Don't Mess with Sin

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Opening Prayer

Lord of all life, You are my guardian and my guide. I thank You for new mercies this day.

Read 1 Corinthians 5:1-13

^[1] 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. ^[2] 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? ^[3] 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. ^[4] So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, ^[5] 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. ^[6] Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? ^[7] Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch-as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. ^[8] Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, 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 people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. ^[11] But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people. ^[12] What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? ^[13] God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.”

Meditate

What to Paul should have been an occasion for discipline was being treated as an opportunity for some self-congratulation (2). Sadly, that is still happening today in segments of the church.

Think Further

A famous politician once said his party was committed to being: “tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime.” Replace “crime” with “sin” for a fair summary of Paul’s message. The Corinthian Christians were beyond blasé about sin. Rather than feeling shame for the sexual misdemeanor between a man and his stepmother, which even pagans shunned, they boasted about it. Paul’s treatment of true Christian freedom (1 Cor. 6:12-20) suggests that they were proud of their liberty: “Look at us; we are not bound by restrictive law.” The antinomian temptation has plagued the church throughout its history. It finds a foothold among us when we adjust our position to avoid being seen as hardliners or discriminatory.

Sin in the Christian community should cause grief (2), and godly sorrow should lead to tough measures: “put out of your fellowship” (2,13) and handing over to Satan (5). Both actions imply a solemn act of exclusion from and withdrawal of all the privileges of Christian fellowship. Paul lends his apostolic authority to this action (3,4) as a wake-up call to those who sin arrogantly. An insipid approach to sin threatens a fall into condemnation, and, since our behavior always has an influence on others, one person sinning with impunity brings damage to the whole community (6).

Paul’s focus is on the Lord Jesus Christ: his authority as the living Lord (4), and his death to rid the world of sin (7,8). Just as the death of the Passover lamb set the people free from Egyptian slavery, so Jesus sets us free. We celebrate what it means to be freed from slavery by living distinctively, purging sin from among us and befriending sinners, as our Savior did.

Apply

Jesus could rebuke those who claimed faith but lived like sinners, while at the same time befriending notorious sinners. How can you and your church follow his example?

Closing prayer

Sovereign Lord, I have become accustomed to sin in my life and adjusted to its presence. Jolt me with a call to repentance and lead me into a new beginning.

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