Jordan Byrd
Ordered, 1 Corinthians 10-11:1
You probably know the phrase “you are what you eat.” Meaning, your health and well-being will take the shape of what you eat. Give it healthy food, and you’re body will take the shape of a healthy person. Give it unhealthy food, and you’re body will take the shape of an unhealthy person. What we eat is usually correlated to what we crave. Correlated to what we desire to eat. Our desires drive most of what we do.
We could adapt the phrase, “you are what you eat” – to “you are what you desire.” Or, as author James K.A. Smith says it, “You are what you love.”
“You are what you love.” Think about what drives what you do. What do you love? What do you set your heart on? What do you pursue because your heart is set on it? Because you love it. Those areas of life that you give time, effort, emotion, and resources toward them? It might be Bills’ games. It might have been (and maybe one of these days) be Sabres’ games. It might be your family: like your kids. It might be your vacations. It might be U.S. politics. It might be your recreational activities: pickleball, video games, movies, tv shows, hunting, sewing. It might be information and learning. It might be your career. It might be your house or property.
We all have loves that tempts us to make them the ultimate something. We all have those areas of life where we’re tempted to set our hearts on them as the ultimate things. We all have longings and desires that vie for our attention. Or another we we could put it: There are multiple things that vie for our worship.
The fourth century follower of Jesus, Augustine of Hippo, wrote in his biographical testimony, Confessions, that the issue of his life – and what he noticed in the lives around him – is that different loves vie for attention in our lives. And, the battling of these loves is what causes issues. Augustine described the brokenness of life as the consequence of “disordered love” or as the Bible calls it: sin. The issue according to Augustine, is that all loves – all desires and objects of our affection and attention – can’t be the ultimate thing. They – can – be good things, but not the ultimate thing.
A soft-drink tastes great on it’s own.But if a bunch of other drinks were added to it, the drink would be less enjoyable. It would be less enjoyable, because the taste of the soft-drink is hidden by all of the other flavors mixed into it. This is what it’s like we when try to worship Jesus, and a bunch of other desires and loves. When you try to worship multiple things, life gets messy and confusing. Worshiping multiple loves is another way of referencing idolatry in our world.
John Calvin, one of the 16th century reformers of the Christian church – during the Protestant Reformation of the Roman Catholic Church – is credited for saying, that Human hearts are “perpetual forges of idols.” Or, often, more simply put: “Human hearts are idol factories.”
Paul makes a similar point throughout 1 Corinthians 10. Paul notes in 1 Corinthians 10:6, to keep from setting your hearts on evil things.
And immediately, he ties that the evil things are idols. Throughout this section, Paul is recounting how the ancient Israelite people set their hearts on things other than the Lord God. And how their idolatry watered-down their worship. And lead to a weak life with God. And ultimately, it led to a number of Israelites’ destruction.
Idolatry will lead to a weakened experience of God.
What we encounter throughout 1 Corinthians 10 is that idolatry – setting our hearts on something other than God – other than the God revealed in the life of Jesus – will lead to a weakened, or lesser, experience of God. Idolatry is setting your heart on something other than God as the ultimate thing. Idolatry puts the Lord God, revealed in Jesus, in competition with other loves. Idolatry introduces other influences into your life. Idolatry weakens the experience of Jesus that you have, and that those around you have through your witness. When you worship multiple things, Jesus becomes unrecognizable in your life.
Jesus is able to withstand the weight of being the ultimate thing.
The good news of 1 Corinthians 10 is that Jesus is the best thing to worship. Jesus is the best thing to worship because his glory is able to withstand the weight of being the ultimate thing. Because he is the creator, redeemer, and restorer of creation. Because he is the Lord God. And when Jesus is the only thing you worship, and dedicate your time, attention, emotions, and resources toward, you’ll become more like Jesus.
And the step of faith that 1 Corinthians 10 calls you to step into is to consider the state of your worship: Is your worship concentrated on Jesus? Or is your worship mixed with other loves? 1 Corinthians 10 invites you to ask the question: Are you becoming like Jesus? Or something else? You’ll become what you worship.
Social media has changed the landscape of influence drastically. Before social media and smart-phones, a person had to have access to: a record label, publisher, or television network. But now, influence can be accessed at most of our fingertips. We live in a world where teenagers are making millions of dollars on YouTube or TikTok. And the temptation is that anyone can become just as successful. In recent years, different surveys have revealed that many kid’s dream job is no longer to be President or CEO of a company. Rather, YouTuber has shut-up the ranks of desirable careers. While making videos on social media is accessible to most people, those who have become known for it, are often a result of giving themselves to it: creating video after video, keeping up with the algorithm changes, coming-up with new ideas all the time, chasing the next subscriber, chasing the next like or comment. I dabbled in making short-sight-seeing videos over a year ago. And I quickly realized how demanding it was to constantly create content. And it easily became a consumer of my time, attention, and resources. I could see how giving time, attention, and resources was shaping me toward a certain end. And the end-result looked like chasing: likes, views, subscribers – to hit the next goal of platform building – to hit the threshold of possibly making money from a video – to keep heading-down that road, I was going to become an anxious, exhausted, absent person to the other people in my life. My desire to have videos noticed, was shaping me in a way I didn’t like. I was being shaped by what I gave time, presence, and attention to.
Throughout the first section of 1 Corinthians 10:1-13, Paul looks to the example of the ancient Israelites as an example of what not to follow. In 10:1-4, Paul describes how the Lord God called the Israelites out of slavery (out of eventual death) in Egypt, and into abundant life in covenant with, and worship to God. Paul describes the stability and nourishment that came to their live by worshiping the Lord God: In 1 Corinthians 10:3, they ate and drank from God, their spiritual rock. Whom Paul says is the same God revealed in Jesus: the Christ.
But in verses 1 Corinthians 10:5-10, Paul recalls how the ancient Israelites allowed the temptation of other loves and desires to shape and influence them away from the Lord God. Verse 1 Corinthians 10:7; is a reference to Deuteronomy 32, where while Moses went up the mountain to receive God’s law (the ten commandments), the people allowed their desires to run rampant, and fashioned a golden calf to worship. While the people are waiting for God to reveal his law to them, they take up other forms of worship. Which, shapes and molds them into idolaters — literally creating an idol out of their own jewelry. And in the process, pushed themselves further away from God. They made it more difficult for themselves to experience God. They also made it more difficult for the nations surrounding them to see the glory of the one true Lord God in relationship with humanity. The Israelites idolatry polluted their worship. The Israelites’ idolatry polluted their ability to experience the blessings and promises that God had for them.
Paul also recounts similar times, from Numbers 16, 21, and 25, where some Israelites let their desires run wild into sexual immorality, or their defiant desire to return to a life of slavery in Egypt, or their grumbling desire for a new leader they believed would be better than God’s choice of Moses. All of these desires polluted their worship of God, and polluted their experience of God’s blessings. Their worship of sexual gratification, life in Egypt, and better leaders, shaped their path toward destruction, and being cut-off from God’s blessings.
In 1 Corinthians 10:6-7, Paul says, “Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. Do not be idolaters….” He doubles-down in 1 Corinthians 10:11-13, “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! Paul bridges the conversation to his audience of Jesus followers in Corinth by saying, “Don’t think your faith in Jesus – makes you exempt from these same temptations.” “Don’t think that your freedom in Jesus from the old Israelite covenant – makes you exempt from these same temptations.”
This temptation traces back to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3). Where they were tempted to worship themselves. Shaping them to become disconnected from the life of God altogether. Adam and Eve’s polluted worship shaped them to experience less of God’s blessing. They became what they worshiped: false gods. Making themselves as something ultimate that was unable to bear that weight; and eventually they died, and God was still the Lord God – the ultimate thing.
In 1 Corinthians 10:1-13, Paul is calling the Corinthian followers of Jesus to understand that worship matters. Worship is what enables us to experience more of God, or less of God.
In 1 Corinthians 10:13, Paul highlights that this is the great temptation: the temptation to give our worship – our time, attention, and resources to something other than God as the ultimate thing, “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind.”
Being a follower of Jesus does not give us freedom from temptation, But it does back us with God’s guiding power and wisdom to endure temptation.
Being a follower of Jesus does not give us freedom from this temptation, But it does back us with God’s guiding power and wisdom to endure past the temptation to worship other things.
When we’re tempted to pursue acts of worship outside of God’s loving boundaries: greed, selfishness, pride, vengeance, grumbling, complaining, ingratitude, sexual immorality, etc. It doesn’t have to be a forgone conclusion that we will give into those desires. It’s not a forgone conclusion that we have to be shaped by them. Being tempted toward them is unfortunately normal and realistic in a world separate from God, but it’s not sinful. What is sinful, is to give into them, and make something more important than God and his way of life. To do so, is to worship something other than God – to worship an idol. To this, in 10:14, Paul warns the Corinthian followers of Jesus to “flee from idolatry” (1 Corinthians 10:14)
How do you like your marshmallow’s cooked: golden brown, or burnt black? If you like them golden brown, you know there is a delicate balance of how close to the flames you can have the marshmallow, before it’s consumed by flames. This imagery is helpful in understanding what Paul is communicating in 1 Corinthians 10:14-30.
A few weeks ago, Mitch helps us from on 1 Corinthians 8, where the topic of meet sacrificed to idols was first mentioned in this letter. Mitch referenced how meat sacrificed to an idol was a common occurrence in the pagan culture of Corinth. Part of the worship of that happened in these temples, involved meat sacrificed to the deities. The meat was used in the actual worship practices in the temples; and/or sold at regular marketplaces.
A helpful comparison would be kosher food for Jewish folk. Or Halal food for muslim folk. Meaning, there is a religious process involved in the utilization of such foods. Either way, the meat referenced in 1 Corinthians was used in the worship of a god other than Jesus.
Throughout this section of 1 Corinthians 10, Paul is laying out a spectrum. On one end of the spectrum is eating meat in the temple - that was sacrificed to these false gods. To do this, someone would have to literally be going inside the temple. And participate in the rituals of the temple.
Think of someone who would want a hotdog, and the only place to get one is a the Bison’s ballpark downtown. To get and eat the hotdog, you’d have to also participate in the process of getting a ticket, going to the concession stand, and hearing the sounds of the game, etc. So, that is one end of the spectrum that Paul is presenting.
On the other end of the spectrum is eating this same meat from a marketplace… (or that a non-Christian bought at a temple or marketplace and served in their home). At this point in the spectrum, Paul is saying, “Yes, it was used in worship to a god other than Jesus, but if you’re aware that the meat was offered to a false god, and you’re convinced that Jesus is the true Lord and that ‘the earth is the Lords, and everything in it” (1 Corinthians 10:26; Psalm 24:1) – including this meat – and you’re grateful to Jesus, and not a false god for it – then it’s perfectly fine to eat.
Now, you might be thinking, “What’s the difference?” The difference is in the worship. When the meat is eaten in the temple, it’s more difficult to not be shaped by the worship practices that accompany eating meat at that time. But, when the meat is eaten in other space, the follower of Jesus is still allowing their worship of Jesus to shape their eating of the meat: offering thanks to Jesus for it. And, using the opportunity to eat the meat with an unbeliever to point them to true worship of Jesus as Lord, as the ultimate thing.
Overall, Paul is saying that worship shapes us. You’ll become what you worship. The meat itself isn’t the issue. What someone does with the meat – is the issue. How someone worships with it – is the issue. And worshiping someone other than Jesus, invites evil forces to shape and mold us toward destruction. This is why Paul notes in 1 Corinthians 10:20, “...the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons.” That form of worship shapes people away from Jesus – away from the abundant life of God. If you participate in it, you’ll be influenced away from God – away from Jesus too. This is the point on the spectrum – of no return, where the marshmallow is going to be affected by the flame – where it’s going to be burnt. The point where you’ll for sure begin to be shaped by something other than Jesus.
But this is also why Paul can say in 1 Corinthians 10:25, “Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, for, ‘The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.’ Outside of the places where unbelievers worship, there is more nuance to still be able to be in the world, but not of it – to eat the meat sacrificed to idols, but not be influenced by it.
On this end of the spectrum, you can still interact with the world, without it shaping you out of a living like Jesus. The point on the spectrum where you can get the marshmallow close enough to the flame, where it can be with the flame, but not burnt. The point where you can still be in the world, but not of it. In the world, but not shaped away from living like Jesus.
In 1 Corinthians 10:23-24, Paul reiterates what Mitch highlighted for us a few weeks ago, that your knowledge of false worship is good, but love of your brother or sister in Christ is better – if you’re being in the world, but not of it causes them to stumble in your presence. Forgo your right to eat the meat in that moment – for the sake of unity in the body of Christ. But beyond that, being with unbelievers – and helping them enter God’s kingdom is just as important. What’s important to notice here, is that both approaches to others (weak believers or unbelievers) requires being shaped by the love and mission of Jesus through our worship of Jesus. You’ll become what you worship.
1 Corinthians 10 prompts us to ask, “What am I worshiping?” What other loves or desires are polluting my worship of Jesus? Am I trying to worship Jesus and those things all at once? When I do so, I’m deceptively allowing sin and evil to pull me toward destruction. To pull me away from abundant life in Jesus. To shape me toward some other end, than the life of Jesus. I’ll start to become what I worship. You’ll become what you worship.
Taste and see what you’ll become when you worship Jesus.
Today, if you’ve never sought to worship Jesus alone – as the one true Lord and ultimate thing in your life – I invite you to move away from other objects of worship, and taste and see if Jesus holds up to the weight of being the ultimate thing in your life. I invite you to ask me, or another trusted follower of Jesus, to help you discern your next step of faith in making Jesus your singular object of worship, surrendering to Jesus under the water of baptism, so that he can shape you to be like himself, so that you’ll be come what you worship, so that you’ll become like Jesus.
If you’ve already surrendered your life to Jesus, What tempts you away from worship of Jesus? Grab a piece of paper on a chair near you. Grab a pencil in a seatback near you. On left side of the paper, write, “Jesus.” One the right side of the paper, write, “idol.” Draw a line in the middle. On the right side of the paper, write or draw something – that represents something that temps you away from worship of Jesus. What is something, that, if you partake in it, would cause you to give up living for Jesus in some way? Maybe it’s brunch with your family, or kid’s sports, or Bills’ games, that pull you away from worshiping Jesus on Sunday mornings. Maybe it’s politics or following the 24/7 news cycle that pulls you away from reading and meditating on God’s word. Maybe it’s binge watching that show or movie, that pulls you away from being energized and alert enough to seek God in prayer each day. It’s not that these pursuits are evil, in and of themselves. But at a certain point, they do begin to shape you away from Jesus, to where it’s hard to recognize Jesus in your life and worship.
On the left side of the paper, write one step of commitment that you’re going to take, this week, to let go of lesser desires and loves, to pursue Jesus as the ultimate love? Maybe it’s marking your calendar, now – to plan to be here next Sunday. Get our your phone, or planner now, and mark it down. Make it an alert or set an alarm for Saturday night. Make it a priority now, so that you can be shaped by Jesus next Sunday. Maybe it’s setting an alarm for each morning, or at lunch, or before bed, to pray for at least five minutes, or for maybe at least five things. Maybe it’s choosing now, to not see that movie or tv show that you already know is not shaping you to be like Jesus. Make that decision now, and not when you’re tempted to go ahead with it later. Maybe it’s choosing now, to be celibate with your girlfriend or boyfriend. Making that decision now, and not when you’re tempted otherwise, later. In the end, these are all simple forms of faithful worship to Jesus. Allowing his way of life to shape us to become like him and experience his abundant life.
How is God’s Spirit calling you to order other desires and loves under him as the ultimate desire and love? How is God’s Spirit calling you to repent of worshiping other “gods” alongside trying to worship Jesus? You’ll become what you worship.