Recalibrate Your Life
Let Me Explain
march 10, 2024 | PASTOR chris winans | i corinthians 5:9-13
Sermon Questions
- I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with _________ __________ people not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this __________, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the ________.
- TRUE or FALSE: In 1 Cor 5:9-13, Paul is encouraging Christians not to associate with those that are guilty of sexual immorality that are outside of the Church.
- Write a sentence(s) that describes what this means: “As Christians we are to be in the world, but not of the world.”
- What is another way that Peter uses to describe a pilgrim in his letter? (Hint: refer to sermon guide)
- In Matt 5:13, Jesus says that this should be thrown out when it has lost something.
- What is it and what did it lose?
- And what is it good for?
- What Old Testament verse did Paul use in 1 Cor 5:13? Write the full verse from the Old Testament.
- If we are not to judge outsiders, then who does?
Discussion Questions
- In 1 Cor 5:10 Paul writes “I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world…since then would need to go out of the world”.
- What is Paul saying in this verse?
- What are the implications of this instruction from Paul for our relationships with the immoral of the world?
- Discuss examples from the Gospels where you see relationships with the immoral of the world. What purpose does the Bible encourage relationships with the immoral of the world?
- In 1 Cor 5:11 Paul writes “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."
- What are the implications of this instruction from Paul for our relationships with the immoral who are our brothers?
- What is the goal of this discipline for the brother who is acting immorally?
- Read John 17:14-18 “I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
- What does it mean to be “of the world” vs “in the world”?
- Discuss the implications for our lives of these phrases.
- Is there a danger of having an “us” vs “them” attitude as a Christian?
- Are there influences in our world which would encourage us in an “us” vs “them” approach to the world?
- Review Bibles passages which guide us in the biblical way to approach the world.
Sermon Outline
Read 1 Corinthians 5:9-13
The apostle Paul is clarifying a misunderstanding. 1 Corinthians is not the first letter that Paul wrote to the Corinthian Church. Paul had written a previous letter, and the Corinthian church misunderstood a portion of that. So as Paul is addressing sexual immorality in the church, he also wants to clear up that misunderstanding.
What I Didn’t Mean
o The Corinthian Church misunderstood part of his first letter to them.
1 Cor 5:9-10 - 9I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people- 10not 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.
o He clarifies this by saying not at all, meaning the sexually immoral of this world or the greedy and swindlers and idolaters. The first thing to notice here is the context of 1Cor Chapter 5, is in the context primarily of sexual immorality, as there is a man within the church that has his father's wife. But the list Paul expands upon is not limited. He is talking as well about greed, about being a sinner or an idolater. We want to make sure that we are talking about sin in a broader way, than just one thing.
o What he's saying is, you thought that I was telling you not to associate with anyone who's sexually immoral and they were interpreting that as meaning anyone. Paul says you do not understand me, I am not talking about those that are in the world. He says if that was the case, then we would need to leave the world, if we were to not associate with anyone that exhibits these characteristics.
o Paul says a Christian is to be present in the world, to not remove him or herself from it, but to be present in it to participate in the work of God and the redemption of all things; to participate with God's mission in Christ. If we are not, then we are removing ourselves from the context in which God is doing his work in the world.
o Jesus includes something similar in his high priestly prayer in John 17.
John 17:16-18 - 16They are not of the world...18As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
o The apostle says you are misunderstanding me if you think that you cannot associate or be in and amongst people that exhibit these characteristics, because that is the world and Jesus says I am not of the world. We are not to be of the world, we are sent into the world.
o The apostle Peter says something similar in Chapter 2.
1 Peter 2:11-12 - 11Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable...
o When it comes to seeing our own identities in our lives, it is helpful to begin with an identity that says we are sojourners and exiles. We do not identify with where we are, we identify as pilgrims as someone who does not belong. You are not of the world, so if you are not of the world, then you see that my citizenship is not in the world because, as Paul says, our citizenship is in heaven.
o Therefore, we await the inheritance which is our homeland, and that inheritance will come in the new creation when Jesus returns, then we will enter our inheritance. Until then we do not belong, we are sojourners and exiles. Does that mean that we withdraw from the world? The apostle Peter says he says you need to abstain from the passions of the flesh. They wage war against your soul. He says keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable.
1Peter 2:11-12 - 11Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable...
o Peter here is assuming that you are not of the world, because you are a sojourner and an exile because you are in the world. If you were not in the world, how could you keep your conduct among them admirable?
o This is very much what Jesus is saying in the Sermon on the Mount, when he describes the church with two different adjectives:
Matthew 5:13-16 – 13You are the salt of the earth...14You are the light of the world...let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
o Jesus says that you are salt and light, therefore you are to shine that light before others, so that they can see your good works. If you are a sojourner or an exile, you are not of them. There is distinction here of what it means to be a follower of Christ in the church and the world, that we are not of them, but we are in and amongst them or else they would not be able to see. Then when they see they give glory to God.
o Our friends, the Amish, strategy is to remove themselves from the world but fundamentally they are missing the mission that Jesus has for his people, to be set apart not from the world, but to be in the world to participate and discern the work of the Holy Spirit and what he's doing to bring his redemptive purposes because we are the body of Christ. Paul is not saying that you need to remove yourself and not associate with the world, so what is he saying?
What I Was Trying to Say
o The apostle Paul might say here is what I was trying to say in my original letter.
1Cor 5:11 - 11But 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.
o To understand what Paul means, we need to have a clear delineation between the world and the body of Christ:
§ The world has not said Jesus is Lord and will follow him and be his disciple.
§ The world has not repented.
§ There is a clear delineation for the people that claim that Jesus is Lord. They are repentant and they are his disciples, and they will follow him. Jesus says you cannot be my disciple unless you deny yourself pick up your cross daily and follow me.
§ Paul is talking about those within the body of Christ, which are living in flagrant heightened unrepentant sin, not limited to sexual immorality.
§ If those in the body of Christ are engaging in a lifestyle that reflects this, then we are to respond in a certain way.
§ What we are not talking about is a believer who has some aspect of sin in their life, and they are struggling with it. We all have these things in our lives that we are struggling, and we recognize as being sinful and we repent, and we struggle, and the Holy Spirit is helping us, and we are seeking to put the flesh to death, and we are moving forward.
§ We are talking about flagrant, heightened, unrepentant sin, which brings the name of the Lord into this repute which brings the body of Christ into danger, which is a heightened danger to the individual. That is the context, and if somebody is living in that way and they claim to be a Christian, Paul says you cannot go on with them as if life is normal because it is not. When Paul says, do not associate with, and not even to eat with such a one what does this mean?
§ At minimum Paul is saying is that someone who is living in this kind of flagrant, unrepentant, sinful lifestyle, which brings the name of the Lord and disrepute, that person would be barred or fenced from participation in communion and people that would take this view. If you look earlier in 1Corinthians 5, the apostle Paul is talking about a festival of unleavened bread and sitting down together that that this has a context of communion. If someone is engaged in this way, we would let them know that they are excommunicated, they are barred from communion.
o But it could be that Paul means something more than that. He says they are not to associate and not to eat with such a one. Now that language of eating with this kind of table fellowship is perhaps taken from the Hebrew scriptures in the Book of Psalms.
Psalm 101:5-7 (LXX Septuagint) – 5He who is of haughty looks and of a greedy heart, with him food is not shared...7No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house.
This looks different in English, but in the Greek, it is the same. What Paul is drawing from in Psalms, could be that Paul means a bit more than simply commune.
o Another reason Paul may mean something broader than just simply communion, would be what he says at the end of verse 13.
§ 1Cor 5:12-13 - 12Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?... 13“Purge the evil person from among you.”
This is taken directly from the Torah in the Book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy uses this phrase over and over and over repeatedly. Chapter 17 is just one example.
Deuteronomy 17:2, 7 - 2“If there is found among you...a person who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, in transgressing his covenant...7you shall purge the evil from your midst.
The context here is one of stoning, so that you purge the evil from among you by stoning the person. I do not think Paul is advocating for that, but you see that the nature of the Book of Deuteronomy is certainly a pretty drastic removal. You had to purge the evil they are to no longer be among you, and why that would be is an example in Deuteronomy 19.
Deuteronomy 19:19-20 - 19So you shall purge the evil from your midst. 20And the rest shall hear and fear, and shall never again commit any such evil among you.
If you allow heightened flagrant unrepentant sin to continue that affects the honor of God, but also affects the people of God, that is not acceptable.
o Does purity in the church matter, does holiness in the church matter?
§ Paul is saying when someone within the church is living in this way, we cannot go on as normal. We cannot function as if everything is OK because it is not OK. If we function as if everything is OK, then we are out of agreement with what it means to honor God, and what it means to honor the people. This can sound unloving. N.T. Wright says it this way...
We can imagine the howls of anger at such a suggestion in today's church (‘Unloving!’ ‘Intolerent!’ ‘Judgment!’). Paul might have answered: Is the doctor unloving or judgmental when he or she tells you that you must have an operation right away? Do we want a doctor who ‘tolerates’ viruses, bacteria, cancer cells? And if we say that the moral issues that Paul mentions are not like diseases, are we so sure? Do these things build up a community, or destroy it? – N.T. Wright 1 Corinthians for Everyone.
Paul takes this seriously. Remember he says you are the temple of God; we are the body of Christ and what is at stake, is the very mission of the Body of Christ.
o Jesus described us as light, but he also describes us as salt. But there is a warning in Matthew 5 verse 13 about the nature of the church being salt.
Matthew 5:13 – 13“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.
What does it mean for a believer and the church to lose its saltiness?
§ When the church is indistinguishable from the world because we live in flagrant sin, then there is nothing that distinguishes us. If there is nothing to distinguish us, then we are no longer salt. If we allow life to go on as normal, then we are threatening the very redemptive mission of Christ to be in the world but be in the world as salt. We must be intentional, individually, and collectively, be about maintaining the saltiness and what it means to be a disciple, or else in the name of tolerance we stand the danger of losing our saltiness for Christ.
o Paul is saying here that the purity of the church matters, holiness matters, and to be present in the culture matters. He ends it by saying this...
1Cor 5:12-13 - 12For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? 13God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”
§ We said earlier that we need to maintain and have a clear understanding of the distinction between the church those that follow Christ, and the world those that do not. Those that do not are following what Paul calls the prince of the power of the air that is at work in their minds to do what he desires. That is why Paul says to distance yourself from people that are sexually immoral, but if you do you will have to leave the world because these people are all followers and are under the power of the prince of the power of the air. If the church spends all its time looking down at the world, I think Paul would say your focus is misplaced. You are to keep your focus on what is pure, to be the church and not mistake between the church and the world. The church and the world are not the same.
o There are those that are amongst us that are Christians. One example is a bass player named John Petrucci. He is one of the greatest jazz bass players of his generation. He is also a believer and has played with all the greats. Let’s say John Patitucci misunderstood Paul and said I cannot associate myself with sexually immoral people. I cannot play with these jazz players; I can only play with Christian jazz players. I cannot associate with them; I cannot play with them unless they clean up their act. John Patitucci is salt, and he is light in the world as an ambassador for Christ. These are his own words...
My faith in Jesus is all-encompassing. In my career I am constantly asking myself, how do I love people? How do I accept and love them while holding fast to what I believe? With the world situation as it is right now, it is more important than ever to try to walk in Jesus’ shoes because he was all about laying down His life, serving and saving the world by doing so.
John Patitucci is an example of how we can seek to be in the world, the way Paul and the New Testament and Jesus would want us to be. We must always remember how Jesus, Paul, and the New Testament acted with those that were inside versus those that were outside. May we walk in the shoes of Christ to understand what he would call us to as we are in the world, but not of the world.
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