KINGDOM LIVING: Super Preparation

LIVING UNDER KINGDOM AUTHORITY

September 22, 2024

SUPER PREPARATION

1 Corinthians 10:14-23, 31-32

INTRODUCTION:

Jeremiah 3

1 Corinthians 10:13 (NIV) ¹³ 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.

TEXT:

1 Corinthians 10:14-24, 31-32 (NIV) ¹⁴ Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. ¹⁵ I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. ¹⁶ 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? ¹⁷ Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf.

¹⁸ Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? ¹⁹ Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? ²⁰ No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. ²¹ 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. ²² Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

²³ “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. ²⁴ No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.

—

³¹ So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. ³² Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God— ³³ 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.

Background:

1 Corinthians 10:14 (NIV) ”Therefore…”

1 Corinthians 10:14 (NIV) Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.

Romans 1:9 (NKJV) For God is my witness, whom I SERVE with my spirit in the gospel of His Son …

Isaiah 42:8 (NIV) “I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols.”

Isaiah 48:11b (NIV) “How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another.”

1 Corinthians 10:14 (NIV) Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.

The problem of idolatry in Corinth.

1 Corinthians 10:14 (NIV) …flee from idolatry.

The problem of idolatry in Israel.

1 Corinthians 10:7 (NIV) ⁷ 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.”

THREE TRUTHS ABOUT AS WE APPROACH THE LORD’S SUPPER:

1. IDOLATRY SENDS A

1 Corinthians 10:16-17 (NIV) 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? ¹⁷ Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf.

1 Corinthians 10:16 …give thanks as we… “participation in the blood of Christ” and “participation in the body of Christ?”

1 Corinthians 10:17 (NIV) Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf.

1 Corinthians 11:30 (NIV) That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.

1 Corinthians 10:21 (NIV) ²¹ 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.

Mathew 6:24 (NIV) “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.”

1 John 2:15-16 (NIV) ¹⁵ Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. ¹⁶ For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.

2. IDOLATRY ENVOKES THE

1 Corinthians 10:22 (NIV) ²² Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

1 Corinthians 10:20 (NIV) ²⁰ No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons.

(NKJV) I do not want you to have fellowship with demons.

Ezekiel 6:1-7 (NIV) The word of the Lord came to me: ² “Son of man, set your face against the mountains of Israel; prophesy against them ³ and say: ‘You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Sovereign Lord. This is what the Sovereign Lord says to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys: I am about to bring a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places. ⁴ Your altars will be demolished and your incense altars will be smashed; and I will slay your people in front of your idols. ⁵ I will lay the dead bodies of the Israelites in front of their idols, and I will scatter your bones around your altars. ⁶ Wherever you live, the towns will be laid waste and the high places demolished, so that your altars will be laid waste and devastated, your idols smashed and ruined, your incense altars broken down, and what you have made wiped out. ⁷ Your people will fall slain among you, and you will know that I am the Lord.

Deuteronomy 32:21 (NIV) They made me jealous by what is no god and angered me with their worthless idols.

3. IDOLATRY STRUGGLING FOLLOWERS

1 Corinthians 10:23 (NV) ²³ “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.

Philippians 2:3-4 (NIV) ³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴ not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

1 Corinthians 10:24 (NIV) ²⁴ No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.

CONCLUSION:

1 Corinthians 10:31-32 (NIV) ³¹ So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. ³² Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God— ³³ 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.

INVITTATION:

PRAYER:

COMMUNION:

WORSHIP:

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