And do not become
idolaters
as were some of them.
As it is written,
"The people sit down to eat and drink,
and rose up to play" (Exodus 32: 6).
Before I
continue expounding upon this letter to the Corinthians by Paul I am compelled
to speak up briefly in regards to the day we just celebrated: Resurrection
Day. Jesus Christ died and by His death
sin, the debt owed to God and to His justice completed and the purpose for the
life of Jesus as fully man had now come to fulfillment. By his resurrection justification would now
be applied to all of God's children:
"... Who was delivered up because
of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification. Therefore, having been justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom also we have
access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in the hope of
the glory of God" (Romans 4: 25; 5: 1 -- 2). One can take time to examine the various religions around the
world and their religious men that they hold in sacredness and find that they
are dead and they have been dead since their death and remain in the tomb in
which they were laid. Buddha, is dead
and remains dead. Mohamed, is dead and
remains dead. Only Jesus Christ who was
killed a sinless man for the sins of others who died and laid in the tomb for
three days is alive, is resurrected and is making eternal intersection for
the children of God. Jesus Christ did
not just leave behind some written words that are held sacred and have many
followers who look upon such writings as though they were from God and are yet
only from dead men and have little power, in fact have no power, to bring men
to God. Only Jesus Christ by His
resurrection from the dead who lived for a while upon this earth until His
ascension can raise men and women from the dead and give to them eternal life
and Who by inspiring the written word called the Bible can make those words be
alive and have power that is acceptable to God. We who have converted to the Lord Jesus Christ through the faith
given to us by our father and to the power of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the
leading guiding of the Holy Spirit have absolute reason to stand and shout: HE
IS RISEN, RISEN INDEED! HALLELUJAH!
Paul is now
referring back to the Israelites wandering in the desert and when they thought
that God, the God of Moses who had led them out of Egypt, was not the God they
had come to know in Egypt albeit they were false gods. They wanted and did return to making a golden
calf, an idol to represent the God they wanted God to be: they could not wait
for Moses to return and to hear from God.
Paul reminds us that they rose up to eat and drink and be merry and to
play, everything for their own enjoyment and the way they wanted to live their
life, and this is to live a life outside of the will of God. But Moses returned with the 10 Commandments
and there by those commandments they would know the will of God and how to live
by that will and to receive the blessings of God. What is an idol? How do
we know whether or not something is an idol?
An idol is an image or a material representation of a deity and is
worshiped as such, a fallacy that has caused a person to excessively admire
that idol, which could be a person or a material thing, that which receives a
person's devotion, and is only nothing more than a false notion. To be an idolater all one must do is to give
an immoderate admiration or devotion to that someone or something which in the
end is only to worship that someone or something. We as Christians must be careful for in the early part of this
book to the Corinthian church Paul reprimanded them for giving excessive
devotion to certain men. We might fall
prey to such idolatry by succumbing to the same thing by holding in great
admiration men such as Martin Luther, or John Calvin or Charles Wesley, or as
Charles Spurgeon, or the pastor of your church. While they all are men of God, that is all they are, called to
lead the people of God but our worship him must go to the resurrected Jesus
Christ who lives for ever for you and I do.
We must not hold anyone too close to us so that they override God. We must examine all that anyone teaches or
says by the truth of God's Word. We
must spend time to pray and to read his work, even to go so far as to do word studies. To take notes during the sermon and then go
home and examine what to know to to ensure that what is being taught is
scriptural. Far too often Christians
have fallen prey to that what Paul is talking about: we want to be enjoyment,
the euphoric titillation that comes by playful godliness and has lost all
solemnity, God is pushed into the background and the playfulness is now
accepted as godliness. There is joy in
being a Christian, there is time for laughter and for the fun that we can enjoy
yet all that must be held in abeyance if it becomes greater in admiration and
devotion then our solemn devotion and worship to God. There is even the church in Redding called Bethel Church, or
School of the Supernatural, where they have people running through tunnels of
fire and their worship is nothing more than group euphoria. Jesus Christ died upon a cross does that not
deserve our solemn devotion? Church is
not a playground. Church is where we
come to gather to love our brothers and sisters in Christ and to hear the word
of God expounded whereby we can take that which is an expounded and apply the
truth of that exposition in our daily lives.
We need that for we are still centers although we are now justified by
faith in Jesus Christ in our still able to sit come to sin as did those Hebrews
in the desert. Brothers and sisters
does not thought of what God has done during great joy to your life? If so, make it your absolute priority to
live according to His commandments.
Enjoy this life that God has given to you, go poking, shopping, painting
pictures, fishing, what ever it is that brings you joy in this life but do so
as a Christian knowing that all of this is possible because of the great love
of God for people and especially for those who are called to be His child. LOVE GOD, LIVE LIFE!
God has gone up with a shout,
the LORD
with the sound
of a trumpet. Sing
praises to God,
Sing
praises! Sing praises
to our King, Sing praises!
Psalm 47:5 – 6
Our God reigns: hallelujah
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