Learn Your Bible History Lesson!

12th Sunday after Pentecost, 8/11/24 1 Corinthians 10:1-5, 11-13 Learn Your Bible History Lesson! I. Don’t despise God’s blessings. II. God is always faithful. If you had your choice of academic studies—in other words, a particular school subject to pursue—which one would it be? Math? Science? English literature? Biology? Chemistry? Physics? Social studies? History? I imagine each one of you has a preference. Perhaps a strong preference. And that’s fine. But, as you pursue your academic interest, eventually you need to ask yourself the question, “What can I do with this? How will this help me in the long run? Is my interest in this particular area something that will support me and perhaps even my family once I am finished with my studies?” In other words, your interest needs to be practical at some point or another, unless someone else is willing to continue paying your bills while you pursue it. This morning I’d like you to consider this one academic discipline: history. What’s your first reaction? I can think of several: One, I can’t stand studying history. Two, I don’t mind history, although I ‘d rather spend my time studying something else. Or, three, I simply love history! No matter what your reaction to the study of history is, one maxim about history is this: If you don’t learn from the mistakes of history, you’re bound to repeat them. I won’t speak for you, but I’ve found that to be true plenty of times in my life, even in my work as a pastor. I’m able to point to the way in which something was handled in the past and learn from it—both the positives and negatives. I can easily see trends and make assumptions about where things are going. This morning’s sermon text is from the Apostle Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. The Corinthian Christians were a very gifted congregation of Christians, but they had trouble using those gifts in a God-pleasing way. Perhaps you’re aware that they often used their gifts in sinful ways. One of the reasons he wrote these words to them was to encourage them to use their blessings in ways that glorified their Lord and brought them closer to him, instead of becoming a wedge between them and their Lord. In order to emphasize that encouragement, Paul gives them a lesson from Old Testament history. The Children of Israel failed to use their blessings for their God-intended purpose. The Corinthians were in danger of doing the same. So are we. So, learn! Learn your Bible history lesson! I urge you to pay attention to that very thing this morning. I. Count your blessings. I’m sure you’ve heard that encouragement, perhaps more times than you can count. And it’s great advice! When you think that your life is the pits, it’s a good thing to count your blessings. It helps you live freely in the positive, rather than be imprisoned by the negative. As part of the history lesson that Paul presents to us this morning, he subtly asks us to count blessings—not our own, but those that the Lord graciously bestowed on the Children of Israel as they made their way out of slavery in Egypt. Listen to Paul recount them. “For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink.” Do you recall to what Paul was referring? If not, let me help you. He speaks about the Israelites being under a cloud, which was the miraculous, visible representation of the glory of the Lord. It was in the form of a pillar of cloud which led the Children of Israel out of Egypt. He reminds us how all the Children of Israel passed through the walls of water in the Red Sea. They all ate the manna that miraculously appeared six mornings a week for 40 years. And they drank from the water that miraculously poured out of a rock at Moses’ command. Imagine experiencing those blessings! They were meant to draw the people to the Lord and to encourage them to trust in him for all their needs, even though they were in the middle of a wilderness. And then Paul makes this astounding connection. “For they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.” Each one of these blessings was not meant to be an end in themselves—to simply provide for them physically. They were meant to connect them to Christ as the promised Savior from sin. The Lord wanted them to see their Savior in each of these miracles, some of which occurred nearly daily. What a blessing! To have miraculous reminders of their Savior every day! But look what happened! “Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” What?! The vast majority of those 20 years and older died in unbelief in the wilderness. They never made it to the promised land. In spite of the miracles, in spite of the daily blessings, their unbelief separated them from God and his eternal blessings. In other words, they despised the golden opportunities they had. There’s a history lesson here for you and me and all the rest of God’s people. Learn your Bible history lesson! Don’t despise God’s blessings! And the quick response from us is, “We aren’t despising your blessings, Lord. We know this lesson. The Children of Israel despised your blessings and many of them died in the wilderness. We know! We’ve learned!” And I’m glad to hear that. I can tell you the same. I know. I’ve learned. But I forget. My memory is good, but it’s short. Because the moment my life seems like a journey in a wilderness, the moment I’m not getting what I work for, the moment I think God should be treating me better, the moment I’m filled with impatience or doubt about the way God is doing things, the moment I think I can do things better myself, is the moment I have conveniently forgotten this Bible history lesson and have decided that, at least for the moment, the focus is on my blessings here and now, which I don’t seem to be receiving like I want or should, instead of on the goal of the Promised Land, which is heaven. Have you ever walked that path which seems so right but is so wrong? We all have. We’ve turned things upside down in our lives. We’ve made earthly blessings our goal instead of heavenly blessings. Or we’ve decided to forgo the heavenly for just a while in order to focus on the earthly. That’s exactly what the Children of Israel did. That’s what the Corinthians were tempted to do. And that’s our story—our history—as well. And that’s why Jesus walked another path—the one that brought him to Calvary’s cross. His highest priority was his Father’s will. His thoughts were on you, not himself. And he died and then rose again to make you his own forever. Too many of the Children of Israel wanted nothing to do with that Savior. Don’t make the same mistake! Learn your Bible history lesson! II. But what about when life becomes unbearable? What should we do as God’s people when we don’t think we can take another hour of what we’re facing, let alone another day? What should we do when we’re suffering through something and no end appears in sight? What if experts tell us we’re going to have to learn to live with the difficulty we’re facing? What should you do? Learn your Bible history lesson, that’s what. Listen once again to the next chapter of that lesson. “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.” When life is tough, so tough that you don’t think you can take it, remember this lesson: God is faithful. Faithful?! Really?! How can he be if I’m suffering? Well, in several ways. First, he still bestows his blessings on you. Just open your eyes and look around you. Your life is probably filled with physical blessings. And I didn’t even mention your spiritual blessings, such as forgiveness, eternal life in heaven, a loving relationship with God as your Father. God is faithful. And, as your faithful God, he disciplines you. He makes sure you don’t become so enamored with this life that you fail to recall that the goal is eternal life. Every ache and pain of life is meant to remind you that this life isn’t the goal. Heaven is your home. Don’t forget it! God is faithful. And third, God binds you to himself with his daily promises. He is always with you. He will never leave you. You belong to him by faith in Jesus and eternal life in heaven awaits you. He will always turn out everything for your eternal good—even the worst tragedies of life. Those are his promises to you. Learn your Bible history lesson! God is faithful. God is faithful. And his perfect faithfulness is splashed against the sordid canvas of my unfaithfulness, of your unfaithfulness. But don’t be alarmed. That’s always the way it’s been. God had every reason to abandon the Israelites in the wilderness. But he was faithful to them. He had every reason to turn his back on the Corinthians. But he was faithful to them. That’s our story, too. Every sin we commit is reason enough for our God to abandon us to hell. But he doesn’t. He is faithful. He forgives us in his Son. He nourishes our faith in Jesus through word and sacrament. He will bring us home to heaven. Learn your Bible history lesson, and live in daily peace and joy. Amen.