1 Corinthians
Somerset is a Grace Place!
1 Corinthians 5
February 16, 2003
Intro:
A [Rock and a Soft Place, Citation: Anna Zogg, Salt Lake City, Utah. Christian Reader, "Lite Fare."]
Soon after my brother moved, he made a point of meeting his new neighbors.
He found that a Christian family lived on one side and an attorney on the other.
My brother remarked, "We’ve got law on one side and grace on the other."
1. Of course that is the way it should be—Christians should be marked by grace!
2. But we all know that is not always the truth—law marks many Christians rather than grace.
B. [Lessons from a Tavern, Citation: Charles Swindoll, Leadership, Vol. 4, no. 1.]
An old Marine Corps buddy of mine, to my pleasant surprise, came to know Christ after he was discharged. I say surprise because he cursed loudly, fought hard, chased women, drank heavily, loved war and weapons, and hated chapel services.
A number of months ago, I ran into this fellow, and after we’d talked awhile, he put his hand on my shoulder and said, "You know, Chuck, the only thing I still miss is that old fellowship I used to have with all the guys down at the tavern. I remember how we used to sit around and let our hair down. I can’t find anything like that for Christians. I no longer have a place to admit my faults and talk about my battles--where somebody won’t preach at me and frown and quote me a verse."
It wasn’t one month later that in my reading I came across this profound paragraph: "The neighborhood bar is possibly the best counterfeit that there is to the fellowship Christ wants to give his church. It’s an imitation, dispensing liquor instead of grace, escape rather than reality--but it is a permissive, accepting, and inclusive fellowship. It is unshockable. … You can tell people secrets, and they usually don’t tell others or even want to. The bar flourishes not because most people are alcoholics, but because God has put into the human heart the desire to know and be known, to love and be loved, and so many seek a counterfeit at the price of a few beers. With all my heart," this writer concludes, "I believe that Christ wants his church to be unshockable, a fellowship where people can come in and say, ’I’m sunk, I’m beat, I’ve had it.’ Alcoholics Anonymous has this quality--our churches too often miss it."
Now before you take up arms to shoot some wag that would compare your church to the corner bar, stop and ask yourself some tough questions, like I had to do. Make a list of some possible embarrassing situations people may not know how to handle.
A woman discovers her husband is a practicing homosexual. Where in the church can she find help where she’s secure with her secret?
Your mate talks about separation or divorce. To whom do you tell it?
Your daughter is pregnant and she’s run away--for the third time. She’s no longer listening to you. Who do you tell that to?
You lost your job, and it was your fault. You blew it, so there’s shame mixed with unemployment. Who do you tell that to?
Financially, you were unwise, and you’re in deep trouble. Or a man’s wife is an alcoholic. Or something as horrible as getting back the biopsy from the surgeon, and it reveals cancer, and the prognosis isn’t good. Or you had an emotional breakdown. To whom do you tell it?
We’re the only outfit I know that shoots its wounded. We can become the most severe, condemning, judgmental, guilt-giving people on the face of planet Earth, and we claim it’s in the name of Jesus Christ. And all the while, we don’t even know we’re doing it. That’s the pathetic part of it all.
1. God forgive us for being a place that shoots our wounded!
2. This should be the kind of place where people can admit they are struggling with sin, shouldn’t it?
3. This should be the kind of place where people can admit they struggling with trials, shouldn’t it?
4. This should be the kind of place where people can come and be honest about who they are and what they are going through without be condemned to hell by the “attorneys of God,” shouldn’t it?
5. This should be a GRACE PLACE.
6. In the fifth chapter of 1 Corinthians, I believe we can find four things that need to happen in order for Somerset to be a GRACE PLACE; first…
I. In order for grace to abound, we must mourn over sin!
1 Corinthians 5:1-5 (NIV), It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father’s wife. 2 And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this? 3 Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present. 4 When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, 5 hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.
A. There was sin in the house.
1. There was a man in the church who was sleeping with his father’s wife-probably his stepmother.
2. A man who claimed to be a believer in Jesus Christ was sleeping with his stepmother and the church didn’t think anything of it.
3. It didn’t send off bells and whistles for them.
4. In fact, Paul says they were actually proud of this in some way.
B. Paul said their boasting was not good.
1. And Paul said that instead of boasting about it they should have been filled with grief.
2. Paul said they should have grieved (the KJV says “mourned”) over the sin.
C. When there is sin in the house of God, believers should mourn over it?
1. Obviously, grieving and mourning are things we do when someone has died.
2. So why would Paul say that believers should mourn when there is sin in the house?
3. Romans 6:23 (NIV), For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
4. Does God tell the truth or not?
5. Do we believe what God says or not?
6. When people sin, they die?
7. Does God tell the truth?
D. When God put Adam and Eve in the garden, He told them, Genesis 2:16-17 (NIV), "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."
1. But Satan told them in Genesis 3:4 (NIV), "You will not surely die," …
2. Who told the truth Satan or God?
3. When Adam and Eve ate of the tree, did they die or not?
4. Who told the truth Satan or God?
5. The truth is that Adam and Eve immediately spiritually died and they introduced physical death in the world and they did eventually physically die as well.
6. God told the truth! God told the truth! God told the truth!
7. The wages of sin IS death!
8. But because we can’t SEE spiritual death and because we can’t see physical death immediately, we are so quickly deceived by thinking that sin doesn’t really matter.
9. We can’t see any immediate consequences, so we think it is no big deal!
10. But God did tell the truth!
11. Are we still so stupid that we are going to continue to believe the lie of Satan that sin doesn’t matter?
12. Are we still so stupid that after all these years, we still haven’t learned from Adam and Eve and still believe the same old lies of Satan?
13. Are we really that stupid?
E. Friends, do you see that if grace is going to abound at Somerset, we have to see sin for what it is: death?!
1. We have to see sin the way God sees it.
2. And when we see sin for what it is, we should mourn over it.
3. Our first response to sin should not be to play the prosecuting attorney and spout Bible verses and condemnation.
4. No! Our first response should be to weep and mourn over the death of a child of God.
5. If grace is going to abound at Somerset, we’re going to have to learn to mourn sin!
6. Sin is a fatal tragedy! Sin is worse news than biological or nuclear warfare!
7. Because sin involves and eternal death!
8. If grace is going to abound at Somerset, we are going to have to learn to mourn sin!
II. In order for grace to abound, we must purify ourselves!
1 Corinthians 5:6-8 (NIV), Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? 7 Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast--as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.
A. Yeast is a Biblical metaphor for sin.
1. Like yeast, sin works its way through the entire batch or house.
2. Like yeast, sin has to be gotten rid of to prevent it from spreading.
3. Like apples, sin will spoil the whole batch.
4. Therefore sin must be purged from the house of God!
B. Listen to Romans 6:1-2 (NIV), What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
1. We cannot assume that since God gives grace, then its ok to sin.
2. We cannot assume that since when we sin God gives grace, so that is a license to sin.
3. We cannot assume that since when we sin God gives grace, that we should therefore sin a lot so that grace will abound.
4. We must understand that we died to sin and therefore cannot live in it any longer.
5. We must understand that God’s grace does not give us a license to sin.
6. We must understand that God’s grace doesn’t give us the freedom to say, “I know that what I’m doing is wrong, but I think God will forgive me.”
7. We cannot say, “I know that sin is committing spiritual suicide, but I’m going to do it anyway because I know that God can raise the dead.”
8. We cannot go on sinning that grace may abound.
9. We must get rid of sin in order for grace to abound!
10. We must purify ourselves in order for grace to abound!
C. Read Joshua 6:15-27 and Joshua 7:2-26
1. God told Joshua to stand up and face God.
2. God told Joshua that there was sin in the camp and that was why an inferior army had routed them.
3. God told Joshua that was why they could not stand against their enemies even though they had just taken a much greater Jericho.
4. God told Joshua that because of their sin, they had been made liable to destruction.
5. God told Joshua that He would no longer be with them unless they destroyed the sin in the camp.
D. And so it is with the house of God today.
1. This is why the church of God can no longer stand against her enemies—because we have not taken a stand against sin.
2. We have not boasted about sin, but we have tolerated it.
3. We have not boasted about sin in the house, but we have turned a blind eye to it because we didn’t want to appear judgmental or appear offensive.
4. We have not boasted about sin in the camp, but we have tolerated it.
5. We have immoral sex in the house of God.
6. We have divorce and remarriage in the house.
7. We have gossip and slander in the house.
8. We have division in the house and God has not been in the house!
9. We have not mourned over sin, we have simply looked away and God has all but abandoned us and we have lost our power.
10. The church of God has become impotent against her enemies!
11. If we want God to be with us; if we want to be victorious over our enemies, we must purify ourselves! We must get rid of the old yeast!
12. If we want grace to abound, we must purify ourselves!
III. In order for grace to abound, we must make this a safe place!
1 Corinthians 5:9-11 (NIV), I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people-- 10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11 But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.
A. Now it is clear here that this is not actually Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians.
1. We refer to it as “First” Corinthians, but it isn’t the first letter that Paul wrote them.
2. It is the first letter that we have in the Bible that he wrote to them, but there was at least one other that we do not have.
3. Paul said, “I have written you in my letter…” that was a previous letter.
B. In that previous letter, Paul told them not to associate with sexually immoral people and they misunderstood what he had said, so now he is trying to straighten it out.
1. Paul said that he didn’t mean the people of the world who were sexually immoral or any of those other things he listed.
2. When he says, “people of the world,” he means non-believers; and when he says “brothers” he means people who claimed to be saved or Christian.
3. So paraphrasing, it would say, “I wrote in my last letter not to associate with sexually immoral people and you misunderstood me, thinking I meant not to associate with people who aren’t saved and are immoral, greedy, swindlers, or idolaters. If that were the case, you would have to leave this world, because it its impossible to not associate with non-believers. So now I am writing to clarify that what I meant was you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a Christian and is sexually immoral, greedy, an idolater, a slanderer, a drunkard, or a swindler. Don’t even eat with people who claim to be saved and are sinning like this.”
4. So Paul is obviously saying what he had just said: purify yourselves by getting this man out. (I will come back to this and explain it further in the next point, but right now I want to talk about the importance of associating with non-believers.)
C. What Paul is saying here is that we should associate with sinners.
1. We should eat with sinners—just like Jesus did.
2. Jesus spent a lot of time with prostitutes, adulterers, and others and so should we.
3. We should not be shocked by their behavior.
4. We’ve been deceived by Satan ourselves (maybe not in the same ways), but we have all been suckered by Satan into believing his fatal lies.
5. We’ve come to receive God’s grace to cover our own sins.
6. Therefore we are not any better than anyone else.
7. Therefore we are not shocked and judgmental over others who don’t know Christ and are involved in fatal lifestyles.
8. Therefore this should be a safe place for people to come and learn of the grace of God no matter what sin they’re involved in!
9. This should be a safe place for people to come and learn about God without being criticized and condemned to hell.
10. This should be a safe place for people to come and experience God’s love and grace demonstrated in our own lives.
11. This should be a safe place for those who are adulterers and those who are homosexuals and those who are greedy and those who are swindlers and those who are idolaters and those who are slanderers and those who are drunkards and those who are gossips and those who are proud and those who are swindlers and those who are piercers and tattooers and those who are everything else!
12. Those should be a safe place for everyone to come just as they are and experience the love and grace of God displayed in our lives.
13. This should be a safe place for everyone to experience the love of God in our eyes and faces and hands!
14. This should be a safe place for everyone to experience God’s grace: sinners or saints, rich or poor, black or white, homosexual or heterosexual!
15. If Somerset is to be a grace place—we must demonstrate grace to all!
16. If Somerset is going to abound in grace, we must make this a safe place!
IV. In order for grace to abound, we must hold each other accountable!
1 Corinthians 5:12-13 (NIV), What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. "Expel the wicked man from among you."
A. We have all heard the words of Christ: Matthew 7:1 (NIV), "Do not judge, or you too will be judged.
1. But clearly the apostle Paul is saying that we should judge.
2. So is it possible for Christ to say not to judge and Paul to say that we should judge and they both are the Word of God?
3. Yes it is. In fact, Christ also said in John 7:24 (NIV), Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment."
4. So Christ actually said that we should judge as well—He said we should make right judgments and right judgments are not made by mere appearances.
5. We cannot judge by only what we see with our eyes—we should have learned that in the Garden of Eden.
6. Just because we can’t see death, we can’t assume that it doesn’t really happen—that’s a wrong judgment.
7. Just because we can’t see the immediate truth of God’s Word with our eyes, doesn’t mean it’s not true.
8. Both Christ and Paul said there are ways to make proper judgments—so how are we to make “Do not judge” and “judge” to line up with one another?
B. First we must conclude that judging whether or not someone is saved is a wrong judgment.
1. Only God can judge or determine whether or not a person is saved.
2. That’s what Paul is saying here in these verses about those inside or outside the church.
3. We should not judge those outside (judge whether they are saved), but if they are in the church and say they are saved, then we should judge them.
4. Paul says God will judge those outside the church (those who aren’t saved) but we should judge those inside.
C. We are then to judge those who are saved according to God’s standards.
1. We are to judge those who say they are saved by God’s standards—not by our opinions, but by God’s standards.
2. We are to judge those who say they are saved by God’s standards.
3. We are to judge those who are inside the church by God’s standards.
4. We are to judge those who are inside the body of Christ by God’s laws.
5. When someone says they are saved, they should live by Christ’s commands.
6. When someone says they are saved, they should not be sleeping with their stepmothers.
7. When someone says they are saved, they should not be drunkards or slanderers or swindlers.
8. When someone says they are saved, we should not associate with those who are sinning like this.
9. When someone says they are saved, we should not even eat with them.
10. When someone says they are saved, we should purge them from among us.
D. Now let’s talk about this expulsion…
1. Paul said in verse 13, “Expel the wicked man from among you.”
2. And he said in verse 5, “hand this man over to Satan…”
3. I believe that what is meant by these statements is what Paul said in verse 11, “you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is…” any of those things and “With such a man do not even eat.”
4. I believe what is meant is to disfellowship them; no longer associate with them.
E. But we need to go back and review the teaching of Jesus that Paul is basing this on…
1. Matthew 18:15-17 (NIV), "If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. 16 But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ’every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
2. Jesus said to treat them like they would a pagan or a tax collector, which is just what Paul said about not associating with them and not eating with them.
3. But notice this was actually meant by Jesus to be the last step.
4. Jesus said that a brother ought to go to another brother in private first and try to get him to repent.
5. The first step is not to talk to someone else; the first step is to go and work this out between the two of you—and in most cases (if it is done mournfully, lovingly, graciously, and redemptively) this will take care of it.
6. Then if the brother doesn’t repent, take two or three other witnesses along and try to get them to repent.
7. Then, and only then, if the brother doesn’t repent, then, and only then, do you take it to the church in order to disfellowship.
8. But the purpose of all this is to get the person to repent.
8. Paul says, “so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.”
F. So how can that work?
1. The only way that can work is if the church is a grace place.
2. The only way it can work to disfellowship someone and get them to repent is if the church is a grace place.
3. The only way it can work to disfellowship someone is to have the kind of fellowship that they will miss if they are disfellowsipped.
4. We would have to have such a fellowship that they would absolutely be destroyed if that fellowship was withheld from them.
5. In order for disfellowshipping to work the house must be a grace place.
G. The only way we can have grace abound is to purge ourselves of sin by holding each other accountable.
1. This has to be a safe place for Christians to confess sin as well.
2. This has to be a safe place for Christians to admit that they have stumbled.
3. This has to be a safe place for Christians to say that I have fallen into the trap of Satan.
4. We don’t condemn our brothers and sisters who fall into sin, we love them back into God’s graces. We mourn over it.
5. But when they repent, we accept them back into our fellowship.
6. This disfellowshipping is only a last resort with the purpose of repentance.
7. Repentance is the purpose; getting right with God is the purpose.
8. In 2 Corinthians, Paul writes them back and rebukes them again, not because they didn’t do what he said, but because they did what he said.
9. Paul said, “Enough already! He’s repented. Let him up for air!”
10. The church needs to be a safe place for believers to confess sin—and have no fear of being attacked by their allies.
11. We need to hold each other accountable so we don’t fall into the snares of Satan.
12. We need to follow the instructions of Paul & Christ to hold ourselves accountable.
13. In order for this to be a GRACE PLACE, we must hold each other accountable.
Conclusion:
A. [Lessons from a Tavern, Citation: Charles Swindoll, Leadership, Vol. 4, no. 1.]
"The neighborhood bar is possibly the best counterfeit that there is to the fellowship Christ wants to give his church. It’s an imitation, dispensing liquor instead of grace, escape rather than reality--but it is a permissive, accepting, and inclusive fellowship. It is unshockable. … You can tell people secrets, and they usually don’t tell others or even want to. The bar flourishes not because most people are alcoholics, but because God has put into the human heart the desire to know and be known, to love and be loved, and so many seek a counterfeit at the price of a few beers. With all my heart," this writer concludes, "I believe that Christ wants his church to be unshockable, a fellowship where people can come in and say, ’I’m sunk, I’m beat, I’ve had it.’ Alcoholics Anonymous has this quality--our churches too often miss it."
Now before you take up arms to shoot some wag that would compare your church to the corner bar, stop and ask yourself some tough questions, like I had to do. Make a list of some possible embarrassing situations people may not know how to handle.
A woman discovers her husband is a practicing homosexual. Where in the church can she find help where she’s secure with her secret?
Your mate talks about separation or divorce. To whom do you tell it?
Your daughter is pregnant and she’s run away--for the third time. She’s no longer listening to you. Who do you tell that to?
You lost your job, and it was your fault. You blew it, so there’s shame mixed with unemployment. Who do you tell that to?
Financially, you were unwise, and you’re in deep trouble. Or a man’s wife is an alcoholic. Or something as horrible as getting back the biopsy from the surgeon, and it reveals cancer, and the prognosis isn’t good. Or you had an emotional breakdown. To whom do you tell it?
B. [Koinonia—Part 2 (February 14), from Celebrate! Daily Devotions for the Spirit-Filled Life, Edited by Jack Hayford, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, 1992]
Besides a mutual sharing of resources implied in the word koinonia, there is also an implication of “public-ness.” If we are to walk in the light of our Lord, there will be something of public-ness in our lives with one another. What does this mean?
Many of us are afraid to share what is inside our hearts for fear of being rejected. We fear “going public” with our weaknesses and failings. Our fellowship as believers and children of the light is supposed to dispel fear and allow us to be transparent, weak, vulnerable, and still be accepted by one another.
If there is anything John writes about, it is love. Our love for the Lord is the basis of our love for one another. And our love for one another is the basis of this ability to be transparent.
Are we loving? Are we reaching out? Are we living openly and transparent? Are we trustworthy enough to allow others to “go public”?
