The Gift of the Old Testament (1 Corinthians 10:11)

Children's Lesson (click here)

I. Christmas Lists

When I think of Christmas lists, there are two types that come to mind. First, there is the kind of list you make when you're younger, a list that includes all of the fun things, all of the cool things, you hope to find under the tree on Christmas Day. The second kind of Christmas list is the one you make, not in order to get something, but in order to give something. It's that list of names and ideas for what you will give to others this holiday season.

But there are many gifts, many incredible gifts, that you would never find on either of these lists. In a season of giving, when followers of Jesus around the world celebrate the gift of him, we also have a wonderful opportunity to identify and consider and treasure and worship in light of so many other gifts we've received by God's grace. These aren't gifts we usually think about as gifts, but that's exactly what they are, and we want to think about why they should be celebrated as such. So let's look at the first of these gifts by looking together at 1 Corinthians 10.

II. The Passage: “They Were Written Down” (10:11)

1 Corinthians is exactly that: the first letter we know of, written by the Apostle Paul, to the disciples of Jesus living in the Greek city of Corinth (which was approximately 50 miles due west of Athens in southern Greece). As you look over the opening paragraph of this chapter, I want you to notice a word we find in verse 6 and verse 11. It's the word “example”. The people about whom Paul was writing were meant to be an example to the people to whom Paul was writing. Who was Paul writing about in verses 1-13? Well, as we'll see, he was writing about the people of Israel, specifically, those Hebrews who had been liberated from Egyptian slavery and were, for decades, following God in the desert between the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan.

I'd like us to read through this passage. But let me break it down into three sections, and then after that, we'll come back and focus in on just one of the verses here. So if we stick with that word “example”, the first thing I want us to see in this passage is that...

The people of Israel provide us with a spiritually-relevant example. Listen to verses 1-4. This how Paul describes the ancient people of God...

For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, [2] and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, [3] and all ate the same spiritual food, [4] and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.

Think about this: what an unusual way to talk about the ancient Hebrews. Look at the term-inology here: “baptized”, “spiritual food”, “spiritual drink”, a “spiritual Rock”... who was “Christ”?! In light of the timeline from the Old Testament to the New Testament (NT), this is not how we usually think about the old covenant people of God. But that's Paul's point: this wilderness gen-eration of Hebrews were, like the Corinthians, the people of God. Like the baptized, first readers of this letter, who gathered around (10:21) “the table of the Lord” to remember the body and blood of Jesus, the Israelites also experienced a kind of baptism, and were sustained by a kind spiritual food, and were blessed in a way by Christ himself (or more specifically, by God the Son).

You see, what Paul does not want his readers to do here is say, “Oh, well these old-covenant Israelites are not, for us, really a good example of anything, since they lived so long ago (almost as long for them as for us to them), and in a totally different culture, and we are, in fact, the new-covenant people of God.” No. The Apostle wants them to appreciate the continuity here between these peoples of God. And he does this because he also wants them to appreciate that...

Second, the people of Israel provide us with a spiritually-sobering example. After presenting Israel's experience as spiritually relevant, listen (in verses 5-10... listen) to what Paul tells us about that experience, especially in light of the privileges they enjoyed. Verse 5...

Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilder-ness. [6] Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. [7] [Brothers and sisters, Paul pleads] Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” [8] We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. [9] We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, [10] nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.

If the experience of God's old covenant people is relevant for God's new covenant people, then followers of Jesus cannot miss the warnings God has provided for them through these ancient examples. Why was God not pleased with most of that wilderness generation, those who never made it to the Promised Land? Paul presents them with several examples here. First, he points back to one of Our Reading Plan passages when (in verse 7) he quotes from Exodus 32:6. While Moses was meeting with God on Sinai, and the people should have been in somber reflection and humble stillness during that holy time, they were instead having a party at the foot of the mountain. Worse than that, their party included the creation and worship of a false idol, a golden calf. Then Paul goes on to mention the immorality and resulting plague described in Numbers 25, the serpents in Numbers 21, as well the grumbling and death in Numbers 14.

What's the point of all this? The point is that among God's covenant people, there always have been and there always will be, real, spiritual consequences for spiritually-brazen and indifferent choices; for things like idolatry and immorality and grumbling. Simply identifying yourself as one of God's people is not a license to now live as if you were somehow above God's moral order. The language here prepares us for the final section in verses 11-13, where we learn that...

Third, the people of Israel provide us with a spiritually-applicable example. We heard this language in verses 6-10: “that we might not desire evil... do not be idolaters... that we not indulge in sexual immorality... we must not put Christ to the test... nor grumble.” And Paul brings these exhortations to a head in verses 11-13. Look at those verses with me...

Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. [12] Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. [13] No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

What is unique about us as followers of Jesus is that we are the ones upon whom “the end of the ages has come”. But what is not unique to us is temptation and sin. As the rest of the letter confirms, whether they could see it or not, these Christians were dealing with the exact same temptations God's people had faced 1500 years earlier. Therefore, “let anyone who thinks that he [or she] stands take heed lest he [or she] falls.”

You see, if we were to continue deeper into chapter 10, and then chapter 11, we would read how Paul is warning them about the temptations with eating and drinking and idolatry that they them-selves are facing there in Corinth. But in terms of application, we can't and should not miss the wonderful encouragement here: “God is faithful”. Believer, no matter how hard it feels, no tempt-ation you face is irresistible or invincible. There is always a way to endure, to persevere in obedience. Why? Because “God is faithful”. I think that's a reference to chapter 1 where Paul wrote in 1:8-9 about how “[our Lord Jesus Christ] “will sustain you to the end, guiltless... God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son”.

III. The Same Gift is Yours

Now, having broken down, and hopefully, having gained a better understanding of the whole context here, look back with me to v. 11: “Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.” While the severe discipline of God served as an example or lesson for those who were spared, Paul says here that such things were ultimately “written down for our instruction”. And when we study similar passages in the NT, and how the NT writers use the Old Testament (OT), I think we know this applies to more than just stories about the wilderness generation.

Brothers and sisters, what God has given us here through Paul is a powerful reminder that one of the greatest gifts we have as his people is the gift of the Old Testament. If you love/appreciate the word of God, think about the fact that 75% of your Bible is the OT. A survey several years ago by Crossway publishers put every part of the OT at under 5% of respondents' regular Bible reading time. And other surveys put the ratio of OT to NT sermons at 1 to 10. But what about you? Beyond Psalms and Proverbs, do you think about, do you treasure, the OT as a gift?

There are so many reasons you should: the way the OT guides us with wisdom, and inspires us in terms of worship, and awes us with its revelation of God's greatness and character. Best of all, as Paul taught, the OT prepares us for Jesus, with signposts all along the way, showing us our desperate need for him and predicting for us so many details about his coming. But maybe its best to emphasize what Paul has emphasized here: the OT is filled to the brim with examples that both warn and inspire. Though it is very long, and very layered, and contains lots of strange names and words and practices, God has given us the same gift that he gave our Corinthian brothers and sisters: He gave us the OT, so that through its countless examples, we might be instructed as followers of the very One to whom Prophets point; the one who came not to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it; the One to whom all these Scriptures bear witness.

Yes, we must appreciate the differences in regard to how God is now at work, here at “the end of the ages”. But whenever you read the OT, ask God to show you yourself there. Be warned by Cain's envy, and Pharaoh's hardness, and Aachen's greed, and Samson's lust, and Saul's mad-ness, and Jeroboam's idolatry, and Nebuchadnezzar's pride, and Haman's hatred, and Jonah's stubbornness... for all of us have and can be ensnared by the exact same sins. But as you read, also give thanks for and be inspired by Noah's resolve, and Joseph's convictions, and Moses' strength, and Phinehas's zeal, and Joshua's courage, and Samuel's consistency, and David's heart, and Solomon's wisdom, and Job's endurance, and Asaph's adoration, and Jeremiah's honesty, and Daniel's commitment, and Hosea's grace, and Abraham's (along with everyone else listed in Hebrews 11... be inspired by their) trust in the same God who has given you this gift; the gift of a powerful history meant to guide everyone who sincerely prayers, “Let your kingdom come, let your will be done.” May we truly appreciate the differences because of what Jesus has accomplished. But let's pray that God would keep us from any walls by which we wrongly separate ourselves from this inspired word. Let's pray that God would renew our excitement for and deepen our gratitude for this gift, and like a mirror, that he would show you yourself in these pages, so that, ultimately, we might better see Promised One we now call “Lord”.