Sermon Tone Analysis

Last week we talked about being...

Disciplined by the Father.

A good father - a father who really loves his children, cannot and will not sit back and allow his children to live in disobedience.

[BIG TRUTH] A good father confronts what is false and corrects with the truth.

And that’s exactly what Paul has been doing so far in this writing.

Paul is expecting the Church of Corinth to respond to his discipline rather than reject it.

We finished with these words of warning from the pen of Paul.

1 Corinthians 4:18–21 (NIV)

Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you.

But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have.

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.

What do you prefer?

Shall I come to you with a rod of discipline, or shall I come in love and with a gentle spirit?

Which would YOU choose?

I’ll take love with a side of gentle spirit, please.

And now Paul has to address a couple of MASSIVE issues in this church - SEXUAL IMPURITY…AND…SPIRITUAL PRIDE.

But sins like these are NOT acceptable for those whom Paul had earlier called “God’s temple” (1 Cor 3:16-17).

So, it’s time to talk about...

DITCHING DISOBEDIENCE

And today we will see what Paul makes it crystal clear - that

[BIG TRUTH] Christians can’t LIVE for the sin that Jesus DIED to pay for (anymore).

So…here we go!

PRAY

1 Corinthians 5:1 (NIV)

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife.

Sexual immorality comes from the Greek term porneia that is used to describe a wide range of prohibited sexual activities.

A man involved in the life of the Corinthian Church, is sleeping with his father’s wife (likely referring to a step-mother).

Men often married woman younger than themselves so it is likely that this grown son was closer to the age of his father’s wife.

The Old Testament teaches that marrying your father’s wife is a wicked sin that should not be allowed among God’s people (Lev 18:8; Dt 22:30; 27:20).

Roman law (established by Augustus between 18 and 16 BC) also banned such relationships.

[Derek R. Brown and E. Tod Twist, 1 Corinthians, ed.

John D. Barry and Douglas Mangum, Lexham Research Commentaries (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2013), 1 Co 5:1–2.]

So while Jews and most pagans in the Roman Empire wouldn’t engage in this kind of sexual immorality, the church IS allowing this to occur without any correction.

Instead of being appalled at this sin, the Corinthian church applauded this sin.

1 Corinthians 5:2 (NIV)

And you are proud!

Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this?

Evidently, these people were ‘loving’ this guy rather than judging him guilty.

WHY?

We simply don’t know.

Maybe he was a wealthy member of the church, with much influence in Corinth.

It’s much easier to give a pass to such a man than hold him to the high standard the less prestigious and less wealthy are to live by.

But instead of being burdened by this man’s sin, the church was proud.

Paul quickly surmises what the Church should have done - put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this.

They were to kick this guy out of the church membership & gatherings!

That sounds…JUDGMENTAL…does it not?

Yep!

And here we see how our pagan culture has so impacted the contemporary church, so that we THINK we should never judge.

I can’t tell you how many Christians sound just like non-Christians when it comes to this, thinking that JUDGING is somehow a sin.

We often rather put up with the sin rather than confront it, because we don’t want to be ‘judgmental’.

Let’s continue with Paul’s thought.

1 Corinthians 5:3–5 (NIV)

For my part, even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit.

As one who is present with you in this way, I have already passed judgment in the name of our Lord Jesus on the one who has been doing this.

So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.

That doesn’t sound like a very ‘Christian’ thing to do…does it?

Well, actually, Paul is doing exactly what Jesus Christ had commanded.

So YES, it is the Christian thing to do.

Jesus taught His disciples to confront, correct, & comfort the one who turns from sin…but - if need be…kick out the ‘brother’ or ‘sister’ who refuses to repent of sin.

Matthew 18:15–17 (NIV)

If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you.

If they listen to you, you have won them over.

But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’

If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

Everyone in that culture would have understood what that meant - to treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector meant to see them as ungodly people who cheated their own people, rather than treating that person like a brother or sister in your faith family.

Someone might counter, “Jesus loved pagans and tax collectors”.

That’s true, but that’s NOT Jesus’ point.

The context is clearly about disfellowshipping the disobedient person.

According to WHO? Jesus!

The goal of discipline, according to Jesus, is to

1.

Call the brother or sister back to right relationship with God and God’s people.

2. Make sure God’s people don’t put up with disobedience in their own lives.

Matthew 18:18-20 (NIV)

Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.

For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.

This passage is super popular at church gatherings, but it is rarely used in its proper context.

To bind and loose has nothing to do with demons, but discipline.

This isn’t about praying against the devil or demons.

Instead...

To bind is to proclaim that the person is still slave to their sin.

To loose is to proclaim that the person has been set free from their sin.

To agree about anything they ask for isn’t a blank check for every prayer to be answered the way they want.

In context, as the believers agree about expelling one who disobeys and embracing the one who obeys, the decision is recognized in heaven.

Finally, there’s the often quoted where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.

Of course the Presence of Jesus is among those who follow Him and meet together.

But this context is all about communicating the reality that it is Jesus who judges through His people.

I know that none of us would be excited as we look forward to this last meeting where we confront this ‘brother’ or ‘sister’ who is sin.

We might even pause and ask, “Who are WE to judge him/her?

After all, we have sinned too!”

But that’s when the words of Jesus should stampede our thoughts of inadequacy because…Jesus is WITH us and Jesus commands us to do this.

And if Jesus commands it and we don’t do it, then we are being disobedient.

And it’s time for DITCHING DISOBEDIENCE because...Christians can’t LIVE for the sin that Jesus DIED to pay for (anymore).

Now let’s look back at the letter from Paul and see how words echo what Jesus has commanded.

1 Corinthians 5:4–5 (NIV)

So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.

Do you see it?

Jesus is WITH them, working through them, to expel this disobedient man.

The language that follows is very weighty, and should cause all of us pause - hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.

What’s THAT mean?