MPC
20th April 2008.April 20 - 1 Corinthians 5 - "As You Really Are"
MPC
20th April 2008.
Derek Hanna
A passage like the one we're looking at today can touch a lot of raw nerves. For some they may have experienced past hurt by someone who claimed to be a Christian. For some they may have heard about, or seen in the media, the intolerant and judgemental attitude of the Church towards a person, or a group of people. And for some even, it may be that their consciences prick them that they are similar to the man in this passage who is being judged.
Whatever your background, and whatever your experience, the perception is that tolerance and acceptance aren't really churches' strong points.
In fact I was just reading this week in the newspaper about Justice Michael Kirby who was criticised by an Anglican minister in Sydney. Justice Kirby considers himself an Anglican. And he is also a practicing homosexual. The criticism by the minister was that it was incompatible to be both, and that Justice Kirby should either denounce his Anglican membership, or repent of his homosexual lifestyle.
This has just reinforced in many people that Christians are more concerned about judging people than they are about loving people.
Yet while Paul has said in the previous chapter that it is God along who ultimately judges... It's clear from this chapter, and the subsequent chapters, that this doesn't mean Christians never make assessments about things, and never judge something to be right or to be wrong. In fact, Paul sees discipline within the church as indispensable to its health.
So what does Church discipline look like? Who does it affect? Does it really matter? That's what Paul is going to be looking at in this passage.
Now have a look with me first of all at who Paul is dealing with in this passage. Firstly in verse 1, you can see he's having a go at a guy who is so warped in the head, that he's pursuing his father's wife. Now thank the Lord Paul doesn't go into details with this - but there's enough that we get the general idea. It's not his mother, but his step-mother. And we don't know if his father was alive, they were divorced, or what the situation was. But we do know that it wasn't just your run of the mill sexual immorality, it was something that even the world considered taboo.
Even our society today, while being pretty relaxed about most things, has lines that it doesn't think should be crossed. Adultery (or having an affair) is ok... but incest is not. And we've seen an example of that on the news, and in the newspapers recently.
But as if that isn't problem enough, it seems as if the church in Corinth has also lost all sensibilities. Because for some reason, we find out at the start of verse 2, they're cheering this guy on. What could they possibly be proud of?
Well, there are two options, I think.
The first is that they're proud of what this guy's incestuous activities. Now that seems strange, and you'd have to be pretty warped to think like that. But more than that, it would be stupid to be publicly boastful about it... because in the Roman Empire it was highly illegal. It would be like a group of people proudly boasting in public that one of their friends collects child-pornography. Not only sickening in the act, but stupid in that the authorities would come down on them like a tonne of bricks.
No, it's not what this guy is doing that they're proud of. It's who he is in society. As we've seen in the first four chapters of this book, the Corinthians valued societal status above all else. They were proud of those of influence. Proud of those who were gifted speakers. Proud of those who had power. And it seems they were so proud of these things, that they weren't going to let a little thing like incest bring them down.
If we just don't speak about this dark-section of his life, and we concentrate on all the good he's done, all the prestige he's brought us, the social status he has... That was their thinking. Gloss over the sin, because we value who he is, what he brings, and what harm it might do to confront him with this area of his life.
And too often the church has fallen into this trap. Too often the church has been willing to gloss over people's sin, immorality, even sometimes (much to our disgrace) their abuse of those under their care... for the sake of saving face and saving ourselves from embarrassment. It should not be.
Rather, we should be filled with grief, come clean, and deal with this sin transparently and in the appropriate way. If only we did this more often, there would be half as much bad press about the church.
And as we read through to the end of this passage, we see that it's not just sexual immorality that he's taking a shot at. Look at his list in verses 11.
Paul's target is not those who sin once off. Not those fall down once, know they've done wrong, repent of it immediately, and try to make amends for what they've done. His target is those inside the church, where their characteristic is unrepentant and repeated sin. Those people who actively, and willingly, tear at the community of the church and go against God's Word. Those are the people Paul is lining up. And this sexually immoral guy is just one example of it.
And one more thing to note about who he's dealing with. It is only those inside the church. Jump with me to v.9-13a. He makes a clear delineation in this verse (as he does at other points in the passage) about who he is directing his criticism and correction towards.
You can even see it in the way he phrases v.1. You see at the end he is directing his criticism at the man who has his father's wife. It's the man he critiques... not the father, or his father's wife. It's not to those who have nothing to do with the Church. It's to those within the church, those who call themselves Christians. It's to these people that Paul says he, and the whole church, must be concerned with when it comes to sin.
Now this is an important distinction to make, as it's the reason many who are not associated with the church feel so judged and condemned by the Church - a church they do not even want to be a part of. It would be like someone criticising me for not being passionate enough about knitting, and not adhering to the clearly defined rules of the Australian Knitters Association. Not only do I not knit, I have no desire to knit, nor have I ever said to anyone in public that I want to be part of the Australian Knitters Association.
What those in the church need to keep in mind, is that church discipline is for those within the church.
So, how does Paul say we should deal with issues such as this in the Church?
Look with me at verses 2b-5.
Paul wants those in the church to forget about social status, forget about potential embarrassment when people find out what's been going on - to take sin seriously, deal with it, and put this guy out of their congregation until he repents of what he's doing. So Paul says, while I'm not there physically, I am there in spirit, and the person doing this has already been condemned by me. (v.3) So when you gather again as a church (i.e. in the name of the Lord Jesus), and I'm with you again in Spirit (v.4a)... With the power and authority of the Lord Jesus, confront this man with his sin, and kick him out of your fellowship. (v.4b-5)
Now to be kicked out of a church doesn't seem like such a big deal these days. It would be traumatic now, and it would leave scars.
But in Paul's day, to be excluded from fellowship, to be excluded from socialising and eating with the church, was a loud, visible and clear statement of condemnation everyone in society would know about.
Not to minimise it, but this was the equivalent of the naughty seat, but in front of everyone.
Now it's hard to say for each and every circumstance what it's going to look like, but I'll tell you what it doesn't look like.
It wouldn't look like the silent treatment. It would never be locking the door on someone when we saw them drive into the car park. It would never abandoning a person in their time of need. And it would never be unloving.
Paul doesn't give a manual for how we should deal with all circumstances... and that's good, because he could never have forseen the kinds of challenges and society we're dealing with today. But he does give us his reasons for why he says what he does. And these reasons are vital in helping us work out how we approach our own issues in our own church today.
Now one of the images Paul is drawing upon is an Old Testament image of the people of Israel. You see the refrain he echoes in verse 13, that he's pulled from the book of Deuteronomy.
In Old Testament Israel, there was a physical distinction, a physical border, between those who were God's people, and those who weren't. When they were moving around the desert before arriving at the promised land, those clean and a part of God's people, were physically located in Israel's camp. Those committed of wrong-doing, or unclean, were sent outside the camp. Some for a time, some permanently.
And Paul draws upon that image here. Put those who sin outside of your fellowship, so that they are both punished for what they've done, you are not seen to be condoning their sin, and their sin does not cause you to stumble. For the one who has committed the offense, Paul says to put them outside the fellowship, hand them over to Satan... so that in the end, their spirit may be saved.
It sounds grim, being handed over to Satan, and I won't fully claim to understand it. But it's clear the end-point Paul wants for this person. While Paul wants him kicked out of the fellowship of the Lord, and abandoned to the world where Satan rules... (i.e. 1 Tim 1:20) In the hope they will realise their sin, repent, and their salvation be assured. The way we approach how we deal with discipline in the church must always be guided by this.
How do we deal with a person for their eternal good, not just for their immediate comfort? Now I'm not going to lie to you and say that this is fool-proof, and that it's always going to work.
Many people when confronted by their sin will be offended, put out, deny they've done anything wrong, and point to the good things they have done or currently do. And even when it's clear they're in the wrong, they deny the right of anyone else to tell them how to live their life, or judge them. And the end result is result is them leaving the fellowship of the church, them bad-mouthing the church for it's lack of tolerance and love, and pain for all involved. And yet there will be instances where people are confronted by their sin, and eventually seek repentance and forgiveness from God, those they've wronged.
That is the desired outcome for the individual. Setting them back on God's path, having cleared away the sin that was holding them back in their walk with Him.
But Paul's reasoning is not just for individuals. He also wants to deal swiftly and seriously with sin for the good of God's people.
v.6 - He's worried about a little bit of sin (if you can call what's happening a little bit), working it's way through the whole congregation - just like yeast works through dough.
So again he draws on an Old Testament image, but he gives it a twist. (Exodus 12) At the time of the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened bread - when they were still in Egypt and the plagues were raining down on Pharoah and the people - the Israelites were supposed to get rid of any yeast that was in their house, as it was a sign of uncleanness, and they were to have no yeast in their house for a week. If they were found to have yeast, they were cut off from Israel. And at the Passover, the blood of the lamb they killed and ate, would be the method by which they would avoid death, as the firstborn of Egypt was killed. And this exercise was enshrined in Israel's history, carried out every year.
But Paul gives it a twist. He says that for Christians, unlike the Festival of the Unleavened bread, life is an ongoing Festival. (v.8)
And you don't need continual sacrifices, because it's not a sheep who's blood will save you, but the Lord Jesus Christ's blood who was sacrificed once for all. (v.7) And you are the unleavened bread. They're not becoming the unleavened bread - they are the unleavened bread. (v.7) So we get rid of the yeast that used to characterise us (malice and wickedness) but no longer does. And we take hold of those things that characterise who we really are - sincerity and truth.
And this so we can be who we really are, and not be polluted by something that doesn't need much encouragement to spread at all. Paul wants to deal with the sin in the church, so that it does not spread. So that people don't see other people's sin being overlooked, and begin to wonder what they could get away with. Or begin to justify their own behaviour.
And the key for Paul his underlying logic in all that he says in this chapter - and in fact all that he says in the whole letter to the Corinthians is this. You need to behave as who you really are. Those in Christ. Those bought with the blood of the Passover lamb. That is the fundamental reason for avoiding sin and for dealing with it seriously when it rears its ugly head. Because of who we are in Christ, and because of Christ.
So where do we go from here as a church? What framework do we work with? Well, we call each other to account because of who we are. Those who do not call themselves Christians, we do not call to account. We warn, and we encourage people to follow God's way of life... because it is how life was designed to live, and it will lead to a more fulfilling life. But those who do not call themselves Christians are not subject to the same discipline and standards that Christians are. But those who take upon themselves the title of Christian, well we are those who are in Christ Jesus, called to be holy. We are God's temple.
So we need to behave as who we really are, as Paul says in verse 7 of this passage. Our behaviour needs to reflect the fact that we are God's people, obedient to His Word. So therefore, because of who we are, we need to take sin seriously within our church. We will never glory in someone's social status, while ignoring their sin.
Too often in the past the church has done this, to the hurt of many people. We value Godly character over and above anything else. We will not cover up sin, and we will not overlook abuse, merely to save face or lessen embarrassment. It is because we are in Christ Jesus, that we will call those who are part of God's temple, to account for their actions where they deviate from God's Word. We will do it gently, we will do it sensitively, but we will also do it firmly. We will hold our leaders to a higher account for their lives than we do of others, but we will not forget that we are all called by the same God, to the same Word.
We will take sin seriously, because of who we are. And because of who we are, will are more concerned about their standing before God, than we are about their immediate comfort. That is, we as a church will do the hard things, for the best end.
While we would like to always agree on everything, to never have controversy, and to never have to call someone back from a sinful way of life...
We consider their relationship with God to be more important than the awkward situation that arises when you confront someone with their sin.
Now tolerance is all the rage these days. Accept everything, question nothing. We might not agree with someone's way of life, but we have no right to call them to live by our standards. Well, this thinking just does not work in the church.
If we say we're saved by God's saviour, and if we want to be part of His Kingdom, then we must acknowledge His rule through His Word.
Do you think that a God who would save you from death by sacrificing His own Son, would be petty enough to come up with rules and regulations just to make life miserable for you?
God's Words are knowledge. They are full of life. And they are binding on those who call themselves His people. Therefore, we are more concerned with God's Word than we are with our immediate comfort. Sometimes that Word will be easy to hear. Sometimes that Word will be hard to hear. But always that Word will be life. And we must speak it. Because of who we are. And because of who we are, we always seek reconciliation and forgiveness. That is, while we call Christians to account for their actions, and while we confront unrepentant and repeated sin, and while at points we ask people to leave our church for a period of time... We always, under all circumstances seek reconciliation and forgiveness.
Just as we have been reconciled to God through Christ, and just as through his death we can have forgiveness... So we are always seeking to welcome forgive those who have wronged us personally or brought embarrassment to the church.
Now there will certainly be rare circumstances where it will not be possible for someone to come back to the same church they may have wronged. But reconciliation and forgiveness must still be sought.
As far as the East is from the West, that's how far God has removed our transgressions from us (Psalm 103:12).
If you come away with nothing else from this morning, it's that Christians should be who they are. You will have heard horror stories about churches. You may even have experienced horror stories within churches. But this is what we should be. Those saved by Jesus' death and resurrection, called to live as people of God and called to encourage those around them to live as people of God.
Most of the time it looks like us meeting together, encouraging one another and hearing what God has to say from His Word. But every now and then it looks like the situation Paul describes in this passage. It's unpleasant, it can be heartbreaking, but it's necessary, because we are God's people, and we need to behave as such.