We're living in a world
that is dealing with serious matters such as AIDS, poverty, & hunger.
But what do the movies, television shows, and even the lyrics to songs
want to focus on? Sex! Sex is dominating our lives so much that last
Sunday night, when Justine Timberlake, and Janet Jackson, tried to shock
the world, with a 2 second act of vulgarity during the halftime of the
Superbowl, it barely raised an eyebrow with the majority of Americans.
After all, only about 200,000 out of the over 93 million people who
watched the game lodged a complaint. If were not careful, family values,
moral purity, and plain common decency are going to disappear in front
of our very eyes. So for the most part, all those 2 seconds did was
to overshadow the game, and become the talk around the water cooler
and the major headline for the newscasts.
The moral climate of the city of Corinth was much like the moral climate
of America today. It was a moral cesspool. It would have been next to
impossible to grow up in Corinth without being contaminated by immorality.
The inhabitants of Corinth were also obsessed with sex. On the top of
a mountain outside the city limits was the temple built to Aphrodite.
She was the Greek goddess of love, or should I say goddess of lust.
For very little of the sex that was going on in Corinth had anything
to do with love. Like I said, that sounds just like what's going on
in our nation, doesn't it?
But this doesn't mean we should turn a blind eye towards the sins that
have gripped our nation, or the sins that have gripped our lives as
well. From the examples of biblical characters, such as Abraham, Moses,
David and Peter, we see that even the most devout followers of God are
capable of sinning. In fact, unless you become comatose, none of us
are beyond committing even the grossest of sins.
But, on the other hand, our lives should not be characterized by sin.
It's one thing for David to give into his lust and commit adultery,
because he repented when he was confronted. But it's quite another matter
for a person to continue in a persistent lifestyle of immoral behavior
over a period of time, even after being told to stop. We should never
view sin as inevitable, or excusable, or even insignificant, because
sin matters greatly to God-v. 1.
Please note the problem was not the fact that there were sinners attending
the church. But the problem was that one of the members of the church
was openly engaged in sexual immorality. This is an important distinction
to make. Because we should not become so judgmental towards sinners
that they won't feel welcomed. But neither we should we have no standards
of morality for those who claim to be a Christian.
In Jesus' high priestly prayer, he prays: "I do not pray that You should
take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil
one." (John
17:15) Unfortunately, too many Christians have gone to great lengths
to avoid keeping Jesus' wish. Instead of living in the world under the
protection of the power of God, in order to be a much needed light to
the world, too many Christians have opted for living the same kind of
lifestyle of the sinners in their world.
Surveys have revealed that there is little difference between saints
& sinners in the rates of premarital sex & extramarital affairs. Just
as many single believers are living together as nonbelievers. At a PromiseKeepers
rally, they revealed a startling fact. The hotels saw a significantly
higher number of pay-per-view pornographic movies watched during a PromiseKeepers
rally than at any other time of the year.
Let me ask you a tough question: Are you involved in some sin that,
if revealed, would devastate your family, cause you to lose your job,
and destroy any ministry you have? None of us are guilty of what this
man did, but are any of you involved in Internet pornography? Are any
of you guilty of having an emotional affair with a co-worker? Are any
of you guilty of abusing alcohol or prescription drugs? If you are,
stop! Get into an accountability relationship. Begin practicing the
spiritual disciplines of prayer & Bible study.
As I said earlier, Janet Jackson's exposed breast was what Americans
talked about when they talked about the Superbowl. The same thing was
happening in the city of Corinth about the sexual immorality going on
in the church of Corinth-v. 1(a). If they had had TV in those days,
this would have been the major story of the day. Everywhere you went
in Corinth, people were talking about what was going on in the church.
This church had tremendous things going for her. She was manifesting
all the gifts of the Spirit. People were constantly getting saved. Yet
what was making headlines in the city was that there was sexual immorality
going on in the church. The words "sexual immorality" include adultery;
fornication; homosexuality; lesbianism; intercourse with animals or
with close relatives or with a divorced man/woman. Even though the church
was guilty of being generally sexually immoral, the thing that had Paul
upset was that there was also incest going on.
The Greek word that is used in for wife v. 1 shows us that this was
not the man's biological mother, rather it was what we would call today
his stepmother. The words "have/has his father's wife" in v. 1 also
show us that he wasn't merely having a sexual affair with his mother.
Whenever the word "have/has," is coupled with the word "wife" in the
Bible, it means marriage. This man was married to his mother. To make
this sin even worse, in 2 Corinthians ch. 7, we discover that his father
was still alive. This man had gone and taken away his father's wife
away from him, and they were currently living together as husband &
wife.
Even though society today would say there is nothing wrong with this,
since it was his stepmother, God doesn't recognize the difference between
biological or adopted family members. Joseph was never called Jesus'
stepfather. God doesn't call us his stepchildren. And Jesus didn't say
that when we pray we are to say, "Our stepfather who is in heaven."
God clearly forbids the sexual union between a parent and a child. God
says, "Do not dishonor your father by having sexual relations with your
mother." (Leviticus
18:7) He also says that "A man is not to marry his father's wife."
(Deuteronomy
22:30)
Not only was incest forbidden under Jewish law, but it was forbidden
under Roman law. The historian Cicero tells us that this was "An incredible
crime and practically unheard of throughout the world." Even in a world
where almost anything sexually was allowed, the one thing that pushed
the envelope too far was what going on inside the church.
So even the pagans of Corinth, who were super-liberals in the area of
sex, were disgusted by what was going on at the church of Corinth. If
the incest wasn't bad enough, what really had Paul mad was the attitude
of the people of the church towards that sin-v. 2.
Underline the word "arrogant, proud, or puffed up." The members of the
church had become so desensitized to sin that not only were they tolerating
it, but they were actually boasting of the fact that they were open-minded
towards this man's alternative lifestyle.
Before we pick up our rocks, we better take a look at what is going
on in today's church. How many churches today, for fear of being branded
as legalists, will not hold her members to any standards of moral behavior?
How many denominations are so proud of their tolerance towards homosexuality
that they brag about ordaining homosexual pastors? Look at how many
are willing to perform same sex marriages.
The number one reason why so many of today's young people are turned
off to the church is because of the hypocrisy of Christians towards
sexual purity. This church has weathered 3 such storms. Each storm stopped
the power of the Holy Spirit until the matters were dealt with. And
just like the ice storm that took away our power 2 weeks ago had lasting
effects, we lost food, spent extra money on supplies, so did each one
of the sexual storms that hit us.
We lost our reputation. And we lost many people. And I know of some
people, who were living passionately for the Lord at that time, are
either no longer attending any church, or they have become lukewarm
in their spiritual walk. Truly, there are many innocent victims who
are hurt when sexual immorality hits a local fellowship.
Because of the negative impact that sexual immorality has on a local
fellowship, there is the temptation of rather than facing the sin and
dealing swiftly with it, to sweep it under the carpet in the hopes that
it will go away. This is not God's answer-v. 3. Paul he didn't set up
a committee to investigate the matter. He didn't call for a church meeting
for the people to vote on what should be done. He didn't call the couple
in to have several counseling sessions. Instead, he was following the
Bible's commands on how to deal with sin in the church.
Jesus told us that "If your brother sins against you, go and show him
his fault. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along.
If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses
to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax
collector." (Matthew
18:15-17) Paul followed these steps-v. 9.
And since this couple had not listened, it was time for further action.
There was no discussion about how many people might leave the church.
Or how many people might be offended. The sin was so blatant and obvious
that there was no doubt about it, it had to be dealt with. God expects
us to deal with sin because he takes the purity of his people very seriously.
You expect this out of God because of his fatherly love for us. Even
though some states have legalized prostitution, no good father would
encourage his daughter to pursue such a career. Even though Hollywood
may glamorize sex, no good father would encourage his children to become
sexually promiscuous. No parent worth their weight in salt would let
their children engage in immoral/illegal activities. So why would our
heavenly father be any different in relationship to those who are his
own?
Yet sadly, we don't have this same concern for each other. It is just
not right for us to make light of sin in our own lives, or in the lives
of our brothers/sisters. The proper response to anytime we sin, or anytime
we hear of one of our family members sinning is intense mourning-v.
2.
The Greek word that is used for mourning is the same word that is used
for the emotion we feel when a loved one dies. We should grieve just
as deeply when someone succumbs to sin, as we do when our parents, spouse,
children, or a close friend succumbs to death. In fact, the idea of
grieving over someone's sins helps us to keep the role of discipline
in its proper perspective.
For we should never be happy over having to exercise church discipline.
Instead, it should produce within us great sorrow knowing that the evil
one has won a battle within the life of someone we love deeply. We should
grief over the fact that someone we love is going through horrible disgrace.
Whenever grief is real then action will be swift. But whenever grief
is absent so is immediate action.
The problem with the church today is that far too many Christians are
deeply involved in sin, and we are carrying on business as usual. Brothers
& sisters, the sinful state of the church ought to crush us with such
grieve that it causes us to want to take action. If we really love each
other we can't let the disease of sin to run rampant through our family.
It is time that the church once again takes the necessary actions to
keep the deadly, contagious disease of sin from spreading-v. 2(b).
Sometimes in the treatment of diseases, it is imperative to isolate
the infected person from the rest of society. The same is true when
it comes to the health of Christians. There may be times when a brother/sister,
who is living in overt, on-going, common knowledge sin, has to be removed
from the fellowship with a local body of believers. Even though church
discipline is not commonly practiced, nor is it a popular concept, it
nevertheless is what God prescribes as the punishment for unrepentant
sin.
And if excommunication doesn't cause a person to repent, there is an
even more drastic step we are to take-vv. 4-5. When you give someone
over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, you are asking God to
remove his hand of protection from a person, thus making him an easy
target for Satanic attacks. To correctly interpret this verse we need
to see how Paul uses the words "destruction," & "flesh," in this passage.
The word "destruction" literally means "The external ills and troubles
by which the lusts of the flesh are subdued and destroyed." The word
"flesh," as Paul uses it here, literally means "the earthly nature of
man that is apart from divine influence, and therefore prone to sin."
From these 2 meanings we see that when we turn people over to Satan,
as they go through hell on earth, they will realize that it was their
own sins that caused all their troubles. And eventually they will run
from their sins, rather than running towards them. Jesus gave us a perfect
example of this in the story of the prodigal son.
Jesus tells us that things got so bad for this young man that he was
having to eat the food he was feeding the pigs he was taking care of.
And one day, when he came to his senses, he said, "How many of my father's
hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger!
I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: 'Father, I have
sinned against heaven and against you.'" (Luke
15:17-18)
The correlation between the prodigal son and us is that when we realize
that the only reason we are living in the pigsty of life, the only reason
we are going through such bad financial times, or the only reason why
are bodies are being attacked by sickness, is because of our unwillingness
to repentant of our sins, then we will want to come back home to our
heavenly Father.
Paul wants us to know that the purpose of this drastic type of discipline
is ultimately for the sake of causing us to turn back to God before
we stand before Jesus. Which will occur either after we die, or at the
time Jesus raptures his church. The word "saved," as it is used in this
verse, literally means "to deliver from the penalties of the Messianic
judgment."
I don't know about you, but I don't want to be raptured in the midst
of committing a sin. When I stand if front of Jesus, I don't want Jesus
to ask me in front of all heaven what in the world I was doing? John
puts it this way: "We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him,
because we shall see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope
in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure." (1
John 3:2-3)
The Holy Spirit wants us to see that there is a positive aspect to church
discipline. This is why the word saved is in what is called the aorist
tense. The Holy Spirit inspired Paul to use the aorist tense to get
us to look at the bigger picture, instead of focusing on only what we
can see.
With the naked eye, we see church discipline as being cruel & unusual
punishment. We tend to feel sorry for the embarrassment the person must
feel. But if we can step back and see that because of the discipline,
the person is restored first to God, second to their family, and third
to their church, then it doesn't seem to be that harsh.
Contrary to popular belief, church discipline always has the idea of
redemption, not annihilation. If church discipline is not redemptive,
then it is punishment. Paul is not interested in punishing this man,
but rather in seeing him restored back into the fellowship with Jesus
and his church. Church discipline, when carried out for the purpose
of redemption, truly is an incidence where the means justifies the end.
Paul would tell us to trust the process, because it works. We see this
in his next letter where Paul writes: "You ought to forgive and comfort
him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I urge
you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him." (2
Corinthians 2:7-8) What Paul is saying is that when the person repents,
he/she is to be welcomed back into the fellowship with open arms.
Let me say in conclusion that many people are trying to tell church
leaders that if their church will talk only about love, and don't talk
about sin & punishment, then people will come in droves. But this is
not true. In actuality, history proves that sinners have always been
drawn more by churches who preach & practice the truths of God's Word.
History proves that when sinners are around people who live distinctively
different lives, people who live radical Christian lives, especially
in the area of sex, money, relationships, and possessions, that there
is a greater rate of conversion than when the people are compromising
their faith just for the sake of being part of the world. History proves
that when people walk into a church, and they find her people no different
than they are, 2 things will happen. Either they will either stay because
they feel comfortable in their sins. Or even worse, they will walk out
the door and totally reject Jesus Christ because he has made no difference
in the lives of those who claim to know & love him.
The Spirit of God is calling each of us to radical Christian living.
But I want you to be aware that this kind of living is not going to
make you popular. In fact, people will mock you. They will call you
old-fashioned. And you will be branded as a narrow-minded, intolerant,
bigot when you stand up and declare that so much in our world is wrong
according to the Bible. But despite all the risks associated with this
kind of radical living, this is a call we all need to answer.
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