Text: 1 Corinthians 5:1-13
OPEN WITH PRAYER AND THANKSGIVING
Now we've been in 1 Corinthians for a while, and we've seen Paul address a few of the issues that were going on in that Church. And I don't know about all you, but I'm thankful that God chose to add this book to the canon of Scripture, because if He hadn't, we might be under the assumption that churches are places where everything is all rosy, and wonderful, and perfect. Rather than places full of sinners who have been saved by grace and who are now being sanctified by the truth.
The Church is BEING PERFECTED, but won't get there this side of eternity. WHY? Because God is saving people who have been bound by sin, controlled by their sin nature, living lives of immorality and wickedness, and making them new creations in Christ.
And that's one of the great things about this book... it shows us how God does this... it shows us the means by which He operates and effects our sanctification.
So we're in 1 Corinthians 5 today, and we're going to read verses 1-13 (READ 1 Cor. 5:1-13).
So Paul is addressing issues within this local congregation in the city of Corinth, and what he does here is work his way through those issues one at a time, probably in the order that he was made aware of them (either by a letter or by a report). But we've also go to remember what he's already addressed. He's already called these Corinthians out for their immaturity in the faith. He told them they were babies who still needed milk. Then he called them out for the divisions. Remember, some said they followed Paul, some Apollos, some Peter, and some - who were trying to appear super-spiritual said, "Well we're just following Jesus", and Paul exposed them and said to them, "Actually, what you are is puffed up with pride." And then he told them... and this is some of the best advice we can ever get... he told them, "Stick to the Word, and don't go beyond what is written."
Now why is that such good advice... Because the Word, THE HOLY BIBLE, is God's fullest revelation of Himself to humanity. So when someone says to you, "I have a word to you from the Lord." Our first response should be, "Awesome, let's see how it lines up to THE WORD He's already given me."
So there's this issue of pride and division, and then Paul comes to this next issue... I'm going to try to be tactful here without compromising what the Scripture says... So there's this gross immorality - of a sort that isn't even happening among the pagans... now that word "Pagans" is the Greek word "ethnos"... it literally means, "The Nations", but it's referring to "Gentiles"... now what's interesting here is that most of the people in the church at Corinth, were ethnically Gentile, not Jew. So why does Paul use this language?
Well... it's a teaching in and of itself, but I'll whet your whistle and Lord willing we'll come back to it at some point. In Romans 2:28-29 Paul says, "For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God." And in Galatians 3:7 says, "Those of faith are the sons of Abraham." Verse 16, "Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say "offsprings," referring to many, but referring to One, "And to your Offspring", who is Christ." And finally verse 29, "If you are in Christ then you are Abraham's offspring, and a heir according to the promise." And then if you go back to Romans, Paul says that, "Not all Israel is Israel... and that the wild figs have been grafted into the tree." The tree is Christ - and Gentiles were placed into Him. Jew, nor Greek (or Gentile), slave nor free, male nor female... it doesn't matter - what matters is Jesus. Are you in Christ? Have you been baptized into Christ by the Holy Spirit? That's what matters.
So in verse 1 he says, "I'm hearing that there's this terrible immorality taking place among you." And then in verse 2 he says to them, "Are you arrogant?" Now we've seen that word before, it's that Greek word "physio", and again it means to be puffed up with pride, and to think of yourself more highly than you are. So he says, "Are you puffed up with pride? You ought to be mourning here."
Now that gives us a great deal of insight into something that I want to camp out on for a minute or two. So let's think this through together. Why didn't these folks at Corinth, deal with this sin? Why aren't they mourning over this member of their church who is involved in such a grievous, immoral sin? Let that marinate for a minute while I ask you this: How is it that churches, and entire denominations can say things like, "We're going to perform same sex weddings?" Or, "We're going to ordain homosexuals as pastors?" How can entire denominations say, "We're going to now use godless, anti-Christian, Marxism as the lens with which to interpret Scripture?" How can they do that? It didn't just happen over night. How does that happen? Look at verse 6 - "A little leaven leaven's the whole lump."
So Paul says, "You're puffed up. And because you're puffed up, you've allowed a little bit of false teaching creep in, and false teaching over time, corrupts the whole church."
If you look at, and put it all together, basically what was happening here is that in Corinth you had this notion, or idea, or false view - which is really what it was... of "Look at us. We're so spiritual. We're so tolerant and loving. We're not 'judgy' like those Philippians or Ephesians We just love everyone." In Church history, how many churches and entire denominations started off right, and then went down such a path? We all know of one right off the top of our heads!
Paul is not telling these Corinthians to be legalistic. He's not... He's telling them to deal with sin. He says, "YOU SHOULD MOURN OVER THIS!" Not be so tolerant of something that is offensive to God, and that is going to destroy that individual, and destroy your local church.
You see; Christians are sinners, who have been saved by grace, and who are BEING SANCTIFIED by the truth of God's Word. And so we all, each and every one of us, will slip up and sin from time to time - the question of "Are you in Christ" is answered by how we respond when do fall into sin. The Bible tells us that if we sin, we are to confess our sins to Jesus and He is faithful and just to forgives us of our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (that's 1 John 1:9), but the Bible also tells us that by God's grace, we are to respond with repentance. We are to - by the power of God's grace within us, and the Holy Spirit, repent of our sin, and turn away from it, and put it to death.
Why? Why can't I go on sinning? I mean... if I'm in Christ, why can't I just go on sinning? Because I'm in Christ! I died to that sin in Him! - That's Romans 6... So I'm supposed to walk in newness of life. I'm supposed to be following Him. Waling in His way, living as He lived. I'm not talking about sinless perfection - again, that doesn't happen this side of eternity... but I am talking about pressing toward the mark of the prize... I'm talking about being a New Creation in Christ Jesus. There are sins that I used to commit that have no appeal to me what-so-ever. I just have no desire to do those things anymore. And I'm so thankful that I'm not what I used to be... but I'm also so thankful that I'm not what I'm going to be...
So Paul's not talking about legalistic... but he is saying, "Listen, we can't allow this type of unrepentant sin... especially of this sort of vile immorality, continue on in the church, because it's going to... again... not only destroy that individual, but destroy the church itself." And he kind of explains that in verses 9-13, where he says, "I'm not talking about sinners outside of the church." What do sinners sin? Because they're sinners... that's what they do. It's their nature to do that. Why do dogs bark and cats meow? Why do dogs chase cats? Because it's their nature to do that. They can't do something other than their nature, because that's not who and what they are. So sinners haven't been given a new nature in Christ, because they're outside of Christ. They haven't been born again. In Romans Paul says that they are slaves to that. That's why it takes grace. Because by their very nature, they live, and do things contrary to the will of God. And that's why Jesus says to Nicodemus in John 3, "You must be born again."
But for the person who professes to know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, to go on living in un-repentant, on-going sin... that's contrary to their profession. That's shows that either their profession wasn't made in true faith, or as it appears with these Corinthians... something had happened that had seriously stunted their Christian growth. In their case it is pride... that's the root cause. And you see - this whole book is Paul dealing with the damage their pride has caused them. Everything else in this book that Paul is correcting, all comes from that initial little bit of leaven that they initially let in due to their pride.
SIN IS SERIOUS.
So what does Paul say a church should do? Put them out, remove them, deal with the sinner. That means we don't allow them to be members of our church. It means we don't offer them communion - we treat them as an unbeliever. We turn them over to the results of their sin. We do this as a means of love, in hopes that they will repent, and see the danger, damage, and destruction of living in such sin. We don't let them go on deceiving themselves thinking that they are right with God.
"But Pastor Ken, you don't understand, I love this person." Then don't let them go on being deceived. Don't let them go on destroying themselves with sin. Point them to Christ, urge them to repent, share the Gospel with them every chance you get, but do not affirm them in their sin. That's not love.
Let's pray and we'll close.
CLOSING
