1. FIRST CORINTHIANS How to Live in a Pagan World

2. 1 st Corinthians 10:1-14 1 Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, 2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 all ate the same spiritual food, 4and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.

3. 5 But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. 6 Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. 7 And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play." 8 Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell;

4. 9 nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; 10 nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. 11 Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. 12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.

5. 13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. 14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. New King James Version

6. Two Mega-Themes In 1 st Corinthians Living as Christians in a pagan world. Being the Church in a pagan world.

7. Two Mega-Themes In 1 st Corinthians Living as Christians in a pagan world.Living as Christians in a pagan world. Being the Church in a pagan world.

8. Living as Christians in a Pagan World 1.God’s People: Living as a Minority Group 1:18-2:16 2.Living as God’s People in a Litigious Society 6:1-8 3.Living as God’s People in a Sexually Immoral Climate 6:9-20 4.Living as God’s People in a Culture of Divorce 7:1-40 5.Living as Free People with a Cause 8:1-9:23 6.Living as God’s People in an Idolatrous Age 9:24-10:33 7.Living Steadfast, Knowing How It Turns Out 15

9. Living as Christians in a Pagan World 1.God’s People: Living as a Minority Group 1:18-2:16 2.Living as God’s People in a Litigious Society 6:1-8 3.Living as God’s People in a Sexually Immoral Climate 6:9-20 4.Living as God’s People in a Culture of Divorce 7:1-40 5.Living as Free People with a Cause 8:1-9:23 6.Living as God’s People in an Idolatrous Age 9:24-10:33 7.Living Steadfast, Knowing How It Turns Out 15

10. Living as God’s People in an Idolatrous Age 9:24-10:33

11. 1.Idolatry is not so much about bending my knee as bending my priorities

12. 2.Idolatry can subtly overcome us 10:14 “Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.” Weymouth “Therefore, my dear friends, avoid all connection with the worship of idols.”

13. 3.Yesterday’s experiences do not guarantee today’s victory 1 I don’t want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters, what happened to our ancestors in the wilderness long ago. God guided all of them by sending a cloud that moved along ahead of them, and he brought them all safely through the waters of the sea on dry ground. 2 As followers of Moses, they were all baptized in the cloud and the sea. 3 And all of them ate the same miraculous food, 4 and all of them drank the same miraculous water. For they all drank from the miraculous rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ. 5 Yet after all this, God was not pleased with most of them, and he destroyed them in the wilderness.

14. 3.1 Yesterday’s experiences can give us a false sense of security 10:12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.

15. 4.While experiences cannot protect us from temptation, God can 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

16. 4.1 The commonality of temptation 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man…

17. 4.2 The faithfulness of God in temptation 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful…

18. 4.3 The limitation by God on temptation 10:13 …but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able…

19. 4.4 The escape route with temptation 10:13 …but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

20. 5. Idolatry has a spiritual dynamic 10:20, NAS95 “ What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons.”

21. Idolatry has a spiritual dynamic Deuteronomy 32:17 “They sacrificed to demons, not to God, To gods they did not know, To new gods…” Psalms 106:37 “They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons”

22. 6. Idolatry and the Christian walk is an unmixable mix 10:21-22 “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?”

23. 7.Idolatry is a self-centered quest for fulfillment Jeremiah 2:13 "For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.” Isaiah 55:2, NIV “Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.”

25. Translations That May Have Been Used: Abbreviations & Copyright Info AMP or Amplified: © Copyright 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation ESV: The Holy Bible, English Standard Version © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. HCSB: Holman Christian Standard Bible © 2001, Broadman & Holman Publishers, LifeWay Christian Resources 127 Ninth Avenue North, Nashville, TN 37234 JPS: The Holy Scriptures (Old Testament) By the Jewish Publication Society All rights reserved MSG or Message: The Message © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson NAS: Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NAS) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE. Copyright 1960, 1988, by The Lockman Foundation, California. All rights reserved. NAS95: Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NAS95) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE. Copyright 1960, 1995, by The Lockman Foundation, California. All rights reserved. NET: The NET Bible, New English Translation (NET) Copyright © 1996, 1997, 1998 By Biblical Studies Press, LLC. All Rights Reserved The Holy Bible: The NET Bible(r) Copyright © 1998 By Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved www.netbible.orgwww.netbible.org NIV: Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by The International Bible Society. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. Scripture quoted by permission. NJKV: Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NKJV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW KING JAMES VERSION. Copyright (c) 1982 by Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved. NLT: Quotations designated (NLT) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW LIVING TRANSLATION Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois, 60189. All rights reserved. New Living, NLT, and the New Living Translation logo are registered trademarks of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. NRSV: Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NRSV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW REVISED STANDARD VERSION. Copyrighted 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America, and are used by permission. All rights reserved. RSV: Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (RSV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: REVISED STANDARD VERSION. Copyright 1946, 1952, 1973 by National Council of Churches of Christ. All rights reserved. Weymouth: WEYMOUTH NEW TESTAMENT: NEW TESTAMENT IN MODERN SPEECH by Richard F. Weymouth 3rd Edition (1912)-- Revised & edited E. Hampden-Cooke YLT: Young's Literal Translation of the Holy Bible by J.N. Young, 1862, 1898 (Author of the Young's Analytical Concordance)