Tough Questions: Jesus and the Sacrifices That We Make
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Transforming Question: Is Jesus authoring and receiving the glory from the sacrifices that you are making?
Life is ultimately an act, a dance, if you will, of worship. The irony is that not everyone knows that they are worshiping or what they are worshiping. Beyond just music or song, worship was biblically defined as service to someone or something. Worship includes sacrifice. The key is to be able to recognize what you are sacrificing and question whether Jesus is authoring that sacrifice, being honored in the midst of it. Paul asks questions in this segment to highlight for the Corinthians what and who they are actually worshiping. To do so, he exposes the nature of deceptive religion, helps to identify the root of the sacrifices that we make, and finally helps us to understand the value in doing all things for the glory of God.
Deceptive Religion
People can think they are living for Jesus when they really are not.
Paul ended the previous section of the letter giving an analogy of how a Christian must run their race in Christ in such a way as not to be "disqualified for the prize." It is here that he develops that thought exposing the ways that the norms of the pagan culture can impact the Christian.
For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.” We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. We should not test Christ, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel. These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:1-13 NIV)
You are first given clues in Paul's appeal as to how to read your Bible.
The Gentile Corinthians would have been unaware of the Jewish history to which Paul was making reference, so he makes it a point here to clarify that the God who brought the Israelites out of Egypt in the Old Testament is the same God that they now serve in Jesus. This connection between the Old and New Testament is one that we must continue to esteem today. In this sense, Paul presents Christian heritage as encamped in Jewish history, where the patriarchs and matriarchs of faith are to be honored as our forefathers and mothers. Most importantly, there are not two different Gods, but one between the two covenants. All of human history is God's unveiling of one continuous redemptive story through the person of Jesus. When references are made to previous events in Scripture, it is important for you to cross-reference the source, so that you can understand the full extent of the analogy being made in its original context, and then the applied context.
They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. (1 Corinthians 10:2-4 NIV)
The first sacrifice that we are to make where we come to Jesus in real submission is through a believer's baptism. Each of the Israelites who passed through the Red Sea had to actively put their faith in God to deliver them from their bondage in Egypt and bring them into the freedom of a new life. Many people as a part of a religious family were dedicated to the Lord as a child, but have never chosen to take their own "walk through the sea" as an outward sign of their personal trust in Jesus. You can not ride on the coattails of your family forever. Have you had a believer's baptism, one of repentance? When you do this, you are personally choosing to give the totality of your life to Jesus. You are uniting with Him in His death on the cross for your sins that had you bound, and putting your trust in the power of God that raised Jesus from the dead, so that you may too come out of that water to live a new life.
“Everything has been figured out, except how to live.” ―Jean-Paul Sartre
Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. (1 Corinthians 10:5 NIV)
The fear of the Lord needs to be upon us as we recognize that "most of them" in that generation fell in the desert, because they did not obey God's commands, but instead chased their idols, the things that they wanted most in life above God.
Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. (1 Corinthians 10:6 NIV)
Worship and the sacrifices that you make for it begins with where your set your heart. Biblically, your heart refers to your affections, your emotions, and desires. Sin surfaces when you sacrifice setting your heart on the best thing, otherwise known as the blessed thing, for immediate gratification. It is in this place that things always seem to fall apart because you encounter the resistance of God. This is essentially what a curse is. The things on which we set our hearts today are similar in root to those of the Israelites coming out of Egypt.
Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.” (1 Corinthians 10:7 NIV)
Idolatry and Pagan Revelry - This is the idea when you say, "God you owe me. My life deserves to be a rip-roaring good time, and I am not going to have you constrain me." If you live solely for comfort and pleasures, you will be an idolator. In this scenario, the people of Israel were tired of waiting for Moses to come down with direction from the mountain, so in the meantime, made their own false god through which they could satisfy their carnal desires. There is having a drink, and there is drunkenness. There is eating, and there is gluttony. There is having a good time dancing, and there is turn down the lights club grinding. Don't indulge in the latter.
We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. (1 Corinthians 10:8 NIV)
Sexual immorality - This is the idea when you say, "God, you owe me. As a sexual being, I deserve to have all of my sexual desires fulfilled." This is why dating someone whose heart is not set on the Lord's purposes is so detrimental. The natural flow of relationships is to yearn for physical intimacy, which is to a blessed thing in the commitments of marriage. However, at Shittim (Numbers 25:1-3), the seduction of the Moabite women led the Israelites to the worship of pagan gods. The Israelites were, thus, derailed in their devotion to and pursuit of the one true God. As with the Levites, there had to be a line drawn in the sand.
We should not test Christ, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. (1 Corinthians 10:9 NIV)
They tested Christ. This is the idea when you say, "God you owe me. I deserve to have the baby, the spouse, the job, the position, and the income I want exactly when I think I am worthy of it." The Israelites began to disdain the manna that He was feeding them. Some of you might equally have abandoned feeding on the unchanging gospel of Jesus found in the Scriptures and found that you are withering in your souls. You begin to test and see if there are other philosophies, religions, or practices that can sustain you just as well, but the result is catastrophic. The snake, the deceiver, will always begin to bite, injecting you with his poison. The good news is that because of God's mercy, you can once again look to Jesus lifted up, and He will forgive you. Testing Jesus also refers to times when you see how long you think you can get away with a particular sin without repercussion. The sad truth is many people only wake up once they are faced with the consequences of their actions. Don't be that person, but if it is you, you can turn to Jesus for healing today (John 3:14,15).
And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel. (1 Corinthians 10:10 NIV)
Grumbling - This is the idea when you say, "If things did not turn out as I expected them to be, You are not doing your job, because really God, aren't You here to serve me?" This is the common theme in Christian culture of charging God with wrongdoing and "being mad at God." We feel like we have the right to accuse God, our leaders, and His people when we are "just getting things off of your chest." It's not like you really dislike Jesus, you're just venting for relief. This was most often in response to what the Israelites felt like they left behind in Egypt, what they felt like they were missing. What they forgot, and what we forget today is the bondage and the treacherously hard labor that came with it. God put an end to that himself.
“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.” ― G.K. Chesterton, What's Wrong with the World
The good news is that in all that we do as a church, Jesus chooses to continue to walk with us in powerful ways. He was there in the Exodus, leading His people in the cloud. He was also satisfying their thirst in a dry and weary place supernaturally through the rock. He does the same for you today as you walk with His people and come to Him.
So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:12, 13 NIV)
The Sacrifices that We Make
You make sacrifices everyday. Whether it is to get ahead in life or simply a decision about what you will do with your time, you are always sacrificing one thing for another. When your life is not centered in Jesus, the sacrifices are often in pursuit of your idol, the thing that you love more than Jesus.
Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf. Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons. Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we stronger than he? (1 Corinthians 10:14-22 NIV)
Paul re-references idols because you, like the Corinthians, have to know how to deal with those that are public, as well as those that are private. In I Corinthians 8, Paul refers to public sacrifices, those that one was invited to participate in as a part of civic life. Here, he makes the point that there are also private invitations to participate in idolatry, in this case in a home, over a meal. The reality about idols and the nature of the beast is that they always find a way to try to creep back in. Satan left Jesus after his temptation in the desert until an opportune time. You need to constantly press the reset button.
Paul exhorts you to flee from idolatry because worship outside of the person and cause of Jesus always leads to dissatisfaction, frustration, and disappointment. Even in false religions, people think that they are serving one entity, but really they are sacrificing to destructive demons. Knowing that you are in the pleasure and will of God brings you peace that is health to your whole body, mind and soul. The truth is that you fall into idolatrous sacrifices when you make good things become ruling things in your life. You know that they rule you because you are aware that if they were taken away, your sense of stability or happiness would leave with them. This is the root of misplaced identity, and Jesus wants to deliver you from that by exposing the motivation behind and the recipient of the sacrifices that you are making.
The yearning for the approval of people other than Jesus and the desire to control certain elements of your life can often drive ungodly sacrifices.
How do people make sacrifices?
Are you making sacrifices in your workplace at the expense of biblical convictions and kingdom pursuits?
Are you making sacrifices in your purity pushing boundaries for a romantic relationship that you hope to keep?
Are you sacrificing your family in exchange for an exalted perception of success in your career?
Are you sacrificing your godly relationships because you find it more comfortable to hide in your offenses or pain?
Are you sacrificing intimacy with God for the sake of entertainment or a few more moments of sleep that really do not rejuvenate you?
Are you sacrificing what God says gives you value and worth for the things that the culture esteems?
We are often blind to the things that are destroying our lives.
Certain personalities lean towards certain things. For instance, my mind locks onto something, and I'm like a dog on a bone until it is accomplished. My wife continually speaks of the gravitation that I have towards the phone and technology, always being at work, always feeling like I need to connect with the next person. I am asking God to help me set boundaries lest it damage what is most important in my family. Some would say that this is obsessive or compulsive. If left without the intervention of God, though these personality types can lead to high achievement, it can also lead to addictions and control. For many, the fear of losing control has led to abuse of various types, drug or alcohol addiction, rampant sexual activity as a vie for power, acceptance or numbing of the pain of a violation. Others are passive or passive aggressive because of disappointments or discouragements. Jesus comes to set us free from our bondages.
In The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis clearly exemplifies how subtle and imperceptible our sacrifices can be, and their penultimate results.
In the following quote, you have this designation of characters:
The speaker: Screwtape, a devil The recipient: Wormwood, another devil The Enemy: God The man: a Christian The Light: the life following Jesus
"...Nothing is very strong: strong enough to steal away a man's best years not in sweet sins but in a dreary flickering of the mind over it knows not what and knows not why, in the gratification of curiosities so feeble that the man is only half aware of them,...which once chance and association has started them, the creature is too weak and fuddled to shake off. You will say that these are very small sins; and doubtless, like all young tempters, you are anxious to be able to report spectacular wickedness. But do remember, the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the Enemy. It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.." -C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters - Letter 12
The world says:
“Self-sacrifice? But it is precisely the self that cannot and must not be sacrificed.” ― Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead
However, God's relationship with us is foundationally built on His self-sacrificial nature. Have you ever been in a relationship where it seemed that you were the only one making all of the sacrifices to make the relationship work, while the other party merely took advantage of your kindness? Relationships cannot endure this forever. Jealousy can be both good and bad. If it is controlling and domineering, it the type of the sinful nature which is destructive and God says to leave behind. If the jealousy is relational and based on the loving care, it is for the protection and good of the object of that jealousy. The latter is the type of jealousy that God has in His heart toward His people and is based on a longing for deep, life-giving intimacy.
The good news of the gospel is that Jesus established His covenant with you through the cross by being both the one who set the terms and the sacrifice that fulfilled the demands of that relationship with God. In response to His grace, He now requires a radical reorientation of our lives with acute attention to the detail as to whom your sacrifices are being made. This is a question of both motivation and orientation. The motivation reveals why you are making the sacrifices that you are. The orientation shows you the result of those sacrifices. They must both be submitted to God as not to arouse His loving jealousy.
Everything To the Glory of God
The decisions that you have to make on a daily basis will all become easier if you are continually asking the question, "Will Jesus be glorified through this sacrifice?".
It is easy to identify detrimental sacrifices that other people are making in their lives; it is much harder to see your own. This is the value of Christ-centered relationships that can be a mirror to you. There is no way that you can have a clear read on whether or not your sacrifices are pleasing to Jesus without the revelation of His Word. Where there are questionable matters, prayer and godly counsel are combined with the Word to give you specific insight into the heart of God. As we see with the propensity toward deceptive religion, counsel must reflect God's Word. It is not simply because someone is in the church that you should emulate their standards in regard to relationships, speech, finances, family, career, or entertainment.
“It wasn't necessary to win for the story to be great, it was only necessary to sacrifice everything.” ― Donald Miller, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life
“A man who does not have something for which he is willing to die is not fit to live." ― Martin Luther King Jr.
Everyone wants to live with this type of resolve in their lives, to know that their days and contribution to the world count. The question is, how do you get there?
Paul is giving instruction to properly direct the Corinthians', and our, worship.
“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive. No one should seek their own good, but the good of others. Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, for, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.” If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience. But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, both for the sake of the one who told you and for the sake of conscience. I am referring to the other person’s conscience, not yours. For why is my freedom being judged by another’s conscience? If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for? So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God— even as I try to please everyone in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved. (1 Corinthians 10:23-33 NIV)
The question when you belong to someone else is not, "Is this best for me?" The motivating question is, "Is what I am about to do best for Jesus, His reputation, His people and my relationships with them as I serve the world.
God is good and cares for His people as an all-wise, loving Father. It does not mean that you will get exactly what you want, when you want all of the time. It does mean that by His determination, when we make the right sacrifices, with Jesus at the center, He promises this:
For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. Lord Almighty, blessed is the one who trusts in you. (Psalm 84:11, 12 NIV)
Take-Home Truth:
1) Begin to filter all of your life decisions through the aim of giving Jesus glory.
Second City Church- Tough Questions Sermon Series 2013