1 Corinthians 5:1-8

March 24, 2013 | Port Gardner Church | Chuck Hickman

1 Corinthians: Part 10 | Be what you are | 1 Corinthians 5:1-8

Confronting Immorality in the Church

1 Corinthians 5:1-8 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife. 2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.

3 For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. 4 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

INTRODUCTION

Today’s message contains some PG13 material that may be inappropriate for some children. I leave it to you as parents to handle this accordingly. We have a fine Children’s Ministry to help care for your kids during this message. Or you can keep them with you … Just wanted to give you a pre-emptive warning.

Paul is now getting into some specific sins of the church in Corinth

The sin of an unnamed Christian in Corinth.

Verse 1: It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife.

The term sexual immorality is the ancient Greek word porneia; it broadly refers to all types of sexual activity outside of heterosexual marriage.

Originally, porneia just referred to going to prostitutes; but before New Testament times, the Jewish community used the word to refer to any kind of extramarital sex, including homosexuality. This is its sense in the New Testament.

Porneia so often appears first in New Testament “sin lists”

but not because the first Christians had a lot of “hang ups” about sex. it is because the area of sex was one of the most dramatic places where the ethics of Greek culture clashed with the ethics of Jesus. Sexual immorality was an accepted fact of life for the common person in Greek culture, but it was not to be so among the followers of Jesus.

For a man has his father’s wife:

Apparently, someone was having an on-going sexual relationship (either as married or living together) with his stepmother (his father’s wife). The woman involved is probably not a Christian, because she isn’t even addressed.New Testament Christianity unlike OT Judaism, regularly recognizes women of the faith in scripture. The verb to have is a euphemism for an enduring sexual relationship, not just a passing fancy or a “one night stand.”

and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans,

This kind of incestuous relationship would be considered taboo even among the pagans of their culture,yet the Corinthian Christians seem accepting of this behavior.

The ancient Roman writer and statesman Cicero said this type of incest was an incredible crime and practically unheard of. Truly, it was not tolerated even among pagans

It should have been enough that this is declared sin by the Bible (Leviticus 18:8; Deuteronomy 22:30 and 27:20); it should have been enough that the worldly culture itself considered it sin. But the Corinthian Christians didn’t seem bothered by it at all!

The Reaction of the Corinthian Church to the Sin

Verse 2 : And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.

As bad as the sin itself was, Paul was more concerned that the Corinthian Christians seemed to take the sin lightly,and they were unconcerned (were not mourning) about this behavior. Previously in the letter, Paul had been dealing mainly with the “mental” problems of the Corinthian Christians: their wrong ideas about God’s power and work and His servants. Now, Paul is starting to deal with their “moral” problems. But the two are connected;their moral problems come because they aren’t thinking right about God and His world.

This is a very common problem in the church today. Many of us want a gospel that meets our personal standards of culture and comfortWe don’t want to rock the boat with friends or family that don’t agree with the BibleWe think that maybe God would have said things differently if He were to write the Bible today. We look at our culture and think that we have “evolved” and are better and smarter than the people in Biblical times.

I have known people who say Jesus is their saviorHe has saved them from their sinsThey are part of God’s family and are loved by God… BUT…They don’t believe the Bible to be completely trueThey don’t like certain parts of it like how God condemns abortion, infanticide, sex outside of marriage, homosexuality or other sinsTherefore they dismiss them as not “modern” or up to date with culture

Is God so inept that He would have to re-write his truth in scripture a second time to get it right?

Is the sovereign God of the universe not smart enough to say what He meant the first time?

How can any of us claim one part of the Bible as truth without claiming all of it?

If we don’t believe all of it… how can we trust our immortal soul to any of it?

This is just another example of us raising our thoughts above God. Saying we are smarter, we know better… we are smarter than God. If you don’t believe the Bible… don’t pretend to be a follower of Jesus. A follower of Jesus does what Jesus did, lives like Jesus lived, believes what Jesus believes.

Belief is a funny thing. Just because you believe something is true or real doesn’t mean you have to change your life. Satan and his demons believe in God. They believe in Jesus and they believe the Bible is God’s true word.

Many of us might have had an experience where we said that we believe Jesus was the son of God and that he died and rose again to save me from my sins… to save me from the eternal wrath of God. Even Satan believes this about Jesus.

The difference comes when we make Jesus Christ the Lord of our life and follow him with our every thought and action. If your belief in Jesus doesn’t change the way you live, you need to re-examine your faith.

I’m not advocating a gospel of works. I’m saying that if God has delivered you from sin and eternal damnation, wouldn’t you live the rest of your life in a manner that expresses your unending gratitude?

Every other religion or philosophy in the world says…. Do the work and maybe you’ll get it…

Christianity is the only way that says… you’re in, you’re saved, you’re a child of the King… now live like it.

Let him who has done this be removed from among you.

Clearly, this was Paul’s solution to the problem –to take this notoriously unrepentant man away from the protection of the fellowship of God’s people. Yet, the Corinthian Christians were not doing this. Why not? How could this kind of thing be allowed?

Remember that Corinth was a city notorious for sexual immorality, and the pagan religions did not value sexual purity.

It wasn’t hard for a Corinthian to think you could be religious, yet still act any way you pleased when it came to sex. Greek culture could matter-of-factly say: “Mistresses we keep for the sake of pleasure, concubines for the daily care of the body, but wives to bear us legitimate children.”

Wouldn’t they know it was wrong through the Old Testament? Leviticus 18:8 expressly forbids a man to have sex with his stepmother (The nakedness of your father’s wife you shall not uncover

More than anything, the Corinthian Christians were probably allowing this in the name of “tolerance.”

They probably were saying to themselves, “Look how loving we are. We are accepting this brother just as he is. Look how open-minded we are!” We should never underestimate what people will allow in the name of “open-mindedness.”

Many Christians today are being branded as “intolerant” because they believe the Bible to be the unadulterated word of the sovereign God of Creation.

People say that the human race has evolved and developed. That we need to affirm “love” wherever we find it. Even if it is sin in God’s eyes.

All of this happens when we do not test every teaching against God’s word. Against scripture. When we start to extrapolate our thoughts beyond the boundaries of God’s word, we exalt our so called “knowledge” above God.

Rob Bell:

Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in So. California says this

“Our culture has accepted two huge lies. The first is that if you disagree with someone’s lifestyle, you must fear or hate them. The second is that to love someone you must agree with everything they believe or do. Both are nonsense. You don’t have to compromise conviction to be compassionate.”

The Corinthian Christians were proud of their acceptance of this man;

they thought it said something good about them! But instead of glorying, they should have been grieving, both for the man and for what they must do to him (be taken away from among you).

Paul’s prescription.

Verses 3-5: For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. 4 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

Absent in body but present in spirit:

When Paul mentions his spirit being present, he isn’t speaking of astral-projection in the early church. He is truly represented in their midst by his letter, which was a valid spiritual extension of his apostolic authority.In other words, Paul didn’t have to be there to exercise his authority; distance didn’t make him any less an apostle.

Paul pushes his authority hard here (have already judged),

but not too much, because he recognizes that it must be done in the name and power of the Lord Jesus (in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ).

I have already pronounced judgment: Is Paul disobeying what Jesus said in Matthew 7:1-5? After all, “judge not, let you be judged!”

Paul is not being disobedient. Jesus’ command in Matthew 7:1-5 forbids hypocritical judgment,and judging others by a standard that we ourselves do not want to be judged by. Paul is perfectly willing to apply the same standards to himself that he is applying to the Corinthian Christians.

Some judgment is permitted, and some is not.

“While Christians are not to judge one another’s motives or ministries, we are certainly expected to be honest about each other’s conduct.” (Warren Wiersbe)

How could they deliver such a one to Satan? By putting him outside the church, into the world, which is the devil’s “domain.” The punishment is a removal of spiritual protection and social comfort, not an infliction of evil.

God often protects us from the attacks of Satan, even when we never knew about the attacks

Job 1:10 Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.

Luke 22:31-32 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

The fact that so many can leave many churches without a second thought demonstrates a lack of Biblical understanding by both individuals and the churches they attend and subsequently leave.

If the church was a true example of the family of God, wouldn’t it be a fellowship that the person who is being sent out would miss?

This also says something about a Christian… if they can willingly neglect the assembling together of the saints – and prefer their isolation.

Paul’s command also removes any false feeling of security the sinning man might have among the fellowship of Christians.

They couldn’t just ignore his sin, and let him ignore it, pretending it wasn’t there. If the man refused to face his sin, the church had to face it for him, for his sake and for their sake.

The purpose of putting this man outside the spiritual protection and social comfort of the church was the destruction of the flesh, not the body, but his rebellious flesh.

This man, though a Christian, was at this time given over to the sins of the flesh. And he didn’t want to change.

Paul is saying that through their taking him away, the man will be given over to the sinful consequences of his flesh,and the hope is that by wallowing in the results of his sin,the sinful impulse of the flesh in this particular area will be “destroyed.”

Are there not things that you have done in your life, that because of the consequences you suffered… you will never ever do those things again?

As Christians, we do continual battle with the flesh, because though the old man is dead, having been crucified with Christ (Romans 6:6), the flesh lives on, having been “educated” in sin by the old man, the devil, and the worldly culture around us.

God now calls us, in partnership with Him, to do to the flesh what He did by Himself to the old man: crucify it (Galatians 5:24).

Paul hopes that putting this man out of the fellowship of the Corinthian Christians, it will lead him to crucify the flesh with its passions and desires.

The words deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh

were used to justify terrible torture during the Spanish Inquisition 1478-1834, but this isn’t what Paul is talking about at all. Paul isn’t talking about destroying the man’s physical body, but addressing the spiritual power of his sinful flesh.

so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

The goal of the discipline is clear: it is about the salvation, not the destruction, of his spirit. This man’s conduct was clearly sinful, and needed severe correction,Paul does not write him off as forever lost – the effective use of church discipline may yet see him to salvation.And to restoration within the body of Christ

All discipline in the church is to be carried out in this attitude of restoration, not condemnation.

2 Thessalonians 3:14-15 If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.

“Church discipline is not a group of ‘pious policemen’ out to catch a criminal. Rather, it is a group of brokenhearted brothers and sisters seeking to restore an erring member of the family.” (Warren Wiersbe)

Paul does not say the church should take away the sinning man’s salvation.

The church does not grant salvation; it certainly cannot take it away. But there are cases, for the good of the sinner, and for the good of the church, when someone should be put out of the congregation.

Some call this “excommunication” or “dis-fellowshipping” a person. They are to be put outside the congregation until they repent.

In today’s church culture, this rarely brings a sinner to repentance, because they can so easily just go to another church and pretend that nothing happened at their old church.

Or, it is easy for them to play the victim, and act as if their former church was cruel towards them.

While it is true that some churches have been cruel towards their members, and unjustly kicked some out of the congregation, it does not mean the church should never practice the Biblical principles Paul teaches here.

It is to be done, for both the good of the church, and the good of the sinning brother or sister.

A little sin influences the entire group.

Verse 6: Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?

Again, the Corinthian Christians were proud and pleased to be ignoring this man’s notorious sin!

They thought it showed the whole world how “loving” they were. But you don’t show “love” to a body by being kind to a cancer!

We can rightly say Paul is more concerned about the sin of the entire church (especially the leadership),

than the sin of the individual man. Both are important, but the sin of the church is worse.If the church continues in sin, the sinning individual has no chance of repentance or reconciliation in the church.

The leaven mentioned isn’t merely yeast, but a pinch of dough left over from the previous batch, as in the making of sourdough bread.

This is how bread was commonly leavened in the ancient world, and little pinch of dough from the old lump could make a whole new lump of dough rise and “puff up” –so the work of leaven was thought to be an illustration of the work of sin and pride. The presence of a little can corrupt a large amount.

In this light, the Passover command to purge the leaven had a health purpose.

This method of fermentation, used week after week, increased the danger of infection or food poisoning, so at least once a year, the Israelites started from scratch.

We are to live a perpetual Passover Feast

1 Corinthians 5:7-8 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

At the Passover feast, all leaven was to be removed from the house, and nothing with leaven in it was to be eaten for a whole week.

Paul says that just as the Jews were concerned to remove all leaven from their midst, so the church should have a concern to remove such notorious, unrepentant sinners from their midst.

Paul’s connection between the purity of Passover and the Christian life is not a strange stretch;

Jesus is in fact our Passover Lamb, whose blood was shed that the judgment of God might pass over us. So, we are to live in the purity that Passover spoke of.

Our Christian lives are to be marked by the same things which characterized Passover: salvation, liberation, joy, plenty, and purity from leaven.

Paul’s point is both clear and dramatic: live unleavened because you are unleavened. “Be what you are” is the basic message of the New Testament for Christian living.

Sincerity and truth: These are two strong guard-rails for the way of the Christian life.

Here’s the deal about all of this… We know the truth… don’t we…

We know sin when we do it, when we see it.

Why? Because of God’s Holy Spirit.

It is only in the gospel of Jesus Christ that you get the verdict before the performance?

For every other religion or philosophy of living …the verdict comes after the performance.

In Christianity, the moment we believe, He adopts us into His family.

You see, our verdict is in. And now I perform based on the verdict.

And even as Christians who are saved by the blood of Jesus, we still will be tempted to sin… by nature and by choice.

This is why we have to re-live the gospel every day…

We have to hear it and speak it and re live it over and over and over again. We have to constantly ask ourselves… Does my life look like Jesus?

Remember what Paul said?… I don’t care what you think… I don’t even care what I think… I only care what the Lord thinks.

This is what the Lord thinks…

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, and YOU are my beloved child in whom I am well pleased.

Let’s remember what God has done for us, and be who He