Making Sense of 1st Corinthians CH5
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Mother’s Day seems like a pretty straightforward idea. A day to honor mom, or our memory of mom—be thankful and keep Hallmark in business. How complicated can it be?
Several years ago, I decided I would just tell everyone who came to church, “Happy Mother’s Day.” Men, women, children—didn’t matter. Everyone had a Mother, God said to honor them, Happy Mother’s Day one and all.
The men were confused when I greeted them with “Happy Mother’s Day,” but they smiled and rolled with it. The kids were like, “I’m not a mother!” And I’d say, “yeah, but you have a mother don’t you? You ungrateful, self-absorbed little…” No. I’d just ask them what they were going to do to make their mom happy today.
It was all going just fine, until a certain middle-aged lady walked through the door.
“Happy Mother’s Day!” I said to her. Innocently. As naïve as a lamb ordering the veal.
“I never had children, I’m not a mother.” The way she said it, it was part Greta Thunberg “how dare you” and part “Cruella Deville.” She had obviously been training for the role of The Grinch Who Stole Mother’s Day. I was as unprepared as Little Cindy-Lou Who.
I said, “Well, Mother’s Day can be for all of us—we all have mothers, right?”
She had me right where she wanted me, now. I walked right into it.
“I was never really close to my mother and she passed a couple years ago.”
I went and hid backstage, shivering in the dark until the service started. Since then, I’ve had PTMDD, Post Traumatic Mother’s Day Disorder. Flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety triggered by greeting middle-aged women in church on the second Sunday in May.
I know Mother’s Day can be complicated for some of us. I’m not making light of that. I still think it’s a good thing to have a special day to honor our moms in whatever way we can.
Let’s pray as we get started with the message today:
Father in heaven, How can a young person stay pure? How can any of us stay pure?
Only by trusting and obeying your word.
Help us to find you today—
don’t let us wander from your commands.
Come to us, teach us, challenge us, and forgive us.
In Christ’s Name. AMEN.
We’ve been working our way through 1st Corinthians. Paul’s letter to a church he planted that had some problems. So far he’s gotten their attention by saying they lack unity, they’re being childish, they seem to have missed the point of the Gospel, but they act like they’re the most super-spiritual Christians in Bibleland. Now he’s going to get into some very specific things that are going on that need to stop. Chapter five, verse one:
I can hardly believe the report about the sexual immorality going on among you—something that even pagans don’t do. I am told that a man in your church is living in sin with his stepmother.
[1 Corinthians 5:1–13]
Happy Mother’s Day! This might be the first time in history this verse was chosen for Mother’s Day. Welcome to NewChurch, where we go straight to awkward. One of the blessings of just preaching through books of the Bible is the occasional hilarity that ensues when coupled with cultural events like this. I think it’s funnier to just roll with it.
Someone in their church was having sex with his stepmom, something both Jews and Romans agree is not cool. There was no one in polite society that was okay with this, but the Corinthian Church was woke. They were open-minded. They weren’t going to be prudes. All lifestyles were welcome here. They weren’t haters.
Where is Frank going with this sermon, today? Verse 2:
You are so proud of yourselves, but you should be mourning in sorrow and shame. 1 Corinthians 5:2
They were wearing “If You Can’t Be With The One You Love, Love Your Stepmom” T-shirts. They sponsored the “Not That There’s Anything Wrong With It” Pride Parade.
They had decided that something God called sin was perfectly fine. Who were they to judge, right?
So, what were they supposed to do with this person who refused to admit there was anything wrong with what he was doing?
The rest of verse 2:
And you should remove this man from your fellowship. 1 Corinthians 5:2
Notice it only applies to the man. His mom wasn’t part of the church, she must not have been a Christian. She wasn’t part of the fellowship. But this dude was shacking up with his father’s wife all week long and then showing up at church on Sunday like everything was good to go. Let’s talk about Jesus and forgiveness—I’ll take some more of that watered-down cheap grace, please.
Paul is not pleased. This is just one little example of the ways he heard they were making a mess of the Gospel. He wrote this letter to tell them to knock it off.
Even though I am not with you in person, I am with you in Spirit. And as though I were there, I have already passed judgment on this man in the name of the Lord Jesus. 1 Corinthians 5:3
This isn’t mystical talk. He’s not talking about astral projection. We say the same kind of thing all the time, “I can’t be there but I’ll be with you in spirit.”
He doesn’t want them to wait until he shows up, they need to take care of this right now.
You must call a meeting of the church. I will be present with you in spirit, and so will the power of our Lord Jesus. Then you must throw this man out and hand him over to Satan so that his sinful nature will be destroyed and he himself will be saved on the day the Lord returns. 1 Corinthians 5:4
Which sounds like “well, that escalated quickly.” There’s a lot going on there, let me break it down a little.
In Matthew 18, Jesus tells us what we’re supposed to do when a fellow believer falls into sin. Yes, we love them. Yes, we forgive them. And. This is how we love them and forgive them:
“If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back. But if you are unsuccessful, take one or two others with you and go back again, so that everything you say may be confirmed by two or three witnesses.” Matthew 18:15-16
When someone is in sin, first go to them privately. If they admit what they did was wrong, fantastic! We’re all done here. But if they won’t admit what they’re doing is wrong, well, then bring a couple members of the church with you. There’s always the possibility that you’re the one who’s wrong. But if two or three members of the church agree that the person is in the wrong, then Jesus says to have a little intervention. Maybe that’ll get their attention. Maybe when they’re confronted with the truth of God’s Word in a gentle and loving way by some friends—maybe they’ll see the error of their ways and confess their sin. If they do, wonderful! The person has been fully restored. Everyone goes back to living in the grace of God, sinners and saints, walking in forgiveness.
By the way, this is the same passage that has that famous line about “where two or three gather in my name, I will be with them.”
“I also tell you this: If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you. For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.” Matthew 18:19
So, Jesus said that in the context of members of the church forgiving and restoring each other.
But what if they just get mad and offended and tell their Christian friends to mind their own business? What if they’re like, “Hey, judge not!” “Who are you to tell me what’s sin and what’s not?”
If the person still refuses to listen, take your case to the church. Then if he or she won’t accept the church’s decision, treat that person as a pagan or a corrupt tax collector.
You went by yourself and they got offended and ignored you. You took a couple friends from church and they got mad and told you to mind your own business. Now Jesus says to bring it out in the open to the whole congregation. If they still won’t admit that what they’re doing is wrong—if they won’t call sin, sin—then stop considering them to be a brother or sister. Treat them like you would treat a pagan or tax collector.
Do you remember how Jesus taught us to treat pagans and tax collectors? We invite them to follow Him. To believe in the Gospel. To leave their old life behind. To repent and believe. We invite them back to grace and mercy.
But what if they confess their sin? What if they say they’re sorry, they’re a horrible sinner, they say, “Forgive me, LORD! I did a bad thing. I won’t do it anymore.” And then they do.
Here’s another famous verse is also in the same context of forgiving and restoring each other, Matthew 18:21.
Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?”
“No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven! Matthew 18:21
How many times should the church forgive someone who admits their sin, asks for forgiveness, and then turns around and does the same thing again?
Apparently 490 times. Although, I don’t think Jesus expects us to keep track. I think we’re supposed to keep forgiving.
But if we’re supposed to just forgive and forgive and forgive, what did Paul mean when he said, “Then you must throw this man out and hand him over to Satan so that his sinful nature will be destroyed and he himself will be saved on the day the Lord returns.”
First, it means that the person who refuses to repent is a Christian. A Christian who isn’t living like they realize Jesus is not only Savior but also Lord. Not only the Messiah who died to forgive them, but the King of kings who’s coming back to rule over His kingdom.
There’s only one kingdom. Jesus has all power and authority. You’re either in the good graces of the King of heaven and earth, or you’re a traitor, taking up sides with the devil and his demon rebels. Paul says if they’re going to live like hell then we should all be honest about it. Stop treating them like a brother or sister. It’s a lot like the story of the prodigal son. They need to go squander their fortune in the big city until they bottom out and start eating pig food. Then, after they hit rock bottom, they’ll return to the Father’s grace and mercy. The goal is restoration. The goal is that they would be saved when Jesus returns. They need to repent and believe the Gospel again.
Paul’s going to dig into what to do about people who won’t call sin, sin.
Back to 1st Corinthians chapter 5, verse 6:
Your boasting about this is terrible. 1 Corinthians 5:6
They were proud of how open-minded they were. Come as you are, stay as you are, we’re not going to judge you, we’re not going to deal with sin at all.
That’s not the Gospel. That’s modern, secular psychology.
Someone feels depressed so they go see a counselor. Too many counselors think their job is to convince people that whatever they’re upset about isn’t their fault. They feel shame and guilt from their parents and society and the church—all that shame and guilt is just put on them by all these terrible, critical outside pressures. They need to let all that go. Secular psychology says feelings of guilt and shame are not healthy, they’re all based on lies we keep telling ourselves.
The Gospel is a very different view. The Gospel says we were all born broken, bent and twisted. That God saw us in that pathetic state and had pity on us. He loved us. He finds us wherever we are—not where we should have been. He finds us just as we are—not as we should be. He invites us to come as we are to His throne of grace, but He loves us too much to let us stay that way. Yes, we were full of sin. Yes, we had plenty of reason to feel guilt and shame—especially in the light of His holiness. And that’s when the miracle happens. He makes us clean. He removes the burden of our sin. He forgives us. He makes us holy like He’s holy. At that moment, we are simultaneously saint and sinner. We will continue to live in that tension until Jesus comes back.
But when we want to hold onto our favorite sins. The ones that have crept into our core identity. The ones that we are desperately trying to convince ourselves aren’t sins at all. That’s when we have the kind of problem that Paul is dealing with in the church at Corinth. Because that kind of denying that sin is sin will spread like poison. Continuing in verse 6:
Don’t you realize that this sin is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old “yeast” by removing this wicked person from among you. Then you will be like a fresh batch of dough made without yeast, which is what you really are. Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us. So let us celebrate the festival, not with the old bread of wickedness and evil, but with the new bread of sincerity and truth. [1st Corinthians 5:6-8]
He’s comparing sin in the church to the preparations God’s people had always made for Passover. Moses had commanded that every year at Passover, they would remove all yeast from their homes. They would make bread without any yeast at all to eat at the Passover meal.
By the way, yeast isn’t intrinsically evil. Jesus also said the Gospel was like yeast—a little bit will completely change the nature of the bread. The Gospel was going to change the world, and change people, the way yeast changes dough—and that’s exactly what the Gospel has done.
In this analogy, though, yeast represents the old sinful self before the Gospel changed us. We start new. We don’t mix the old lump in with the new. If someone doesn’t understand that sin is sin, then they don’t realize how serious the situation we’re in really is. Think of sin as cancer. It doesn’t do any good to pretend it isn’t there. It’s got to come out.
If there’s someone in the congregation that is in obvious sin, everyone knows because they flaunt it out in the open, they refuse to admit there’s anything wrong with it, they’re not sorry, they don’t want to be forgiven, they just want everyone else to go along with their lie. They want everyone else to agree with them that what they are doing is not sin. Whatever the sin is.
Paul says this person is to be called out. Treated like an unbeliever. Which is how they’re acting.
Verse 9:
When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin. But I wasn’t talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or are greedy, or cheat people, or worship idols. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that. 1 Corinthians 5:9
Apparently, this isn’t the first time Paul had written them about these things. He wanted to clarify what he meant when he said not to hang out with sinners. First, he didn’t mean unbelievers. Pagans are going to act like pagans. Jesus got in trouble all the time for eating and drinking with sinners, hanging out with the wrong people, going to the wrong parties. That’s clearly not what Paul was talking about. Second, he wasn’t talking about people who sin, because that would be everyone. We’re all sinners saved by grace.
He makes it perfectly clear what he was talking about:
I meant that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or cheats people. Don’t even eat with such people. 1 Corinthians 5:9
The Christian who has their identity so wrapped up in their sinful behavior that they won’t admit they’re doing anything wrong. This kind of person doesn’t understand what Jesus did for them. They’re not thankful for His sacrifice. They’re not thankful for His forgiveness because they don’t see the need for it. When they’re approached by a brother or sister who loves them and tries to help them confess their sin—call it what it is, repent and believe—they just get offended. They don’t recognize what love is and they call it hate.
It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning. God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say,
“You must remove the evil person from among you.” [1 Corinthians 5:1–13]
So, it’s not our job to go around condemning people. Jesus said He didn’t come to condemn the world but to save it. This is why I’m not in favor of standing on street corners holding signs that condemn people for any particular sins. Or shouting at people, telling them they’re going to hell if they don’t change their ways.
That’s not the Gospel.
Here’s the Gospel: God wants you to know He loves you. You have a lot of bad ideas, He loves you anyway. You’ve done a lot of bad things, He loves you anyway. You’re never going to get all those stains from your sin off your soul—not without His help. The good news is He came down here into your world to help. He died on the cross so His blood could wash those stains right off your soul. He rose from the grave to give you the sure and certain hope that death isn’t the end. Not by a long shot.
Now, here’s the deal. Walk in that hope. Walk in that forgiveness. When you sin, call it what it is. Come back to His grace and mercy. You always have at least 490 more tries to get it right.
AMEN
Prayer. Father in heaven, we confess that we have not stayed pure. We’ve failed You and failed each other in so many ways. Forgive us. For the thousandth time for the same things over and over. Forgive us. …
Help us to see Jesus and for people to see Jesus in us …
Fill us with faith. Let faithfulness flow from our lives, words, heart …
Teach us to forgive in the same way You forgive us. Forgive each other. Forgive ourselves.
In Christ’s Name. AMEN.