1 Corinthians 5

1 Corinthians 5:1–13 ESV

1 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. 6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 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. 8 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. 9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 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. 11 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. 12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? 13 God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”

He did not approve of the immorality, but he was not so astounded that immorality was occurring. His greater dismay was that the church actually took pride in tolerating it.

Most pastors have heard all three:

I did it and I’m ashamed

I did it but I don’t see what’s wrong with it.

I did it and I’m proud of it.

Church discipline: What is it, when does a church practice it. How does it work?

SBC website - More than 8 in 10 Protestant senior pastors say their church has not disciplined a member in the past year, says a new study released today (April 5) by LifeWay Research.

Much like abuse there is much than could be misunderstood.

The lack of commitment and community and glorification of individuality in Western culture makes this harder to grasp

Sin in the church celebrated? This is the core issue where we begin and where we end.

What should the church be waring against and what should we celebrate?

Freedom in Christ & Cheap grace

The Desire to Protect the Church Brings the Reality of Sin -V.1-2

Church discipline and how it protects the church

1 Corinthians 5:1–2 ESV

1 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.

The Immorality itself - v.1

The term sexual immorality is used in a comprehensive sense, including all violations of the seventh commandment.

Three important aspect to this sin

Ongoing: Present tense -ongoing sin

Unrepentant

Public - actively going on among you and everyone knows it.

Incest among you - intimate relation with his stepmother -

 It is more probable, if the crime was defended at all, that it was defended on the principle that the Scriptures and nature condemn intermarriages only on the basis of blood relations and not on the basis of being related by marriage.

It was, for example, forbidden by Roman law, and, of course, by the Old Testament

 That it does not occur even among pagans does not mean that it never occurred, but that it was infrequent and that it was condemned as evil.

The arrogant toleration of immorality - v.2

Sin either brings celebration or mourning - Look how tolerant we are!

A Perverted view of grace and tolerance

Paul did not make any argument against incest due to all knew it was wrong.

Evidently they saw their Christian freedom as giving them licence for almost any kind of conduct (cf. 6:12; 10:23).

They actually took pride in their willingness to accept the unrepentant, immoral man.

Shouldn’t you rather have been filled with grief—that is, grieved for yourselves. “Your condition, instead of filling you with pride, should humble you and make you sad.”

The pastor was not reproved for neglect of discipline, but the church itself, as an organization.

The Desire to Protect the Church Brings the Reality of Sin’s Consequences. V.3-5

Protecting the Church

The Corrective Action

Gather the Congregation

The church should assemble in Jesus name Spirit and power

In the name of our Lord Jesus. That is, by means of Christ’s authority, acting as his representative.

- two more context - Church and church discipline

There was to be a meeting of the church where Paul, spiritually present, would, in the name of Christ and exercising the miraculous power with which he was invested, deliver the offender to the power of Satan.

Expel the the man from the church

Hand him over

To be expelled from the church accordingly is to be delivered over into that region where Satan holds sway.

Hand over to Satan - remedial and salvific not punitive

Paul sees the punishment as Corrective: though the flesh be destroyed it is so that his spirit may be saved.

To do this is to exclude the wayward brother from the Christian community and to treat him as “a pagan or a tax collector” as Jesus instructed ().

The hope - Saved on that day

This seems harsh!

Paul’s words sound harsh to our modern ears (cf. ), but they are in line with the teachings of Jesus ().

Expulsion is meant to:

Bring the man to repentance (Toleration and enablement will bring no one to repentance, it will only harden them in their sin)

Do we love someone enough to allow them the corrective grace of misery and natural consequences.

Protect the purity of God’s people

Why is this important? Discipline is important because purity is important

Paul main concern is not merely for the indiv. offender but for the purity of the whole church.

The Desire to Protect the Church Brings the Pursuit of Purity. -v.6-13

The Pursuit of Purity -v.6-8

1 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.

V.6 - Don’t you know …? “Do you not consider the obvious and certain danger of this evil spreading?”

 The yeast is not a person, but represents sin.

Two reason to pursue Purity

1) The destructive power of sin (Ex: Rabbits - Lucy was an Oscar)

The idea, therefore, is that it is the nature of evil to Reproduce itself.

“A single sin, however secret, when indulged diffuses(Reproduces) its corrupting influence over the whole person

. It degrades the conscience

it alienates from God

it strengthens all other aspects of evil orsin in ones life

At the same time is destroys the powerful of the means of grace and our desire to use them.

“It is no less true of any community that any single evil that is tolerated causes its whole moral sense to deteriorate.” - Hodge

V.7 -Be a Pure lump not sourdough! -Schreiner

Be a new lump

The Christian church is not just the old society patched up. It is radically new ()

Paul does not say ‘You ought to be without yeast’, but states it as a fact; that is what Christians actually are

2) The Passover Lamb has been sacrificed

When the paschal lamb was slain, the Hebrews were required to purge all yeast from their houses ().

Exodus 12:15 ESV

15 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.

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.

Ancient Israel was commanded to remove all yeast before the sacrifice (; ), and in Paul’s day a feature of passover observance was a solemn search for and destruction of all yeast before the feast began

Christ has died for our sins therefore cleanse out all impurity from His church.

The Gospel indicative = Christ died for our sins

The Gospel imperative = Therefore cleanse out impurity from His church.

Gospel Truth: Malice and wickedness must be removed and sincerity ands truth should mark the church of God

V.8 - A Christian celebrate a lifelong feast as they display sincerity and truth

The misunderstanding of Purity -v.9-13

6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 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. 8 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.

- Most likely comes from others who were criticizing his advice.

V.9-10 - Most likely comes from others who were criticizing his advice.

1 Corinthians 5:9–10 ESV

9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 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.

1 Corinthians 5:9–10 ESV

9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 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.

The verb to associate with (synanamignysthai) means ‘to mix up yourself with’

Since Christians must minister to the world, they must not separate themselves from all who are greedy and swindlers, or idolaters.

These people are the church’s mission field (see ; ).

Matthew 9:10–13 ESV

10 And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

John 17:15 ESV

15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.

V.11 anyone who calls himself a brother (people in the church).

Abstain from social interacting with a professing believer living in blatant unrepentance sin.

If they fail to give evidence of new life in Christ, there may be sufficient reason to doubt their salvation.

As Paul was to write in this same letter, “Bad company corrupts good character” ().

9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 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. 11 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. 12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? 13 God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”

V.12-13 - Hold on! Judge not!

Judge not those outside the church - God does!

The imperative - Judge each other inside the church - This is grace!!

Paul concluded that he and the Corinthians had no right to judge those outside the church.

Such people make no pretense of being Christians, and God alone will judge those.

Such people make no pretense of being Christians, and God alone will judge those.Those in the church submit themselves to the authority of the body of Christ. Church discipline is a difficult and troubling process, and many churches try to avoid it. Yet, the church must take action when its members flagrantly violate the ways of Christ.

Those in the church submit themselves to the authority of the body of Christ.

Church discipline is a difficult and troubling process, and many churches try to avoid it.

Yet, the church must take action when its members flagrantly violate the ways of Christ.

v. 12 insists that the church take action in discipline

V. 13 limits the scope of that action.

It is no part of the church’s function to discipline those who are not its members.

PRayer

So What?

The apostle Paul addressed a case of sexual immorality in the local church at Corinth.

The church has the obligation and authority to exercise loving, corrective church discipline.

Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate. Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes

I know what you're thinking Incest? Really? Good news this morning I’m not going to make a biblical case for why incest is wrong. Paul presumes the church & the culture understood it was wrong and so will we.

But this is the issue at hand: Church discipline

What is it, when does a church practice it. How does it work? - Next week we will look at this in more depth but we begin this week. -

• Lifeway report : 56% Pastors in the South say their church hasn’t disciplined a member since they have been the pastor.

So What? Judge not right?! Wrong! Another case of letting those who dont read the bible quote the bible.

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;

20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

We are a new family & Family protects each other

We are Christ's representative, his ambassadors. to this world

There is both a Communal and missional aspect to church discipline

One to protect God’s children

One to Protect Christ’s name among the nations

What are we supposed to do when one of us starts being a bad representative?

What happens if the church just ignores it, or live and let live?

Well to say that Corinth were being bad representatives would be an understatement

Not only did Paul not approve of the immorality, he was even more dismayed that the church actually took pride in tolerating it.

Paul’s greater dismay was that the church actually took pride in tolerating it.

We have all heard these response to sin:

I did it and I’m ashamed

I did it but nobodies perfect.

I did it and I’m proud of it.

The last was the case in Corinth.

If Sin in the church is being tolerated and even celebrated? What should be done?

Main Idea: Overlooking and allowing open sin in the lives of members of local church birth from arrogance, not love.

It only takes on thing to endanger the church and render her ineffective: Pride

Last week: Abuse: Rescue - Provide - protect

Christ rescued his bride how should we seek Her purity and protection?

Paul thinks so

The Desire to Protect the Church Brings the Reality of Sin -V.1-2

1 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.

The Immorality individual - v.1

sexual immorality - Pornei - a general term for sexual immorality

Three are important aspects of this sin that is critical to understand church discipline

“It is actually reported” - unbelievable!

Public sin - actively going on among you and everyone knows it.

Incest among you - intimate relation with his stepmother -

Leviticus 18:8 ESV

8 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife; it is your father’s nakedness.

It was, for example, forbidden by Roman law, and, of course, by the Old Testament

That it does not occur even among pagans does not mean that it never occurred, but that it was infrequent and that it was condemned as evil.

Scandalous/ serious

This has brought open, public shame to the name of Christ and his church.

Ongoing sin -V.1 “For a man has” - Present tense - ongoing sin

Ongoing sin

Ongoing - he is living actively in an intimate relationship with his stepmother.

Unrepentant

Why Paul response is due to these Four realities: Public, Scandalous, Ongoing and unrepentant

The Church’s response: Arrogance/Tolerance - v.2

2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.

Sin either brings celebration or mourning - Look how tolerant we are!

A Perverted view of both grace and tolerance - -What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?

Google: Church celebration of homosexuality in the pulpits of this world.

When one sees Christian freedom as giving them licence they will excuse almost any kind of conduct (cf. 6:12; 10:23).

They actually took pride in their willingness to accept the unrepentant, immoral man.

Passivity leads to arrogance & arrogance always destroys what it touches.

Arrogance destroyed Lucifer, Arrogance destroyed the Garden

The Right Response: Mourning

V.2 Shouldn’t you rather have been filled with grief—that is, grieved for yourselves. “Your condition, instead of filling you with pride, should humble you and make you sad.”

I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.

To protect the church we must call sin sin and we should be grieves over it but we don’t stop there

Sin demands not mere tolerance but to be accepted and celebrated

The Desire to Protect the Church Brings the Reality of Sin’s Consequences. V.3-5

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.

The Corrective Action: Judgement

V.3 - Pauls response immediate action

Reminder: Public, scandalous, ongoing & unrepentant sin

Gather the Congregation - V. 4

4 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus,

The church should assemble in Jesus name and power

In the name of our Lord Jesus. That is, by means of Christ’s authority, acting as his representative.

We are rescued & gathered into “Sheep folds” and we are accountable to Christ in how represent him.

- two more context - Church and church discipline

“For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

We are not a club that pays membership dues, we are the gathered, accountable people of God.

The Context is not meeting two friend at a coffee shop

The context is the Christ-given authority of the church to discipline those who are in sin.

Gather the local church together and:

Gather the local church together and:

Expel the man from the church -v. 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.

“Hand him over” - an active command

13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,

To be expelled from the church accordingly is to be delivered over into that region where Satan holds sway.

The is a protective reality to the local church.

Hand over to Satan - This is corrective and redemptive not vindictive

“So That” - Purpose - V.5 - The why of church discipline?

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.

Present, ongoing unrepentant sin has made it impossible to affirm that he is a member of God’s children.

“He may be saved”

Paul sees the punishment as Corrective: though the flesh be destroyed it is so that his spirit may be saved.

To do this is to exclude the wayward brother from the Christian community and to treat him as “a pagan or a tax collector” as Jesus instructed ().

The hope - Saved on that day

Paul’s words sound harsh to our modern ears (cf. ), but they are in line with the teachings of Jesus ().

Expulsion is meant to: Bring the man to repentance

Toleration and enabling someone’s sin will bring no one to repentance, it will only harden them in their sin

Ex: JB Weld on Rachel’s headlight - hardening agent into the epoxy to make it harden.

We are not better parents than God and God always discipline His kids!

Do we love someone enough to allow them the sovereign, corrective grace of misery and natural consequences?

Church discipline is both loving and corrective for the individual; CD desires to rescue and restore the individual.

To neglect church discipline is both arrogant and destructive for the individual.

Why is this important? Discipline is important because purity is important

But Paul’s main concern is not merely for the indiv. offender but for the protection and purity of the whole church.

The Desire to Protect the Church Brings the Pursuit of Purity. -v.6-13

The Protection of Purity -v.6-8

6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?

“Boasting” Destroys the church - Toleration of sin is both unloving & destructive for the individual and especially for the church collective.

V.6 - Don’t you know …? “Do you not consider the obvious and certain danger of this evil spreading?”

NLT - Don’t you realize that this sin is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough?

The yeast is not a person, but represents sin.

Left unchecked one sin hardens one’s conscious, dulls one’s spiritual sense, quenched the Holy Spirit in one’s life and the church.

John Owen - “Be killing sin or sin be killing you.” - It is our daily work.

V.7

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. 8 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.

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. 8 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.

“You are Holy” (Unleavened) -Indicative

Therefore - “Cleanse out” - Imperative - remove something impure from your environment and presence

“Let not that man think he makes any progress in holiness who walks not over the bellies of his lusts.” ― John Owen, The Mortification of Sin

This is Paul’s foundational basis for church discipline.

V. 7b - “For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” The Passover?

Ex: Sickness in the house - cleaning everything

Ancient Israel was commanded to remove all yeast before the sacrifice (; ), and in Paul’s day a feature of passover observance was a solemn search for and destruction of all yeast before the feast began

V.8

8 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.

The was an occasional celebration for the Jews to remember God’s rescue operation from Exodus and how it should motivate them to holiness and obedience.

Before Christ but now!!

Christ our Passover has been slain therefore our whole life is a celebration & one where we cleanse our actual lives from the very presence of sin.

Church discipline is a gospel issue

As Christ Representative One of Two qualities characterizes our lives and our Church:

Wickedness & evil

Sincerity and Truth

The mark of a Christ-centered church is the pursuit of purity and when she does she loves and protects her people.

Are you a believer and not a church member? That’s both dangerous and foolish.

Husbands and Wives pursue loving and protecting their wives by helping each other follow Christ

Christ’s desire is to present his bride (The Church) without spot or blemish.

What is Christ’s means to present His Church Holy? One of them is Church discipline.

The misunderstanding of Purity -v.9-13

A misunderstanding of association

Ex: The SBC, when we were first married, boycotted Disney for their stance on homosexuality.

Is Disney a Christian organization? No, they are a materialist pagan business.

Church discipline is not imposing judgement on the world

V.9-10

9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 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.

The verb to associate with (synanamignysthai) means ‘to mix up yourself with’

Since Christians must minister to the world, they must not separate themselves from all who are greedy and swindlers, or idolaters.

These people are the church’s mission field (see ; ).

ESV

10 And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

A misunderstanding of “Judge not”

11 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.

V.11 anyone who calls himself a brother (people in the church).

V.12-13 - Hold on! Judge not!

12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? 13 God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”

- We do Judge but we always judge ourselves first

Matthew 7:1–5 ESV

1 “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

Judge not those outside the church - God does!

Oh we love to throw rocks at the pagans!

He talking in the context of a judgment not observation

The Biblical Indicative Christ Died for our Sins

The imperative - Judge each other inside the church - This is grace!! This is protection! This is love!

V.13 - The Sobering summary!

God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”

So What?

Is there a gap between what I Profess and How I live?

If there is who loves you enough to say something?

I know not a more loving group of people than you.

Does sin in my own life lead me to celebrate or mourn?

Am I grateful for the provision and protection of my church family?

Are you a believer and not a church member? That’s both dangerous and foolish.

-Read and emphasize “They alone”

What is really going on in Corinth?

What we read in corinth is what Bonhoeffer called “cheap grace” What The gospel commands is costly grace

Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble; it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.

Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.

Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: "ye were bought at a price," and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.”

14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.