Have you noticed
that we don’t like being told what to do? We would rather find
out the hard way, by doing stupid things, to discover that there are
often serious consequences to the wrong choices we make. One 4th of
July, me and a couple of buddies of mine went to Daytona Beach. In those
days, I was a drunk. So after drinking several pitchers of beer, we
rented some 3-wheelers, and started to drive all over the beach terrorizing
the tourists. When the police came to arrest us, I smarted off to one
of them. He responded back by hitting me upside my head with his nightstick.
When I came to, I found myself in jail, charged with reckless driving,
disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest. After using all of my vacation
money to pay my fine, I left Daytona Beach, and have never gone back
since. Not only was it a costly lesson, but an extremely painful one
as well. But I did learn that there are consequences for our actions.
I learned to never talk back to a policeman.
Since
God loves us like a father, he will often give us consequences which
are designed to keep us from getting hurt, or hurting others, or most
importantly, damaging the name & reputation of our Lord Jesus Christ,
when we do stupid, sinful things. Last week we learned that there were
experiences that the Israelites had gone through that should have made
them more appreciative of God, but instead caused them to rebel more
against what he was doing. Paul continues to give us a history lesson
of the Israelites, by using 5 examples of behaviors they exhibited that
we need to avoid, so we won’t experience God’s punishment.
The
first example of a behavior to avoid deals with our attitude. Paul tells
us that our spiritual forefathers set their hearts on, they craved for,
they lusted after evil things--v. 6(b). The word used here refers to
a deep seated evil desire or attitude. The problem the Israelites had
was that they were overexposed to supernatural blessings. Despite all
God was doing in their lives, there was no proper response from the
Israelites to his miraculous interventions & provisions. The whole
time they were experiencing all of the divine blessings they longed
for the good old days back in Egypt.
Now
the historical reference which helps explain Paul’s point is found
in Numbers 11. After crossing the Red Sea, the Israelites journeyed
to Mt. Sinai, where they spent just over a year getting organized. But
unbelievably, just 3 days after leaving Sinai, they start complaining
about their hardships. The Bible tells us that some of “The rabble
with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started
wailing and said, ‘If only we had meat to eat! We remember the
fish we ate in Egypt at no cost–also the cucumbers, melons, leeks,
onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything
but this manna!’” (Numbers
11:4)
Now
since none of us have ever eaten manna, we can’t say whether or
not they had a legitimate beef with God. But, I can understand their
wanting something else besides manna. Since I’ve been on this diet,
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve craved for a quarter-pounder
with cheese, plus some supersize fries & a coke from MacDonalds.
There are times when I get so tired of eating healthy food. So I can
sympathize with their longing for something else to eat besides plain
old manna.
It
is important for us to realize that the foods they were craving were
not evil. Despite what our kids think, there is nothing wrong with eating
cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic. But what was evil was
that God provided one thing and they wanted something else. What made
their cravings evil is that they weren’t content with the provisions
that God had blessed them with.
It
is very possible that some of you this morning pretended to worship
God, but the whole time your heart was set on something evil. I’m
not saying that while you were singing you were thinking about sinful
things. But rather there is jealousy in your heart because God has not
blessed you in ways he has blessed others. Perhaps you are struggling
financially, physically, or emotionally and God hasn’t intervened
in your life the way you want him to. And as you looked around the room
you saw people who aren’t living for the Lord the way you are,
yet they seem to have plenty of money, or they are in great health.
And the whole time you’ve been here, all you can think about is
what God hasn’t given you, instead of thanking him for all the
blessings he has poured upon you.
Or
perhaps, instead of being content with the blessings God has poured
on you, you looking for things in this world to satisfy you. Let me
say again that this doesn’t necessarily mean that the things you
are doing are wrong. For instance, there is nothing wrong with playing
golf, or going to the movies, or playing video games, or even shopping
at WalMart till you drop. But what would make these things wrong is
if you are doing these things rather than serving God because you are
mad at God for not giving you everything you want. Despite what we may
think, God has never promised to meet our wants, only our needs.
If
you want to know if you are craving after evil things instead of spiritual
things, just look at your checkbook or day-planner. If you are spending
more money & time on things of the world then you are on things
that advance the kingdom of God, then probably you are craving after
evil things. This is why Paul said to “Set your mind on things
above, not on things on the earth.” (Colossians
3:2)
The
second example of a behavior we are to avoid is idolatry--v. 7. And
here Paul backs up his point with a quotation from Exodus ch. 32. The
worship of the Golden Calf is one of the low points of Israel’s
history. While Moses was up on the mountain receiving the Ten Commandments,
the people decided he had been gone too long and asked Aaron to “Make
us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought
us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”
(Exodus
32:1)
So
Aaron took their jewelry and fashioned a golden calf for them to use
in their worship of God. Furthermore, Aaron scheduled a party, that
started out with the folks gathering together to merely eat & drink,
but quickly turned into a wild, drunken orgy. Moses, of course, was
shocked and furious when he came down from the mountain and saw all
this happening. He was so mad that “He cast the tablets out of
his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. Then he took the
calf which they had made, burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder;
and he scattered it on the water and made the children of Israel drink
it.” (Exodus
32:19-20)
You
may be thinking that this has nothing to do with you, because you don’t
worship a golden calf as your God. But nevertheless, there is still
a lot of idolatry that we are guilty of committing. I say this because
an idol is anything that takes the predominate place in our lives that
belongs exclusively for God. And in today’s culture, we have made
idols out of relationships, careers, even good looks.
As
much as I want to keep losing weight, I can’t become so consumed
with it that I forget God. I have to constantly remind myself that I
can’t rob my time with God to give me the extra time for exercise.
Instead, I gave up some of my couch potato time.
We
also have to guard against making little gods out of our spouse, our
kids, our sweetheart, or a friend. Some Christians are more consumed
with having a relationship with these people than they are about maintaining
their relationship with God. While these people, especially our family,
are important, they should never come before your relationship with
God.
Some
people have made success an idol. They are more concerned with the bottom
line of their business, or rising to the top of the corporate ladder,
that they don’t have any time for God or their family. So instead
of having time to come and corporately worship God with their family,
or instead of having nightly family devotions, they are at work in the
hopes of getting ahead. In doing so they are forgetting the promise
that Jesus made when he said, “But seek first the kingdom of God
and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
(Matthew
6:33)
Even
I have to guard myself against wanting this church to become successful
that I don’t take the time I need to worship God, simply for being
my heavenly Father. I have to guard myself against reading the Bible
merely to find sermon illustrations. I have to guard myself against
wanting to preach sermons that will draw bigger crowds, and get the
people to talk about me, instead of preaching a sermon that glorifies
God. I have to guard myself against worshipping him merely as a means
to try to twist his arm to get him to do what I want him to do with
this church.
The third example of a behavior we are to avoid is sexual immorality--v.
8. I want you to notice Paul’s train of thought. He is showing
us that having a wrong attitude will lead to a substitution of a wrong
object of worship, which eventually will lead to a wrong display of
affection. We see this in Romans ch. 1 where Paul says that when people
started to worship the creation more than the creator, that eventually
they disgraced themselves with every kind of immoral behavior. It’s
amazing to me how when God is dethroned in one’s conscious life,
how those things that gratify the desires of one’s flesh is enthroned.
If
you remember from earlier teachings, we learned that sexual immorality
was a major problem in Corinth. The Temple of the Goddess of Love, Aphrodite,
was the focal point of the city. And in this temple were hundreds of
temple prostitutes who seduced men into degrading forms of worship that
centered around immoral sex. Some of this gross sexual immorality had
even infiltrated the church, to the point that the church was tolerating
an incestuous relationship.
To help us to see the danger of sexual immorality, Paul takes us back
an incident, where just before entering the Promised Land, the Moabites
had invited the Israelites to attend the sacrifices to their gods. And
while trying to be friend with the Moabites, “The men began to
indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women.” (Numbers
25:1) Paul mentions this because God judged his people with a plague
that resulted in more than 23,000 deaths.
What does this say to those today who think God is just a God of love
who winks at premarital/adulterous sex, or even at homosexual behavior?
I want you to know that we should flee sexual immorality instead of
flirting with it. And when you flee from temptation make sure you don’t
leave a forwarding address behind you! Not only because the Bible says
we should, but also because of the lifetime impact it has on us, our
family, and Christ’s reputation.
Despite the clear warnings God gives us concerning sexual immorality,
far too many foolish Christians still play around with it. It is very
likely, considering the size of this congregation that some of you right
now are either having an affair, or considering having one. It is possible
that right now one of you is thinking about calling your lover this
afternoon to set up a date. If the Spirit is speaking about you, I want
you to know that the Spirit is saying that you need to break off that
relationship, and throw away your lovers phone number. In fact, don’t
even call that person to tell them it’s over. Eventually they will
figure it out.
It is also possible that many of you are hooked on porn. You are buying
magazines like Playboy, and not just to read the articles. Or you are
watching movies or TV shows you know you shouldn’t be watching.
And if you have Internet, please be don’t go to those pornographic
sites just because you can do it in the privacy of your own home.
Don’t give into the seduction Satan is using through the Internet,
where you have the ability to look at sinful images without having to
go out and risk being seen renting pornographic movies or buying pornographic
magazines.
While we are free to enjoy many things, we are not free to enjoy anything
in our life that is inconsistent with purity. This includes that which
fills our minds with filth and sinful images. Although we may to try
kid ourselves by saying that there is nothing wrong with just a little
sex, or with looking at soft porn, deep down inside we know that’s
a lie. We know these kinds of things can & will harm ourselves.
In a study just released this week, experts are saying that kids who
watch sex on TV are more likely to be sexually active than those who
don’t. I’m always delighted when experts agree with what God
says in his Word. But even more important than hurting ourselves or
our family, sexual immorality of any kind, whether it’s committed
in the flesh or in the mind, will damage our relationship with Jesus
Christ.
The fourth example of a behavior we are to avoid is testing the Lord--v.
9. To try, test, or tempt the Lord means to question God’s faithfulness.
Let me make sure that we don’t misunderstand what Paul is saying.
This testing isn’t claiming, and clinging to the promises of God.
I encourage you to do that, especially during times of trials. I don’t
say that because I’m a word of faith preacher. I say that because
the Word of God is full of examples of people who reminded God of what
he had previously promised. There is nothing wrong asking God to do
what he has said he will do.
But what Paul’s talking about here was that the Israelites was
daring God to move, yet they had within them an attitude of doubt that
God could do what he said he would do. Asaph tells us that the Israelites
“Spoke against God when they said, ‘Can God prepare a table
in the wilderness?’” (Psalm
78:19) A lot of us are like the Israelites. God has promised to
honor our tithes & offerings by meeting our every need according
to his riches in Jesus Christ. Yet when there is too much month at the
end of the money, instead of trusting our heavenly Master for our finances,
we reach for the MasterCard. God has promised that by the stripes laid
upon the back of Jesus, there has been given to us the provision for
healing. Yet when we get sick, do we call upon the Great Physician,
or do we call for the elders? Or do we immediately go running to the
doctor? When we do stuff like that, we are acting just like the Israelites
did during their wanderings in the wilderness.
But God was still patient with them for a while. But finally, God’s
patience wore out when the Israelites kept complaining about what God
was doing in their lives. The Bible tells us that “Again and again
they tempted God in the wilderness, and pained the Holy One of Israel.”
(Psalm
78:41) But the straw that broke the camel’s back was when they
said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert?
There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!’”
(Numbers
21:4, 5)
This is the same way our kids treat us. They come in the house, wanting
to know what’s for dinner, and when will dinner be ready because
they are starving to death. But when you tell them you’re having
baked chicken, broccoli, and a salad they say, “Oh, gross! Mom,
can’t we have hot dogs & macaroni & cheese, like all normal
families have.” And since you’ve been slaving over a hot stove
all afternoon, you want to throw it all out and tell them to fix their
own meals from now on. The reason you feel that way is because they
have pushed you to the limits, once again, by complaining about your
cooking.
The point Paul makes is that when people are not satisfied with God’s
provision and even detest what he gives them, they are testing his patience.
The Bible makes it clear that God’s patience can and does run out.
And when that happens, you’d better watch out.
The result of the Israelites testing God was that God allowed a plague
of venomous snakes to come upon them, and many died. The only solution
God provided was to have Moses make a bronze snake and put it on a pole.
Anyone who was bitten could look at it and live.
The final example of a behavior we are to avoid is grumbling--v. 10.
The word for grumble in the Greek means to give an audible expression
to unwarranted dissatisfaction. It is a sign that they we are dissatisfied
with God’s sovereignty in our lives. It means we are challenging
God’s wisdom. Whenever we grumble against God, what we really are
saying is that we know more than God does about what is best for us.
While it is okay to question what God is doing, it is never okay to
complain against what God is doing.
This is an area where all of us probably are guilty of doing. All of
us are guilty of saying to God, “If only!” If only I was better
looking, then I’d be married. If only I had a nicer house to live
in, then I’d be happy. If only I had a better job, then I wouldn’t
come home in a bad mood and treat my family the way I do. If only I
made more money, then I could spend more time with the family. We even
use the “If only” excuse when it comes to getting involved
in some kind of ministry for the Lord.
The historical reference is the story of Korah’s rebellion, found
in Numbers ch. 16. Korah recruited 250 well-known community leaders
to join him in a coup against Aaron and Moses. The text says Korah had
what we would call today an “Attitude” towards the leadership
that God had put in place. The result is that God had Korah and the
other leaders of the rebellion swallowed up by an earthquake. Then fire
from the Lord devoured the other 250 rebels. Finally, a plague took
the lives of 14,700 others who had sympathized with them.
Paul now explains why he gave us this history lesson of examples of
behaviors we are to avoid--v. 11. Since we are living in the period
of time Paul describes, these examples are for us. Surely we are living
in the closing of this age. I really believe that based upon the prophecies
of the Bible, that we’re living in the last days. And if ever there
was a time when we should be living as though Jesus could return at
any moment, it is now! John tells us that there is a day acoming when
we will “See Jesus just as He is. And everyone who has this hope
in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” (1
John 3:2-3)
If ever there was a time that these examples from the Israelites history
was relevant, it is today. The truth of the matter is that the very
temptations that the Israelites gave into, are the same temptations
that we face day by day in this century. Therefore, these examples are
like the warning lights on the dashboard of your car. They are a 2x4
upside our head to keep us from living our Christian lives on cruise
control.
As we learned last week, the word used here for example means to strike
with a blow for the purpose of leaving an impression. The word was used
in those days of the stamp that was put on the emperor’s coin.
It was used to describe the strike that made the mark in the minting
of coin. So what Paul is saying is that the history of the Israelites
should make such an impression upon us that we will not do the same
things they did.
I say that because the Greek word Paul uses for warnings, instruction,
or admonition literally means to place into our mind thoughts that will
change our behavior. Paul knows that the best way to deal with unacceptable
behavior is to challenge that behavior from the counsel of God’s
Word. He knows that if we place into our mind God’s principles,
that when we cross over the boundaries, then the Holy Spirit will use
those principles to convict us to change our wrong behavior.
King David once asked a very serious question: “How can a young
man cleanse his way?” His answer was not to go to a psychiatrist
for pillls, or a psychologist for psychoanalysis. Rather it was “By
taking heed according to Your word.” (Psalm
119:9) The only way we can change our behavior is by placing into
our minds the truths of God’s Word.
Paul is telling us that God stamped out, through the historical examples
of the Israelites acts of disobedience, to put into our mind lessons
that we must never forget, or else. I want us to look again all the
consequences the Israelites experienced for their acts of disobedience.
They are what I believe Paul calls the “Or else’s.” Look
at the last parts of v. 8, 9, & 10.
The point that Paul is making is that he wants us to see the serious
consequences of disobedience. He wants us to know that God takes sin
quite seriously. I don’t know why we can’t get into our mind
that God expects us to follow his instructions, or else. When we fail
to follow God’s plan, Paul says we must pay! I’m just glad
that God doesn’t normally discipline us today as swiftly or as
permanently as he did them. Aren’t you?
I think it would be a good idea to take a pop quizz. Mentally answer
these questions.
1:
Am I looking to things of the world to satisify me?
2:
Am I worshipping anything other than God?
3:
Am I pure in my heart?
4:
Am I pushing God to the limit?
5:
Am I content with where I am in life right now?
The correct answers are: No, no, yes, no, yes. If you missed any of
these questions, please give special attention to the consequences the
Israelites experienced. Don’t kid yourself that you can get away
with sin. There is no more important warning in all of Scripture than
this one. If spiritual failure was experienced by the vast majority
of our spiritual ancestors, in spite of their great spiritual privilege
of being God’s chosen people, then it can happen to us as well
Let’s
pray
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