The Church Built Up (7) - Dealing with Hypocrites
The Church Built Up • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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One thing I heard about the church early in life is that it is filled with a bunch of hypocrites. I think that is a major barrier for some in coming to church. In today’s passage, Paul is going to tell it like it is.
This is our 7th message in this series from the book of 1 Corinthians where Paul writes both to the Corinthian church and the church in general with goal being to solidify the church and to build her up.
Today we see what the church is to do when there is unrepentant sin in their midst. What Paul suggests might shock you at first, but this is the way God deals with sin.
Let’s read in 1 Corinthians 5 starting at verse 1.
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?
As before, reports have reached Paul about what they were tolerating as a church. A man was openly having sexual relations with his step-mother and the church did nothing about it.
While we don’t know this for sure, it is likely that this man had great influence in the community and was admired by those in the church. This is something we see in our culture today. A man who has a public status is treated much different than one who does not. It’s not supposed to be that way, but that is how it is.
In verse 2, it seems that the church is proud of having this man in their midst, but Paul suggests that they should be mourning, sorrowful when a person of faith is in active sin. Paul suggests that the man should have been put out of the fellowship.
This may seem harsh, but this has roots not only in the Old Testament, but in the New as well.
Here is how the church is to deal with these kinds of things according to Jesus:
15 “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. 16 But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ 17 If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
As I’ve been meeting with our potential new members, we go over our by-laws. In our by-laws there is this clause regarding removing members:
By desire of the church. Any members guilty of gross misconduct and, having been admonished by the Pastor and / or the Board of Elders, not evidencing real repentance, may, upon recommendation of the Pastor and Board of Elders, be dismissed by three-fourths (3/4) vote of the church members.
Church - we Have to take sin within the body seriously. Hypocrisy in the church is one of the enemies greatest weapons against us. We can never say that it will not ever happen, but when it does, we are to hold each other accountable.
Now before you start making your lists of others you are ready to confront, first examine yourself and whether there is something you need to make right. Ask someone you trust: “Do you see sin in my life that I need to make right?” If someone comes to you with that question, be honest with them. It is for their good.
In the book of Joshua, the nation of Israel is heading into the promise land and in chapter 7, we read about Achan who to some of the devoted things. It was one man, but it says this...
1 But the Israelites were unfaithful in regard to the devoted things; Achan son of Karmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the Lord’s anger burned against Israel.
The Lord’s anger burned against all of Israel, not just the single man who sinned. The rest of the chapter tells us how they found out who was in the wrong. At the end of the chapter, it says this when they confronted Achan in his sin:
25 Joshua said, “Why have you brought this trouble on us? The Lord will bring trouble on you today.”
Then all Israel stoned him, and after they had stoned the rest, they burned them. 26 Over Achan they heaped up a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day. Then the Lord turned from his fierce anger. Therefore that place has been called the Valley of Achor ever since.
Fortunately, we don’t do stoning any more, but this shows us how the group is responsible for dealing with sin in their midst.
Let’s keep reading...
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.
This exercise in correcting sin requires unity and it requires the presence of Jesus in the proceedings. Paul doesn’t specifically say this here, but prayer is going to be a major component of this. We cannot and should not pass judgement without considering all of the facts and going to the Lord in prayer.
The hope is that as correction comes, the one being corrected would eventually see their wrong and come back into right relationship. In order for that to take place, the flesh, that is the sinful nature must be destroyed.
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.
Craig Groeschel has a great analogy for this. When talking about a teen who wanted to see a movie that was not wholesome. He argued that the movie only had a little bit of bad stuff in it - it’s no big deal...his mother relented, but she insisted that he had to eat her brownies first. The teen agreed of course and the mom went to baking. As she was gathering her ingredients, she got an extra ingredient that she didn’t normally add and baked the brownies.
She sat the son down with a plate of brownies and said I made these brownies for you, I hope you enjoy them. I must tell you though that I put something extra in, but only a little bit. The extra ingredient was dog poo, but as you said about the movie, a little bit of bad stuff in it is no big deal.
Clearly a little bit of bad stuff is a big deal.
When the Jews would make bread, they would take some of the previous dough and mix it with the new dough. The starting mixture for the new batch of bread was called leaven. Each time they retained some dough from the prior batch, there was always a risk that batch would go bad and cause illness. This risk increased each week they kept it going.
Once a year at the Feast of Unleavened bread they would get a new batch of dough. They would clean their homes and for an entire week would not eat leavened bread. At the Festival, each family would get a fresh new batch to start from.
Paul is using this familiar process to tell that they needed to purge the old “impure” leavened bread and start fresh with unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Sincerity is defined in one of my resources as freedom from hypocrisy. There an honesty and transparency that comes with sincerity and truth. It doesn’t mean we are perfect, but we are sincere and truthful in how we deal with our imperfection.
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.
Now that Paul has been clear about how we are to deal with sin in the church, Paul wants to be clear about the limits in dealing with sin.
We are not to shun those who live immorally that are not believers. In fact, I would argue that Paul is making the case here that we are to hang out with people or the world who are immoral in order that we might show them the love of Christ and speak the truth of the Gospel.
He continues:
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.
If someone claims to be a Christ follower and is any of these things, Paul says don’t associate with them…don’t even eat with them.
I believe this is in reference to those who refuse to acknowledge their sin and repent.
The sins that Paul references here are specific and they all result in division within the body. In many cases these are also sins that others will likely witness and with result in a testimony about the church.
I’ve seen it:
“I saw so-and-so who is an elder at that church over there. I could tell he was drunk and it’s not the first time I’ve seen him like that.”
“I spent some time with so-and-so and they had so many negative things to say about their pastor.”
“I hate being a waitress on the lunch shift on Sunday. People eating out after church are the worst tippers. They are so stingy.”
When we call ourselves a brother or sister in Christ and we unrepentantly act in these ways, we reflect the Gospel poorly.
Paul finishes this admonition with this:
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.”
Let God take care of the world, but we are to take responsibility for ourselves - for our brothers and sisters in Christ.
That can get very uncomfortable, but this is not a suggestion. In fact, Paul is using similar language as is used in Deuteronomy. Six times God’s word commands that nation of Israel to “Purge the evil from among you.” (Deuteronomy 13:5, 17:7, 19:19, 21:21, 22:21, 24:7)
I am grateful that this has not happened publically in this church since we’ve been here. I know of a handful of times where a person was unrepentant and when confronted they just left.
I also know a more than a handful of times when a person has been confronted and the result was repentance. There was a genuine response to the confrontation that resulted in things being made right.
I want to end by saying this. If you are visiting with us, you are still working through where you stand with Christ, you are welcome to come just as you are. We will not judge you, shame you or make you feel bad for anything that you are doing or not doing. We will love on you and help you in any way we can.
We are praying that you will come to know Jesus as your Lord and Savior that we might have the privilege of calling you our brother or sister in Christ. When that day comes, we will still not expect you to have your life all together.
However, we will lovingly come to you and show you what scripture says and guide you to a life that best glorifies Jesus. We know that doesn’t happen overnight and we don’t expect that.
As you grow in your understanding of what it means to follow Christ, we will continue to lovingly walk with you and show you what God’s word says and what that means for our life.
At some point, we will likely have a uncomfortable conversation, but it will be done in love. That is our commitment to one another as brothers and sisters in Christ.
I pray that we never have to do what 1 Corinthians 5:13 says to do, but we will if we have to.