A 1st grade Sunday school teacher
asked his class to write down what they liked the best about church.
One little boy liked the songs he sang in church. But the boy was not
the best speller, so he wrote, "The thing I like best about church is
all the sinning we do."
As we learned last week, the problem that was going on in Corinth was
all the sinning they were doing. And if that wasn't bad enough, the
problem was compounded by the fact that the members of the church were
actually proud of how liberal they were. This attitude made Paul sick
to his stomach-v. 6(a).
In my attempts to discover how the Corinthian Church could ever develop
such a tolerant attitude toward sin, I found some minutes of an elder
meeting of the Church of Corinth that was held on the Ides of March,
in A.D. 53, about disciplining one of the deacons, that gives us some
insight into the minds of the church's leaders. Let me read you some
of the minutes of that meeting.
The only item of new business involves the bail money used for Deacon
Julius. His arrest fortunately might turn out to the benefit of the
church, for he has agreed to increase his tithe to 15% if the committee
will allow him to continue to serve as a deacon. At this point the chairman
asked for solutions and one committee member suggested public reprimand.
However, another member objected that such a harshly worded resolution
might result in Julius' refusal to serve anymore. After considerable
discussion it was decided that whatever action was taken, the committee
must be careful not to offend Julius. When the committee member who
suggested reprimand objected to the soft handling of such a serious
matter, he was reprimanded himself for not having a loving attitude.
Appeal was made to the fact that Jesus himself was a friend of sinners
and once told a sinful woman, "Neither do I condemn you." It was also
suggested that he who is without sin must cast the first stone, and
that all members of the committee have shortcomings of their own. And
a number of others seemed persuaded by the argument that "what he does
in his private life doesn't concern us."
A motion was made to ask Julius to stay out of the taverns and to clean
up his act. The motion was seconded. But during the discussion Aristobulus
asked what Paul would say about the whole thing. Tertius responded that
Paul was getting old and crotchety, and didn't seem to understand what
Jesus taught about loving one another. The motion that no censure would
be taken against Julius was passed. Since there was no further business
to be discussed, the committee adjourned for refreshments and the chairman
offered a prayer, thanking God for unity of the committee and asked
his blessing on the food.
Because the leaders weren't willing to deal with sin, sin soon exploded
in the church. Please be aware that the toleration towards the people's
gross sins didn't happen overnight. The people didn't come to church
one Sunday morning and find people suddenly flaunting their sins. It
wasn't like one Sunday the people came in, and saw sitting in a pew
Adam & Steve holding hands. And in another pew saw a man sitting with
his wife on one side and his mistress on the other. And in another pew
saw a man sitting next to the prostitute he slept with last night. Neither
did the morals become so lax overnight that the man who was married
to his mother felt it was okay to come and worship God while living
in blatant rebellion to the laws of the land and the commands of the
Bible.
Instead, the toleration started because the members of the church first
ignored the little sins. What I find interesting to note, is that Paul
says that we know that-v. 6(b).
For even though he states this truth in a question, the Greek tense
of the word know indicates that Paul is expecting a yes answer. The
people would have seen bread made. Therefore they knew that all it took
was to knead a little piece of leaven, left over from a previous baking,
into the new dough, and it would cause the new bread to rise.
To those who were so proud of all the knowledge they had, were ignoring
one of the most simple, common knowledge truths of the day. Paul is
appealing to our logic by reminding us that if we tolerate even little
sins, that eventually the little sins will rise to become bigger sins.
Paul knew that what we allow in moderation will eventually grow into
excess.
Perhaps Paul had seen frogs cooked. If you throw a frog into a kettle
of hot water, it will jump right back out. But if you put it in cold
water, and slowly turn up the heat, it will stay in there until it is
boiled to death.
This is what has happened to us, especially in our entertainment world.
When movies were first made, they had to be approved by a board of clergy
before they could be released. Which is why so many of the old movies
never had any cussing in them. But then the board allowed Clark Gable
to say, "Frankly, Scarlet, I don't give a damn." I wish that was the
only cuss word in we heard in today's movies.
Even when TV started, the shows maintained a high level of morality.
Everybody knew that married couples had sex. But to keep sex behind
closed doors, the networks weren't allowed show the stars sleeping in
the same bed. But then a cutting edge show hit primetime in the beginning
of the sexual revolution of the 60's. Who knows if it is because people
were allowed to see Fred & Wilma Flintstone, sleeping in the same bed,
during the family viewing time, that we have the mess we have today
on TV.
Paul says that we know that if we tolerate sin that it will contaminate
all of us, because like leaven, sin imparts its nature to all with which
it comes into contact. And if sin isn't dealt with, Paul says that our
toleration of sin actually aids in the spreading of it to the rest of
the body.
If we were looking for a household illustration of the same truth today,
we might use apples. If you put a rotten apple in the bottom of a box
of apples, you don't find the good apples turning the bad one good.
Instead the bad one turns the good ones bad.
Or we might use the example of cancer. Just a few cancer cells can spread
and infect the whole body. Sin is just like a cancer. Allowing even
one sin will inevitably affect the whole church negatively.
A long time ago Shoney's used to have an all you could eat boiled shrimp
night. And let me tell you, I can put away some boiled shrimp. After
about my 5th helping, they brought me a plate that had some shrimp that
weren't completely cooked. The moment I bit into one of those partially
uncooked shrimp, it took my taste away. Mind you, they were smart enough
not to bring me a whole plate of uncooked shrimp. But all it took was
1/2 of them to completely ruin my appetite.
Paul then combines illustrations from both the Old & New Testament to
help us to see why we need to stop sin the moment it begins-v. 7. Paul
combines the greatest feast of the Old Testament, Passover, with the
greatest feast in the New Testament, Communion, because both are celebrations
of how God set us free. And, both are celebrations that require some
time of preparation.
Before a Jewish family can celebrate the Passover meal, they have to
look in every crevice of the house to make sure that no leaven is in
any part of the house. This is done to keep God's command, in regard
to keeping the Passover, that said: "On the first day remove the yeast
from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the
first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel." (Exodus
12:15)
And as Christians, God also gave us some instructions we are to follow
in preparing ourselves to take communion. God tells us that "A man ought
to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.
For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord
eats and drinks judgment on himself." (1
Corinthians 11:28-29) When we celebrate communion, we are celebrating
the fact that Jesus has set us free from a life of slavery to sin so
we can live a life of freedom in the Spirit.
God wants us to put away all the remnants of our old life and live like
we're heaven bound. But instead of living as inhabitants of the Promised
Land, we're living the same sinful lives we were when we were in Egypt.
Egypt is symbolic of our pre-converted days. And God expects us to purge
out of our lives all the sinful habits of our past. In this verse, Paul
gives us 2 ways to help us get rid of our past sinfulness. First of
all, Paul tells us to be what we really are: Saints-v. 7(a).
We are not just sinners saved by grace. The Bible tells us "Therefore,
if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed
away; behold, all things have become new." (2
Corinthians 5:17) The new creation you have become is a saint. So
Paul is saying that it is time to start living saintly lives. This is
done by daily not allowing anything of our former way of life, that
has even the faintest hint of sin in it, to become a part of our life
again.
I know we try to excuse our own sinful behaviors, or the sinful behaviors
in others, by saying, "That's just the way I am." Or, "That's just the
way he/she is." Brothers & sisters, if the way you are is not like Jesus,
cut it out of your life. If the way you see in your best friend is not
like Jesus, confront them with what you see.
Doing so doesn't make you judgmental. Rather it shows how much you love
them. Always remember in our study of this letter, that even though
Paul strongly rebukes the Corinthians, he does so because he loves them
as a father loves his own children. How I wish I had confronted some
of my friends when I saw them playing around with sin. Not only would
it have spared them from the embarrassment of getting caught in their
sin. But it also would have spared their family from the hurt the sin
inflicted upon them.
Secondly, Paul tells us to remember why Jesus died-v. 7(b). Jesus didn't
just die so we can have something to sing about. He didn't just die
so we could feel better about ourselves. He didn't even just die so
we could go to heaven. Jesus died to destroy the power of Satan & sin
in our lives.
While it is impossible to live a sinless life, it is not impossible
to live a life where sin doesn't dominate. In fact, the only thing that
is impossible is for a Christian to continue to live in sin without
being miserable. That's because they have too much of the Spirit in
them to enjoy things of the world. And they have too much of the world
in them to enjoy the things of the Spirit.
This is how King David felt after he sinned with Bathsheeba: "When I
kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all
day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my strength
was sapped as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to You
and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, 'I will confess my transgressions
to the LORD,' and You forgave the guilt of my sin." (Psalm
32:3-5)
While I don't believe you can lose your salvation, I also believe that
the assurance of salvation is only found in walking in obedience to
God's Word. If you say you're a follower of Jesus Christ then you need
to be committed to living out the principles of the Bible. If you want
God to bless you in all areas of life, then you'd better be living in
total obedience to God's Word in all areas of your life.
This means that you should never tolerate in your life any of the yeast
of sin which characterized your life before you got saved. Whenever
you or I start to tolerate in our lives those things that are contrary
to the teachings of the Bible, we need to call in question the vitality,
or even the reality, of our profession of faith in Jesus Christ.
So to help live holy lives, Paul tells us to remember the events of
Calvary in light of the reason why Jesus died. Why was Jesus blindfolded
& punched in the face? Why did Jesus have a crown of thorns driven into
his head? Why was Jesus tied to whipping post and brutally beaten by
having a cat-of-nine tails brought across his back 39 times, each time
ripping chunks of flesh from his body? Why did the people spit on him
and pull the whiskers out of his beard as he carried the cross on the
way to Golgotha's hill? Why was Jesus so was badly disfigured that it
would have been hard for even his own mother to recognize who he was?
Why did Jesus have to experience the horrific pain he must have felt
as the Roman soldiers drove those spikes into his hands and his feet?
Why did Jesus have to experience the pain as the cross was dropped into
the ground causing all of his joints to be pulled out of their sockets?
Why did Jesus have to push against those nails, scraping his bloody
back against the harsh wood of the cross, just so he could raise himself
up to get a gasp of air?
The answer to all these questions is that it was our sins that caused
Jesus to have to experience all that. It wasn't the Jews or even the
Romans who killed Jesus. You & I are guilty of killing Jesus Christ.
So when you're tempted to sin, remember that that sin cost Jesus his
very life.
The Bible tells us, that even though Jesus' death was God's pre-determined
plan, that "You nailed Jesus to a cross by the hands of godless men
and put Him to death." (Acts
2:23) So when you're tempted to sin, think first about what God
had to do so a holy God could have a relationship with unholy people.
What did God do? The Bibles says that "God made Jesus who knew no sin
to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."
(2
Corinthians 5:21)
The kind of lifestyle that God is calling us to live is radically different
from the way the rest of the world lives. Occasionally sinners will
do right. But God is asking each of us to live holy, every day of our
lives-v. 8(a). The feast Paul is talking about is our life in Christ.
Because we are in Christ, everyday is a holy day. Everyday we have to
continually be on guard against letting any leaven of our old way of
live creep back in that could cause sin to rear its ugly head. Everyday
we have to purge out of our lives the malice & wickedness that is within
us.
Malice & wickedness is another way of stating what sin is and what sin
does. The word "malice" has to do with the ill-wills you have towards
someone in your heart that causes you to want to inflict harm upon them.
The word "wickedness" is the manifestation of the malice attitudes of
our hearts.
The only way you can live holy is by not even letting sin take root
in your heart. Jesus said that "The things that proceed out of the mouth
come from the heart, and those defile the man." (Matthew
15:18) And so, to get rid of sin in our lives, we first of all have
to get rid the sin that's in our heart. And this is done by putting
off the old nature, and putting on the new nature we have in Christ-v.
8(b).
The word sincerity literally means to be tested by the light of the
sun. To live in sincerity means to live in such openness, such complete
moral pureness that your life is crystal clear. When your life is crystal
clear you will be able to: "Let your light shine before men in such
a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who
is in heaven." (Matthew
5:16)
One day I had to change the light bulbs in my kitchen. As I took the
light fixture off, I noticed that the frosting on the glass was starting
to flake off. So I decided to take all of it off. When I put the fixture
back on, I couldn't believe how much the frosting on the fixture had
hindered the light bulbs from shining the way they should. I couldn't
believe how much a thin layer of frosting prevented the lights from
shining to their full potential.
The same is true with us. All of us have the light of Jesus in us. But
in order for us to be a light to our community, there must be this crystal
clear dimension in us. I want to remind you again that Paul is not talking
about perfection within the body of Christ. He is in no way implying
that we should never sin. In fact, the only time we will ever be perfect,
that we will ever be without sin, is when we are in heaven.
The emphasis in this verse is upon openness & honesty. It about wanting
God to shine his light into our lives to expose our darkness, so we
can confess those dark areas and start to walk in the light of God's
presence. It is only when we, as a church family, are walking in the
light that we can aid each other to live the holy lives that God wants
us to live. The apostle John talked about this when he said: "If we
walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one
another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all
sin." (1
John 1:7)
As I close, I want you to know that my concern this morning is not for
the lost souls of this world, but for us as a church family. But my
dream this morning is that this fellowship will become such a loving
family that will help each other in our struggles with sin. I want us
to become so loving, so caring towards each other, that we will never
start to tolerate sin in our midst. For when we show this kind of love
& concern, then those who are lost will flock to our church.
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