1 Corinthians 5:1-13 | "Purge the Evil Person"
[1 Corinthians] • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 35:07
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· 1,095 viewsSunday, June 13, 2021. 1 Corinthians 5:1-13 | “Purge the Evil Person.” 1 Corinthians sounds like a harsh letter directed at a church with significant sin, but it is a “holy harshness” and “divine discipline” meant not to punish, but to purify! The Church is powerful when the Church is pure. Because God is holy, His Church must care about Church discipline.
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I. Reading of Scripture
I. Reading of Scripture
[ 1 Corinthians 5:9-13 ]
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.”
This is God’s Word, Amen.
[Title Slide]
1 Corinthians 5:1-13
“Purge the Evil Person”
1 Corinthians 5:1-13
“Purge the Evil Person”
II. Introduction
II. Introduction
After hearing a text like this read, we may be filled with dread.
Do the problems among the church in Corinth ever end?
First - division. Now - sexual immorality and all kinds of evil, and we are only in Chapter 5! - And what’s next?
This letter of 1 Corinthians may sound harsh to us as hearers. But remember, it did not start this way!
Whatever harshness proceeds out of the pen of the apostle, proceeds out of a place of a thanksgiving to God — always, for who they are, and who God has made them to be in Christ Jesus.
They are sanctified in Christ Jesus. They are called saints in the name of the Lord. They have grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. They were enriched in him, not lacking any gift, and will be sustained by him to the end, guiltless!
And all of this is founded in the faithfulness of God.
9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Any “holy harshness,” and “divine discipline” that is directed at them, is not meant to punish them but to purify them! To remove away everything among them that is not Christ and Him crucified.
So that they might be the people God has made them to be — His.
And God is holy. God is to be worshiped as holy. And the Church is to be holy, as God is holy.
“This means that any worldly defilement of body, spirit, or mind, even if through simple contact with the world system, is incompatible with the holiness of God and interferes with the purity of worship.” Allen P. Ross (304).
Being a sanctified people means that we must separate from the world and all its defilement (RHG, 304).
This separateness is not accomplished by going outside of the world, by remote isolation, seclusion, or perpetual quarantine.
We do not separate ourselves from the world, but we get rid of what is worldly from among us.
We do not go out of the world, but we purge whatever is wordly from among us.
And that requires discipline.
A. Introduction to Theme
A. Introduction to Theme
The church in Corinth did not have a care, or concern for Church discipline.
Church discipline is a process among the body of saints, for purging what is wordly - what is evil - from among them. It is a collective process, performed not by individuals, but by the body as a whole.
And so it doesn’t make any difference at all if a pastor, or a few lay leaders care about Church discipline — if we ALL do not care about Church discipline, then we show no concern for who we are and who God has made us to be in Christ.
Good discipline - godly discipline - proceeds out of love. It never seeks the destruction of the soul, but only the salvation of it.
And when we are sanctified in Christ Jesus, we are also submitted to God’s loving discipline so that our souls might be saved in the day of the Lord.
In all that has been written thus far in 1 Corinthians, the apostle does not disown the church in Corinth - because God, our Father, does not disown us! Christ does not divorce us! Instead, God disciplines us, because he loves us.
6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”
B. Introduction to Text
B. Introduction to Text
The apostle is writing with a tender tone at the end of Chapter 4, as a spiritual father to his “beloved children.”
He asks this question:
21 What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?
And then without any break as it seems, without any opportunity for the church to respond, the apostle proceeds to address another report from among them.
III. Exposition
III. Exposition
A. 5:1-2
A. 5:1-2
5:1
5:1
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.
The topic of discipline moves from division (Chapters 1-4) now to sexual immorality.
Preben Vang says:
1 Corinthians The Text in Context
When a church looks and functions as described in the first four chapters, it invariably leads to the behavior of the next two chapters.
This is why it is important to practice Church discipline, because sin grows.
What starts small, if left unaddressed, becomes worse.
14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.
15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
Sin grows! The division, quarreling, jealousy and strife was something previously unknown to the apostle. It was made clear to him by Chloe’s people (1 Cor 1:11).
But THIS — sexual immorality — it wasn’t flying under the radar. It wasn’t whispered in the hidden chambers.
What the apostle wrote when he said “It is actually reported” may be translated literally in this way: “It is everywhere noised abroad” (GCM).
Everyone is talking about this! And everyone knows where this sexual immorality is found - “among you.” Lit., “IN YOU.”
Is there sexually immorality with God? Then why is it tolerated in the Church?
In this specific example, a man has his father’s wife. A clear violation of God’s design, and God’s law (Lev. 18:8, Deut 22:30; 27:20).
20 “ ‘Cursed be anyone who lies with his father’s wife, because he has uncovered his father’s nakedness.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
This was not to be done by God’s people, and the apostle says that even the pagans, the Gentiles, the OUTSIDERS do not even do this!
So how did the church in Corinth respond?
5:2
5:2
2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.
The word arrogant means that they were “inflated with pride.”
This wasn’t ignorance. If it was, it was willful ignorance. They were building themselves up with the wrong reputation.
The church of Jesus Christ is often likened to a “hospital for sinners.” And it is! If you are a sinner, come. We have a cure! The word of the cross is the medicine you need! Jesus will save your soul!
But you don’t stay a sinner when Christ saves you. When Christ saves you, he transforms you, and you are a sinner no more. He makes you a new creation, and you are called by his name - called a “saint.” That means, a holy one.
And a process of sanctification begins in which the Spirit empowers you with everything you need for victory over the world, the flesh and the Devil.
Some “churches” seem to miss this in their messaging today.
They advertise: “we are a place for people who don’t like church.” “We’re not a church for perfect people.” “We’re a church full of sinners, so you come too.” Or, “we are a place for the second chances.”
And they seem to boast about how bad, how sinful, how terrible the people are, or were, that attend their church, thinking that somehow shows how great God’s grace is?
If we boast about how bad we are, that must show how great God is?
That’s the kind of arrogance that leads to permissible sin.
Of course, God’s grace is amazing and greater than all our sin. But we don’t boast in what we WERE, we boast in the Lord who has made us who we ARE!
We are not like the world! We are not going to look like the world! We are not going to behave like the world! We are not going to talk like the world!
When you gather with the saints, you are a part of something that is holy and belongs to the holy God!
The Corinthians responded to the sin among them with arrogance but the apostle tells them they should have mourned.
2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.
The last clause gives full reason for the mourning.
Do not mourn merely because of the sin itself. Mourn, because of what that sin causes.
Sin causes separation.
Sin separates, too.
If we were to mourn for sin, we would never stop mourning, because sin is everywhere in the world.
But the church mourns for sin, when sin lives within her, because the church understands what sin does.
Sin separates us from a brother or sister in the fellowship we have been called into in Christ.
“Church discipline is not a group of ‘pious policemen’ out to catch a criminal. Rather, it is a group of brokenhearted brothers and sisters seeking to restore an erring member of the family.” - Warren Wiersbe (586).
So the apostle then explains how the church is to practice discipline, and rid themselves of this evil from their midst.
B. 5:3-5
B. 5:3-5
5:3
5:3
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.
5:4
5:4
4 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus,
5:5
5:5
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.
This is the process.
It is an interpretation of what Jesus taught in Matthew 18:15-20.
15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.
16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.
17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
There comes a point, where individual pleas have been exhausted, and for the sake of the body the body must act together.
This was a very public sin, and so it necessitates a public response from the church.
The church is to assemble together - not in their own name, but in the name of the Lord Jesus, as the apostle instructs them with his judgment, and this discipline is to be done with the power of the Lord Jesus.
Remember “the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power” (1 Cor 4:20).
We cannot simply talk about these things, without doing anything to back up the talk.
We cannot simply talk about being members of Christ’s Church, but never be willing to hold members accountable for their behavior.
So this is the Church doing the Lord’s work with the Lord’s power.
And they are to make this insider - an outsider for a time - by delivering him to Satan.
By removing him from the protection of the Church. To safeguard the worship of the Church and the sanctity of the Church.
As G. Campbell Morgan says, “The flesh had become a master thing in his life” (GCM, 83) - so in putting this man outside the church, the intent was that this man’s master, this man’s flesh, might be destroyed and his soul saved.
As you read through the Old Testament, you will notice that sexual immorality and idolatry always go together.
We see this at work here as well. It is not just that this man is committing a fleshly sin, but that his soul is in peril too. He has made his flesh his god. He has corrupted the worship of the Church.
C. 5:6-8
C. 5:6-8
5:6
5:6
6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?
5:7
5:7
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.
5:8
5:8
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.
Because the Church is a fellowship, the Church shares a feast together - the Communion feast, that remembers the Passover feast.
As God was delivering His people, Israel, from Egypt, they were to kill a Passover lamb, and spread blood upon the doorpost of their house.
Why?
Because the destroyer was coming in that final plague, to kill all the firstborn.
Who would be saved?
Only those in the house, with blood on the door.
Only those within. Those insiders.
The outsiders would perish.
There is a protection that the Church enjoys being inside the Communion with Christ. But it is not a Communion for anyone living in sin and boasting about it.
In God’s Word, leaven represents something that destroys, something that separates. Israel in their haste, in the Passover meal, was to eat unleavened bread to represent the absence of sin that destroys. To represent what was sincere, unadulterated, and true.
And just a little bit of leaven will leaven a whole lump.
Just a little bit of sin will cause the whole body to sin.
Just one man, just one woman, just one family - just one! will bring destruction upon a church fellowship.
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.
This is the Gospel message!
Church - we are unleavened! We are without sin! We have been cleansed! The Destroyer has passed over us.
How? Because our Passover lamb has already been sacrificed.
Jesus Christ, the lamb of God, gave Himself for His Church.
And His blood covers the doorposts of this (building and body) Sanctuary.
And inside His blood, we are safe. We are purified. We are unstained.
Inside His blood, we are what we really are - unleavened.
And because of His precious blood, given for us, we cleanse out the old leaven.
We remove the sin. We deliver the sinner over. We celebrate the festival without malice and evil.
IV. Conclusion
IV. Conclusion
D. 5:9-13
D. 5:9-13
5:9
5:9
9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—
The church was so arrogant that they thought the sexually immoral people were outside the church. Sin blinds like that. So the apostle clarifies to his beloved children:
5:10
5:10
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.
5:11
5:11
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.
Let us not use that name “brother” or “sister” so casually. If you are living in sexual immorality or greed, or idolatry, a reviler, drunkard or swindler - you are not my brother! You are not my sister! And I want no part of fellowship with you —
Rather, I want God to save you!
And if we allow such “so-called brothers and sisters” to be called “brothers and sisters,” to be called “members of Christ’s church,” to be called “members of Southside Baptist Church” when they are not in sincere and true fellowship, then we are complicit in their DECEPTION!
IT IS BETTER that they be put out! It is better that we not eat with them! It is better that they be outsiders SO THAT THEY MIGHT REPENT, and be saved! And not led to believe that all is well.
I would say the majority of those hearing me are parents, or grandparents, some even great-grandparents.
You know how difficult it is to raise children and discipline them.
The parents says to the child, “It hurts me more than it hurts you.”
Why do we go to all the heartache and trouble to discipline our children?
Because we love THEM. Because they bear OUR NAME. They represent US.
Your child represents YOU.
And you recognize that there is something valuable in that child that is worth preserving and persevering through discipline.
You want that child to be who that child was made to be.
24 Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.
Our culture frowns upon such discipline. I can’t help but wonder if that is because the Church has failed altogether to practice it.
How many of you have ever seen a child acting foolishly and thought to yourselves: I know what that child needs. He needs the loving rod of discipline.
We all think that!
So then hear me, Church.
Why is it, that we, the same group of us who are quick and willing to discipline the unruly kids of others, have no concern for exercising that same discipline among us? Christ’s body, Christ’s church?
It is a work given for us to do!
5:12
5:12
12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?
God has given us a spirit of discernment and judgment, to know right from wrong.
We are not concerned with pronouncing judgment on sinners in the world. They are OUTSIDERS. They are following the one to whom they belong. Only God can change them.
But to us, it is given to act on all who are inside the fellowship.
5:13
5:13
13 God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”
Remove the evil person from among you.
This is a command. One in which we are to be obedient.
To be obedient to God’s Word means to practice church discipline.
But as with all of God’s commands, it is for our good. When we obey God in this work, we are trusting God in His work of saving sinners and showing forth His goodness that draws men and women to repentance.
Repentance is always the goal. Better that the flesh to be destroyed and the soul saved, than the flesh saved and the soul damned.
Christ came that we might be saved. Christ gave up his own flesh to destruction for us on the cross, because of our sin. Christ was buried and was raised again in power so that we might not entertain sin and wordiness any longer as His Church empowered by His Spirit.
G. Campbell Morgan says:
“The history of the Church shows that the Church pure is the Church powerful; and the Church patronized and tolerant towards evil is the Church puerile (childish) and paralyzed. There is a great necessity for the exercise of discipline.”
Any “holy harshness,” and “divine discipline” that is directed at the church through God’s Word, is not meant to punish us but to purify us! To remove away everything among us that is not Christ and Him crucified.
So that we might be the people God has made us to be — His.