NO COMPROMISE: PART 9 - IN LIVING A BALANCED LIFE

It is a truth that we are secure in our place in the kingdom of God through faith in Jesus Christ. Scripture tells us plainly that our God is a mighty fortress and when we trust in Him we will not be shaken. Our salvation through faith in Christ is that secure and that sure – “the Lord is our rock and our salvation; he is our fortress we will never be shaken.” (Psalm 62:2)

And it is also a truth that we are to be totally committed to God. We are to be 100 percent sold out to Him. Jesus makes it clear that we cannot serve two masters – “Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” (Matthew 6:24) And in the book of Revelation we learn that God has no patience with those who are lukewarm in their commitment to Him. They are like tepid tea that He spits out of His mouth. (Revelation 3:16) God calls us to be completely committed to Him.

We must keep these two truths in mind as we think about the fact that we are called to be in the world but not of the world. As we continue to think of how God has called us to live lives of “no compromise” but to live in such a way that we are influencing the world and bringing His light to the world. And this calling can be depicted as a delicate balancing act as we seek to live wholeheartedly for God but in such a way that those around us are affected and helped and changed. We are not to allow ourselves to become like the world but we are not to become isolated from the world.

We have seen in our study of 1 Corinthians 8 and 9 we are free in Christ. And we have witnessed how Paul set aside his freedoms out of love for his brothers and sisters in Christ. “I will not eat meat offered to idols,” he says, “even though I am free to do so – I will not meat offered to idols if it causes another to stumble.” He lays aside his freedom.

We have seen how in Chapter 9 he picks up his freedom in Christ in order to identify with those who do not know Christ. “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some,” (1 Corinthians 9:22) he says.

And if we were to leave the discussion there we might think that if we are able to save some, it doesn’t matter how we are to live. But we must remember that we are taking delicate steps and in order to move forward we must have the perfect balance of being totally committed to God but in the world at the same time.

So as we continue to read in chapter 9 and 10 we read of a series of helps, to keep us balanced in our total commitment to God and our involvement in the world. We pick up our text at Corinthians 9:24 – 10:22. As we read this passage I want to point out to you four helps to keep us balanced. Let’s read the first few verses:

“Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it. Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one. So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified.”

What does Scripture here compare the Christian life to? To a foot race. How are we to run this race? With self-control – discipline. (verse 25) To me that says in your involvement in the world you can’t be living any old way. You have to be careful. Just because you are in the world doesn’t mean you can toss off the discipline of living for God. The text goes on to say, don’t run aimlessly – don’t give in to the desires of your body or flesh – live a life of discipline – not living any old way, but living a life of holiness and purity.

Discipline is hard – it is hard sometimes to discipline our appetites, our wants and our desires but we have to remember what our goal is – what does verse 25 say our goal is? A crown that will not perish. Isn’t that wonderful? We are living for a crown that will neither perish or fade an eternal crown.

So the first help that we learn of here is: Remember the goal of life; we are living for the King of Kings who will give us an eternal crown as we live for Him. And live in such a way that you are worthy to receive the crown.

Let’s discover the second helps in chapter 10:1-11:

“I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness. Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not become idolaters as some of them did; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play. We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents. And do not complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come. So if you think you are standing watch out that you do not fall.”

Here Paul is retelling the story of the Israelites in the wilderness. The ancient Israelites are freed from their bondage by God’s mighty hand. They are led out of Egypt by a cloud and they pass through the Red Sea. All this is a picture of being brought out of death to life, just as we are in Christ.

And this was all by God’s grace – they were given the wonderful spiritual water to drink from the Rock, and that Rock was Jesus Christ - all by His grace, His unmerited favour.

They experienced all these wonderful blessing from God, but did they follow God? No.

They set their hearts on evil things (verse 6). They worshipped idols (verse 7), they committed sexual immorality (verse 8), they tested the Lord – that is, they doubted God’s ability to provide (verse 9). (See Numbers 21:5,6 “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.” )

And what does verse 11 say – why did these things happen? To warn us. All of this is another help in living that balanced life: Don’t become complacent in your living for God.

Look at verse 12, “So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall.” This means that as we seek to be in the world and influencing the world we are not to grow complacent in our relationship with God, in our spiritual growth and faith. Don’t grow complacent. Don’t skip those activities that will help you grow in your faith, like worship and prayer and the reading of His Word. Don’t grow complacent about your relationship with God. If you do, it is a sure way to become unbalanced and becoming like the world.

The story is told of a King who wanted to help a boy understand victory over sin. The king filled cup with wine and handed it to the boy and told him to carry it very carefully through the streets of the city and bring it back to the palace without spilling a single drop. But, said the king, “If you do spill a drop, the soldier who follows you will draw his sword and take off your head.”

So off went the boy and he carried it ever so carefully – and brought it back to the palace without spilling a drop. The king said, “Well done. And what did you see and hear as you walked through the streets of the city?”

The boy said, “Nothing.” “What?” said the king. “Didn’t you see the poor begging for money, didn’t you hear the sellers in the market, or the laughter in the taverns, or the street buskers?”

“No sir. I so intent on carrying the cup and not letting a drop fall to the ground that I heard none of these.” And the king said, “Good. Set your heart on God and give all your mind and heart and soul to him and you will not hear the voices of temptation or be enticed by the things of this world.”

To be sure the illustration isn’t perfect, because there is a sense in which a Christian is more attuned to the cries of the world for help than anyone else. But we are blind to the things of this world as we give ourselves totally to God and not allow ourselves to grow complacent.

Ask yourself. There is no question that we are to be in the world and influencing the world – but ask yourself, have you become unbalanced so that your participation in the world has caused you to be complacent in your relationship with God? We are to be totally given over to God – have you let the things of God take a back seat in your life to the things of this world? The Israelites warn us and teach us not to grow complacent.

The third help offered in seeking to live that balanced life between being in the world but not of the world is, don’t give in to temptation.

Verse 13 - “No testing (or temptation in the NIV) has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.”

Because we are called to live in the world, temptation will come our way. It is the nature of the world in which we live. But my friends, don’t you ever believe that you have to give into temptation. That is a lie from Satan.

You do not have to give into temptation. The Holy Spirit is in you and God always provides a way out of temptation. He always gives you an opportunity to walk away from temptation. We learned that in our study of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife. As soon as we give in to temptation we begin to live that imbalanced life and we become like the world and our witness in the world is ruined.

So as we seek to live that balance between living in the world but not being of the world, remember the goal of life And live in such a way that you are worthy to receive the crown. Don’t become complacent in your living for God. Don’t give in to temptation. Then the fourth help is, realize that Christ is in you.

Verse 14-22 - “Therefore, my dear friends, flee from the worship of idols. I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. Consider the people of Israel; are not those who eat the sacrifices partners in the altar? What do I imply then? That food sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be partners with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Or are we provoking the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?”

Christ is in us. He is in us by virtue of His power and grace. But more, this text says that when we share in this bread and this cup we are testifying to that very thing. We are identifying ourselves with Jesus Christ. When we take the bread and the cup in we are saying, we take You, Jesus Christ, to live in us. It is not small action. We are identifying with Christ’s death to self and His resurrection to newness of life through the power of God.

The ancient Israelites, when they participated in the altar sacrifices did something similar in that they entered into all that God was doing through those sacrifices. And the food offered to idols – the food is nothing, and the idol is nothing, but behind it all is a demon and by participating in those pagan sacrifices we are identifying ourselves with the demon.

Just like Jesus said, you cannot serve two masters – so you Corinthian Christians cannot participate in the Lord’s supper and a supper devoted to demons. You can’t have both. Beside God’s won’t put up with it – He is a jealous God and wants the whole of us.

For us Christians the call is clear to be in the world, but there is always the temptation to live like the world. We need to keep the balance right. And in this last section of our text says – remember that you belong to Christ. You identify yourselves with Him every time you eat the Lord’s Supper. Every time you take the bread to your lips you say that you will not live for the things of this world. Every time you take that cup to your lips you say that you will not live for self.

Every time you swallow those elements you say that Christ’s life will be your life. Christ’s goals will be your goals. Christ’s priorities will be your priorities. Christ’s desires will by your desires.

Are they? Do you desire the things that Christ desires? Are your priorities His priorities? This truly is the path to the balanced life, for who better led the balance of living in the world but never was of the world than Jesus Christ? May God grant that we truly to would be able to live that balance so that by all possible means we might save some.