Welcoming Sin into the Church
1 Corinthians 5:1-5
Truth Taught- The Church must obey God and not man.
We have come to the section in the Epistle where Paul gives two case study examples of how the Church has entered into the pagan world or we could say allowed the world to enter the Church. What things look like when the Church welcomes the world.
The Church was struggling with the true Gospel delivered by Paul or their own version promoted by human wisdom and delivered by the trouble makers within the Church. That segment of the Church that was promoting human wisdom over the Gospel. Their arrogance had led the Church in a very unhealthy direction. They had started thinking like the world and allowing human wisdom to take the Church from where God intended it to be to where man intended.
Now he gives two examples of this very destructive direction the Church was going. I’m sure these two were not the only ones but probably the two of the bigger ones.
I want us to see something else. This may be something we might miss. Paul writes about two sins the Church was committing internally, namely, incest and taking each other to court. What I want us to notice is not just the sins, they are the result not the cause. I want you to notice the Church’s attitude toward Paul and the Gospel he preached…they were arrogant toward these things. Their arrogance was the cause of these sins entering into the Church.
Beloved as soon as a Church becomes puffed up concerning the things of God, it will begin thinking that it can go its own direction and bring in human wisdom in order to get certain results or to be hyper inclusive or to be seeker friendly and the list goes on.
The Church must take a stand and say, we are going to go the direction God tells us in His Word no matter what happens. That has been the direction and will continue to be the direction we go. The result is God will take care of the rest.
Will we ever have a large mega Church? No, we will not. My prayer is that we will have an obedient Church…a real Church.
1 Corinthians 5:1–5 (ESV)
5 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.
1. The Arrogant Attitude That Welcomes Sin into the Church (5:1-2)
5 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.
I want to focus on the sin, of course, but what caused this sin to be brought into the Church and for the Church to tolerate it? It was their sin of arrogance. I pray we see this.
Here’s how it worked. They were puffed up/arrogant and in that condition or with that attitude they determined that they knew better than God. We are not sure what their train of thought was exactly but we do know they were okay with sin being there. Rather than mourning over this, they tolerated it. No one lost any sleep because a man in the Church was having a relationship with his father’s wife. He was having a relationship with his step mother in full knowledge of everyone and no one stood up and said, this is wrong and this is sinful.
Listen to me!! When we begin to think we know more than God, we may as well lock the door and go home because when a Church lives like that there is no Church.
I’ve left Churches like this.
A man was cheating on his wife with another woman and the Church would not discipline him. Everyone knew about it and they did nothing.
A man involved in a relationship with another woman and it was his turn to serve the Lord’s Supper and I told him he could not serve…and I’m the bad guy. The Church did nothing.
I can tell you many other stories very similar to those. The Church did nothing.
Here was their thinking. Here was their lame and sinful excuse. Well, if we tell him to leave then he won’t be able to sit and listen to the sermon.
What really happened is exactly what Paul said would happen if nothing is done here…this sin will be like leaven, it will infect the entire Church. The entire Church will be arrogant and think their ways are better than God’s ways. Sin will take root and will infect the Church.
The nature of the sin is that it is so horrendous that even pagans outside the Church will not tolerate it.
Here is an example of the pagan’s attitude in Corinth during this time. I’ll read this so you can see just how sinful they were and yet they would not tolerate what the Church was tolerating…
Mistresses we keep for the sake of pleasure, concubines for the daily care of the body, but wives to bear us legitimate children—Demos
Here’s Paul’s point, even lost people who think like this, would never allow what you’re doing and you tolerate it.
They were arrogant because they would not submit to God. Their relaxed attitude toward sin was arrogance toward God. Their refusal to address the issue was arrogant.
How were they to address the issue? How did God want them to respond?
Let him who has done this be removed from among you.
The clear biblical and most godly action is to remove him from the Church.
Here’s where we must check our own attitude. Are we arrogant? Because to the degree we think this action is unloving or unkind is the degree we think we know more than God. Also, we think we are more moral than God. When we think this action is unloving then we are exactly like those in the Church of Corinth who tolerated what even pagans would not tolerate.
Church discipline is the absolute most loving response there is to sin within the Church.
I am so thankful we practice Church discipline here.
Something else, I would never join a Church that did not practice it. As a member, I would want a Church to come along side of me should I veer off into sin and gently correct me and help bring me back.
Here, in this example, the sin was so horrible and so well known, Paul’s response was to immediately remove this person from the Church. No longer can his Leven of sin infect the rest of the body. The Church will then realize that there are some behaviors that are unacceptable as a Christian.
Normally, Church discipline goes in steps over time because the goal is not excommunication but repentance. However, in some cases there must be a quick removal of the person.
Matthew 18:15–20 (ESV)
15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence 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, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18 Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
What Jesus is telling us here is that there is a means to seek your fallen brother’s repentance. The way is kind and loving. However if there is no repentance then the Church must take action.
The Church is that outpost of heaven on earth. It is to reflect heaven’s values and be as much like heaven as possible.
Binding and Loosing are Greek ideas of forbidding and permitting certain actions. God tells the Church what things are permitted and what things are sin. Our task is to seek to obey these directives to the best of our ability. Here, in our text for today, because incest and adultery are forbidden by God and not part of heaven, then they are also forbidden in the Church. If the Church brings these sins to the attention of the sinner then God may, in fact, use this very thing to bring about his repentance and save his soul before he enters into eternity.
Look at Matthew 18:19…
Here is a wonderful promise of our Lord to us. However, it is almost always viewed wrongly and taken out of context. The setting of this promise is when the Church is engaging in Church discipline. Not when you’re having a home Bible study.
Now, we see the binding and loosing going the other way.
The Bible tells us sexual immorality is to be forbidden. Here there is a man sleeping with his father’s wife. The Church is in the process of doing what it must do. While the Church is engaged in godly discipline, the people are praying. Two or more people agree this act is forbidden and Jesus is also in their midst agreeing as well. God hears their prayers and answers them.
So, heaven’s outpost is in alignment with heaven. People on earth are praying and Jesus’ presence is with them and He is in agreement as well. Here, in this case, the Church excludes this man which is what heaven would do if he showed up there. The Church must act as heaven would. In doing this, the sinner has the opportunity to repent before he approaches heaven. If there is repentance he is welcomed back into the Church because he would be welcomed into heaven.
Today, we have those who would never do this. Then you are arrogant. You think God is unloving and you think you’re more moral than God is.
I have been around the block a time or two to also know that the people who refuse to speak to the person who has sinned against them are also the ones who tell everyone else in gossip.
To view Church discipline as unloving is to not understand how holy God is and how much He hates sin and how terrible His eternal judgements are.
2. The Difference Between Paul and The Arrogant (5:3-4)
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,
Paul is very pointed in the original language. It goes like this: and I for my part have already…
The Corinthians in their arrogance have done nothing, the Apostle has already pronounced judgment…He absolutely must be removed.
Paul takes decisive action. When everyone is present and the Church assembled, in front of everyone march him to the door and lead him out.
It’s important to see who is assembled. The Church, Paul’s spirit, and the Lord Jesus. In front of everyone escort him out.
You have my complete backing of this action. You have Jesus’ complete endorsement of this action and you have the gathered Church to witness it.
I want to further explore our attitudes here…yes, our attitudes. I want to make sure we view this from a biblical perspective.
If sin brings forth death and if sin infects others and if sin can cause the entire Church to go down a dangerous road where they lose sight of the Gospel and replace it with human wisdom then the most loving thing that can be done is to remove the source of the sin that has already infected the Church.
We must affirm these actions as good and right and loving or affirm our arrogance. Remember, a little leaven will leaven the whole lump.
3. The Loving Action of an Obedient Church (5:5)
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.
If folks have trouble with Church discipline, they will definitely take issue here with verse 5.
What is Paul telling us here? Stop acting like this guy is a Christian and put him out with the others like him.
The first thing we must connect is expulsion from the Church with delivering this man to Satan. When they obey God and remove this man from the Church in Corinth, they are, in fact, turning him over to Satan.
This man is not welcome to worship services, fellowship meals, or anything else the Church does. Within the Church you have the gathered Christian community while outside the Church you have the realm where Satan is god. He is the god of this world.
Here is the picture…
the City of Corinth was very pagan and worshipped many false satanic deities. They practiced many immoral things such as sexual immorality, literally, in the original language, Paul calls it pornea. Satan’s realm is out there. Jesus’ kingdom is in here. When this man practiced satanic things within the Church, he was proving that he was not part of the kingdom but still part of Satan’s realm. Paul is saying put him out there in the realm that he belongs.
If this man turns out to be a believer, then being placed in Satan’s realm will have the effect of destroying the dominance his flesh is having and he will be saved.
The Church has a job to do and Satan has a job to do and if both do their job, this man may be saved in the end.
Satan is used by God to accomplish the sanctification of His people. Job, of course is case and point. Satan was permitted by God to attack Job but not to take his life. Satan also was behind Paul’s own thorn in the flesh as he writes, a messenger of Satan to buffet me. Here we see Satan being used again.
1 Timothy 1:18–20 (ESV)
18 This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, 19 holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, 20 among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.
The Church community is a realm of protection from the works and realm of Satan. The covenant community is a place of protection. When the Corinthian Church was called to remove this man she was called to remove her protection. Now the sinner is back out in the world where there is no protection.
The Church is an umbrella of protection. So is the family. The father is to protect his family. The mother her children. When children rebel, they voluntarily do what the Church was called to do here. They remove themselves from the protection of the family.
Conclusion
The application for us is how do you receive discipline? How do you respond when an elder pays you a visit? How do you respond when you must be told certain things? Do you listen and seek to obey or are you arrogant and go your own way and continue to do what you’ve been doing?
You’re probably not guilty of the sin that this man was but how do you respond when you read clearly in the Bible that something is sinful. How do you respond when a Church leader speaks to you about it? Do you repent and obey or are you arrogant and refuse to obey?
Hebrews 13:17 (ESV)
17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.
Here’s just how bad things are in the modern Church of which we are right in the middle.
If Church disciple is done today that person can simply walk down the street to another Church without ever repenting. Because of this, we are so far removed from Church discipline being a genuinely redemptive action. Rather than repenting another Christian group will accept you without repenting.
I pray we learn from this text. We see the seriousness of sin. We see that it affects others within the Church. We see how important it is to listen to Church leaders who come to you in love.
Benediction
May you long for heaven. May your deep desire for heaven fuel your desire to see the Church as heaven’s outpost. May you long for a land that stretches far and be like Abraham who longed for a city whose Architect and Builder is God.
As we long for that city may our affections be fixed more and more on Jesus Christ.
To God be all the glory.
AMEN!
Resources Used:
1 Corinthians by Theselton from the NIGNT
1 Corinthians by Steven T. Um
1 Corinthians by Gordon Fee
Matthew by R T France
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