It Starts Small

Paul moves on from addressing pride to addressing another issue. Paul heard a report that there was immorality among the Corinthian church. The word “actually” denotes the surprise and shock of such a report. There wasn’t just “common immorality.” The Church’s immorality was so severe that even the grossly immoral pagan Corinthians didn’t practice this kind of immorality. Even the pagan unbelievers knew it was wrong and didn’t engage in it. In other words this problem in the Corinthian church was even worse than what the unbelieving pagans were doing. Paul

The specific immorality was incest. This was punishable by death (Leviticus 18:7,8,29) in the OT. The word for immorality here is the root of the English word for “pornography”. What is immorality and what is God’s view towards it?

4 Additionally then, brothers and sisters, we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus, that as you have received instruction from us on how you should live and please God—as you are doing—do this even more. ² For you know what commands we gave you through the Lord Jesus.

³ For this is God’s will, your sanctification: that you keep away from sexual immorality, ⁴ that each of you knows how to control his own body in holiness and honor, ⁵ not with lustful passions, like the Gentiles, who don’t know God. ⁶ This means one must not transgress against and take advantage of a brother or sister in this manner, because the Lord is an avenger of all these offenses, as we also previously told and warned you. ⁷ For God has not called us to impurity but to live in holiness. ⁸ Consequently, anyone who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.

1 Thessalonians 4:1-8

⁸ But the cowards, faithless, detestable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars—their share will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

Revelation 21:8

⁵ Therefore, put to death what belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry.

Colossians 3:5

³ But sexual immorality and any impurity or greed should not even be heard of among you, as is proper for saints.

Ephesians 5:3

¹⁹ Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity,

Galatians 5:19

⁸ Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy—dwell on these things.

Philippians 4:8

Guard your heart above all else,
for it is the source of life.

Proverbs 4:23

God does not beat around the bush about Immorality. We see God’s view of immorality, but how about the Corinthian church’s view? How did the Corinthian church deal with the problem?

The church was not saddened by this terrible sin and terrible testimony. Rather, they were prideful and worldly. It seems they tolerated and even excused the sin. They were bordering on a cultish division between the physical and the spiritual. They thought they could do whatever they want in the flesh. Yet, they believed they could still be close to God spiritually.

This is a common line of attack for Satan. He tries to convince people that spiritual life and physical life is different. We can do whatever we want and God will forgive us. But this division is never seen in Scripture. Rather we are taught that if we are truly spiritual then we will serve the Lord physically.

Is this problem prevalent these days?

Immorality is extremely prevalent in the world. Fornication, adultery, pornography are fairly commonplace even among believers. We should learn from the Corinthian church that no one immune. Going to church and Bible study does not guarantee that we will not fall into immorality. Many a pastor have had their lives and ministries wrecked because of it. In the world there is almost no restraint or resistance to impure behavior. It is tolerated and in many cases encouraged. People boast about it and are lauded for it. But as believers we are called to be holy. We are called to be different.

So what do most churches do about it?

Churches know the problem; they know the Word of God. But sadly, churches are doing very little about this problem. In many cases the problem is ignored because it makes people uncomfortable. Sometimes it is mentioned from the teaching pulpit. That is good. But what about when an individual is being immoral? Most churches are forsaking their God-given responsibility to “monitor” the holiness of their members. They fail to hold each person individually responsible for their lives. We understand that believers must act as a safety net for each other. Unfortunately, this just is not happening very much. As we will discuss later, there should be church discipline handed down to immoral people. Instead they are often not confronted, not disciplined, not questioned, but tolerated.

Let us move on from what the church in Corinth did not do about the problem. Let us focus on what Paul said should be done about the problem.

What is Paul’s solution/how did he decide to deal with the situation?

What does it mean in verse five to deliver such a person to Satan?

What do most individuals do about it?

As believers living in an immoral world, what steps can we take to protect ourselves from immorality?

 ³ Even though I am absent in the body, I am present in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who has been doing such a thing. ⁴ When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus, and I am with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, ⁵ hand that one over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

1 Corinthians 5:3-5

Firstly, it is important to note that this was not just Paul’s idea. The end of verse 4 says “with the power of our Lord Jesus.” This shows that it is not by human authority that such a major step can be taken. It is not based on human opinion. It is only by God’s authority and based on what He has clearly shown us in His Word. We appeal to the authority of Christ.

Next, the decision. Verse 5. What does that mean?

Most commentators agree this refers to excommunication. Christ’s domain is the church, while Satan’s domain is the world. Thus, handing over to Satan simply means to excommunicate from the church. It means to put back into the sphere of the world, Satan’s influence. The destruction of his flesh likely refers to divine discipline, which could include trials, afflictions, sickness, even death. Let us first look at some other biblical references to excommunication.

¹⁵ “If your brother sins against you, go tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won your brother. ¹⁶ But if he won’t listen, take one or two others with you, so that by the testimony of two or three witnesses every fact may be established. ¹⁷ If he doesn’t pay attention to them, tell the church. If he doesn’t pay attention even to the church, let him be like a Gentile and a tax collector to you.

Matthew 18:15-17

¹¹ Don’t participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them. ¹² For it is shameful even to mention what is done by them in secret.

Ephesians 5:11-12

From Matthew, the process is clear. The whole point is restoration and repentance. The goal is not to wield power and punish people. The goal is a change of heart and repentance. This excommunication should only come as the last step after individually and with several people together approaching the individual.

This begs an important question: would not the person be more likely to repent if he was allowed to stay in the church? What are the two basic reasons willfully sinning people are excommunicated from the church?

If the person is tolerated in the church it is teaching them that sin is not a serious issue. They can still maintain fellowship with other believers and with God. It is the same thing with children. If children are not disciplined when they do wrong, they think it is not a serious issue. This will encourage them to do more wrong. Allowing a person who is willfully sinning to stay in the church is NOT going to benefit them. It is going to make them feel secure when they are living extremely dangerously. Look at the Corinthians. Active incest was being practiced and no one found outrage with it. If younger believers saw this, it would give them the idea that perhaps sin is not all that serious.

Excommunication has two purposes.

To encourage repentance. It is a serious step. It addresses serious sin. It is designed to bring about a grief towards sin and a change of heart. The purpose is correction, not condemnation.

For the second reason we read from 6-8.

⁶ Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little leaven leavens the whole batch of dough? ⁷ Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new unleavened batch, as indeed you are. For Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed. ⁸ Therefore, let us observe the feast, not with old leaven or with the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

1 Corinthians 5:6-8

The second reason is to keep the church pure. Leaven is the yeast used in bread to make it rise. Under certain conditions it puffs up the bread before baking. Imagine a kid growing up. This kid keeps doing wrong things and is never disciplined by his parents. How will they react to this? Firstly, he will be exposed to a lot of temptation. As he does the wrong things it encourages others to do them also. Secondly, when we see him getting away with it, we will think that sin does not really have consequences. It is indirectly teaching us that it is OK. Kids know to look at their parent’s actions more than their parent’s words. If the parents keep talking and teaching him, but never DO anything about it, he will likely ignore their words. It is the same in the church. When one member sins, it tempts others. It indirectly teaches them that it is OK if the church does nothing about it.

The point from verses 6-8 is that believers should be “unleavened”. That means we need to be holy before God and need to remove the bad influences from among us. He says we “are in fact unleavened”. That means that positionally we are righteous before God even if we are not practically. Since we are in position we need to practice that in our lives. Then we can truly celebrate Christ’s sacrifice for us through the Lord’s Supper “feast”.

Then Paul starts talking about a letter. What letter is Paul talking about? What kind of people should we not associate with?

⁹ I wrote to you in a letter not to associate with sexually immoral people. ¹⁰ I did not mean the immoral people of this world or the greedy and swindlers or idolaters; otherwise you would have to leave the world. ¹¹ But actually, I wrote you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister and is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or verbally abusive, a drunkard or a swindler. Do not even eat with such a person. ¹² For what business is it of mine to judge outsiders? Don’t you judge those who are inside? ¹³ God judges outsiders. Remove the evil person from among you.

1 Corinthians 5:6-13

Paul had written the Corinthians another letter before 1st Corinthians. In that letter, he had already addressed associating with immoral people. However, some misunderstood. They thought he was referring to immoral people in the world. Instead, he was talking about immoral people in the church.

Here we find some important principles on who not to spend time with, immoral people in the church.

If we are around people in the world we should know that they are different and their behavior is different. We should be alert and not get sucked into their behavior and words. But if the people in the church are being a bad influence, we find it much harder to resist. If they are doing it, it must be OK, right? Does this mean we should spend a lot of time associating with immoral people in the world?

If not, what is the balance? How does one choose between “going out of the world” and building many close relationships with people in the world?

How should a believer act towards people in the world? How about people in the church?

Why not even eat with an immoral person in the church? Is that being judgmental?

Let us turn to God’s Word for wise advice on the balance in relationship towards those in the world.

⁶ Now we command you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from every brother or sister who is idle and does not live according to the tradition received from us.

2 Thessalonians 3:6

Paul writes, do not fellowship with the unruly.

²³ Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful.

Hebrews 10:23

⁹ Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their efforts. ¹⁰ For if either falls, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to lift him up. ¹¹ Also, if two lie down together, they can keep warm; but how can one person alone keep warm? ¹² And if someone overpowers one person, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not easily broken.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Iron sharpens iron,
and one person sharpens another.

Proverbs 27:17

God encourages to have good, healthy relationships.

³³ Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.”

1 Corinthians 15:33

The one who walks with the wise will become wise,
but a companion of fools will suffer harm.

Proverbs 13:20

God’s Word also warns us to avoid bad company.

It always helps to go back to the basics. The “wheel” illustration shows us that our relationship with other believers is a fellowship relationship. This is a relationship of mutually encouraging one another. It involves praying for each other and helping one another. We should even rebuke one another when necessary. God is clear that believers need to avoid bad influences and seek out good influences. We should not remove ourselves from the world. However, we must take care who we spend our time with. Do not always accept invitations to go out with certain people or do things that are questionable. You do not have to go just because they are your friends. You do not have to join just because they expect you to. You can say “no”.

You. Can. Always. Say. No.

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