For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers 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, with most of them, God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did…Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. (1 Corinthians 10:1-11, ESV)
Almost all golf courses have warning signs. Suppose you are playing a mountain course; you are typically warned to slow down because of steep paths. Perhaps another sign might say, “Bridge Temporarily Out.”
A golf course I once played greeted you on the first tee with “Beware of Rattle Snakes.” After reading a sign like that, “keeping it in the short grass” becomes a tad more important.
Some of the more common signs are: “Hazardous Water,” “Slow Down,” “Private Property,” and “Out of Bounds.” You have probably seen the one in that guy’s backyard just to the right of a cart path that reads, “Stay Off Grass.”
My all-time favorite is “This Home is Insured by Smith and Wesson.” Implicitly, the homeowner is warning you, “Don’t hit my breakfast window with your errant shot; if you do, you’ll regret it.”
Sports Illustrated once featured a course in South Korea with a sign that read in bold print, “DANGER! DO NOT RETRIEVE BALLS FROM ROUGH-LIVE MINE FIELDS.” That warning deserves our full attention.
One of the many things that stand out in Scripture is the frequency of warnings. For example, a prophet, Jeremiah, might warn Israel not to turn from God to idols, or an Apostle might warn a church about the consequences of straying from the truth. King Solomon writes more than a few proverbs warning against specific behaviors that invariably lead to destruction.
Whatever the circumstance, the Spirit of God speaks through kings, prophets, and apostles, warning us to avoid specific habits of thought and action. And why does he warn us? God warns us so that our lives will glorify him, cause us to flourish, and advance his mission.
If we look up and the sign reads, “Bridge Out, ” we would be foolish to ignore it and proceed full speed ahead. If the warning reads, “Danger! Don’t Retrieve Balls; Live Minefields,” we would be stupid for ignoring it.
How much more foolish are we when we fail to take biblical warnings seriously! Pleading ignorance of these realities hardly makes us any less guilty. One of the more obvious and serious mistakes currently being made in our cultural moment is the strident attempts to silence the voice of Scripture.
We live in a time when those hostile to the Christian faith are becoming more and more emboldened to muzzle the voice of the church, especially as it relates to biblical norms regarding sexuality.
Sadly and simultaneously, Christians are becoming increasingly timid about God’s moral standards. Shrinking back from the inevitable conflict that arises from speaking God’s truth in love is rarely, if ever, the right thing to do. I say “rarely” because sometimes it is about the timing!
In our text, Paul warns us of four behaviors that caused many in Israel to die in the wilderness. These men and women were rescued from Egypt but failed to enter into what God had for them because they ignored God’s warnings.
Intriguingly, Paul tells us that these things happened to them as examples of what not to do and that “they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.”
Moses and Paul’s message is clear: immoral and idolatrous behavior is a “minefield” of danger that will dishonor God, destroy our lives, and derail God’s mission, at least until he finds those who will “trust and obey.”
A Biblical warning is one of many ways God expresses his love to and for us. The “good life” is discovered when we honor and respect God’s wisdom reverently. We disregard his warnings to our peril.
Prayer: Jesus! Empower us by your Spirit with the courage to live righteously in morally toxic times.