1 Corinthians 10:10 Part 1:Complain?

1 Cor 10:10 And do not grumble (discontentedly complain AMP), as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel. (Along side Numbers 16)
The story in Numbers talks about a group of leaders who created a faction against Moses about the leadership of the Israelites (which is one of the OBVIOUS acts of sinful natures Gal 5). In turn, Moses told them that God will choose he who is holy. An interesting thought is this. v9 talks about how these Levites rising against Moses was given many things, and yet they wanted more. Also, Dathan and Abiram was saying to Moses to the effect of “We have yet to receive what you promised us!” (v14) This goes back with yesterdays application. Are you content with what you have or are you going to complain about what you don’t have? Are you content with what you have received or do you focus in what you have not received?

Now the idea of complaining….(the context is to grumble or complain about the situation and what God has done but we’ll look ahead to the other complaints) I looked back on my life and asked myself, “why do I complain and what are the reasons and what happens when I do?”

I remember telling God many times:
1)Why don’t I have this certain thing?
2)Why do I have to do this thing?
3)Why do I have to go through this thing?
I see the error of my ways. The way I see it, what I’m telling God, just like the Israelites, is:
1)Why are you taking so long to give me what I want?  (Cause you know that the Lord will give you what you need [Matt 6:33/Ps 37:4])
2) Aren’t I the master and Jesus is my servant or aren’t I better than Jesus? (You may not be saying this to yourself, but you’re implying it. John 13:15 Jesus is washing His disciples feet and says “I have set an example that you should do as I have done for you.” The idea is Jesus laid down what He had, the power of God v3, and served his disciples. If you don’t like the idea of serving, always complaining when doing something, you’re implying that you are better than Jesus and that you are his master (v16a “I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master…” so you not wanting to serve is telling him I’m better than this.)
3) “I don’t want to be like Jesus. I don’t want to be what God wants me to be.” The reason why people go through trials is so that one can be stronger, more complete in their faith (James 1:2-4). (This is for the blog) I remember hearing people say, “Come as you are,” or “I don’t have to change to come to Jesus.” This is totally true…..up to a point. People tend to leave out the second half of this part. The reason why you would come as you are is so that God can turn you into what He wants you to be. He molds you, shapes you, and polishes you to be like Him. My pastor gave a really good illustration about the fire and gold mentioned in 1 Peter 1. An impure gold is placed in a furnace so that the impurities would rise to the surface. It would then be wiped off and placed in the fire again until the impurities are gone. Then they would rub something really irritating on it so that it can be polished with the final product showing a reflection of the cleaner. It’s the exact same thing in life. The fires, or trials, also mentioned in 1 Corinthians 3, bring out the impurities in you. Have you noticed that when you go through crap, the real you comes out? Then you get rubbed by all the roughness in life so that you can reflect to others the one that polished you, God.
So this is the idea. If people say to come as you are, do you come that way every single time? If you were made Christian and you still “come as you are” from the first time you came, would God be happy? Don’t you expect growth from your children? Peter started off as a fisherman. Did he stay that way?

There will be a part 2. It’s interesting to write the blog at the end of the day. I realize how many times I’ve failed at what I’m trying to apply…

Isn’t it interesting that you don’t realizing that you’re failing until you already fail…?

1 Corinthians 10:9 Content!

1 Cor 10:9
We should not test the Lord, as some of them did– and were killed by snakes.
(Deut 6:16 Do not test the LORD your God as you did at Massah. [Water from rock Ex 17: The idea that they complained because they didn't believe God was there to help them, to provide for them. They did not have faith in what God had planned for them.])

I referenced to the passage from Numbers 21, where the Israelites complained about the situation and were bitten by snakes.

4 They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; 5 they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”

Trials are things that last a lot longer than you think. I mean, when you know when something is going to end, it’s not a trial, it’s an expectation. This is why God says to persevere or outlast the trial (James 1:2-4). These guys, including myself at times, didn’t do that. They grew impatient and did the unthinkable. They bashed God in the face. Well, not literally, but think of it this, way:
Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert?
Do you know why God took them out of Egypt? Ex 3:7 “ The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering.”
There is no bread! There is no water!
We don’t have the necessary things to live! We need more!
And we detest this miserable food! (NASB manna)
We don’t like the things you’ve given us!

What’s interesting between the last two things is that they had no bread but they had food. They were complaining that God didn’t give them what they wanted. Total conviction for me. I complained to God many times in my life about the things that I don’t have and the things that I want. Is that how we should live? Phil 4:12 Are content with what we have, even hungry or in want? Do you really believe that the secret of contentment is  v13: I can do everything through him who gives me strength? Do I live a life where it shows that I’m satisfied with my life? (Do you focus on what you don’t have or what you do?)

So what did they say? Illustration: Imagine if you were at starbucks and you heard one of your fellow friends say, “Oh, man, I need to get out of here. I don’t care, just get me to a better place.” You hear it and decide to help him. You know he’s going to get hungry during the ride so you buy him a bagel before you leave. You then get into your car and you start driving. On your way to this better place, all you hear is, “Man, why did you take me out? This is taking too long. Why did you buy me this bagel? This food sucks.
Yea, he’s punching you in the face. He sucks big time. Too bad God is the driver and you’re the complainer.

6 Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

It’s interesting that Moses didn’t pray while they were dying. It says he prayed after they realized they sinned and that they asked him to because they knew that was the only way to get help. Do you pray knowing that God can help you from your snakes?

8 The LORD said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.

I was thinking about this. God is God. He can heal you in an instant if he wanted to. Why would he tell Moses to make a snake for them to look at? It was for them. If they wanted to be healed, they would have to go with faith and humility and look upon the snake.

It’s pretty crazy that today is Good Friday and how this passage refers to the cross of Christ. If we faithfully and humbly come and look upon the cross and Jesus Christ for our sins (venom), we will be healed.  (Do you look upon Jesus knowing that you will be saved from circumstances?)

Applications:
When in trials, do you pray KNOWING that God can help you?
Do you live a life that shows satisfaction, even through these trials? Do people see you and see that you’re good with everything you have or do you live like you want something all the time? Do you live in a way that tells people, “I want so much more in this life?” Do you really believe that God will give you the things you need? That he will give it to you when the time is right? Ecc 3:11 says that He has made everything beautiful in its time. Do you believe that? Live it.

1 Corinthians 10:1-5

1For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under (and protected [AMP]) the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were protected and saved by the Lord.
2They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They consecrated themselves under the law.
3They all ate the same spiritual food 4and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. They were provided with food and drinks (Ex 16:15, Ex 17:6)
5Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert.
God was not pleased because they all decided to break the laws they put themselves under, and they did it constantly. Rarely did they not complain or other things that were wrong, however, they did come and worship when the Lord’s presence was there (Ex 33:10)

This is a very familiar picture of our world. Later on, Paul goes on to say specifics but I’ll save those for tomorrow.
This really looks like the Sunday Christian aspect. God protected them and they became under His laws through baptism. God provided for them, but in the end, they never listened to His word. Constantly they would complain, they would fall away, but in the presence of the Lord, they become holy. Sundays, retreats, revivals, etc. I, for one, know of this aspect. Becoming “holy” whenever I was around church or church events but ending up being regular in other places, only coming to the Lord when I had troubles as the 9 of 10 lepers did (Luke 17) and barely being into His word. Embarrassingly enough, there are times when I still catch myself doing some of these things.
In the end, the Lord destroyed them. It’s a reminder of Matt 7:21-23, a scary thought… (21″Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’)

How does your life look different than those that are not Christian or more importantly, your BC days?
Change something about it…

More focus. I’ve been trying to establish a prayer life in my car. I’m in it like 24/7 so it seems like the best time to pray but it’s been very distracting. I have to really think of ways to focus more. This is where “love your God with all your mind” comes into play.