"Cleansing the Body"
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OPENER ::
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. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.
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. When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 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.
Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”
1 Corinthians 5:1-
1 Corinthians 6:
“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!
Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.
1 Corinthians 6:16-
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
Sin not dealt with is sin that spreads. And, sin that spreads is sin that destroys.
Sin not dealt with is sin that spreads. And, sin that spreads is sin that destroys.
HOW DO WE DEAL WITH IT?
Call the SIN what it is.
Call the SIN what it is.
“Sexual immorality” - “porneia” - “resorting to prostitutes.” Among the apostles who wrote Scripture and among Christians, this word, “pornei,” came to mean “any sexual behavior that transgresses the Christian norm, i.e. ALL premarital, extramarital, and unnatural sexual intercourse.”
This one case, in particular - pretty extreme…BUT sexual sin of ANY kind - ELABORATE.
Corinth was a HIGHLY sexualized society. It was a seaport…so you can imagine.
Vs. 2 & 6 - You are arrogant! You boast! In other words, they had ignored it, swept it under the rug, maybe excused it…yet they’re still bragging about how “spiritual” they are!
CURRENT STATISTICS IN THE CHURCH -
Confront the SIN and the SINNER.
Confront the SIN and the SINNER.
This sounds almost foreign to us nowadays, doesn’t it? Paul is saying to them - this man’s sin - his habitual lifestyle of unrepentant sin - sin you’ve let go undealt with - is disastrous to you!
Church discipline - disassociate him from the fellowship of the church. The predominant mentality - “You ain’t got no business gettin’ in my business!”
Individualism: Listen to Pastor Jonathan Leeman:
“[for] the average person in Western culture: every attachment is negotiable. We are all free agents, and every relationship and life station is a contract that can be renegotiated or canceled, whether we are dealing with the prince, the parents, the spouse, the salesman, the boss, the ballot box, the courtroom judge, or, of course, the local church. I am principally obligated to myself and maximizing my life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness…I retain power to veto everything.”
“[for] the average person in Western culture: every attachment is negotiable. We are all free agents, and every relationship and life station is a contract that can be renegotiated or canceled, whether we are dealing with the prince, the parents, the spouse, the salesman, the boss, the ballot box, the courtroom judge, or, of course, the local church. I am principally obligated to myself and maximizing my life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness…I retain power to veto everything.”
I don’t know if you find this interesting, but I this thought occured to me when reading this passage. At face value, it’s curious that Paul is paying all of this attention to ONE MAN and his sin…now, we could probably understand it better if it was a rampant problem but, we might think, “All this for one guy?!?”
Listen to me…my sin affects the body. Whether you realize it or not, YOUR sin affects the body of Christ. And, let’s be honest, we’re not too comfortable with the idea of anyone holding us accountable for our sin, are we? Here’s the truth of Scripture, though...
When I join myself to a body of believers, I am allowing ACCOUNTABILITY in my life!
When I join myself to a body of believers, I am allowing ACCOUNTABILITY in my life!
When I join myself to a body of believers, I am allowing ACCOUNTABILITY in my life!
When I join myself to a body of believers, I am allowing ACCOUNTABILITY in my life!
WHY should we confront the sin & the sinner?
The Glory of God and Our Witness
The Glory of God and Our Witness
HOW should we confront the sin & the sinner?
Broken and Bold
Broken and Bold
Paul says, “shouldn’t you mourn?” We must boldly confront - and out of love.
WHEN should we confront the sin & sinner?
Quickly
Quickly
Jesus lays out the process - privately, then together, then before the body. We must be swift and non-negligent about it because, again, it is a threat to unity, to blessing, and to the witness of the church!
Cleanse with Grace
Cleanse with Grace
Throughout, Paul uses some pretty harsh language about how the church should handle this man who had been living in brazen sin. Look at vs. 5, 7, 11, 13…Here’s the thing, though…Discipline isn’t supposed to be pleasant, is it? The process is difficult but the purpose is restoration. It is for the sinner to be restored into right fellowship with God and the church.
Here’s what you’ve got to remember through all of this…Church discipline only happens when the offender refuses to repent and be reconciled. Remember Jesus’s process? Hey, if the person who is in sin repents and gets it right with the Lord and those he’s offended, then they are restored…but if, like this man in Corinth, they continue to sin and harden their hearts and refuse to repent, then, church discipline happens. So, what does Paul say?
But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one.
Walk through this for a second because we need to be careful to NOT say what Paul ISN’T saying....Stephen Um..
“Don’t eat with such a one.” - So, we aren’t supposed to eat dinner with the sinner? We’re supposed to ignore them when we’re at a restaurant? Don’t go out to dinner with them? No. He’s talking about a very different meal, here. In the early church, Christians would typically gather in homes, not in church buildings, to worship and - every single week - celebrate the Lord’s Supper. The Lord’s Supper wasn’t just a small piece of stale bread and a shot glass of wine. It was a feast…a full blown meal. And Paul is saying THIS is what you can’t do anymore. Why? Because the purpose of the Lord’s Supper is to wake up the spiritual sleepy person from his numbness to his wrong, give him grace to overcome it, and then restore him and the community at large. But folks under discipline are by definition those who have dug their heels into the ground and said, “I don’t want a warning, nor do I want grace. And I don’t care about how my actions affect others either.” For someone like that, not only has the Supper ceased to do its work IN them, but it’s also ceased to be grace FOR them. Instead, it’s a threat. Over and over we see in the Scriptures that when a person gets near God, things get dangerous. But get near him with a spirit like that, and it’s fatal. Discipline is meant to protect. There’s grace in it.
“do not associate with” those under discipline…So…should I give them the cold shoulder and cut off all ties with them? No. The imagery here is that of a vine weaving around and attaching itself to the trunk of a tree. And that’s what is to be avoided. Because when relationships get that intertwined, it’s hard to see clearly, it’s hard to see objectively, no matter how objective one thinks he can be.
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.
3. Wait…what? Ok…now this is DEFINITELY not very grace oriented, is it? Or is it? Paul isn’t saying that this man should be killed in order to save his soul. The word “flesh” here isn’t talking about the physical body; it’s talking about a person’s stubborn orientation - a settled, resolved opposition to correction and change. Some say, “What I’m doing is wrong, but I don’t care!” If you have people in your life telling you that something isn’t a good idea, and you don’t want to take it to heart, you still just want to do what you want to do, you’re just inches away from this. And that’s a scary place to be. This is why the language is so harsh. It means doing whatever we can to wake up the individual from his spiritual anesthesia, everything in our power to break the spell that sin and stubbornness has over the person. It’s not judgement or condemnation - it’s restoration (end of vs. 5).
1 Corinthians 5:7-
Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
PASSOVER - SEE UM’S BOOK 99-100
What about you today? Maybe sexual sin is not your hang up…but sin, living in unrepentant, habitual lifestyle of sin is DANGEROUS AND DEADLY.
IN LOVE, I TELL YOU THIS MORNING, DEAL WITH IT. Confess & repent…be restored…be reconciled.
BE SAVED...
Here, as the body of Christ at TRBC, we need to be in each other’s lives, holding one another accountable, practicing confession, etc. There’s grace. There’s forgiveness and restoration.