God's People Must Be United and Growing in Holiness
1 Corinthians 5[1]
As preached at Rolling Hills Church on Sunday, February 12th, 2012
Three issues are addressed in chapters 5 and 6; holiness in the church, lawsuits among church members, and sexual immorality. Today we'll cover chapter five.
1 Corinthians 5:1-13
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."
Do we have the authority, love, fear, and courage to judge rightly in order to maintain holiness?
Let us pray.
There's a problem in the church. Sexual immorality.
There's a bigger problem in the church. Arrogantly boasting of tolerating this sin.
There's a solution to the problem. The solution to the problem must be applied, and applied now.
There's a reason we remove sin from the church.
Same reason doctors take a cancerous tumor out of a woman's breast, and if necessary, remove the breast.
Same reason you ask doctors to remove toes, feet, even your leg if you have gangrene.
Same reason you would want the bullet removed from your body if you've been shot.
Because if it is left there, it will kill you. It brings death. It infects and destroys all that it touches. Yes it hurts, but it is right and it is necessary to live.
Sometimes discipline must be sudden and severe. Christ provided a process for the church to live by in Matthew 18; four steps; but at times in the New Testament the last step of ex-communication is the only step called for because of the severity of the sin or the danger to the church (here, 1 Tim 1:20, Alexander and Hymenaus).
What is required to remove sin from the church: In order to obey and honor Christ as the local church, the following are required:
Authority. There must be a standard by which to live; God has given us this.
Love. You have to love someone enough to act for his or her own good. Hebrews 12:6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives. The great desire is for repentance and restoration; regardless, the church must be kept holy.
Fear. You must fear God enough to obey Him. You must believe He will keep His Word. It is His church, His standard; we don't make the rules, we apply them.
Courage. You must NOT fear man's response enough to ignore God's command.
Then…
Judgment is rightly applied. You must take God's standard and apply it to your own life and your church. To judge the man as sinful and remove Him. Sound arrogant? Actually that is backward thinking. To NOT judge the man as sinful and remove him was arrogant. To judge the man and remove him was humble obedience to Christ because He is loved and respected THUS HONORED AND OBEYED more than man.
Holiness is maintained. You must understand influence, and that evil influence can't be allowed to grow.
Why would we not?
Unbelief: we don't believe God's Word is from God and that Christ is our authority.
Our own sin: We refuse to address someone else's sin because of what we do! "Who am I to judge?" I'm not better than him, to judge or criticize.
Fear of man's response. What will the community think? What will we do if he sues us? We better not do this, or it could cost us. Paul says the leaven will cost you more.
Misunderstanding of love or of grace. You think it is loving to accept those who are 'different' or 'not there yet'. Some think they are showing grace by tolerating sin. Let's listen to what our Lord has t say about this…
Revelation 2:20-23
But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works.
So you apply the solution, to the problem, which is the command: Purge the evil person from among you.
You repent of what allowed this to grow in the first place; arrogance, disobedience.
Are we willing to face the problem of sin in the church?
Are we willing to face the problem of sin in our own lives!?
So I come back to this question as I close this message: do we have the authority, love, fear, and courage to judge rightly in order to maintain holiness?
[1] All Scriptures, unless otherwise noted, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (via E-Sword Software) © 2001 Crossway Publishing. All Rights Reserved. I paste them in red for distinction.
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