About
130 years ago, a debate was held on the floor of the United
States Senate over whether alcohol should be sold in territories seeking
statehood. One notoriously anti-alcohol senator, who, according to one
description, was so dry he was known as a fire hazard, challenged one
of his colleagues to state his position on alcohol. His colleague stood
up and said: “You asked me how I feel about whiskey. Well, here’s
how I stand on the question. If when you say whiskey you mean that Devil’s
brew, the poison spirit, the bloody monster that defiles innocence,
dethrones reason, destroys the home, creates misery and poverty, yes,
literally takes bread from the mouths of little children; if you mean
the evil drink that topples the Christian man from the pinnacle of righteousness
and gracious living and causes him to descend to the pit of degradation,
despair, shame, and helplessness, then I am certainly against it with
all my heart.”
But, if when you say whiskey, you mean the oil of conversation, the
philosophic wine, the ale consumed when good fellows get together, that
puts a song in their hearts and laughter on their lips, the warm glow
of contentment in their eyes; if you mean Christmas cheer; if you mean
the stimulating drink that puts the spring in an old man’s footsteps
on a frosty morning; if you mean the drink whose sale puts millions
of dollars into our treasury which are used to provide tender care for
our little crippled children, or blind or deaf or dumb, or pitifully
aged, and our infirm, to build highways and hospitals and schools, then
I am certainly in favor it. This is my stand, and I will not compromise.”
That man must have been the original flip-flopper. Sounds sort of like
John Kerry, doesn’t it? In the verses we are looking at this morning,
Paul is dealing with the danger of compromise. Paul warns us that we
can’t have things both ways. He says that can’t you walk with
the Lord on Sunday, and run with the devil Monday through Saturday.
As we learned last week, Paul’s pattern is to challenge us to think
about what he is teaching. Then he asks us a series of questions that
cause us to engage our minds with the information he has just given
us. And finally, he gives us the explanation. He continues this pattern
in the section we are looking at this morning.
First of all, he asks us to think about the sacrificial system the Jews
have--v. 18. The Jews have a sacrificial system that centers around
the altar that is in the Temple in Jerusalem. Along with the daily sacrifices,
God commanded Moses to set up 3 annual feasts, in which all the Jews
would have to return to Jerusalem with sacrifices so they could participate
in the great festivals. And during the feast of the Day of Atonement,
a lamb was sacrificed for the sins of the entire nation.
Through the the use of the word eat, Paul lets us know that what took
place on the altar was far greater than feeding the body. The little
bit of food the Jews ate, just like the little bit of food we eat when
we take communion, is not meant to fill up our physical bodies. You
can’t even make a good snack out of what little you get during
communion. So the nourishment that comes from worship is nourishment
for the soul.
Now the point Paul wants us to see is that if the Jews just ate the
food to fill their bodies, or if we participate in worship to make us
feel good inside, then the motions that they, and we go through have
no spiritual benefits to them. It is a waste of your time to participate
in the worship of Jesus Christ, especially in the taking of communion,
if you are not willing to participate with what he did on the cross.
The Jews understood that it was through the sacrificial system that
they were proclaiming their allegiance to God. It is through worship
that we are proclaiming our allegiance to Jesus Christ.
To the Jews, to eat from the altar meant to experience in the benefit
of forgiveness as God forgave their sins. It meant to experience the
benefits of peace & love that were theirs for having a relationship
with God as his children. It meant to experience the benefit of growing
into the image of God as they walked more in holiness. So to be a sharer
in the altar is to share in all those things that God does in the lives
of his children.
The word that Paul uses for sharers or participators shows us that something
supernatural, something that is far greater than any superficial external
action, occurs when the people of God gather for corporate worship.
Rather, through true worship we all meet with God. Paul is telling us
that there is a spiritual reality behind worship. And that reality is
the dynamic presence of Jesus Christ Himself. Our worship actually brings
us into union with our Lord Jesus.
When we participate in corporate worship, it is a way of expressing
that we are children of God. It is a way of expressing that we are sinners
who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. And it is a way of
expressing that we believe that the Lord our God is one God, who has
revealed himself to us through the person of Jesus Christ, who is to
be loved with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
The second question he asks is to show us that there is also a spiritual
reality behind idolatry--v. 19. Earlier, Paul said that “We know
that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God
but one.” (1
Corinthians 8:4) But now he clarifies the issue by indicating that
while an idol is not alive, and is certainly not a god, still there
are spiritual realities called demons who are behind the idols that
we have set up. Behind all idols, whether they are statues, or the idols
of our minds that we have bowed down to in our own lives, is a demonic
force.
For some Christians this is a foreign concept. Far too many Christians
are antagonistic with regards to the existence of the evil one. Most
modern day theologians deny the existence of the devil & his demons.
They try to tell us that it is only ignorant or crazy people who believe
in a personal devil.
I am sad to report that despite what some Christians may think, Satan
is alive and well.
Paul says “Do not be ignorant of his devices, or else Satan will
take advantage of us.” (2
Corinthians 2:11) But Satan is brilliant in his scheming attacks
on believers. And perhaps the greatest lie that he has sown is that
he is not real. So what he has done is gotten people to remake him into
some kind of ghost-like creature, who goes around wearing red pajamas,
carrying a pitch fork, with horns coming out of his head. And no sensible
person would believe in something as ridiculous as that. So people don’t
believe in the devil. Well neither do I, at least not in that kind of
devil.
But I do believe in what the Bible says about the devil. Jesus spoke
of the devil being a real entity. He said to the Pharisees, “You
are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want
to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the
truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks
from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.”
(John
8:44) All you have to do is to look at our world and see that Satan
is real. Look at all the lies that are being pushed on us. We are being
told that all truths are relative truths, and there is no absolute truth.
We are being told to believe the lies that are being forced upon us
concerning human sexuality & gender. Things that our physical bodies
say are absolutely ridiculous.
Yet, we are being told that homosexuality is not a moral issue, but
a biological issue. Without being graphic, it doesn’t take a rocket
scientist to figure out that God created men & women with different
sex organs that are mutually acceptable to one another. Lies like these
prove that there is a real devil.
Jesus also tells us that Satan is a murderer. The first sin committed
after Adam & Eve sinned was murder. Cain murdered his brother. You
can’t read the paper or watch the news without reading or hearing
about somebody being murdered in all parts of our nation, and in places
like Iraqi. All the murders that are going on in our world prove that
there is a real devil.
The Bible tells us, concerning Satan, that we are to “Be sober,
be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring
lion, seeking whom he may devour.” (1
Peter 5:8) Do you realize that of all the animals, the lion is the
only animal that completely devours its victim. A lion doesn’t
leave any leftovers for other scavengers. What the male lion doesn’t
eat, the rest of the pride does.
The reason the Spirit moved Peter to use the analogy of a lion is because
Satan won’t leave you alone until he ruins your life. And once
he gets a foothold in your life he will exploit that thing until it
brings you down! Now just because Satan is out to devour us, doesn’t
mean he can. Praise God that the Bible promises us that as long as we
are in Jesus we will always be victorious over Satan. For the Bible
tells us that “Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in
the world!” (1
John 4:4)
There is a lot of bad theology going around about how to wage spiritual
warfare. I’m not going to address that this morning. All I want
to say about spiritual warfare this morning is that if you will “Submit
to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” (James
4:7) The word resist means to set yourself against the devil. How
it that possible when we have a real enemy who is ferocious as a lion?
I remember once when I went to the zoo and watched as one of the attendants
cleaned the cage where a huge lion was kept. The attendant came out
of a door at the back of the cage with nothing in his hands but a broom.
After he closed the door behind him he proceeded to sweep up all the
dirt on the floor of the cage. As I watched him I realized that as far
as I could tell he didn’t have a weapon, nor did he have a radio
to call for help if he got into difficulty. He had nothing to protect
himself in the case of an attack. Yet his countenance didn’t show
any fear at all. In fact he went about his work like what he was doing
was nothing special. As I watched him clean up the cage, he did something
that I couldn’t believe. When he got to the point where he had
to clean up where the lion was laying, he gave the lion a shove with
the broom to make him get out of the way. All the lion did was to make
a disapproving hiss, after which he laid down in another corner of the
cage. After he got out of the cage, I went up to him and told him that
he was the bravest man I’ve ever seen. He said, “I ain’t
brave, that lion is old and he ain’t got no teeth!”
I am so thankful that as Jesus bled on Calvary’s cross, that he
took every tooth out of Satan’s jaws for us. And as long as we
submit ourselves to God, and resist Satan, he has no power over us.
Doesn’t that make you want to stand up and shout “Hallelujah!”?
But bothers & sisters, just because we have the power over Satan
& his demons, please don’t think that they are taking their
defeat lying down. Satan & his demons are like our modern day terrorists,
who are working as hard as they can trying to destroy God’s work
in this world, and to hinder the process of us growing like Christ in
our lives. And they have been very successful by getting us to set up
modern day forms of idolatry.
Our problem in our lives is not paganism. None of us are participating
in the worship of idols like some of the Corinthians were doing in Paul’s
day. But our problem is that we have bought into the system of this
world. The world’s system tells us that we should be worshipping
the creation more than the Creator. And the worship of the creation
more than the Creator is the number
1 idol in America today.
How many building projects have been stopped because they found some
almost extinct kind of animal or bug where they wanted to build? We
are more concerned about the preservation of certain kinds of animals
& insects than we are about the mutilation of countless children
in their mother’s womb. The only reason abortion is so popular
is because we are worshipping ourselves more than we are worshipping
God. So the lie is that if you find yourself with an unwanted pregnancy,
terminate the pregnancy, because it’s a mother’s right to
do whatever she wants with her own body.
The world’s system tells us that our personal happiness is the
most important commodity in life. So if you’re in an unhappy marriage,
get divorced. Teh world’s system says that if you want to be successful
in your job, or to keep from getting fired by the likes of Donald Trump,
you need to have a good education, good looks, and being willing to
do whatever it takes to climb to the top of the corporate ladder. Because
of this we have become enslaved to our careers, our looks, and to our
possessions.
If Paul were alive today, he would say that although we are fighting
different forms of idolatry, we are fighting the same demonic spirits.
Just as the demons were behind the false gods of Paul’s day, so
are there demons behind any habits, pleasures, and practices that causes
us to become conformed to the image of this world, rather than to the
image of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Not only are they wrong, but the importance of what Paul is saying is
that these modern day forms of idolatry can actually open us up to spiritual
demonic forces! Paul says that when we set up idols in our lives, we
are also uniting ourselves with the demonic forces that are behind those
idols--v. 20. The key word in this verse in the word “fellowship,
sharer, participants,” depending on which translation you have.
Please don’t think that Paul is saying that when we eat meats that
have been sacrificed to an idol that we are eating a demon. It means
that when we allow something or someone to take away the primary place
in our lives that should be reserved for God, then we open ourselves
to get entangled in the demonic power that is behind that idol. It means
that we become vulnerable to the demons that are behind that idol. Whenever
we enter into some kind of participation with an idol, we are giving
the demons that are behind that idol some kind of leeway in our lives.
I’m not saying that believers can be possessed. But I do believe
we can become demon oppressed. I believe that through doing sinful things
we can allow Satan to get a foothold in our lives. This is what happened
to Ananias and Sapphira. The Bible tells us that “Satan filled
their hearts to lie to the Holy Sprit, and to keep back part of the
money they had made from the selling of their land.” (Acts
5:3) The evil one entered their heart when the practices that they
were involved caused them to stop from being conformed into the image
of Jesus Christ.
There are a lot of things that the Bible has very little to say about,
but I’ll tell you this: if anything makes you look more like a
sinner than a saint, you can be sure that it is wrong. So if you’re
not sure if it is right to do something, or to be somewhere, ask yourself
if this is something that Jesus would do, or somewhere where Jesus would
be? If not, then what you are doing is not just joining yourself with
those who are godless, in places associated with sin, but in actuality,
you are fellowshipping with demons.
Those of you who know me, know that I am not one who sees a demon behind
every bush. But I also believe that some people have strongholds in
their lives that make them seem to be beyond help through normal means
like counseling or medication. I believe that it is a real possiblity
that what is going on in their lives is due to them doing something
that unknowingly opened themselves up to a demonic influence. You only
need listen to the now famous interview that Dr. James Dobson did with
serial killer Ted Bundy, to learn that drugs and alcohol and pornography
can be a gateway to demonic influence, and in his case even demonic
possession.
In fact, when I see some mainline Protestant denominations advocating
abortion and homosexuality, which are clearly forbidden in God’s
Word, I can’t help but think that there has to be demons behind
the men & women who are advocating this sinful practices. In fact,
it is very possible that these people are not born again believers,
put demon-possessed wolves dressed in sheep’s clothes. Just because
those who are pushing these sinful practices are pastors, elders, even
bishops, doesn’t mean they are men & women of God. Paul tells
us that “Such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising
themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms
himself into an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants
masquerade as servants of righteousness.” (2
Corinthians 11:13-15)
Having affirmed that there is a spiritual reality behind all worship,
Paul says that it is impossible to worship God and something else at
the same time, without putting yourself in some kind of spiritual danger--v.
21. The practical application from this verse is that we need to check
our lives to see if we are making any compromises. We need to see if
we are trying to mix drinking worldy drinks filled with “sexual
immorality, impurity, sensuality, witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy,
fits of rage, selfish ambition, envy; drunkenness, and orgies”
(Galatians
5: 19-21) with spiritual drinks made out of worshipping, or witnessing,
or praying, or even reading your Bible. The ingredients of the worldly
drinks can be deadly because Paul said “I warn you, as I did before,
that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
(Galatians
5:21)
As I have said before, I don’t believe Paul is talking about losing
one’s salvation. Rather he is talking about not enjoying the benefits
of kingdom living while we are living here on earth. And probably the
greatest benefit of living in God’s kingdom, while we are aliens
in this world, is contentment. Biblical contentment is when you are
completely satisfied with whatever God is giving you.
What verse 21 means is that whatever you are worshipping the most, whether
it is God or an idol, that object you are worshipping is the one who
is going to give you the most nourishment and satisfaction. So do you
really believe that anything or anyone other than God is going to completely
satisfy you? We live in a world where the law of diminishing returns
is in play. This law means that nothing, that is nothing but God, satisfies
us for long. In fact, the Bible says that “Hell and Destruction
are never full; So the eyes of man are never satisfied.” (Proverbs
27:20) This is the reason we love to sin in so many different ways.
I tired a lot of of different drugs, drank enough whiskey to float a
battleship, and went through a lot of relationships in the hopes of
satisfying my needs. But after the thrill was gone, I always came up
feeling empty inside. It wasn’t until I started loving the Lord
Jesus, until I started finding my delight in him, and until I started
to trust him with my life, that my soul was satisfied. And when I entered
into that sweet fellowship with Jesus as my lord, I discovered that
I lost my attraction to the idols I had set up in my life. And when
my attraction to sinful things started to decrease, I also discovered
that the demons started to lose the power they had through those sins
in my life as well.
Finally, Paul says that compromise with the world is serious, deadly
business--v. 22.
Paul has given us a history lesson of the Israelites to show us that
when the Israelites gave into their temptations, it stirred up God’s
jealousy, which led to God judging them severely! Since Paul mentions
God’s jealousy, I think it would behoove us to look at what the
jealousy of God means. We shouldn’t attach to it many of the imperfections
and faults which are part of human jealousy. The jealousy of God is
a perfect jealousy.
It is like the jealousy that a husband has for the protection of his
wife. You can say anything you want to about me, but if you say something
negative about Carol, I’m gonna whoop ya. It is like the jealousy
that a father has for the purity of his daughters. How many of you father’s
have thought about buying a shotgun, just so you could be cleaning it
when a new boyfriend comes over to pick up your daughter for the first
time? Josh McDowell says that when his daughters go out on a first date,
he goes with them, and sits in the front seat, while she sits in the
back. That’s prefect jealousy
It is like the jealousy a mother has for her first new-born baby. The
moment after her baby is born, she doesn’t want anyone else to
hold her baby. And she will hurt you, if you even think about trying
to take her baby away from her.
Paul says that the same thing is true when it comes to God’s love
for us. If we do anything that harms our relationship with him, it really
upsets him. And don’t think we can get away from him if he is angry.
Paul’s final question is an argument from absurdity. Do any of
you think you are stronger than God, Paul asks. The answer Paul wants
from us is: No! Through this question Paul wants us to see that we can’t
outrun God. We can’t do something that God doesn’t see. He
wants us to see that God will not allow us to worship any idols, just
like he won’t allow us to practice any kind of sin, without punishing
us. And the reason God punishes us is not because he is mean, but because
he is very jealous for us.
In conclusion, let me ask you a question Elijah asked, “How long
will you hesitate between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him;
but if Baal, follow him.” (1
Kings 18:21) What the Spirit of God is asking you today is who are
you going to follow? Joshua said, “But as for me and my household,
we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua
24:15)
The kind of life that the Spirit is challenging us to live is a life
that reflects that we have been radically changed by Jesus Christ. Will
you meet that challenge? If so, then please understand that you will
become one of the most peculiar person that every walked the face of
the earth. To take a stand for Jesus Christ in the face of the climate
of today may seem like radical living. But in actuality, it is really
normal Christian living. For to be a normal Christian, means we are
radically in love with Jesus. And your love for him will be seen in
the radically different way you live your life for him. Will you meet
that challenge?
Let’s
pray
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