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Oasis Higher Ground Trainings Draw Near Others - Chinese - English Languages
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Pressing toward the Mark of the High Calling
(8th in the series of expositions on Communion delivered on Sep 17, 1978)
1 Cor 9:19-10:18
The last message on Communion is to show how God's love was expressed to us even before the presence of our enemies, this passage is also related to the previous one.
In 1 Cor 9:19, apostle Paul is telling us that he is concerned with the salvation for all men that he is willing to save all men who are under the law, Jews and non-Jews under the law. Paul mentioned that he is not under the law of the OT but under that of the NT, he communicates to the people at their level. In v23 "I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings." We partake the blessings of the gospel not simply by praying for them, but by going forth in the life that we have been called. No other blessing of the gospel is greater than salvation, which is the fullness of life. The reason why you have not experienced this blessing is because you have not totally committed to the work that a Christian is called to do. He calls us not only to believe in Him but to live in Him. It is a matter of participation and communication with Jesus.
In v24, it reads: "Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it." And in v25 it says, "Every athlete exercises self-control in all things...". How can we serve the Lord effectively? Paul used the illustration of an athlete - serving the Lord is a matter of training, of self-discipline. Verse 27 reads, "...lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified." Sharing in the blessings is not related to how well one can preach but how well one can live. So the constant receiving of the blessings depends on the constant relationship with Christ.
This point is again illustrated in Chapter 10. It is unfortunate that the conjunction "therefore" is not given in the English translation which is in the original Greek text. Chapter 10:1 is closely related to Chapter 9 which talks about the danger of being disqualified. Paul drew a parallel between the Israelite and the church - what happened to the Israelite was written for our instruction: v11 "Now these things happened to them as a warning, but they were written down for our instruction...". The Israelite were baptized (they passed through the Red Sea) and they all partook of the spiritual food and spiritual drink (Paul parallels them to the bread and wine at the Communion). The word "supernatural" in vv3&4 should be better translated as "spiritual".
God loves us but it does not mean that we can live an undisciplined life; we have to pommel the body (9:27) and always pressing toward the mark of the high calling. The Israelites were baptized and they had partaken the spiritual food and drink, but these do not guarantee the promised land; they all perished in the wilderness (10:5). In v6 "...these things are warnings for us, not to desire evil as they did." To desire evil does not mean to commit murder or robbery or anything of that kind. The Israelites' desire was to go back to the world - to Egypt. Their heart was still back in the world, so the result was (v8): "we must not indulge in immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day." The immorality is of spiritual sense rather than physical sense: they worshipped the golden calf, they loved the world. It is the spiritual abomination against God - this is called SPIRITUAL ADULTERY.
Verses 9&10 say: "Nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer." Grumbling is not intercession to God.
Verse 12 reads, "Therefore let any one who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall." The only assurance that we have is the Spirit within us who witnesses to us that we are the children of God (Rom 8:16).
Verse 14 says: "Therefore, my beloved, shun the worship of idols." The idol is the love of the world. Is our heart divided? Is part of our heart still in the world? Are you a committed Christian?
Verses 16-18 is talking about Communion. Today we eat of the sacrifices at the altar; we are the priests of God.
God loves us, but never be careless, for if we slide back into the world and become unholy, we will be like the Israelites who perished in the wilderness.
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Communion Series:
- Worship
- A Sharing in the Body of Christ
- God's Expression of Love to Us
- Pressing toward the Mark of the High Calling
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