Fighting, Fleeing, and Trusting

1 Corinthians 10:1-22 - Riley Boggs

You’ve likely heard of what they call the “fight-or-flight” response. Many of you have probably experienced it. This response happens when you perceive a serious danger or threat, and your body prepares itself to either fight whatever it is, or flee from whatever it is. 

Several months ago I experienced this. Actually, a handful of the people in this room experienced it. Some of us were playing pickleball Gorin Park one night and all of a sudden, we hear 5-6 loud gunshots. They were not distant gunshots, they were close. If you’ve been around guns, you know what I’m talking about. It was close enough that there was no questioning whether it was a car’s backfire or a firecracker. It was clearly a gun, and it was only about 150-200 yards away.

When that happened, it was like my body took over. Before I had really processed everything, I was dunking down behind a concrete wall, dialing 911, trying to see what was happening where we just heard the shots. And when I looked over, everyone else had done the same thing. The fight-or-flight response had kicked in and we were in flight mode, hoping to not have to fight. Thankfully, no one seemed to be hurt, but it was scary, nonetheless.

The reason I say that is because we come to a text this morning demands a certain response from us. Except, in this case it’s not as a simple as a fight-or-flight response, it is a fight, flee, and trust. And it’s not something we have been naturally given, rather it’s something that requires us to wage war against our natural desire to sin.

This morning we are going to be looking at Paul’s continued argument about running the race well. You’ll remember that he walked through how to approach meat that had been sacrificed to idols. Then he said that we might need to forego our Christian freedoms for the sake the Gospel and that living a life for the sake of the Gospel takes intentionality. He really makes this clear in verses 24-27 of chapter 9, when he says, “24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”

In other words, the Christian life takes intentionality. It takes self-control, discipline, and effort. And this is where Paul begins here in chapter 10.  He provides for us 4 things we must do in our race. 4 things that the Christian life demands of us, and that is what we are going to be looking at this morning.

1.) We must actively fight against sin

Paul begins here by giving an example of how Israel failed to do this very thing. They failed to actively fight against idolatry and sin, and ended up forfeiting the land that God had said they would inherit. We heard that read in the middle Scripture reading this morning.

Now, the way Paul goes about telling this example is interesting. He uses certain words so that we might see that we are not altogether different than the Israelites. Look at some of the language he uses starting in verse 1, “For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the spiritual food, and all drank the spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.”

Paul is referring to the specific time in Israel’s history when God delivered them from the bondage of Egypt. God led them by His glory cloud, parted the red sea. He miraculously provided them food and drink in the wilderness. And Paul’s intention in wording the story like he did, was so that the Corinthians would hear that, and think of their own situation. They too had been saved by God, had been delivered from their enemies, and had been baptized. And they too were eating of the spiritual food and drink, the Lord’s Supper. And if this wasn’t clear enough, Paul says, “And guess who the spiritual Rock was? Guess who gave them the heavenly water? Guess who led them and followed them? It was Christ Himself!” 

See the point he is trying to drive home here is that the Israelites had all the things that the Corinthians have. They had been saved, delivered, baptized, ate and drink the spiritual food, and were led by Christ. And yet, they fell into idolatry and sin. He makes the point of him saying all this explicitly clear in verse 6. He says, “Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.”

He’ll get more into what led them to ultimately fall into this idolatry and sin, but for now I want to simply call us to consider the example of Israel. If they had every reason to trust God and not fall into idolatrous worship, why did they? The are several reasons, but the one I want to draw your attention to for now is that they did not actively fight against sin. They grew complacent.

One of my pastor’s once said that “you never drift towards holiness”, and that is the truth. We are not wired or  predisposed to walk in Godliness. If you stop paddling, you are going to go downstream. Holiness requires a constant fight against sin. Sometimes it demands more, sometimes it demands less, but it never stops demanding.

Think of it like a car that has a bad alignment. You have to constantly turn a little left in order to go straight, because if you let go at any point, you are going to start veering right. The same is true with sin. If we aren’t actively fighting, whether we realize it or not, we are moving towards sin. And the goal is, as we grow and grow, that the fight becomes easier. The alignment gets better. But, be under no illusion that it ever altogether goes away. On this side of heaven, expect to have to hold the wheel. Israel did not do this.

They received all these blessings from God and decided to drift along. And they ended up falling into sin, displeasing God, and forfeiting the land that was for them. Let this be example for us, a reminder for us, to never stop fighting against sin. The second thing that Paul brings out here is similar, but not exactly the same.

2.) We must not walk the line of temptation

Look with me at verses 7-12. Paul writes, “7 Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” 8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day.9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, 10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.”

At the beginning of this section, Paul gives us a couple instances where Israel did indeed fail. The first is in verse 7, and is referencing when Israel asked Aaron to make the golden calf so that they might worship it and eat and drink around it. Verse 8 is a reference to the sexual immorality that took place with the Moabite women. One act being so grotesque that God sent a plague that killed over 20,000 people. A few more examples follow, but you get the point. And Paul makes it clear that these examples were written down so that we might heed the warning. So the question is, what is the warning? I think the warning is this: We must not walk the line of temptation.

Here’s why I think this. Notice what he says in verse 9, “We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did…”. And then down in verse 12, “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fail.” These are the applications Paul wants the Corinthians to apply after hearing these examples.

In other words, this is a real warning, not a hypothetical one. It is true that you cannot lose your salvation. Once you are saved, you are saved forever. At the same time, if a professing Christian begins to walk in sin, they refuse to repent of it, and then continue to walk in it further and further. Eventually, we must say what we are thinking out loud. This person is showing themselves to not know Christ, and by extension showing that they never knew Christ. This means that this warning here is a real warning, not a hypothetical one.

And so if we are to take this as the real warning that it is, then what we are supposed to conclude is that we cannot walk the line of temptation thinking that, “well we’re saved, and we can’t lose our salvation. And we’re mature and strong enough. So it’s okay to get as close to sin as possible, as long as I don’t actually sin.” If that’s you, then you need to heed the warning in verse 12. “If anyone thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.” In other words, you aren’t beyond it. Do not put Christ to the test. Don’t pretend that sin isn’t that dangerous.

Here’s what I mean. You cannot continue to walk in circumstances where temptation is great and expect to make it out unscathed. You just can’t do it. If you and your girlfriend or boyfriend keep pushing the boundary, you will eventually cross it. If you keep saying, “Well that doesn’t count” when looking at inappropriate stuff on your phone, you will eventually step right into places you never thought you’d be. If you keep justifying your angry outbursts because, “they deserve it”, then you’ll soon find yourself justifying all sorts of sinful responses. You get the point. If you walk the line of temptation, even if you’re not sinning, if you walk it long enough, then you will eventually give in. And if you keep pressing the boundaries, you are putting Christ to the test, and Paul tells us this is exactly how the Israelites fell.

So what we need to do it run from the line of temptation. Set yourself up for success. Don’t push the boundaries, don’t walk the line. Put measures into place so that temptation does not come often or come easily. And then when it does, cast your mind on things above and press forward. For each of us this looks different, but for all of us we know areas we might need to do these things. 

But now the question might come to your mind, “What if I’ve put things in place and I don’t walk the line, and yet very strong temptation comes my way? What if I’m not strong enough to overcome it on my own?” Paul anticipates this very question and reminds us of a glorious truth.

3.) We must trust Christ to sustain us

Look at verse 13 with me. Paul writes, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

Several truths come out of this verse. First, temptation is coming. Even if we flee from sin, even if we don’t walk the line of temptation, we will still face it. We live in a fallen world, in fallen bodies, with fallen minds, and fallen hearts. Temptation will come. Second, God never causes us to sin. He is faithful and will never allow us to be tempted in such a way that sin must take place. He is sovereign over all things, but He is not the author of sin. Third, when our strength runs out, Christ will sustain us. He won’t cause us to sin, because He is Holy and good and it’s impossible for God to do such a thing. At the same time, He desires for us to not sin, and so He enables and strengthens us to endure temptation in ways that we are not able on our own. He provides a way of escape, a way to endure.

This idea of way of escape might bring to your mind an avenue whereby we might physically remove ourselves from a tempting situation, and that is certainly part of it. However, I think there is another way that we are supposed to understand this as well. It’s escape by endurance. Escaping from falling into the sin, not by escaping the temptation. He provides a way for us to not give in, to escape the sin, and to endure until the temptation has passed.

And when we begin to think of it like this, the beauty of this truth really comes to life. It should set our mind at ease. It should calm us. Yes, we fight against sin. Yes, we flee from temptation. But at the end of the day, it is God Himself who is going to preserve me. He is the one who is going to carry till the end. When my strength runs out, and it will, that doesn’t change whether or not you’ll make it to the end. God is the one who has been sustaining you the whole time, and He will continue.

One my previous pastors speaks on this passage like this, “if any of us have hearts that don’t care about our brothers, the lost coming to Christ, or Christ being honored in our lives, then, yes, we should fear for our souls and repent. But if your faith is in Christ, your desire is to please him, and you love his people, then rest in his grace to preserve you through whatever temptation may come your way. Rest in the promise of verse 13.” We are to fight against sin. We are to not walk the line of temptation. And ultimately, we are to trust the in the promises of God. He is faithful.

Lastly, Paul circles back to his initial argument that he made in chapter 8, which was eating meat sacrificed to idols. Since then he’s made larger points and applied them in different way, and now after walking through our approach to sin and temptation, Paul goes back to this same issue.

4.) We must flee from idolatry

In verse 14, with an endearing tone, Paul says, “Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.” Can’t make it much more clear than that. Flee from idolatry. Let’s look at Paul is getting at here. Follow it with me. He starts off in verse 15 and says, “You all are sensible people, judge what I’m about to say for yourself.” And then he begins to lay out the purpose for which the church participates in the Lord’s Supper.

The argument he is making here is that the Lord Supper is a meal in which we come to participate in the blood of Christ. We don’t eat the bread and drink the juice out of blind tradition. We don’t eat and drink because we’re trying to fill our hunger or quench our thirst. We partake of the elements as a proclamation and as a reminder, that we are in Christ. That by His death, burial, and resurrection, we have been made new. We are His, He is ours, and we corporately proclaim it. We are participating in the sacrifice He made for us.

Now let’s consider the meat sacrificed to idols. This gets a bit tricky so follow along with me in the text. We know that Paul has already said that eating this meat doesn’t change our position before God. The idols aren’t real, so the meat is unaffected, and therefore we are free to eat or not eat. He restates this in verses 18-19. He says, “18 Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? 19 What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?” And we know the answer already, but he tells us again in verse 20, no. The idols are nothing and the food offered to idols is nothing.

But then it seems like all of sudden he switches his position in the rest of verse 20 to 22. He says, “20 No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.22 Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?”

Here’s what I think he is getting at. He’s not talking about the leftover meat from pagan sacrifices that is being sold in marketplaces anymore. Now he’s talking about these pagan sacrifices themselves and explaining why the Corinthians cannot participate in these things. And he is saying that just because the idols they are worshipping and sacrificing to aren’t real, there is no doubt that they are participating in demonic worship. And so you can’t partake of the elements of the Lord, and also partake of the elements of the demons.  

Hopefully this will be more clear in a second. Think through the larger argument being made here and I think it might help. You can imagine certain Corinthians saying, “The idols aren’t real, and Paul just said that I am free to eat as long as I’m not causing my brother to stumble. So I think I’m going to head over to the pagan temple to eat and drink with them. They can eat and drink in the name of whatever fake idol, but since I know it’s all fake and show, it’s fine for me.”

Now, consider all that Paul has said. His response is, no, you’re missing it. You need to actively fight against sin, and you don’t need to walk the line of temptation. You don’t need to put Christ to the test here. Yes, the Lord will keep you and you can rest in that. And yes, the idols they claim to worship aren’t real. But there is a whole spiritual realm you are failing to acknowledge. What they are doing is demonic, and if you participate in that, you are going to be walking the line of temptation. You are going to be more susceptible to fall into idolatry. You need to flee from it. And then verse 22 he rhetorically asks, “Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?” Of course not.

So what is the application for us here at the end? Our context isn’t like that context. Here is what I think we ought to glean from this text. We would be foolish to ignore the very real spiritual warfare that is taking place in our world and in our lives. The devil and the demons are not passively watching the world go by. They are 1 Peter 5:8 says, “8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

They are finding footholds and desire nothing more than to see people fall into idolatry and sin and condemnation and guilt and shame and all the rest. Idolatry is simply shifting our love, worship, and admiration God to something else. The devil wants you to do that. The enemy wants those who do not know God, to never know Him.

And you might think, I would never do that. I’m stronger than that. I’ve been a believer for this long and I’m fine. I can walk a little bit closer to the line here. I don’t have to actively fight against sin anymore, I can be a bit more passive about it all. If that’s you, heed the warning. Flee from idolatry, fight against sin, and trust Christ to sustain you. Christ died so that we might live, so let us live well. Lives marked by a fleeing, fighting, and trusting, until one day we may truly rest.