Sermon
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Temptation Island
Were you tempted to watch the recent reality TV show “Temptation Island?” One magazine described the show this way:
“The fabulously tacky Fox network has come up with the most fabulously tacky reality TV show of them all: ‘Temptation Island.’ Four hapless couples romp with two-dozen babes and hunks on a Caribbean Island for fun, humiliation and profit.
“(The) four couples — each with some strains in their relationship — are sent to a Caribbean island. There they are separated by gender and left for two weeks in the titillating company of members of the opposite sex, the gals babealiciously comely, the boys hunkariffically handsome. Will the couples remain true to each other? Or will island instincts take over?” (http://www.salon.com/ent/tv/temptation/, 3/8/2001)
It’s not really much of a plot, but it made for voyeuristic fun for millions of viewers. In the end, though they were tempted, none of the four couples chose to leave their partner. It was lousy TV, but it put the word “temptation” back in everybody’s vocabulary.
The truth is, we all live on Temptation Island. Ours is not a Temptation Island; it’s a Temptation World. And only the Bible tells us how to deal with it.
Verse 13 tell us that temptation is a common human experience. But not all of us respond to it in the right way. Oscar Wilde once said, “The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.” (Ministers Manual for 1995, p. 262) In another place, he said, “I can resist everything except temptation” (Lady Windermere’s Fan).
The book of James tells us that temptation does not come from God. “Let no man say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God can’t be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each one is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed. Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin; and the sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death. Don’t be deceived, my beloved brothers” (James 1:13-16).
Contemporary author Peter Gomes contends that “temptation is the single greatest source of human anxiety. In the thousands of people with whom I have counseled over the years of my ministry, I have found the problem of temptation to be at the heart of their personal anxiety” (The Good Book, p. 267, quoted in Minister’s Manual for 2000, p. 167)
If everyone is tempted, what is the difference between temptation and sin? Martin Luther once said that temptation is like a bird flying over our head. No one can prevent that from happening. But sin is when we let the bird build a nest in our hair!
Verses 1-5 tell us that being religious does not guarantee immunity from temptation and sin. Paul gives us a powerful lesson from the painful experience of the Hebrew people.
He begins with one of his favorite expressions—”Now I would not have you ignorant.” This phrase occurs several times in Paul’s writings.
Then Paul devotes considerable attention to the failures of the Hebrew people. His point is that spiritual complacency can lead to disaster, and it can be prevented only by knowing and heeding the warnings of history.
All of the Israelites had the same experiences in Exodus. They all saw the same phenomena and the miraculous interventions. They all worshipped God together and were nourished. But not all of them were faithful. Some committed idolatry (Exodus 32:1-14). Some committed immorality and 23,000 died in one day (Numbers 25:1-9). Some grew impatient with God (Numbers 21:4-9). Some rebelled against God and were destroyed (Numbers 16).
In the process of reviewing this history lesson, Paul refers to several unusual aspects of the Exodus story. He spiritualizes their experiences in a fascinating way. First, he reminds us of the cloud and the sea as signs of God’s saving intent. But then he says that they were “baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.” That is really unusual terminology. Paul is taking some liberties with the idea of baptism as an initiation into the ways of God. He sees the cloud and the sea as symbols much like John the Baptist does when he says that the one to come after him would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Paul’s point is that anyone who has been so baptized with the miracles of the cloud and the sea should surely resist temptation.
Then Paul talks about the “spiritual food” and “spiritual drink,” obviously referring to the manna in the wilderness (Exodus 16:4, 35) and the water that came from the rock (Exodus 17:5-6). The Israelites had literal food and drink, but Paul is saying they also had spiritual food and drink. Then he makes the astounding statement in verse 4, “For they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.” Here Paul picks up the theme echoed in Colossians and elsewhere that Jesus is God and was with God from the beginning of creation.
Again, Paul’s point is that anyone who has had the spiritual food and drink from the rock which was Christ should surely be able to resist temptation. But many of the Israelites failed the test when it came. They yielded to sin and nearly destroyed their nation.
All of this review of history is to make Paul’s main point – The message of history and of experience is that sin does not pay! And we cannot count on a false security based on formal religious observances. Even baptism and the Lord’s Supper cannot keep us from temptation and sin. We are warned against presumption and arrogance about our standing with God. Verse 12 says, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands be careful that he doesn’t fall.”
The great English preacher, Charles Spurgeon, noted that “we are never out of the reach of temptation. Those who think themselves secure are more exposed to danger than any others.”
Temptation is an enticement that usually appeals to our base instincts, but in the end it has the power to destroy. As verse 10 says, “… some of them also grumbled, and perished by the destroyer.”
Paul Harvey tells an incredible story describing how Eskimos kill a wolf simply by coating several layers of frozen blood on a sharp knife sticking out of the frozen tundra. Apparently the wolf picks up the scent, and after circling the knife warily begins licking the frozen blood. He begins to lick faster and faster as the desire for blood literally drives the wolf wild. So great becomes his craving that the wolf never notices the sting of the sharp blade on his tongue as the blood being consumed gradually becomes his own. Morning finds the wolf lying dead in the snow.
Temptation lures each of us just as the bloody knife attracts the unsuspecting wolf. We may warily respond at first, but we soon become consumed by the desire of the moment, never noticing the deadly sting of the sharp blade of “sin” as the blood consumed eventually becomes our own. (Larry E. Davies, “Turning points: A bloody knife and growing hair,” Sowseeds@hovac.com/ quoted in Homiletics 3/18/2001)
So how do we overcome temptation? That is the main question for all of us.
Let’s review some key Scripture passages that give us the keys to resisting temptation:
First, we must be on the alert. Presumption will lead to destruction. 1 Peter 5:8-9 says, “Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Withstand him steadfast in your faith, knowing that your brothers who are in the world are undergoing the same sufferings.”
The last part of that verse reminds us of the temptations faced by others. One way to resist temptation is to remember that every temptation succumbed to by one person is successfully resisted by another. You, too, CAN resist, which brings us to the second point.
Second, resist the devil and submit to God. James 4:7 says, “Be subject therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
In John Bunyan’s classic Pilgrim’s Progress, Christian has finally learned not to get off the road for any reason. He has paid dearly to learn faithfulness to the path laid out in God’s word. As he clears a high hill, he sees two large lions waiting on the road ahead. He moves forward down the road, repeating to himself, “Stay on the road, stay on the road,” even as he wonders what he should do. As he stays on the road and draws closer to the lions, he discovers the way of escape. He sees that the lions are actually beside the road and chained so that if he walks in the middle of the road he will be safe. Pilgrim does pass safely beneath the lion’s breath and goes on down the road to the Celestial City. Ministers Manual for 1998, p. 53
Third, protect yourself with the armor of God, especially on your faith. Ephesians 6:10-11 says, “Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might. 6:11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” Remember the armor of God that Paul lists in Ephesians 6—the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the gospel of peace. And he ends with this in verse 16, “above all, taking up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one.”
Fourth, remember that Jesus is on our side. 1 John 4:4 says, “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.”
Hebrews 4:14-16 says, “Having then a great high priest, who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold tightly to our confession. For we don’t have a high priest who can’t be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace for help in time of need.”
Jude 24-25a says, “Now to him who is able to keep them from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory in great joy, to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.”
Fifth, rely on the Word of God. Psalms 119:11 says, “I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” It is clear that the words of Scripture have a power that enables us to resist temptation. Remember the temptations of Jesus, in each case Jesus responded to the propositions of Satan by quoting Scripture. We should do the same.
Verse 13 of our passage is a good one to quote, “No temptation has taken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”
Finally, we ask, “What is the purpose of temptation?” I think temptation is just a part of life because God chose to give us free will. There would be no freedom if there were no temptation. But ultimately, temptation can teach us about the power of God.
The great fifteenth-century mystic and devotional writer Thomas a Kempis wrote, “Temptations are often very profitable to us, though they be troublesome and grievous; for in them one is humbled, purified, and instructed.”
F.B. Meyer, a nineteenth-century English pastor and devotional writer, said, “Temptation does for us what the storms do for the oaks – it roots us – and what the fire does for the painting on porcelain – it makes us permanent.”
William Barclay said, “What we call temptation is not meant to make us sin; it is meant to enable us to conquer sin. It is not meant to make us bad, it is meant to make us good. It is not meant to weaken us, it is meant to make us emerge stronger and finer and purer from the ordeal. Temptation is not the penalty of being a man, temptation is the glory of being a man. It is the test which comes to a man whom God wishes to use. So, then, we must think of this whole incident and experience, not so much as the tempting, as the testing of Jesus” (quoted in Minister’s Manual for 1999, p. 46).
James 1:12 says, “Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to those who love him.”
Let’s resolve to use every weapon to resist temptation so that, in the end, we, too, will have the crown of life.
Scripture quotations from the World English Bible.
Copyright 2001 Mickey Anders. Used by permission.