Scripture Passage
Worship Video
Worship Audio
Sermon Script
Have you had a personal experience of meeting God?
Meeting God is a wonderful experience. When you meet God, everything is good.
You feel embraced by God’s love. Your burdens are lifted. You feel that everything is going to be alright.
Many of you have experienced this kind of wonderful encounter with God.
This is what it was like when the Corinthians received the gospel.
Meeting God instills a core belief: that everything will be alright. In God’s hands, all will be good.
In Christian faith, we call that hope. Everything might not be alright now, but they will be.
Hope is at the core of Christian faith. Hope is what the resurrection is all about. No matter how bad things are now, in the end, God will be victorious.
The writer of Revelation articulates a beautiful vision of this good ending:
See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them and be their God;
he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.
(Revelation 21:4)
That is the promise of our hope. Our whole Christian faith is built on the promise that no matter how bad things are right now, in the end they will be alright.
Because of that hope, how you live now changes. You live based on the promise that is to come.
That’s what happened to the Corinthians when they met God.
Christ was coming soon, and that all would be well. Based on that belief, they made radical changes to their lives.
They created a new community that crossed social and economic lines. Relationships that would never have been formed were created. It was a beautiful new kind of humanity and community.
When you meet God, that hope seems so real and alive. It is a beautiful thing.
But what happens when that hope doesn’t manifest? What if there is a never ending delay to that promise? What if things don’t really get better? Things don’t change or even get worse?
When the promise of a better future doesn’t become real, two questions arise in the heart:
What’s the point?
What difference does it make?
What’s the point of holding onto faith when nothing changes? What difference does it make to keep trying?
Your belief in the promise of a better future erodes. You lose hope.
That is the situation that Paul is addressing.
Christ did not come as they expected. Their problems remained. They were losing hope.
In today’s passage, Paul is warning them using examples from the past. The examples he uses are from the Israelites when they were in the wilderness.
The Israelites had been slaves in Egypt. God heard their cries and sent Moses to lead them out of Egypt.
They experienced the mighty hand of God in leading them out and providing for them.
This is how Paul describes this:
I do not want you to be ignorant, 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. (1 Corinthians 10:1-4)
God had led them out with a mighty hand. God promised that he would lead his people into the Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
But then they got stuck in the wilderness.
People grew restless. They began to lose hope in the promise.
Paul describes what happened:
Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness. (1 Corinthians 10:5)
They lost hope and fell away from God.
Paul has a few warnings based on what happened to them in the wilderness:
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.” (1 Corinthians 10:7)
This is based on the golden calf.
Moses went up to Mt Sinai to receive the commandments from God. But he took so long.
The people got tired of waiting. They demanded a god they could see.
So Moses’ brother Aaron created a golden calf. They held a festival where they ate, drank and played.
God makes a promise that all will be good. But when things don’t seem to get better, people easily turn to other things.
Where do you really turn to to feel safe and secure? What do you trust to make your life better?
We must not engage in sexual immorality, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. (1 Corinthians 10:8)
At another point during their time in the wilderness, they settled at a place in Moab.
The men began to sleep with Moabite women. Not only that, they began to offer sacrifices to Moabite gods.
They forgot about God’s promise. They lost hope they would ever get to the Promised Land. So they focused on pleasure for that moment.
Many people say: just focus on the present.
We should enjoy each moment, yes. (Olivia tanned from vacation – jealous!)
But when you only focus on the present and ignore the future, if all you look forward to is pleasure, it could be a sign of lost hope for the future.
We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents. (1 Corinthians 10:9)
When God’s promise does not come to fruition, people question God.
When I see people, they don’t turn to God or places like the Bible for wisdom, guidance and answers. They turn to experts online, influencers, people who sound intelligent. Anywhere but God.
When I mention the word “Bible”, many times I sense an immediate aversion.
It’s almost like: “God can’t exist when there’s all this mess – prove to me that God exists”.
Even after all that God had done, many people in the wilderness questioned God himself.
And do not complain, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. (1 Corinthians 10:9)
People complained and grumbled to Moses the whole time. They even asked why he had brought them out of Egypt. At least there they had food to eat!
Grumbling, complaining, being a victim – these are not marks of trust in God and his promises.
Paul uses these examples to identify pitfalls to faith. Things that take your eyes away from the promise we build our lives on.
What is the Christian journey?
It is living in that gap between God’s promise and its fulfillment. That’s what it means to follow Jesus.
The Christian life exists in tension between the messy reality that’s now and what will be. That’s why it can be so difficult.
That’s why so many people fall away.
Christian life is not for the faint of heart.
It’s not for those seeking a simple, easy life. It is living with that gap that sometimes seems like a chasm.
The main ingredient for life in this gap is faith: trusting in the promises of God, even when they seem so far away. Trusting the one who makes the promises.
When faith goes, so does hope.
There are so many reasons to lose belief in God’s promises.
We have our Sioux Valley info session today.
So many challenges – drug epidemic among youth. Grave concern among elders and leaders for youth.
Legacies of history and residential schools is tragic – breakdown of family life where love is experienced.
Message from broken family and outside world: you are not loveable. Questions: what’s the point? What difference does it make?
Lost hope – no belief that future can be different, better.
It seems more difficult than ever to hold onto hope in God’s promises.
But I hold onto God’s promises.
Why?
First, because life with no hope is no life. I don’t want to have nothing to live for!
Secondly, because of what I’ve experienced and because of people’s living testimonies of faith.
I’ve seen the living testimonies of faith in you and places like Sioux Valley. I’ve seen people get through so many challenges and difficulties with faith in God’s promises.
They don’t lose hope.
I’ve seen the power of faith that moves mountains and overcomes all manner of tribulations.
They assure me that God’s promises are real and true.
My friends, it is worth it to hold onto the promises of God. The rewards of the promise are great.
They are life. They are joy. They are fullness.
Living with faith in that promise has its rich rewards now. It brings peace, joy, community.
That is what we are: a community that holds onto the promises of God.
Paul gives this assurance to us:
No testing 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. (1 Corinthians 10:13)
We face many tests of our faith. But God will not let them overcome you.
God will give you strength. God will give you a way out! God will hold up your hope.
Hold onto hope. Do not give up. Find rest in the promises of God.
Leave a Reply