This Could Never Happen to Me! (1 Corinthians 10)

by Chuck Cordon

Or us for that matter! Are you certain of that? The apostle Paul gives strong admonition to both the weak and the strong of faith in Corinth. Many have thought that they were secure, have they not? And we are shocked and dismayed… “but he/she was so strong…who could have foreseen? But they were such a faithful congregation…” Clearly the Scriptures demonstrate this is not a unique situation. None of us can “go at it alone.” Even the Lord Himself, when He walked among us in the flesh, was not an island unto Himself.

How quickly can one fall away or become ensnared by the temptations and lusts of the world and step outside the security of the Kingdom? As Paul points out, we only need to look at the examples of God’s people of old times (Romans 15:4). We might marvel that those who “walked by sight,” those that had a more direct and observable evidence of faith in their God (get this: who provided for them), could reject that same God. Despite their own experience and precedent seen in their consistent God and His mercy and wrath, and despite the repeated warnings relayed from God through Moses and Joshua, Israel (God’s own people) rebelled. How long did it take for the lessons of the recent past and the admonitions and warnings to fade in their hearts? The book of Judges provides for our learning the cycle of apostasy. Soon after Joshua’s death, the Scripture captures that, “When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the LORD nor the work which He had done for Israel.” (Judges 2:10). Within one generation the children, whose parents had been those who had gone in and possessed Canaan, fell away. How long? Not long. “They turned quickly from the way in which their fathers walked, in obeying the commandments of the LORD; they did not do so” (Judges. 2:17b). We must not deceive ourselves in thinking we are beyond repeating their legacy.

Thus, Paul writes, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” (1 Corinthians 10:12). Humility and a dependent spirit are such necessary characteristics of a resilient faith: humility in that I recognize the faith which saves is not of me, but of the One who provides all things; dependency on Him, in cleaving to Him, in service, in obedience, in love, embracing the relationships of God in Christ, Christ in Him, and we in Him through Christ. God, who created us and knows what we need, provided us the Deliverer, our Savior, Jesus the Lord, and gave us His church. We are truly not to “go at it alone.” I know I am in the right frame of discipleship when I say, “I need the church,” “I love the church.” Far be it from me Lord, that I should think to myself: “No, I think I’ll take a break and pass up on worship today.” One thing leads to another. Is it any wonder that God, who created the week, assigned the first day of the week as the time that we should gather? Glory to our God who provides for us.