Paul commands the Corinthian Church to Remove the Evil
Intro: Well Good morning church family. My name is Matt Johnson and today we are continuing our study of 1 Corinthians. So lets pray.
Prayer: Well, when was the last time we did an EXPERIMENT in church? I don’t know if I’ve ever done an EXPERIMENT in a sermon. So this could fail spectacularly. But nonetheless, Paul talks today about making bread without yeast or leaven. (Slide 2 – READ). This is a cooking illustration…
You see when you are normally making bread – you get 1) a couple of cups of flour, 2) a pinch of salt, 3) a little bit of leaven or yeast mixed together in a cup of slightly warm water. 4) Maybe a dash of olive oil (Mix, Mix). Now I need a volunteer to come and knead the bread. Did someone say Maria Stephenson? Yes, she would be PERFECT. She’s a home tech teacher with good muscles for kneading. So please put your hands together for Maria – who is such a willing volunteer…
I need you to knead the bread. Roll it in the flour. Get it ready for baking. Now friends the thing that makes the bread rise and become puffed up – is the yeast or the leaven. Remember – last week Paul was saying the church was getting PUFFED UP with pride and boasting. Well, when you’re cooking bread – the thing that makes the bread puff up and fill with hot air is the yeast or the leaven.
Now in Paul’s day you couldn’t buy processed yeast like this (hold up pack). So most good mums like Maria kept an older piece of mouldy, fermenting dough in the kitchen to leaven new bread. (No, I’m not talking about George). Sorry George, I couldn’t resist. But truly when you took just a pinch of the old, fermenting, mouldy leaven (and remember they didn’t have fridges) and you put a little bit in the new dough it would start a fermenting process in the dough causing it to puff up and rise. Now c’mon Maria work that dough. We need the leaven right through the dough…
Now each March-April straight after PASSOVER – the Jews had to eat unleavened bread for an entire week – to remember how God saved them from slavery in Egypt. When the Jews left Egypt they were in such a hurry that no one had time to stand around waiting for the bread to rise. So, each March-April the Jews had to eat unleavened bread for an entire week to remember how God saved them from Egypt. Simple! Except no!
If you simply used 1) your ordinary bread mixing bowl, 2) your normal wooden spoon and 3) your normal kneading trough to make the unleavened bread – there would still be tiny traces of leaven on your utensils and voila, instead of having flat bread – you’d end up with an ordinary loaf of bread. The leaven was so powerful – that even the tiniest bit of it left on the utensils and you’d end up embarrassed if you were having Jewish family and friends over for unleavened bread. Leavened bread was NOT KOSHER for Passover…
So the women would have to clean their bowls, their spoons, their kneading trough’s and even their kitchens very carefully so that the flat bread was not PUFFED UP by even trace elements of yeast. Now Maria are you nearly done? I’m counting on those muscles from the gym. But here is the point of the illustration. THE CHURCH is like the dough and SIN is like the leaven. When we allow the sin of the world to get into the church (and we don’t get rid of it properly) even the littlest bit of sin has the ability to infect the whole church causing us to become proud and puffed up. So just as the women had to get rid of the leaven and clean house at Passover, so Christians have to get rid of sin and worldliness out of the church and out of our lives…
Point 1: Paul says Sexual Immorality in the Church, is like Leaven
Show: 1Cor.5.1-3
Explain: The words “put out of your fellowship” could more or less parallel “get out of your mixing bowl”. What needs to be removed from the church is sexual immorality. It’s like leaven. It contaminates the whole church – causing the church to become puffed up with pride and arrogance…
Now the word sexual immorality is PORNEIA. It’s the same word that we get pornography from today. Now in classical Greek porneia usually meant prostitution. But in Biblical Greek – porneia came to mean any sexual activity that took place outside of HETEROSEXUAL MARRIAGE. So biblically speaking – a one-night fling, two teenagers having sex, adultery, homosexuality, paedophilia and incest would have all been considered PORNEIA. All these things are equally sinful according to the Bible. But the porneia in the Corinthian Church involves a man having sex with his step-mother. This is something the Bible forbids.
Let me show you the two commands from Leviticus (Slide 4; Lev.18:7-8). Now Leviticus 18 – lists a whole lot of sexual relationships that are forbidden by God. But as you can see sexual relations with your mother is forbidden in verse 7 and sexual relations with your step-mother is forbidden in verse 8. Now the fact that Paul quotes verse 8 instead of verse 7 suggests the man in the Corinthian Church is having sexual relations with his step-mother, not his biological mother. Perhaps his biological father divorced and then remarried. Perhaps his biological mother died and his father remarried. But either way – a man in the church is having sexual relations with a step-mother which is prohibited in God’s word. Now the fact that the Corinthian Church is told in verse 2 A) to put the man out of the church fellowship, without any reference B) to the woman – suggests the man is part of the church, but not the woman. So the church is told that they shouldn’t be proud about this activity. INSTEAD, they should be deeply grieved and take appropriate action. The man should be REMOVED or EXCOMMUNICATED from the church.
Now before we examine this process, please notice that Paul is true to what he taught us last week about passing judgment. 1) As Christians we can only judge people’s actions on the basis of clear biblical commands. Where the Bible is silent or we are relying on wisdom arguments we should not judge people. So things like vaccination status or the way people vote in elections we should be very slow to judge. But in this case, there is a clear biblical command in Leviticus 18:8. So we know what this man is doing wrong. 2) The second thing to note is that even with this terrible sin – Paul does not judge or condemn the man himself, only his actions. Have a look at verse 5 (Slide 5; 1Cor.5:5).
PLEASE NOTICE that Paul is still hopeful the man may yet be saved. He does not write the man off. Paul’s hope is that if the church universally declares that his action is wrong – the man may recognise his error, repent of his sin and still be saved. THE IDEA of handing the man over to Satan, is simply another way of saying – put him out of the church. His behaviour belongs A) in the kingdom of darkness, not B) in the kingdom of light. So, Paul only judges the man’s behaviour not his faith. And Paul judges the man’s behaviour because he is clearly breaking one of Gods commands. THE FIRST REASON Paul does this is for the sake of the man, himself. Paul wants the man to repent. So the church must act in unison to make it clear his behaviour is unacceptable in Gods church.
Now please understand that this is EXTREME church discipline. Its rare. In 23 years of being a pastor I have only done this on 3 or 4 occasions where people refused to repent. This is truly the last step in church discipline. So let me remind you what Jesus himself says on this issue (Slide 6-Matt.18:15-18). As you can see there are a whole lot of steps before we excommunicate people from the church. The truth is we all struggle with sin. So when a person is struggling with sin we first speak to them in private. Then, if they still don’t listen we speak to them with one or two other mature Christians. But if they still don’t repent of their sin the church may eventually need to ask them to leave.
Now of course, all this needs to be done patiently in love. I would also like to say – that in our church excommunication is never done where the person is 1) acknowledging their sin and 2) they are taking active steps to address their sin. Some sins are very hard to stop. So if someone is struggling with DRUNKENNESS, but they are coming every week to our drug and alcohol program, admitting their sin and taking steps to change they are welcome in the church. SIMILARLY, if a man is struggling with anger and is sometimes verbally abusive, but he is getting 1) counselling and 2) there is evidence of change we again walk with them – often for years. The fact is – sanctification takes time.
But if their sin is beginning to damage the church family we sometimes need to take action. Occasionally, we have needed to do this in Redfern for the greater good. Also, if a Christian stops ADMITTING their sin is sin and starts to defend their sinful behaviour – we again sometimes need to take action. Sadly, some Christians who have no intention to repent – start to communicate that they no longer believe what the Bible says. They start to communicate that they have no intention to repent. When they start saying things like; Yes, I know what the Bible says, but I think it is wrong or it doesn’t apply to me – excommunication sometimes becomes necessary for the greater good. The reason this is necessary…
Point 2: Paul says Unaddressed Sin effects the whole Church, like leaven
Show: 1Cor.5:6-8 (Slides 7-8)
Explain: Well the JEWISH FESTIVAL that Paul is speaking about in these verses is Passover. This festival took place each MARCH-APRIL and the Jews had to 1) sacrifice an unblemished lamb and 2) then eat unleavened bread for an entire week. In order to eat “UNLEAVENED BREAD” they had to carefully remove all traces of leaven from their homes – otherwise their unleavened bread would be contaminated with leaven.
Now the New Testament (and especially this passage) talks about Jesus being our Passover Lamb. Jesus died on the cross on the very day the Jews were sacrificing their Passover lambs. So Paul says that because our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed (ie Jesus) we should not keep the feats of unleavened bread. (GOSPEL) Jesus died on the cross 1) to pay the penalty for our sin and 2) to set us free from Satan’s kingdom. There is a penalty for sin. It is death and Hades. But when Jesus died on the cross and descended to the place of the dead – he took the punishment for us. Jesus did the time for our crimes AND he did this BECAUSE HE LOVES US. Now if you believe Jesus died for your sins and you ask God to forgive you – you will be forgiven. You will be saved. This is GOD’S GRACE. BUT IN RESPONSE to Gods grace Jesus says we must repent of our sins and follow him. So sin, wickedness and malice is like leaven and we need to get rid of it out of our lives because Christ our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed.
So the whole Christian life is meant to be like the festival of unleavened bread. We are meant to root out and remove all the leaven of malice, wickedness and immorality from our lives – so that we are like unleavened bread. THE PROBLEM IS that when we let a little sin into our lives and into the church it tends to spread like yeast or like cancer. You ever noticed that WHEN YOU SIN, you then have to tell LIES to hide your sin. Then, you need to tell more LIES to cover the earlier lies. Then if anyone still challenges you – you find yourself getting angry, abusive and self-righteous. Sin left unaddressed tends to spread.
Now you kind of wonder – how could a church get to the point where they were defending their pride, sexual immorality and idolatry? How could this happen? WELL, THE PROBLEM is the Corinthian Church seems to have MISUNDERSTOOD Paul’s teaching about law and grace. Paul taught all the Gentile churches that they were no longer obliged to keep all 613 of God’s Old Testament laws, because they were saved by God’s grace (Rom.6:14). Now in each case where Paul talks about freedom from the Mosaic law he means in terms of salvation (Gal.5:1). Paul taught that no one is saved by obeying the Jewish law. But that DOESN’T MEAN 1) making idols, 2) committing adultery and 3)stealing from your neighbour is suddenly ok. Some things identified in the Old Testament are still obviously sin and should be avoided.
But the Corinthians (and some churches today) seem to interpret salvation by Gods grace to mean that Christians are free to ignore the laws in the Bible altogether. Dietrich Bonhoeffer called this cheap grace. CHEAP GRACE says; simply says trust in Jesus’ death, do whatever you want and you’ll still be saved. Really?! I want to show you that the Corinthian church had a very silly mantra…
(Slide 9; 1Cor.6:18-19). Now notice the SAME WORDS are repeated in 1 Corinthians 10. It seems the Corinthians had a kind of mantra where they were saying “Everything is permissible for me” because I’m saved by God’s grace, not law. “I can do whatever I want” because Jesus has set me free from the law. BUT PAUL IS SAYING – HANG ON. NO! NO! NO! Freedom in Christ AND salvation by grace does NOT mean freedom to be immoral, daft and dumb. THE MOSAIC LAW still shows us what love of God and love of neighbour looks like. Of course, Jesus up’s the ante even further in the Sermon on the Mount. But1) thou shalt not make idols; 2) thou shalt not murder; 3) thou shalt not sleep with your step-mother – still kind of applies. As Christians we may not be saved by obedience to the law, but we are still under Christ’s law to love God with all our heart and to love our neighbour as ourselves. And sleeping with your dads wife is not loving your dad.
Point 3: Paul says; Remove immoral, unloving behaviour from the church
Show: 1Cor.5:9-11 (READ)
Explain: Well please notice that Paul says DO NOT ASSOCIATE with sexually immoral people. What? How do we do that? Well thankfully, Paul goes on and clarifies what he means. He doesn’t mean avoiding non-Christians who are sexually immoral. He mans avoiding people wh claim to be Christians but are sexually immoral. TO AVOID all sexually immoral people you’d have to get n Space-X and leave the planet. Every time you go to work, the gym, a restaurant or the movies you are engaging with sexually immoral people in every shade and flavour. We can’t avoid this. But we can avoid sexually immoral people in the church, by putting them out of the church. SEXUAL IMMORALITY should not be in the church and it should not be accepted in the church.
Now Paul doesn’t mean Christians who used to be sexually immoral, but are now following Jesus. He is talking about people who claim to be Christians and yet still act in sexually immoral ways. PAUL’S POINT is that no sexual immorality should be in the church or become acceptable in the church. It needs to be removed…
Now sadly, we live in a world today where 1) the Anglican Church in some places and 2) the Uniting Church in most places now blesses same-sex relationships. So some churches are now calling on God to bless what God calls an abomination. This is the height of arrogance, pride and blasphemy. HOW DARE ANYONE demand that God bless what he actually curses in the Bible? By this point a little leaven has worked right through the whole dough. Sin tolerated in the church, leads to sins acceptance in the church. Then the church begins to defend its actions by claiming the sin is not really sin. And then the floodgates are open. When the church starts saying that what the Bible calls sin, is not really sin – then nothing is sin. And welcome to the C21st western, evangelical church. But please notice this did NOT begin with gross SEXUAL IMMORALITY.
Paul says that greed, idolatry, slander, drunkenness and swindling in the church are just as bad as sexual immorality in the church. I’m sorry to say – that in THE WESTERN WORLD greed remains a serious problem in the church. 20 years ago we came up with a way to bless greed in the church and we called it the prosperity gospel. This greed itself is IDOLATRY. So accepting one sort of idolatry in the church – it wasn’t long before we started accepting Hindu, Buddhist and Secular forms of idolatry in the church as well. Then of course, half the TV evangelists today embody the very definition of a SWINDLER. TV evangelists swindle people out of their money as conmen – who make false promises that are not biblical. And that’s not to mention the drunkenness, gossip and sexual immorality we now allow in the church. A little leaven works it’s way through the whole batch of dough and we think the church is still holy.
Now as I explained in previous weeks – the church needs to be in the world, but not of the world. We need to be in the world to evangelise the sexually immoral, the greedy the idolaters, the slanderers, the drunkards and the swindlers. But as we engage with the world – the worlds thinking, behaviour, speech and values is washing over us. Its unavoidable. Bad company corrupts good character (1Cor.15:33). So we need to be very, very careful that the worlds thinking, behaviour, speech and values isn’t getting into us or into the church. The church itself needs to “COME OUT OF THE WORLD AND BE SEPARATE.” We are meant to be a holy people. We are meant to be the light of the world. So Paul finishes with a command that we can’t ignore.
Show – 1Cor.5:12-13 (Slide 12). Well friends, this is the Bible verse that will soon put Christian pastors and leaders – in jail. Now I’m not a prophet. But I believe that it is obedience to these verses in the Bible that will soon land us in hot water. The world now says that THE ALPHABET SOUP of sexually immoral behaviour is good and right. So if Christians say THE ALPHABET SOUP of sexually immoral behaviour is not welcome or accepted in the church – watch out.
I was warned by the Diocese (just this week) – that anti-discrimination laws and vilification laws in this area are about to kick in. It’s not if. Its now only when. It’s going to happen. BUT THE BIBLE IS CLEAR that we must judge those in the church by the standards of the Bible and we must expel the immoral and wicked person from among us. Paul says we must judge right and wrong behaviour in the church. Now I don’t want to do that. I never enjoy doing that. But sometimes it is necessary because a little bit of leaven left in the church works right through the batch of dough.
