Think on these questions as you dwell in 1 Corinthians 10:14-22:

1. Paul emphasizes the connection between participating in the Lord's Supper and abstaining from idolatry. How can we practically apply this principle in our lives today, ensuring that we are not inadvertently participating in idolatrous practices in our culture?

2. Paul warns against the undercurrents of idolatry that may not be immediately apparent in our society. How can we discern and identify these subtle forms of idolatry in our daily lives? What steps can we take to guard ourselves against falling into idolatrous patterns of thinking and behavior?

3. The concept of idolatry has evolved over time, from physical statues to more subtle, self-elevating ideologies. How can we actively combat the temptation to prioritize our own desires and perspectives above God's wisdom and truth? What practical strategies can we implement to ensure that we remain rooted in God's Word and free from idolatrous influences?

Transcript:

 So, Paul comes back here to the subject of idolatry. You may remember a few days ago, maybe a week or two ago, we talked about this food that was sacrificed to idols. And Paul says, are idols anything? No. Uh, he doesn't want them to participate though in the idolatry that these sacrifices are made to. And that's the issue here.

And so, what does he say? He wants the people to flee from idolatry. And he used, he goes actually to.  The Lord's Supper to talk about this. Look, look at where he goes right away in verse 16. The cup of blessing that we bless is not a participation in the blood of Christ. The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?

He's saying, you are being joined to Jesus here. You are, you are saying that you are a part of the body of Christ, that you are a part of his church, that you are with him. And so don't go and have another meal as a part of idolatry.  Get away from idolatry. And so, he's saying here, all these people are participating in this because you are a part of Christ.

And notice what he says in verse 19. What do I imply then?  That food offered to idols is anything? Or that an idol is anything? Paul's saying, look, I understand that the idols that they're sacrificing to, they're nothing. But what ultimately is this idolatry? What is this idol worship? And Paul tells us, Ultimately, they're offering these pagan sacrifices to demons.

And so, when you participate in them, even though idolatry is nothing, when you participate in them, you are participants with demons. And so, he says, you can't drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You can't partake at the table of the Lord and the table of demons. So, in other words, he's saying, don't let yourself be involved with idolatry.

And so, Paul says here, Flee, go back to verse 14, flee from idolatry because at the root of it, at the root of these teachings is demonic forces.  So, what, what does this mean for us today? You know, we, we don't have food sacrificed to idols. Um, I don't think, even though we would say that we live in a pagan idolatry, ultimately.

Uh, we don't have people sacrificing food to idols, at least not that we're aware of. Uh, and, and we don't have these, these things going on around us that are so blatantly idolatrous. For us, idolatry isn’t, isn't so blatantly in front of our faces that, and we, we can't see this. It looks different for us.

So, how do we flee from idolatry?  I think we need to think about this very seriously, and I've mentioned this before, there, there are many idolatrous things that happen in our culture. There are things that we, that we place above other things, and there's also such a undercurrent of paganism in our culture.

Uh, this idea that, that we ourselves essentially are the ones who, um, dictate morality. And, and this idea that we are the ones who are autonomous over everything is very much. An idolatry and it's an idolatry of the self, right? We're elevating ourselves above God We're elevating ourselves above his wisdom And so for us to flee idolatry, we have to say, we are not going to be participants in these ideas that put myself over the Word of God.

I'm not going to make myself an idol. I'm not going to make another person an idol. Or I'm not going to make things an idol. We have to be distinctly aware of what this looks like in our culture. Because as I said, and had a stone statue or a wood statue that they had carved and then they brought in a goat and they sacrificed it.  What would our response be? I mean this, this is pretty straightforward and simple. We would know. Instead for us, our idolatry is a serious problem. It's a temptation that you and I probably deal with every day, but it's not blatant.

And so, we have to think, we have to look at what is the, what is the undercurrent in much of how we think? What is the undercurrent in much of how we view the world? We need to be aware because we don't want to participate in something that is lifting up demonic ideas. We don't want to participate in something that elevates the self above God.

And so, we need to be aware of these things.  And so may we have wisdom, may God grant us wisdom, because some of this stuff is hard for us to understand. We have to know God's word. We have to be, um, deeply into it so that we can see the truth. Because God is very clear in his word that he will use it to build us up.

And so, may we have a wisdom that is greater than the world rooted in God's word. And may we desire to grow in this each and every day.