How does falling away start?
Last week we heard that a true Christian can fall away.
Not because Christ is weak.
Not because God is unfaithful.
Not because the Holy Spirit fails.
But the Holy Spirit gives us the trust that receives salvation in Christ through the Word about Christ.
So, if you turn away from Christ to trust again in yourself, then you are again in the hardness of heart that rejects and resists God’s goodness to you in him.
Because salvation is not in you—it is in Christ.
But if someone has been given trust in Christ by the Holy Spirit, Then how does that falling away start?
Most people do not wake up one morning and say, I don’t want to be a Christian anymore.
For most people, turning away from Christ to trust again in yourself starts while you are still religious, still calling yourself Christian.
That is what was happening in the church in Corinth.
Paul is writing to a church whose lives are simultaneously both arrogant and chaotic.
A church that started with the true, pure Gospel, but then became self-focused and prideful; filled with people who want to be first and impressive.
And alongside that arrogance, their lives have degenerated into anger, lust, vainglory seeking and slander.
How does a church get to that point? How does a Christian get to that point?
Well, in this chapter Paul explains how it starts.
He says three things:
1) It starts with what you want (v. 6)
2) It grows when you see Jesus as the obstacle to what you want (vv. 7-10)
3) You escape because God is faithful and shows you he’s the one you want (v. 13)
It starts with what you want
So first, It starts with what you want
Please look at v. 6:
6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.
Paul is talking about the Israelites that God saved from Egypt through Moses.
He has just described how they had many spiritual privileges, but then threw them all away through unbelief.
So in the verse before, Paul says:
with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
This is what happens as an example for us. And Paul says the reason why they were overthrown was because they desired evil.
People do not fall away because God turns away from them.
People fall away because they turn away from God, because they desire evil.
It doesn’t matter how spiritually privileged you may have been before:
—you’re baptised;
—you’ve been born again;
—you have responsibility on a Sunday.
It doesn’t matter.
Israel were privileged. They were baptised under the cloud as they passed through the Red sea. They ate spiritual food, and drank spiritual drink.
But they desired evil. They didn’t desire Christ. They were given Christ in types and promises. But they didn’t look at these promises, they stopped looking at Christ as he was presented to them. They stopped trusting in God’s Word, which means they stopped trusting in Christ.
And instead they desired security in themselves:
—a secure earthly source of meat;
—a secure earthly place of safety;
—a secure earthly god that they could see and control.
You and I have this same desire. None of us here can trust ourselves, or our experience, or our personality, or our past, or our personal journey. None of these things make us secure.
You want them to, but they lie.
You’re not safe because you pray lots: Jesus warned the disciples not to rely on long prayers.
You’re not safe because you read the Bible lots: Jesus frequently clashed with the scribes, who were experts in the Law.
You won’t be safe if you have money: Jesus warns that you can’t serve God and mammon.
These things don’t make you safe—so beware of feeling safe because of them.
Falling away starts with what you want And what we want is security we can see and control.
It grows when you see Jesus as the obstacle to what you want
That’s how falling away starts, next Paul goes on to explain:
2) It grows when you see Jesus as the obstacle to what you want
Every human being is driven by trust in something. What you trust bears fruit in your feelings, actions and words.
This is Paul’s point in v. 7:
7 Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.”
In Exodus 32, the people of Israel were at the foot of Mt Sinai. But Moses was at the top, listening to God, out of sight.
The people could not see him. They could not hear him. They could not confirm what was happening by their own reason.
And so, God’s Word and Moses’ promises become an obstacle.
An invisible Word isn’t good enough, so they make idols to worship: false gods they can see and control.
It is sitting down to honour this idol that the people eat, and then rise up to play.
Their desires run wild and take control… …sin takes control of their bodies, as they submit to their idols instead of God.
The problem was not that God had given them nothing. He had given them his Word. His promise to dwell with them. His promise to give them the land of Canaan. And he was now giving Moses his Law.
The problem is they didn’t desire what God gave. God was giving himself by promise, and they wanted something they could see.
So, the true God started to feel like the obstacle to the security they wanted. And that idol bore fruit in giving their bodies over to acts of sin.
Do you struggle with anger? Sex outside marriage? Are you tempted to steal, or to take what is not yours? Do you constantly try to protect yourself by gossiping?
The Christian hates, confesses, and fights sins like these.
But the idolater defends them, explains them away, downplays their significance.
When the pastor says: “Do you want forgiveness for anything.”
The Christian says: “Yes! Look at all this sin I’m struggling with!”
But the idolater says: “Actually, I’m doing really well, thanks.”
Falling away from Christ doesn’t start with acts of sin—it continues and bears fruit in them.
The failure starts with a lack of trust, a lack of faith, a failure at the core of your being to believe that in Christ God is good, and specifically is good to you.
And that’s why this idolatry grows when you see Jesus as the obstacle to what you want
Because… the idolater wants a god they can see.
But Jesus is a God who gives himself in his Word.
The idolater wants security in status now.
But Jesus promises to the poor in spirit: “theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
The idolater wants power, so gets angry when it’s taken from them.
But Jesus promises to the meek: “they shall inherit the earth.”
The Israelites’ misplaced trust bore fruit in evil desires, because God’s Word now seemed like the obstacle to getting what they wanted by just taking it.
Paul describes this in vv. 8-10:
8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, 10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.
You escape because God is faithful and shows you he’s the one you want
But Paul’s third point is to give us this assurance:
3) You escape because God is faithful and shows you he’s the one you want
Please look at v. 11:
11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.
Nobody falls away because God has let go of them. God knows about your temptations. He cares. You matter.
And so, he inspired Moses to write down these events, so that we will look at Christ and not let go of him.
Paul’s warning is not “if you sin too much you’ll fall away”, instead it is in v. 12:
12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.
In other words: don’t look at yourself. Look at Christ. Look at his promises. Remember your Baptism. Receive the Sacrament. Confess and receive Absolution. Come and receive the Gospel at church.
Not because you can stand when you do these things;—anyone who thinks he can stand is in danger of falling—but because these are the places where Christ gives himself to you.
And God is faithful to you, and shows you Christ is what you want. v. 13:
13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
The “way of escape” is not some weird inner strength that depends on you.
And the temptation Paul is talking about is not any particular moment where you feel the urge to commit a particular sin.
Paul is building on the picture of Israel in the wilderness. The temptation is to give up on God’s promises and turn to trust in something you can see. And the way of escape is this: God will be faithful and show you he’s the one you want
Israel were trapped between Pharaoh and sea. They didn’t part the Red Sea to pass through—God did.
Israel were starving in the wilderness. They didn’t bring down manna from heaven—God did.
Israel were bitten by serpents. They didn’t raise the bronze serpent to save them—God did.
How does falling away start?
It starts with what you want
And it grows when you see Jesus as the obstacle to what you want
People fall away when they stop trusting in Jesus—when they lose faith.
But God will be faithful and show you he’s the one you want.
He gives you desire for Christ—even if you don’t feel it now.
Where will he do that?
At church, through the Word in the liturgy; through the Word in the Sermon; through the Word in the Sacrament; through the Word spoken by others.
He will keep you. Look at him.