Good morning friends;
Today is Thursday June 13 and we are reading 1 Corinthians 5 together.
Do you remember Jesus said “I am the light of the world, whoever follows me will not walk in darkness.” (John 8:12)? That was a powerful statement, a defining moment, a call to consider the radical change Jesus wants to make in anyone who would follow Him.
John the fisherman, heard Jesus say that, and followed Jesus, and found the light of Jesus’ truth and power changed his life. He wrote five books of the New Testament… the Gospel of John, 1st, 2nd & 3rd John and Revelation.
Evidently this concept of the contrast between light, (God’s truth, God’s holiness) and darkness, (Satan’s evil, wickedness, deceit) was something which stirred deeply in the Apostle John, for he wrote in his Gospel of John 1:1-5 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God…Through Him all things were made…In Him was life and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.” Also John wrote in 1 John 1:5-7 “This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light, in Him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.”
Paul too, felt very strongly about this. Specifically Paul understood our salvation experience to be life changing, and when a person is an authentic Christian and living their life in relationship with Jesus, filled with His HOLY Spirit, then any darkness in their life will be recognized, and they’ll be repulsed by it, reject it, and repent of it, so they can live in the light of a God honoring relationship with Jesus.
Chapter 5 of 1 Corinthians deals with this, head on. As you read this chapter, I wonder what emotions rise up in you?
Clearly Paul was worked up over a report he had heard, that a man who claimed to be a Christian in the Corinthian church, was living in an open, unrepentant, adulterous relationship. To make matters worse, it was with his step-mother. As you can see, by the words Paul used, it threw Paul into what I’d call a spiritual rage. He was beside himself with anger. WHY?
Well I’ll give you three reasons that I see in this chapter: First… The adultery seems to be ongoing, unrepentant and blatant. We presume the man is faithful with his participation in the life of the Corinthian church… and he seems to expect everyone to simply accept it as a ‘new normal’. Second… It seems no one is doing anything about it. Everyone seems to be accepting it. Darkness has invaded their church and everyone seems to be ignoring it, as though it isn’t happening. Third… Paul writes “and you are proud!” It suggests the people of the church seem proud that they are so understanding, such a loving group of people, that this adultery is actually enabled, encouraged by people’s unwillingness to say or do anything to confront it.
Now go back and read what John wrote about God’s holy light, and Satan’s wicked darkness NOT being able to mutually co-exist in harmony. (1 John 1:5-7) It just can’t happen. One will overtake the other.
So what do you see, in what Paul is writing, that the people should have done about this?
Do you remember what Jesus said in Matthew 18:15-17? “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.” Let me pause there. You see the word “brother” used twice? Brother means both the people in this verse are people who have trusted Jesus to be their Savior, they are in the family of God and thus ‘brothers’. Now apply that to the Corinthian problem. The Christians in the church were ‘sinned against’ by this unrepentant adultery among them. Any Christian in that church should have gone to visit the man and shown him, from God’s Word, why his behavior is an abomination to God (Ex. 20:14; Matt. 5:27). This darkness of unrepentant adultery cannot be present in an authentic Christ follower, and certainly not in a Church of God’s people. But no one did that…
In Matthew 18:19 Jesus continued… “But if he 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 he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church, and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.” Now Jesus was pretty strong here wasn’t he? But what were His instructions? We understand the progression from the one on one conversation, to a small group of people confronting the unrepentant sinner, and finally to presenting the situation before all the Christians in a particular church family. And if the person simply refuses to repent, what does it mean ‘treat them as a pagan or tax collector’? Do you see a line of demarcation that is crossed there?
I understand it this way. Up to that point, it is assumed both the unrepentant sinner and those speaking with him or her are all people claiming to be saved by God’s grace through the work of Jesus Christ. They are brothers and sisters in the family of God. They have a common understanding of God’s Word and His lifestyle standards for His holy people and they have a common experience of salvation. But the pagan or tax collector… those words suggest someone who has not had the salvation experience, does not understand God’s standard of lifestyle OR is one who knows the truth but refuses to live it. (James 4:17)
Now in 1 Corinthians 5, Paul makes it clear… the process as Jesus described, should have taken place long before. And if this man in adultery refuses to see his sin, refuses to repent of his sin, then he should NOT be treated with the welcome and love of a fellow Christ follower. Because he claims to be a Christian, but refuses to live in obedience to God’s Word and standards, Paul says He should be “put out of the fellowship“. It means, told he is not welcome in the worship services, not welcome when Communion is being taken… and the reason is simple. In his unrepentant adultery he is living darkness and where-ever he goes he brings the darkness of the devil’s evil with him.
It’s what Paul later wrote to the Ephesians Christians, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit…and do not give the devil a foothold.” (Eph. 4:27 & 30) This man was doing that! So Paul says, don’t bring that blatant rebellion into worship of holy God, or celebration of the Lords Supper, which honors Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Notice Paul says in vs 5 “hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.” You remember we’ve seen that phrase “the day of the Lord” and discussed it in 2 Thessalonians 2:2. When God’s people gather for worship of Holy God, Jesus is present by His Holy Spirit, right? It’s a sacred encounter between God and His people. Satan is not welcome there, in fact he is repulsed by that worship. That’s why he rebelled in heaven in the first place. So because this man claims to be saved by God’s grace, claims to have the Holy Spirit in him, but refuses to see or repent of his adultery, his presence in the worship service defiles it, brings Satan’s darkness right into the worship service. That’s why Paul says… hand him over to Satan. He means, since he refuses the conviction of the Holy Spirit in his life, and he refuses to honor God’s holiness, he is making a mockery of the death and resurrection of Jesus… exclude him from the gatherings of God’s people. Paul believes the result of that will be spiritual starvation. The Holy Spirit will continue to convict the man, and the absence of the affirmation and help which comes from being with God’s people in worship, will be like starvation, and hopefully in his desperate condition he will repent, reject the evil in him and Satan’s hold on his life, and turn back again to Jesus, and find cleansing and spiritual restoration in Jesus.
Now it’s important we understand this contrast between vs. 1-5 and vs. 9-11. Paul makes it clear… the difference between the people in vs. 9&10 and the man in vs. 1-5 is that those in 9&10 are not born again, Holy Spirit filled people. They are living in the darkness of the world and don’t know any different. Christians need to build relationships with them, show them the light of Jesus, and draw them out of the darkness to Jesus. The man in vs. 1-5 claims to be a Christian, but chooses to live in the darkness, and refuses the truth of God. With this man we confront him with God’s truth, we pray for God’s might work in his life, but we are very cautious about any relationship with him.
1 Corinthians 5 is strong medicine isn’t it friends? I wonder if you remember several examples in Bible history where God dealt very strongly with those who claimed to be His people, but chose to live the lies of darkness, publicly for all to see? Remember Achan in Joshua 7; or Korah, Dathan and Abiram and their leadership rebellion in Numbers 16; or Ananias & Sapphira in Acts 5? There are similarities in all these cases. People who openly claimed to be God’s people, blatantly rebellious against God’s holiness, in full view of God’s people and everyone…and God took action, strong action. You see my friends, God paid the ultimate price of sending His Son Jesus to die so we could be redeemed and be His people and live Holy lives. When we make a mockery of that,through rebellious living, it’s serious to God.
As we close today, may I invite you to read 1 John 1 after you read 1 Corinthians 5. It’s a wonderful balance of God’s grace & forgiveness for the repentant. Oh how grateful we are for God’s amazing Grace…amen?
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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