I have been studying up on 1st Corinthians 10. For those of you who are in the Thursday night Bible study, we are going to only get through the fist ten verses tonight. But those ten verses (plus some from chapter 9) have a lot to say.
As a preview (and for my other readers who don’t get to come to the study), there are two terms we are going to look at tonight: self indulgence and self discipline. The church at Corinth struggled because it was filled with self indulgent people. Is this something we see in the church today? Yes! I am always struck when some one tells me that he or she isn’t being “fed” at the church they just left. I want to ask “why”? One of our references in tonight’s study is found in Numbers 11.
Numbers 11:4-9 New International Version (NIV)
Quail From the LORD
4 The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat! 5 We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. 6 But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”
7 The manna was like coriander seed and looked like resin. 8 The people went around gathering it, and then ground it in a hand mill or crushed it in a mortar. They cooked it in a pot or made it into loaves. And it tasted like something made with olive oil. 9 When the dew settled on the camp at night, the manna also came down.
Now one must remember that Egypt is the land of captivity. When I think of Egypt, I think of the captivity of sin that we once were trapped in. But look at verses 4 and 5. What did the people do when the rabble stirred them up? They looked back at all the “good things they had to eat” in Egypt. Had they forgotten the whip? Had they forgotten the hard labor? Had they forgotten Pharaoh killing all the male children on a whim? Yes … because they wanted to remember the “good things” of Egypt.
Do you remember all the “good things” you did before you were saved? All the wild nights and crazy days that led you further away from God? Do you miss them? Only if you are self indulgent and not self disciplined.
God has set you aside for a special purpose. You are made the way you are because God has something special for you to do. But it takes self discipline for you to get there.
Well, I am looking forward to tonight. I wish all of you could be with me and the gang.
Agape’
Mr. Jim
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