Scripture: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13; Luke 13:1-9
As we have discovered during our life with Christ, sin is
on the rampage and has been since before the first two people were ejected from
the Garden. Those two had personal
relationships with their Creator, and even though they had firsthand knowledge
of God and His desires for their lives, they still succumbed to the Tempter’s
deception.
But as much as some would like us to believe that
Original Sin, as well as the sin of our parents and of all who came before us, are
the continuing causes of our own downfalls from God’s Grace, our personal
submission to Satan’s call is still a choice that we all make from time to
time! For myself, I cannot honestly
blame anyone else for the sin that I commit.
They have always been of my own decision, and even though some one else
may have been an integral part of the temptation that led me to step out on the
path to perdition, I have always had the right, and even the obligation, to say
“No” to those other ways!
By God’s grace, we have all been given the entire
story regarding the ways that the Lord has set down for us to learn, accept,
and follow. But grace is not only active
on the front end of our decisions, but is just as active after our heart and
mind fail to remain loyal to our Lord and His word. Our gracious God has left nothing to our
imagination, for we have not only been given His commands, but also some real
life examples of what came to the lives that those who have disobeyed them in
the past.
Today, we consider the writings of both the apostle
Paul and the gospel writer Luke, as to why we should be ever vigilant in our
decision making when it comes to our choice between obedience to the ways of
Jesus versus our acceptance of the ways of the world.
Read 1Corinthians 10:1-13
Paul offers the church at Corinth a refresher on
some of the problems that Israel experienced during their time in the
wilderness. Everyone who had come to
faith in Jesus in the Corinth church may not have heard about those 40 years of
ups and downs, as many would have been gentiles, while much fewer would have
been Jewish born believers. But in the
telling, he made the connection between the God that the Jews knew, and Moses
the leader who, in faith, brought the people through their many trials by
following the Lord and constantly warning the people of their tracks that
seemed to be taking them further and further away from the righteous way of
God.
And then he also makes the connection that Jesus was
also present in their entire story of struggle with sin. But he never gives the impression that faith
must only be spiritual in nature, and never that it must come from our
spiritual side! We are worldly beings,
born and living in the flesh, and susceptible to the same temptations that the
first couple of the Garden had to deal with.
Paul understood the weakness that comes from our “fleshy” side, for that
was a struggle that he was always fighting against.
For as Paul brings Jesus Christ into the picture, he
is also showing the church that while we are in this life, that the Lord,
through the love that He has for all people, is gentle and merciful. But even as God will one day be the God of
Judgment, He will always be the Lord of Peace, and of Justice, and in passionate
love of all people!
We all have heard the expression “In the world, but
not of the world”! This is basically
Paul’s intent throughout this passage, especially in verse 12 when he tells us
to be sure to stand firm so that we don’t fall.
In other words, stand firm in the Spirit, so that you don’t fall in the
flesh, and don’t become arrogant in your faith, for that will certainly result
in a fall that will, most assuredly surprise you!
And Paul’s final words in this passage are ones of
promise and encouragement – that God will never allow the temptations that come
against us to exceed our capacity to resist them. Of course, the point here is that temptations
will defeat us every turn, if we don’t have Christ in our life!
Read Luke13:1-9
The first point that Luke was making was that sinful
people are not necessarily the ones who we think they are! Israel had always believed that illness,
infirmity, birth defects, injuries, as well as the general calamity and chaos of this
life, were all because a person had fallen out of favor with the Lord! And actually, some people, even today, still
believe the same thing, that if our faith is strong enough, that illness and
injury will never attack our fleshly bodies.
The truth is that God doesn’t work that way! Our flesh is weak and susceptible to worldly
conditions, but that does not necessarily mean that our faith is
insufficient! In the gospels, we read
Jesus’ words - “the spirit is
willing, but the flesh is weak!” (Matthew 26:41 In this, Jesus isn’t only referring to our
inclination toward sin, but also to our physical inability to fend off all illness!
But Luke continues to remind us of Jesus’ words,
that if, and when, we fall to Satan’s temptations, that it does not have to be
a permanent “sin stain” on our soul. For
if we confess our failure to walk faithfully with our Lord, and honestly repent
of those ways, He will forgive us and restore us to His loving grace.
Luke offers one of Jesus’ parables as an example of
the time we have left to repent and prepare for the coming judgment. If I may slightly rephrase the parable to put
it into the context of our need for repentance, think of the three years of
fruitless existence for the tree, and compare it to the years of sinful living
that confined our lives. And then,
consider the caretaker’s abrupt decision that the effort is useless, and that
the tree should be cut down and destroyed.
But another wants to have the sentence of condemnation
held off for a time, so that, with some help, a
second chance might bring about a crop of good fruit. Now, consider the parable as one in which the
Lord Jesus’ desires to give all sinners, who are also devoid of “good fruit”,
another chance through His nourishment and forgiveness. And in His loving act at Calvary, and by our
faith in all that the Christ has done and taught on our behalf, we can also have
a brief and fulfilling second chance.
But the final point of the parable, is that our time
is limited, and is rapidly coming to a close.
The tree only had 1 year to produce good fruit, and our time is also
limited, not only by our continuous aging process, but also by the day of
Christ’s return which is also coming closer every day. Holding off on a decision to come to the
Lord’s way, and delaying our repentance for the sinful life we have chosen, is
not an open-ended offer. If our
fruitfulness doesn’t quickly match God’s desire for our lives, Paul’s
words in Galatians 5:16-25
will become our story all too soon.
As indicated previously from Mathew 26, the Holy
Spirit of God and the flesh that encases our lives, exist in constant conflict. And our only chance is to invite Christ and
the Spirit into our lives, and to repudiate the work of our fleshly side.
And as Luke writes, if we are to live and depend upon
the Spirit of God for His good work in our lives, then we must also walk
in the way of God’s Spirit. And today is
the day to begin by surrendering our lives to Jesus Christ, and to allow Him to
be our Guide throughout this life and into the life that is to come.
During this time, will our sin be crushed and our
life be nourished to live in Christ, or will we be crushed in judgment and
condemnation? It’s in our own hands, and
by our decision, but it must be made - sooner than later!
