Holding The Line
1 Corinthians Series
CCCAG – 8-10-25
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 5 (CSB)
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Introduction:
I drive a lot in my new job. I’m averaging between 1000 and 1200 miles per week as I drive between here and Hudson WI, up to St Croix Falls, and usually spend about 5 hours of my work day driving.
It gives me a lot of time to listen to audiobooks, music, news, and sometimes I just shut everything off that is making noise and think.
This week I was thinking about today’s message. I thought about the world that the Apostle Paul was living in, and how it mirrors ours.
Granted, he didn’t have iPhones or social media. Motor vehicles won’t be invented for 2000 years. The closest thing he had to a calculator was an abacus.
But the social and moral issues that he dealt with in the first century church are actually very similar to what we will read about today.
Content warning- we will be dealing with subjects including sexuality and various subjects that just a few years ago would get our podcast banned from most platforms. This will not be a message that is appropriate to listen to if it’s on a speaker and there are young children nearby.
Like the Apostle Paul, we live in a time when the moral compass of society has been shattered.
What used to be considered immoral is now celebrated.
What was once shameful is now paraded and even has a month dedicated to it’s celebration.
Words like "tolerance," "inclusion," and "affirmation" dominate our cultural vocabulary.
But in his usual tactics, the prince of darkness has twisted the meanings of these words to promote evil.
Today, tolerance means silence in the face of sin.
Inclusion often means the church is expected to compromise its values. Affirmation demands we applaud rebellion against God.
This ideology, often called "wokeism," prioritizes feelings over facts and identity over truth.
It claims to liberate, but instead enslaves people to sin and confusion. It’s not just outside the church walls.
It’s creeping into the Body of Christ. Even into some in the Assemblies of God.
But this isn’t anything new. As the bible "What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun” Ecc 1:9
Corinth was facing its own version of this.
Paul, in 1 Corinthians 5, calls out a shocking case of sin in the church—a man was having an ongoing sexual relationship with his stepmother.
We don’t know from the context if the father was still alive. The commentators are split about this.
Either way- it’s pretty messed up.
You know you messed up when Corinthians say that is a step too far.
And yet, the church in Corinth was doing nothing about it. Worse, they were boasting about it. They were saying that they were so forgiving that they would even let this go on in their church.
We are going to tackle this chapter section by section today, but lets start with a word of prayer.
Prayer- God open our hearts to see the truth. Let us examine our own lives for things that don’t please you. Let us all see when we have had wrong ideas, wrong attitudes, or wrong motives when we look at people outside the church. Create within us a heart that beats like Jesus.
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As we saw from the text, Paul doesn’t stay silent about what is happening in this church. He confronts both the sin and the church’s tolerance of it. Today, as we walk through this chapter we are going to draw out three powerful lessons:
1. The Church Must Be the Guardian of Bible Truth
2. The Church Must Call Out Sin
3. The Church Must Confront Sin with Redemptive Discipline
Let’s look at these one at a time.
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I. The Church is the Guardian of Biblical Truth
It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and the kind of sexual immorality that is not even tolerated among the Gentiles—a man is sleeping with his father’s wife. 2 And you are arrogant! Shouldn’t you be filled with grief and remove from your congregation the one who did this? 1 Cor 5:1-2
Paul confronts a shocking case of sexual immorality in the Corinthian church—a man sleeping with his father's wife, a sin so egregious it's "not even named among the Gentiles" (v. 1).
But the real scandal? What really got Pastor Paul angry about this- The church's tolerance of it.
They're "puffed up" with arrogance instead of mourning (v. 2), essentially questioning God's clear standards on holiness from Scripture.
Paul demands they remove the sinner, handing him "over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus" (Vs 5)
This seems harsh, but I want to make something perfectly clear about Paul’s motives.
This isn't vengeance. It’s not even punitive.
It’s redemptive.
The church must guard the truth of God’s word no matter how the world thinks in any certain time.
I’ve used this analogy before, but it fits- What would you think if you are getting a physical by your doctor, and he or she finds evidence of cancer and doesn’t tell you.
In fact, the test shows they caught it early, and there is a 100% chance if you begin treatment immediately, you will live.
But they hide that truth they don’t want to upset you. The doctor wants you to like them, so they won’t give you the bad news.
They care more about you liking them, then they do about your well being.
We talked about this last time we did a home church- the difference between being nice and being kind.
Being nice is all about you wanting people to like you.
Being kind- which is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, is about you caring enough for the other person to do or say something to them that might make them not like you in that moment. It’s not about you, but about the wellbeing of the other person.
Back to the doctor. How would you feel about that doctor hiding the truth to you, and it leads to your disability and/or death?
This is exactly what the church is doing if it hides the truth of God, or changes what it says to have people like them.
They will hide the truth that there are some human behaviors and choices that God has told us are forbidden because these actions are spiritual cancer that kills us inwardly.
Therefore, these church’s, “pastors”, and denominations that have refused to preach the truth of God will face a very strict and harsh judgment from God.
Ezekiel 3:16-17 and 33:7-9 tell of the responsibility of those called by God to speak the truth, and says that if you fail to tell them, their blood is on your head.
That’s the judgment that will fall upon many churches and denominations that for the sake of “relevance” choose not to speak out against what God calls sin, but champion those who do it.
I don’t know exactly what the White Throne judgment will look like in Rev 20. I do know that God will sit on that throne in such a terrifying way that heaven and earth flee from it.
I don’t know this, but perhaps the worst judgment would be for God to show them all of the people in hell because these pastors failed to warn them, right before he condemns them to suffer along side them.
This is why the church must hold the line when it comes to God’s truth.
This is the truth- God is His Word (John 1:1).
All of redemptive history revolves around this point.
The first sin committed was by a being called Lucifer calling into question this very point by asking, “Did God really say?” calling into question God’s goodness and moral character.
So when the church guard’s biblical truth, it's defending God's very being. The core of that being is perfect holiness.
This is so important that the church get this right I’d even say this-
When it comes to defending God’s truth,
The Church Like Seraphim in Isaiah 6: Guardians of His Word
Where the seraphim in Isaiah, hovering around God's throne, crying "Holy, holy, holy!" and shielding His glory from the unworthy, the church is the guardian of the truth of God seen in HIS revealed word, the bible.
That’s our responsibility within the church, but what about those outside the church?
That brings us to the second point of this chapter-
II. The Church Must Call Out Sin (1 Corinthians 5:1–2)
Paul does this by naming the sin clearly.
He doesn’t hide behind euphemisms or soft language. This isn’t a case of private failure.
It’s public, ongoing, and scandalous. A man in the church was sleeping with his stepmother—something even the surrounding pagan culture found repugnant.
But what is equally disturbing is the church’s response. Instead of grieving, they are proud they can be so open to an alternate lifestyle.
This is the problem with many church’s in the world today.
They prided themselves in being open minded.
My grandfather used to say, “Being open minded is fine. You should listen to other people’s ideas and opinions. Just don’t’ be so open minded that your brain falls out.”
Because they had the wrong idea of grace and forgiveness, they thought their tolerance was the epitome of “spiritual maturity."
Maybe they thought, "We’re not like those legalists in Jerusalem. We understand our freedom in Christ."
Sound familiar?
That same spirit is alive today. Churches proudly platform people living in open rebellion to Scripture, all in the name of love. Entire denominations celebrate what God condemns, claiming moral high ground for their inclusivity.
But Paul isn’t impressed. He rebukes the church not just for tolerating sin but for celebrating it. He says, "Shouldn’t you be filled with grief?"
The Old Testament prophet Amos foretold what the world would be like in the end times- Amos 8:11-12
11 “The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine through the land— not a famine of food or a thirst for water,
but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.
12 People will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east,
searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it.
The reason they will not find it- because so many church’s have turned their backs on the truth and exchanged it for popularity.
Application:
Church, we are called to love, but biblical love is not blind acceptance. It is truth spoken in grace.
Romans 12:9 says, "Love must be without hypocrisy. Detest evil; cling to what is good."
We must call sin what God calls sin. Not out of condemnation, but out of concern. Ignoring cancer doesn’t heal the body. It kills it.
It is more loving to shine a light into the worlds darkness than it is to let people stumble and fall into the traps that the enemy has set.
That is why the church must uphold the Word of God both inside AND outside of its walls.
Let’s look how Paul tells the church to handle it inside the church.
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II. The Church Must Confront Sin with Redemptive Discipline (1 Corinthians 5:3–5)
3 "Even though I am absent in the body, I am present in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who has been doing such a thing. When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, hand that one over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord." (1 Cor. 5:3-5, CSB)
Now Paul instructs the church on what must be done. He tells them to "hand this man over to Satan."
That sounds severe, even cruel. But notice the goal: "so that his spirit may be saved."
What Paul is saying is let this man come out from under the spiritual cover and protection of the church, and maybe that will drive him to repentance.
This is not about revenge. It is about redemption. This is not an Old Testament mob ready to stone someone.
It’s about allowing the man to feel the full weight of his sin so that he might repent and return. It is a spiritual wake-up call.
This aligns perfectly with Jesus' instructions in Matthew 18:15-17:
1. Confront the person privately.
2. Bring one or two others if they don’t repent.
3. Bring it before the church.
4. If they still refuse, treat them as an outsider.
Outing them publicly isn’t the first step-it’s a last resort.
I’ve only seen it done one time in 33 years of being a Christian, where the pastor actually stood up a person during a service and had the ushers escort them out.
I know for many people, this seems harsh. It doesn’t seem like something a church should do to our natural minds.
But I would ask you this question- Your liver contains about 10 trillion cells. That is a lot of cells. How many people would be comfortable if a person were to inject 5 cancer cells into your liver?
No sane person would take that chance.
That’s why we remove unrepentant public and major sin from the church- we need to follow what the Word of God instructs us to do, even when it can be painful.
Application:
It goes against our culture that says: "Affirm, don’t confront."
But biblical love is kind, and therefore it confronts. Not to shame, but to save.
Redemption should be the goal both inside of the church, and outside of the church.
In Conclusion
Chapter 5 is a heavy chapter. We will finish the rest of it at our home church service in a few weeks.
It talks about sin, judgment, and church discipline. But the heart behind it is love—love for the sinner, love for the church, and love for Christ.
Church discipline is not about kicking people out. It’s about calling them back. It is not the final word. Restoration is.
I want to end by circling back to the original man being called out in the bible for having sex with his step mom-
2 Corinthians 2:6-8, Paul refers to what many scholars believe is the same man. Paul says:
"The punishment inflicted by the majority is sufficient. Now you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him."
Because they held firm in exercising loving discipline- The man repented. And Paul says, "Now bring him back. Reaffirm your love."
That is the goal. Always.
God disciplines those He loves. So should we. Let us be a church that speaks truth, offers grace, and seeks restoration.
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Prayer:
"Father, we thank You for the cross that makes restoration possible. Help us love people enough to confront sin and lead them back to truth. Keep our church pure. Let us walk in sincerity and truth, not hypocrisy and compromise. In Jesus’ name, Amen."
