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Eat A Good Meal Before Your Tests!

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Sermon on 1 Corinthians 10:1-5, 11-13 for the 12th Sunday after Pentecost, August 12, 2018

 

Dear friends in Jesus, the Bread of Life,

It’s been a long time since I took college entrance exams like the SAT or ACT, as well as High School and College Semester exams!  It’s been even longer since I had to take the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills back in elementary school!    I recall a little of the advice we were given back then about preparing. I don’t know what advice is given now, but I suspect it hasn’t changed much.  Basic advice we got and, hopefully, students still receive has to do with preparing the BODY as well as the brain for the tests.  Obviously with Semester exams on material supposedly learned, the advice is: study!  But there is also good advice for preparing the body, which includes the brain as an organ of the body.  Get a good night’s rest!   Eat a good meal beforehand!  And one that applies all the time and about which we are constantly being reminded, Hydrate; drink plenty of water!  These tests are long – almost all day in the case of college entrance tests, and several hours in the case of Semester exams and basic skills tests.  This kind of body preparation can help us be alert and functioning at our best for the duration of the testing period.

The Apostle Paul was writing to the Corinthian Christians about taking tests.  He was not writing about  school tests.   He wrote about the Life tests, the Faith tests those Christians were facing, every day!

His advice for them (and us) as Christians daily face such tests???

                                                            Eat A Good Meal Before Your Tests!

                                                             1. “Eat & Drink” Christ! (John 6)                                                   

                                                              2. This “Food” is Your Strength to endure.

 

      To help these “test takers” be prepared for the daily tests of faith and life they faced Paul takes them (especially the ethnic Jews in the group) back in Bible history, to Moses and the Israelites after God’s powerful and miraculous rescue of them from their decades and perhaps centuries of slavery in Egypt.  He takes them back to the time of Israel’s 40 year camping trip in the wilderness of the Sinai Peninsula on their way to the Promised Land of Canaan, from which their ancestors (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) had come.  There the LORD would bless them with care, prosperity, but above all, there he would bring the Savior of sinners into the world through them.  Paul recounted for them some of the marvelous providing (providence) and protection of the LORD.  “Our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea”, bringing to their minds how God had parted the waters of the Red Sea for Israel to safely cross and escape the Pharaoh’s army; and how he made his presence known to them by leading them by a pillar of cloud in the daytime and a pillar of fire at night.  Paul then moved on to acts of God on Israel’s behalf that are in our Old Testament reading (Exodus 16:15-31).  “They all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink.”  He brought to their memories how God provided food and water by supernatural / spiritual means.  In our Exodus lesson we heard how the Israelites were running out of food – they weren’t farming, and whatever food they had brought from Egypt had been exhausted.  They grumbled about it: “if only we were back in Egypt!”  After experiencing the LORD’s loving and powerful care for them they still wanted to return to slavery when things got difficult; when they were tested.  They had faced tests, and had failed.  Nonetheless the God of grace provided miraculously, causing a substance to appear on the ground 6 days of every week.  I’ve usually thought of it as appearing as a very heavy frost on the ground, which when scooped together could become a dough that could be baked or boiled for eating.  Not knowing what it was when they saw it for the first time, they asked themselves, “What is it?”, which in their Hebrew language was “manna’?”  So, that’s just what they continued to call it.  Paul took his readers to a similar situation recorded in Numbers 20, at a place called Kadesh.  There they had no good water to drink.  Again, failure of a test, for they grumbled again, and would have willingly returned to slavery in Egypt.  But the God of grace acted graciously and powerfully again, telling Moses to speak to a particular rock and tell it to give water.  It did!  In both cases, the people faced tests and failed; they grumbled against God, against Moses, and expressed the desire to return to the misery of their slavery.

Paul then made his point to the Corinthian Christians.  Learn from history!  God had these events in Israel’s history written down for you!  Recognize that as you are tested day after day in your Christian walk that you “eat & drink” from the same SPIRITUAL ROCK as those Israelites 1,500 years earlier.  And the Rock he was talking about wasn’t some boulder at Kadesh.  He said that this “rock accompanied them – and that rock was Christ!”  Christ was the PROVIDER of food and drink for Israel in wilderness.  Paul’s point is also the point the Jesus himself was making in today’s Gospel reading (John 6:24-35).  Jesus is the source of life, now and forever.  Yes, he is the provider of our natural, bodily food and drink.  In a little while in the Nicene Creed we will confess about Jesus: “Through him all things were made” (John 1:3).  The sun doesn’t shine without Christ!  The rain and snow don’t come down from the heavens without Christ!  Corn, beans, apples, pears, peaches – you name it – they don’t grow without Christ!  But more than this, he is the provider of life forever.

Every human soul will either live with God forever or exist forever separated from God and his goodness (die).  Every soul descended from Adam and Eve enters earthly life spiritually dead, on a one-way path to eternal death in hell.  Jesus the Son of God took on life in this world.  He took every test we take in life – and he passed every one!  Not once did he fail and yield to temptation to disobey God’s commands and to be enslaved to sin!  (Paul’s word translated “test” is also sometimes translated “temptation”.)  When Jesus had endured the final test, of remaining faithful and obedient to God even when abandoned by God in our place while being crucified to death, he took back life – rising from death and grave!  By this he has become the SOURCE of life, now and for eternity!

This was Jesus’ point in John 6 as he spoke to the people who were looking for another miraculous free lunch like the one he provided the day before for more than 5,000 people starting with a couple fish and a few loaves of bread.  “Don’t continue to work for the food that spoils, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. …..  I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE.  The one who comes to me will never be hungry, and the tone who believes in me will never be thirsty (John 6:27, 35).   Later in his conversation he would use picture language to drive home the point that he is the source of life – earthly and eternally, when he said, “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.  Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:53, 54).  At this point, Jesus had not given the Lord’s Supper (Holy Communion) to his disciples; this is long before that.  So, he is not at this point talking about Communion.  He is teaching the truth that if a person doesn’t have him as their Savior from sin, that person is eternally dead.  Jesus is the source of life, and just as we must have food and water in order for our bodies to live, so we must have Jesus by faith for us to live with him forever in body and soul!  To “eat & drink” Christ means to have him as the source of our life now and forever.

Paul’s warning to the Corinthian believers was this: those Israelites with Moses had Christ (“the spiritual rock”) with them, but when tests came they ignored him.  They had all these blessings!!  But they would have rather gone back to their slavery!  THEY FAILED THE TESTS!  YOU HAVE THE SAME BLESSING, THAT “SPIRITUAL ROCK – CHRIST”!  DON’T DO THE SAME THING!  In the Corinthians’ case they were dabbling with some activities and behaviors that put them in dangerous spiritual territory, but they thought they were “strong enough” to do so safely without stepping over the line into sin.  Hence, Paul’s warning about being careful if you think you’re standing firm, lest you fall.  That statement has probably led to an old warning we occasionally hear:  “Pride cometh before the fall.”  Christ was with the Israelites with his blessings, but the vast majority of them would not by faith “eat and drink” of him – put their trust in his promise and put it into action in their living.  Paul went on to tell the Corinthians … This “FOOD” is your strength to endure the tests.

Jesus as your “food” for enduring the tests before you is like a two-course meal.  First of all, he is God’s Promise kept.  God had promised never to leave or forsake, rather to abide and protect and lead his people to life.  Christ was their real pillar of fire and cloud.  Christ was their real Manna.  Christ was the ROCK that was their living water.  Christ delivered them safely to the Promised Land after their tough journey.  In spite of the Israelites’ unfaithfulness and grumbling and complaining, Christ still stayed and led them to that Promised Land!  Promise kept!   But more important – Christ is the “food and drink” that is life eternal for sinners through his righteous life and innocent death.  That’s the first course of this meal that prepares us for enduring the tests of life and faith.  Trust him.  FOLLOW HIM!  He is the promise of God kept!  He is also now (and here’s the second course) … the GUIDE for the tests.

To get into this, let me first say that I’m not a big fan of the “fad” of several years ago:  WWJD?

What Would Jesus Do?”  To me it detracts from Jesus the Savior, and makes him more of a Moses, a law giver who is giving instruction on how to do things right.  If I had my way, I’d go with “WHJD?”  – What Has Jesus Done?  That covers both – #1 he’s my Savior, and then, he is my Guide.   He’s my Savior – promise kept – he faced all the tests successfully for me!  He sacrificed himself for me under God’s judgment!  He is my life now and forever!  But now, as we live our lives in this confidence, his living under God’s commands also becomes our example and guide for our living under his commands for his glory and our good.

Daily tests still remain for those rescued by Jesus!  Satan throws them in our way every day.  Will we be like Israel and ignore Jesus and walk away from him by failing the tests?  Do we have the same desire as they to return to a slavery to misery brought on by disobedience to God?  Worse yet, do we have the understanding that such a slavery to sin leads to a total misery that never ends?  Jesus is the promise kept for forgiveness and life, AND he is our guide for forgiven and living souls.

Jesus, as he lived for us, also demonstrated how to take the tests.  When tested / tempted how did Jesus meet it and endure it?  Here is how.  When Jesus’ disciples thought he needed to eat and urged him to, he said, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about…My food is to do the will of him who sent me…” (Jn 4:34).  “Eating and drinking” Christ also means taking in and living by what he does and commands because he is the promise kept – the SOURCE of your life now and eternally.  So, Jesus faced tests with God’s Word – his promise of grace AND his commandments.  “It is written…”, was Jesus opening statement to Satan with each test (Matthew 4:1-11).  And then he quoted the Scripture, and did it.

So, what tests do you face?   Are there tests in your relationships?  Parent / Child?  When it comes to our children’s behavior the test is:  Do I give up and tolerate sinful behavior just to stay my child’s “buddy”, or do I listen to God say, “He who loves his son is careful to discipline him” (Proverbs13:24)?   Are your tests in your marriage relationship?  When things get difficult will you give up, walk away, divorce as the “easy way”?  Or will we, as those who know Jesus as God’s Promise Kept listen to God and follow him?  Will you confess selfishness, talk about sins between you, forgive, make peace, live God’s way?  Will you “bear with one another, forgiving just as God in Christ forgave you”?  Will you, husbands, “love your wives as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her”?

Or are some of your tests emotional?  Is there despair over any variety of circumstances?  When despair comes knocking to test you, what will you do?  Give up, dull emotions with drink or drug or worldly advice to end it all?  OR, Jesus’ way of confessing where there is sin that has created my circumstances, accepting help, talking?  Not easy, but the other way is deadly now and forever!

Perhaps for some the tests are sexual – not married but tempted with sex? Tempted toward relationships not according to God’s created order?  Do you give up and give in, thinking it’s easier and temporarily pleasant?  OR, in such tests does God’s plan that sex is between and husband and wife rule the day and your life?

Whatever the tests, they are not easy.  But in every case to choose to “return to the slavery of sin”, taking what the world may say is “easier” or “acceptable, leads away from God and to a lot of pains and guilts in future days, and ultimately eternally.  All these tests are commented on by Paul in Romans, where he wrote about taking God’s forgiveness for granted and using it as an excuse or license to walk away from his path which might expressed this way:  “I’m forgiven, so I can do it my way”.  In Romans 6:1 Paul asked, “Shall we go on sinning, so that grace may increase?  By no means, we died to sin, how can we live in it any longer?!”  He wrote this in response to the attitude that says, “I’ll sin some more so God can look good by being gracious to me with his forgiveness.  That’s taking his forgiveness for granted and spitting in his face.

For our tests God gives a promise through Paul:  when tested God also makes in us the ability to endure.  This promise is connected with Christ – the promise kept and the Guide.  This last phrase in our lesson is often quoted by us with US as the focus:  He won’t give YOU more than YOU can bear.  That’s the wrong emphasis!   Paul says GOD / Christ gives the ability / strength to endure under the test.

So, feed on this promise, and his commands.  They make you able to endure and to “Fight the good fight”  – fights aren’t easy.  But God gives us what we need for it by the good meal we need before our tests.  It is God’s promise of forgiveness and heaven AND his guide for living, for fighting the fight, for meeting the tests and overcoming the temptations to return to slavery.  Amen.

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