Resurrection Lutheran Church, St Catharines

“Those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:2-3).

 

 

Do you remember George Santayana? Neither do I, and that is a little ironic since he is the source of the famous quote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” (The Life of Reason, 1905). I wonder if he remembered the words of St. Paul in our Epistle Reading for today, as the apostle points out several incidents from the history of the Israelites whom had been delivered from Egypt and wrote: “Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction” (1 Corinthians 10:11).

 

When we hear the Old Testament accounts of God’s people, it is not just a history lesson. It is not so we can score well when playing Bible trivia games. It is not even that we might learn how we got to where we are—God’s people delivered through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. St. Paul even says that the things that happened to the Old Testament people of God were not just events playing out in their lives, but that they happened in order to be an example for us. God had a greater purpose in mind, and that purpose includes you. The events of their lives were written down so that you might learn something about your life.

 

So we shouldn’t just read or hear these events and think about what foolish, stubborn, ungrateful people they were. God had delivered them from slavery in Egypt and they desired to go back. The LORD God had brought them through the Red Sea where He drowned the pursuing Egyptians and the people had Aaron make a golden calf around which they could feast and get drunk and cavort, saying “These are the gods that brought us out of Egypt.” God had brought them out to be His own special people and they indulged in sexual immorality with the pagan peoples they passed through on their way to their promised land. God had provided for them in the wilderness and yet they tempted Christ by despising what He provided. God had raised up Moses to be their faithful leader and they grumbled about not being able to choose a leader for themselves.

 

Do you remember all of the history of Israel from their deliverance at the Red Sea until they entered into the land of Canaan, or are you condemned as you repeat it in your own life, from your deliverance at the baptismal font until you enter your promised eternity either positively or negatively?

 

It is important to your life of salvation to know what is alike between you and them that led them to crave the evil delights of Egypt. What were the common circumstances with yours that brought them to the point of creating a golden calf to worship? What was the punishment for them when they thought it was okay to have promiscuous sex with the people that were just passing by in life? What did they do that caused God to send poisonous snakes among them as a punishment? How did God Himself come as a Destroyer when they grumbled about the minister that He gave to them?

 

Well, that is quite a homework assignment. I will help you out by telling you that most of the answers can be found in the Book of Numbers, but not all. The entire Old Testament is filled with necessary information for your life of faith. St. Paul tells us that this is why God had these things written down. It was not for historians, although it has proven to be an invaluable source of history for them. It was not for the Jews only to explore their cultural heritage. It was not as a way to celebrate the anniversary of events, like we sometimes regard the reading of the Christmas Gospel once a year. No, “these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction.”

 

They were written down to teach you that sinners will be punished for their evil cravings, their idolatry, and sexual immorality, for their tempting of Christ and their grumbling. And if you want to know what any of that looks like or if it might have crept into your life, well it is all written down for you. But it doesn’t do you much good as a reference book to check out only when you have a question. For the people to whom these things happened did not first pause to consider, ‘I wonder what will happen if I do this?’. Rather, these temptations creep up on you, especially if you have never thought about them before.

 

Apart from these examples, we don’t stop to consider, ‘I wonder what God will think if I start to grumble about the minister He has placed over me?’. We just start grumbling. When we have not been instructed by these parts of God’s Word we don’t consider the gravity of engaging in casual sex. When the Word of God is not part of a regular diet of all of God’s good gifts we are condemned to repeat the sins of the past and to suffer the punishments for them.

 

If you have avoided most of these sins in your life, it is likely because you have had good and solid instruction about these things, and regular repetition of them. Then again, if you don’t think that these sins are a problem in your life, how do you really know if you haven’t given due attention to all of God’s Word? I talk to many people who say they didn’t know that craving a different lifestyle was wrong; that grumbling against authority was a sin; that casual sex brings God’s wrath; and all sorts of other things about which the Bible instructs us.

 

How many people do you know that claim to live by God’s Word, and don’t believe that women cannot be pastors; or that babies must not be aborted; or that the lives of the elderly and suffering should not be terminated; or that some forms of love are sinful? Perhaps some of us fall into such a group. And it is certainly so when we do not recognize all of God’s Word as written for our instruction.

 

It is not so that we might have a superior knowledge over others, but so that we would know enough not to trust our own level of intelligence about what is right or wrong in regard to our own lives and habits and desires. In encouraging us to regard the history of God’s people recorded in the Scriptures as instruction, St. Paul continued, “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall” (10:12). The study and review and knowledge of the Scriptures should never lead to self-righteousness but to humility and repentance.

 

What are the areas where you are presuming you are on a good course, but have not taken into account the instruction of the Lord? What does God’s Word say about attitudes toward the governing authorities, or the way that you raise your children, or how to deal with someone who has offended you? Have you just assumed that you are doing it right? Are you just following in the way of everyone around you?

 

Not only are we tempted by sins of craving and idolatry and sexual immorality and grumbling, we are also tempted by pride and arrogance; and the Scriptures have many examples and much instruction for us in those areas as well. God’s Word is a great manual of defense for us, but the temptations will keep coming as long as we live on this side of eternity in our sinful flesh. One temptation comes after another.

 

Martin Luther, in a personal letter to a friend and colleague, reported that he was happy that one particular spiritual temptation seemed to be over but another physical temptation had already set in. That is the persistence of the devil. But Luther took comfort in the promise at the end of our Epistle which says that “with the temptation God will also provide the way of escape” (10:13). So Luther concluded that even if Satan were to swallow him, God would surely also have Satan swallow a laxative. He will always provide a way out.

 

The only end to the trials and temptations that Christians face in this life will be at the end of time, when Christ Jesus returns. And as that end gets all the nearer, Satan is all the more vigorous in his attacks. The precious instruction of God’s Word has been supplied for us, “upon whom the end of the ages has come” (10:11), so that we might remember the past and not be condemned to repeat the punishment and condemnation of those who have sinned against God; so that we might humbly be prepared to confess and turn from our sinful ways to the find the way out provided by our loving and gracious God.

 

He provides a way for you to sidestep the missteps, to avoid, to walk away, to turn back to Him before you transgress His commands. The more you know His Word and the examples of the past, the better you will be able to do that. And the more you know the examples of those who have transgressed and repented, the more you will realize that our only true way out is through Jesus Christ His Son, whose suffering and death is for all of our sins from gross idolatry to presumptuous pride.

 

The way out is the way of the Word. It is a Word that warns you, that turns you, and that drives you to the mercy of God in Christ Jesus. It is a Word through which the Holy Spirit works to transform you so that you are not only more aware of temptations, but also more prepared to say no to them. And with the examples of God’s grace toward those who are full of remorse because of their sins, we are all the more ready to look to the way out, the way to the cross that Christ Jesus took for us so that He would not be our Destroyer, but our Deliverer.

 

 

“The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you” (16:23).