your argument, but look here, I'm pointing towards greater maturity. 00:07:02.240 |
He expects them to exercise their judgment and discernment as to what he is saying. 00:07:07.920 |
And today as I was studying this passage, I want you to think about that. 00:07:13.920 |
There is a difference between just deciding what's right, acceptable, okay? 00:07:26.040 |
But what's the other expectation in the form of a clear command? 00:07:30.080 |
You're expected to recognize and flee from idolatry. 00:07:44.760 |
I remember I used to say something to the extent of like, in the Bible, you know, the 00:07:48.520 |
only sin that God tells us flee is sexual immorality. 00:07:51.880 |
And I was studying this passage, I was like, God, I wonder why I said that. 00:07:58.840 |
So there's multiple places where he says flee. 00:08:01.880 |
And I want you guys to just think about that for a moment. 00:08:05.000 |
Because to flee, obviously, is quite an intense word. 00:08:10.040 |
You think about various things he wants you to overcome, be victorious, be overcomers, 00:08:18.120 |
And you've got to ask the question, like, how severe and how perhaps, again, how severe 00:08:25.000 |
he sees this problem and the ramifications of it, right? 00:08:29.400 |
So these are his expectations for us, the clear command for us to flee what is idolatry. 00:08:36.360 |
What's really interesting to me is it's so emphatic that he just places it at the front 00:08:47.920 |
The outlining of the passage to me really is this command, flee, is at the top. 00:08:55.200 |
And then the various sections that come after, including sections like 16, or verse 16 through 00:09:01.720 |
18, verse 19 to 21, verse 22, and then even further on, verse 22 down to whatever, these 00:09:12.840 |
He's giving us the reason, he's giving us the points. 00:09:16.760 |
Here's premise one, premise two, premise three, therefore flee is one way to do it. 00:09:25.480 |
And so you've got to ask the question, in Apostle Paul's mind, how severe does he see 00:09:36.120 |
What's one of the first reasons why Apostle Paul gives as to why we need to flee idolatry? 00:09:42.240 |
Can I have, whose back of the head am I looking at there? 00:09:47.880 |
Can you read nicely for us, verse 16 through 18? 00:09:48.880 |
It's not the color of the sea which is the best insurance for the human race. 00:09:49.880 |
It's not the birth history that we should regret sharing with all of the rest. 00:09:50.880 |
Since there is no birth, we need to learn about it. 00:10:20.040 |
The second question is, seriously, what's the answer? 00:10:24.320 |
Would you mind closing the doors in the back for us? 00:10:28.360 |
I opened it all up because when I got in here, it was all like warm and, you know, in the 00:10:35.280 |
So as you take a look at that passage, let's first do a quick observation. 00:10:40.280 |
So just throw it out to me, you guys, what you see, and then we're going to do a what's 00:10:45.360 |
So first question is, can you just list the different references that he's pointing out 00:10:51.280 |
Or the things that he's pointing to to make his argument. 00:10:57.160 |
He lists the cup of blessing, and then he lists the bread, and then the? 00:11:11.400 |
Actually, in order to help you put the list together, let's put them, like put the things 00:11:18.400 |
So the cup of blessing, and then the blood, bread, and then the body. 00:11:23.800 |
And then there's the, someone said it here, sacrifices that attaches to the altar. 00:11:35.480 |
So what you see is he's got these reference points. 00:11:39.000 |
He's like, hey, don't we have this cup of blessing? 00:11:47.680 |
So, okay, you've just listed three various things. 00:11:59.800 |
So with each element, what you have is a sharing of Christ. 00:12:13.440 |
And those of you guys who recently went through BCC, or if you guys remember, in BCC class, 00:12:19.360 |
I go down in week seven, this whole list of what the communion represents, right? 00:12:24.360 |
And I go down the whole list of talking about how in the Old Testament, blood represented 00:12:39.520 |
And the thing about it is, in so taking part of that blood, you're saying, this is Christ's 00:12:46.600 |
And so when you take part of that blood, the life of Christ, right? 00:12:50.440 |
Likewise, the bread is the same thing, is the life of Christ. 00:12:53.320 |
And then what's furthermore, the bread represents the body of Christ. 00:12:55.920 |
You're literally taking part in Christ, in the person of Christ, right? 00:13:01.040 |
And so when you do that act of communion, you're remembering everything that is of Christ. 00:13:05.760 |
When you take that communion, it's like, you know, looking at a perfect picture. 00:13:10.640 |
Sometimes you know, we look at certain photos on Facebook, you look at photos on your wall, 00:13:14.120 |
and you sometimes sit there mesmerizing or reflecting, remembering whatever it is, right? 00:13:19.640 |
It causes you to feel the emotions and all that kind of stuff. 00:13:24.920 |
It's just reminding you, Christ, who he is, what he's done, how he's coming back, all 00:13:34.540 |
But his point is that by doing the communion, which is the picture, you share in it. 00:13:44.560 |
So if you guys would jot this down as a note, what's really interesting is the repeated 00:13:54.400 |
Sharing in the blood of Christ, sharing in the body of Christ, partake of the one bread, 00:14:03.720 |
And what's really interesting about that is the words for sharing is the word koinonia. 00:14:15.760 |
You know, it's like, come on guys, let's have real koinonia, you know? 00:14:21.160 |
And what they're saying is like, let's have real fellowship. 00:14:23.720 |
Let's really be one, united in the right thing. 00:14:27.200 |
And other pastors of the Bible use koinonia to say you are a partaker, like a participant, 00:14:32.080 |
two partners joined together to accomplish something. 00:14:37.800 |
So Apostle Paul is making the point, look, when you do something, you are a share in 00:14:52.820 |
And so how does that connect with his argument? 00:15:00.500 |
Because there's a sense in which then spiritually, if you allow yourself to haphazardly do the 00:15:05.960 |
stuff that's associated with idolatry, what are you doing? 00:15:13.800 |
And so let's think about kind of a summary to that point then. 00:15:20.360 |
To that segment in which Apostle Paul is pointing out to us, you need to flee from idolatry. 00:15:24.840 |
But the first point Apostle Paul is making is because look, in everything you do, you 00:15:33.720 |
So my exhortation would be, pick the right fellowship. 00:15:46.200 |
If you were to think about, you know, an instance where you, you know, have one group versus 00:15:55.160 |
another, one posse versus another, even in, you know, just this morning we were out on 00:16:01.840 |
Ring Road and it was funny because we were passing out Berean flyers, but then I walked 00:16:07.640 |
over to our table and we had all these different club flyers, you know, like double ACF flyers, 00:16:13.280 |
CCM flyers, other campus ministry flyers on our Berean table. 00:16:18.120 |
And what was hilarious was one of the students, as soon as they saw me, they were like, "Oh 00:16:24.560 |
And they just laughed, you know, because there's, you know, like in the mentality is like, "I'm 00:16:28.680 |
supposed to be promoting Berean, what are you doing with that flyer?" 00:16:32.040 |
Well, amongst Christians, I say, "Hey, we're all believers and I'm okay with you passing 00:16:37.360 |
But I just use that as an example to say, imagine, I mean, if we were two competing 00:16:41.000 |
fellowships, you would be like, "What the, why would you even promote that?" 00:16:47.160 |
In like vein, do we recognize that when whatever we're doing, there's a sense in which we are 00:16:57.280 |
And when I said earlier, as an exhortation, "Pick the right fellowship," there's a sense 00:17:01.800 |
in which not only do you need to pick the right fellowship, but you got to look like 00:17:06.480 |
You can't straddle the fence of belonging to this club and that club, you can't have 00:17:11.040 |
an identity crisis, "I want to be a part of this, I want to be a part of that." 00:17:13.920 |
There's a sense in which, no, Apostle Paul expects a mature individual to fully belong 00:17:22.560 |
And you guys know where that's leading, because later on he's going to say very, very explicitly, 00:17:32.360 |
Moving forward then, to verses 19 through 21. 00:17:52.880 |
They think sacrifice idles a thing in things, but I idle a thing in things. 00:18:03.880 |
Know that I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, is sacrifice of demons 00:18:05.880 |
And I do not want you to become sharers of demons. 00:18:06.880 |
You cannot drink the cup of the Lord because of demons. 00:18:07.880 |
Do not partake of this table, the Lord and the table of demons." 00:18:10.880 |
The exhortation that we were just anticipating. 00:18:14.120 |
And in verse 19 to 21, he essentially kind of builds on the last point, look, we're partakers 00:18:22.440 |
And then he starts to clarify that a thing sacrificed to idles is anything, or that an 00:18:29.760 |
So picture again, please, the scenario that I brought up, starting from chapter eight. 00:18:38.840 |
If you guys have ever visited certain other nations and other countries, especially places 00:18:43.680 |
like let's say Thailand or India, where you have like a plethora of like idols everywhere, 00:18:50.920 |
whether it be little Buddhas, whether it be little icons and all that kind of stuff. 00:18:55.560 |
Just imagine that, you know, back then you'd have all these different figurines and no 00:19:00.280 |
matter what kind of social environment you went to, there was always some kind of element 00:19:06.960 |
And even to this day, every time I go to like certain restaurants and I see like a big old 00:19:11.640 |
Buddha in the front, it always makes me feel like, I don't know, I don't know, you know? 00:19:17.320 |
But the thing about it is, I want you to just picture that kind of scenario. 00:19:20.940 |
And remember that the scenario is, Apostle Paul initially said, look, we know that first 00:19:27.040 |
there is the food that you're eating and you're wondering was that sacrifice to idols? 00:19:36.320 |
But here and now he's giving the exhortation, but do you need to flee? 00:19:43.880 |
Well, he repeats this idea again that a thing sacrificed to idols, is it anything? 00:19:50.600 |
Well, I've got this little table for you and it's an easy question, but I just want you 00:19:58.840 |
So I want you to just, you know, bear with me on this. 00:20:02.000 |
You've got on one side cup, bread, idol, and you got on the right side, blood, body, false 00:20:08.080 |
What's the relationship from column A to column B? 00:20:23.760 |
And I want you guys to just think about that for a moment and just kind of think through 00:20:33.800 |
Behind the food and behind the idol, literally it's just a piece of wood. 00:20:37.920 |
It's no holier, no special than let's say this pulpit made of wood, right? 00:20:46.920 |
But where it starts to really count is the representation. 00:20:50.480 |
And so there's a sense in which even for us, what's weird is there's a dual element of 00:20:54.760 |
when we do certain ordinances like baptism that we just had. 00:20:58.920 |
So Peter typically says like, this doesn't really do anything. 00:21:02.760 |
But then there would be a question then of like, then what's the point of doing it? 00:21:06.080 |
Why would we have all our members think deeply about getting baptized and not only get baptized, 00:21:15.680 |
And the importance lies in what it represents. 00:21:20.080 |
And this is the point to which I want to, I want to really like push and emphasize to 00:21:27.120 |
Remember earlier how I talked about how apostle Paul was frustrated because although the Corinthians 00:21:31.880 |
church, they're Christians and some of them might've been Christians for some time, some 00:21:38.280 |
They're arguing with him like, look at this Bible verse, look at this truth. 00:21:44.960 |
But apostle Paul is saying, I see that, but I want you to look here to ask, is it mature? 00:21:51.840 |
And this is one of the points to which that point of maturity really comes into the forefront. 00:21:59.520 |
Because for us as Christians, we need to represent, right? 00:22:12.420 |
And so in doing that, there isn't a bare minimum. 00:22:15.320 |
There isn't a line, just do this, this and this, and now you're represented. 00:22:21.200 |
Apostle Paul, his mentality is we need to represent. 00:22:26.440 |
So in all you do, whether you eat or drink, do all to the glory of God. 00:22:35.280 |
And so there's this, still sitting here, but look, it's not wrong. 00:22:38.160 |
Apostle Paul is like, you're still looking at a point. 00:22:44.800 |
Apostle Paul expects the church to mature way beyond that, to identify when you do what 00:22:59.440 |
And so that's why he might make the point, hey look, these idols really, really are nothing. 00:23:06.460 |
But in maturity, you need to see beyond that. 00:23:10.320 |
So if in maturity you need to see beyond that, there is like rampant idolatry where literally 00:23:17.480 |
you're bowing to a God and saying, you're my God. 00:23:26.920 |
What other forms, in the definition of idolatry, what other concepts have you seen in scripture? 00:23:32.720 |
If you guys want to volunteer and just list some of those. 00:23:38.440 |
What other things categorize as idolatry in the scriptures? 00:23:49.480 |
When you're coveting in your heart, what else? 00:24:01.680 |
And that idea, both those concepts encompass a lot of stuff, right? 00:24:05.760 |
When you're coveting, you're like, you know, you have a desire and you have jealousy and 00:24:11.040 |
Relying on other things, that's where your trust is, that's where your security is, you 00:24:15.880 |
When your reliance is on anything, when you're relying on something and that something takes 00:24:22.200 |
greater trust, it receives greater confidence in the Lord God than you've committed idolatry. 00:24:35.800 |
And typically it's like pursuit of success, pursuit of money. 00:24:42.400 |
There was a passage that really kind of talked about idolatry and various things in the book 00:25:09.120 |
In Job 31, starting from verse 24, this is what it says. 00:25:14.400 |
It says, "If I have put my confidence in gold and called fine gold my trust, if I have gloated 00:25:23.120 |
because my wealth was great and because my hand had secured so much, if I have looked 00:25:27.640 |
at the sun when it shone or the moon going in splendor and my heart became secretly enticed 00:25:33.860 |
and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth, that too would have been an iniquity calling for 00:25:44.160 |
Now that passage to me, you know, it encapsulates a lot of what is at the heart of idolatry. 00:25:52.960 |
What is at the heart of idolatry is the replacement of God, right? 00:26:03.600 |
When God in the Ten Commandments talks about using his name in vain, having an image, having 00:26:09.640 |
other gods, what is that but the replacement, the dethroning of God, right? 00:26:15.640 |
But that is not the nature of what we do in sin. 00:26:19.720 |
Whether it be I make God look like me, I make God look like something that serves me, it 00:26:31.840 |
Now in talking about all of these things, in talking about all of these things, we have 00:26:44.160 |
Because we realize that the tipping point from, you know, completely legitimate pursuit 00:26:51.600 |
of money, success, our ambitions, and happiness, the tipping point is not so clear, is it? 00:26:59.200 |
And what's crazy and dangerous about it is the tipping point is not so clear, but it 00:27:09.200 |
And so Apostle Paul again is calling the Christians at Corinth to not practice the kind of righteousness 00:27:24.200 |
But in his eyes, the various forms of idolatry that will enter into our hearts, enter into 00:27:28.600 |
our church, you are mature enough to see, right? 00:27:35.160 |
So he mentions that, but in summary, or not in summary, but in moving forward, he talks 00:27:44.000 |
He says, "No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to 00:27:52.320 |
And I do not want you to become shares in demons." 00:28:08.400 |
So here, I wanted to ask you guys the question, do you believe that demons attack believers 00:28:25.320 |
And then I'm gonna ask probably a follow-up question, which is like, what does that look 00:28:37.480 |
Do you believe that demons, and I'm talking specifically attacking believers, Christians, 00:28:47.160 |
And I'm gonna ask follow-up is, what do you think that looks like? 00:29:04.080 |
- So, it looks like, in part, even what it says here, like, I guess in the next part 00:29:05.080 |
of the passage, like, it could be a direct attack on us, but it could be an attack, 00:29:06.080 |
like, where maybe we use the word "demon" to describe a demon, and then we use the word 00:29:08.080 |
And then we use the word "demon" to describe a Christian. 00:29:09.080 |
And then we use the word "demon" to describe a Christian. 00:29:10.080 |
And then we use the word "Christian" to describe a Christian. 00:29:11.080 |
And then we use the word "demon" to describe a Christian. 00:29:12.080 |
And then we use the word "demon" to describe a Christian. 00:29:13.080 |
And then we use the word "demon" to describe a Christian. 00:30:07.480 |
Anybody else want to add to that, or just even just... 00:30:10.880 |
So if you guys ever wonder that kind of question, you know, people have asked me a lot of times, 00:30:22.320 |
It's like, does a demon, like, cause me to say stuff? 00:30:27.040 |
You know, if he's gonna attack the church and his unity, does he make me say nasty things 00:30:33.240 |
And so, you know, there are questions about that. 00:30:35.640 |
And I'm not gonna answer those questions specifically, but I do also concur. 00:30:47.080 |
They do whatever they can to attack Christians today. 00:30:51.720 |
And sometimes I feel like that's kind of a blind spot to just modern Christianity, you 00:30:59.800 |
Maybe there are those people who make much of it, and that could be even one of Satan's 00:31:07.480 |
It's like, get them so engulfed in one aspect of your spiritual life that that's all you 00:31:15.880 |
But in my mind, when I think about this truth, he's like, there is a spiritual realm here. 00:31:21.960 |
I mean, he's trying to talk about the physical, which was the cup, the bread, the statue, 00:31:29.680 |
But then he wants the Christians to be mature enough to observe the spiritual, right? 00:31:34.440 |
And he says the spiritual is, there is this representation of their demonic worship, of 00:31:40.880 |
their demonic influence, of their deception, and what is the twisted, perverted truth, 00:31:46.760 |
And then I take a moment to think about that. 00:31:48.960 |
And how many of you guys were with us when we read that book, Darkness and the Glory? 00:31:58.380 |
Some of it, it sounds like conspiracy theory and it's a little confusing. 00:32:05.680 |
But the main argument in that book is that Satan, being the father of deception, is so 00:32:13.040 |
deceived himself, and he has so deceived himself, he believes he can win. 00:32:21.520 |
Satan believes he can usurp the hand of God and deceive the Christian to fail. 00:32:28.160 |
Satan believes that he can so attack Christ that Christ would fail. 00:32:33.760 |
And so the argument in that book is, not only is the spiritual battle alive, and not only 00:32:39.120 |
is it rampant, Satan will literally do every single thing in his power, every single arsenal, 00:32:46.680 |
every arrow, every scheme, every lie, Satan will throw. 00:32:50.660 |
And the book makes the argument that whatever Satan has, he threw at Christ and he's gonna 00:32:59.480 |
So someone can ask me, "Hey, do you think Satan is gonna try to use our words?" 00:33:04.040 |
I'm like, "I don't believe Satan or the devils have control over a Christian, because we're 00:33:19.680 |
Would he use certain people who came in and they were teaching false stuff? 00:33:35.120 |
There's gonna be people who are coming through those doors, claiming to be Christians, but 00:33:49.360 |
And that's one of the things I just want us to highlight is just like, and so he's calling 00:33:56.480 |
And he's saying, you know, like, do you see, you know, what you're espousing when you don't 00:34:02.680 |
care about the other Christians and you say, well, this is my right. 00:34:07.600 |
Well, this is my liberty and I know what's best. 00:34:13.120 |
It's like, man, don't you know the spiritual battle is real? 00:34:21.120 |
So that's verses 19 through 21 for the blank is spiritual reality, right? 00:34:28.800 |
And to sum that up, he's essentially saying flee from idolatry because it's demonic, because 00:34:40.480 |
Did I give you the blank for number, the first one? 00:34:49.120 |
Well, if I didn't, it's a conflict of fellowship. 00:34:55.480 |
You can't, you can't fellowship in two camps. 00:35:25.320 |
So we're taking a look here at verse 22 and it says, or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? 00:35:34.000 |
And so this to me, again, pose another reason. 00:35:44.840 |
And then when he said, what I mean is, that's how I'd split that up and said, okay, that's 00:35:49.880 |
an indicator where he's at least making another premise or just building on top. 00:35:55.160 |
And then when he said, or that's when I realized, okay, he's probably doing another argument 00:36:00.240 |
and thinking, helping us think of something else. 00:36:03.400 |
And this, the reason why I, if I were to, you know, entitle this as a sermon, I would 00:36:16.120 |
Although it's talking about true idolatry or flee from idolatry, I'll talk about as 00:36:21.280 |
true maturity is because to me, in my mind, a truly mature Christian always asked the 00:36:34.840 |
A really mature Christian will ask the question, well, what does God think of it? 00:36:40.800 |
Because that maturity is a maturity as a son who considers the father, a daughter who is 00:36:50.960 |
Someone who has read the scriptures enough, has prayed, has communed with God, is going 00:36:55.200 |
to have a sense for what pleases the Lord or displeases the Lord. 00:37:01.400 |
Someone who has really been in harmony with God is going to feel sensitivity. 00:37:10.520 |
And that to me is a mark of somebody who is very, very mature. 00:37:18.040 |
Like, I just, I don't know how God would think of that. 00:37:20.160 |
I think I would look at that and, and they're able to say that because they've thought 00:37:24.880 |
deeply of what the Lord's perspective on us would be. 00:37:28.920 |
A selfish child, a child who's living in the moment, a child who's living on earth, simply 00:37:36.640 |
They're considering immediate cost benefits, immediate risk, immediate kickback, how it 00:37:43.720 |
But the child of God who is mature is thinking on a broader scale. 00:37:55.120 |
He's asking this question, or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? 00:38:01.360 |
And it immediately brings into question, how would God look at this? 00:38:07.000 |
And I want you to turn to a scary passage in Deuteronomy chapter 32. 00:38:15.120 |
And I call it a scary passage because if you read the whole chapter, it's pretty scary. 00:38:21.680 |
It sounds almost just like the segments of revelations where you just, it's hard to keep 00:38:25.520 |
reading because it's just like so descriptive of the kind of wrath that God is going to 00:38:32.660 |
But in chapter 32, starting from verse 19, okay, Deuteronomy chapter 32, starting from 00:38:37.900 |
verse 19, it says, "The Lord saw this and spurned them because of the provocation of 00:38:49.480 |
Then he said, 'I will hide my face from them. 00:38:53.220 |
I will see what their end shall be, for they are a perverse generation, sons in whom is 00:39:00.500 |
They have made me jealous with what is not God. 00:39:03.500 |
They have provoked me to anger with their idols, so I will make them jealous with those 00:39:08.740 |
I will provoke them to anger with the foolish nation. 00:39:12.480 |
For a fire is kindled in my anger and burns to the lowest part of Sheol and consumes the 00:39:17.540 |
earth with its shield and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains. 00:39:24.740 |
They will be wasted by famine and consumed by plagues or bitter destruction. 00:39:29.060 |
And the teeth of beasts I will send upon them, with the venom of crawling things of dust. 00:39:33.460 |
Outside the sword will bereave and inside terror. 00:39:36.200 |
Both young man and virgin, but the nurseling and the man, gray in hair, I would have said, 00:39:45.340 |
That's one of those passages where it's kind of crazy because you see what he's saying, 00:39:50.540 |
he's just like, "They provoked me to such anger. 00:39:57.300 |
I'm going to completely turn the whole tables upside down. 00:40:00.100 |
You provoke me to anger, I'm going to provoke you. 00:40:02.980 |
And after you've been provoked, I'm going to completely destroy you. 00:40:06.300 |
Both the babies, both the senior citizens, everybody. 00:40:11.300 |
And not a single soul will ever remember you because you will be annihilated." 00:40:14.420 |
I mean, that's the kind of stuff that he's saying, right? 00:40:16.580 |
That's what I mean when I say, man, it reads just like Revelation. 00:40:22.100 |
But the fact of the matter is, if we were to ask, what about God? 00:40:43.780 |
And his last point clearly is, because God is a jealous God. 00:40:49.380 |
How would you explain that to a young Christian? 00:40:55.300 |
How would you explain that to somebody who's new to the faith and maybe all they've heard 00:41:00.020 |
is like, "And God has a great plan for you, huge hope for the future. 00:41:03.780 |
Come into the church, learn the Bible, have fellowship. 00:41:09.860 |
And then he learns Deuteronomy chapter 32 and he's just like, "Duh." 00:41:20.140 |
Someone in our table offered the example of marriage. 00:42:07.020 |
You know, Pastor Peter posted up a testimony recently of a professor who was part of the 00:42:14.780 |
gay and lesbian community and through a lot of going back and forth with Christians and 00:42:19.980 |
writing articles and she essentially was kind of a leader of that liberal camp and she was 00:42:25.900 |
converted and I listened to it and I was just so thoroughly encouraged. 00:42:30.940 |
If you guys haven't had a chance to listen to it, I really encourage that you do. 00:42:36.580 |
Especially for those of you guys who perhaps never felt, you know, sometimes people ask 00:42:41.420 |
me, "I believe in God, I have surrendered to God, but sometimes I don't feel it." 00:42:48.700 |
I didn't have this burst of tears and emotions, but I surrendered." 00:42:56.020 |
And in talking about the surrender, she gave this example and said, "A lot of the questions 00:43:00.660 |
I get sometimes are weird because one of the most frequently asked questions is, 'Why 00:43:08.620 |
Why can't you just accept Christianity and still be lesbian?'" 00:43:13.220 |
And then instead of answering the question, she just started to talk. 00:43:17.340 |
And she started to talk about how God is Lord and she is not. 00:43:22.740 |
So how can one have the audacity and the pride to tell God, "Well, this is how it shall be 00:43:32.500 |
And the reason why I like the fact that, you know, David said, "In the context when you 00:43:37.260 |
have a right, then you have a right to be jealous." 00:43:58.500 |
And where there is a right, there is a right to be jealous. 00:44:08.260 |
And only when you understand the spiritual reality of God's Lordship, that God is God 00:44:12.740 |
exalted and almighty, does this jealousy make sense. 00:44:18.940 |
And so as a kind of, you know, kind of summing up, summing up of the lesson today, let's 00:44:26.780 |
stop there and really think about what is maturity, you know? 00:44:33.180 |
Christian maturity looks so much different than what the world would view as maturity, 00:44:38.340 |
Worldly maturity means I pay my own bills and I do what I want without my parents. 00:44:44.340 |
Worldly maturity means my parents don't tell me what to do anymore. 00:44:51.220 |
In the family of God, in the relationship of us as sons and daughters of God, that maturity 00:44:59.260 |
And I think Apostle Paul, through these passages, have been challenging us to not think on such 00:45:05.340 |
a base level of, "Well, I did base minimum," or "I met the line, I've met the requirement, 00:45:13.340 |
Apostle Paul is saying, "Now you have the freedom. 00:45:29.980 |
Let's bow for a prayer and you guys can have your time of discussion. 00:45:35.940 |
Heavenly Father, I thank you so much for your grace. 00:45:42.900 |
God, I pray that in our spiritual lives, it is a battle truly of truth and comprehending 00:45:54.700 |
I pray, God, that we would live in the spiritual realities revealed to us by scripture. 00:46:00.460 |
I pray, God, that you would not allow us to live long simply by sight, but God, to live 00:46:07.900 |
I pray, Lord, that we would take the call to mature as Apostle Paul is expecting the 00:46:12.420 |
church to not simply live by the letter of the law or simply live by what is base minimum, 00:46:20.540 |
but really to represent God in this world and be a light. 00:46:24.020 |
And I pray, Father God, that you would challenge us that whatever freedoms, whatever blessings 00:46:28.740 |
we have, we would turn that all to your glory and honor. 00:46:37.140 |
Again, I tried my best with the discussion questions. 00:46:41.740 |
The first one, I was like, "Have you ever been attacked?" 00:46:43.980 |
What I mean by that is, have you ever felt like demonic, spiritual attack? 00:46:49.140 |
If you have a good story of what it was like, tell the story. 00:47:00.980 |
Are there anything that you feel is idolatry? 00:47:04.100 |
There's stuff that's apparent, stuff that's more subtle, and please talk about that, okay?