Sermon25-39 1Cor10 Guide

1 Cor 10:1-17 theme verse 1 Cor 10:2-4

The praise and honor and glory be to our heavenly Father who seeks true worshipers who worship Him with the Spirit and truth.

In this thirty fourth Sunday of 2025, on Pentecost Sunday, I pray that His grace of the application of all the benefits which Jesus earned for our salvation and also the glorious ministry of the proclamation of His kingdom by the power of the Holy Spirit may be full in our life. Last week, we looked at what the discipline of the church is, yet this week, we would like to look at what the sacraments of the church are together.

1)    First, to summarize today’s text, after concluding the defense of his apostleship in chapter 9, Paul returned to the issue that some believers insisted to participate in the table fellowship in the pagan temple in chapter 8. Previously, in chapter 8, Paul argued about it, from the perspective of the weak, who were being abused by this falsely ‘constructive’ action. Yet, now, he speaks directly to those who are opposing him on this matter, first in vv. 1-13, severely warning them on the basis of OT examples of the grave danger they are in. I mean, even though the Israelites, had been blessed by the Lord to cross in the middle of the Red Sea, being fed with quail and manna, and drinking water from the rock, they had forgotten the grace they received to grumble, test the Lord, fall into idolatry and fornication so that they were finally perished in the wilderness. As such, he warned the Corinthians not to commit similar sins to be perished. And second in vv.14-22, by expressly prohibiting temple attendance as totally incompatible with the Christian life, since this is essentially associating with demon. In this way, Paul warns to the Corinthians that privileges to participate in the Sacraments were no guarantee of success (vv.1-4), that good beginnings do not guarantee good endings (vv.5-12) so that since only God can enable us to overcome temptation if we heed His word (vv.13-22), we have to live in His word to overcome the sins.

2)    Before we jump into the main topic, to exegete on a few difficult-to-interpret-verses in today's text, first, in the verse 2 "they were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea”, Paul tried to connect the guidance and protection by God's pillar of cloud and the crossing of the Red Sea with the baptism. Here the phrase to be baptized into Moses can be interpreted as to be baptized together with Moses. And then second in the verse 4, "they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them”, the spiritual rock that followed them” can be understood not as meaning that the rock that produced water followed them, rather as describing God was always with them, while leading them in the wilderness and providing them water from the rock by His power and grace.

3)    And also in this text, Paul likens the Israelites' crossing of the Red Sea and God’s provision of manna, quail, and water from the split rock in the wilderness to the sacraments practiced by the Corinthians, I mean, the water baptism and the Lord's Supper. In other words, Paul interprets God’s deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt through the Red Sea, becoming His people and making the covenant with Him as the baptism, signifying the forgiveness and cleansing of sins, the death of old self, and the rebirth of a new self through the grace of Christ's redemption. And also God’ feeding of the Israelites with manna and quail and providing water from the rock, to transform them into His holy people in the wilderness, was likened to the Lord's Supper, through which the regenerated are raised and grown up by eating the blood and flesh of Christ.

4)    As such, regarding the sacraments of the church, Belgic confession article 33 confess that “We believe that our good God, mindful of our crudeness and weakness, has ordained sacraments for us to seal his promises in us, to pledge good will and grace toward us, and also to nourish and sustain our faith. God has added these to the Word of the gospel to represent better to our external senses both what God enables us to understand by the Word and what he does inwardly in our hearts, confirming in us the salvation he imparts to us. For they are visible signs and seals of something internal and invisible, by means of which God works in us through the power of the Holy Spirit. So they are not empty and hollow signs to fool and deceive us, for their truth is Jesus Christ, without whom they would be nothing. Moreover, we are satisfied with the number of sacraments that Christ our Master has ordained for us. There are only two: the sacrament of baptism and the Holy Supper of Jesus Christ.”

5)    In the end, as the Belgic confession confesses, the sacraments ordained by God are symbols that outwardly demonstrate God's invisible grace—the outward calling of the Gospel and the inward work of the Holy Spirit, as Augustine said that the sacraments are visible signs of God's invisible grace. And also Heidelberg Catechism answers in Q&A 66, after asking, "What are sacraments?" that “sacraments are visible, holy signs and seals. They were instituted by God so that by our use of them, He might make us understand more clearly the promise of the gospel, and seal that promise. And this is God’s gospel promise: to grant us forgiveness of sins and eternal life by grace because of Christ’s one sacrifice accomplished on the cross.”

6)    And as the Belgic confession clearly confesses, we, Christian Reformed Church in North America, confesses that there are only two sacraments, I mean, Baptism and Lords’ Supper. But, still Roman Catholic confesses seven sacraments, I mean, in addition to Baptism and Eucharist, I mean, Lord’s supper, they have five more sacraments such as Confirmation which strengthens the grace of baptism and seals the recipient of the Holy Spirit, Penance where sins are confessed and forgiveness is received by the priest, Holy Orders which is the ordination of deacons, priests, or bishops, Matrimony which is the union of a man and a woman in a sacred bond, and Anointing of the Sick which provides spiritual and sometimes physical healing for those who are seriously ill or near death. Yet, Protestants rejects these five added sacraments, since these are not Biblical, as confirmation is seen as a public affirmation of faith rather than a distinct sacrament conveying grace, penance in which we rejects the Catholic emphasis on a priest’s role and believes forgiveness is obtained directly through Christ by faith, Holy orders which we challenges the concept of a specialized priesthood and affirms the priesthood of all believers, matrimony which we recognize the importance of marriage, yet consider an ordinance rather than a sacrament, and anointing of the sick which we see as a practice of prayer and care for the sick, yet not a separate sacrament conveying grace and possible leading to the salvation.

7)    And also the Belgic Confession clearly teaches us that God instituted the sacraments because of our weakness and imperfections. So through these sacraments, a) God seals His promises of the gospel in us, b) and He pledge His good will and grace toward us, c) and finally through these sacraments, God nourishes and strengthens our faith. In order words, by adding the sacraments to the word of the gospel, God enables us to understand the word of the gospel, by allowing us to see with our eyes and taste with our mouths the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, so that He gives us assurance of the salvation God offers us.

8)    As such, by participating in the sacraments, we grow more in His salvation through the grace of the Christ, after receiving salvation through Christ. That’s why Jesus said in John 6:55, "My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink," and in John 10:9, "I am the door; whoever enters through me will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture." Even that’s why Paul also said in Hebrews 12:2, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith."

9)    As Calvin said in his book “Christian Institutes of Religion” that “Our whole salvation and all its parts are  comprehended in Christ. We should therefore take care not to derive the least portion of it from anywhere else. Therefore since rich store of every kind of good abounds in him, let us drink our fill from this fountain, and from no other,” I pray that this year all we may proceed to Jesus, enjoying the grace of the sacraments which Jesus instituted, not only to receive the salvation He prepared, but also to grow into it.

Key Questions as Small Group Activity

Q1 Through today’s text, we became to know that the sacraments of the church are instituted by God, mindful of our weakness and crudeness, to show visibly the invisible grace of God in the salvation. So, meditating on these sacraments of the church and what kinds of grace are in them, I hope we could share our thought and experience with our team members together to learn from each other.

Q2 And, also we became to know that these sacraments of the church make us grow, I mean, they make us united into Christ more and more to grow into the conformity of Christ. So after checking if we are growing more through these sacraments, I hope we could share our thought and experience with our team members together to learn from each other.

Love you. Thank you. God bless you.

Prayer Note

Dear ( God’s attribute which you found Today ) God!

Thanks for ( something you received through the sermon or  even during the week )

Praise, gratitude and glory be to You, Lord!

Today, I realized my sin (pains) that ( the sin God reminded through the sermon ),

please forgive (or heal) me and help me not to repeat ( the sins you recognized   ).

I learned that ( something you learned through the sermon                                    )

Please help me to live in that (  learned way of life                                                )

I pray in ( Jesus’ attribute you find ) Jesus’ name. Amen.