"Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? 7 Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
9 I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; 10 I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. 11 But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one. 12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? 13 But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves."
I Corinthians 5:6-13
Good Morning Beloved,
Welcome to worship today, we're so glad to have you here.
Today, we are continuing the study of chapter 5 in I Corinthians, as you know, the subject has been church discipline. One of the problems he has to deal with is the problem of a tolerance of immorality, and that is the theme of chapter 5. To bring some of you who may have missed the previous study, allow me to briefly recap that for you. There was sexual immorality happening in the church at Corinth. A man was either married to or living with his step-mother. He was well known in the church and known in the community. His sin was public. The church was boasting that this man was a prominent and important man and belonged to the church. Paul said to turn his evil ways over to Satan, if he refused to repent of his sins, excommunicate him from the church if needed and pray that he will realize the error of his ways, repent, and return to God.
First, let's bow our heads in prayer.
Heavenly Father,
Thank You, for those you have brought together today in worship. Thank You for this most powerful, important message, help to not only to hear but to receive its message deep within our hearts, and to be obedient to its teaching. Father, we pray that You would speak to our hearts, very clearly in terms of our own relationship to you, whatever that might be. And if there would be some among us, who do not know You as their Savior and Lord, that they might come to receive You, know You intimately, become a part of Your glorious church. We thank you for this message of instruction, make it so clear to us, that we would deal with the things that we see defiling the church, Your church, for which Christ died.
This we pray in Christ’s name
Amen
We are living in a culture, that absolutely worships the flesh, things of this world as if it were God. The preoccupation with money, fashion, with public and political figures, our physiques, social media exposure, pornographic movies and material, on and on and on. The perception of the body, we have pushed it so far out of whack, the cosmetic surgery business has literally made a fortune from it, it’s incredible.
C. S. Lewis has a beautiful analogy of this. Here is his analogy. Lewis says, "You can get a large audience together for a striptease. There’s no question about it. You can get a lot of people to come to a striptease, and they come to watch a girl undress on the stage. Now suppose, you came to a country where they filled an auditorium a different way.
Not by having a girl undress, but that they filled an auditorium, it was packed to the walls, and a guy walked out with a big tray, and the tray was covered with a - with a - some kind of a cloth covering, and wild music began to play and lights began to flash, and all of a sudden, through all of this, in a rather enticing manner, he pulled off the veil, and there on the tray was a pork chop. Wouldn’t you think,” says C. S. Lewis, “that in that country something had gone wrong with their appetite for food?"
That's rich. So rich. Scripture speaks clearly regarding the proper use of the body. In I Corinthians 6:13, the Bible says, "Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body."
Open with me your Bibles, to the fifth chapter of I Corinthians, today our text, this rich text is from the verses 5 through 13. Follow along with me, if you will, as I read to you I Corinthians 5:5-13.
Paul told them in verse 6, "Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough?" The yeast of sin was the church’s boasting. The church thought of itself as a strong and spiritual church that was blessed and gifted by God. Every conceivable gift of the Spirit had been given to the church.
Yet, this church was prideful in the fact that certain community leaders belonged to its fellowship. Therefore, the church was boasting. Again, they weren’t boasting in the sin of the man. They were boasting in the man himself; his place in society as a leader, the money he gave to the church, his leadership, etc. They took great pride in the man, even though they knew about his sin.
Even today, far too often churches tend to overlook the sins and sinful lifestyle of a person because they are a prominent leader in the community, government, or business. And so, the Corinthian church needed awake up call and learn something. Paul says a little yeast will leaven the whole lump of dough. Most any cook or baker will know, that if a little bit of yeast is added to dough, it will greatly multiply and eventually leaven the whole batch of dough.
Yeast or leaven, is often used throughout the Bible to represent sin. So Paul uses it here, once again to make his point. If this man and his shameful sin are allowed to remain in the church, or if the sin is allowed to continue, the sin of this man will spread throughout the rest of the church. A "Well if he can get away with it, why can’t I?" attitude, If there are no restraints on the sin, it will surely grow.
That was Paul's message here.
Therefore, the church needed to purge out the sin. You see, believers are new creations. The picture here is of a Jewish Passover Feast. The Jewish family was required by law to remove all yeast out of the house before celebrating the Passover. They were even required to light candles and search throughout the house for crumbs of yeast that might have fallen on the floor and under tables and other furniture. It was symbolic of the people purging the corrupting influence of sin out of their lives. So Paul says "that you may be a new batch without yeast."
In the Corinthian church were new creations. They were new lumps. So they must not run outside of the family into the world and bring the old yeast back into the family. Jesus was sacrificed for us and the church. His death was symbolized by the sacrificial lamb at the Passover. Therefore, we must purge and remove the yeast, the sin, from our lives. If we allow the old yeast, the old sin in our lives and churches, it shows that we have little interest in a being a new creation in Christ, or living clean and pure life. Paul’s warning here is direct and to the point! He minces no words.
Verse 8 he says, "Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."
Again, these are symbolic gestures and statements Paul is making. The point is that the church must keep itself clean and pure. It shouldn’t allow wickedness into its fellowship. Let’s break this down by looking at specific words in verse 8.
Malice – this shows that some in the church were opposing this man’s presence in the church but those who supported the man stood their ground, and malice set in between the two groups.
Wickedness – this is more than sin and coming short. It means taking pleasure in evil. This is what Paul says must be purged.
Sincerity – Pure, clear, transparent. Something through which the sunlight can pass. It indicates a flawless purity.
Truth – to be like God who is truth. To live and do the truth. So the church must do precisely what is right. It must discipline both itself and the shameful man.
Let us keep – Present tense. It means a continuous action. The church must continue to keep the festival, continue to purge out the old leaven of sin. It must not only discipline itself and the man who is living in shameful sin, it must continue to keep itself pure, to continue celebrating the festival of purity before God.
"I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world."
What Paul is saying here is the church must separate itself from the world but not entirely. Apparently Paul had written an earlier letter, according to verse 9, to the Corinthians because he appears to be charging them to do exactly what he was now saying: do not keep close company with those who live for sin and this world.
Paul mentions 4 types of shameful sins that were to be kept out of the church.
The first, is do not get mixed up with the immoral people of this world—the sinful, depraved, and all kinds of immoral sexual acts. He is talking about adultery, premarital sex, and all other forms of sexual deviation. He’s saying that believers should not keep close fellowship with them.
Secondly, do not get involved with the greedy of this world. He is talking about those who seek more and more while millions within the world are dying from sin, hunger, disease, and poverty. God despises the sin of greed.
Third, he say don’t get mixed up with the swindlers—the thieves, those who take advantage of the poor in order to get more gain for themselves.
And, lastly he says do not become involved with the idolaters. Those who worship false gods or those who don’t have a right relationship with God. Paul notes that the church and its believers can’t go out of the world so some contact with the unbelievers of the world is necessary. You might be thinking, "If we, as believers, are not supposed to associate with these types, how can we ever minister to them." Well, you are right. That is why Paul uses the term, "don’t get mixed up with them." In other words, don’t start living like them and allow the world to suck you into its sinful ways. Believers are IN the world but must not become part OF the world.
"But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one." he says in verse 11
Now, you may notice, this sounds like the former command. But the former charge have more to do with the sinner out in the world. This particular charge has more to do with the sinner within the church. Sometimes a professing believer returns to the sinful ways of the world and gets stuck there. So, the church is to seek to restore that person. But if that person refuses to respond and repent after an attempt by the church to bring him back, then the church has no choice but to separate itself from that person.
Now, I'd like you to also note, here Paul adds two more sins in this verse:
1. The slanderer is a person who rants and scolds, abuses, and uses abusive and slanderous language.
2. The drunkard is the person who intoxicates himself with alcohol and drugs.
Verse 12 and 13, Paul says "For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves."
The church must judge only those inside the church. God judges those outside the church, the unbelievers. The church should not try to exercise judgment on the unbelievers in the world. That duty lies solely in God’s hands. But the church IS however, to exercise discipline within the church. So Paul says, "Remove the wicked man from among yourselves, or they may corrupt you all."
So Paul had stated his point on this issue of sexual immorality in the church. His next task is to address another issue concerning a case of legal dispute. However, we'll look at that next time we gather for worship.
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
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