1 Corinthians 5:9-13

A Peculiar People

My first year of college was at then Southwest Missouri Baptist College. One of the professors loved to quote 1 Peter 2:9

1 Peter 2:9 KJV 1900

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

I still ask myself:

Just how peculiar are we to be?

The believers in Corinth thought they were being peculiar by affirming the lifestyle of one of their own who was openly have sexual relations with his father’s wife.

In today’s environment that would not make any church peculiar - rather it would demonstrate how that group of believers are in the mainstream of common cultural understandings.

In a letter we no access to (1 Cor 5:9) Paul had addressed one aspect of being a peculiar people - 1 Cor 5:9

1 Corinthians 5:9 HCSB

I wrote to you in a letter not to associate with sexually immoral people.

The question then becomes just how far do we as believers withdraw from the world?

There have always been groups of believers seeking to completely isolate themselves from the immoral world around them.

Today we might identify the Amish in the northeastern part of the US, or other smaller groups of believers as those who seek to completely isolate themselves.

However, that is not what Paul intended at all.

So, if withdrawal from the world is not how we demonstrate our peculiarity, how are we to demonstrate our distinct difference from the world around us?

1 Corinthians 5:10 HCSB

I did not mean the immoral people of this world or the greedy and swindlers or idolaters; otherwise you would have to leave the world.

Leaving/going out of the world is not an option.

As Jesus prayed for His followers prior to His arrest, trial, and curcifixion, He specifically prayed:

John 17:15–18 (HCSB)

I am not praying that You take them out of the world but that You protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.

Jesus never intended His followers to withdraw from the world around them.

Yes, the world is filled with the kinds of behaviors Paul identifies in vs 10.

Paul, and all those to whom he wrote - Jew AND Gentile - recognized that their allegiance to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior meant they no longer belonged to the world around them.

Following Jesus was not simply a choice expected to be made by a child raised in a church culture. Following Jesus could - and often did - result in the loss of family, the loss of social status, and in many cases the loss of one’s life.

The experience of being born again was not just fulfilling some Jewish identity or becoming all that God intended an individual to be,

Being born again means a radically new life. A life that is completely different from the previous one.

Paul - and the Jews to whom he wrote - were fully versed in the regularly repeated instruction in Deuteronomy to “purge/put away the evil from among you.”

In the context of Israel purging or putting away was meant to be a significant public act. Purging demonstrated to those outside Israel the seriousness of their commitment to God’s holiness.

The specific items Paul mentioned in vs 10 (and again in vs 11) are clearly set out as sinful in God’s laws over and over. Even non-Jews would have been familiar with those specific commands. Remember, Paul indicated that even the pagans living in Corinth recognized that incest was purely evil (see 1 Cor 5:1).

So, if withdrawal is not what Jesus or Paul intended, what is the appropriate response?

1 Corinthians 5:11 HCSB

But now I am writing you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer who is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or verbally abusive, a drunkard or a swindler. Do not even eat with such a person.

God alone has the authority and responsibility to judge sin. We who follow Jesus have an assignment - just as the nation of Israel did - to maintain a clear boundary of moral clarity.

Christians will differ about many things - worship styles, musical genres, days and times for gatherings (unless you are Baptist and 11:00 am is SACRED and Wednesday nights are regarded as ‘Church Only’ nights). We have disagreements on what is appropriate dress for church activities.

But as God’s people there are boundaries we cannot cross.

Being part of a community of believers there are clear boundaries that we who are part of the community are to guard.

Paul expands the list of sinful actions of vs 10 by adding two other activities:

those who are ‘verbally abusive’ or the old fashioned word: ‘revilers.’

What is a ‘reviler?’ To ‘revile’ is insult another person. The Jews understood that the tongue - an ill spoken word - can do serious damage to others.

drunkard

Paul makes a definitive statement in his letter to believers in Ephesus:

Ephesians 5:18 HCSB

And don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless actions, but be filled by the Spirit:

Paul identifies two clear actions a fellowship of believers can take when those who claim to be fellow believers act in such a way:

Do Not Associate...

Literally, ‘do not mingle/mix together.’ When we see individuals who identifies as a family member (brother or sister in Christ) behaving in the ways Paul identified we are to immediately stop mixing/mingling with them.

What harm can there be in staying close to those who are involved in sexual immorality, greed, swindlers/those who practice extortion, those who worship idols, those who cannot control their tongues, those who spend their lives under the control of alcohol or other substances?

Among people in Corinth the damage is evident. Even the pagans/Gentiles (see vs 1) refuse to condone such behavior. For the community of faith - those who claim the name of Jesus to behave in these ways will give outsiders a reason to ignore and even mock!

Do not even eat with such a person...

In the world of Jesus and the first several generations of His followers table fellowship - eating together always sent a message.

The early believers regularly shared a Lord’s Supper meal together. As is suggested later in this letter (1 Cor 11) a fellowship meal often accompanied the Lord’s Supper.

To eat these meals together was a important way of connecting and bonding with one another.

By refusing those who behave in such ways the connections of these meals, the fellowship of believers send a message.

Who am I to judge?

Paul clearly states: God judges sin - those who choose to live apart from Him, those who reject the message of the gospel.

We - those who have experienced a new birth, those who are being built together as a dwelling place for God - we do have a responsibility to ‘judge’ one another.

These actions taken by a group of believers are not meant to be punitive. They are aimed at restoration. The goal Paul is aiming for is two fold:

a. deliverance and eternal salvation from the one committing such flagrant sin;

b. maintaining a distinct holiness that accurately reflects the presence and power of God.

John Cassian, a follower of Christ from during the decades of 400AD - 420AD wrote:

What is pure is corrupted much more quickly than what is corrupted is purified.

(Quoted by R. Albert Mohler, Jr. in “Church Discipline: The Missing Mark” in Polity: Biblical Arguments on How to Conduct Church Life, Ed. Mark Dever [ Center for Church Reform, 2001), 43)

Dr Mohler, President of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary writes,

The greatest moral danger to the church is the toleration of sin, public or private.

(Ibid., 55).

We really don’t have to look very far to discover one prominent reason those who have expressed faith in Christ have no confidence in the church, and why many who are lost and unchurched close their ears and hearts:

We too often tolerate sin!

The community of faith is to be known as those who confess our sin to God and confront sin within the community of faith when we see it.

By not exposing sin we create untold damage to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

REFLECT AND RESPOND

Will you confess any known or hidden sin to God this morning? Will you repent - sincerely seek His strength to live differently?

Will you join me in praying that if God reveals to us as a body of believers that there is sin we will have the Christlike conviction and compassion to confront the sin?