Two Religions (Part 1)

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Pet Peeves (Part 2) (rerun)

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Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Avendrock. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing
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Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.
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Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the scriptures verse by verse with No Compromise.
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You know you're in trouble as a pastor when you get an email from one of your deacons
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The day before Sunday, I got it last night from Scott Walkton, and the email was please bring your household idols to church tomorrow.
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Makes you want to run. I've collected different small idols from across the world to use as a teaching tool to show children you don't bow down to idols, you don't worship idols, you don't snuggle idols, you don't fondle idols, you run from idols.
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And so when the deacon calls and says please bring your idols, it just seemed odd to me, but I knew he was going to use them for a
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Sunday school class to teach the children run from idols. We are a society that worships.
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Everyone here is a worshiper. We are born to worship. We are made to worship.
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Atheists worship. Pagans worship. Hindus worship. Buddhists worship.
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Christians worship. Angels worship. And you worship too. We are worshipers.
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God has made us that way. He has set eternity in our hearts. And so the question is, who are you going to worship?
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What are you going to worship? Songwriter in the 70s wrote these words, but you're going to have to serve somebody.
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Yes indeed. You're going to have to serve somebody. Well it may be the devil or it may be the
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Lord, but you're going to have to serve somebody. Who wrote those lyrics? Bob Dylan. Gotta serve somebody,
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Bob Dylan, late 70s. He's right. He might not have followed the Lord after that.
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I need a little more volume, Tracy, please. He might not have followed the Lord after that, but he was right that a person will give allegiance to a thing or to a person, someone else.
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There's no DMZ for people. Everybody worships. So why don't we turn our Bibles to 1
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Corinthians chapter 10 in this great passage that talks about running from idolatry.
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We are to worship the one and true King, King Jesus, Christ Jesus the
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Lord, and we must run from any idol that would somehow impinge upon our great
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Lord and Savior. We want to preach Christ crucified. And Paul has already said in chapter 2 verse 2,
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I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, even him, the crucified one.
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It's all about Christ Jesus. If you love Christ Jesus, you'll love this church.
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If you want to see Christ Jesus extolled by the grace of God, you'll see the Sunday school teachers and the elders and yes, even the pastor talk about Jesus, the only
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Savior, the only advocate, the only Redeemer, the only one who can be a sin bearer in your place,
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Christ Jesus, the risen King. And if you don't want to hear about Jesus and you just want how to moralistic pickup stories, pick me up for the next week.
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This is a bad church for you to be in because we want here to extol Jesus, the
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Lord of the church who purchased the church. And after all, if I tell you stories about me, I'm going to let you down and I probably have let you down or I will let you down.
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But we want to be focused with laser beam kind of eyes on the person and work of Christ.
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So then when someone comes along wanting worship or desiring worship or we feel tempted to worship, one of the things that scripture does is it gets our minds rightly focused again on Christ Jesus, fixing our hope on Christ Jesus.
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Now this passage here, chapter 10 verses 14 through 22 is an under preached passage.
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I wouldn't necessarily pick this passage to preach because it's got a lot of stuff in there that frankly and honestly is really related to the
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Corinthian context and to the context Corinth alone. To the context back in those days where they had pagan feasts and pagan idols and we don't really have that around here.
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And so it's an under preached passage. And if you look at this text, it shouldn't be under preached because the key is found in verse 14, flee from idolatry.
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Therefore, in light of all the stuff about liberty, I want you to run from idolatry.
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I want you to scamper away. I want you to hurry. Pell Mel run as fast as you can run for the hills, run for your lives.
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And Paul is saying, you know, we have liberty in Christ to do all kinds of things. But when it comes to getting really close to idolatry, don't touch it.
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We would say back in Nebraska, don't touch it with a 10 foot pole. Just get away from it. You might have liberty to do all kinds of things, but Corinthians, you think you can go into the pagan temple and eat some of the food without being affected?
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You can be affected. There are things going on behind the scenes invisibly with spiritual warfare, demons,
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Satan, principalities. If you run, it's not cowardly. If you flee from idolatry, it's not cowardly.
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Now some people say, well, you know what? I don't bow down to these little idols. I don't do that. I'm much more sophisticated. Well, how about success?
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Where does success fit in in your life? How about money, relationships, acceptance, family, career?
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We, in fact, at the core, might dabble with things as idolatrous as the
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Canaanites. When our allegiance for Christ Jesus is usurped by something else, that's called idolatry.
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When you value something besides Christ Jesus, when you value something above Christ Jesus, the
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Lord, the Advocate, it's called idolatry. One author said, when you look to some created thing to give you what only
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God can give you, that is idolatry. An idol is anything in your life that is so central to your life that you can't have a meaningful life if you lose it all.
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What if you lost it all? What if you lost all your family, all your money, your house or houses, your cars, everything?
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You lost it all. Then what would the focus of your life be?
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Idolatry is bad. And if you focus on your family and idolize them, they'll eventually let you down.
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If you focus on your job so much that you idolize it, you'll become a workaholic, consumed by self and money and nothing will satisfy you.
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If you idolize pleasure, you'll become an addict to that pleasure and then enslaved to that very pleasure.
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If religion is your idol, you will look down on other people who don't live up to your moral standards and expectations.
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Christ has made us to revel in him, to have enjoyment in him. What is the chief end of man?
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He who dies with the most toys wins. Maybe that was the message updated catechism question.
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Paul is telling the church at Corinth and then the Spirit of God through the words here in the text, idolatry is wicked, our hearts are idol factories even as Christians, so run away from the idols and run to Christ.
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So let me read these verses, verses 14 through 22. And what we'll do this morning is
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I'll teach you through the passage and we'll have some application points because really the text is
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Corinthian specific, Eastern specific. But you'll see some truths in here and look at chapter 10 verses 14 and following.
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Everything surrounding those three words flee from idolatry. If you get those words down, you understand what
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Paul is saying. All the rest are reasons, clarifications, furthermores modifications.
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The passages run from idolatry. Verse 14, therefore my beloved, very pastoral, flee from idolatry.
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I speak as to sensible people, judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?
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The bread that we break, is it not a participation 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.
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Consider the people of Israel, are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar?
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What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything? Or that an idol is anything?
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No, I imply that what pagan sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God.
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I do not want you to become participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the
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Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.
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Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? Paul says, pushing your liberties to the end can cause a disaster, could lead you into idolatry, so run from idolatry.
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Let's take a look at the passage, we'll just work through it so you understand it in context. And if again,
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I'll say it for emphasis, if you say the key to these nine verses, by the way we're going to go through nine verses today, this is an all time modern record
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I think. We're going to do more next week I think even. If you understand that you should run, sprint away from false idols in your life, and that it could be a very possible thing for you a
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Christian to deal with these things, and you want to run from them and run to Christ Jesus, you've got the passage down.
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I remember in the 70's we would say if we were in a situation we needed to get out of that situation we would say it's time to split.
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Who just said that? Okay, Peggy. Did you say Bob Dylan too?
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You might say cut and run, don't tamper with, don't dabble with, don't play games with, take to one's heel and bolt.
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Now see what was happening here back in the time of Corinth. If you were to worship other idols and just add a few more idols to the repertoire you already had, it was no big deal.
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Because back then this monotheism thing didn't fly for most of the people because they were pragmatic enough and they would say we need a
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God for protection, we need a God for fertility, we need a God for education, we need a God for this, that and the other, and the more the merrier.
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Hey if you're going to have a God you might as well have a lot of Gods. You might as well pick the ones you want. When I was outside of Puna walking around one day and I met this
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Indian man who was helping me. He was young, he was 22. I asked him which Gods he worshipped and he worshipped the sex
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God, the money God and the power God. And I thought I could have guessed that, a 22 year old unregenerate male.
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And I said the sun up there, see the sun up there? I said I worshipped the one and true only God who made that sun with a word and then gave his sun to us.
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People worship and pagans if one is good a lot is better.
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And so they're coming from this standpoint where there's paganism with all these polytheistic parties going on and just to have one more
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God is not that big a deal unless you're a monotheist, unless you have allegiance to God alone then it's a big deal.
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Safety in numbers doesn't work when there's only one God and his name is Jesus Christ.
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And he demands loyalty. Oh I did want to say this, this is fascinating. Expositors commentary said a
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Christian today regarding our passage must discern how the illustration applies to their own lives.
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So here's the pagan feast, here's all this stuff and by the way we have no idea how this applies today so you the reader can just figure out for yourself how this applies.
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Is there any application? Well before we get to that what is the passage all about? And go back to chapter 8 verse 1 this whole section with liberty has to do with idols as well.
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This is a long argument that Paul has argued in chapter 8, chapter 9 and we're almost done with 10.
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And he says in chapter 8 verse 1 now concerning food offered to idols and then he goes on to talk about it.
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Paul is going to say in this section that if you go to a feast for false idols you're participating in the worship of those idols.
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So you go there and they're offering food to some kind of weird moon god and you go there and eat some of that food, you're participating, you're fellowshipping with, you're in communion with these people even though there's no such thing as an idol.
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Even though idols aren't anything because there's only one God. And so he's saying you're going to try to come over here to the edge and see how close you can get to sin and Paul says you've got to run.
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Get away. And so he says in verse 14, therefore my beloved free from idolatry.
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He said in chapter 6 run from fornication. Now it's run from idolatry.
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Like Joseph, run. By the way flee there is present imperative.
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Keep on running. If you're weak run. If you're strong run. And the word is where we get the word fugitive.
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Ever watch the fugitive in the 60s or 70s growing up? You think you know what that guy's always on the run.
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He's just running, running, running. It's the same thing. You just run from them. Pack it up and run for the hills. Your mental calculations
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Bethlehem Bible Church regarding idolatry should be I want to get away from nuclear contamination with the same verb as I want to get away from idolatry.
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I just want to get away from it. Run from it. And with the same pastoral tone you can hear the echo of Paul's words in John 1
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John 5 little children keep yourselves from idols. Don't go to the temple banquet saying
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I'm free in Christ. Get out of there. Run. Flee idolatry does not mean go to temple banquets.
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Flee drunkenness does not mean go to the bar for a burger. Flee immorality does not mean go see your old girlfriend at a rave party.
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It means run. Be a fugitive. It's a big deal. Now I'll preface this so we don't have a catastrophe here.
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But if I were to yell the words fire really loudly in this building because there was a real fire you would all run like mad.
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Hopefully the men would escort the ladies and children first. But if there's imminent danger for the weak for the strong run.
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And this word run it even has to do with a military a flee it has to do with a military situation and that there's an army here there's a mountain and a mountain and a mountain pass and the only way they can get away from the overpowering enemy that's going to overtake them is to run as fast as they can through a narrow channel similar to exodus.
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Here comes pharaoh's army and the only way you're going to get away is to run through the narrow channel of the red sea.
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Run. Give it a wide berth. The opposite would be
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I can handle temptation. I can go to places where they're worshiping other gods it's no big deal
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I'm a Christian I can handle it. And Paul gives some reasons he could just say stop it with this sharp command but now he's persuasive and he tells us why this is in verses 15 and following.
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And he's going to tell us why we should run from idolatry instead of snuggle up to it.
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I speak to you as sensible people. My dad would say son use your noggin just think about a little bit.
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This word means make good sense. It's just good sense. Common sense. I speak to you as sensible people.
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Judge for yourselves what I say. I think you're going to come right to where I come in terms of my thinking
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Paul says. The cup of the blessing that we bless. Now he's going to use communion not because it's it's a one -to -one correspondence but there's some similarities.
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When we have communion think about that word communion. We're communing with others. We're communing with God.
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If you go to their feast and drink their cups and eat their food you're communing with them. You're communing with the gods.
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Is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break is it not a participation or fellowship or koinonia or a common bond in the body of Christ?
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And what you do does affect everyone because there's one bread we who are many who are one body for we all partake of the one bread.
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So Paul says just think about it. This is informed common sense. And he does this with all kinds of questions.
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You ever want to teach somebody something? Ask them questions because their minds think. And by the way when I preach
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I try to ask a lot of questions. Why? Because I can not talk faster than you can think.
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You can think 400 words a minute. I can talk 180 words a minute.
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But if I ask you a question then you're thinking about what I'm talking about. And so Paul is trying to get them to answer their own question in a sense by all these questions.
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He says you're misusing your liberty if you're going to pagan worship places. Now when he says in verse 16 the cup of blessing that we bless, by the way that was the third cup used in Passover was called the cup of blessing and the
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Jews would pray over the cup before they would distribute it in Passover.
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Ever wonder why sometimes the pastors or the elders who lead communion now before we eat the bread or before we pass the bread out let's pray over it.
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Let's pray for the elements. Let's pray for the cup because it's from a Jewish tradition where you have the third
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Passover cup and you have a blessing before you drink it and then the head of the household would say we praise thee
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God we thank thee and would pray. So that's just why it's called the cup of blessing, the cup of eulogy where we get the word
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Eucharist. It's where we would get the word for that. He says isn't it a participation in the blood of Christ?
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Not because the blood is really, the wine is really the blood of Jesus.
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It's not because of transubstantiation. That's not the point. But Charles Hodge said attendance of the
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Lord's Supper is an act of communion with Christ the object of Christian worship and with all those who unite with us in the service.
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From its very nature it brings all who partake of the bread and wine into fellowship with Christ and with one another.
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And so everybody's drinking out of the common cup and recalling Christ Jesus's sacrificial covenantal sacrifice and so we have communion with one another.
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We have communion with God. We share. Same word used. First Corinthians 1 called into fellowship with his son.
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Philippians 2 into fellowship of the spirit. Philippians 3 fellowship of his suffering.
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This isn't mystical. This isn't some kind of weird spiritual thing. Paul is saying this. Super simple.
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When you take the cup for communion you're having communion. That's why we call it communion. Fellowship, participation with others and with God.
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So now you go to the pagan feast and you drink some cup of stuff and the deity's being praised you're having communion.
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Don't do that. Even though you know that that idol's fake and false. MacArthur said when we properly share in communion we spiritually participate in fellowship with Jesus Christ.
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It's more than a symbol. It's a celebration of common spiritual experiences. The picture of someone we love is not the same as the person.
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It only represents the person. But the feelings of love, care, desire to be with them and of remembering experiences we have had with them are totally real.
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We have an experience of real fellowship with that person whenever we see their picture.
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Our minds are flooded with reality. So when you take the cup of Christ for communion you're communion with Christ.
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The point is not mystical, weird, consubstantiation, transubstantiation. The point is this is a religious service where we're remembering what
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Jesus did for us on our behalf. So Paul said run. I could flip the question around and ask it this way.
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There's a reason why unbelievers are not allowed to participate in the Lord's table. They're not allowed fellowship.
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They're not allowed to participate. Conversely believers ought not to go to a pagan celebration and participate.
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Now think for a second. We just think of meals as meals and we eat meals on wheels and we drive through and if you can't get your food served to you in a drive -through in about 30 seconds or less we're going not catatonic but apoplectic.
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We want food fast and we have microwaves and just eat around the TV and nobody talks and there's a thousand things that happen with our meals but a meal back in those days in this culture it meant something.
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You sat around and you're having the meal together. You bring somebody into the house. Someone else is going to try to attack them. You protect them more than your own family and you have this meal of fellowship and participation.
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This was a major deal back in those days creating bonds and signifying alliances. So to have a meal with somebody was really to open up your doors and your heart and say this is communion.
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This is close. Sometimes even the way they would lay on each other's shoulders just adding to the fact of community and communion.
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So now you're going to go to the pagan feast and say you know what it's just cheap food. It's no big deal. I remember when
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I was in college my roommate said you know what there's some free food down the street and you want to go tonight?
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I thought free food this is pretty good. I'm 23 years old living in Los Angeles. Free food this will work and he said the
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Krishnas are giving out free food. I wasn't born again but I knew something was not up with that because nobody gives free food for a reason.
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There's a catch to it and I didn't need to be going to get free food from the Christians one day and then the next month bald with a little ponytail down here hanging out at LAX all week.
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I knew that was a bad thing to do. Paul is saying
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Christian services and pagan services are diametrically opposed.
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Pagan services you sacrifice to get God's pleasure. Christian service there's nothing we could do except believe in what
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God did and God gave the sacrifice for us. They're completely different religions.
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Every religion in the world. God we will try to earn your favor. We'll abort our kids and put them on the altar of Molech.
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We'll try to be good. We'll do good. We'll do more good. We'll do extra good. We won't do bad. We're glad other people are worse than us.
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Maybe you'll choose us and we will offer to you something so you might like us.
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Every religion except Christianity that says Adam fell and we and Adam fell and we're wicked and our hands are tainted and without faith in Christ Jesus it's impossible to please him.
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So left to ourselves we're undone yet God in his great eternal love gave his son for us.
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No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.
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Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life -transforming power of God's word through verse -by -verse exposition of the sacred text.
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Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 8 30 and 11 a .m. and Sunday evenings at 6 p .m.
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We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston, Massachusetts. You can check us out online at bbcchurch .org
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or by phone at 508 -835 -3400. The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.